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Wednesday, Sep. 14 '16, י"א באלול תשע"ו
HEADLINES:
1. SHIMON PERES HOSPITALIZED AFTER STROKE
2. WATCH: ISRAEL LAUNCHES 'OFEK 11' SATELLITE
3. 'PLAGUE OF BLOOD' ON ISLAMIC HOLIDAY IN BANGLADESH
4. ARAB MK: 'PERES IS COVERED IN OUR BLOOD FROM HEAD TO TOE'
5. RARE FINDINGS FROM ANCIENT JEWISH COMMUNITY OF AFGHANISTAN
6. PA TO PAY ELECTRIC BILL AFTER TEN YEARS
7. LITZMAN INVITES SHAKED TO HASSIDIC WEDDING
8. ISRAELI WHEELCHAIR HELPS THE PARALYZED CRUISE UPRIGHT
1. SHIMON PERES HOSPITALIZED AFTER STROKE
by Uzi Baruch
[youtube:2019129]
The 9th President of Israel, Shimon Peres, suffered a stroke this evening (Tuesday) and was rushed to the Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital.
While his condition was first described as stable, reports now say the former President is "in serious condition." Peres' office later said that his doctors have decided to intubate him and put him under sedation in order to further evaluate his condition and make it easier to treat him. He will undergo a CT scan so as to get a full and updated assessment of his situation.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wished Peres a speedy recovery from the stroke.
Writing on Twitter, Netanyahu said, "Shimon, we love you and all the people wish you a [speedy] recovery."
Peres, 93, had a pacemaker implanted last week. The former President's doctors had recommended the pacemaker to avoid episodes of heartbeat irregularities and thus optimize Peres' continued full functioning.
At the end of last month, Peres suffered chest pains and his son-in-law Professor Rafi Valdan was urgently called to his home in Tel Aviv. Tests revealed Peres had heart irregularities.
Last January, Peres suffered a heart attack, after which he underwent a bypass and was hospitalized for several days in Tel Hashomer. Two weeks later he was hospitalized again following a minor irregularity in his heartbeat.
At that time, senior cardiologist from the Sheba hospital also arrived at Peres' home, treated the former President, and decided to leave him at home and not send him to the hospital.
2. WATCH: ISRAEL LAUNCHES 'OFEK 11' SATELLITE
by Kobi Finkler
[video:2019127]
The Defense Ministry and Israel Aerospace Industries successfully launched reconnaissance satellite "Ofek 11" today (Tuesday).
The launch took place in the afternoon from the Palmachim base in the south. Ofek 11 is a photography satellite launched for the purpose of intelligence gathering, and can cover the entire Middle East.
The launch was planned for yesterday but was postponed due to weather conditions. Leading up to the launch, access to the base was cut off, and reconnaissance aircraft took off toward the Meditteranean.
The satellite went into its planned orbit around the Earth and contact was established with it, but there is some worry within the Defense establishment following negative indications.
Amnon Harari, head of the space department in the Defense Ministry, said: "We made contact with the satellite, we know it entered its orbit going around the earth every hour and a half.
"We are in continued contact with the satellite and are monitoring its condition. There are indications of some things that aren't working as we expected. We're trying to stabilize it, and this will take a few days," Harari explained.
The last Ofek satellite, named the Ofek 10, was launched into space around 2 years ago, in 2014.
3. 'PLAGUE OF BLOOD' ON ISLAMIC HOLIDAY IN BANGLADESH
by Dalit Halevi
The main streets of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, turned into rivers of blood yesterday (Tuesday).
The Muslim population of the city woke up early in the morning for prayers and sacrifices in honor of Eid al-Adha, the Islamic holiday of sacrifices. The ritual slaughter of the animals is conducted in local abattoirs where the blood from the sacrifices is collected. A combination of heavy rains and a problem in the drainage systems caused rivers of blood to form on the streets.
Eid al-Adha is considered the holiest of holidays for Muslims and brings with it the obligation on every Muslim to bring an animal sacrifice, eat its meat, and share it with others.
According to Islamic laws of ritual slaughter, one must wait until the animal has bled out completely and is entirely still before going about the process of taking apart its limbs.
In contrast with Jewish ritual slaughter, Islamic law allows for running the blade on the animals neck multiple times.
[youtube:2019139]
4. ARAB MK: 'PERES IS COVERED IN OUR BLOOD FROM HEAD TO TOE'
by Hezki Baruch
Arab MK Basel Ghattas (Joint Arab List) has some harsh words to say about former President Shimon Peres, currently in the hospital in serious condition after suffering a stroke.
"Is this Peres' final journey? We can't know, the man has seven [sic] lives. Peres was one of the pillars of the Zionist project - expansionist colonialism. He was the cruelest and most extreme and did the most damage to the Palestinian people," Ghattas wrote on Facebook.
To hear Ghattas tell it, "despite all of these characteristics Peres managed to portray himself as the dove of peace and get a Nobel peace prize out of it. Obviously, without our direct or indirect help, he wouldn't have succeeded in this. In his death, we will remember the tyrannical personality who was responsible for war crimes against us."
"Peres is covered in blood from head to toe. We're not going to hurry to participate in and contribute to the tribe's festival of collective sadness and grief," ended the Arab MK.
MK Itzik Shmuli of the Zionist Union wasn't too impressed with the Joint List MK's comments. "Ghattas is a small, pathetic man whose entire contribution to politics is summed up by sowing hatred and resentment between people, supporting terror, and initiating provocations for self-promotion. He's not even fit to say Peres' name."
5. RARE FINDINGS FROM ANCIENT JEWISH COMMUNITY OF AFGHANISTAN
by Arutz Sheva Staff
The National Library of Israel in Jerusalem has acquired a one of a kind collection of manuscripts which will revolutionize our understanding about the history and culture of the legendary Silk Road's ancient Jewish community. The new collection, comprised of approximately 250 pages dating to the early 11th century, constitutes the largest body of original materials from the region prior to the modern era. Complementing the NLI's existing collection of 29 pages from the widely-reported "Afghan Geniza", Because of the widespread destruction during the Mongol Conquests, it represents virtually the only primary source for information about this once-thriving Jewish community, as well as the region's Islamic and Persian cultures prior to the Mongol invasion. This acquisition has been made possible through the generous support of the William Davidson Foundation and the Haim and Hanna Salomon Fund.
Part of the collection comes from the same archive as the handful of pages already held by NLI. These texts flesh out our understanding of the lives of the eleventh-century Abu Netzer family of Jewish traders living in and around the city of Bamiyan, a once-bustling commercial center located on the Silk Road. Pages account for parts of multiple tractates from the Talmud, as well as liturgy, Jewish Law (halacha) a historical chronicle, and portions of the Bible. A full 27 pages of a bound merchant's account book offers a look into the economic realities of an ancient and sparsely studied community. The collection is written in Persian, Arabic, Aramaic, and Judeo-Persian.
"This is a particularly impressive find related to the lives and culture of Jews from this part of the world from the beginning of the second millennium," explained Prof. Haggai Ben Shammai, world-renowned expert on Jews of the Islamic world. According to Ben Shammai, the collection is of exceptional importance due to the previous dearth of first-hand accounts and evidence of Jewish life under local dynastic rule. Literary source materials had also been severely lacking until this discovery.
Another portion of the new collection contains documents dating from the early 13th century, chronicling the broader Islamic culture on the eve of the devastating Mongol conquests of 1221. As a result of the destruction wrought by Genghis Khan and his army, we have almost no documentation of the Persian and Arabic culture and language of the region – until now. Though later Muslim scholars have written histories of the Islamic dynasties who reigned over the region, this singular collection of primary sources can shed light on uncharted areas of research including economics, geography, and social and political history.
Many items in the collection had been part of a local administrator's archive, and contain administrative documents and fragments of religious and literary works, mainly in Persian. This material provides an unparalleled view onto the workings of local government administration, politics, and law in this far-flung region.
Scholars who have had a chance to examine the material have enthused about its importance.
"These documents enrich the NLI's world-leading collection of written and printed Judaica, as well as its world-class Islam and Middle East Collection, which includes exquisite manuscripts dating back to the 9th century," said NLI Director Oren Weinberg. "The National Library of Israel is proud to be able to expand its holdings of special collections relating to Judaism, Islam and the Middle East."
NLI will digitize the material and make it available to the international community of scholars and the general public. As the collection has never previously been made available to the public nor the academic community, the full richness and significance of its contents have yet to be revealed.
The National Library of Israel is grateful to the William Davidson Foundation and the Haim and Hanna Salomon Fund for their generous support of this acquisition.
Tractate Shabbat
צילום: National Library of Israel
Haftarot (Photo: National Library of Israel)
The purchased texts (Photo: National Library of Israel)
6. PA TO PAY ELECTRIC BILL AFTER TEN YEARS
by Arutz Sheva Staff
The Palestinian Authority has signed an agreement saying it will pay 570 million shekels to the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) in order to pay off its debt. The rest of the debt will be paid off in 48 installments.
The agreement was signed by Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, Israel's coordinator of government activities in the territories, and PA Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh. It was achieved after almost a year of negotiations involving Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, senior Finance Ministry officials, COGAT officers, and Palestinian representatives.
The agreement will erase hundreds of millions of shekels of the debt, which currently stands at close to 2 billion shekels ($530 million).
The PA acquires 95% of its electricity in Judea and Samaria and 75% of its electricity in Gaza from Israel. The Israeli supply to the PA-assigned areas has continued over the years despite the huge debt and despite the fact that Hamas continues to carry out terror attacks aimed at Israeli forces and civilians alike.
Last year, the IEC issued a final warning to the PA to pay its debts within three days or be disconnected. The threat was not carried out until a year later when the IEC intermittently limited electricity to the PA – a move which raised the ire of the US State Department.
Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon said, "The agreement we have reached promises continued electrical supply and potential for economic development in the Palestinian territories."
"This agreement will prevent future conflicts and disagreements," he added stating that, "Anyone who thinks we can reach an agreement between the two sides without direct negations and preconditions is going against the interest of his own nation. If we don't work to solve the historical problems we have with the Palestinians we will leave our children with a crisis that will be much harder to fix in the future."
7. LITZMAN INVITES SHAKED TO HASSIDIC WEDDING
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked participated this week in the wedding of a grandson of the Gerrer Rebbe. At the wedding, she also met the Gerrer Rebbe's wife.
This is the first time that Shaked has participated in a wedding of a descendant of the Gerrer dynasty. Her participation shows the level of closeness between Shaked and the Gerrer community's representative in the Knesset, Health Minister Yaakov Litzman.
During the wedding, the Gerrer community displayed a high level of openness, welcoming Shaked with a smile and open arms. Litzman took the initiative, telling Shaked, "You have to come!"
"I was happy to participate in the wedding," said Shaked. "There is no doubt that we are talking about an impressive event, and that the fact that I was invited to participate shows how close the Bayit Yehudi faction is with the hareidi community. But this not so important. What is more important is how joyful the wedding was. I wish the couple, as well as the Gerrer Rebbe, his wife, and the entire hassidic community a hearty mazel tov."
8. ISRAELI WHEELCHAIR HELPS THE PARALYZED CRUISE UPRIGHT
by ILTV
[brightcove:2019138]
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