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Thursday, Nov. 24 '16, כ"ג בחשון תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. WATCH: HAIFA UP IN FLAMES
2. SHURAT HADIN: INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT IS USELESS
3. SHAKED: APPOINT JUDGES BASED ON THEIR VALUE SYSTEMS
4. THE FIRES - IN PICTURES
5. HILLARY LEADS POPULAR VOTE BY TWO MILLION
6. TRUMP SELECTS BETSY DEVOS AS EDUCATION SECRETARY
7. GRAFFITI AND KNIFE FOUND NEAR RA'ANANA REFORM SYNAGOGUE
8. COUNTRIES SEND AID TO FIGHT FIRES ACROSS ISRAEL
1. WATCH: HAIFA UP IN FLAMES
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2021374]
Security forces are dealing with a wave of fires breaking out all over the country. According to official estimates, terror squads are igniting the fires in various areas, and efforts are being made to locate these squads.
Firefighters are working to subdue four fires around the city of Haifa.
Police have ordered the residents of 11 neighborhoods in Haifa, constituting thousands of people, to evacuate their homes and reach the Bat Galim Community Center or the old Qiryat Eliezer soccer stadium.
The Environment Ministry warns of excessive air pollution in Haifa as a result of the fires causing heavy smoke to spread over residential areas. The ministry recommends that people living in the area close their houses and airways and heed the rescue service's directives.
Planes are spreading fire-extinguishing materials on houses in these areas and high-voltage wires have been disconnected.
So far, 12 people have been injured lightly as a result of the fires.
Fires broke out in two areas of the Carmel, causing the evacuation of schools and residents from their homes.
In addition, four firefighting teams are working to subdue renewed intensity of the fire in Talmon in the Binyamin region.
Firefighters said that two cars had erupted in flames and were seriously damaged.
The fire there gained renewed strength after 60 families had been allowed to return to their homes upon being evacuated yesterday.
Over the last day, 220 fires have broken out, 189 of them in open areas. Firefighting aircraft have flown 107 missions, dropping 50 tons of fire extinguishing materials.
2. SHURAT HADIN: INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT IS USELESS
by Yoel Domb
Shurat Hadin president Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who is active in defending Israel from international charges of war crimes, responded to the Palestinian complaint to the Hague International Criminal Court regarding the Gaza blockade.
Darshan-Leitner said that "It's outrageous and cynical that the Palestinians have filed complaints against Israel in the international criminal court. The Palestinians fired thousands of deadly rockets into Israeli civilian neighborhoods trying to murder innocent Jews, and now they run to the Hague pretending that they are victims of war crimes.
"This proves how dangerous and useless the International criminal court really is.
"Recently Russia and several African countries have announced that they are withdrawing their ICC membership because they saw how ineffective the court really is. The court is another failed European initiative should be dismantled.
"They have done nothing to stop the genocide in Syria and Yemen but feel the urge to investigate Israel. They already have ignored acts that violate the Oslo accords and other international agreements with their biased approach towards Israel. ‏
"If the Palestinians would not funnel all of their cement into terror tunnels and all of their iron into terror activities, there would be no need for checkpoints around Gaza."
3. SHAKED: APPOINT JUDGES BASED ON THEIR VALUE SYSTEMS
by Hezki Baruch
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) spoke out against the "constitutional revolution" in a speech at the "Legal Year" conference in Haifa.
Shaked quoted the words of the former head of the Constitution Committee, Uriel Lynn, at the time when the basic laws were being legislated, who stated the real intention of the legislators of these laws.
"We are not transferring the weight of the law to the High Court. We are not doing as suggested in the Basic Law: Legislation. There is no room for a constitution which confers special powers on the courts to cancel laws. The power has not been transferred to the court system, it remains in this house. If it is apparent from our experience with this law that we have erred and the interpretation given to the law is not according to the original intention of the legislators, the Knesset maintains the prerogative to modify the law. I am against establishing a constitutional court, as I think that you give excessive power to a narrow group of judges whose interpretations will cause the cancellation of laws in Israel," said Lynn. Shaked quoted his words and added "I am convinced that the intention of the legislators is clear and understood."
Shaked emphasized the problematic aspects of the new situation. "Since then, the High Court has been disqualifying laws which do not comply in its opinion with basic laws. I ask you, is the definition of a 'law which suits Israel's values' measurable? When one examines whether a particular law complies with Israel's values, is there one answer to the question or many answers? Is there any significance to the value system which a judge carries with him? I think the answer is clear as daylight. It is obvious that in such a case one's personal philosophy plays a part and it is the basis for any decision which will be taken."
"Personal opinions do not just come to play in disqualifying laws. They often express themselves when applying amorphous legal terms, such as the concept of 'reasonable' behavior. The realm of appointments is an area in which the borders have become blurred in a way which harms the public interest. Over the years, there have been cases in which, due to a statement of a person, his appointment was delayed or prevented, such as in the case of Minister Yoav Galant who was slated to become Chief of Staff."
Shaked said that "The executive authority must be allowed to make its considerations. What occurred during the Baron-Hevron case (when a public servant, Ronny Baron was appointed attorney-general in return for his political support for the Hevron agreement) will not repeat itself. Every appointment undergoes public observation and when we appoint judges to the High Court we must take into account their professionalism but also the value system he carries with him.
Shaked was asked about the Attorney-General's decision to open an inquiry regarding the submarine purchase. She answered that "I am not aware and do not intervene in criminal investigations. The role of the Attorney General is almost impossible. There are very few people who can fill this role. There are three main challenges it presents: Not to give in to media and political demands to open investigations when there is no reasonable suspicion of felony, not to let personal feelings as an advisor influence one's decisions to open criminal proceedings and not to use one's power as head of the prosecution to threaten politicians on professional issues when there are differences of opinion. Mandelblit manages to succeed in overcoming all of these challenges. He is straight as a ruler, professional and humble."
4. THE FIRES - IN PICTURES
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[album:open
5. HILLARY LEADS POPULAR VOTE BY TWO MILLION
by Yoel Domb
With votes continuing to be counted from the general election two weeks ago, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton continued to increase her lead in the popular vote over President-elect Donald Trump. The gap between the two contenders stood at two million votes, according to reports released Thursday night. Yet despite these reports there are still allegations of massive voter fraud which enabled Clinton to win the popular vote.
Republican President-elect Mr Trump won the election by winning a majority of the electoral college votes, and he will be inaugurated in January. But with votes still being counted, the Cook Political Report has his tally at 62.2 million and hers at 64.2 million. It is the fifth time in American history that the winner of the popular vote has lost the election.
In 2000, Democrat Al Gore's final lead over George W Bush, who won the election after a prolonged legal challenge, was nearly 544,000.The Supreme Court ultimately decided that election by awarding Mr Bush a win in the contested state of Florida.
This year, Hillary Clinton scored large tallies in states like California, but Donald Trump won most of the so-called swing states, which ultimately decide the outcome of elections. The electoral college system favors candidates who win by a small margin in many states over those that win by a landslide in just a few, the idea behind that being that this method represents the entire gamut of voters rather than specific states with large cities where voters may lean in a direction that is opposed by most states.
A group of academics, lawyers and data experts are also trying to persuade the Clinton team to join their effort to investigate the results in three states to check that there was no foreign computer hacking manipulating the outcome. They are curious why Clinton fared worse in counties that relied on electronic voting machines compared to paper ballots and optical scanners.
But her campaign has not indicated any interest in joining a fight for a recount. The Green party candidate, Jill Stein, is raising funds to request a recount in the same states - Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, all won by Mr. Trump.
However other sources maintain that Trump actually won the popular vote. Numerous reports of voter fraud, of dead people having been represented by other voters and of voters who managed to vote many times have surfaced. The PEW research center claims that as many as 24 million voter registrations in the US are inaccurate, more than 1.8 million deceased people are listed as voters and more than 2.75 million people are registered to vote in more than one state.
Another vote fraud monitoring group, VoteFraud,org, claimed that 3 million illegal citizens voted in the US election. Almost all were expected to vote for Clinton as Trump favors evicting illegal citizens from the US. Thus it is entirely possible that despite voter counts showing Clinton leading the popular vote, there was widespread voter fraud and in fact Donald Trump is the winner of the popular vote as well as the electoral college.
6. TRUMP SELECTS BETSY DEVOS AS EDUCATION SECRETARY
by Tal Polon
Yesterday, US President-elect Donald Trump continued to fill the ranks of his cabinet with the appointment GOP philanthropist Betsy DeVos as secretary of education.
DeVos, who hails from Michigan, is a known advocate of school choice, and supports charter schools and school vouchers towards this purpose.
"The status quo in education is not acceptable," DeVos said yesterday. "Together, we can work to make transformational change that ensures every student in America has the opportunity to fulfill his or her highest potential."
DeVos' appointment comes despite the fact that she had actively campaigned for other Republican candidates during the primaries, dismissing Trump as an "interloper."
It was also announced Wednesday that Trump had selected South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as US Ambassador to the United Nations, despite her previous opposition to his candidacy during the primaries.
Both appointments are pending Senate confirmation before they are official.
7. GRAFFITI AND KNIFE FOUND NEAR RA'ANANA REFORM SYNAGOGUE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Graffiti and a knife were found in front of a Reform synagogue this morning in Ra'anana.
Near the knife were cards on which the names of Reform leaders were written, including those of Anat Hoffman - Head of "Women of the Wall" and the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) of the Reform movement in Israel, as well as those of Israeli Reform Movement Chairman Gilad Kariv and American Reform Movement Chairman Rick Jacobs.
Anat Hoffman said in response: "The knife is a direct result of the negative attitude against the Western Wall plan [for creating a Reform prayer space at the Western Wall] on the part of heads of the haredi parties and haredi rabbis, who will do anything to oppose those different from them. The threat of murder is meant to intimidate and stop us. But our spirits will not be broken. We will continue to protect the women of Israel from the spirit of hate and discrimination running rampant outside."
The Tzohar rabbinical organization condemned the incident: ״Even while there are clear differences between how we and the Reform movement approach issues of Jewish identity and the Jewish nature of the State, it should be completely clear that those differences of opinion must never lead to any hint of violence- neither verbal nor physical."
"We wholly condemn what was done to the Reform center in Ra'anana and join in the call for the authorities to act to stem any further tide of violence and not diminish the seriousness of these incidents."
8. COUNTRIES SEND AID TO FIGHT FIRES ACROSS ISRAEL
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2021376]
PM Netanyahu talked today with President of Russia Vladimir Putin, requesting aid in subduing the wave of fires currently raging across Israel.
Putin responded quickly to the PM's request, saying that Russia would immediately send two giant Beriev Be-200 planes for extinguishing fires.
Netanyahu thanked Putin for the response and aid.
Additionally, Turkey offered this morning to send one of its large fire-extinguishing planes for support; Israel accepted the offer.
Netanyahu said that he valued the offer and aid from Turkey.
The countries that have dispatched aid so far are Greece, Italy, Croatia, Russia, Cyprus, and Turkey. The aid amounts to 10 planes.
Earlier, Minister of Interior Security Gilad Erdan spoke before members of the Greek and Cypriot airborne firefighting aid teams, thanking them.
"I am happy to see that the decision I made along with the PM to request airborne aid from neighboring countries is quickly coming to fruition. The aid from neighboring countries has come so quickly, which testifies to the depth of relations between those countries and Israel. Cooperation from the air will be a determining factor in subduing the fires, and I hope that we will indeed be able to subdue all the fires across Israel."
[youtube:2021377]
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