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 כ"א באלול תשע"ז / Tuesday, Sep. 12 '17 Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report -http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe Headlines
1. 'I hope PM strengthens Hevron, lets Jewish community expand'by Hezki Baruch The recent establishment of a separate municipal administration for the Jewish community in Hevron, delinking it from the Palestinian Authority-controlled city, could be the beginning of radical changes, improving the Jewish community’s position, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) said in an interview with Arutz Sheva Tuesday. Last month, the Defense Ministry granted Hevron’s Jewish community independent municipal authority, removing it from the Palestinian Authority-dominated City of Hevron. Among other things, the move allows the Jewish Hevron Municipal Committee to purchase and hold land, as well as to enter into contracts and tenders. The committee will become a local administration and will be authorized to promote the economic, social, cultural, health, and educational issues of Hevron residents, and to collect fees and levies from them. Shaked told Arutz Sheva the move was part of a joint effort by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu), Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan (Jewish Home), and herself. “Municipal Committee [in Hevron] is a project initiated by the Defense Minister, Deputy Defense Minister, and myself. It’s an important project to help strengthen the Jewish community in Hevron, allowing the residents to manage their own affairs.” Recent developments made the granting of independent municipal status to the Jewish community especially important, continued Shaked, citing the election of convicted Fatah terrorist Tiyassir Abu Sanina as Mayor of Hevron. “We’re at a point where the Jewish community in Hevron needs to be strengthened, given the recent decision by UNESCO and the fact that the new mayor of Hevron is a terrorist convicted of murder.” Abu Sanin was convicted of murder for his role in the murder of six Israelis in Beit Hadassah in Hevron in 1980. He was later freed in a prisoner exchange deal agreed to by the Peres government in 1985. Along with the change in the community’s municipal status, Shaked hopes the government will expand the community and permit a new wave of construction. “I hope that the Prime Minister strengthens the Jewish community in Hevron, and will authorize its expansion in the near future. I also hope that all of the ministers will use their positions to do their part to strengthen the Jewish community in Hevron.” 2. 'I screamed hysterically that they were trying to kill us'by Arutz Sheva Staff Dvora Miller was traveling on Saturday night with her husband Avi and three daughters through the a-Tur neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem when her family was attacked by dozens of Arabs carrying clubs and hurling stones at Jewish cars. In an interview with Channel 10's Avi Reshef, Miller said: "In a fraction of a second, I saw a guy looking through the right window, looking at me. Our eyes met for a few seconds and I just saw murder in his eyes." "A second later I heard a huge boom that shook the car and thousands of pieces of glass shattered around me. That's how the mess began, and I understood that we were in danger," she said. "The girls jumped on me and started screaming. There were huge booms all around us. They were hitting our car with clubs and blocks," Miller said. Her husband, the singer Avi Miller, got out of the car and took out his pistol. He fired the weapon into the air to chase the rioters away. "I was totally hysterical. The girls were screaming at me. I tried to call the police. I screamed hysterically that they were trying to kill us and lynch us," she recalled. "A minute later I heard cars and I saw a lot of soldiers running toward us, telling the girls not to worry and they were guarding us. There was a huge mess, with shouting and shooting. From there we were taken to the police station, where I took dozens of pieces of glass out of my children's hair," she said. [youtube:2032659] 3. Lod mayor apologizes for asking mosque not to use loudspeakersby David Rosenberg The mayor of Lod has issued an apology for his visit earlier this month to a local mosque which had violated noise laws and a police order not to use loudspeakers at night during the Eid al-Adha festival. On September 1st, Mayor Yair Revivo was notified that a local mosque was using loudspeakers during its Eid al-Adha celebration in the middle of the night, disturbing local residents and violating police orders to the imam. After coordinating with police, Revivo made his way to the mosque, where he spoke with the imam, calling on him to adhere to noise regulations and disconnect the loudspeakers. The imam refused and a group of Muslim worshippers gathered around Revivo as the argument became increasingly heated. At one point a fight broke out and Revivo was attacked and his cellular phone stolen. Local police failed to intervene, Revivo claimed, and the city declared it would impose sanctions on the police department in response. “Last night the police warned the imam of the mosque [not to use the loudspeakers before dawn], but he didn’t really seem concerned by it,” Revivo said. “I went to the mosque [early Friday morning] and was surprised to find that despite what had been agreed upon [between the city and the police], no officers were present.” “I contacted the police and told them to come,” continued Revivo. Later, “the deputy chief of the local station came. A fight broke out [at the mosque], and I was attacked by a group of worshippers, and I suffered injuries to my hand and my cell phone was stolen. All of this happened in front of the police, who simply watched and did nothing. A total humiliation and an outrage.” A week after the incident, however, Revivo issued an apology, saying that his visit was “hurtful to the feelings” of worshippers at the mosque. In a letter to Lod residents this last Friday, Revivo wrote: “Last week the wonderful coexistence that our city has had for decades was tested.” “The incident which occurred last Friday was regrettable. My arrival at the mosque was hurtful to the feelings of our Muslim brothers, and for that I apologize. I had no intention of causing harm to the Muslim place of worship or to prevent them from praying.” “We will work together to maintain the status quo in Lod, and whenever there is a disagreement, we will sit down together and come to an agreement.” [youtube:2032338] 4. Feiglin's 'Zehut' party heads to the pollsby Tzvi Lev Former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin has been building up his 'Zehut' party since his departure from the Knesset in 2015. The man who once headed the 'Jewish Leadership' faction in the Likud has based his new party on libertarian policies, such as ending the draft and legalizing marijuana. On Tuesday, the party held its first-ever primary vote. Zehut ("Identity" in Hebrew) will be using a model for choosing its Knesset list never before seen in Israel. Unlike the other parties, who restrict voting in primaries to registered members, Zehut lets any Israeli citizen cast a vote in the final runoff. According to Feiglin, this is done to prevent fraud and the deal making that has become the norm in primary battles. "This way of doing things eliminates the whole phenomenon of deals and ballot box stuffing" Feiglin told Arutz Sheva. "In the Likud, every member of the Likud has a support group and since he has to mark 11 spots, and can not cast his votes to the man he wants to win, he makes deals with other groups and thus creates the culture of selling votes, which we see in other parties as well. Feiglin said that Zehut's model attracts votes from other sectors, not just of registered members. "We appeal to the general public and not only to people like us. The voting potential comes from the entire spectrum, even from Yair Lapid." Not all political parties in the Knesset hold primaries. While the Likud, Labor, and Jewish Home parties do, Shas and UTJ get their candidates chosen by their council of sages, and Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu, Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid, and Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu choose their party's list. "We're not like Deri and Lapid, who unilaterally decide things" Feiglin declared. Shlomo Gordon, 25, from Jerusalem, is a candidate for the Zehut party’s Knesset list, and thinks that the party will upend Israeli politics. "Today is a great day" he told Arutz Sheva. "Zehut is the main party that actually has ideology and offers anything other than the status quo, with few exceptions besides the socialist authoritarianism of the far left." Gordon credits the party's capitalist ideology for the high amount of English speakers in the party, saying that "we should all understand that our families who moved to and succeeded in the West, especially in America, prospered thanks to a free market meritocracy." 5. Human rights NGOs refuse to help Arab victims of PA tortureby Tzvi Lev In July, the Jerusalem District Court gave an unprecedented ruling stating that the Palestinian Authority (PA) was responsible for the unlawful detention and torture of collaborators with Israel since the 1990's, which cleared the way for victims to file a lawsuit against the PA. However, the lawyers representing the plaintiffs - all of whom are Arabs - were faced with a problem: Every human rights organization they turned to for assistance in finding a doctor to determine damages refused to help them. "Every NGO we turned to refused to help us. They said they only assist people that sue Israel" attorney Barak Kedem told NRG. Kedem added that finding the right medical support was crucial in the effort to sue the PA for damages resulting from the torture his clients experienced. "These are people that are suffering from several disabilities, including ones of the physical, psychiatric, and urological nature" he said. Human rights organizations in Israel are often criticized for their one-sided approach to the conflict, In 2016, Ezra Nawi, who identifies as a 'human rights activist', was documented admitting that collects information on Palestinian Arabs interested in selling land to Jews and has them executed by the Palestinian Authority (PA). In February, Israel announced that they will stop issuing work visas to Human Rights Watch staff, accusing the group of being "fundamentally biased" against it. 6. Report: Meretz party considering breakupby David Rosenberg Is the far-left Meretz party on the verge of a breakup? Senior members say that amidst growing infighting, the party is weighing a plan to dissolve Meretz and restore its predecessors, the Ratz and Mapam parties. Once a major force in Israeli politics with a dozen seats in the Knesset and power ministerial positions including the Education Ministry and Communications Ministry portfolios, since the 1990s Meretz has declined to just five seats and has not been a member of any government since 2001. Now, internal pressure threatens to tear the standard-bearer of Israel’s progressive-left asunder and mark the end of Meretz’s 25-year existence. According to a report in Israel Hayom Tuesday, efforts within Meretz to depose Chairwoman Zahava Galon have divided the party along factional lines, pitting members of now defunct Ratz and Mapam movements against one another. Meretz, which was formed in 1992, was the political union of the Ratz: Movement for Civil Rights and Peace party - a small, radical-left faction led by Shulamit Aloni and Yossi Sarid – with the secularist Shinui party and Mapam, one of the two Labor factions in the early years of the state before its merger with Mapai. Shinui broke away in 1997, reestablishing itself as an independent party. Galon, whose leadership of the party is likely to be challenged in upcoming internal elections, was a member of the Ratz movement prior to the formation of Meretz, and according to the report, draws much of her strength from former Ratz members. Efforts to oust Galon are reportedly being led by MK Ilan Gilon and other members of the Mapam wing of the party. Gilon has publicly distanced himself from claims that he is leading the effort to depose Galon as party chief. With the party’s central committee set to vote on a proposal to advance the primary election next Sunday, both sides are preparing to battle for control of the party. Should she fail in her effort to block early elections, Galon warned that “All options are on the table.” At the same time, some senior party members are weighing plans to break up Meretz, restoring the Ratz and Mapam factions. “I’m advocating for open primaries, but there are some in the party who are pushing for a vote within a small group [inside Meretz], leaving Meretz fighting for its life,” said Galon. 7. Israel takes on Amnesty Internationalby David Rosenberg The Israeli government is preparing to take on one of the world’s most prominent NGOs over the group’s explicit endorsement of a boycott targeting Israeli products from Judea and Samaria. Amnesty International, a British-based NGO which describes itself as a “global movement” dedicated to ending “abuses of human rights”, this summer called for a ban on all Israeli products from eastern Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. “The international community must ban the import of all goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements and put an end to the multimillion dollar profits that have fuelled mass human rights violations against Palestinians,” Amnesty International Secretary-General Salil Shetty declared on June 7th. “It’s time for states to take concrete international action to stop the financing of settlements which themselves flagrantly violate international law and constitute war crimes.” In the statement, Shetty called for a global ban on the import of Israeli products from Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem, and encouraged supporters to boycott said products. That campaign, Israeli officials warned shortly thereafter, violates anti-BDS legislation passed by the Knesset in 2011, making the offenders like Amnesty International liable for financial sanctions. In July, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon pledged to use “every means we have, including revoking tax benefits” to punish Amnesty over its anti-Israel campaign. According to a Israel Hayom report Tuesday, the Finance Ministry is poised to impose sanctions on Amnesty International’s Israel branch, formally declaring it in violation of the anti-BDS law, ending the tax exemption on donations to the group, and leaving it vulnerable to lawsuits by companies that have been impacted by boycotts or bans abroad. The Finance Ministry is expected to call representatives of Amnesty International’s Israel branch to a hearing in the coming days, followed by a formal ruling on the matter. A spokesperson for Amnesty International issued a statement following the report’s publication, saying “We do not respond to rumors or leaks. We expect that in a legal case as important as this, the Finance Ministry will send a formal, orderly request based on established rules, at which point we will issue a response.” 8. Superstar Natan Goshen releases new version of Chabad classicby Tzvi Lev [youtube:2032684] Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report - http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe | |
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