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Chevron Acquires Noble Energy, Becomes Major Player in Israeli Energy Market

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Chevron Corporation announced Monday that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Noble Energy, Inc. to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Noble Energy in an all-stock transaction valued at $5 billion, or $10.38 per share. Photo by TPS on 7 October, 2019

By: TPS

Chevron Corporation announced Monday that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Noble Energy, Inc. to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Noble Energy in an all-stock transaction valued at $5 billion, or $10.38 per share.

Nobel energy is a primary operator of the gas rigs off Israel’s coast.

Chevron stated that the acquisition provides it with “low-cost, proved reserves and attractive undeveloped resources that will enhance an already advantaged upstream portfolio.”

“Noble Energy brings low-capital, cash-generating offshore assets in Israel, strengthening Chevron’s position in the Eastern Mediterranean,” the statement said.

US Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette stated that the “US-Israeli energy relationship remains stronger than ever.”

“This Administration strongly supports the development of Eastern Mediterranean gas resources, and we look forward to what American ingenuity can do to boost energy development and security in the region,” he said.

Israeli Minister of Energy Yuval Steinitz stated that the acquisition “shows again that when it comes to the relationship between the United States and Israel, economically and energy-wise, the best is truly yet to come.”

Noble Energy played a central role in discovering and developing Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan massive offshore natural gas fields.

The Leviathan Reservoir is a partnership owned by Delek Drilling (45.33%), Noble Energy (39.67%) and Ratio Oil Exploration (15%) that was established in December 2010.

The Leviathan gas field is the largest ever discovered in Israel’s territorial waters and is the second gas field to be connected to Israel after Tamar was connected six years ago.

Leviathan is one of the world’s largest deep-water natural gas discoveries found in the first decade of the 21st century. An estimated 605 BCM, or 22 trillion cubic feet, of natural gas and close to 40 million barrels of condensate have been discovered.

In total, some 35 trillion cubic feet of gas have been found in Israeli waters, worth some $500 billion.

These crucial discoveries enable Israel to become energy independent and have also turned Israel into a major player in the international energy-exporting market.

The Israeli government is expected to earn NIS 17 billion in royalties from the gas discoveries. Additionally, the windfall profits levy is expected to reach up to 10 billion a year by 2040.

(TPS)

Israel Exposes Iran-Backed PFLP Terror Cell That Planned Massive Attacks

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Israel’s combined security forces have exposed and captured a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror network that was financed and trained by Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group. Photo by Majdi Fathi/TPS on 1 January, 2020

By: Aryeh Savir

Israel’s combined security forces have exposed and captured a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror network that was financed and trained by Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group.

The Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) revealed Tuesday that it had exposed in recent months the activities of a terrorist cell that operated under the guise of a civilian welfare organization called “Al-Shabab Alqumi Al-Arabi.”

The cell was exposed during the interrogation of Yazan Abu Salah, 23, a PFLP activist and resident of Araba in the north.

Yazan was arrested for questioning in April 2020, during which information was received about his involvement in planning terrorist attacks in the Judea and Samaria area. As part of his preparations for the attacks, he purchased weapons and recruited activists who headed two different squads, one in the Samaria area and the other in Ramallah.

During his interrogation, he said that he planned for the squads to carry out various serious attacks, including an attack in the city of Harish and the abduction of an IDF soldier as a bargaining chip for the release of terrorists from the Israeli prison.

Yazan said during his investigation that he drew inspiration for planning and carrying out the attacks from the August 2019 PFLP attack on Ein Danny, in which 17-year-old Rina Shnerb was murdered and her father and brother were injured.

Yazan’s interrogation revealed his connections to the Al-Shabab Alqumi Al-Arabi organization, under which the organization’s military wing, the Al-Kharas Alqumi Al-Arabi, operates. The military arm’s activities focus on operations in Syria against the Islamic State (ISIS), Al-Nusra Front and opponents of the Syrian regime.

The Shin Bet also exposed Iran and Hezbollah’s deep involvement in promoting terrorist activity against Israel.

Yazan was expected to leave for military training in Lebanon, including shooting, weapons production, drone operations and more.

Following Yazan’s interrogation, Muhammad Abu Salah, 29, Yazan’s cousin, a resident of Bir Zeit, was arrested for questioning. During his interrogation, it emerged that the organization conducts joint training with elements in Iran, as well as with Hezbollah and the Syrian army, and these also constitute funding bodies for the organization’s activities.

The organization is headed by Assad Al-Amali, known as “Du Al-Pakar”, who operates from Lebanon and is the organization’s liaison with Iran and Hezbollah. He operates on behalf of Iranian elements in Syria.

The Shin Bet subsequently arrested eight other activists who were involved in planning terrorist attacks against Israeli targets.

“The investigation into the affair once again emphasized the close ties that exist between Iran and Hezbollah and the Popular Front terrorist organization, in favor of promoting terrorist activity against Israel,” the Shin Bet stated.

(TPS)

Protesters at Former PM Ehud Barak’s Home; Demand Probe into His Epstein Connections

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A protester sits in front of former PM Ehud Barak’s Tel Aviv residence, with signs linking him to pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. (Lauren Marcus)

Barak’s ties to the disgraced pedophile financier stretched back at least 15 years. Protesters demand an investigation into possible wrongdoing by the former PM.

By: Lauren Marcus

About 30 protesters gathered in front of former Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s Tel Aviv residence on Monday evening, holding signs and speaking with neighbors about his ties to late billionaire financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

World Israel News spoke with the protesters, who expressed frustration with what they see as the Israeli media’s refusal to properly investigate accusations against Barak from an alleged Epstein victim.

The protesters’ signs read “Lolita Minister” and “Black Flag protests – financed by money from the sex trafficking of minors,” a reference to the anti-government Black Flag protests Barak openly supports.

“We’re not here to make any problems,” said Elad, a protester. “We’re here to display our signs, get the message out, and give information. Even some of the neighbors have come down and spoken with us, and learned things they weren’t aware of before.”

“Barak’s connection to Epstein is being downplayed by the Israeli media,” he said. “It’s the elephant in the room. The press is unwilling to have a discussion [about the allegations]. He is still being invited to Meet the Press, he’s still sitting on panels, and nobody is asking anything.”

Barak’s ties to Epstein stretched back at least 15 years. Starting in 2004, he received over $3 million in funding from various Epstein-related institutions, including the Wexner Foundation.

Virginia Roberts Guiffre, who was allegedly trafficked as a minor by Epstein, said in a 2016 deposition that she was sexually abused by Barak when she was a teen. The deposition was unsealed in June 2020.

Representatives for Barak responded in a statement to Israel Hayom that he “does not comment on imaginary rumors or false affidavits.”

Many of the protesters said they believe Guiffre’s allegation warrants a proper investigation, by both the Israeli police and the media, and are disturbed by governmental silence on the matter.

“I’m a single mother of four children and I don’t live in Tel Aviv. I paid for a babysitter so that I could be here today,” said Ayelet, another protester. “That’s how important this is to me.”

“I’m very concerned that child traffickers will begin operating in Israel,” she said, adding that she fears traffickers will become emboldened by the lack of police investigation.

She said she feels the media, “especially left-wing Channel 12 and Channel 13,” aren’t investigating Barak because it’s politically inconvenient.

In July 2019, The Daily Mail published photos taken in 2016 of Barak on the doorstep of Epstein’s New York mansion. The visit occurred years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution and 13-month prison term.

In the photos, Barak approaches Epstein’s home with a scarf covering his face, as though he is attempting to hide his identity.

Barak told The Daily Beast that he covered his face because of the chilly New York weather, saying, “It was so cold the Middle Easterner had to put on a hat.”

He claimed the photos were leaked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to The Daily Mail as part of a smear campaign during the run-up to the March 2020 Israeli elections.

He admitted to visiting Epstein’s homes and his private Caribbean island, but told The Daily Mail he “never met Epstein in the company of women or young girls.”

(World Israel News)

Read more at: www.worldisraelnews.com

Israeli Airstrikes Hit Iranian Posts in Damascus, Says Syrian War Monitor

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Strike on Kobani, Syria. (illustrative) (shutterstock)

Syria reported suspected Israeli air raids on Iranian military assets in the nation’s capital.

By: AP

The Syrian military said the country’s air defenses responded on Monday to Israeli air raids in south Damascus that caused material damage, and residents said loud explosions rocked the capital.

It was not clear what the targets were. The air raids, which came just before 10:00 p.m., continued for more than 15 minutes. Residents reported hearing at least four explosions in the capital.

A military official quoted in Syrian state media said the attack was carried out by Israeli jets that took off from the Golan Heights in northern Israel. The unnamed official said air defenses responded and downed most of the missiles.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country’s civil war, said the suspected Israeli strikes targeted government and Iranian militia posts.

Israel rarely comments on such reports, but is believed to have carried out hundreds of raids targeting Iran’s military presence in Syria since 2017. In the past two months alone, Syria has accused Israel of carrying out at least eight airstrikes. The last reported strikes came in late June.

Iran is the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorist and remains a key ally of the brutal Syrian government in the nearly decade-long civil war.

Iran has established itself as a regional menace and Israel has vowed to prevent any permanent Iranian military entrenchment in Syria, particularly near the border.

In recent months, Israeli officials have also rung the alarm over the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah’s attempts to establish facilities to produce precision-guided missiles. Tensions have also risen along the Israel-Lebanon border.

The strikes Monday came a day after Syrians voted in government-held areas to elect a new parliament. The vote is the third to take place in Syria since the civil war began in March 2011. It has killed more than 400,000, displaced half the country’s population and caused more than five million to become refugees, mostly in neighboring countries.

    (AP)

45% of World’s 14 M. Jews Live in Israel

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There are 14,410,700 million Jews in the world, the Knesset’s Aliyah, Absorption and Diaspora Committee revealed on Monday, and 45% or 6,740,000 of them live in Israel. Photo by Netanel Cohen on 8 July, 2020

By: Aryeh Savir

There are 14,410,700 million Jews in the world, the Knesset’s Aliyah, Absorption and Diaspora Committee revealed on Monday, and 45% or 6,740,000 of them live in Israel. 6,088,000 in North America, 1,072,400 in Europe, 324,000 in South America, 300,000 in Asia, 120,000 in Australia and New Zealand and 74,000 in Africa.

Discussing the plight of the communities during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Committee Chairman David Bittan stressed that “if we do not strengthen the communities in the Diaspora – there will be no one to bring to Israel.”

Large Jewish communities have been severely affected by Corona-related mass deaths, profound damage to the community and its educational activity and the wave of anti-Semitism, and therefore a significant wave of immigration is expected in the next year and a half.

“The Corona plague has spawned a new and unique wave of anti-Semitism around the world, and Israel must condemn the phenomenon of anti-Semitism in all its forms,” he said, warning that Jewish communities in Europe have been facing severe cases of physical assault in recent years, and millions of Europeans continue to hold a wide range of anti-Semitic stereotypes.

According to the Cantor Center’s Anti-Semitism Report, in 2019 there were 456 serious violent incidents, compared to 387 in 2018.

Israel has allocated NIS 20 million to support small Jewish communities around the world.

Diaspora Minister Omer Yankelevich described to the Committee the various heritage, education and community programs her ministry is promoting and called them “a historic milestone in recognizing the commitment of the Israeli government” toward world Jewry.

“Today, large sections of our people are moving away from their Jewish identity and from Israel. We must wake up before it’s too late,” she stated. “Beyond that, it is important to understand that this is a multiplication of power and a strategic asset for Israel in value, security, political and economic sense.”

Diaspora Ministry Director-General Dvir Kahana warned that eight million Jews live in the Diaspora, but 80% of them do not feel connected to Judaism and Jews.

Israel has welcomed more than 255,000 Olim from 150 different countries in the past decade.

Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, 3.3 million people have made Aliyah, making up 42 percent of the total population.

Israel is expecting a quarter of a million Olim (immigrants) in the next 3-5 years, Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog told the Knesset’s Immigration and Absorption Committee earlier this month, a wave of immigration following the global COVID-19 crisis.

(TPS)

Nikki Haley: Biden Victory Will Undo All Good Trump did for Israel

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Then U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Oct. 9, 2018. (AP/Evan Vucci)

Former UN ambassador warns a Biden victory could see U.S. cozying back up to Iran, lose chance for Trump peace deal with Palestinians.

By: Paul Shindman

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley warned Monday that a Democratic victory in November’s presidential election could undo all the progress made under the Trump administration, especially with respect to Israel and the Iran nuclear program.

Haley spoke in an online town hall forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) that the group later posted on its social media feeds.

Haley said President Donald Trump took office and wanted to make it clear, especially at the UN, that America had Israel’s back.

“He wanted everyone to know that Israel was our friend.”

“When he [Trump] saw the fact that we had to start partnering with Israel in a way that we showed not just the UN, but every multilateral organization, that if you’re gonna mess with Israel you have to mess with the United States – [it was] hugely important,” Haley said.

“Look at the difference between Joe Biden and President Trump,” Haley said. “Who is the person that moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem? Who is the person that pulled out of the Iran deal? Who’s the person that allowed me to call out Hamas for the first time in the UN?”

Haley, who was governor of South Carolina before taking the UN post, also said that Biden was moving closer to the radical camp in the Democratic Party and taking foreign policy ideas from Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Senator Bernie Sanders.

“Don’t listen to what he’s saying now,” Haley said. “Actions are louder than words. We have actions of two different people who have held office. We have seen the results of two different people.”

“It’s personal for me,” Haley noted, warning that a Biden victory in the November presidential election would undo a lot of the progress achieved under the Trump administration.

“For all the progress that we made in terms of Israel, in terms of the Middle East, in terms of really having a voice for America and for Israel – I hate the thought that if Biden comes in all of that goes away,” Haley said.

“Because they’re going to go back and try and get back into the Iran [nuclear] deal. They automatically have already started taking sides with Hamas and the Palestinians saying that Israel shouldn’t have their sovereign rights.”

“They’re not for the [Trump] peace agreement. They were already buying friends at the UN trying to appease them,” Haley said. “I don’t want to see it go back to that. I think we worked too hard to get to this point. I think we have to fight hard to keep it and to continue to move in the right direction.”

(World Israel News)

Read more at: www.worldisraelnews.com

Israel’s Interior Minister Warns that Threats Against Netanyahu are Dangerous

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Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri delivers a statement to the media a day before the Israeli election, in Jerusalem on March 1, 2020. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90.

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri calls to up Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security detail, citing “alarming incitement” against the premier and his family.

By: Yehuda Shlezinger

Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri on Sunday called on Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) Director Nadav Argaman to increase the protection afforded to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family, saying that the growing incitement and threats against Netanyahu personally “could herald a catastrophe.”

“In recent weeks we have seen growing incitement against the prime minister, including calls for harming his family and his assassination,” wrote Deri in a letter. “As a former member of late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s government, I cannot sit idly by vis-à-vis these alarming incidents of incitement and the calls to physically harm Netanyahu and his family,” he added.

Prime Minister Rabin was gunned down by radical right-wing activist Yigal Amir on Nov. 4, 1995, in Tel Aviv. Amir later cited his objection to Rabin’s policies, particularly the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords, as the reason for the murder.

The weeks leading to Rabin’s assassination were rife with protests against the Oslo Accords, with many far-right activists saying the prime minister had to be stopped “by any means necessary.” He was infamously portrayed in Nazi uniforms, labeled a “traitor,” and several extreme rabbis even went as far as to issue a Pulsa deNura, or Kabbalistic “death curse,” against him.

The current public atmosphere is very troubling, Deri wrote, stressing, “We can never again say we didn’t know; that our hands are not stained with blood. … I’m aware of the fact you [Argaman] and the Shin Bet are making great efforts to protect the prime minister and his family, but I will be remiss in my public duty if I do not warn of what may come and do everything to ensure we spare no effort to prevent such a catastrophe.”

Israeli society, he warned, “will find it difficult to weather another such incident.”

Freedom of protest and expression “are fundamental principles of democracy and we must preserve them,” the interior minister continued. “Leveling scathing criticism [at elected officials] is legitimate, but incitement to violence against the prime minister and his family cross a red line.”

Netanyahu has filed several police complaints over the past few weeks over threats made against him.

Last week, Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to order the police to investigate threats made against him, as well.

Public Security Minister Amir Ohana warned last week that the level of incitement currently being directed at Netanyahu “dwarfs what was seen in the lead-up to Rabin’s assassination.

“What we saw [in the protests in Jerusalem] was anarchy [led by] agents of chaos seeking to sow panic and despair in the public,” Ohana said.

      (www.JNS.org)

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

Israeli Scientists Find Earliest Evidence of Bird Feather Molt in Flying Dinosaur

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A unique study conducted at the University of Haifa has, for the first time, documented the common process of sequential feather replacement found among modern birds in a winged dinosaur dating back 120 million years. Photo Credit: osef Kiat/Animal Flight Laboratory, Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology and the Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa on 20 July, 2020

By: TPS Staff

A unique study conducted at the University of Haifa has, for the first time, documented the common process of sequential feather replacement found among modern birds in a winged dinosaur dating back 120 million years.

The finding shows that the dinosaur had highly-develop aerodynamic properties and may have lived in a habitat in which it faced predation risk or that it needed to maintain its flight capacities during molting.

“It is fascinating to see how a mechanism that began to develop at least 120 million years ago also exist in today’s birds,” said doctoral student Yosef Kiat of the Animal Flight Laboratory in the Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology at the University of Haifa, who led the study.

“It is also fascinating to see how we can use our modern knowledge about this mechanism in order to yield insights into the evolution and ecology of a dinosaur that lived 120 million years ago,” he added.

Birds must molt and replace their feathers periodically in order to maintain their proper functioning. Once a feather reaches its full size it becomes a dead organ; the bird must then shed the old feather and sprout a new one in its place to ensure that its plumage remains functional for flying and other functions.

The molting strategy may indicate an ability to fly and provide clues about birds’ habitat. In species that spend much of their time in flight or in habitats exposed to predators, such as open areas with sparse vegetation that do not provide hiding places from predators, molting takes place in a gradual, sequential and slow manner in order to ensure that the birds maintain their flying capabilities even during the molting process.

In birds that do not fly often, or that have access to numerous hiding places from predators without needing to fly, the process can be very rapid and the bird sheds a large number of feathers simultaneously and the entire molting process takes just two to three weeks.

The team took this knowledge and sought to apply it to the Microraptor, a dinosaur that lived 130-120 million years ago and whose fossil found in China unusually retained the fossilized marks of its wing feathers.

“Naturally it’s by no means a routine matter to find a relatively complete dinosaur fossil, but it’s even rarer to find well-preserved fossilized wings. The feathers do not usually survive the fossilization process, but in this particular case most of the wing feathers can be seen very well,” Kiat explained.

After the researchers arrived in China, they methodically examined the fossil in order to determine whether there was any evidence of molting.

“At first glance, six feathers of differing sizes can be seen. However, we had to see whether we could be certain that these really are feathers of different lengths that are part of the molting process, rather than a feather that broke or was shortened for some reason. After some hard work, we managed to identify the borders of the feathers and to confirm that we were indeed looking at a wing that has feathers of several different lengths in a sequence. In other words, the Microraptor replaced its feathers in a gradual manner,” the researchers explained.

(TPS)

Muslims Riot in Yaffo over Cemetery, Orthodox in J’slm over Country Club

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Israel’s police faced off with violent Muslim rioters in Yaffo who were protesting the city’s plans to build a hostel for the homeless over an old cemetery, and with Ultra-Orthodox protestors in Jerusalem who oppose the opening of a new country club in the vicinity of their neighborhood. Photo by Yehonatan Veltzer/TPS on 14 July, 2020

By: Aryeh Savir

Israel’s police faced off with violent Muslim rioters in Yaffo who were protesting the city’s plans to build a hostel for the homeless over an old cemetery, and with Ultra-Orthodox protestors in Jerusalem who oppose the opening of a new country club in the vicinity of their neighborhood.

In Yaffo, the rioters conducted an illegal march while setting trash cans on fire and pelting the police with rocks and firecrackers.

The police responded with rubber bullets and stun grenades. Four protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct and the use of violence.

The riots, which have been taking place over the past weeks, were organized by a local Islamic society over the city’s plans to build a hostel for the homeless on a site that was used as a Muslim cemetery over 90 years ago.

The graves have been relocated decades ago for sanitary reasons. The site has been since used as a field by the Jaffa Muslim Football Club, and later by the British Customs for warehouses.

The issue was contested in court, and District Court Judge Avigayil Cohen authorized the municipality to proceed with the construction and ruled that “contrary to the principles laid down by the Islamic Council, constitutional principles are also important: the property owner’s property rights and the public importance of the project – erecting a building for the rehabilitation of street dwellers.”

In Jerusalem, members of an extreme Ultra-Orthodox sect marched on the city hall in protest of a new country club that was opening in the vicinity of their neighborhood in Ramot. They alleged Mayor Moshe Lion was “defiling their communities.”

A large police force on site fended off the hundreds of demonstrators.

Several dozen protestors held a similar demonstration in Beit Shemesh.

In other developments, it was reported that three members of the Arab-Israeli community were shot dead in criminal incidents over the weekend, bringing the total number of casualties in the community to 50 from the beginning of the year.

Samir Omaria, 53, was shot dead on Saturday night and four others were injured in the town of Ibtin in the Zevulun Valley. On Sunday morning Hussein Abu Dib, a 55-year-old resident of Kafr Qassem, was shot at a construction site in Petah Tikva. A 55-year-old man was shot dead in the Arab town of Tira shortly afterward.

The police arrested a 36-year-old man for the Ibtin shooting.

The Arab-Israeli society has seen a surge in violence in recent years, and at least 50 Arab citizens have been killed in criminal incidents since the beginning of 2020.

The Yozmot Avrahm organization said that this year’s homicide rate was higher in comparison to the 38 cases registered at this time of year last year.

36 of the murders were committed using a firearm, and in the last 30 days alone, six Arab citizens have been murdered.

The Knesset’s Research and Information Center presented a study last month showing that police carried out 51,128 criminal arrests in 2019, of which about 39% of those arrested were Jews and 61% were non-Jews.

Between 2015 and 2019, 80% of those suspected of committing firearm-related crimes in Israel were non-Jews.

The homicide rate in the Arab community in Israel has increased by 60% from 2016 to 2019, and in 2018, the murder rate among Arabs in Israel was more than eight times the rate among Jewish Israelis, a new study published by the Baladna Association for Arab Youth shows.

(TPS)

Court Holds Second Session on Netanyahu’s Corruption Charges

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Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS on 7 March, 2020

By: Aryeh Savir

The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday held a second hearing on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption charges in three cases, mostly a technical session that Netanyahu did not attend.

The hearing was set to determine the schedule of the trial and when the hearings will begin on a regular basis. The prosecution would like to commence with the trail in the coming months and hold several sessions a week, and the defense is seeking a much later date while claiming that the magnitude of the material requires many months of preparations and fewer sessions a week.

The court ruled that it will start hearing witnesses in January 2021 with three sessions per week.

Netanyahu was indicted for breach of trust in Case 1000, the illegal gifts affair, for breach of public trust in Case 2000, the Yediot Ahronot-Yisrael Hayom affair, and for bribery and breach of trust in Case 4000, the Bezeq-Walla! affair.

The first case, Case 1000, involves expensive gifts that Netanyahu allegedly received from wealthy supporters, particularly from Israeli-born movie producer Arnon Milchan, possibly in return for favors.

Case 2000 alleges bribery between Netanyahu and Yedioth Aharonoth owner, Arnon Mozes. Netanyahu supposedly offered to use his power to hinder the influence of Yedioth’s main rival, Israel Hayom, through legislation that would minimize Israel Hayom’s distribution, in return for Yedioth’s reduction of negative coverage of Netanyahu.

Case 4000 alleges that Shaul Elovitch, former owner of Israeli telecommunications giant Bezeq and of the Walla! news portal, pressured his CEO, Ilan Yeshua, to arrange positive coverage of Netanyahu on Walla! in exchange for the prime minister advancing regulations that would benefit Elovitch. The regulatory benefits were worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Bezeq, of which Elovitch was a major shareholder at the time.

The trial is expected to last for years.

Netanyahu, the first sitting prime minister in Israel’s history to be tried, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and his supporters have called the allegations a witch hunt by a “hostile media” against him and his family and have accused the judicial system of attempting to unseat a prime minister in an undemocratic process.

(TPS)

Health Ministry Official: Weekend Lockdown Will Reduce Infection Chain by 20%

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The Israeli health system is teetering on the edge of not being able to sustain the load of Coronavirus (COVID-19) patients and the government must impose further restrictions on the public. Photo by Eitan Elhadez-Barak/TPS on 7 July, 2020

By: Aryeh Savir

The Israeli health system is teetering on the edge of not being able to sustain the load of Coronavirus (COVID-19) patients and the government must impose further restrictions on the public, Health Ministry Deputy Director-General Prof. Itamar Grotto told the Knesset’s Special Committee on the Novel Coronavirus

“I am worried about the situation. The hospitals are currently packed with patients and are teetering on the edge of being able to sustain the load,” he told the committee in an effort to convince them to endorse government recommendations to impose further restrictions on the public, included a weekend lockdown.

“We have over 550 coronavirus patients hospitalized in hospitals and this overload is causing distress,” Grotto told the committee chaired by MK Yifat Shasha-Biton, who has demanded data before approving the restrictions.

Some 255 of the hospitalized patients are in serious condition, of them 70 are on life support.

“Even if today, the whole country is locked down and no one leaves their homes, we will see a continuation of the infection,” he added.

Israel has been contending in recent weeks with the second wave of infections and registered 1,437 new cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of active patients in Israel to 28,037.

Grotto explained that one person can “create a huge chain of infection,” pointing to a graduation party in Raanana and a wedding in Dimona in which numerous people contracted the virus.

Since education institutions were reopened, there has been a spike in the number of infected children, he said, while stressing that the restrictions on gatherings are “blocking the disease.” Some 10% of the infections came from schools and summer programs.

The current morbidity rate, he said, requires the closure also of places that comply with the “Purple Badge” regulations. “A lockdown during the weekends is expected to reduce the infection chain by about 20%,” he said.

The government is still pondering interim steps that are “meant to prevent a general lockdown” following the sharp increase in the Coronavirus morbidity.

The Cabinet decided on the closure of gyms and studios for exercise or dance, restaurants and eateries were limited to take away and delivery only, with no on-site seating, and weekend lockdowns will take effect from 17:00 on Fridays until 05:00 on Sunday.

Israel on Sunday counted a total of 50,035 infections since the outbreak. 21,589 have recovered and 409 have died.

(TPS)

Israel’s Coronavirus Committee, Cabinet Spar Over COVID-19 Restrictions

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Vice Premier Benny Gantz at the weekly cabinet meeting, at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on June 14, 2020. Photo by Marc Israel Sellem/POOL.

Committee urges the government not to close beaches, restaurants, gyms • Deputy Health Minister: Proposed restrictions were designed to prevent full shutdown.

By: Yehuda Shlezinger & Gideon Allon

Israel’s Knesset coronavirus committee on Sunday pushed back against the government’s proposals for additional COVID-19 restrictions, urging the Cabinet to allow public pools and beaches to remain open on weekends. The committee also called on the Cabinet to allow restaurants to remain open at 35 percent indoor-seating capacity and to allow gyms to reopen, as long as they operate in accordance with public health regulations.

The committee will meet again on Monday to review the Cabinet’s response and to vote on the measures.

Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch, who joined the committee meeting on Sunday, said that the proposed restrictions were designed to “prevent a shutdown.” He explained that the issue with pools, beaches and restaurants was the same—namely, large gatherings of people—and promised to seek out a compromise that would allow beaches to remain open.

“We are in the middle of a mega-event … In the first wave, there were confirmed cases in 78 communities, and now there are over 200 communities reporting cases,” Kisch told the committee.

In the weekly Cabinet meeting earlier Sunday, Netanyahu said the government was “making every effort to avoid a general lockdown.”

“We are working at the coronavirus’ pace. We do not have many choices; it is not a normal situation. This is not a situation in which we can do all these processes that take days and hope that everything will be fine. The disease is changing speed and we must change together with it,” said the prime minister.

“The steps that we are submitting here, the recommendations, mainly include the way to stop gatherings, to prevent gatherings in closed spaces of over 10 people and of over 20 in open spaces. This is not scientific. There are always exceptions. However, this is our direction—to prevent such gatherings.

“The alternative,” Netanyahu warned, would be “much harsher steps tomorrow, which we are trying to avoid.”

“It could be that we will have no choice and then we will take them, but at the moment we are trying to make quick and joint decisions. It is very important that we unite around these decisions. … The important thing is that once a decision, or decisions, is or are made, we all stand behind them. This is the minimum required of any government, especially one in such a crisis,” he said.

Strategic Affairs Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen voiced harsh criticism of Netanyahu’s recent steps to deal with the coronavirus crisis and its economic fallout. Farkash-Hacohen said the government had no clear plan and “pulled out something new every two weeks.”

Farkash-Hacohen also called Netanyahu’s proposal to hand out NIS 6 billion ($1.74 billion) in grants to every citizen, regardless of income level, “the worst plan.”

In response, Environmental Affairs Minister Gila Gamliel said that during the first wave of corona, “everything worked excellently.” Gamliel said that the prime minister and finance minister should be allowed to work without people “throwing a wrench in the works.”

The grants proposal is still being hammered out, with a final decision expected by Tuesday. According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday, Netanyahu, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Finance Minister Katz and Economy Minister Amir Peretz are to complete by Monday “the formulation of a model for allocating the one-time grant for additional economic support for the citizens of Israel, worth NIS 6 billion.”

(www.JNS.org)

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

Joining Together to Support Goya Products

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President Donald Trump listens as Robert Unanue, of Goya Foods, speaks during a roundtable meeting with Hispanic leaders in the Cabinet Room, Thursday, July 9, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The old saying, “No good deed goes unpunished,” applies to someone we never heard of until last week. Robert Unanue is probably not known to most Americans but his products are. He’s the CEO and third generation boss of Goya Foods based in Jersey City and in business since it  was started by Spanish immigrant grandfather in 1936, right smack on Duane Street in Manhattan. Now it’s a giant in the food industry, catering to not only Hispanics but to all Americans whose taste buds know what’s good.

Unanue’s problems began when he was invited to the White House on July 9th by…..President Trump. And during this visit during which he was made part of the White House Prosperity Initiative to promote educational and job opportunities for Hispanics he uttered these memorable words, that the U.S. was, “truly blessed to have a leader like President Trump.” And Bingo! the you know what hit the hate fan.

Immediately, if not sooner, the Venom Squad led by birdbrained Ocasio Cortez urged a boycott (Goycotte) of all Goya products which include rice, oil, sauces, spices, gazillion types of beans, soups and sauces. AOC and her Progressive team of bullies basically called for the elimination of 3,000 jobs of workers who punch out 2,200 different products loved by millions of worldwide consumers. The congresswoman, raised in the upscale, lily-white Yorktown Heights community now claims she will home make her own Adobo seasoning. We hope her cookbook sticks to one syllable words.

We don’t know or care if Mr. Unanue is a Democrat or a Republican. Neither do his tens of thousands of loyal customers. We do know that he is a successful businessman who has been previously lauded at the White House by former President Barack Obama back in 2011 and with Michelle in 2012 to launch a program aimed at improving nutrition among Hispanics. There was no condemnation from Republicans for his appearances with BHO and his family. No calls for boycotts or referring to Unamue as a “traitor to his community.” Nothing!

But the Hate Honchos have now gone to war not only with Goya Foods but with the American consumer. And they are losing. Sales of Goya products in the U.S, have quadrupled. Goya shelves in many supermarkets have been wiped clean of its products. The old saying, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” has proven itself true. A grocery store manager down in Boca Raton claimed that many of his customers now  ask to be directed to the Goya foods aisle. Sales are booming. This was not a good war for Progressives to get into.

Goya foods has, as Unamue states, “Snuck in as much as 180,000 lbs. of foodstuffs into Venezuela.” They are sending another 220,000 lbs. to that nation through Catholic Church charities. The company has given a million cans of chickpeas and a million pounds of other goods to food banks, charities and churches across the U.S. What more can we ask of a grandson of successful Spanish immigrant entrepreneurs who is a giver, employer, father and proud American citizen than what he’s already given to humanity. But because he joined President Trump’s initiative to help Hispanics, an honorable endeavor, he’s condemned by a whole bunch of ignorant, bigoted losers whose vision for America is a deep, dark hole. We do not wish them well.

The Failure of the NYC School System

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. Photo courtesy U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.

The NYC public schools were once the best in the nation. Its teachers were selected and screened carefully, through testing and personal interviews. Their students, many first generation whose families spoke their native tongues at home, excelled and achieved greatness in all fields. But what happened to this jewel? A recent report indicated that more than 140 NYC elementary and middle schools had at least one grade where more than 90% of kids failed their state exams. 23 schools had at least one entire class where not a single student passed a math or English proficiency test given annually to kids in grades 3 to 8. The system is shot, kaput, basically criminal!

Under democracy, where there’s a need to fill a void, someone comes along with a solution. So, some years ago, along came the Charter Schools to offer an option, a choice for parents who were concerned their kids were merely wasting their time and ruining their futures sitting in public schools. Charter schools ARE tuition free public schools, accepting all students who apply, on a first-come, first served basis and once capacity is filled, a waiting list is set up. And they work! Facts: 63 % of the NYC charter students in grades 3-8 passed the state math exam this year. The public schools’ average was 43%. 57% of charter kids were proficient in English, as opposed to 47% in public schools. Throw in the fact that it costs NYC about $29,000 yearly per student for a faux education. So, who’s the big winner?

Charters. They are funded by the city at far less than regular schools. The big PLUS is they are not controlled by the Board of Education and their teachers are not…..are not unionized. And that, dear friends has infuriated the United Federation of Teachers to take up arms against the Charter School movement and with its collective political clout, attempt to drown it.   Our public school teachers are spoiled. Once they have served, as 99% of them do, the 3 year probation period, they’re in the system for life. There is no bonus for exceptional performance.

No competition to urge success. Promotion is largely based on sex and ethnicity rather than first rate performance in the classroom. But to their credit, NYC teachers have to put up with out of control students for whom the daily grind of going to school is not their first concern. Neither is it on the part of their parents who hand their kids off to the system and leave it at that. However, the parents of charter, private and yeshiva students opt to select the schools based on reputation and performance. They use their option of choice. Private schools in the metro area cost about $40,000 per and yeshivas charge a sliding scale. They are another alternative selection to the failing city school system for which there is no ray of light at the end of the tunnel. Why is this?

The United Federation of Teachers (UFT), who basically staff and run the system, is heavily political. 96% of its political donations are to the Democrats who, in return, bow to the wishes of the union. Higher salaries, super pensions and benefits are the first demands of the teachers. We support the idea of competition among all schools. Success in the classrooms should be rewarded. Failure should result in teacher discharge or replacement. Charters, private and yeshiva schools are there for parents to choose from as opposed to the crumbling public schools in their neighborhoods. If the choice is there, take it for the benefit of your children.

Letters to the Editor

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Why is One Group Singled Out?

Dear Editor:

I’m old enough to remember the pride Jews in this country had when the story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising leaked out. These heroes died for a cause. I look up to the Israeli Jews who after 72 years are still fighting and dying for survival. Yet here in the USA, Jews are begging for another Holocaust. In fact, they are joining forces with the planners. Where are the stand up Jews who will counter the open Jew hating of the Progressive Left?

In this free land, a gift to us Jews from Above, we are silent, just waiting for the knock on the door. Are there not a dozen Jews in NYC who will sit down in front of Gracie Mansion to demand that Jews as well as all whites are on the same level as blacks, that their lives matter as well as blacks? Why are black lives singled out? I’m offended that one group gets singled out for protection. When was there a riot against them as there was against Jews in Crown Heights?

Name a Jewish leader, the likes of Sharpton, Farrakhan, Jackson, Rev. Wright, Omar, Tlaib who ever blurted out hatred against blacks. None! Yet it is we Jews who are in the cross-hairs of blacks. Listen Jews! Wake up to the plans the progressives have for us. Our silence will lead to our destruction.

Respectfully,
Leon Pinsky
Bronx, NY

 

Imperfect Heroes

Dear Editor:

The 70’s ‘Revolution’ changed civil and women’s rights, ended the Vietnam War. Extremists used explosives to overthrow the ‘military industrial complex’. It didn’t work.

This ‘revolution’, allegedly begun as a fight against racism, now openly states its true agenda-to overthrow our institutions, capitalism in particular, as instruments of racial oppression.  They call for The Star Spangled Banner to be replaced with John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, dismiss the courage and innovation of democracy founders, Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, as slave owning “racists.”   I guess this mob was out the day they taught about our bloody civil war against slavery.  And out the day they taught critical thinking skills about historical context.

Perfect heroes, humans without flaws simply do not exist. John Lennon broke his son’s heart. Julian Lennon, said “I felt he was a hypocrite. Dad could talk about peace and love out loud to the world but he could never show it to the people who supposedly meant the most to him: his wife and son.”  Still wanna change the anthem to “Imagine?”

The Obamas were members of Rev. Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ for twenty years.  Quotes from Rev. Wright, “We started the AIDS virus…United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own terrorism.”  Obama marched with open Jew hater, Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan’s Million Man March.  Should we remove the Obamas’ portraits hanging in the White House because they associated with both of these bigots?

This mob rampages across cowered America, toppling all statues, including religious ones, threatens us with destruction unless we bend a knee to their demands. The Twilight Zone’s “The Obsolete Man”, shows a communist, totalitarian state where “logic is an enemy and truth is a menace”, and executes a man now deemed obsolete because he reads books, and believes in God.  Amen.

Sincerely
Zelena Macouri

 

CNN’s News Bunker

Dear Editor:

CNN featured a Connecticut News 12 story, “Father talks to News 12 about viral video showing 9-year-old son hiding from police.”  Gee, could it be that this young man was hiding from police because of mainstream media and CNN’s relentless attacks on police, while never, ever reporting on the overwhelming majority of police officers who act with restraint and respect, who put their lives on the line for all of us, whose law abiding inner city Black and minority community depends upon and values?

CNN’s cheerleader Don Lemon lectures us, from the safety of his desk, about our inherent racism and how to effect change in society while CNN had to erect a concrete barrier after rioters broke glass and attempted to breach its Atlanta headquarters.

Rioters destroy and hold hostage our cities, while Lemon’s program, “Silence Is Not An Option”, asks “How do we make sure all kids feel safe when they’re at the playground? How do you make sure the police in our communities are working for us?  Get active. Start with your local neighborhood and community institutions…help fight unequal policies through your expertise…”

The irony is exquisite. CNN lectures us on how we should all become non-violent community activists to “fix” the police, lectures us about ensuring the safety of our children, while, in the name of “racism”, rioters burn, loot, use violence and intimidation to force their nihilist agenda down our throats. We get lectured while BLM’s written platform declares an end to “capitalism” as an oppressor of Black people, openly states its goal as the overthrow of ALL our institutions, and singles out only Israel as ‘genocidal, apartheid, White Jewish supremacists.’

The CNN’s of our world quietly hire private security for themselves, while they bash our police and lecture us from the safety of their offices. When the mob they support finally breaches the concrete barriers they built, they’ll need to flee to a bunker. A DNA check for “structural racism” will be required for admittance.

Sincerely
Ernest Calloway

 

X-Ray Vision & Mass Hysteria

Dear Editor:

The BLM movement, and their bottomless guilt ridden white supporters are fond of accusing America of being “structurally” racist, as in, it’s in our DNA, therefore impervious to remedy.

“Structural” racism? Sounds more like x-ray vision to me. Gee, I didn’t know anyone could actually see into my soul or read my thoughts or know what is in my heart.  America has bent over backwards to get rid of “institutionalized” racism. And has succeeded. Will there always be “racism” in some of us? Yes. Sorry to disillusion you all, but this is part of human nature. What is not part of human nature is to allow legal discrimination by our institutions.

As long as, as a society, we are no longer winking at or tolerating “racism” as part of our hiring practices, higher education, and police, the majority of whom conduct themselves with dignity and restraint, whether or not “in our hearts”, some of us have “racist” thoughts, is unknowable. That belongs in a constructive discussion of race relations, is between you and your maker and has no place in “reasons” for looting, burning, stores, many of which were minority owned.

By the way, as of June 2020, the mayors of 64 of the country’s 100 largest cities are affiliated with the Democratic Party, all liberals. NYC’s mayor, Wilhelm deBlasio, Seattle’s mayor are total progressives. That didn’t stop NYC from being trashed, even while he gave approval to the looters and rioters. Major American cities now resemble war zones.  Holding Americans hostage, under the guise of fighting “racism”, is only serving to divide us further, cast doubt upon your radical, true “agenda” and reject your rejection of America.  If you think Trump is to blame, then dump him at the box office instead of dumping and trashing America, its history and its virtues.

Sincerely
Marik Kocholinskaya

Beinart’s Final Solution: End Israel as Nation-State of the Jewish People

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Following their impassioned fall 2012 conversation, Peter Beinart of the Daily Beast reengages with famed jurist Alan Dershowitz over issues raised in Beinart’s book, The Crisis of Zionism. Moderated by Ethan Bronner, former Jerusalem bureau chief for the New York Times. Photo Credit: YouTube

By: Alan M. Dershowitz

Peter Beinart’s New York Times op-ed advocating the end of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people is a study in historical ignorance, willful deception and arrogant rejection of democracy.

Beinart proposed that a single binational, bi-religious state in what is now Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip replace current Israel, whose Jewish population would then be given a “homeland” within the new nation. But Beinart is woefully ignorant of previous attempts to create or maintain binational or bi-religious states.

Beinart ignores the lessons of history surrounding the former Yugoslavia — Tito’s failed effort to create a single artificial nation from different ethnicities and religions — which ended in genocide, tragedy and its breakup into several states now living in relative peace. He omits any mention of Lebanon — a failed experiment in sharing power between Muslims and Christians. He writes as if Hindu India still included Muslim Pakistan, instead of having been divided after considerable bloodshed and divisiveness. He focuses instead on two countries, Northern Ireland and South Africa, which bear little relationship to current-day Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Northern Ireland is a country whose population is ethnically similar, with only religious differences at a time when religion is playing a far less important role in the life of many secular Northern Irish. South Africa was a country in which a tiny minority of whites dominated a large majority of Blacks, and is now a dominantly Black nation.

Israel and the Palestinian territories are totally different. The population of Israel is a mixture of Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews, Muslims and Christians. The West Bank and Gaza are comprised almost exclusively of Muslim Arabs.

There used to be a mixture of Muslim and Christians, but most Christians have been forced out. The combined Muslim Arab population of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza is close in number to the Jewish population of Israel. If Israel were to end its existence as the nation-state of the Jewish people — as Beinart advocates — and become a Jewish “homeland” in a single binational, bi-religious state, a demographic war would become inevitable, in which Jews and Muslims would compete to become a majority. As soon as a Muslim majority materialized, the Jewish “homeland” would become precisely the kind of “Bantustan” that Beinart has railed against in the context of South Africa. The Jewish minority would be ruled by the Muslim majority, even if it were given some degree of autonomy. Their protection would be largely in the hands of the Muslim majority, many of whom believe there is no place for a Jewish entity anywhere in the region.

It was precisely this fear that led to the creation of political Zionism in the 19th century. Theodor Herzl and others experienced the anti-Semitism of Europe and the inability of the Jewish minority there to protect itself against pogroms and discrimination. Placing the safety of Israel’s Jewish population in the hands of a potentially hostile Muslim majority would be an invitation to possible genocide.

Beinart is insistent that today’s Israelis and Jews must ignore the lessons of the Holocaust. But those who ignore history are destined to repeat it. And Jews cannot afford to see a repetition of their tragic past.

Beinart never discusses the issue of who would control the armed forces and, most particular, Israel’s nuclear arsenal, under a binational and bi-religious state. Recall that the current Hamas constitution demands that a Palestinian state be an Islamic nation bound by Sharia law. Even if the Palestinian majority state would allow the Jewish minority homeland to have its own domestic laws, the state itself, with its Muslim majority, would presumably control the armed forces. This would create yet another Islamic state, among the many that currently exist — but this one would have a nuclear arsenal. A Palestinian majority would also not allow persecuted Jews from around the world to seek asylum, as they can today under Israel’s Law of Return. Instead, the Palestinian state would enact its own law of return that would allow millions of exiles to “return” and assure a permanent Muslim supermajority.

(Gatestone Institute)

Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School and author of the book, Guilt by Accusation: The Challenge of Proving Innocence in the Age of #MeToo, Skyhorse Publishing, November 2019. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

This article was originally published by Newsweek and is reprinted by kind permission of the author.