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“Plazafication” of NYC Continues to Rise in Outer Boroughs

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In recent years, the city has been moving to create more pedestrian plazas in the boroughs outside Manhattan, The New York Times reports.

They add up to 30 acres of land that used to be streets, which is the equivalent of almost 23 football fields, a modest-sounding total that has still had plenty of impacts, some of which are controversial.

“In the grand scheme of things, not a lot of space has been given over to pedestrian plazas,” said Paul Steely White, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group, “but it’s important space. It’s high-demand space. It’s in the city’s densest neighborhoods. It’s at crossroads. It’s in key commercial centers. The impact of reclaiming that 30 acres has been enormous.”

Also, he said, in a traffic-choked city, closing streets, rerouting drivers and building plazas sends a message: “Driving culture is not the predominant street culture.”

To people who crisscross them, the plazas look like public parks on the street, but they are different from parks. On the city’s organization chart, they are overseen by the Department of Transportation, not the Parks Department, and in some neighborhoods, they have been met with resistance amid fears that they were a trigger for gentrification, according to The New York Times.

City officials say the plazas have made streets safer for pedestrians.

Simeon Bankoff, the executive director of the Historic Districts Council, called the pedestrian plaza program a “very mixed bag.”

“In some cases, there are tables that are put out, and food carts pop up, and it becomes a space for people who are patronizing food carts instead of just hanging out,” he said.

When the city’s pedestrian plaza program began 10 years ago, it was controversial because it wanted to block off some of the busiest streets in the city if not the world. Ten years later, the program has changed the aura and ambience of the city, making it more walkable and, officials say, safer and cleaner — and not just in Midtown Manhattan, where the pedestrian plaza in Times Square served as a high-visibility demonstration project, according to The New York Times.

City officials say that after traffic was rerouted in Midtown, there were 35 percent fewer injuries from pedestrians being hit by cars and 63 percent fewer injuries to drivers and their passengers from fender-benders. And, in the three years after a plaza was created in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, accidents dropped 53 percent and injuries from crashes dropped 62 percent.

“D.O.T. broke some eggs when they created this program, and now we’re all making the omelet,” said Tim Tompkins, the president of the Times Square Alliance, the business improvement district that maintains the area and arranges outdoor programs there. “The complex work is how are the ingredients going to be different in Times Square than in Elmhurst?”

By: Heather Longhofer

Small Businesses Don’t Fret; Competing with Amazon Prime Days is Possible

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As Amazon prepares for its Prime Day promotion, other big-name retailers like Macy’s and eBay are launching deals and sales of their own. Small businesses like those that don’t sell much online shouldn’t just give up and not participate.

While entrepreneurs may not be able to directly compete with the online behemoth in some areas in any way, shape, or form, experts say they should differentiate themselves by offering unique products and experiences, whether their business is rare books or shoe repairs Vos Iz Neias News reports.

“Stay authentic,” says Amit Sharma, who is CEO of Narvar, a tech company, and is a former executive at Walmart, Williams-Sonoma and Apple. “You can’t compete on price and promotions, but highlight your product and how you stand out.”

Amazon has emphasized Prime Day’s own impact on small businesses that sell on its platform. It said Prime members ordered more than 40 million items from small and medium-sized businesses last year during the promotion. It added that thousands of those businesses selling on Amazon had more than $50,000 in sales on that day. Consulting firm AlixPartners says that based on its surveys, more shoppers than last year are actually expecting to use Prime Day to shop for bargains at other retailers.

Mary Adams, who has owned and run the Annapolis Book Store in Maryland for nearly 14 years, is thinking of potential benefits that could come at the same time Amazon is in the limelight on that day.

“I’m trying to stay alive,” says Adams, who has seen sales weaken at her shop that sells both antiquarian books and current best sellers as shoppers shift online or just don’t want to collect books.

She is contemplating launching a campaign to get shoppers to invest in local businesses. She’s also thinking of renting out some books that day. Shoppers would pay full price but would get dollars off when they return them, and the books would then be sold as secondhand.

Small businesses can’t compete with Amazon’s war chest for marketing. The company has already taken to the TV airways to promote Prime Day, and sent emails to members. Smaller companies can still send out their own emails and even do local marketing such as digital banners on the area football field.

“They should build awareness from now until Prime Day,” says Roshan Varma, a director in the retail practice at AlixPartners.

Small businesses shouldn’t just use Prime Day to liquidate summer leftovers or other products that haven’t sold. They should offer small discounts on new and special merchandise and even offer sneak peeks of holiday items so that shoppers be incentivized to come back again and for more.

“The best strategy is to use Prime Day to gain customers in the long-term,” says Varma.

Experts also tell small business owners to examine which deals Amazon will be highlighting, and then offer small discounts on their own items that complement those products.

Whether you offer repair services or free coffee, highlight the intimate experiences at your business. Experts also think owners should emphasize their niche products. “The ‘everything store’ can’t compete with a locally curated assortment,” says Varma.

By: Valerie Autrey

Millennium Wants Out of Kushner-Owned 666 Fifth Ave

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High-powered hedge fund Millennium Management wants to move out of Kushner Company’s 666 Fifth Ave. in what’s the latest possible blow to the cash-hemorrhaging tower, The New York Post reports.

Millennium, headed by Israel “Izzy” Englander, could vacate a 170,000 square feet at the 1.3-million-square-foot tower which is already 30 percent vacant, sources told The New York Post.

Although one insider said Millennium was merely “weighing its options,” brokerage sources confirmed that the firm is in advanced talks to move to Boston Properties’ 399 Park Ave. It wasn’t apparent how Millennium would get out of its lease at 666 Fifth, which was recently renewed.

The fund has also had talks with other Midtown landlords, sources said.

The troubled 666 Fifth faces a $1.2 billion mortgage coming due in February and reportedly lost $24 million this year.

In the ongoing saga of trying to find a buyer for 666 Fifth drama, Kushner Cos., which is now run by company founder Charles Kushner and President Laurent Morali, is in talks to buy out its minority partner Vornado’s 49.5 percent stake in the building, The New York Post reports.

Simultaneously, Brookfield Asset Management is in talks to replace Vornado’s stake at 666 Fifth once Kushner buys out Vornado.

Brookfield would then redesign the obsolescent tower for updated uses as well as take control of management and leasing.

Losing Millennium would be “a bad pill for Kushner,” one source said. “It will mean further reduced cash flow and also strengthen Brookfield’s hand in the talks with Kushner.”

Millennium does like the space at 666 Fifth, but Millennium fears that “nobody knows what the hell is going to happen there, and they want out of Dodge,” a different source said.

Reps for Kushner and for Millennium declined to comment.

The Jewish Voice previously reported that Vornado will soon be replaced by Brookfield as a partner in Kushner Cos.’ 666 Fifth Avenue. Without the involvement of the Qatari Investment Authority, Brookfield will take the lead on the redeveloping of the office tower in Midtown Manhattan.

The 49.5 percent stake in the 40-story tower’s office portion will be bought by the Charlie Kushner and Laurent Morali headed Kushner Cos. for $120 million from Vornado Realty Trust.

One of the separate retail condominiums in the building’s base will remain under Vornado’s ownership.

In response to a New York Times article, The New York Post was told by a source familiar with the matter, “There is no truth or validity to Qatar having an investment in the building.”

According to The New York Post, “Qatar does own preferred equity shares in Brookfield’s Manhattan West and Canary Wharf in London, but is not investing in Kushner’s office building, the source insisted. An investment by a foreign government in the family’s signature tower could prove difficult for Jared Kushner, who resigned his position in the company to work for his father-in-law, President Trump. It is still unclear what paperwork and funds, if any, have been exchanged between Brookfield, Kushner and Vornado but a formal announcement could be forthcoming as Brookfield operates five public companies.”

By: Diana Hourigan

NBA Billionaire Owner Michael Rubin in $43M Downtown NYC Penthouse Sale

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Half of an $80 million penthouse at the Herzog & de Meuron-designed 160 Leroy Street is expected to close at $43 million, making it the most expensive home sold south of 14th Street, The New York Post reports.

This larger half of the penthouse went into contract last October with an asking price of $51 million. Michael Rubin, the co-owner of the basketball team Philadelphia 76ers, and the CEO of the e-commerce company, Kinetic, has been identified as the buyer, according to Curbed NY.

While the sale hasn’t officially closed sources have told several publications including the Wall Street Journal that the sale will close in the coming weeks in the early to mid-$40 million range.

Rubin’s new condo measures 7,750 square feet and comes with five bedrooms, and five full bathrooms. In addition, the apartment has nearly 5,000 square feet of private outdoor space including a 27-foot outdoor swimming pool. The other half of the $80 million penthouse also went into contract asking $31.5 million, but that sale hasn’t yet closed either, Curbed NY reports.

The record set by this sale will probably be beaten when sales start closing at 70 Vestry, where a $65 million and $50 million penthouse are in contract.

Rubin’s company also owns several online brands in addition to Fanatics, including retail websites Rue La La and ShopRunner. His previous company, GSI Commerce, sold to eBay for about $2.4 billion in 2011, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Rubin was represented by Dana Power of the Corcoran Group, who declined to comment. Madeline Hult Elghanayan, Lauren Muss, Kirk Rundhaug and Dennis Mangone of Douglas Elliman represented the developer. A spokesman for Douglas Elliman declined to comment to The Wall Street Journal.

Rubin was born to a Jewish family, the son of Paulette and Ken Rubin. His mother is a psychiatrist and his father a veterinarian. He grew up in Lafayette Hill, Penn., where he started a ski-tuning shop in his parents’ basement when he was 12 and two years later, he used $2,500 in bar mitzvah gifts as seed capital and a lease signed by his father to open a formal ski shop in Conshohocken, Penn., named Mike’s Ski and Sport.

By the age of 16, he was some $200,000 in debt and was able to settle with his creditors using a $37,000 loan from his father under the condition he attend college. Rubin agreed, continuing to operate the business, which grew to five ski shops before he entered college.

He attended Villanova University for a semester before dropping out after realizing a large gain on an opportunistic transaction.

Using the proceeds from his serendipitous overstock transaction and after selling his ski shops, he went on to found the athletic equipment closeout company KPR sports–named after his parents’ initials–which bought and sold over-stock name brand merchandise. In 1993, the year Rubin turned 21, KPR reached $1 million in annual sales. In 1995, KPR reached $50 million in sales. In 1995, Rubin purchased 40 percent of the women’s athletic shoe manufacturer Ryka.

By: Dana Goldman

DOJ Appeals AT&T/Time Warner Merger; Lack of Antitrust Law Violation Cited

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Judge Richard Leon, who looked over what the DOJ had brought to block the deal, ruled last month that the government had failed to show that the deal violates antitrust law, and in his opinion ripped apart its case. AT&T has since closed the acquisition of Time Warner, including CNN.

AT&T has since re-named the division WarnerMedia, created as a separate unit from the rest of the company, in part in case of an appeal, CNN reports.

The Justice Department sued to stop the deal last year because distributor AT&T would harm consumers by causing an increase in prices and would hurt innovation and competition. After a six week trial, Leon said he didn’t buy that, and signed off on the deal with no conditions and knocked down the government’s contentions point by point, CNN reports.

“The Government has failed to meet its burden of proof to show that the merger is likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition,” he wrote in his ruling.

The ruling was viewed as a go-ahead for other companies to pursue mergers, and in the ensuing months, bidding wars have erupted between Comcast and Disney for big chunk of 21st Century Fox’s assets.

Using unusually strong language, Leon discouraged the Justice Department from asking him to put the ruling on hold while it considers an appeal, CNN reports. He said such a stay would be “manifestly unjust” because it would have the effect of killing the acquisition. The Justice Department did not seek a stay, and the deal closed.

Leon warned against an appeal writing in his decision “[A]s my 170-plus page opinion makes clear — I do not believe that the Government has a likelihood of success on the merits of an appeal.”

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will now handle the case, where a three-judge panel will hear the appeal. It’s possible the court could place the case on a fast track because the longer an appeals process takes, the more integrated the two companies will become, CNN reports. AT&T completed its acquisition of Time Warner on June 14 and formed WarnerMedia a day later.

The case could even make its way all the way to the Supreme Court, which some people in the legal community have been hoping for, since the Supreme Court has not taken up a merger case since the 1970s, CNN reports.

“The Court’s decision could hardly have been more thorough, fact-based, and well-reasoned. While the losing party in litigation always has the right to appeal if it wishes, we are surprised that the DOJ has chosen to do so under these circumstances. We are ready to defend the Court’s decision at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals,” AT&T General Counsel David McAtee said in a statement.

Speaking to reporters at the Sun Valley conference in Idaho, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said his company was expecting the Justice Department to appeal, but are prepared and “not worried” about it.

Spokespeople for the DOJ declined to comment.

By: Linda Cavuki

Jury Awards $4.7B in Damages to 22 Women in J&J Powder Case

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A St. Louis jury last Thursday awarded nearly $4.7 billion in total damages to 22 women and their families after they claimed asbestos in Johnson & Johnson talcum powder contributed to their ovarian cancer in the first case against the company that focused on asbestos in the powder, The New York Post reports.

The jury announced the $4.14 billion award in punitive damages shortly after awarding $550 million in compensatory damages after a six-week trial in St. Louis Circuit Court, according to The New York Post.

Johnson & Johnson called the verdict the result of an unfair process which allowed the women to sue the company in Missouri despite most of them not living in the state and said it would appeal, as it has in previous cases that found for women who sued the company.

“Johnson & Johnson remains confident that its products do not contain asbestos and do not cause ovarian cancer and intends to pursue all available appellate remedies,” spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said.

Mark Lanier, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that Johnson & Johnson had covered up evidence of asbestos in their products for more than 40 years.

Medical experts testified during the trial that asbestos, a known carcinogen, is intermingled with mineral talc, which is the primary ingredient in Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products. The plaintiffs’ lawyers said asbestos fibers and talc particles were found in the ovarian tissues of many of the women.

“We hope this verdict will get the attention of the J&J board and that it will lead them to better inform the medical community and the public about the connection between asbestos, talc, and ovarian cancer,” Lanier said. “The company should pull talc from the market before causing further anguish, harm, and death from a terrible disease.”

During closing arguments on Wednesday, Lanier told the jurors this case was the first where jurors saw documents showing that Johnson & Johnson knew its products contained asbestos and didn’t warn consumers, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The company has been sued by over 9,000 women who say its talcum powder contributed to their ovarian cancer. Johnson & Johnson has consistently denied that its products can be linked to the cancer, according to The New York Post.

Goodrich said the verdict awarding all the women the same amount despite differences in their circumstances showed evidence in the case was overwhelmed by prejudice created when so many plaintiffs are allowed to sue the company in one lawsuit.

“Every verdict against Johnson & Johnson in this court that has gone through the appeals process has been reversed and the multiple errors present in this trial were worse than those in the prior trials which have been reversed,” she said.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said punitive damage awards are limited by state law to five times the amount of compensatory damages awarded and defense lawyers probably would file a motion to reduce the award, according to The New York Post.

Six of the 22 plaintiffs in the latest trial have died from ovarian cancer. Five plaintiffs were from Missouri, with others from states that include Arizona, New York, North Dakota, California, Georgia, the Carolinas and Texas, The New York Post reports.

One of the plaintiffs, Gail Ingham, 73, of O’Fallon, Missouri, told The Post-Dispatch that she was diagnosed with stage-3 ovarian cancer in 1985 and underwent chemotherapy treatments, surgeries and drug treatments for a year before being declared cancer-free in the early 1990s.

Ingham, who used baby powder for decades, said she joined the lawsuit because women who use baby powder “need to know what’s in there. They need to know what’s going on. Women need to know because they’re putting it on their babies.”

By: Katrina Guerrero

21st Century Fox Can Finally Buy UK Satellite Provider; Sky

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British satellite-TV provider Sky looks like it will become the new battleground and turf in the two-front war waging between Comcast and Disney with 21st Century Fox as a highly interested third party, following a major court ruling for the AT&T/Time Warner merger setting the precedent for the bidding war.

Fox got approval last Thursday from the United Kingdom government to buy Sky, on the condition that it sells Sky News. The clearance pits Fox against rival Comcast, which is also in a bidding war with Disney for Fox’s movie studio and entertainment assets, according to The New York Post.

Disney at the moment, which won approval from the Department of Justice to acquire Fox for $71 billion, has a leg up on Comcast, which can still make a counteroffer.

“Sky is the battleground now,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst for Enderle Group, who explained that Comcast can drive up the price of Sky to spite its rivals.

Comcast bid $34 billion for the 61 percent of Sky not owned by Fox, topping its rival’s $32.5 billion offer on Wednesday.

“At a certain price point, Sky made sense, but they [both companies] bid above that price point,” he said. “Acquiring Sky just to get scale does make sense.”

For Comcast, Sky would give it an international presence, but experts pointed to the bigger battle taking place in media, like what’s happening online among major players like Netflix, Amazon and Facebook.

“Netflix has catalyzed a lot of fears…[but] Netflix is burning cash. Amazon, Facebook and Google are printing cash,” said Brian Wieser, senior analyst at Pivotal Research. He pointed to Facebook’s recent $264 million purchase of the rights to broadcast the Premier League, beating out the likes of Fox Sports. “That’s a more significant fear factor than Netflix,” he offered.

Present in 23 million homes across Europe, Sky is a prized asset, with offerings of top sport and original drama content, Reuters reports.

“This transformative transaction will position Sky so that it can continue to compete within an environment that now includes some of the largest companies in the world,” Fox said.

Its offer represents an 82 percent premium to Sky’s shares in 2016 before the takeover drama started, and a multiple of 21 times 2017 earnings per share, Reuters reports.

On the other hand, British regulators have indicated that if Disney succeeds in buying Fox, including the 39 percent stake in Sky, it would have to offer the same price for remainder of Sky, which according to some shareholders, that has set an implied higher floor for Sky’s shares, Reuters reports.

By: Yolanda Gilliam

RadioShack Inks Deal with HobbyTown USA to Open Express Stores

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While the twice-bankrupt electronics chain didn’t completely go away, it will soon re-establish a more significant footprint across the country, The New York Post reports.

The struggling 97-year-old chain has signed a deal with HobbyTown USA to open “express stores” inside 50 of its partner’s stores, both companies said Friday.

The deal was signed this week, and potentially, the express stores could be opened in up to 100 of HobbyTown’s 140 stores, according to The New York Post.

If successful, they could expand to all the hobby chain’s locations.

The first express stores will open next week.

RadioShack emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization in January with 400 stores, which are mostly located in rural spots.

The HobbyTown deal will bring the stores to more suburban towns.

“This will expand their footprint quickly,” HobbyTown President Bob Wilke told The Post, adding that “Radio Shack’s merchandise and customers complement ours.”

HobbyTown is purchasing the RadioShack merchandise and offering it to its hobbyist customers who need the tools, wires and other accessories that RadioShack makes, according to The New York Post.

While the HobbyTown deal will bring RadioShack to a bigger crowd, it will not even come close to the more than 7,000 stores the chain had at its peak in 1987.

It operated more than 1,700 stores as recently as last year when it filed for Chapter 11.

Last year, in a desperate effort to keep its doors open prior to filing Chapter 11, RadioShack struck a partnership with Sprint, which paid it rent and commissions to run small Sprint locations in RadioShack stores, The New York Post reports.

It was too little, too late to save the electronics chain.

“We came out of bankruptcy with 400 dealers, our online business and a distribution center,” said Steve Moroneso, chief executive of General Wireless, an affiliate of hedge fund Standard General, which acquired RadioShack in 2015.

“We are just getting started,” Moroneso said. “Our strategy today is to not own bricks-and-mortar locations.”

Next week, a HobbyTown store in Mooresville, N.C., will dedicate 500 square feet of its 6,000-square-foot store for the RadioShack express store and display Radio Shack signage outside, according to the store owner, Jack Hunt.

Hunt’s employees will operate the express store, he said. One service will be cellphone repair.

“We think that will differentiate us,” Hunt told The Post. “There are no other cellphone repair services in our market.”

Meanwhile, Moroneso says there is “plenty of interest from dealers who want to open a full line Radio Shack.”

By: Alex Chompoleski

Rabbi Who Crowned Netanyahu Wants Shaked to Succeed Him

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Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu sh§ocked the world when he came from behind to defeat heavily favored incumbent Shimon Peres in the May 1996 election and win the premiership for the first time.

A campaign that started two days before the May 29 election was what eventually gave him enough momentum to pull off the victory, when banners went up at junctions across the country with the slogan “Netanyahu is good for the Jews.”

The campaign was funded by Australian billionaire Joseph Gutnick, a Chabad rabbi who made a fortune from taking the advice of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to mine diamonds in Australia’s Northern Territory, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Twenty-two years later, Gutnick has told The Jerusalem Post exclusively that he has chosen his candidate to succeed Netanyahu whenever he leaves office: Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked.

Gutnick revealed that he has built a relationship with Shaked in recent years and wants to do all he can to make sure Shaked has what he needs to make it all happen. He chose Shaked because of her right-wing views, her leadership, her ability to unite Israelis as a secular Jew who respects religion, and because he believes the time has come for Israel to have its second female prime minister after Golda Meir, according to The Jerusalem Post.

To accomplish her goal, Gutnick has been advising Shaked secretly to leave Bayit Yehudi and join Likud.

He wrote her a week ago, telling her that the time had come to make the change.

“I am very happy to endorse her to be Bibi’s heir,” Gutnick said. “Only when Bibi leaves should she then lead the Likud. I fully endorse her as the next prime minister only after Bibi leaves.”

Gutnick has kept a close friendship with Netanyahu, who sent him a letter a few days ago thanking him for his enduring support and friendship. He said he hopes the prime minister won’t get caught up in the investigations swirling around him, but meanwhile Gutnick is taking steps to ensure Israel will continue to have right-wing leadership in the post-Netanyahu era, The Jerusalem Post reports.

One obstacle to Gutnick’s goal is the head of Shaked’s current party, Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett, who he said should stand aside and not “be selfish.”

“He should encourage Shaked for the sake of shleimut ha’aretz (maintaining all of the Land of Israel) and the Jewish world, because he has no chance to be prime minister, and he can be foreign minister,” Gutnick said.

Gutnick welcomed a new poll conducted by the Ma’ariv newspaper, which found that if elections were held now and Shaked headed Likud, she would win 33 seats, the same as Netanyahu would win, and would expand the Right bloc to 73 seats from its current 66.

By: Darren Waldman

Victory for Secular Activists in Battle for Jerusalem Mall

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An interim injunction calling for the immediate closure of the First Station on Shabbat has been rejected by Judge Arnon Darel of the Jerusalem District Court.

The injunction is part of a larger appeal motion, which has been slowly making its way through the courts over the past two years. The appeal motion argues that the popular outdoor mall’s permit to be active on Shabbat was always illegitimate and should be revoked.

The appeal motion was filed by Yohanan Weizman, an Ultra-Orthodox councilman on the Jerusalem Municipal Council with a history of closing down secular hangouts. In 2017, Weizman was responsible for cancelling World Space Week in the Machane Yehudah market, citing concerns such as “the fact that two of the places that were chosen [to host events] sell non-kosher food and hametz on Passover, and the rest are not kosher all.”

This time, however, Weizman has apparently failed to win in the clash between ultra-Orthodox and secular values. His most recent attempt, filing an interim order requesting that the First Station be shut down on Shabbat until the court makes a final decision, was promptly rejected by Judge Darel. Though a final court date for the appeal itself has been set in November, Judge Darel said the appeal has only a slim chance of being approved.

Commenting on Judge Darel’s decision to uphold the First Station’s right to stay open on Shabbat, mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat said, “The First Station is a valuable part of Jerusalem and serves many different populations in the city, even on Shabbat – including the secular population, the non-Jewish population, and many tourists. In Jerusalem there is room for everyone, and it is important for everyone to feel at home here.”

In April of 2017, TPS reported that Orthodox politicians said that they would fight the High Court of Justice’s ruling permitting mini-markets to open on Shabbat.

Leaders of the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, as well as Jewish Home Ministers Naftali Bennett and Uri Ariel, called on Prime Minister Netanyahu last year to convene an urgent session for coalition members to draft a series of measures to defend a verdict they consider a “breach in the walls of the Shabbat.”

In addition, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to use his authority to ask the court to reconsider the issue with an expanded panel of judges, and Health Minister Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) said his party would propose legislation that would seek to undermine the ruling. UTJ colleague MK Moshe Gafni said the “poor” decision would turn the Sabbath into a regular workday both in Tel Aviv and around the country.

Some Orthodox groups also welcomed the decision, or at least expressed concern about political threats to re-institute civil laws to enforce Shabbat observance. Rabbi David Stav, chief rabbi of Shoham and the founder of the Tzohar rabbinic organization, told TPS that religious authorities who want to promote the sanctity of religious law must inspire people to follow it, not force them.

“Shabbat is a gift to the entire Jewish nation, and one of the foundation stones of the public sphere in the State of Israel.

By: Baila Eisen
(TPS)

Netanyahu, Liberman: IDF Strikes Dealt ‘Severe Blow’ to Hamas

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Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Sunday that IDF air strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza over the weekend had delivered a “severe” blow to Hamas while Liberman added that Israel has “no intention of learning to live” with ongoing kite-born arson attacks from Gaza.

“We will hurt anyone who tries to hurt us very badly,” Netanyahu said. “That’s what we did yesterday – the IDF delivered the strongest blow that Hamas has sustained since Operation Protective Edge. I hope they got the message. If not, they’re going to get it in future.”

Earlier Sunday, IDF Home Front Command told residents of the Gaza Belt region they could resume their daily routines Sunday as a tense calm held in the south after Hamas and Israel agreed to a tenuous ceasefire overnight between Shabbat and Sunday. Jewish Home Knesset members Naftali Bennett and Moti Yogev criticized the truce saying that “folding” to Hamas would only encourage the terror group to continue and increase attacks on Israel.

Netanyahu rejected the criticism but failed to give details.

“(Bennett and Yogev) are wrong. We are not willing to accept any attacks against us, and we will respond appropriately,” Netanyahu said.

In a related development, the IDF hit a Hamas aerial arson squad on Sunday morning after fire balloons were launched over the border despite an unofficial ceasefire that came into effect late on Saturday.

The balloons caused three fires near to Kibbutz Erez on the border of the northern Gaza strip.

According to a senior air force officer, IAF policy is to concentrate on targeting infrastructure and only to hit Hamas operatives if they are identified launching rockets, balloons, kites and mortar shells at Israel.

The IDF attacked dozens of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip over the weekend in the most significant strike on the Gaza Strip since the 2014 Gaza war, warning that it would escalate operations ”as necessary.” Hamas fired over 100 rockets and mortar shells at the Gaza Belt region.

The targets hit included a Hamas battalion headquarters in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, an urban warfare training compound, ammunition storage depots and command centers and Hamas naval facilities. The IDF said it had also targeted a rocket launch squad and a mortar shell launcher in the northern Gaza Strip.

By: Andrew Friedman
(TPS)

Agreement Reached On Controversial Nation-State Bill

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An agreement has been reached between the Likud and the Jewish Home parties regarding wording for the proposed Nation State bill, which seeks to legislate Israel’s existence as a Jewish state into law.

Earlier on Sunday, voting on the bill was halted after representatives of the two parties failed to agree on the wording of a clause defining the state’s right to establish Jewish communities and promote settlement.

The clause in question originally allowed the state to “authorize a community composed of people having the same faith and nationality to maintain the exclusive character of that community,” a move that critics said would de facto establish Jewish-only towns and communities and effectively marginalize Israel’s Arab minority.

Following protests by the opposition, as well President Reuven Rivlin, who warned that the broad definition of the law will serve Israel’s enemies and “ultimately hurt the Jewish people,” Education Minister and Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett proposed the language be changed to “the state will take action to Judaize the Negev and the Galilee and other areas and communities where it decides that national considerations necessitate this, and to develop Jewish settlement there, inter alia via incentives to promote Jewish migration to those communities.”

On Sunday afternoon, Bennett announced that he and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had reached agreement on language stating that “the State views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation.” The new wording makes no mention of the areas designated for Jewish settlement.

“This wording places Jewish settlement as a national value,” Bennett said, adding that it “matches Ben Gurion’s vision of Judaizing the Galilee and the Negev.”

Last week, in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, and the members of the committee promoting the bill, President Rivlin pleaded that they not include the clause, which the President said may allow for racial discrimination.

“I ask that we look inward, into Israeli society,” Rivlin wrote, “are we willing to give a hand to discrimination based on ethnicity in the name of the Zionist vision? The proposed wording allows each community to establish a community without Mizrahim (Sephardic Jews), Haredim, Druse or homosexuals. Is that the meaning of the Zionist vision?” Rivlin asked.

The president concluded by asking the recipients to reconsider the vast implications of such a law, adding that he is certain the Knesset would “act with the responsibility required ” when voting on such legislation.

Newly elected Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog seconded Rivlin’s criticism, saying that the president had expressed a “moral and principled position that is important to respect, internalize and implement.”

The law, which has already passed in its first reading, will be brought to a Knesset floor vote for a second and third reading.

By: Yona Schnitzer
(TPS)

NASA and Israel Space Agency Sign Agreement to Expand Cooperation

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NASA and the Israel Space Agency (ISA) signed an agreement to expand cooperation between the two agencies on Thursday, during a visit from newly appointed NASA Chief Jim Bridenstine.

Earlier, Bridenstine met with ISA Director General Avi Blasberger, as well as Science and Space Minister Ofir Akunis in Jerusalem, where NASA’s Director expressed the United States’ plans to return to the moon and to create a permanent base there, in accordance with President Donald Trump’s vision.

SpaceIL, an Israeli NGO, announced Tuesday morning that they will send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon before the end of the year. The spacecraft is set to be launched using Elon Musk’s private aerospace company SpaceX, with a launch scheduled for December

Project discussed between the two agencies include Israel taking part in the International Space Station, as well as the studies of life sciences while employing nano-satellites – a field Israel has extensive knowledge in.

“The agreement signed today symbolizes our mutual interest in building our scientific and technological capabilities in the field of space [exploration],” said Science and Space Minister Akunis, adding that the fact that the Director of NASA chose to conduct his first foreign visit as Director in Israel “says alot about the strong alliance between the two countries and the great appreciation [the US] has for Israel’s amazing technological technical capabilities, even in the field of space exploration.”

SpaceIL, an Israeli NGO, announced Tuesday morning that they will send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon before the end of the year. The spacecraft is set to be launched using Elon Musk’s private aerospace company SpaceX, with a launch scheduled for December. The spacecraft, which will be the smallest to ever land on the moon is expected to land on February 13th, 2019, roughly two months after leaving earth, making Israel the fourth country to ever land a spacecraft on the moon, following Russia, the United States and China.

By: Yona Schnitzer
(TPS)

Israel Demands UN Condemn Hamas for Relentless Arson Terror

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The world must hold Hamas accountable for the ecological damage it has caused, setting around 700 fires in the last three months, demanded Israel’s UN envoy.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Danny Danon, wrote a toughly-worded missive last Thursday to its Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, requesting that she “strongly” condemn Hamas for its recent and ongoing “acts of eco-terrorism” against Israel.

Danon pointed out that “over 100 days . . . Hamas terrorists…have used arson kites and other aerial delivery means to set almost 700 fires that have torched thousands of acres, including over 1,500 acres of agricultural fields in Israel. This is a new face of terrorism directly targeting the Israeli ecosystem,” which has caused millions in damage, he wrote.

Danon demanded in his letter to Mohammed that the world hold the terrorist organization “accountable for these latest attacks,” which are intended to eliminate Israeli farmers’ main source of livelihood. The attacks have also “caused irreparable damage to nature preserves and dozens of species of wildlife.”

Prior to her current position as Deputy Secretary-General, Mohammad served as Minister of Environment of Nigeria, where she worked on issues related to protecting the environment and conserving resources for sustainable development.

In contrast to the UN’s silence, the US administration has vociferously condemned Palestinian arson terror. In June, President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, slammed Hamas on social media.

“Hamas attack kites are not harmless playthings or metaphors for freedom. They are deployed as propaganda and indiscriminate weapons,” he tweeted.

The KKL-JNF, whose main raison d’etre for decades has been to plant trees and forests all over Israel, decided six weeks ago to go a different route in its protest and announced that it intends to sue Hamas in international court for the severe environmental damages caused to its land in the area from all the incendiary weapons that the terrorist organization has used in recent months, including mortar shells and rockets, as well as kites and balloons.

Thousands of kites, balloons, and even condoms, have been flown over the border from Gaza by Hamas supporters with their tails attached to incendiary devices and even makeshift bombs. Not all make it over the border, not all ignite, and some have been neutralized by IDF drones and other defensive measures.

The ones that have succeeded have mainly landed in agricultural areas and forests, as mentioned by Danon, but a few have also been spotted – and defused – in villages neighboring the coastal enclave.

One even landed in the yard of a kindergarten, providing a reminder that these airborne terror attacks have the potential to cause serious injury and death if they are not halted soon.

By: Batya Jerenberg
(UWI)

The Winner in Helsinki: Israel!!

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“The Businessman Meets the Bully,” should be the title of the Trump-Putin meetings in Helsinki this week. And these talks came right after Trump, without taking so much as a breather, rushed around the world to meet with the dictatorial leaders of North Korea, China, the heads of the NATO nations and the royalty of England. That’s not a bad itinerary for a president who has received unwarranted criticism by his political adversaries.

In Helsinki, Trump discussed a litany of topical issues with the Russian president. Chief among them were commerce and trade, denuclearization efforts, the crisis in Syria, a joint effort in strengthening cybersecurity and of course Trump queried Putin on his role in the alleged collusion matter. He asked Putin if he had any knowledge of these 12 Russian hacks who were indicted by the Mueller team for stealing the DNC’s e-mails and releasing them to WikiLeaks.

Above all, Trump stood firm that he will fight tooth and nail for what he considers the best for his country. In other words, he carries the slogan, “America First” with him whenever he takes off on Air Force one. A pleasant change.

The encounters behind closed doors are where the real contentious topics are hammered out and sometimes, sometimes ironed out. And we have to wait to see what changes are forthcoming in the days, weeks and months ahead.

And while we’re at it, let’s not kid ourselves about who we are dealing with. Putin is a ruthless guy. He’s a former KGB thug who still hands out death sentences as readily and routinely without any sense of remorse. He has no concern for others.

Trump is no fool. He knows that Russia had been coddled for years by our former presidents to do as he wished in the Ukraine, Crimea, Syria and to threaten the former Eastern Bloc nations of Poland and Czechoslovakia. Trump has evidenced total and military support in all of those areas to counter Putin. Donald will not blink. We’ve even killed Russians in Syria. Trump has energized and strengthened the anti-Russia forces of NATO with his openness. Trump plays hardball and the scarred veteran spy chief Putin knows the score.

In their torrent of coverage of the summit, what the mainstream media has conveniently left out is that the real winner here is Israel. Yes, folks, amazing as it may sound, the tiny little Jewish State now enjoys the full-throated support of both the United States and Russia. During their joint press conference in Helsinki, Trump spoke of the US’s unwavering commitment to Israel’s security as Putin concurred and said that Trump had emphasized this during their negotiations.

Just a few years ago, the BDS movement had seen more than a modicum of success with their insidious campaign to malign Israel and thus isolate her globally. Dramatic changes, however, have taken place and thanks to President Trump’s support, Israel has regained its confidence on the world stage and forges ahead in their perennial quest to survive in a hostile neighborhood.

Israel Must Finish the Job in Gaza!!!

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Israel has been fighting a continuous war with the Muslim world since day one of its birth. It has been a never ending, daily battle for the Jewish State to be on constant alert for attacks from Palestinians who now occupy Judea-Samaria and Gaza. This is costly in manpower, productivity and the psychological state of mind of its citizens. Any psychologist will tell you that having a bomb shelter in each home, apartment or school and constantly being on the alert, takes its toll on the nerves of those who must be constantly be prepared for a suicide attack, knife assault or rocket onslaught. It never seems to end.

And now, a new terror technique has now been invented by the Palestinians……..flaming kites to incinerate homes, forests and planted fields. Why are science teachers in Palestinian schools encouraging their students to come up with developing techniques of terror rather than teaching how to separate human waste from their supplies of drinking water?

Just this past weekend, over 200 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel from Gaza intended to kill and maim as many Jews as possible. Of course, the usual reaction from Israel was the unleashing of limited airstrikes at the points from which these missiles were launched. Apparently these “defensive responses” from the one of the world’s major military forces against these primitive savages ceased after an hour or two then going back to waiting for the assured next terror onslaught to replay their “defensive responses.” And on and on. As things stand now, our great-grandchildren will be reading similar reports for ages to come.

This living under a seemingly never ending state of terror on the part of a peaceful, civilized, contributing to society group of people has to come to an end. To wait until the Palestinians cease this means of warfare is out of the question. They will continue this reign of terror as long as they are permitted by Israel to do so. We can only imagine what our own response would be if our citizens were similarly attacked on a daily basis from, let’s say, Canada. Every Peacenik living within the radius of such onslaughts would call for, and rightly so, for a military response to put an end to such threats…..at once. No questions asked.

Israel must finally take a hard-line stand. Now is the time. President Trump will not stand in the way of a massive air and artillery bombardment of the war citadel, Gaza. Their people must be warned to leave by any means they can. All those who remain must be considered combatants. We won WWII by bombing Dresden, Hamburg and other cities that contributed to the war effort of Nazi Germany. Israel is in a war and they must finally act to terminate the enemy. Israel did not ask for this war but it is their responsibility to finally end it….their way.