Home of Palestinian who killed U.S. student demolished
The Israel Defense Forces demolished the home of the Palestinian terrorist who killed an American college student during a March stabbing attack in Jaffa.
The demolition of the family home of Bashar Massalha took place June 20 in the West Bank village of Kfar Haja, near Nablus, in conjunction with the Civil Administration and the Border Police.
Taylor Force, a graduate student at Vanderbilt University on a school trip to Israel, was killed and 10 people were injured in the March 8 stabbing rampage. Massalha, 22, reportedly was killed by a police volunteer while lying on the ground after being captured. The army is investigating the incident.
Force was a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He graduated from the West Point Military Academy in 2009 and served as a field artillery officer from 2009 to 2014 at Fort Hood in Texas.
The attack occurred near the site where the wife and grandchildren of visiting Vice President Joe Biden were having dinner. — jta Ex-defense minister Moshe Yaalon plans run for prime minister
Moshe Yaalon made it clear that he intends to run for prime minister of Israel less than a month after resigning as defense minister and from the Knesset.
“I intend to run for the leadership in Israel in the next elections,” Yaalon said June 16 during a speech at the annual Herzliya Conference.
Yaalon stepped down on May 20 when it came to light that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in negotiations with Avigdor Liberman to bring his nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party into the ruling coalition, giving Netanyahu a more stable majority. Liberman was named defense minister.
At the time of his resignation, Yaalon indicated that he would soon return to challenge Netanyahu for Israel’s leadership. The next national vote is scheduled for 2019, but could be held earlier.
On June 16, calling himself an “alternative” to the current leadership, Yaalon accused Netanyahu of fear mongering by attempting to scare Israeli citizens about security threats to distract them from Israel’s serious problems. Yaalon said the Iran nuclear threat does not signal an imminent existential threat during the period of the agreement signed between Iran and six world powers, and that “we have to prepare for future events.”
“At this time and in the foreseeable future, there is no existential threat to Israel. It is the strongest state in the region and there is an enormous gap with every country and organization stationed around it,” he said. “Therefore, it is appropriate for the leadership in Israel to cease scaring the citizens and to stop telling them that we are on the verge of a second Holocaust.” — jta
Israel supports but hasn’t ratified test ban treaty
Israel supports the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which it has signed, but ratification depends on the “regional context and appropriate timing,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the treaty organization’s head.
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo met June 20 in Israel with the prime minister, who told her that Israel supports the treaty and its goals, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office. Israel was active in negotiating the treaty and signed it in 1996.
Zerbo was visiting Israel at the invitation of Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission Director Zeev Senir, to mark 20 years since the treaty was open for signing.
The statement issued by the prime minister’s office did not give a timetable for ratification nor specify what it meant by a regional context. Iran and Egypt, which both have nuclear weapons, also have not ratified the treaty.
Some 183 countries have signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and 164 have ratified it. Eight countries that had nuclear reactors when the treaty was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly must still ratify the treaty for it to go into effect. Those countries are the United States, China, Iran, Israel, Egypt, India, Pakistan and North Korea. — jta
Ethiopian chief rabbi’s contract won’t be renewed
The chief rabbi of Israel’s Ethiopian community will not have his contract renewed reportedly because he accused the Chief Rabbinate of discrimination in the marriage registration of Ethiopian Israelis.
Rabbi Yosef Hadane’s contract expires at the end of July.
Army Radio first reported on June 20, citing unnamed senior officials in the Religious Affairs Ministry, that the decision not to extend Hadane’s service came in response to his criticism of racial discrimination by the Chief Rabbinate against Jewish Ethiopians, in particular his protest of the difficulty that Israelis of Ethiopian descent have registering for marriage in Petah Tikva.
Hadane will be 67, the mandatory retirement age, when his contract expires. However, other rabbis have been granted automatic extensions once they reach retirement age.
His forced retirement reportedly was announced by the ministry without first discussing it with him, according to Army Radio. He has served in the position for three decades.
The Tzohar Rabbinical Organization said it was “deeply disturbed” by the action and urged the ministry to reconsider its decision.
“Seemingly his only transgression was his brave decision to stand in defense of Ethiopian Jews who had been denied the right to marry according to halacha by the Petah Tikva Rabbinate,” the group said in a statement. — jta
New settlement funding spurs apartheid charges
Israel’s Cabinet approved an additional $18.6 million for West Bank settlements to help defray the costs of their “unique security situation,” spurring one Palestinian leader to say Israel “openly supports apartheid.”
On June 19 at its weekly meeting, the government approved a budgetary supplement that includes stipends for local councils in the West Bank and aid to improve security at public buildings. There are also allocations for small businesses, to develop tourism and for youth programming.
The assistance plan “involves the work of many ministries on behalf of the residents there,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Israel has faced an uptick in terror attacks, mostly stabbing attacks, in the past eight months.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat decried the allocation.
“Israel is doing everything possible to sabotage every effort to achieve a just and lasting peace,” he said. “This is yet another slap in the face of the international community despite several recent international attempts to cover up the Israeli crimes and violations. It is time for the international community to assume its responsibilities toward this extremist government, which openly supports apartheid and stands against the two-state solution.”
A day before the vote, Ofer Newman, spokesman for the opposition Zionist Union Party, said in a Facebook post that the settlers “built swimming pools on the blood of children they murdered.” He later apologized, saying the outburst was a result of seeing the new movie “The Settlers,” which focuses on the most extremist leaders of the settlement movement.
Zionist Union head Isaac Herzog rejected Newman’s remarks in a statement on Facebook, saying, “I meet with settlers nearly every day; the Labor Party encouraged and built part of the settlement enterprise, and even if we have criticism about the settler leadership, they are and always will be our brothers and part of our extended family. We have a profound, difficult ideological debate with the settler leadership and it will continue, but even in the middle of the debate, we will uphold their honor and do so respectfully.” — jta
Israel’s rhythmic gymnastics team wins gold medal
Israel’s rhythmic gymnastics team earned several medals — including a gold for the first time at an international competition — at the European Championships held on its home turf.
On June 19, the Israelis won in the clubs and hoops category at the competition, which was held over the weekend in Holon, in central Israel.
A day earlier they won a silver for the team ribbons routine. On June 17, Israel took the bronze in the all-around category.
The team will travel this summer to Rio de Janeiro to compete in the Summer Olympics. — jta
Israeli Air Force troops form human Google logo
Google likes to play with its own logo, repurposing the six letters in its name to celebrate everything from the birthdays of famous scientists to the first day of summer to Israel’s Independence Day.
But when a senior officer in the Israeli Air Force decided to greet a visiting Google executive by positioning dozens of troops and two aircraft to form the Google logo, it didn’t go down well with some Israeli politicians.
Israel Radio on June 20 reported the action, which was filmed at the Hatzerim base in the Negev from above by a third aircraft. The stunt drew sharp criticism from some politicians, who argued it involved inappropriate use of military resources to advertise a commercial entity.
Noting the action was “a local initiative of the base during the visit,” the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit told Channel 10 that the issue is the subject of an ongoing internal probe. — jta