Israel says it’s ready to sign 10-year security agreement with United States
Israel is ready to sign a new 10-year memorandum of understanding on security assistance with the United States “as soon as possible.”
The acting head of Israel’s National Security Council, Brig. Gen. (Res.) Jacob Nagel, will travel to Washington, D.C., on Sunday, July 31 for meetings with his U.S. counterparts with the purpose of “signing a new MOU between the two countries as soon as possible,” the Prime Minister’s Office announced in a statement.
“Israel places great value on the predictability and certainty of the military assistance it receives from the United States and on honoring bilateral agreements,” the statement said. “Therefore, it is not in Israel’s interest for there to be any changes to the fixed annual MOU levels without the agreement of both the U.S. administration and the Israeli government.”
The current memorandum, which expires at the end of 2017, guarantees Israel $3 billion annually in assistance. The sum in the new memorandum of understanding is widely expected to be significantly larger, though most of the aid can only be spent in the United States.
In April, 83 U.S. senators signed on to a letter sent to President Barack Obama urging him to substantially increase defense assistance to Israel. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, did not sign the letter. Neither did Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who waged a strong underdog challenge in the Democratic presidential primaries against nominee Hillary Clinton.
Reports have said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government wants as much as $5 billion per year over the next 10-year period, while the Obama administration reportedly is prepared to reach close to that amount if it includes missile defense cooperation, which is now considered separately and amounts to nearly $500 million. — jta
Palestinian Authority to sue UK over Balfour Declaration
With the 100th anniversary of a key Zionist declaration approaching, the Palestinian Authority said it plans to sue Britain for issuing the edict.
The PA’s foreign minister, Riyad al-Malki, told Arab League leaders in Mauritania on July 25 that the Palestinian Authority will sue over the Balfour Declaration, saying it led to all “Israeli crimes” committed since 1948, according to the Times of Israel.
Signed on Nov. 2, 1917, by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, the Balfour Declaration stated that the British government “views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and would use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object.”
The declaration, issued while the area that is now Israel was still under the control of the Ottoman Empire, represented a pivotal victory for Zionists and has been credited with helping pave the way for the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
The declaration, al-Malki said, “gave people who don’t belong there something that wasn’t theirs.”
The United Kingdom has not responded to the lawsuit threat, and media reports did not specify in what court the PA would file such a suit or what, if any, damages it would seek.
Also at the Arab League gathering, Mauritania’s head of state, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, called for fresh efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. — jta
Israeli teen finds Pokémon, then collapses in Mediterranean
An Israeli teen lost consciousness in the Mediterranean Sea while tracking a Pokémon Go character.
Assaf Ben Guzi, 17, of Ashdod, told Israel Channel 2 that he caught the Wartortle Pokémon before losing consciousness in the sea the night of July 25.
“I managed to catch it and then collapsed in the water, and from then on I don’t remember anything,” he told Channel 2 from his bed at the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot.
He was pulled from the water by his brother, who is credited with saving his life. It is not known why Ben Guzi collapsed.
“Assaf was concentrating on his search for the Pokémon and in his excitement ran into the water while focused entirely on what was happening on the screen of his mobile phone,” Ronit Gilad, head of the Department of Neurology at Kaplan Hospital, told Channel 2. “There is no clear cause for the collapse, but there is no doubt that the fact that he walked around for several hours with his phone, staring into it, could have triggered his collapse.”
Pokémon Go has not officially launched in Israel, but players have skirted the restrictions and found characters throughout the country, including at the Western Wall and in closed military zones.
The app has caused accidents around the world when users are too absorbed in their cellphone screen to pay attention to what is going on around them. — jta
Netanyahu calls on Arabs citizens to ‘play greater role’ in Israeli society
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video message called on Arab citizens of Israel to become more involved in Israeli society.
The message was released July 25 in Hebrew and English with subtitles in Arabic.
“I am proud of the role Arabs play in Israel’s success,” Netanyahu said, noting that there are Arab Supreme Court justices, members of Knesset, entrepreneurs and doctors. “I want you to play an even greater role.”
Over 20 percent of Israel’s citizens are Arab.
Netanyahu also pointed to legislation approved July 24 by the Knesset that “would significantly strengthen public safety for Arab towns and villages.”
“My vision is that young Arab boys and girls grow up knowing they can achieve anything in Israel as valued and equal citizens in our democracy,” he said.
“Let us work together, Arabs and Jews alike, to reach ever higher in the noble pursuit of equality and dignity for all.”
In a statement sent July 26 to reporters, Arab-Israeli lawmaker Ayman Odeh, head of the Arab Joint List party, called Netanyahu’s message a “hypocritical charade.”
“Could this be the same prime minister who tried with all his might to block the economic development plan for Arab municipalities, who attempted to add more and more conditions so that the plan would be completely impractical? Is this the same prime minister who incited against Arab citizens during the elections, and who since then has only intensified his incitement against us?
“When I saw that he chose to appeal to us in English, I understood the true purpose of his message and to whom it was really directed.” — jta
Knesset passes law blocking mikvah from non-Orthodox conversion rituals
The Knesset passed a controversial bill that allows local Orthodox rabbinates to bar non-Orthodox Jewish conversion ceremonies in publicly funded mikvahs.
The bill, introduced by the haredi Orthodox United Torah Judaism party and opposed by many North American Jewish leaders, was passed on July 25, the Jerusalem Post reported. The new law will be implemented in nine months.
Under the law, the municipal rabbinates can determine who may use the mikvahs, or Jewish ritual baths, in their purview. Immersion in the mikvah is part of most conversion ceremonies.
The measure aims to override an Israeli Supreme Court ruling in February that paved the way for non-Orthodox Jewish communities in Israel to use public mikvahs for conversions.
The government has said it will establish four mikvahs expressly for use in non-Orthodox conversions. However, it is not clear whether the funding will come from the government or the Jewish Agency for Israel, which is funded largely by donations from diaspora Jews.
Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency, condemned the new law in a statement issued after its passage.
“This bill, which offers no solution to the non-Orthodox denominations, circumvents the rulings of the High Court of Justice. It is unfortunate that the bill passed before such a solution was ensured,” Sharansky said.
Rabbi Gilad Kariv, director of the Reform movement in Israel, said the law “breaches the clear promise of the prime minister not to legislate against the progressive denominations” and was damaging to Israel’s relationship with diaspora Jewry, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post. — jta
New film shows Ben-Gurion favored W. Bank withdrawal
Newly rediscovered footage of a 1968 interview with David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, shows that he opposed West Bank settlements and instead favored returning most of the land Israel captured in the Six-Day War.
The six-hour interview with Ben-Gurion — segments of which appear in a new film called “Ben-Gurion Epilogue” — had been forgotten until filmmaker Yariv Mozer found them in the Hebrew University’s Jewish film archive, according to the Times of Israel.
At the time of the interview Ben-Gurion, a member of the Labor Party, had left politics and was living on Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev.
Ben-Gurion said in the interview that Israel should immediately relinquish most of the territories.
“If I could choose between peace and all the territories which we conquered last year, I would prefer peace,” he said, adding however that Israel should retain Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
Ben-Gurion also criticized efforts to build settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, saying Jews should instead settle unpopulated areas of the Negev.
Ben-Gurion died in 1973 at 87. — jta