Israel’s Lieberman on Time’s top 100 list
Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2009 includes two Israelis this year.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman appears in the “Leaders and Revolutionaries” category, and high-tech leader Shai Agassi is named in the “Scientists and Thinkers” category.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni appeared on the list in 2008. She was the only Israeli politician to make the cut that year.
Time’s article on Lieberman, written by historian Benny Morris, says, “Though a question mark hangs over Lieberman’s prominence in Israel’s decision-making [he is under investigation for corruption], he will be one of the most vigorous advocates of a pre-emptive Israeli strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities should Western diplomacy fail to curb the Iranian project.”
Agassi, formerly a senior manager at business-software giant SAP, was offered the post of CEO but declined in order to embark on a clean energy enterprise focusing on electric cars, called Better Place.
The piece on Agassi says he has raised more than $300 million “in one of the largest start-up financings in history and partnering with utilities and governments to install the Better Place infrastructure in Israel, Denmark, Australia, the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere.”
Coincidentally, as the Time magazine appeared last week, Israeli police were questioning Lieberman for the fourth time on corruption allegations.
Following an eight-hour questioning April 30, police told Ha’aretz that they believe they have enough evidence to charge Lieberman, who heads the Yisrael Beiteinu Party, with money laundering, fraud and breach of trust. The investigators may add charges of bribery to the list.
Police reportedly have documents that show Lieberman laundered millions of shekels through a consulting firm run by his daughter and will hand their findings to prosecutors soon. — ynetnews.com and jta
Chief rabbi calls for prayer, fast against flu
An Israeli chief rabbi called for a day of fasting and prayer in response to the spread of swine flu.
Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar told Jews to fast on May 7 and increase their Torah study.
Amar, along with Rabbi Tzion Boaron of the High Rabbinical Court, said in an open letter to Israeli and world Jewry that in light of the fear that the virus could become a worldwide plague, Jews must “follow the custom of our forefathers and cry out unto God.”
Five cases of swine flu in Israel have been confirmed; one is hospitalized.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League says newspapers in the Muslim and Arab are exploiting the swine flu epidemic with editorial cartoons that demonize the Jewish state and its leaders. Several cartoons have pictured Israeli leaders with faces of pigs, reflecting the disdain for the pig in Islamic culture. — jta
U.N. asks Israel to halt demolitions
A U.N. agency has urged Israel to freeze demolitions of Arab homes in East Jerusalem, citing a growing housing crisis in the part of the city the Palestinians claim as their future capital.
Some 1,500 demolition orders are currently pending and thousands more homes are at risk, according to a report by the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The report is the latest sign of growing international concern about Israel’s housing policies in East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967 and later annexed.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Jerusalem house demolitions as “unhelpful” during a visit in March. Israeli officials said May 1 that building codes are enforced in an evenhanded manner in Arab and Jewish areas of the city. — ap
Israel to open military med school
Israel will open its first military medical school, which will operate in conjunction with Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Medicine.
The inaugural class of 50 students will share many classes with the other 100 first-year Hadassah–Hebrew University medical students, but also will take additional courses emphasizing subjects necessary for military service such as sports medicine, treating trauma and chemical, biological and nuclear attack injuries, and management training.
The military medical school will address a shortage of full-time physicians in the Israel Defense Forces. Tuition and housing will be paid by the IDF in return for a five-year commitment of service as a military doctor at a military base or with a fighting unit. — jta
Spanish court to look into Israeli war crimes
A Spanish court will pursue a war crimes investigation against Israeli officials in the killing of a Hamas leader.
Judge Fernando Andreu of the Spanish National Court announced this week that he will pursue an investigation into the 2002 bombing that killed Salah Shehade in the Gaza Strip, despite the fact that court prosecutors advised against it.
The prosecutors provided documents showing that Israel already has investigated the attack, which also killed 14 civilians, but the judge said he did not believe Israel properly investigated the case.
The Spanish court has said that it can investigate and try human rights and war crimes cases if the country of origin does not.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the decision a “cynical move.” Turkey, which was also conducting a similar investigation, dropped it last week. — jta