Israel approves $360 million aid package for Gaza-border communities
(JNS.org) The Israeli government on Sunday approved a multi-year strategic recovery plan devised for southern Israel in the wake of Operation Protective Edge. The plan includes the immediate appropriation of $360 million to communities adjacent to the Israel-Gaza border.
“This is the biggest investment Israel has ever made in the south,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. The funds, he said, “will be appropriated on top of the $114 million we allocated to the south during Operation Protective Edge.”
“We will create new infrastructure for the factories in southern Israel, we will support medium and small businesses in the area, and we will develop the south’s tourism industry, as well as all other aspects of life, which would benefit all Negev residents, including the Bedouin community,” said Netanyahu.
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IDF: No evidence of Islamic State presence at Syria border
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “does not recognize any Islamic State presence [at the Israel-Syria border]” and the Golan Heights are safe to visit during the High Holidays, IDF Col. Nir Ben-David said on Sunday.
Ben-David is deputy commander of the IDF’S 210th Division, which is stationed on the Golan Heights and the Syrian border. “There are other [groups] operating there,” he said. “Islamic State is still far off, many kilometers away. In the past year, the [al-Qaeda-aligned] Nusra Front has made headway on the Syrian [border].”
The IDF is closely monitoring the Syrian border, Ben-David said.
“We have developed many new capabilities in the Golan Heights. We are making changes and staying one step ahead of the enemy,” he said.
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Netanyahu warns against working with Iran to combat Islamic State
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in response to a Reuters report that Iran is willing to work with the U.S. and its allies to combat the Islamic State terror group in exchange for more flexibility on uranium enrichment, warned against any collaboration with Iran.
“They are saying that the major powers need to go easy on Iran’s nuclear program so that Iran will fight ISIS,” Netanyahu said in a speech at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem on Sunday. “[Iran] is fighting ISIS for its own interests. They are fighting over who will be the ruler of the Islamist world that they want to set over the entire world. It is as if [Bashar] Assad would say, ‘Go easy on my chemical weapons. Give me back my chemical weapons so that I can fight ISIS.’ Both are absurd.”
“Menachem Begin would reject this outright and so do I,” added Netanyahu. “Iran must not be allowed to become a nuclear threshold state.”
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IDF surveillance drone crashes in Lebanon, Hezbollah threatens retaliation
(JNS.org) An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) drone crashed during an operational surveillance mission over Lebanon on Saturday.
According to reports, the drone crashed in southern Lebanon about nine miles from the Israeli border. Lebanese Army soldiers confiscated the fallen aircraft. The IDF said that “during routine operations along the border area with Lebanon, an unmanned aerial vehicle, while on a surveillance mission along the border, crashed due to a technical malfunction.”
The crashed drone, an MK-model Skylark, is designed to fall to the ground once it identifies a malfunction to one of its systems.
In response to the incident, the Hezbollah terrorist organization threatened retaliation against Israel.
“The era of moving the fighting outside of Israel’s territory is over,” said a senior Hezbollah official quoted by Lebanese media outlets. “The Israeli communities along the border need to know they are on our target list during any conflict.”
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Stalactite cave discovered in Jerusalem hills
(JNS.org) A 660-foot-long stalactite cave was discovered during construction work in the Jerusalem hills, representatives of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) and researchers from the Cave Research Unit of Hebrew University’s Geology Department announced Saturday.
Since the entrance to the cave still poses a danger, the site’s precise location was not reported. The cave was discovered after boulders at the construction site were blasted apart, revealing a large pit. When experts from the INPA went in with flashlights, they found the stalactite cave, which is currently being explored and mapped.
“While this isn’t a rare find, it’s definitely an interesting one,” said Uri Naveh, deputy head of the INPA’s central district.
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U.S. ‘not optimistic’ heading into Iran nuclear talks
(JNS.org) U.S. officials expressed pessimism going into nuclear talks with Iran in New York as wide gaps remain between the two sides.
“Coming into New York, I think many of us were not very optimistic,” a senior Obama administration official said Sept. 18.
The latest round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 powers is being held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Negotiators are attempting to reach a permanent deal on Iran’s nuclear program by a Nov. 24 deadline.
The P5+1 has said that it would allow Iran to retain 5-percent uranium enrichment capability, while Iran maintains that it wants that number at 20 percent, which nuclear experts say is just below the threshold of nuclear weapons breakout capability.
Israel has said that any final nuclear deal must include Iran dismantling its entire program and not having any enrichment capability.
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Israeli-born woman to replace Larry Ellison as head of Oracle
(JNS.org) Israeli-born Safra Catz is set to replace Oracle Corporation CEO Larry Ellison, who announced Sept. 18 that he is stepping down. Catz will share the top job at the world’s second-largest software maker with Mark Hurd.
Oracle said Catz will be responsible for all manufacturing, finance, and legal decisions, while Hurd, who served as co-president with Catz, will lead sales, services, and global business units.
Ellison, who is also Jewish and is the world’s fifth-richest man ($49 billion), will continue as Oracle’s chairman.
Catz was born in Holon, Israel, in 1961 and at age 6 moved to America. An executive at Oracle since 1999, she has played a key role in many of the company’s key mergers and acquisitions and last year was reportedly the highest-paid female executive in the world, making $44.3 million.
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Israel wins gold, bronze medals at European Judo youth championship
(JNS.org) Israeli Baruch Shmailov, 20, won a gold medal at the under-21 European Judo Championship in Bucharest, Romania.
Shmailov competed in the under-66 kg category, beating Armenian Arsen Ghazaryan in the final. In the under-74 kg category, Israeli Tohar Butbul won the bronze medal.
“This [Israeli team] is one of the best [Judo] teams in Europe. We will continue this way and the sky is the limit,” said Moshe Ponte, the chairman of the Israeli Judo Federation, as translated from the Hebrew edition of Yedioth Ahronoth.
“Today Baruch proves that he belongs at the very top of European Judo,” said the Israeli Judo team’s coach, Oren Smadja.
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