Israeli unemployment rate remains at historic low
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel’s unemployment rate for March was 5.3 percent, remaining at a historic low for the second consecutive month, the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said Thursday.
A CBS survey held among 21,900 Israeli adults said that during the first fiscal quarter of this year, unemployment among men was 5.1 percent, while the jobless rate among women was 5.5 percent. According to the survey, for the first time is Israel’s history, unemployment among those ages 25-64 dropped below 5 percent—4.7 percent among men and 4.8 percent among women.
Meanwhile, the first phase of a minimum-wage hike ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last December came into effect Thursday, raising the minimum wage in Israel from 4,300 shekels ($1,115) to 4,650 shekels ($1,205).
*
Political strategist apologizes for calling Netanyahu ‘the devil’
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Political strategist Udi Pridan apologized Thursday for his choice of words in a recent interview with the financial newspaper Globes, in which he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the devil, a bad man, dishonest, war-mongering, divisive, and a charlatan.”
Pridan, who led Kulanu party leader Moshe Kahlon’s election campaign, had also accused the Mizrahi Jewish public—many of whom voted for Netanyahu—of suffering from an “inferiority complex.”
“I was wrong to call the prime minister ‘the devil,’” Pridan said on Twitter. “This is our prime minister, who was elected in a fair democratic election. It was a poor choice of words and I’m sorry for that. I also owe an apology to those I offended by my insensitive stereotypical comments, which I truly regret.”
*
Funds for thwarting terror tunnels added to U.S. defense bill for Israel
(JNS.org) The U.S. House Armed Services Committee has approved an amendment to add funding for technology to thwart terror tunnels to a defense bill for Israel.
The amendment, which authorizes research and development of an anti-tunnel defense system to protect Israel from Palestinian terror attacks, was added to a National Defense Authorization Act that already includes $474 million in funds for the Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile defense systems.
“Our closest ally in the Middle East—Israel—lives under the constant threat of terrorist attacks from underground tunnels,” said U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham (D-Fla.), who co-sponsored the amendment with U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.). “The U.S.-Israel Anti-Tunnel Defense Cooperation Act will launch an unprecedented new initiative to protect Israel from this dangerous menace. … Iron Dome has saved countless civilian lives, and an anti-tunneling defense shield will save countless more.”
Last summer, Israel launched a ground operation in Gaza to destroy Hamas’s vast tunnel infrastructure under the Israel-Gaza border, which the terror group used to launch attacks inside of Israel. The Jewish state lost 67 soldiers during the 50-day war. Recent reports indicate that Hamas has gained funding from Iran to reconstruct the terror tunnel network.
The bipartisan legislation was supported by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which said the anti-tunneling technology can also help the U.S. secure its own border with Mexico and protect American military bases.
“This bill, which authorizes research, development, and test activities between the United States and Israel in order to better detect and destroy these tunnels, will help both the United States and Israel defend against future threats emanating from tunnels,” AIPAC said in a statement.
*
Indiana General Assembly becomes 2nd state legislature to pass anti-BDS bill
(JNS.org) The Indiana General Assembly has become the second-ever state legislature to pass a bill that formally opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Tennessee lawmakers approved a similar measure on April 21.
Adopted in a voice vote, the Indiana Senate approved Resolution 74, which “expresses opposition to the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel” BDS movement.
The Senate’s move came after the Indiana House of Representatives unanimously (93-0) passed the anti-BDS House Resolution 59 on April 22. The measure now goes to Indiana Governor Mike Pence for his signature.
The Indiana bill contends that the global spread of anti-Jewish speech and violence “represents an attack, not only on Jews, but on the fundamental principles of the United States.” The resolution goes on to thank the presidents of Indiana University and Purdue University for “strongly” condemning the boycott of Israeli academic institutions after some faculty members and other staffers at those schools voiced support for the BDS movement.
Dr. Allon Friedman—vice president of the Jewish American Affairs Committee of Indiana, which promoted the bill—told JNS.org that Indiana legislators recognized “the significance of the Indiana General Assembly in taking a leadership role in supporting the Jewish people and Israel.”
*
Israel pledges to rebuild entire Nepalese village, Chabad feeds 2,000 in a day
(JNS.org) Israel has pledged to fully rebuild an entire village in Nepal as part of its long-term relief efforts following the devastating earthquake in that country, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced Thursday.
“After consulting with various departments in the Foreign Ministry, we decided to adopt a village in Nepal, to assist with its reconstruction and to do our utmost to help people who have really found themselves in a difficult situation,” Lieberman said in a briefing at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the Times of Israel reported.
The foreign ministry said it will work with the Nepalese government to select a village and to assist in clearing the area as well as rebuilding the infrastructure and houses there.
“We, the professional staff, will start to work after the dust has settled and it’ll be possible to talk with Nepali authorities about the location of the village and the matter of the reconstruction,” said the foreign ministry’s director-general, Nissim Ben-Sheetrit.
Israeli rescue units are continuing to search for Or Asraf, the last Israeli citizen who is unaccounted for in Nepal. Rescuers believe that Asraf was hiking at the time of the earthquake. Dozens of Israelis have been rescued from remote regions of Nepal over the last few days.
Meanwhile, Chabad-Lubavitch of Nepal said it prepared 2,000 meals for Nepalis in need on Wednesday alone. Additionally, the Chabad emissary in the region, Rabbi Chezky Lifshitz, led a helicopter mission to rescue stranded Israelis.
*
Kerry calls Netanyahu’s stance on Iran sanctions ‘mythology’
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position on sanctions against Iran is “mythology,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said.
“The whole mythology I’ve heard, from [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to Republican members of the House and Senate—‘Oh, just squeeze them to death, raise the sanctions’—not gonna happen,” Kerry said in an interview with the Boston Globe published April 28.
The Obama administration has consistently opposed new Congressional sanctions against Iran over the course of the nuclear negotiations between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 nations, a group that includes the U.S. But Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders across the political spectrum have argued for keeping up economic pressure on Iran.
“Look, if Russia, China, Germany, France, and Britain, all of whom have nuclear programs, sign off on this [nuclear agreement with Iran], and all their experts say it’s a good deal, and Congress for political reasons wants to go kill it, they’re walking away,” Kerry said.
“There will be no sanctions [against Iran], because none of [the P5+1 powers] will enforce sanctions if they think we had a reasonable deal, but only the Congress decides no,” he added.
In February, Foreign Policy magazine released a survey in which a group of 1,615 international relations scholars ranked Kerry as the least-effective U.S. secretary of state among the 13 holders of that office over the last 50 years.
*
Argentina to compensate Jewish center bombing victims amid controversy
(JNS.org) Argentina’s parliament has approved a bill to compensate the victims of the 1994 bombing at the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. The bill passed in the parliament’s lower chamber on Wednesday after being approved in the Argentine senate earlier this month.
According to the bill, the families of the 85 people who were killed and those who suffered serious injuries will receive one-time compensation similar to the reparations paid to victims of both Argentina’s military dictatorship and the 1992 bombing of the country’s Israeli embassy, said Remo Carolotto, the president of Argentina’s Human Rights Commission, according to AFP.
The bill’s passage comes at a time of heightened controversy surrounding the 1994 attack on the Jewish center, which killed 85 people and injured 300. Many observers believe the Argentine government has obstructed investigations into the alleged role of Iran in the attack.
On the same day as the passage of the compensation bill, Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, who is Jewish, canceled his membership at AMIA, citing the Jewish center’s “obstructionist actions” regarding the joint Iran-Argentina deal to probe the bombing.
Alberto Nisman, the Jewish prosecutor who was investigating the 1994 attack, was found dead in his apartment in January just hours before he planned to testify that Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has attempted to cover up Iran’s involvement in the bombing, an allegation Kirchner has denied.
*
Belarus leader Lukashenko rebukes official for not getting Jews ‘under control’
(JNS.org) In a televised address on Wednesday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko admonished a Jewish regional governor in Belarus for not getting the country’s Jewish population “under control.”
Expressing annoyance that the Jewish head of the online publication Tut.by, Yuri Zisser, was “not behaving correctly,” Lukashenko said in his speech that he proceeded to confront Minsk Region Governor Semyon Shapiro.
“I told you a year ago to take all the Jews of Belarus under control,” Lukashenko recalled telling Shapiro, Reuters reported.
The president mocked Shapiro, saying that he “prayed in the synagogue. There was rain only in Minsk region. Semyon Borisovich (Shapiro) is a good guy.”
Lukashenko also praised Belarus’s Jewish community—which comprises just 0.14 percent of the country’s 9.5 million population, according to a 2009 census—for assisting Belarus in resisting the Nazi occupation during World War II. About 800,000 Belarusian Jews died during the Holocaust. But the president called Jews “white boned,” implying that they prefer not to perform menial work.
“They don’t like to get their hands dirty or fight, but they did get their hands dirty with us!” Lukashenko said.
*
Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman
*
__________________________________________________________________
Care to comment? We require the following information on any letter for publication: 1) Your full name 2) Your city and state (or country) of residence. Letters lacking such information will be automatically deleted. San Diego Jewish World is intended as a forum for the entire Jewish community, whatever your political leanings. Letters may be posted below provided they are responsive to the article that prompted them, and civil in their tone. Ad hominem attacks against any religion, country, gender, race, sexual orientation, or physical disability will not be considered for publication. There is a limit of one letter per writer on any given day.
__________________________________________________________________