Middle East Roundup: June 3, 2016

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Israel and Turkey ‘very close’ to reconciliation deal, ministers say

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A deal seems closer than ever in Israel’s negotiations to normalize diplomatic relations with Turkey, but some key issues remain unresolved, two Israeli ministers said.

While Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and Construction Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday expressed optimism about the negotiations with Turkey, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said that “no concrete progress has been made.”

Turkish-Israeli relations broke down after the 2010 Gaza flotilla incident, in which nine Turkish militants were killed in clashes after attacking Israeli commandos boarding a ship that was trying to breach the blockade on Gaza.

Turkey has conditioned normalizing ties with Israel on an official apology over the flotilla incident, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered in 2012; compensation for the victims’ families, which is currently being finalized; and a removal of the maritime blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza, a step that Israel opposes.

Speaking at a conference in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, Gallant said, “Israel and Turkey are very close to reaching a deal. This agreement is essential to Israel’s national security and it will have significant implications on the tourism and energy industries, and maybe even the construction industry.”

In an interview with Radio 103FM, Steinitz said, “About 95 percent of the deal with Turkey is done. I won’t go into the details, but I believe we’ve dealt with 95 percent of the issues successfully. I was under the impression we could have finalized things by Passover [in April], but Turkey was just putting together a new government, and that might have set things back a little.”

Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey’s former prime minister, resigned May 22.

Israelis who lost parents to terror to get retroactive payment

(JNS.org) Israelis whose parents were killed by terrorists between the Jewish state’s founding in 1948 and October 2000 will get a lump sum of 200,000 shekels ($51,000) under a new agreement struck by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Welfare and Social Services Minister Haim Katz.

The measure, which requires an appropriation of about $2 million from the Israeli government, will affect roughly 40 families. The two ministers will introduce legislation to amend the relevant law when Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation convenes on Sunday. The measure is expected to pass and to be submitted to the Knesset for final approval.

Over the years, the Knesset has approved legislation gradually expanding the criteria for the compensatory payment. The latest amendment was made in 2011, but it did not apply to terrorist attacks that preceded October 2000.

“This rights a wrong,” Kahlon told Israel Hayom. “It is a small tweak that undoes the discriminatory practices that have been in place for too many years. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to alleviate their pain, but I hope that this payment will be of some help to all those who were denied it under the existing law. The State of Israel’s commitment when it comes to the victims of terrorism and their families is rock solid. We must make sure they get as many benefits as possible.”

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Tel Aviv’s gay pride parade draws estimated 200,000 people

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) An estimated 200,000 people—including 30,000 tourists—participated in Tel Aviv’s gay pride parade on Friday, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

This year’s parade began with a moment of silence for 16-year-old Shira Banki, who was stabbed to death by a haredi man at Jerusalem’s gay pride parade last year, and for the victims of the 2009 shooting attack at the Bar Noar LGBT youth club in Tel Aviv.

The 2016 Tel Aviv parade, titled “Women for Change,” highlighted women in the LGBT community and their struggle for equal rights. The parade was launched by Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, who urged Israeli lawmakers attending the event to promote legislation to allow marriage and parenting equality, and promised that Tel Aviv will always be a city of tolerance and democracy that respects all minorities.

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Foreign investment in Israel flourishes despite BDS movement, report says

(JNS.org) Foreign investment in Israeli assets has tripled since the launch of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in 2005, demonstrating that BDS has not significantly harmed the Israeli economy, according to new data published by Bloomberg News.

“We don’t have a problem with foreign investment in Israel—on the contrary,” said Yoel Naveh, chief economist at Israel’s Finance Ministry.

In 2015, Israel’s industrial high-tech exports grew 13 percent from the previous year. Israeli start-ups raised $3.76 billion last year from non-Israeli investors, according to the IVC Research Center. This year, Israel’s economic growth is projected to reach 2.8 percent, higher than the growth rates in both the U.S. and the European Union.

Although some European pension funds have blacklisted Israeli banks, Bloomberg conducted a survey of nine Israeli companies that have experienced either steady or increased non-Israeli holdings during the last three years. According to Bloomberg, the majority of fund managers who own shares in those companies either did not want to speak about the influence of BDS on their decisions or wanted to remain anonymous.

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Israeli start-up that simplifies online user experience raises $50 million

(JNS.org) WalkMe, an American-Israeli high tech start-up that simplifies the online user experience, has raised $50 million in its latest round of fundraising to reach a total of $92.5 million, Haaretz reported.

The latest round was led by the New York-based venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners along with existing investors including Greenspring Associates and Scale Venture Partners.

WalkMe, founded in Israel in 2011, has 270 employees in San Francisco and 160 in Israel. Its platform integrates existing software and websites to help users navigate through complicated or confusing Internet services. The start-up has seen five-fold annual revenue growth during the last two years.

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Samsung offers new ‘kosher’ smartphone

(JNS.org) Samsung, in partnership with the Israeli company Askan, on Wednesday debuted a “kosher” smartphone for users seeking to avoid religiously offensive content.

“We chose Askan as a partner because the company helps the haredi society, which wants to make use of smart mobile devices, and gain access to our advanced instruments in complete conformity with their lifestyle,” said Guy Hibash, director of Samsung Israel’s enterprise division.

Askan creates technology that can program phones with Internet filters in order to block content that haredi users would consider offensive. The “kosher” operating system will run on various Samsung phones, including the Galaxy S6 and S7 series as well as the A5 and J1 models.

Rabbi Tzvi Braverman, a haredi rabbinical judge from Beitar Illit in Israel, approved the new device. But the kosher smartphone is still awaiting an endorsement from the rabbinical court of Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, who oversees smartphone usage in the non-Hassidic haredi community.

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Spanish court invalidates city’s resolution to boycott Israel

(JNS.org) In a blow to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Spain, a Spanish court has invalidated a municipal boycott of Israel on the grounds that the move is discriminatory, anti-Semitic, and incites hate crimes.

The court ruled against a declaration passed in January by the City Council of Langreo—a town in northern Spain dominated by communist and far-left political parties—which resolved to boycott Israel as well as any person or company supporting the Jewish state in an effort to make the city “free of Israeli apartheid.”

“Over the last year and a half there was a tectonic movement in Spain as the far left gained access to public institutions and local government,” said Angel Mas, chairman of ACOM, a pro-Israel organization that combats BDS in Spain and sued the Langreo City Council over the declaration, theJerusalem Post reported.

“For the first time in a court decision, the court said that the BDS declaration in the city was discriminatory, anti-Semitic, broke human rights, and needed to be cancelled,” Mas said.

In addition, said Mas, ”around 35-36 [other] cases [on boycotts of Israel] have been presented so far and we have won five or six. We think that the tide is changing, but it doesn’t prevent this group from presenting more of these declarations.”

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Palestinian woman shot after trying to stab Israeli soldier

(JNS.org) A Palestinian woman was shot and killed by the Israel Defense Forces after she tried to stab an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint near the Palestinian town of Anabta on Thursday, marking the latest attack during the eight-month-long wave of Palestinian terror against Israeli soldiers and civilians.

The Palestinian terror attacks—mostly stabbings, car-rammings, and shootings—have claimed the lives of 34 people since last fall, but have slowed down during the last few months.

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2nd Jerusalem Unity Prize in memory of slain teens awarded in Jerusalem

(JNS.org) The second annual Jerusalem Unity Prize was awarded at the Israeli President’s Residence on Wednesday to organizations that work to promote and inspire Jewish unity.

The prize was established through a partnership between Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, the Gesher non-profit, and the families of Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, and Naftali Frenkel—the three Jewish teenagers who were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas terrorists in June 2014 ahead of that summer’s Gaza war.

The recipients of this year’s award are Kesher Yehudi (Jewish Connection), which works to facilitate dialogue between secular and haredi Jews; Jerusalem’s Hapoel Katamon soccer club, which promotes youth community outreach; the Jewish Agency’s Global School Twinning Network, which connects students around the world to discuss Jewish identity and social responsibility; and a joint initiative to increase interaction among the religious Bnei Akiva youth movement and the secular Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed and Dror youth movements.

“The Jerusalem Unity Prize and Jerusalem Unity Day, which we mark today, is a day which asks of us to preserve that ‘togetherness,’ this time out of choice,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said during the prize ceremony.

“Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat approached us during the shiva (Jewish mourning period) and suggested that we participate in something like this,” Rachel Frenkel, the bereaved mother of Naftali Frenkel, told Tazpit Press Service. “It developed into the Jerusalem Unity Prize and then into Jerusalem Unity Day with the help of the organization Gesher so people are doing special unity activities today….When I speak to my children who lost their beloved brother to a group of 30 Palestinian terrorists who organized the attack, I tell them that I don’t want them to be raised on hatred. I make sure that they know the difference between Hamas and our Arab neighbors. It sounds like a cliche. But it’s simply about the ability to open up and feel close to others despite the differences and to find common ground.”

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