Israel ranks 4th in global health care efficiency
(JNS.org) Israel ranks 4th in a new ranking system on global health care efficiency, ahead of advanced countries in Europe and North America.
According to data compiled by Bloomberg that ranks countries based on three criteria—life expectancy, health-care cost as a percentage of GDP per capita, and health-care cost per capita—Israel had an efficacy score of 68.7. Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan took the top spots, ahead of Israel.
Israeli minister: Palestinians, violating Oslo, continue to act unilaterally
(JNS.org) On a visit billed as possibly the last effort his country will make to institute the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide was in Jerusalem on Monday, where he met with Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin.
Elkin asked the foreign minister of the country where the 1993 Oslo Accords were signed to discourage the Palestinian Authority from taking unilateral steps that violate the agreement.
“If the Oslo agreement said specifically that the Palestinian Authority will not take unilateral steps to establish an independent state, and after about 20 years it goes to the U.N. and asks for recognition of a Palestinian state, who will ensure that if we sign an agreement they will uphold its conditions?” Elkin said, according to Israel Hayom.
Israel readies homefront for possible Syrian attack
(JNS.org) With U.S.-led military action in Syria potentially imminent, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a surprise meeting of the country’s security cabinet on Tuesday, apparently to discuss Syria, Army Radio reported.
Also on Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began a pre-planned two-day drill in the Golan Heights involving security and emergency forces, according to Israel Hayom. Patriot anti-missile batteries in Haifa were put on alert and aimed toward the north.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s reported use of chemical weapons on civilians in an Aug. 21 attack in eastern neighborhoods of Damascus that killed more than 1,300 people, said Monday, “This international norm cannot be violated without consequences.”
Israeli government releases plan for temporary egalitarian space at Western Wall
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Israeli government released a plan on Sunday to oversee the development of a new, temporary egalitarian space adjacent to the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem, to be called the “Israeli section” or “Israeli extension.”
The government would build the new space at Robinson’s Arch. It is meant to serve as a temporary solution until the Sharansky plan (named after its author, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky) is implemented, at which point a permanent egalitarian area would be built.
Women of the Wall—the group that seeks egalitarian prayer services in the Western Wall’s women’s section—dismissed the initiative, which was drawn up by Religious Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett and Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mendelblit, on the grounds that it doesn’t offer egalitarian access to the wall itself.
“The current plaza, essentially a raised platform on scaffolding, has no connection to the sanctity of the Western Wall. It’s a ‘sundeck,’ looking out on the Western Wall from afar. It’s not conducive to any of the symbolic elements of [the Wall], touching the Wall or placing a note inside of it. It’s an embarrassing solution, which keeps more than 50 percent of Israelis in the backyard,” said Anat Hoffman, chairman of Women of the Wall.
Bennett responded, “I am not willing to have an internal dispute among Jewish people at this holy site before Rosh Hashanah.”
The Jewish Agency’s Sharansky welcomed Bennett’s plan as a temporary solution to the requests of Women of the Wall and other Jews seeking a more egalitarian space at the holy site.
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Pope Francis I disturbed by ‘terrible images’ in Syria, calls for renewed dialogue
(JNS.org) During at mass at St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Pope Francis I said he was disturbed by the “terrible images these days” coming out of Syria and he called on the international community to find a solution to a war of “death and destruction,” Vatican Radio reported.
“With great suffering and concern I continue to follow the situation in Syria. The increase in violence in a war between brothers, with the proliferation of massacres and atrocities, that we all have been able to see in the terrible images of these days, leads me once again raise my voice that the clatter of arms may cease,” Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis also called on the international community to do more.
“I appeal to the international community to be more sensitive to this tragic situation and make every effort to help the beloved Syrian nation find a solution to a war that sows destruction and death,” he said.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Mario Zenari, who is the Vatican’s envoy to Syria, said on Monday that Syria was starting its “descent into hell,” and that he prayed that the international community do everything possible to prevent the massacres in Syria.
The appeal by Pope Francis comes as the international community is debating a response to evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people. U.S. President Barack Obama has said that the use of chemical weapons would cross a “red line” that could trigger U.S. military action.
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U.N. official: Ban Ki-moon did not intend to retract statement on anti-Israel bias
(JNS.org) The U.N.’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, attempted to clarify U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s seemingly conflicting statements regarding anti-Israel bias at the world body, stating that Ban did not retract his original statement confirming the existence of that bias.
On Aug. 16, Ban told university students at the U.N. headquarters in Jerusalem, “Unfortunately, because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel has been weighed down by criticism and suffered from bias and sometimes even discrimination.”
But when later pressed by reporters in New York about his statements regarding U.N. discrimination against Israel, Ban answered, “No, I don’t think there is discrimination against Israel at the United Nations. The Israeli government in fact, you know, raised this issue that [there is] some bias against Israel.”
In an interview on Israel Radio on Sunday, however, Serry said that Ban meant what he originally said.
“I’ve been in touch with the Secretary-General’s office in New York, and I can assure you that what he said there in New York was not meant as a retraction,” Serry said on Israel Radio.
“[Ban] has said, unfortunately, because of the conflict, Israel has been weighed down by criticism, and suffered from lies and sometimes even discrimination,” Serry added. “This is what I know he has been saying here, and I know this is what he stands for.”
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) welcomed Serry’s clarification of Ban’s comments.
“We are pleased that Mr. Serry has reiterated the Secretary-General’s belief that Israel is not treated fairly, and does indeed suffer from ‘lies’ and ‘discrimination’ in the world body,” AJC Executive Director David Harris said in a statement.
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