Netanyahu plans first official visit to Panama by Israeli prime minister
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning a rare five-day trip to Mexico, Colombia, and Panama on April 6 in an effort to bolster relations with Latin American countries, Israel Hayom reported. Netanyahu will be the first Israeli prime minister to visit Panama.
During the trip, Netanyahu will aim to secure a united front against Iran, strengthen relations with the Hispanic communities, and expand economic cooperation with Latin American countries.
In February, Netanyahu spoke with the leaders of the Pacific Alliance countries—Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Peru—who granted Israel membership in the trade bloc as an observer state. The Pacific Alliance countries are considered pro-U.S., anti-Iran, and friendly to Israel.
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‘Those who act against us will feel our response,’ IDF chief says on Golan blast
(JNS.org) “Those who act against us will feel our response,” Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said Wednesday after Israeli jets struck targets in Syria in response to an explosive device laid on the Israel-Syria border that wounded four Israeli soldiers.
Speaking to students in the central Israeli town of Gan Yavne, Gantz referred to recent Syrian threats of retaliation and said he hopes they “stop with the nonsense.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon visited the wounded soldiers at Rambam Hospital in Haifa. Maj. A. of the Paratroopers Brigade, who was wounded lightly in the incident, said, “I am awaiting the moment I can go back to my soldiers in the battalion.” His father told Israel Hayom, “If it were up to him, he would already be back at the battalion.”
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Ya’alon clarifies comment that Israel can only rely on itself to act against Iran
(JNS.org) Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon clarified remarks in which Ya’alon said Israel needs to “behave as though we have nobody to look out for us but ourselves” when it comes to the Iranian nuclear threat.
Ya’alon reportedly said in a speech at Tel Aviv University, “We had thought the ones who should lead the campaign against Iran is the United States. But at some stage the United States entered into negotiations with them, and unhappily, when it comes to negotiating at a Persian bazaar, the Iranians were better.”
On Wednesday, Ya’alon said in a statement that he told U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, “There was no opposition or criticism or intention to offend the United States or our relations in my remarks.”
“The strategic ties between our countries have a supreme importance, as do our personal ties and mutual interests,” Ya’alon also said in his conversation with Hagel.
According to the statement by Ya’alon, Hagel responded, “I appreciate our personal relationship and the relations between our countries, and appreciate what you said about the commitment to those relations.”
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Israel’s chief economist resigns over Yair Lapid’s housing plan
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Dr. Michael Sarel, head of the Economics and State Revenues Department at the Israeli Finance Ministry, has resigned in protest against Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s plan to provide first-time homebuyers with a tax exemption for purchasing new apartments.
“The decision is wrong from every perspective,” said Sarel, who until Wednesday was considered to be a close ally of Lapid. Sarel said he publicized his resignation letter so his name would not be linked to the new policy.
This is the first resignation of a Finance Ministry official over Lapid’s tax break proposal. The plan, revealed Tuesday, would exempt married couples with at least one child who has done military or national service from paying the 18 percent value-added tax (VAT) on a new home purchase. The suggestion has sparked criticism in areas that do not meet the criteria, like the haredi and Arab communities.
Lapid thanked Sarel for his “trustworthy and professional service” and said he was sorry about the chief economist’s decision to leave the ministry.
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Amid bloody civil war, Syrian government reaches for the stars
(JNS.org) Amid raging civil war that has left 146,000 dead and millions displaced, the Syrian government announced the establishment of a new space program.
Dubbed the “Syrian Space Agency,” the program was established with the goal of “using space technology for exploration and observing the earth,” and the Syrian government hopes to use the new technology “in the service of development,” the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
It is unclear how Syria will fund the space program. The civil war, now entering its fourth year, has destroyed the country’s economy, with Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi recently stating that the country had suffered $31 billion in damages, almost all of its estimated $34 billion GDP.
Iran, Syria’s top patron and closest regional ally, also has a space program that many accuse of being a front for its ballistic missile program.
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Palestinian Authority and Fatah glorify terrorist attack that killed 37 Israelis
(JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah marked the anniversary of a 1978 terrorist attack in which a group of terrorists led by Dalal Mughrabi hijacked an Israeli bus and killed 37 people, including 12 children. In a public event, Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf praised Mughrabi as “an extraordinary example of struggle, whose headline is bravery, heroism, sacrifice, and courage,” and someone who “inspired her generation and the next generations.”
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the official PA daily newspaper, reported that at the event, “Fatah promised to the masses of our heroic people that it would remain loyal to the promise of the Martyr Dalal and her companions, and to all the Martyrs, until freedom, independence and return,” according to Palestinian Media Watch.
Fatah also glorified the terrorist attack on Facebook, posting that “the waves of the sea raged and disgorged 11 stars. Dalal and her friends had decided to return to their homeland as heroes.”
At another event aired live on official PA television, PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s advisor on NGOs Sultan Abu Al-Einein said, “The [Israelis] are deluding themselves if they think the negotiations are our only choice. Let the young people hear me: Allah, honor us with Martyrdom (Shahada). Allah, give us the honor of being part of the procession of Martyrs.”
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Cleveland foundation announces gift to Israeli archaeological archives
(Cleveland Jewish News/JNS.org) The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation of Cleveland announced a funding gift to establish the Mandel National Library for the Archaeology of Israel and the Mandel National Archaeological Archives.
The library and archives will be part of the authority’s Schottenstein National Campus for the Archeology of Israel, currently under construction in Jerusalem. Opening of the 35,000-square-meter campus is scheduled for April 2016, according to a prepared statement the foundation released on March 19.
“We hope the Mandel National Library for the Archaeology of Israel and the Mandel Archives will serve as a source of inspiration and learning for the public at large and for today’s leaders as they explore the past of the Land of Israel,” Morton Mandel said in a statement. The foundation did not disclose the amount of the gift.
Designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, the campus will be the authority’s new headquarters and serve as its education, research, conservation, and illumination center.
The complex, on Museum Hill adjacent to the Israel Museum and overlooking the Hebrew University Givat Ram Campus, will house nearly 2 million archaeological objects, among them 15,000 Dead Sea scrolls, viewable conservation and restoration laboratories, an auditorium, special study galleries, an archaeological education center, rooftop exhibition gardens, and a café.
The Mandel National Library for the Archaeology of Israel will house nearly 150,000 volumes, including 500 rare books and more than 1,000 periodicals. The adjacent Mandel National Archaeological Archives will contain the Israel Antiquities Authority Archive; the British Mandatory Archive; and maps, permits, plans, and publications of excavations from the Mandatory Period through today.
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In nuclear talks, Iran spars with world powers over future of Arak reactor
(JNS.org) Following a two-day session of nuclear talks in Geneva, Iran and world powers still have significant differences in opinion over the future of Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor as well as the country’s enrichment capability.
The U.S. wants Iran to address concerns over the nuclear reactor in Arak, which according to the International Atomic Energy Agency could produce plutonium for nuclear bombs.
“We have long said that we believe that Arak should not be a heavy water reactor as it is, that we did not think that that met the objectives of this negotiation,” a U.S. official told Reuters.
Iran, however, has said it will not shut Arak down.
“The Arak reactor is part of Iran’s nuclear program and will not be closed down, [like] our research and development activities,” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said in Geneva.
The U.S. is also concerned about the level of Iran’s uranium enrichment, and says a gap on the issue still remains between America and Iran.
“It’s a gap [on enrichment] that’s going to take some hard work to get to a place where we can find agreement,” the U.S. official added, according to Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not believe Iran should have any enrichment capabilities and has repeatedly criticized world leaders for suggesting that Iran may still retain limited capabilities.
“Unfortunately, the leading powers of the world are talking about leaving Iran with the capability to enrich uranium,” Netanyahu told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in early March. “I hope they do not do that because that would be a grave error.”
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