57% of Israelis outside Jerusalem fear visiting city amid Palestinian terror wave
(JNS.org) Most Israelis are afraid to visit Jerusalem due to security concerns, a new poll released on Sunday shows.
The Smith Research Center poll, commissioned by the “Commanders for Israel’s Security” movement, reveals that 57 percent of Israelis who don’t reside in Jerusalem fear visiting the city amid the months-long wave of Palestinian stabbing, car-ramming, and shooting terror attacks against Jewish Israelis. The terror attacks have been particularly rampant in Jerusalem as well as Judea and Samaria.
Seventy-three percent of respondents, according to the poll, said they would feel more secure if the Jewish and Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem were separated. A larger percentage of women (64 percent) than men (49 percent) expressed concern about visiting Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Post reported.
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Japanese philanthropist dedicates planetarium in central Israel
(JNS.org) The central Israeli city of Netanya dedicated a $3 million science and space center on Monday. The 11,000-square-foot Madarame Planetarium and Meditation Center was largely funded by Japanese businessman and philanthropist Rikoho Madarame, 79, who is described by city officials as an “Israel lover.”
“During the 1970s, I met American-Jewish business people. We connected, and for the first time I learned about the Holocaust and the suffering of the Jewish people,” Madarame told Israel Hayom.
“Over the years I made more and more Jewish friends, both inside and outside Japan, and I met Elad Levy, who was an attache at the Israeli Embassy in Japan,” said Madarame. “When I asked him where I should invest in Israel, he suggested Netanya. Why? Because the attache’s daughter lives there, and because it was a great city. I then got to know the mayor and I came to visit, and I fell in love, just as he said I would….Everyone asks me, not only in Japan, why I am engaging in philanthropy in Israel, and my answer never changes: I have a special place in my heart for the Jews and the state.”
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Israel and Turkey ‘very close’ to reconciliation deal, ministers say
(JNS.org) A deal seems closer than ever in Israel’s negotiations to normalize diplomatic relations with Turkey, 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 Hamas-ruled Gaza. Turkey’s demand for Israel to remove the Gaza blockade remains a sticking point in the normalization talks.
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.”
Steinitz told Radio 103FM, “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.”
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