Israel incentivizes Arab municipalities to fight illegal construction
(JNS.org) The Israeli cabinet on Sunday approved the appropriation of about $3.6 billion for Israeli-Arab communities, but made the funds contingent on Arab municipalities fighting illegal construction.
The cabinet decided that the newly allotted funds would go to municipalities that agreed to increase efforts to battle construction violations. The Israeli ministers also decided that the state would press criminal charges against offenders and announced that enforcement officials would have the power to seize heavy-duty vehicles used for construction.
“This issue [of illegal construction] is important for Israel as a nation and for its future,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. “Things are out of control, and we must end this situation.”
Joint Arab List party leader Member of Knesset Ayman Odeh called the newly approved measures an assault on Israel’s Arab sector.
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‘Start-up nation’ mourns high-tech guru Alan Weinkrantz
(JNS.org) Hundreds of people took to Facebook on Sunday to mourn the death of American public relations specialist Alan Weinkrantz, who died Saturday after a car whose driver was having a heart attack crashed into a restaurant in Tel Aviv. Weinkrantz, who was from San Antonio and worked closely with the Israeli high-tech industry, was praised for his entrepreneurial skills and contributions to Israel’s “start-up nation” culture.
Raphael Ouzan, an Israeli friend of Weinkrantz, wrote, “A sad day for the start-up nation.” Juan Camilo Coronel, another friend, posted, “RIP Alan Weinkrantz. I won’t ever forget your motto ‘always be helpful.’ If people would just convince themselves of how important having that mindset is, leaving no room for selfishness, the world would definitely be a much better place.”
Weinkrantz, who was 63, made many visits to Israel. Three people were killed in the car accident Saturday night when a man apparently suffered a heart attack while driving through Tel Aviv and his car plowed into a busy restaurant. The driver, 41, from the central Israeli city of Ra’anana, was among those who died, along Weinkrantz and Ashdod resident Menashe Raz.
The driver was reportedly traveling quickly when he suffered a heart attack and lost control of his car, which then drove onto the sidewalk and crashed into Furama, an Asian restaurant on crowded Ben Yehuda Street. According to some media reports, bystanders beat the driver after the accident, assuming at first that he was a terrorist who had committed a ramming attack.
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Report: Herzog was prepared to divide Jerusalem as Israeli prime minister
(JNS.org) Zionist Union party leader Member of Knesset Isaac Herzog was prepared to uproot all Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and to divide Jerusalem if he became prime minister last year, Israel’s Makor Rishon and Channel 10 outlets reported Sunday.
Herzog, the Israeli Knesset’s opposition leader, reportedly offered those concessions in talks conducted with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas before the March 2015 Israeli election. According to the reports, Herzog agreed to give Abbas an area that was equivalent to 100 percent of Judea and Samaria, including 4 percent in land swaps. On the issue of Jerusalem, Herzog agreed to withdraw from neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem, which would have become the Palestinian capital. Herzog and Abbas also agreed to set up a joint Israeli-Palestinian municipality to run the shared city, with a multinational force administering the Temple Mount and the Western Wall remaining under Israeli sovereignty.
In response to the reports, Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Zeev Elkin (Likud) said, “The unearthing of the secret agreement between Herzog and Abbas proves once again that the Likud’s victory in the last election saved Israel from this suicidal plan that involved extremely dangerous concessions, including the division of Jerusalem.”
Herzog’s office, meanwhile, said that “there is no need for mediators or secret negotiators in the dialogue with Abbas, and Herzog has stated that he would address the Palestinian parliament in Ramallah if he is elected prime minister.”
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Los Angeles Dodgers become first MLB team to sign an Israeli citizen
(JNS.org) The Los Angeles Dodgers have become the first Major League Baseball (MLB) team to sign an Israeli citizen to a contract.
Dean Kremer, a standout right-handed pitcher at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), was drafted earlier this month by the Dodgers in the 14th round. Last year, he made history by becoming the first Israeli drafted by an MLB team, the San Diego Padres, but he did not sign with that club.
Kremer, who was born in Stockton, Calif., to Israeli parents and has dual citizenship, said he has maintained deep Israeli roots his entire life.
“I was born here in the United States, but I go back and practically live [in Israel] for two months out of the year in the summer, so it’s definitely home,” Kremer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in February.
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New Turkish prime minister tries to mend relations with Israel, other nations
(JNS.org) New Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has conveyed a reconciliatory message to four countries with which Turkey has had strained relations, including Israel.
“Israel, Syria, Russia, Egypt…There can’t be any permanent enmities between these countries encircling Black Sea and the Mediterranean,” Yıldırım said, the Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Yıldırım, who replaced resigned prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in May, added, “We are coming to a point with Israel. They are also showing will. There are contacts. It’s not concluded yet. I don’t think it will take long. The determinative thing here is eliminating the isolation of Gaza for humanitarian purposes.”
Turkey and Israel have had strained relations since the 2010 Gaza flotilla incident, in which nine Turkish militants were killed in clashes after they attacked Israeli commandos who boarded a ship that was trying to breach the blockade on Gaza.
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