Israeli cabinet approves 2015-16 state budget, defense budget still pending
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Israeli cabinet approved the 2015-16 state budget bill in the early hours of Thursday morning, after a tumultuous marathon discussion that began on Wednesday afternoon. The budget was approved with a majority vote among Israel’s 20 government ministers. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon abstained from the vote, as his ministry’s budget has yet to be determined.
The biennial budget, which will be presented to the Knesset in the coming weeks, effectively spans 18 fiscal months. The budget for 2015 was set at $86.35 billion, and the 2016 budget was set at $89.96 billion, representing a 7.2-percent increase from the 2014 state budget.
The government set Israel’s deficit goals at 2.9 percent of the gross domestic product.
“As promised, we have passed the state budget, which reflects the unity of the coalition and the government,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “This is a balanced, responsible, and growth-oriented budget, which seeks to lower the cost of living. This is a good budget for Israel.”
Israeli ministries receiving budget increases include the Education Ministry ($1.3 billion increase), the Health Ministry ($1.2 billion), the Public Security Ministry ($440 million), the Welfare and Social Services Ministry ($340 million), and the Culture and Sport Ministry ($10 million).
Regarding the defense budget, the Finance Ministry has appropriated $15 billion for defense spending, but Ya’alon and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot both believe that amount is insufficient.
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Israeli airline El Al in talks with Boeing to buy advanced Dreamliner aircraft
(JNS.org) El Al Israel Airlines on Wednesday announced that it is in advanced talks with Boeing to purchase and lease up to 15 new 787 Dreamliner aircraft over the next five years.
According to El Al, the deal is expected to be worth between $800-900 million, which would make it that largest purchase ever by the Israeli airline. The aircraft would go into service beginning in the first half of 2017 through 2020 and would replace the aging fleet of 747-400 and 767 aircraft on El Al’s lucrative Asian and North America destinations, including New York, Boston, and Toronto.
“El Al’s board today authorized the company to hold talks with Boeing over the acquisition of wide-body Dreamliner aircraft for the purchase and lease of 15 planes in the next five years,” El Al CEO David Maimon said in a statement.
Introduced in 2011, the Dreamliner is Boeing’s most technologically advanced aircraft. It utilizes lower cabin air pressure and a composite body to reduce jet lag and increase fuel efficiency.
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Air France apologizes for omitting Israel from in-flight maps
(JNS.org) Air France has apologized for using in-flight maps that did not include Israel.
Earlier this week, passengers on Air France flights contacted the pro-Israel organization StandWithUs to complain that the in-flight route tracking map on the airline’s planes does not label Israel as “Israel” or indicate the location of Tel Aviv.
“Apparently, Air France removed Israel/Tel Aviv from their flight tracker map, despite the fact Tel Aviv is one of their official destinations. Additionally, they now note ‘West Bank’ and ‘Gaza Strip’ despite the fact neither of these are destinations of Air France,” StandWithUs said on Facebook earlier this week.
StandWithUs launched a campaign calling on concerned individuals to write to Air France about the maps issue, after which point the airline apologized.
“Air France deeply regrets this incident. It is due to a map scale and display problem which is currently being resolved. Please find image of the in-flight entertainment system working in proper order below. Many thanks,” Air France tweeted.
But the Simon Wiesenthal Center human rights group rejected the apology, calling it “feeble and totally inadequate.”
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Pharrell Williams concerts in South Africa face disruption from BDS activists
(JNS.org) Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement activists plan to disrupt concerts by American Grammy-winning singer and producer Pharrell Williams in South Africa next month due to Williams’s promotional deal with the Woolworths retailer, which trades with Israel.
Williams is currently involved with Woolworths on its “Are You With Us?” campaign as its style director on several sustainability-focused projects involving fashion and fundraising for education.
“He is about to face the biggest backlash any artist has faced in South Africa in over 30 years, since the days of apartheid,” said Braam Hanekom, a BDS South Africa board member, Reuters reported.
“He is walking into a very angry, unhappy environment because he has chosen to walk with Woolworths,” Hanekom added, noting that protesters could block roads on concert nights and rally inside concert venues.
Meanwhile, representatives of Grand West Casion, the venue for Williams’s Cape Town concert, said they will not allow any protests on their property. Another concert will be helped in Johannesburg. Williams himself has not yet addressed the BDS issue.
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U.S. reluctance to help Mideast Christians ‘unjust,’ says Syrian archbishop
(JNS.org) Syrian Archbishop of Aleppo Jean-Clement Jeanbart said that America’s reluctance to give asylum to Middle East Christians is “unjust,” while calling on the West to help provide aid to Christians fleeing persecution from Islamic State and other terrorist groups.
“If you like us, help us stay in Syria and Lebanon and Iraq and continue to be a presence of Jesus Christ in that part of the world,” Jeanbart said in a news conference at a gathering of the Knights of Columbus in Philadelphia, the Associated Press reported.
Bashar Matti Warda, the archbishop of Erbil in Iraq, appealed to Americans to “speak for the Christians in the Middle East.”
“They have been subject to all kinds of violence because they are Christians,” Warda said. “It is your responsibility—it is your duty to speak for them. This is part of being an American.”
Warda said Iraq’s Christian population has declined from 1.3 million to 300,000 during the last decade; 80,000 Christians have fled Aleppo in the last five years, Jeanbart added. Warda said that many Christians, who have been able to successfully gain visas in Australia and Canada, are frustrated by the U.S. visa system, which they accuse of pro-Muslim bias.
According to the Worldwide Refugee Admissions Processing System, the U.S. has admitted 727 Christians and 4,205 Muslims from Iraq, as well as 23 Christians and 812 Muslims from Syria, since the beginning of this year.
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Israeli archaeologists uncover 2nd Temple-era mikvah with puzzling drawings
(JNS.org) Israeli archaeologists uncovered a Second Temple-era mikvah (ritual bath) in Jerusalem with puzzling drawings and inscriptions during the construction for two nursery schools.
According to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the walls of the mikvah were covered in ancient plaster and adorned with numerous wall paintings and inscriptions, written in both Aramaic and cursive Hebrew script. Among the paintings were a boat, palm trees, and various plant species, and possibly a menorah.
“There is no doubt that this is a very significant discovery. Such a concentration of inscriptions and symbols from the Second Temple period at one archaeological site, and in such a state of preservation, is rare and unique and most intriguing,” said Royee Greenwald and Alexander Wiegmann, who directed the excavation on behalf of the IAA.
The archaeologists also said they were puzzled by the paintings and inscriptions, unsure why they were painted inside of a ritual bath and who was responsible for them. They speculated that they could have been drawn as graffiti, to convey a deep religious or spiritual message and even perhaps a cry for help as a result of a traumatic event like the destruction of the Second Temple.
“On the one hand the symbols can be interpreted as secular, and on the other as symbols of religious significance and deep spirituality,” the archaeologists said.
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