Israel maintains ‘discreet’ ties with many Arab states, Netanyahu says
(JNS.org) Major Arab countries “are changing their view of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a visiting Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations leadership delegation in Jerusalem on Sunday.
“They don’t see Israel anymore as their enemy, but they see Israel as their ally, especially in the battle against militant Islam with its two fountainheads: the militant Islamists led by Iran, and the militant Islamists led by Daesh (Islamic State),” Netanyahu said, adding, “This is something that is forging new ties, many of them discreet, some of them open.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, “We have channels to talk with our Arab neighbors, the Sunni states…not just Jordan and Egypt, with which we have peace, the Gulf states and North African states too. The situation is sensitive. We cannot even shake hands in public.”
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New bill seeks to block boycotts of Israeli goods in U.K.
(JNS.org) New British government directives are aiming to prevent public bodies, universities, and student unions from boycotting Israeli products, The Independent reported Sunday. According to The Sunday Times, the move “follows mounting concern among Jewish leaders about anti-Semitism.”
British media quoted U.K. Cabinet Office Minister Matthew Hancock as saying such boycotts are divisive, potentially damaging to the U.K.’s relationship with Israel, and risk fueling anti-Semitism.
The new bill, already described as a “controversial crackdown,” seeks to prevent any public body from imposing a boycott on a World Trade Organization member, which Israel has been since 1995. The regulation will essentially outlaw boycotting Israeli products—a threat often made against goods produced in Judea and Samaria—and allow the British government to take legal action against organizations that impose such boycotts.
Under the plan, all publicly funded institutions would be barred from excluding goods produced by their idea of “unethical companies,” such as companies involved in arms trading, fossil fuels, tobacco products, or companies based in Judea and Samaria.
Any public bodies that continue to pursue boycotts would face severe penalties, The Independent reported. Critics of the initiative said it constituted a “gross attack on democratic freedoms.”
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Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert enters prison
(JNS.org) Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert entered prison on Monday to begin serving his multiple sentences, becoming the first former Israeli premier to spend time behind bars.
Olmert, who began his career as an anti-corruption crusader, was ultimately undone by the very behavior he sought to eradicate as a young Knesset member and lawyer. Olmert will serve 18 months over his bribery conviction in the Holyland trial and another month due to an obstruction of justice case, which ended in a plea bargain. He may be released on good behavior before serving the entire sentence.
Olmert voluntarily entered the Maasiyahu Prison in Ramla on Monday. Prior to his incarceration, he released a video message in which he continued to claim his innocence.
“This is very painful for my family and loved ones,” he said. “I had the privilege of serving Israel, and while I have made mistakes, they did not amount to criminality. Today attests to the strength of democracy. No one is above the law.”
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6 Israelis killed, 14 injured as bus crashes into parked truck on highway
(JNS.org) Six Israelis were killed Sunday when an Egged bus traveling on Route 1 from Jerusalem to the predominantly Haredi city of Bnei Brak crashed into a truck parked on the side of the highway. Fourteen more people were wounded, one of them seriously.
The bus driver was arrested early Monday on suspicion of manslaughter resulting from criminal negligence. He is also suspected of tampering with evidence and obstructing justice. During a hearing Monday, a police representative said the driver had tampered with the “black box” on the bus and had removed an essential component. The driver claimed he returned the part and closed the box. Police were unable to open the device at the scene of the accident and are now attempting to verify or disprove the driver’s story in the lab.
The police have also requested a detailed log of the phone calls made and received by the driver’s phone preceding the accident. The initial investigation revealed that the driver had been involved in a previous accident on the same route several years ago, although in the opposite direction, from Bnei Brak to Jerusalem. Several passengers were injured in that accident, and the company restricted the driver to routes inside the city. He only resumed driving the intercity route several weeks ago.
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Israel and Russia to sign free trade agreement
(JNS.org) Russia and Israel are planning to sign a free trade agreement that will allow for the establishment of joint ventures in the high-tech and agriculture sectors, the Russian news agency TASS reported Friday.
Both Israeli Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel and Russian Deputy Agriculture Minister Sergey Levin confirmed that the agreement is expected to be finalized.
“We’ve discussed the prospects of forming a free trade zone, which the government plans to put on paper within the shortest period of time,” Levin said.
Israel officials told Ma’ariv that Ariel visited Russia with Member of Knesset Yoel Razvozov (Yesh Atid), who together with Israeli Ambassador to Russia Zvi Heifetz met with Kremlin officials—among them Russia’s deputy prime minister, Arkady Dvorkovich—to discuss the agreement.
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Oscars’ $55,000 Israel trip slammed by BDS activists
(JNS.org) Palestinian activists from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement are criticizing the voucher for a $55,000 all-expenses-paid trip to Israel that is being offered to major Oscar nominees as part of this year’s $200,000 Academy Awards gift package.
Israel’s Tourism Ministry is offering the trip to the 26 stars nominated in the directing and acting categories, such as Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matt Damon, said ministry spokeswoman Lydia Weitzman, according to the Associated Press.
BDS movement co-founder Omar Barghouti said that through the trip voucher, Israel “is desperately trying to fight its increasing international isolation through bribes and intimidation rather than by ending its occupation and apartheid,” and that “there are no Hunger Games in Gaza, but there is real hunger.”
Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, however, said the celebrities’ visit to Israel “will have enormous resonance among millions of fans.”
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