Gaps remain between U.S. and Israel in security aid talks
(JNS.org) Gaps remain between Israel and the U.S. in negotiations on a new 10-year memorandum of understanding for security assistance. America is offering annual aid of $3.4 billion, up from the current level of $3.1 billion. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has asked U.S. President Barack Obama to raise the amount of annual aid to $5 billion.
The current memorandum of understanding is set to expire in 2017. In the past two years, special extra assistance—totaling around $1.5 billion annually—has been provided by the U.S. to Israel for the development of ballistic missile defense systems.
Earlier this month, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon visited Washington, DC, and met with U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. Ya’alon requested that funds for missile defense development be included in annual aid for the coming decade, which would bring the amount of annual aid to around $5 billion. The Americans, however, have not been willing to commit to providing missile defense development funds for the next decade, preferring to keep those funds separate from the general security assistance package.
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High-speed rail between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on track to open in 2018
(JNS.org) The high-speed rail line that is currently being built between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem will open for service in 2018, Israel Railways CEO Boaz Tzafrir promised on Monday to a group of Knesset members who were touring the ongoing construction work.
Travel time between Tel Aviv’s Haganah station and Jerusalem’s International Convention Center station will be half an hour. Service frequency will be four trains per hour in each direction. Trains will make an intermediary stop at Ben-Gurion International Airport. The maximum speed on the new line will be 99 miles per hour.
Tzafrir said the total cost of the project will reach $1.82 billion. The project requires the construction of six tunnels and eight bridges along the course of the line. It currently takes around an hour and 15 minutes to travel between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem by train.
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Israel slams U.N. for measure on ‘blacklist’ of Judea and Samaria businesses
(JNS.org) Israel slammed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for adopting a measure that calls for the creation of a database of businesses “involved in activities” in Judea and Samaria.
The 47-member U.N. forum adopted the measure with 32 nations voting in favor, none against, and 15 abstaining. The council asked that the list of businesses be updated annually, and that the council be informed of the “human rights and international law violations involved in the production of settlement goods.”
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon called the database a “blacklist” and said the UNHRC is acting “obsessively” on Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the UNHRC an “anti-Israel circus,” echoing longstanding Israeli criticism of U.N. bias.
Netanyahu added that the UNHRC “attacks the only democracy in the Middle East and ignores the gross violations of Iran, Syria, and North Korea.”
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