Israel News

On Monday, two climate activists glued themselves to a 200-year-old masterpiece at London’s National Gallery, the latest in a string of disruptive protests by British environmentalist group Just Stop Oil.

The pair covered John Constable’s famous landscape painting “The Hay Wain” with a modified version of the image before sticking their hands to its frame.

A day before, five Just Stop Oil activists disrupted Formula 1’s British Grand Prix by sitting on the Silverstone racetrack. Last week, members of the group glued themselves to the frames of paintings in London, Glasgow and Manchester, including Vincent van Gogh’s famous “Peach Trees in Blossom.”

Completed in 1821, “The Hay Wain” is among Britain’s best-known artworks. Depicting the Stour River, which divides the English counties of Suffolk and Essex, it is considered one of Constable’s quintessential paintings.

The protesters’ modified version of the painting, which they placed on top of the original, depicted the river replaced with a paved road, with factory smokestacks depicted in the background and airplanes flying overhead.

Just Stop Oil is calling for the UK government to block licenses for future oil and gas extraction. Hannah Hunt and Eben Lazarus, the two who participated in Monday’s stunt, were arrested by police.

In a press release issued by the group on Monday, 23-year-old Hunt said the protests would only end when “the UK government makes a meaningful statement that it will end new oil and gas licenses.”

“Ultimately, new fossil fuels are a death project by our government,” the psychology student is quoted as saying. “So yes, there is glue on the frame of this

Corrosion Caused Deadly Helicopter Crash

Rare corrosion in a motor component was the cause of an otherwise mechanically sound helicopter falling into the sea earlier this year, the IDF said on Sunday following an investigation.

Two pilots, Lt. Col. Erez Sachyani and Maj. Chen Fogel, were killed when the AS565 Panther helicopter, known as an “Atalef,” crashed on January 3 into the Mediterranean Sea. A third officer on board, Cpt. Ron Birman, managed to jump out and was rescued with relatively minor injuries.

The investigation showed that the corrosion was located on a part well within the motor which is not part of the routine checks recommended by the manufacturer.

The IDF added that the malfunction was the first of its kind and not known to either the manufacturer or the IAF. It also said that the corrosion was likely due to the craft’s constant proximity to the sea and noted that the “rinsing process” which aims to prevent corrosion was “not optimal.”

In a statement, the IDF said, “This is due to a problem with the manufacturer’s design. Following this, the helicopter manufacturer will release safety information regarding the aluminum components in the engine.

“We emphasize that the crew was competent, skilled, and faced a sequence of challenging malfunctions … in complex flight conditions in the dark of night over the sea.”

A Greek court freed an Israeli man from jail on Tuesday after he was held for 14 days on what Israel claims is a mistaken Interpol warrant. Still, despite his freedom, the court ordered Dudi Ashkenazi to remain on Rhodes Island until a final decision is made on the matter.

Ashkenazi, 52, was vacationing in Greece when he was arrested two weeks ago on an Interpol warrant for a dual Israeli-Azerbaijani citizen also named Dudi Ashkenazi, who allegedly trafficked drugs between Peru and Russia in 2012. He was held on the Greek island of Kos until the court hearing that granted his partial release.

A salary slip from the same month Ashkenazi was said to have committed the crimes showed the innocent Ashkenazi was in Israel working as a driver for the Dan bus company. Regarding another incident, Ashkenazi was celebrating his child’s bar mitzvah at the same time that a crime was being committed.

Yair Lapid, at the time Israel’s foreign minister and since last week the prime minister, spoke with Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias last Wednesday and requested Ashkenazi’s immediate release.

Polish Envoy to Come to Israel

Poland will send its ambassador-designate to present his letter of credence to Israel in the coming days, Polish leader Andrzej Duda told President Isaac Herzog on Monday, in the strongest indication yet that the two countries are moving beyond a bitter year-long diplomatic spat.

24 Poland and Israel have been in a tiff since last year. This initiative seems to be an indication that the two countries may The Jewish Home | JULY 7, 2022 be warming towards each other once again. In July 2021, Poland’s legislature passed a law effectively cutting off any future restitution to the heirs of property seized by the Nazis during the Holocaust. In response to the legislation, signed into law by Duda, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called it “antisemitic and immoral.”

The following month, Israel recalled its envoy to Warsaw. Lapid advised Poland’s ambassador to Israel to remain on vacation in his homeland, and instructed Israel’s new ambassador to Poland, Ya’acov Livne, to remain in Israel.

Slowly, things are returning to normal. In February, Livne went back to Warsaw. Two Polish lawmakers visited the Knesset in June, the first to do so since 2017.

According to the president’s office, in this week’s phone call, “Both presidents expressed their hope that any future issues between Poland and Israel will be solved through sincere and open dialogue and in a spirit of mutual respect.”

Poland is part of the four-member Visegrad Group, a bastion of support for Israel within the European Union. The Poland-Israel group in Poland’s parliament is the largest such caucus in the legislature, with 127 out of 460 deputies in the group.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is driving the two countries back together, Polish MP Marek Rutka noted last month.

Still, disagreements remain. Last month, Israel canceled educational trips to Poland for thousands of high school students this summer, charging the Polish government is trying to control the Holocaust studies curriculum taught to Israeli children.

The Polish government wants formal rules to regulate the terms under which Israeli schoolchildren conduct Holocaust study visits to the country, including the presence of armed Israeli guards.

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IDF Shoots Down Hezbollah Drones

An IAF fighter jet and an Israeli Navy missile ship on Saturday intercepted three hostile UAVs from Lebanon which approached the airspace over Israel’s economic waters. The UAVs were identified by detection systems and monitored by ground control units throughout their flight. The UAVs were identified at an early stage and intercepted at the optimal operational point, the IDF said.

An initial inquiry suggests that the UAVs did not pose an imminent threat. The UAVs were intercepted over the Mediterranean Sea.

The detection and alert systems functioned as required, embodying the concept of multi-layered air defense in the best possible manner in unison with the professional activities of the soldiers at sea and in the air who carried out the defensive mission with great success.

The UAVs belong to the Hezbollah terrorist organization and flew from Lebanese territory in the direction of the “Karish” gas platform. They were intercepted at a safe distance from the platform.

One UAV was intercepted by an F-16 “Barak” fighter jet which was dispatched

to the scene from the 109th Squadron in Ramat David. The two other UAVs were intercepted by the INS “Eilat” missile ship using “Barak” interceptors.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz (Blue and White) said, “The State of Israel is prepared to defend its infrastructure against any threat. The Hezbollah terrorist organization is preventing the state of Lebanon from reaching an agreement regarding maritime borders, which are critical to the economy and prosperity of the Lebanese nation. This is despite the willingness of the State of Israel to move forward in the negotiations and to reach a solution on the issue. The State of Israel will continue to defend its assets; we are obligated and will preserve our right to operate and respond to any threat.”

IDF spokesman Ran Kochav noted that Hezbollah suffered a “significant operational defeat” with the downing of three UAVs it dispatched from Lebanon.

Speaking on Radio 103FM, Kochav said, “Hezbollah sustained a significant operational setback when it attempted this operation that did not succeed. It appears that the drones were not armed.”

He added that the threat did not justify moving the rig to a possibly safer position.

“These are Israeli territorial waters, and Hezbollah is trying to harm our sovereignty in all kinds of ways. But they have suffered a significant setback here,” he said.

Lapid: “Israel is More Important Than Every One of Us”

Israel’s interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Saturday evening gave his first statement to the press since taking office.

In his speech, Lapid thanked outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (Yamina), who will serve as Alternate Prime Minister until a new government is formed, for his “decency and friendship” and for the smooth transition.

“I want to thank the thirteenth prime minister of the State of Israel, Naftali Bennett, for his decency, his friendship, for leading the government over the past year to economic and security achievements which have not been seen here for years,” Lapid began. “A special thank you for the fact that the citizens of Israel saw this week an orderly transition between people who keep agreements and believe each other.”

Lapid declared, “The State of Israel is bigger than all of us. It is more important that any of us. It was here before us; it will be here long after us. It does not belong only to us. It belongs also to those who dreamed about it for thousands of years in exile, and to those who have not yet been born, to the coming generations.

“For them and for us, we must choose the common good, what connects us. There will always be disagreements, the question is how we manage them, and how we ensure that they do not manage us.”

Lapid continued, “Disagreement isn’t necessarily a bad thing so long as it doesn’t undermine the stability of the government and damage our internal resilience.So long as we remember that we all have the same goal: a Jewish, democratic, liberal, strong, advanced, and prosperous Israel.

“The deep Israeli truth is that on most of the truly important topics, we believe in the same things.”

According to him, “We believe that Israel is a Jewish state. Its character is Jewish. Its identity is Jewish. Its relations with its non-Jewish citizens are also Jewish. The book of Leviticus says, ‘But the stranger who dwells with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.’

“We believe that so long as Israel’s security needs are met, Israel is a country that seeks peace. Israel stretches out its hand to all the peoples of the Middle East, including the Palestinians, and says: the time has come for you to recognize that we’ll never move from here, let’s learn to live together.”

Lapid continued, “The people of Israel won’t dwell alone. It is our job to continue to strengthen our position in the world, our relations with our greatest friend and ally, the United States, and to harness the international community in the struggle against antisemitism and the delegitimization of Israel.

“Many people who didn’t vote for this government are listening to this speech, many people who don’t and won’t support it. I thank you for your willingness to listen. I ask to work together with you for the good of our country. I’m commit-

26 ted to serving you as well. I embrace the words of my predecessor, and want to repeat them: we are brothers. The Jewish Home | JULY 7, 2022 “The challenges before us are immense. The struggle against Iran, terror at home, the Israeli education crisis, the cost of living, strengthening personal security. When the challenges are so great, we can’t let disagreements consume all our strength. In order to create a common good here, we need one another. “Our children are watching us. What do we want them to see? We want our children to see that we did everything to build a Jewish and democratic, strong and advanced, benevolent and good Israel.”

Iran Arrests IRGC General for Spying for Israel

A senior general for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) was secretly arrested earlier this month on suspicion of spying for Israel.

The report cited officials with close ties to the IRGC, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to them, the arrest of Brig.-Gen. Ali Nasiri, a senior commander in the IRGC Protection of Information Unit, marked a growing level of distrust among the country’s senior leadership partly attributed to Israel’s alleged recent operations in the country.

Nasiri’s arrest follows the arrests of a few dozen security officials involved in Iran’s missile program. Those officials were arrested around two months ago for allegedly leaking classified information to Israel.

Several weeks ago, two Iranian scientists died due to poison in their food. Iran has blamed Israel for their deaths.

The United States on Monday released the results of the ballistic examination of the bullet which killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh.

Abu Aqleh was killed in a shootout between IDF soldiers and armed Palestinian Authority terrorists in May.

On Saturday evening, Kan News reported that the Palestinian Authority (PA) agreed to a forensic investigation by the U.S. of the bullet that they claim killed Abu Aqleh.

The news outlet quoted a statement by the Palestinian Authority’s general prosecutor to Al Jazeera: “We will not give the bullet that killed Shireen Abu Aqleh to Israel at all. Due to our belief that the occupying forces fired the bullet, we have agreed that the Americans examine it. We received several guarantees from the American coordinators that the bullet will not be passed to Israel.”

In a Monday statement, the State Department said, “After an extremely detailed forensic analysis, independent, third-party examiners, as part of a process overseen by the U.S. Security Coordinator (USSC), could not reach a definitive conclusion regarding the origin of the bullet that killed Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh.”

It added, “Ballistic experts determined the bullet was badly damaged, which prevented a clear conclusion.”

The State Department said that it was most likely that Abu Aqleh was accidentally shot by an Israeli soldier, but it could not say for certain.

“In addition to the forensic and ballistic analysis, the USSC was granted full access to both Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian Authority (PA) investigations over the last several weeks,” the State Department said. “By summarizing both investigations, the USSC concluded that gunfire from IDF positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Aqleh. The USSC found no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances during an IDF-led military operation against factions of Palestinian Islamic Jihad on May 11, 2022, in Jenin, which followed a series of terrorist attacks in Israel”.

Also on Monday, the IDF released a statement saying, “Since March 2022, 19 people have been killed in multiple terrorist attacks in Israel. In response to this deadly wave of terror, the IDF and Israeli security forces have been carrying out counterterrorism activities in Judea and Samaria with the aim of thwarting potential terror attacks, stopping terrorist activity and protecting Israeli civilians.

“On May 11, 2022, IDF soldiers conducted counterterrorism activity in the area of Jenin. During the IDF’s operational activity, Palestinian gunmen fired heavily and indiscriminately, including directly toward IDF soldiers. In addition, explosives were hurled and hit IDF vehicles and nearly hit soldiers. Near the conclusion of the IDF’s counterterrorism activities in the area, the journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh was hit.

“Ever since this tragic incident, the IDF has been examining and reviewing the circumstances of Ms. Abu Aqleh’s death. The Chief of the General Staff ordered a special task force composed of experts in different fields, among other things, to reconstruct and model the circumstances of the incident as accurately as possible.

“The IDF investigation concluded that the source of the fire that led to the death of Ms. Abu Aqleh could not be determined based on the available information. The IDF investigation conclusively determined that no IDF soldier deliberately fired at Ms. Abu Aqleh.”

Israel Not Limiting Refugees

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday praised Israel’s Supreme Court for knocking down a government decision capping the number of Ukrainian refugees allowed into the country.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court said that Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) cannot restrict the number of non-Jewish refugees entering Israel to just 5,000.

In a tweet, Zelensky said, “The rule of law and respect for human rights is exactly what distinguishes a true, developed democracy!”

He added, “I commend the decision of the Supreme Court of the State of Israel, which obliges the government of [Israel] to abolish any additional restrictions on the entry of citizens of [Ukraine].”

Israel has already taken in thousands of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russia-Ukraine war. Ukrainians currently do not need to receive a visa prior to entering the country.

In addition, Israel is currently housing 20,000 Ukrainian refugees who were in Israel prior to the war’s outbreak either illegally or on tourist visas. These Ukrainians were permitted to remain in Israel despite their lack of visas, due to the war in their homeland.

Responding to the Supreme Court ruling, Shaked said that her policy was “proven to be a success,” as it enabled relatives of Israelis to arrive and work, while “preventing an unprecedented flooding [of refugees].”

“In recent weeks, thanks to this system, more Ukrainians are leaving the country than arriving,” she said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has ruled, practicing extraordinary judicial activism, that this system will be halted if it isn’t discussed in the Knesset.

“It is clear that we can’t allow the unlimited entry of foreign citizens, while we don’t know whether and when they are going to exit,” she said.

The Tomer Warsha law firm, which had filed the petition to the Supreme Court, responded to the decision, saying: “We are very satisfied that the High Court accepted our claims and ruled that the Interior Minister acted against the provisions of the law. We are happy that Ukrainian citizens, who are still in the war, can find quiet in Israel alongside their family and friends.”

It added, “It is important to make clear that from now on there is no more Shaked framework, there is no limit of only 5,000 people, there is no need to fill in an online form.”

The fallout from an attempt by ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry’s to boycott parts of Israel will have an effect on other corporations eyeing the similar measures, investor Michael Ashner predicted.

Ashner is a longtime corporate activist who bought a stake in parent company Unilever after the boycott announcement and led a group opposed to the move. According to him, other conglomerates should take heed of the repercussions suffered by the UK multinational since Ben & Jerry’s announced a boycott of the “occupied Palestinian territories” last year.

Fallout from the boycott was swift and included multiple U.S. states, as well as a consumer boycott of Ben & Jerry’s products not produced in Israel. In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission also launched an investigation into Unilever’s response to the boycott.

The boycott was a decision by Ben & Jerry’s, independent of Unilever.

If the boycott had gone into effect at the end of this year, Israeli licensee Avi Zinger would have lost the plant. However, Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s Israel last week announced a deal under which Zinger would receive the independence to continue operating in Israel, essentially cancelling the boycott.

Ashner told the Times of Israel, “Other multinational companies will think twice before they engage in BDS activities in the future. That’s the lesson from this.”

He added, “If multinational companies could start cutting off Israel because of BDS, that was as dangerous to the existence of Israel as Iran. It’s a very bad, slippery slope,” he added. “The first and loudest to do it was Unilever and somebody had to confront Unilever, not just because what Unilever was doing was wrong, but to send a message to all the other multinationals that this is not a good idea.”

Ashner had formed an organization