Israel News

Swedish seismologists reported detecting the underwater explosions Monday, and pipeline monitors registered a swift drop in the conduits’ pressure. Later, patches of sea surface in the same areas as the explosions began roiling with dangerously combustible gas, forcing shipping to steer clear. Several countries said they were investigating the cause.

The apparent attack had no immediate effect on European energy supplies; Nord Stream 2 has never gone into service, and Nord Stream 1 has been shut down since August. But it raises the stakes — and European jitters — in a simmering energy war between Russia and the West prompted by the invasion of Ukraine. Repairs could take up to several months, experts say.

The CIA delivered a vague warning in June to several European nations, including Germany, that the Nord Stream pipelines could be attacked, according to several senior U.S. officials. They declined to say whether that warning identified Russia as a possible attacker and said they had reached no conclusion about who was responsible for the incidents Monday. (© The New York Times Company)

Deadly Raid in Jenin

A raid this week in Jenin targeted two terrorists who had been responsible for a series of shooting attacks in the past few months, including one that targeted a Defense Ministry engineering vehicle working along the northern West Bank security barrier earlier this month. The duo had been planning more attacks in the near future.

During the raid on Wednesday morning, four Palestinians were killed as police attempted to capture Abd al-Rahman Hazem, the brother of a terrorist who carried out a deadly shooting attack in Tel Aviv earlier this year, and Muhammed Alownah.

Israeli troops had surrounded the home belonging to the family of Ra’ad Hazem, the terrorist who opened fire on April 7 on patrons at the Ilka bar on Dizengoff street in Tel Aviv, killing three.

The gunmen hiding in the building set off a large bomb as troops attempted to enter the home.

“Hazem and Alownah were killed in the exchange of fire,” police said, adding that troops seized an assault rifle from one of the gunmen.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry said another two people were killed in the clashes, and 44 others were hurt, including several listed in serious condition.

A local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group said its members opened fire at troops near the Hazem family home.

Wednesday’s raid came amid rising violence in the West Bank, particularly in its north.

Firefighters Battle Large Fires

Firefighters were battling several large fires on Wednesday that broke out in northern Israel and just outside Jerusalem.

More than thirty teams and an aerial firefighter were dispatched to the Upper Galilee as fires broke out near Kibbutz Manara and the city of Kiryat Shmona, according to a statement issued by the Fire and Rescue Authority.

According to the Fire and Rescue Authority, the firefighting teams were concentrating their efforts on preventing the “large-scale” blazes from reaching populated areas in Manara and Kiryat Shmona.

Firefighters were also called to the site of a blaze just outside Jerusalem.

A brushfire broke out near Mesilat Zion, not far from Latrun, outside Jerusalem, the authority said in a statement.

While the blaze was still not under

control as of Wednesday afternoon, there was no danger of the flames reaching nearby towns, the authority said.

Last month, a large wildfire broke in the Ben Shemen forest, located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Two days later, a forest fire outside the city of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem, prompted the evacuation of homes in a nearby agricultural community.

Israel experiences long, hot, and dry summers, with conditions ripe for wildfires.

In Europe, a summer heatwave triggered devastating forest fires across southwest Europe during July, including in France, Portugal, Spain, and Greece, forcing mass evacuations in several areas.

Shaked to Expel Terrorist’s Family

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked wants to expel the family of a terrorist from their home in Jerusalem. She issued an official notice this week to the family members of the terrorist who murdered four soldiers in the Armon Hanatziv, saying that their status has been revoked and they must leave their home in Jerusalem in the coming week. The terrorist had rammed his vehicle into a crowd in 2017; he was killed by security forces during the attack. Seventeen others were injured in the ramming.

Shaked also informed Public Security Minister Omer Barlev that police forces must be prepared to enforce the deportation by force if the terrorist’s relatives do not leave on their own by October 6, 2022.

“As long as those in question do not comply with this obligation, the Israel Police will act to implement the decision in accordance with the provisions of the law, priorities and operational needs,” Barlev clarified.

The seven members of the family whose status was revoked have no legal reason to stay in Israel, and as long as they remain in Israeli territory, they are staying illegally and must be deported in accordance with the Law on Entry into Israel.

According to Shaked, “While these things apply to any illegal resident, in this case it is particularly important to remove them immediately in order to achieve the purpose of the decision and the verdict – to deter potential terrorists from committing similar acts.”

Free Trade Between Israel and S. Korea

A free-trade agreement between Israel and South Korea is set to take effect on December 1, after the parliament in Seoul gave it final approval on Tuesday.

“This is significant good news for Israel’s relations with South Korea, one of the leading economies in the world and an important trade partner for Israel,” Economy Minister Orna Barbivay noted.

The Economy Ministry estimates that the value of the agreement to the Israeli market will be NIS 500 million each year and that it will lower the price of Kia and Hyundai cars, food products, toys, video-game consoles and more.

“Israeli exporters will enjoy easier conditions and a competitive advantage, and I expect that additional importers will recognize the potential and increase imports to Israel in quantity and variety of products,” Barbivay said.

The free-trade agreement will be Israel’s first with a country in East Asia. South Korea has 18 free-trade agreements, including with the U.S., EU, India, and China.

Jerusalem and Seoul finished negotiating the agreement in May 2021.

The agreement will exempt more than 95% of Israeli exports to South Korea from duty, making Israel more competitive in the Korean market in areas such as electronic equipment, machines, fertilizers, medical supplies, cosmetics, plastic products, metals, fruit juices, wine and more.

Trade between Israel and South Korea reached $3.5 billion in 2021, a 35% increase from the previous year.

EHK Calls for Freeze of NIS 30M Transfer to Reform

The chairman of the Eretz Hakodesh movement, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, called upon the Israeli Supreme Court to place an immediate hold on the transfer of NIS 30 million to the Reform movement.

Rabbi Lerner, on behalf of the Eretz HaKodesh organization, recently filed an urgent petition to the Israeli Supreme Court for an immediate freeze of the transfer of funds to a joint venture of the Ministry of Diaspora and the Panim organization to establish a so-called “Office of Jewish Renewal,” which was approved from coalition funds of the Labor Party.

As readers may recall, several weeks ago, an in-depth investigation was conducted by journalist Kalman Libeskind in the Ma’ariv newspaper, revealing that the procedure for establishing the Office of Jewish Renewal in collaboration with the Panim organization was carried out in an improper manner, raising suspicion of improprieties. Libeskind highlighted the involvement of MK Gilad Kariv in the project, raising serious questions about the approval of the project.

The Ma’ariv investigation enumerated questions surrounding the transfer of NIS 30 million to the Panim organization, of which MK Kariv served as a member, and the fact that the Diaspora Ministry did not hesitate in any way to transfer tens of millions of shekels without a bidding process as required by law, without criteria, to an entity that has no serious financial management or organizational experience.

The establishment of the Office of Jewish Renewal and the budgeting of the project are the implementation of a clause in the coalition agreement that was signed when the Labor faction entered the government. MK Kariv, who previously served as the chairman of the Reform movement in Israel, promoted the introduction of the clause and took an active role in its approval in the state budget for 2022. However, it has emerged that the money was allocated to the Panim organization, in which MK Kariv was involved as an executive committee member. MK Kariv’s connections with Panim did not prevent him from dealing with the budget, as illegal as that is.

A few days after the publication of the investigation, Libeskind revealed that even before the Ministry of Diaspora approved the project, the deputy legal counsel to the Ministry of Justice forwarded to the ombudsman of Knesset a statement highlighting the legal difficulty of carrying out the project without governmental approval for the Ministry of Diaspora to proceed. The ombudsman clarified that as the project’s budget increases, there is even greater difficulty providing legal basis for the decision.

Following these disturbing findings, a number of Knesset members, along with Rabbi Lerner, appealed to the ombudsman, demanding that the project be frozen. After the ombudsman’s response was not forthcoming, Rabbi Lerner, on behalf of Eretz HaKodesh, appealed to the Supreme Court, asking for a freeze on the project and for there to be an emergency session to examine the disturbing revelations related to this project.

Rabbi Lerner’s petition explains the concern over the attempt to distribute public coalition funds, in the tens of millions of shekel, transferring them in a circular way to a private association that is connected to a Knesset member, who actually dictated the distribution of said funds.

This is corrupt, dishonest, and contrary to the law, averred Rabbi Lerner.

Rabbi Lerner further stated in the explanatory notes of his petition that Eretz HaKodesh, as an international movement that works to strengthen the Jewish identity of Jews around the world, considers itself a worthy candidate to participate in activities that are carried out in the field of Jewish renewal, including the activities that fall under the umbrella of the Office of Jewish Renewal established by the Ministry of