Israel News

Knesset Ends Covid Unemployment Benefits

Israel’s Knesset approved a bill on Thursday ending unemployment payments to those who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The bill, which followed the expiry of special regulations allowing the continuation of the payments, passed 35-0.

Under the new plan, only those over the age of 45 will continue to receive unemployment, but payments will be lower and continue only until mid-October. Those over age 67 who lost their jobs due to the pandemic will also continue to receive a reduced payment, but only until the middle of September.

Meir Spiegler, Director-General of the National Insurance Institute, which is in charge of the payments, told Channel 12 News that the plan “is balanced, gradual and provides a solution for quite a few populations that have fallen into crisis and have not yet found the ability to enter the labor market.”

“This framework is not a perfect framework,” he admitted, but noted that “people knew that on June 30 the reliefs expire.”

Officials in both countries called the deal, which was inked earlier in the day, a “win-win.”

Israel has been scrambling to use up or trade over 1 million doses of the vaccine that expire at the end of July. According to South Korea’s Disease Control and Prevention Agency, negotiations had originally been for 800,000 doses, but the amount was lowered due to a spurt of interest in vaccinations in Israel, where authorities have begun pushing for teens aged 12 to 15 to be inoculated.

Jung Eun-kyeong, Korea’s top infectious disease expert, said the Seoul government will continue to pursue swap deals with other countries.

“We are expecting to have a sufficient number of vaccines during the fourth quarter while we proceed with our vaccination campaign,” said Jung, director of the agency.

The deal comes weeks after the Palestinian Authority backed out of a similar agreement, saying the vaccine doses were too close to their expiration date, despite Israel using the same batches to vaccinate its teens.

“This exchange arrangement was made based on the thoughts shared by all countries, including South Korea and Israel, that even a single drop of a vaccine should not go down the drain,” South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Choi Young-sam said.

South Korea has so far administered first doses to just 30% of its population of 51 million. Israel has fully vaccinated nearly 5.3 million people of its population of 9.3 million.

Vaccines to S. Korea

After Palestinians rejected vaccines offered to them from Israel, the Jewish State is sending them to South Korea.

More than 700,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine that are set to expire in a few weeks were flown to Seoul on Tuesday, as part of a deal between Israel and South Korea that will see the Asian nation send fresh vaccines in exchange later in the year.

Knesset Votes Down Citizenship Law

Authority Arab families.

The law tied with 59 MKs voting in favor, 59 voting against, and two abstentions.

First passed in 2003, the Citizenship Law blocks the automatic granting of Israeli citizenship to Palestinian Authority Arabs who marry Israeli Arabs.

The law expired Tuesday, and the government had aimed to extend it by another year.

Prior to the vote, the factions comprising Israel’s coalition agreed to extend the law by six months instead of one year, Arutz Sheva noted.

According to Israel’s Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina), there are currently 9,000 people residing in Israel on residency visas, and 3,500 who have received permanent residency.

Jewish Athletes at Tokyo Olympics

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, rescheduled for summer 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, includes several Jewish athletes, among them Israel’s first Olympic surfer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

The games will run from July 23 to August 8.

Among the athletes to watch for are gold medal winner Sue Bird, 40, whose father is Jewish and who is representing the USA in women’s basketball. The 2020 Olympics will be her fifth, and likely last, Olympic games. She gained Israeli citizenship in 2006, to allow her to play for European teams.

The women’s basketball tournament will begin July 26, and the gold medal game will be held August 8.

Another athlete is Linoy Ashram, 22, representing Israel in rhythmic gymnastics, who will compete in her first Olympic games after winning the European Championships in her field in 2020. Her competition will take place August 6-8.

Diego Schwartzman of Argentina is the highest-ranked Jewish tennis player in the world, and listed in the US Open at 5-5. Schwartzman, 28, is set to compete in his first Olympics this year; the men’s tennis tournament begins July 24.

Alix Klineman, a 31-year-old beach volleyball player from the U.S., failed to make the Olympic team in 2016, prompting her to make the switch from indoor volleyball to beach volleyball. She has teamed up with two-time Olympian April Ross, and the pair are entering the games with a world ranking of No. 2. Her tournament begins on July 24.

Anat Lelior, 21, is an Israeli surfer who will be Israel’s first Olympic surfer. Surfing is new to the games this year, with just 20 men and 20 women competing this year. Lelior qualified for the games as the highest-ranked female surfer from Europe.

The surfing competition is subject to change based on wave conditions at the Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach but is tentatively scheduled for July 25-28.

Jessica Fox, 27, an Australian canoe slalomist, has won 10 World Championship medals, including seven gold medals and seven overall World Cup titles. She is known as the greatest paddler of all time. The women’s K-1 slalom competition is scheduled for July 25-27, while the C-1 slalom is scheduled for July 2829.

Eli Dershwitz, a saber fencer, is currently ranked No. 2 globally and is representing the USA in the Olympics. He aims to become the fifth U.S. man to win a medal in saber fencing; no American man has ever won the gold in that category. The individual competition is scheduled for July 24, while the men’s saber team competition is scheduled for July 28.

Other athletes to watch include Jemima Montag, who is representing Australia in racewalking and who will compete on August 6; and Ori Sasson, a 30-year-old Israeli judoka likely in his last Olympics and competing in the heavyweight competition and team competition, as well as the judo lineup. Sasson is scheduled to compete in the 100+kg competition on July 30, and in the team competition on July 31.

Another Israeli judoka, Sagi Muki, 29, will compete in the men’s under-81kg competition on July 27.

Maru Teferi, a marathon runner, is set to compete in his second Olympics, along with his wife Selamawit “Selam” Dagnachew Teferi. The two will be the first married couple to represent Israel at the Olympic