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DECEMBER 16, 2021 | The Jewish Home
funct Apple Daily newspaper, was sentenced to 13 months in prison at the District Court for inciting and participating in the peaceful candlelight vigil on June 4 last year, which authorities declared illegal. He had pleaded not guilty. Although he faces multiple charges under Hong Kong’s national security law, Monday’s charges were not under the controversial legislation. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China had organized the candlelight vigil in the city’s Victoria Park every year since 1990. But authorities banned the event for the first time last year, citing coronavirus risks. Lai had said he decided to light a candle that day to remind the world of those who died for justice and truth at Tiananmen Square in 1989, according to public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong. Former lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan, who was the chairman of the alliance, was sentenced to 14 months in prison for his role in the vigil. Former vice-chairwoman Chow Hang-tung was also sentenced to 12 months in prison. In May, the court also sentenced Joshua Wong and three other activists to up to 10 months in prison over
their involvement in the same rally. Hong Kong is the only place on Chinese soil where a mass annual vigil has been held to mark the bloody crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. The event remains one of the most tightly censored topics in mainland China, with discussions of it scrubbed from mass media. The introduction of Hong Kong’s national security law – which criminalizes secession, subversion, and collusion with foreign forces with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment – has forced the group behind the June 4 vigil to disband, after authorities arrested several of its leaders under the law.
Tel Aviv Neighborhood Evacuated Residents of Givat Amal Bet, a neighborhood in Tel Aviv, have been
evacuated from their homes to allow high-rises to be built at the site instead. The neighborhood was once a tight-knit enclave of approximately 120 working-class families, but since 2014 has been destroyed and its residents evicted bit by bit to allow for the construction of six luxury towers. On November 15, 2021, the last 32 of the neighborhood’s families were evicted from their homes.
Former resident Chani Smucha, 59, whose parents, siblings, and siblings’ families were recently evicted from the neighborhood, told the Times of Israel, “They never invested in this area. We made our own post office boxes. They never even installed a park bench for an old person to sit on.” After the first 80 families were evicted in 2014, authorities refused to clean up the piles of debris and refuse. “The trash was left where it was so people would suffer and leave,” Smucha explained. Founded in 1947 by a group of immigrants who had been asked by David Ben Gurion to settle the area, the neighborhood’s residents included mostly the original settlers and their descendants. After the war, the neighborhood’s residents sought to purchase the land, but they were ignored, and the State instead sold the land to developers in 1961. In 1992, a deal was reached to evacuate the western portion of the neighborhood, Givat Amal Alef, to allow the construction of three towers. The rights to Givat Amal Bet changed hands until 2005, after which a legal battle ensued. In April, a court ruling ordered the developer to pay three million shekel for each of the 11 plots which had been occupied in 1961. The sum was to be divided among the remaining families. But residents say the money – which amounts to 1-2 million shekel per family – is not enough to purchase suitable housing in the area. “We have the compensation, but we’re still deciding what to do with it — to rent, to buy?” Smucha asked. “With this kind of amount, what can we do? Where will I take [my parents] — to Dimona, to Beersheba? Where will I take them? These are people who’ve lived in Tel Aviv their
whole lives.” The sum has also been reduced by legal fees and deductions for overstaying their time on the land. Residents were only told they would be forcibly evicted on November 14, one day before it occurred, they said. According to Smucha, on November 15, approximately 1,000 police officers arrived to evict the 32 families. Some families left on their own, but others were removed in what two residents said was a “violent” fashion. She emphasized, “We were in shock over the amount of police. We didn’t understand why all of this was necessary. Good people, salt of the earth. Not criminals, not squatters, not causing trouble.”
U.S.: No Tankers Early
The United States has rejected Israel’s request to deliver two tanker planes ahead of schedule. Israel has ordered four KC-46 advanced tanker planes from the U.S., but the aircraft are only scheduled to arrive in Israel in four years. Senior Air Force officers have requested that two of the craft be delivered within the next few months, and the other two be delivered within two to three years. According to Ynet, the IDF hopes to convince the U.S. to deliver them early within the next year. The tankers will replace Israel’s Re’em (Boeing 707) tankers, which are used for long-range missions, but which were grounded last year due to age. The KC-46s can remain in the air for 11 hours and travel over 11,830 kilometers.
Western Wall Plan Shelved – For Now Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) on Monday said he supports shelving the Western Wall plan, which would have included the
