The Jewish Home | JUNE 9, 2022
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Asian nation sends millions of workers to the Gulf states who send home billions of dollars in remittances. The UAE alone, where some 3.5 million Indians live, accounts for 33% of remittances to India, at more than $20 billion a year. The UAE has singled out India among seven other nations as its future economic partner. This year, India signed a free trade agreement with the UAE, its first in more than a decade, and has eyed the rest of the Gulf states for similar agreements. There are more than 2.2 million Indians in Saudi Arabia, according to Indian officials.
Right to Self-Defense Against Iran Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Friday morning met with Internation-
al Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Dr. Rafael Grossi, who arrived in Israel on Thursday night and departed for Vienna later on Friday.
During their meeting, Bennett expressed Israel’s deep concern regarding Iran’s continued progress toward producing nuclear weapons while deceiving the international community by using false information and lies. Bennett also emphasized the urgent need in mobilizing the international community to take action against Iran, using all means in order to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. He underlined Israel’s support for the IAEA to carry out its mandate visà-vis Iran in a professional and independent way and the importance of the IAEA Board of Governors delivering a clear and unequivocal message to Iran in its upcoming decision. While Israel prefers diplomacy, Ben-
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nett made it clear that the country reserves the right to self-defense and to action against Iran in order to block its nuclear program should the international community not succeed in dealing with Tehran in the relevant timeframe. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Iran threatened to “raze” the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. “For any mistake made by the enemy, we will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground by the order of the Supreme Leader,” the Islamic Republic’s ground forces commander, Kiumars Heydari, told the semi-official Iranian Tasnim news agency.
West Bank Law Torpedoed
In a critical blow to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government on Monday, the coalition failed to pass a directive giving Israel legal jurisdiction over Israelis living in the West Bank. The bill had been passed every five years since 1967. Opposition MKs applauded following the announcement of the results: 52 MKs voted for it; 58 voted against. Failure of the bill has led to speculation that the government will soon fall, and Israel will head to a new election. Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi (Meretz) and Mazen Ghanaim (Ra’am – United Arab List) voted against the bill, and other Ra’am MKs and former coalition head Idit Silman absented themselves from the vote. Without their support, it was impossible to pass the bill, which must be reapproved by the end of June. Yamina MK Nir Orbach confronted Ghanaim and shouted at him that their partnership in the coalition had failed. “Some you win, some you lose,” Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who initiated the bill, told The Jerusalem Post following a meeting with Bennett. “Today, we’re on the other side.” Sa’ar intends to convene a special meeting of his New Hope faction to decide their future in the coalition. “All coalition members must support the government’s bill,” Sa’ar added. “Any coalition member who does not support such a fundamental bill is actively working to dismantle the coalition. Being in the coalition does not only mean receiv-
ing. There is also responsibility. Whoever does not support it cannot wash their hands, claiming innocence. A country cannot be run this way.” Defense Minister Benny Gantz said he was looking for a non-legislative solution to the problem. By opposing the bill, Sa’ar noted, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu was harming the residents of Judea and Samaria and advancing his own personal interests at the expense of the state, he said. Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman, chairman of Yisrael Beytenu, said no one should be surprised by Netanyahu preventing a bill from passing that would prevent West Bank chaos. “He has harmed Judea and Samaria more than anyone else,” he said. “That is tradition with Netanyahu. That is part of his DNA.” Religious Zionist Party MK Bezalel Smotrich said he was not concerned about harming his constituents in Judea and Samaria by halting the bill. It is better to bring down the government, form a rightwing coalition and then pass it, he said. “A coalition that cannot pass its bills and is artificially respirated by [Joint List MK] Ahmad Tibi and the Joint List is illegitimate and bound to fall,” Smotrich told his faction. “Residents of Judea and Samaria are strong and understand the importance of bringing down the anti-Zionist government.”
Female “Halachic Advisors” to be Paid Religious Affairs Deputy Minister Matan Kahana (Yamina) on Thursday announced that he will appoint twenty-one women as halachic advisers in communities across Israel in 2022. Women have increasingly assumed active roles as certified experts of Jewish religious law throughout Israel in recent years, specifically in delicate areas traditionally associated with women such as “family purity.” Deputy Minister Kahana’s move will see these female advisors officially recognized by the Religious Services Ministry for the first time and as such be eligible for state-funded salaries alongside communal pulpit rabbis, a statement from Kahana’s office said. Kahana said, “Today it is clear to all that learned women are integral to Jewish communal life and halachic discourse. Female halachic advisers already serve in
