National

in Israel.

“Since 2018, they can work and live in Israel indefinitely, and bring their families,” Pex said. “They must renew their visas every three years, compared to two for diamond traders from other countries.”

In addition to the diamond trade, Israel’s ties with India are deepening on issues surrounding defense.

Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz (Blue and White) visited India to mark the 30th anniversary of official diplomatic ties between the two countries. Meeting his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh, Gantz said, “By working together, we may increase our capabilities and ensure the security and economic interests of both countries.”

The two also discussed combining Israeli technological and operational abilities with India’s development and production abilities.

It is also expected that a free trade agreement will be finalized later this year.

181 New Olim from Ethiopia

A total of 181 new immigrants from Ethiopia landed in Israel last week, as the Israeli government resumed immigration from the African country.

Some of the new immigrants had waited decades to be brought to Israel and reunited with family members. A second flight scheduled to land later in the week will bring another 160 new immigrants, and other flights are scheduled for the coming months.

According to the Jewish Agency, it is expected that a total of 3,000 new immigrants from Ethiopia will land in Israel by November.

The flights are the second part of Operation Zur Israel, which was put on hold in March 2021 after an appeal against it was filed with Israel’s Supreme Court.

Almost all of the new immigrants will be reuniting with family members.

Israel’s Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata (Blue and White), herself an Ethiopian native, joined the flight from Addis Ababa. Prior to its takeoff, she said, “When I look at these children and their parents and I hear their stories, their struggle is my struggle – and it must be the struggle of all Israel. We just need to do the right thing.”

She added, “I have an agreement with [Finance Minister Avigdor] Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu), that we will bring all those with first-degree [relatives] – he will find the money, the budget. Once and for all we will end the saga and bring a solution.”

Avtamo Yosef, who heads the Jewish Agency’s department of Ethiopian immigration, noted, “In my eyes, the immigration is the easy part. The absorption is the complicated part.”

Should U.S. Withdraw from WHO, UN?

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the top Republican lawmaker on the House Armed Services Committee, has introduced a bill to withdraw the United States from the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO). The bill was created in a response to human rights abuses in China.

According to Rogers, it is “unconscionable” for the U.S. to continue participating in the UN while China is also a member.

If the bill passes, it would seek to block funds from being disbursed to the UN or any associated agency, since coalition leaders have aided China in carrying out genocide.

Rogers said, “The Charter of the United Nations states the UN’s mission to ‘reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.’

“It’s clear the UN has abandoned the ideals set in its founding charter, and that’s why, among many other reasons, I’ve reintroduced legislation to withdraw

30 the United States from the UN.” At the same time, Rogers wants to remove the U.S. from the WHO, since the The Jewish Home | JUNE 9, 2022 organization put “public health second to the Chinese Communist Party” by helping to “cover up the origins of COVID-19,” he said. An aide for Rogers noted, “We believe that the jarring and public capitulations to the CCP by the UN and the WHO in the past two years will bring a renewed interest in Rep. Rogers’s bill.” Rogers initially introduced the bill in 2015, but it never made it to the House for a vote. In December, Congress passed a bill prohibiting the importation of goods made in China’s Xinjiang region through forced labor.

NY Raises Age to Own Semiautomatic Rifles

The New York legislature on Thursday evening passed a bill raising the age to acquire a semiautomatic rifle from 18 to 21. The bill passed the Senate 43-20 and

New York already required people to be over 21 in order to possess a handgun, and the law still allows those younger than 21 to possess other types of rifles and shotguns. The bill’s passage follows mass shootings in Buffalo and at a Texas school, both of which involved 18-yearolds wielding semiautomatic rifles.

Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat, noted that the bill “is meant to be a hassle to those folks who might want to get their hands quickly on something with which they could mass murder people.”

Another bill expected to pass in New York will require new guns to be equipped with microstamping technology, to ease investigations.

A gunman who killed four people at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, medical center last week did so after blaming one of the physicians for causing him pain from a recent back surgery, a police chief in the city said.

Shooter Michael Louis, who, according to police, killed himself after shooting the people, had purchased his AR-15 legally, city Police Chief Wendell Franklin said during a news conference.

Louis then entered a physicians’ office building at Tulsa’s Saint Francis Hospital and shot his surgeon, Dr. Preston Phillips, and three others before killing himself, Franklin said.

He added that Louis had a letter on him which “made it clear that he came in with the intent to kill Dr. Phillips and anyone who got in his way. He blamed Dr. Phillips for the ongoing pain following the surgery.”

The other victims, Franklin explained, “stood in the way, and Louis gunned them down.”

Franklin added that Louis had undergone back surgery performed by Phillips and afterwards called Phillips’ office several times over several days, complaining of pain and requesting additional treatment. He saw Phillips for treatment on Tuesday and called the office again on Wednesday prior to the shooting. Later on Wednesday, he purchased an AR-15 from a gun store; on Sunday, he bought a .40-caliber pistol from a pawn shop.

An unspecified number of others were injured in the shooting.

According to authorities, the other three victims were identified as Dr. Stephanie Husen, receptionist Amanda Glenn, and patient William Love.

NY Targets Amazon

ahead of the pack in curtailing the business giant’s metrics. Last week, New York lawmakers passed a bill targeting the use of warehouse productivity quotas in the state.

Labor and safety advocates have long criticized the e-commerce giant’s use of productivity quotas that log how workers pack and stow packages. If workers are inactive for a set period of time, the company’s “time off task” tool can ding them for taking too many breaks, which critics have blamed for the company’s injury rates.

A report released in April by Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of four labor unions, found Amazon employed 33% of all U.S. warehouse workers in 2021 but was responsible for 49% of all injuries in the industry. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has pushed back on those findings but acknowledged in his shareholder letter that month the company’s warehouse injury rates “were a little higher than the average” and said they’d work to improve them.

The legislation, passed last Friday, would require the retail giant and other companies to provide workers with information on quotas they’re assigned, how those quotas are developed, and how such things could be used by the employer to discipline them. It would also prohibit employers from putting in place quotas that prevent workers from taking bathroom breaks or rest periods.

The legislation now heads to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk for her signature.

New York’s bill mimics a similar bill that was signed into law last year in California. State lawmakers in Washington and New Hampshire have also introduced similar bills.

Amazon workers in New York have nabbed headlines recently. Workers in Staten Island are attempting to get recognition by the company following their union victory in April. But Amazon has filed objections over the election with the National Labor Relations board, seeking to overturn the labor win and schedule a new election.