angelburst29
The Living Force
The Israeli government has established a specific “public relations commando unit” to tackle pro-Palestinian projects such as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, according to Ynet News.
Israel creates rapid response unit to combat BDS
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171229-israel-creates-rapid-response-unit-to-combat-bds/
Minister of Strategic Affairs and Information Gilad Erdan pushed the cabinet to authorize the decision yesterday, in a bid to “step up” and provide a fast and coordinated response to criticism of Israel on the world stage.
The decision authorized the creation of a “civil infrastructure to assist and be used by the State of Israel and the pro-Israeli community in combating the de-legitimization campaign against the country.”
The operation will reportedly use a variety of public campaigns, lobbying, Israeli delegations, extensive media presence and communications with other pro-Israeli organizations abroad, to purport the Zionist narrative where government bodies might be restricted.
The decision comes just days after singer Lorde announced that she was cancelling her show in Israel in support of the BDS campaign.
“Imagine that right after Lorde announced she was cancelling her Israeli show, she was hit that same day with a viral campaign in websites all over the world and full-page ads in all major world newspapers,” a source with knowledge of the new initiative said. “That’s something the official State of Israel could not have achieved.”
The project is estimated to cost over $75 million and will the see the government look to foreign donors for at least half of the funds, as well as management of the program.
“A joint response from the government and pro-Israeli organizations will be a significant force multiplier to the government’s own efforts and will assist us in turning back the tide of BDS and defeat it,” Erdan concluded
Israel has increased its campaign to combat the BDS movement over the past year, attempting to pass legislation that could see campaigners fined or jailed and has continued to frame BDS supporters as anti-Semites.
In October it was revealed that Israel has secretly been using a US law firm in order to fight BDS activists in Europe and North America. Israeli ministers have also been fighting against the publication of a UN list of firms operating in the illegally occupied West Bank.
Israel tells African asylum seekers: leave or face prison
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171229-israel-tells-african-asylum-seekers-leave-or-face-prison/
The paper said the Interior Ministry’s Population, Immigration and Border Authority has begun preparing to deport asylum seekers on the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan.
The cabinet vote on the deportation campaign was postponed due to a budget dispute between the treasury and public security ministry,” it said.
There are currently said to be 27,000 asylum seekers from Eritrea, 7,500 from Sudan and 2,500 from various African countries as well as 5,000 children born in Israel to asylum seekers.
“The Interior Ministry estimates the total cost of its deportation operation at some 300 million shekels ($86 million) a year. This includes wages of Interior Ministry employees, deportation flights and money given to those who leave. For now, every asylum seeker who leaves the country will receive $3,500, but this amount will be reduced in the future,” the paper added.
Israel: Officials slam Netanyahu’s meetings with Zionists rabbis
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171229-israel-officials-slam-netanyahus-meetings-with-zionists-rabbis/
“It’s because of them that he disregards us,” the paper reported Shaked as saying during a private meeting with close associates from her Jewish Home party. “Netanyahu knows that he has the rabbis [in his camp],” she added.
Shaked has also complained about a letter sent by Rabbi Haim Druckman in which he called not to participate in the right-wing anti-corruption protests which took place in Jerusalem last weekend.
Haaretz quoted commentator on religious parties, Israel Cohen, saying: “Party leaders are bothered, and rightfully so, that there is someone [Netanyahu] who is bypassing them and talking with rabbis over their heads. … It looks to them like their power is being weakened.”
On Tuesday, Netanyahu met with met with a group of extremist rabbis who requested settlements be given priority in exchange for their support during the ongoing corruption cases against.
Member of the Knesset, Elazar Stern of Yesh Atid party, criticized the meeting saying: “When the government needs approval in light of police investigations he calls the rabbis of religious Zionism, but when he needs (guidance on the issues of) kashrut, Shabbat, Judaism, and the rabbinate, he does not consult with them.”
Netanyahu is currently entangled in four political scandals: Case 1000 which involves allegations that the PM and his wife accepted illegal gifts from businessmen; Case 2000 which accuses Netanyahu of attempting to buy favourable newspaper coverage; Case 3000, also known as the “submarine scandal”; and Case 4000, in which a close associate of Netanyahu is suspected of providing confidential information to Israel’s largest telecoms company.
The prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, has also been accused of using public funds for private expenditure in the prime minister’s households.
Only 20 per cent of respondents to the recent survey believe she is innocent.
Israeli Parliament Ratifies ‘Anti-Police’ Bill Shielding Prime Minister
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961007000920
The so-called “recommendations Bill” passed its final reading in the parliament on Thursday, with 59 lawmakers voting in favor and 54 opposed after a 43-hour filibuster, presstv reported.
The law will prevent the police from publicly saying whether they have found sufficient grounds for charges against Netanyahu, among other officials. The Israeli public would then have to wait until the attorney-general decides on the cases, and announces his decision.
The final version of the legislation stipulated that the law would not be in effect regarding investigations that predate its ratification. Therefore, it would not apply to probes currently underway against Netanyahu.
The bill, tabled by Netanyahu's rightist Likud party, also proposes a one-year jail term for officials leaking findings to the press. Critics have, however, slammed the measure as the “anti-police law” aimed at shielding Netanyahu.
The opposition Yesh Atid party announced it would submit a petition to the High Court of Justice against the legislation on Thursday.
“The sweeping ban on releasing the recommendations critically impairs the public's right to know, the freedom of the press and the freedom of political expression,” the petition added.
On December 3, Netanyahu called for the bill to be amended so it did not apply to the criminal investigations against him.
Netanyahu is involved in two separate corruption cases and investigators have questioned him several times.
Jewish Settlers Storm Palestinian School, Assault Students, Teachers
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961007001139
Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian Authority official in charge of tracking Israeli settlement expansion in the Northern West Bank, said about 15 Jewish settlers had stormed the Burin school in the West Bank city of Nablus, where they had assaulted students and vandalized teachers' cars, Daily Sabah reported.
The incident led to limited clashes between Palestinian students and settlers before the Israeli army intervened, he added.
According to Daghlas, Israeli army troops used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse the Palestinian teachers and students.
Israeli army troops used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse the Palestinian teachers and students.
Israel creates rapid response unit to combat BDS
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171229-israel-creates-rapid-response-unit-to-combat-bds/
Minister of Strategic Affairs and Information Gilad Erdan pushed the cabinet to authorize the decision yesterday, in a bid to “step up” and provide a fast and coordinated response to criticism of Israel on the world stage.
The decision authorized the creation of a “civil infrastructure to assist and be used by the State of Israel and the pro-Israeli community in combating the de-legitimization campaign against the country.”
The operation will reportedly use a variety of public campaigns, lobbying, Israeli delegations, extensive media presence and communications with other pro-Israeli organizations abroad, to purport the Zionist narrative where government bodies might be restricted.
The decision comes just days after singer Lorde announced that she was cancelling her show in Israel in support of the BDS campaign.
“Imagine that right after Lorde announced she was cancelling her Israeli show, she was hit that same day with a viral campaign in websites all over the world and full-page ads in all major world newspapers,” a source with knowledge of the new initiative said. “That’s something the official State of Israel could not have achieved.”
The project is estimated to cost over $75 million and will the see the government look to foreign donors for at least half of the funds, as well as management of the program.
“A joint response from the government and pro-Israeli organizations will be a significant force multiplier to the government’s own efforts and will assist us in turning back the tide of BDS and defeat it,” Erdan concluded
Israel has increased its campaign to combat the BDS movement over the past year, attempting to pass legislation that could see campaigners fined or jailed and has continued to frame BDS supporters as anti-Semites.
In October it was revealed that Israel has secretly been using a US law firm in order to fight BDS activists in Europe and North America. Israeli ministers have also been fighting against the publication of a UN list of firms operating in the illegally occupied West Bank.
Israel tells African asylum seekers: leave or face prison
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171229-israel-tells-african-asylum-seekers-leave-or-face-prison/
The paper said the Interior Ministry’s Population, Immigration and Border Authority has begun preparing to deport asylum seekers on the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan.
The cabinet vote on the deportation campaign was postponed due to a budget dispute between the treasury and public security ministry,” it said.
There are currently said to be 27,000 asylum seekers from Eritrea, 7,500 from Sudan and 2,500 from various African countries as well as 5,000 children born in Israel to asylum seekers.
“The Interior Ministry estimates the total cost of its deportation operation at some 300 million shekels ($86 million) a year. This includes wages of Interior Ministry employees, deportation flights and money given to those who leave. For now, every asylum seeker who leaves the country will receive $3,500, but this amount will be reduced in the future,” the paper added.
Israel: Officials slam Netanyahu’s meetings with Zionists rabbis
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171229-israel-officials-slam-netanyahus-meetings-with-zionists-rabbis/
“It’s because of them that he disregards us,” the paper reported Shaked as saying during a private meeting with close associates from her Jewish Home party. “Netanyahu knows that he has the rabbis [in his camp],” she added.
Shaked has also complained about a letter sent by Rabbi Haim Druckman in which he called not to participate in the right-wing anti-corruption protests which took place in Jerusalem last weekend.
Haaretz quoted commentator on religious parties, Israel Cohen, saying: “Party leaders are bothered, and rightfully so, that there is someone [Netanyahu] who is bypassing them and talking with rabbis over their heads. … It looks to them like their power is being weakened.”
On Tuesday, Netanyahu met with met with a group of extremist rabbis who requested settlements be given priority in exchange for their support during the ongoing corruption cases against.
Member of the Knesset, Elazar Stern of Yesh Atid party, criticized the meeting saying: “When the government needs approval in light of police investigations he calls the rabbis of religious Zionism, but when he needs (guidance on the issues of) kashrut, Shabbat, Judaism, and the rabbinate, he does not consult with them.”
Netanyahu is currently entangled in four political scandals: Case 1000 which involves allegations that the PM and his wife accepted illegal gifts from businessmen; Case 2000 which accuses Netanyahu of attempting to buy favourable newspaper coverage; Case 3000, also known as the “submarine scandal”; and Case 4000, in which a close associate of Netanyahu is suspected of providing confidential information to Israel’s largest telecoms company.
The prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, has also been accused of using public funds for private expenditure in the prime minister’s households.
Only 20 per cent of respondents to the recent survey believe she is innocent.
Israeli Parliament Ratifies ‘Anti-Police’ Bill Shielding Prime Minister
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961007000920
The so-called “recommendations Bill” passed its final reading in the parliament on Thursday, with 59 lawmakers voting in favor and 54 opposed after a 43-hour filibuster, presstv reported.
The law will prevent the police from publicly saying whether they have found sufficient grounds for charges against Netanyahu, among other officials. The Israeli public would then have to wait until the attorney-general decides on the cases, and announces his decision.
The final version of the legislation stipulated that the law would not be in effect regarding investigations that predate its ratification. Therefore, it would not apply to probes currently underway against Netanyahu.
The bill, tabled by Netanyahu's rightist Likud party, also proposes a one-year jail term for officials leaking findings to the press. Critics have, however, slammed the measure as the “anti-police law” aimed at shielding Netanyahu.
The opposition Yesh Atid party announced it would submit a petition to the High Court of Justice against the legislation on Thursday.
“The sweeping ban on releasing the recommendations critically impairs the public's right to know, the freedom of the press and the freedom of political expression,” the petition added.
On December 3, Netanyahu called for the bill to be amended so it did not apply to the criminal investigations against him.
Netanyahu is involved in two separate corruption cases and investigators have questioned him several times.
Jewish Settlers Storm Palestinian School, Assault Students, Teachers
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961007001139
Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian Authority official in charge of tracking Israeli settlement expansion in the Northern West Bank, said about 15 Jewish settlers had stormed the Burin school in the West Bank city of Nablus, where they had assaulted students and vandalized teachers' cars, Daily Sabah reported.
The incident led to limited clashes between Palestinian students and settlers before the Israeli army intervened, he added.
According to Daghlas, Israeli army troops used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse the Palestinian teachers and students.
Israeli army troops used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse the Palestinian teachers and students.
