Gavin Rabinowitz is a news editor at The Times of Israel
The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they unfolded.
In an apparent rebuke to US President Donald Trump, Yad Vashem issues a statement today clarifying that the Holocaust “was the unprecedented genocide of six million Jews.”
The statement, noting the commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, says that: “Yad Vashem representatives stressed to all that the Holocaust was the unprecedented genocide of six million Jews, perpetrated by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, motivated by a radically racist, antisemitic ideology, which sought the annihilation of the Jewish people, its culture and its heritage.”
The clarification is in apparent reference to the Trump administration omitting Jews from its International Holocaust Remembrance statement.
“Yad Vashem emphasizes the imperative to understand the Holocaust in a historically accurate manner,” it says.
The EU today warns Iran not to stoke mistrust by continuing ballistic missile tests, after Tehran told the new US administration not to use the issue as a pretext to create fresh tensions.
“The EU reiterates its concern about Iran’s missile program and calls upon Iran to refrain from activities which deepen mistrust, such as ballistic missile tests,” an EU foreign affairs spokeswoman says.
— AFP
The Palestinians have set May 13 as the date for long-postponed local elections in the West Bank and Gaza, Ynet reports.
The elections were meant to have been held in 2016, but was called off by a court in Ramallah after Hamas, which rules Gaza, wouldn’t let some of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party candidates run in the Strip.
That was the latest in a string of Palestinian elections that have been delayed or canceled in recent years.
The High Court of Justice has begun hearing arguments from the Yesh Din human rights organization, which is representing a number of Palestinians trying to block an agreement to relocate the Amona outpost.
In a bid to avoid a violent clash with residents, the government made a deal with the outpost’s residents in which some of them would peacefully leave their homes, on what the court determined to be private Palestinian land, and in exchange be set up on an adjacent plot of land.
Yesh Din petitioned the High Court to block the deal, saying the adjacent plot was also private Palestinian land.
On Tuesday, Amona residents found an army order posted in the outpost that gave them 48 hours to evacuate the area with their belongings.
— Judah Ari Gross
The White House says US President Donald Trump will leave intact a 2014 executive order that protects federal workers from anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
In a statement released today, the White House says Trump “is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community” and that he “continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election.”
#DEVELOPING: Pres. Trump will leave intact executive order to protect federal workers from anti-LGBTQ discriminati… https://t.co/RjapeiXtMq
— Kenley Hargett (@kenleyhargettjr) January 31, 2017
The Trump administration has vowed to roll back much of president Barack Obama’s work from the past eight years and had been scrutinizing the 2014 order. The directive protects people from LGBTQ discrimination while working for federal contractors.
The recent statement says the protections will remain intact “at the direction” of Trump.
— AP
British MPs are taking a key step toward leaving the European Union, launching a debate on a bill that would empower Prime Minister Theresa May to trigger Brexit.
Parliament braced for all-night drinking as MPs debate Brexit Bill beyond midnight https://t.co/aNiGNIXHrK
— Trend Style Daily (@TrendStyleDaily) January 31, 2017
Brexit Minister David Davis is presenting the bill to the House of Commons, giving MPs their first discussion on giving the government the power to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, opening two years of negotiations on leaving the bloc.
— AFP
Sara Netanyahu is speaking today at the inauguration of the new Knesset caucus for Bible (Tanach) study founded by Likud MK Yehuda Glick.
The daughter of Israeli poet and Bible educator Shmuel Ben-Artzi, Netanyahu, the prime minister’s wife, was invited by Glick as a guest of honor.
Opening the speeches, Netanyahu says that as the daughter of a Bible teacher, the sister of three Bible competition champions and the mother of another, and herself a lover of Bible study, she is honored to be invited.
“The Tanach is my favorite book,” she says. “It’s in my family, I feel connected to it, it’s a part of me and it’s a part of our nation.”
— Raoul Wootliff
A coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria has received US armored vehicles for the first time, and a promise of new US support, a coalition spokesman told AFP Tuesday.
“American armored vehicles have arrived for the Syrian Democratic Forces for the first time. This happened after the new US administration came to power,” said spokesman Talal Sello, adding that US President Donald Trump’s administration had “promised extra support.”
— AFP
The IDF says it is ready to evacuate the Amona outpost “in accordance with instructions from the government.”
Residents of the West Bank outpost of Amona have been given 48 hours to leave the hilltop community ahead of its court-ordered demolition, according to a military eviction order posted at the site on Tuesday.
The army also clarifies that the 48 hours starts from today.
— Judah Ari Gross
Top Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat says top officials in the White House, including expected Mideast point man Jared Kushner, are not responding to messages from the Palestinians.
“I don’t know the guy. I don’t know any of them. We have sent them letters, written messages, they don’t even bother to respond to us,” Erekat tells Newsweek.
Speaking about the president’s silence over Israel’s recent announcement to build thousands of new homes in West Banks settlements, Erekat says, “We Palestinians are so worried. [Trump] does not comment. Trump is Trump and it’s up to him what he will do with the settlement policies. At the end of the day, peace is made between Palestinians and Israelis.”
“My worst-case scenario: I’m under Israeli occupation. What can Trump do to me?” he asks. “He’s only been there for a week. If that’s the trend of four years: God help us, God help the whole world,” he adds.
— Dov Lieber
The leader of the European Union puts longtime ally the United States in a “threat” category today, insisting that President Donald Trump is contributing to the “highly unpredictable” outlook for the bloc.
In a letter to 27 EU leaders before Friday’s summit in Malta, Tusk mentions the Trump administration as part of an external “threat” together with China, Russia, radical Islam, war and terror.
Echoing statements from many European capitals, he says that those global challenges, “as well as worrying declarations by the new American administration, all make our future highly unpredictable.”
— AP
Jewish Agency chief Nathan Sharansky is hailing a compromise that has been reached over nine Venezuelan Jewish converts who had their request to make aliyah denied by Israel’s Interior Ministry, which will allow them to come to Israel very soon.
The applicants, all indigenous Venezuelans who belong to three families, converted to Judaism in 2014 under the auspices of a Conservative rabbinical court. They come from the small rural town of Maracay, where no recognized Jewish community exists.
The Interior Ministry claimed their engagement in Jewish communal life has not been sufficient.
“In light of the unique circumstances and challenges of this particular case, The Jewish Agency proposed a compromise that would enable the individuals in question to come to Israel in a manner consistent with Israeli law, particularly the Law of Return,” Sharansky says.
“I am pleased that our compromise was accepted by all parties at today’s Knesset hearing on the matter and that the individuals in question will be able to come to Israel without delay.”
The statement from Sharansky’s office did not specify what the compromise was.
Israel and the European Union are to reconvene the EU-Israel Association Council, a high-level bilateral forum on the ministerial level, in late February, the two sides confirmed today.
The last such meeting took place in 2012.
“This is an extremely positive development, which will enable Israel and the EU to deepen their relations on a wide array of issues,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon tells The Times of Israel.
At the talks, to be held on February 28 in Brussels, the EU will be represented by its foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi will represent the Israeli side.
— Raphael Ahren
Four zebras were today transferred from Israel’s Ramat Gan Safari park to the Qalqilya zoo, says the army, which helped facilitate the move.
Two of the four zebras that were transferred from the Ramat Gan safari to the Qalqilya zoo on January 31, 2017 (COGAT )
The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories unit says that two males and two females made the short journey to the West Bank today.
The unit says it is “proud to coordinate between these two different institutions that have the same goal, preserving wild animals and educating the public to love animals.”
There has been an ongoing cooperation between the two institutions in an effort to boost the West Bank collection
The Unites States says Israelis born in one of the seven Arab countries that are currently denied entry into the US, will still be allowed in, so long as they do not still hold a valid passport from those countries.
“If you have a currently valid US visa in your Israeli passport and were born in Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen, and do not have a valid passport from one of these countries, your visa was not cancelled and remains valid,” the embassy says.
“Similarly, we continue to process visa applications for applicants born in those countries, so long as they do not have a valid passport from one of those countries and have not otherwise declared themselves to be a national of one of those countries,” the embassy says.
Many Israelis were born in those countries, including several former defense ministers.
An expert is warning that the ammonia tanks in Haifa pose a massive risk to the city and could kill tens of thousands if something goes wrong.
The report prepared by Professor Ehud Keinan highlights the danger of the ship that transports the chemical to the storage tanks.
If something went wrong, or if the ship was attacked, the devastation would rival the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Keinan says.
Activists have been warning for years of the danger posed by the ammonia facility and demand that it be moved to an un-populated area.
The Lebanese Hezbollah terror group has tried to target it with rockets in the past.
Imprisoned former prime minister Ehud Olmert has submitted a request for a pardon to President Reuven Rivlin, the president’s office says.
Rivlin’s office says the request is being sent to the Justice Ministry for consideration, as with all pardon appeals.
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert addresses Israelis in a video released hours before he was slated to begin serving out his prison sentence, on Monday, February 2, 2016. (screen capture: YouTube)
Olmert was sentenced in 2014 to six years in prison over two separate charges of taking bribes in the early 2000s, when he served as mayor of the capital.
In December 2015, the Supreme Court reduced his sentence to 18 months in prison after overturning one of the convictions.
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein says he will push for the US to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on his upcoming trip to America.
Edelstein departs tonight for a visit in which he is expected to meet with senior US officials, including House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Knesset Speaker Yulil Edelstein speaks at a Knesset event on July 12, 2016. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
“I plan to speak to my colleagues about steps to encourage ties between the two countries,” Edelstein says, adding that he also plans to discuss the threat from Iran.
“I will call on my colleagues to support and work toward moving the embassy to the capital of Israel, Jerusalem,” he says.
The High Court is giving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu three weeks to explain why he shouldn’t step down or suspend himself from his roles as foreign and communications minister following corruption allegations.
The court is responding to appeals filed against Netanyahu, who is being investigated in two graft probes, particularly over allegations he colluded with a prominent newspaper publisher for positive coverage in return for undermining a rival newspaper.
The court notes that the three-week deadline is intended to speed up the process and not meant to imply that the court has a stand on the investigation.
In addition to being prime minister, Netanyahu is also foreign minister and communications minister.
Israeli troops are positioned at the entrance of the road leading to the Amona outpost, allowing only residents of the community to enter, in a bid to keep out protesters.
Earlier today, the IDF issued an order giving residents of the wildcat outpost 48 hours to leave the area with their belongings.
The High Court of Justice determined that Amona had been partially built on private Palestinian land and ordered it demolished. In accordance with the court’s ruling, the illegal settlement must be evacuated by February 8.
— Judah Ari Gross
President Reuven Rivlin spoke today with his Mexican counterpart Enrique Peňa Nieto in the wake of the spat between the two countries after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted in support of Trump’s proposed wall spanning the Mexican border, saying a similar plan along Israel’s southern frontier had been a success.
Mexico had demanded an apology for the comments.
“The security situation Israel and the Middle East brought us to the important decision to build a fence on our borders. We have no intention to compare between Israel’s security situation and the situation of any other country in the world,” Rivlin said in long conversation today with Peňa Nieto, his office says.
“The ties between our countries are important and close and we need to leave behind any misunderstandings,” he says.
Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto speaks during a press conference at Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. (AP/Marco Ugarte)
The call is described as “warm and friendly”
Peňa Nieto thanked Rivlin for his efforts to clear up the situation and reiterated his desire for close ties with Israel, Rivlin’s office says.
Netanyahu did not apologize, saying he had not been commenting on US-Mexico relations in the tweet. He added he had a “long, fruitful and very friendly relationship” with Peňa Nieto.
Earlier, Netanyahu continued to downplay the spat with Mexico, saying the countries’ relations were stronger than a “passing” quarrel. Netanyahu wrote on Twitter that Israel “will continue to have good relations” with Mexico.
A strike by Jerusalem City Hall that saw garbage pile up in the streets and kindergartens shut is over
The end of the strike is announced by Zeev Elkin, the minister responsible for Jerusalem affairs, who helped broker the deal between the city and the Finance Ministry.
“Now Jerusalem residents can go back to their normal lives and we can pursue a solution to Jerusalem’s budget problems,” he says.
At least 11 Jewish community centers across the United States were targeted with bomb threats in the third wave of such mass disruption this month.
Paul Goldenberg, the director of Secure Community Networks — an affiliate of the Jewish federations of North America, which advises Jewish groups and institutions on security — says the threats were called in late Wednesday morning.
It was not clear at the time whether the messages were live or recorded, or the gender of the caller.
— JTA
Hamas has fully restored it’s military capabilities since the 2014 Gaza war, Channel 2 says, quoting a senior defense official.
The official says Hamas has restored all of its rockets, mortars and even it’s attack tunnels in the last two years.
Israel and the Islamist group fought a fifty-day war in 2014 as Israel sought to stop Hamas rocket fire into Israel.
Dozens of protesters have arrived ahead of a potential evacuation, coming via footpaths as Israeli security forces block the road leading up to the settlement.
Over the outpost sound system, the Amona protesters announce they have “no idea” what is going to happen, as the High Court of Justice has yet to announce its decision on the legality of the deal struck between the government and the settlement’s residents.
The protesters are encouraging those present to call more people to get them to trek up to the hilltop outpost.
— Judah Ari Gross
A Defense Ministry comptroller is investigating the so-called submarine scandal, Channel 2 reports.
The internal investigation comes amid suspicions that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attorney David Shimron may have had a conflict of interest in helping to facilitate the purchase of German submarines, military boats and maintenance services by the Israeli government.
David Shimron, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal lawyer, at a Likud press conference in Tel Aviv, February 1, 2015. (Flash90)
The defense ministry investigator recently traveled to Germany to collect evidence, the report says.
It’s alleged that Shimron used his close relationship with Netanyahu to push Israel to purchase several submarines from German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp, award the company a contract for naval vessels to defend Israel’s gas fields and allow it to build a shipyard in Israel. Shimron was a representative of the company in Israel.
Shimron denies the allegations.
Officer cadets who were wounded in the deadly truck ramming attack in Jerusalem earlier in the month have graduated.
Officer cadets who were wounded in the Jerusalem truck attack graduate from the officer’s training course on January 31, 2017 (IDF spokesman)
In an emotional ceremony at the Officer Training School, they paid tribute to the four soldiers who were killed in the attack.
Officer cadets who were wounded in the Jerusalem truck attack graduate from the officer’s training course on January 31, 2017 (IDF spokesman)
Many of the graduating officers were in wheelchairs, casts or on crutches as they recover from their injuries.
Officer cadets who were wounded in the Jerusalem truck attack graduate from the officer’s training course on January 31, 2017 (IDF spokesman)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling on President Donald Trump to lift his ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries “as soon as possible.”
Guterres says today that countries have the right to avoid infiltration of terrorist organizations — but not based on discrimination related to religion, ethnicity, or a person’s nationality.
Guterres warns that “blind measures, not based on solid intelligence, tend to be ineffective as they risk being bypassed by what are today sophisticated global terrorist movements.”
He also says such discrimination is against “fundamental principles and values” and “triggers widespread anxiety and anger” that may spur extremist propaganda.
Guterres expressed concern that refugees fleeing conflict and persecution are finding more borders closing, in violation of the protection they are entitled to under international refugee law
The prosecution is asking for a three to five year jail sentence for an IDF soldier convicted of manslaughter for shooting and killing an incapacitated Palestinian assailant.
At an ongoing sentencing hearing, the prosecution says that given the severity of the incident, Sgt. Elor Azaria, 19, deserves a lengthy jail sentence. However, the prosecutor noted that 3-5 years is on the lenient scale for the crime he is convicted of, saying it took into consideration the soldier’s past good behavior and service record.
IDF soldier Elor Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter for shooting dead a prone and wounded Palestinian assailant, in a case that has deeply divided Israel, sits with his parents as he waits for his sentence hearing at a military court in Tel Aviv January 24, 2017. (AFP/DEBBIE HILL)
Azaria’s trial saw politicians and current and former army generals alternately supporting or condemning the soldier’s actions. Many of the army’s top brass, as well as former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, had railed against Azaria’s “unethical” decision to shoot the assailant, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, in the head nearly 15 minutes after the latter was shot and wounded as he attempted to stab an IDF soldier in Hebron last March.
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