Ilan Ben Zion is an AFP reporter and a former news editor at The Times of Israel.
The Times of Israel covered Monday’s events as they unfolded.
After a minor earthquake rattled the southern city of Eilat early this morning, the Geophysical Institute reports a second, smaller tremor this afternoon in the Sinai. No injury or damage are reported, according to Channel 2.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon met this morning and issue a joint statement about the ongoing squabble over an IDF general’s statement about Israeli values. The two Likud politicians, who had butted heads in recent days, reached a compromise position.
“There is no dispute, and there won’t be any, that the military is subordinate to political authority and that officers are free to express their opinions in the relevant forums,” the two say.
Micky Levy, the man suspected of shooting Shai Shirazi a little over a week ago, is in police custody and his detention is extended by another nine days, Channel 10 reports.
A volunteer on an IDF base assumed the identity of a senior officer in an elite unit and allegedly sexually harassed an officer on the base, Israel Radio reports.
The 36-year-old man, an activist with the Zionist group Hashomer Hachadash, has delivered lectures to new immigrant soldiers on the Michve Alon army base for the past year.
According to the report, the man told the officer that he wanted to introduce her to an officer in an elite unit, then impersonated that man in “intimate conversations” over the phone with her for three months.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit says in a response that the head of IDF personnel is dealing with the issue personally.
Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela attended a ceremony to mark the 140th anniversary of the Central American country’s first synagogue.
“The Jewish presence in Panama was born committed to the fate of this small nation, and that heritage has been enriched throughout the history of the country to the present day,” Varela said last week at the Kol Shearith Israel congregation during a ceremony attended by several government, diplomatic and religious officials.
Varela recalled that the Jewish presence in Panama began in the middle of the 19th century and that the country’s Jewish community has been very strong as “active builders of a nation in which the purpose of being an independent country began.” He also made reference to the Thousand Days’ War of 1899-1902, when a Jewish banker and other volunteers under his leadership funded the burial of hundreds of the fallen fighters.
“I would like to greet with respect and emotion all families that make up Kol Shearith Israel. On behalf of all Panamanian society, I thank you as a whole for all that you and your cultural, ethical and religious heritage have made and will continue to give this country, helping to develop projects together and committed to Panama,” he said.
The congregation’s president Moises Abadi boasted that some of its members have played a pivotal role in the country’s history.
“Iconic examples are the creation of the second anthem by Eduardo Maduro, a son of this congregation, and also two presidents of the Republic who are members of this house,” he told Iton Gadol news service.
Founded in 1976, the Kol Shearith Israel society emerged to provide burial and charitable services to the Jewish community and later became a congregation. It has played a significant role in the creation of organizations and institutions in Panama including the fire department, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Technological University of Panama.
Panama is home to some 15,000 Jews.
— JTA
Israeli pop singer Kobi Peretz is sentenced to two years in prison for tax evasion amounting to NIS 5.8 million ($1.5 million). The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court orders he pay a NIS 175,000 fine in addition to his prison sentence, which is set to begin June 13.
A fire broke out in a wholesale market in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul neighborhood, consumed a nearby thicket of woods and is threatening the Israel Electric Corporation building.
Five firefighting teams are on site working to contain the blaze and another five are on their way to help battle it, Walla news reports.
The fire in Givat Shaul has ignited the roofs of several buildings made of asbestos, and there’s a risk of hazardous substances disseminating from the site, Channel 2 reports.
Route 1, the main artery connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is closed to traffic because of a fire raging in the Givat Shaul neighborhood.
Police say there are no known injuries or people trapped in the wholesale market that is on fire in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul neighborhood. Traffic from Route 1 is being diverted.
A photographer at the scene shares a photo on Twitter.
המשטרה חסמה את הכניסה לגבעת שאול מגינות סחרוב pic.twitter.com/t64zABAmsq
— אלי (@haaali21) May 16, 2016
The Israeli Navy arrested a Hamas-affiliated smuggler off the coast of Gaza last month, who is accused of bringing weapons and illegal building materials into the Strip, the Shin Bet security service reveals.
Salim Jamal Hassan Naman, a resident of the al-Shati refugee camp, admitted to interrogators that he’d been involved in a naval smuggling operation for some time and had helped bring in weaponry and “materials used in the production of rockets,” the security service says in a statement.
Naman, 39, was picked up by IDF sailors after his boat “deviated from the approved sailing area,” the Shin Bet says in a statement.
“The information revealed in this interrogation, along with the interrogations of the other Hamas terror operatives who have been arrested recently, reveal another aspect of the numerous efforts made by Hamas in order to prepare itself for advancing its violent terrorist actions,” the Shin Bet says.
“This time, it’s through taking advantage of the relief provided by Israel for the population of Gazan fisherman,” the security service says, referring to an easement of the blockade surrounding the coastal enclave that Israel agreed to last month.
— Judah Ari Gross
Israel’s economy slowed to .8% growth in the first quarter of 2016, down from the projected 2.6%, the Central Bureau of Statistics reports. In the fourth quarter of 2015, Israel’s economy grew by 3.1%.
Palestinian media reports say Israeli helicopters are operating in the vicinity of the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.
A synagogue in Givat Shaul has been evacuated as firefighters struggle to contain a fire that broke out earlier this afternoon.
Likud coalition chairman Tzachi Hanegbi is appointed a minister without portfolio by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and MK David Bitan is promoted to coalition chair, Channel 2 reports.
Israeli troops reportedly fire on houses near Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, just a short while after IDF helicopters reportedly flew over Khan Younis, according to Palestinian media reports.
Police arrest two residents of the Efrat settlement in the West Bank for threatening a group of Palestinians with what was later revealed to be fake pistols last week.
The two Jewish Israelis, ages 19 and 22, were riding motorcycles near the West Bank settlement on May 11. They rode past a Palestinian vehicle and forced the driver off the road, police say.
The pair then used the plastic pistols to stop a passing Palestinian bus and threaten the occupants, the police’s West Bank division says.
One of the two Israelis “put the pistol next to the head” of one of the Palestinians and told him to “start praying for his life,” police says.
Another Palestinian in the group filed a complaint with the Hebron Police Department, which “immediately opened an investigation into the incident and arrested the two suspects in just a few hours,” a spokesperson says.
When the two Israeli suspects handed over the pistols used in the attack, police discovered that they were made of plastic and were not real guns.
The two men will be held in remand at least until tomorrow, according to a Jerusalem court order.
— Judah Ari Gross
A pipe bomb was reportedly thrown at Rachel’s Tomb, near Bethlehem, in the West Bank. No injuries are reported.
Firefighters have brought a fire in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul neighborhood under control and highways have reopened to traffic.
Temperatures soared in Israel and the region today, with a high of 47º Celsius or 117º Fahrenheit near Jericho in the Jordan Valley.
Former IDF general and Institute of National Security Studies head Amos Yadlin steps to the defense of Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon in the ongoing row with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“It’s the obligation of IDF officers and commanders to express in professional directness their positions and assessments and the obligation of the political leadership to preserve the free thought and expression of the military brass,” he says in a statement.
Police say they’ve arrested a suspect involved in burning wreaths on the graves of Israeli soldiers last week.
The suspected perpetrator was detained on Sunday for last week’s vandalism on the Mount of Olives, and his arrest was extended for three days.
Police say they expect additional arrests.
Qatar broke a Guinness World Record for the biggest key ever made, which it unveiled at a Nakba Day ceremony in Doha, Doha news reports.
The 21-foot-long and nine-foot-wide key is a replica of “a working key that fits into a lock,” the report says.
Netanyahu and Herzog met for several hours last night to discuss bringing the Zionist Union into the government, Channel 2 reports, but there was no progress in the closed-door talks.
The two sides reportedly disagree over the gas deal, a bill that aims to force foreign-funded NGOs to label themselves as such, and a bill allowing the Knesset to suspend MKs. Netanyahu’s office tells Channel 2 that there were major differences and that major gaps remain.
Polls conducted by Channel 2 and Channel 10 found that the public is split evenly over whether they support a potential unity government. Fifty percent were against it in the Channel 10 poll and 52% opposed it in the Channel 2 survey.
If elections were held today, Channel 2’s poll found the following outcome, with a severe drop for the Zionist Union: Likud 27, Yesh Atid 18, Zionist Union 17, Joint (Arab) List 13, Jewish Home 10, Yisrael Beytenu nine, Kulanu seven, UTJ seven, Shas six and Meretz six.
A similar poll by Channel 10 gave Likud 25, Yesh Atid 20, Zionist Union 13, Joint List 14, Jewish Home 12, Yisrael Beytenu nine, Kulanu nine, Shas six, UTJ six, Meretz six.
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon says that he met with Netanyahu and that it is the prime minister’s earnest intention to form a coalition government.
“There’s no better time than now for a broad government,” he says.
The Smithsonian Institution and the Hebrew University are marking the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity by launching an initiative to make science more accessible to young people.
The project, joining the Science Education Center at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC., and the Albert Einstein Archive at Hebrew University, will “make science, technology, engineering and mathematics more accessible and appealing to a younger generation,” the American and Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University said in a statement Monday.
Einstein, a Hebrew University founder, bequeathed 80,000 of his scientific and non-scientific manuscripts to the Jerusalem school.
The Israeli ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, and David Skorton, the director of the Smithsonian Institution, a group of museums and research centers administered as a U.S. government agency, will attend the launch of the initiative at the Smithsonian Castle, on the National Mall, on Monday afternoon.
Centennial commemorations of Einstein’s groundbreaking theory were launched in November.
— JTA
A new commander of the army’s elite Egoz Reconnaissance Unit entered his position today, the IDF announces.
The previous commander, a lieutenant colonel known only by the Hebrew letter “Yud,” leaves the position after two years.
Egoz was once a part of the Golani Brigade, but was moved to the IDF’s newly formed Commando Brigade in late 2015. However, members of the elite unit still bear the Golani Brigade’s brown beret.
In the 2014 Gaza war, “Yud” was seriously wounded, though he later recuperated and returned to his position.
— Judah Ari Gross
The Knesset approves NIS 900 million ($236 million) for a project to develop of Bedouin communities in northern Israel.
The money is allocated for the improvement of existing communities and the construction of new ones for the years 2016-2020, Ynet reports.
The project will cover sanitation, transportation, industry, education, and integration of Bedouin youth in the workplace, national service and army.
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