ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 432
The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they unfolded.
The Energy Ministry’s Seismology Division confirms a minor earthquake near Jerusalem.
The 3.5-magnitude tremor hit at 11:14 p.m. local time and was centered around 15 kilometers (9 miles) southeast of Ariel in the West Bank, the ministry says.
It was felt in the Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and Mevaseret Zion areas, among others.
The IDF’s Home Front command says the earthquake warning system was not activated because the tremors did not pose a danger to residents.
Israel is located on the Syrian African Rift, a vulnerable area for earthquakes that runs through the Jordan Valley, down the eastern side of the country.
Israelis report feeling a minor earthquake in the Jerusalem area.
A preliminary notice from a European monitoring group reports a 4.4 magnitude quake in the Dead Sea region.
The tremors follow a series of devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
Experts have warned that Israeli infrastructure is not adequately prepared for a major earthquake.
Barbra Streisand’s very long and very long-awaited memoir, a project she has talked about for years, is coming out this fall. Viking, a Penguin Random House imprint, will release “My Name is Barbra” on November 7.
Her memoir, fitting for a superstar of the grandest ambitions, is listed at 1,040 pages.
“The book is, like Barbra herself, frank, funny, opinionated, and charming,” according to the publisher. “She recounts her early struggles to become an actress, eventually turning to singing to earn a living; the recording of some of her acclaimed albums; the years of effort involved in making ‘Yentl’; her direction of ‘The Prince of Tides’; her friendships with figures ranging from Marlon Brando to Madeleine Albright; her political advocacy; and the fulfillment she’s found in her marriage to James Brolin.”
“My Name Is Barbra” also is the title of a 1965 Streisand album and television special.
Publishers have sought a Streisand memoir for decades, with the singer telling Jimmy Fallon in 2021 that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis asked her to write one in the early 1980s, when the former first lady was an editor at Doubleday. During an Associated Press interview in 2009, Streisand mentioned that she had been writing chapters about her life, in longhand.
“I go back and forth,” Streisand said at the time. “Do I really want to write about my life? Do I really want to relive my life? I’m not sure.”
The memoir was first announced in 2015, and scheduled for two years later, although it didn’t have a title at the time. A reference to it on her website, posted in 2015, was later pulled.
Financial terms for the memoir were not disclosed. Streisand was represented by Robert Barnett, the Washington attorney whose other clients have ranged from Barack Obama to Elton John.
Streisand, 80, has long been wary of discussing her private life, including her relationships with actor Elliott Gould and producer Jon Peters. She has been married to Brolin since 1998.
The Israel Defense Forces says a delegation of medical and logistics corps troops will depart for Turkey early tomorrow morning to establish a field hospital to treat victims of the earthquake.
Preparations are already underway, and the delegation will comprise of some 230 people, including military doctors, nurses, and Health Ministry paramedics, the IDF says.
“The delegation will establish a field hospital and focus on providing medical treatment using advanced equipment brought in from Israel,” the IDF says.
Additionally, the IDF says the delegation will assist Home Front Command search and rescue teams operating in the area.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the elite Duvdevan undercover unit operating in the West Bank, telling them that Israel can’t count on the Palestinian Authority to stop terror attacks.
“We are struggling in a region where there is a constant struggle between those who want to go forward with us, and radical-Islamist forces, who want to return us to Medieval times,” Netanyahu says, speaking to the soldiers.
“It’s a big fight. On the external level, of course, led by Iran, which is our greatest enemy, and we are fighting it. On the local level, there are forces that also want to strangle us in various places,” Netanyahu says.
The prime minister says Israel cannot count on the Palestinian Authority to stop terror attacks.
“Of course, we would be happy if the Palestinian Authority did its part, but we see that it is not. In most cases, it does not confront those who need to be confronted,” he says. “There is no substitute in any future scenario for our security control over the territory.”
The Israeli military aid delegation to Turkey following the major earthquake has begun to assist in search and rescue operations.
The Home Front Command team was reportedly delayed by several hours due to weather conditions and traffic.
First images from the scene are shared by David Saranga, a foreign ministry official.
The Israeli rescue team just started the operation to try and find survivors ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/YIGJkOnDZg
— David Saranga (@DavidSaranga) February 7, 2023
“This is the team of Israeli men and women who are on the ground in #Türkiye rescuing people and assisting with emergency relief efforts,” Saranga tweets. “Good luck and a safe and successful mission.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ends a saga of internal conflict in his Likud party by bringing renegade MK David Amsalem into the government, giving him three ministerial positions.
The firebrand Amsalem was the most senior Likud MK not to get a post in the cabinet and has been openly opposing Netanyahu and stirring up discontent among his supporters in the party.
According to Likud, Amsalem will serve as a junior minister within the Justice Ministry. He will also be the regional cooperation minister and the minister liaising between the government and the Knesset.
The party says current Knesset liaison Yoav Kisch has agreed to the deal.
Amsalem had previously demanded to be either Knesset speaker or justice minister and rejected offers of other ministries.
Last summer, Amsalem submitted a bill to move judicial appointments fully under government control, a move echoed by the coalition’s current judicial overhaul proposals.
Amsalem has also been a fierce critic of the Supreme Court and publicly accused Chief Justice Esther Hayut of racism.
Speaking to The Times of Israel from the town where the IDF rescue mission will deploy, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alon Lavi says the reactions to the Israelis have been overwhelmingly positive.
He is part of the advance team that searched for a suitable location for the troops to set up their relief headquarters this evening.
“The team will in all likelihood begin operating in the coming hours,” he says.
“There are defined areas they will work in, which were chosen for professional considerations.”
Lavi says that driving along the broken roads, he can see “destruction, abandoned buildings, closed shops, and long lines at gas stations.”
The Health Ministry tells residents of several communities in northern Israel to boil drinking water as a precaution in the wake of the earthquakes that rattled the region.
Residents of Dovev, Baram, Yiron, Sasa, Matat, Tzivon and Har Meron are told to boil water for drinking, cooking, preparing medicines and brushing teeth until further notice.
The ministry order comes a day after a similar call to communities in the Jordan valley, saying that the quake led to an increase in turbidity in the groundwater that is fed into the water system.
The Foreign Ministry issues a travel warning for southeastern Turkey, calling on Israelis to stay away from areas hit by the earthquake.
The statement points to severe damage to critical infrastructure like hospitals and water supply.
US Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is extending his focus on Holocaust remembrance by inviting a Washington, DC-area survivor to be his guest at US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech tonight.
Ruth Cohen, who survived multiple concentration camps including Auschwitz, will join Emhoff at the annual policy address in Washington. Emhoff first met Cohen last year before International Holocaust Remembrance Day with his wife, US Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a press release from the White House.
This year, Emhoff spent International Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed on January 27, at Auschwitz with Deborah Lipstadt, the US special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. It was part of a six-day trip focused on antisemitism and Jewish life in Europe.
For the millions of victims of the Holocaust, and for the survivors like Ruth Cohen, we must commit to carry forth their lived experiences and give meaning to that timeless pledge: “never again.” pic.twitter.com/aKtF4Jrfcs
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) February 2, 2022
Cohen, meanwhile, last week traveled to Egypt to speak at that country’s second-ever International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration. Born in what was then Czechoslovakia in 1930, Cohen was just shy of 14 when her family was deported to Auschwitz; her mother, brother and cousins were killed but she and her father and sister survived, according to a biography on the website of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, where she has been a longtime volunteer.
Germany’s new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, makes an unscheduled visit to Kyiv, two weeks after Berlin agreed to provide Leopard tanks to help Ukraine counter Russian forces.
Ukraine’s outgoing defense minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweets a photo of him and Pistorius holding a model replica of the tank. A defense ministry spokesman confirms the photo was taken in the Ukraine capital today.
“Thank you to @Bundeskanzler my colleague Boris Pistorius and the German people. The tank coalition is marching… to victory!” Reznikov writes.
Germany’s decision to provide 14 Leopard tanks came after weeks of intense pressure from Kyiv and many of Berlin’s European allies.
BREAKING: The «first» Leopard 2 has arrived in Kyiv ????
There will be more of them.✊
Thank you to @Bundeskanzler my colleague Boris Pistorius and the German people.
The tank coalition is marching… to victory! pic.twitter.com/4VY2YaovBi— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) February 7, 2023
It also gave approval for other European countries to send the German-made tanks from their own stocks to Ukraine, and the United States later said it would send its Abrams tanks, while Britain promised its Challenger models.
In all, Ukraine says it expects between 120 and 140 modern Western tanks as the country braces for a new Russian offensive possibly in the coming weeks.
GAZIANTEP — Dozens of men, women and children, whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the earthquakes in southern Turkey are sheltering in the VIP lounge of the Gaziantep airport.
Almost all of them are people with relatives who work at the airport, where they have safe shelter, electricity and heating.
“We are scared to go back,” says one man, whose father works at the airport. This includes several entire families, including some with small children, who are passing the time by watching news of the rescue efforts or speaking to friends and relatives on the phone.
One man, who came with his wife and four-year-old daughter, says they don’t yet know when they’ll go back.
“Our home was damaged, but not too bad. Maybe we can fix it. It’s hard because my wife and I are just school teachers,” he says, struggling to speak in English.
The High Court of Justice issues a sharp criticism of the government today for requesting yet another delay in the court’s order to evacuate the illegal Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin encampment in the West Bank.
The government last week requested a four-month delay while it evaluates how it will carry out the evacuation and demolition in light of strong international pressure against such steps, but the right-wing Regavim organization requested the court issue a final order instructing the state to evacuate the dwelling since the court’s interim order has been pending since 2018.
High Court Justice Noam Sohlberg in his decision accuses the government of ongoing foot-dragging over the issue, and of contradicting itself by saying it is committed to removing the Bedouin village but repeatedly failing to do so.
Sohlberg writes that the state’s behavior apparently demonstrates that “the existing situation is comfortable for it,” whereby “once every few months it files a request for an extension which the petitioner opposes and the court accedes to through gritted teeth, and the world carries on as normal; deciding not to decide.”
The High Court of Justice says it understands that the government has only just taken office but that it cannot agree to the government’s request for a four-month extension “when experience teaches us that one postponement leads to another and there is never a substantive answer.”
Sohlberg sets a hearing for Regavim’s demand for a final order for the evacuation of Khan al-Ahmar for May 1, and for the state to respond to the request by April 2. He also awards NIS 20,000 ($5,700) in costs to Regavim, a clear sign of judicial displeasure.
Protest leaders are calling for a nationwide strike on Monday against the government’s planned overhaul of the judicial system.
They are also calling for a mass protest in Jerusalem.
“The State of Israel is in a leadership and political crisis, the likes of which we have not known since the declaration of independence,” says former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon at a press conference.
“Many citizens are anxious about the future of the state. Majority rule is not the tyranny of the majority, this legislative initiative is a regime coup,” he says.
“The government is criminal and illegal. A black flag flies above it,” says Ya’alon, calling on labor and other organizations to allow their workers to take part in the strike.
The Netanyahu coalition is pushing a dramatic judicial restructuring that would increase government control over the judiciary. Critics say that along with other planned legislation, the sweeping reforms will impact Israel’s democratic character by upsetting its system of checks and balances, granting almost all power to the executive branch, and leaving individual rights unprotected and minorities undefended.
The plan has drawn intense criticism and warnings from leading financial and legal experts, as well as weekly mass protests and public petitions by various officials, professionals, and private companies.
Netanyahu has pushed back against the criticism, saying that the proposals would strengthen democracy rather than hasten its end, and that his government was carrying out the will of the people.
War-ravaged Ukraine will send an 87-strong search and rescue team to Turkey to “help eliminate the consequences” of the earthquake.
The announcement comes in a decree published on the Ukrainian Cabinet office’s website.
Earlier today, President Volodymyr Zelensky issues a separate decree instructing his Cabinet to “ensure the provision of humanitarian aid to Turkey.”
An Israeli aid delegation arrives in Gaziantep, Turkey, to begin assisting in the rescue efforts after a series of devastating earthquakes in the area, landing next to a Qatari military plane and Iranian military plane doing the same.
The Israeli delegation, made up primarily of volunteers from the United Hatzalah emergency response organization, flew to Turkey in a plane operated by Sun D’Or, a subsidiary of the national El Al carrier, flying the Israeli flag.
The delegation is gathering its equipment and arranging transportation in order to meet up with an Israeli military search-and-rescue team operating nearby.
Qatar said it would send 120 rescue workers to Turkey, alongside “a field hospital, relief aid, tents and winter supplies.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Tehran is ready to provide “immediate relief aid to these two friendly nations” without specifying the scope of the aid.
Israel and Qatar do not have diplomatic relations, although Jerusalem was allowed to open an office in Qatar for the recent World Cup.
Israel and Iran are bitter foes.
AFP contributed to this report.
Winter storm Barbara has left Tel Aviv’s port blanketed in white.
It’s not snow, but foam from the Mediterranean.
Meteorologists tell Channel 12 that the foam is created when the high winds and large waves churn up organic material.
While it is a normal occurrence around the world, it is considered relatively rare in Israel.
צפו: כמות גדולה של "קצף" הציפה את נמל תל אביבhttps://t.co/NKtVain2Dx pic.twitter.com/EFJdgz7NiO
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) February 7, 2023
Archaeologists in the southern Spanish town of Utrera confirm that they have uncovered a 14th-century synagogue hidden within a building that was later converted into a church, hospital and most recently a bar.
Archaeologist Miguel Ángel de Dios tells journalists that “the first thing to confirm is the presence of the prayer room” following years of analysis of the building’s walls and floor.
“The fundamental elements of the synagogue, such as the entrance hall,” he says, “or the perimeter benches that have emerged in this survey, now confirm that we are indeed in the prayer hall.”
The only hint of the Jewish temple’s existence came from a priest and historian, Rodrigo Caro, who wrote in 1604 that a hospital now stood on a site where Jews used to pray. There are a tiny handful of medieval synagogues surviving in Spain, including in the cities of Toledo and Cordoba.
Patrimonio | Hallan en Utrera la sinagoga más importante de la península https://t.co/i8U6R3NlFt
— Diario de Sevilla (@diariosevilla) February 7, 2023
The Utrera synagogue was converted into a church in the 16th century, de Dios adds, when all traces of its Jewish past were erased. His team now hopes to identify the pulpit and a bath used for rituals.
In 1492, Spain’s Catholic monarchs, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, decreed that Spain’s 200,000-strong Jewish population convert to Christianity or be expelled.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen speaks with his Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau about restoring full bilateral ties, in the first conversation between the countries’ top diplomats in over two years.
According to Israel, Rau says he would weigh returning an envoy to Israel.
In July 2021, Poland’s legislature passed a law effectively cutting off any future restitution to the heirs of property seized by the Nazis during the Holocaust. In response to the legislation, then-foreign minister Yair Lapid recalled Israel’s envoy to Warsaw for consultations the following month and advised Poland’s ambassador to Israel to remain on vacation in his homeland.
Yacov Livne filled the post in Warsaw in July 2022, his path back smoothed by the need to coordinate humanitarian and consular efforts in neighboring Ukraine.
But other tensions remain.
Israel in June canceled educational trips to Poland for thousands of high school students. The cancellation of the Holocaust school trips had reignited longstanding tensions between the two countries over Poland’s treatment of its Jewish citizens during the Holocaust.
Cohen and Rau speak about finalizing an agreement about resuming the trips, and say they will meet in person soon.
Two hundred and forty leading academics from Israel and abroad sign a petition warning that the government’s planned judicial reforms will impact Israel’s security, the Ynet news site reports.
The academics, including American Nobel Prize-winning economists Vernon Smith and Roger Myerson, say that while previous opposition to the plans has highlighted the harm expected to be caused to civil rights and democracy, they also see a threat to Israel’s security.
“Our petition adds an additional concern, building on our areas of expertise: the initiative threatens Israel’s national security and will weaken its ability to defend itself,” it says.
It notes that Israel is stronger as a democracy, because democracies are richer and devote more funds to defense, and citizens are more willing to defend and sacrifice for a democracy.
“Threats made by democracies in conflicts that escalate are taken more seriously by adversaries than those made by autocrats because they are backed by voters and democratic institutions,” it says, also noting that democracies make stronger alliances.
“Weakening democratic institutions will play directly into the hands of Israel’s enemies and undermine support from democracies around the world. Without that support, Israel’s very existence will be threatened,” the say.
The Netanyahu coalition is pushing a dramatic judicial restructuring that would increase government control over the judiciary. Critics say that along with other planned legislation, the sweeping reforms will impact Israel’s democratic character by upsetting its system of checks and balances, granting almost all power to the executive branch, and leaving individual rights unprotected and minorities undefended.
The plan has drawn intense criticism and warnings from leading financial and legal experts, as well as weekly mass protests and public petitions by various officials, professionals, and private companies.
Netanyahu has pushed back against the criticism, saying that the proposals would strengthen democracy rather than hasten its end, and that his government was carrying out the will of the people.
Pakistan’s divisive former military ruler Pervez Musharraf is buried in a muted funeral that was never officially announced.
The country’s serving army chief, the prime minister and the president all stay away from the event, with media blocked from covering it and local television not airing the service.
Musharraf, who became a key US ally during Washington’s “war on terror” after the September 11 attacks, died exiled in Dubai on Sunday aged 79, having suffered a long illness.
In Pakistan, where the military is supremely powerful, Musharraf remains a controversial figure who left many Pakistanis with a deep distaste for direct military rule.
Prayers were held at the grounds of a military compound in Karachi in a funeral ceremony attended by around 10,000 people, mostly retired and serving military officers, an AFP reporter observes.
“He was not given the honor that he deserved… the government has done nothing — it should have arranged the funeral at the national stadium,” Rubina Mazhar, a herbal medicine doctor, tells AFP after the prayers.
The Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry says that so far 57 Palestinians are reported dead in the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
Ministry officials tell the official WAFA news agency that 14 Palestinians were killed in Turkey and a further 43 in Syria, where there are large camps of Palestinian refugees.
The ministry says several people are still missing under two collapsed buildings in the Al-Raml camp in Syria.
Dozens of cargo containers were on fire for the second day running on Tuesday in Turkey’s quake-hit southern port city of Iskenderun, local TV images show.
The blaze at the Iskenderun international port has raged since 5 p.m. (1400 GMT) yesterday, when one of its containers toppled over from aftershocks following the deadly 7.8-magnitude quake, Hurriyet daily reports.
Port of Iskenderun continues to burn with massive flames #Turkey pic.twitter.com/fDIa3qUZ2z
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) February 7, 2023
Images broadcast by the NTV news channel show thick, black plumes of smoke billowing from the containers.
Another video shows unsuccessful attempts to put the fire out on Monday night.
Pink Floyd star David Gilmour and his wife Polly Samson step up the long-running feud with former bandmate Roger Waters with a scathing attack on Twitter.
Samson, an acclaimed novelist, tweets at Rogers: “You are antisemitic to your rotten core. Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.”
Gilmour then retweets her, saying “Every word demonstrably true.”
Every word demonstrably true https://t.co/KWk4I3bMTN
— David Gilmour (@davidgilmour) February 6, 2023
The post apparently comes after Waters, long known for his antisemitism and anti-Israel activism, gave an interview in which he expressed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said it was “really sad” his former bandmates had recorded a song in support of Ukraine, and reiterated his comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany.
Waters later posts on Instagram that he is “aware of the incendiary and wildly inaccurate comments” posted by Samson and is looking at taking legal action.
The far-right Religious Zionism party vows there will be no freeze in settlement construction in the West Bank following a report on the Axios news site that the US is pressuring Israel to halt construction.
“There will be no freeze on construction in Judea and Samaria. Period,” reads a statement from Religious Zionism, using the biblical names for the region.
The Axios report says that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze settlement construction as part of an effort to reduce tensions in the West Bank.
The Palestinian were asked to halt moves against Israel in international forums like the UN and the International Court of Justice.
Axios also reported that Israel refused to stop building, but said that it would reduce some of its actions.
Religious Zionism also promises to maintain “deterrence” against terror and to fight illegal Palestinian construction in the West Bank’s Area C. Much of the latter is built on so-called “open lands,” where Palestinians struggle to receive permits.
“There will be no damage to Israeli deterrence against terrorists. Period. There will be no continuation of illegal construction and Arab takeover of the open areas. Period,” the party says.
The United Nations’ cultural agency says it has undertaken a preliminary survey of damage to heritage sites in the earthquake-hit areas, with an aim to help rapidly secure and stabilize them.
The Paris-based UNESCO is “particularly concerned about the situation in the ancient city of Aleppo” in Syria, which is on the list of endangered World Heritage.
“Significant damage has been noted in the citadel. The western tower of the old city wall has collapsed and several buildings in the souks have been weakened,” the statement says.
In Turkey, UNESCO said it was saddened by the news of the collapse of several buildings at the Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens, a World Heritage site that goes back to ancient Greek and Roman times.
Iran unveils its first underground air force base, Reuters reports citing the IRNA news agency.
“It is one of the army’s most important air force bases, with fighters equipped with long-range cruise missiles and built in the depths of earth,” IRNA says.
The base, named “Eagle 44,” in an undisclosed location, is part of an attempt by Iran to put key military and nuclear facilities out of the way of potential strikes.
Dozens of high-tech workers take to Tel Aviv’s busy Kaplan Street to protest the government’s judicial reform plan, partially blocking traffic.
Many of them carry signs reading: “No freedom, no high-tech” and Israeli flags.
The demonstrations joined others in Herzliya, Jerusalem, and northern tech hub Yokne’am.
Due to the extreme weather, the protest also included Zoom sessions, according to participants.
In recent weeks, senior executives from Israel’s business and tech community have publicly voiced their concern over the judicial overhaul advanced by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, which would severely limit the High Court’s ability to strike down laws and allow the Knesset to re-enact legislation that the court has struck down. It would also give Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition government control over judges’ appointments and allow ministers to appoint their own legal advisers.
Some 60% of Jewish Israelis think that there is a high to certain likelihood that opposition to the government’s plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary will end in violence, while 35% of the population fear civil war, according to a poll published today.
The survey by the Jewish People Policy Institute says the fear of violence exists equally across the political spectrum.
Only 31% think the chance of such an outcome is low or not possible.
“These numbers appear unrealistic at first glance, but in fact, as we double and triple checked, we found that Israelis don’t think the possibility of some sort of violent conflict is just political rhetoric or media spin; it’s a real concern,” says JPPI President Yedidia Stern.
The poll, which has a margin of error of 4%, was conducted among a representative sample of 600 Israeli Jewish adults, January 30-31, 2023.
However, a similar recent poll found that only 31% thought violence was likely.
The Netanyahu coalition is pushing a dramatic judicial restructuring that would increase government control over the judiciary. Critics say that along with other planned legislation, the sweeping reforms will impact Israel’s democratic character by upsetting its system of checks and balances, granting almost all power to the executive branch, and leaving individual rights unprotected and minorities undefended.
The plan has drawn intense criticism and warnings from leading financial and legal experts, as well as weekly mass protests and public petitions by various officials, professionals, and private companies.
Netanyahu has pushed back against the criticism, saying that the proposals would strengthen democracy rather than hasten its end, and that his government was carrying out the will of the people.
