Gavin Rabinowitz is a news editor at The Times of Israel
The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they unfolded.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman is cautioning against calling for resistance in the event that the IDF has to evacuate the Amona outpost.
Liberman says that the “army must not get dragged into a political event,” Liberman says, speaking at the opening of a new military base complex in the Negev desert. “It is very important that the IDF remain in the Israeli consensus.”
“For those who don’t understand the hint, I’m talking about the regulation bill and the possibility that we will need to evacuate Amona,” Liberman says.
The High Court has ruled that the government must evacuate the West Bank settlement that is built on private Palestinian land.
Amona, an Israeli outpost in the West Bank, east of the Palestinian town of Ramallah, May 18, 2016 (AP/Oded Balilty)
“I can’t accept the things that I heard this morning about resisting evacuation. I expect all the Knesset members to be very clear about this,” Liberman says.
Russia’s defense minister says the air force has launched a major operation on the Syrian provinces of Idlib and Homs, while Syrian activists report the resumption of airstrikes on rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
Sergei Shoigu said in a meeting with President Vladimir Putin today that the operation involves the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which made a much-publicized trip from Russia to Syria’s shores last month.
Russian Aircraft Carrier Adm. Kuznetsov (photo courtesy US Department of Defense)
He says Russian warplanes will target ammunition depots, training camps and armaments factories in both provinces
Russia is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and has been carrying out airstrikes in support of his forces for more than a year.
— AP
A strong and unified Europe is “good” for the United States and NATO is “absolutely vital” for US security and prosperity, US President Barack Obama says today as he launched his final European trip.
“We believe a strong, prosperous and unified Europe is not only good for the people of Europe but good for the world, and good for the United States,” Obama tells Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos in Athens.
He adds that the trans-Atlantic relationship is “the cornerstone of our mutual security as well as prosperity.”
— AFP
US President Barack Obama and his Greek counterpart Prokopis Pavlopoulos (L) review a presidential honor guard during the official welcoming ceremony at the presidential palace in Athens on November 15, 2016. (AFP PHOTO / LOUISA GOULIAMAKI)
Israel Railways says it has fixed a signal problem in Tel Aviv that caused massive delays across the Israel rail network today.
תקלה נרחבת ברכבת ישראל: בין היתר, רכבות פרבריות בין בנימינה לאשקלון יסתיימו בת"א מרכז, רכבות פרברויות מאשקלון לבנימינה תסתיימנה בלוד. pic.twitter.com/zgDUTgIdWg
— ynet עדכוני (@ynetalerts) November 15, 2016
The railways says that normal service “will gradually return.”
One Israeli is wounded in a fracas between Israelis and Palestinians near Yattir in the southern West Bank, the army says.
During the dispute, the Palestinians threw rocks at the settlers, who responded by firing gunshots into the air.
The Israeli was taken to the hospital, the army says. It is not clear how he was injured or what his condition is.
There was initially a report that someone was stabbed in the incident, but the army denies this.
The police have opened an investigation into the incident.
— Judah Ari Gross
Histradut labor union chief Avi Nissenkorn declared a general work dispute today, a first step toward launching a nationwide strike, Hebrew-language media reports.
Avi Nissenkorn, chairman of the Histadrut Labor Federation, at a press conference in Jerusalem, October 7, 2014. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The labor federation is locked in a dispute with the Finance Ministry, which wants to trim welfare payments for nursing care for the elderly and handicapped, Channel 2 says.
After today’s declaration, the sides have two weeks to reach a deal before the union can shut down the whole public sector.
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon says he will oppose the Amona bill as it harms the standing of the High Court
“I will not support a law that harms the High Court, I promised this,” says Kahlon.
The High Court has ruled that the government must evacuate the West Bank settlement, which is built on private Palestinian land. But a bill pushed by the Jewish Home party would regularize the outpost, bypassing the court.
Israel formally invited bids for 24 new oil-and-gas exploration licenses off its Mediterranean coast today, the first in four years.
“We are offering for exploration half of our economic waters in 24 blocks,” Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz says, announcing the offer which closes on April 21.
“Estimates are that most of the natural gas in Israel’s economic waters is yet to be found,” he says at a press conference, adding that the United States Department of Energy shared that view.
— AFP
An aerial view of the Israeli ‘Tamar’ gas processing rig 24 km off the Israeli southern coast of Ashkelon. Noble Energy and Delek are the main partners in the oil field, October 11, 2013. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)
EU countries must step up intelligence cooperation to tackle growing numbers of jihadist fighters returning home from battlefields in Syria and Iraq, Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders says.
Reynders tells a press briefing in Brussels there is “concern” that “foreign fighters” were increasingly returning to Europe as US-backed coalition forces drive Islamic State fighters from territory in Syria and Iraq.
“Today, thanks to the progress that we are making with the military coalition in Iraq and in Syria, we see that cities and entire provinces are being recovered,” Reynders says, flanked by French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault.
“But there is concern about the larger return of these foreign fighters to our countries,” Reynders says.
— AFP
Soldiers of the Iraqi army display on November 7, 2016, items confiscated from the Islamic State (IS) group jihadists, in the town of Qaraqosh, 30 km east of Mosul, after Iraqi forces recaptured it from the group. ( AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED)
The Foreign Ministry has named Eitan Na’eh as Israel’s new envoy to Turkey.
Appointing a new ambassador is a key component of the reconciliation agreement between Jerusalem and Ankara. Last month, Turkish media reported that Kemal Okem, a close associate of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had been selected as Turkey’s ambassador to Israel.
Na’eh, a career diplomat, is currently serving as Israel’s deputy ambassador in London and is a former ambassador to Azerbaijan. He has also previously served in Turkey, the Foreign Ministry says.
The birthrates of the Jewish and Arab populations in Israel were equal for the first time in 2015, the Central Bureau of Statistics says.
The birthrate among the Arab population has traditionally been higher than among the Jewish population, but has been dropping for a number of years.
The CBS says Israeli women now have 3.13 children on average.
Illustrative photo of newborn babies in a Jerusalem hospital. (Flash90)
The US “must respect” the commitments made under President Barack Obama, his French counterpart Francois Hollande says at a UN climate summit held in the shadow of Donald Trump’s victory.
French President Francois Hollande (C) and Qatari Emir Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (R) pose among other world leaders the UN World Climate Change Conference 2016 in Marrakesh, Morocco on November 15, 2016. ( AFP PHOTO / FADEL SENNA)
“The United States, the world’s strongest economy, must respect the commitments it has undertaken,” Hollande says in Marrakesh, Morocco. “It is not only their duty, it is in their interest as well as (the interest of) all people.”
President-elect Trump has previously called climate change a “hoax” perpetrated by China, and has threatened to “cancel” the climate rescue agreement concluded in Paris last year.
— AFP
The Health Ministry says a fox infected with rabies has been found in northern Israel.
The ministry says there are no reports of human infection with the deadly disease, but urges residents of the northern town of Safed to exercise caution.
“We call on anyone in the area who came into contact, or who has animals that came into contact, to urgently report to the health ministry in Safed,” the ministry says.
US President Barack Obama warns against succumbing to “crude” nationalism in the aftermath of populist shocks in the Brexit referendum and the American vote, and with a wave of European elections looming.
US President Barack Obama during a press conference with the Greek prime minister after their meeting at the Maximos Mansion in Athens on November 15, 2016.(AFP PHOTO / POOL / Yorgos Karahalis)
“We are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around an ‘us’ and a ‘them,'” Obama says in Athens as he embarks on a farewell trip to Europe.
Obama was speaking after a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Rescue workers have discovered a body in a car at the foot of the Darga Cliffs near the Dead Sea, Channel 2 reports.
The car apparently went off the road in southern Israel and fell some 30 meters (100 feet), the report says.
Rescue workers are trying to retrieve the body, the report says.
There’s a new member of the Bush family: a rescue puppy.
George W. Bush says he and his wife, Laura Bush, visited the Jan Rees-Jones Animal Care Center in Dallas last week just to thank employees for their work, but they ended up leaving with a puppy. The former president wrote on Facebook that they named the puppy Freddy, adding that “even our cats Bob and Bernadette are finding Freddy’s charm futile to resist.”
Bush spokesman Freddy Ford tells the Dallas Morning News that the puppy is an Australian Shepherd mix. Ford says the puppy is about 12 weeks old and was among several dogs that were abandoned in southern Dallas last month.
The family’s most famous pet, a Scottish Terrier named Barney, died in 2013.
— AP
A fire broke out in the tomb of Rabbi Yehuda Ben Baba in the town of Shfaram, rescue workers say.
Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze in the tomb of the second century holy man, which was apparently caused by candles that had been lit.
Ben Baba was killed by the Romans for defying their ban on ordaining rabbis.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he’s going to the Pacific island of Fiji in 2017.
Netanyahu tells a Jewish Federations of North America meeting that he will also visit Singapore and Australia.
This will be the first ever visit of an Israeli leader to Fiji.
Fiji routinely contributes soldiers to the international peacekeeping forces on Israel’s southern and northern borders.
— Raphael Ahren
Aerial view of the islands in Fiji. Fiji, an archipelago of more than 300 islands, is located in the South Pacific Ocean, famous for its rugged landscape of blue lagoons and palm-lined beaches. October 10, 2014. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)
Chemi Peres, the son of late president Shimon Peres is urging Donald Trump to be a great president.
Peres, speaking at the closing of the Jewish Federations of North America convention, wished the president-elect “the best of luck.”
“When President Kennedy was elected, he asked David Ben Gurion for advice: ‘What should I do to be a good President for Israel?’ Ben Gurion replied without hesitation: ’Be a great President for the United States’,” Peres tells the gathering.
US President Barack Obama hands a tissue to a weeping Chemi Peres, at the funeral of his father, former President Shimon Peres, September 30, 2016. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
“I am sure President-elect Trump will maintain the unbreakable link between Israel and the US, at the core of which are the unwavering support of Israel’s security, and the forever extended hand for peace.”
Shimon Peres died in September aged 93.
El Al says it has been forced to delay several flights, including two flights to New York, because pilots are not showing up to work.
Pilots are engaged in a labor dispute with the airline.
Flights to London and Bangkok have also been affected.
The state comptroller is ordering a probe into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara, and his office following an investigative report into Netanyahu’s inner circle, Channel 2 reports.
Comptroller Yosef Shapira is looking into allegations made by Vered Swid, the former director of the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women, that she faced abuse during her time working in Netanyahu’s office and was forced to use members of her organization to take part in protests in favor of Sara Netanyahu, the report says.
The allegations were part of a profile story by Ilana Dayan of Channel 2’s long-running “Uvda” program, which included exclusive interviews with various officials who have been in Netanyahu’s inner circle, and inside information on the internal operation of his office.
Journalist Ilana Dayan (Moshe Shai/Flash90)
The report depicted a shrewd and calculating politician who appears to be chiefly concerned with safeguarding his own rule, often valuing personal loyalty in his appointments above all other traits.
It also portrayed Sara as a problematic presence in the prime minister’s decision-making process, a power broker who is intimately involved in her husband’s work and decisions and who often has final say on government appointments.
The interview, however, made the most news for Netanyahu’s harsh reaction, after he assailed Dayan, a respected investigative journalist, and called her “a left-wing extremist.”
A rabbi who has been accused of sexually abusing several women, including a minor, is likely to sign a plea deal that would see him serve only 18 months in prison, Chanel 2 reports.
Rabbi Eliezer Berland, founder of the Shuvu Bonim religious group, was extradited to Israel earlier in the year after three years on the run that took him between Zimbabwe, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and South Africa, accompanied by a group of devout followers numbering around 40 families.
Channel 2 says that under the deal Berland will admit to only two of the cases.
Rabbi Eliezer Berland covers himself with his prayer shawl at the Jerusalem District Court in Jerusalem on August 1, 2016.(Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
Berland, 79, considered a cult-like leader to thousands of his followers from the Bratslav Hasidic sect, was on the run for years in an attempt to evade extradition to Israel.
He fought his extradition from the Netherlands in 2015 on the grounds that the alleged assaults happened in the West Bank and Israel does not have jurisdiction there. He later fled the Netherlands to avoid extradition.
He also twice escaped arrest by South African authorities, but was finally nabbed in April after entering a hospital for treatment.
President Francois Hollande today proposed extending France’s year-old state of emergency until May, to cover the next presidential election.
Speaking to French media in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh where he is attending UN climate talks, Hollande says he wants to prolong the emergency measures in place since the November 2015 Paris attacks, which had been due to expire in January.
France’s two-round presidential election takes place on April 23 and May 7
The controversial bill that would recognize the Amona West Bank outpost is unlikely to pass in the Knesset when it comes up for a vote, Hebrew language media reports, citing unnamed coalition officials.
The so-called Regulation Bill was designed to avert the court-ordered demolition of the outpost and was brought to a vote despite efforts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau to delay it and repeated statements from the Attorney General that the legislation runs contrary to international law and would be indefensible in the High Court of Justice.
Ynet says that Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party intends to not attend the vote and the ultra-Orthodox parties also said they would not automatically support the bill.
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon at the weekly cabinet meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on July 31, 2016. (Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool/Flash90)
The vote is scheduled to be held Wednesday.
The bill was pushed by the Jewish Home party even though Netanyahu has warned that advancing the bill would likely lead the High Court to reject the government’s appeal to further stall the demolition of the outpost.
Israeli Environment Minister Zeev Elkin is in Morocco, the first visit there by an Israeli minister since 2003.
Elkin is there to attend the UN climate talks in the city of Marakesh, he says.
Israel radio quoted Moroccan officials as saying that this does not represent a warming of relations between the two countries and that Elkin is there only because it is a UN event.
נחתנו בשדה התעופה של מרקש בדרך למפגש מרכזי של ועידת האקלים העולמית. אתמול אישררנו את הסכם פריז. היום ביקור ראשון של שר ישראלי במרוקו מאז2003 pic.twitter.com/idqhffWJv9
— zeev elkin (@zeev_elkin) November 15, 2016
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