The Times of Israel live blogged Tuesday’s events as they unfolded.
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would avoid any comment or action on the issue of natural gas, Army Radio reports.
The reason Kahlon reportedly cited is his personal relationship with businessman Koby Maimon, controlling shareholder in Isramco, a company with a stake in the Tamar gas reservoir.
On Monday, Antitrust Authority chief Prof. David Gilo announced he would be resigning from his position due to substantive disagreement with the government on how to prevent a situation where a few private companies monopolize the natural gas market. Kahlon stressed the fight against monopolies in all sectors of the Israeli market as one of the rallying points of his election campaign. His silence on the resignation of Gilo, which drew responses from across the political spectrum, was deafening.
Four months ago, before the election, Kahlon was interviewed by Channel 2 and asked whether he would tackle the natural gas issue in spite of being a friend of Maimon. “What has this to do with anything? Of course I’ll deal with it, of course,” was his answer.
Antitrust Authority chief David Gilo, who announced his resignation on Monday, met with Finance Minister Kahlon before making the announcement, The Marker reports.
According to the report, Gilo met last week with three ministers whose responsibilities have a bearing on the natural gas market: Economy Minister Aryeh Deri, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and Kahlon. Gilo reportedly decided to step down after none of the three signaled that they would support Gilo in his objection to a revised draft drawn by the government on the regulation of the natural gas market.
This afternoon, Kahlon’s ministry issues a press release explicitly citing the minister’s personal friendship with a businessman who would be harmed by Gilo’s more stringent draft compared to the government’s plan which Gilo opposes.
“The finance minister’s market position has not changed and he supports dismantling the gas monopoly and opening the market to competition, and sees great importance in developing the gas market. Minister Kahlon believes competition is the consumer’s best friend and therefore every monopoly should be dealt with,” the statement reads.
“As he entered his position, the incoming minister, Moshe Kahlon, announced that he would avoid dealing with the gas market […] because of his personal ties to the issue (his friendship with Koby Maimon, who is head of one of the groups with holdings in the gas market).”
“The finance minister announced to all authorities with any relevance to the issue, including the Finance Ministry’s legal adviser, that his authorities as finance minister on this specific issue will be transferred to the prime minister.
“In the meeting with Antitrust Authority chief Prof. David Gilo the finance minister remarked that he will not be able to speak to Gilo on the matter. The minister is certain the professional bodies from all government ministries will continue to lead the team until a draft which is appropriate and beneficial for the public in Israel will be found,” the statement concludes.
Israel Antitrust Authority chief David Gilo, March 18, 2014. (Flash 90)
An overwhelming majority of Iranians want peace with the rest of the world, President Hassan Rouhani says, defending the nuclear negotiations under way with major powers.
“Despite a small minority that speak loudly, the vast majority of the population are in favor of peace, reconciliation and constructive agreement with the world,” Rouhani says during a televised speech in Shahriyar, west of Tehran.
“We are determined to solve our problems with the world through logic, reasoning and negotiation,” Rouhani says, adding that “the strong nuclear negotiating team takes serious steps every day toward protecting the rights of the nation.”
During a closed session in parliament on Sunday, ultraconservative lawmakers strongly criticized Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his deputy Abbas Araqchi, who are leading the nuclear talks with major powers.
The lawmakers accused them of having accepted in principle military site inspections by foreign experts, which have been ruled out by Khamenei. Araghchi later said the negotiating team had refused such inspections.
— AFP
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, April 3, 2015 (AP/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Police chief Yohanan Danino will establish a team to reexamine the police position on the use of cannabis, NRG quotes Jewish Home MK Yinon Magal as saying.
Danino hinted two weeks ago that the “traditional position” of the state and law enforcement agencies should be reconsidered.
Magal says, “It is only the beginning and the road is still long. I thank the police chief for his efforts.”
MK Yinon Magal, March 22, 2015 (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Magal, a former TV news anchor, said during the campaign that he is an occasional pot smoker. Asked about the insistent refusal of former finance minister Yair Lapid to admit that he ever partook of the substance – which became comical when associates of Lapid said they’d shared joints with the Yesh Atid leader (albeit before he entered politics) – Magal said he didn’t see why it should be such a big deal. When asked if he ever smoked pot during the last election campaign Magal answered, “Yes, and not even so long ago.”
Marijuana (illustrative photo: Kobi Gideon/Flash90)
The Defense Ministry announces that no sirens will sound in the western Negev near the Gaza border, during a home front countrywide drill next week.
The decision comes following a request from residents of the area and an assessment conducted in the presence of Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Ynet reports.
The request was made by Yesh Atid MK Haim Jelin, who previously served as head of the Eshkol Regional Council. Yelin explained that sirens would cause emotional harm to children of the area, who, he said, were already well-trained in responding to emergencies due to the security situation where they live.
A top Russian diplomat says work is underway to fulfill Russia’s supply of advanced air-defense missiles to Iran, but that no start date for the delivery has been set yet.
Russia in 2010 froze plans to supply S-300 missile systems to Iran, linking the decision to UN sanctions. But in April, President Vladimir Putin lifted the suspension after a framework agreement was reached that would restrict Iran’s capacity to produce nuclear weapons.
The Russian move has been strongly criticized by the United States and Israel.
On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying he could not “say anything for now” about the missiles’ delivery date.
— AP
A Russian air-defense missile system Antey 2500, or S-300 VM, is on display at the opening of the MAKS Air Show in Zhukovsky outside Moscow, August 27, 2013 (photo credit: AP/Ivan Sekretarev, File)
Damas Pakada, an IDF soldier of Ethiopian descent who was beaten up by police officers in Tel Aviv last month, files a lawsuit against Israel Police “and its institutionalized racism and violence” at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s court. Pakada seeks NIS 390,000 (c. $100,000) in compensation plus expenses and lawyer fees, Ynet reports.
A clip showing Pakada being assaulted by the cops brought to the surface alleged maltreatment of Israelis of Ethiopian descent across all strata of society. Several days after the clip was shown on TV news, a series of protests – some deteriorating into violence – took place in cities across the country.
Video footage showing policemen pummeling an Ethiopian-born IDF soldier, Damas Pakada, who alleged he was the target of a racist attack. (screen capture: YouTube)
The attack against Pakada “is an incidence of racism-motivated police violence among the most shocking seen in Israel and recent times, and which only by happenstance was captured by security cameras,” reads the lawsuit. The clip was shot by neighbors, according to media reports, and not by security cameras.
According to Pakada’s attorney Eyal Abulafia, the attack gives a “rare view of a persistent and immeasurably wrong code of conduct which repeats again and again in the Israel Police, which behaves violently toward civilians, then invents felonies it accuses them of having perpetrated and more.”
Abulafia stressed the assault targeted a symbol of the state – a soldier in full uniform – “yet this fact did not make [officers] hesitate even for a short time before the complainant was brutally attacked.”
Following the assault, Pakada met with prime minister Netanyahu and police chief Danino, who apologized on behalf of the police for the attack against him.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Damas Pakada, the Israeli Ethiopian soldier who was assaulted by police officers last week, at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, May 4, 2015. (photo credit: Haim Zach/GPO)
A large brush fire breaks out near the Atarot industrial zone in northern Jerusalem. Three firefighting crews are trying to douse the flames, Ynet reports.
The fire is edging toward residential homes and the crews are preparing to evacuate residents with the assistance of police.
The organization Shurat Hadin – Israel Law Center, a nonprofit that seeks justice for victims of terrorist attacks, demands that the FIFA soccer federation expel president of the Palestinian soccer association Jibril Rajoub because he “supports the killing of Israeli civilians and the use of nuclear weapons against Israel,” Israel Radio reports.
In a letter sent to FIFA President Sepp Blatter Darshan-Leitner, Shurat Hadin head Nitsana Darshan-Leitner writes that Rajoub is deputy secretary of the PLO’s Central Committee, the mother organization of the “murderous” Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades responsible for terror attack in which dozens of Israelis were wounded and killed.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner (Courtesy)
Darshan-Leitner notes that Rajoub has been quoted by global media outlets as saying Israel should be fought by any means and that if the Palestinians had nuclear weapons they would have used them against Israel.
Rajoub also openly praised the firing of thousands of rockets by Hamas from the Gaza Strip to civilian populations in Israel, Darshan-Leitner says. Rajoub should be expelled from FIFA, she writes, because his conduct violates the federation’s terms and conditions.
Saudi Arabia carries out its 88th execution so far this year, surpassing the total for all of 2014 despite activists’ concerns that trials are not conducted fairly.
The interior ministry identifies the latest to be put to death as Saudis Awad al-Rowaili and Lafi al-Shammary, who were convicted of smuggling amphetamines.
They were executed in the northern region of Jawf, the ministry says in statements carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Another Saudi, Mohammed al-Shihri, was separately put to death in the southwestern region of Asir for murder.
The conservative Islamic kingdom executed 87 people in 2014, according to an AFP tally.
— AFP
After Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat expresses anger at Prime Minister Netanyahu for naming a minister for Jerusalem affairs, the PM sends Barkat a message of peace, saying the government will continue to invest in the capital and to work closely with the mayor.
Netanyahu appointed Ze’ev Elkin as minister for Jerusalem Affairs as compensation for his briefly held Ministry of Intelligence Affairs, which Netanyahu offered to Gilad Erdan to sweeten his return to a ministerial position.
In doing so, the PM broke a promise to the mayor not to appoint a minister in charge of the capital. Barkat’s request came from his bad experience with former Jerusalem minister Naftali Bennett.
After Barkat expressed his disappointment at the appointment of Elkin, Netanyahu says during a government session that “we will continue to build Jerusalem. This we shall do with a very dynamic and invigorated mayor. We do not always agree with him, but we always work with him, and this will continue.”
Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on May 19, 2015 (Marc Israel Selleml/Flash90)
Netanyahu says that if disagreements arise between the mayor of Jerusalem and the minister of Jerusalem affairs, he will intervene himself to resolve them.
Netanyahu speaks at the beginning of a meeting with William Cassidy, a Republican senator from Louisiana.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on May 26, 2015. (Marc Israel Sellem/FLASH90)
Firefighters succeed in dousing a large brush fire in Atarot, in northern Jerusalem. Crews remain in the area to ascertain that the fire does not break out again.
At least 800 people have died in a major heatwave that has swept across India, melting roads in New Delhi as temperatures neared 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).
Hospitals are on alert to treat victims of heatstroke and authorities advise people to stay indoors, with no end in sight to the searing conditions.
India’s Meteorological Department says it issued heat warnings to several states where temperatures were forecast to top 45 degrees Celsius over the next few days.
“As of now, we don’t predict any respite from the extreme heatwave for the next few days,” said spokesman B. P. Yadav.
Hundreds of people — mainly from the poorest sections of society — die at the height of summer every year across the country, while tens of thousands suffer power cuts from an overburdened electricity grid.
— AFP
Israelis need to brace for the hottest day in a decade on Wednesday, as temperatures will exceed 40° Celsius across most of the country.
In Tel Aviv, the heat is expected to reach 43°, in Haifa 41°, in the region of the Sea of Galilee 44° and in the Dead Sea area 48°.
Respite from the scorching heat is expected on Thursday and by Friday morning some rain may fall in higher altitudes.
Weather forecasters say heatwaves like the one Israel is now undergoing are typical for the spring season and do not necessarily predict a difficult summer. The weather usually becomes more stable in June, at the end of which the summer officially begins.
France’s ambassador to the US says world powers and Iran will probably miss an end-of-June deadline for a comprehensive nuclear agreement.
Gerard Araud says it’s “very likely” there will be no deal in the next five weeks, or even afterward.
He says much technical work remains, meaning any understanding reached could just be “fuzzy air.”
Araud spoke Tuesday at an Atlantic Council event alongside the British and German ambassadors to the US.
The three European countries are negotiating alongside the US, Russia and China.
German Ambassador to the United States Peter Wittig says no sanctions relief would take place before the end of 2015 even under a best-case scenario, according to Reuters.
The proposed deal would freeze Iran’s nuclear program for a decade, while providing Iran tens of billions of dollars’ worth of sanctions relief.
Iran says its program is solely for peaceful purposes. Many governments fear it harbors nuclear weapons ambitions.
— AP contributed to this report.
A Dutch schoolbook teaches schoolchildren that former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin was a “terrorist” and that he led “extremist Zionists” in the days of the establishment of the state, Ynet reports.
According to the report, a Dutch-Israeli youth, Barak Gorani, was upset by the book so much he gave his photocopies of specific pages to his father, an Israeli businessman. The dad transferred these pages to the Israeli Embassy in Holland. Officials at the embassy say they will ask Dutch authorities for clarifications.
Under the picture of Begin, he is described thus: “Menachem Begin entered history as a peacemaker, which was surprising since he was known as a radical terrorist for a large part of his life […]. In Palestine he became a leader of extremist Zionists. They wanted to conquer the biblical land of Israel which is much bigger than the Zionist state announced by Ben Gurion. Begin was radical also in his ways. His militias murdered Palestinian civilians and carried out terror attacks. In one of them, at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, 91 people were killed.”
Menachem Begin at home (GPO)
The book continues with highly biased descriptions of the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War and other parts of Israeli history. When the youth told his teacher of his reservations, she said the book was indeed full of historical misrepresentations but she had to teach from it according to the Dutch education ministry.
The youth’s father, Dror Gorani, tells Ynet: “My son is an Israeli patriot. He was born in Holland but grew up for some time in Israel and it’s very hard for him to study from this book. What is obvious is that the book was written by someone who hates Israel and sadly there are many like those here. It’s amazing that it had to wait until my son reads it for someone to complain. Dutch people and even Dutch Jews have not said a word.”
The freshest of government ministers, Gilad Erdan, defends the series of portfolios he was given by PM Netanyahu in order to enter the government.
Erdan, who was appointed minister of public security, strategic affairs and public diplomacy, says on Channel 2 that “there was nothing insulting” in the process of his negotiating with Netanyahu his return to the government.
“There was a substantive negotiation on a point I insisted upon — I wanted the Foreign Affairs portfolio… But when the prime minister clarified that he was going to keep it, I respected that. When I received the public security portfolio, I wanted to make sure I have the tools to effect change,” Erdan reports a day after he was sworn in at the Knesset.
Asked why he needed three ministries, Erdan answers that “my test will be with the public. I am known as a minister who works from dawn till dusk. I have achieved budgets that were not there [in the ministry] before and I will take the responsibility for change [in the portfolios under my purview].”
Erdan dismissed reports that Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon adamantly opposes allowing more funding for the ministries Erdan heads: “I am telling you that I will get these budgets.”
Erdan was asked about Benny Begin, a veteran Likud member who was brought in from the cold before the election, given the position of minister without portfolio and apparently will soon have to give it up after Erdan’s entry to the government, to avoid inflating the number of government ministers.
“I spoke to him… I don’t think I need to apologize to him. On the evening of swearing-in, he told me he wasn’t even expecting his name to be read out loud. I am very sorry he will need to give it up, and I think that if Kahlon and Bennett change their mind, a man of his caliber is worthy of being a minister,” Erdan says, responding to Kahlon’s reported refusal to let the government include one additional minister.
Newly appointed Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan seen at the Knesset in Jerusalem during his swearing-in as a member of the government, May 25, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
An unnamed Western diplomat says that comments Prime Minister Netanyahu made during his meeting with EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini showed a change in his position, but they were still not sufficient to restart peace talks.
“Up until now, Netanyahu has refused to put any maps on the table, so in that respect it was quite substantial. He was talking about borders in one way or another, even if it was based around the acceptance of existing settlement blocs,” the official was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Another Western diplomat described Netanyahu’s proposal as creating “the illusion of progress,” the news agency reports.
“Netanyahu was trying to show that he is committed to peace and ready for negotiations, but he knows the Palestinians would never agree to begin on this basis,” the diplomat said.
Rocket sirens are heard in the Lachish region, Ashkelon, and Ashdod. There is no initial report of rockets landing in the area.
IDF spokesperson Peter Lerner tweets on reports of rockets launched toward Israel.
#IDF looking into reports of sirens sounding in southern #Israel. I'll update ASAP.
— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) May 26, 2015
Channel 2 reports that four rockets may have been launched toward southern Israel.
Local residents say they heard explosions in the area, indicating rockets may have struck the area.
“There was a siren and a large explosion,” a Lachish resident tells Ynet.
The sirens are a rude return to last summer for area residents, who took on thousands of rockets while Israel and Gaza fought a 50-day war.
Since then, only a handful of rockets have been fired, though army officials and others have warned that Hamas is rearming in preparation for a new battle.
One rocket landed near Ashdod, one near Gan Yavneh, and one near Kfar Silver in the western Negev, Channel 1 reports. No casualties are reported at this point.
An analyst assesses that Hamas may have conducted an experimental launch and the rockets landed in Israel, or that a smaller terror group trying to defy Hamas rule is doing so by targeting Israel.
All in all, by 9:24 p.m. five rockets were launched at Israel, Channel 1 reports. So far, there are no reports of casualties.
Channel 1 retracts earlier reports, saying that only a single rocket landed in Israeli territory.
Sources in Gaza say Islamic Jihad is responsible for the shooting tonight, and that it is the result of internal disputes inside the organization, which includes the kidnapping of people in North Gaza.
The dispute ends in the shooting of rockets toward Israel.
— Avi Issacharoff
The military confirms one rocket landed near Gan Yavneh, in southwestern Israel.
No casualties are reported.
Sources in Gaza say the Islamic Jihad recently appointed a new commander to oversee the northern region of the coastal enclave. The new commander was supposed to start his new position today officially, but his predecessor opposed it, sparking clashes between the two commanders’ supporters.
The new commander’s men then kidnapped two operatives working under the former commander and, in retaliation, the predecessor’s followers decided to fire rockets at Israel.
Hamas security forces are now searching the area from which the rockets were launched and have detained several suspects.
— Avi Issacharoff
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