Weekly News Items from the Israeli Press, May 24, 2012

JFNA Partners in the Israeli Press

Netanyahu to Masa Participants: Israel is Your Country

(Israel National News) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addresses the thousands of young Jews who came to Israel as part of the Masa Israel project.

Welfare and Social Issues

Netanyahu: Israel could be overrun by African infiltrators

(Haaretz) Netanyahu praises border fence being built in the south as a means of preventing infiltrations, but added that it is also important 'to physically remove the infiltrators.'

Israel’s migrant explosion

(Ynet) Guide for the perplexed: Infiltrators or refugees? And why aren’t they deported?

Don't blame illegal immigrants for violence

(Ynet) The handling of illegal African immigrants is reminiscent of the way some countries made Jews their scapegoats.

78% of east Jerusalem in poverty, report finds

(Jpost) New ACRI report says poverty is increasing among Arab residents, mainly because of separation barrier.

Civil Society

Ethiopian empowerment

(Jpost) Exacerbating the situation is the feeling among many Ethiopians that the government has adopted a patronizing attitude toward the community.

Israel High Court: Onus on employers to explain lower pay for women

(Haaretz) The fact a woman asks for lower wage than male colleague does not justify significant difference in pay, court rules; ruling could also affect other cases of discrimination.

Social Protests

TA anti-African rally ends in rioting, assaults

(Jpost) Police arrest 17 in Tel Aviv after 1,000-strong rally in which MK Danon says "infiltrators are a national plague, must be deported."

In Tel Aviv, an incendiary mix of African migrants and locals who want them gone

(Times of Israel) Criminal incidents linked to Israel’s ballooning 70,000 migrant population trigger an outpouring of anger and fear

Religious Pluralism in Israel

Masorti groups to avoid hotels denying Torahs

(Jpost) Conservative Movement says groups encounter difficulty trying to use Torah scrolls for mixed-gender, egalitarian services.

Jewish World

Ultra-Orthodox council may abolish discriminatory wedding officiation rules

(Haaretz) Reform will significantly expand the ability of Tzohar rabbis to perform weddings.

Something old, something new; something borrowed…

(Times of Israel) From adapting non-egalitarian parts of the Jewish wedding ceremony to having friends officiate, it’s all a trend toward personalizing what goes on under the huppa.

Israel Advocacy/Relations

Just One Minute

(YouTube) A one minute video on why the Olympic Committee should recognize the memory of 11 murdered Israeli Olympic athletes, 40 years ago.

Education

Barkat laments 40% dropout rate in e. J'lem schools

(Jpost) Dropout rate in Jewish, haredi schools in the rest of the city only 3%; mayor says girls marrying, boys getting jobs keep students from finishing.

Holocaust survivor's gift battles brain drain

(Ynet) Jewish philanthropist's million-dollar donation helps nine returning scholars to continue research in Israel.

Sport

Arab Israeli swimmer thrown in at the deep end

(Haaretz) Jowan Qupty, who hopes to be the first Arab Israeli Olympian, says his spat with the swimming authorities has more to do with internal politics than racism.

Science, Technology and Development

Arava Power to build 8 new solar fields

(Jpost) Company secures largest ever funding for solar power in Israeli history for 58 megawatts and NIS 800 m. of new projects.

Innovations of all types pave AgriTech halls

(Jpost) Agriculture exhibition showcases hundreds of new technologies ranging from water-converting drones to predatory mites.

Op-Eds and Opinion Pieces from the Israel Press

Yediot Ahronot criticizes the Government in general, and the Finance Ministry in particular, for constantly raising and lowering personal income and corporate tax rates, VAT, payments to the National Insurance Institute and fuel taxes in recent years. "A lack of stability and zigzags have a baneful influence on the economy: Investors who do not know what corporate taxes will be in another two or three years will hesitate about coming to Israel; business owners need to spend day and night over their VAT calculations; those who invest in provident funds find it difficult to understand the management fee rates that they have to pay, and so on." As an alternative, the paper points to the Bank of Israel and reminds its readers that, "Instead of raising and lowering interest rates every month, it has left them unchanged nine times in the past twelve months," and adds, "Interest rates have stood at 2.5% for five months in a row now."

Yisrael Hayom avers that the reported agreement between Iran and the IAEA, "is not worth the SMS that can summarize its contents," and adds, "Basically, it is a gesture to the Iranians that is designed to allow Barack Obama to get through the November 2012 presidential elections in peace." The author complains that, "The Iranians are toying with the democratic leaders who have always aspired to short-term achievements and to extinguish local fires, and whose horizon stretches to the ballot box."