News Archives - Page 23 of 48

Strong Shekel Will Delay Return to Inflation Goal, Bank of Israel Says

hzMarch 14, 2017March 14, 2017News

Bloomberg

The shekel’s recent rally means it will likely take longer for Israel’s inflation rate to reach the target range, according to a senior official at the central bank.

The shekel gained 3.5 percent against the dollar in February, the second-biggest gain in an expanded basket of major currencies tracked by Bloomberg, after Israel’s economy unexpectedly grew 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter.

The Bank of Israel has been trying to slow the advance of the shekel, which is trading near its highest level since 2014 and hurting exporters whose overseas sales account for about a third of gross domestic product. It lowered the benchmark interest rate to a record low 0.1 percent in 2015 to boost inflation and rein in the currency, and held it there for a 25th month in February.

hzMarch 14, 2017March 14, 2017News

Times of Israel

In this March 5, 2011 file photo, an anti-government rebel sits with an anti-aircraft weapon in front an oil refinery in Ras Lanouf, eastern Libya

Russia has reportedly dispatched special forces to western Egypt near the Libyan border, amid growing US concerns over increasing Russian involvement in Libya.

The deployment of Russian soldiers, reported on by Reuters Monday, was apparently made in order to further boost Russia’s involvement in war-torn Libya and support Khalifa Hifter, a militia commander in eastern Libya who despite being backed by Egypt has been shunned by the US.

According to unnamed US security officials who spoke with Reuters, the Russian contingent of special forces and drones are operating in the area of Sidi Barrani, some 60 miles from Egypt’s border with Lybia.

hzMarch 14, 2017News

Times of Israel

Scene of an alleged arson attack in the city of Holon in central Israel

A man burned a worker to death at a clinic in the central city of Holon Tuesday morning, before escaping the scene, police said.

The incident occurred at a Clalit HMO clinic on Kaplan Street in the working-class Tel Aviv suburb.

According to initial reports, a patient at the clinic doused the worker and the room she was in with flammable material and set a fire, burning the woman.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders. Several other people were treated for shock, according to the Magen David Adom emergency rescue services.

hzMarch 14, 2017News

JTA

From left: Amnon Shahua, chairman and chief technology officer of Mobileye, Klaus Froehlich, member of the management board at BMW, and Brian Krzanich, chief executive officer of Intel Corp., at a press event at Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 4, 2017

The U.S. chipmaker Intel will pay $14.7 billion to acquire the driverless technology firm Mobileye in what reportedly is the largest-ever purchase of an Israeli high-tech company.

In a joint announcement Monday, the companies said the combination “is expected to accelerate innovation for the automotive industry and position Intel as a leading technology provider in the fast-growing market for highly and fully autonomous vehicles.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called Mobileye CEO Ziv Aviram to congratulate him, calling the deal in a tweet a source of “Israeli pride.”

hzMarch 14, 2017March 14, 2017News

JTA

Jason Greenblatt, left, meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to Jerusalem, March 13, 2017.

Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s adviser on international relations, is touring Israel and the Palestinian areas to gauge attitudes to peacemaking and there will likely not be any developments from the trip, a Trump administration spokesman said.

“He’s really there to listen to both sides and how they perceive getting to a peace process,” Mark Toner, the State Department spokesman, said Monday in the daily briefing for reporters. “I don’t expect any big developments out of this trip.”

Trump has expressed an eagerness to bring about a peace deal while retreating from 15 years of U.S. policy backing a two-state outcome to the peace process.

On Friday, Trump spoke on the phone with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, and the White House readout of the call sounded bullish on the prospects for peace.

“The President emphasized his personal belief that peace is possible and that the time has come to make a deal,” the readout said. “The President noted that such a deal would not only give Israelis and Palestinians the peace and security they deserve, but that it would reverberate positively throughout the region and the world.”

hzMarch 13, 2017March 14, 2017News

Times of Israel

The scene of a stabbing attack

Two Border Police officers were moderately wounded in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem in the early hours of Monday morning, police said.

The assailant was shot and critically wounded during the attack. He later died of his injuries.

The stabbing occurred shortly after 4:00 a.m. near the Lions’ Gate in the Old City.

According to police, the assailant entered a guard booth where the two officers were stationed, holding a large butcher’s knife. Inside the cramped post, he began stabbing and hitting them.

Trump’s Middle East diplomacy is complicated by Palestinian terror incitement

hzMarch 12, 2017March 12, 2017Articles, News

Washington Post

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.)

By Josh Rogin: The Trump administration’s budding efforts to establish a new Middle East diplomatic process are about to run into some stiff headwinds at home. Many in Congress want to cancel all U.S. aid to the Palestinians because of payments made to militants who attack Israelis. President Trump will soon have to decide if confronting the Palestinians on that terrorist incitement is more urgent than pursuing a pathway to peace.

Trump conducted his first phone call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday, and White House Israel affairs adviser Jason Greenblatt is headed to the region this week. On Greenblatt’s agenda will be whether the U.S. and Israeli governments should raise the pressure on the Palestinian Authority to stop paying the families of Palestinians imprisoned or killed after attacking Israeli or American civilians, a practice both governments believe incentivizes violence.

hzMarch 12, 2017March 12, 2017News

Algemeiner

Photo: StandWithUs.

For the third time in two years, students at Ohio State University (OSU) rejected a motion to divest from companies that engage in business with Israel.

The result of the vote on the resolution, placed on the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) ballot last week and announced Thursday evening, was 4,084: 3,841.”

hzMarch 12, 2017March 12, 2017News

Agemeiner

A monument in a Ramallah square dedicated to the terrorist Dalal Mughrabi

As part of an ongoing investigation, a British daily revealed on Sunday that 24 Palestinian Authority schools are openly ignoring Western demands to cease encouraging violence against Israelis — or else forfeit foreign aid.

According to the Daily Mail, despite public outrage over the UK government’s payments to the PA as part of a commitment to spend £12 billion on foreign aid – following an expose by the paper last year about how taxpayers’ money was going toward paying salaries to convicted terrorists and families of suicide bombers — the schools in question have been continuing to incite students to terrorism through text books and classroom indoctrination.

hzMarch 12, 2017March 12, 2017News

Aljazeera

Daqamseh seen in a file photo

A Jordanian soldier who killed seven Israeli schoolgirls in 1997 was released after serving 20 years in prison.

Ahmed Daqamseh was given a rousing welcome in his home village in northern Jordan after being freed on Sunday. He expressed no remorse for the killings.

Daqamseh was greeted by chanting supporters who kissed him on the cheek and raised a photo of him with the caption, “Welcome to the hero Daqamseh.”

Strong Shekel Will Delay Return to Inflation Goal, Bank of Israel Says

Russian special forces reportedly deployed to Egypt

Worker burned to death by patient at health clinic

Intel to acquire Israeli tech firm Mobileye for $14.7 billion

State Dept.: Trump adviser Jason Greenblatt is on ‘listening’ tour of Israel, West Bank

2 police officers hurt in Jerusalem stabbing attack; assailant killed

Trump’s Middle East diplomacy is complicated by Palestinian terror incitement

For Third Time in Two Years, Ohio State Students Reject Anti-Israel Divestment Motion

Report: 24 Palestinian Authority Schools Funded by UK, EU Ignore Aid Conditions, Continue to Indoctrinate Students to Commit Violence Against Israelis

Ahmad Daqamseh freed after killing Israeli schoolgirls