Hizbullah deputy, Sheikh Naim Kassam announced that United Nations pressure and sanctions will not “stop the resistance”.
Speaking in Beirut, the senior terrorist commander stated anyone who thinks pressure will accomplish its goal is mistaken, adding that the real regional threat is posed by Israel, not Hizbullah. He added it was Israel that attacked the Arabs in 1948.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Gaza periphery communities have moved to heightened alert status on Sunday after intelligence reports indicate terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza plan to renew rocket attacks into southern Israel.
Despite the mounting credible intelligence warnings, there were no rocket or mortar attacks during the first days of yomtov but nevertheless, this week, the communities in rocket range are not taking chances and are a bit more alert in expectation of a renewal of attacks.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Bituach Leumi is signaling it is trying to prepare for an expected large increase in the number of people seeking unemployment benefits. This due to the ailing global economic situation.
Bituach Leumi Director-General Esther Domenici expects 4,000 Israelis to join the ranks of the unemployed by the end of the year. She has turned to the Bank of Israel and Finance Ministry to meet to discuss the global economic situation and its impact here at home, in Israel.
Since 2003, when unemployment hit an unprecedented 11.2%, it has been dropping steadily to a low of 6% this year.
Employment offices assisting people in finding work report a monthly increase of 0.7% every month over the past half year, with 194,000 people registered in July.
The number of people receiving monthly unemployment benefits has also increased during the past two months from 44,500 to 48,000.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Outgoing Jerusalem Mayor Rabbi Uri Lupoliansky this week dedicated a new dental clinic in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood which will provide dental care to the area’s youth for a symbolic annual fee of NIS 40. The service will be available to all students in Ramat Shlomo’s schools and talmudei torah.
The clinic is part of the mayor’s plan to bring affordable dental care to the children of the capital.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
The State Comptroller’s Office is delaying a mega rehabilitation project slated for Har HaZeisim. As a result, Mayor Rabbi Uri Lupoliansky is seeking to have the responsibility for security for Har HaZeisim placed on Jerusalem City Hall and the Cemetery Council, explaining this is to ensure the enormous amount of money invested in the project should no be permitted to go to waste by leaving the holy site unattended.
The State Comptroller ordered the project halted after the Housing Ministry announced it was no longer taking responsibility for security in the area.
Lupoliansky is suggesting that the city and Cemetery Council accept the responsibility to permit a continuation of the project. Acting on the mayor’s suggesting council attorney Meir Shpiegler turned to the Housing Ministry in a letter stating that if not national government agency is taking responsibility for the area then the Jerusalem Municipality will move in to fill the void and provide protection on Har HaZeisim.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) turned to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to probe the coalition agreement signed between Kadima and Labor.
According to Eldad, the agreement violates the Basic Law by giving Labor leader Ehud Barak a higher status, veto authority, to act against the government. Eldad stated that to the best of his understanding, the law does not provide for a minister to use a veto against the cabinet.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
The September price index was released on Wednesday and to the pleasant surprise of consumers, it remains unchanged.
Following is a look at some prices which reflect the increase of 4.4% in the index since the beginning of the year. During the last 12 months, the inflation rate in Israel is 5.5%.
Tomato prices have increased 39.7%, cucumbers + 27.2%, instant coffee +6.6%, apartments +1.8%, kindergarten tuition +4%, fresh fruits -12.1%, vacation travel -5.8%, clothing -6%, avocado -33.8%, and hotels -18%.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has instructed the IDF to continue its low profile position in the hope of extending the Gaza ceasefire indefinitely. The ceasefire has been ongoing for about 4 months.
According to Hamas, after six months, Israel is compelled to extend the ceasefire to Yehuda and Shomron, which amounts to a pullout of IDF forces from those areas and a cessation of military operations. Israel never agreed to these terms. Nevertheless, Barak appears interested in extending the current situation, which he views as advantageous on the Israeli-Egyptian diplomatic front as well as giving southern residents an ability to live normal day-to-day lives. According to intelligence estimates, the current hiatus in rocket attacks is nothing more, warning Hamas is using the time to build itself up for the next round of warfare which will be more intense and more deadly as a result of the time allotted Hamas.
In addition, some senior military officials feel Gilad Shalit will not be released under current realities and no progress towards his release will occur in the absence of military pressure.
Extending the ceasefire past the six-month mark was the topic of discussion last Sunday between Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad and an Egyptian representative, meeting in Cairo.
In the meantime, Israel remains well-aware of the large quantities of shoulder-held rockets, weapons, ammunition and explosives being smuggled into Gaza from Egypt. Officials believe Hamas is preparing a large quantity of car bombs, laden with hundreds of kilograms of explosives, ahead of the next round of warfare with Israel.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
A meeting that was planned to take place on Wednesday night in the northern Tel Aviv sukka of Premier-designate Tzipi Livni and Shas leader Eli Yishai was canceled at the last moment.
According to a report, Yishai was already in the area of Livni’s home on Wednesday night when he received a phone call which compelled him to postpone the meeting due to an urgent family matter. Shas officials are indicating another meeting will be arranged as soon as possible as Livni and Shas continue probing to determine if a coalition agreement is indeed possible.
Labor has signed a deal to become a senior coalition partner but Shas continues signaling it is far from such a reality. Sources close to Shas leaders report however that despite the external hard-line position being exhibited by Shas, there are behind the scene contacts going on between officials.
Yediot Achronot reported earlier in the week that Livni is willing to allocate NIS 500 million to increase monthly child allowance payments but Shas wants more.
On Wednesday, a meeting did take place with representatives of United Torah Judaism. Following the meeting, MK Rabbi Avraham Ravitz stated that much progress has been made but an agreement was not reached. Ravitz did add “we are on the way to the coalition.”
With only a few days remaining until her mandate to form a coalition expires, Livni may entertain presenting a government without Shas, but for this to happen, she will need UTJ and the left-wing Meretz Party.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
SECURITY/DEFENSE:
*Today, Thursday, is day 121 of the virtual Gaza ceasefire.
*Today is Gilad Shalit’s 844th day in Hamas captivity.
*IDF soldiers involved in counter-terror operations throughout Yehuda and Shomron arrested three suspects on Wednesday night.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit on Sunday allocated NIS 1 millions towards repairing homes and other property damaged in the violence prevailing in Akko since Yom Kippur.
President Shimon Peres on Monday, erev Sukkos, will be meeting with community leaders in an effort to abate racial tensions in the city. Members of the president’s staff have been conducting “intensive talks” with relevant parties over the past days, with officials on Mr. Peres’ staff stating there is much good will and a desire to bring the violence to an end.
Peres expressed sorrow over recent events and called to bring the city back to its former status of being a role model of dual existence between Jews and Arabs.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
No less than 1,500 officers and career military personnel will be taking part in the military’s new campaign to encourage personnel to lose weight and get into shape. The campaign is being marketed under the banner “Maintaining a Healthy Life”.
The program will include career personnel, officers and non-commissioned officers ages 26 and older, in 25 different military bases. It is directed at those IDF members who have been checked and determined to be overweight. It is primarily directed at those whose BMI (Body Mass Index) rating of 28 or over.
The program is being supervised by the IDF’s chief medical officer, working with the army’s team of combat fitness training professionals. A personal program will be designed for each person, including a nutrition program to assist in properly governing one’s food intake in line with one’s current military position, combat verses an office position.
At the end of the Gregorian year, all those involved in the program will be weighed-in and the base that lost the most combined weight will be rewarded and the personnel who lost the most will be personally rewarded.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Israel Police officials are more than a bit pleased with the reality that as a rule, Israelis do not leave their homes without their cellular telephone.
After the passing of the Big Brother Law, police are permitted to use the cellular telephone to enable them to track citizens. In July, police report 128 such cases towards preventing crimes and addressing cases involving danger to one’s life.
According to a report in the Yisrael HaYom newspaper, since the law was passed 38 cases were connected to an ongoing investigation to prevent the commission of a crime, 15 addressed preventing other levels of law-breaking, and 23 cases deal with urgent investigations or crimes that were already committed. 15 cases addressed cases of violence including attacks against women, minors, and drug-related cases. 88 cases were classified as “life-saving” and of that number, 72 were towards locating missing people.
The new law permits police to track people via their cellular phone without the need to obtain a court order if the case is urgent and the delay will be a costly one. Cellular telephone companies are compelled to cooperate with police and provide information on clients.
Police are compelled to report on their actions to Israel Police’s legal advisors who are expected to monitor their actions.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Marathon talks seem to have achieved the objective of both the Labor and Kadima Parties with reports indicating the two are about to approve a coalition agreement that will make Labor the major partner in the new government being headed by Tzipi Livni.
Barak is boasting major accomplishments as a result of negotiations during past weeks, primarily his success in raising the defense minister’s status in the new government, having a decision-making role in major issues including negotiations between Israel and the PA (Palestinian Authority) and Syria.
By all accounts, it was clear Barak was looking for a way into the new government, well-aware elections would leave him without a senior cabinet post and labor, a party with a single-digit representation in the Knesset. Nevertheless, Barak is boasting his achievements in the coalition talks with Livni.
Kadima on the other hand is playing down Barak’s claim to victory, stating the concessions made to the Labor Party were by-and-large insignificant.
As far as Shas is concerned, it appears the Sephardic chareidi party is not close to entering the government at present.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Since the violence erupted in Akko on Yom Kippur, the hostility exhibited against the Jewish state by Israeli Arabs is becoming increasingly evident, exhibited outwardly in protests and acts of violence.
Marches and protests are taking place in a number of racially mixed cities including Haifa, as well as in the Beit Haninah, a predominately Arab neighborhood of Yerushalayim and other areas. Israel Police remains on high alert in Akko, as well as in other mixed cities around Israel to prevent the spread of racial violence, including Lod, Ramle and Jerusalem, with a particular emphasis placed on the Old City as Eretz Yisrael prepares to celebrate Sukkos.
In Beit Haninah, Haifa, and on Highway 65 in the Um el-Fahm area, protestors waved PLO flags and shouted anti-Israel epithets during protest marches.
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter continues to warn police will come down hard on law-breakers. To date, a reported 40 people, Jews and Arabs, have been arrested.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Kadima Party officials are signaling that a coalition agreement with Labor Party is imminent, indicating the major issues have been worked out and the leaders of the parties are pleased to see progress is moving at a brisk pace.
At 9:00PM on motzei Shabbos, a meeting was scheduled between Premier-designate Tzipi Livni met with Labor leader Ehud Barak but as of midnight, that meeting did not take place.
While Barak aides report the Labor Party leader has exhibited more than a modicum of flexibility in the negotiations, there are a number of issues which are deal-breakers, including Barak’s demands that Livni sack Justice Minister Daniel Friedman, establish working guidelines between the prime minister and defense minister, and an agreement that Barak will play a major role in negotiations involving the Syrians.
Barak has stated he prefers that Friedman be ousted from his senior post but he is willing to permit him to continue with the understanding that his radical views are unwelcome in the new government and this new policy must be reflected through his actions in the future.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
The latest notable to join the team of advisors working to assist Premier-designate Tzipi Livni is Ephraim Halevy, a former director of the Mossad Intelligence Agency.
According to reports, Halevy is assisting Livni in a non-official capacity, but he is nonetheless advising her on matters pertaining to security. Should Livni succeed in forming a coalition government, it is very possible that Halevy will have an influence on the new government’s policies vis-à-vis Iran and its growing nuclear threat.
In recent statements, the former intelligence agency director expressed his opposition to a military strike against Iran, insisting reports that Tehran poses an existential threat to Israel are inaccurate.
Livni recently stated the Iranian problem is not just an Israeli one, but it poses a threat to the international community, adding not enough has been done to date to halt Iran’s ongoing nuclear enrichment efforts.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Apparently, the widely spread rumor of Moshiach’s impending arrival continues making its way around North America and has reached Eretz Yisrael.
Kol Chai Radio reported on Sunday morning that this question, along with many others, was posed to Tzfas Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu Shlita, who was called upon to confirm the validity of the Moshiach timetable.
Rav Eliyahu Shlita explained that no one knows Moshiach’s timetable, but we do not that the Geula began some 100 years ago with the return of the Jews to Eretz Yisrael, the founding of the State and the return of Torah study to the Holy Land.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
A delegation of nine Israeli doctors from the Physicians for Human Rights organization will be traveling to Hamas-controlled Gaza on Wednesday. They will be performing surgery, checking patients, and conferring with their Arab colleagues serving in Gaza. They will remain in Gaza until Friday morning.
The group will be made up of a number of senior physicians, including a surgeon, orthopedist, gynecologist, psychologist, as well as a social worker. They will be operating in the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and the European Hospital in Khan Yunis.
Gaza health officials report dozens of patients are waiting for the arrival of the delegation, the sixth and the largest since the beginning of 2008. According to officials, the Physicians for Human Rights has been the only Israeli affiliated organization permitted into Gaza since June 2007.
The doctors taking part in the effort are Israeli Arabs. Jewish physicians requesting to take part were turned down for security reasons. Ron Yaron, of the “Occupied Areas Department” of the organization calls the move by Israel discriminatory.
“Doctors of the organization are well-known and enjoy total cooperation in all areas of the occupied territories. Meeting with their Palestinian counterparts is particularly important considering current realities,” stated Yaron.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Saying they were acting “out of an abundance of caution,” the makers of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines said Tuesday that the medicines should not be given to children younger than 4 years old.
In addition, the companies announced that they would be using child-resistant packaging and new measuring devices for the products, Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, told reporters at a Tuesday afternoon teleconference.
“This is another step in the reassessment of children’s over-the-counter cough and cold medications that has been going on,” Woodcock said. “We at FDA support these voluntary actions at CHPA [Consumer Healthcare Products Association]. We are continuing to assess the safety and efficacy of these products.”
The FDA has also taken steps to revise the OTC monograph — written in the 1970s — for these medicines; FDA monographs help determine how a drug will be marketed. The new monograph will take into account new research, some of which has yet to be completed.
The FDA has had discussions with the OTC [over-the-counter] industry about changing labels, Woodcock said, and, recognizing that the rule-making process would take several years at best, supported this voluntary action.
There will be a transition period while the new labels replace existing labels on products on pharmacy shelves. So parents and caregivers should adhere to the actual labels on the products they have and should consult with their doctor or pharmacist if they have any questions, Woodcock said.
Use of the over-the-counter medicines has been controversial, with pediatricians criticizing the marketing of the remedies for children under 6, citing reports of safety problems — even deaths — and a lack of evidence that they work.
“The number-one cause [of problems] is accidental ingestion, so the number-one advice is keep the medication out of the reach of children,” Woodcock said. “Number two is follow directions carefully and don’t give multiple medications, which may have the same ingredient.”
In announcing the new industry guidelines, Linda Suydam, president of the CHPA, said they “reflect industry’s overall commitment to the continued safe and appropriate use of children’s oral OTC cough and cold medicines,” the Associated Press reported.
Companies were voluntarily making the change “out of an abundance of caution,” she said. The association represents leading manufacturers and distributors of nonprescription, over-the-counter medicines and nutritional supplements.
The new instructions will appear on products distributed for the coming cold season, Suydam said. Companies will also add a warning to their product labels saying parents should not give young children allergy-relieving antihistamines to make them sleepy, the AP said.
Pediatricians welcomed Tuesday’s announcement by the industry, the news service said.
“It’s a huge step forward,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore’s health commissioner and a leader in the push to stop marketing the medicines for young children. “There is no evidence that these products work in kids, and there is definitely evidence of serious side effects.”
Earlier this month, the FDA held a public hearing on the use of OTC cold medicines for children between 2 and 6 years old. But the agency put off a decision on whether they were safe, saying more data was needed.
Dr. John Jenkins, who heads the FDA’s Office of New Drugs, said at the time that agency officials were also concerned that an immediate ban, supported by leading pediatricians’ groups, might cause parents to give adult medicines to their children.
“We do not want to do something that we think will have a positive impact, only to have an unintended negative,” Jenkins said at the hearing, the AP reported. “That could be an even worse situation.”
Back in January, the FDA issued an updated health advisory that cough and cold preparations not be used to treat children under the age of 2 because of possible life-threatening complications. These products include decongestants, expectorants, antihistamines and cough suppressants.
Just prior to that advisory, the makers of cough and cold remedies marketed for infants voluntarily recalled the products.
Despite scant evidence that such remedies are actually effective in children, or adults, an estimated 10 percent of American kids take one or more cough and cold medications during a given week.
Yet the preparations can do more harm than good, research suggests.
An FDA review of records filed with the agency between 1969 and September 2006 found 54 reports of deaths in children associated with decongestant medicines made with pseudoephedrine, phenylephrine or ephedrine. It also found 69 reports of deaths associated with antihistamine medicines containing diphenhydramine, brompheniramine or chlorpheniramine. Most of the deaths involved children younger than 2.
And the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that some 7,000 American children under the age of 11 are treated each year in hospital emergency rooms because of problems with cough and cold medications.
