Yeshiva World News

Police during the night arrested eight additional suspects believed to have taken part in the violence earlier this week seeking to prevent the flag parade.

About 30 people are being arraigned today, Thursday, in the Chadera Magistrate’s Court.

About 3,000 policemen were on hand to maintain order during the event, which consisted of 100 flag waving marchers. The leaders of Um el-Fahm, an Israeli Arab municipality vowed to prevent the marchers from entering, declaring a general strike on the day to encourage residents to come and assist in preventing the march.

Police and marchers were attacked with rocks, leaving the nation’s deputy chief of police injured as a result of being struck in his head with a rock.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel) 

Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee on Wednesday, IDF Chief of Intelligence Major-General Amos Yadlin stated that Operation Cast Lead was intended to bring security back to southern area residents and restore Israel’s deterrence abilities.

Yadlin stated that Hamas was counting on assistance in the north, confident Hizbullah would begin attack from southern Lebanon but this did not occur. He explained this reality sharply impacted Hamas strategy, resulting in the events unfolding as they did.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

Assaf Ramon, the son of Israel’s first astronaut Colonel Ilan Ramon has emerged unscathed from a difficult situation, a major system malfunction in his training plane.

Assaf if the eldest son of the late astronaut Ilan Ramon, who perished along with the crew of the Colombia space shuttle six years ago. Assaf’s training plane malfunctioned during a routine training flight a month ago, the details only being cleared for publication now.

Ramon was in a sky hawk, the training plane used on the Chatzeirim base. Seated behind him was a veteran air force flight instructor. Suddenly, the plane’s engine stalled, an occurrence described a “major”, permitting the crew to use their ejection seats to bring themselves to safety and abandon the airplane.

The veteran instructor remained calm, as did his student, and Assaf was instructed to carry out a number of emergency tasks which were successful, preventing their need to eject and thereby saving the aircraft. The two then landed the plane without incident on the base.

Assaf was inducted in the air force 2.5 years ago, expressing a desire to carry on his father’s work. He is considered one of the exemplary cadets, slated to graduate this summer.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

While the current reality leaves much to be desired, Egypt and Israel are at peace, or according to some, a cold war state. On that note, the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday held a ceremony marking 30 years since the peace agreement was signed between the two countries, between Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat.

Wisely finding the correct words to describe the strained relations between Cairo and Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni stated that the cooperation between the two countries is greater than the differences.

For a period of time, there was question as to Egypt’s intentions pertaining to the ceremony, with reports hinting the country’s ambassador to Israel would not be attending following Operation Cast Lead. Shortly before the planned event Cairo issued a statement that this was not the case and the ambassador was not boycotting the event.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

A soldier in the Givati Brigade was suspended from duty and placed on probation after it was learned he fired without authorization at civilians in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. The soldier was supposed to fire above civilians in an act of deterrence, but instead, fired at their legs, resulting in injuries.

The incident occurred in January, in Hamas-controlled Gaza, near the ruins of Yishuv Netzarim. The soldier fired at a group of civilians.

The investigation revealed the commander told soldiers to fire in the air to distance the approaching civilians but one soldier, acting on his own, fired at their legs. Not long after the incident, the soldier was summoned to Givati Brigade Commander Colonel Ilan Malka. He was suspended and sentenced to a suspended 50-day prison term.

In an interview appearing in this week’s IDF Bamachane magazine, Colonel Malka was asked to relate to allegations made by soldiers from the Yitzchak Rabin pre-IDF course affiliated with Oranim Academic College alleging immoral behavior. Malka, who has members of the academy in his brigade defended Givati’s actions during the Gaza operation, stating he is aware of the performance of his soldiers and stands behind them.

“As far as I know, no one from Givati fired at women and children unjustifiably”. He added there are a limited number of cases in which soldiers were held accountable for damaging property as they took over homes.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

Perhaps the best official national watchdog is the State Comptroller’s Office, which continues to release comprehensive well-researched reports monitoring various areas of Israeli life. Unfortunately, these reports do little else but to provide content for the written and electronic media for a number of days, and they are then ceremoniously placed in a slot on a shelf in a government office, never to be addressed again.

The latest report, released on Wednesday (25 March) investigates local government, sounding the alarm in many areas, including safety concerns in the nation’s playgrounds.

The report released by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss sites safety deficiencies in 20,000 playgrounds around the country. According to the law, the local governments are responsible for the construction and maintenance of playgrounds. Actually, the Ministry of Industry & Trade is responsible to conduct a statistical analysis pertaining to the condition of playgrounds annually, which includes assuring the play areas conform to the Standards Institute, working in concert with institute officials.

If serious flaws are detected, the institute may issue a directive to the local government to make immediate repairs, or even remove the playground or order it closed pending corrective measures.

The law calls for allocating 10sq. meter per person of open area, but in Bnei Brak and Um el-Fahm for example, the actual figure is closer to 3sq. meter per person.

According to a HaMevaser report, the access paths to many playgrounds are not what they should be, some posing safety hazards. Five local municipalities were scrutinized in 2007-2008. Eleven playgrounds were found under high voltage lines, compelling government to order them shutdown.

Many lack water fountains, shade and other basics demanded under the law. In 2006-2007, the Interior Ministry and Housing Ministry allocated NIS 9 million for the purchase of playground equipment. In some cases, local government failed to act properly and some of the playgrounds were ordered shut down by the Standards Institute. They were deemed “too dangerous for use”, resulting in more waste of public funds.

The state comptroller laments that fact that when the investigation was closed in May 2008, the Standards Institute had not yet established guidelines for playgrounds, further complicating compliance and enforcement.

At least 150 local municipalities and cities have not even bothered calling on standards inspectors to visit their city and inspect public playgrounds as they are expected to do. The report cites that inspections of 50 playgrounds were conducted in February – April 2008, and 95% were deemed totally unsafe of having many safety hazards compelling immediate corrective action. There were 1,200 playground related emergency rooms visits recorded nationwide in 2006. An important note cited in the report is that children under kindergarten age are not covered by school insurance policies if they are injured in playgrounds.

In 2006, there were 269 hospital admissions up to age 17 resulting from playground accidents, including 120 from falls.

The State Comptroller’s Office concludes that the various ministries working with the Mifal HaPayis Lottery Commission, which pays for many of the playgrounds, should work in concert to obtain guarantees from local government to maintain playgrounds. This must be done prior to building them. The state comptroller also calls on the appropriate government agencies and the attorney general to ensure that if administrative orders of closure of demanding repair are handed to local government, that corrective action is taken or the attorney general must step in.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

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The three-mandate Bayit HaYehudi Party signed a coalition agreement with Likud. The party will receive the science portfolio, which will go to the party’s leader, Rabbi Dr. Daniel Hershkowitz. The party will also hold the chair of the Knesset Education Committee for a third of the government’s term as well as the chair of the Knesset Child Rights Committee.

The coalition agreement also accommodates the party’s request to permit an MK to resign from Knesset and permit another person on the party roster to enter in his place. This is to permit Hershkowitz to resign, remaining a cabinet minister but not an MK, and clearing the way for the fourth man on the party list, veteran MK Nissan Slomianski.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

IDF soldiers involved in counter-terror operations throughout Yehuda and Shomron on Wednesday night arrested 16 suspects.

**IDF soldiers operating near PA-controlled Jenin during the night discovered three bombs in the village of Aqaba. The bombs were neutralized without incident.

**Senior Hamas official in Gaza Iman Taha announced during the night that talks towards a prisoner release deal with Israel have not been renewed.

**Today, Rosh Chodesh Nissan, is Maran Rav Elyashiv’s Shlita birthday. His exact age is not revealed.

**The Tel Aviv-Beersheva line of Israel Railways resumes operation today, Thursday, following three days of halted service to permit maintenance.

**The Jerusalem half marathon was held today, Rosh Chodesh Nissan, beginning in Givat Ram.

**Pri Galil factory workers are renewing protests as a planned bailout plan is not yet being signed as expected. According to reports, the deal appears to have fallen through. 

**A Kassam rocket landed in the S’dot Negev Regional Council on Thursday morning. No injuries.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

The principal of a Kiryat Gat religious public school was visibly shaken up by the assault against her on Monday by the father of an 11th grade student, a girl who was asked to return home and change her skirt.

The principal explained that all she did is point out to the high school junior that her skirt did not conform to modesty regulations. She was not expelled, but rather instructed to go home and change and return to class immediately.

The student however opted to phone her dad, who arrived at school and angrily approached the principal, pushing her against a wall and then violently grabbing her and shaking her from side-to-side, smashing her head into a wall and shouting threats, including “I’ll kill you”.

The principal managed to flee to the teachers’ room and the enraged father, who sports a kippa, followed while shouting threats. The assault continued until police arrived, who promptly placed dad under arrest.

The girl’s family has been phoning the principal to apologize for the incident but she remains adamant to press charges, stating the assault was brutal. “I was scared for my life” she added, stating the father must be punished under the full weight of the law.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)