Israeli economists warn policies on ultra-orthodox are pushing country to ‘abyss’
A group of 130 Israeli economists, including the former director-general of Israel’s finance ministry, have penned a letter to PM Netanyahu warning that lenient policies towards the ultra-orthodox community could push the economy into a “spiral of collapse”, reports Israel’s Channel 12.
The letter says that exempting ultra-orthodox Israelis from military service and allocating special government funding to their schools puts an undue strain on the rest of Israel’s tax-paying population. As a result, Israel could see the most “educated and productive” segments of its population leave the country, while the ultra-orthodox community, whose members devote their lives to Torah studies, grows, it adds.
The government’s policies are thus “leading the country towards an abyss” and “seriously endangering the Israeli economy and society”, according to the letter cited by Channel 12.
Israel has for months been deadlocked over efforts to pass a new law regarding ultra-orthodox military service, from which they have traditionally been exempt.
They're pushing Israel towards becoming a theocracy like Iran and Saudi Arabia...
Missile attack damages ship in the Red Sea near previous Houthi assaults
A missile attack has damaged a ship in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, with a private security firm saying radio traffic suggested the vessel took on water after being struck. No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion immediately fell on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have launched a number of attacks targeting ships over Israel’s war on Gaza.
The attack happened off the port city of Hodeidah in the southern Red Sea, near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait that links it to the Gulf of Aden, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre. The vessel “sustained damage” in the assault the UKMTO said. “The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call,” the centre said.
The private security firm Ambrey said the vessel reported by radio of having “sustained damage to the cargo hold and was taking on water”.
‘It gives us hope’: Palestinian ambassador on Norway’s recognition of statehood
The move by Spain, Ireland and Norway to officially recognise a Palestinian state has been hailed by Palestinian Ambassador to Norway Marie Antoinette Sedin as a crucial step towards achieving a two-state solution to the longstanding conflict with Israel.
“It’s a step forward to end the war, to end the occupation and to give the Palestinian people the right to exist in their own independent state, living with dignity, freedom and peace,” Sedin told Reuters.
The recognition means the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Norway would now be an embassy, permitting enhanced diplomatic engagements and benefits.
Day-to-day operations would not change significantly but the symbolic value of state recognition provided a morale boost and a stronger international platform to advocate for Palestinian rights, she said.
Iraq’s influential cleric Sadr demands closure of US embassy after Israel’s Rafah strike
Moqtada Sadr has renewed his calls to close the US embassy in Baghdad after an Israeli air strike killed dozens of Palestinian civilians in a camp for the displaced in Gaza.
Sadr condemned the Israeli strike and Washington’s “shameless” support for the genocide he said was under way in Gaza. “I reiterate my demand to expel” the US ambassador and “close the embassy through diplomatic means without bloodshed”, he said in a statement on X.
He said that would be a more effective deterrent than the use of force and would mean US officials “don’t have an excuse to destabilise Iraq”.
