1,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews to receive draft orders today: Report
About 1,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews will receive draft orders today after a recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling which found they were not exempt from military service, The Times of Israel is reporting.
The court found the longstanding exemption had created a “burden of inequality” that was even more acutely felt “at the height of a difficult war” as Israel’s military has sought to find replacements for soldiers injured and killed in fighting, as well as weary reserves.
The ruling has drawn protests from ultra-Orthodox Jewish teens and men, who have vehemently opposed conscription even though many support Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israeli troops must retain control of Gaza-Egypt border area: Minister
Energy Minister Eli Cohen has objected to the potential withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Philadelphi Corridor, the border area between Gaza and Egypt.
Israeli media quoted him as saying the Israeli control of the corridor “cut the important artery of arms smuggling from Egypt to Gaza”.
The remarks came after a report by Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying Netanyahu was due to meet the Israeli negotiating team today before travelling to Washington, DC.
He will decide whether to agree to the broad outlines of the Philadelphi and Rafah axis and the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza, the report said.
Smotrich slams potential US sanctions as ‘fatal injury to Israeli sovereignty’: Report
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has reacted to reports that the White House had discussed sanctioning him and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, saying it is “politically motivated”, according to The Times of Israel.
“This is an unfortunate decision that stems from the internal political needs of those who claim to lead the largest democracy in the world and operate with distinctly anti-democratic tools against a brave partner who is the only democracy in the Middle East,” he said in a statement cited by the daily.
Boasting his activities on behalf of the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Smotrich said he was proud of his efforts “to prevent the establishment of a terrorist state that would endanger the existence of the State of Israel, and I am ready to pay any price for that”, the report said.
He was also quoted as saying that imposing sanctions on a minister in the Israeli government “constitutes a fatal injury to Israeli sovereignty and relations between the countries and this will have serious consequences in many areas”.
“I discussed this with the prime minister and things will be clarified in a way that is not ambiguous,” he warned, according to the report.
Netanyahu is coming to lecture US congress.... Apparently 14 billion in military support, blanket political cover and actively taking part in the wars Israel has instigated is not enough.
