Families disrupt PM Netanyahu’s testimony in corruption trial
Captive family members entered the court where Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is testifying while on trial for corruption charges.
They loudly protested the grim situation of the abductees in Gaza during a break in proceedings and were removed by security officers, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported.
Netanyahu dismissed the protest as an example of the “level of incitement against me as prime minister and against my family”, it quoted him as saying.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an Israeli court
Israeli military intensifies arrest of draft dodgers
Dado Bar Kalifa, a general in the staffing directorate, has told a Knesset committee the Israeli army is carrying out “intensifying” arrests of draft dodgers and 13,000 have been identified.
The testimony comes with the military’s struggle to draft Ultra-Orthodox Jews, who make up about one-tenth of Israel’s population, as they refuse military service.
In a separate report on the committee by the Israel Hayom news outlet, Bar Kalifa reportedly said “dodging has become the norm” and is causing frustration in other brigades.
Kalifa was quoted as saying “there is an army of lawyers arranging exemptions.”
Israeli trade union leader rejects Netanyahu’s ‘super-Sparta’ vision
Following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comment that Israel may need to become a “super-Sparta” – in reference to growing isolation of Israel’s economy – one of the country’s leading trade unions has pushed back.
Arnon Bar-David, chairman of the Histadrut trade union, said, “I wish for our children to live in Athens, not Sparta.”
Ancient Athens knew “how to nurture culture, art, and the wellbeing of its citizens”, he added.
“Israeli society is exhausted” and the country’s global standing is deteriorating, said Bar-David. “I hope to see the hostages return home soon and an end to the war.”
