organization:prime minister's office

Israel’s defense chief resigns, slams Netanyahu for ’surrendering to Hamas terror’
Haaretz.com - Chaim Levinson Nov 14, 2018 12:47 PM
▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-s-political-arena-holds-breath-as-defense-chief-calls-surpr

https://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.6654321.1542193931!/image/528392013.jpg_gen/derivatives/headline_1200x630/528392013.jpg

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced his resignation on Wednesday and called for elections to be held as soon as possible, saying he hopes a date will be set by Sunday. Lieberman said of all the members of his party, Yisrael Beiteinu, will quit the coalition.

However, a senior source in Likud, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party, said that elections are not neccessarily the next step and added that Netanyahu will initially take on Lieberman’s portfolio. Lieberman, who heads Yisrael Beiteinu, will retake his Knesset seat following his resignation, as provided for by law.

“I didn’t look for reasons to quit,” Lieberman said. “I tried to remain a loyal government member, in the cabinet, keep differences internal even at an electoral cost.” The two turning points, he said, were the millions of dollars in cash delivered from Qatar to Gaza, and the cease-fire Israel reached with Hamas on Tuesday.

“There is no other definition, no other significance, but a capitulation to terror,” he said, adding: “What we are doing now as a country is buying short-term quiet at the cost of our long-term security.”

“It is no secret there were differences between the prime minister and I,” he said. “I did not agree to allow entry of Qatari money [into Gaza], and I had to allow it only after the prime minister announced it.” Lieberman said similar differences revolved around the evacuation of the West Bank Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar.

Yisrael Beiteinu’s departure means Netanyahu still holds a Knesset majority of 61 seats to maintain the coalition. Another key coalition partner in Netanyahu’s government, Habayit Hayehudi (headed by Education Minister Naftali Bennett) said that unless the defense portfolio goes to Bennett, the party will also quit the coalition.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said Lieberman’s resignation is a recognition of Israel’s defeat in this week’s military confrontation with the Islamic group.

Following the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Lieberman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett published statements against the truce reached with Hamas. Sources said that as soon as the latest round of fighting erupted, Lieberman demanded a “harsh, decisive” move against Hamas. Sources near Bennett say that his opposition to the cease-fire was clear as could be.

Other sources, however, say that ultimately, the ministers unanimously supported the defense establishment’s position that action should be taken to restore the calm.

According to associates of Lieberman, the Prime Minister’s Office’s claim on Tuesday that he had supported the cease-fire agreement that was reached to end hostilities in Gaza infuriated him.

Senior Hamas official Husan Badran said Tuesday, the third day of hostilities, that “if Netanyahu is interested in ending this round, he must fire [Defense Minister] Lieberman, who in his foolish conduct caused the escalation.”

In recent weeks, Lieberman and Bennett have publicly argued between them about Gaza and Israel’s actions there. Last month, Bennett charged Lieberman of a weak, left-wing defense policy, while Lieberman retorted that in cabinet meetings, Bennett says the opposite of what he says in public.

Lieberman and the cabinet were divided about the sale of gasoline and natural gas to Gaza, and in defense forums, it was decided that the defense minister may not make decisions on the subject without the cabinet’s agreement. The ministers were surprised last month by Lieberman’s decision to cut off the fuel supply to Gaza, a decision he made on his own, in contradiction to the position of the defense establishment. Netanyahu and the cabinet members heard of the decision for the first time through the media.

Israeli Druze commander quits army over nation-state law in open letter to Netanyahu

In a Facebook post, Capt. Amir Jmall calls on leaders of his community to work toward putting an end to the compulsory conscription of Israeli Druze

Yaniv Kubovich
Jul 30, 2018 5:36 PM

▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-druze-quits-idf-over-nation-state-law-in-letter-to-netanya

In the letter, Jmall also called on leaders of his community to work toward putting an end to the compulsory conscription of Israel’s Druze. The Facebook post has since been removed.
“This morning, when I woke up to drive to the [army] base, I asked myself, why? Why do I have to serve the State of Israel, a state that my two brothers, my father and I have served with dedication, a sense of mission and a love of the homeland, and, in the end, what do we get? To be second-class citizens,” Jmall wrote.
>> ’When we’re in uniform they treat us well’: Israel’s Druze no longer feel like blood brothers
Keep updated: Sign up to our newsletter
Email* Sign up

"Continue serving the country? I do not want to continue and I am sure that hundreds more people will stop serving and will be discharged from the army following your decision, Netanyahu, that of you and your government,” he continued.
"After many thoughts ran through my head, I decided to let go and to discontinue serving the country, a country that has a government that takes and does not give back.”
In conclusion, Jmall wrote: “I ask everyone who is against the nation-state law to share and share my proposal to community leaders to stop the conscription law for members of the Druze community.”
The Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, also known as the nation-state law, approved by the Knesset on July 19, affirmed that only Jews have the right to self-determination in Israel. It also downgraded Arabic to a language with “special status,” among several other controversial measures that affect the Israeli Druze.
The nation-state law is designed to alter the application of the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty in court rulings, and permits judges to give priority to Israel’s Jewish character in their rulings.

Last week, Druze lawmakers were the first to file a High Court of Justice petition against the legislation. A hundred Druze Israel Defense Forces reserve officers added their voices to that effort on Wednesday, prompting Education Minister Naftali Bennett to speak out in support of “our blood brothers” on Twitter.
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon echoed similar sentiments on Thursday, telling Israeli Army Radio, “The enactment of the nation-state law was done hastily,” and adding: “We were wrong and we need to fix it.”
On Saturday, Israeli Arab lawmaker Zouheir Bahloul (Zionist Union) announced his intention to resign from the Knesset in protest of the law. "The law oppresses me and oppresses the population that sent me to the Knesset,’’ he said.

New U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has a hawkish history on Iran and Israel - U.S. News - Haaretz.com

▻https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-new-u-s-secretary-of-state-mike-pompeo-has-a-hawkish-history-on-ir

In November 2015, Pompeo visited Israel and met with Netanyahu, a meeting which he said left a strong impression on him. “Prime Minister Netanyahu is a true partner of the American people,” Pompeo said after their discussion at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. “Our conversation was incredibly enlightening as to the true threats facing both Israel and the United States. Netanyahu’s efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons are incredibly admirable and deeply appreciated.”
During the same visit, Pompeo met senior officers in the Israeli police and was briefed by them on the “lone wolves Intifada” that included dozens of stabbing and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians across the country. A statement by his office described the Israeli police officers he met as “a group of officers who not only bravely defend the people each day, but have also been targeted themselves by terrorists.” Pompeo said that “by putting on their uniform, the men and women of the Israeli National Police put a target on their back for terrorists who want to murder law enforcement. In the fight against terrorism, cooperation between Israel and the United States has never been more important.”
Two weeks after his visit, Pompeo released a statement condemning “the ongoing violence in the State of Israel,” explaining that “I can tell you that the Israeli people and the Israeli National Police are demonstrating admirable restraint in the face of unspeakably cruel attacks.” He added that "We cannot let these acts of terror go on any longer. Those who carry out, encourage, or defend this violence should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. We must stand with our ally Israel and put a stop to terrorism. Ongoing attacks by the Palestinians serve only to distance the prospect of peace.

Hero of Israel
Gideon Levy | Jul 27, 2017
▻http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.803684

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.803690.1501121465!/image/3568074423.jpg_gen/derivatives/headline_1200x630/3568074423.jpg

The new hero of Israel wears torn jeans, lives in a religious cooperative community in the south, has a girlfriend and he kills Arabs. Heroes of Israel have always killed Arabs, but sometimes they did so bravely; today they do so with rather pathetic cowardice. They’re scared of a teen with a screwdriver.

The hero of Israel kills Arabs indiscriminately, including ones who are innocent or who did not deserve to die. The Israeli hero is a young man of principles, principles he absorbed while serving in the occupied territories. He learned dehumanization in the Givati Brigade and how to kill civilians in Operation Protective Edge. He learned that the first action to take against an Arab is always to shoot to kill; the alternatives can be considered later.

He learned that it’s perfectly fine, even heroic, to kill an Arab, no matter why. He trained in the territories and put it to use in Jordan — what difference does it make, all Arabs are the same, whether on the east or the west bank of the Jordan River. His friends say he’s a “man’s man,” that this wasn’t his first time in a tough situation, like that teen with a screwdriver, and that he’s calm and considered. Imagine what might have happened if he weren’t. He might have killed five people, maybe 10.

The hero of Israel killed civilians: a physician, for no reason, and a teenager who was assembling furniture and who threatened him with that doomsday weapon, the screwdriver, in the heat of some argument, not even an attack. The hero of Israel didn’t blink. A hero of Israel never counts to 10. He draws and fires. Two dead, two more kill notches.

Our newest hero’s name is Ziv, but we can’t show his face. His blurred visage as he is embraced by the prime minister only adds to his aura. He replaces his predecessor, the more exalted Elor Azaria. The former killed a dying man, the latter killed two civilians. Don’t accuse him. That’s what he was taught to do in “tough situations” in the territories — to shoot and to kill. That’s what he was trained to be, a blind machine gun.

He is considered a hero. No one would dream of seriously questioning him as a suspect, beyond the formality promised to Jordan, and it’s already been said it would lead to nothing. Perhaps he committed murder, or perhaps negligent manslaughter? Perhaps he violated the rules of engagement? How would we know? We won’t know. We don’t want to know. Instead of that, we got the prime minister’s unsurprising phone call to him. “Did you make a date with your girlfriend yet?” asked Benjamin Netanyahu in that fatherly manner reserved for heroes. After that came the brave embrace in his office. Look, Jordan, look, these are the heroes of Israel, your sister in peace, the killers of your citizens. And the Palestinians are accused of exalting terrorists.

When a Jordanian soldier killed seven Israeli schoolgirls in Naharayim in 2007, Jordan’s King Hussein cut short his trip to Spain and hurried to Beit Shemesh to kneel before the grieving families and beg forgiveness. He also visited the wounded and his kingdom paid compensation. But when an Israeli government security guard kills two Jordanians, at least one of them completely innocent, the Israeli prime minister won’t even consider apologizing. Condemnations we demand only from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. We can only fantasize about a condolence call or the payment of compensation. Why, who died, as the saying goes? Two Arabs, nothing more.

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.803689.1501121288!/image/3825855289.jpg_gen/derivatives/size_1496xAuto/3825855289.jpg

King Hussein of jordan consoling an Israeli family whose daughter was killed by a Jordanian soldier during a class trip to Naharayim, 2007.Avi Ohayon / GOP

Two dead Arabs, and a hero of Israel who returned home safely, overcoming his injuries. Ziv the hero will recite his version of events, and perhaps even return to service. Tens of thousands of young Israelis dream of being Ziv. They dream of serving in the territories in the occupation army, of abusing and killing Arabs, of traveling to India and to Guatemala before becoming embassy security guards. If they’re lucky, they might even get to kill some teenager with a screwdriver and a doctor who happened to be there, as in the good old days in Qalandiyah.

Salute the heroes of Israel. They are the finest of our youth.

#Jordanie #Ziv

Congrats, Netanyahu. A New Low

The moral is this: If Benjamin Netanyahu can do something like this to someone like this, he can do anything to anyone.
Bradley Burston Jun 21, 2016 5:25 PM
▻http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.726306

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.726309.1466519648!/image/19013839.jpg_gen/derivatives/headline_857x482/19013839.jpg

(...) The story is this: Earlier in the week, the prime minister had cited as one of the achievements of his recent Moscow visit with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, persuading the Russian leader to return an Israeli tank captured by Syria in a disastrous battle of the 1982 Lebanon war.

The Prime Minister’s Office had indicated to the press that the tank was the one manned by three soldiers missing in the battle, 34 years nearly to the day of the Moscow trip.

Netanyahu himself suggested that the return of the tank might bring the bereaved families solace. “The families of the missing, Zacharia Baumel, Zvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz, have not had a physical vestige of their sons or a grave to visit for the past 34 years,” he said in a statement.

Only when Netanyahu returned from Russia did it emerge that this had been an unusually cynical public relations ploy, exploiting the feelings of the long-grieving families for the sake of a cheap photo opportunity.

“The prime minister phoned me and told me ’Here, your brother’s tank is arriving,” Katz’ sister Perhia Heiman told Israel’s Channel 10 on Friday.

When Heiman checked the chassis number of the tank, however, she discovered that it was not her brother’s at all.

“The tank belonged to the deputy battalion commander, who ran away - which is exactly the opposite of the missing men of the Sultan Yaakoub battle, who fought like lions - and who abandoned them in the field.”

“Why keep me waiting on burning coals, with the supposed ’news item’ that this is my brother’s tank?” she asked.

Asked if she was saying that Netanyahu knew that this was not the tank, she replied, “Yes. Yes, yes. The IDF has known for several weeks that this was not the same tank.”

Heiman noted that the prime minister knew the grief of losing a sibling. Netanyahu’s brother Yoni was killed during the 1976 Entebbe raid to rescue terror hostages in Uganda.

“I believe it’s time to bring an end to this cynicism on the part of a prime minister who is also a bereaved brother, to bully and give the run-around to the families of missing soldiers this way - there has to be a limit.”

Perhia Heiman has reached hers. Early next week, by the Hebrew calendar the 34th anniversary of the battle, she will be standing outside the Prime Minister’s Office, with a clear message for Netanyahu:

“Help me to stand beside the prime minister’s office,” she told viewers on Friday, “and call on him to resign.”

"He may have the legal or some other sort of authority to continue to serve as prime minister, but he no longer has the moral authority.

“There is no leader without a people. And we will not accept that kind of shoddy leadership.”

She asked people who wished to help her organize the demonstration to contact her at heimanp@bezeqint.net.

Asked why she thought Netanyahu had publicized the return of the tank, with the prime minister’s office quoted as saying it was her brother’s, she answered without hesitation.

“This is what he had an interest in presenting, perhaps in order to give it ’spin’ because that same day, the police reached the conclusion that there was evidence to bring his wife Sara Netanyahu to trial, in connection with (financial irregularities at) the prime minister’s residences.”

The story did not end there, however. Asked if Netanyahu knew that the tank was not Heiman’s brothers, the Prime Minister’s Office responded with a tortuous statement that began by insisting that Netanyahu honored the families, continued by indirectly accusing Heiman of lying about something she, in fact, did not say, and ended by saying, in effect, that we in the prime minister’s office never really, exactly, precisely, explicitly, said that this was the same tank.

A new low.

Now, after 34 years, Perhia Heiman has only begun her fight. She listened to the Prime Minister’s Office response with quiet composure.

“That’s his statement. But I have recordings of the conversations in my possession,” she said.

Next week. The Prime Minister’s Office. 3 Kaplan Street, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem.

The moral is this: If Benjamin Netanyahu can do something like this to someone like this, he can do anything to anyone.

Jérusalem: la France réclame des observateurs sur l’esplanade des lieux saints
Par Cyrille Louis Publié le 16/10/2015 à 19:18
▻http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2015/10/16/01003-20151016ARTFIG00322-jerusalem-la-france-reclame-des-observateurs-sur-

INFO LE FIGARO - Les membres du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies devront se prononcer, à la demande de la France sur l’envoi par l’ONU d’observateurs internationaux sur l’esplanade des lieux saints à Jérusalem.

L’ambassadeur francais auprès des Nations unies a déposé ce vendredi soir à New York un projet de texte réclamant l’envoi d’observateurs internationaux par l’ONU sur l’esplanade des lieux saints à Jérusalem.

Ce document doit être débattu dans les prochaines heures par les membres du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies. S’ils parviennent à un consensus, ce texte pourrait faire l’objet d’une déclaration endossée par le président du Conseil de sécurité.

« Il s’agit de mettre en place des observateurs indépendants capables de recenser d’éventuelles violations du statu quo », précise une source informée de ces démarches. Mais un responsable israélien précise : « Un tel dispositif est à nos yeux inenvisageable. »

Les tensions autour de l’esplanade des mosquées ont contribué à provoquer une vague de violences au cours de laquelle sept Israéliens et trente-cinq Palestiniens ont perdu la vie depuis le 1er octobre.

““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““
Israel and U.S. Cooperating Against French Bid for Int’l Presence on Temple Mount

’The French proposal is completely absurd,’ senior Israeli official says of draft for UN Security Council presidential statement calling for observers to be deployed on Temple Mount.
Barak Ravid Oct 17, 2015 6:19 PM
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.680872

Israel, the United States and other countries are working together to remove from the agenda a French draft for a UN Security Council presidential statement calling for international observers to be deployed on the Temple Mount, senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office said Saturday.

“The French proposal is completely absurd,” a senior Israeli official said, noting that it is only a declarative step.

According to the official, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen and the Foreign Ministry to protest the biased and absurd phrasing of the draft to France.

“We expect the French to condemn the Waqf’s incompetence on the Temple Mount,” the official said, referring to the Muslim religious trust. “Those who brought in bombs and fired firecrackers were the Palestinians, who turned the Temple Mount to a terrorist storeroom and it is they who tried by that to change the status quo.”

The Israeli official stressed that Israel is safeguarding the status quo and is committed to it. According to him, Jews are allowed to visit the site only according the status quo. He added that according to the 1949 armistice agreement, Jewish access to the Temple Mount was internationally guaranteed. “This right wasn’t realized until 1967,” the official said. “Israel is the one keeping the visits to the Temple Mount free. The torching of Joseph’s Tomb shows what would have happened to the holy sites if they weren’t under Israel’s control. Exactly what is happening in Palmyra in Syria and in Iraq.”

France is pushing for a presidential statement on behalf of the UN Security Council that calls for the deployment of international observers to Jerusalem’s holy sites, notably the Temple Mount, to ensure the status quo is maintained, “Le Figaro” reported on Saturday, citing French diplomats.

The presidential statement does not constitute a binding Security Council resolution, only serving as a statement of intent. 15 members of the UN Security Council need to consent in order for a presidential statement to be published. It remains unclear if France has managed to achieve such consensus.

On Wednesday, Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour called on the Security Council to adopt a resolution guaranteeing the safety and protection of Palestinians and Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, similar to Resolution 904 adopted after the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in 1994, which saw international monitors deployed in Hebron.

Israel’s new ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said on Friday that Israel objects to any international involvement or oversight on the Temple Mount since it would violate the status quo. In light of Israel’s position, it’s hard to see how the U.S. could support the call for deploying international observers on the Temple Mount, even if this is only a declarative step.

Kyiv concerned by Hungarian PM office head statement about intelligence activities in Ukraine
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/kyiv-concerned-by-hungarian-pm-office-head-statement-about-intelligence-ac

Hungary’s ambassador to Ukraine Erno Keskeny was summoned to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on July 20 to be told of Ukraine’s concerns following statements made by Janos Lazar, a Hungarian minister and the chief of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Iraqi party leaders may oust Maliki
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraqi-party-leaders-may-oust-maliki

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/196281-01-08.jpg

Iraqi Prime Minister #Nouri_al-Maliki waits for the arrival of US Secretary of State John Kerry ahead of their meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Baghdad on June 23, 2014. (Photo: AFP - Brendan Smialowski) Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki waits for the arrival of US Secretary of State John Kerry ahead of their meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Baghdad on June 23, 2014. (Photo: AFP - Brendan Smialowski)

Iraqi party leaders planned delicate talks that could end Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s divisive rule after a top Shia cleric called for a new premier to be chosen without delay to tackle Islamist rebels threatening to tear apart the country. Major powers are pushing for a new inclusive government, (...)

#Iraq

Hot summer engulfs the region: Open war on all fronts
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/hot-summer-engulfs-region-open-war-all-fronts

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/197129-01-08.jpg

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) and #US Secretary of State John Kerry meet at the Prime Minister’s Office in #Baghdad on June 23, 2014. (Photo: AFP-Brendan Smialowski) Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) and US Secretary of State John Kerry meet at the Prime Minister’s Office in Baghdad on June 23, 2014. (Photo: AFP-Brendan Smialowski)

The curtains have fallen on the last scene in the settlement farce in the region. War has extended its tentacles into #Iraq and along the borders with #Jordan and #Saudi_Arabia. A new proxy war is raging in Iraq, under the specter of a #takfiri monster that threatens to devour everything in its path.

Elie Chalhoub

read (...)

#Opinion #Articles #Iran #ISIS #Israel #Lebanon #Nouri_al-Maliki #Supreme_Leader_Ali_Khamenei #syria

Mossad, Shin Bet chiefs to Netanyahu: Foreign Ministry strike hurting national security - National Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/mossad-shin-bet-chiefs-to-netanyahu-foreign-ministry-strike-hurting-nationa

Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen and Defense Ministry director general Udi Shani have told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Foreign Ministry diplomats’ strike was harming national security.

According to a senior official, at a meeting on Thursday the three top security officials gave Netanyahu, who is also serving as foreign minister, and Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin, examples of the harm they said the strike had done in a few cases in recent weeks.

The meeting took place at the end of another security discussion at the Prime Minister’s Office. The senior official who participated in the meeting said the security chiefs urged Netanyahu to intervene and find a solution that will end the workers’ strike.

Over the past few days ties have become significantly more strained between Foreign Ministry diplomats and the security establishment. The Foreign Ministry’s workers committee has instructed Israeli diplomats to cease cooperating with the IDF and the Shin Bet, after members of those two bodies crossed the picket lines to help arrange Netanyahu’s visit to Poland. After hearing the officials, Netanyahu ordered that legal means be examined for ending the strike. The senior officials said one possibility being studied was to ask the National Labor Court to issue back-to-work orders.

The Foreign Ministry’s workers’ committee said that if the security establishment is claiming harm to national security, then it was even more surprising that Netanyahu had not bothered to open a dialogue with the Foreign Ministry staffers to resolve the crisis.

Although the diplomats have ratcheted up their sanctions in recent weeks, no talks are currently underway to end the dispute.

A no-confidence motion is to be presented today in the Knesset by MK Isaac Herzog (Labor ) over the strike. On Tuesday morning, Foreign Ministry workers are planning a protest march to the Knesset gates. Shortly after the protest, a special discussion is scheduled of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on the matter of harm to the Foreign Ministry’s status. The diplomats began their sanctions in March, protesting erosion in their wages and what they say is the “dismantling of the Foreign Ministry.” They are protesting that no appointment has been made of a foreign minister and that the ministry’s powers have been relegated to several other ministers.

Sanctions include the refusal to issue diplomatic passports to ministers, the halt to cable communications between Israeli diplomatic missions worldwide and the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, and the refusal to help with arrangements for ministers visiting foreign countries.

127 000 $ : c’est le prix que paient les Israéliens pour une « chambre » d’avion de leur président. Ca tombe juste au moment où Yaïr Lapid impose de sévères coupes budgétaires !
Netanyahu spends $127,000 of Israeli taxpayers’ money on airplane ’resting chamber’ - National Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/netanyahu-spends-127-000-of-israeli-taxpayers-money-on-airplane-resting-cha

After report in Channel 10, the Prime Minister’s Office responded saying that the prime minister needed to rest after a hectic day and before representing Israel at international forums.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent $127,000 of Israeli taxpayers’ money on a “resting chamber” that was especially constructed for him and his wife on their five-hour flight to London last month, Channel 10 reported on Friday.

Once Netanyahu was informed of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s death, he announced that he would travel to the funeral with his wife Sara. According to the report, his office issued a tender to Israeli airlines to charter a jet for 75 passengers to take the Netanyahus to London and return them to Israel the next day.

The Prime Minister’s Office asked that the plane be fitted with 22 business class seats and a resting chamber – a double bed surrounded by four walls and a door. This request was especially costly because only El Al’s larger planes are fitted to allow for such arrangements. El Al won the tender with a bid of $427 thousand.

If the Prime Minister’s Office were to forgo the resting chamber, Israel’s smaller airlines such as Arkia and Israir could have participated in the tender. A simple calculation showed that the resting chamber raised the price of the flight by $127,000.

“The protocol for flying the prime minister to meetings abroad hadn’t changed and is the same as was during previous administrations. In accordance to security directives, the Israeli premier only travels with Israeli airlines,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. “In accordance to the prime minister’s orders, the cost of the trip, which lasted less than 48 hours, was minimized.”

Netanyahu’s office went on to explain the necessity of the room, citing his hectic schedule.

“The prime minister left for London at the end of Independence Day after he attended a reception for exceptional soldiers, the International Bible Contest, a reception for foreign diplomats, and the Israel Prize ceremony. The flight was scheduled for midnight, after a long day at these events. The next day, the prime minister was to represent the State of Israel in a number of official international events, including a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron. With this in mind, it is warranted that the prime minister be given an opportunity to sleep during the night between these two busy days,” the Prime Minister’s Office explained.

Israel: Ethnic cleansing in the Negev
►http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/2012102114393741506.html

In September 2011, Israel’s government approved a plan to forcibly relocate tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens in the Negev from their unrecognised villages to government-approved shanty towns. The Prawer Plan, as it is known, advanced again in March this year, when it was endorsed by a committee in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Around half of the Bedouin population in Israel live in 45 “unrecognised villages”, with a handful in the "process of recognition" by the state (see Israeli NGO Adalah’s “Myths and Misconceptions”). The Israeli government wants to force them out, claiming that their “squatting” is taking over the Negev. In fact, while constituting 30 per cent of the region’s population, today Bedouin are claiming "less than five per cent of the total area".

Although the law that will serve as the implementing arm of the Prawer Plan has not yet begun the legislative process in the Knesset, events on the ground indicate that the focus on demolition and displacement is already shaping policy targeting the Bedouin. In other words: Prawer is happening now.