The JJewish Voice
JUNE 17, 2016 The joint Israeli-Chinese conference is supported by both nations’ governments. It will be held at the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv and will host more than 1,000 Chinese investors and strategic partners, as well as 500 Israeli high-tech companies and entrepreneurs from a variety of fields such as agriculture, clean technology, mobile and Web, smart cities, and medicine. The INNONATION summit is a joint initiative of Israel’s Ministry of Economy and the Infinity Group, and has already secured the participation of more than 40 investors from Chinese investment funds, according to the Israeli business news outlet Globes. “I expect that the vast majority of the Israeli venture capital funds which will raise capital in 2016 will include at least one Chinese investor,” said Ziva Eger, head of the Foreign Investments and Industrial Cooperation Authority at the Israeli Ministry of Economy. y
The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Italy's Parliament, in session.
Italian lawmakers outlaw Holocaust denial (JNS.org) Italy’s parliament last week approved a bill that would criminalize the spreading of Holocaust-denial propaganda as well as any statements that deny genocide or crimes against humanity. Those prosecuted could face two to six years in prison. The bill was passed by Italy’s lower legislative house, the Chamber of Deputies, with 237 members voting in favor and five against, in addition to 102 abstentions. The measure is a modification of an existing law that criminalizes racial, ethnic, and religious incitement in Italy. The International Court of Justice is responsible for determining what constitutes genocide and crimes against humanity. “By approving this law, parliament intends to tackle the most subtle forms of racial defamation, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and incitement to hatred,” said Chiara Gribaudo, the deputy leader of Italy’s Democratic Party.
Rabbinates to launch database of husbands refusing to grant divorces (JNS.org) Israeli and European rabbinates are collaborating to set up a database listing the names and photos of images of Jewish husbands who have refused to grant their wives a divorce or who have gone missing amid their refusal. The database plan was discussed during the past week at a conference for European rabbinical judges in Brussels. The database will help combat the phenomenon of Jewish husbands refusing to grant their wives a Jewish divorce, or “get,” which they must do in order for the wives to be free to marry again. In some cases, such husbands move away to oth-
er communities. The database will allow such communities to sanction the husbands, reported Yedioth Ahronoth. The head of the Israeli Rabbinical Courts Administration’s Agunot (a term loosely meaning “chained women” in Hebrew) Department, Rabbi Eliyahu Maimo, who spoke at the conference, described earlier this month how in one recent case the rabbinate was forced to hire several private detectives to locate a divorce-refusing husband. “We followed him as he rode his electric bicycle home. There he was placed under arrest, sat in jail for 24 hours—and this morning he gave the get,” Maimo told Israel National News.
MIDDLE EAST Netanyahu y discusses Syria y with Jewish leaders in Moscow (JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week set the record straight about Israeli relations with Syria at a Moscow conference attended by about 100 Jewish community leaders and businessmen. “You ask about the future of [Israel’s] relations with President Assad? I would ask what is the future of President Assad in general?” Netanyahu replied to a question about relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “We do not interfere in this issue. We’re making sure that Syria won’t become a launchpad for attacks against Israel,” said Netanyahu, who is visiting Russia this week and has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Netanyahu explained that the Israel Defense Forces will strike Syrian and Iranian troops, or Islamist terrorists in the Syrian region if they become a threat to Israel. “There are enough enemies. My policy is to take all necessary steps to prevent attacks, and we act from time to time when the need arises,” Netanyahu said. He also said that he “ordered to build a field hospital that helped thousands of Syrians, babies, children, women, and men, with awful wounds.”
An Israeli Egged bus. Members of Knesset Yael German, Karin Elharrar, and Yoel Razvozov intend to put forth a bill that would allow local authorities to operate public transportation on Shabbat in Israel. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Israeli lawmakers seek to institute limited p public transportation on Shabbat (JNS.org) Members of Knesset Yael German, Karin Elharrar, and Yoel Razvozov (all from the Yesh Atid party) intend to put forth a bill that would allow local authorities to operate public transportation on Saturday in Israel. The bill would permit minibuses to run within each locality and on intercity roads. According to the bill, making public transportation avail-
able on Shabbat is designed to give some mobility to sectors that cannot drive or afford to drive, such as the elderly or youths. The bill is set to be presented to Israel’s Ministerial Committee on Legislation next Sunday. The bill stipulates that public transportation on Saturday would include only one or two bus lines that go to and from city centers would run, and the buses would not enter religious neighborhoods or pass synagogues.
Netanyahu: y Arab Peace Initiative could be relevant with changes g on borders, refugees (JNS.org) At a meeting of Likud party ministers on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced questions regarding the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, two weeks after saying the initiative included some “positive elements” and that Israel is “willing to negotiate with Arab states’ revisions to that initiative so that it reflects the dramatic changes in the region since 2002.” On Monday, one Likud minister asked Netanyahu what he would do if Arab states were not willing to revise the initiative. “If the Arab states grasp the fact that they need to revise the Arab League proposal according to the changes Israel demands, then we can talk,” Netanyahu replied. “But if they bring the proposal from 2002 and define it as ‘take it or leave it,’ we’ll choose to leave it.” In response to another question about the Arab Peace Initiative, Netanyahu said the initiative provided a “good foundation, but it clearly must be updated due to the far-reaching changes that have taken place in our region in recent years.” The prime minister went on to say the initiative could be relevant with the removal of its demands for an Israeli return to the 1967 borders and the granting of a right of return to Palestinian refugees.
Liberian p president looks to strengthen ties in Israel (JNS.org) Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf visited Israel last week to strengthen relations between the two countries. “Throughout my visit with my delegation we wanted to learn about the extraordinary developments which Israel has made, especially in agriculture, which we look at with wonder each time we see it. You have done wonderful things in the field of water. There are a lot of similarities between Liberia and Israel. I wish to thank Israel for its help during our Ebola crisis, when Israel joined other forces and bilateral initiatives for the purpose of helping us beat this disease,” Sirleaf said in a meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. Sirleaf and Rivlin also discussed terrorism. Sirleaf said she welcomes any knowledge and intelligence that Israel could provide Liberia on that issue.
U.N. funds Hamas regime in Gaza, Likud lawmaker says (JNS.org) The Hamas terrorist regime in the Gaza Strip
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receives United Nations funding, new Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Avi Dichter (Likud) said last week at an Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Israel conference in Eilat. Speaking of the funding sources for U.N. activities in Gaza, Dichter said, “Every year, the U.S. gives $350 million and the EU (European Union) gives $450 million. A clear majority of this money ends up in the pockets of Hamas.” He added, “In our area, there are Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) of Mahmoud Abbas, and the Hamas regime. Abbas has not visited Gaza in nine years. And unfortunately, PA leaders do not have the courage to take steps toward peace.” On the Palestinian refugee issue, Dichter said, “It is no less the PA’s problem than it is ours. Half of the residents of the PA are refugees.”
by the defendants. In one of the bigger scams, the defendants impersonated a Chanel employee and convinced ICI Paris XL to transfer almost $6.2 million to a Bulgarian bank account. Another scam included impersonating a Mars CEO to get the supermarket chain Corato to send nearly $365,000 owed to Mars. Other companies involved in the scam case include the Italian athletic clothing retailer Diadora, beer industry giant Anheuser-Busch, and car manufacturers Kia Motors and Toyota, but not all followed through with the transfer of funds. The pioneer of these fake-CEO scams, Gilbert Chikli, still lives freely in Netanya in central Israel, evading French authorities.
Fake CEO scammers indicted in Israel (JNS.org) Israel’s state prosecutor last week indicted four new immigrants from France for an international money scam costing five European companies about $10 million, the Associated Press reported. Prosecutors say the immigrants created fake email accounts to send forged documents to employees of some of Europe’s largest companies, tricking them into transferring funds to bank accounts for a new “clearing firm.” The clearing firm turned out to belong to fake companies with accounts owned
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai pictured sparked outrage by linking last week's Tel Aviv terror attack to the Israeli "occupation." Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Tel Aviv mayor y sparks p outrage g byy linking g terror attack to ‘occupation’
PAGE 25 (JNS.org) Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai sparked outrage through his response to last week’s fatal terrorist shooting at the Sarona market, in which he implied that he understands the terrorists’ motives. “We might be the only country where one people is under occupation by another without having civil rights, and the leaders say it’s so we can reach a [peace] deal,” Huldai told Army Radio. “I know the reality and I know that courageous leaders need to aspire to do things, not just talk. The fact that we accept this suffering isn’t leading to any change in our understanding about what we need to do,” Huldai said. The mayor added that “you can’t hold people to a reality in which you conquer them and think that they’ll reach the conclusion that everything is all right and they can go on living that way.” In response to Huldai’s remarks, Israeli Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) said, “We don’t need Huldai to lecture us on morality and his desire for peace or the peace process….The things he said, which could be interpreted as meaning there is a need for a mega-terrorist attack to start the peace process, are nonsense that should be condemned as harshly as possible.” Member of Knesset Nava Boker (Likud) said that “the blood still isn’t dry from the terrorist attack, and Huldai is already rushing to profit politically and tie the attack to the