| MK Miri Regev (Likud-Yisrael Beitenu), chairwoman of the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, said all the members of the committee who were present during a special session on the release of security prisoners Wednesday ”call on the prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) not to release Arab or Jewish security prisoners.” The committee members who took part in the meeting, apart from Regev, were MKs Moshe Zalman Feiglin (Likud-Yisrael Beitenu) and David Tsur (Hatenua). MK Regev added that the release of Jonathan Pollard should not be conditioned on the release of terrorists by the Israeli government as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority. ”Should the Israeli government decided to release murderers after all, then the right thing to do would be to release Jewish murderers whose murders were (nationalistically-motivated),” Regev said. ”Also, the US should release Jonathan Pollard. I call on the prime minister not to release security prisoners as a gesture to Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas), who has long since stopped being a partner for peace.” Regev accused the Prime Minister`s Office of disrespecting the Knesset by sending a representative to the meeting who did not address the issue of prisoners` release. |
Thursday 27 March 2014
Internal Affairs Committee chair urges PM not to release ”Arab or Jewish security prisoners”
Summer Clock Saves NIS 200 Million perhaps more this year.
Energy Ministry praises Summer Time, claiming that it has saved the economy a great deal of money. Clocks to be set forward at 2 a.m.
clock time
Flash 90
With the clock set to change Thursday night, the Energy and Water Ministry said that the later institution of the winter clock (standard time) and the earlier deployment of the summer clock (daylight savings time) has been a great boon for the economy. According to the Ministry, Israel saved NIS 50 million in 2013 by extending the summer clock.
Clocks will change at at 2 a.m. local time, with an hour “skipped” and the clock moving forward to 3 a.m. Most Israelis set their clocks an hour ahead before going to sleep, although the cellphone companies update subscribers' devices automatically. During the switch to winter time last October, many cell phone users were inconvenienced as their devices did not update accordingly. At that time the solution for many was to switch the time zone to "Athens, Greece."
In the past, the summer clock had ended in early September, but in 2012 the Knesset voted to extend it to the first weekend in October. According to the Ministry, that one month extension alone saved the economy over NIS 27 million. Those savings are likely to be even greater next year, the Ministry said, with the summer clock extended to the end of October.
The savings come from the extended daylight period, which allows municipalities and local governments to keep street lights and other sources of light off for an extra hour each day.
The changes are intended to bring Israel into a closer time synchronization with Europe, which also switches over to winter time in October.
The switches were controversial, given that Israel had been switching to winter time for the Jewish fall holidays, which sometimes occur in early September. This was meant to make life easier for observant Sephardic Jews who wake up early for the Slichot prayers during the holidays, and to make the Yom Kippur fast end earlier for everyone.
Clocks will change at at 2 a.m. local time, with an hour “skipped” and the clock moving forward to 3 a.m. Most Israelis set their clocks an hour ahead before going to sleep, although the cellphone companies update subscribers' devices automatically. During the switch to winter time last October, many cell phone users were inconvenienced as their devices did not update accordingly. At that time the solution for many was to switch the time zone to "Athens, Greece."
In the past, the summer clock had ended in early September, but in 2012 the Knesset voted to extend it to the first weekend in October. According to the Ministry, that one month extension alone saved the economy over NIS 27 million. Those savings are likely to be even greater next year, the Ministry said, with the summer clock extended to the end of October.
The savings come from the extended daylight period, which allows municipalities and local governments to keep street lights and other sources of light off for an extra hour each day.
The changes are intended to bring Israel into a closer time synchronization with Europe, which also switches over to winter time in October.
The switches were controversial, given that Israel had been switching to winter time for the Jewish fall holidays, which sometimes occur in early September. This was meant to make life easier for observant Sephardic Jews who wake up early for the Slichot prayers during the holidays, and to make the Yom Kippur fast end earlier for everyone.
Thursday 20 March 2014
Sara Netanyahu Photo by Eran Wolkowski
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his wife Sara. Photo by Mark Israel
By Tal Niv | Feb. 19, 2014 | 6:00 AM | 
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By Allison Kaplan Sommer | Feb. 17, 2014 | 1:53 PM | 3
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Oh, Sara, Sara, Sara.
First there was your nanny way way back in 1996 - a young South African girl named Tanya Shaw, who told the press that you were a nutty clean freak, a screaming shrew and accused you of firing her on the spot for committing the sin of burning soup and of having burly security guards drag her out of the Prime Minister’s residence after examining her suitcase to make sure she hadn’t stolen anything.
You called her crazy - or at least your husband, the Prime Minister did. His office issued a statement saying the young woman "showed indications of acute instability" which was why she was “removed.” and that "the Netanyahu family regrets the au pair's severe condition and her imagined and false claims, and will do everything possible to help in her rehabilitation.”
Then, in 2010, there was your maid Liliane Peretz, who went a step further than complaining and filed suit against you in labor court. She said that during the six years she worked for you, you shouted at her, humiliated her, overworked and underpaid her - and insisted that she change clothes during the working day to remain hygienic enough for you. Your letter to the court said her claims were “fabricated” and that Peretz received nothing but "warmth and love" from you. The battle between you was ugly - and finally resolved in 2012 with an out-of-court settlement. No one knows how much money Peretz was given to stop her attacks but one can presume she no longer feels underpaid.
In both cases, your husband’s public relations team managed to launch impressive smear campaigns against the two women - you didn’t come out of the incidents looking very good, but neither did they.
But the news that broke Wednesday - the details that leaked of the lawsuit by Meni Naphtali, who managed the Prime Minister’s residence for 20 months and who's suing you and Prime Minister Netanyahu for a million shekels in compensation - looks like a whole new ball game.
Three strikes and you’re out?
Naphtali’s descriptive lawsuit is far more damaging and his credibility is going to be much more difficult to impugn.
This is a man with an impressive military background, who served in military units, after countless security screenings and who worked as your personal bodyguard. He was then hand-picked to be residence manager - what is quaintly known in Hebrew as “house father.”
And oh, the things he’s saying in his labor court claim for more than a quarter of a million dollars. The basis of his suit is that he was promised but never given a fair work contract with full benefits. He also claims:
- That working for you for 20 months damaged him emotionally and physically.
- That he saw no less than 29 employees rotate through the residence.
- That he said he presided over a “bitter and angry staff that constantly changed because they found it impossible” to work for you.
- That you insisted on buying thousands of dollars worth of scented candles on the official budget even though you had been told to limit expenses to food items.
- That you called him at 3:00 A.M. after a long workday to scream at him for purchasing the wrong kind of milk - the type sold in plastic bags instead of cartons. And that when he protested at the hour and your tone, the prime minister himself got on the phone and told him to give you what you want so you would “calm down.”
- That you threw a fit when you found the flowers in a vase weren’t fresh and flung the vase on the floor and said this wouldn’t happen in the Elysee Palace (were you LOOKING for a Marie Antoinette analogy?)
- And the worst of all, the one that is grabbing the headline is the one that touched on the racial hot potato - the story about ordering a Shabbat meal from a hotel and complaining angrily that too much food was provided, saying, “We are sophisticated Europeans. We don’t eat as much food as you Moroccans. You are stuffing us, so that when they photograph us abroad, we look fat.”
The Prime Minister’s Office has called it “evil gossip.” The press, naturally, is gobbling it down faster than the most delectable Shabbat dinner, and the memes are coming fast on Facebook. One can only imagine what’s coming up on the comedy satire shows - they’ve already made plenty of hay from the infamous ice cream scandal and recurring “Flying Bed” episodes.
It’s a shame, Sara. Just recently, you’ve been looking good, with a new wardrobe and a slimmed down figure that everyone has noticed. Now we’re thinking maybe the makeover was strategically timed - you knew this was coming and figured you might as well get ready for your close-up.
Unfortunately, with these kind of accusations flying at you, there is little hope for finding a flattering angle.
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