A7News: 'Ayelet Shaked is the only one who can unite Religious Zionism'

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Sunday, Jun. 16 '19, י"ג בסיון תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. 'AYELET SHAKED IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN UNITE RELIGIOUS ZIONISM'
2. LIBERMAN: WE'LL FORCE A UNITY GOVERNMENT
3. WATCH: ISRAEL'S LATEST AIR COMBAT INNOVATIONS
4. OFF-DUTY OFFICER KILLS MAN WHO ATTACKED HIM AT COSTCO
5. SARA NETANYAHU CONVICTED OF CRIMINAL OFFENSE
6. 'THE CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG'
7. REPORT: IRAN FIRED MISSILE AT US UAV BEFORE GULF ATTACK
8. BOTHERED BY DEFICIT? 'LIBERMAN MADE DEMANDS IN THE BILLIONS'


1. 'AYELET SHAKED IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN UNITE RELIGIOUS ZIONISM'
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Amit Segal, Channel 12's political analyst, believes that former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (New Right) is the only one who can unite Religious Zionism.

In an article in Yediot Aharonot, Segal discussed the failing attempts to unite the smaller right-wing parties prior to the upcoming elections.

He noted that United Right leaders Rabbi Rafi Peretz and Bezalel Smotrich have spent "this past week in an argument, and [New Right leader] Naftali Bennett published a profound and justified piece against MK Moti Yogev and his self-righteous eyerolling."

"This isn't a post, it's a post-mortem: If Bennett had done this two years ago, he would have rehabilitated the Jewish Home. Now, it's just venting frustrations and preventing the necessary unification.

"The fastidious Religious Zionism still has a goal of voting for a party that represents pure truth. That's not how politics work. Anyone who isn't willing to live with a knitted kippah (skullcap - ed.) that's a different color than his own will find himself outside the Knesset or with the science portfolio.

"But right now the more religious Religious Zionists aren't willing to vote for Bennett's party, the less religious ones aren't willing to help make Smotrich a minister, and both of them are repulsed by [Zehut leader Moshe] Feiglin.

"It's not surprising that the only figure who can currently unite Religious Zionism is actually a secular woman: Ayelet Shaked, who strangely enough is accepted by the more religious sector a lot more than Bennett is. In two separate polls, she received the support of the absolute most Religious Zionists, who want her to lead.

"She's facing a fork in the road: She can stay home this time around (which she probably won't), she can run at the head of the New Right and its technical bloc with Feiglin (could be, but that's dangerous), or she can head the United Right - parties which together won 12 Knesset seats in April's elections. That's the logical choice, and Shaked will have to decide, at the latest, by next week."


2. LIBERMAN: WE'LL FORCE A UNITY GOVERNMENT
by Hezki Baruch

Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman on Saturday night said that following September's elections, he will recommend the leader of the largest party for prime minister.

"In the past week, when [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu tried to make the campaign about who will be prime minister, I was shocked to see the wild and embarrassing competition which broke out between [Blue and White leader Benny] Gantz and Netanyahu regarding who will surrender and who will give in more to the haredim," Liberman wrote on Facebook.

According to him, the most important issue that voters need to think about when they vote is "whether [the government] will be a government of Jewish law or a nationalistic and liberal government."

In the current situation, he said, "The catastrophe that the public still isn't so aware of is that of the State's budget and the expected security challenges. Our job is to force the Likud and Blue and White to create an emergency unity government which will be nationalistic and liberal: Yisrael Beytenu, Likud, and Blue and White. A government which represents the will of the vast majority of Israeli citizens."

Refusing to promise to recommend Netanyahu, Liberman added, "The party which will receive the most Knesset seats will be the one whose candidate is asked to form a government - without the haredim and without [Otzma Yehudit candidate] Itamar Ben-Gvir."

"After making a decision regarding the State budget, agreements regarding security, and agreements regarding religion and state, a coalition will be formed. Only then, anyone who wants these basic things can join, and we'll be happy to have him."

Blue and White responded: "If Liberman would have come to this conclusion before he and his party had voted to dissolve the Knesset, we would have avoided extraneous elections. But like we say at the polar circle - better late than never."


3. WATCH: ISRAEL'S LATEST AIR COMBAT INNOVATIONS
by Arutz Sheva Staff

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/264646

For the first time, Raphael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd unveiled the LITENING G5 advanced precision targeting pod system together with a unique radar system (SAR) from Elta.

The systems were unveiled at the Paris Air Show.

Rafael's veteran lighting system is an electro-optical pod for navigating, locating and guiding guided munitions, and is being used in more than 20 countries in various types of fighter jets.

The radar system is an electro-optic pod for observation and intelligence gathering in real time.

The combination of the electro-optical capabilities and the radar capabilities in both systems provides a broad response to a variety of scenarios in various scenarios, and the radar addition increases the combat capabilities of the fighter planes for remote purposes, as well as identifying and identifying targets.

Yuval Miller, Senior Vice President and Head of the Air and Intelligence Division at Rafael, said: "This is a new capability that represents a significant leap forward in the airborne systems. The combination of technologies enables us to provide a high quality response to daily situations and night situations, and in any weather.


4. OFF-DUTY OFFICER KILLS MAN WHO ATTACKED HIM AT COSTCO
by Arutz Sheva Staff

An off-duty Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer on Friday shot and killed a man who local police said "assaulted" him while he was holding his child at a southern California Costco, CNN reported.

The unidentified officer fired his weapon in the Corona store, killing 32 year old Kenneth French and injuring two of French's family members, the Corona Police Department said.

The officer suffered minor injuries and was later released from the hospital, while his child was not injured, according to the police department.

"The Department has initiated an Administrative Investigation and is working with the Corona Police Department to learn more about the incident," Los Angeles police said in a statement.

Lt. Jeff Edwards of the Corona police said he believed the incident to be the result of an argument.

"From my understanding, from some people we talked to, there was apparently an argument inside," Edwards said. "Some type of argument and ensued into a gunshot."

He added that panic broke out in the store as people believed there was an active shooter and fled the scene, leaving behind belongings - whose rightful owners Corona police are now trying to find.


5. SARA NETANYAHU CONVICTED OF CRIMINAL OFFENSE
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, was convicted Sunday by the President of the Jerusalem Magistrate Court, Avital Chen, of misusing public funds.

According to the plea deal, Netanyahu will pay a fine of NIS 5,000 and compensation to the state of NIS 45,000.

During the hearing, a representative of the State Prosecutor's Office said that in the negotiations for a plea bargain, the State Prosecutor's Office made significant concessions. However, he noted that Sarah Netanyahu's admission to a criminal offense expressed responsibility for her actions.

Attorney Yossi Cohen, a defense attorney for Netanyahu, said at the hearing: "they poured out my client's blood. NIS 20 million was spent in this investigation. They interrogated her as if she were the head of a criminal organization. What did they find at the end? A few trays."

"I find it difficult to say what I felt about the unwritten sentence that my client received, the worst kind of punishment a person can receive. The goal was to topple her husband and the government" Cohen added. "The State Comptroller decided to make an interim report on the prime minister's residence. This report was the signal for the hunt."

This morning, the High Court of Justice rejected the petition of journalist Uri Misgav against the plea bargain reached between the State Prosecutor's Office and the wife of the Prime Minister.

The judges ruled that Misgav did not exhaust the procedures required before filing the petition, and added that "the petition should be rejected also because it does not reveal any grounds for the intervention of this court. With regard to the strength of the evidence held by the state, whether with regard to the level of punishment to which the respondent (Sara Netanyahu) would have been expected had it not been for the plea bargain."

At the end of the judgment, the judges noted, "It is not superfluous to say that we do not express any position regarding the plea bargain on its own merits, and the Magistrate's Court held that when deciding whether to approve or reject it, he will transfer the plea bargain under his review, as required by law."



6. 'THE CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG'
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The Likud party on Saturday night responded to Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman's expression of support for a "unity government" including his party, Likud, and Blue and White - but excluding the religious parties.

"The cat is out of the bag," the Likud said in a statement. "Liberman said clearly that he's willing to sit with [Blue and White leaders Yair] Lapid and [Benny] Gantz and to force the creation of a left-wing government. Whoever wants a right-wing government should vote only for the Likud, led by [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu."

Nir Orbach, Director-General of the Jewish Home party, said, "Irresponsible Avigdor Liberman, who brought the entire country to unnecessary and abnormal elections, has already decided who he will sit in the coalition. We should take this statement as seriously as we did when he said he would eliminate [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniyeh within 48 hours. First let him pass the electoral threshold, then he can start talking."

MK Ofir Sofer (United Right) said, "How utterly amazing it is that Liberman's word cannot be relied on. A strong right-wing government will be created only with a large right-wing party to the right of Netanyahu, a party with values which is not afraid to speak openly about Israel's traditions, Israel's wholeness, and bringing sanity back to the courts."



7. REPORT: IRAN FIRED MISSILE AT US UAV BEFORE GULF ATTACK
by Elad Benari, Canada

In the hours before the attack on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, the Iranians spotted a US drone flying overhead and launched a surface-to-air missile at the unmanned aircraft, a US official told CNN on Friday.

The missile missed the drone and fell into the water, the official said.

Prior to taking fire, the American MQ-9 drone observed Iranian vessels closing in on the tankers, the official added, though the source did not say whether the unmanned aircraft saw the boats conducting an actual attack.

This is the first claim that the US has information of Iranian movements prior to the attack.

The same official also said in the days prior to the attack, a US reaper drone was shot down in the Red Sea by what is believed to be an Iranian missile fired by Yemeni Houthi rebels.

Thursday's attack follows attacks on four tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on May 12. Two of the ships targeted in that attack were Saudi oil tankers that were en route to the United States.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of being behind the attacks in the Gulf of Oman.

"It is the assessment of the United States that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks," Pompeo told reporters, adding, "This is based on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping, and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high degree of sophistication."

The US Central Command later released footage that purports to show the crew of an Iranian patrol boat removing an object from the hull of the Japanese tanker.

Iran categorically denied being behind the attack.

The Pentagon had tough words for Iran on Friday as the US continues to assert its claim that Tehran was responsible for the attack on the two oil tankers in international waters.

"We're making sure that General McKenzie and the central command has the resources and the support that they need to conduct their missions," acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said, according to CNN, adding that the US continues to work on building an international consensus that Iran was behind the attack.

The United Kingdom released a statement Friday saying it is "almost certain" that a branch of the Iranian military -- the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) -- attacked two tankers.

No other state or non-state actor "could plausibly have been responsible," the British statement added.

The two attacks followed repeated threats by Iran to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which is located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and through which about a third of all oil traded at sea passes.

In the last few years there have been several close encounters between Iranian and American vessels in the area.

Iran does not appear to be backing off and continues to engage in provocative behavior, a US official told CNN on Friday, adding that Iranian small boats are preventing tug boats from towing away one of the damaged tankers from Thursday's attack.

The incidents come amid increased tensions between the US and Iran, a year after Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and imposed several rounds of crippling sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Iran announced last month it was suspending some of its commitments under the 2015 deal in response to the US withdrawal in May of last year.

In addition, tensions between the two longtime foes has increased after Washington sent more military forces to the Middle East in a show of force against what US officials say are Iranian threats to its troops and interests in the region.

(Arutz Sheva's North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)


8. BOTHERED BY DEFICIT? 'LIBERMAN MADE DEMANDS IN THE BILLIONS'
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The Likud on Sunday strongly rejected Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman's claim that he changed his political positions over the budgetary deficit.

"Liberman was not aware of the deficit? He made demands in the billions during coalition negotiations," senior party sources said.

They added that the demands of Liberman and his colleagues in Yisrael Beytenu in the framework of the coalition negotiations stood at NIS 2.5 billion - NIS 2 billion for pensions and other demands such as positions and more.

Likud spokesman Yonatan Urich also referred to the issue in a Tweet, writing: "Less than a month ago, Liberman threw out budgetary demands of at least NIS 3 billion. Suddenly he is worried about the deficit and sends Forer to stammer on the radio, 'Wow, we didn't know there was a deficit'? Come on Ivet, when you wanted dozens of positions for ambassadors, you didn't know it costs money? Ivet just wants to topple Netanyahu, and if it comes at the price of a left-wing government, he's paying."

Liberman explained this morning on Facebook, ""What changed? Two things: 1. It turned out that the State of Israel is in the midst of a deep budgetary crisis with a deficit of more than NIS 50 billion, and security challenges for which this is not the place to elaborate. 2. It is clear to me, beyond any doubt, that Likud and Blue and White won't together have 60 Knesset seats in the upcoming elections, and each will prefer to form a narrow government with the haredim, ie. a halachic government."

"I have recently noted that we saw a shameful race between Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz in the past week, over which one can flatter the haredim more. Netanyahu has already failed to form a government at the moment. Furthermore, he is so far unsuccessful in bridging the gaps between Bezalel Smotrich and Rafi Peretz regarding the distribution of portfolios in the transitional government. Benny Gantz too, alone, has no chance of forming a government, despite the effort to appease Shas and United Torah Judaism," Liberman said.