FEATURED JOBS
Comments (0)Israel’s Cabinet approved a national plan to reverse Israel’s scientific brain drain.
The $350 million plan approved Sunday will create 30 centers for academic excellence to attract scientists who have left Israel to conduct research abroad.
“The government views the bringing in from overseas of outstanding Israeli and Jewish scientists and technicians as an important policy tool in raising the level of excellence at institutions of higher learning and in strengthening the supply of skilled workers in the economy,” said a statement issued Sunday by the Prime Minister’s Office.
One-third of the funding will come from government coffers and the rest from academic institutions involved and private donations, Haaretz reported. Five centers will open for the upcoming academic year
Hurva Synagogue Rededicated
The rededication of an Old City synagogue took place without incident.
More than 3,000 Israeli police were deployed in Jerusalem on Monday for fear that the rededication of the restored Hurva Synagogue, located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, would spark Arab rioting.
Rabbis Yona Metzger, the chief rabbi of Israel, and Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, together placed the mezuzah on the synagogue door post.
“Pay no attention to malicious slander. All we are doing is resurrecting the Hurva that was destroyed 60 years ago,” Metzger said. “All the rumors that suggest we will later march on Temple Mount are just that—rumors.”
On Sunday, amid heavy security, hundreds of people took part in a ceremony to bring a new Torah scroll into the synagogue.
Palestinian leaders had called on Israeli Arabs to flock to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount to protect it, distributing pamphlets claiming that the rededication was the first step toward the construction of a Third Holy Temple.
The Islamic Movement sent dozens of buses full of Israeli Arabs from around the country to Jerusalem on Monday, Ynet reported.
Khatem Abd el-Kader, the Fatah official responsible for Jerusalem, encouraged Palestinians to “converge on al Aksa to save it” from “Israeli attempts to destroy the mosque and replace it with the [Jewish] temple.” He called the synagogue rededication a “provocation,” cautioning that Israel is “playing with fire.”
The unfinished Hurva Synagogue, whose name means ruins, was destroyed in an Arab riot in 1721. Reconstruction of the synagogue began in 2005, funded by the government and a private donor.
Palestinian Protest Site Declared Closed Military Zone
Israel’s army has declared two West Bank villages that are the site of weekly protests against the West Bank security fence closed military zones.
Soldiers posted signs in the Palestinian villages of Bil’in and Ni’lin announcing the order, which will be in effect every Friday for six months, according to Ynet.
Regular Friday demonstrations have been held in the villages for the last five years. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent; two demonstrators have been killed.
The order covers the land between the security barrier and built-up areas of Bil’in, as well as all of Ni’lin, according to Haaretz.