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October 14, 2008
Labor Appears On Board with Kadima
Jerusalem
JTA Wire Service
Israel’s Labor Party reportedly has agreed to join Kadima’s coalition government.
Just before the holiday of Sukkot began Monday evening in Israel, Labor and Kadima reportedly reached an agreement under which Labor will join Tzipi Livni’s governing Kadima Party as a senior partner. Labor leader Ehud Barak will become senior deputy prime minister, a newly created position, while Livni will be prime minister. The agreement is expected to be signed later this week, according to Israeli media reports.
The move brings Livni her first major governing partner, but she needs more to complete her coalition and take office as prime minister.
The partnership with Labor likely will make it harder for Kadima to bring another large party, the Orthodox Shas Party, into the coalition. Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, the chairman of the Likud Party, met Monday with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of Shas, to argue against Shas joining a Livni government.
Livni has until Oct. 20 to form a new coalition government, although she can ask President Shimon Peres for a two-week extension.
Rennert Remembers Author’s Son with Torah
U.S. Jewish tycoon Ira Rennert gave a Torah to Israeli author David Grossman, whose son was killed in the 2006 Lebanon war. Rennert presented the scroll to Grossman and his wife, Michal, at Netiv Aryeh Yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Old City, Ha’aretz reported. It was one of seven scrolls Rennert has dedicated in memory of fallen Israeli soldiers. The scroll will be dedicated at the Reform synagogue in Mevasseret Zion that Grossman’s late son, Uri, attended.
7,000 Pilgrims in Jerusalem for Sukkot
Some 7,000 Christian tourists will visit Jerusalem for Sukkot. The pilgrims are coming for the 29th annual Christian celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, which is sponsored by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. The tourists, from all over the world, should inject some $18 million to $20 million into the economy, according to an ICEJ news release. “Our Christian pilgrims are coming up to Jerusalem once more to join the Jewish people in marking this traditional feast of joy,” said the Rev. Malcolm Hedding, ICEJ’s executive director. “But their presence here at this particular time also constitutes a major statement of solidarity with Israel as it confronts the growing threat of a nuclear Iran, while also bringing a major financial injection into the local economy at a very critical moment.”
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.