PM Netanyahu: The Tal Law will be replaced by another more just and egalitarian law that would more fairly divide the burden among all Israeli citizens, Arab and Jewish alike
| Israel Cabinet meeting (Reuters archive photo) |
At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday, 29 April 2012):
1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the following remarks:
„This morning I met with representatives of the reservists. In our previous meeting, I told them that even before the High Court of Justice ruling I had said and made it clear that the Tal Law would be replaced by another more just and egalitarian law that would more fairly divide the burden among all Israeli citizens, Arab and Jewish alike, and that we would submit this law in a manner that would not set public against public. I believe that it is within our power to do so and I think that the time has come; the conditions in the State of Israel are ripe for doing so.
I would also like to congratulate all ministers and Israeli citizens following ourIndependence Day festivities. We have not had such a joyous and relaxed Independence Day – in which millions of Israelis safely visited the parks and sites in our country – for some time. I would like to again thank the Israel Police, the
security services and the IDF but I would also like to specially thank two people. One is Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin for taking steps ahead of that ceremony which were not simple due to the awful tragedy that struck when the life of officer Hila Betzaleli was cut short. But I would like to specially thank our Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister, Yuli Edelstein, who oversaw not only that ceremony, but all of the others in this period that is replete with ceremonies, and you did so with great success.
Now, I would also like to call attention to you for another reason because
Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat decided on a YouTube competition about who is and what is a Zionist. While I would like to say that everyone here is a Zionist, I would also like to note that today, if I am not mistaken, Yuli Edelstein is marking the 25th anniversary of his immigrating to Israel (to be more precise – his release from a Soviet prison). Yuli was imprisoned for three years as a refusenik and a fighter for freedom. The documents are here before us, in a Soviet prison.
You were a young fighter then, you remain a Zionist dreamer. You were a
Zionist fighter and dreamer and you dreamt of immigrating to Zion and paid for
this with your freedom for three years and then you immigrated to Israel and
today you are a government minister and undertook the necessary actions to note
this, and Israel’s independence and I would like to congratulate you. You are a
Zionist and what a Zionist. Congratulations to you and to the entire nation.”
Minister Edelstein thanked the Prime Minister and said, „I received a prize
for the struggle in the form of a beautiful 64-year-old State of Israel.”
Minister Livnat added: „I would like to update you on the YouTube competition. This is an initiative that is designed to give expression to Zionism. This is a competition that we initiated, along with YouTube, that is called ‘Zion U’. People will be able to produce video clips up to five minutes long. Mr. Prime minister, you will also be in a film, you will be in the first. Now we are shaking off the dust you know. Beyond this term ‘Zionism’ which is considered archaic and outdated, we are modernizing, enlivening and revitalizing it and making it interactive as well. The competition will also offer prizes. Surfers will rate the winning films. In the end, 30 of them will reach a judging committee that will choose the winners, who will also win a cash prize. And the most important thing is that we are doing everything in order to give more and more expression to our Zionist values because, ! like you said, and began and said, ‘This is a Zionist government’. And we are carrying out more and more actions, and Zionism will reach YouTube.”
2. Minister Yossi Peled, who represented the State of Israel at last week’s
UN ceremony marking Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance
Day, briefed ministers on the event. He noted that on 24 May 2012, at the
Wansee Villa in Berlin, an event marking the 50th anniversary of the Eichmann
trial will take place.
3. Pursuant to its 6 April 2008 decision, the Cabinet appointed Liran Dan as head
of the National information Directorate in place of Yoaz Hendel.
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