ISRAELI PRESS REVIEW
Israeli Press Review of 29.05.2013
- Lieberman to testify in Belarus fraud case
After 17 years of investigations in the Belarus Ambassador Affair case filed against him, former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman will testify on Wednesday in a case where he is accused of fraud and breach of public trust, the Jerusalem Post reports.
Click here to read the full article in Jerusalem Post
- Amnesty for unlicenced guns
Israel’s Ministry of Public Security has begun an amnesty campaign to collect illegal, unlicenced firearms, promising that anyone who hands over their unlicenced gun will not be prosecuted, Yediot Aharonot reports.
Unlike similar campaigns in the US, where the concern is violent crime, misuse of firearms is a greater problem relative to suicides.
Yakov Amit, the head of firearm licensing in the Ministry says there are 160,000 licensed civilian weapons in Israel, along with 130,000 guns licensed to institutions such as security companies. According to law, Israelis must renew their gun permits every three years, including a requirement for shooting practice.
Click here to read the full article in Yediot Aharonot
- Netanyahu tells Ya’alon to back down on hareidi draft proposals
The committee tasked with drafting new rules for hareidi military service will attempt to finish its work Wednesday, after the sides initially failed to come together on how to prosecute draft-dodgers from the ultra-Orthodox community, the Times of Israel reports.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon had refused to agree to automatic criminal penalties for those who fail to report to the draft leading the Yesh Atid party, the second largest in the Knesset, to threaten to pull out of the coalition, which would have effectively collapsed the government.
However on Monday evening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Ya’alon to drop his opposition, ending the coalition crisis and paving the way for Wednesday’s meeting.
