First soldier killed in combat since Gaza pullout laid to rest
St.-Sgt. Yonatan Evron, the first Israeli military fatality since September's evacuation of the Gaza Strip, was laid to rest today in his hometown of Rishon Letzion, HAARETZ reported. Evron was killed in a pre-dawn shootout Wednesday with armed Palestinians in the northern West Bank village of Kafr Mirka, near Jenin. The Israel Defense Forces later awarded Evron a posthumous promotion. The gun battle broke out after IDF troops entered the village to arrest a wanted Hamas gunman, who surrendered without resistance. After the soldiers put him into a military jeep, they noticed suspicious movement nearby and opened fire. Palestinians returned fire, and Evron sustained a head wound in the ensuing crossfire. He was treated at the scene, but died from his wounds shortly after, while being transported by helicopter to the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. The assailants fled the scene. Soldiers combing the area found a Kalashnikov assault rifle covered in blood and the IDF believes one of the wanted gunmen was hit by IDF gunfire.
Kindergarten kids exposed to Qassams
The ongoing firing of Qassam rockets has raised anxiety among parents of toddlers in the towns and kibbutzim surrounding the Gaza Strip, YNET reported. "I am very very fearful for my children. It doesn't matter how much you guide children and tell them to put their hands over their head. A hand over the head will not protect them from a Qassam which will open a hole in the ceiling," a woman from Kibbutz Gevim told Ynet. Her two sons go to the nursery school and kindergarten in the kibbutz, which has been aimed many times by Qassams fired from Beit Hanun.
A letter sent to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon by the heads of the fours regional councils surrounding the Gaza Strip to reveals an unacceptable risk for the lives of children in the kindergartens. Up to now, the council heads claim, the Israeli government has not succeeded in protecting these educational institutions. Most of them remain exposed to Palestinian terror, which only Tuesday night struck again in the shape of a rocket landing in Moshav Netiv Ha'asara.
"The budget allocated to the protection of educational institutions in the towns surrounding Gaza enables the protection of only a tiny number of all kindergartens and day care centers. The Israeli government must budget the protection of its young children residing along the Gaza border, which is subject to ongoing rocket attacks," the council heads say in the letter. "We shall not agree to a situation in which only casualties cause the government to react rationally," they add.
In the kibbutzim and moshavim surrounding the Gaza Strip there are dozens of kindergartens and nursery schools, from the Kerem Shalom community in the south to Moshav Netiv Haasara near the Jabalya refugee camp in the north. It turns out that most of these kindergartens and day care centers have not been shielded yet, despite the security situation since the beginning of Qassam firing by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad toward the western Negev following the bombing in the Jabalya refugee camp. Sources in the Prime Minister's Office told Ynet that so far NIS 86 million (approximately USD 19 million) have been transferred to budget the plan to shield kindergartens and daycare centers in the towns and kibbutzim surrounding Gaza.
5 lightly wounded as mortar shell hits Netiv Ha'asarah
Shrapnel lightly wounded an Israeli civilian today and four others were treated for shock, after a mortar shell exploded in Moshav Netiv Ha'assara located near the north Gaza border, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Shortly after, a second mortar shell landed in the community. No one was wounded in the attack but one house sustained severe damage. In addition, one of the mortars hit a power wire, causing a blackout in the moshav. In addition, a Kassam rocket reportedly landed in the vicinity of Sderot. Earlier, three Palestinian gunmen were wounded during a gun battle that erupted with IDF soldiers operating in the Samaria village of Kabatiya. The condition of the three and their identities are still unknown. There were no casualties among IDF troops.Since the suicide attack in Hadera, which emanated from Kabatiya, the army has been operating intensively in the region.
Economic & Hi-Tech Briefs
* The Ministry of Finance is not revising its 3.9 percent growth forecast for 2006 at this time, even though a number of top economists have recommended that acting Minister of Finance Ehud Olmert raise the growth forecast in view of significant improvement in Israel's economic activity, GLOBES reported. In contrast to the official estimate, a number of economists assert that the correct growth estimate should be around 4.5 percent, which is still less than the Central Bureau of Statistics prediction of 5.1 percent. Both The Economist and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have published more optimistic growth forecasts than the Ministry of Finance, predicting 4.2 percent growth for Israel.
*Lumenis announced the FDA's approval to market "Aluma Skin Renewal System with FACES," THE MARKER.COM reported. FACES refers to Functional Aspiration Controlled Electrothermal Stimulation technology, Lumenis noted. The company claims Aluma is the first system in the world that treats fine lines and wrinkles effectively, virtually painlessly, and non-invasively. Lumenis CEO Avner Raz explaned that while most companies use lasers, this machine is unique in that it is based on radio frequency waves with a vaccum to tighten the skin. "In our initial clinical study, patients showed visible improvement wrinkles after a single session and the effect remained during follow up," he said in the company's statement. "In this study, 85 percent of patients showed visible wrinkle improvement at the six -month follow up, and more than half of the patients showed moderate to complete improvement in the skin's smoothness and appearance," Raz added.
U.N. approves Holocaust Remembrance Day
The United Nation's General Assembly unanimously approved Israel's resolution and set January 27th as the international Holocaust commemoration day, YNET reported. The approval was expected and no country wanted to object.
However, following the approval Muslim countries' representatives expressed their reservations. The Egyptian ambassador said that the resolution should have included other genocide cases, claiming that no one has a monopoly on suffering. The Malaysian representative said that there were other genocides which were no less severe. Indonesia's representative protested that the Holocaust was not the only human tragedy.
China's representative protested against the horrors instigated by Japanese soldiers in World War Two, and Venezuela's representative protested the dropping of American nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Gillerman introduced the resolution in the U.N. General Assembly on Monday. The resolution, which is the first to be introduced by Israel in the UN General Assembly, was expected to be approved by consensus, after 90 states confirmed their support for the measure.
The resolution asks all countries to reject any full or partial denial of the Holocaust and condemn "all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief, wherever they occur." "I feel moved and privileged to present this historic resolution today, as an Israeli, a Jew, a human being and the child of Holocaust victims," Gillerman told the General Assembly.
Gillerman recalled that the United Nations was founded on the ashes of the Holocaust and the commitment to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." The resolution described an "indelible link" between the world body and the "unique tragedy" of the war. "While the Holocaust was a unique tragedy for the Jewish people, its lessons are universal," he said. "The Holocaust was carried out at the height of the rational age and it represents a watershed in human history. It brought us face to face with the full extent of man's capacity for inhumanity to his fellow man."
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who was unable to attend the session, lauded the measure, and said that the expected approval of the resolution constitutes a significant step forward in the war on anti-Semitism, in the commemoration of the holocaust and in advancing Israel's international stature. Today, 60 years after the Holocaust, the UN finally acknowledges the importance of its lessons and treats Israel as an equal member in the international community, Shalom added. Germany's U.N. Ambassador Gunter Pleuger called the Holocaust "the darkest chapter in the history of Germany" marked by "the silent terror of the camps."
Bill Gates: Israel is a high tech superpower
Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates, on his first visit to Israel last Wednesday, announced an agreement between his company and the Israeli government to encourage the development of Israeli technology, worth some $1.4 million in the next three years, HAARETZ reported.
"It's no exaggeration to say that the kind of innovation going on in Israel is critical to the future of the technology business," Gates said in his announcement. The agreement came ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Gates was also meeting Wednesday with Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Ehud Olmert and other economic leaders before heading to Jordan.
Gates, who arrived in Israel on Tuesday evening for his 24-hour visit, is one of the world's richest people and among the most influential philanthropists today. "I'm certainly excited ... [about] encouraging the success of the companies in Israel," Gates said. Earlier Wednesday, Gates met with outstanding Israeli technology students, made a presentation on the future of global technology and outlined the latest research by Microsoft.
Microsoft employs more than 400 workers in Israel. However, the company likes to keep its software security development center in Haifa out of the limelight for fear of repercussions in the Arab world. The founder and managing director of Microsoft Israel, Arie Scope, said he expects Gates to invest more in Israel now that he has visited the country.
Gates and his wife Melinda established a charitable foundation in 2000, which is considered the world's largest private foundation. It has contributed more than $27 billion to various relief causes to date. The coming year is important for Gates, who will be turning 50 this week.