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Military sites linked to Syrian regime forces and Iranian militias were allegedly targeted on Monday in Israeli strikes near Damascus. The Syrian military said the country’s air defenses responded to Israeli air raids that killed five people and wounded seven.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country’s civil war, said the suspected Israeli strikes targeted government and Iranian militia posts and that the five casualties were apparently members of the Iranian Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and members of other pro-Iran militias operating in Syria.
Monday’s attack came a week and a half after Iran and Syria signed an agreement that would see Tehran upgrade the Syrian military’s air defenses, apparently in response to ongoing Israeli strikes in the country.
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COVID-19: The Knesset on Monday passed into law a bill authorizing the Shin Bet security service to use cellphone data and other sensitive information to track Israelis who contract the coronavirus and those they are in contact with. The legislation, which will be in force until January, allows the Health Ministry to use the Shin Bet tracking data, as long as there are over 200 new COVID-19 infections a day. The Health Ministry will have access to the data for a period of 21 days, which must then be renewed by the government.
Israel also announced on Monday that it was extending a travel ban on foreigners until September 1 in light of the ongoing second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The ban means no one except Israeli citizens and permanent residents can enter Israel. And those allowed to enter will have to spend two weeks in quarantine.
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Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry unveiled a new program that would essentially grade Israeli businesses according to their contribution to society, as part of an effort to offset potential blacklisting by the United Nations. The plan calls for giving budgetary support to companies that engage in sustainability and other environmentally friendly activities, as well as contribute to society in other means.
A UN blacklist, published in early 2020, comprises more than 100 Israeli companies, including large banks and health funds.
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Chevron Corp said on Monday it would buy oil and gas producer Noble Energy Inc. for about $5 billion in stock, the first big energy deal since the coronavirus crisis crushed global fuel demand and sent crude prices to historic lows. The purchase gives Chevron ownership of Noble’s flagship Leviathan field off the coast of Israel, the largest natural gas field in the eastern Mediterranean.
The deal makes Chevron the first oil major to enter Israel. Israel’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz called the deal “a tremendous expression of confidence in the Israeli energy market.”
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Around two-thirds of US voters describe themselves as pro-Israel and oppose reducing American security aid to the Jewish state, according to a new poll.
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Antisemitism Watch: On July 4, Madonna posted a video to her Instagram account that was a trailer for a recent speech by Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who has spouted antisemitic rhetoric over the years. Madonna’s post has since racked up 710,000 views. The singer has more than 15 million Instagram followers.
Former NBA All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire said there is a “lack of leadership” in the Black community that has led to expressions of antisemitism, and he has offered to bridge the gap between Jews and Blacks. Stoudemire, who lives and plays professionally in Israel for Maccabi Tel Aviv, was reacting to a number of recent antisemitic social media posts by Black sports figures and celebrities.
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- A chill wind from Poland (Ben Cohen)
- Home at last: Why did the Jews make aliyah? (Dov Lipman)
