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Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan has invited Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for an official visit to the United Arab Emirates. The invitation was extended by UAE Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Al Khaja, who met Bennett at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
During the meeting, also attended by Bahraini Ambassador to Israel Khalid Al Jalahma, Bennett discussed expanding trilateral cooperation and strengthening the Abraham Accords, with the Israeli premier saying: “The stronger the bond between our countries, the stronger the security and stability in the entire region.”
The visit will be the first by an Israeli prime minister to the UAE since the formal establishment of diplomatic relations last year as part of the Trump administration-brokered Abraham Accords.
In addition to Abu Dhabi and Manama, Sudan and Morocco have also signed on to the agreements.
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Israel has approved a budget of some $1.5 billion to be used by the military to prepare for a potential strike on Iran’s nuclear program. The budget reportedly includes funds for various types of aircraft, intelligence-gathering drones and unique armaments needed for such an operation, which would have to target heavily fortified underground sites.
Last month, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi told local media that Israel has “greatly accelerated” preparations for possible military action tageting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
In his speech to the UN General Assembly last month, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett declared that “Iran’s nuclear program has hit a watershed moment, and so has our tolerance. Words do not stop centrifuges from spinning.”
The development comes days after the US Air Force announced that it had carried out a successful test of its new “bunker buster,” the GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator. The 5,000-pound bomb could be used to strike Iranian nuclear sites.
The Biden Administration is still seeking a joint US-Iranian return to compliance with the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal, while acknowledging that it will not wait indefinitely for Tehran to return to the negotiation table.
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More than three years after a similar request was denied, kosher and halal food has been made available at the British parliament, where about 11,000 people work, hundreds of them Jewish or Muslim. The move was made following a push that two Labour lawmakers — Charlotte Nichols, who is Jewish, and Zarah Sultana, who is Muslim – began in 2019. The dishes on offer Tuesday included chicken schnitzel, beef goulash, Moroccan salmon and roast chicken.
Meanwhile, sabbath dinner is coming to the Israel National Trail, the country’s hiking route that spans some 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) from north to south. Tzohar will offer the meals to hikers along with the option to attend a prayer service. The goal of the program is to allow a diverse group of Israelis to come together in a way that highlights their connection to the land and their Jewish identities, said Ori Shechter, who is directing the initiative.
In 2012, National Geographic described the Israel National Trail as one of the “holy grails of hikes,” placed it among the top 20 in the world.
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The National Library of Israel (NLI) has granted the public access to “singularly significant” archival materials from an individual known as “Mr. Shushani,” who was an influential teacher to a number of significant 20th-century Jewish cultural and intellectual figures, including Elie Wiesel.
The new collection includes some 50 of Shushani’s notebooks, filled with his thoughts, musings and ideas in the realms of Jewish thought, as well as memory exercises, mathematical formulas and more.
According to the NLI, Shushani had “an extraordinary photographic memory” and was reportedly able to recall and cite the entire Hebrew Bible, Talmud and other Jewish texts from memory, while also mastering various fields of mathematics, physics, modern philosophy and different languages.
Scholars believe the notebooks will reveal some potentially groundreaking ideas and teachings related to Jewish thought and texts, the National Library said.
Recommended Reading
- Nearly Two Years After Soleimani Assassination, IRGC Takes Over Roles Reserved for Quds Force (Yaakov Lappin, Jewish News Syndicate)
- Portugal Honors Hero Diplomat Who Saved Thousands of Jews (Jerusalem Post)
- On Teaching ‘Opposing’ Views of the Holocaust and Systemic Racism (David Bernstein, Times of Israel)
- Israeli Scuba Diver Discovers Ancient Crusader Sword (Associated Press)
- Ancient Jewish Prayer Book Sells for Record-Breaking $8.3 Million (Yori Yalon, Hanan Greenwood, Israel Hayom)
