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Israeline — Monday,
** TWO ISRAELIS KILLED IN ATTACK NEAR JERUSALEM ON SATURDAY
** ITALIAN LEADER CONDEMNS HIS COUNTRY’S ‘DISGRACEFUL
PAST’
** SHARON SPEARHEADS EFFORTS TO FOIL IRAN’S
NUCLEAR PUSH
** JERUSALEM RESEARCH TEAM HAILS CYSTIC FIBROSIS
GENETIC BREAKTHROUGH
** OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF
** ECONOMIC AND HI-TECH BRIEFS
TWO ISRAELIS KILLED IN ATTACK NEAR JERUSALEM ON SATURDAY
Iliyah Riger, 58,
from Jerusalem, and Sami Afan, 25, from the Haifa area were shot and killed
Saturday evening in Jerusalem’s Kidron Valley near the Arab village of Abu Dis
as they were guarding the construction site of the security barrier, HA’ARETZ
reported. They were buried on Sunday night. The "Jenin Martyrs’ Brigades,"
which is affiliated with Yasser Arafat’s Fatah, claimed responsibility for the
attack. Gunmen opened fire from a nearby wadi, while the two guards were in
a car. A preliminary police investigation found severe "security flaws"
at the site of the attack.
Meanwhile, Israel Security Agency Chief Avi Dichter told the cabinet on Sunday that 14 suicide bombing attempts had been foiled in the past six weeks and that the number of terror alerts had recently increased from some 30 per day to 50, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Dichter said two of the 14 suicide bombers had blown themselves up near Israeli targets, without causing casualties. The rest of the bombers were prevented from carrying out their attacks either by initiated Israeli military action, or by various roadblocks or random patrols. Dichter likened the current security situation to a water polo match, saying that when seen from above, all looked elegant, but adding that from underneath the water there was "a great deal of kicking and thrashing". Dichter said the relative quiet was a result of Israeli preventive actions.
ITALIAN LEADER CONDEMNS HIS COUNTRY’S ‘DISGRACEFUL
PAST’
Italian Deputy Minister Gianfranco Fini condemned his country’s fascist past
and said that lessons had to be learned to deal with racism and anti-Semitism,
while speaking today at the Yad Vashen Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem,
HA’ARETZ reported. Wearing a skullcap and a pin of the Italian and Israeli flags,
Fini rekindled a memorial flame at the museum erected in memory of the six million
Jews killed in the Nazi genocide during World War II. Speaking outside the museum,
Fini said: "We have to condemn the shameful chapters in the history of
our people and to try to understand why complacency, collaboration and fear
caused no reaction from many Italians in 1938 to the disgraceful, fascist race
laws."
"We have to do this not only to settle accounts with the past, but to prepare for the future," Fini said. "We have to do this so it is clear to all today, in 2003, with the racism and anti-Semitism, so no one can say ‘I am not connected, it has nothing to do with me, it is not my place to respond." In related events, Fini held meetings today with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom. He is expected to soon meet with opposition leader MK Shimon Peres and President Moshe Katsav.
SHARON SPEARHEADS
EFFORTS TO FOIL IRAN’S NUCLEAR PUSH
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced intentions to personally spearhead
Israel’s efforts to thwart Iran’s nuclear aspirations, THE JERUSALEM POST reported.
The Prime Minister entrusted Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom with
representing the Government’s policy internationally, in order to influence
world leaders’ opinion regarding the Iranian threat. Sharon asked the Mossad
to be responsible for day-to-day activities to foil the Iranian attempts. In
an appearance before a parliamentary committee November 17, Meir Dagan, the
head of the Mossad, said the Iranian nuclear program posed the greatest threat
Israel has ever faced.
Earlier this month Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told U.S. officials Israel would not permit Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Mofaz told the officials, Israel believed that Iran’s nuclear weapons program would be impossible to stop by the end of 2004, and that it would be producing weapons within three years.
JERUSALEM RESEARCH
TEAM HAILS CYSTIC FIBROSIS GENETIC BREAKTHROUGH
Israeli researchers have found that an antibiotic used for years against common
infections may have the remarkable ability to correct a genetic flaw in cystic
fibrosis (CF) – a finding that ultimately may lead to a new way of treating
that and other intractable genetic diseases, ISRAEL21C.COM reported. The researchers
discovered Gentamicin, an antibiotic commonly used for eye infections has the
ability to override a major genetic defect in cystic fibrosis and tweak DNA
transcription involved in the entrance and exit of chloride in cells. The findings,
published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine, could be applied
to other genetic disorders, including muscular dystrophy, Hurler’s syndrome,
and various types of hemophilia and cancer. Dr. Michael Wilschanski and Prof.
Eitan Kerem, heads of the research team, conducted most of their work at Sha’are
Zedek Hospital, studying 19 children with well-defined miscues in a gene dubbed
CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator).
An estimated 30,000 children and adults in the United States and 500 Israelis are diagnosed with CF and have an average life expectancy of 33.4 years. CF is a potentially fatal disease in which the lungs get clogged with mucous, causing severe infections. The only definitive treatment is a lung transplant, but because donor organs are rare, most patients have no alternative but to swallow many pills of different antibiotics and pancreatic protein supplements each day, eat a special high-calorie diet, and undergo intensive physiotherapy to break up the mucous. The work by the researchers promises a way of controlling the disease, but not curing it.
Israel and Turkey agreed to increase bilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke Saturday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and told him that international terrorism was the main threat to the peace and stability of the free world, and that an uncompromising war against it was necessary. Sharon emphasized to Erdogan, leader of the Islamic AKP Party, that this "is not a war against Islam, but against terrorist elements" being led by Muslim extremists.
The Central Board of Statistics (CBS) announced that the first 10 months of 2003 saw a 20 percent increase in tourism compared with same period last year, THE MARKER reported. The figures from the CBS and the Tourism Ministry show that a total of 852,400 tourists entered Israel from January-October 2003. A total of 112,600 tourists entered Israel last month. Some 102,900 entered via air, while 9,400 crossed in over land and 300 came in by sea.
Ormat Industries won a tender run by the New York State bankruptcy court for three Covanta Energy geothermal power plants in California, THE MARKER reported. Ormat’s bid for the three plants at $214 million was accepted by the court. The deal makes Ormat the third largest player in the geothermal electricity sector in North America. Ormat specializes in geothermal power plants, and also develops energy production applications from industrial waste heat, biomass, solar energy, and low-grade fuels.
[Today’s Israel Line
was prepared by David Dorfman, David Nekrutman and Victor Chemtob at the Consulate
General of Israel in New York.]
** ROCKET
DEVELOPMENT BY TERROR GROUPS ENDANGERS ISRAEL
** ITALIAN LEADER IN ISRAEL URGES MORE EVEN-HANDEDNESS
IN EU MIDEAST POLICY
** IRAQI INFANT TO BE TREATED IN ISRAEL
** OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF
** ECONOMIC & HI-TECH BRIEFS
ROCKET DEVELOPMENT BY TERROR GROUPS ENDANGERS
ISRAEL
Both Iran and Hamas
have developed rockets with the capability of hitting Israel, HA’ARETZ reported.
Iran has recently expanded the range of its short and medium-range rockets,
which may be shipped from Tehran to South Lebanon to be used by Hizbullah. Hamas,
likewise, has conducted a test on a new model of the Qassam rocket with the
range to penetrate Israel’s coastline. Hizbullah’s current arsenal holds rockets
with a range of some 75 kilometers and warheads weighing 200 kilograms; if fired
from Israel’s northern border, they could hit targets as distant as Haifa and
Hadera. Hamas’s new, longer-range Qassam rocket is expected to reach 17 kilometers
and may place the city of Ashkelon, and other cities along Israel’s coastline,
in jeopardy. In ceremonies marking Jerusalem Day, observed in Iran as well as
by Tehran’s allies abroad, Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah warned Friday
that his organization would strike deep within Israel in response to Israel
Defense Forces attacks in Lebanon.
ITALIAN LEADER IN ISRAEL URGES MORE EVEN-HANDEDNESS
IN EU MIDEAST POLICY
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini told Israeli lawmakers today that
Europe could be "more balanced" in its approach to the Middle East,
and rebuked European Union member states for not outlawing the Palestinian terror
group Hamas sooner, HA’ARETZ reported. Speaking to the members of the Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today, Fini said that the EU had known
for many years that Hamas was a terrorist organization, but had lacked the integrity
to act upon that knowledge until Italy took over as EU president. During talks
with Fini on Monday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom praised Italy’s
role in outlawing the terrorist group, and asked that Rome make the same efforts
to add Hizbullah to the list of EU terrorist organizations. Meanwhile, Fini
also held talks Monday with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and is slated to meet
with President Moshe Katsav later this week.
IRAQI INFANT TO BE TREATED IN ISRAEL
Bayan, a Kurdish-Iraqi week-old infant with a deadly heart defect, will be brought
to Israel in the coming days for an operation, thanks to the help of Israeli
doctors, international human rights workers, Foreign Ministry officials, and
their American and Iraqi counterparts, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Split-second
decisions between Iraqi doctors and their Israeli counterparts were made over
U.S. satellite phones, Bayan and her family were issued travel permits, and
a flight was arranged. Iraqi officials provided Bayan’s family travel permits
for the journey to Israel via Jordan. After arriving in Amman on Friday, Bayan
is waiting for permission to enter Israel from the Israeli Embassy in Jordan.
The operation, to be conducted at Holon’s Wolfson Hospital, is highly complex, hospital staff said. Doctors working under the aegis of Save A Child’s Heart – an Israeli non-profit based at Wolfson that has provided free treatment to about 1,000 children world-wide since 1995 – are to operate as soon as Bayan arrives.
Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labor Ehud Olmert has issued a clarification about the agreement he reached with the European Union in Brussels regarding the labeling of Israeli products exported from territories captured in 1967, Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, reported. Olmert said the labels would specify wherever the product was manufactured, be it Tel Aviv, Haifa, the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, or the Golan Heights. The European Union has refused to grant customs benefits to Israeli products coming from the West Bank and Gaza. These items make up one percent of the exports.
Israel Defense Forces troops arrested today 18-year-old Muhamed Arisha in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus on the West Bank, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Arisha, a Fatah Tanzim terrorist, was planning to carry out a suicide bombing inside Israeli territory. Meanwhile, Israel released today 10 Jordanian prisoners, including four that were held for security-related crimes, as a gesture to Jordan on the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his family have dedicated a mother and child center at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem in honor of his soon-to-be-95-year-old mother Charlotte, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The ceremony was attended in Jerusalem on Monday by Charlotte Bloomberg, her daughter Marjorie Tiven, the mayors of both New York and Jerusalem (Uri Lupolianski), Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization national chairman June Walker, and Hadassah Medical Organization director-general Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef. The event fulfilled one of Mrs. Bloomberg’s lifelong dreams to be together as a family in Israel.
Standard and Poor’s has affirmed Israel’s sovereign credit rating, with long-term foreign currency debt staying at A-minus, short-term debt at A-1, long-term domestic currency debt at A+, and short-term debt at A-1, HA’ARETZ reported. However, Israel’s outlook remains negative, the rating agency warned. In practical terms, this means that there remains a possibility that the agency will lower Israel’s ratings in the next few months. Minister of Finance Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with the rating agencies two weeks ago during a visit to the United States, said he viewed the agency’s reiteration of Israel’s ratings as a vote of confidence in the government’s economic policy.
Israel’s Finance Ministry recently advised foreign underwriters that it planned to raise about $1.2 billion through bond issues abroad, backed by the U.S. loan guarantees, THEMARKER.COM reported. The issues will complete Israel’s allocation of the U.S. guarantees for 2003, based on expectations that the U.S. government will subtract some $200 million for Israeli investments beyond the Green Line. The announcement was sent to the 14 investment banks qualified to bid in Israel’s first offering, which took place in September. The investment banks include Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley.
The Eastman Kodak Company announced that it would acquire Raanana-based Algotec Systems Ltd., a developer of advanced picture archiving and communications systems (PACS), GLOBES reported. Kodak said the move improved Kodak’s competitive position in the growing market for PACS, which enables radiology departments worldwide to digitally manage and store medical images and information. Kodak plans to acquire privately held Algotec for $42.5 million in cash and expects the transaction to close by year-end.
[Today’s Israel Line was prepared by Tallie Lieberman, David Dorfman, David Nekrutman, and Victor Chemtob at the Consulate-General of Israel in New York.]
** POWELL
EXPRESSES HOPE FOR PEACE , PRESSES FOR PA ACTION
** SEVERAL TERRORIST ATTEMPTS THWARTED
** ISRAEL, US AGREE ON LOAN GUARANTEES CUT
** OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF
** ECONOMIC & HI-TECH BRIEFS
POWELL EXPRESSES HOPE
FOR PEACE , PRESSES FOR PA ACTION
U.S. Secretary of
State Colin Powell expressed optimism about renewed movement toward peace in
the Middle East in an interview released Wednesday, but said the new Palestinian
government had to first show it was acting against terrorism, HA’ARETZ reported.
"We should not say that the road map is dead," Powell said to the
German weekly Die Zeit. "We have not only a new Palestinian leadership,
but also movement on the Israeli side."
Powell cited among the encouraging signs "interesting comments" by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who said last week he planned a series of unspecified "unilateral" steps if peace talks broke down. "I have said to the new Palestinian prime minister [Ahmed Qurei] that we must now see action against Palestinian terrorists," Powell said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials plan to secure a pledge from terrorist groups next week to halt all attacks against Israel – which they will then present to Israel along with the demand for full implementation of the road map. Palestinian terror factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have agreed to attend a conference beginning December 2 in Cairo, Egypt.
SEVERAL TERRORIST ATTEMPTS THWARTED
Israel Defense Force
soldiers arrested a Jordanian attempting to infiltrate Israel early Tuesday
morning, not far from the Yitzhak Rabin border crossing north of Eilat, where
a Jordanian terrorist shot and murdered a tourist from Ecuador and wounded four
others last week, THE JERUSALEM POST reported.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, a special IDF undercover unit operating in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus arrested Mohammed Arisha, who was planning to carry out a suicide bomb attack in Israel. In the same raid, the soldiers also arrested a female Palestinian fugitive involved in terror activities. In other events, a Palestinian youth attempted to stab Jewish worshippers Tuesday evening at the entrance to the Western Wall plaza in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. There were no casualties in the attempted stabbing attack, because security forces on the scene overpowered and arrested the youth.
On the southern front, Egyptian authorities uncovered and demolished two tunnels used to smuggle weapons to the Palestinian side of Rafah in the past week. A statement issued by the IDF Spokesman commended the Egyptian authorities and described the acts as positive ones. The steps taken "show that the Egyptians are fully aware of the dangers of smuggling weapons through the tunnels and the effect it has on the region’s stability," the statement said.
Elsewhere on the ground, security forces conducted raids in a number of West Bank towns and villages to arrest wanted fugitives. A Tanzim fugitive was arrested in Jelazoun refugee camp west of Ramallah, a Hamas fugitive was arrested in Mazra’a Al Kabalia north west of Ramallah, and one Hamas fugitive and another affiliated with the Islamic Jihad were also arrested in Hebron. In other security related events, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya’alon said the army intended to ease up additional restrictions imposed on Palestinians living close to the security fence and – where possible – allow freedom of movement.
ISRAEL, US AGREE ON LOAN GUARANTEES CUT
Israel expects to lose $3-6 million a year in interest payments, due to the
Bush administration decision to deduct Israeli expenditures in the West Bank
and Gaza from the U.S. loan guarantees, GLOBES reported. U.S. and Israeli negotiating
teams agreed that the United States would deduct $289.5 million from the first
$3 billion tranche of the loan guarantees, which is due to be used by the end
of 2003. Since part of this tranche was already used last month to raise $1.6
billion, the US will deduct the money from the remaining $1.4 billion in the
tranche. Consequently, Israel will be able to raise only $1.11 billion in loans
bearing below market interest rates. Israel will have to raise the rest of the
money at higher interest rates.
An Israeli sources explained there was a 1-2 percent difference in the interest rates between the loans backed by the U.S. guarantees and loans raised without the US guarantees. The difference amounts to $3-6 million on $289.5 million. A statement issued by the Israeli Embassy in Washington read that, "Israel understands that the United States does not have to finance, directly or indirectly, activities with which it disagrees. Therefore, Israel proposed that the U.S. deduct a certain sum from the first tranche of the loan guarantees."
A top diplomatic said, "as far as Israel is concerned, the investment in the fence is not being taken into account." He said the deduction was for "expenditures on infrastructures, settlements, and roads in the territories, except for defense spending."
Israel formally protested to Russia on Tuesday over a Russian-drafted UN resolution that was seen by the Israeli government as an attempt to usurp Washington’s leading role in a Middle East peace plan, HA’ARETZ reported. The UN Security Council voted unanimously last Wednesday to endorse the stalled Middle East road. "Only direct dialogue (between Israel and the Palestinians) will lead to an agreement and not activity at the United Nations or other international forums," Foreign Ministry Director General Yoav Biran said.
Bayan Jassem , a week-old baby from Iraq, is currently undergoing heart surgery at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The girl checked into an Israeli hospital on Tuesday for an emergency heart operation after European hospitals refused to accept her for treatment. The baby’s trip was organized by the Israeli humanitarian organization Save a Child’s Heart, which became involved after an American doctor working with U.S. forces in Iraq discovered the defects a day after Bayan’s birth in a hospital near Kirkuk in northern Iraq.
The projects division of Bateman Engineering Israel announced on Tuesday that it would construct a $170 million power plant in Kazakhstan, GLOBES reported. Bateman Engineering Israel won the international tender, overcoming a subsidiary of General Electric and Siemens Holland. Bateman Engineering Israel will set up the 270 megawatt power station in the Atyrau region on the Caspian seacoast for the Agipco concern, which is developing a Kazakhstan oil field that is one of the largest in the world. The new power station will supply electricity to the petrochemical complex for the oil and gas from the oil field.
[Today’s Israel Line was prepared by Victor Chemtob and David Dorfman at the Consulate General of Israel in New York.]
** SHARON,
QUREI MEETING EXPECTED NEXT WEEK
** MK OMRI SHARON AND PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS HOLD
PEACE TALKS IN LONDON
** ISRAEL TO LAUNCH COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE
** OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF
** ECONOMIC & HI-TECH BRIEFS
SHARON,
QUREI MEETING EXPECTED NEXT WEEK
The offices of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister
Ahmed Qurei are in contact in order to arrange a summit next week between the
two leaders, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The Palestinian side is demanding
concessions from Israel before agreeing to a meeting – a demand rejected by
Israel. Talks between Sharon and Qurei’s respective bureau chiefs are expected
to be held early next week to solve the differences.
Meanwhile, the Palestinians would be better off reaching an agreement with Israel on the basis of the road map than waiting for the unilateral measures Israel is considering, Sharon warned on Thursday, HA’ARETZ reported. "We won’t wait for a third Palestinian government,” an official in Sharon’s bureau said. “If the road map process collapses, we will embark on a unilateral program."
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces announced concessions to the Palestinian population Thursday night. Visit permits to detainees were issued, additional bus lines between Palestinian towns were created, and work permits to Palestinians working in Jewish industrial zones close to Hebron, Jenin and various West Bank Jewish communities were distributed.
MK OMRI SHARON
AND PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS HOLD PEACE TALKS IN LONDON
MK Omri Sharon (Likud) traveled to London this week for two days of talks with
Palestinian officials aimed at advancing the “road map” peace initiative,
Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL reported. Meetings between the two parties involved
issues such as the role of the international community in promoting stability
in the region, the key military threats to the region’s security, possible
confidence building measures to restart progress on the road map and ways in
which greater economic activity can be a catalyst for political rapprochement.
Omri Sharon has served as his father’s envoy to the Palestinian side several
times in the past, most notably to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Meanwhile, another international conference on finding solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is underway in Madrid. Israel is represented by Likud parliamentary caucus chairman Gideon Saar, opposition Labor Party Knesset Members Dalia Itzik and Danny Yatom, and Ahmed Tibi of the Hadash faction. The Palestinian representatives include PA Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and former security minister Mohammed Dahlan. Also taking part are former U.S. official Martin Indyk, former European Union envoy Miguel Moratinos, a former Jordanian foreign minister and senior Spanish government officials.
ISRAEL TO LAUNCH COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE
Amos 2, an Israeli communications satellite will join its predecessor in space
on December 25, HA’ARETZ reported. The 1.4-ton satellite has already been
fitted to the Russian Soyuz and will be launched from Kazakhstan. Amos 2, the
second generation of communications satellites built by Israel Aircraft Industries
(IAI), will provide communications services to television networks in Israel,
Europe and the United States. It will also be positioned next to Amos 1 so that
the two can share a single space antenna.
According to Spacecom, owner of the satellite, the company has already signed contracts for about 70 percent of the satellite’s broadcast capacity, which includes HBO, YES, Germany’s RTL television station, the Israeli government and Gilat Satellite Networks.
After Amos 2 reaches its destination, Spacecom intends to start raising the $160 million needed to build Amos 3 to replace Amos 1, which is due to cease operations in 2008.
Five Jama’a Islamiya members currently on trial in Thailand are accused of having planned terror attacks using explosive-laden trucks to blow up diplomatic missions in the country, including the Israeli Embassy, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The terror attacks were planned for June 2003 – the height of the tourist season.
The Israel Defense Forces appointed today Brig. Gen. Eliezer Shakedi to be the new Air Force chief, HA’ARETZ reported. Shakedi, 46, currently heads the Air Force headquarters. He will replace Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz as Air Force commander in April 2004. Brig. Gen. Eliezer Shakedi began his service in the IDF in 1975. After completing a pilot’s course he served as a pilot in the IAF and advanced to different command and staff positions.
The second Israeli-French conference on biotechnology and nano-technology opened today at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, GLOBES reported. The first conference took place in Grenoble, France. One hundred overseas guests participate in the conference, which will deal with a variety of biotechnology and nano-technology applications. These include micro-biosensors, which are likely to be useful in the struggle against bio-terrorism, and biochip proteins, which are likely to facilitate simultaneous diagnosis of multiple diseases.
Minister of Tourism Binyamin Elon met Governor of Aqaba Akel Biltaji during his first visit to Jordan and the two agreed that Eilat and Aqaba would jointly market the Red Sea brand, GLOBES reported. Egypt has recently been marketing the Red Sea brand without cooperating with Eilat and Aqaba. Elon and Biltaji held a joint press conference at the Jordanian side of the Arava border crossing point where a terrorist attacked a group of tourists from Ecuador last week. Elon and Biltaji also discussed improving security at the border crossing.
[Today’s Israel Line was prepared by David Nekrutman and Victor Chemtob
at the Consulate General of Israel in New York.]
