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A senior Israeli official denied any deliberate leak of the confidential reports.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A top American official has accused Israel of deliberately leaking information passed on to Jerusalem regarding the nuclear talks with Iran in order to torpedo them, Walla reported Wednesday.

According to the report, based on both U.S. and Israeli sources, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had a “very harsh conversation” with his Israeli counterpart Tzachi Hanegbi in a call Friday. He said that the White House believes Israel is behind the leaks in the press in recent weeks regarding the unofficial understandings allegedly being reached between Washington and Tehran.

Biden administration was particularly perturbed that earlier this month Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee about the contacts. He did not come out strongly against what he called the “less for less” deal, and has still not criticized it sharply, in contrast to his all-out offensive when then-president Obama introduced the original nuclear deal with Tehran in 2015.

There are those in the Biden administration who are also accusing Jerusalem of either directly or indirectly giving secret information on the issue to members of Congress who take a hard line against Iran.

Moreover, one American official said, Sullivan complained that much of the information that found its way to the media was inaccurate and did not reflect the truth about the quiet negotiations.

Israel was put in the loop as the White House talked indirectly with Tehran regarding unwritten understandings that reportedly include the Americans allowing Iran to receive billions of dollars from other countries that have been frozen in banks due to sanctions on the Islamic Republic. In return, the Iranians would freeze their enrichment of uranium at 60%, even though this level of enrichment has no peace-time use, and refrain from selling ballistic missiles to Russia, which Moscow could use in its ongoing invasion of Western-backed Ukraine.

Israeli officials rejected the American charge.

“The claim that there were deliberate Israeli leaks aimed at thwarting understanding between Iran and the United States is false,” one senior official told Haaretz.

The Israeli government has been saying both publicly and privately for weeks that it “does indeed have questions and even concerns on the subject and we raise this in the open dialogue we have with the Americans,” the official added.

At last week’s Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu referred to the talks, saying, “Even … ‘mini agreements,’ in our opinion, do not serve our goals, and we oppose those as well.”

The post U.S. accuses Israel of leaking information to torpedo talks with Iran appeared first on World Israel News.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding discussions regarding the use of public space following a spate of non-peaceful protests in front of politicians’ homes.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has scheduled meetings for Thursday to discuss the possibility of issuing restrictions on public protests, following a string of attacks on public figures during anti-judicial reform demonstrations.

While insisting that they “don’t have a problem with demonstrations” per se, government officials explained that there is a need for a review because there have been “attacks and riots against politicians in the face of incompetence in the system of the rule of law.”

On Tuesday, six protestors were arrested after hundreds gathered to demonstrate in front of Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s Modi’in home, blowing horns, beating drums, burning tires and blocking the entrance to his street with barbed wire. When the first demonstrator was detained, others surrounded the police cars that had arrived and began clashing with officers, leading to the police using pepper spray and physical force to disperse them.

Levin was livid at what he deemed the weak response of the authorities to the incident, saying, “The attorney general and the law enforcement system under her are ignoring the violence, if not winking at the instigators, and allowing the lawlessness to run wild.”

Netanyahu backed his No.2, saying in a Likud statement that “The time has come for the attorney general and Israel Police to act with all their might and determination against lawbreakers, without regard to religion, race, geographic area or political opinion.”

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara was asked to attend the Thursday discussions.

The consultations come on the heels of a protest held early Thursday morning near the house of Minister for the Advancement of the Status of Women May Golan (Likud), in which one of the anti-judicial reform leaders was arrested.

Moran Zer Katzenstein, who heads the Building an Alternative movement was detained while standing with a group of women and ringing handbells loudly on the sidewalk.

She told the press after her release a short time later that she was “proud of all the women who stood in front of the house and didn’t move.” The police, she added, shouldn’t have detained anyone “for ringing a bell” and “they know it.”

Katzenstein dismissed the police warning that she was disturbing public order and taking part in an illegal demonstration.

“There’s no reason to define this protest as ‘illegal,’ we really did everything according to the law, there was no reason to stop us,” she said.

The organization protested afterwards that the police had “refused to allow them their freedom of movement on the street and move about in the public space.”

Labor head MK Merav Michaeli meanwhile called on the police to be “neutral and objective,” adding, “You are not a political police force.”

The post Netanyahu mulls limits on demonstrations after politicians attacked appeared first on World Israel News.

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Administrative detention should only be used to prevent impending terror attacks, not “settle scores” with suspected lawbreakers, says Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Lawmakers from the Religious Zionism party blasted reports that additional administrative detention orders will be issued in the coming days, targeting settlers believed to be involved in riots in Palestinian Authority-controlled enclaves in Judea and Samaria.

Administrative detention is a procedure in which suspects are arrested and held for an indefinite amount of time, without being criminally charged and unable to access legal counsel.

Israel typically uses administrative detention against individuals who are suspected to be actively planning or involved in terror attacks, and the measure is meant to be a “last resort” option to prevent imminent harm to state security.

Last week, the Shin Bet security agency issued administrative detention orders against four settlers who are believed to have torched vehicles in a Palestinian village, following a deadly terror attack that left four Israelis dead near Eli.

According to an Army Radio report, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) is planning to authorize additional indefinite arrests for settlers thought to have been involved in similar rioting in the towns of Turmus-Ayya and Umm Safa.

Some of the arrestees currently held in administrative detention are suspected of having participated in rioting in Huwara in February, following the murders of the Yaniv brothers.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich slammed the news that more Israelis will likely be detained indefinitely in the coming days.

The political said that lawmakers should be subject to prosecution, but that the measure should only be used to stop impending harm to public safety – not in standard criminal procedures.

“The use of administrative arrests against settlers is democratically and morally wrong,” Smotrich wrote on his Twitter account.

“When [administrative detention] is not to prevent future risk, but to settle accounts with the detainees for past acts attributed to them, that is totally illegal,” he added.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also issued a blistering statement against the practice, claiming that there was a double standard for Arab and Jewish criminals.

When it comes to “organized, murderous and armed crime militias in Arab society, of which intelligence reports indicate serious dangers, [there is] no activation of the Shin Bet, nor administrative detention,” Ben-Gvir wrote on his Twitter.

“Boys suspected of setting fire to property (a crime worthy of resolute condemnation and police treatment) – immediately the Shin Bet [gets involved] and [we see] administrative detention.”

The post ‘Totally illegal and morally wrong’ – right-wing lawmakers blast indefinite arrests of settlers appeared first on World Israel News.

New York State alleges that businessman used millions of dollars earmarked for elderly care for investments, including purchasing controlling stake in El Al.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

The American owner of Israel’s national airline, El Al, took control of the company by misappropriating hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding that were earmarked for elderly care, according to a new lawsuit filed by the state of New York.

In 2020, New York-based entrepreneur Kenneth Rozenberg acquired a controlling stake in the airline – which was heavily in debt and struggling to stay in business during the coronavirus pandemic – for $107 million.

Rozenberg, a successful businessman, made much of his fortune by establishing and operating a chain of elderly care facilities throughout New York state.

But according to New York Attorney General Leticia James, Rozenberg’s purchase of El Al was just one of several investments he made by illegally using Medicaid funding – which was meant to be used solely for operations and other costs in the nursing homes.

“Nursing homes are meant to be safe spaces where the most vulnerable members of our community receive the care and dignity they deserve,” said Attorney General James in a statement.

“Instead, the owners of Centers Health Care allegedly used these four nursing homes — and the vulnerable New Yorkers who lived there — to extract millions of dollars for their personal use, leading to elderly residents and those with disabilities suffering unconscionable pain, neglect, degradation, and even death.”

Rozenberg and his partner, Daryl Hagler, “converted more than $83 million in Medicaid and Medicare funds to enrich themselves, their families, and business associates through an elaborate network of related companies and collusive, fraudulent transactions, rather than use the funds for their intended purposes of providing sufficient staffing and required resident care,” the suit charged.

Notably, the suit specifically named the El Al purchase as evidence of Rozenberg’s financial wrongdoing.

“This $103 million loan came, at least in part, from Hagler’s fraudulently and illegally obtained profits from Medicaid-funded nursing homes,” the suit claimed.

“Rozenberg’s investment in El Al, which ultimately allowed him to become the controlling shareholder of the airline, was made possible by his and Hagler’s longstanding pattern of fraud and illegality.”

A spokesman for Rozenberg’s business ventures vehemently denied the allegations in a statement.

“Centers Health Care prides itself on its commitment to patient care. Centers denies the New York Attorney General’s allegations wholeheartedly and attempted to resolve this matter out of court. We will fight these spurious claims with the facts on our side,” spokesperson Jeff Jacomowitz said.

The post Did El Al owner misappropriate Medicaid funds to buy airline? appeared first on World Israel News.

Netanyahu acknowledges that key part of judicial overhaul legislation no longer on the agenda, to the chagrin of his coalition partners.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Members of the current right-wing coalition have expressed their disappointment and frustration with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after the premier admitted in an interview that he does not plan to advance a key aspect of the overhaul aimed at reforming Israel’s legal system.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Netanyahu said that the proposed override clause – which would allow the Knesset to nullify Supreme Court decisions via a majority vote of lawmakers – was no longer on the judicial reform agenda.

“It’s out,” Netanyahu told the Journal. He added that he was carefully reviewing the judicial reform legislation and would move to advance only the bills that would be supported by the majority of voters.

He stressed to the outlet that he is “attentive to the public pulse, and to what I think will pass muster.”

Netanyahu’s comments immediately sparked backlash from members of his government, who told Hebrew-language media that they viewed his remarks as admitting defeat in the face of ongoing anti-overhaul demonstrations.

“The reform is dead. [Netanyahu] is simply surrendering,” a senior coalition lawmaker, speaking anonymously, told Channel 12 News.

“The interview is a very big disappointment, a failure,” another lawmaker said, according to an Arutz Sheva report.

“After seven months, we were left with a minimal [reform]. This is the opposite of what was promised to the voter.”

MK Tali Gottlieb accused Netanyahu of “stopping [Justice Minister Yariv] Levin’s reform and reducing it to an embarrassingly small trickle.”

She added that “all that’s left of the reform are remnants of it. It’s basically nothing at all.”

Jerusalem Minister Meir Porush of the United Torah Judaism party said in a media statement that the override clause was non-negotiable for his faction.

Porush emphasized that the override clause was part of three essential promises Netanayau had made in exchange for the party joining the coalition.

“Any other agreement is not acceptable to us,” Porush said.

The post ‘Failure, surrender’ – Netanyahu admits plan to limit judicial overhaul, drawing criticism from allies appeared first on World Israel News.