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The Knesset Education Committee on Tuesday approved a second and third reading of the “Cultural Loyalty Law”, which was promoted by Culture Minister Miri Regev. The bill will be brought for a vote in the Knesset plenum next Monday. It would allow government budgets to be revoked from cultural institutions that deny Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, incite to racism, violence and terrorism. MK Ofer Shelah, chairman of the Yesh Atid faction, was furious at the Education Committee’s approval of the bill and claimed that “behind the Cultural Loyalty Law there is nothing but a personal whim...

Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev (Likud) will demand at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting to close the UN headquarters in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood and return the land to the state. Her call came after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Steering Committee voted to adopt a resolution denying Israel’s rights to Jerusalem. The resolution declares that “all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular the ‘basic law’ on Jerusalem, are null and...

A day after causing an uproar in Israel by implying that Likud voters were a “marching herd of beasts”, actor Oded Kotler on Monday sought to clarify his remarks. Speaking to Army Radio, Kotler apologized for the way he worded his comments, but insisted that the premise behind them was correct. The actor’s remarks had been made at a rally on Sunday night to protest the new government's policy that no funding would go to artists who boycott the state. Kotler, in his remarks, particularly criticized Culture Minister Miri Regev, saying, “Imagine your world, Mrs. Regev, as a quiet world,...

Culture Minister Miri Regev was steadfast Sunday in defending her decision to review funding for an Arab-Jewish theater, making clear that cultural institutions who partner in boycotts against Israel will not be funded by the country. Last Tuesday, Regev announced she would "reconsider" state funding to the Elmina Theater, after manager Norman Issa refused to participate in a play in Judea and Samaria. That decision incurred the wrath of leftist artists and politicians, with Meretz chairwoman Zehava Galon accusing Regev of "silencing creators who don't align with the regime's position." Regev, however, was undeterred. "Institutions that delegitimize the State of...

Video Police had shown the committee video footage of recent Arab rioting in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, and Committee Chair MK Miri Regev (Likud) asked him why police did not close off the Temple Mount to both Jews and Muslims, instead of just Jews. MK Zahalka began shouting that police have no business entering the Mount - the holiest place in Judaism - claiming that it is "occupied territory". He then told Lt. Gen. Danino that he has blood on his hands, prompting a furious reaction by Regev. The exchange was extreme even by the extreme standards set by...

Chairwoman of the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee, MK Miri Regev said on Monday that the violent Bedouins who rioted against the Prawer proposal must be brought to justice. The police were present at the Knesset session, "At 16:15 a barrage of rocks was hurled at the police, in addition to firebombs. There were 20 arrests and 17 indictments, 50 officers were hospitalized,"...

IsraelNN.com) On Thursday, the last day of the Jerusalem Conference, panelists Mark Regev, Melanie Philips and Professor Anne Bayefsky discussed “The United Nations and the International Assault on Israel.” (videos at link)

Two years after Israeli reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were abducted by Hezbollah guerillas in a cross-border raid, coffins said to contain their bodies were taken to the Lebanese side of its border with Israel as part of a prisoner exchange to bring them home. The swap, overwhelmingly approved Tuesday by the cabinet, began at around 9 A.M. Wednesday at the Rosh Hanikra crossing, under the auspices of the International Red Cross Committee. A convoy carrying the bodies of the two Israelis reached the Rosh Hanikra crossing on the Lebanese side of the border at about 8:30 A.M., where...

Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the two soldiers whose kidnapping on July 12, 2006, triggered the Second Lebanon War, are expected to be returned to Israel within 10 days as a result of Sunday's cabinet approval of a swap with Hizbullah. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in a dramatic statement to his ministers at the outset of a six-hour discussion on the deal, said the two men are almost certainly dead. "As far as we know, the two soldiers - Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev - are no longer alive," he said. "As far as we know, they were killed during...

Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the two soldiers whose kidnapping on July 12, 2006, triggered the Second Lebanon War, are expected to be returned to Israel within 10 days as a result of Sunday's cabinet approval of a swap with Hizbullah. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in a dramatic statement to his ministers at the outset of a six-hour discussion on the deal, said the two men are almost certainly dead. "As far as we know, the two soldiers - Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev - are no longer alive," he said. "As far as we know, they were killed during...

Tel Aviv - Israel considers dead two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, German political magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. According to the magazine, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was planning to publicly declare the two reservists dead. Government spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment on the issue. Israeli newspapers have been publishing similar information over the past months. Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were kidnapped by the Hezbollah on July 12, 2006 ahead of Israel's war with Lebanon. Olmert had declared the soldiers' return the aim of the summer 2006 war. However, there has not been...

It would be an extremely callous person indeed who did not share in the happiness radiating out of television screens as scenes were broadcast around the world Thursday of 15 captured British sailors returning safely home from Iran.How wonderful it must have been for the emotionally drained families and friends who waited in almost excruciating anticipation for the Sea King choppers bearing the uniformed boys and girl to touch down at RAF Chivenor Royal Marine Base in Cornwall.As I am sure happened to millions of viewers, I found myself smiling broadly, tears pricking at my eyes as the young Faye...

UN Commissioner refuses to meet captives' families UN high commissioner on human rights announces she will not meet with families of three kidnapped soldiers during Israel visit. Eldad Regev's brother: 'Decision not to meet families should set off red lights of UN stance behind resolution', Ahiya Raved Published: 11.21.06, 23:22 Arbour in Sderot Photo: ReutersThe UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Louise Arbour has decided not to meet with the families of the kidnapped soldiers during her visit to Israel . The families of Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit have approached the commissioner two weeks ago already, but...

Masses turn out for prayers at Western Wall for traditional priestly blessing on Sukkot. Psalms said for wounded and kidnapped soldiers alike Tens of thousands of worshippers showed up at the Western Wall in Jerusalem Monday to participate in the traditional priestly blessing. The morning prayers of Sukkot were held with the Chief Rabbis of Israel Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Rabbi Yonah Metzger in attendance. Following the prayers, the chief rabbis held a special prayer and recited psalms for the speedy recovery of those injured in the war and the return of the kidnapped soldiers. Afterwards, the custom of visiting...

Hezbollah would not have abducted two Israel Defense Forces soldiers on July 12 had it known that the action would lead to war in Lebanon, the leader of the militant group, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said in an interview televised Sunday. Reservist soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were kidnapped on July 12 in a cross-border raid by Hezbollah guerillas, sparking a 34-day conflict. Hezbollah is demanding the release of some of the thousands of Arabs in Israeli prisons in exchange for the kidnapped soldiers. We did not think, even one percent, that the capture would lead to a war at...

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert briefed opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu on recent developments in the operations in Lebanon in an 80-minute meeting at the prime minister's official residence in Jerusalem on Friday. A spokesman for Netanyahu said that no political matters were discussed at the meeting but that Olmert thanked Netanyahu for his recent appearances defending Israel on American and European television networks. He said Olmert told Netanyahu that he was Israel's "best spokesman in the foreign press" - a compliment that could potentially cause a dispute between Olmert and his vice premier, Shimon Peres. Netanyahu condemned a Foreign Ministry official...

Life is all about choices. Life in Israel, alas, is all about excruciatingly difficult choices.Terrorism - by design - cruelly creates for its victims any number of no-win situations, precipitating the painful choices that flow from them. Do we bomb an apartment building where a wanted killer is hiding, knowing civilian lives will invariably be lost in the process? Do we react harshly to an incursion of our borders, aware that this reaction will put our forces even further in harm's way? Do we follow our instincts and ignore international pleas to show restraint, straining our already-tenuous relationships with other...