{"id":30046,"date":"2018-09-07T03:40:40","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T10:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=30046"},"modified":"2018-09-06T13:40:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-06T20:40:00","slug":"many-good-things-happened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/09\/07\/many-good-things-happened\/","title":{"rendered":"Many good things happened"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu presents the nuclear secrets of Iran at a special press briefing in Jerusalem on April 30, 2018. (photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It has been a year of diplomatic success for Israel, as more countries upgraded their relations with the Jewish state. This took, in general, two forms: heads of government making an official visit to Israel or Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visiting other countries; and the establishment of the embassies of the United States, Guatemala and Panama in Jerusalem, Israel\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

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The newly discovered Lod mosaic. (photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In April, at a special press conference hosted by Netanyahu, the world learned of the secret storage facilities in Iran that housed Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions. It is not known exactly how Israel managed to find out the location of the files, or how they were copied and brought back to Israel, but the revelations served Israel well, and the files were instrumental in making the United States renege on the nuclear agreement that President Barack Obama had made with the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n

It was a long, hot summer in more ways than one. The latest form of terrorist aggravation was for Gazans to assemble in the thousands along the Gaza-Israel border and launch kites and balloons to which were attached flaming torches that set fire to forests and agricultural fields in Israel, causing uncountable damage and destruction. A variation of this procedure was for terrorists to attach flaming torches to lines attached to the legs of kestrels who managed to survive long enough to set trees alight in Israeli forests near the border.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
In November last year, the three millionth tourist of 2017 arrived in Israel. He and his partner were shown around Jerusalem\u2019s Tower of David Museum by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.\u00a0(photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In better news, this year Israel became the focus of the world\u2019s cycling fraternity. Due to the generosity of Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams, one of the three most important annual cycling races in the world, the Giro d\u2019Italia, started in Jerusalem with a time trial and then took the cyclists from Haifa to Tel Aviv, with a third stage from Be\u2019er Sheva to Eilat. All this was made possible by an $80 million donation to the federation organizing the event. It was one of the biggest sporting events ever staged in Israel and was seen by tens of thousands on television around the world.<\/p>\n

The Jewish year opened with the announcement that one of the most outstanding mosaics ever found in Israel, from the Roman era, was going to be incorporated in a new museum in the city of Lod, where it had been found during preparations for building works. This beautiful mosaic was one of many important archeological finds in Israel in the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is welcomed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in January 2018. (photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also at the start of the Jewish year, tourism in Israel hit a new high, with the three millionth tourist of 2017 arriving at Ben-Gurion International Airport in November. And, this summer, Prince William made an official visit to Israel, where he was received by President Reuven Rivlin and Netanyahu. Members of the British Royal family have been to Israel before, but never on an official visit.<\/p>\n

As always, Israeli technology, universities and medical prowess was remarkable over the year. And, when natural disasters occurred around the world, such as earthquakes and floods, Israel was among the first to send aid.<\/p>\n

Not all the news was good for Netanyahu, who, for a major part of the year, was being investigated and questioned by Israel Police for allegedly obtaining inappropriate large-scale benefits from businessmen \u2013 charges Netanyahu strenuously denied. Ari Harrow, Netanyahu\u2019s former chief of staff, signed a deal to become a state witness to testify against the prime minister.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Plastic waste accumulates in an inlet along Eilat\u2019s Red Sea coast. A worldwide problem, much is being done in Israel to manage the correct disposal of plastic, paper and glass. (photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Jewish year also saw Netanyahu\u2019s wife Sara receiving a lot of negative press. In the previous year, the Jerusalem Labour Court awarded an employee of Sara Netanyahu\u2019s the sum of $46,000 as he claimed that she had been abusive towards him and withheld wages at times. While she appealed the ruling, it was turned down. She is now being investigated for allegedly ordering expensive meals at the prime minister\u2019s official Jerusalem residence at government expense, despite the fact that the prime minister\u2019s official residence employed a cook. She refutes the accusations.<\/p>\n

Despite these problems, Binyamin Netanyahu maintains a high international profile \u2013 he has the ear of presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, for example.<\/p>\n

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U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the White House in January 2018.\u00a0(photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As 5778 closes, Israel has the pleasurable problem of deciding how best to market the huge natural gas finds that are presently churning about below the waves of the Mediterranean Sea, well within Israel\u2019s exclusive continental shelf.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Left to right: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Sara Netanyahu, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner at the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. (photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"photo<\/a>
The Guatemalan flag is projected on Jerusalem\u2019s Old City walls in anticipation of Guatemala moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.\u00a0(photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"photo<\/a>
Violence along the Gaza border. (photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"photo<\/a>
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. (photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"photo<\/a>
The Giro d\u2019Italia time trials in Jerusalem. (photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"photo<\/a>
Prince William and President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem.\u00a0(photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu presents the nuclear secrets of Iran at a special press briefing in Jerusalem on April 30, 2018. (photo from IGPO courtesy Ashernet) It has been a year of diplomatic success for Israel, as more countries upgraded their relations with the Jewish state. This took, in general, two forms: heads of government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4329],"tags":[2845,4330,2949,2747,7958,1801,5080],"class_list":["post-30046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","tag-environment","tag-israel","tag-netanyahu","tag-photography","tag-putin","tag-rosh-hashanah","tag-trump"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}