Israeli government approves new bill to detain asylum seekers

The bill proposal, called "The Infiltration Prevention Act," is the third formulation of the bill, the two previous versions having been struck down by the country's Supreme Court, for the alleged infringement upon the migrants' basic human rights.

According to the bill, once asylum seekers enter Israel, they would be sent to a prison called Saharonim, and from there, they would be brought to the Holot detention centre in the southern Negev desert for a period of up to 20 months.

The Supreme Court, Sep 22 disqualified the government policy, which allowed the detention of illegal migrants for up to a year without trial. In 2013, the Supreme Court had struck down the first formulation of the bill, which had allowed the authorities to lock migrants up for a period of up to three years without trial.

Following the approval of the government, the bill would be transferred, for discussion, to the Knesset (parliament) committee for Interior Affairs and then put to several rounds of voting in the Knesset plenum.

According to Israeli authorities, there are currently about 48,000 African migrants who had entered the country without permits across the Egypt-Israel border. Most of them have from the war-torn African countries of South Sudan and Eritrea.

 About 2,000 illegal migrants are currently held at the Holot facility. Israeli authorities consider the migrants to be a risk to the Jewish character of the state. On the other hand, harsh measures taken against the migrants are criticised by left-wing protesters and activists.

Source: News in Hindi and Newspaper 

Biggest Jewish-Arab school set afire in Israel

The incident comes amid growing tensions in Jerusalem between the two communities that started before the 50-day bloody war in Gaza and has continued unabated despite heightened security arrangements.

The fire broke out at the playground in the school on Saturday evening and was extinguished by emergency crews. Police and fire services said that they suspected arson based on the visible evidence found at the scene.

The Max Rayne Hand in Hand Jerusalem School is the country's largest Jewish-Arab institution.
  
It has been co-run by a Jewish and an Arab principal since its foundation in 1998 by the Hand in Hand non-governmental organisation.
  
Over the past few months, the school has been repeatedly targeted by right-wingers, who have sprayed racist graffiti against Arabs on its walls, sources revealed.
  
"Even if they manage to dirty the school's walls, they will not manage to bring down our enterprise [of civil cooperation]," Hand in Hand Executive Director, Shuli Dichter, said in a statement.

"In addition to denouncing [these actions] expressing support, we invite the entire Israeli public to join us in the building of Jewish-Arab civil partnership in Israel.
  
We will continue to develop our educational and social project, where every day 1,200 students come to study, some 200 teachers come to teach and in which thousands of family members are involved," he said.

Jerusalem's Mayor, Nir Barkat, condemned the incident saying, "We will not allow pyromaniacs and criminals who take the law into their own hands to disrupt our daily lives".
  
"We will continue to denounce the extremists and do whatever it takes to restore the quiet to Jerusalem," he said.

The bloodiest war between the two sides broke out after the Hamas fired dozens of rockets at Israel after Israel rounded up its activists in the West Bank following the murder of three Israeli teens there. The war claimed lives of 2,200 Palestinians and 70 Israelis.

Source: News in Hindi and Newspaper

Rajnath Singh, Netanyahu review cooperation in combating terror

Both the leaders also expressed their countries' keenness to strengthen ties, with Netanyahu emphasising that he "believes that relations between the two countries were poised for rapid development" following his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September in New York.

During that meeting, the Israeli Premier had said that "sky is the limit" in terms of prospects of cooperation between the two countries. Singh and Netanyahu discussed the regional situation and the evolving threats to the global communities from terror.

Singh said terror was a threat not only to countries like India and Israel but to the whole  world. Vowing to strengthen India's "very warm" relations with Israel, Singh on his first bilateral visit to Israel said, "India and Israel share very warm and cordial bilateral relations. We look forward to strengthen it further".

Fresh from his participation at Interpol General Assembly in Monaco, Singh told PTI that he also made a strong pitch for cooperation in the field of cyber security during his one hour conversation with the Israeli Premier. Singh was earlier widely quoted in the press for highlighting the use of social media for indoctrination by Jihadi elements and the urgent need to device ways to curb this practice through the use of internet.

He also made a special reference to Modi's "Make in India" initiative and invited Israeli industries, including the defence sector, to take advantage of the investment friendly policies adopted by the new government.

Expressing satisfaction at the growth in bilateral ties in a range of areas, including defence and agriculture, Singh noted that signing of agreements recently in the area of Homeland security had opened another sector for mutually beneficial cooperation.

Singh particularly emphasised on the importance of capacity building and training in this context.

"The future emphasis should be to build a hi-tech partnership befitting two leading knowledge economies," the Indian leader said.

Both leaders also agreed that the Free Trade Agreement under discussion between the two sides should also be signed early. Netanyahu briefed the Indian Home Minister on technologies that had been developed by Israel in areas such as aviation security, border protection and water harvesting.

Responding favourably to Modi's 'make in India's initiative, the Israeli leader said that his country is ready and willing to discuss transfer and development of technologies with India.

"Israeli industries, including the defence industries, could 'make in India' and thereby reduce costs of manufacturing products and systems developed by Israel," the Israeli Premier said.

The Israeli leader also expressed willingness to send a delegation from Israeli industries to visit India to explore manufacturing opportunities in different sectors.

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