A solution was reached over the conflict surrounding the tree-planting work being done in the Negev, which prompted riots by local Bedouins and the arrest of more than 40 people.
Housing Minister Zeev Elkin, who has the Israel Land Authority under his ministerial purview, told Kan that the current round of tree-planting would be concluded Wednesday and would only be renewed in another several weeks or months.
Naomi Kahn, the director of the International Division of the right-wing NGO Regavim, decried what she termed the government’s capitulation in stopping the planting, describing it as a protection payment to Mansour Abbas , head of Ra’am the United Arab List.
Cabinet minister Meir Cohen of Yesh Atid reportedly brokered an agreement on Wednesday to suspend forestation work in the Negev that had been met with protests by Bedouin residents and sparked a coalition crisis. The deal would see the tree-planting program by JNF-KKL tractors stopped, and the sides to hold negotiations to resolve the matter.
Earlier in the day, KAN reporter Naomi Segal spoke with Amir Abo Kweder, a social and political activist, who said that the forestation efforts hinder the Bedouin communities. He first described the situation on the ground.
According to projections that experts showed cabinet ministers, half a million Israelis will become infected with Covid this week, and another million next week.
Prof Arnon Afek , the deputy Director General of the Sheba medical center, told reporter Mark Weiss that the perception that the government has given up the fight against Omicron is incorrect.
Jerusalem has the lowest quality of life amongst Israeli cities, followed by Bat Yam and Ashdod.
Kfar Saba, Ramat Gan and Rehovot have the highest quality of life among large cities according to the 2019 Quality of Life Index released by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Large cities are defined as cities with populations of over 100,000 people.
What makes Jerusalem's quality of life so low is the high unemployment, lack of satisfaction about local neighborhoods , the economic situation and lack of access to computers.
Deputy Mayor Fleur Hasson-Nahoum told KAN's Mark Weiss why the index is misleading.
Foreign Ministry workers have stopped working beyond regular hours because they are not paid overtime. The instruction from the union went out in a special cable to Israeli missions abroad.
The Foreign Ministry Workers Union lsaid “it pains us to see the foreign minister choose to ignore the cries of Foreign Ministry workers who are dedicated to their jobs, instead of leading the way to a resolution and negotiations.”
KAN's Mark Weiss spoke about the dispute with Dr Yacov Livne, Israel’s ambassador to Poland who has currently been recalled , a member of the Foreign Ministry Workers Union.
As infection levels continue to climb driven by the Omicron variant, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced Sunday that a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine had been approved for people aged 60 and above and medical staff. The prime minister also said that the government was looking for solutions to address quarantine requirements and the surge on testing centers.
Prof. Hagai Levine, chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians, and a professor of epidemiology at Hebrew University and Hadassah, says policy must strike a balance between caring for the sick while not effectively shutting down public life. He told KAN reporter Naomi Segal he is not sure asymptomatic people should be quarantined.
Chief Rabbi David Lau has visited the home of Haim Walder to comfort his family, who are sitting shiva.
Walder was found dead in a cemetery on Monday in what is suspected to have been a suicide. He was facing multiple allegations of rape and sexual assault of minors since a Haaretz expose last month.
Walder was a well-known author of children’s and young adults’ books in the Haredi world.
Lau’s visit to the shiva drew condemnations across social media, particularly due to his silence on the Walder affair and not saying anything about the author’s alleged victims.
KAN's Mark Weiss spoke with Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman, a feminist thought-leader and anthropologist who has published five books on gender in society, and asked her how prominent such cases are in the Ultra- Orthodox world.
The Covid travel restrictions have hit Olim, new immigrants, particularly hard with may feeling they have been cut off from their families abroad.
KAN's Mark Weiss spoke with former Knesset member Dov Lipman , now the Chair of the Yad L’Olim organization , who has been leading the campaign to address the Olim’s concerns.
The cabinet held a festive meeting in Kibbutz Mevo Hama on the Golan Heights to formally approve its billion-shekel plan to double the size of the Israeli population on the Golan Heights and to upgrade infrastructure in the area.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said: “This is the Golan Heights’ moment. It is imperative to say—the Golan Heights is Israeli; that is self-evident. The fact that the cabinet ministers here, from right and left, are sitting here together, is a very moving fact. That can’t be taken for granted. Our government, by virtue of its very existence, has allowed the national Israeli consensus to be rediscovered.”
However, not all residents of the Golan Heights welcomed the plan to double the number of residents in the next 3 years.
Nicol Bechar, from Kibbutz Ein Zivan and CEO of Guardians of the Golan, spoke to KAN's Mark Weiss.
The annual report of the Latet organization, which works to reduce poverty in Israel, indicates that a quarter of the population is at risk of becoming poor.
The percentage of households that are close to being poor rose from 14% before the coronavirus crisis to almost 24% today.
About 40% of those receiving aid were infected with the coronavirus, which is three times higher than among the general population.
KAN's Mark Weiss spoke about the report with Latet’s CEO and founder, Giles Darmon.