By: Rossella Tercatin – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

Some 2,653 cases were identified on Sunday, with 2.83% of the almost 100,000 people screened testing positive.

The number of serious coronavirus patients and hospitalizations in Israel continued to drop on Monday according to the Health Ministry’s daily report which showed that both figures were at the lowest since the first half of August.

As a result, several medical centers began to close their corona wards.

Some 564 people were in serious conditions on Monday, out of 1097 hospitalized – about 844 of whom were in hospitals and the rest in geriatric facilities.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/covid-19-in-israel-2653-new-cases-564-in-serious-condition-680979

By: Melanie Phillips – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

The smear triggers emotions of deep anger and disgust among the shallow and ignorant, whose knowledge of the Jewish state is entirely drawn from malicious propaganda that misrepresents Israel’s defensive measures as racist aggression.

The campaign to demonize and delegitimize Israel has recently moved into a higher gear with the increased use of one particularly vicious falsehood.

This is the claim that Israel is an apartheid state.

The claim is as fatuous as it is pernicious. Apartheid was the name given to South Africa’s systematic oppression of its black inhabitants, who were denied political, civic and human rights.

By contrast, Arab Israeli citizens have fully equal rights. They study in Israel’s universities; enjoy Israel’s beaches and parks; receive equal treatment as patients in Israel’s hospitals, and work there as doctors and other medical staff; serve as members of the armed forces and as judges; and are represented by members of Knesset who are currently lynch-pins in Israel’s governing coalition.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-false-accusation-of-israel-apartheid/

By: Jacob Magid – The Times of Israel; timesofisrael.com

Ice cream giant, parent company added to state’s list of companies that boycott Israel, which will likely see Texas divest $100 million in state pension funds within 90 days

Texas on Thursday officially added Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company Unilever to a list of companies that boycott Israel over the former’s decision to cease the sale of its products in West Bank settlements, a further step on the path to the state divesting some $100 million from the companies.

“Effective today, the Comptroller’s office has added Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company, Unilever, to the Texas list of companies that boycott Israel,” Texas’s comptroller Glenn Hegar’s office said in a statement.

“This action was undertaken pursuant to Texas Government Code Chapter 808, which defines ‘boycott Israel’ as ‘refusing to deal with, terminating business activities with, or otherwise taking any action that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on or limit commercial relations specifically with Israel or with a person or entity doing business in Israel or in an Israeli-controlled territory,” the statement adds.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/texas-takes-steps-to-divest-from-ben-jerrys-following-settlement-boycott/

By: Lahav Hakov – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

Democratic party leadership in the US House of representatives blocked $1 billion for the Iron Dome.

Democratic Party leadership in the US House of Representatives removed about $1 billion of funding for Israel’s Iron Dome defense system on Tuesday.

The revision came after progressives in the party refused to vote for the broader bill in which the Iron Dome funding was included.

The progressive Democrats blocking the Iron Dome funding are among those who pushed to block arms to Israel during Operation Guardian of the Wall in May, according to Politico. That move was led by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of NY and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

The Democrats could not get the bill passed without the progressives, because Republicans would not vote for the bill, either, citing the debt ceiling as its reason. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said “the debt ceiling will be raised… by the Democrats.”

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/house-dems-vote-to-remove-iron-dome-funding-from-upcoming-budget-679969

By: Lazar Berman – The Times of Israel; timesofisrael.com

Massive annual celebration held online this year due to pandemic; International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem hails new government’s outreach to Christian world

Senior Israeli leaders kicked off the 42nd International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem Feast of Tabernacles celebrations on Monday with video greetings as the massive annual gathering went online due to the pandemic.

“Your passion for Israel is an uncompromising statement of support for the Jewish State, for its people, and for our destiny,” said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, calling the ICEJ “a center of pro-Israel activism by our many Christian friends in the Holy Land and around the world.”

“This is what friendship really means — a true partnership between Israel and the many, many thousands of Christian supporters of Israel. And the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem plays a major role in maintaining this support,” Bennett continued.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/christian-feast-of-tabernacles-event-opens-with-greeting-from-bennett-herzog/

By: Josef Federman – AP News; apnews.com

ATLIT, Israel (AP) — Israel’s navy has stepped up its activities in the Red Sea “exponentially” in the face of growing Iranian threats to Israeli shipping, the country’s just-retired navy commander said in an interview.

Vice Adm. Eli Sharvit stopped short of confirming a series of attacks and mishaps on Iranian ships that have been attributed to Israel. But he described Iranian activities on the high seas as a top Israeli concern and said the navy is able to strike wherever necessary to protect the country’s economic and security interests.

“The state of Israel will protect its freedom of navigation across the globe,” Sharvit told The Associated Press, days after completing his five-year term. “That’s not related to distance from the country.”

https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-business-iran-israel-navy-4ece4ff6a5b881e8cd3d8884110f6271

By: Tovah Lazaroff – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

If Hamas or other Palestinian groups would take over the West Bank, it would turn the lives of Israelis into a living hell.

It would be a terrible mistake to create a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a series of media interviews he gave on Tuesday night just after his return from his historic meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.”

I oppose a Palestinian state. I think it would be a terrible mistake that would take the terrible situation in Gaza and recreate it in Judea and Samaria,” Bennett told KAN news.

His comments referred to Hamas’s ouster of the Palestinian Authority from Gaza in a bloody coup in 2007 and its forcible take over of the coastal enclave as well as the consequent rocket attacks against southern Israel.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/bennett-palestinian-statehood-would-be-a-terrible-mistake-679518

CBN News – cbnnews.com

Arizona has become the first US state to fully divest from Ben & Jerry’s over its decision to stop selling ice cream in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank – biblical Judea and Samaria.

Arizona State Treasurer Kimberly Yee announced in a press release on Tuesday that “the state will divest all public funds from Ben & Jerry’s for violating Arizona law by boycotting Israel.”

By Sept. 21, Arizona will divest a total of $143 million from Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever.

“Israel is and will continue to be a major trade partner of Arizona. As Arizona’s Chief Banking and Investment Officer, I stand with Israel, and I will not allow taxpayer dollars to go towards anti-Semitic, discriminatory efforts against Israel,” said Yee.

The decision came after Ben & Jerry’s announced it would not sell ice cream in what it calls “occupied Palestinian territory.”

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2021/september/arizona-to-fully-divest-from-ben-and-jerry-rsquo-s-over-lsquo-anti-semitic-rsquo-israel-boycott

By: Yori Yalon – Israel Hayom; israelhayom.com

The percentage of Jews living in Israel out of all the Jews in the world stands at 45.3%, an increase of half a percent over the previous year.

Days before the new Hebrew calendar year of 5782, the number of Jews worldwide stands at approximately 15.2 million compared to 15.1 million in 5781, according to newly released statistics by the Jewish Agency for Israel.

In Israel, the number of Jews is close to 6.9 million (compared to 6.8 million in 5781), while about 8.3 million live outside the Jewish state (including around 6 million in the United States). The updated estimates by Professor Sergio Della Pergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem will be published in the American Jewish Year Book 2021.

The numbers include those who define themselves as Jews and who do not identify with another religion. When also including those who are eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, the world total rises to 25.3 million people, of whom 7.3 million are in Israel and 18 million live outside Israel.

https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/09/06/jewish-population-rises-to-15-2-million-worldwide/

By: Josh Hasten – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

One year after the Abraham Accords were signed, locals from communities in Gulf states have taken a keen and public interest in the Jewish New Year and its traditions.

With Jews around the world set to begin the High Holiday season, the small Jewish communities in six Gulf states, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are planning to take part publicly in some of the traditional holiday rituals for the first time in decades.

This newfound openness is a direct result of the Abraham Accords signed a year ago between Israel, the United States, the UAE and Bahrain, followed by Sudan and Morocco.

Ebrahim D. Nonoo, leader of Bahrain’s Jewish community and president of the newly founded Association of Gulf Jewish communities (AGJC), whose goal is to develop Jewish life in the region, told JNS that “the best thing about Rosh Hashanah this year is that we are able now to advertise it. We are saying ‘Happy New Year’ to our Bahraini friends and government officials. It’s beautifully really out in the open now.”

https://www.jns.org/as-gulf-opens-to-jewish-life-muslims-spark-interest-in-learning-about-high-holidays/