Five Supreme Court justices have examined the appeal by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and partially accepted the appeal. He will serve 18 months in prison.

He will begin his sentence on February 15.

Olmert was found guilty in 2014 on two counts of bribery and sentenced to six years in prison, two years probation, and a fine of one million shekels ($257,000 US). He was also ordered to forfeit 560,000 shekels ($144,000 US) in assets.

While the Supreme Court has now absolved him from the charge of receiving a 500,000 shekel ($187,000 US) bribe, it unanimously upheld his convicted of receiving 60,000 shekels ($15,000 US) in a separate bribe.

"A heavy weight was removed from my heart when the Supreme Court ruled that I am not guilty of the main crime - the Holyland affair," said Olmert. "That was, for me, a dark cloud over my head and over my family. I have previously said that I was never offered and I never received bribes, and I say this again today. Naturally, I accept the decision of the Supreme Court."

Seven other people were also found guilty in the case, including former Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski. The crimes revolved around Jerusalem's Holyland property development. Prosecutors claim that Olmert, during his term as mayor of Jerusalem, received 500,000 shekels in bribes in exchange for easing the approval process for Holyland.

The court has accepted Lupolianski's appeal, and he will not go to prison.

Olmert will be the first Israeli prime minister sent to prison. Former President Moshe Katsav is also currently in prison, though he may soon be released on parole.

Longtime prisoner Jonathan Pollard has just left the Federal Correction Complex in Butner, North Carolina, after over 30 years of being held on espionage charges, his wife Esther announced shortly after 11 a.m. Friday. 

Esther and a number of Pollard's closest confidantes were waiting to greet Pollard as he first tasted freedom, at 4:15 a.m. EST; from there they will set off for New York to begin their lives anew.

There in New York, a probation officer will be assigned to Pollard by the US Department of Justice, and will inspect to make sure the 61-year-old stays within all of the limitations placed on him. Any excursion beyond the immediate area of his residence will require the approval of the probation officer.

He will likewise be forbidden from flying to Israel - and will even be forbidden from checking the internet.

Unprecedented prison sentence

Pollard, who was arrested on charges of spying for Israel in 1985 and later sentenced to life in prison, began his 31st year in jail as prisoner 09185-016 this past November. He has been suffering from poor health and has become the subject of a high-profile campaign for his release. 

Last year, the Parole Board of the Justice Department rejected Pollard's parole, with senior U.S. officials involved in the case writing to US President Barack Obama to complain that the decision was "deeply flawed".

Once Pollard's release was granted, however, controversy remained over the conditions of his parole, after Obama and other top-ranking officials refused to intervene to allow him to return home to Israel before the 5-year limit. 

"The Jewish people welcome him"

Politicians welcomed Pollard's release Friday. 

"The Jewish people welcome the release of Jonathan Pollard," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said. "As someone who brought up the issue many years with the US President, I have longed for this day." 

"After three long and difficult decades, Jonathan will finally, finally be reunited with his family," Netanyahu continued. "I wish Jonathan that this Shabbat give him happiness and quiet, and that it should continue for the rest of his life."

Yom Ha'atzmaut Hebrew: יום העצמאות‎
An air display in Tel Aviv on Israel's 61st Independence Day
Observed by	Israelis
Celebrations	Displaying the flag of Israel and other national symbols, family meetings, fireworks, barbecues, picnics, concerts
Observances	Mount Herzl ceremony, Ceremonial lighting of the twelve torches, International Bible Contest, Israel Prizeceremony.
Date	5 Iyar (Hebrew calendar)
2014 date	6 May
2015 date	23 April
2016 date	12 May
2017 date	2 May
Related to	Yom Hazikaron, al-Nakba

Yom Ha'atzmaut(Hebrew: יום העצמאות‎ Yōm hā-ʿAṣmāʾūṯ   lit. "Independence Day") is the national day of Israel, commemorating theIsraeli Declaration of Independence in 1948. It is celebrated either on the5th of Iyar, according to the Hebrew calendar, or on one of the preceding or following days, depending on which day of the week this date falls on. Yom Ha'atzmaut is preceded byYom Hazikaron, the Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day.

History[edit]

 

Declaration of the State of Israel

Yom Ha'atzmaut centers around the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel by the Jewish leadership led by future Prime MinisterDavid Ben-Gurion on 14 May 1948. The mood outside of Ben-Gurion's home just prior to the declaration was joyous:

"The Jews of Palestine ... were dancing because they were about to realize what was one of the most remarkable and inspiring achievements in human history: A people which had been exiled from its homeland two thousand years before, which had endured countless pogroms, expulsions, and persecutions, but which had refused to relinquish its identity—which had, on the contrary, substantially strengthened that identity; a people which only a few years before had been the victim of mankind’s largest single act of mass murder, killing a third of the world’s Jews, that people was returning home as sovereign citizens in their own independent state."^[1]

Independence was declared eight hours before the end of the British Mandate of Palestine, which was due to finish on 15 May 1948.

The operative paragraph of the Declaration of the Establishment of State of Israel of 14 May 1948^[2] expresses the declaration to be by virtue of our natural and historic right and on the strength of theresolution of the United Nations General Assembly. The operative paragraph concludes with the words of Ben-Gurion, where he thereby declares the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.

The new state was quickly recognised by the Soviet Union, the United States de facto,^[3] and many other countries, but not by the surrounding Arab states, which marched with their troops into the area of the former British Mandate.

Events[edit]

 

Benjamin Netanyahu and Shimon Peres at the celebration in 2012

 

Independence Day celebrations in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, 2008

 

Israeli Air Force Yom Ha'atzmaut flypast, 2011

Official events[edit]

Most of the official events take place in Israel's capital cityJerusalem, and are broadcast live on television.

Yom Ha'atzmaut eve[edit]

An official ceremony is held every year on Mount Herzl,Jerusalem on the evening ofYom Ha'atzmaut. The ceremony includes a speech by the speaker of the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament), artistic performances, a Flag of Israel, forming elaborate structures (such as a Menorah, Magen David) and the ceremonial lighting of twelve torches, one for each of the Tribes of Israel. Every year a dozen Israeli citizens, who made a significant social contribution in a selected area, are invited to light the torches. Many cities hold outdoor performances in cities' squares featuring leading Israeli singers and fireworksdisplays. Streets around the squares are closed to cars, allowing people to sing and dance in the streets.

Yom Ha'atzmaut day[edit]

 

• /static.bbci.co.uk/news/1.62.5250/img/news--icons-sprite.png" target="_blank">http://static.bbci.co.uk/news/1.62.5250/img/news--icons-sprite.png); background-position: 0% -4011px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"> 30 March 2015

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's win surprised the world, both given his unexpected reversal of electoral fortunes, as well as his declaration of opposition to a Palestinian state. Despite his perhaps predictable clarification today, he has given a platform to examine alternatives to the Two-State Solution.

One of the alternative plans is the "Palestinian Emirates," the brainchild of Dr. Mordechai Kedar of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, who told Arutz Sheva the plan would be a more appropriate political arrangement for the major Arab cities in Judea and Samaria.

"The creation of an artificial Palestinian state requiring the uprooting of Jewish families where no Arab population currently exists would lead to indefensible borders for the Jewish homeland,” says Kedar on his website.

He also denies the argument that the populations can be moved, claiming "today Arabs live within the state of Israel and in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. These Arab population centers are not going away and neither is the State of Israel.”

In some ways it works with the model of the 1993 Oslo Accords' area system, but in some fundamental ways it differs.

While Area A of the Accords mainly composes the major Arab cities – Jenin, Shechem (Nablus), Ramallah, Jericho, Tulkarm, Kalkilya in Jerusalem, an the Arab part of Hevron – that Dr. Kedar proposes become the seven (or eight when including Gaza) independent Palestinian states, the borders are not set in stone.

More importantly, the crux of the proposal is to remove the Palestinian Authority (PA) and reinvest control over local Arab affairs to the strong clans who are living in each area.

Dr. Kedar describes a situation in the Palestinian Arab areas that is a microcosm of the divisions seen in other parts of the Arab world. While it might be more noticeable in certain countries because divisions are along ethnic or religious lines, tribal or clan divisions should not be overlooked among Palestinian Arabs.

"There are different clans dominant in each city: the Erekats in Jericho, the Barghoutis in Ramallah, the Jabaris in Hevron, the Masris in Shechem," he notes.

Those are only a few examples. But the common thread among them is that they are often at odds with the elite in the Palestinian Authority, many who came from families not in Judea and Samaria or had  been with Yasser Arafat in Lebanon or Tunisia before appointing themselves heads of the PA after the Oslo Accords.

"Palestinian identity is as strong as any other artificial or superficial Arab nation-state's identity. People are still more loyal to the tribe or the clan or sectarian groups. This is the major failure of all states across Middle East, nor is it any different among anyone else in the Arab World."

The city-states would rarely if ever have territorial contiguity between them. The roads that connect the cities would still fall under the administration of Israel's security forces. When asked if this could pose problems for these emirates economically, Dr. Kedar explained why he thought it would not.

Kedar noted "size has nothing to do with economy. On the contrary, big countries fragment socially and are economically more stratified."

He pointed to small city-states in Europe that are extremely prosperous, particularly San Marino. If one looked elsewhere in the world, Singapore and the semi-autonomous Hong Kong come up.

The situation would still be very different from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Persian Gulf, he notes, even while saying "you can't create stability with money but money creates stability, which is what you have in the UAE and Qatar."

"Social stability creates political viability for a state, and with that a functioning political arena" that allow a state to "have good economy."

In contrast to the smaller sovereign areas of the Persian Gulf, the much larger Iraq is a cesspool for civil war among clans of Sunni and Shi'ite clans. That environment stops once you hit the Kurdish-majority areas, where the only semblance of civil war in the mid-1990s was political rather than tribal and short-lived in any case.

Another wildcard to the viability of this idea is the Palestinian Arabs themselves of course. Dr. Kedar does not dismiss the possibility that the Palestinian Authority could face revolt from organized clans in each city.

"The Palestinian Authority does fear the tribes' ability to unite against PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) rule. On the other hand, the tribes fear the dictators of the Authority."

When asked if he thought certain cities might be better suited, or more immediately suitable, for this type of city-state, he was not sure. He did however highlight one city whose demographics made it a compelling but far from perfect candidate.

"Bethlehem is a problem because of the dwindling Christian population which has been pushed out by local Bedouin clans," says Kedar, who weighs the possibility a significant Christian minority in Bethlehem might make it a candidate for independence from the Palestinian Authority.

Yet, he says these issues make it “too fragmented” to be a viable starter as an emirate right now.

"Christians should be let back into the city after being pushed out, but the PA doesn't care about them," he argues.

A unique astronomical event is occurring on Friday, as the sun is due to come in for a total solar eclipse, a rare phenomenon that is sure to please skywatchers - as long as they take care not to damage their eyes from the sun rays.

"Only residents of the Faroe Islands - a tiny, self-governing country off the northern coast of the UK - will experience an 100 percent occlusion of the Sun," reports The Verge, a technological and science news site. 

The paper notes that those in the northwest reaches of Europe like Norwayand northern Scotland will have the next best experience at roughly 90 to 95%occlusion.

In Israel, the event is set to be visible roughly between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. It won't be quite as visually impressive in Israel given that only around 40% of the sun is to be covered when seen from the country's latitude.

Overcast weather may make it even more difficult to see - but those who are lucky and look at the right time just might be able to discern the unique phenomenon.

"Astronomers say the eclipse is set to be particularly striking, as the Moon is currently at the point of its elliptical orbit closest to the Earth - a configuration technically known as the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system but more memorably dubbed the 'supermoon,'" notes The Verge.

Gedalyah Reback contributed to this report.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu may have just scored a large victory at home, but Israel's relations with the United States could be on the brink. 

The administration of President Barack Obama was particularly prickled by Netanyahu's assertion on Monday that he no longer supports the two-state solution as well as continued building in Judea and Samaria. 

Adding insult to injury for the US was Netanyahu's comment on election day itself that Israelis must rally to the polls to combat the large number of Arabs going to vote. 

As a result, the Obama administration is now carefully weighing whether to agree to a draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state and Israel's withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, along with mutually agreed land swaps. 

The resolution would also oblige Israel to immediately enter into negotiations with the Palestinian Authority prior to a final peace agreement between both sides. 

Several administration officials said Thursday the Obama administration may be likely to agree to the passage of the UN Security Council resolution. 

"The premise of our position internationally has been to support directnegotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians," a senior White House official told the New York Times.

"We are now in a reality where the Israeli government no longer supports directnegotiations. Therefore we clearly have to factor that into our decisions going forward." 

Administration officials also noted that while the relationship between Israel and the US would remain strong, it would no longer be managed by Obama and Netanyahu. 

Instead, the task of maintaining contact will be left to Secretary of State John Kerry and a handful of Pentagon officials who have a close military alliance with the Jewish state. 

"The president is a pretty pragmatic person and if he felt it would be useful, he will certainly engage," another administration official said. "But he's not going to waste his time."

• Yeshiva University Launches Technology Certificate Programs

  Tuesday, February 17, 2015

• France Sells Egypt 24 Rafale Fighter Jets

  Ben Ariel 
  Tuesday, February 17, 2015

• Austria: A Europe Without Jews is Not Europe

  Ben Ariel 
  Tuesday, February 17, 2015

• Germany Charges Former Auschwitz Guard

  Ben Ariel 
  Tuesday, February 17, 2015

• Washington Post: Obama Thinks Netanyahu Authorized Leaks on Iran

  Elad Benari 
  Tuesday, February 17, 2015

• 'Uri Made Me Wake Up from the Leftist Dreams'

  Nir Har Zahav and Elad Benari 
  Tuesday, February 17, 2015

• 30,000 Attend Rally to Commemorate Copenhagen Victims

  Arutz Sheva Staff 
  Monday, February 16, 2015

• Leading European Rabbi Receives Death Threat on Facebook

  Cynthia Blank 
  Monday, February 16, 2015

• Barkat Makes Area 'Strategic to Jerusalem's Future' a Landfill

  Ari Yashar 
  Monday, February 16, 2015

• Ya'alon Calls India a 'True Friend' as He Takes Off for Visit

  Kobi Finkler, Cynthia Blank 
  Monday, February 16, 2015

• 'Rampaging Iran Has Created 3 Fronts on Israel' 

  Ari Yashar 
  Monday, February 16, 2015

• 'Condemnation is Insufficient' for Anti-Semitic Attacks

  Cynthia Blank 
  Monday, February 16, 2015

• Hezbollah Reveals It's Also Fighting in Iraq

  Arutz Sheva Staff 
  Monday, February 16, 2015

With the State Comptroller and Ombudsman's report on the expenses of the Prime Minister's Residence due to be published Tuesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sarah hosted interior designer and media celebrity Moshe Glamin on a tour of their official home on Balfour Street in Jerusalem.

The tour revealed a somewhat dilapidated house, with some features that have apparently not been renovated since the 1950s, when the house – built in the 1930s for a Greek-Jewish financier – was purchased by the Israeli government.

The video produced by Glamin begins with a “selfie” with Prime Minister Netanyahu in the foyer. Sarah then joins the designer, and points out a carpet that was bought, she said, for President Barack Obama's visit. The carpet that preceded this one, she explained, had very large holes in it, and once the Prime Minister asked a security man to stand on top of one of the holes in order to hide it, during an official visit by a foreign leader.

After viewing Sarah's work room, in which heads of state sometimes confer before press conferences, the pair proceed through another room to the living room, where mismatched sofas surround a low glass table. The sofas, explains Sarah, were only approved for the visit by the French President, which followed Obama's. The sofas that were in place during Obama's visit had holes in them.

The dining room has broken glass lampshades on a track light fixture, and Netanyahu explains that in order to fix or replace any item, bureaucratic hurdles must be surmounted. From there they proceed to the Prime Minister's work room, in which Glamin is shocked to find mold on the curtains and a moisture problem in a corner, which causes the paint to peel.

More dampness and peeling walls can be seen in the patio, and next to it is a yard with no grass. Glamin jokingly suggests that every guest who visits the house be asked to bring a square meter of grass, to gradually fill up the yard.

Glamin is positively petrified, however, when he enters the kitchen. “This doesn't look real,” he explains. “This looks like the kitchen of a boarding school in Romania, in 1954.” He winds up the tour by confessing that he is disappointed by how the home looks – but has enjoyed Sarah's company.

The Prime Minister's Office insisted that the tour was held at Glamin's initiative. Glamin says that he did not allow the Netanyahus to be involved in the editing of the video.

There is little doubt, however, that the video tour was initiated in order to balance out any criticism that will appear in the Comptroller's report. The media has hounded Sarah Netanyahu for years with claims that she spends too much on pistachio ice cream, among other things, and that she is mean and petty toward the residence's staff. 

The Netanyahus have an additional, private home of their own in Caesarea.