Weekly roundup of world briefs

Amar’e Stoudemire says he’s ready for a ‘shidduch’ and to remarry

By Shira Hanau

(JTA) — Amar’e Stoudemire told his Instagram followers recently that he’s looking for a new partner, saying he’s ready for a “shidduch.”

“Shidduch” dating, or dates set up by a matchmaker, is a common way for Orthodox Jews to meet their future spouses. Stoudemire, who has played for the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns, converted to Judaism while living in Israel in August 2020.

From 2016 to 2019, he played for the Israeli team Hapoel Jerusalem and later for Maccabi Tel Aviv. He remains a part owner of the Jerusalem team. He has since moved back to the United States and lives in Brooklyn.

Stoudemire opened up about his search for a partner in an Instagram live chat on Dec. 16, saying he valued “honesty” and that “I love to receive love through affection and honesty,” according to the Algemeiner. The former NBA player even gave out his email address so followers could send him suggestions. He filed for divorce from his wife Alexis Welch in 2019.

Asked if he would date someone who was not Jewish, he said he is looking for a Jewish partner.

“It would make life easier, because she will understand me a little better,” he said.

Stoudemire’s journey from the NBA to Orthodox Judaism was the subject of a recent episode of HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.”

“It’s just been like a quest for searching for emet, searching for truth,” Stoudemire said in the episode. He added: “I’m for sure a different person than I was before.”

Poway synagogue shooter gets a second lifetime jail sentence in federal court

By Shira Hanau

(JTA) — The California man who killed a woman and wounded three others when he opened fire at a Poway synagogue in 2019 was sentenced to a second life sentence in federal court Tuesday. John Earnest, who was 19 when he carried out the shooting, had already been sentenced to one life sentence in California state court earlier this year.

While the second life sentence does not actually change the length of the prison sentence, the two life terms are meant to signify the gravity of the crimes committed.

“Obviously this is as serious as it gets,” said U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia, according to the Associated Press.

Earnest, a white supremacist, carried out his attack on the Chabad synagogue in Poway, California on April 27, 2019, just six months after the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh that left 11 people dead. Earnest cited the attack in Pittsburgh as well as the March 2019 shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand as inspirations in a manifesto he posted online.

In a call to 911 after the shooting, Earnest confessed to the shooting and said he did it to save white people.

“I’m defending our nation against the Jewish people, who are trying to destroy all white people,” Earnest told the operator. Earnest provided a detailed description of the San Diego intersection where he was parked and was taken into custody that day.

Lori Gilbert-Kaye, a 60-year-old member of the synagogue, was killed in the shooting and three others were injured.

Nazi-looted art in France returned to heirs of Jewish owner

(JNS) — Four artworks looted by Nazis in France during World War II have been returned to the heirs of their original Jewish owner, France’s ministry of culture recently announced.

The two watercolor paintings and two drawings by 19th-century French artists Georges Michel, Paul Delaroche, Auguste Hesse and Jules-Jacques Veyrassat were stolen from Jewish-Egyptian businessman Moise Levi de Benzion in 1940 along with hundreds of other works from his personal home collection in France. He died in France three years later during World War II.

The Louvre and Musee d’Orsay museums in Paris maintained custody of the works after World War II until their legal owners or heirs could be tracked down, efforts which former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe spearheaded in 2018 when he organized a special unit to find the rightful owners of the artwork, AFP reported.

Before the four works were returned last week, 169 pieces of art held by France had been restored to their owners since 1951, AFP added.

IDF releases annual figures; says it struck thousands of targets ‘in all arenas’

(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces released annual figures on Tuesday, including on its ‘campaign between the wars’ grey zone operations that target Iranian entrenchment activities in the Middle East.

According to the information, the IDF conducted tens of grey zone operations, struck thousands of targets “in all arenas,” and used thousands of munitions in the process.

The Israeli military acknowledged conducting “thousands of operational flights” this past year and launching tens of special operations as well, though no further details were given.

The Israeli Navy for its part conducted around 100 operations, including “dozens of special operations,” the IDF said.

While the Gaza Strip has been mostly very quiet since the end of Operation Guardian of the Walls, with five projectile launches recorded in the six months that followed that conflict, the West Bank has seen a significant spike in terrorist attacks.

The year 2021 saw 61 instances of terrorist gun attacks, almost double the previous year’s number (31), and more than three times the amount recorded in 2019 (19).

Incidents of rock hurling and stabbings also rose. The IDF seized over NIS 11 million ($3.54 million) in terrorist funding this past year – higher by far than the equivalent seizures in 2018 to 2020.

Syria sharply condemns Israeli plans for economic investment in the Golan Heights

(JNS) — Syria sharply criticized Israel on Monday for its plan to double the population of Israelis living in the Golan Heights within five years.

“Syria has strongly condemned the dangerous and unprecedented escalation of Israeli occupation authorities in the occupied Syrian Golan,” reported the Syrian state-run SANA news agency.

Israel captured the Golan from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War.

“The Syrian government reaffirms its permanent and strong support for its Syrian citizens, the people of the occupied Syrian Golan who resist the Israeli occupation and who reject the annexation decision and the policy of seizing lands by force,” a Syrian Foreign Ministry statement said.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced the approval of a 1-billion shekel ($317.3 million) program to develop and settle the Golan Heights.

IDF: As many as half of new COVID cases due to Omicron variant

By Maytal Yasur Beit-Or

(Israel Hayom via JNS) — The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus now accounts for roughly 50 percent of new coronavirus infections in Israel, according to a report released on Tuesday by the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.

Among those who have tested positive after traveling abroad, the proportion may be as high as 80 percent, according to the report.

Omicron hospitalizations seem to be lower compared to the Delta variant, however, the report warned that the next weeks could strain hospitals because of the expected spike in cases, combined with the influenza season.

This is a version of an article that first appeared in Israel Hayom.

Israeli defense minister meets Abbas, sparking anger from the right

(JNS) — Right-wing members of Israel’s coalition government criticized Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday for meeting with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas the day before.

Gantz hosted Abbas at his home in central Israel on Tuesday to discuss a number of security and civilian topics. Gantz told Abbas that he intended to continue advancing “confidence-building measures” in the economic and civilian sphere, according to a government statement.

“Gantz emphasized the parties’ shared interest in deepening security coordination, maintaining regional stability and preventing terror and violence,” the statement added.

Housing and Construction Minister Ze’ev Elkin said that Gantz hadn’t been given authority from the government to conduct political negotiations, “and he knows it,” Channel 12 reported.

Furthermore, Gantz’s decision to host Abbas while the latter still supports terrorists demonstrates the defense minister’s “poor taste,” said Elkin.

“It would have been better if he had found another guest,” he said.

Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel noted that Abbas still denies the Holocaust, and accused the Palestinian leader of playing “a very strange and double game.”

“We have an interest in the Palestinian Authority being strong and stable in its field. We do not trust its people on security issues, but we have an interest in the P.A. not collapsing. If a meeting of this kind helps Gantz—it’s his decision. I personally would not do it,” he said, according to the report.

This was the second meeting between Gantz and Abbas. The two met in August in what was the first high-level talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders since 2010.

Israeli Defense Ministry teams up with renewable energy company to build 41 wind turbines in the Golan Heights

(JNS) — The Defense Ministry’s Director-General Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Eshel signed an agreement with a subsidiary of an Israeli renewable energy company, Energix Renewable Energies, for the building of 41 wind turbines in the Golan Heights.

In a statement released by the Defense Ministry on Tuesday, it was announced that each turbine would be 200 meters (656 feet) tall, and that they would form “the largest and most advanced built-in Israel” to date.

The project will enable the supply of clean energy to tens of thousands of homes in Israel.

“Promoting green energy initiatives is a national objective, for the defense establishment as well,” said Eshel. “We took calculated risks, out of an enabling perspective, and we invested in the development of technological solutions that will allow the turbines to function in conjunction with the Israel Defense Forces,” he stated.

“The agreement that was signed balances out between all of the needs, and is another example of our willingness to strengthen security including through the strengthening of the economy and society,” said Eshel.

Asa Levinger, CEO of the Energix Group, described the agreement as a “significant milestone ahead of receiving a building permit,” and thanked the Defense Ministry for its cooperation in the national effort to meet clean energy production targets.

Gantz, Abbas agree on ‘confidence-building measures’ during meeting

(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas agreed on a series of confidence-building measures during their meeting at Gantz’s home on Tuesday evening.

According to a statement from Gantz’s office, the measures include “status approvals on a humanitarian basis for 6000 [Palestinian] residents of Judea and Samaria, and an additional status approval for 3500 Gaza residents.”

They also include “advancing the transfer of tax payments” worth NIS 100 million ($32 million).

Additional measures include the approval of issuing business approvals for Palestinian businesspeople, 500 additional permits for Palestinian businesspeople to enter Israel with their vehicles, and the issuing of dozens of VIP permits for senior officials from the Palestinian Authority.

It was the first meeting inside of Israel for Abbas in over a decade, and the second time the two leaders met since the new Israeli government took office in June.

In the hours that followed the meeting, right-wing members of Israel’s coalition government criticized the meeting.

Housing and Construction Minister Ze’ev Elkin said that Gantz hadn’t been given authority from the government to conduct political negotiations, “and he knows it,” Channel 12 reported.

Furthermore, Gantz’s decision to host Abbas while the latter still supports terrorists demonstrates the defense minister’s “poor taste,” said Elkin.

“It would have been better if he had found another guest,” he said.

Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel noted that Abbas still denies the Holocaust, and accused the Palestinian leader of playing “a very strange and double game.”

Gantz: Israel will not allow Iran to transfer game-changing weapons to terror proxies

(JNS) — The Iranian regime is unable to supply basic goods and services like education and water to its citizens, “but it is continuing to invest a fortune in the nuclear program and in its proxies,” Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz stated on Tuesday.

During a tour of Ramat David Air Force Base in northern Israel, Gantz described the Islamic Republic as “the biggest enemy of the nations and residents of the Middle East,” and called on regional states to “stop Iran’s harm of their sovereignty and inhabitants.”

During the tour, conducted together with Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin, and the head of the Strategic and Iran Branch, Maj. Gen. Tal Kelman, air force officials displayed a range of combat means, and provided an operational briefing.

“This years as well we have acted against threats against various fronts, which are all fueled by Iran,” said Gantz. “Iran undermines sovereignty in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and in other countries. It is seeking to ignite the region on the alter of the interests of its leaders,” he added.

“Israel will not allow Iran to stream game-changing weapons to its proxies and to threaten its citizens,” Gantz said, speaking hours after media reports said Israeli jets struck containers at Syria’s main commercial port at Latakia, on the Mediterranean coast.

Israel’s first ambassador to Bahrain hands credentials to King Hamad

(JNS) — Eitan Na’eh, Israel’s first ambassador to Bahrain, presented his credentials to King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa at Tuesday’s ceremony at the Al-Sakhir Palace.

“It is an honor for me to hand over my credentials to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the King of the country, may God protect him, as the first ambassador of the State of Israel to the Kingdom of Bahrain,” Na’eh wrote in Arabic to his Twitter account.

Na’eh tweeted a video of the honor guard that greeted the Israeli ambassador as he arrived at the palace.

Israel’s national anthem was played by the Royal Orchestra, reported i24News.

The ceremony came over a year after the signing of the Abraham Accords that established relations between Israel and Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and later Morocco, and Sudan.

Record new investments in Israeli climate tech in 2021

By Abigail Klein Leichman

(Israel21c via JNS) — Investments in Israeli climate tech companies reached an all-time high in 2021.

“By the end of the 2021, the annual investments in Israeli climate tech companies reached $2.2 billion, exceeding last year’s fundraising record of $1.4 billion by 57 percent,” said Uriel Klar, director of PLANETech, a joint venture of the nonprofit Israel Innovation Institute and the Consensus Business Group.

The trend highlights how blue-and-white businesses from a variety of verticals are devoted to finding solutions for a more sustainable world.

“Israel is a global leader in climate tech, with 1,200 companies — 637 of them startups — that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Israel and around the world,” said Klar.

The four highest funding rounds were achieved by startups from different fields:

1. Future Meat raised $347 million in Series B funding round for the development of its sustainable cultivated meat technology.

2. Wiliot raised $200 million to improve supply chain footprint via battery-free sensors.

3. UBQ Materials raised $170 million to convert household trash into climate-positive thermoplastic.

4. Via raised $130 million to promote an advanced digital platform for shared transportation.

“In addition, SolarEdge has become the first Israeli company to enter the S&P 500 index and Tomorrow.io is going public on NASDAQ with a $1.2 billion valuation,” Klahr said.

He noted that capital raising for global climate tech companies reached a peak of $87.5 billion between June 2020 and June 2021, an increase of 210% from the previous year, according to PwC.

This article was first published by Israel21c.