Some good news
Some good news, since Israel was accepted into the OECD, it has been reassessed as a "developed" country rather than a "developing" country by the IMF. This means that Israel can now attract more high value venture capital and lower rate loans. Since Israel is the only country with this rating in the Middle East it marks a major improvement in Israel's economy.
Partly as a result of this development PM Netanyahu is on a visit to France to meet with the OECD for Israel to be formally installed, as well as meeting with Pres. Sarkozy of France and PM Berlusconi of Italy. After that he is invited to Canada, the first visit by an Israeli PM in many years. Since he will be in N. America, today Rahm Emmanuel, visiting Israel for his son's barmitzvah, met with Netanyahu and issued a public invitation to him from Pres. Oabma to also visit the White House. It is anticpated that this time Obama will treat Netanyahu with greater respect than last time, when he was forced to enter the WH through a back entrance, with no press present and was given a rude dressing down by Obama over the East Jerusalem freeze. Netanyahu refused to extend the freeze publicly to East Jerusalem, and it should be pointed out that Ramat Shlomo is an entirely Jewish suburb of north Jerusalem over which even the PA have made no claims. Obama evidently made a mistake trying to continue to pressure Israel while applying no pressure whatsoever to the Palestinian side. Maybe he has realized his mistake given the negative reaction from American Jews and will this time treat the PM of Israel with the dignity he deserves.
In Britain, the new Foreign Secretary William Hague has said in his first press conference that he considers the "universal jurisdiction" law that allows any person in Britain to take any foreign visitor to court for war crimes as "completely unacceptable." He said that the new coalition government will change the rules as soon as possible so that people like Tzipi Livni, head of the Israeli opposition, can visit without fear. But, he added that since he is part of a coalition government he must consult with his LibDem colleagues before taking any action. One hopes they too will want to change the rules. His predecessor, the Jewish Marxist David Milliband, also said that the rules should be changed, but failed to do anything in the last year of his tenure. Let's hope that Hague means what he says.
Partly as a result of this development PM Netanyahu is on a visit to France to meet with the OECD for Israel to be formally installed, as well as meeting with Pres. Sarkozy of France and PM Berlusconi of Italy. After that he is invited to Canada, the first visit by an Israeli PM in many years. Since he will be in N. America, today Rahm Emmanuel, visiting Israel for his son's barmitzvah, met with Netanyahu and issued a public invitation to him from Pres. Oabma to also visit the White House. It is anticpated that this time Obama will treat Netanyahu with greater respect than last time, when he was forced to enter the WH through a back entrance, with no press present and was given a rude dressing down by Obama over the East Jerusalem freeze. Netanyahu refused to extend the freeze publicly to East Jerusalem, and it should be pointed out that Ramat Shlomo is an entirely Jewish suburb of north Jerusalem over which even the PA have made no claims. Obama evidently made a mistake trying to continue to pressure Israel while applying no pressure whatsoever to the Palestinian side. Maybe he has realized his mistake given the negative reaction from American Jews and will this time treat the PM of Israel with the dignity he deserves.
In Britain, the new Foreign Secretary William Hague has said in his first press conference that he considers the "universal jurisdiction" law that allows any person in Britain to take any foreign visitor to court for war crimes as "completely unacceptable." He said that the new coalition government will change the rules as soon as possible so that people like Tzipi Livni, head of the Israeli opposition, can visit without fear. But, he added that since he is part of a coalition government he must consult with his LibDem colleagues before taking any action. One hopes they too will want to change the rules. His predecessor, the Jewish Marxist David Milliband, also said that the rules should be changed, but failed to do anything in the last year of his tenure. Let's hope that Hague means what he says.
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:56 AM
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