Thousands gathered in Tel-Aviv against the Libel Law

Some 3,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Avenue yesterday (Tuesday) evening in protest of the amendment to the Defamation Law, which passed its first Knesset reading on Monday. The protest, came on the heels of an initiative proposed by right-wing Knesset members, which aims to increase the maximum compensation paid for libel violations to…

Libel Law: the latest of several pieces of legislation intended to stifle dissent in Israel

A contentious bill toughing Israel’s libel passed its first hurdle in the Knesset yesterday night (Monday), passing first reading despite vocal resistance from both opposition and coalition members. The bill represents an amendment to Israel’s existing libel law, which would make it possible to sue a newspaper for libel, not only for commensurate compensation for…

Government quashes plan to rehabilitate Dead Sea

A week after the Dead Sea failed to make the list of winners in the New 7 Wonders competition, the cabinet rejected yesterday (Sunday) a bill that would provide for its rehabilitation and protection in an 8-7 vote. “The government has chosen to stand on the sides of the factories and has failed in safeguarding…

Railway to freeze partial privatization

The Histadrut (Federation of Labor in Israel) announced yesterday (Thursday) night that next week’s planned strike by Israel Railways workers had been called off. The railway workers had planned to seriously disrupt passenger and cargo traffic nationwide to protest the privatization of rolling stock maintenance. An agreement was reached to continue the deadlocked talks with…

‘Pri Galil’ workers launched open-ended strike

The ‘Pri-Galil’ canned vegetables factory employees at Hatzor (Upper Galilee – North of Israel) launched a strike today (Wednesday) until further notice. The workers have started to put up a protest tent camp, and intend to be stationed at the factory with family members. The strike decision was reached after the decision of the factory…

MK Khenin: Netanyahu leading assault on democracy

MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) slammed today (Monday) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the Knesset plenum session: “The government has launched a comprehensive assault on democracy, led not by Knesset members from the margins of the right wing but by the Prime Minister”. “Netanyahu understands that a large part of the public opposes his policies. His…