Agreement to be Signed at Yad Vashem by German and Israeli Governments Whereby Germany Will Support Yad Vashem's Holocaust Remembrance Activities

(January 31, 2012, Jerusalem)  Tomorrow, February 1, 2012, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Government of Israel will sign an agreement whereby Germany will support Yad Vashem to the sum of one million euro annually, from 2012-2021. The agreement signifies the German government's wish to help facilitate Yad Vashem’s various activities in Israel and globally which further commemoration, documentation and education of the events of the Holocaust.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, and Israeli Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar, will sign the agreement tomorrow at Yad Vashem’s Research and Administration Building, in the presence of Hildegard Muller, Chairman of the Management board, BDEW German Association of Energy and Water Industries and the Chairperson of the Society of Friends of Yad Vashem in Germany, and Avner Shalev, Chairman of Yad Vashem.

"The German government recognizes Yad Vashem as the world center for Holocaust documentation, research and education, and understands its special meaning for the Jewish people and the world at large,” said Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. “This agreement strengthens the obligation of the German government and the German people regarding Holocaust remembrance."

The funding will support the systematic location and acquisition of documents from the Holocaust at archives across the globe, as well as making them accessible; in disseminating information about the Holocaust online, including through a new German version of Yad Vashem’s website; and enrich the activities of the International School for Holocaust Studies of Yad Vashem.

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, was established in 1953. Located in Jerusalem, it is dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, documentation, research and education. www.yadvashem.org<http://www.yadvashem.org/

(Courtesy of the Foreign Media Liaison / Yad Vashem and the GPO)

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Monday, January 30, 2012

Cabinet communique

The Cabinet decided to implement the recommendations of the Trajtenberg Committee to ease the economic burden on Israeli citizens by encouraging competitiveness, including from imports, reducing bureaucracy and increasing trade between Israel and the rest of the world.

At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday), 29 January 2012:

1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the following remarks:

Today, we will begin a discussion of historic significance in the State of Israel, on the construction of a railway from Tel Aviv to Eilat and from Eilat to Ashdod. The former will be for passengers; the trip will take approximately two hours. It will, of course, link up with the periphery in a way that has not been done up until now. The latter route will be for shipping freight from Asia to Europe, which will create a very great interest on the part of Asia's rising powers, China and India, as well as of other countries, in the State of Israel. Therefore, there is strategic, national and international importance to building this line. We will begin the discussion today; I estimate that we will need another meeting to complete it.

This change is, in effect, the realization of the vision of linking up the country via the development of transportation infrastructure from the north, from Kiryat Shemona, to Eilat, including expressways without traffic lights and railways, both within the State of Israel and as a transit point between continents.

This is one more decision that we have not merely discussed, such as the border fence and the law on free education from age three. We do not declare, we simply get things done.

Last week, I spoke with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. I commended them on the steps that Europe has taken against Iran, against both its petroleum exports and its central bank.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will arrive here in the coming days. I will sit with him and discuss the strengthening and intensifying of these sanctions, as well as our hope that the Palestinians will stay in the talks in order to reach, in the end, concrete negotiations between us on a peace agreement. As of now, according to what has happened in recent days, when the Palestinians refused to even discuss with us the State of Israel's security needs, the signs are not particularly good. But I hope that they will come around and continue the talks so that we might advance toward real negotiations."

2. The Cabinet appointed one member, and three acting members, to the Israel Land Administration Council.

3. Pursuant to Article 11 of the 1975 Government Companies Law, the Cabinet approved a plan to raise capital for the Israel Electric Corporation.

4. The Cabinet approved the granting of a permit to the Culture and Sports Ministry (Sports Administration) to receive NIS 5 million per annum from the Sports Betting Council for its project to promote sports for women.

5. The Cabinet decided to implement the recommendations of the Committee on Socio-Economic Change (the Trajtenberg Committee) to ease the economic burden on Israeli citizens by encouraging competitiveness, including from imports, reducing bureaucracy and increasing trade between Israel and the rest of the world. To these ends, the Cabinet enacted provisions regarding product standards and import levies.

6. The Cabinet decided to increase the rate of participation in the labor force and the rate of employment in order to improve the growth potential of the economy and reduce the level of inequality and social gaps among the Arab, Druze and Circassian populations; to increase the employment rate of people with disabilities; to step up the enforcement of labor laws; and to encourage the employment of single parents. Enforcement regarding working conditions will concentrate on violations carried out by those who employ workers at low wages, including by service contractors and those who employ foreign workers.

7. The Cabinet discussed the issue of permits for foreign workers and encouraging the employment of Israeli citizens.

8. The Cabinet discussed and approved Construction and Housing Minister Ariel Atias's proposal regarding changes in housing benefits provided in national priority areas.

9. The Cabinet began its discussion of the Eilat railway project. Transportation and Road Safety Minister Yisrael Katz and senior ministry officials briefed ministers on the main points of the project. The Cabinet will continue to discuss the issue.

(Courtesy of the Cabinet Secretariat)

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PM Netanyahu comments on Palestinian incitement

We hope the Palestinian Authority decides to resume the talks and back away from terror and glorification of killers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the following remarks during his meeting with Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore today (Sunday), 29 January 2012:

"The only way to enter into a discussion is through direct negotiations. Israel wants to do just that. We have our disappointments. One of them occurred this week when the Palestinian Authority's official television broadcasts a glorification of the killers who murdered an Israeli family, the Fogel family. They murdered the three little children and the parents. And they were on official Palestinian television presented as martyrs and heroes.

This comes on the heels of the Palestinian Mufti's call to murder Jews wherever they are. Also broadcast on official Palestinian Television. I think this is the wrong way to go. We demand a prompt condemnation; I hope you demand a condemnation because the only way to move to peace is to prepare our people for peace and not for brutal terror. We hope that these talks will continue. We're prepared to continue these talks, we hope the Palestinian Authority decides to resume the talks and back away from terror and glorification of killers."

(Courtesy of the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Israel congratulates Egypt on inauguration of parliament

PM Netanyahu addresses Knesset session marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day