Soldier convicted in tourist’s slaying
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli army reserve major was convicted this week in the 1997 murder of a British tourist.
Suggesting he had suffered mental impairment from his army service, Daniel Okev claimed he could not remember the incident. He was convicted of shooting to death hitchhiker Jeffrey Hunter and wounding Hunter’s girlfriend, Charlotte Gibb, after picking them up on a road near Eilat.
Israel plans to expand Jerusalem’s boundary
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s cabinet approved last week an expansion of Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries.
At a special session, the cabinet passed a plan to expand the city’s jurisdiction westward to enable the construction of 120,000 housing units by the year 2020. Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert said the expansion would expand the city by one-third.
Two men convicted in pig-head incident
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Two Israeli extremists were convicted Tuesday on charges that included incitement, arson and sedition.
Avigdor Eskin and Damien Pakovitch were found guilty of placing a pig’s head on the grave of Islamic leader Izz aDin al-Kassam, torching the Jerusalem offices of the Dor Shalom peace movement, and planning to put a pig’s head on the Temple Mount.
The judge wrote in his verdict that if the Temple Mount plot had succeeded, it could have led to war with the Muslim world and perhaps even to the destruction of Israel.
400,000 workers end a four-day strike
JERUSALEM (JTA) — About 400,000 public-sector workers in Israel ended their four-day strike Monday after all-night talks with government officials resulted in a 4.8 percent wage increase.
The strike caused disruptions at Ben-Gurion Airport, slowed operations at hospitals and government offices, and left mounds of garbage piling up on the streets.
Israel grounds jets after F-16 crash
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Following Sunday’s crash of an F-16, Israel’s air force has grounded its entire fleet of the advanced fighter jets for inspection.
The jet crash in the Mediterranean after its engine failed. The pilot and navigator bailed out and were picked up by a helicopter-borne rescue team. One suffered burns from the ejection seat; the other was lightly injured.
The crash of the F-16, the backbone of Israel’s air force, follows a series of F-16 crashes in the U.S. Air Force, which lost 19 of the jets in the past year. Manufacturer Lockheed Martin asserts that 10 crashed due to engine failure, blaming pilot error for the other nine.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon plans to sell 50 more F-16 fighter planes to Israel for $2 billion. The deal announced last Friday includes radar and navigation systems, as well as support equipment and contractor services.