 |
 |
|
|
||
Newsletter : 9fax0518.txt
Directory | Previous file | Next file
>PD
>Israel Faxx
>JN May 18, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 93
Labor's Barak Slaughters Likud's Netanyahu
By David Gollust (VOA-Jerusalem)
In Israel, Labor party leader Ehud Barak headed for a decisive election victory over incumbent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who conceded defeat and said he will step down as head of the right wing Likud party.
Barak had led in pre-election polls. But exit surveys by Israel's
television networks indicated an even bigger victory for the Labor
party leader.
Israel's Channel One state television projected Barak winning
58-point-five per cent of the vote in the two-man race, while the
private Channel Two said he would win with 57 per cent.
Netanyahu said the people have decided, and he will honor their
will, which is how it is supposed to be in a democracy. His
departure as Likud leader is no surprise, given that the party is
expected to slump to 18 seats in parliament, its fewest since 1961.
Netanyahu said he had a lot to give to Israel, but that it was time
to take a break with his family and to reconsider his future in
politics. He said he will stay on as prime minister in a caretaker
capacity, until Barak can form his new government. The Labor party
leader will have 45 days to do so, but it does not appear he will
have much difficulty in assembling a left-center coalition, given
projections on the makeup of the next Knesset.
Israeli political analysts say Netanyahu's decision to quit the
party leadership is not surprising in that regard, since with
Likud faring so badly, he probably would have been ousted from the
job.
Turnout in the election is expected to have been about 80 percent
of the Israeli electorate -- voters energized by a bitter campaign
that focused more on personalities and name-calling than political
issues including the peace process with the Palestinians.
Barak has said he wants to restore trust and momentum to the peace
process, which essentially came to a halt late last year when
Netanyahu's right-wing coalition fell apart over troop pullbacks in
the West Bank under the US-brokered Wye River agreement.
Former Employee: Bezeq Cheated Broadcast Authority
By IsraelWire
A former senior Bezeq phone service company employee who was fired
from the company, claims that Bezeq cheated the Broadcast Authority
for years by sending broadcasts of Voice of Israel news in Arabic
to Europe instead of to Baghdad. The man is suing for over NIS 2
million in compensation from Bezeq.
Avraham Kramer, 53, was fired last year after working for Bezeq for
28 years. He claims he was fired because he knew of the deceits and
frauds practiced by the Bezeq management. In his suit Kramer has
also demands to be returned to his job. He claims that, for 10
years, Bezeq charged the Broadcast Authority for broadcasting to
Baghdad, when the strong antennas were aimed at Moscow, and only
weak antennas were aimed at Baghdad.
According to Kramer, all the employees in his branch were aware of
the fraud, and complained to the Bezeq management. He says that
they were instructed to fill fictitious information on forms, and
that in actuality, for half a year, nothing was broadcast to
Baghdad at all.
Bezeq claims that Kramer was fired in an administrative
reorganization, and that no intrigue is operating against him.
Nearly Half of World's Jewish Children Live in Israel
Israel Faxx staff report
Forty-six percent of the world's Jewish children and young people
up to age 25 live in Israel, according to demographic research
carried out under the direction of Prof. Sergio DellaPergola of the
Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew
University.
The research found that Israel's Jewish population of 4.8 million
represents about 36% of the total world Jewish population of 13.1
million. In 1948, only 6% of the world's Jews were living in
Israel, and in the early 1970s, the percentage had risen to 21%.
Demographers agree that a majority of the world's Jews will
soon be living in Israel.
| Home My Account Search Contact Us |
by Electronic World Communications, Inc.)
