Prime minister’s satellite telephone number accidentally revealed on networking sites
A photo posted to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Facebook, Twitter and Flickr sites let viewers see the leaders’ satellite phone number. Shortly after taking off for Washington this week, Netanyahu’s aides uploaded a picture of him from the plane, talking to the defense minister, to the prime ministers’ newly opened online profiles. In the photo, the Iridium satellite phone Netanyahu is holding to his ear bears a yellow sticker with the phone number on it, enabling anyone to call the prime minister during the Washington summit. A similar photograph was distributed to the newspapers and printed the following day. By yesterday the picture had disappeared from Netanyahu’s sites. But the telephone number can still be seen on Ido Kenan’s blog “Room 404.” (Jonathan Lis)
Education Ministry approves private school for Ashkenazi girls in settlement of Immanuel
An organization that combats discrimination against Mizrahim, yesterday rejected the Education Ministry’s solution to the discriminatory treatment of Mizrahi girls at Immanuel’s Beit Yaakov school. The ministry decided to allow the settlement’s Ashkenazi parents, who had refused to let their daughters’ Mizrahi peers study in the same classrooms, to open a private school for their children that would not receive state funding. Yoav Lalum of the non-profit organization Noar Kahalacha said the ministry could not justify opening a private school for so few students, contrary to its own policy. The ministry’s “solution” rewards the Ashkenazi parents’ illegal separatism − which the court had castigated − and legitimizes ethnic discrimination, Lalum said. (Or Kashti)
Following Haaretz exposé, government to investigate experiments at TAU dental school
The State Comptroller’s Office said it will review research conducted in the Tel Aviv University School of Dental Medicine, following a Haaretz investigation of suspected cruel and unnecessary experimentation on animals, and complaints about experiments on human subjects. Most of the experiments in question tested Ossix, a synthetic biodegradable collagen membrane enabling bone regeneration after tooth implants. The Tel Aviv University administration declined to comment while the police investigation is ongoing. (Dan Even)
Police paid hundreds of thousands in legal fees for officer who killed suspected car thief
The police financed the legal expenses of an officer convicted of killing a suspected car thief, an internal police document shows. The document reveals that officer Shahar Mizrahi received almost NIS 350,000 in legal aid − NIS 161,000 for his defense in the trial court and NIS 186,000 for his Supreme Court appeal. Law enforcement sources described the sum as “unprecedented.” The document did not give the police’s criteria for funding legal aid but said the assistance to Mizrahi was irregular. Adalah − The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel has asked the police whether they plan to make Mizrahi return the money now that his appeal has been rejected. (Jack Khoury)
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