Haredim took to the streets Monday morning to protest the arrest of four yeshiva students who refused to report to the IDF draft center after receiving orders to enlist.

Protesters blocked traffic in Jerusalem, Modi’in and Ashdod before police dispersed them and arrest more than a dozen demonstrators.

There were no serious injuries.

Four men are in serious condition in Ashdod, and so far, nobody knows why. The men were found unconscious in the middle of the night. They were taken to hospital, where they are undergoing tests in an attempt to determine what happened.

The four were found in a restaurant, leading doctors to look for evidence of poisoning. Police say there were no signs of violence.

In 2014, cruise ship traffic to Israel decreased by almost two-thirds in comparison with the year before.

A cruise ship that docked in Ashdod during Operation Protective Edge was hit by shrapnel from a rocket. The AIDAdiva, a cruise ship with a capacity of 2,050 passengers and run by AIDA cruises in Germany (though the ship is owned by Carnival Cruise Lines in the United States) was hit by small pieces of shrapnel as it left the port of Ashdod towards Crete. There were no injuries, but AIDA did cancel the two following cruises stopover in Israel following the incident. Tazpit News Agency spoke with a spokesperson for AIDA, who confirmed “it is true that we cancelled the two remaining cruises in the 2014 season from docking in Ashdod, due to the shrapnel.”

AIDA’s website does have one seven day cruise available that will be returning to Ashdod in the 2015 season.

The overall trend of declining cruise ship traffic has its roots in a conflict between Israel and Hamas, but not the one of 2014. It was around the time of Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2013 that cruise operators began avoiding Israeli ports for their itineraries. Since cruises are generally planned six to twelve months in advance, the effects of that conflict are only becoming apparent now.

“The decline in cruise ship traffic isn’t just to Israel,” Director General of the Tourism Ministry Amir Halevy told Tazpit News Agency. “Since the Arab Spring, cruise operators have been avoiding the region, and now plan their routes elsewhere. Because they aren’t coming to the region, they aren’t coming here as well. But this is a long term trend, not a short term response to local situations.”

The Director General also pointed out that while the numbers seem to be large, the impact of cruise ship passengers in Israel’s economy is very small. “The average cruise ship passenger adds $200 to the economy in Israel, whereas the average tourist adds $1500,” he explained.

There is also a new trend that may be contributing to the drop in cruise ship entry numbers, and it is a positive one for Israel. Some people who come on a cruise are electing to stay overnight, such as in Jerusalem, and join up with the cruise later on. These people get counted as tourists instead of cruise passengers.

Estimates by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism show that 2014 is slated to end with a 7% decrease in entries into the country in comparison to 2013. According to statistical projections, there should be around 3.3 million visitors over 2014. There were 3.54 million visitors in 2013. The decrease is driven by the drastic drop off in tourism from July-October, which saw a 25% decrease in comparison with July-October 2013.

However, the number of actual tourists has so far increased by 2%. Tourists are defined as visitors staying for more than one night, as opposed to “visitors”, who stay less than one night. Considering the abject freefall in total entries from July until September, the Israeli tourism industry seems to be in a position of strength – 2014 was shaping up to be a record shattering year, tourist wise, until Operation Protective Edge; the numbers from January until July were so strong that the year will still close with an increase.

Authorities at the Port of Ashdod and police  last week uncovered two containers with more than 6,000 knives and swords, 18,000 fireworks rockets destined for eastern Jerusalem Arabs to maim and slaughter Jews.

Police have arrested three suspects. A gag order on the smuggling of the weapons was lifted Thursday.

Customs agents detected that the contraband wrapped as Christmas gifts. One container was full of 18,000 20mm diameter firework rockets and hundreds of blasting caps, and the other container included 5200 commando knives, 4300 high voltage shocker flashlights, 5000 electric shockers and 1000 swords.

The weapons and fireworks were lined with Christmas presents, lights and wrappings in the hope of slipping them past Customs.

Realizing the security threat, port officials contacted police.

Police with containers of knives and fireworks headed for eastern Jerusalem Arabs to murder Jews.

Three Arabs from northern Israel arrived at the port 10 days to unload the cargo on two trucks. Police followed them to Afula, opened the containers and arrested the suspects.

The shipments originated in China and were destined for Beit Hanina in eastern Jerusalem.

Police said the smuggling attempt was intended to “significantly upgrade: violence by Arabs, who recently have turned firecrackers, which have become the latest fad for Arab rioters to injure or maim police officers trying to quell riots.

If the containers had slipped through, the organizers of violence in eastern Jerusalem would have had an opportunity to make Tuesday’s slaughter of Jews praying at a Jerusalem synagogue just a drop in a sea of Jewish blood.

The police investigation might help security officials track down a major source of the Arab riots and perhaps put a serious hole in the heart of what appears to be an organized war to take Jerusalem away from Israel.

Swords, knives and fireworks destined for Jerusalem Arabs were found hidden inside Christmas presents in 2 Ashdod shipping containers.

Ashdod and at least one moshav farming community joined Ashkelon Thursday to declare that Arabs will not be allowed to work in the area of kindergartens despite widespread condemnation from political leaders.

Ashkelon Mayor Itamar Shimoni got the ball rolling with his public announcement Wednesday that no Arabs are welcome, as reported here. He not only refused to back down on Thursday but also stood his ground that his decision is legal because of the need for security.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said she has asked the Attorney General to enforce the law against discrimination and stop Shimoni in his tracks. Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid called Mayor Shimoni’s policy a surrender to terror and a denial of co-existence.

Jewish Home party Naftali Bennett took the opportunity to show a liberal face of the national religious community and went off the edge to declare that “99.9 percent of Israeli Arabs are loyal to the country.”

Everyone is racing, no pun intended, to show he is the most democratic politician since ancient Greece, even if it was not so democratic.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, “There can be no discrimination against Israeli Arabs. We must not generalize about an entire public due to a small and violent minority. The vast majority of Israel’s Arab citizens are law-abiding and whoever breaks the law – we will take determined and vigorous action against him.”

Lest anyone think Netanyahu is flying on a left wing, he added that “in the framework of the draft nationality law that I will submit to the Cabinet on Sunday, we will enshrine the full equality before the law of every citizen regardless of religion, race or sex alongside ensuring Israel’s identity as the national state of the Jewish People.”

Mayor Shimoni’s declaration brought out the gut feeling of Israelis who reacted to Tuesday’s massacre of Jews praying in a Jerusalem synagogue exactly the way future murderers want – fear.

His ban on Arab workers in the vicinity of kindergartens comes on the background of trauma in the city from more than a decade of rocket and missile attacks on the port cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon.

It took the mayor’s statements to arouse Israel’s yellow journalist media to take a break from its own racism the past week that has tried to demonstrate that Israeli Arabs as a whole are at war against Israel.

Bennett grossly exaggerated to say that 99.9 percent of Israeli Arabs are loyal to the country. Netanyahu was more on the mark when he said a majority, without measuring it, are “law-abiding.”

Mayor Shimoni hit a raw nerve

Placing all Arabs in one basket of terror is racist, illegal and immoral.

It also expresses a frustration that the police must heed so that Israelis can be safe.

I couldn’t help myself after I saw the photo above.

The context is that on Tuesday, PM Netanyahu and Yair Lapid were in Southern Ashdod laying a cornerstone for a new seaport.

A travel terror attack was foiled Tuesday afternoon on a road near Ashdod thanks to the alert eyes of the Israeli public and Israeli police.

An explosive device was discovered on a road in southern Israel just a day before the start of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.

A dragnet was thrown around the area and all entrances and exits were shut down. As of 4:45 pm the area was still cordoned off, according to Israel Police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld.

The bomb squad was summoned to the scene and a sapper was at work trying to defuse the explosive.