The past 15 years have seen a significant decline in crime committed by immigrant youth – from 23% of all minors involved in crime in 2001, to only 6% in 2013, this according to a study commissioned by the Yedidim social services organization. These figures were revealed during Monday’s meeting of the Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, and Committee Chairman MK Avraham Neguise (Likud) stressed that “in light of the success of the organization’s ‘A Second Chance (Sikuim)’ program, the Education, Welfare, Immigrant Absorption and Public Security ministries must significantly increase their support for the program, mainly because rehabilitation and prevention save the state hundreds of thousands of shekels.”

Neguise noted that some 30% of imprisoned immigrant teenagers are of Ethiopian descent. Many of them have been to prison before, he said.

Yedidim’s website describes the second chance program as “a strategic partnership between the Ministry of Immigrant Integration, the police, the Ministry of Welfare, local municipalities and Yedidim designed to offer [immigrant juvenile delinquents] an opportunity for a fresh start and a clean slate.”

Yedidim Executive Director Shimon Siani said the program is aimed at “saving children and their families from a general deterioration.”

Professor David Leiser of Ben-Gurion University, who conducted the study, noted that for every shekel the state invests in preventing delinquency or rehabilitating a juvenile delinquent, it will save 5-10 shekels in the future by avoiding the delinquent’s imprisonment, compensating those hurt by the delinquent, etc.

Adva Meltzer, a social worker in charge of the program, spoke about the rehabilitation of 620 youths with the help of 400 tutors who are in charge of re-integrating the youths in the community. The tutors volunteer and assist weaker communities, provide life-skills and accompany parents, with an emphasis on multiculturalism.

Ilan Shemesh, manager of the National Youth Advancement department in the Ministry of Education, also praised the program, its success and the student-tutor guidance. However, he said his office grants only a modest amount of funds for the program. This is not the case in the instances of imprisoned youth, youth villages and rehab villages, in which the office invests hundreds of millions of shekels, and as a result many of the youths enrolled there complete their education and are entitled to a high school matriculation exam certificate.

According to Sarah Cohen, head of the Welfare Services Department at the Absorption Ministry, the program began as an initiative of the government, which manages it. She explained that Yedidim was chosen as an operational organization, and “does so successfully and with dedication.” She noted that the Ministry for the Development of the Negev and Galilee assisted in funding the program in other cities.

The Israeli government may impose a fine of nearly half a million shekels on business owners who hire illegal Arab workers from the Palestinian Authority.

The new penalty of NIS 452,000 ($116,000) was advanced by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan.

“Whoever employs Palestinians illegally living in Israel is endangering the lives of Israeli citizens,” Erdan said on Sunday.

“In this current wave of terror, it has been proven once again just how dangerous their presence is, in the centers of our cities, and at building sites.

“We must impose harsh penalties on those who employ and house the people,” Erdan said.

A significant number of the murderous terror attacks that have been carried out since October have been committed by illegal Arab workers from the Palestinian Authority.

Some of the attacks have also been carried out by Arabs from the PA who are employed legally in Israel, with entry papers and worker permits.

Very few attacks have been carried out in the Negev; however, a Bedouin Arab attacked the central bus station in Be’er Sheva on October 18, killing an IDF soldier and a second person indirectly; 11 others were wounded. The attacker’s father is a resident of the nearby town of Hura. His mother was a Palestinian Authority Arab from Gaza; due to their marriage she was allowed to enter pre-1967 Israel under the family unification law.

(JNi.media) Rebecca Honig-Friedman, President of the Stanton Street Shul on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, sent out an email Wednesday, telling congregates that the synagogue, one of the oldest in the area and the only one still operating between Houston and Fourteenth Streets, has been broken into.

Honig-Friedman’s email read: “Earlier today, when Rabbi [Aviad] Bodner entered the Shul, he discovered that we had been vandalized. Thank God, no one was hurt and the damage could have been much worse. Tallitot, papers and some knick-knacks were strewn about and the lectern had been overturned. More seriously, two of the lamps on the bima (Torah reading stand) corners were pulled off and broken. Nothing was stolen, and the Torahs and ark were not touched.

“The police came and did a thorough investigation, concluding that this does not appear to have been a hate crime but rather an attempted burglary. Most likely, these were low-level thieves who broke in through the fire escape door expecting to find a collection plate with cash or other valuables that could be easily sold. Not finding anything to steal, they lashed out and threw things around. The police pulled some fingerprints and will see if they can use them to find the perpetrators.

“The police confirmed there is no reason to think these thieves will return and that no one is in any imminent danger. Nevertheless, we are working with the police to enhance our security and will let you know if and when we have any updates on the situation.

“May we come together to support each other and to strengthen our community in the wake of this unfortunate incident. I look forward to seeing you all in Shul and spending a peaceful Shabbat together.”

Stanton Street Shul is one of the last surviving tenement-style synagogues on the Lower East Side. The long and narrow, three-story building, constructed of stone and brick, is situated on a standard tenement lot, preserving the spirit of the working class Jews who prayed there for more than a century. Located in today’s decidedly non-Jewish East Village, well north of the religious Jewish community of the co-ops south of the Delancey Street Bridge, the Stanton Street Shul has been catering to a unique and colorful congregation, carrying the torch of liberal Orthodoxy and growing strong in a declining Jewish neighborhood.

Police closed in on a ring of Israeli and Palestinian Authority Arabs who smuggled eggs and sold to supermarkets in urban centers in Israel.

The gang raked in more than $2.5 million a year in the operation that stamped the eggs with forged approval. Police investigator Shai Kovnator noted, “The phenomenon of smuggling eggs from Palestinian Authority to Israel endangers human life.

“These are criminals who will stop at nothing to make money at the expense of the health of the public in Israel.”

Two women from southern Tel Aviv are suing the state and the city over the problem of illegal immigration. According to News1, the two are claiming that their personal safety has been compromised due to authorities’ negligence.

They are seeking a payment of 640,000 shekels.

Southern Tel Aviv has become home to tens of thousands of African migrants in recent years. Most are men from Sudan or Eritrea who have claimed refuge in Israel due to fighting in their home countries.

Crime in the area has risen, with migrants implicated in many robberies and assaults. Many Israeli residents have reported being afraid for their safety.

There have been rallies in southern Tel Aviv accusing the government of abandoning the city’s working-class neighborhoods. The government has essentially dumped its migrant problem on the city’s poorest neighborhoods, they say, leaving the areas that already struggled with failing infrastructure and poverty to deal with an influx of traumatized, unemployed young men.

Well-known Israeli vocalist and songwriter Yigal Bashan, 64, was taken to to Ichilov Medical Center Sunday afternoon after having been stabbed in the chest. The performer was taken into surgery soon after he was admitted.

According to a report broadcast on Israel’s Army Radio, police have ruled out criminal motive for the attack. Bashan is currently listed in fair condition although there are few details available to media. Bashan’s manager, Paddy Pettav, said he “hopes there will be an improvement in his condition,” and added the singer “seemed to be doing well” when he spoke with him.

Over a span of 40 years, Bashan has spent years on the stage as a vocalist, actor and children’s television show host. The vocalist is extremely popular and has produced more than 30 albums over the years. He is known for songs such as “Sivan,” and “Yesh Li Tzipor Ketana B’Lev” (A Little Bird in my Heart) and as a member of a trio in the 1980s children’s program, ‘Hopa Hey.’

It’s going to be another long, hot summer for security personnel if the latest statistics are accurate.

Israel Police report they received more than nine million ‘100′ calls (Israel’s ‘911′) from Tel Aviv in 2013 — a nine percent rise over the previous year.

Annual police data showed the heaviest rate of calls came in the summer months, in June, July and August.

Of the 9,208,890 calls received by the national Israel Police dispatcher, 40,868 took place at one o’clock in the morning, an hour when many bars close. Only 3,731 crimes were reported between 5 am and 6 am – in that grey hour before dawn.

In 2012, 359,503 complaints went on to be processed by police and nearly one third of those — 89,580 — were for disturbing the peace.

Figures show that 40 percent of the calls originated from the southern and central regional districts. But 18 percent came solely from the city of Tel Aviv; not far behind, 14 percent originated in Jerusalem.

Car theft accounted for 55 percent of nearly 20,000 calls to police.

In addition, police reported that some 2,553 kilograms of hashish were seized during the year as well as 1,171 kilos of marijuana and 47,316 tablets of methamphetamine.

In 2012, there were 19, 352 arrests for drug use, 4,448 arrests for drug trafficking and 2,972 arrests for possession of drugs “not for personal use.”