DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Moody's Israel rating outlook cut "not big drama," finance minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, April 16 (Reuters) - Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday said Moody's decision to cut the outlook for Israel's sovereign credit rating was "not a big drama" and that the government's plan to overhaul the judiciary would help the economy. Moody's Investors Service on Friday lowered Israel's outlook to stable from positive, saying the planned reforms could weaken Israel's institutions. Israel's sovereign credit rating was affirmed at "A1". Smotrich told a session of parliament's finance committee during a debate on the 2023-24 state budget that Israel's credit outlook was lowered in 2020, but raised in 2022. Israel's economy grew 6.5% in 2022 but the Bank of Israel foresees 2.5% growth this year.

☆ Two Israeli soldiers wounded in Palestinian shooting in flashpoint town
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 25 (Reuters) - Two Israeli soldiers were wounded on Saturday, the military said, in a drive-by shooting claimed by a Palestinian armed group in the flashpoint town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) said in a statement that it had carried out the shooting. On Sunday, as Israeli and Palestinian officials made commitments at a meeting in Egypt to de-escalate violence, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on an Israeli couple in their car in Huwara, wounding the man. Settlers responded to that attack by setting fire to Palestinians' homes and cars, killing at least one Palestinian. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose recent comments about the Palestinians, and earlier about Huwara, have drawn widespread criticism, said Israel must not let attacks from the town become routine.

☆ U.S. Jews Set to Shun Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Washington Visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Aaron Boxerman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Major American-Jewish organizations say they will boycott Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during his Sunday visit to Washington, underlining the divide between some of Israel’s staunchest allies in the U.S. and far-right officials in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s government. Mr. Smotrich, a longtime leader of Israel’s religious nationalists, is traveling to Washington for a conference organized by Israel Bonds, a U.S.-based organization that promotes the purchase of Israeli government securities. Israeli finance ministers have traditionally attended similar conferences to drum up investment interest.

☆ Israeli minister's call to 'erase' Palestinian village an incitement to violence, US says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Rami Ayyub | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's call for a Palestinian village to be "erased" amounted to incitement to violence and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must publicly disavow it, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday. Asked about a weekend settler rampage through the Palestinian village of Huwara, which an Israeli general on Tuesday described as a "pogrom," Smotrich said: "I think that Huwara needs to be erased". Price continued: "And just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn these provocative remarks that also amount to incitement to violence." On Wednesday, Israeli forces killed one Palestinian and arrested six others suspected of involvement in the fatal shooting of an Israeli American in the West Bank on Monday. After making the Huwara comments, Smotrich issued a statement saying the media had misinterpreted them, without retracting his call for the village to be erased.

JERUSALEM, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday he saw the country's economy being strengthened by the government's proposed judicial overhaul, but that he would assume responsibility for any economic harm caused by it. "There is a sort of a jolt in the Israeli public, this is being reflected in certain vectors in the economy. I don't see a catastrophe," Smotrich said at a news conference to provide details of the 2023-24 state budget. The cabinet on Friday approved the 2023-24 state budget draft that the Finance Ministry expects will be fully ratified by the end of May. The budget allocates spending of 484.8 billion shekels ($132 billion) this year and 513.7 billion next year.

GAZA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft struck in Gaza on Thursday in response to Palestinian rocket fire, days after the United States called for calm, but there was no immediate sign of a wider escalation in violence following days of tension. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said it had fired some of the rockets in response to the air strikes and the "systematic aggression" against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. In Gaza, activists rallied in support of women prisoners held by Israel after far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees prisons, said he would push ahead with plans to toughen conditions for Palestinian prisoners. Ben-Gvir has vowed a crackdown on "benefits and indulgences" offered to Palestinian prisoners and ordered amenities including prisoner-operated bread ovens in some prisons to be curtailed. Cairo has also invited Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who currently resides between Qatar and Turkey, for separate talks next week, said a Palestinian official familiar with Egyptian mediation.

☆ New Israel finance minister says to keep free-market policies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Incoming Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would pursue a broad free-market policy on Wednesday, an apparent effort to allay fears he would be guided by Jewish biblical principles. "I will pursue a broad free-market policy," he wrote. Smotrich said he would be inspired by U.S. right-to-work laws and pursue similar measures to reduce union control in Israel’s labour force. His "traditionalist bloc" in Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition had been "vilified" by U.S. media, he said. The $1.3 trillion fund's executive board this month had decided to exclude Israeli security and analytics software provider Cognyte Software Ltd (CGNT.O) from its portfolio citing human rights concerns.

☆ Israeli finance panel chief suggests law to shield mortgages from rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File PhotoJERUSALEM, Nov 28 (Reuters) - The head of the Israeli parliament's powerful finance committee on Monday criticized a wave of central bank interest hikes and said he would propose legislation to minimise their impact on mortgage holders. In a bid to fight rising inflation, the Bank of Israel last week raised its benchmark interest rate (ILINR=ECI) by a half-point to an 11-year high of 3.25%. It was the sixth increase in an aggressive monetary tightening cycle that has taken the rate from 0.1% in April. Gafni said his committee, which controls the government's purse strings, would not interfere in monetary policy decisions by Israel's independent central bank. Speaking to the committee, Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron defended the rate hikes, pointing to an inflation rate of 5.1%.

Search resuls for: "Israeli Finance"

8 mentions found