City Notes: Safed's first factory in 25 years

The inaugural event for the Bagel Bagel factory was attended by government ministers, public figures, rabbis, factory workers and others.

By MICHAEL OMER-MAN
Safed 521 (photo credit: Ariel Zilber)
Safed 521
(photo credit: Ariel Zilber)
NORTH Last week, the city of Safed saw the first new factory open its doors in 25 years. The inaugural event for the Bagel Bagel factory was attended by government ministers, public figures, rabbis, factory workers and others, the Local website reported.
The plant, owned by Unilever, is the fifth Bagel Bagel manufacturing plant to open in Israel, according to Local. The company has so far hired 65 workers and plans to hire an additional 100 by the end of the year, in addition to 170 employees in its Vered Hagalil factory, according to the report. Unilever was already the third-largest employer in the city before opening the new factory, something it said would help the new factory and the company deepen its relationship with the city and its residents.
Speaking at the opening of the factory, Negev and Galilee Development Minister Silvan Shalom said that the company has established its home in the city, creating new jobs and providing a basis for attracting new factories to open in Safed.
“This process is the continuation of investment efforts and a momentum that saw the establishment of a medical center in Safed,” the website reported. “In order to realize our goal of bringing 300,000 new residents to the Galilee in the next decade, we are constantly working to create and add new workplaces in the Galilee and the Negev. Consequently, we are advancing the opening of new factories and industrial areas throughout the Galilee.”
Safed Mayor Ilan Shohat, who also attended the ceremony, congratulated Unilever management for its decision to locate the new plant in Safed. “The Bagel Bagel plant brings more than 100 new employment opportunities to the city and contributes to the strength of the socioeconomic development of Safed, the capital of the Galilee,” Shohat said.
Acre joins electronics ‘special needs recycling program’ A program giving work to people with special needs by recycling electronics equipment passed a milestone last week when the Acre Municipality handed over 150 computers and pieces of technological equipment for recycling to the Ecology for a Protected Community program at Kibbutz Yasur, the Local website reported.
The program sees old equipment such as computers, electric cards, controllers and switchboards brought to a plant where workers with special needs break them down for proper recycling. The project’s goals are to connect companies, commercial enterprises and local government authorities who want to advance environmental responsibility by proper handling of electronic waste products with the rehabilitation and training of people with special needs, the website reported.
CENTER Danon calls on TA to take greater role in absorption MK Danny Danon, chairman of the Knesset’s Immigration and Absorption Committee, last week called on Tel Aviv-Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai to take a greater role in the absorption process of immigrants and their children who are moving to the city.
Speaking at the start of the school year, Danon said to Huldai, “Only we, veteran Israelis, can and have a duty to integrate [them] into Israeli heritage and society, to ensure we are welcoming the communities facing difficulties.”
Danon noted that the children are the ones who bear most scars of the difficulties of immigration, “but on the other hand, because of their age, they are the first to recover and integrate into the new society. The better and more dignified their integration also brings great relief to their parents, increasing the chances of successful absorption of the whole family.”
In 2011, 1,206 immigrants moved to Tel Aviv-Jaffa.
That number includes 326 from the United States and Canada, 292 from the former Soviet Union and 210 from France, according to the Knesset committee.
TA police arrest three for human trafficking Police in Tel Aviv arrested a father and son as well as one other suspect last week and charged them with crimes that included enslavement, human trafficking, pimping, assault and rape.
The son, who had opened a brothel in Tel Aviv, allegedly forced his wife into prostitution, took her earnings and violently assaulted her.
Minister threatens TA over Yom Kippur bike rentals Transportation Minister Israel Katz this week warned Tel Aviv-Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai that running the bike Tel-o-Fun rental service on Yom Kippur is “crossing a red line.” Katz threatened to cancel the Transportation Ministry allowance given to the bike rental project if Huldai does not retract his intention to run the service on Yom Kippur.
Katz warned Huldai in a statement, “This is crossing a red line and breaks all conventions. The Tel-o- Fun project is important, but unfortunately, Huldai is using it politically and is harming the holiest day for Jews.”
He added that his ministry has supported the project through budgeting the program and the paving of special bicycle paths, “but if Huldai breaks all the rules and damages the sacred day of the Jews, all of the funds supporting and aiding the project from the ministry will be halted.”
With annual subscription to the service, members will be able to rent a bike before the holiday and return it at the end without extra charge.
Officer shoots man dead in north Tel Aviv Police shot a man dead in the early morning hours last Thursday in north Tel Aviv. Police said the man, 33, from Tulkarm, was suspected of robbing a car and apparently threatened the officer with a knife. Initial reports said the victim was in Israel illegally. An investigation into the incident was opened.
Over the weekend, a 30-year-old man was seriously injured when he was stabbed all over his body in a suspected brawl on south Tel Aviv’s Levinsky Street. Magen David Adom paramedics treated the man on the scene before evacuating him to Sourasky Medical Center.
Another man, also lightly injured, was taken to the same hospital.
On Sunday, a vehicle struck a man on a bicycle in Tel Aviv, after which the driver fled the scene, police said. Police later located and arrested a suspect in the apparent hit-and-run. The victim, a 25-yearold migrant from South Sudan, suffered moderate to serious injuries in the incident.
Also Sunday, a car struck a nine-year-old girl in Bnei Brak. Magen David Adom paramedics evacuated the girl to a nearby hospital with severe injuries. Police opened an investigation into the incident.
SOUTH Ashkelon lauds new kindergartens in Barnea Nine new municipal kindergartens opened in time for the school year last week in Ashkelon, the municipality announced, according to the Local website. The kindergartens were built to the highest standards, the municipality said, adding that 280 children from the Barnea neighborhood would be served by the new facilities.
Early this year, the Education Ministry announced the implementation of the Free Education Law, under which all children from the age of three are eligible for free education. In order to implement the law, the Ashkelon Municipality built nine new preschools, eight of which are in the Barnea neighborhood. In the coming days and weeks, tenders for the construction of 20 additional preschools will be issued, the website reported.
Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin said of the new facilities, “In compliance with the [law mandating free education from age three], we managed to complete construction of the new preschools in the Barnea neighborhoods by the opening of the school year.” The new kindergartens, he continued, “have the latest and most advanced equipment for kindergarten-age children and we will add more facilities and kindergartens in the neighborhood as part of our preparations to implement the law,” according to the Local report.
Eilat introduces online teaching tools Schoolchildren in Eilat this year will have one new tool working from several different angles to improve their educational experience and, hopefully, their chances of success, an educational social network linking the three main actors in education: teachers, pupils and parents, the Local website reported.
At the start of the year, pupils, teachers and parents were given passwords to connect via any computer with a connection to the Internet to the pupils’ learning materials, the classroom, the school, the city and more. The project allows for up-to-date communication among teachers, pupils and parents and encourages self-expression and creativity among the three partners, the municipality lauded.
As part of the program, called “A password for each pupil,” teachers were given access to new teaching tools, including infrastructure technologies, online classrooms, interactive whiteboards and laptop computers, according to the report. The municipality added that the program places an emphasis on environmental values in online laboratories and makes use of innovative learning tools that allow exploration and experimentation while teaching and developing 21st-century skills.


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