Woman's body found in Karmiel ForestPolice found the body of a woman in a forest near Karmiel last week, and identified her as a 21-year-old resident of the city. There had been no recent reports of any missing woman, police said, suspecting murder as the cause of death.The woman’s body, which showed signs of violence, had reportedly been lying in the forest for some time.Police transported the body for autopsy at the L. Greenberg National Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir.The woman’s husband, 24, was detained for questioning on suspicion of involvement in the murder.Fires burn through Galilee, GolanThree female hikers were lightly injured last Thursday from smoke inhalation when a fire broke out in the Ein Tina nature reserve in the Golan Heights. One of the hikers was also treated for an anxiety attack. By Friday, the blaze had spread to Nahal Gilbon in the Golan Heights. Several firefighting crews, as well as firefighting planes, were deployed.Another fire broke out Thursday on Mount Meron in Upper Galilee. Three firefighting crews and two airplanes successfully put out that blaze. No injuries were reported, but 40 dunams of land were destroyed.In a separate fire over the weekend, four cars belonging to tourists were engulfed by a quickly spreading brush fire near Kfar Nahum, north of the Kinneret. No injuries were reported. Fire-fighters from Tiberias and two helicopters were sent to fight the blaze.Search for fisherman goes on
Police, search crews and volunteers continued searching for a 71-year-old fisherman who disappeared Saturday morning while fishing in a reservoir near the entrance of Beit She’an. Divers, Mounted Police, off-road vehicles, Border Police and search and rescue units all helped in the search.The reservoir was emptied Monday in an effort to locate the man’s body, and police were asking for the public’s help in locating the man. It was initially suspected that he had drowned while fishing in the reservoir, but no body had been found by press time.Ex-mayor to do community service The former deputy mayor of Hadera, Sammy Levy, was convicted in a plea bargain last week on charges of fraud and breach of trust, abuse of his office, prohibited consensual sex and attempted assault.The Haifa District Court handed down a sentence of six months’ community service, compensation of NIS 25,000 to his victims and probation. Levy will carry out his community service at the Meir Panim public service institute in Or Akiva.CENTERPuppet festival opens
Nine days of theater and films of a different kind are gracing Holon, beginning this week with the International Puppet Theater and Film Festival. This 14th annual festival opened its doors on July 21 at the Puppet Theater Center in Holon with a full schedule of offerings for children and adults alike. Over 75 activities and performances will take place throughout the week and the Museum of Puppets will offer free entrance to the public.For more information, visit bubot2011.co.ilTA’s Gordon Beach finally reopensTel Aviv’s Gordon Beach finally reopened for swimmers over the weekend after months of closures due to sewage contamination from the nearby storm drain. The Interior Ministry has closed Gordon Beach four times since the beginning of the summer.The Tel Aviv Municipality and the Interior Ministry – which is responsible for testing water quality – have quarreled since the beginning of the summer. The ministry is demanding the city find the source of the contamination, suggesting it is the result of illegal sewage connections to the storm drain. The municipality claims the contamination was due to a drainage problem at a nearby hotel, which it says has been fixed.Man robs bank with ‘toy gun’
A man walked into a Tel Aviv bank this week, fired what customers and bank employees described as a gunshot, demanded money from the teller and then fled the scene. Police, finding no shell casing nor bullet, assumed that the gun was a toy. No arrests have been made.Woman requests hospitalization, grabs gunA woman showed up at the Ness Ziona police station this week demanding that she be taken to the hospital. When the duty officer refused, noting that the woman was not in a life-threatening condition, she threatened to kill herself and attempted to grab the officer’s gun. The woman was arrested and brought for a remand hearing later in the week.Baby found dead in dumpsterThe body of a newborn girl was found inside a Kfar Saba garbage dumpster over the weekend. Police suspect that the baby’s mother, a foreign worker from the Philippines, was responsible.According to police suspicions, the mother disposed of the infant after deciding that she did not want her.The baby was born prematurely, reports said. Magen David Adom paramedics declared the infant dead at the scene. Police opened an investigation.Woman crashes at B-G Airport; diesA woman was killed on Monday when she apparently lost control of her vehicle and slammed into a concrete wall in Airport City, part of Ben-Gurion International Airport. MDA paramedics pronounced the woman dead at the scene. Police opened an investigation into the circumstances of the incident.SOUTH20 drug dealers bustedThe work of a female police officer operating undercover for half a year led to the arrest of 20 drug dealers in the Beersheba area this week. On Monday morning, some 100 police officers participated in mass raids, rounding up the suspects. Among the drugs seized were large amounts of cocaine and hashish. All 20 suspected drug dealers were brought to court in Beersheba for remand extension hearings.Palmahim Beach ‘dirtiest’In the Environmental Protection Ministry’s weekly summer rankings of beaches, the Palmahim Beach emerged as the dirtiest in Israel. The index ranks cleanliness, accessibility and quality of services available at all beaches open for swimming.Palmahim Beach was the only beach to be classified as “very dirty” this week.Phone leads police to robberPolice were able to arrest a man suspected of robbing an elderly Ashkelon woman after the criminal left his cell phone at the scene of the crime. The man apparently broke into the 80- year-old woman’s home, pushed her to the ground, stole jewelry and fled. The woman required medical treatment following the robbery.Police alerted to the scene noticed the forgotten phone, which led them directly to the suspect a short time later. The stolen jewelry was also recovered. The suspect was remanded to police custody for the duration of the investigation.Hookah smokers on the hookIn an operation aimed at cleaning up central Beersheba, a large force of policemen and municipal enforcement officers made several arrests and issued dozens of citations at the city’s market this week.Three market workers were arrested for being in Israel illegally and two others for possession of stolen property and other criminal offenses. Ten tickets were issued for traffic violations and dozens of illegal parking tickets were handed out.Some 48 citations were issued for environmental violations, waste disposal, illegal business practices – and 15 citations for smoking water pipes in public. A municipal official explained that the smoking of water pipes (hookahs) was “very upsetting” to the public, and therefore a special emphasis was put on this specific infraction, the Local website reported.Ramping up for naked photo shoot
American photographer Spencer Tunick has posted online registration for volunteers to participate in a photo shoot of nude Israelis at the Dead Sea. Tunick, who has gained fame for taking photographs of crowds of naked people at sites around the world, is calling on Israelis to “Disrobe to Save the Dead Sea.”The installation, set for September 17, is being undertaken to raise international awareness of the condition of the sea, which is rapidly receding.“I first visited the Dead Sea as a child back in 1979, and was always amazed by its buoyancy and beauty. When I returned for a visit in 2010, I was shocked to see how much the water had receded,” Tunick said in a statement.