CABINET COMMUNIQUE
(Communicated by the Cabinet Secretariat)

At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday), 22.7.07:

1. Pursuant to the 2001 Government Law and the proposal of Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert, the Cabinet appointed Oved Yehezkel as Cabinet Secretary
( http://tinyurl.com/28btsc ) in place of Yisrael Maimon.

2. The Cabinet discussed State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss's recent
report on the readiness of the home front for emergencies and its conduct
during the Second Lebanon War ( http://tinyurl.com/yvz96p ) and decided:

The Cabinet acknowledges the main actions that have been carried out
regarding home front readiness in the past year (see
http://tinyurl.com/223tqs ).

The Chairman of Ministerial State Control Committee will - within 45 days -
submit to the Committee proposals for a decision regarding actions that
ministers or the Government deem proper to implement, after considering the
State Comptroller's aforesaid report. These proposals will prepared in
coordination with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who bears overall
responsibility for the home front in times of emergency
( http://tinyurl.com/2doolu ), and with other relevant bodies. The
Committee will monitor implementation of the decisions; the Chairman will
submit quarterly reports to the Government. Deputy Defense Minister Matan
Vilnai will attend the Committee's meetings.

Prime Minister Olmert emphasized that one of the main issues related to home
front defense is the reinforcement and protection of structures. The
Government's position on this issue is that it is only the Government that
needs to decide on priorities regarding the reinforcement and protection of
structures and thus it will act.

[IMRA: Above comment is in rejection of a rejet decision of the Supreme
Court rejecting the "RFYL" system currently in place in the schools in
Sderot. Under "RFYL" children have no more than 15 second to literally run
for their lives and reach reinforced sections of the school buildings from
the time that a warning of an incoming rocket is sounded to impact. Prime
Minister Olmert takes the position that while he recognizes that Hamas is
getting stronger by the day he has no intention to launch a major IDF
operation to stop Hamas and at the same time has no intention to spend the
considerable sums of money that would be required to protect the Israeli
citizens within rocket range.]

3. Israel Police Inspector-General Commissioner Dudi Cohen briefed ministers
on Israel Police activities regarding trends in crime and road safety
( http://tinyurl.com/2pn2as ).

4. The Cabinet discussed adjustments to bread prices. See
http://tinyurl.com/2udwnm for further details.

5. The Cabinet discussed the establishment of the Ministry of Pensioners'
Affairs and the appointment of Minister Rafi Eitan to be responsible for
Jerusalem affairs. See http://tinyurl.com/2udwnm for further details.

6. The Cabinet established the Ministerial Committee on Rural and
Agricultural Settlement to act in order to develop rural and agricultural
settlement in general and to implement various goals in particular,
including the strengthening and expansion of communities in the Galilee and
the Negev.

The Jewish Agency Settlement Division will serve as an external body and
will implement relevant Government decisions. Agriculture and Rural
Development Minister Shalom Simhon will be responsible for the Division and
will coordinate its actions as per Government and Committee decisions.

[IMRA: The Hebrew version includes the phrase "There is nothing in this
decision to diminish from tasks that were assigned the Settlement Division
in accordance with previous Government decisions including decisions
relating to aid for Gush Katif evacuees". This decision was presented in
Maariv this morning as meaning that development funding would be cut of for
communities in Judea and Samaria.]

See http://tinyurl.com/2udwnm for further details.

7. The Cabinet discussed the planned expansion of the Strategic Affairs
Ministry's Nativ Liaison Office. See http://tinyurl.com/2udwnm for
further details.

8. The Cabinet assigned Minister Ruhama Avraham and Vice Premier Haim Ramon
to various ministerial committees. See http://tinyurl.com/2udwnm for
further details.

9. The Cabinet amended the process for selecting the State Prosecutor. See
http://tinyurl.com/2udwnm for further details.

10. The Cabinet approved the draft 2007 Tenders Law. See
http://tinyurl.com/2udwnm for further details.

11. The Cabinet approved draft amendments regarding the establishment of a
public database on drivers whose licenses have been revoked. See
http://tinyurl.com/2udwnm for further details.

12. The Cabinet rejected an appeal against a decision by the Ministerial
Committee on Legislation and Law Enforcement to approve draft amendments to
the law governing sports betting.

13. The Cabinet approved draft legislation regarding salaries for members of
the Council on Higher Education. See http://tinyurl.com/2udwnm for
further details.

14. The Cabinet appointed a ministerial committee chaired by Tourism
Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch to consider his proposal to cancel entry visas
for Russian tourists.

15. The Cabinet established a ministerial committee to deal with the issue
of the Mugrabi Gate.

16. The Cabinet authorized the Ministerial Committee on Legislation and Law
Enforcement to approve draft legislation to cancel means testing for
compensation for families of fallen soldiers. See
http://tinyurl.com/yt5zlg and http://tinyurl.com/2udwnm for details.