September 23, 2019

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Blue and White head Benny Gantz met with outgoing White House Middle East peace envoy Jason Greenblatt at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

The meeting on Monday afternoon also included the U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.

Gantz’s party was the top vote-getter in Israel’s national elections last week.

Greenblatt, Friedman and Gantz “had a cordial discussion on various topics, including the importance of the U.S.- Israel relationship, security challenges within the region and efforts to promote peace,” according to a Blue and White statement.

Greenblatt had met on Friday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose party finished second to Blue and White in the voting on Tuesday.

Greenblatt, an architect of the Trump administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, announced earlier this month that he would step down from his position to return to his family and the private sector.

The Trump administration had said it would release the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan in the days following the election in Israel, though no date has been announced.

JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli kindergarten was ordered closed after segregating students by race.

The children of Ethiopian descent in the southern town of Kiryat Gat met in an auxiliary room with a separate entrance, The Times of Israel reported.

They were spread out to kindergartens and day cares throughout the town, with transportation provided by the municipality.

Officials discovered the issue after a parent of Ethiopian descent posted on Facebook on the first day of school that she and her 3-year-old daughter were directed to a classroom of exclusively Ethiopian-Israeli children. She immediately left with her daughter and went to the municipal hall to complain.

“Because of the color of their skin they cannot mix with other children,” wrote the mother, Sefy Bililin. “My daughter is worth as much as anyone else.”

“She was born here,” the mother said, “and she is as good as anyone.”