ISRAEL

Defence minister advises delay in university approval
Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who has been delaying the final approval for the Ariel University Center's upgrade, is advising Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to wait for the High Court of Justice's ruling on the matter, writes Attila Somfalvi for YNetnews.com.In a letter to the prime minister, Barak said that having spoken to all the relevant parties, he recommends waiting for the High Court to rule on a petition against the establishment of the university before bringing the matter before the government. Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar slammed Barak and said the letter was "an obvious trick meant to delay the recognition of Ariel as a university".
He added that the government, and not the defence minister, was responsible for guiding the central command chief on the matter. Sa'ar noted that he had asked the cabinet secretary last month to put the issue on the government's agenda and "hopes it will be done soon". "It is more likely that the High Court will wait for the command chief's signature before making its ruling," he added.
Full report on the YNet News site