Reports Wednesday indicated that Israel is on the verge of re-instituting normalized diplomatic relations with Turkey after 6 years of estrangement over the June 2010, Mavi Marmara flotilla incident. Rumors and speculation over the terms of an agreement, scheduled to be unveiled over the weekend, were also rife on social media throughout the Middle East.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority issued a statement Tuesday accusing Israel of “executing” a Palestinian teenager on Monday, hours after the IDF admitted he was shot by mistake while troops were engaged in repelling a violent attack on Israeli vehicles nearby. In related news, Donald Tusk, president of the Council of Europe, told President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday in Brussels that the EU’s recent statement of support for a French effort to re-start negotiations between Israel and the PA was made in a spirit of friendship with both parties and Israeli officials who characterized it as a hostile move against the Jewish State were mistaken.

Iranian officials reacted angrily this week to a decision by the government of neighboring Bahrain to revoke the citizenship of a senior Shi’ite cleric in the island nation over what the Bahraini government described as his agitation against it in cooperation with Iran. General Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, issued a statement threatening to wipe out the royal family of Bahrain in retaliation.

The Knesset approved a measure this week to establish Aliyah Day as a new holiday in Israel, to correspond with the seventh day of the Hebrew month of Heshvan and the time of year when the Torah portion read in synagogues includes Genesis 12: 1-3 where God told Abraham to take his family to what would later become Israel. The holiday will include official ceremonies and special lessons on immigration and related issues for school children.

Following an outcry from the public, the Religious Service Ministry announced Tuesday that it has reconsidered a decision not to extend the tenure of the Chief Rabbi of the Ethiopian Community Yosef Hadane by six months. An earlier decision to force him into retirement was criticized as appearing to be payback for his opposition to official discrimination against members of his community.