Reuters was reporting Tuesday afternoon that the US and Israel have reached an agreement on a new 10-year package of US military aid to Israel totaling $38 billion. The agreement is expected to be signed within days following months of rumors and tough negotiations which the Obama Administration wanted to wrap up before leaving office in January. Final details of the agreement are expected to be officially announced soon.

A delegation of leaders of several Eastern religions including Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Shinto, Jain and Taoism were in Jerusalem Tuesday for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin. During their visit, which was organized by the Israeli Foreign Ministry in order to strengthen ties between the Jewish State and Asian countries which are increasingly important to Israel’s economy, they are also scheduled to have inter-faith dialogue sessions with leading Rabbis.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas gave his annual address to mark the Muslim holiday of Id al-Adha on Sunday evening, declaring during the televised speech from his Mukata presidential compound in Ramallah that “[Israel] is advancing settlement construction, ethnic cleansing, premeditated killings and violation of holy sites.” Israeli Deputy Minister for Diplomacy Michael Oren told The Jerusalem Post that Abbas’ accusations were “emphatically untrue and a blood libel.”

In the latest incident highlighting tensions within Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox (haredi) community, a haredi man has been convicted of a hate crime for verbally assaulting another haredi man who had chosen to defy communal norms by joining the Israeli military. Aharon Korlandeski, 34, began shouting abuse at Peretz Margolin, 24, as the latter was praying in a synagogue in Jerusalem’s predominantly haredi Ezrat Torah neighborhood several months ago.

Israel’s Paralympic team collected another medal in Rio Monday, a bronze for Doron Shaziri in the men’s 50-meter rifle three positions.  In other sports news, Israel’s flag football women’s team took 7th place at the world championships in Miami over the weekend while the men finished in 8th place.