Your Daily Spiel For June 18

Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman.

Israeli entrepreneur Uri Levine, co-founder of the Waze navigation app, has created a new app to improve the value added tax (VAT) refund process for tourists. In many countries tourists pay a VAT tax when they make a purchase and have to get a refund when they leave the country. The app allows for refunds to be approved online.

Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin criticized Britain’s Prince William for listing his upcoming tour of the Old City of Jerusalem as part of the Palestinian territories, rather than Israel.

Some Canadian Jewish organizations criticized the government for not defending Israel and abstaining from an anti-Israel vote at the United Nations on Wednesday, while others said it was a strategic decision. B’nai Brith Canada was disappointed, while JSpace Canada, a progressive Zionist organization, believed that the vote was strategic in an effort to play a stronger role in the peace process going forward.

Natalie Portman criticized former friend Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, on the “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” She admitted that he was not a great student when they attended Harvard University together and said he has become a “super-villain.”