JNS news briefs: July 3, 2013

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NY Times questions Kerry’s Middle East focus
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Against a backdrop of raging civil war in Syria and emerging chaos in Egypt, the New York Times asked in a report on Tuesday whether the Obama administration is doing the right thing by focusing now on advancing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, once a stark symbol and source of grievance in the Arab world, is now almost a sideshow in a Middle East consumed by sectarian strife, economic misery and, in Egypt, a democratically elected leader fighting for legitimacy with many of his people,” the article said.

Robert Blecher, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Program of the International Crisis Group, told the New York Times, “The moment for this kind of diplomacy has passed.”

“[U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry] is working with actors who have acted in this movie before, and the script is built around the same elements. But the theater is new; the region is a completely different place today,” Blecher said.

U.S. student says he was refused entry into U.K. over Israeli passport stamps
(Kansas City Jewish Chronicle/JNS.org) A Kansas City student who was denied entry into the United Kingdom late last month and was detained for more than nine hours by U.K. customs officials, before being put on a plane back to the U.S., believes he was targeted because he is Jewish and had traveled to Israel.

Louis Cantor, 23, arrived in the U.K. and waited in line to go through customs. He was detained after a customs agent saw two pages in his passport with Israeli stamps. Cantor says he was never told why he was being denied entry. He was told his photo and fingerprints have now been placed in a database that will make it difficult for him to obtain entry into the U.K. or any other European Union country.

Cantor’s father, Chuck Cantor, said that during the time Cantor was detained, he was given only half of a sandwich and very little water. When Cantor asked for more food and water, he was denied and told to “stop pestering.”

The U.K. man who had offered Cantor summer work experience, Kevin Shilling, said that the U.K. Border Agency agent he spoke to in his attempt to get Cantor admitted into the country made more than one anti-Semitic comment.

After his detention, Cantor was escorted to a plane for a flight back to the U.S. “My only real goal with this fiasco is to get my fingerprints and picture removed from their database and the blacked out stamp in my passport removed as well,” he said.
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Dallas Mavericks agree to deal with Gal Mekel, second Israeli to sign with NBA team
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Maccabi Haifa’s Gal Mekel, a 6-foot-3 point guard, agreed to a multi-year deal to play for the Dallas Mavericks next season, becoming the second Israeli basketball player ever to sign with an NBA team. Four years ago, Omri Casspi became the first.

In June, the 25-year-old Mekel helped lead Maccabi Haifa to the Israeli Basketball Super League Championship, earned in an upset victory over powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv. According to the NBA’s free agent rules, Mekel will officially be able to sign his $2.3 million, three-year contract on July 10.

The Mavericks initially offered Mekel a one-year deal with a team option to renew him for two more years, but by the end of negotiations with his agent, Sam Porter, Dallas agreed to guarantee the entire three years. Mekel is expected to earn $490,000 this upcoming season, $816,000 in his second year, and $980,000 in his third.
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Kuwait politicians support greater trade ties with Israel
(JNS.org) Kuwaiti MPs Nabil Al-Fadhl and Hammad Al-Dosari expressed support for greater trade ties with Israel and the importing of Israeli products in an interview on Kuwait TV in June.

If Kuwait needs equipment that Israel can provide, Kuwait should take steps to obtain such equipment from the Jewish state, Fadhl said last month. “I will love the Israelis for it,” he said, according to the Jerusalem Post.

“How exactly did the Muslims benefit us, when our Arab neighbor [Iraq] invaded our country? I am willing to buy equipment from Israel to protect my country from its Arab and Muslim neighbor,” Fahdl added.

Dosari said that Shari’a law does allow Muslims to have dealings with Jews because the prophet Muhammad “died while his shield was mortgaged with a Jew.” Watch the politicians’ full interview on Memri.org.

Turkish deputy prime minister blames ‘Jewish diaspora’ for recent protests
(JNS.org) Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay has been quoted in a video blaming the “Jewish diaspora” and the foreign media for the recent protests against Turkey’s Islamist government.

“There are some circles that are jealous of Turkey’s growth. They are all uniting, on one side the Jewish diaspora. You saw the foreign media’s attitude during the Gezi Park incidents; they bought it and started broadcasting immediately, without doing an evaluation of the [situation],” Atalay was quoted as saying in a video on July 1, Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News reported.

In a later statement, Atalay’s press office denied the minister had made such a statement.

Reacting to the reported remarks, Turkey’s Jewish community, which numbers around 23,000, expressed fear that it could be targeted as a result of Ataly’s comments.

“We would like to express our concern that all Jews around the world, including Turkish Jews, may become the target because of this sort of generalization in almost every situation,” the Turkish Jewish community statement read.

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StandWithUs launches campaign on San Francisco buses to counter anti-Israel ads
(JNS.org) The pro-Israel education group StandWithUs has launched an advertising campaign for the month of July on San Francisco’s Muni bus system to address the latest round of anti-Israel ads.

“Anti-Israel groups attempt to misinform the public in order to undermine American support for Israel. Their ads typically demonize Israel and blame it for the lack of peace.  They ignore context including the continued deadly actions and ideology of Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas,” Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, said in a statement.

According to StandWithUs, the ads highlight “Israel’s diversity, religious freedoms and the benefits of the continuing Israel-U.S. relationship.” The group has countered numerous anti-Israel ads over the past several years in cities across North America.

“StandWithUs has countered every anti-Israel ad placed in San Francisco and beyond, and will continue to do so. We cannot let hostile messages, with their deceptive, velvet-gloved rhetoric, influence unsuspecting commuters who may not know the facts,” said Dr. Mike Harris of StandWithUs and the San Francisco Voice for Israel group.

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