Samaria-based Ariel University left out of Israeli universities heads’ conference
(JNS.org) Representatives from Ariel University—the first accredited Israeli university located beyond the Green Line—were absent from the invitation list to Sunday’s Committee of University Heads conference on the future of higher education in Israel.
Ariel University said in a statement, “The Committee of University Heads has not yet internalized nor accepted [the need] to act in accordance with the Council for Higher Education and the government of Israel,” according to Israel Hayom.
The Israeli government approved Ariel’s accreditation in late 2012, making it Israel’s eighth research university. “Fortunately, scientists and scientific research institutions in Israel and around the world have full research, scientific and educational cooperation with Ariel University in Samaria—as they should,” said the school’s chancellor, Yigal Cohen Orgad.
The Committee of University Heads said in a statement, “[Only] members of the Committee of University Heads participated in the conference.”
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Tel Aviv University cancels terror operative’s lecture after student protest
(JNS.org) Tel Aviv University canceled a lecture by Muhammad Kanaana, an Israeli Arab convicted of having contact with the terrorist organization Hezbollah, after some 350 students protested the talk.
“Given concerns for public order, and since the request to approve his participation was only received recently, leaving no time for preparations, the university does not approve his participation in the event,” the university said in a statement, according to Israel Hayom.
Kanaana spent four and a half years in prison for contact with hostile elements in Hezbollah, and for receiving funds and weapons-preparation training. His lecture had been scheduled for Monday.
Matan Peleg, CEO of the Zionist group Im Tirzu, said, “Zionist movements represent the sane majority of students at Tel Aviv University. I am glad that [their] moderate voice reached the office of the university’s president, and that he understood that a terrorist who knowingly harmed the citizens of Israel must not be glorified.”
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Israel Law Center seeks to file suits over Palestinian war crimes
(JNS.org) The Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center is gearing up to lodge war crimes complaints against senior Palestinian officials at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Israel Hayom reported.
The nongovernmental organization is seeking to initiate lawsuits for crimes against humanity. Its lawyers said they would submit documents alleging that Palestinian officials in both Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority, are directly involved with aiding and encouraging terrorism against Israeli citizens.
Shurat HaDin Director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner said, “We believe that such recommendations for indictments are the only means to deter the Palestinians, who are rushing to join the International Criminal Court to file indictments against Israelis over crimes against humanity.”
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Wesleyan University Jewish students reject Hillel International’s Israel guidelines
(JNS.org) A group of 12 current and former Jewish student leaders at Connecticut-based Wesleyan University announced that the Hillel International-affiliated Wesleyan Jewish Community has rejected the Jewish campus umbrella’s Israel guidelines.
Hillel’s standards of partnership state that it “will not partner with, house, or host organizations, groups, or speakers that as a matter of policy or practice: Deny the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish and democratic state with secure and recognized borders; Delegitimize, demonize, or apply a double standard to Israel; Support boycott of, divestment from, or sanctions against the State of Israel; Exhibit a pattern of disruptive behavior towards campus events or guest speakers or foster an atmosphere of incivility.”
The Wesleyan students are aligning with the “Open Hillel” movement, which rejects Hillel’s Israel guidelines, following the same move by Swarthmore Hillel and the Vassar College Jewish Union.
“We are committed to a conversation around Judaism and Israel that reflects the values of the members of our community, rather than the political preferences of the leaders of Hillel International,” the Wesleyan students stated.
Daniel Mael, co-founder of “Safe Hillel”—a group created as an alternative to Open Hillel—told JNS.org, “Unfortunately these [Wesleyan] students are opening the door to anti-Semitic and or anti-Zionist speakers to have a forum in Hillel. I think it is inappropriate and adds to the atmosphere of intimidation that pro-Israel students face on campus from anti-Israel bullies.”
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In response to rocket fire, Israeli Air Force strikes Gaza terror sites
(JNS.org) The Israeli Air Force on Saturday night struck five terrorist sites in the Gaza Strip in response to recent Palestinian rocket fire, Israel Hayom reported.
Earlier Saturday, a rocket fired from Gaza exploded in an open area in the Ashkelon region. No injuries or damage were reported. On Thursday, terrorists in Gaza had fired four rockets into southern Israel, prompting sirens to go off in the Shaar Hanegev region and Sderot.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner of the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit said, “Hamas rocket terrorism is an intolerable reality Israelis should not have to accept.”
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Ukrainian Jewish immigration to Israel rises 70 percent amid instability
(JNS.org) Ukrainian Jewish immigration to Israel has risen 70 percent in 2014 amid the recent political upheaval in that country.
According to the Jewish Agency for Israel, 375 new immigrants from Ukraine arrived in the first three months of 2014, compared to 221 in the same period in 2013.
More than 100 new immigrants have come from Odessa alone, the Ukrainian Black Sea city where nearly 30,000 Jews live and can move to Israel under the Law of Return. Before leaving for Israel, the Jewish Agency and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews held a model Passover seder, like the one they will celebrate when they arrive in Israel in a few weeks. Both organizations also pledged further emergency financial assistance to Ukrainian Jews.
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Muslim Brotherhood warns of attacks over U.K. government probe
(JNS.org) The head of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.K. said that a British government probe into its activities could trigger terrorist attacks.
“If this [ban] happened, this would make a lot of people in Muslim communities think that [peaceful] Muslim Brotherhood values… didn’t work and now they are designated a terrorist group, which would make the doors open for all options,” Ibrahim Mounir told the U.K.’s Sunday Times.
When asked if he was specifically referring to the use of violence, Mounir replied, “Any possibility.”
Last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron ordered an investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood’s activities in Great Britain after the revelation of evidence that the Egyptian-government-designated terror group had planned an attack that killed three British tourists in Egypt in February.
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Israeli Arab wins on Israeli ‘MasterChef’ reality show
(JNS.org) An Israeli-Arab microbiologist and mother of three won the fourth season of Israel’s most popular reality TV show “MasterChef.”
Nof Atamna-Ismaeel, 32, who holds a PhD in microbiology and is from the Israeli-Arab town of Baqa al-Gharbiyye, described winning as the “the most exciting moment in her life.” She said she plans to use the prize money to open up an Arab-Jewish cooking school.
MasterChef is a popular reality TV show that originated in the U.K. It is now produced in more than 40 countries, including the U.S., where it airs on Fox Television Network and is hosted by Gordon Ramsay.
According to Haaretz, “MasterChef” is the most-watched reality show in Israel, with more than 37.8 percent of Israeli households tuning in to last week’s semifinal.
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NY rabbi: Don’t allow ‘Jewish groups that support BDS’ to march in Israel parade
(JNS.org) A prominent Sephardic rabbi has urged leaders from the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of New York to bar “Jewish groups that support BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions)” from marching in the June 1 Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City.
Ahead of an April 8 protest rally outside of the UJA-Federation building regarding the participation of groups including Partners for Progressive Israel, the New Israel Fund (NIF), and B’Tselem in the JCRC-run and UJA Federation-supported parade, Rabbi Elie Abadie—leader of New York’s Edmond J. Safra Synagogue—wrote in a letter to UJA-Federation and JCRC leaders that the groups’ “disguise of being legitimate ‘Pro-Israel Jewish Groups’ has been already discovered and revealed as false.”
“These are the same groups who continue to accuse Israel of being an Apartheid State and a human rights violator, likening Israel to Nazi Germany,” Abadie wrote. “They are the ones who supported and celebrated the Goldstone Report, falsely accusing Israel of war crimes. … We must not condone their actions, let alone allow anti-Israel groups to march under the banner of a legitimate group celebrating Israel.”
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