Israel ranks ‘very high’ on U.N. human development index
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel ranks 19th in the world in the United Nations’ Human Development Index for 2014, according to the U.N.’s 2014 Human Development Report, released Thursday.
Israel is among 49 nations the report ranks as having “very high human development.” The report, titled “Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience,” states that the Human Development Index is a measure of achievements in key dimensions such as a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living.
The report ranks some 187 countries as having “very high, “high,” “medium” or “low” human development. The top 10 countries, in order, are: Norway, Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands, United States, Germany, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, and Denmark. Israel, in the 19th position, is preceded by Liechtenstein and followed by France.
Among Israel’s neighbors, Saudi Arabia was placed 34th, Lebanon 65th, Turkey 69th, Iran 75th, Jordan 77th, Egypt 110th, and Syria 118th.
*
IDF: Hamas prevented civilians from evacuating UNRWA shelter in Gaza
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has accused Hamas of preventing civilians from evacuating a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shelter in the northern Gaza city of Beit Hanoun, where at least 16 people were reportedly killed and more than 200 were injured in an apparent strike on the compound.
“Hamas prevented civilians from evacuating the area during the window that the IDF gave them,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.
The IDF said Hamas fired from Beit Hanoun and that soldiers responded by targeting the source of the fire.
There have been conflicting reports on who was responsible for the strike on the UNRWA compound. UNRWA spokesman Chris Guiness had initially tweeted that Israel was responsible, tweeting “BREAKING NEWS: UNRWA school sheltering displaced in #Gaza takes a direct hit from Israeli fire, 5 injured RT.”
But several hours later, Guiness retracted his statement and said he was investigating the incident, tweeting, “When I have double checked and confirmed information about reports of the UNRWA school in Beit Hanoun #Gaza I will tweet. Should be soon RT.”
The IDF said it was investigating the situation, but noted that several rockets launched from Gaza towards Israel fell short and hit Beit Hanoun.
*
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: referendum must end ‘Zionist state’
(JNS.org) Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for a referendum among Jews and Arabs living in Israel to end the “Zionist state” and suggested that armed resistance might be necessary until such a vote can be held.
“There are logical and practical means to this end, which is for people who live and belong there to pick the government of their choice through a referendum. That would be the end of a usurping fake regime,” Khamenei said in a speech to university students in Tehran, reported Yedioth Ahronoth.
“Israel’s annihilation is the only real cure,” he said, adding that his statement “doesn’t mean destroying Jews in this region.”
*
Israeli president-elect Reuven Rivlin sworn into office
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) As Israeli soldiers continue to battle Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, Reuven Rivlin was sworn into office as Israel’s 10th president on Thursday afternoon at the Knesset.
Outgoing President Shimon Peres issued a farewell speech following his seven-year term. The 90-year-old outgoing president dedicated his last days in office to visiting bereaved families of fallen soldiers and traveling around the country to lift the spirits of Israeli citizens.
On Wednesday, Peres met with Iron Dome operators and visited schoolchildren in Sderot.
*
Israeli Christians speak out against ISIS persecution of Iraqi Christians
(JNS.org) A group of Israeli Christians is speaking out to express solidarity with Christians in Iraq over the persecution they are suffering at the hands of jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) terror group.
“We call on the local councils of all Christian communities to announce five days of mourning and to paint all doors with the (Arabic) letter ‘nun’ in solidarity with our people in Mosul, Iraq, where Christians were expelled, slaughtered and churches were burned,” the Israeli Christian Lobby said on its Facebook page.
Shadi Khalloul, spokesman for the Israeli Christian Lobby and head of the Aramaic Maronite Center in Israel, said his group stands with Iraqi and Syrian Christians as well as the state of Israel in the fight against Hamas.
“We as Israeli Christians stand with persecuted Iraqi and Syrian Christians and with Israeli military in their struggle against terror,” Khalloul, who is also head of the Aramaic Maronite Center in Israel, told JNS.org.
“Hamas is equal to ISIS, it has the same agenda. Christian and Jews are infidels in their eyes and should be wiped out. They have no right to exist,” he added.
In March, the Israeli Christian Lobby sent a letter to European Union’s (EU) delegation to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, expressing frustration with the EU’s “hypocrisy” on the issue of the ethnic cleansing of Middle Eastern Christians. The lobby called on the EU to do more to help Christians, and held a protest outside the EU embassy in Israel.
Khalloul said his group is calling on the United Nations and other Western powers to “create a Christian autonomous region in Iraq.”
The Israeli Christian Lobby also said it is organizing a rally in Haifa on Sunday to express solidarity with Christians in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere in the Middle East.
*
Egyptian army thwarts terror attack near Israeli border
(JNS.org) The Egyptian army thwarted a terror attack near the Israeli border on Wednesday night, an Egyptian military source said.
According to the source, a suicide bomber attempted to approach the Israeli Kerem Shalom military base from the Sinai. The suicide bomber, who carried an explosive device as well as a explosive belt on his body, was shot dead as he was running to the Israeli border, Ma’an News Agency reported.
Additionally, the Egyptian military destroyed a vehicle loaded with grad rockets and launchers in the Sinai which were meant to be fired against Israeli and Egyptian military bases.
Last week, two rockets fired from the Sinai hit the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat, landing near a hotel and wounding 10 people.
*
Articles from JNS.org are carried on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman