Belgium recommends separate labeling of products from Judea and Samaria
(JNS.org) The Belgian government is moving to recommend that retailers separately label goods produced by Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
“It’s a non-binding advice to state on labels that products originating from occupied territories come from there,” a spokeswoman from the Belgian Economics Ministry said, Reuters reported. “We don’t see this as a sanction against Israel, but EU rules stipulate that consumers have to be informed of the origins of products.”
The move by the Belgian government comes as several countries and retailers throughout the European Union are seeking to either separately label goods from Judea and Samaria or ban them outright in order to pressure Israel towards a two-state solution. The British supermarket giant Tesco announced that starting in September it would suspend the sale of products from Judea and Samaria.
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State Dept. report highlights plight of Mideast Christians, rising European anti-Semitism
(JNS.org) The U.S. State Department issued a new report on Monday highlighting the dire state of religious freedom around the world, with particular emphases on the plight of Middle East Christians as well as the rise of anti-Semitism across Europe.
“In 2013, the world witnessed the largest displacement of religious communities in recent memory. In almost every corner of the globe, millions of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and others representing a range of faiths were forced from their homes on account of their religious beliefs,”the International Religious Freedom Report for 2013 stated.
In particular, the report said that due to persecution, Christianity in Syria and in the rest of the Middle East was quickly becoming “a shadow of its former self.”
“After three years of civil war, hundreds of thousands fled the country desperate to escape the ongoing violence perpetrated by the government and extremist groups alike,” said the report.
The report said that in Homs, Syria, the Christian population dwindled from more than 160,000 prior to the Syrian civil war to as few as 1,000 today.
Additionally, the report noted the rising tide of anti-Semitism across Europe, citing that as many as 48 percent of local Jewish populations have considered leaving their homes.
“Throughout Europe, the historical stain of anti-Semitism continued to be a fact of life on Internet fora, in soccer stadiums, and through Nazi-like salutes, leading many individuals who are Jewish to conceal their religious identity,” the report said.
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(JNS.org) U.S. lawmakers from both parties on Monday urged the disarming of Hamas at the National Leadership Assembly for Israel, which was organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
“If there is to be a political solution, it is imperative that Hamas is disarmed,”House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told the gathering, held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
“We would never allow [terror] tunnels to come into America without being destroyed,”incoming House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, the Wall Street Journal reported. “And we would never allow Hamas to have any military existence.”
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, “We will not equate professional militaries with terrorist organizations [like Hamas] that use human shields as they seek maximum civilian casualties.”
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British supermarket giant Tesco to drop Judea and Samaria products
(JNS.org) British supermarket giant Tesco announced that starting in September it would suspend the sale of products originating in Judea and Samaria.
A spokesman for the supermarket said the decision was not “politically motivated”and was unrelated to Operation Protective Edge. According to the spokesman, the decision was made as part of the “regular product review process.”
The sole product from the settlements being sold at Tesco stores right now are dates that are actually grown inside the pre-1967 borders of Israel, but are packaged in Judea and Samaria, according to Israel Hayom. Their removal was for “commercial reasons,” the spokesman said, maintaining that the chain has “no plans to change our position on sourcing from Israel.”
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IDF: Islamic Jihad behind explosion at Gaza hospital and park
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces said that the Palestinian terror group Islamic Jihad was behind the explosions at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital and a park in the Al-Shati refugee camp.
The explosion at the hospital and nearby park left 10 dead and 40 wounded, Ma’an News Agency reported, quoting Gaza health officials.
“A short while ago, terrorists in Gaza fired rockets at Israel. 1 of them hit Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. The other hit Al-Shati refugee camp,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said on Twitter.
The blast may have been the result of a technical malfunction of a long-range Iranian-built Fajr-5 rocket that contained a 220-pound payload, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.
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