Israeli politicians across spectrum call for tougher response to Hamas rockets
(JNS.org) Israeli politicians across the political spectrum are calling for a tougher response to Hamas rocket fire following the terrorist group’s violation of a temporary cease-fire on Tuesday.
“When you negotiate with a terrorist organization, you get more terrorism in return,” said Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi). “Sooner or later, Israel will have to defeat Hamas.”
Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) also criticized the Israeli government’s attempts to reach a longterm cease-fire deal through negotiations.
“It is the prime minister’s job to provide security and calm to residents of the south,” he said, according to Israel Hayom. “If, as the prime minister claims, Hamas has been defeated, then he should reach a diplomatic deal under the best terms possible for Israel. But, if the government buckles to provide a false sense of quiet, as we experienced [Tuesday], this indicates a failure on the part of a weak government.”
Stopping negotiations “is the only language [Hamas] understands,” said Labor MK Nachman Shai.
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Israel targets Hamas military commander
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Within the span of two hours of its violation of a temporary cease-fire on Tuesday afternoon, Hamas fired more than 50 rockets into Israel.
The resumption of rocket fire prompted the Israel Defense Forces to renew strikes against terrorist targets in Gaza. At least three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. Deputy Hamas political office chief Moussa Abu Marzouk claimed that the airstrike was an Israeli assassination attempt against Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif.
An Israeli official told the Walla news website on Wednesday that the strike had targeted Deif. It was unclear whether Deif was in the home at the time of the strike and, if so, whether he was injured or killed.
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Missing IDF soldier from U.S. found dead
(JNS.org) Israel Defense Forces (IDF) lone soldier David Menachem Gordon, who was last seen outside his military base on Sunday, was found dead on Tuesday, the IDF said.
Gordon, 21, was found with his army-issued rifle by his side in a drainage pipe near his army base in central Israel, according to the IDF.
Originally from Ohio, Gordon served in the Givati Bridgade during Operation Protective Edge and did not have any disciplinary issues, Israeli police said.
“As far as we know from investigations so far he arrived at Tzrifin two days ago for dental treatment, received the treatment, then left the medical corps, and since then his trail has vanished,” police said shortly after his disappearance, the Times of Israel reported.
Military police are now investigating Gordon’s death.
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Israeli police recommend trial for Arab MK Hanin Zoabi
(JNS.org) Israeli police finished their investigation of Arab-Israeli Member of Knesset Hanin Zoabi and have recommended putting the politician on trial for charges of incitement of violence and insulting a public official.
Zoabi had met with Israeli police for five hours over an incident last July in which she verbally abused two Arab police officers in a Nazareth courthouse. Zoabi said that the police officers “are cooperating against their own people, we need to clean the floor with them,” and that “we need to spit on their faces,” Israel National News reported.
After the police recommendation of a trial, Zoabi called Israel a “warmongering, racist, and fascist” state.
Along with two other MKs from the Balad party, Zoabi recently traveled to Qatar to meet with Balad party founder and former MK Azmi Bishara, who fled Israel after being suspected of aiding Hezbollah and passing information to the terrorist group during wartime. Qatar is one of Hamas’s main financial backers. Several Israeli politicians have called on the police to investigate the Balad party.
Zoabi has had a controversial political career. She has been an outspoken opponent of Israel and participated in the 2010 flotilla that tried to break the naval blockade on Gaza.
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Schabas vows to investigate Israel for U.N. with or without government cooperation
(JNS.org) Prof. William Schabas, selected to head the United Nations Human Rights Council inquiry into Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, has vowed to conduct his investigation with or without the cooperation of the Israeli government. Schabas’s U.N. appointment has come under fire over his perceived bias against Israel.
“I might even come to Israel to examine things from up close,” he told Israel’s Channel 2. “When the U.N. gives us its final approval—and we hope this will be very soon—we will begin our work. It’s very important for us to come to Israel, but this visit won’t be important if the authorities in Israel don’t cooperate with us, despite my hope that they will cooperate.”
In the past, Schabas has made comments implying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to be brought before an international tribunal for war crimes. In response, Israeli officials have called the U.N. inquiry “a kangaroo court.” Israel has also called for Schabas’s replacement, but he has vowed to remain in the lead role for the investigation.
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U.K. Jerusalem consul pictured wearing map of Israel covered by Palestinian flag
(JNS.org) A photograph of UK Consul General to Jerusalem Alastair McPhail was released in which the diplomat appears wearing a keffiyeh scarf with the map of Israel entirely covered with a Palestinian flag. The map includes Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.
The website of Islamic Relief Palestine published the photo, headlined “British Consulate visits Islamic Relief in Gaza.” The photo was taken earlier this year when McPhail visited a new laboratory at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University, in a trip co-sponsored by the British government.
The conservative website Breitbart.com attempted to contact the British government for a response regarding one of its diplomats wearing an image that advocates for the destruction of the Jewish state. The inquiry “was met with a pro-forma response about the two-state solution, largely ignoring our line of questioning about the appropriateness of the scarf,” the website said.
“Someone who is expressing such views has no place in supporting the government or civil service of the day. The whole purpose behind the peaceful solution is to promote two states side by side. Wiping one state off the face of the map hardly fits with this aspiration,” Member of the U.K. Parliament Bob Blackman told Breitbart.com.
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Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blames Zionism for Ferguson protests
(JNS.org) Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a series of anti-American and anti-Israel rants on Twitter, blamed Zionism for the ongoing protests in Ferguson, Missouri.
“Brutal treatment of black ppl isn’t indeed the only anti-human rights act by US govt; look at US’s green light to #Israel’s crimes. #Ferguson,” Khamenei tweeted Aug. 15.
On Monday, Khamenei continued his rant, suggesting that inequality problems in America are the result of the “domination of Israel.”
“The day when American nation realize their socioeconomic problems stem from domination of #Israel over their govt, what’ll happen? #Ferguson,” he tweeted.
On Tuesday, the Iranian leader further tweeted, “US govt is #unreliable& egotistical; due to Zionist domination over it,US prefers #Israel’s interests 2 that of its nation.10/5/13 #Ferguson.”`
Iran is consistently rated as one of the world’s worst human rights violators. According to the international human rights monitor Freedom House, Iran ranks as one of the worst countries in terms of civil liberties and political rights, especially in its treatment of minorities such as the Baha’is and Christians.
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