Syrian mortar explodes in Israeli territory
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A mortar shell fired from Syria exploded in Israeli territory on Monday morning, causing no injuries or damage, as fierce fighting continued between the Syrian military and rebels on the Syrian side of the border near the Quneitra border crossing.
The Syrian military is reportedly preparing to attempt to retake the Quneitra border crossing, which was recently seized by rebel forces.
Due to concerns about a spillover from the fighting in Syria, the Israel Defense Forces has declared parts of the border region a closed military zone. Farmers have reportedly been told to stay away from fields next to the border fence in some areas.
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Filipino U.N. peacekeepers escape Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights
(JNS.org) Forty Filipino United Nations peacekeepers escaped in the night after being surrounded and attacked by rebels in the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.
The soldiers were first attacked Thursday. About 35 peacekeepers were escorted out by Irish and Filipino forces in armored vehicles, but forty remained trapped and under attack by more than 100 gunmen. After defending themselves for hours, the peacekeepers were able to flee overnight.
The fate of 44 Fijian peacekeepers also detained at the Israel-Syria border in the Golan Heights by the al-Nusra Front, an affiliate group of al-Qaeda in Syria, remains unknown.
“At this time, no additional information on their status or location has been established,” the U.N. press office said in a statement according to Reuters.
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Bennett: Gush Etzion land declaration ‘answer to terrorism’
(JNS.org) Israeli Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi) has said that the Israeli decision to declare 1,000 acres in the community of Gvaot, part of the Judean region of Gush Etzion, as state land is “an answer to terrorism.”
Before the escalation of this summer’s conflict between Israel and Hamas, Israeli teens Naftali Frenkel, Eyal Yifrach, and Gilad Shaer were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas near the area.
However, the U.S. government issued a statement opposing the decision. “This announcement, like every other settlement announcement Israel makes… is counterproductive to Israel’s stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians,” a US official told Reuters.
Bennett said that Israel “will move ahead.”
“We will continue to build our land…Hamas murders and we build,” Bennett said, according to Israel Hayom.
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France: 2 teenage girls planned to attack synagogue
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) French police arrested two girls aged 15 and 17 last week due to suspicions that they belonged to a group planning to bomb the Great Synagogue of Lyon.
According to French reports, the girls were charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism.
A French official said that the two girls did not know each other personally, but they were in contact via social media.
“These teenaged girls were part of a network of young Islamists who were being monitored by security services,” the official said.
The group the girls belong to consists of some 60 people who are under investigation for suspicion of terrorism.
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Report: Indirect Cairo talks to resume this week
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Indirect negotiations between Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian organizations are set to resume in Cairo this week, the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
Hamas and Palestinian factions are seeking a deep-water port and an international airport in Gaza. Additionally, the groups want Israel to disclose the identities of prisoners it is prepared to release in exchange for Israeli soldiers’ remains.
Israel is primarily demanding the disarmament of Hamas. However, Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said Saturday, “our people will not allow it,” reported the Israel National News. Talks are scheduled to continue for about a month.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, hoped to use the talks in Cairo to make headway in plans for Palestinian statehood, according to the report.
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Turkish Jews write an open letter protesting government’s call to denounce Israel
(JNS.org) Several prominent Turkish Jews have written an open letter reprimanding their government for publicly asking the Jewish community to denounce Israel’s operation Protective Edge in Gaza.
In the letter, published by the Hurriyet Daily News Friday, Jewish academics, writers and media figures stated that they do not feel obligated to express an opinion on “Israel’s latest attack on Gaza.”
“No citizen of this country is under any obligation to account for, interpret or comment on any event that takes place elsewhere in the world, and in which he/she has no involvement. There is no onus on the Jewish community of Turkey, therefore, to declare an opinion on any matter at all,” they wrote, reported the Jerusalem Post.
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Netanyahu says Abbas must choose between Hamas and peace
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 10 on Friday that the latest Gaza conflict“might have”opened a possibility for a diplomatic breakthrough with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but only if Abbas decides to give Hamas “a divorce.”
Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah party are currently part of a PA unity government.
“I think [Abbas] understands today that he must choose between a Hamas that doesn’t only call for [Israel’s] destruction, it also called for his overthrow, and in fact acted on it,” Netanyahu said, referring to a recently uncovered Hamas plot to topple Abbas in the West Bank. “I hope that we can cooperate with him on a diplomatic process.”
Abbas and Netanyahu reportedly held a secret meeting in the Jordanian capital of Amman several days before Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire.
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New video surfaces of Syrian jihadists seizing Golan Heights border crossing
(JNS.org) New video footage has emerged of the Syrian jihadist group Al-Nusra Front’s assault on a Syrian city at the Israel-Syria border crossing in the Golan Heights.
The group seized control of the city of old Quneitra from the Syrian government amid heavy fighting in the region just a few hundred yards from Israel.
“We are Al-Nusra fighters,”one of the jihadists says in the video. “We’ve just liberated the Syrian-Zionist crossing of Quneitra.”
The video shows the heavy fighting between Al-Nusra and the Syrian government, with several buildings destroyed in the area. Later, the video shows the black flag of the Al-Nusra Front flying above the town, replacing the Syrian flag.
Israel has raised its alert level in the area and deployed additional forces there.
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Bipartisan congressional delegation meets with Netanyahu in Jerusalem
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on Aug. 28.
“We’re faced with common enemies, radical Islamic terrorists who have absolutely no inhibitions on executing people, terrorizing people, targeting innocent civilians,” Netanyahu said, drawing comparisons between the terror groups Islamic State and Hamas. “We just had ISIS conduct mass executions; this is exactly what Hamas has done in Gaza.”
U.S. Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, thanked Israel for “standing up to these enemies of mankind.” He also praised Israel for minimizing civilian casualties in Gaza.
“I think the example that you have set, that your people have set when they’ve been attacked, how you’ve been able to defend your people with the least possible loss of human life, sets an example for the world,”McKeon said.
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Palestinian Authority demands ‘clear’ timetable for Israeli withdrawal from West Bank
(JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) commissioner for international relations, Nabil Shaath, told Palestinian media Thursday that the PA would turn to the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly on Sept. 15 to request that Israel be forced to provide “a clear and defined timetable for withdrawing from the Palestinian territories.”
Shaath said PA President Mahmoud Abbas issued a directive for the Palestinians to turn to the International Criminal Court and demand that it try Israel for war crimes and crimes against humanity if the international community fails to act on Israel’s presence in the West Bank.
In an interview on Palestinian television, Abbas stressed his determination to “bring the Israeli occupation to an end” and establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
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