JNS news brief: September 29, 2014

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Bidens new national security advisor scrutinized over policy on Israel, Iran

(JNS.org) Dr. Colin Kahl, Vice President Joe Biden’s newly appointed national security advisor, has come under the microscope for his positions on Israel and Iran’s nuclear program.

Kahl previously served as the top civilian Pentagon Middle East advisor for former defense secretaries Robert Gates and Leon Panetta from 2009-2011. In 2012, he was reportedly responsible for removing language from the Democratic Party platform that stated, “Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel.” After pro-Israel criticism, President Barack Obama reportedly directed the Democrats to reinstate that sentence, which was in the party’s 2008 platform. But in practice, U.S. administrations led by both Democratic and Republican presidents have not officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital for several decades.

“I don’t think there was any intention by the drafters to signal any change in U.S. policy,” Kahl told Foreign Policy magazine’s blog The Cable at the time. “Clearly, it was misinterpreted that way. So the president intervened to correct the record and they changed the platform. We are where we are. We should move on. The platform is changed.”

Regarding Iran, when Kahl was a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Society think tank, he co-authored a report titled “If All Else Fails: The Challenges of Containing a Nuclear-Armed Iran,” which argues that “prevention—up to and including the use of force—could fail, leaving Washington with little choice but to manage and mitigate the consequences of a nuclear-armed Iran.”

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Vatican to contribute to preservation of Auschwitz

(JNS.org) The Vatican has joined 30 other nations in contributing to the historical preservation of Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi death camp in Poland.

The Vatican said it will donate $127,000 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, which seeks to raise $152 million to help preserve the remains of Auschwitz.

“Considering the significance of the goal of the Foundation and the support it received from the Polish government, the decision to send support in the amount of 100 thousand Euro has been taken. This sum is so modest due to the limited possibilities. However, this is an expression of full support for the project of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, wrote in a letter to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.

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Netanyahu meets with Indian prime minister

(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on Sunday in New York, marking the first meeting between top leaders of the two countries in more than a decade.

“We are two old peoples, some of the oldest [among] the nations on earth, but we are also two democracies—we’re proud of our rich traditions, but we’re also eager to seize the future. I believe that if we work together we can do so with benefits to both our peoples,” Netanyahu said.

India and Israel have a number of modern and historical similarities. Hinduism and Judaism share ethno-religious components that set them apart from other major faiths. Both religions have complicated systems of laws, purity codes, and dietary restrictions that define their communities. In modern times, both India and Israel achieved independence from Great Britain during the late 1940s, after long internal struggles and bloody partition plans.

“I agree with you that India-Israel relations are historical,” Modi told Netanyahu.

Modi, who served as chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat from 2001-2014, forged strong ties with Israeli businesses during that time. Under his leadership, Israeli companies poured billions of dollars of investment into Gujarat in areas like industrial research, solar and thermal power, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, and water recycling and desalination plants.

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Vandals damage Jerusalem light rail and Mount of Olives cemetery

(JNS.org) The Jerusalem light rail came under attack in two separate incidents Sunday, with vandals hurling stones at its cars as it traveled through the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat. No injuries were reported in either incident, but several of the light rail’s cars and windows were damaged.

Border policemen detained three suspects for questioning in connection with the incidents, Israel’s Channel 2 reported. In a separate incident over the weekend, vandals damaged 50 headstones in Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives cemetery.

A police source said that some headstones were severely damaged, “as if someone had tried to shatter the entire grave.” The source said the extent of the damage indicated that the perpetrators had “spent several hours” at the cemetery.

The Mount of Olives cemetery has been vandalized several times over the past few weeks amid an uptick in violence in Jerusalem.

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Armed Palestinian infiltrates Israel-Gaza border

(JNS.org) Israeli security forces on Sunday arrested a Palestinian man armed with two knives who infiltrated the Israel-Gaza border, Israel Hayom reported. The man is believed to have been planning a terrorist attack.

The man was apprehended near Moshav Shokeda in the Sdot Negev Regional Council, about five miles from the border. The initial Israel Defense Forces investigation found that he had infiltrated the border above ground, near Kibbutz Alumim, and walked to a location used as a military-assembly area during Operation Protective Edge.

The IDF’s Gaza Division is investigating how the suspect was able to infiltrate the border and travel on foot, in broad daylight, across Highway 232—the western Negev’s main highway—without being detected by troops deployed in the area.

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Hamas seeks to replicate Gilad Shalit abduction and exchange

(JNS.org) Senior Hamas officials on Sunday urged the abduction of Israeli soldiers to facilitate another large-scale prisoner swap, similar to the 2011 deal in which 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

“We strive for an abduction operation that would make a second Shalit possible,” Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri said in an interview with Palestinian media.

“Over 1,000 of our Palestinian brothers who were incarcerated in the Zionist occupation’s prisons were released as part of that deal, and only through operations similar to the Shalit deal can we hope to facilitate the release of more prisoners,” added al-Masri.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh echoed that sentiment, saying, “Hamas leadership is debating ways to secure the release of prisoners from the Israeli occupation’s prisons. We would welcome any action that would bring about the prisoners’ release. They symbolize the just Palestinian struggle.”

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Arab youth leaves Israel after receiving death threats over pro-Israel views

(JNS.org) An Israeli Arab youth from northern Israel who spoke out against the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens in June has been forced to leave the country due to death threats.

The youth had posted a video on Facebook in which he called the kidnappers and their supporters cowards. One of his videos, in which he says he is a Muslim but also a loyal citizen of Israel, went viral. The attention brought a slew of angry responses from the Arab sector. After a series of death threats, including by some family members, the youth was forced to go into hiding.

This past weekend, the youth opened a new Facebook page and wrote in English, “I am an Arab Muslim and proud Zionist.” The teen wrote on the page that he was living abroad after having to leave Israel due to the death threats.

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Israel earmarks additional $3.8 billion for defense over next two years

(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, and Finance Minister Yair Lapid agreed on the Israeli defense budget over the weekend, appropriating an additional $3.8 billion to defense over the next two years.

The agreement sets Israeli defense spending for 2015 at $16 billion. The appropriation will not entail any tax hikes, and the Finance Ministry’s budget proposal for 2015 will set the deficit ceiling at 3.4 percent.

Israel’s defense establishment will receive $2.2 billion to cover expenditures related to Operation Protective Edge during the 2014 fiscal year.

“This deal represents an agreement about national priorities. The defense establishment will received the funds it needs to fight terror, the tunnels, and mortar fire, but we will also be able to significantly increase social budgets, and strengthen the middle class and the weaker [socioeconomic] echelons,” Lapid wrote on Facebook.

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3 wounded Syrian children brought to Israel for medical treatment

(JNS.org) Three Syrian children wounded Saturday night when a mortar shell struck a courtyard where they were playing were brought to the Rebecca Sieff Hospital in Safed, Israel, for medical treatment.

A 7-year-old boy was in serious condition with chest wounds and a broken hand; a 10-year-old boy was also in serious condition with shrapnel wounds all over his body, including to his head; and an 8-year-old girl with a leg wound was listed in moderate condition. The mortar shell that wounded the three children left the rest of their playmates dead.

Sieff Hospital reported Saturday that the children were being treated in the emergency room and, following exams and x-rays, would be operated on. A total of 376 Syrians wounded as a result of their country’s civil war have received treatment at the Israeli hospital.

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Israel ranks 11th in 2014 Global Wealth Report

(JNS.org) Israel has been ranked 11th in the 2014 Global Wealth Report, composed by the financial services company Allianz and released over the weekend. The report reviews the average financial assets per capita, in euros, across the world’s 20 leading economies.

Switzerland topped the Global Wealth Report with net average financial assets per capita amounting to 146,540 euros ($185,873). The United States ranked second, with 119,570 euros ($151,664), and Belgium ranked third with 78,300 euros ($99,316). Israel’s financial assets per capita was measured at 55,840 euros ($70,828).

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Abbas at U.N. accuses Israel of genocide, speech blasted by Israel and U.S.

(JNS.org) Israel questioned Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s ability to be a true partner for peace after Abbas accused Israel of “genocide” against the Palestinians in his United Nations General Assembly speech on Friday.

Abbas said Israel committed “absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world” during this summer’s war with Hamas in Gaza, and called on the U.N. to pass a resolution setting a deadline for Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders.

This summer’s war “came after long, difficult [U.S.-brokered Israeli-Palestinian] negotiations for more than eight months,” Abbas said, adding that Israel “did not miss the opportunity to undermine the chance for peace.”

Abbas “complements Hamas by perpetrating political terror and making false accusations against Israel. … As long as Abu Mazen (Abbas) chairs the Palestinian Authority, he will perpetuate the conflict,” Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in reaction to the speech.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, “President Abbas’s speech today included offensive characterizations that were deeply disappointing and which we reject. Such provocative statements are counterproductive and undermine efforts to create a positive atmosphere and restore trust between [Israel and the Palestinians].”

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Israel says Iran testing nuclear weapons, Obama stresses diplomacy

(JNS.org) Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said that Iran has used its Parchin military base for secret testing of nuclear weapons technology.

Citing “highly reliable information,” Steinitz said “these kinds of tests can have no ‘dual use’ explanation, since the only possible purpose of such internal neutron sources is to ignite the nuclear chain reaction in nuclear weapons,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

In November 2013, the U.S. and the other P5+1 powers reached a six-month interim deal with Iran on its nuclear program. In July, those countries and Iran agreed to extend the Iran nuclear talks to Nov. 24, 2014.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama told the U.N. General Assembly that America “is pursuing a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue, as part of our commitment to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and pursue the peace and security of a world without them.”

“This can only happen if Iran takes this historic opportunity. My message to Iran’s leaders and people is simple: do not let this opportunity pass. We can reach a solution that meets your energy needs while assuring the world that your program is peaceful,” Obama said.

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