JNS news briefs: October 14, 2014

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Temple Mount policy will treat Muslims and Jews equally, minister says

(JNS.org) After the latest Islamic riots on the Temple Mount, Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch warned that further disturbances will prompt Muslims to be prohibited from entering the compound. Muslim violence at the Temple Mount has come to a boil over Jewish visits to the holy site during the holiday of Sukkot.

In a policy change since the beginning of the Jewish New Year, instead of closing the Temple Mount to visitors after Muslim rioting, the Israel Police pushes the rioters back inside the Al-Aqsa mosque and leaves the Temple Mount compound open. But the policy may change again if the current situation persists, Aharonovitch said.

“If the Jews cannot go up to the Mount, the Muslims will not go up to the Mount,” he said.

Aharonovitch’s comments followed another tumultuous morning at the Temple Mount on Monday. Overnight Sunday, dozens of youths—among them members of Hamas and the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel—gathered inside the Al-Aqsa mosque to plan a riot. After learning of the riot plans, the Jerusalem District police entered the Temple Mount com-pound to surprise the youths, who barricaded themselves behind improvised obstacles and hurled rocks and firecrackers at the officers. Later in the day, police arrested four Arab youths suspected of involvement in the Temple Mount violence.

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Meeting U.N. chief, Netanyahu laments discovery of Hamas rockets at schools

(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the United Nations for allowing its schools and facilities to be used as storage and launch sites for Hamas terrorist rockets during this summer’s war in Gaza, raising the issue in a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday.

“When they found rockets in U.N. schools, U.N. officials returned them to Hamas, the same Hamas that fired the same rockets on Israeli cities and Israeli citizens… the real reason for the rocket fire from Hamas is their refusal to recognize Israel’s existence,” Netanyahu told Ban.

The Palestinian Authority’s unilateral moves at the U.N. “will not advance peace,” added Netanyahu. “If the U.N. wants to support a genuine reconciliation, it must avoid any steps that could undermine peace,” he said.

Ban condemned the recently revealed Israeli construction plans in eastern Jerusalem, calling them a “clear violation of international law.”

“This does not send the right signals, and I urge the government of Israel to reverse these activities,” he said.

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Global pro-Israel lawmakers call for stricter review of UNRWA funding

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Pro-Israel parliamentarians from 21 countries called for increased oversight of funds transferred to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and supported forming an investigative community to look into the group’s activities during Operation Protective Edge.

The 27 legislators from 21 countries came to Israel on Sunday for the annual Israel Allies Foundation conference in Jerusalem.

Speaking to a crowd of 5,000 people, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, and Israel Allies Foundation Chairman Rabbi Benny Elon urged the strengthening of ties between Israel and Jewish and Christian worldwide.

The parliamentarians called for forming a U.N. investigative committee to look into the discovery of weapons in UNRWA facilities during Operation Protective Edge

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British Parliament  in advisory vote favors recognizing Palestinian state

(JNS.org) The British Parliament decided in a 274-12 non-binding vote on Monday to request that the U.K. government recognize a Palestinian state.

The motion for the vote was brought by Labour MP Grahame Morris. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron did not participate in the symbolic vote.

The British parliamentary motion on the vote stated that “this House believes that the Government should recognize the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.”

But since the vote is non-binding, the result will not affect official U.K. foreign policy on the issue.

“I’ve been pretty clear about the government’s position and it won’t be changing,” said a spokesman for Cameron, Reuters reported. “When you believe you have the right position… that is the one, I believe, that you take.”

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Christian commander of Zionist pioneers to be buried in Israel

(JNS.org) The Christian leader of the British Army’s Jewish Legion, which fought the Turks during the First World War and included soldiers such as renowned Zionist pioneers Ze’ev Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor, will be buried in Israel next month.

The transfer of the ashes of Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson from Los Angeles, and his subsequent burial in the Jewish state on Nov. 10, have been coordinated by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Irish-born Patterson was a friend of Netanyahu’s father, historian Benzion Netanyahu. The name of Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother Yonatan, who was killed in the 1976 Entebbe operation, was inspired by Patterson’s name.

“Col. Patterson was one of the founders of the Jewish Legion, the first Jewish military force since the Bar-Kokhva Revolt, which served as the basis for the eventual founding of the Israel Defense Forces,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “My father and mother always spoke warmly of Col. Patterson, who worked with my father during the 1940s in the United States to promote the Zionist idea.”

Patterson’s ashes will be buried in the Moshav Avihayil Military Cemetery near Netanya, which was founded by veterans of the Jewish Legion. The request to bury the ashes in Israel was made by Patterson’s grandson, who said that it was his grandfather’s wish to be buried next to his Jewish Legion comrades. The planned date of Patterson’s burial will be his 147th birthday, and comes just a few months before the 100th anniversary of the Jewish Legion’s founding.

Patterson was a “true righteous among the Gentiles, one of the greatest friends our people had in the British military, whose contribution to renewing Hebrew militarism at the beginning of the last century and the national liberation of the Jewish people was of great importance,” said Yossi Ahimeir, the director of the Jabotinsky Institute, according to Haaretz.

“In all of Jewish history we have never had a Christian friend as understanding and devoted as [Patterson],” Jabotinsky himself is known to have said.

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