Ya’alon calls Turkey a Hamas headquarters
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) In a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon criticized Turkey for the support it provides to Hamas.
“Turkey is playing a cynical game,” Ya’alon told Hagel. “Hamas is supported by Turkey and Qatar. Hamas has two terror headquarters—in Gaza and in Istanbul.”
“Hamas moved its terror headquarters from Damascus to Istanbul, in Turkey, a NATO member, where it is represented by Saleh al-Arouri, who orchestrates terrorist attacks against Israel from there and attempted to instigate a coup against [Palestinian Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas in Judea and Samaria,” added Ya’alon.
Ya’alon and Hagel discussed a range of topics on Tuesday, including Iran, the Islamic State terror group, Syria, Operation Protective Edge, and U.S.-Israel defense ties. Ya’alon thanked Hagel for U.S. aid in the development of the Iron Dome missile defense system.
“Even if there are disagreements between the U.S. and Israel, they should not be allowed to cloud the deep friendship and warm, intimate ties between the two countries,” Ya’alon said.
A U.S. Department of Defense statement said Hagel “reaffirmed the United States’ deep commitment to the security of Israel, and the importance of the U.S.-Israel defense relationship.” Hagel and Ya’alon “agreed to continue to work together to maintain the strength of the U.S.-Israel security relationship,” the statement said.
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Jordan’s King Abdullah seeks to prevent Jewish prayer on Temple Mount
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) King Abdullah II and other Jordanian government officials are working to prevent the Israeli Knesset from passing a bill that would permit Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency reported Tuesday.
In a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende earlier this week, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh warned that “Israeli violations” in Jerusalem were undermining the peace process.
“Such flagrant and aggressive attacks will drag the region into a religious conflict that will subvert the peace prospects and fuel extremism, terrorism and violence in the region,” Judeh was quoted as saying by Jordan’s Petra news agency.
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New police unit to deal with Jerusalem unrest
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday approved a plan introduced by Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch for the formation of a new police unit dedicated to dealing with the civil and security unrest in Jerusalem.
The plan calls for legislative changes that will allow law enforcement to better deal with children and teenagers who stone vehicles and railway cars traveling through the capital, especially in the city’s eastern Arab neighborhoods. The Jerusalem Light Rail has come under numerous stoning attacks over the past few months, resulting in significant damage to its operations.
Israel Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino said Tuesday that the new unit will have advanced intelligence and technological capabilities that will allow its officers to better deal with rioters.
“The unrest experienced in Jerusalem, our capital, is always a top priority,” Danino said, according to Israel Hayom. “We cannot ignore riots, stone-throwing, or the hurling of Molotov cocktails and firecrackers prevalent on the Temple Mount and in other areas of the city. These are serious incidents and they must be treated as such.”
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Israel Police welcomes first female Druze police commander
(JNS.org) Fattan Nasser El-din made history on Tuesday when she became the first Druze policewoman to complete the Israel Police’s officers’ training course.
El-din, 34, of Daliyat al-Karmel, was one of 101 cadets awarded the officer’s insignia during a ceremony held at Masada in southern Israel. The new commander is following in the path of her father, Amal, who served as chief superintendent of the Israeli Border Police. She joined the police force four years ago as a criminal investigator in Zichron Yaakov and is scheduled to be assigned to the Hof District, which runs along the central Israeli coast, as an officer in the investigations unit.
“This is [a source of] pride for my family and the entire Druze people, who respect my choice,” El-din said, Israel Hayom reported.
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Israeli teens nab top prizes in international physics competition
(JNS.org) Eight Israeli high school students from the Ilan Ramon Youth Physics Center at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have earned the top prizes in the First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics international competition.
Some 80 nations participate in the annual competition, which is held in Warsaw. Competitors are asked to submit their research to the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Physics, where a panel of internationally renowned judges evaluates it.
The first-prize winners are awarded a month-long research trip to Poland, a chance to make a presentation to leading physicists, and a certificate of merit. But the biggest coup is having their research published in an international physics journal.
Two of the eight Israeli winners from the Ilan Ramon Youth Physics Center took the first prize: Idan Fishman and Basel Abu Ganem, both of whom attended the same high school in Beersheba. Fishman’s research is titled “Water crystallization kinetics in porous media: treatment of the experimental results,” and Abu Ganem’s is “Instability of the phase front in freezing porous media.”
Five of the Israeli students were awarded second-place prizes, and one garnered a third-place prize.
“This is an impressive achievement that puts Beersheba at the forefront of international physics,” said Beersheba Mayor Ruvik Danilovich, according to Israel Hayom.
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IAEA chief unsure that all Iranian nuclear material is peaceful
(JNS.org) The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, admitted that his agency cannot “conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.” The comments come just a month before the Nov. 24 deadline to agree on a final nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 nations.
A European diplomat told Israel Hayom that Iran does not appear willing to limit its “enrichment program to a level we would find acceptable.”
Most recently, Iranian officials told Reuters that Iran wants to remove the financial sanctions imposed on it in 2012. As a result, Iran is willing to reduce the number of its nuclear centrifuges, as long as the remaining centrifuges can produce uranium at a faster rate so that the country’s overall supply of enriched uranium is not depleted. Western officials have said that this offer is not a legitimate compromise. Currently, Iran has about 19,000 centrifuges, of which about 10,000 are operating to enrich uranium.
“We may have no choice but to extend the talks past November… It’s either that or let the talks collapse,” the European diplomat said.
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Pro-Israel community protests premiere of ‘Klinghoffer’ opera at the Met
(JNS.org) About 400 people protested outside the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on Monday against the premiere of the The Death of Klinghoffer, an opera based on the 1985 murder of Jewish passenger Leon Klinghoffer aboard an Italian cruise ship that had been hijacked by terrorists from the Palestinian Liberation Front. The opera has been heavily criticized for glorifying Palestinian terrorism and giving a platform to anti-Semitic stereotypes.
Monday’s rally was organized by Jewish and Christian groups, including the Zionist Organization of America, One Israel Fund, One Family Fund, Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Catholic League. The protesters shouted “shame on the Met.”
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, former New York State governor George Pataki, and two members of Congress also participated in the protest.
“If you listen, you will see that the emotional context of the opera truly romanticizes the terrorists,” said Giuliani, theAssociated Press reported.
The premier performance of the opera took place as scheduled Monday night, eliciting a few boos. One person from the audience shouted that “the murder of Klinghoffer will never be forgotten!” But the performance ended with a standing ovation.
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