JNS news briefs: November 13, 2014

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U.S. issues latest criticism of Israeli construction in Jerusalem
(JNS.org) The United States issued its latest criticism of Israeli construction in the Jewish state’s capital of Jerusalem following the preliminary approval of plans to build 200 new housing units in the neighborhood of Ramot, which is located beyond the 1949 armistice line.

“We are deeply concerned by this decision, particularly given the tense situation in Jerusalem, as well as the unequivocal and unanimous position of the United States and others in the international community opposing such construction in east Jerusalem,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday. “These decisions to expand construction have the potential to exacerbate this difficult situation on the ground, and they will not contribute to efforts to reduce the tensions.”

Yet according to Brachie Sprung, a spokeswoman for the Jerusalem Municipality, the Ramot housing units may actually be years away because the project must pass several more stages before construction can begin.

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Arab MK riles up Knesset by wearing keffiyeh at podium
(JNS.org) Member of Knesset Basel Ghattas (Balad) caused a ruckus in the Israeli legislature on Wednesday when he rose to speak at the podium wearing a black and white keffiyeh on his neck.

Likud MK Miri Regev claimed it was a provocation and demanded he take the keffiyeh off, according to Israel Hayom. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) asked Regev, “What is unattractive about a keffiyeh? Just like we can speak at the podium with kippot, he can come with a keffiyeh.”

Ghattas said he wore the keffiyeh as a sign of solidarity with Arab students who wore them to school to honor the 21-year-old Arab man who was fatally shot last week after he attacked Israeli police with a knife in Kafr Kanna. The students were told to take off their keffiyehs, and Ghattas decided to wear one in Knesset to show his support for them.

Toronto’s Ryerson Univ. passes motion to protect students from anti-Semitism
(JNS.org) Toronto’s Ryerson University student union (RSU) passed a motion protecting Jewish students from anti-Semitism on campus.

Last spring, RSU voted to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which has since created a hostile environment on campus, especially for Jewish or pro-Israel students.

The motion calls on the Ryerson Student Union to “publicly oppose anti-Semitic actions on campus, to work with Jewish students to fight anti-Semitism and for the RSU to publish an annual report detailing all incidents of racism on campus and the actions taken by RSU.”

Meryle Kates, executive director of the Canadian region of the Israel education group StandWithUs, praised student leaders “for taking this pro-active stance, and mobilizing other students to vote, to restore a more peaceful and inclusive environment on their campus.”

Along with the anti-Semitism motion, another motion revamping RSU’s “No Islamophobia No Anti-Semitism No Racism Campaign” passed unanimously.

Israeli government rejects cooperation with U.N. Gaza probe
(JNS.org) The Israeli Foreign Ministry has announced that it will not cooperate with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) inquiry into the summer Gaza conflict led by Canadian law professor William Schabas.

“While Hamas fired thousands of rockets toward Israel, the U.N. Human Rights Council decided it would determine in advance Israel’s ‘guilt’ and set up an investigative committee to serve as a rubber stamp to its known positions,” foreign ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon said in a statement.

“Since the Schabas commission is not an inquiry but a commission that gives its conclusions in advance, Israel will not cooperate with the U.N. Commission on Human Rights over the last conflict with Hamas,” Nahshon said.

As a result, Israel has also denied an entry request by the three U.N. investigators, leaving them stuck in Amman, Jordan. In the past, Schabas has called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former president Shimon Peres to be prosecuted in the International Criminal Court for human rights violations. Given Schabas’s history, the Israeli government has called the current U.N. probe a “kangaroo court.”

U.S. senators meet with Alan Gross in Cuban prison
(JNS.org) U.S. Senators Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) met with Alan Gross, the Jewish-American government subcontractor serving a 15-year prison sentence in Cuba.

“Alan wants to come home,” Flake said at a news conference after a two-hour meeting with Gross on Tuesday, CNN reported.

Gross, a subcontractor for the United States Agency for International Development who went to Cuba to help the Jewish community there access the Internet, was imprisoned in late 2009 for what the Cuban government called “crimes against the state.”

“I do feel we are closer [to Gross’s freedom],” Flake said. “One, because of what Alan Gross has said himself. This is going to end one way or another. We have gone on five years and any benefit the Cuban government may have seen has to have evaporated.”

The two senators, who are also critics of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, met with Cuban officials during their visit. The Cuban government has called for a prisoner swap for Gross in exchange for jailed Cuban spies. But the U.S. State Department has rejected that proposal.

Israeli Knesset’s Christian caucus mourns pro-Israel pastor killed in plane crash
(JNS.org) The Israeli Knesset Christian Allies Caucus is mourning renowned Evangelical Pastor Myles Munroe, who was killed along with eight others in a plane crash in the Bahamas on Sunday.

The plane had exploded upon hitting a crane at the Grand Bahama Shipyard while trying to land in Freeport. Josh Reinstein, director of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, remembered Munroe as a frequent visitor to the Jewish state whose “faith and love of Israel was an inspiration to us all.”

“Israel had no better friend and the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus was honored to work with him,” Reinstein told the Jerusalem Post.

“It is utterly impossible to measure the magnitude of Dr. Munroe’s loss to the Bahamas and to the world,” added Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christ. “He was indisputably one of the most globally recognizable religious figures our nation has ever produced.”

Synagogue firebombed in northern Israel as violence persists
(JNS.org) A historic synagogue that dates back to the 18th century and is located in an Arab town in northern Israel was firebombed with a Molotov cocktail on Wednesday as the recent spate of violence throughout the Jewish state persists.

The synagogue had just been renovated this year in an indicator of positive interfaith relations in the area, the Times of Israel reported.

Additionally, a mosque near Ramallah was burned on Wednesday. Investigations into the perpetrators of both incidents are ongoing.

While Likud MK Miri Regev condemned the arson attack against the mosque, saying “that it is forbidden to take the law in to your own hands,” the Islamic Jihad terror group vowed retaliation. The Gaza-based terror group already claimed responsibility for the two stabbing attacks on Monday in which IDF soldier Sgt. Almog Shiloni and Israeli woman Dalya Lamkus were killed.

“Those who encourage and allow attacks on mosques and against Palestinians should expect a response,” Islamic Jihad said in a statement, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Ron Prosor, meanwhile, accused the U.N. Security Council of staying silent on recent terror attacks on Israelis despite the fact that recent cartoons published by the Palestinian Fatah party’s Facebook page have encouraged Israeli Arabs to run over Jews with their cars in order to “protect” the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

“Complacency breeds disaster. The international community has done nothing but be complacent, ” Prosor told the council.

Jailed Fatah terrorist Barghouti placed in isolation over call for violence
(JNS.org) Jailed senior Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti was been placed in isolation by Israeli prison officials at Hadarim Prison after calling for violence against Israel.

“Choosing global and armed resistance” means being “faithful to Arafat’s legacy, to his ideas, and his principles for which tens of thousands died as martyrs,” Barghouti wrote in a letter published Tuesday on the 10th anniversary of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s death, Maan News Agency reported.

“It is imperative to reconsider our choice of resistance as a way of defeating the occupier,” Barghouti said. “The Palestinian Authority must review its priorities and its mission … and put an immediate end to security cooperation which is only strengthening the occupier,” he added.

Barghouti, 55, has been imprisoned since 2002 after being convicted on five counts of murder. Barghouti was a leading figure in Fatah during the first and second Palestinian intifadas, and there are still calls for him to succeed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as the party’s leader.

Israel’s El Al airline to begin Boston route, JetBlue codeshare
(JNS.org) Israel’s national airline, El Al, has announced that it will begin direct flights between Boston and Tel Aviv starting next summer.

“Non-stop service to Tel Aviv will open up new commercial and economic opportunities for Massachusetts and the region,” Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said in a statement.

In 2011, Patrick led a massive trade mission to Israel and promised to work to restore the Boston route. According to Patrick, there are more than 7,000 people working in Massachusetts for Israeli-founded companies.

The initiative was also spearheaded by New England Patriots owner and prominent Jewish philanthropist Robert Kraft.

“The Holy Land is such a special place that now knowing that people who live in the New England area, whether they be Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, that they have a way to go direct to Israel and experience that country,” Kraft said, NECN reported.

El Al CEO David Maimon said the airline plans to start service with three weekly roundtrips beginning June 28. Service will be on Boeing 767-300s with 654 seats per week available.

Meanwhile, El Al has also recently announced that it is working on a codeshare agreement with the popular U.S. airline JetBlue, which is the biggest carrier at Boston’s Logan airport and New York’s JFK airport. The codeshare will enable El Al passengers to connect to and from JetBlue flights on a single ticket.

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