Ari Ne’eman, disability self-advocate on a national stage, awarded $100K inclusion prize
(JNS.org) Disability self-advocate Ari Ne’eman, a member of the President’s National Council on Disability, on Monday was named the recipient of the second annual Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion, a $100,000 prize from the Boston and Israel-based Ruderman Family Foundation (RFF) that “recognizes an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to the inclusion of people with disabilities in the Jewish world and the greater public.”
Ne’eman, 27, is the president and co-founder of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, which seeks to increase the representation of Autistic people across society. Appointed by President Barack Obama to the National Council on Disability in 2009, Ne’eman has served as a public member on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, a federal advisory committee that coordinates autism-related efforts within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“As a person with autism, Ari Ne’eman serves as an inspiration to millions of people with disabilities around the world,” RFF President Jay Ruderman said. “As one of the leading disability self-advocates in the United States, Ari is extremely wise beyond his years. His voice advocating for people with disabilities taking control of their own lives is respected in our nation’s capital and throughout our country.”
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IDF places concrete blocks along northern Israeli roads to foil snipers
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces has placed concrete blocks along border roads in northern Israel to protect drivers and passengers from possible sniper fire in retaliation for the recent airstrike that killed Hezbollah terrorists and an Iranian general in Syria, Israel Hayom reported.
Suspicious movement on Sunday evening caused Israeli officials to block off roads in northern Israel’s Yesha-Adi area and to summon local rapid-response teams. Shortly after the alert went out, it became clear that there was no security incident. Nevertheless, the IDF is maintaining an expanded presence along the northern border in light of threats by Hezbollah and Iran to avenge the reported Israeli airstrike.
The IDF has deployed additional infantry and artillery units along the border with Lebanon, the Israeli Air Force has moved to a high alert level, and Iron Dome anti-missile batteries have been deployed in northern Israel.
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Anti-Semitism rises on U.S. college campuses, report says
(JNS.org) The Israeli government on Sunday was presented with a report about global anti-Semitism showing that anti-Israel activity increased on college campuses across the U.S. in 2014. The report, composed with the cooperation of the Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism, was presented by Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett.
The report found that during July and August 2014, amid Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, a 400-percent increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents on American campuses was registered from the same period during the previous year. For the majority of the violent cases recorded, the perpetrators were of Arab or Muslim descent.
According to the report, France—where four Jewish shoppers were recently killed in an attack on a kosher supermarket—is “the toughest place in Europe for Jews to live in.”
“Over the recent year, we have witnessed a rise in anti-Semitic incidents and a wave of anti-Semitism across large parts of the world, first and foremost in Europe,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “World governments should be more vigilant in their approach to these incidents.”
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Netanyahu’s sons are targets for Iranian assassination, website says
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s sons Yair and Avner are among Iran’s potential targets if the country seeks revenge for the recent killing of several Iranian military figures in an airstrike that has been attributed to Israel, the Iranian news website Mashregh reported.
Mashregh featured a photo of Yair and Avner with sniper’s scopes superimposed on their faces. The list of possible Iranian targets on the website also included Gilad and Omri Sharon, sons of former prime minister Ariel Sharon, and Shaul Olmert, son of former prime minister Ehud Olmert. The Iranian article stated that the potential targets fulfilled the criteria for assassination because they all served in the Israeli military.
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Israeli foreign minister orders distribution of latest Charlie Hebdo issue
(JNS.org) After Israel’s Steimatzky bookstore chain canceled a special sales event for the latest issue of France’s Charlie Hebdo magazine following Arab pressure, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman instructed activists of his Yisrael Beiteinu party to purchase thousands of copies of the magazine’s Jan. 14 issue and distribute them to the public.
The issue—printed after 12 people were killed in an Islamist terrorist attack on the magazine’s Paris offices—features a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed holding a sign saying, “Je Suis Charlie” (I am Charlie), with a headline above the cartoon reading “Tout Est Pardonné” (All Is Forgiven).
Masud Ganaim, an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset from the Ra’am-Ta’al party, sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urging him to intervene to stop the Steimatzky event, calling the sale of the magazine a “very dangerous and stupid” step that would “lead to great uproar and anger among the Arabs and Muslims in [this] country in particular and in the world in general.” Steimatzky itself later canceled the in-store event, but said it would sell copies of the Charlie Hebdo issue on its website.
Lieberman said Sunday said that “we will not allow radical Islam to terrorize us,” arguing that the demands made by Arab Knesset members not to distribute the magazine threatened to “turn Israel into ISIS (Islamic State).”
“It would turn the state of Israel into a country that cows to threats and undermines freedom of expression,” Lieberman said.
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‘Zionist Camp’ moniker angers Arab supporters of Herzog-Livni ticket
(JNS.org) Arab supporters of MK Isaac Herzog’s Labor party are up in arms over the party’s decision to dub itself the “Zionist Camp” after joining forces with MK Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah party to run as a joint ticket in the upcoming Israeli Knesset elections.
Representatives of Labor in the Arab sector—headed by former Israeli minister Raleb Majadele, who lost to sports broadcaster Zuhair Bahalul in the party’s primaries—called on Labor leader Isaac Herzog to leave the word “Zionist” out of the joint ticket’s name.
Majadele said Saturday that “if we find out that the Labor party has tricked us and is withdrawing from its historic alliance with Arab-Israeli voters, all options are on the table as far as we’re concerned.”
“I don’t know of any magic headquarters that turns hundreds of thousands of Arabs into Zionists overnight,” said Majadele.
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Current and former Israeli presidents praise Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah
(JNS.org) Current and former Israeli presidents praised Saudi Arabia’s recently deceased King Abdullah for contributing to Mideast peace and stability.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin called Abdullah “an example of balanced and responsible leadership rooted in deep religious tradition.” As a “guardian of holy sites” for Islam, Abdullah “worked to honor the sensitivity and sanctity of Jerusalem and sought to promote his vision for a prosperous region,” Rivlin said.
“His smart policy contributed greatly to Middle East stability,” added Rivlin.
Former Israeli president Shimon Peres said Abdullah’s death “is a real loss for peace in the Middle East.”
In 2002, Abdullah proposed the Arab Peace Initiative, an attempt to bring about normalized relations between Israel and Arab nations. The plan called for Israel’s withdrawal from the disputed territories and a “just settlement” of the Palestinian refugee issue based on U.N. Resolution 194.
Abdullah’s plan was ultimately overshadowed by the terrorism of the second Palestinian intifada, and many Israeli leaders remain skeptical of the Saudi king’s 2002 plan.
“I’m not sure we could have accepted all the items in [Abdullah’s] peace process, but the spirit, the strength, and the wisdom invested in it impressed all of us,” Peres said.
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Belgium searching for accomplice to Jewish museum shooter
(JNS.org) Belgian authorities are searching for a possible accomplice to Mehdi Nemmouche, the French-Algerian gunman who killed four people at a Jewish museum in Brussels last May.
Nemmouche, 29, has allegedly fought with jihadist terror groups in Syria. The Belgian prosecutor’s office confirmed that it is looking for an unidentified man who appeared on surveillance footage of the Brussels attack with Nemmouche. In a 19-second clip, the man is seen walking on pavement with a backpack and wearing a striped t-shirt and jeans.
“We confirm that there is a link between the two wanted notices and that we are looking for this person. The investigation will determine whether this person is an accomplice or not,” the prosecutor’s office said, AFP reported.
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ZOA criticizes ADL’s Foxman for suggesting John Boehner disinvite Netanyahu
(JNS.org) The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) criticized Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman for suggesting that House Speaker John Boehner rescind his invitation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress about the Iranian nuclear threat, and that Netanyahu rescind his acceptance.
Foxman said Boehner’s invitation “looks like a political challenge to the White House.”
“I certainly support the sanctions [on Iran] if the [diplomatic] deal doesn’t come through, but having said that, the invitation and acceptance is ill-advised for either side. It is too important an issue to politicize it,” said Foxman, adding that Boehner should disinvite Netanyahu and that the prime minister should “unaccept,” JTA reported.
ZOA National Director Morton Klein responded that given the threat posed by Iran, “the advice, wisdom, and experience of Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu is desperately needed.”
“How dare ADL’s Abe Foxman harm the U.S., Israel’s, and the world’s efforts to fight these monstrous dangers by insulting the Prime minister of the Jewish state and the U.S. Congress by demanding Speaker Boehner rescind this important invitation,” Klein said in a statement.
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Mossad distances itself from report that it opposes new Iran sanctions
(JNS.org) Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency distanced itself from a report that it opposes new American sanctions against Iran.
Bloomberg News reported Thursday that Mossad Director Tamir Pardo told U.S. representatives visiting Israel that increasing sanctions now, when negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program are ongoing, would be like “tossing a grenade into the process.”
The Mossad responded by issuing a rare press release, stating, “Regarding the reported reference to ‘throwing a grenade,’ the head of the Mossad did not use this expression regarding the imposition of sanctions, which he believes to be the sticks necessary for reaching a good deal with Iran. The head of the Mossad pointed out explicitly that the bad agreement taking shape with Iran is likely to lead to a regional arms race.”
According to Israel’s Army Radio, the Bloomberg News report was leaked by the Obama administration as “revenge” against Israel for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s acceptance of House Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to address Congress on the Iranian threat. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Boehner breached “protocol” by inviting Netanyahu without consulting the president.
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