Hundreds of Israelis rescued from earthquake-battered Nepal arrive home
(JNS.org) A special El Al Airlines flight brought 216 Israelis, including 15 newborn babies, to Israel from earthquake-devastated Nepal on Tuesday afternoon.
The 7.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal last weekend left untold ruin in its wake. Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said Tuesday that the death toll could ultimately exceed 10,000. More than 450,000 people have been displaced, he said.
Several Israeli planes have been sent to Nepal since Sunday to retrieve Israelis stranded in the earthquake-battered country. On Wednesday morning, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s situation room knew of only six Israelis traveling in Nepal who were yet to be accounted for.
“It felt as if the entire city was obliterated. There was no power, no water, and no food. We’re delighted to be back,” said Noam Greenberg, who returned to Israel on Tuesday.
“We endured some terrifying moments, but now, being back under the Israeli sun, everything looks better,” Amir Barda, who returned to Israel from Kathmandu with his partner and their newborn twins, told Israel Hayom.
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Rivlin warns against PA unilateralism, Carter seeks PA-Hamas reconciliation
(JNS.org) Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro on Tuesday, stressed the importance of a return to direct negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and warned about the negative consequences of unilateral international initiatives to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The PA officially joined the International Criminal Court in April, with the goal of bringing war crimes charges against Israel. In his meeting with Shapiro, Rivlin also voiced his concerns about the emerging nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran, Israel Hayom reported.
Meanwhile, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter will visit the Gaza Strip this week to try to mediate between the PA and Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that governs Gaza. Carter’s main objective is to get the PA and Hamas to actualize the reconciliation deal they reached last year. Carter has met with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in the past, and in 2009 he visited Gaza and met with then-Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh.
Carter has been known for his critical views of Israeli policy and has used the word “apartheid” to describe Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. During Operation Protective Edge last summer, he condemned what he called the “humanitarian catastrophe” inflicted on Gaza and urged President Barack Obama to acknowledge Hamas’s legitimacy as a political player in the region.
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Bereaved Israeli families continue fight against Battle of Jenin film
(JNS.org) Representatives of bereaved Israeli family members and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers who fought in the Battle of Jenin in 2002 are outraged that the police were called over a tent they set up to protest a film they say defames the IDF.
Last week, on Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism (Yom Hazikaron), the protest tent was erected outside Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein’s office to demonstrate against his decision not to open judicial proceedings against Israeli Arab filmmaker Mohammad Bakri for his film Jenin, Jenin and its portrayal of Israeli soldiers.
In many Israelis’ eyes, the film constitutes libel against Israeli soldiers by portraying the battle, in which 23 Israeli soldiers and 52 Palestinians were killed, as a wide-scale massacre of Palestinian civilians—a claim refuted by the United Nations as well as Human Rights Watch and other nongovernmental organizations. But Weinstein, upholding the decision made by his two predecessors not to launch proceedings against Bakri, said in December 2014 that he had not been presented with “extraordinary claims not known before.”
Representatives for the Israeli soldiers who fought in the battle have appealed to the president, prime minister, Knesset speaker, defense minister, IDF chief, and attorney general to overturn Weinstein’s decision. Attorney Israel Caspi, who fought in the Jenin battle and is representing the bereaved families and the soldiers, told Israel Hayom, “Police came to us and questioned us under the pretense that there had been a disturbance, which is a lie.”
The Israeli Justice Ministry said in a statement, “A quiet protest tent was erected outside and the attorney general is unaware of any attempt to remove or displace the participants. The attorney general respects the protesters and their cause.”
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Israeli high school robotics teams excel at international competition
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Three Israeli high school robotics teams excelled at the finals of the FIRST international robotics competition, held last weekend in St. Louis.
The competition announced the guidelines for this year’s robotics game at the start of January, and some 3,000 groups from around the world set to work to meet the challenge. Seven Israeli groups made it through the first round, and three of them performed well in the final round.
The Miscar group from Misgav and the Orbit group from Binyamina reached the final games of the first round of the finals, securing places in the top 18. The youngest Israeli group, BumbleB from Kfar Yona, made it into the knockout round in the competition’s championship games, putting the eight-member team into the top eight in the world, the highest-ever achievement for an Israeli team in the 21 years of the FIRST competition.
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Birthright Israel projects it will surpass 500,000 trip participants this year
(JNS.org) The Taglit-Birthright Israel program said that it is on track to surpass 500,000 participants over time during its 15th year of existence, which begins in May. From May to September alone this year, Birthright projects that it will see 28,000 participants on its free 10-day trips to Israel for Jews ages 18-26.
“Prior to the inception of Taglit-Birthright Israel, only 1,500 young American Jewish adults visited Israel each year,” Birthright CEO Gidi Mark said in a statement. “In our first year, we brought 9,000-plus participants. Today, we have increased that number to nearly 45,000 participants annually from around the world.”
Mark said that Birthright’s upcoming milestone of 500,000 participants “is not only inspiring, but also motivation to continue pursuing our goal to bring Jewish young adults from all corners of the diaspora to Israel each year.”
In January 2014, JNS.org was the first to report a change in Birthright’s eligibility rules that opened up the free trips to teenagers who have already taken part in educational trips to Israel during high school.
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South African pro-BDS groups call for expulsion of Israeli ambassador
(JNS.org) Several South African organizations that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement are calling on their government to expel the Israeli ambassador to South Africa and plan to march on the country’s Israeli embassy if the government fails to heed their call.
In a joint statement, several representatives of pro-BDS groups—including the South Africa Communist Party; Boycott, Divestment and Sanction South Africa; and trade union groups— slammed the Israeli government for denying an entry visa to South African Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande, who was scheduled to visit Birzeit University in the West Bank last week.
According to a senior official in Jerusalem, the minister’s visa was turned down because he planned to directly travel to the West Bank, rather than visiting Israel, and also due to his radically anti-Israel views.
“It is wrong for the Israeli government to try and suggest that Dr. Nzimande is acting on his personal whims when supporting the freedom of the Palestinian people,” the pro-BDS groups stated, South Africa’s Mail and Guardian newspaper reported.
The groups said that if the South African government does not expel Israeli envoy Arthur Lenk within 10 days, “our progressive organizations will take it upon ourselves to be at the Israeli Embassy on the 15th of May to expel the Israeli Ambassador.”
Additionally, the groups called for a plan of action including banning all government travel to Israel, ending automatic visas for Israelis, terminating Israeli agricultural interests in South Africa, and prosecuting South Africans who serve in the Israel Defense Forces.
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Pope Francis meets with chief rabbi of Rome
(JNS.org) Pope Francis met with the chief rabbi of Rome, Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, on Monday at the Vatican.
The Vatican said in a statement that the meeting was “cordial” and covered topics ranging from the immigration crisis to other issues facing Europe, adding that the two leaders discussed how religion can play a role in addressing such issues as well as the possibility of future collaborative projects between the Jewish community and Catholic Church.
Last week, Pope Francis met with a delegation of leading European rabbis at the Vatican to discuss Jewish-Christian relations and the ongoing surge of anti-Semitism in Europe, with the pontiff saying that the “great tragedy” of the Holocaust should remain a “warning for present and future generations.”
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Sen. Rand Paul converses with rabbis about stances on Israel, U.S. foreign aid
(JNS.org) Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) answered questions about his views on Israel and the Middle East from a group of rabbis and Jewish community leaders at the National Society for Hebrew Day School Headquarters in Brooklyn.
“I think Israel is one of our best allies and best friends around the world,” Paul said. “They’re the only democracy in the Middle East. And I’m very supportive.”
But Paul reiterated his position on ending American foreign aid, including to Israel. He said his stance is “the same as it’s always been: one day Israel should be independent.” Paul added, “I’m also not saying that [aid to Israel] has to end now.”
Paul criticized the U.S. policy of intervening in the Middle East, claiming that doing so only incites more radicalism from Islamists.
“Each time we topple a secular dictator, I think we wind up with chaos and radical Islam seems to rise,” he said, arguing that the first principle of American foreign policy should be “do no harm.”
Paul also said that he has been learning about Jewish traditions from one of his prominent Jewish supporters, Dr. Richard Roberts, and that he has watched the film Schindler’s List.
Pinchos Lipschutz—the publisher of the New York-based Jewish newspaper Yated, who participated in the conversation and questioned Paul about past accusations that the senator has negative views about Jews—told The Associated Press after the event that Paul needs to “come up with a soundbite that really convinces Jewish people that he doesn’t bear any animus toward them.”
“He’s going to have to do better,” said Lipschutz.
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Syrian mortars that fell in Israel likely errant fire, IDF says
(JNS.org) Two mortars from Syria fell in Israeli territory on Tuesday following warning sirens in the Golan Heights.
Local residents reported hearing blasts, but the mortars were reportedly errant fire that struck open areas.
“From an initial investigation it seems that the blasts heard in the Golan were a result of internal Syrian fighting on the other side of the border,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, referencing the ongoing Syrian civil war.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot had visited the area earlier on Tuesday amid an uptick in tension along the Israel-Syria border. Accompanying Eizenkot was IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz, who said, “We are doing everything in our power to keep the border area calm and secure.”
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IDF sets up field hospital to treat Nepal earthquake victims
(JNS.org) Israel Defense Forces (IDF) members arrived in Nepal on Tuesday and began setting up a field hospital, where they will treat those injured by this week’s massive earthquake. The local Nepalese military hospital has been badly damaged, according to reports, and the number of people killed in the earthquake has risen above 4,000.
The Israeli soldiers are working closely with Nepalese soldiers by loading equipment, medicine, and supplies into trucks. The 260-member IDF delegation includes 127 medical personnel, among them 40 doctors.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman discussed joint Israel-Nepal military relief efforts with Nepalese Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey on Tuesday, and the Nepalese minister thanked the Israeli government for its assistance, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
According to the IDF, the mission to help Nepal after the earthquake could take at least two weeks. The IDF delegation is joined by rescue teams from United Hatzalah, Zaka, F.I.R.S.T., IsraLife, IsraAID, and others.
The Jewish National Fund (JNF), meanwhile, pledged assistance to 160 Nepalese students who are studying at Israel’s Arava International Center for Agricultural Training, a JNF partner. Some of the students lost family members in the earthquake, and all of their families lost their homes.
“We have a longstanding relationship with Nepal and these students are our extended family,” JNF President Jeffrey E. Levine said. “That’s why I am today releasing emergency funds so that each one will get $500 to send back home and assist in rebuilding their family homes and lives. … When you look into their eyes, you can see that they have lost everything. The $500 may not seem like much to us, but it means the world to them.”
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Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.
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