Netanyahu: Arab states’ involvement in peace process ‘a welcome thing’
(JNS.org) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that enlisting the help of moderate Arab nations to promote the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process would be a positive development, but that any agreement would still require Israeli control over Judea and Samaria.
“The fact that we can engage some of the Arab states in dialogue over regional issues, due to our shared concerns on the Iranian nuclear threat, means that we can also get them to assist on the Palestinian issue,” Netanyahu told reporters in Tel Aviv, Israel Hayom reported. “If we can harness [the help] of some of the Arab states to find a solution to the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict, that is a welcome thing.”
Yet Netanyahu, for the first time publicly, rejected the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative that suggested a comprehensive peace plan between Israel and Mideast Arab nations in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines. The 2002 initiative “proposes, among other things, that we cede the Golan Heights, which I assume no one agrees to nowadays,” he said.
Netanyahu said that if the Palestinians were to agree to Israeli security control over Judea and Samaria and “change their approach,” that would facilitate “a different reality.” But the Palestinians, he said, “refuse to give so much as an inch.”
“I haven’t deviated from a solution that entails a demilitarized Palestinian state, but, as I explain to those asking, the question is not where to draw the border, but what will be on the other side of it. … The question is, what will the regime and security situation be like in the areas we withdraw from? The answer is understood by all, and no one has a better answer than Israeli control,” said Netanyahu.
Islamic State-affiliated group threatens missile attack on Eilat
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A Sinai-based jihadi group affiliated with the Islamic State terrorist organization warned Thursday that the Israeli resort town of Eilat could expect a barrage of missiles in the coming days.
The threat was issued on a Facebook account associated with Wilayat Sina (“Province of Sinai”), previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, which swore allegiance to Islamic State last November. Most of its attacks have been directed at Egyptian military forces in Sinai, although it has repeatedly fired rockets on Eilat and on the nearby Jordanian town of Aqaba. Its repeated bombing of a gas pipeline in Sinai has managed to disrupt the export of gas from Egypt to Israel and Jordan.
On Thursday, the terror group called on Egyptians to join its ranks and help it wrest Sinai from the Egyptian regime. It also criticized Hamas for “abandoning the fight against the Jews,” and warned that Islamic State would launch attacks in Gaza. Wilayat Sina considers Hamas too moderate and has tried to undermine its legitimacy. This has prompted Hamas to crack down on Islamic State sympathizers in Gaza, fearing that the jihadis would ultimately topple its rule there.
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U.S. defense aid to Israel to increase to more than $3.5 billion, sources say
(JNS.org) United States defense aid to Israel is likely to increase to more than $3.5 billion per year after 2017, sources say.
An anonymous U.S. defense official said negotiations that are underway would bring the annual military aid package to Israel to around $3.6-$3.7 billion, up from the current level of $3 billion, Reuters reported. An Israeli official said the aid package would likely be between $3.5 and $4 billion.
The U.S. and Israel signed a $30 billion, 10-year defense deal in 2007 under then-president George W. Bush that allowed for $3 billion in annual defense aid. A number of additional military aid packages, including funding of Israel’s highly effective Iron Dome missile defense system, have been added over the years.
“They (the United States) are trying to douse the fires after our flare-up about the Iran deal,” an anonymous U.S. defense official told Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied that the negotiations over a new 10-year military aid package would be “compensation” for an Iran deal whose terms Israel opposes.
Israel and several top Arab allies of America in the Middle East have been vocal about their opposition to the emerging nuclear deal between world powers and Iran. Recently, President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. would step up military assistance to several Arab Gulf states amid their fears over Iran. The U.S. has also reportedly proposed a $1.9 billion military sale to Israel that includes 750 bunker buster precision-guided bombs and 3,000 Hellfire missiles, among other items.
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Obama meets with slain Israeli-American journalist Steven Sotloff’s family
(JNS.org) President Barack Obama met with the family of slain Israeli-American journalist Steven Sotloff during a visit to Miami on Thursday.
Obama, along with First Lady Michelle Obama, met with Sotloff’s parents Art and Shirley as well as his sister Lauren. The president “appreciated the chance to hear from the Sotloffs more about Steven’s work as a journalist, including his passion for bringing the stories of people who are suffering to the rest of the world in the hope of making a positive difference, including in Syria,” said Bernadette Meehan, spokesperson for the National Security Council.
Sotloff was murdered by the Islamic State terror group in Syria last September. Islamic State released a gruesome video following his beheading. In a failed effort to protect Sotloff, his Jewish identity and Israeli citizenship were held under a gag order before his execution.
A Miami native, Sotloff made aliyah in 2008 to pursue an undergraduate degree at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. He was abducted in August 2013 while reporting on the Syrian civil war.
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Final steps underway for Jerusalem’s City of David visitor’s center
(JNS.org) Final steps are underway for the City of David’s “Kedem” visitor’s center in Jerusalem, with a number of Israeli public officials and prominent archaeologists speaking out in support of the project.
According to the City of David, the building was designed by Arieh Rahaminmoff, the former chairman of UNESCO in Israel, and will sit on top of the “Givati Parking Lot” excavation just outside of the Old City of Jerusalem’s walls. The visitor’s center will serve as an entryway to the Jerusalem Walls National Park, which includes the City of David and Mount Zion, as well as to the Old City’s Ophel and Hulda Gates.
The project, however, has been criticized by some Palestinians and left-wing activist groups for its location in the predominately Arab eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan and for interfering with the skyline of the Old City.
Nevertheless, a number of public officials and archaeologists—such as Harvard University professor of design Carl Steinitz, Nobel Laureate Yisrael Aumann, renowned archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkay, former IDF military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin, and former Mossad director Shabtai Shavit—have spoken out in favor of the project.
“The challenge of preserving the ancient character of Jerusalem, while developing it as a modern city in the 21st century is no easy task… the ‘Kedem Center’ [will] not damage the area in question (skyline, archaeology, environment, etc.), it will unequivocally complement and enhance it,” the project’s supporters said in a statement.
According to the City of David, the structure will sit approximately 21 feet below the Old City walls so that it will not affect the iconic Jerusalem skyline.
“The City’s goal is to lay down the infrastructure to accommodate about ten million visitors per year, and the ‘Kedem Center’ plays a large and important role in creating this infrastructure, given its convenient location in a central part of the national park and the ancient city and the high quality of the site itself,” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said in a statement.
United Nations official for children pushing to include IDF on terror blacklist
(JNS.org) The United Nations special representative of the secretary-general for children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougui, is set to recommend the blacklisting of the Israel Defense Forces for allegedly regularly causing harm to children. The designation would place the IDF in the same group as terror groups such as Islamic State, Boko Haram, and the Taliban.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is leaning towards leaving Israel off the list—despite heavy lobbying by the Palestinians and pro-Palestinian groups—over concern of damaging the world body’s relationship with the Jewish state.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry slammed the hypocrisy of the world body.
“Israel-haters are threatening the United Nations and no one is complaining about them,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said. “It’s a scandal and it’s hypocrisy. There are unfortunately a lot of situations in which children are killed in zones of conflict and yet no one dares put them on the list. Do you know how many kids the Saudis have killed while bombing Yemen? I want to see the U.N. secretary-general’s Algerian envoy dare to include Saudi Arabia on the list.”
In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)—who heads the Senate Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs—warned the U.N. against continued hostility towards Israel and threatened to cut off U.S. aid to the world body.
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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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