Saudis consider Iran much greater enemy than Israel, poll shows
(JNS.org) A new survey that an Israeli college conducted in Saudi Arabia reveals that Saudis consider Iran a much greater enemy than Israel.
In the poll, commissioned by the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya together with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 53 percent of the 506 Saudi respondents named Iran as their main adversary, compared with 22 percent choosing the Islamic State terror group and 18 percent picking Israel.
Additionally, 85 percent of respondents said they support the Saudi-led Arab Peace Initiative, which calls for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal based on Israel’s withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders.
The survey results come as Israel and Saudi Arabia, who do not have diplomatic relations, are both opposing the emerging nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
“There is a commonality of interests between Saudi Arabia and Israel right now that the Israeli government should take advantage of and capitalize because it is unique in the history of the two states,” said IDC’s Professor Alex Mintz, who oversaw the survey, the Associated Press reported.
Iran still developing nuclear technology, Pentagon report says
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) As the June 30 deadline for a final nuclear deal approaches, Iran is continuing to develop technologies that “could be applicable to nuclear weapons,” including ballistic missiles, according to a Pentagon assessment of Iran’s military capability revealed by Bloomberg News on Thursday.
The full report, including classified details, was written in January and submitted to Congress last week. It found that Iran’s “covert activities appear to be continuing unabated,” and that the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps still plays a leading role in Iranian foreign policy, “particularly in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, and Yemen.”
Despite these findings, the unclassified summary of the report indicates that Iran has “fulfilled its obligations” as outlined in the interim nuclear agreement reached with the U.S. and world powers, and that it has “paused progress” in some parts of its nuclear program.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday that while he had not read the report, the scope of Iran’s potential nuclear military capabilities is an issue that “would need to be resolved” in the current negotiations. He added that even if the talks are successful, the U.S. would still have concerns about some of Iran’s activities.
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Tel Aviv invites Caitlyn Jenner to head gay pride parade
(JNS.org) Organizers for the upcoming Tel Aviv gay pride parade have invited Caitlyn Jenner to headline the event.
Jenner, a former Olympic men’s decathlon winner who previously went by the name Bruce, has drawn international headlines while becoming the de facto face of the transgender movement for her recently announced transition to womanhood on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine.
“When I saw your interview with Diane Sawyer, I was amazed by your bravery and determination to live your life as you choose,” Yaniv Weizman, who holds the gay community portfolio on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipal council, said in an invitation to Jenner to lead the parade, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. “The fact that you provided us an opportunity to smile and revealed the personal and complex process you went through, the difficulties that stood in your way, made you a source of inspiration for us in Tel Aviv.”
Jenner’s stepdaughter, Kim Kardashian, along with Kardashian’s husband Kanye West, visited Israel in April, when the celebrity couple baptized their daughter North at an Armenian church in Jerusalem.
Tel Aviv’s gay pride parade is the largest such event in the Middle East, where many countries in the region brutally suppress gay and transgender rights. This year’s Tel Aviv parade, which will be held June 12, will focus on transgendered people. Organizers are expecting around 180,000 people to attend the parade.
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Islamic State supporters in Gaza threaten Israel with more rockets
(JNS.org) Salafi terrorists in Gaza who have aligned with Islamic State on Thursday claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s launching of two rockets at Israel and vowed more attacks on the Jewish state. The Islamic State supporters are also in the midst of fighting Gaza-ruling Hamas.
On Wednesday evening, two rockets aimed at the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Netivot were fired from Gaza. A new group of Salafi jihadists dubbed the Sheikh Omar Hadeed Brigade claimed responsibility for the rockets on Twitter, saying the attack on Israel was retaliation for Hamas killing a local Salafi leader in northern Gaza on Tuesday.
“Seeing as Hamas has chosen to wage war against the Salafi jihadis to appease outside foreign agendas against the Gaza citizens, we the Sheikh Omar Hadeed Brigade have chosen to keep our weapons pointed at the Israelis,” the group said in a statement.
Israel retaliated on Thursday by launching airstrikes on three terrorist training camps in Gaza belonging to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that Israel holds Hamas accountable for all rocket attacks emanating from Gaza, even “if those doing the shooting are rogue gangs from global jihadi groups trying to challenge Hamas by shooting at us.”
French telecom company Orange confirms plans to pull out of Israel
(JNS.org) The French telecommunications giant Orange on Thursday followed up on its CEO’s endorsement of ending the company’s dealings in Israel by confirming that Orange plans to cut ties with Partner Communications Ltd., its affiliate that provides cell phone service in the Jewish state.
At the same time, Orange denied that its decision is politically motivated.
“The Orange Group is a telecoms operator and as such its primary concern is to defend and promote the value of its brand in markets in which it is present. The Group does not engage in any kind of political debate under any circumstance,” the company said in a statement.
Orange added, “This agreement [in Israel], which was signed prior to the acquisition of Orange by France Telecom in 2000, is the only long-term brand license agreement within the Orange Group. In line with its brand development strategy, Orange does not wish to maintain the presence of the brand in countries in which it is not, or is no longer, an operator. In this context, and while strictly adhering to existing agreements, the Group ultimately wishes to end this brand license agreement.”
Orange CEO Stephane Richard had said at a news conference in Egypt on Wednesday that he would have the company pull out of Israel as soon as “tomorrow,” but wasn’t yet prepared to make that move. French advocacy groups had been pressuring Orange to end ties with its Israeli affiliate.
“I am ready to abandon this (business in Israel) tomorrow morning, but the point is that I want to secure the legal risk for the company,” Richard said Wednesday. “I want to terminate this, once again, but I don’t want to expose Orange to a level of risk and of penalties that could be really sizable for the company.”
In Egypt, a campaign to boycott Orange claims that the company sponsors Israel Defense Forces units.
“I know that it is a sensitive issue here in Egypt, but not only in Egypt,” said Richard, who added, “We want to be one of the trustful partners of all Arab countries.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the French government, which has a 25-percent stake in Orange, “to publicly renounce the unfortunate remarks and actions” of the company.
“At the same time, I call on our closest friends to say out loud that they oppose every kind of boycott against the Jewish state,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli Economy and Trade Minister Aryeh Deri said, “Boycotts will not succeed in imposing anything on Israel—the only way is communication and negotiations.” Former finance minister Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s Yesh Atid party, called Richard’s comments “hypocrisy of the highest order.”
“I don’t remember [Richard] having a problem making money here and profiting from Israeli citizens,” Lapid said. “The State of Israel is an island of sanity in this difficult neighborhood, and we certainly won’t accept lessons in morality from someone so self-righteous and detached.”
Islamic State threatening tomb of Jewish Prophet Nahum in Iraq
(JNS.org) The Islamic State terror group’s offensive in Iraq is now threatening to take the northern Iraqi village of Al Qosh, which is home to an ancient Jewish synagogue that contains the tomb of the Prophet Nahum the Elkoshite.
The 2,600-year-old site lies just 10 miles from the regional frontline of Islamic State, which has been battling the Western-backed Kurdish Peshmerga forces for control of the area.
Nahum is a minor prophet in the Hebrew Bible who prophesied the end of the Assyrian Empire and its capital city of Nineveh in the 7th century BCE. Little is known about the prophet’s personal life, but “the Elkoshite” may have referenced the town he was from, which some associate with modern-day Al Qosh, where his tomb lies.
The tomb’s site used to be home to a small Jewish community and drew thousands of Jewish pilgrims each year. But after the expulsion of the Jewish community of Al Qosh in the early 1950s, the tomb has been watched over by an Assyrian Christian family while some attempts have been made to restore the crumbling site.
“When the last Jewish people in Al Qosh left, they asked my grandfather to watch over the tomb, to keep it safe. I don’t know much more than that,” Asir Salaam Shajaa, an Assyrian Christian born in Al Qosh, told Haaretz. “Nahum is not our prophet, but he is a prophet, so we must respect that. He’s a prophet, it is simple.”
Islamic State has destroyed numerous irreplaceable ancient artifacts belonging to the Assyrian people in northern Iraq, calling the artifacts false idols. The terror group released a video earlier this year showing its fighters smashing artifices at the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrod before blowing up the site. The terror group has also sold off numerous artifacts on the black market to fund its operations.
Last month, Islamic State conquered the ancient Syrian town of Palmyra, home to some of the most magnificent Roman ruins in the Middle East. Many fear that the terror group will also loot and destroy Palmyra.
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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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