Egypt appoints first ambassador to Israel in three years
(JNS.org) Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has appointed Egypt’s first ambassador to Israel in three years, marking a possible sign of continued warming relations between the two Mideast powers.
The new ambassador, Hazem Khairat, previously served as Egypt’s envoy to the Arab League and Chile. Egypt recalled its last envoy in Tel Aviv, Atef Salem, in 2012 under then president Mohammed Morsi—a leader of Hamas’s parent group, the Muslim Brotherhood—in protest of Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza that year. Since then, Salem has served in Cairo and has not returned to Tel Aviv.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Egypt’s decision to send a new ambassador to the Jewish state.
“It strengthens the ties between our countries. It strengthens peace,” Netanyahu said.
Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, Haim Koren, recently made history by becoming the first Israeli envoy to ever deliver a Ramadan greeting to the Egyptian people. In a video message in Arabic posted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Koren said, “On my behalf and on behalf of the people of Israel ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, we wish the Egyptian people Ramadan Kareem.”
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U.N. Gaza war report finds possible ‘war crimes’ by both Hamas and Israel
(JNS.org) A United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) report on last summer’s Gaza war found that both Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas committed “serious violations of international humanitarian law” that “may amount to war crimes.”
While the report, headed by former New York Supreme Court judge Mary McGowan Davis, placed blame on both sides, it focused heavily on Israel’s conduct during the military campaign, saying that “impunity prevails across the board” for Israel. It blamed the Jewish state for killing 1,462 of the total 2,251 Palestinians who died in the conflict—65 percent. A separate Israeli inquiry found that only 56 percent of the Palestinians killed were civilians.
The U.N. report questioned why residential buildings in Gaza were not “immune from attack” and were “considered to be legitimate military objectives” by Israel, and said the “onus is on Israel” to explain its methods.
But the report also heavily criticized Hamas for its “indiscriminate” targeting of Israeli civilians with rockets, which “may amount to a war crime.”
“The hostilities also caused immense distress and disruption to the lives of civilians in Israel,” the report said, adding that 14 Hamas tunnels running from Gaza into Israel “traumatized Israeli civilians” who “fear they could be attacked at any moment by gunmen bursting out of the ground.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the report “biased,” adding that the U.N. “condemns Israel more than Iran, Syria, and North Korea combined.”
“Israel does not commit war crimes. Israel is defending itself from a murderous terrorist organization that calls for its destruction and which has perpetrated many war crimes. Any country that wants to live would have acted this way,” Netanyahu said.
The watchdog group NGO Monitor said the report differed both “substantially and methodically” from previous U.N. reports on Gaza conflicts, such as the widely criticized 2009 Goldstone Report. But the latest report “still quotes extensively from biased and unreliable political advocacy NGOs,” NGO Monitor said, referring to groups such as Amnesty International, B’Tselem, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.
“The UNHRC report would be entirely different without the baseless and unverifiable allegations of non-governmental organizations,” said Anne Herzberg, legal advisor at NGO Monitor.
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Palestinian terror attacks prompt Israel to reimpose travel restrictions
(JNS.org) A day after an Israeli border policeman was critically wounded in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem, which was preceded by an Israeli hiker being shot to death by a Palestinian terrorist in Judea and Samaria, Israeli officials have decided to reimpose restrictions on Palestinians that had been eased in honor of the month-long Muslim holiday of Ramadan.
Hours after the stabbing on Sunday, which took place near the Damascus Gate outside the Old City, riots broke out in the area and security forces clashed with Palestinian rock-throwers.
The Israeli defense establishment had planned to ease restrictions on the movement of Palestinians across Judea and Samaria and between the Gaza Strip and Israel. But following Sunday’s stabbing attack, committed by an 18-year-old resident of the Palestinian village of Sa’ir, entry passes into Israel were revoked for all the residents of the village. Five-hundred exit passes permitting Palestinians to fly abroad from Ben Gurion International Airport will also be revoked.
Last week, before the terror attacks, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai had said the Israel Defense Forces would facilitate the travel of thousands of Palestinians from the disputed territories and Gaza who sought to enter Israel to visit relatives.
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NFL Hall of Famers receive warm welcome in Jerusalem
(JNS.org) Nineteen football Hall of Fame members arrived in Israel for a weeklong event dubbed “Touchdown in Israel: Mission of Excellence,” sponsored by Jewish billionaire Robert Kraft, owner of the current National Football League champion New England Patriots. Kraft led a festive ceremony launching the event on Sunday at Kraft Stadium, which he built in Jerusalem.
In 1994, Kraft purchased the Patriots, the football team he loved as a fan, despite its lackluster record. He has since won four Super Bowls.
“It reminds me of the story of Moses,” Kraft told Israel Hayom. “For 40 years, the team was in the desert, and the moment I bought it, it began winning titles.”
At the ceremony, Kraft sang the Israeli and the American national anthems, and had trouble concealing his excitement.
“I am very emotional,” he said.
Kraft expressed his joy at being in Jerusalem and his hope to one day see an Israeli player in the NFL.
“My first trip to Israel was in 1963, for my honeymoon, and I remember how angry I was when I looked out from the balcony at the King David Hotel and saw armed Jordanian soldiers keeping me from visiting the holy sites,” he said. “After the Six-Day War, we were all able to go and pray. I was in favor of building bridges between the peoples.”
Kraft said Israel is his “my favorite place to be” after the U.S.
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PLO official urges Palestinian Authority to revoke any recognition of Israel
(JNS.org) A senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official and the former head of the Palestinians’ team for negotiations with Israel, Saeb Erekat, is calling on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to re-examine its relations with Israel and to integrate the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups into PLO institutions.
The Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported highlights from a 10-page document in which Erekat called to revoke any Palestinian recognition of the State of Israel and immediately cancel all economic and security cooperation between Ramallah and Jerusalem.
Erekat stressed that he was not calling to dismantle the PA, but that if the peace process remained at an impasse, the Palestinians should consider transferring the responsibility for the Palestinian population and internal matters in the West Bank onto Israel. Moreover, Erekat wrote, the Palestinians should never sign any peace deal with Israel that recognizes the latter as a Jewish state.
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World Bank to use Israel’s water expertise in developing nations
(JNS.org) The World Bank and Israel have signed a deal through which the international organization will use the Jewish state’s expertise in water conservation and technology in developing countries.
“Israel has suffered from a chronic water shortage for years. The need for water led Israel to create innovative and advanced policies and solutions that have placed us as a water world leader. We wish to share our experience with the developing world,” Israeli Economy Minister Aryeh Deri said.
Study tours will be held in Israel over the next two years by officials from developing countries to learn about Israel’s water technology.
“Israel has had to manage water services while operating under extreme scarcity conditions, and has done so very impressively,” said the director for water at the World Bank, Jennifer Sara.
Israel has seen an end to water shortages due to new methods of conservation, water recycling, and desalination.
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Saudi Arabia and Russia sign nuclear energy deal
(JNS.org) Saudi Arabia and Russia on Friday signed a series of agreements to cooperate on nuclear energy development.
The deal came amid a visit to Russia by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Thursday.
According to Rosatom, the state-run Russia nuclear body, the deal is the “first in the history of Russia-Saudi relations” and includes the “construction of nuclear power reactors, provision of services in nuclear fuel cycling, including those for nuclear power stations and research reactor facilities,” Russia Today reported.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer, currently has no industrial nuclear power plants.
The move by the two nations comes as Saudi Arabia, along with several other Arab Gulf states and Israel, have expressed deep concern about the emerging Iran nuclear deal with the P5+1 powers.
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Israeli man killed in shooting terror attack in Judea and Samaria
(JNS.org) Danny Gonen, a 25-year-old Israeli man, was shot to death in a terror attack in Judea and Samaria on Friday. Another 25-year-old man was moderately injured in the attack.
The two Israelis were reportedly driving near the Jewish community of Dolev in Judea and Samaria when a Palestinian man signaled them to stop and asked for directions before shooting them at point-blank range.
Both victims were taken to Tel HaShomer Hospital, where one of the men succumbed to his wounds and died. Israeli security forces are still searching for the suspect.
On Saturday, hundreds flocked to the Lod cemetery to pay their final respects to Gonen. Devora Gonen, his mother, said in a eulogy, “You lived your life as a Jew, free in his land. You loved this land, you loved truth and that is how you lived.”
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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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