Jewish news briefs: July 6, 2015

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Nearly half of U.S. Democrats believe Israel is a racist country, survey finds

(JNS.org) Nearly half of U.S. Democrats—47 percent—believe Israel is a “racist” country, while only 13 percent of Republicans agree with the same statement, according to a new survey conducted by pollster Frank Luntz.

The survey, whose results were first reported by the Times of Israel, revealed that only 32 percent of Democrats actively disagreed when asked if Israel is a racist country, as opposed to 76 percent of Republicans. Seventy-six percent of Democrats, compared to 20 percent of Republicans, agreed that Israel has “too much influence” over U.S. foreign policy.

Luntz’s poll was conducted among 802 respondents. Asked if Israel wants peace with its neighbors, 48 percent Democrats agreed, compared to 88 percent of Republicans. Forty-five percent of Democrats would support a local politician who “criticized Israeli occupation and mistreatment of Palestinians.” Fifty-one percent of Democrats and 90 percent of Republicans said the U.S. should support Israel over the Palestinians, while 75 percent of Democrats and 25 percent of Republicans believe Israeli settlements are an “impediment to peace.”

The results are a “disaster for Israel” and show that the Jewish state “can no longer claim to have the bipartisan support of America,” Luntz told the Times of Israel. But Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum think tank, believes the findings simply add to a narrative about the Democratic-Republican divide on Israel that has already been clear for more than a decade.

“We’ve known all this for a long time; he has simply provided a few more specifics,” Pipes told JNS.org.

While he does not consider them novel, Pipes still called Luntz’s findings a “major problem for Israel,” saying that the “key method to fight this trend is deeply to understand the liberal-left anti-Zionist mentality and address its concerns, something very difficult for those who do not share it.”

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6 Israeli Arabs, including 4 teachers, arrested for Islamic State sympathies

(JNS.org) Israel’s Shin Bet security agency has arrested six Israeli Arab Bedouin men for allegedly supporting the Islamic State terrorist organization.

According to the Shin Bet, the six men—four of whom were school teachers—all hailed from the southern Negev town of Hura and were arrested over the last two months for taking part in secret meetings to discuss Islamic State doctrine and to spread propaganda among family and friends. They planned to ultimately join Islamic State in Syria, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Islamic State was declared an illegal terrorist organization in 2014 by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon. The suspects were indicted on a number of charges, including “distribution of an illegal organization’s materials, support for a terrorist organization, conspiracy to commit a crime and illegally exiting the country.”

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett called for the arrested teachers to have their education licenses revoked.

“Terrorists will not be teachers,” said Bennett, who added, “We will take a tough stance towards teachers who used their role in a despicable way and instead of protecting their students, harmed them. We have zero tolerance towards those who harm our country.”

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Israel cuts compulsory military service by four months

(JNS.org) Starting this month, men drafted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will serve 32 months in the military, down from the current 36 months.

The decision to cut the length of compulsory military service for new recruits is part of an ongoing effort to streamline the IDF and cut costs. According to IDF projections, the shorter term of service could see the military’s total number of soldiers drop by 6,000 in 2019 (including some 2,500 fewer in combat units). At present, the IDF does not expect to disband any units, nor is it planning to use its reserve forces to compensate for lost manpower.

To adjust for the expected decline in the number of combat troops, the IDF plans to shorten their training periods. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot could choose to cut the training schedule by two months across the board for all combat units, resulting in an average training period of six months. This would force the IDF to have four, rather than the current three, enlistment intakes per year. Alternatively, the IDF could gradually cut back training periods on a unit-by-unit basis. Under the second approach, guard duty and other non-essential activity would be gradually reduced, making sure troops get the necessary expertise despite reduced training time.

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UNESCO declares Israels Beit Shearim National Park a World Heritage Site

(JNS.org) The Beit She’arim National Park in northern Israel has been officially named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The approval marks a successful end to a campaign that began in 2002, when Israel first proposed the ancient necropolis for World Heritage status.

The vote took place at the 39th UNESCO World Heritage Conference in Germany, with 17 of the organization’s 21 member nations voting in favor.

“The Beit She’arim necropolis is sending a greeting from 1,800 years ago,” said Dr. Tsvika Tsuk, chief archaeologist for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

Carmel Shama-Cohen, Israel’s envoy to UNESCO, said that “the amazing achievement of unprecedented support while heaping compliments on the State of Israel proves that Israel, which initiates positive steps with determination and wisdom, can harvest fruit even in rocky fields like U.N. organizations.”

Located 12 miles east of Haifa in the Lower Galilee, Beit She’arim dates back to the first century BCE and was destroyed by fire in 352 CE. Known as “the Mount of Olives for the ancient Jewish world,” the necropolis contains a network of more than 30 burial caves, one of which holds the grave of Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi.

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Authorities suspect Jerusalem forest fire was Palestinian arson

(JNS.org) A forest fire erupted Saturday near Kibbutz Maaleh Hahamisha in the Jerusalem region, the third fire in that area over the course of one week. The Israel Police suspects that arsonists from a nearby Palestinian village might be responsible for the series of blazes.

The fire spread quickly due the high temperatures on Saturday, and authorities feared it would reach the kibbutz. Seventeen firefighting crews took part in the operation to put out the fire.

Investigators’ initial probe reinforced suspicions of an arson. Police suspect that the blaze resulted from firebombs or fireworks thrown from the nearby Palestinian village of Qatanna.

“In the past week, around 300 acres of natural forest have gone up in smoke [in the Jerusalem and Mateh Yehuda regions],” said Reuven Yitzhak, commander of the Beit Shemesh fire station. “In many cases, the fires were intentionally set with firebombs or various other various means.”

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Palestinian Authority initiates widespread crackdown on Hamas

(JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority (PA) initiated a widespread crackdown on Hamas terrorists in overnight raids in the West Bank on Friday, marking one of the largest such raids in years.

“We are arresting them for interrogation or to put them on trial based on evidence [that] they are threatening Palestinian internal security and stability and are trying to drag the region and drag us into military confrontation and destroy the area,” said Adnan Al-Dmairi, the PA’s security spokesman, Reuters reported.

According to Hamas, 108 of its members were taken into custody by PA security forces in Hebron, Nablus, and Bethlehem.

While the PA-affiliated Fatah political party signed a reconciliation agreement with Hamas last year, distrust remains high between the rival Palestinian factions. Recent reports have said the reconciliation deal has collapsed.

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U.N. Human Rights Council adopts Gaza war report that condemns Israel

(JNS.org) The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) overwhelmingly voted to adopt a resolution backing its recent report on last year’s war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group.

Forty-one council members supported the resolution, including European allies of Israel such as France, Germany, U.K., Ireland, and the Netherlands. Kenya, Ethiopia, Macedonia, India, and Paraguay abstained from the vote, and the U.S. made the lone vote against the report.

Israel’s representative to the UNHRC, Eviatar Manor, said the resolution “distorts the intention of the authors of the report by completely ignoring alleged violations of [international law] committed by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups,” the Times of Israel reported.

The report criticized Hamas for “indiscriminate” targeting of Israeli civilians with rockets, but placed heavy blame on Israel for the deaths of 1,462 civilians among the 2,251 Palestinians who died in the conflict. The report said the actions of both Israel and Hamas “may amount to war crimes.”

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Latest rocket explodes in southern Israel

(JNS.org) A rocket whose origin was initially unknown exploded in southern Israel on Friday, prompting security officials to investigate whether the projectile came from Gaza or the Sinai Peninsula.

There were no reports of casualties or damage from the rocket. Israel has endured sporadic rocket fire from Gaza over the last month. While Israel holds Hamas accountable for the rockets because the Palestinian terror group governs the coastal territory, the recent fire has come largely from Islamic State-inspired Salafi terror groups in Gaza, who have been fighting Hamas.

Meanwhile, Israel is increasingly concerned that violence in the Sinai between Islamic State-affiliated groups and the Egyptian government will spill into the Jewish state. Israel has taken a number of precautionary steps, including the closures of border crossings into the Sinai and Highway 12, which runs along Israel’s border with Egypt.

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Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.