Jewish News Briefs: July 17, 2015

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Hamas claims captive Israeli is a soldier, not mentally unstable
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Avera Mengistu, the 28-year-old Israeli of Ethiopian descent who has been missing since he crossed the border into Gaza last September, is an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier who was taken captive during Operation Protective Edge and not a mentally unstable civilian as Israel claims, Hamas official Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook told Al Jazeera on Thursday.

“The claims that he is crazy are lies by Israel,” Marzook said.

“In his interrogation he gave us details about negotiations for a truce that were happening in Cairo at the time. What crazy person wearing a uniform manages—in wartime—to travel more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Beersheba to northern Gaza without being seen?” added Marzook.

After a gag order was recently lifted, the public learned that Mengistu and another Israeli citizen had been in Hamas captivity in Gaza for nearly a year. An Israeli defense official said Mengistu was believed to be mentally ill, but his family denied that report, which said that Mengistu had suffered from severe depression since his brother’s suicide three years earlier.

The identity of the second captive, a Bedouin from southern Israel, has still not been released.

A high-ranking IDF official said last week that Hamas representatives claimed the terrorist organization had released Mengistu when they realized he was not an Israeli soldier, which would contradict what Marzook told Al Jazeera.
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Israeli Christian group publishes anti-BDS guide
(JNS.org) The Christian Empowerment Council, an Israeli Christian group headed by Father Gabriel Naddaf, has released a new guide to help Christians better understand the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The 12-page guide—titled “Test The Spirits: A Christian Guide to the Anti-Israel Boycott Movement”—seeks to challenge Christian anti-Zionism “on an ideological level” following the “recent discussions concerning BDS in global churches,” including in the Mennonite Church, the Episcopalian Church, and the United Church of Christ.

The Christian Empowerment Council is focused on working to integrate Israel’s Christian community into the wider Israeli society and to support young Christians looking to serve in the Israel Defense Forces.

The guide tackles a wide array of questions, such as “How does a boycott of Israel impact the church?” and “Does the Bible encourage boycotting nations?” In answering the questions, the book draws from both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.

“As the spiritual leader of the Christian Empowerment Council here in Israel, it is my responsibility to encourage Christians across the world to think about Israel in Biblical and moral ways,” Father Naddaf writes in the introduction. “As you consider personally your own spiritual towards Israel, it would be prudent to consider these points. I pray God will guide you in great wisdom.”
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Hamas delegation makes rare visit to Saudi Arabia after Iran nuclear deal
(JNS.org) A delegation of leaders from the Hamas terrorist group, including exiled political chief Khaled Mashaal, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday for a series of meetings with high-level officials in that country just days after the announcement of the Iran nuclear deal.

In his meetings with the Saudis, Mashaal is expected to discuss improving bilateral ties, the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, and relations between Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The trip is the first visit to Saudi Arabia by Mashaal, who currently resides in Qatar, in more than three years. The other Hamas officials on the trip include Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook and Saleh al-Arouri, who resides in Turkey and is considered by Israel considers to be responsible for building Hamas’s presence in the West Bank. The visit also comes amid reports, mainly in the Arab media, of secret talks between Israel and Hamas to reach a long-term truce amid the ever-shifting landscape of the Middle East.

There have been a number of media reports during the past year of a restoration of ties between Hamas and Iran, which would patch up their fallout over the Syrian civil war. But reports have also indicated a dispute within Hamas’s leadership between its military and political wings over ties with Iran, with Hamas military leaders favoring closer relations with Iran and the political wing favoring warmer ties with Sunni Muslim powers like Turkey or the Arab Gulf states.
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ICC judges order prosecutor to reconsider Gaza flotilla case
(JNS.org) In a surprise move, a panel of International Criminal Court (ICC) judges have ordered the court’s prosecutor to reconsider the decision not to investigate Israel for war crimes over the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident that left nine Turkish activists dead after they had attacked Israeli commandos on a vessel that tried to break the naval blockade of Gaza.

In a 2-1 ruling, the judges granted a request by the Comoros Islands to reconsider the case after the discovery of “material errors in the prosecutor’s assessment” of the matter.

In November 2014, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda concluded that the Mavi Marmara incident did not have “sufficient gravity” to be investigated by the ICC despite a “reasonable basis to believe that war crimes” were committed by Israel. As such, many considered the case to be closed until Thursday’s judicial order.
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Radio caller accuses Sen. Ben Cardin of dual loyalty over Jewish faith
(JNS.org) A caller on a C-SPAN radio talk show accused U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of dual loyalty to America and Israel given the senator’s Jewish faith.

“Mr. Cardin looks like a regular white guy, nice guy, whatever, but in actuality he’s a Jewish white guy,” a caller identified as “Eric from Georgia” said Wednesday during a segment about the Iran nuclear deal on the “Washington Journal” program. “If the public was informed of that by C-SPAN, I think they would take his comments differently.”

“Because this guy is Jewish, that means that he is concerned about Israel,” added the caller.

Cardin responded, “I’m normally pretty tolerant to people who ask questions, but I’m not to your assumption. I take great offense to that.”

“Our loyalty is to America. Our concerns are to America. Our religion is our personal business and should have nothing to do with an evaluation from anyone as to our objectivity on issues concerning America,” said Cardin, The Hill reported.

Another Jewish politician, Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), was subjected to a similar controversy in June when an NPR radio show host falsely claimed on the air that he holds Israeli citizenship.

“No, I do not have dual citizenship with Israel,” Sanders said at the time. “I’m an American. I don’t know where that question came from. I am an American citizen, and I have visited Israel on a couple of occasions. No, I’m an American citizen, period.”
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Obama offers to increase military aid to Israel amid opposition to nuclear deal
(JNS.org) U.S. President Barack Obama has reportedly offered to increase U.S. military aid to Israel amid the Jewish state’s opposition to the recently reached Iran nuclear deal.

Obama called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday and told him that he is prepared to hold “intensive discussions” on bolstering Israeli defense, the New York Times reported. But Netanyahu did not want to discuss that issue until seeing whether or not the U.S. Congress rejects the Iran deal, which the prime minister called a “bad mistake of historic proportions.”

Currently, Israel and the U.S. have a memorandum of understanding until 2018, through which the U.S. is providing Israel with military $3 billion in annual aid. Israel has asked for an increase to as much as $4.5 billion per year over 10 years, according to an official familiar with the negotiations.

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