Israeli politicians warmly welcome Jonathan Pollard’s impending release
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli politicians warmly welcomed the news that Jonathan Pollard, the Israeli spy imprisoned in the U.S. for nearly 30 years, is due to be freed on parole in November.
“Throughout his time in prison, I consistently raised the issue of his release in my meetings and conversations with the leadership of successive U.S. administrations. We are looking forward to his release,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“A great joy,” Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) wrote on her Facebook page. “This evening we were informed that very soon we will have the privilege of rejoicing over Jonathan Pollard’s release from American prison. Thirty years of suffering will come to an end in November. Not because of mercy, but because of the law. Not because of the U.S.’s destructive deal with Iran, but because the sentence has been served.”
The current head of the Jonathan Pollard lobby in the Knesset, MK Nachman Shai (Zionist Union), said, “For 30 years, I’ve followed this sad, ugly scandal. Finally it’s coming to an end. For the past two years, we have led a massive campaign for his release. I hope to see him get off the plane at Ben-Gurion International Airport safe and sound. I’ll be waiting for him there.”
MK Michael Oren (Kulanu), the former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., said, “The announcement by the American parole board marks a significant milestone in the historic alliance between Israel and the U.S. After 30 years, Pollard’s release will end a painful and complicated scandal that tore a rent between the two nations and cast a shadow over the American Jewish community, which was concerned about claims that it had double loyalties.”
Yesh Atid party leader MK Yair Lapid said, “This is a decision that does justice too late. It would be better if Pollard, after years of suffering in an American prison, had been freed earlier. Today we welcome the decision. The entire Jewish people are waiting to see him at home.”
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Israeli High Court rejects appeal, orders demolition of disputed Beit El homes
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel’s High Court of Justice on Wednesday morning rejected an appeal against the demolition of two disputed residential structures in the Dreinoff neighborhood in Samaria’s Beit El community. The ruling means that the structures must be demolished by Thursday.
Following the High Court’s ruling, violent clashes erupted in Beit El between activists and security forces as the demolition process got underway. Stones were thrown at security personnel.
The “Dreinoff houses” were built on private Palestinian land appropriated under a security injunction. Eight months ago, the High Court ruled that the construction had been conducted without proper permits and was illegal, issuing a demolition order for July 30.
The Beit El saga has caused unrest within the Israeli governing coalition. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was angered by the criticism unleashed by the Jewish Home party against the government on the matter.
“We are working to strengthen the settlement enterprise, and we will do so in compliance with the law,” Netanyahu said Tuesday.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Tuesday, “My position is clear. I’m against the demolition and am seeking to prevent it, and I’m acting to strengthen the settlement enterprise in Beit El in particular and Judea and Samaria in general. … In any case, [on the Beit El issue] we will operate solely in accordance with the law and the decision of the High Court of Justice.”
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, Jewish Home’s leader, on Tuesday demanded a “clarification” from Netanyahu on the Beit El issue.
“The time has come for the nationalist government to abide by the ideology for which it was elected, rather than the path of the left,” he said.
Following Wednesday’s ruling, Bennett added, “The decision is disappointing, but it is binding. There must be no violence, under any circumstances.”
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Reports: Israel Air Force strikes vehicle in southern Syria
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Israeli Air Force struck a vehicle in the Quneitra region of southern Syria on Wednesday, Arab media outlets reported.
Reports placed the number of fatalities in the strike between two and five. Some reports identified the fatalities as members of a militia supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Israeli military did not comment on the reports.
Without confirmation by Israel, Arab media have regularly attributed airstrikes in Syria to the Jewish state during the four-year-old Syrian civil war.
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Study: 75% of North American Jewish college students report anti-Semitism
(JNS.org) Nearly three-quarters of Jewish college students in North America have experienced some form of anti-Semitism during the past year, a new study has found.
In the study—conducted by Brandeis University’s Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and titled “Antisemitism and the College Campus: Perceptions and Realities”—nearly 75 percent of respondents reported being exposed to “at least one of six anti-Semitic statements, including … that Jews have too much power.”
The study, which was based on the responses of 3,199 students to an online questionnaire of those eligible for the free Taglit-Birthright Israel trips to the Jewish state, also found that more than 25 percent of students find a “fairly” or “very big” problem of hostility towards Israel on campus, while another 25 percent reported being blamed for the actions of Israel because they are Jewish.
A student’s connection to Israel, according to the the study, is “the strongest predictor of perceiving a hostile environment toward Israel and Jews on campus and, to a lesser extent, of personal experiences of anti-Semitic verbal harassment.”
While there were no systematic differences among universities in average rates of anti-Semitism, the study found that “Canadian universities, schools in the California state system, and, to a lesser extent, large land-grant universities in the Midwest” were “over-represented among those schools with the highest average levels of hostility toward Israel.”
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European Maccabi Games show ‘Jewish life in Germany is reviving,’ host says
(JNS.org) About 2,000 Jewish athletes have gathered at the 14th European Maccabi Games, whose opening ceremony was held Monday.
The July 27-Aug. 5 games are taking place at Berlin’s Olympiastadion, the same stadium built and used for the Summer Olympics of 1936 during the Nazi era. At that time, Jews were discouraged from participating.
The organizers of the games being called “Europe’s biggest Jewish sports event” say this year’s games “send a message for tolerance and openness against anti-Semitism and racism.”
“Today Jewish life in Germany is reviving. We have over 120,000 members in 108 Jewish communities. Berlin is the biggest Jewish community and you will have all the options to explore it this week. You will see throughout the next ten days that Jews in Germany are not only safe but also proud of our long-standing Jewish traditions,” said the host nation’s Alon Meyer, president of Maccabi Germany, at the welcome event for the games.
“It is a great opportunity to show the world that it is possible to live a Jewish life in Germany because for many people it is unimaginable to live in Germany as a Jew. I am often asked how I can live as a Jew in Germany after the Holocaust. It is possible and we want to show that Jews can live here and with this event we want to show that it is definitely possible,” said Ruben Gerchikov, a member of the German soccer team, Reutersreported.
“I think it’s a great feeling to have a bunch of Jews together from all around the world, the biggest amount of Jews in Germany since the Holocaust. I think it is a great thing. It’s such an awesome feeling to be here,” said Arielle Schneider of the U.S. women’s soccer team.
Participants in the games come from 36 countries and will compete in 19 sports disciplines.
Hezbollah’s Nasrallah calls Israel a ‘cancerous tumor’ to be destroyed
(JNS.org) In an address on Tuesday, Hezbollah terrorist chief Hassan Nasrallah said that Israel is a “cancerous tumor” that needs to be “wiped out.”
According to Hezbollah’s satellite station, Al-Manar, Nasrallah believes that Israel is taking advantage of the opposition to the Iran nuclear deal to strengthen ties with Arab countries.
“The Zionist entity is taking advantage of the events taking place in our region in a bid to normalize ties with several Arab states,” Nasrallah said.
“We guarantee that Iran will pave the way for any Muslim or Arab country to lead the resistance project if they bear the responsibility of defending Palestine,” he added.
Many analysts fear that Iran will use the roughly $150 billion in sanctions relief it secured in the nuclear deal to increase its support for terrorist proxies such as Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, reports indicate that Nasrallah has beefed up his own personal security, with the help of Iran, amid threats by the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terror groups. According to the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Nasrallah has a team of 150 combat-ready “Royal Guards” that protect him. According to the reports, only six men are allowed into his personal bunker under Beirut, and he navigates through a series of tunnels in southern Beirut in order to access the city’s international airport.
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