Netanyahu to Putin: goal is ‘no misunderstanding between our forces’ at border
(JNS.org) Amid Israeli concern about Russia’s recent military buildup in neighboring Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday.
Netanyahu told Putin in public remarks that he was visiting Russia “to clarify our policies, and to make sure that there is no misunderstanding between our forces” at the Israeli-Syrian border.
“As you know, in recent years, and particularly in recent months, Iran and Syria have been arming the extremist Islamic terrorist organization Hezbollah with advanced weapons, aimed at us, and over the years thousands of rockets and missiles have been fired against our cities,” Netanyahu said. “At the same time, Iran, under the auspices of the Syrian army, is attempting to build a second terrorist front against us from the Golan Heights. Our policy is to prevent these weapons transfers, and to prevent the creation of a terrorist front and attacks on us from the Golan Heights.”
Putin said Russia’s actions in the Middle East “will always be very responsible,” and that Russia condemns any shelling of northern Israel that represents spillover from the nearby Syrian civil war.
“Our main goal is to defend the Syrian state,” he said. “However, I understand your concern and I am very pleased that you have come here to discuss all issues in detail.”
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Israeli baby survives rock-throwing attack south of Jerusalem
(JNS.org) An Israeli couple and their 4-month-old daughter were fortunate to emerge uninjured from a stone-throwing attack as they were driving outside Jerusalem on Sunday.
Avi and Sara Gamss, of Tekoa, were driving in two cars near the Palestinian village of Beit Sahur when the attack began. Sara Gamss was in the first car, with their daughter strapped into a car seat in the front passenger seat. Avi Gamss was following.
“We were on our way to add reinforcements to the car [to guard against rock-throwing attacks],” Avi Gamss said, Israel Hayom reported. “That’s why we drove in two cars—so one could be modified and we could drive home in the second one. As we got close to Beit Sahur, about 15 masked attackers suddenly appeared right at the side of the road. It happened really quickly; they must have been hiding. It was too late to turn around.”
Gamss continued, “The terrorists got closer to my wife’s car and started to throw big rocks from about 2 meters away, cracking the windshield….It all happened in front of me. All the car’s mirrors were damaged and one rock went through the front window, flew over our baby’s head, and landed in the back seat. It is a miracle that she survived.”
The attack came as the Israeli defense establishment is working to fight rock-throwing attacks. In all, Israel police have recently arrested at least 27 rock-throwing suspects.
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Gaza rocket strikes Ashkelon area as tension runs high in southern Israel
(JNS.org) A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded in an open area in the Ashkelon region of southern Israel late Sunday night.
Rocket warning alerts did not sound, as Israel Defense Forces radars quickly determined that the rocket was on a trajectory toward an uninhabited area. No injuries or damage were reported. The incident came two days after a rocket exploded near a home in Sderot, causing property damage, and another was intercepted over Ashkelon by the Iron Dome anti-rocket system.
The rocket that struck Sderot was the first to hit a residential neighborhood in Israel since Operation Protective Edge ended in August 2014.
In response to Friday’s rocket fire, the Israeli Air Force struck three terrorist infrastructure sites in Gaza. In a statement, the Israeli military said it would not tolerate any rocket fire from Gaza and that it held the Hamas terrorist group responsible for all violence emanating from the coastal enclave.
A Salafi terrorist group, the Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade, took responsibility for Friday’s rocket fire. On Sunday, the Israeli military deployed Iron Dome batteries near Sderot and Netivot. Last week, an Iron Dome battery was deployed in the Ashdod area.
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1,000-year-old Yom Kippur prayer book fragment to be put online
(JNS.org) A unique fragment of a Yom Kippur prayer book from the Cairo Geniza, one of the most important resources for understanding Jewish culture, religion, economics, and literature from the Middle Ages to the present, is slated to be uploaded to the website of the National Library of Israel.
The 1,000-year-old document was discovered in a synagogue in Postat, the Old City of Cairo, alongside holy works, correspondence, and legal and business documents.
Dr. Yoel Finkelman, curator of the Judaica collection at the National Library of Israel, said that “this document is the oldest Yom Kippur prayer book in the National Library’s collection.”
“It is an important testimony to the liturgical poetry and prayers recited in Cairo at that time….This isn’t a complete prayer book, just part of one page out of a longer book, which was written at the end of the 11th century or the beginning of the 12th century by a scribe named Hillel Ben Ali, who was a cantor in Baghdad, moved to Cairo, and worked as the official scribe for the court in Cairo,” said Finkelman.
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Israel refutes claim that it is preventing Palestinians from aiding Syrian refugees
(JNS.org) Palestinian envoy to the United Nations Riyad Mansour on Saturday accused Israel of preventing the Palestinian Authority (PA) from aiding Syrian refugees.
Mansour claimed Israel has denied some 100,000 Palestinian Syrian refugees passage to PA-controlled territory through Israel. In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Mansour urged the U.N. Security Council to order Israel to allow the refugees’ passage so that the PA could absorb them in its territories.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in response, “The Palestinian Authority’s cynicism knows no bounds. They are even willing to use the Syrian refugee crisis to create provocation. Israeli hospitals have so far treated over 1,700 wounded Syrians, while the Palestinian Authority has done nothing for them.”
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Iceland capital will limit Israel boycott to ‘occupied areas,’ mayor says
(JNS.org) Reykjavik Mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson told the RUV broadcaster that Iceland’s capital would limit its boycott of Israel to “occupied areas,” the Iceland Monitor reported. The initial bill passed by Reykjavik’s city council vowed a boycott of products made anywhere in Israel.
“Occupied areas” is the anti-Israel narrative’s descriptor for current Israeli territory that the Jewish state captured in the 1967 Six-Day War, including Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Icelandic media and other media misleadingly reported the mayor’s comments as a “retraction” of the Israel boycott. The Iceland Monitor’s headline stated, “Reykjavik to retract Israel boycott decision.” But according to the same reports, Eggertsson only recommended that the city council’s bill be retracted in its “current form.” By now boycotting Israeli territory beyond the 1967 lines, Reykjavik’s move still mirrors other governmental or corporate boycotts of Israel.
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Body of Israeli man who went missing in Ukraine discovered in lake
(JNS.org) After four days of intensive searches, the body of Israeli man Amir Ohana was discovered Saturday in a lake in Uman, Ukraine, near the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
Ohana, who was set to celebrate his 28th birthday upon his return to Israel, is survived by his wife Meital and three daughters, the oldest of whom is five.
“The three little girls are all our daughters now, and we’re here for them,” said Ohana’s brother-in-law, Adam Cohen, Israel Hayom reported.
After Ohana was first reported missing last week, Israeli search-and-rescue forces set off for Uman to help locate him.
“After searches that continued throughout Shabbat, a body was found wearing holiday clothes, without shoes. It looks like Ohana was sitting on the jetty and slipped into the water,” said Matti Goldstein, head of the ZAKA International Rescue Unit.
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Four Israeli police officers wounded as Palestinian violence continues in Jerusalem
(JNS.org) Four Israeli police officers were wounded Friday in clashes with Palestinian rioters as tension continues to flare over Jerusalem’s Temple Mount holy site.
Friday’s incident took place in the neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv, where Palestinian rioters threw Molotov cocktails and gunshots at police, the Jerusalem Post reported. Among those wounded was a 25-year-old Border Police officer who sustained moderate-to-serious injuries. That officer was rushed to Shaare Zedek Medical Center for treatment. The other officers were treated for light burns, and one sustained a wound to his hand.
Israeli police said Palestinian rioters had blocked roadways with burning tires and garbage cans. When they tried to restore traffic, police were attacked with the firebombs.
The clashes came as Palestinian leaders called for a “day of rage” following Friday prayers.
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Israel blasts U.N.’s Temple Mount statement for ignoring Palestinian violence
(JNS.org) Israel blasted a United Nations Security Council statement about the ongoing tension at the Temple Mount, saying the statement “completely ignores” both Palestinian violence and Jewish history at the holy site.
The Security Council said, “Muslim worshippers at the Haram Al-Sharif (Temple Mount) must be allowed to worship in peace, free from violence, threats and provocations.” It also said that “visitors should be without fear of violence or intimidation,” referring to attacks on Jewish and other non-Muslim visitors at the holy site, while calling “for the exercise of restraint, refraining from provocative actions and rhetoric, and upholding unchanged the historic status quo.”
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Ron Prosor said, “This statement, which only uses the Arabic name for the Temple Mount, affirms the right of Muslims to be present and to pray at the compound, but completely ignores the Palestinian violence, the deep connection of the Jewish people to the Temple Mount, and the right of all to visit the site.”
“Instead of calming tensions, the Council sides with those who are trying to set the region on fire,” added Prosor.
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Egypt says it has started to flood Gaza smuggling tunnels
(JNS.org) The Egyptian military said it has started flooding tunnels used by the Hamas terrorist group and other Palestinians to smuggle weapons and goods into Gaza, the BBC reported.
Last month, the Egyptian military said it had so far dug six-tenths of a mile along its 66-foot-deep trench along the Gaza border. The trench will be filled with water from the Mediterranean Sea, using pumps and pipelines, and engineers are already preparing the pumps.
Over the past year, the Egyptian military has demolished more than 1,110 homes on Egypt’s side of the Gaza border to create a buffer zone, while also destroying hundreds of smuggling tunnels.
Israeli and Egyptian officials have previously touted the idea of creating a moat along the Gaza border. In 2004, Israel floated the moat concept, but eventually dropped the plans.
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