Fearing home demolition, Palestinian father turns in terrorist son
(JNS.org) A Palestinian terrorist was turned into Israeli security forces Sunday by his own father, who feared that harboring his son would result in the demolition of the family home.
Ahmad Matua, 28, of Hebron, is suspected of killing Rabbi Ya’akov Litman, 40, and his 18-year-old son Netanel in a shooting attack near Hebron on Friday.
Matua reportedly bragged to his brother that he had carried out the shooting. His brother then told their father, who decided to turn his son into Israeli authorities.
The father reported his son’s actions to soldiers stationed at one of the checkpoints near Hebron. They relayed the information to the Shin Bet, and Matua, an Islamic Jihad sympathizer, was arrested in a joint operation involving the IDF’s Judea Division, the Duvdevan special forces, and the Shin Bet.
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Christian-Jewish group sends swift aid to French Jewry, pledges aliyah support
(JNS.org) Following Friday’s Islamist terror attacks that killed at least 129 people, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews said Sunday that it is providing immediate emergency aid of more than $86,000 to 25 synagogues and schools run by the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement across France.
The aid—which will be used to add security guards and more sophisticated security systems at the French Jewish institutions—marks the latest phase of more than $1 million in security support that the Fellowship has been providing to Chabad institutions worldwide, including in Argentina, Brazil, China, Cypress, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Nepal, Spain, Thailand, and India.
“Amid the horrific terror attacks in Paris, it is critical that we help better protect French-Jewish communal institutions, which have been targets in the past,” said Fellowship President Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.
Additionally, the Fellowship said it is extending support to any French Jew who wishes to immigrate to Israel. Two Jewish families were set to leave France for Israel on Monday with the Fellowship’s assistance, ahead of a special Fellowship-organized flight taking French Jews to Israel at the end of this month.
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Palestinian media use Paris attacks as platform for anti-Israel messages
(JNS.org) Through traditional and social media, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (PA) used Friday’s deadly terror attacks in Paris as a platform to spread anti-Israel messages.
Palestinian Media Watch reported that on Saturday, an image posted on Fatah’s official Facebook was accompanied by the text, “Terror is terror and we condemn all terror. Be it destroying houses in Nablus and killing our children by Israel or hitting a Russian plane over Egypt. The Paris attacks are criminal acts done by coward terrorists.”
On Sunday, an op-ed published in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida—the PA’s official daily newspaper—stated, “It is not a coincidence that human blood was exploded in Paris at the same time that certain European sanctions are beginning to be implemented against settlement products, and while France leads Europe in advising the security council that will implement the two-state solution, Palestine and Israel—which the Israelis see as a warning of sudden danger coming from the direction of Europe, where the Zionist, occupying, settling endeavor was born…The wise and correct thing is to look for who benefits. In short: They need to search the last place reached by the octopus arms of the Mossad… It is clear that its ‘Mossad’ will burn Beirut and Paris in order to achieve [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s goals. He, who challenged the master of the White House, hides in his soul enough evil to burn the world.”
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Paris concert hall where 89 people killed previously targeted over Jewish ownership
(JNS.org) The Bataclan concert hall—site of the deadliest of Friday’s six coordinated Islamist terror attacks in Paris, with 89 people killed—was under Jewish ownership for four decades and had received frequent threats in the past for that reason.
Sold only two months ago by co-owners Pascal Laloux and Joel Tuitto, the venue is still under their responsibility.
“One of the managers called me and began to tell me about the disaster that was taking place,” Tuitto, who recently moved to Israel, told Israel’s Channel 2. “I could hear the gunshots and the voices in the background….The terrorists were inside the theater, and I heard the gunshots, but I couldn’t do anything.”
Tuitto said that according to the terms of the sale, he remains responsible for the Bataclan until September 2018.
The French magazine Le Point reported that in 2011, a terrorist told French security services that “we (the Army of Islam terrorist group) had planned an attack against the Bataclan because its owners are Jews.”
The Bataclan, which regularly hosted Jewish and Israeli events, also received serious threats in 2007 and 2008. Tuitto said a group of masked Palestinians had even come to the venue two years ago demanding its closure due to its “fundraising for Israel and the IDF,” and warning of an attack if their demand was not met, but nothing came of the threat.
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After Paris attacks, airlines help Israelis seeking to return from France
(JNS.org) Flights between Israel and France continued as usual over the weekend, despite the state of emergency declared in France following the series of deadly Islamist terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, which included closing the country’s borders.
Major delays were noted at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, as well as in smaller airports across France, over the tight border controls imposed. Only a handful of European airlines and two American airlines cancelled flights scheduled to arrive in Paris on Saturday.
Israel’s El Al Airlines announced its flights to and from France would continue as scheduled. The company further said that it will assist Israelis who are currently in France and wish to return to Israel, offering a special $350 one-way fare and suspending revision charges for passengers who wish to change tickets bought for dates up to Nov. 29.
Arkia Airlines announced a similar move, offering a $220 one-way fare to Israelis seeking to return to Israel on its Sunday flights. A statement on Arkia’s website said the company would announce additional policy on Paris tickets’ changes and cancellations “as developments allow.”
Air France said Saturday that it would not change its flight schedule.
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Israel provides France with terror intelligence after Paris attacks, PM says
(JNS.org) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that Israel has provided France with intelligence related to the perpetrators of Friday’s six coordinated terror attacks in Paris—which killed at least 129 people—and intelligence about other terrorist plots in Europe.
“Israel stands shoulder-to-shoulder with France in this joint battle against militant Islamic terrorism,” Netanyahu said. “I’ve instructed Israel’s security and intelligence forces to assist their French counterparts and their counterparts from other European countries in any way possible.”
The Islamic State terror group claimed responsibility for Friday’s attacks.
“Terrorism is the deliberate and systematic targeting of civilians,” said Netanyahu. “It can never be justified. Terrorism must always be condemned. It must always be fought. Innocent people in Paris, like those in London, Madrid, Mumbai, Buenos Aires, and Jerusalem, are the victims of militant Islamic terrorism, not its cause. As I’ve said for many years, militant Islamic terrorism attacks our societies because it wants to destroy our civilization and our values.”
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JCamp180 raises $90 million for Jewish camps
(JNS.org) The Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s JCamp180 initiative raised $90 million to support Jewish camps across the United States.
Recently, JCamp180 held its 11th annual conference, drawing 450 leaders from non-profit Jewish camps and other organizations. The conference honored individuals and camps for their role in managing daily camp operations and for their collective efforts in raising $90 million through JCamp180’s matching grant program.
“JCamp180® has played a major role in transforming camps into more professional and sophisticated organizations,” JCamp180 Director Mark Gold said. “This program has helped these non-profit Jewish camps raise more money in the last 10 years than they had in the previous four decades, thereby enabling them to better compete with other non-profit and for-profit camps.”
Founded in 2004 by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation as the Grinspoon Institute for Jewish Philanthropy, and later renamed JCamp180, the initiative matches funds that are raised by the camps themselves and also provides camps with consulting services from mentors, who focus on areas including fundraising, governance, strategic planning, and technology.
JCamp180 says it has contributed more than $15 million in matching grant funds and $13 million in consulting services over the past decade.
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Israel sends army reinforcements to southern Judea after fatal terror attack
(JNS.org) Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon ordered the Israel Defense Forces to send reinforcements to southern Judea hours after a fatal shooting terror attack that killed a Jewish father and son, ages 40 and 18, in the southern Hebron hills region.
Ya’alon issued the order after consulting with army high command and other defense chiefs, including IDF chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot, Shin Bet security agency director Yoram Cohen, Military Intelligence head Herzi Halevi, and the coordinator of government activities in the territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the family—killing father Ya’akov Litman and his son, Netanel—as they were traveling to the Jewish community of Othniel near Hebron. The terrorist has not yet been found.
“[Ya’akov and Netanel] were showing no signs of life, and there was no other choice but to pronounce them dead at the scene,” said Noam Bar, a Magen David Adom paramedic.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We will reach the despicable murderers and we will bring them to justice, as we have in the past.”
Friday’s murders were the latest Israeli Jewish deaths in the wave of violence that has been plaguing the country. Since the start of October, 14 Israelis have been killed in stabbings, shootings, and other attacks.
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