Israel outlaws Islamic Movement branch over Temple Mount incitement
(JNS.org) Israel on Tuesday announced that it has outlawed the northern branch of the country’s Islamic Movement over activities including the “mendacious campaign of incitement under the heading ‘Al-Aqsa is in danger’ that falsely accuses Israel of intending to harm the Al-Aqsa mosque and violate the status-quo.”
“In this context, the northern branch has established a network of paid activists in order to initiate provocations on the Temple Mount. This activity has led to a significant increase in tension on the Temple Mount. A significant portion of recent terrorist attacks have been committed against the background of this incitement and propaganda,” Israel said through the prime minister’s media adviser, adding that the northern branch—headed by Sheikh Raed Salah—is a “sister movement” of the Hamas terrorist organization.
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Israel to U.N.: condemn Palestinian Red Crescent for neglecting Jewish victims
(JNS.org) Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon has asked U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to publicly condemn the Palestinian Red Crescent organization after one of its ambulances that was near the site of Friday’s shooting attack near Otniel, which left Rabbi Ya’akov Litman and his son Netanel dead, failed to stop and treat the wounded Israeli Jews.
“An ambulance that doesn’t treat wounded civilians is complicit in terrorism. We’re talking about egregiously ignoring all universal moral values and contempt for human life,” Danon wrote to Ban.
Danon added that an ambulance not treating wounded people was a direct violation of international law.
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Egypt kills 24 Islamic State terrorists in Sinai
(JNS.org) The Egyptian military said it has killed 24 Islamic State-affiliated terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula.
According to Egyptian security sources, the terrorists were killed as they hid in a mountainous cave, Reuters reported. Eight terrorists were also arrested.
The operation against the Islamic State terrorists came about 40 miles from the crash site of the Russian Airbus 321 airliner that crashed in the Sinai on Oct. 31, killing all 224 people aboard. Sinai-based Islamic State supporters claimed responsibility for that attack.
The Egyptian military has been battling with Islamic State-linked terrorists, who call themselves Wilayat Sinai (Province of Sinai), for the past two years.
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Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz call for U.S. to give priority to Syrian Christian refugees
(JNS.org) Republican presidential candidates U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and former Florida governor Jeb Bush have called on America to give priority to Middle Eastern Christian refugees, amid a growing number of U.S. states refusing Syrian refugees following the Paris terror attacks.
“There is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror,” Cruz said in South Carolina on Sunday, blasting the Obama administration for acting “as if there is no religious aspect to this.”
Bush said that U.S. assistance to any Middle Eastern refugees should focus primarily on Christians fleeing the violence.
“We should focus our efforts as it relates to refugees on the Christians that are being slaughtered,” Bush told CNN on Sunday.
President Barack Obama criticized the Republican candidates for their calls to keep out Muslim refugees while giving priority to Christians.
“When I hear political leaders suggesting that there should be a religious test for admitting which person fleeing which country,” Obama said at the G20 press conference in Turkey, “when some of these folks themselves come from other countries, that’s shameful. That’s not America. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion.”
Following the Paris attacks, Republican governors of 11 states—Texas, Michigan, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Louisiana, Indiana, Arkansas, Arizona, Alabama, and Massachusetts—said they will not absorb Syrian refugees over security concerns.
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Swedish foreign minister blames Paris attacks on Palestinian frustration
(JNS.org) Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström linked Palestinian grievances with Israel to the Islamist terror attacks that killed 129 people in Paris.
“Obviously, we have reason to be worried, not just in Sweden but across the world—because there are so many that are being radicalized. Here, once again, we are brought back to situations like the one in the Middle East, where not least, the Palestinians see that there is not a future. We must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence,” Wallström said in a television interview.
In response to Wallström’s comments, Israel summoned Sweden’s ambassador to the Jewish state for an urgent meeting with Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold, calling the Swedish minister’s remarks “brazen,” “shocking,” and “hostile.”
Attempting to clarify Wallström’s rhetoric, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said, “In the interview which is referred to, no implication or reference was made that implied that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had any relevance for the tragic events in Paris. We condemn all acts of terror.”
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Israel intercepts 450 liters of Gaza-bound rocket fuel chemicals
(JNS.org) Israel intercepted a Gaza Strip-bound Palestinian truck with 450 liters of a banned chemical called TDI, known to be a central component in the production of rocket fuel, the Israeli Defense Ministry said Monday.
In the West Bank, Israel’s border crossing authority found the truck’s registered contents of so-called “soybean oil” to be suspicious and conducted a preliminary chemical test, which showed the liquid was actually unidentifiable. After confiscating the materials and sending them to a lab for further testing, it was clear the material was TDI, a liquid prohibited from entering Gaza due to the Hamas terror group’s intent to use it for rockets. Israeli security authorities have opened an investigation into the incident.
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Hungary refuses to label Judea and Samaria products, defying EU
(JNS.org) Hungary declared that it will not label Israeli products made in Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, and eastern Jerusalem, defying the European Union’s new guidelines.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told the Israel Council on Foreign Relations during his one-day trip to Israel on Monday that the EU’s decision to place labels on Israeli settlement products is “irrational” and will only exacerbate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We have to tell things as they are, especially in a time of crisis, otherwise we can’t come up with a solution…political correctness prevents the addressing of situations as they should be,” Szijjártó said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Szijjártó for his support of Israel during a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office.
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Absorption group asks Israel to prepare for massive influx of French Jews
(JNS.org) The number of French Jews immigrating to Israel is skyrocketing and the Jewish state needs to prepare for a further uptick, Dr. Michael Bensaadon—director of the “Klita” absorption group, which works with French Jews seeking to make aliyah—told Israel National News following the Paris terror attacks.
Bensaadon is asking Israel to better prepare its infrastructure, such as education and employment, to absorb a greater number of Jewish immigrants who in the absence of suitable Israeli infrastructure might prefer moving to the United States or Canada.
“We’ve gotten lots of promises and we hear the Israeli government call on Jews to come home to Israel, but we don’t see definite steps,” he said.
Based on preliminary findings from opinion polls—which show that as much as 80 percent of French Jewry is mulling aliyah—in addition to a report Bensaadon’s group is working on together with the Jewish Agency and the Nefesh B’Nefesh aliyah organization, the wave of French aliyah “will yet strengthen,” said Bensaadon. In the last year alone, 7,000 French Jews immigrated to Israel amid the rising anti-Semitism in France.
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