Middle East Report: November 20, 2015

PBS map
PBS map

 

Jonathan Pollard released after 30 years in prison

(JNS.org) After spending 30 years in a U.S. federal prison, American-Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard was freed on parole Friday, one day ahead of schedule to allow him to observe Shabbat.

“The people of Israel welcome the release of Jonathan Pollard,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “As someone who has raised the issue for many years with American presidents, I have dreamt of this day. After three long and hard decades, Jonathan is finally reunited with his family. I wish Jonathan a quiet and joyous Shabbat.”

Pollard was the only person in U.S. history sentenced to life in prison over spying for an American ally (Israel). Advocates in the Jewish community as well as experts in the U.S. intelligence community had long called for his release both due to the severity of his sentence and on the humanitarian grounds of his failing health.

“Jonathan, to the detriment of his health, has served the longest sentence of any individual convicted of a similar offense in the United States. After witnessing firsthand the effects of his long incarceration during a visit to the Butner Federal Correction Complex in North Carolina two years ago, I am truly grateful for his release,” Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive vice president of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, said Friday.

Israel Hayom reported Thursday that Netanyahu has asked President Barack Obama to let Pollard move to Israel after his release. Netanyahu made the personal request during his recent meeting with Obama at the White House last week in Washington, DC.

Yet under his parole terms, Pollard, 61, will not be allowed to leave the U.S. for the next five years. Seeking to have that restriction lifted, Netanyahu reportedly promised Obama that Israel would make “guarantees” regarding Pollard’s post-release behavior and that a special Israeli team would be established to enforce any terms set by the Americans.

As things stand, Pollard will need to report regularly to a parole officer. It has been reported that Pollard will live in New York City and that he has secured a job there. It remains unclear whether Pollard will receive any financial aid or other form of assistance from the Israeli government following his release.

*
Indictment: Palestinian terrorists planned to abduct, not kill Henkins

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Oct. 1 Palestinian terrorist attack in which the Jewish couple Eitam and Naama Henkin were shot to death in front of their children was originally planned as an abduction, an indictment filed Thursday with a military court in Judea and Samaria revealed.

According to the indictment, the four terrorists—Yahia Hajj Hamad, Ziad Amar, Karem Razek, and Samir Kusah—were members of a Hamas cell that had sought to carry out shooting attacks against Israelis, but after their attempts to kill Jews failed, they decided to stage an abduction.

The prosecution said that on Oct. 1, the terrorists spotted the Henkins’ vehicle and pursued it. After they caught up to the car, Hamad fired dozens of shots at the victims. As a result, Eitam Henkin was wounded and his car became stuck on the road’s shoulder. Hamad and Razek then approached the vehicle to abduct the family. With Eitam using the last of his strength to fight Razek’s attempts to steal his gun, Hamad shot him at point-blank range, killing him. Immediately afterward, he shot and killed Naama. The children witnessed their parents being killed.
*

U.S. Senate unanimously passes bill to cut off financing for Hezbollah

(JNS.org) The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill that seeks to target and cut off financing for the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah.

The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), aims to sanction international financial institutions that knowingly engage in business with Hezbollah.

The legislation also requires President Barack Obama to report to Congress on Hezbollah’s involvement in narcotics trafficking and transnational crime, as well as its global logistics networks and fundraising, financing, and money laundering activities, Rubio’s senate office said.

The bill now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.

In a statement, Rubio—who is running for president—said the legislation would help “guarantee that our government is focused on eliminating this terrorist group.”

“We cannot afford to jeopardize our national security by letting Iran’s leading terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, continue to pose a direct threat to us and our allies including Israel,” he added. “It is time for us to reveal the expansiveness of its dangerous network.”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) praised the legislation.

“Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group, poses a direct threat to American and Israeli security, dominates the Lebanese government, fights for the Syrian Assad regime, and possesses an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles. Hezbollah has killed more Americans than any terrorist group other than al-Qaeda, and has recently attempted attacks, some successfully, in multiple countries including Bulgaria, Thailand, and Azerbaijan,” AIPAC said.

“Hezbollah is not just a global terrorist organization that has murdered Americans, Israelis, Syrians and citizens of other nations,” said Jason Isaacson, AJC associate executive director for policy. “Hezbollah’s drug business, money laundering, and other criminal activities are critical for funding its terrorism.”
*

 

Massachusetts teen Ezra Schwartz among victims of Palestinian terror attack

(JNS.org) Ezra Schwartz, an 18-year-old American yeshiva student from Massachusetts, was among the three people killed in a Palestinian terror attack in Gush Etzion on Thursday.

Schwartz was riding in a van with five of his friends from Yeshivat Ashreinu in Beit Shemesh when a Palestinian terrorist driving in the opposite direction opened fire on the van and other cars stuck in traffic. The students were heading back to the yeshiva after handing out food to IDF soldiers.

“Ezra wanted nothing more than to help feed another person, to study Torah and his faith, and to live a life in peace. That opportunity was stolen from him and from us,” said a joint statement from Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Jewish Community Relations Council.

Two others—one Israeli and one Palestinian (not the terrorist)—were killed in Thursday’s attack in Gush Etzion, and seven were lightly wounded.

Raised in a family of five children, Schwartz grew up in the Boston suburb of Sharon and was a recent graduate of Maimonides Jewish Day School in Brookline, Mass. He had attended Camp Yavneh, a Jewish summer camp in Northwood, N.H. The camp said on Facebook that its community is “heartbroken to share the sad news that long time camper and counselor, Ezra Schwartz, was murdered in a terrorist attack in Israel today.”

Schwartz was also a participant in the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Masa Israel Journey program.

“Ezra came to Israel not only to study but also to be a part of the vibrant Israeli experience. This makes his death even more tragic,” said Jewish Agency Chairman of the Executive Natan Sharansky.
*

 

Fatah official: Palestinians have the right to force ‘Israeli women to cry’

(JNS.org) An official from the Mahmoud Abbas-led Palestinian Fatah faction said that Palestinian Arabs have a “right” to make “Israeli women to cry,” Palestinian Media Watch reported through translations of Palestinian media reports.

Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Muhaisen—speaking at a rally honoring dead Palestinian terrorist Muhannad Halabi, who stabbed and killed two Jews last month—said, “It is the right of our young men to cause Israeli women to cry like our women are crying, even though our women make sounds of joy after their sons’ and husbands’ deaths as martyrs.”

At the same rally, Palestine Liberation Organization members described Halabi as a hero and a role model for the youths.
*

Cost of global terrorism is higher than ever, study says

(JNS.org) The financial cost of terrorism increased 61 percent in 2014 to $52.9 billion, a 10-fold increase since 2010, while the number of global deaths due to terrorism rose 80 percent, according to this year’s Global Terrorism Index report.

According to figures published Thursday in the Institute for Economics and Peace’s report, economic growth and foreign investment is significantly hampered in countries with “very high levels of terrorism” or “very large terrorist events,” particularly in the top 10 countries most affected by terror, such as Iraq and Nigeria.

Israel—where five people were killed Thursday in Palestinian terror attacks—ranks 24th on the report’s list of countries where terrorism has the largest impact.
*
Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.