Middle East Roundup: February 8, 2016

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Netanyahu: new U.S.-Israel security aid deal may not be reached under Obama

(JNS.org) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli government ministers at Sunday’s cabinet meeting that talks with the United States on a new 10-year memorandum of understanding on security assistance are ongoing, but that a deal may not be reached until after President Barack Obama’s successor takes office next January.

“It’s not yet certain that we will reach an agreement,” Netanyahu said. “We are demanding an answer to Israel’s security needs and there are discussions. Either we will finish this with the current administration or we will need to reach an agreement with the next administration.”

Acting Israeli National Security Adviser Yaakov Nagel briefed the ministers on the strategic situation facing Israel in 2016. Nagel said that Israel is seeking around $5 billion in annual security aid from the U.S., up from the current total of around $3.1 billion.

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Torah scrolls set ablaze in Gush Etzion, Netanyahu expects global condemnation

(JNS.org) Suspected Palestinian arsonists set fire to Torah scrolls on Friday in a synagogue located in Givat Sorek, within the Gush Etzion region of Judea and Samaria.

The Givat Sorek outpost was established atop a hill overlooking the site where three Jewish teens  (Gilad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach, and Naftali Frenkel) were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in the summer of 2014. The vandalized synagogue, comprising a prayer tent that housed the Torahs,  was named after the three boys, who were murdered soon after their abduction.

Investigators found a trail of evidence leading to the nearby Palestinian village of Halhul, prompting the authorities to conclude that Palestinian perpetrators were behind the arson attack.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin described the sights from the scene of the arson attack as “heart-wrenching.”

“The affront to the sanctity of our people hurts even more when it happens in a place that commemorates those who were viciously murdered,” Rivlin said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote Facebook page, “I expect the international community to condemn the desecration of a synagogue, an act that is the result of incessant Palestinian incitement.”

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Thousands of Palestinians turn out in honor of terrorists who killed policewoman

(JNS.org) Thousands of Palestinians on Friday turned out to honor three Palestinian terrorists who murdered an Israeli policewoman earlier in the week.

The large turnout for the funeral of the three terrorists, Ahmed Abou Al-Roub, Mohammed Kameel, and Ahmad Rajeh Ismail Zakarneh, in the West Bank village of Kabatiya, occurred despite a closure of the village by Israeli security forces, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Earlier on Friday, Israel handed over the bodies of the terrorists to the families on the assurance that they would not use their funerals for a political rally or procession.

The three terrorists killed 19-year-old border policewoman Hadar Cohen and critically injured another female officer in an attack near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate. The terrorists, who were wielding machine guns, pipe bombs, and knives, were shot dead by police at the scene.

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U.N. chief feels ashamed over Israeli-Palestinian peace process stalemate

(JNS.org) United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he feels “ashamed” over the ongoing stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

“I feel guilty, ashamed of the lack of progress,” Ban said at a Chatham House think tank event in London, AFP reported.

“Basically it’s up to the leadership of Israel and the Palestinians to put an end to the conflict,” he added, emphasizing that he is “not working for a particular country or a particular policy, but for the people in the region.”

Ban drew widespread criticism late last month for saying regarding the current wave of Palestinian terrorism that it is “human nature to react to occupation.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Ban of “stoking terrorism” through those comments.

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PA inaugurates Brazil embassy as Israels chosen envoy remains unapproved

(JNS.org) While the government of Brazil continues to refuse the appointment of Israeli-nominated ambassador Dani Dayan over his former leadership of the Jewish settlement movement, the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Feb. 3 inaugurated an embassy and diplomatic mission in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia, despite the fact that the PA is not an officially recognized country.

The new embassy is the PA’s first diplomatic mission in the Western Hemisphere. The inauguration was led by the PA’s envoy to Brazil, Ibrahim Alzeben, and was attended by Brazilian government officials, representatives of Arab countries, and members of the local Arab community, reported Israel’s i24news.

“I hope that this is the beginning of a new phase in relations between Brazil and Palestine, that they can be closer and more diversified. And I hope that Brazil builds its embassy in Palestine, in Jerusalem,” Alzeben said.

 

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Netherlands grows technology ties with Israel, appoints new innovation attaché

(JNS.org) Israeli and Dutch businesses and government officials met at The Hague last week for “Israel-Holland Innovation Day,” spotlighting the nations’ growing collaboration in areas such as the development of technology-savvy “smart cities.”

Additionally, the Dutch government has appointed an innovation attaché at the Dutch Embassy in Israel.

“This cooperation is necessary,” the new attaché, Racheli Kreisberg, told the Israeli business news outlet Globes.

“Essentially, Israel and the Netherlands are similar in that they both have relatively small domestic markets, which force them to seek other, external markets and deal with competition. Israel faces geographic pressure desertification, water shortages. Holland does not face such an issue. If anything, it deals with an abundance of water, and yet the situation is similar because both are handling local difficulties and the need to break out, making them turn to innovative solutions,” Kreisberg explained.

The Dutch capital of Amsterdam, she added, “has already been trying to act like a smart city. You can see it through the development of technologies for efficient energy consumption and management advanced by charting the city, and examining demand by area while balancing the need for privacy.”

 

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