Suspended Arab Knesset member vows to keep visiting terrorists’ families
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Member of Knesset Basel Ghattas, one of three Knesset members from the Joint Arab List party who were recently suspended after visiting late Palestinian terrorists’ families, said he will not stop making such visits and referred to the deceased terrorists as “martyrs.”
Ghattas was suspended from the Knesset alongside fellow Joint Arab List MKs Haneen Zoabi and Jamal Zahalka when their meeting with families of terrorists, which included a moment of silence in honor of the terrorists, was determined to have constituted “conduct unbecoming.”
Speaking to Israel’s Arabic-language television network Hala, Ghattas said of the terrorists, “They did not attempt to kill out of a criminal motive; they did so in the context of the just struggle against the oppressive occupation.”
He added that “the day that Arab MKs avoid visiting the families of martyrs, who lost their sons in the struggle against the [Israeli] occupation, is the day we turn in our keys and go home.”
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Netanyahu taps deputy Shin Bet chief as security agency’s new director
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday named Shin Bet Deputy Director Nadav Argaman as the security agency’s next director, replacing outgoing Director Yoram Cohen, who will complete his term in three months.
The appointment is pending the approval of Israel’s Public Service Nominations Committee.
“Nadav Argaman has extensive and proven operational and command experience in the Shin Bet. I am confident that under his command, the Shin Bet will continue to grow stronger in the operational and technological spheres and will continue to defend the security of Israel,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin called Argaman “the right man at the right time.”
“I’m sure you (Argaman) will be able to preserve Israelis’ routine lives even in these trying times,” Rivlin said.
“The Shin Bet security agency faces many challenges in its defense of public security, and I have no doubt that Nadav will lead the organization successfully as it deals with these challenges,” said Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon. “Nadav has vast operational experience and he has held many positions within the Shin Bet that I’m sure will assist him as its director.”
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U.S. Jewish leaders meet Egypt’s El-Sisi days after meeting Turkey’s Erdogan
(JNS.org) Leaders from the 50-member Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo on Thursday.
During the two-hour meeting, the leaders discussed a range of domestic and international issues, including American-Egyptian ties, the relationship between Egypt and Israel, regional terror threats, and the Iran nuclear deal.
“We came away with a greater understanding of the challenges and opportunities and how we can play a constructive role in addressing them and fostering international cooperation,” the Jewish leaders said in a statement released by the Conference of Presidents.
Earlier in the week, the American Jewish delegation met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara amid the ongoing talks between Turkey and Israel to restore their diplomatic ties.
“We talked about the opportunity for reconciliation. Erdogan raised specific issues, including the fight against extremists, the war on terrorism, and the role of Turkey and Iran in the region. We were there as representatives of the American Jewish leadership. We consulted with Israel before the meeting, but it is not true to say that we conveyed messages from Israel (as was reported by some Israeli media). We discussed the concerns of all parties, including Israel,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman and CEO of the Conference of Presidents, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
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Jordan rejects French extradition request for Jewish restaurant attack suspects
(JNS.org) Jordan has reportedly rejected a French extradition request for two suspects wanted for the 1982 murder of six people in a Jewish restaurant in Paris.
The request was rejected on a technicality involving the application date of the extradition treaty between the two nations, according to AFP.
In 1982, six people were killed and 22 wounded by two gunmen who entered the Chez Jo Goldenberg restaurant in the predominantly Jewish Marais neighborhood of Paris and fired at customers. One of the two men suspected of carrying out the attack, 62-year-old Zuhair Mohamad al-Abassi, who is of Palestinian origin, was arrested in Jordan last year before the extradition treaty between Jordan and France became valid.
The second suspect, 54-year-old Nizar Tawfiq Hamada, has escaped justice in France because the statute of limitation on his alleged crime has expired.
An unidentified Jordanian source “close to the case” told AFP that Jordan does not like to extradite its citizens, instead preferring to put them on trial in “specialized Jordanian courts.”
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Israeli artist to create first sculpture in outer space
(JNS.org) An Israeli artist plans to create a “laughing” piece that will be beamed up to outer space this year, becoming the first-ever sculpture in space, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Eyal Gever is a concept artist working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on a project called #Laugh, which will take a digital representation of human laughter and send it space, where it will be formed into a “sculpture” by the Made in Space company on a 3D printer designed to work in zero-gravity conditions.
The #Laugh project is intended to help create an environment where astronauts can work easier in space, for instance, giving them the ability to upload images and print them in 3D.
“One of the areas that we are excited a lot about is art and how we can design new types of art that maybe we can’t even bring back to Earth, because we’re building a sculpture that wouldn’t even survive in gravity,” said Made in Space’s chief technology officer, Jason Dunn, in a video promoting #Laugh.
Gever spoke Wednesday at Tel Aviv’s International Mediterranean Tourism Market conference about wanting to create a sculpture of something that does not exist in space.
“I realized, you know, maybe I shouldn’t even think about using a person or a certain language that has a political connotation or culture or time or race, and then a friend of mine said, ‘Why don’t you do a human laughter?’” he said.
As part of the NASA project, people will be able to record and submit their laughter online, and then vote on which digital representation of laughter should be used in the sculpture.
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Israeli-Arab dentist gets 20 months in prison for transferring funds to Hamas
(JNS.org) An Israeli-Arab dentist was sentenced Thursday to 20 months in prison for transferring funds to the Gaza-ruling Palestinian terror group Hamas.
Malak Khatib, a 32-year-old dentist from a predominantly Arab village in northern Israel, was convicted of using property for terrorism-related activity and illegally transporting several Palestinian workers in Israel.
Probation officers at the Nazareth District court believe that Khatib was only interested in the money and did not commit the crimes based on ideology or connections to a terror group, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Hamas paid Khatib NIS 1,000 ($257) for each money transfer and NIS 250 ($64) for each Palestinian worker transported illegally across Israel. A month before his arrest, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency detained Khatib while he was traveling to transfer NIS 170,000 ($44,000) to a Hamas activist in Ramallah, Israel National Newsreported. The Shin Bet said it warned Khatib to stop cooperating with Hamas on the transfers.
The case, said the Shin Bet, “uncovers the unending efforts by Hamas to transfer large sums of money that are designed to promote the organization’s activities in Judea and Samaria.”
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