Israel to open office at NATO headquarters
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel on Tuesday night took another important step toward becoming a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance. The organization announced that it will allow Israel to open an office at NATO headquarters in Brussels to push forward a process that could ultimately lead to full-fledged membership for Israel.
NATO’s 28 members include the United States, Canada, European Union member states and other European countries.
The alliance obligates all member states to aid a fellow member if it comes under attack.
“I welcome NATO’s announcement, it is an important step that helps Israel’s security,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “It is further testament to Israel’s standing and the desire of many to cooperate with us in the field of security.”
Israeli officials noted that NATO’s announcement came on the heels of a concerted diplomatic effort, with the help of the United States, Canada, Germany and other European countries.
Along with Israel, Jordan and Bahrain also received a green light to open offices at NATO headquarters. The geopolitical situation in the Middle East and spread of jihadi terrorism highlight the importance of the decision.
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Kuwait Airways halts inter-European flights after charges by Israelis
(JNS.org) Kuwait Airways, the national airline of Kuwait, has halted all inter-European routes in order to avoid “further civil and criminal charges” in Europe for its refusal to allow Israeli citizens fly on its airline, according to the Lawfare Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit legal think tank that has challenged the airline’s policies in European courts.
In mid-April, Lawfare Project Swiss Council Philippe Grumbach filed an administrative complaint with the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation as well as a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor General against Kuwait Airways Corporation on behalf of an Israeli national living in Switzerland who was denied a ticket on the Kuwait Airways flight from Geneva to Frankfurt, Germany.
The complaint was based on the airline’s violation of the Swiss Penal Code as well as the Swiss constitution, which protects individuals from discrimination based on race, religion and ethnicity, the Lawfare Project said.
Earlier this year Kuwait Airways dropped its route between New York City and London rather than transport Israeli citizens between the two cities. That decision came after the U.S. Department of Transportation found that the airline’s refusal to allow Israeli citizens to fly on the route amounted to “unreasonable discrimination” because Israeli passport holders have the legal right to travel between the United States and the United Kingdom.
“Ironically, the Arab League boycott of Israel was instituted with the stated goal of delegitimizing and bankrupting the Jewish state,” the Lawfare Project said on its website.
“This victory sends a loud and clear message to Arab League governments and corporations that the legal and financial risks of refusing to deal with Israelis will be disproportionately painful for the boycotters,” the project also said.
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Palestinian terrorist rams car into three Israeli soldiers
(JNS.org) Three Israeli soldiers were wounded by a Palestinian terrorist in a car-ramming attack in the Binyamin region of Judea and Samaria on Tuesday evening.
According to the Magen David Adom emergency response group, paramedics treated three Israeli soldiers, one who was in moderate to severe condition and was rushed to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, and two others who were in mild to moderate condition who were taken to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.
The other soldiers who were at the scene shot and killed the Palestinian terrorist.
The vehicular attack followed a stabbing attack that moderately wounded a 60-year-old Jewish man outside of the Lion’s Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem late Monday night.
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Shin Bet intercepts rocket fuel chemicals at Gaza border
(JNS.org) Israel’s Shin Bet security agency on Tuesday announced that its forces, along with customs inspectors, prevented four tons of ammonium chloride—enough chemicals that could build hundreds of rockets—from entering Gaza.
The chemicals, hidden in a shipment of 40 tons of salt, were seized before the Passover holiday began at the Nitzana border crossing used by Egypt, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority for the transfer of goods into the Gaza Strip.
The Shin Bet believes that the importer of the chemicals is a Gaza resident affiliated with the Hamas terror group, who was convinced to smuggle in the materials for use in Hamas’s production facilities, particularly for building rockets.
Customs and land crossings personnel have worked together with the Shin Bet to foil several plots to smuggle dangerous items that terrorist organizations were suspected of planning to use in the Gaza Strip, including sulfuric acid, diving suits, rocket propulsion fuel components, polyurethane, sulfur, fiberglass rolls, and especially coarse coal for use in iron smelters and metalwork.
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Israel’s Conservative Jewish movement rejects discrimination against non-Jews
(JNS.org) The Conservative Jewish movement in Israel (known as Masorti in Hebrew) on Monday issued a statement rejecting all Jewish civil laws that discriminate against non-Jews.
The movement specifically rejected the extreme positions that a few far-right rabbis in Israel have been teaching that permit discrimination against and the killing of non-Jews.
A responsum written by the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly was approved unanimously after 18 months of deliberation by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.
Rabbi Reuven Hammer, founder of the Conservative movement in Israel, who wrote the responsum, cited biblical texts and rabbinic literature that call for treating non-Jews with justice, and also overturn discriminatory laws against them.
“We must deal honestly with the sources, admit that different attitudes have existed over the course of the development of Judaism, and candidly criticize and reject certain parts of the tradition while embracing others as representing the Judaism we wish to promulgate and which we believe represents the true core of Jewish belief beginning with the Torah itself,” said Hammer, the Jerusalem Post reported.
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A majority of Israelis seek to retire abroad, survey finds
(JNS.org) A majority of Jewish Israelis have no desire to grow old in their home country, a new survey released on Tuesday said.
Less than 30 percent of Israelis said Israel would be the best place to grow old in, while 60 percent said they prefer to grow old in a European country due to the better economic welfare and living standards there, according to a survey by the anti-poverty NGO, Chasdei Naomi. Only 12 percent of those surveyed picked the United States as a good location choice for retirement.
Of those earning above average wages, only 20 percent considered Israel the best place for retiring, while 44 percent of the 500 respondents earning below average wages did prefer Israel as an ideal home for retirement.
Older people above the age of 50 were more likely (38 percent) to pick Israel as the best place to grow old in compared to those between the ages of 18-29 (23 percent).
Meanwhile, Israelis living in Jerusalem (35 percent) were more likely to choose to retire in Israel over Israelis living in Tel Aviv (25 percent). The number of secular Israelis (13 percent) wanting to grow old in Israel was very low compared to 56 percent of religious Israelis, the Jerusalem Post reported.
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