Middle East Roundup: May 27, 2016

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Israel intercepts Gaza-bound supplies for weapons manufacturing
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli security forces thwarted the smuggling of a Gaza-bound shipment of supplies used in projectile manufacturing, the Israeli Defense Ministry said Thursday.

The shipment, intended for the Hamas terror group, was supposed to be smuggled into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. It was intercepted at the Tarkumia checkpoint by Shin Bet security agency officers and their counterparts at the Defense Ministry’s Crossings Directorate.

The contraband included hundreds of four-inch steel pipes used for the production of mortar shells, as well as electric engines and engine parts used by Hamas in the effort to rebuild its network of cross-border terror tunnels. The shipment also included dozens of rockets.

According to the Defense Ministry, the contraband was hidden inside a shipment containing textiles and jewelry. The shipment was confiscated in full, and an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
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U.N. demands Israel pay restitution for 1996 shelling of Lebanese village
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A United Nations body has demanded that Israel pay restitution for the accidental shelling of a U.N. compound in the southern Lebanese village of Qana in 1996.

During Operation Grapes of Wrath, the Israel Defense Forces, while engaged in heavy fighting with the Hezbollah terror group, accidentally bombarded a United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) compound that also served as a refugee camp. The compound provided shelter for some 800 Lebanese civilians, 106 of whom were killed in the attack.

The Fifth Committee of the U.N. General Assembly, which is responsible for administration and monetary matters, has been urging Israel to pay compensation of $1.17 million. Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said Israel is refusing the demand.

“Hezbollah terrorists were those who had attacked Israel and its civilians, while using the citizens of Lebanon as a human shield, and Israel is the one that ends up with a restitution demand,” said Danon.

“This is an absurd situation in which Israel is urged to pay for the war crimes of a terror organization,” he added.
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Moroccan team boycotts Israel in Paralympic tennis competition
(JNS.org) The Moroccan team in the men’s wheelchair tennis World Team Cup competition boycotted a scheduled match with Israel’s team on Thursday, reportedly at the request of their country’s national Paralympic committee, according to the Jerusalem Post.

“This is a sad day for sports, and an even sadder day for Paralympic sports,” said the Israeli team’s coach, Nimrod Bichler. “Politics have mixed with sports in the past, but Paralympic sports were always different.”

Israel was given a default 3-0 victory as a result of Morocco’s no-show in Tokyo, and faces Poland in the fifth-place match on Friday.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) told the Jerusalem Post, “The ITF was established to, among other things, preserve the integrity and independence of tennis as a sport, and to do so without unfair discrimination on the grounds of color, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or religion. In light of the report that the Moroccan team failed to play a scheduled match against Israel in Men’s World Group II of the ITF Wheelchair World Team Cup, we will contact the Moroccan Tennis Federation as a matter of urgency to establish the facts of this situation, and we will follow the relevant ITF Wheelchair regulations and the ITF Constitution, as necessary, to determine the appropriate action.”
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Israeli start-up seeks to identity terrorists using facial recognition technology
(JNS.org) An Israeli start-up has developed technology that can identify character traits based on analyzing faces with 80-percent accuracy, providing the ability to ascertain who might be a terrorist.

Faception’s technology—presented last week at a high-tech accelerator conference in Mountain View, Calif.—also claims to be able to identify extroverts, pedophiles, white-collar criminals, people with high IQs, and professional poker players.

“We understand the human much better than other humans understand each other,” said Faception CEO Shai Gilboa, theWashington Post reported. “Our personality is determined by our DNA and reflected in our face. It’s a kind of signal.”

Founded in 2014, Faception is collaborating with an unnamed homeland security agency to help spot terrorists, Gilboa said.

Pedro Domingos, a professor of computer science at the University of Washington, warned that there are ethical issues in using this technology.

“Can I predict that you’re an axe murderer by looking at your face, and therefore should I arrest you? You can see how this would be controversial,” Domingos told the Washington Post.
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Sen. Schumer to Holocaust survivors: file claims against French rail company
(JNS.org) U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on Holocaust survivors and families of victims who were deported from Nazi-occupied France through the Societé Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais (SNCF) rail company to file restitution claims by the U.S. State Department’s May 31 deadline.

French SNCF trains were used to transport tens of thousands of Jews to concentration camps, but the company has never been formally prosecuted for its collaboration with the Nazis. Schumer sponsored the Holocaust Rail Justice Act, which would hold SNCF accountable for its Holocaust past in U.S. courts. Under the legislation, France is providing $60 million to the U.S. that can be used as restitution for eligible claimants. The program will be administered by the State Department for all eligible applicants around the world.

“For decades, survivors and family members of those who perished have attempted to hold SNCF accountable for its active role during the Holocaust. However, it has continued to dodge responsibility for its collaboration with the Nazi regime. The State Department is accepting restitution applications from eligible survivors and their family members, which means that the French rail company has finally been held accountable for transporting thousands to their death during World War II. With the application deadline fast approaching, all eligible victims and family members should apply quickly,” Schumer said Wednesday.

According to the State Department, the funds will be used to compensate those who survived deportation from France but are currently citizens of other countries, spouses of similar individuals, and estates representing such survivors and their spouses who have died since World War II. Each of these types of claimants, if approved, could receive more than $100,000.
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Israeli firm successfully tests 3-D printing for stem cells
(JNS.org) The Israeli 3-D printing firm Nano Dimension Ltd. has successfully tested a 3-D bioprinter for stem cells, which is a first step on the way to the ability to print tissues and organs. The laboratory trial, conducted with the Israeli biotech firm Accellta Ltd., showed that the company’s adapted printer could quickly make a large amount of high-resolution cells.

“3-D printing of living cells is a technology that is already playing a significant role in medical research, but in order to reach its full potential, for the field to evolve further, there is a need to improve printing speeds, print resolution, cell control, and viability, as well as cell availability and bio-ink technologies. By combining our high-speed, high-precision inkjet capabilities with Accellta’s stem cell suspension technologies and induced differentiation capabilities led by a world-renowned group of experienced engineers and scientists, we can enable 3-D printing at high resolution and high volumes,” said Nano Dimension CEO Amit Dror, Reuters reported.

“We hope and believe that this will bring the mutual capabilities and know-how of both companies to create 3-D bioprinting solutions that combine a high-precision, high-throughput printer with dedicated bio-ink technologies, derived from stem cells,” said Dr. Itzchak Angel, chairman and CEO of Accellta.
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WHO’s U.N. health resolution against Israel is anti-Semitic, Israeli leader says
(JNS.org) The World Health Organization (WHO)’s claim that Israel violates Palestinians’ health rights is “a modern manifestation of anti-Semitism,” Yesh Atid party leader Member of Knesset Yair Lapid told WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan in a letter sent Thursday.

Lapid wrote the letter after WHO passed a resolution against Israel at the U.N. agency’s annual assembly in Geneva on Wednesday. The resolution lamented that the Israel Defense Forces operates in areas where there are Palestinian hospitals, as well as claiming that Israel violates Palestinian health rights in the Golan Heights. WHO passed the resolution in an overwhelming 104-4 vote, with six abstentions.

Lapid said that Palestinian terrorists frequently operate in or near hospitals, which was evident during 2014’s Operation Protective Edge, when the Shifa Hospital in Gaza was used to launch rockets at Israel civilians. At the same time, Israel set up a field hospital to treat injured Palestinians.

“The blame here lies with those who abuse medical facilities and turn them into military facilities. It is Hamas and the Islamic Jihad who should be the focus of your condemnation,” Lapid wrote to WHO, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Lapid also noted that “across the border, in Syria, hundreds of thousands have been murdered…Barrel bombs are dropped from the sky on to hospitals and doctors are routinely targeted as part of a campaign to target civilian populations.”

“While the carnage in Syria has continued unabated and terrorists commit unspeakable atrocities across the region most notably in Iraq, Israel has been quietly working to treat injured Syrians. They are brought to the border, collected by the Israel Defense Forces, and taken to Israeli hospitals, where they are given first-rate medical care, at no expense,” he wrote.

The watchdog group UN Watch also blasted the WHO resolution.

“The UN should single out Israel because if you walk into any Israeli hospital or clinic, you will see it replete with Palestinians receiving world-class medical treatment. And this was true even this past summer while Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israel, and placed their terrorist command center under the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, a despicable abuse of health rights unmentioned by the world health assembly,” UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said.

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