Israeli-Arab mother of 5 gets 22 months in prison for trying to join Islamic State
(JNS.org) Israeli-Arab mother of five Ayman Kanjou, 44, on Tuesday was sentenced to 22 months in prison for attempting to join the Islamic State terror group.
Kanjou was charged with contacting a foreign agent and attempting to exit Israel illegally, and was sentenced by the Haifa District Court as part of a plea deal. She was given an additional suspended sentence of one year and a fine of about $7,800.
Kanjou has a doctoral degree in Islam from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. She was arrested in August after flying to Turkey with her father for a family trip and then disappearing. Israeli and Turkish security forces worked together to arrest her when she tried to cross the border into Syria with a few dozen other individuals from various countries.
In her interrogation, Kanjou admitted that she had been thinking about joining Islamic State, leading her to make contact with an operative from the terror group who promised to help her enter Syria.
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Approval of new Arab and Jewish housing in Jerusalem stirs up political storm
(JNS.org) A political storm is brewing in Israel in response to a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday to approve hundreds of new housing units in Maaleh Adumim and Jerusalem, including in one of the capital’s Arab neighborhoods, Beit Safafa.
Construction will proceed on 800 new housing units intended for Jews, including 560 in Maaleh Adumim and another 240 in various Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem, some of which are located beyond the Green Line.
The decision also approves 600 new housing units intended for Arab families in the neighborhood of Beit Safafa, which are slated to go up on open land known as Givat Hamatos. To date, that land has been used to accommodate trailers housing new immigrants from Ethiopia.
Habayit Hayehudi party leader Naftali Bennett said, “Givat Hamatos will determine whether Jerusalem stays united…the goal of the world is to create Palestinian continuity [stretching] from Bethlehem to Beit Jala through Givat Hamatos, Beit Safafa, up to Malha Mall….We, on the other hand, want exactly the opposite: We want to create [Israeli] continuity between Talpiyot and Gilo to preserve Jerusalem’s unity.”
Meretz party leader Zehava Gal-On said that “the decision to build 800 housing units in response to the terrible terrorism of the past few days is a cynical exploitation of the situation to expand settlement construction and prevent, as the [Middle East] Quartet warned, any possibility of a peace agreement with the Palestinians based on the principle of two states. The announcement that housing units would be constructed for Palestinians, too, is a mockery.”
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Prestigious U.S. travel magazine names Tel Aviv one of world’s top culinary cities
(JNS.org) The prestigious American magazine Conde Nast Traveler has named Tel Aviv as one of the world’s top 15 culinary cities.
In November 2015, Conde Nast Traveler previously spotlighted the Israeli city’s food scene when it published an article titled “Why the World’s Best Vegetarian Food Is in Tel Aviv,” which called the city an “herbivore smorgasbord” and cited the mix of gastronomic influences from around the world that “can coax a world of flavors out of the most humble potato.” The following month, the magazine featured a “Chef’s Pick” overview of some of the best places to eat and drink in Tel Aviv.
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Hamas urges Palestinian youths to take revenge against Israel
(JNS.org) Hamas has called on Palestinian youths to take revenge against Israel.
In a press release, the Gaza-ruling Palestinian terror group called for the “youth” of the West Bank to take revenge against Israelis for “crimes against our elders” through “resistance in all its forms,” including terrorism, the Times of Israel reported.
Hamas added that Israel would pay a “heavy price” for its crimes during Ramadan, which has always been the “month of jihad and resistance.”
The call for violence by Hamas came amid a bloody end to the week for Israelis. On Thursday, 13-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel was stabbed to death in her bedroom in Kiryat Arba by a Palestinian terrorist, while on Friday, 48-year-old Rabbi Michael Mark, a father of 10 children, was killed along Highway 60 in Judea.
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Iranians chant ‘death’ to Israel and America in Al-Quds Day protests
(JNS.org) Iranian demonstrators on Friday chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” in anti-Israel rallies across the Islamic Republic. The rallies were held for “Al-Quds Day” on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Tens of thousands of people marched in Tehran, with similar rallies taking place in other parts of the country, according to Iranian media.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was quoted by state television on Friday as saying that Western nations are capitalizing on the religious differences between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims in order to sway global attention away from the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“The global arrogance [the United States and its allies] wants to create discord among Muslims….Unity is the only way to restore stability in the region….We stand with the dispossessed Palestinian nation,” Rouhani said.
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