In Rwanda, Netanyahu notes similarities between Holocaust and country’s genocide
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Rwanda on Wednesday where he toured a memorial to the more than 800,000 victims of the country’s 1994 genocide.
“We are deeply moved by this memorial to the victims of one of history’s greatest crimes and reminded of the haunting similarities to the genocide of our own people,” Netanyahu wrote in the guest book at the memorial.
Netanyahu arrived in Rwanda on Wednesday as his third stop on a four state Africa tour. The Israeli leader was greeted in an official ceremony by President Paul Kagame and an honor guard of about 100 soldiers. The two leaders also met at the president’s residence later in the day.
Rwanda is one of Israel’s closest African allies and has helped play a critical role in supporting Israel in international forums such as the United Nations, where the country prevented the Palestinians from passing a resolution in the Security Council in 2014 calling for Israel to withdraw from the disputed territories.
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Netanyahu tells Kenyan Christians: Israel is coming back to Africa
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with a group of Christian supporters of Israel in Kenya on Tuesday where he promised to help share Israel’s economic and technological success with emerging African nations.
The Israeli leader told the Christians of the common bond binding the two people together, telling a story of a boat that was found in the Sea of Galilee that was used during the time of Jesus.
“I can’t tell you that Jesus was on that boat but I can tell you that that boat was in the time of Jesus.”
Following an invitation to visit Israel, Netanyahu said that his country has made remarkable strides in agriculture, milk production and water conservation and that “we are eager to share all of this with our African friends.”
“Israel is coming back to Africa. Africa is coming back to Israel,” Netanyahu declared.
Netanyahu also spoke about the ongoing persecution of Christians in the Middle East, which he contrasted with how Christians are treated in Israel.
”In the Middle East today, unfortunately, the attitude towards Christians and Christianity is not a good one. You see what is happening with Daesh [Islamic State] in Iraq, what is happening to Christian communities and to the Yazidis and others,” Netanyahu said.
“There is one place in the Middle East where the Christian community is not only not shrinking, it’s thriving and it’s expanding and it’s safe, and it’s welcome and that place is Israel. You’re welcome in Israel. I’d like to receive you there, in Jerusalem,” he added.
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State Department scolds Israel over construction in disputed territories
(JNS.org) The U.S. State Department issued a strongly worded statement expressing “deep concern” over Israel’s recent approval of hundreds of new housing units in the disputed territories.
“If it’s true, this report would be the latest step in what seems to be the systematic process of land seizures settlement expansions and legalization of outposts that is fundamentally undermining the prospects for a two-state solution. We oppose steps like these which we believe are counterproductive,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
“This action risks entrenching a one state reality and raises serious questions about Israel’s intentions,” he said.
Kirby added that the U.S. is having “tough discussions” with Israeli leaders on the state of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Last weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman approved hundreds of new housing units in eastern Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim. While Israel considers both areas as part of the Jewish state in any future agreement with the Palestinians, they both lie beyond Israel’s pre-1967 borders—meaning that the U.S. and many other governments around the world oppose any Israeli construction there.
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Algeria reportedly calls off soccer match with Ghana due to Israeli coach
(JNS.org) Algeria has reportedly called off a friendly soccer match with Ghana because the team has an Israeli coach, Avram Grant.
According to Algerian media reports, the Algerian team dropped out of the match so that it could prevent Grant from entering the African country.
Algerian journalist Ayman Gada wrote on Facebook that “the Algerian national team canceled the friendly match with Ghana because it refused to host Ghana’s Israeli coach, Avraham (sic) Grant.”
Grant, who was born in Petah Tikvah, has previously managed the Israeli national team and Chelsea F.C. in the English Premier League. He has spent the past two years coaching Ghana’s national team.
Like many Arab countries, Algeria does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Additionally, a wave a pro-Palestinian sentiment has engulfed the country in recent months, including a number of solidarity marches for the Palestinians.
“The Palestinian people raise the flag of Algeria, because it (Algeria) is for them a model and for all the oppressed people in the world. We have learnt a lot from its revolution,” the Palestinian ambassador to Algeria, Louai Aissa, recently said, the Algeria Press Service reported.
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