(JNS.org) Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold met with President Idriss Deby of Chad at his presidential palace in the city of Fada on July 14 in another sign of the Jewish state’s move to bolster ties in Africa, the Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.
“Chad is a central country on the African continent,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “It is a Muslim, Arabic-speaking country that deals with radical Islamic terrorism and this year holds the rotating chairmanship of the African Union.”
A former French colony, Chad once held close diplomatic ties with Israel as part of David Ben-Gurion’s “periphery doctrine” until they cut relations with Jerusalem in the 1970s.
The meeting in Chad comes on the heels of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s week-long visit to Africa earlier this month, where the Israeli leader sought to deepen ties with several key African states such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda in order to bolster the Jewish state’s economic, security and diplomatic support in the region.
Earlier this week, Israel and Guinea, a Muslim-majority nation in western Africa, announced that they have re-established diplomatic relations for the first time in 49 years.
Meanwhile, the president of Togo, Faure Gnassingbe, is scheduled to visit Israel soon, ahead of another planned trip to western Africa by Netanyahu later this year.
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Saudi Arabia denies renewing fatwa against Pokémon Go
According to Saudi media, the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars allegedly reissued the fatwa in response from followers, saying that the creatures who have powers in the game is blasphemous in promoting the theory of natural evolution and various elements that are against Islamic law such as gambling.
“It is shocking that the word ‘evolution’ has been much on the tongues of children,” the fatwa read, Reuters reported.
The fatwa also said the symbols in the game promote Shinto, Christianity, Freemasonry and “global Zionism.”
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Al-Qaeda sympathizers target Israeli athletes at Rio Olympics
(JNS.org) Al-Qaeda sympathizers on social media have issued a list of directives calling for their followers to target American, British, French and Israeli athletes during the upcoming Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, according to the news outlet The Foreign Desk.
“One small knife attack against Americans/Israelis in these places will have bigger media effect than any other attacks anywhere else inshaallah,” one of the directives read.
“Your chance to take part in the global Jihad is here! Your chance to be a martyr is here!” the al-Qaeda sympathizers said, citing the easy process of obtaining visas for travel to Brazil as well as the wide availability of guns in “crime-ridden slums.”
The list went further to specify why they should target Israelis.
“From amongst the worst enemies, the most famous enemies for general Muslims is to attack Israelis. As general Muslims all agree to it and it causes more popularity for the Mujahideen amongst the Muslims.”
Meanwhile, Brazilian police on Thursday arrested 10 people suspected of supporting the Islamic State and planning terror attacks during the Rio Olympics.
“Those involved participated in an online group denominated ‘the defenders of Sharia’ and were planning to acquire weapons to commit crimes in Brazil and even overseas,” Brazil’s Justice Minister Alexandre Moraes said at a news conference on the arrests.
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Palestinian Authority collaborates with Sudan to ‘restrain’ Israel in Africa
Netanyahu’s tour of Africa subsequently led to the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and the majority-Muslim country Guinea, ties that had been cut off for 49 years.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas this week visited Rwanda, where he gave a speech to the 27th Summit of the African Union and signed several collaboration agreements with Sudan.
“President Mahmoud Abbas and his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir discussed developing a strategy for the African continent and coordinating to restrain Israeli attempts to make a breakthrough in Africa,” the PA foreign minister said in a press statement from Khartoum, the Jerusalem Post reported.
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Jerusalem holds gay pride parade one year after stabbing
“Any and all attempts to disrupt the parade will be met with a firm and resolute response, and they will be arrested and prosecuted,” said Jerusalem District Police Commander Yoram Halevy, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
“As part of targeted police evaluations of the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem, Jerusalem Central Unit investigators arrested Schlissel, who is serving a life prison term for the murder of Shira Banki and wounding six others during last year’s parade,” said police spokeswoman Luba Samri, according to the Jerusalem Post.
“According to the information and the evidence accumulated…Schlissel planned with his brother, Michael, to harm the Jerusalem Pride Parade participants and to disrupt the parade,” she added.
As part of this year’s parade, participants had the option to place flowers at the site of last year’s stabbing.
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