Middle East Roundup: September 12, 2016

U.S.-Israel military aid deal to be signed soon

(JNS.org) The U.S.-Israel military defense aid package is expected to be signed in the coming days, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said at a counterterrorism summit on Sept. 11.

Israel will receive the largest military aid package that any country has ever been given, Shapiro affirmed. The deal will provide aid to Israel until 2019. He spoke at the 16th World Summit of the International Institute for Counterterrorism at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) that also commemorated 9/11.

“The tremendous success of the Iron Dome, which intercepted 700 rockets in populated areas during Operation Protective Edge, saved countless lives on both sides of the conflict,” said Shapiro, as quoted in Israel National News. “The war on terror must adapt to constantly changing threats.”

Israel and the U.S. have been in continuous talks over the new aid package in the midst of clashes over the State Department’s criticism of Israel’s building in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.

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Jerusalem synagogue vandalized with crosses

(JNS.org) A synagogue in Jerusalem was vandalized with crosses on Sept. 11, according to the Israeli police.

The crosses were spray-painted in black on the wall and windows of the synagogue, police spokesperson Luba Samri said.

A forensics team was called to the scene and police have launched an investigation into the Sept. 12. There is no clear motive or suspects identified yet, Samri said.

Wadie Abunassar, an adviser to the Catholic Church in Israel, condemned the incident on his Facebook page, according to the Times of Israel.

“All peoples should respect each other, especially the others’ holy sites,” Abunassar said.

Similar incidents of hate crimes against religious buildings in Jerusalem have occurred in recent years, including graffiti of Hitler’s face and Nazi slogans spray painted on a Tel Aviv synagogue and other buildings in January. In February, a Jewish man was arrested for hanging a pig’s foot at the Arad synagogue entrance.

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Minister backs Netanyahu: PA itself discusses ethnic cleansing

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that the Palestinian Authority is demanding “ethnic cleansing” and a state free of Jews continues to make waves. In Sunday’s cabinet meeting, National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) voiced his support for Netanyahu.

“It’s not the prime minister who is talking about ethnic cleansing. The prime minister’s remarks reflect what the Palestinians themselves are saying,” Steinitz said. “[The Palestinians] talk about ethnic cleansing in their own school system and speeches. Netanyahu told the truth.”

Steinitz continued that “when the Palestinians talk about being ‘cleansed’ of Jews, they don’t mean just [in] Judea and Samaria, but rather the entire country.”

On Sunday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued his first response to Netanyahu’s comments.

“Israel is the one that is ethnically cleansing the Palestinians,” Abbas said in a speech in honor of the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Abbas said that “Israel is isolated internationally, because it has no interest in moving the peace process ahead, even by one step.”

 

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Israeli UN ambassador slams media for encouraging hateful rhetoric

(JNS.org) Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon says media companies should stop facilitating hateful rhetoric, including anti-Semitism.

Danon spoke at the High-Level Forum on Anti-Semitism, which was sponsored by the U.S., Canada, Israel, and the European Union, and followed the first U.N. General Assembly meeting on anti-Semitism. Danon said 63 percent of all anti-Semitic tweets incite violence against Jewish people, but only one in 10 of these tweets are removed.

“We are living in a new era and we face a new kind of anti-Semitism. Online communities of hate spread lies about Israel and conspiracy theories about the Jews to millions around the world. All they need is a wireless connection, a Facebook account, and a deep hatred for the Jewish people,” he said, the Associated Press reported.

Danon also cited Google, which recently removed a program being used to identify and target Jews online by tagging those with seemingly Jewish names or who have expressed support for Israel on the internet.

“By the time it was shut down, it had a vast database of names,” Danon said.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power echoed Danon’s comments by calling for “more effective tools to monitor and confront anti-Semitism online and in social media.”

However, she also insisted that freedom of speech must be protected, and that “we must insist on maintaining a distinction between legitimate criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism.”

She acknowledged that “the lines between the two are often blurred.”

 

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U.S. Congress hosts conference against BDS

(JNS.org) The U.S. Congress hosted a conference on Wednesday in support of Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria and against the activities of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement on American college campuses.

The conference, attended by Jewish leaders and more than 100 lawmakers, including Congressmen Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Doug Lamborn (R-CO) and Erik Paulsen (R-MN), was organized by the Shomron Regional Council’s foreign relations office.

“BDS activities sabotage the only real example of peaceful coexistence in the Middle East. Employers in my area give work to thousands of people, both Jews and Arabs. BDS is not happy about Jews and Arabs working together,” said Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, The Algemeiner reported.

“Many would have liked to believe that anti-Semitism died after World War II, but unfortunately anti-Semitism is again rearing its ugly head in the form of BDS,” Lamborn said.

“Enough is enough,” Gohmert added. “We’re coming after your investments and what you’re doing, we’re going to hit you in your pocketbook until you stop this anti-Israel activity.”

Paulsen said Palestinians “need to realize that the key to greater freedom, autonomy, prosperity and peace is a growing economy. That can only come through a strong economic partnership and relationship with Israel. The people who are pushing the BDS movement are the exact same people who don’t want peace and stability in the region.”

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Actor Mel Gibson said to accuse Jews of ‘stealing’ his Christ movie

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Controversial actor and director Mel Gibson allegedly said that “Jewish people” stole an early copy of his 2004 movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” and used it against him before its release.

U.S. television and radio personality Glenn Beck said last Friday Gibson made the remarks in August, while the two men were having a discussion after a screening of Gibson’s new movie, “Hacksaw Ridge.”

According to Beck, Gibson said, “They [the Jews] actually went in and stole the movie.”

“The Passion of the Christ” sparked immense controversy upon its release. Many critics saw the movie, which garnered $612 million in ticket sales, as anti-Semitic, showing Jews in an unfavorable light and imposing responsibility on them for the crucifixion of Jesus.

Two years later, in 2006, Gibson again caused controversy after making anti-Semitic remarks to a Jewish police officer who had stopped him for driving while intoxicated.

As a result of his apparent anti-Semitism, Gibson’s reputation has suffered considerably in recent years.

In response to Beck’s statement, the former executive director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Abraham Foxman, disputed the claims of theft. Foxman said a Jewish religious adviser to “The Passion of the Christ” sent a version of the screenplay to the ADL, where a team of Jewish and Christian biblical scholars wrote a critique. According to Foxman, when Gibson received the critique, he “went berserk and threatened to sue us, so we returned the script.”

Hours after the story was published last Friday on Beck’s website, glennbeck.com, it was removed for revealing “details of an off-the-record conversation,” the Daily Beast reported on Thursday.

 

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Conference in Miami centers on Jewish-Latino history and relations

(JNS.org) An international conference seeking to enhance Jewish-Latino relations brought together a coalition of leading figures to emphasize shared historical roots and raise awareness about the Anousim, Latino descendants of forced converts.

“Bringing this milestone conference to Miami is just a first step in the initialization of shared Latino and Jewish heritage,” Avi Gross, academic director of the Institute for Sefardi and Anousim Studies, told JNS.org about the event held on Sept.7 and 8. “We are enthused about the continuation this important dialogue.”

The Reconnection 2016 conference is hosted by the Institute of Sefardi and Anousim Studies of Netanya Academic College in Netanya, Israel and co-chaired by Betty Ehrenberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress and Henry Cisneros, chairman of CityView and former Secretary of Housing in the Clinton administration.

Renowned leaders and experts slated to speak at the event included Israeli Consul General in New York Dani Dayan, Pastor Mario Bramnick, president of Hispanic Israel Leadership Coalition, Professor Sergio DellaPergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and keynote speaker Pastor John Hagee.

 

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1,500-year-old livestock stable discovered in the Negev

(JNS.org) A 1,500-year-old livestock stable from the Byzantine period was discovered by Israeli and American archaeologists in the Ein Avdat National Park in the Negev.

Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Professor Scott Bucking of DePaul University directed the joint excavation with participation from the Har HaNegev Field School.

“The identification as a stable was corroborated by an almost one meter thick layer of organic matter (donkey, sheep and goat manure) on the floor of the building,” Bucking and Erickson-Gini said in a statement.

“It seems that the place was destroyed by an earthquake that decimated the city of Ein Avdat in the early seventh century CE.”

The stable was built in one of the rock-hewn caves on the mountainside with stone basins inside that were most likely used for storing food and water for animals.

The archaeological team believes the stable, divided into stone-built rooms with crosses painted on the walls, was used by monks.

 

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Palestinian elections halted due to Hamas, Fatah fighting

(JNS.org) Palestinian municipal elections scheduled for Oct. 8 have been suspended until at least December due to a legal dispute between Hamas and Fatah, Reuters reported.

This would have been the first democratic election in a decade between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and their rival, the Islamist terror group Hamas.

Based on a petition filed by Hamas, the Palestinian high court in Ramallah ruled to postpone the elections because of a dispute over party lists drawn up by Fatah and that there can be no Palestinian elections in eastern Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Authority claim eastern Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, but Israel maintains sovereignty over an undivided Jerusalem, so Palestinian elections cannot legally be held there.

“Elections can’t take place in one place and not the other,” the presiding judge said in his ruling.

“The election can’t take place in Jerusalem and its neighborhoods. Also, there are problems with the formation of courts in Gaza . . . Therefore, the court decides to stop the election.”

Fatah said they hold Hamas responsible for “foiling the election, starting with the unjustified petitions it filed,” Fatah spokesman Osama Al-Qawasmi said.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri accused the court of stopping the election to “rescue” Fatah, who they believe would overwhelmingly lose the election.

“The high court decision is politically motivated and it came in order to rescue Fatah after its lists of candidates collapsed in a number of areas,” Zuhri said.

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Five Israeli Arabs charged with attempt to form Islamic State branch

(JNS.org) Five Israeli Arabs from the Galilee were sentenced to jail for up to six years as part of a plea bargain for attempting to join the Islamic State and harm Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday.

Out of seven defendants, five were indicted in the Haifa District Court for plotting to carry out terror attacks in Israel, being members of, and aiding, a banned terror group, and plotting to set up an Islamic State branch in Israel.

Israel’s Security Agency Shin Bet said that all seven, who were arrested in November and December 2014, confessed that they conspired to create a “Salafi Jihadist” group with allegiance to the Islamic State.

The number of Israeli Arabs attempting to join the Islamic State has been increasing in recent months.

 

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