Middle East Roundup: January 3, 2017

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Jewish Home leader Bennett announces plans to annex Ma’aleh Adumim

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett announced Monday that his party is planning to draft a bill to annex the Jerusalem suburb of Ma’aleh Adumim. The community is located east of Jerusalem, beyond the 1967 lines.

Bennett’s announcement coincided with a Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting about the application of Israeli sovereignty to Ma’aleh Adumim.

“Today, we are moving forward to Ma’aleh Adumim, and then to the remaining swathes of our land,” Bennett declared.

Left-wing Israeli political leaders came out strongly against the proposal. Member of Knesset Michal Rozin (Meretz) said, “You are declaring war against the Palestinians and the world. The Bennett government is carrying out the Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) vision and destroying the future of the country.”
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Netanyahu questioned by investigators over illicit gifts allegations

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel Police Major Crimes Unit investigators arrived at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem Monday evening to question Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for three hours over allegations that he received illicit benefits from two businessmen.

“Police investigators questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under caution Monday on suspicion of receiving alleged illicit benefits,” an official police statement said. “We cannot release further details at this time.”

Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit also commented on the investigation Monday.

“The review comprised several cases, reviewed successively as a single unit,” he said. “This review included numerous operations, including deposing dozens of witnesses, some overseas, some of whom were deposed several times, and the seizure of relevant documents.”

Prior to his questioning by police, Netanyahu said Monday, “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Nothing will come of this because there is nothing to find.”
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Soldier with cerebral palsy joins IDF in Israeli military’s latest inclusion achievement

(JNS.org) Omer Lahat, who has cerebral palsy, recently joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), becoming the latest example of the Israeli military’s prioritization of the inclusion of people with disabilities.

Oxygen was cut off from Lahat’s brain when he was born two months early, leading to his development of cerebral palsy. But physical limitations did not hold him back from attending high school and graduating with honors, after which point he pursued his dream to serve in the IDF through the “Special in Uniform” program—a partnership between the IDF, the Israeli Ministry of Social Services and the Jewish National Fund that works to integrate youths with disabilities into regular units in the military and ultimately into Israeli society. Lahat was the program’s first-ever wheelchair-bound participant.

After first integrating into the Palmachim Air Base, Lahat enlisted as a full IDF soldier in late December following a Special in Uniform letter-writing campaign that made the case for his military service to various IDF officials. To date, Special in Uniform has facilitated the voluntary enlistment of about 50 Israeli soldiers with autism and other disabilities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a Dec. 29 graduation ceremony for an Israeli Air Force pilots’ course, underscored the IDF’s spirit of inclusion.

“A strong nation is one that does not leave its most vulnerable members behind,” Netanyahu said. “Israel is the only nation in the world that has a strong army with the ability to include people with disabilities.”

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Israeli-Arab woman among 39 killed in Istanbul nightclub attack

(JNS.org) Lian Zaher Hassan, a 19-year-old Israeli woman from the predominantly Arab city of Tira, was among the 39 people killed in the New Year’s Eve massing shooting attack in an Istanbul nightclub.

The Islamic State terror group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying through the Aamaq news agency, “In continuation of the blessed operations that Islamic State is conducting against the servant of the cross, Turkey, a heroic soldier of the caliphate struck the most famous nightclub where Christians were celebrating their pagan feast.”

Israel’s Interior Ministry and the Israeli ZAKA volunteer emergency response group worked to return the Arab teenager’s remains to Israel for a proper burial.

“ZAKA is an international humanitarian organization that honors the dead, regardless of religion, race or gender,” ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav said in a statement.

Hassan “was killed in a horrific attack and the state is duty-bound to lend its support and bring her body to Israel,” said Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri.

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Israel issues new policy against returning Hamas terrorists’ bodies

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel’s diplomatic-security cabinet ruled Sunday that the bodies of Hamas terrorists will no longer be returned to their families for burial. Instead, the bodies will be buried in a special cemetery for enemy combatants.

Under the new policy, the bodies could be exhumed and handed back for burial if Hamas proves willing to strike deals. The policy change came as a result of a meeting to formulate ways to pressure Hamas to return the dead bodies of two Israeli soldiers and two live citizens being held captive by the terrorist group.

Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin were killed in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Ethiopian Israeli Avera Mengistu and Bedouin Israeli Hisham al-Sayed, both suffering from mental health issues, crossed into Gaza willingly in 2014 and 2015 and were captured by Hamas.

“For two years and five months, nothing has been done to secure the return of Oron and Hadar. The prime minister is responsible for turning his words into actions,” the Goldin family said in a statement.

The Shaul family similarly said, “As far as we’re concerned nothing has changed, and we’re waiting for the prime minister to show leadership and take action to bring Oron home.”

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Report: Trump team wants Netanyahu to become first Israeli PM to attend inauguration

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers would like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attend his inauguration Jan. 20, the New York Post reported Saturday.

According to a source close to the transition team, the advisers are also exploring the possibility of arranging “a meeting of the two leaders before then.”

If Netanyahu accepts the invitation, he would become the first sitting Israeli prime minister to attend a presidential inauguration.

According to the report, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and other transition team officials “have been aggressively courting Netanyahu and want him to attend the Jan. 20 festivities.”

“There’s a plan for Trump to meet with Netanyahu,” the source said. “They’re talking all the time. And Netanyahu is talking about possibly going to the inauguration.”

Sources close to Netanyahu said Sunday that the prime minister currently has no plans to attend the inauguration.
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Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport sees 11% rise in passenger traffic in 2016

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Business boomed for Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport in 2016, with 17,387,971 passengers making their way through the airport on flights last year—an increase of 11 percent, or 1.6 million passengers, from 2015.

At the same time, Eilat’s Ovda Airport reported a 97.8-percent increase in passengers in 2016, after the airport was exempted from landing fees while construction continues on Israel’s new Ramon Airport, scheduled to open in 2017.

Since Israel signed the Open Skies agreement with the European Union in 2012, which has brought more flights to and from European countries at reduced prices, traffic at Ben Gurion Airport has increased by around 50 percent. Passengers to and from six countries have led the growth at Ben Gurion: Turkey with 1.6 million passengers, on mostly connecting flights; the U.S. with 1.45 million passengers; Germany with 1.23 million passengers; Italy with 1.5 million passengers; and Russia and France, each with 1 million passengers.
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Jewish umbrella group calls for canceling upcoming Paris peace conference

(JNS.org) The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is calling on French President Francois Hollande to cancel or postpone the upcoming Paris Middle East peace conference, saying it is “ill-conceived, poorly timed and damaging to prospects for peace.”

The Jewish umbrella organization representing 50 member groups also urged President Barack Obama not to participate in the Jan. 15 conference in the French capital, which Israeli officials will not attend.

“We call on leaders of all the invited countries, as well as members of the [Obama] administration and Congress to work to cancel the Paris meeting and refocus on the parties coming together for direct negotiations without preconditions,” Stephen M. Greenberg, chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman and CEO of the Conference of Presidents, said in a statement.

Greenberg and Hoenlein added that “it makes no sense” to hold such a conference when the incoming Donald Trump administration will not be there to discuss “an essential component of U.S. foreign policy with which it will be engaged.” Possible outcomes of the conference, they said, “would add further uncertainty that will harm future prospects while unnecessarily inserting a new element of instability to the region.”

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