Poll: majority of Israelis support settlement building, believe Obama ‘unfriendly’ to Israel
(JNS.org) A new survey published in the aftermath of the United Nations Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements, which passed after the Obama administration refused to veto the measure, says that 62 percent of Israeli Jews support continued settlement building and 57 percent believe President Barack Obama was “unfriendly” to Israel during his two terms.
Ahead of the Jan. 20 start date for Donald Trump’s presidency, the Israel Democracy Institute’s latest Peace Index survey also found that 69 percent of Jewish Israelis expect Trump’s attitude toward Israel to be “friendly,” ranging from 80 percent of respondents on the political “right” to 54 percent on the “left.” Seventy-four percent of Israeli Arabs, meanwhile, believe Trump will be friendly to Israel.
Eighty-nine percent of respondents on the right said Israel should continue construction in the disputed territories, followed by 83.5 percent on the moderate right, 45 percent in the center, 21 percent on the moderate left and 15 percent on the left. Additionally, 58 percent Israeli Jews reject Secretary of State John Kerry’s assertion following the U.N. resolution’s passage that Israel “can either be Jewish or democratic—it cannot be both,” according to the poll.
*
Trump names Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner as senior adviser
(JNS.org) President-elect Donald Trump has appointed his Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as senior adviser to the president.
The 35-year-old Kushner, who is an Orthodox Jew married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who converted to Judaism, played a key role in the 2016 presidential campaign. His new position is expected to test the limits of federal anti-nepotism rules.
“Jared has been a tremendous asset and trusted adviser throughout the campaign and transition, and I am proud to have him in a key leadership role in my administration,” Trump said in a statement.
“He has been incredibly successful, in both business and now politics. He will be an invaluable member of my team as I set and execute an ambitious agenda, putting the American people first,” added Trump.
Kushner intends to resign from the management positions he currently holds, including as CEO of Kushner Companies, publisher of New York’s Observer newspaper and positions with other organizations, and will divest from a “significant number” of his assets to comply with government ethics rules, his attorney Jamie Gorelick told CNN. Additionally, Kushner will not take a salary in his new White House position.
Kushner first played a role in his father-in-law’s presidential campaign when he advised him on U.S. policy toward Israel and helped write the speech Trump delivered to the March 2016 policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobby.
*
Shurat HaDin files suit against Twitter for Islamic State attacks
(JNS.org) The Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center, a Tel Aviv-based legal rights organization, filed a lawsuit against Twitter over the social media giant’s alleged role in aiding and abetting the Islamic State terror group in attacks in Paris (November 2015) and Brussels (March 2016).
Shurat HaDin filed the lawsuit on behalf of the families of victims of the aforementioned attacks.
“This is the first lawsuit to document Twitter’s key role in the rise of ISIS to become the most feared terrorist organization in the world, and to detail how ISIS used Twitter specifically in connection with two of the worst terror attacks in Europe’s recent history,” Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat HaDin, said in a statement.
“Among social media platforms, Twitter has most brazenly refused to cut off its services to terrorists, taking the position that ‘the tweets must flow’ even if it means assisting in mass murders,” she said.
The victims described in the lawsuit include Alexander Pinczowski, 29, and his sister Sascha Pinczowski, 26, who were killed by an Islamic State suicide bomber at the Brussels Airport in March 2016, as well as Nohemi Gonzalez, 26, who was killed by Islamic State as part of the coordinated Paris terror attacks in November 2015 that killed 130 people. The victims’ families claim Islamic State uses Twitter “as a weapon of terror, including through bots, special apps and ‘hashtag highjacking’ to inflate its image, recruit members and grow into the most-feared terrorist organization in the world.”
*
Israeli security forces uncover Gaza smuggling ring that used washing machines
(JNS.org) A joint operation by Israel’s police, military and Shin Bet security agency uncovered a network of Palestinian smugglers who were using common household devices to smuggle goods into the Gaza Strip that were destined for the Hamas terror group.
According to the Shin Bet, the smuggling network brought in hundreds of cameras placed inside of washing machines, televisions and refrigerators to the Gaza Strip from the West Bank via the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza. In addition to cameras, other goods such as model airplanes and communication cables were smuggled in.
Two of the suspected members of the network—Nofal Abu Siriya, a merchant from Gaza, and Nader Massalma, a merchant from the West Bank—were arrested.
*
Netanyahu vows to follow US Congress’s effort to repeal or change UN resolution
(JNS.org) Less than a week before the Jan. 15 Mideast peace conference convenes in Paris, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to follow the U.S. Congress’s decision to act to “repeal” or change the recent United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
Netanyahu’s said at his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that his government is making a “very great effort to prevent another Security Council resolution” that harms Israeli interests.
U.S. House Resolution 11, passed in a 342-80 vote Jan. 5, condemned the U.N.’s Dec. 23 anti-settlement resolution as a “one-sided” effort that is an obstacle to peace, while also criticizing President Barack Obama’s administration for refusing to veto the resolution and abandoning the longstanding U.S. policy of defending Israel against one-sided U.N. measures. The House resolution called for the U.N. measure to be repealed.
While he welcomed the “sweeping bipartisan support in the American Congress against the anti-Israeli resolution that was adopted by the U.N. and against other similar resolutions,” Netanyahu said this was one effort “but not the only effort” Jerusalem is making to prevent “bad resolutions against Israel at the U.N.”
*
Israeli security cabinet orders IDF to raze home of Jerusalem terrorist
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel’s diplomatic-security cabinet approved several security measures in the wake of the Jerusalem truck-ramming attack that killed four Israeli soldiers and wounded at least 16 Sunday.
Israeli government ministers voted unanimously to order the Israel Defense Forces to raze terrorist Fadi al-Qanbar’s home in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber. Members of the terrorist’s family will not be able to meet with relatives who live in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and his body will not be returned to his family for burial.
Al-Qanbar—a 28-year-old father of four—had a criminal record, but had no known ties to any terrorist group, although he recently posted several pro-Islamic State comments on his Facebook page. Al-Qanbar’s cousin told Israel Hayom that the terrorist had been “very upset” by recent reports that the U.S. was considering relocating its Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, saying the move would “spark a war.”
After the deadly attack, Israeli police and the Shin Bet security agency raided al-Qanbar’s home in Jabel Mukaber and detained his wife, parents and two siblings for questioning.
*
Articles from JNS.org are sponsored by Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman of San Diego.