Security up at French Jewish sites after blank bullets fired at synagogue near Paris
(JNS.org) France is boosting security at Jewish religious sites after blank bullets were fired on a synagogue west of Paris, Israel Hayom.
French President Francois Hollande met Oct. 7 with leaders of the country’s Jewish community, and pledged to fight extremism and anti-Semitism “with the greatest firmness.” He said that authorities will increase security at Jewish religious sites so they won’t be subject to the kind of attack that targeted a synagogue in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil on Oct. 6.
A representative of the synagogue says the building was targeted with about eight blank bullets and services were canceled. The representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity because a police investigation is under way, said no one was hurt in the incident.
The attack on the synagogue came hours after police carried out raids across France against suspected Islamist cells. According to preliminary witness statements, the shots came from a car which slowed down as it approached the synagogue, before accelerating and fleeing the scene.
“A person… heard a bang and saw flashes. They fired blanks; there were no impact signs from the bullets,” a witness told police.
Board of Jewish Communities in Val-d’Oise Chairman Moshe Cohen-Sabban told Le Parisien: “This was an act that was more against the Jewish community. This is very worrying.”
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Israel reportedly flies over Lebanon in possible response to airspace violation
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Several Israeli warplanes violated Lebanon’s airspace Oct. 7, according to Lebanese media outlets, flying over the country’s southern region and setting off sonic booms in a possible response to an Oct. 6 violation of Israeli airspace by an unmanned drone which Israel has speculated was launched by Hezbollah.
Residents in the eastern area of south Lebanon told Lebanon-based The Daily Star that Israel Air Force jets flew over their areas at a low altitude, while Lebanese security sources said the warplanes covered the entire region.
The jets, which were reportedly accompanied by several helicopters, also reached the airspace over the coastal city of Sidon, the sources said.
On Oct. 6, an Israel Air Force F-16i fighter jet shot down a foreign unmanned aerial vehicle over the Hebron Hills on after it had hovered over Israeli territory for half an hour, raising questions about who sent it and for what purpose.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson refused to comment on the origin or mission of the drone, though foreign media outlets speculated that it was shot down due to its proximity to Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona.
The UAV was identified and monitored by the army before it had crossed into Israeli territory from the Mediterranean Sea and Gaza Strip, according to the IDF spokesperson. It is believed that the drone was not launched from Gaza.
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Israeli startup gets boost from Apple’s ‘Maps’ debacle
(JNS.org) With millions of Apple users frustrated over bugs and errors associated with the release of the “Maps” feature, Apple CEO Tim Cook is encouraging them to turn to competing software such as the Israeli mapping application Waze while Apple fixes the issues.
Waze is an Israeli start up that collects map data from all its users. The users can report traffic incidents and delays that help other users find new routes or directions. It is an open source platform that is similar to Wikipedia, thereby improving as more people use the software. The recommendation from Apple’s CEO has given a huge boost to Waze.
“We saw about a 20 percent bump in downloads when [Apple’s] iOS 6 came out,” Waze CEO Noam Bardin recently told the Wall Street Journal.
Users say Apple new mapping software offers fewer details than Google Maps, lacks public transit directions and misplaces landmarks, among other problems.
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Home Depot founder slams Obama on economy in RJC ad
(JNS.org) Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus, who is also a Jewish philanthropist, said in a new advertisement released by the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) that the retailer “couldn’t get past six stores” in the current American business environment.
“I’ve created jobs in America. I ran a business. I see what’s going on today, and I’m frightened to death,” Marcus said in ad airing on television networks in the election swing states of Florida, Ohio, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
In the latest RJC aiming to sway Jewish voters against President Barack Obama, Marcus said the president “doesn’t understand the economy” and is “surrounded with college professors, economics professors” rather than enough businesspeople.
RJC said in a statement that Marcus “is in a unique position to know which policies can bring about economic growth and prosperity and how badly Pres. Obama’s policies are hurting us” because of his experience growing Home Depot “from one store to one of the largest companies in the world.”
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Preceding provided by JNS.org and reprinted with permission