Resignation would be premature, says Lieberman
(JNS.org) Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman sounded a defiant note on Thursday after Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein announced he would indict him for fraud and breach of trust. The indictment in question refers to the foreign minister’s role in allegedly promoting a diplomat who provided him with sensitive information about the police investigation against him.
Speaking at a Yisrael Beytenu campaign event on Thursday, Lieberman said he would not resign as minister or leave the Knesset unless Weinstein issues a binding directive ordering him to depart, according to Israel Hayom. Lieberman explained that his decision results from Weinstein himself not yet having offered a clear legal opinion on whether the allegations in the indictment relate to what is considered “severe crimes” (which would require him to resign as per a High Court precedent) and the fact that there was an ongoing elections campaign.
The investigation into Lieberman’s conduct has been on and off since 1998. The attorney-general’s draft indictment, issued in April of last year, was much more damning than Thursday’s final announcement, involving allegations of money laundering through shell companies, harassment of a witness and more severe charges of fraud and breach of trust.
Weinstein decided to forego prosecution on most charges due to a lack of sufficient evidence. The watered-down indictment is limited to Lieberman’s alleged actions in 2009, when he allegedly had the government promote then ambassador to Belarus, Ze’ev Ben-Aryeh, and have him appointed as Israel’s chief diplomat in Latvia. Lieberman is faulted for not disclosing that the latter had provided the minister with unauthorized information on the police investigation into his corruption case.
Members of Israel’s opposition parties are calling for Lieberman to step down.
“If he won’t quit then I call on [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to fire him immediately,” Labor Chairwoman MK Shelly Yachimovich said. “If that does not happen, then Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein needs to make the prime minister do it… Lieberman cannot be allowed to stay in office for another minute.”
In Hamas’ first West Bank rally since 2007, supporters urge rockets on Tel Aviv
(JNS.org) In a sign of its increasing clout and popularity among Palestinians, Hamas held its first West Bank rally in five years in the city of Nablus on Dec. 13.
Hamas said that about 5,000 supporters took to the streets in Nablus. According to sources, the demonstrators chanted “Hamas—you are the guns; we are the bullets,” and, “Hamas, fire more rockets on Tel Aviv,” the Associated Press reported.
Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic terror group that controls Gaza, and Fatah, the Palestinian nationalist group that controls portions of the West Bank, have been at odds with each other since Hamas violently evicted the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority (PA) from Gaza in 2007.
Since then, Palestinian Authority security forces in cooperation with Israel have repeatedly cracked down and jailed Hamas members in the West Bank.
Despite the deep animosity between the Palestinian factions, recent attempts have been made towards reconciliation. With Hamas emboldened by support from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Operation Pillar of Defense as well as the Palestinian UN upgrade championed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, the two sides appear to be warming to each other.
IDF clarifications: soldiers ‘exercise discretion,’ but act on an ‘imminent threat’
(JNS.org) Following recent incidents involving the fleeing of Israel Defense Forces soldiers from Palestinian rioters, highlighting the complex challenge Israeli soldiers face in potentially hostile and volatile environments, the IDF has issued clarifications regarding its rules of engagement.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, which obtained a copy of the new directives document, the IDF stated that while the new directives stressed the need for caution and discretion, they also clearly stated that soldiers are allowed to open fire in the event of an “imminent threat.”
More specifically, the document highlighted several scenarios such as when soldiers encounter stone throwing, Molotov cocktails, gunfire and vehicular attacks, and the clear appropriate response to each.
A senior IDF official told Yedioth Ahronoth that the IDF remains committed to using maximum restraint in order to prevent escalation.
“So far the containment and restrain policy has proven itself as preventing incidents from escalating. These orders all derive from battle ethics,” he said.
“We must exercise discretion and keep live fire as the last resort. We don’t want to shoot indiscriminately and harm innocent people and if something like that happens we immediately offer assistance.”
India may buy Iron Dome from Israel
(JNS.org) Israel may increase its cooperation with India on weapons development. Particularly, India is seeking to buy and produce the Iron Dome missile defense system, according to Defense News. Although Israel agreed to sell Iron Dome to Israel, it has hesitated to give India a license to produce the technology itself.
Israeli and Indian officials met in early December to discuss joint weapons development. Currently. Israel and India are already jointly managing medium-range and long-range ballistic missile programs, and building missiles of different types. One of these is the ground-to-ground land attack missile, whose efficiency both countries want to increase from 1,000 to 3,000 kilometers.
Officials from both countries hope to create new joint development programs, including laser-guided missiles, specialized radar surveillance units and precision-guided munitions. India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is collaborating with three Israeli companies, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Elta and Rafael. It is still unknown if the two countries finalized an agreement regarding any of these projects.
Amid Egyptian protests, Coptic Christians concerned for their survival
(JNS.org) Amid the recent protests over growing authoritarian and Islamic rule of the Muslim Brotherhood Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s small but resilient Coptic Christian minority feels increasingly under threat, Fox News reported.
According to U.S. Homeland Security figures, since the Arab Spring began in early 2011, the number of Egyptians seeking asylum in the U.S. has doubled. Unofficial estimates are that 100,000 Egyptians have sought refuge, many of them believed to be Coptic Christians.
“At the beginning, people thought that this revolution was very good, Muslims [and] Christians coming together,” said Coptic Christian Bishop Serapion. “But it turned in to be[ing] dominated by the systemic Salafis.”
The Salafis are an ultraconservative branch of Islam that is related to Wahhabism from Saudi Arabia. Many Salafis call for the replacement of secular or moderate forms of Islamic government with their hardline fundamentalist interpretations. The Salafi Al-Nour Party placed second behind the Muslim Brotherhood in parliamentary elections last year.
“After that it was very clear,” said Bishop Serapion. “We are moving toward an Islamic government.”
Today, many of Egypt’s liberals and Christians have taken to the streets to protest Morsi. Many are concerned that Morsi will enact a constitution that will roll back democracy and protections for minorities.
Still, Coptics remain resilient; Coptic Christianity is one of the oldest forms of Christianity and has survived numerous persecutions in the past. According to tradition, their church was established by one of Jesus’s apostles, Saint Mark, in 42 CE. It constituted a majority of Egypt’s population until the Middle Ages. Today, it comprises nearly 10 percent of Egypt’s 83 million people, making it the largest single Christian community remaining in the Middle East.
“How long will the Egyptian Orthodoxy continue?” asked Professor Dyron Daughrity, of Pepperdine University. “We don’t know. A lot of it has to do with politics,” Daughrity said.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org