JNS briefs: December 27, 2012

 
Hawaii’s Jewish lieutenant governor to replace senator known for pro-Israel record
(JNS.org) Brian Schatz, the Jewish lieutenant governor of Hawaii, will rise to the rank of U.S. senator to replace the late Daniel Inouye, who was known for a strong pro-Israel record.
 
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie on Wednesday announced the appointment of Schatz, a Democrat who served  in the House of Representatives from 1998-2006.
 
Inouye was praised by a number of Jewish groups when he died at age 88 on Dec. 17, including the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which said Israel “had no better friend over the past decades” than Inouye. The senator sold Israel Bonds in Hawaii in 1951, while more recently co-sponsoring resolutions condemning Hezbollah and Hamas and urging President Barack Obama to oppose the Palestinians’ unilateral declaration of statehood at the United Nations.
 
The National Jewish Democratic Council on Wednesday said it was “fully confident” that Schatz would continue Inouye’s “tremendous record of partnership with the Jewish and pro-Israel communities.” 

Vice prime minister: U.S. preparing for possible Syria intervention

 
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The U.S. is gearing up for a possible military intervention in Syria in the event that chemical weapons are used on Syrian citizens or alternately fall into the wrong hands, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister and Vice Prime Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon told Israel Radio on Thursday.
 
Ya’alon voiced conviction that it was unlikely Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s sizable chemical weapons stockpiles would be used against Israel at this time, but said, “The very discussion of the issue, and the U.S.’s need to draw red lines, points to how dangerous Assad really is.”
 
“The U.S. and others have drawn two red lines recently,” Ya’alon said.
 
“One [was] back in September, for the event that these weapons fall into hostile, irresponsible hands, perhaps Hezbollah, or other groups, possibly al-Qaida,” he said. “The other red line was drawn approximately four weeks ago on the understanding that Assad was considering and preparing and planning to use chemical weapons on his own people. That is why all the neighboring countries in the region are concerned, including Israel.”
 
“The U.S. is certainly spearheading the battle here, both diplomatically and in preparation for the possibility of intervention,” Ya’alon added. “I don’t know about deploying forces, but certainly there are different options to prevent this. Therefore, all the interested parties, including Israel, are closely monitoring the situation.” Hamas threatens suicide bombings in response to Israeli construction

(JNS.org) A senior Hamas leader has called to renew the Intifada against Israel and to resume suicide bombings in the Jewish state in response to Israeli construction beyond Israel’s pre-1967 borders (the “Green Line”), particularly in eastern Jerusalem.

The Israeli Interior Ministry’s Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee on Dec. 24 approved the construction of about 1,200 apartments in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, which is located over the Green Line.

Ahmed Halabiyeh, director of the Hamas’s Jerusalem Department, said Palestinians should resume “martyrdom operations in the heart of Israel” and “ignite a third intifada to save the Aksa Mosque and Jerusalem.” In a denial of Jerusalem’s Jewish roots, he added that Israel is “waging a fierce onslaught on Jerusalem and accelerating plans to Judaize the city geographically and demographically,” according to the Jerusalem Post.

While the Palestinian Authority has said that Israeli plans to build new housing projects in Jerusalem will impede the reaching of a two-state solution to the conflict, Hamas’s statements went further. Halabiyeh urged Arabs and Muslims to declare a state of full mobilization to “liberate Jerusalem, the Aksa Mosque and Palestine.” 

Court dismisses suit against EU body that reportedly funds anti-Israel NGOs

(JNS.org) The European Court of Human Rights threw out a lawsuit filed against the European Union (EU) that would have forced the EU to reveal how it funds various non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including ones that are reportedly anti-Israel.

Jerusalem-based nonprofit NGO Monitor filed the lawsuit nearly three years ago, arguing that the European Commission (EC)—the EU’s executive body—allegedly refused to release funding documents despite repeated requests by NGO Monitor. The European Freedom of Information law states that such information must be made freely available upon request. The EC, however, cited reasons of “public security,” “privacy” and “commercial interests” for keeping the documentation secret, Haaretz reported.

NGO Monitor researchers identified that the EC provided nearly $48 million from June 2005 until the lawsuit was filed to nongovernmental organizations working in Israel and Palestinian Authority territory, many of which, according to the nonprofit, seek to legally isolate Israel and conduct boycott campaigns against the Jewish state. After the current lawsuit was thrown out, the court also ordered NGO Monitor to pay the costs for the EC’s legal defense.

Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor and a political science professor at Bar Ilan University, condemned the human rights court’s decision, stating that “for over 10 years the EU has been keeping the information regarding funding of NGOs in complete secrecy.”

“[The EC’s] explanation is public security and commercial interests,” Steinberg said, according to Haaretz. “My conclusion is that they have something to hide. In addition to a violation of basic principles of government transparency, the secret funding is trying to manipulate the democratic process in Israel. We will continue to seek the relevant documents in order to provide the missing transparency.”   

Israeli government asks Sharansky to review Western Wall gender policies

(JNS.org) In light of growing concern within the progressive Jewish community in the U.S. over gender segregation at the Western Wall, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Natan Sharansky, chairman of the executive for the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), to study the issue and suggest ways to make the site more accommodating to all Jews.

“During our conversation, the Prime Minister stressed that the Kotel must remain a source of Jewish unity, rather than of division,” Sharansky wrote in a letter to friends, which was provided by JAFI.

The movement to increase religious pluralism at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, has been pioneered by the group Women of the Wall.

In 2003, the Israeli Supreme Court ruling allowed for gender separation at the Western Wall and prohibited woman from carrying the Torah or wearing prayer shawls there.

“It’s a good thing that after 24 years the highest echelons in Israel are actually paying attention to this rift that is breaking diaspora Jews from Israel,” said Anat Hoffman, chairwoman of the Women of the Wall.  

The tension between the progressive Jewish groups and Israeli authorities that oversee the Western Wall plaza also highlights a larger schism between the American and Israeli Jewish communities. In Israel, all Jewish religious life is governed by the Orthodox rabbinate, including life cycle events like marriage and death. While there have been calls to ease Orthodox control, there has yet to be full recognition of non-Orthodox streams of Judaism, which dominate the American Jewish community.

Jewish group condemns latest Islamic terrorist attack against Christians in Nigeria

(JNS.org) Two terrorist attacks rocked the beleaguered Nigerian Christian community on Christmas Eve, resulting in 12 Christian deaths, Morning Star News reported.

On Christmas Eve, suspected Islamic extremists killed six Christians at the First Baptist Church in the northern Nigerian state of Borno. While in Nigeria’s Yobe state on Christmas Eve, gunmen reportedly entered the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) and killed six Christians including a pastor before setting the church building ablaze.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) has condemned the latest assault against Christians in Nigeria.

“The bestiality of this latest assault, regrettably, is not new, but clearly the need to protect Christians in Nigeria demands urgent action,” said American Jewish Committee (AJC) Executive Director David Harris in a press release.

Terrorist attacks against Christian targets have intensified since a 2011 Christmas attack on a church that left 39 worshipers dead. While no group has claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, the Salafist Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has been behind a number of these attacks.

Religious conflict between the mainly Christian south and Muslim north has raged in Nigeria for decades. Boko Haram calls for the formation of a “pure Islamic state” governed by sharia law and have attacked Christian targets, government offices and moderate Muslims repeatedly since its formation in 2001, according to the U.S. Institute of Peace.  

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