Palestinian Authority accused of human rights abuses by Arab watchdog
(JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority (PA) and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, have been accused of inhumane practices and human rights abuses, according to a report from the UK-based Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR).
The group monitored the practices of the PA’s security forces from January until July in 2012, using testimonials from victims and their families as well as reports from local nongovernmental agencies, the Jerusalem Post reported.
AOHR accused the PA of using torture and degrading treatment of its prisoners, with 18.7 percent of a sample of 300 former detainees stating that they experienced “severe torture” and 99.7 percent claiming that they were exposed to degrading treatment.
The group calls on the international community to do more about the PA’s alleged violations.
“AOHR places complete responsibility for these human rights violations on the Palestinian President Abbas… AOHR calls for the secretary-generals of the UN, Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to put pressure in Mahmoud Abbas to stop political detention as it harms the interests of all Palestinians,” AOHR said.
The PA, which was established as an interim Palestinian government as part of the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords, is currently controlled by Abbas’s nationalist Fatah party and governs in cooperation with the Israeli military over Palestinian-majority areas of the West Bank.
Israel sees world’s 10th-fewest road deaths per kilometers driven in 2012
(JNS.org) The number of deaths in road accidents in Israel in 2012 was the lowest in 50 years, Transportation and Road Safety Minister Yisrael Katz announced on Sunday.
Since the start of the year, there were 287 deaths in road accidents in Israel, a 25 percent drop from 2011. Katz said that Israel is now 10th in the world in terms of fewest road accident deaths per kilometers driven.
In the past four years, there has been a 20 percent decrease in road accident deaths compared to the four years before that, according to Katz.
The number of road accidents has been going down even though the number of vehicles in Israel has continued to rise.
“In addition to this year’s achievement, we’ve seen a decline in accidents over the past ten years,” Katz said. “The number of accidents has fallen. The number of injuries and fatalities has fallen.”
Former foreign minister Lieberman officially indicted in corruption case
(JNS.org) Yisrael Beytenu Chairman and former Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was officially indicted on Sunday for fraud and breach of trust in the corruption case involving former Israeli Ambassador to Belarus Ze’ev Ben Aryeh, Israel Hayom repored.
The State Prosecutor’s Office filed the indictment at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court. The indictment was bolstered in such a way that makes it more likely that a conviction would include a moral turpitude designation, which could keep Lieberman out of politics for years.
Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court President Shlomit Dotan will soon decide whether the trial will be held before a single judge or a panel of three judges. Lieberman can serve as a Knesset member while on trial, but he cannot be appointed as a minister until a verdict is reached.
Upon resigning as foreign minister, Lieberman had said, “I have committed no offense but I wish to put behind me this issue, which is what remains of many years of investigation.”
Arafat’s wife admits he planned the Second Intifada
(JNS.org) Suha Arafat, the wife of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, admitted in an interview with Dubai TV that the late Palestinian leader had premeditated the Second Intifada, confirming a long-held Israeli suspicion.
“Immediately after the failure of the Camp David [negotiations], I met him in Paris upon his return… Camp David had failed, and he said to me, ‘You should remain in Paris.’ I asked him why, and he said, ‘Because I am going to start an Intifada. They want me to betray the Palestinian cause. They want me to give up on our principles, and I will not do so,’” said Suha Arafat, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
“‘I do not want Zahwah’s [Arafat’s daughter’s] friends in the future to say that Yasser Arafat abandoned the Palestinian cause and principles. I might be martyred, but I shall bequeath our historical heritage to Zahwa and to the children of Palestine,’” Suha quoted her late husband as saying.
The Second Intifada lasted approximately five years, from 2000-2005. Palestinian leaders have long held that former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount in September 2000 set off riots that led to the beginning of the violence. However, Israel maintains that Arafat had planned the uprising following his rejection of an Israeli peace offer at the U.S.-organized Camp David summit in July 2000.
Italian-Jewish Nobel Prize winner who defied anti-Semitism dies at 103
(JNS.org) Rita Levi-Montalcini, an Italian-Jewish winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine who conducted underground research in defiance of Italy’s Fascist anti-Semitism and a Nazi invasion, died Dec. 30 at the age of 103.
Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno, who announced her death in a statement, called it a great loss “for all of humanity.”
Born in Turin, Italy in 1909 to a Jewish family, Levi-Montalcini pursued an interest in medicine over the objections of her father. Later, after Italy’s National Fascist Party passed a series of anti-Semitic laws in 1938 barring her from an official academic career, she created a lab in her bedroom to continue her research. After the Nazi invasion in 1943, she lived underground with her family until the allied liberation.
In 1986, along with colleague Stanley Cohen, Levi-Montalcini received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her work in discovering nerve growth factor (NGF). Her research was instrumental in helping to advance the understanding of many conditions, including tumors, developmental malformations, and senile dementia. She was the fourth member of Italy’s ancient yet small Jewish community to win the Nobel Prize.
Israel launches natural gas platform in coveted Tamar gas field
(JNS.org) Israel has launched its first major natural gas platform in the coveted Tamar gas field in the Mediterranean, raising hope of energy independence, Israel National News reported.
The platform, taller than Israel’s highest building, is located 24 miles west of the southern port city of Ashkelon and is scheduled to receive gas in April 2013.
“With faith, perseverance, and vision, we have achieved Israeli energy independence,” said a jubilant Yitzhak Tshuva, controlling shareholder of Delek Group Ltd., an Israeli energy conglomerate.
“Natural gas will not only make electricity production more efficient, cleaner, and cheaper, it is a giant step toward freeing us from dependence on foreign energy sources, especially Arab oil,” said Israeli Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau.
The Tamar gas field was Israel’s first major hydrocarbon discovery within its territory, spurring the discovery of other major fields such as Leviathan.
Located roughly 80 kilometers off the coast of Haifa in waters more than 5,600 feet deep, the Tamar field is expected to hold over 9.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. In 2010, American energy giant, Noble Energy, signed an agreement with the Delek group to develop the field.
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Muslim Brotherhood figures, Ahmadinejad utter worst anti-Semitic slurs of 2012
(JNS.org) The Simon Wiesenthal Center has released its list of the worst 10 anti-Semitic or anti-Israel slurs uttered during 2012, with the speakers predominantly from Europe and the Middle East.
Two Egyptian religious figures, Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Badie and Brotherhood-affiliated cleric Futouh Abd al-Nabi Mansour, share the list’s top spot.
“The Jews have dominated the land, spread corruption on earth, spilled the blood of believers and in their actions profaned holy places. Zionists only understand the language of force and will not relent without duress. This will happen only through holy Jihad,” Badie wrote in the Muslim Brotherhood’s moral guide.
“Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters,” Mansour said, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government were given the second spot on the list for Ahmadinejad’s comment, “It has now been some 400 years that a horrendous Zionist clan has been ruling the major world affairs.”
Also featured in the list are German Spiegel magazine online columnist Jakob Augstein, pro-fascist Greek Golden Dawn party founder Nikolaos Michaloliakos, Hungary’s radical right-wing Jobbik party (which recently called for Jews to be registered on lists as threats to national security), and Ukrainian parliament member Igor Miroshnichenko (who called Ukrainian-born American actress Mila Kunis a “zhydovka,” a slur meaning “Jewess”).
African-American Nation of Islam Louis Farrakhan is on the list for outspokenly accusing Jews of controlling the media and being the “most violent of people.” At number four, the Wiesenthal center picked “European soccer,” stating that “the most serious situation has been a resurgence of anti-Semitic chanting toward one particular team, Tottenham Hotspur, which is based in a traditionally Jewish section of London. In a recent match against rival West Ham United, sections of its fans chanted, ‘Adolf Hitler’s coming for you’ and ‘You’re getting gassed in the morning’ and [made] hissing noises like the sound of a gas chamber.”
Apple’s annual best app list picks two Israeli innovations
(JNS.org) Apple has included two Israeli-developed applications on its recently released App Store Best of 2012 list.
Any.Do, an Israeli task-management application, was chosen in the Intuitive Touch category, and GroupShot, a photo-editing application from the Israeli company Macadamia, was picked in the Photo & Video Magic category.
Any.D. lets users manage a task list with voice commands or a touchscreen. According to its iTunes store description, GroupShot lets users pick and choose parts from different photos and combine them to create the perfect shot. The full Apple list is available here (opens in iTunes).
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Preceding provided by JNS.org