Hagel, amid controversial record on Israel, to be nominated for defense secretary
(JNS.org) President Barack Obama’s defense secretary nominee will be former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel, who has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike for his record on Israel, according to media reports that surfaced Sunday.
Hagel chairs the Atlantic Council think tank, which last month published a column titled “Israel’s Apartheid Policy.” In 2008, he infamously took a direct shot at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), telling former Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller in a quote that appeared in Miller’s book, The Much Too Promised Land, that “the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people” in Washington.
Reacting to reports of the Hagel nomination on Monday, the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) said that although there have been concerns about Hagel, “setting policy starts and stops” with Obama.
“While we have expressed concerns in the past, we trust that when confirmed, former Senator Chuck Hagel will follow the President’s lead of providing unrivaled support for Israel—on strategic cooperation, missile defense programs, and leading the world against Iran’s nuclear program,” NJDC said in a statement.
When Hagel was being considered for the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board appointment in 2009, Ira Forman—then the director of NJDC, and in 2012 the Obama campaign’s Jewish Outreach Director—opposed the move.
“If [Hagel] was taking a policy role, we’d have real concerns,” Forman said at the time.
NJDC also doubted Hagel’s credentials in 2007, when the senator was considering a run for president, saying he “has a lot of questions to answer about his commitment to Israel.”
Last month, when rumors of Hagel’s defense secretary nomination initially surfaced, the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) said the former senator has taken a “long list of actions” exhibiting his “failure to support Israel.” RJC pointed to a number of letters signed by most other senators, but not Hagel: an August 2006 letter asking the European Union to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization (12 senators did not sign), a November 2001 letter asking President George W. Bush not to meet Yasser Arafat until Arafat took steps to end violence against Israel (11 senators did not sign), and an October 2000 letter in support of Israel (four senators did not sign).
A letter Hagel did sign in March 2009, however, urged Obama to directly negotiate with Hamas.
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Israel to erect border fence in Golan Heights amid Syria unrest
(JNS.org) Speaking on Sunday to his cabinet on the progress of the nearly complete 140-mile-long border fence with Egypt, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will now build a fence along the border with Syria in light of the dangers emerging from there.
“We intend to erect an identical fence, with a few changes based on the actual territory, along the Golan Heights,” Netanyahu said, according to Israel Hayom. “We know that on the other side of our border with Syria today, the Syrian army has moved away, and in its place, global jihadist forces have moved in.”
“Therefore, we will defend this border against both infiltration and terrorism, just as we are successfully doing on the Sinai border,” he added.
Despite the lack of a formal peace treaty with Syria and its ties to Iran and terror groups, Israel has enjoyed a level of peace and stability from its northeastern neighbor over the past four decades. However, amid several recent spillovers of the Syrian civil war into the Golan, as well as reports of an increasing radical Islamist presence within the country’s rebel groups, Israel is deeply concerned about who might eventually replace Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
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Egyptian President Morsi in 2010: Zionists are ‘descendants of apes and pigs’
(JNS.org) In a video that was recently circulated by Egyptian media, current Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi is seen describing Zionists as “blood suckers,” “warmongers” and “descendants of apes and pigs.” Morsi made the comments when he served as the Muslim Brotherhood’s official spokesman in 2010, Ynet reported.
Morsi, in a video translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), strongly condemns the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which U.S. President Barack Obama had been attempting to renew at that time.
“These futile [Israeli-Palestinian] negotiations are a waste of time and opportunities,” he said. “The Zionists buy time and gain more opportunities as the Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims lose time and opportunities and get nothing out of it.”
He continued by slamming Zionism.
“No reasonable person can expect progress on this track,” Morsi said. “Either [you accept] the Zionists and everything they want, or else there is war. This is what the occupiers of the land of Palestine know—these blood suckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, these descendants of apes and pigs.”
Ironically, the video was used in several Egyptian media outlets to condemn Morsi and highlight his softening position on Israel. It was included with another clip that showed Egypt’s ambassador to Israel, Atef Mohamed Salem Sayed Elahl, saying “I come with a message of peace” after presenting his credentials to Israeli President Shimon Peres.
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Apple reportedly in talks to buy Israeli mapping and navigation application Waze
(JNS.org) Computer giant Apple is reportedly involved in initial talks to acquire the Israeli mapping and navigation application Waze for between $400 and $500 million.
Technology industry sources estimate that Waze is worth around $1 billion, meaning that Waze is likely to try to get Apple to increase its offer, according to Israel Hayom. If a deal is reached, it would be one of the most expensive acquisitions of an Israeli company in recent years. Neither Apple nor Waze would comment on the matter.
Until now, $67 million has been invested in Waze by Israeli funds Vertex Venture Capital and Magma Venture Partners, as well as Kleiner Perkins from Silicon Valley and Li Ka-shing’s Horizon Ventures, among others.
Apple’s own mapping and navigation app for the iOS 6 has been plagued with problems, and acquiringWaze was a possible solution suggested by Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Google’s mapping and navigation application, used by the Google-owned Android phone, is currently the most popular among smartphone users. With the Android the biggest competitor to Apple’s iPhone, Apple has been seeking to bring its own mapping application up to Google’s standard.
There are already 35 million Waze users around the world, and the application currently supports Apple’s iPhone, Android, and other phones. If the reported deal goes through, Apple would be able to add features to Waze and eventually make it part of its operating system.
A sweet story: Jews and Arabs come together to sell ice cream
(JNS.org) While Arab-Israeli political relations remain frosty, one store is managing to serve as an example of successful cooperation between the two sides while also making tasty ice cream.
Bourza (meaning “ice cream” in Arabic), owned by Jewish kibbutznik Adam Ziv and Arab Muslim Alaa Sawitat, opened in July 2012 in the historic Tarshiha shuk of Ma’alot-Tarshiha in the upper Galilee.
Known as a summertime hotspot for Lake Monfort, an artificial lake, Ma’alot-Tarshiha has a history of Arab-Jewish cooperation. The mixed city was formed in 1963 through the merger of the Arab village Tarshiha and the Jewish town of Ma’alot.
“I thought it would be amazing to build a business that is co-run by Jews and Arabs, a place where Jews and Arabs would come,” Ziv told Israel21c.
Despite their pioneering cooperation, the owners are more concerned about making delicious ice cream.
“We’re not just a novelty of being a Muslim-Jewish coexistence ice cream store,” Ziv said. “We make ice cream that people like.”
International tourists have flocked to the store to sample ice cream flavors with a Middle Eastern flair. Last summer’s big hit was hummus ice cream.
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Abbas signs decree to change PA name to ‘State of Palestine’
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has signed a presidential decree to officially change the name of the PA to “State of Palestine,” the Associated Press reported.
According to a report cited by the AP from the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, all stamps, signs and official letterhead will be changed to bear the new name.
While largely a symbolic gesture, the move does represent the first concrete steps Abbas has taken since the resolution that upgraded the Palestinians’ United Nations status to a nonmember observer state in November. Abbas and other Palestinian leaders have also threatened to file war crimes indictments against Israeli leaders at the International Criminal Court.
Meanwhile, Abbas’s Fatah party on Jan. 2 held its first rally in Gaza since Hamas ousted it from power in that area in 2007, further indicating a thaw between the Palestinian factions. More than 100,000 people turned out to celebrate the anniversary of Fatah’s founding in 1965. Last month, Hamas had held its first rally in the West Bank since its split with Fatah.
Fatah has also taken the opportunity of its 48th anniversary to broadcast messages on its Facebook and Web pages that incite hatred, glorify terrorism and envision a world without Israel. Palestinian Media Watch reported that Fatah displayed a map on its Web page showing a world without Israel, despite statements from Abbas and other Fatah officials that their party and the Palestinian Liberation Organization have both recognized the Jewish state since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
Israeli library’s manuscripts provide first physical proof of ancient Afghani Jewry
(JNS.org) The National Library of Israel of Jan. 3 introduced the “Afghan Genizah,” a group of ancient manuscripts which were rescued from Taliban caves, the Associated Press reported. The library’s recently acquired collection represents the first physical proof of a thriving Jewish community in Afghanistan.
“We’ve had many historical sources on Jewish settlements in that area,” Haggai Ben-Shammai, the library’s academic director, said. “This is the first time that we have a large collection of manuscripts that represents the culture of the Jews that lived there. Until today we had nothing of this.”
The Hebrew term “genizah” refers to the storage of writings containing the formal names of God, which under Jewish law must be properly buried rather than thrown away.
These manuscripts—written in languages including Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Persian—reveal the existence of an Afghani Jewish community 1,000 years ago. Judeo-Persian, in particular, was considered to be “the Yiddish of Persian Jews,” Ben-Shammai said. The collection contains biblical commentaries, personal letters and financial records, including the writings of 10th century Jewish philosopher Rabbi Saadia Gaon.
The Israeli library, which would not disclose how the manuscripts were discovered or how much they paid antiquities dealers for them, purchased 29 out of what is believed to hundreds of such documents.
NJDC slams addition of aid opponent Paul to Senate Foreign Relations Committee
(JNS.org) The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) is opposing the Jan. 4 appointment of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, saying the move “should be raising red flags and provoking severe concern across the pro-Israel community” due to his opposition to foreign aid.
NJDC noted in a press release that Paul “twice pushed for ending U.S. ‘welfare’ (in his words) for Israel,” adding that the senator “has been a staunch opponent of general U.S. foreign aid—which has long been supported by the pro-Israel community—and even used his leadership [political action committee] to push his anti-foreign aid agenda during the 2012 campaign.”
“The overwhelmingly pro-Israel American public deserves much better than a radical ideologue on the Senate’s primary diplomatic committee who has demonstrated a singular obsession with slashing aid to the Jewish state,” NJDC President and CEO David A. Harris said in a statement.
Rand Paul, the son of Texas congressman and 2012 presidential candidate Ron Paul, is currently visiting Israel and was therefore unable to immediately respond to a request for comment from JNS.org. Before Rand’s trip, he told the Washington Post that he was looking forward to “seeing our Judeo-Christian roots.”
Reacting to Paul’s Israel trip, Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Executive Director David Brog had said, “If Senator Paul returns from his visit and demonstrates that he has become a true friend to Israel—in both word and in deed—then Christians United for Israel will be among the first to congratulate him and welcome him ‘home.’”
Saudi police detain dozens for ‘plotting’ to celebrate Christmas
(JNS.org) Saudi religious police stormed a house in the province of al-Jouf and detained more than 41 guests for “plotting to celebrate Christmas,” according to the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar.
Reports indicate that the alleged Christmas gathering took place at the home of an Asian diplomat that included 41 Christians and two Muslims. According to the police statement, all were said to be “severely intoxicated.”
It is unclear whether or not they have been released since their arrest. Saudi religious police are known to arrest people on a “whim” for violating Sharia law, Al-Akhbar noted.
While Christians resided in what is now Saudi Arabia in antiquity and the early Islamic era, today nearly all Christians living in Saudi Arabia are western expats and foreign workers from Africa and Asia, who are prevented from obtaining citizenship. Saudi Arabia does not permit these Christians to practice their faith openly, including bringing non-Islamic religious materials such as copies of the Bible from abroad.
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