Erdogan says Gaza blockade must be lifted before full normalization with Israel
(JNS.org) Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Israel to compensate flotilla victims and end its blockade of Gaza before full normalization of relations can be restored.
On Friday, as U.S. President Barack Obama was about to depart Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Erdogan and apologized for Israel’s actions during the May 2010 Gaza flotilla incident, during which eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed after they attacked Israeli soldiers on board.
Erdogan had accepted Netanyahu’s apology and told the Israeli leader that he would begin working towards full restoration of ties.
But in a public address following the apology, Erdogan called on more concessions from Israel before full relations could be restored. The Turkish leader said “there will be no normalization” without financial compensation for the flotilla incident from Israel as well as the lifting of the Gaza blockade, the Associated Press reported.
“Normalization will happen the moment there is an implementation. But if there is no implementation, then I am sorry,” Erdogan said.
While Israel and Turkey enjoyed decades of close relations under Turkey’s secular rulers, Erdogan and his conservative Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) has increasingly been critical of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians since coming to power in 2003. This has included closer relations with the Gaza-based terror group Hamas.
Erdogan also said that he plans on traveling to Gaza in April.
Netanyahu listed Syria, Iran and other critical Middle East challenges as the reasons behind his apology. Israel has lifted many restrictions on Gaza since the flotilla incident, and Netanyahu told Erdogan on Friday that he would continue to lift more restrictions as long as “calm prevailed” in Gaza.
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Israel destroys Syrian army outpost after being fired upon
(JNS.org) Israel destroyed a small Syrian army post near the Golan Heights border on Sunday after Syrian gunmen fired on Israeli military patrols twice within 24 hours.
On Saturday night, Syrian gunmen fired on an Israeli jeep patrolling the Golan Heights border were fired upon. Later that night, another Israeli jeep was fired upon again, prompting an Israel response the next day.
The Israeli military fired a Spike NLOS guided missile at the Syrian post, destroying it and leaving two Syrians wounded, Israel Hayom reported.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit confirmed that, “the military returned fire at a Syrian post after an IDF patrol came under machine-gun fire.”
“The target was destroyed using precision fire,” the IDF said.
“Following the attack, the IDF returned fire, in accordance with government policy: Israel will respond immediately to any violation of Israeli sovereignty or fire from the Syrian side, identifying the source of the fire and neutralizing it. We will not allow the Syrian army, or any other element, to violate Israeli sovereignty by firing on our territory,” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said.
Despite no formal peace treaty, for several decades the border with Syria has remained relatively quiet under the reign of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez al-Assad.
While Israel has largely refrained from involvement in the now three-year-old Syrian civil war, sporadic incidents along the border have drawn a limited Israeli response. But as the war drags on, Israel fears that Islamic terror groups, who are currently fighting Assad, may turn against Israel.
“We are seeing terror organizations gaining footholds increasingly in the territory,” said Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, Israel’s military chief, at a conference last week. “For now, they are fighting Assad. Guess what? We’re next in line.”
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Arab-Israeli Christian wins top singer on Israel’s The Voice
(JNS.org) Lina Makhoul, an Arab-Israeli Christian, is the winner of the second season of the Israel version of the hit reality show The Voice Israel.
The 19-year-old from Acre, who beat out three other contestants in the final rounds, will receive a record contract and a scholarship to attend music school.
Makhoul’s performed Canadian-Jewish musician Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as her final song.
During her acceptance speech, Makhoul described overcoming racism during the competition, but also said that she had many positive reactions from the general public as well. “But the majority rules, right?” she told the audience, alluding to the fact that she won her final competition solely by public vote.
The Voice Israel is the Israeli version of the internationally syndicated reality singing competition originally launched in the Netherlands in 2010 as The Voice of Holland. The American version is hosted by Carson Daly and Christina Milian and is broadcast on NBC.
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Twitter sued again by French group over anti-Semitic tweets
(JNS.org) Twitter is again facing legal action from a group of French-Jewish students, the Union of Jewish Students (UEJF), because the U.S. social networking giant has not responded to a January French court order to hand over the identities of users who tweeted anti-Semitic messages last October with the hashtag #unbonjuif.
UEJF filed a summons Wednesday asking for $50 million in damages, which if received will go to the Shoah Memorial fund. “Twitter is playing the indifference card in not respecting the decision of January 24,” said Jonathan Hayoun, president of France’s Union of Jewish Students (UEJF), according to Yedioth Ahronoth. “In protecting the anonymity of the author of these tweets it is making itself an accomplice and offering a highway for racists and anti-Semites,” he added.
Twitter told AFP it plans to appeal the January 24 decision. “Unfortunately they are more interested in these grand gestures than in finding an adequate international procedure to obtain the requested information,” the company said in a statement.
For more on the France v. Twitter case, read: A Web of hate: European, U.S. laws clash on defining and policing online anti-Semitism.
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatens Iran destruction of Tel Aviv and Haifa
(JNS.org) Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday in a televised speech marking the Iranian New Year that if Israel attacked its nuclear facilities, Iran would “raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also said the threat of an Israeli attack is “not big enough to stand out among the Iranian nation’s enemies,” according to Reuters.
Khamenei’s remarks came as U.S. President Barack Obama visited Israel, where Obama said Thursday that America “will do what we must to prevent a nuclear Iran.” Obama in Israel added, however, that the U.S. remains focused on diplomacy and sanctions as the preferred solutions to the Iranian threat before a military option is necessary.
Talks between Iranian officials and officials from the six global powers—the U.S., France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany—will continue in April in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
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