Southern Israel hit by mortar shells
(JNS.org) Two mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip struck southern Israel on Thursday night, causing no damage or injuries, Israel Hayom reported. The incident occurred one day after rockets were fired from Sinai into the southernmost Israeli city of Eilat. The projectiles exploded in open areas in the Eshkol region. The Israeli military was checking the reports.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility from Gaza. According to reports, the early-warning system meant to alert local residents of incoming projectiles did not sound on Thursday night.
The authorities are looking into possible reasons for the failure. A report issued by the Israel Security Agency indicates that since the start of 2013, Palestinian terror organizations in Gaza have fired a total of 15 rockets into Israel. In 2012, 2,157 rockets and 175 mortar shells were fired from Gaza into Israel, most of them during the eight-day Operation Pillar of Defense in November.
Over the last month, terrorist groups in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip have fired intermittently at Israel, despite the cease-fire that ended Operation Pillar of Defense.
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Netanyahu may arm Syrian rebels
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during an interview with the BBC, did not rule out the possibility that Israel may arm moderate rebel groups in Syria. “We are very careful,” Netanyahu told the BBC interviewer. “I have said that the arming of rebels presents the question of which rebels and which arms, and it is a very complicated question for every country, including my country Israel.”
Israel has largely stayed out of the two-year long civil war in Syria. Nevertheless, Israel has defended its territory and interests. It has occasionally returned fire against Syrian elements across the Golan Heights border as well as purportedly targeting a Syrian military convoy headed to supply the terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
While arming rebels in Syria would be extremely risky for Israel, some experts believe that it would be in Israel’s interest to supply arms to moderate rebel forces. Israel may even work with Turkey, which it is trying to mend relations with, to help arm these groups. “Israel has to signal to the Muslim world that Israel joins them in the struggle against a common enemy Iran,” Moshe Maoz, a Syria expert at Hebrew University, told the Associated Press. “Maybe Netanyahu is going in that direction.”
Obama honors Marathon victims
(JNS.org) President Barack Obama, along with Massachusetts’s top political leaders and Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders, attended an interfaith service on Thursday at Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross to honor the victims of Monday’s Boston Marathon terror attack.
“This is Boston, a city with courage, compassion and strength that knows no bounds,” Obama said during a five-minute speech that also included reflections on the lives of 8-year-old Martin Richard, 29-year-old Krystle Campbell and Boston University Graduate student Lingzi Lu, the three fatalities of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Rabbi Ronne Friedman, senior rabbi at the historic Temple Israel of Boston, represented the city’s Jewish community at the service. During his sermon, Friedman spoke about the power of grief, quoting from Psalms 147:3. “Grief contributes to loss and pain, but the way to overcome is to maintain a sense of life’s goodness and purpose,” Friedman said.
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley and Governor Deval Patrick all spoke at the interfaith service, in addition to several other leaders from Boston’s various Christian denominations and from Boston’s Muslim community.
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Israel opens new industrial park in Nazareth
(JNS.org) Israel has opened a new groundbreaking industrial park in Nazareth to promote economic cooperation between the region’s diverse Jewish, Christian and Muslim citizens. Nazareth, located in the Galilee region of Israel, is an ancient city that according to Christian scriptures was the childhood home of Jesus. Modern Nazareth has a predominately Arab-Israeli population, with a sizable Arab Christian minority.
“The industrial park project is the first of its kind in the Arab sector, and is meant to create a change in the city of Nazareth and in the nearby communities and will lead the industry in the region and contribute to employment in the area and the relations between Jews and Arabs,” Israeli Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Elizer said at the park’s groundbreaking in 2010, Ynet reported.
The Nazareth Industrial Park is funded by billionaire Israeli industrialist Stef Wertheimer, who has built several successful industrial parks in Israel and even Turkey over the past few decades. Like the other parks, the Nazareth Industrial Park will be modeled on Wertheimer’s innovative Tefen Industrial Park, which is designed to bring together industrial, educational and cultural facilities all in one space to foster innovation, growth and peace. The Nazareth industrial park is expected to attract several local and international businesses to the area. The American-based international telecommunications company Amdocs will be the first firm to operate there, Israel National News reported.
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