Swedish knight completes 4,500-mile walk to Jerusalem
(JNS.org) Jorgen Nilsson, an officer in the Swedish military and a Knight Hospitalier in the Order of St. Lazarus, has arrived in Israel after a six-month journey on foot from his home in Sweden, Israel Hayom reported.
Nilsson arrived in Jerusalem on Sunday, where he was given a medal of honor on behalf of the city. He took more than 7 million steps in a walk through Denmark, Germany, France, Italy and Greece on his way to Israel, and timed his journey so that he would arrive for the start of the First International Jerusalem Symposium on Green and Accessible Pilgrimage.
The purpose of the walk, Nilsson said, was raising money for charities, increasing awareness against xenophobia, and highlighting the need for peace. “I just want a more peaceful world to live in,” he wrote on his website, “and the only thing a single person can do to achieve that is to try and talk about it. Trying to change how people talk and feel and act towards each other is my way to be a part of a solution for a safer world.”
The Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem was founded in 1098. At the time, its brothers were monks who fought wars on horseback and healed the sick. They left the Holy Land in 1291 when the Christian Kingdom collapsed and decamped to France. In the intervening 700 years, the order has transformed itself into a charitable organization focused on good works. The order recently returned to Jerusalem’s Old City, where it has spearheaded a project to make the Old City more accessible for the handicapped.
“After several hundreds of years we are now finally back to the place of the Orders origin,” Nilsson wrote. “Celebrating this is a part of Pilgrimage for Peace – Towards Jerusalem. I have chosen to walk under the colours of my Order because I feel that, both the Christian way which we cherish and the contemporary work that we do, suits this cause very well.”
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Hagel announces massive new arms deal with Israel and Arab nations
(JNS.org) U.S. Secretary of State Chuck Hagel has announced a massive new arms deal with Israel and two Arab nations, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Hagel, who is currently in Israel as part of a weeklong trip to the Middle East, said that the $10 billion arms deal sends a clear signal to Iran.
“The bottom line is that Iran is a threat, a real threat,” Hagel said, Reuters reported. “The Iranians must be prevented from developing that capacity to build a nuclear weapon and deliver it.”
The deal with Israel includes the sale of KC-135 aerial refueling planes, new missiles for fighter aircraft and V-22 Osprey transport planes.
The agreement, while boosting key Arab allies in the region, also maintains Israel’s military superiority in the region.
“This not only sustains but augments Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region,” a U.S. official told Reuters.
Hagel, who came under intense scrutiny after being nominated for Secretary of Defense over his positions on Israel and Iran and was confirmed in a historically close 58-41 Senate vote, sought to put the controversy behind him on the Middle East trip. Hagel said that there is “no daylight at all” between the U.S. and Israel on Iran and that Israel would decide for itself whether to take a pre-emptive strike on Iran. His first visit upon arrival in Israel was to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum.
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Ancient church discovered near Ark of the Covenant site
(JNS.org) Archeologists have discovered an ancient church in the ruins of the ancient biblical city of Shiloh.
The church, which dates to the fourth century C.E., is believed to have been built over the site where the Ark of the Covenant was once housed by the ancient Israelites, Israel Hayom reported.
The church was discovered by accident when archeological workers, who were digging a drainage ditch for rainwater, came across remarkably well-preserved mosaics.
Shiloh is an ancient biblical city located in the hills of Samaria that was the religious and cultural capital of Israel before Jerusalem. It is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible and also became an important center of worship during the early Christian period.
Today the area, known as Tel Shiloh, has become an important site for archeologists.
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Mavi Marmara families reject upcoming Israeli-Turkish compensation talks
(JNS.org) The families of those who were killed aboard the Mavi Marmara have said they reject the upcoming Israeli-Turkish talks over compensation and will continue their lawsuits against Israeli military commanders.
“While no steps have been taken to lift the severe restrictions or to amend the rights of the Palestinians who are oppressed, these meetings for compensation are an insult to our martyrs,” one widow told the Associated Press.
The statements by the families come as an Israeli delegation heads to Turkey to discuss compensation to the families in an attempt to normalize ties between the two countries.
The Mavi Marmara was a Turkish ship that sailed to Gaza in May 2010 in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade against Hamas. After militants attacked Israeli soldiers as they boarded, the soldiers fatally shot eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American.
In March, U.S. President Barack Obama helped broker reconciliation between Turkey and Israel, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call. But the reconciliation has been complicated by further demands by Turkey, including calls for Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza.
In addition to their demands, the families also vowed to continue their lawsuits against Israeli military commanders.
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Southern Israel hit by mortar shells a day after rockets
(JNS.org) Two mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip struck southern Israel on Thursday night, April 18, 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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Preceding provided by JNS.org