IDF intelligence: Assad used lethal sarin gas against Syrian rebels
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used lethal chemical weapons, mostly sarin gas, against armed rebels several times in the past few weeks, and is continuing to do so, the head of the Israel Defense Forces Military Intelligence Research Branch, Brig. Gen. ltay Baron, said on Monday.
Baron said that photographs showing victims with foam coming out of their mouths and contracted pupils were signs that deadly gas had been used.
Speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, Baron confirmed that “to the best of its [the IDF’s] knowledge,” weapons of mass destruction had definitely been used by the Syrian regime, a development which the United States and others say they are still trying to determine.
In his briefing, Baron said the lack of an “appropriate international response” to the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons was “very worrying” and was leading Syrian Assad and his forces to believe that there were no consequences to their use of WMDs.
“It could signal to them that their use of chemical weapons is legitimate,” Baron said.
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Israeli airlines strike ends as government agrees to pay 97.5 percent of El Al’s security costs
(JNS.org) El Al Airlines and the Israeli Finance Ministry signed an agreement on Monday afternoon that ended a one-and-a-half day strike by all three Israeli airlines and prevented a wider work stoppage that would have frozen all activity at Israel’s only international aerial gateway, Ben-Gurion Airport, Israel Hayom reported.
According to the agreement, the details of which were hammered out by Finance Ministry employees and El Al representatives, the government will cover 97.5 percent of El Al’s security costs. It previously covered 80 percent of those costs. This amounts to $20 million annually, starting in the summer of 2015, when the recently approved “Open Skies” agreement between Israel and the European Union is fully implemented.
Over a five-year period, the Open Skies agreement lifts restrictions on European airlines serving Israel, thus lowering prices and increasing tourism. Opponents of the agreement, however, charged that it would result in widespread layoffs because Israeli airlines will struggle to compete with European companies.
In resolving the stirke, the Israeli government acknowledged El Al’s special needs, resulting from the airline’s heightened sensitivity to terrorist and other security threats. According to the deal, the Israeli government agreed to fund the security costs of all three Israeli airlines—El Al, Arkia, Israir—starting in 2018, an estimated 130 million shekels ($35.8 million) per year.
Over the next three years, the government agreed to inject an additional 5 million shekels ($1.3 million) annually into Israeli airlines to cover additional security costs that would result from the Open Skies agreement.
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Kerry criticized for juxtaposing victims of Boston Marathon explosions and Mavi Marmara deaths
(JNS.org) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has drawn criticism for using the victims of the Boston Marathon explosions to illustrate a point he was trying to make about the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident. A U.S. State Department official, meanwhile, has told JNS.org that Kerry “was not comparing the two events.”
Kerry, asked at a press conference in Istanbul on Sunday about a report that Turkey is “placing a base outside of Ankara to give them the capability to reach Iran if need be,” declined comment on that report and instead spoke on what he described as the importance of “moving to full diplomatic relations between [Turkey and Israel], which would be beneficial to everybody.”
“I think Turkey is working in very good faith to get there,” Kerry said regarding efforts to normalize Turkey-Israel relations following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apology to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the Mavi Marmara incident. “I know it’s an emotional issue with some people. I particularly say to the families of people who were lost in the incident we understand these tragedies completely and we sympathize with them. And nobody—I mean, I have just been through the week of Boston and I have deep feelings for what happens when you have violence and something happens and you lose people that are near and dear to you. It affects a community, it affects a country. We’re very sensitive to that.”
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.
Israel’s Deputy Minister of Defense Danny Danon reacted to Kerry’s comments by telling the Times of Israel, “It is never helpful when a moral equivalency is made confusing terrorists with their victims. As our American friends were made all too aware once again last week, the only way to deal with the evils of terrorism [is] to wage an unrelenting war against its perpetrators wherever they may be.”
Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks said in a statement, “Secretary Kerry should retract these remarks as soon as possible. It’s unconscionable to compare the loss of life resulting from an act of self-defense to the results of cold-blooded, premeditated murder by terrorists.”
A State Department official, however, said in a statement provided to JNS.org, “In light of the recent events in his hometown of Boston, Secretary Kerry was expressing his own personal connection to the impact of tragedy on a community and was not comparing the two events—only the pain caused by violence. He has long said that both Prime Minister Erdogan and Prime Minister Netanyahu deserve a great of deal credit and he welcomes the restoration of positive relations.”
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Boston rabbi organizes interfaith prayer at site of Boston Marathon explosions
(JNS.org) A Boston-area rabbi on Sunday was joined by other religious leaders in holding a makeshift interfaith prayer service at the site of the Boston Marathon explosions.
Rabbi Howard Berman of the Central Reform Temple on nearby Newbury Street in Boston led a crowd of more than 100 people in prayers and songs.
“In whatever way we sing, in whatever way we pray, may we go forth in the spirit of shalom, of wholeness, of healing, and of peace,” Berman said during the service, Boston National Public Radio affiliate WBUR reported.
The memorial spot on Boylston Street in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood has been filled with flowers, balloons, posters and pictures to honor the victims of the attack.
On Monday, a moment of silence was held throughout Boston at 2:50 p.m., one week after the Boston Marathon explosions that killed three people and injured more than 200 people.
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Abbas and senior PA officials honor Palestinian murderer
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and several of his senior officials have honored Palestinian murderer Issa Abd Rabbo over the past month, according to documentation by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).
Issa Abd Rabbo is currently serving two consecutive life sentences for the 1984 murder of two Israeli hikers, Ron Levi and Revital Seri. According to PMW, Rabbo tied the hikers up at gunpoint, put bags on their heads and shot them.
In March, Abbas sent Palestinian Secretary-General Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim to the home of Abd Rabbo in the Deheisheh refugee camp to express gratitude to his family for their “sacrifice.”
“Representing President Mahmoud Abbas… [Abd Al-Rahim] spoke with Issa’s mother and conveyed President Abbas’ and the Palestinian leadership’s greetings to her. He expressed appreciation and praised her for standing strong and for what she has sacrificed throughout 30 years of waiting, coping and patience,” Al-Rahim said, PMW reported.
Additionally, several programs on the PA-run television station PA TV have also aired special features on Abd Rabbo, including interviews with his mother.
“I am proud of my son. I’m proud like a tree that is planted in the ground and grows tall. Praise Allah, I am proud. I wish I had another 10 [sons] like him. I have no regrets. Praise Allah the Almighty,” the mother said on a PA TV program called Prisoners of Freedom, according to PMW.
The PMW report also noted that the PA pays salaries to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. There have been recent debates in the United Kingdom and Norway over funding to the PA after reports surfaced that this funding was going to Palestinians convicted of terrorism.
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Anti-Semitic graffiti found on Boston-area church
(JNS.org) Police in the Boston suburb of Sharon are investigating swastika graffiti that was found on the Victory Assembly of God church last week.
The graffiti may be related to a Jerusalem Day celebration at the church next month. Banners and posters advertising the event, which celebrates Israeli soldiers reuniting Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War, were vandalized as well.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) condemned the incident.
“An attack on any place of worship is an assault on the entire community. As a community, we must stand together in solidarity against all forms of hate and bigotry. We are confident that law enforcement is making this investigation a priority and that those responsible will be apprehended and prosecuted,” Robert Trestan, New England regional director of the ADL, said in a statement.
Trestan also said that he found the graffiti particularly upsetting due to its timing in the aftermath of the recent Boston Marathon attack.
“To wake up and find out that some one’s gone after a church—you know, it’s really disheartening. It shows us that we really have a long way to go,” Trestan told the Boston Globe.
A recent study, conducted by Tel Aviv University’s Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry, revealed that global anti-Semitism was up 30 percent in 2012. The largest rise in attacks occurred in economically troubled Europe, specifically in France, Greece, Hungary and Ukraine. But the U.S., Canada and Australia also saw a rise in attacks.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org