Assad vows ‘strategic revenge’ on Israel
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Syria will “give Hezbollah everything” in recognition of its support and will follow the terror group’s model of “resistance” against Israel, a Lebanese newspaper on Thursday quoted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as saying, AFP reported.
Assad’s comments, published by Al-Akhbar, reportedly came during meetings with Lebanese visitors in Damascus and appeared intended to refute any suggestion that last week’s reported Israeli airstrikes on Syrian targets would halt assistance to the Shiite group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Al-Akhbar said Lebanese visitors quoted Assad as expressing “confidence, satisfaction and great gratitude towards Hezbollah.”
Iranian-backed Hezbollah is a longtime ally of the Syrian regime and has sent fighters to battle alongside Assad’s troops, particularly in the Qusayr district of the central province of Homs. Assad said Syria would reward Hezbollah for its loyalty.
Assad said Syria could “easily” respond to Israeli airstrikes by “firing a few rockets at Israel,” but Syria instead was seeking “strategic revenge, by opening the door of resistance and turning all of Syria into a country of resistance.”
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Palestinian leadership threatens to nuke Israel
(JNS.org) Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee and Chairman of the PA Olympic Committee Jibril Rajoub, when recently asked about “the negotiations game” with Israel on Lebanese television, said, “I swear that if we had a nuke, we’d have used it this very morning,” Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported Wednesday.
Additionally, Head of the Palestinian Council for NGO Affairs Sultan Abu Al-Einein said on Palestinian television, “We salute the heroic fighter, the self-sacrificing Salam Al-Zaghal,” referring to the terrorist who recently killed 31-year-old Israeli father of five Evyatar Borovsky at a bus stop in Samaria, according to PMW. Previously, Fatah had posted pictures of the terrorist and the victim on its Facebook page with wording describing the terrorist as “the hero, the released prisoner, Salam Al-Zaghal.”
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Defendants guilty in Claims Conference fraud trial
(JNS.org) More than three years after the discovery of fraudulent activity at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (“Claims Conference”), which continued for about a decade-and-a-half and deprived Holocaust survivors of more than $57 million, former Claims Conference Director of Hardship and Article 2 Funds Semen Domnitser and two co-conspirators on Wednesday were convicted on charges of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
During the course of a prolonged investigation that began in 2009, 31 people—including 11 employees of the Claims Conference—were criminally charged and arrested in the conspiracy. Twenty-eight defendants pled guilty. U.S. v. Domnitser et al., the case against the three who pled innocent—Domnitser, Oksanna Romalis, and Luba Kramish—had started April 8 at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse in New York City. Sentencing is set for Sept. 10.
Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement Wednesday that the verdict against Domnitser, Romalis, and Kramish, which came after half-a-day of jury deliberations, means not just the three defendants were guilty, but that “all 31 people who played roles in the theft of $57 million dollars intended to benefit victims of the Nazi genocide—one of the darkest chapters in all human history—have been convicted.”
“We said we would not stop until we brought to justice those who committed these unthinkable crimes and today our objective was accomplished,” Bharara said.
The original indictment in this case said the defendants for more than a decade “knowingly approved nearly 5,000 fraudulent applications” in exchange for kickbacks. The Claims Conference, the designated administrator of reparations paid by the German government to Holocaust survivors, oversaw the $57 million in question.
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Israeli soccer star victim of anti-Semitic abuse
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli soccer star Yossi Benayoun, who currently plays for FC Chelsea in the English Premier League, was recently the victim of anti-Semitic abuse on Twitter.
After thanking his Twitter followers for sending him birthday wishes, Benayoun, who many consider to be the greatest Israeli soccer player ever, was sent the following message: “f***in Jew a**hole.”
Benayoun responded, “Some nice people in the world.” His team has called on the police to investigate the matter, according to the Britain’s Mail Online.
According to the publication, FC Chelsea said it would also investigate an incident last month reported to the club by Benayoun, in which he claimed to be the victim of anti-Semitic taunts from his own supporters when he came on as a substitute against Liverpool.
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9/11 conspiracy theorist removed from UN panel
(JNS.org) A former MI5 intelligence officer who has said that the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were orchestrated by the U.S. government “as a pretext for war and… to erode our freedom” has been removed from a June 6 United Nations panel discussion in New York.
B’nai B’rith International, a Jewish humanitarian, human rights and advocacy group, had written to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and to the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations to request that the 9/11 conspiracy theorist, Annie Machon, be removed from the panel.
In addition to her views on 9/11, Machon is known for claiming the Israeli Mossad was behind the 1994 bombing of Israel’s embassy in London. “Her outrageous and offensive views do not deserve a prominent platform—let alone in the city most scarred by the horrific events of 9/11,” B’nai B’rith said in a statement after the announcement of Machon’s removal from the program.
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Pat Robertson to headline fundraiser for Israeli hospital
(JNS.org) Prominent Christian and Jewish leaders, including famed Christian pastor and television personality Dr. Pat Robertson, are scheduled to host a fundraiser for an Israeli hospital in the Boston suburb of Sharon on May 19.
The Evangelical Victory Assembly God Church, which was the victim of recent anti-Semitic graffiti, will host the religious leaders as part of a United Jerusalem Day celebration to honor Israel, commemorate Jerusalem’s reunification in 1967, and raise funds for Jerusalem’s ALYN Hospital.
ALYN is a private, non-profit and non-sectarian facility, and the only facility in Israel which specializes in diagnosis and the rehabilitation of infants, children and adolescents who are suffering from physical disabilities, both congenital and acquired, according to its website.
“This day is going to be a bench mark for New England, I pray that every year we will have a celebration where Jews and Christians can come together and support the nation of Israel,” Pastor Joe Green of the Victory Assembly God Church said in a statement.
The event is expected to draw more than 500 people. Dr. Pat Robertson will deliver the keynote address, and Shai Bazak, Consul-General of Israel to New England, is also scheduled to speak.
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Israel and China sign $400 million trade agreement
(JNS.org) Israeli and Chinese officials signed a $400 million trade agreement during meetings on Wednesday, expanding trade between the two nations to $2.05 billion.
The agreement was signed by Israeli and Chinese finance ministers during a meeting attended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.
“This is a very important agreement for expanding bilateral cooperation. China is a vast market and if we even slightly increase our market share here it will significantly help the Israeli economy,” Netanyahu said, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Netanyahu also held a live video-chat with millions of Chinese Web surfers on Xinhuanet, China’s official news agency. Most of the questions revolved around Israel-China relations. Netanyahu told the online participants that he was “impressed by the development, progress and tremendous growth” of China since his last visit to the country, in 1998.
Israel and China first established relations in 1992. Since then trade between the two countries has rapidly expanded, with China becoming a major purchaser of Israeli high-tech, military and agricultural goods and services.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org