Israel considering new anti-missile strikes
(JNS.org) U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday that another round of Israeli airstrikes could target a new Russian transfer of advanced anti-ship missiles in the near future. Israeli and Western intelligence services believe the Yakhont missiles, which have been sold by Russia to Syria in recent years, could be transferred to Hezbollah within days, the newspaper reported on its website Friday.
At the same time, the New York Times reported Friday that the Yakhont missiles have already been delivered to Syria’s armed forces. Israel has repeatedly reinforced that it would not allow the transfer of “game-changing” weaponry to Islamic terror groups such as Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s last-minute trip to Russia on Tuesday reportedly did not change the Russians’ intentions to also deliver the advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Syria. Together, the S-300 and Yakhont systems would pose a formidable threat to any outside intervention in Syria. The anti-ship missiles would be a serious threat to the Israeli navy, as well as the facilities above Israel’s newfound underwater gas reserves.
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Israelis wounded on Palestinian ‘Nakba Day’
(JNS.org) Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip commemorated Nakba Day on Wednesday in a series of rallies, processions, and demonstrations throughout the Palestinian territories marking the “catastrophe” of the Arab defeat to Israel in the 1948 War of Independence.
Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli security forces near the Bitunia and Qalandiya checkpoints, north of Jerusalem, Israel Hayom reported. Four Israeli Givati Brigade soldiers were wounded Wednesday when a Molotov cocktail exploded in their patrol car near the village of Khorsa, southwest of Hebron. Six Israeli Border Police officers were wounded in protest rallies in eastern Jerusalem.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in a televised speech, “We will not give up even one inch of land from the Palestinian territories that were occupied in 1967. We will continue to fight, with determination, for an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital.”
In a first, Syrian mortars hit Mount Hermon
(JNS.org) Two mortar shells fired from inside Syria hit Mount Hermon in northern Israel on Wednesday for the first time since the onset of the civil war in Syria, Israel Hayom reported. No one was wounded and there was no damage to property.
The ski resort atop the mountain was closed to visitors for two hours. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the shelling was likely the result of errant firing.
A previously unknown armed pro-Palestinian group, however, claimed responsibility for the mortar attack, releasing a statement that it fired the two projectiles against “the Zionist enemy” in commemoration of one of the group’s fallen fighters and for Palestinian Nakba Day (the “Day of Catastrophe” marking the declaration of Israel’s independence).
According to the Palestinian Maan news agency, the Abdul Qader al-Husseini brigades on Thursday claimed responsibility for the mortar attack, posting a video online showing rockets being fired. Maan could not independently verify the video.
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Susan Rice praises Gabriela Shalev
NEW YORK—U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, honored last week with the Distinguished Public Service Award of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), praised her former Israeli counterpart, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev, in an interview with JNS.org.
“Gabby was a great friend and partner and colleague,” Rice toldJNS.org. “I miss her. We had a wonderful working relationship.”
Shalev served in the UN ambassador from 2008-10. The current Israeli ambassador to the UN—whose resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have historically called for Israel, and not the Palestinians, to take steps toward peace—is Ron Prosor.
“I am proud to represent Israel in the dysfunctional family of nations,” Prosor told the crowd of nearly 250 people at AJC’s Women’s Leadership Board luncheon, where Rice was honored.“Demonizing and delegitimizing the State of Israel and the Jewish people by lies and half-truths repeated and repeated has an effect. We have to stand up and counter it… This is the battlefield. They are going at us at our soft belly in an attempt to divide us as a Jewish family.”
Rice told the crowd of nearly 250 people at AJC’s Women’s Leadership Board luncheon that AJC “has a distinguished history fighting for human rights, democracy, the Jewish people, and the state of Israel.”
“I commend AJC and its leadership for your thoughtful approach,” Rice said. “We all understand the UN’s flaws. But AJC has also understood the importance of the UN, and of working for change with persistence, patience, and principle. That’s not the easiest path, but it is the most constructive one, and I’m grateful.”
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Jewish academic institutions launch e-fellowship
(JNS.org) Several major Jewish academic institutions have launched an inter-institutional eLearning Faculty Fellowship to promote creative ideas on the use of educational technology in Jewish higher education.
On May 7, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), and Yeshiva University (YU) started the first of five live sessions focusing on tools and strategies to improve Jewish student engagement and education. The workshops are all led by the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL) at Columbia University.
“By cultivating collaboration among faculty both within and outside their institutions, we intend to create a conversation and dialogue that will go far beyond tools and techniques. These are scholars in their fields who know how to study, how to think deeply, to reflect and to thrive within a shared community of their peers,” said Gregg Alpert, Director of eLearning at HUC-JIR.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org