Gruesome video reveals fate of Syrian Catholic priest
(JNS.org) A new video has emerged that possibly reveals the fate of Syrian Catholic Priest Francois Murad, who was reportedly killed last week by Islamic terrorists.
Last week, the Vatican’s official news agency reported that Syrian Priest Francois Murad, 49, was killed in Gassanieh in northern Syria on June 23. According to the report, the monastery where Father Murad had taken refuge was attacked by Islamic terrorists linked to the jihadi terror group Jabhat al-Nusra. At the time, the Vatican said that the “circumstances of the death are not fully understood.”
On June 28, Catholic Online posted an extremely graphic and gruesome video from Livelink.com showing Syrian terrorists beheading Father Murad in field surrounded by onlookers who were chanting “Allahu akbar.”
Catholic Online also reported that the Vatican “is confirming the death by beheading of Franciscan Father, Francois Murad, who was martyred by Syrian jihadists on June 23.”
Late last year the United States blacklisted Jabhat al-Nusra for its affiliation with al-Qaeda.
According to the Syrian Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo, Father Murad had expressed fear of his situation in Syria to him.
“The whole story of Christians in the Middle East is marked and made fruitful by the blood of the martyrs of many persecutions. Lately, father Murad sent me some messages that clearly showed how conscious he was of living in a dangerous situation, and offered his life for peace in Syria and around the world,” Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo, titular of the Syrian Catholic archeparchy in Hassaké-Nisibis, said in a statement, according to the Vatican.
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Yeshiva University Chancellor Rabbi Norman Lamm retires
(JNS.org) Yeshiva University (YU) Chancellor Rabbi Norman Lamm, 85, has retired from his position at the university.
The rabbi’s retirement comes several months after The Forward reported on allegations of sexual abuse against two rabbis at Yeshiva University’s High School for Boys that occurred under his watch as President of YU during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
“While I have yet to reach my father’s age, at this moment of transition in accordance with an agreement reached three years ago—as I step down from my positions as Chancellor of Yeshiva University and Rosh Hayeshivah, ending over 60 years of official affiliation with my beloved Yeshiva University as student, faculty member, Rosh Hayeshivah, President, and Chancellor,” Lamm said in a statement.
Lamm indicated in an interview last December that he knew of some of the allegations and chose to deal with them privately. In his resignation letter, Lamm expressed regret over his handling of the sexual abuse allegations.
“At the time that inappropriate actions by individuals at Yeshiva were brought to my attention, I acted in a way that I thought was correct, but which now seems ill conceived,” Lamm said.
“True character requires of me the courage to admit that, despite my best intentions then, I now recognize that I was wrong,” he added.
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Kerry disappointed in Abbas after latest trip, Israeli official says
(JNS.org) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is disappointed in the conduct of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a senior Israeli diplomatic official said on Sunday after Kerry departed Israel following his latest attempt to renew Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Before taking off from Ben-Gurion International Airport, Kerry promised to return soon and announced that two of his aides would remain in Israel to work on bridging remaining differences that are preventing the resumption of negotiations.
A senior Israeli diplomatic official said, “Most of the American pressure is directed at [Abbas] right now,” Israel Hayom reported.
Kerry, on his fifth trip to Israel since becoming Secretary of State in February, did not succeed in arranging a meeting between Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Abbas “presented to Kerry three conditions for the renewal of negotiations: the complete cessation of construction in Judea and Samaria, the release of all security prisoners who were arrested before the Oslo Accords and that talks on borders be based on the 1967 lines,” the Israeli official said. “All of these… are not acceptable to Netanyahu as conditions for the renewal of talks.”
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Egyptians protesting Morsi accuse U.S. government of supporting Islamists
(JNS.org) While protests against President Mohamed Morsi rock Egypt, members of the country’s secular and Christian opposition factions are accusing the U.S. government of supporting Mohamed Morsi’s Islamist government at their expense, Al-Ahram reported.
Comments made earlier in June by U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson sparked an atypical anti-American reaction from the Egyptian opposition.
“Some say that street action will produce better results than elections,” Patterson said, according to the Wall Street Journal. “To be honest, my government and I are deeply skeptical. More violence on the streets will do little more than add new names to the lists of martyrs. Instead, I recommend Egyptians get organized.”
“She is an evil lady who is creating divisions. How is this any of her business?” George Ishaq, a prominent Egyptian Christian activist, said of Patterson on a popular talk show following her comments.
Coptic Christian leaders in the U.S. also criticized the Obama administration’s handling of Egypt.
“America could be on the wrong side of history by its continued support for a fascistic regime that is rejected by the Egyptian people,” Adel Guindy, president of Coptic Solidarity, said at the group’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., according to a press statement.
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Anti-Morsi protests engulf Egypt, American Jewish student killed
(JNS.org) Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians gathered around Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Sunday to urge Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to step down on the one-year anniversary of the start of his rule.
“It’s the same politics as Mubarak but we are in a worse situation,” said Sameh al-Masri, one of the organizers on the main stage of Sunday’s protest, Al-Jazeera reported. “Poverty is increasing, inflation is increasing. It’s much worse than Mubarak.”
The protests—part of an anti-Morsi campaign started last month known as Tamarod, which has gathered more than 22 million signatures on a petition calling for Morsi’s resignation—began in Alexandria on Friday afternoon and then spread to other cities around Egypt. Several of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Freedom and Justice Party’s headquarters were torched by protestors, the Egypt Independent reported.
Pro-Morsi Islamists also held counter-protests. Security officials fear that clashes between pro-Morsi and anti-Morsi groups could grow more violent, forcing the military to step in to restore law and order as it did during the February 2011 revolt against former President Hosni Mubarak.
Andrew Pochter, a 21-year-old American Jewish student from Kenyon College in Ohio, was randomly stabbed to death during protests in Alexandria on Friday, his family said in a statement, according to Israel Hayom.
Pochter was in Egypt as part of the non-profit organization Amideast because he “cared profoundly about the Middle East, and he planned to live and work there in the pursuit of peace and understanding,” his family’s statement said.
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Israel receives shipment of new C-130J ‘super’ Hercules transport aircraft
(JNS.org) The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has ceremoniously received its first shipment of the new Lockheed Martin C-130J “super” Hercules transport aircraft.
In a ceremony last week at Lockheed Martin’s production facility in the U.S., the first of three aircrafts were handed over to the Israelis, who named the aircraft “Shimshon,” the Hebrew name of the biblical figure Samson, whose mother predicted he would be as bright and strong as the sun.
Israel previously operated an older version of the C-130 since 1971. The new aircraft will extend Israel’s long-range capabilities, allowing it to transport more soldiers, lift greater loads, and fly farther than the older version.
“Israel’s new C-130J builds on the tradition of its predecessors and offers the IAF unique capabilities that are not only proven, but without equal,” George Shultz, vice president and general manager for C-130 programs at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, said in a statement.
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ZOA concerned by Jewish groups’ criticism of opposition to two-state solution
(JNS.org) The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is expressing concern about the criticism leveled by two Jewish groups at opponents of a two-state solution.
In June, following comments opposing a two-state solution made by Israeli Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett and Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) called Bennett’s comments “unwelcome” and praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reprimand of Danon’s comments. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), meanwhile, said opposing a Palestinian state would “add fuel to the fire” of “anti-Israel delegitimization and boycott campaigns,” and would “have destructive effects internationally.”
The ZOA on June 26 “expressed concern and puzzlement” that AJC “condemns those who oppose creating a Palestinian state under prevailing conditions yet, at the same time, rarely condemns continuing PA incitement to hatred and murder against Jews and Israel in the PA-controlled media, mosques, schools and youth camps.”
“A search for the word ‘incitement’ on the AJC website reveals only occasional press releases over the past dozen or more years which even mention the subject; and none since 2001 in which Palestinian incitement was the headline issue,” ZOA said.
AJC Executive Director David Harris said in a statement provided to JNS.org on June 28 that AJC “has consistently supported a peace agreement that would lead to Israel, the Jewish state, and Palestine, the Palestinian state, living side-by-side in peace and security.”
“We can only hope that Secretary of State John Kerry’s urgent call for courageous leadership is heeded, and the Palestinians, missing from the peace table for the past four years, will return in good faith to hammer out the tough issues successfully with their Israeli counterparts,” Harris said. “While we are under no illusions about the challenges involved in achieving a durable accord, and ensuring compliance by the Palestinians ‘the day after,’ we believe a two-state deal is the best possible outcome to strive for.”
On June 24, ZOA said the ADL was “stifling debate” by “suppressing opposition to a Palestinian state.” ZOA also questioned why ADL criticized the recent remarks opposing a two-state solution but did not criticize January comments by then-Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon (currently the defense minister) ruling out the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. ADL did not respond to a request for comment from JNS.org.
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Major League Baseball’s Bud Selig honored by B’nai B’rith
(JNS.org) B’nai B’rith International honored Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig with the Distinguished Humanitarian Award Thursday in New York. The award recognizes efforts to help a local community or the world in a person’s personal or professional life.
Selig has led Major League Baseball for more than two decades while also supporting cancer research and environmental and educational activism. “We are not honoring the commissioner here today for his corporate achievements, we are honoring him for his deep commitment and tireless efforts that have touched millions of Americans,” B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said.
The Jewish group presented Selig with a tzedakah box and a jersey with “B’nai B’rith” emblazoned on the front.
“I am deeply humbled to accept the Distinguished Humanitarian Award from B’nai B’rith International, whose mission I have always admired and whose ideals are shared by so many of the men and women who are fortunate enough to work in the game of baseball,” Selig said.
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World War Z with Brad Pitt strikes a nerve with pro-Palestinians
(JNS.org) Palestinian supporters accuse Brad Pitt’s latest apocalyptic movie “World War Z” of pro-Israel bias by depicting Israel as the one of the few countries in the world not immediately destroyed by zombies.
The viewers point to one scene showing a horde of zombies slowed by an enormous wall built around Israel, which they say resembles the security fence separating Israel from the West Bank. “In World War Z, Israel’s apartheid wall apparently helps keep out a massive horde of zombies… not cool,” one Twitter user posted, according to Israel National News.
Other viewers, however, pointed out that Israel’s real security fence is intended to prevent Palestinian terrorists from entering Israel.
Depending on one’s interpretation of “World War Z,” the wall in the movie may actually function as a unifying force rather than a source of division. In the movie, both Jews and Muslims try to escape the zombies behind the wall.
“In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a wall is a heavily fraught symbol. But here it turns into an instrument of… peace?” arts and entertainment writer Steven Zeitchik wrote on “World War Z” for the Los Angeles Times.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org