Israeli Arab who helped Syrian rebels sentenced
(JNS.org) The Israeli government on Monday sentenced an Arab-Israeli man who joined Syrian rebels fighting against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to 30 months in prison. Israeli authorities accused Hikmat Massarwa of receiving small-arms training from radical Islamists in Syria, where he was also asked to carry out a suicide attack against Israel.
Although Massarwa reportedly declined to engage in the attack against Israel, he did admit Monday that he had unlawfully traveled to Syria, a hostile state, and that his actions there “had potential to threaten the security of the state of Israel.” In return, Israel dropped the count of illicit military training against him.
Had the original charge not been dropped, Massarwa could have faced up to 15 years in an Israeli prison if convicted. “The prosecution were definitely looking for a deterrent effect here, and they got it, even though they scaled down the penalty,” Massarwa’s lawyer, Helal Jaber, told Reuters.
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Holocaust survivors to receive compensation from Hungary
(JNS.org) Hungary will resume compensation to Holocaust survivors after settling a dispute with the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), ending a year-long freeze on payments. About 600,000 Hungarian Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
The Hungarian government had signed a five-year agreement with the Claims Conference in 2007 to distribute $21 million to Holocaust survivors, but then accused the Claims Conference of improper calculations. The Claims Conference denied that accusation. The parties have now agreed to bring in an independent international auditing firm to monitor all accounting.
“Holocaust survivors of Hungarian origin living abroad will be able to receive as soon as possible the compensation to which they are entitled… In order to now faster disburse restitution monies, the government will transfer $5.6 million within three days,” said Janos Lazar, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, according to AFP.
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Israeli Christian woman defends allegiance to Jewish state
(JNS.org) A young Israeli-Arab Christian woman, Rajada Jaraisi, has taken to social media to speak out in support of Israel and the right to enlist the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Jaraisi’s statement on Facebook comes amid tension within the Israeli-Arab community over military service. Recently, Greek Orthodox cleric Father Gabriel Nadaf was allegedly threatened by Arab members of the Israeli Knesset for encouraging Arab Christian youths to enlist in the IDF. Israel’s attorney general has launched an investigation into the incident, Israel Hayom reported.
In an open letter to Arab MK Hanin Zoabi posted on her Facebook account, Jaraisi said that Zoabi does not speak for her or for other Israeli Christians.
“I am an Arabic-speaking Christian, but I am not an Arab. I ask, with all due respect, that you not say in the name of the Christians that ‘we are Palestinians.’ Hear me, we are not Palestinians and we don’t care about them. We are Israeli Christians, covered in blue and white in our hearts and souls,” Jaraisi wrote, according to a translation provided by The Jewish Press.
Jaraisi added, “If you object to the Christians enlisting in the IDF, please permit me to answer you that neither you, nor [MK Basel] Ghattas will build our future here and give us the same rights as our state, the State of Israel, is giving us… We simply love blue and white. And we as Christians will enlist in the IDF and will serve the state.”
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Women of the Wall group encounters protestors
(JNS.org) Between 5,000 and 7,000 ultra-Orthodox seminary girls turned out to at the Western Wall on Monday morning to counter and prevent the monthly prayer session of the controversial prayer-rights activist group Women of the Wall.
Approximately 250-300 people showed up to participate in Monday’s prayer service of Women of the Wall, which seeks egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall, as opposed to the current gender separation at the site. The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism political party organized the appearance of the seminary girls, the Jerusalem Post reported. Meanwhile, a smaller group of about 1,000 ultra-Orthodox men stood nearby, shouting insults at the women’s group.
According to the Associated Press, the Women of the Wall accused the Israeli police of cooperating with the Orthodox protesters. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld denied the allegation and said the police were protecting the women’s group. The police arrested three Orthodox male protestors for public disturbance.
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Hezbollah asks Iran to send more fighters to Syria
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Pressure from stalwart Lebanese opponents of Hezbollah’s increasing involvement in Syria has prompted the terrorist organization to send a delegation to Iran to ask the Islamic Republic to shoulder more of the burden in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Sunday.
Mounting casualties among Hezbollah fighters in Syria has led some of the organization’s Lebanese supporters to petition its leaders to scale back its involvement in the Syrian conflict, the Saudi paper reported. Saudi Arabia supports the more Sunni-extremist Islamic elements fighting to topple Assad’s regime, elements that are also directly confronting Hezbollah’s Shiite fighters in Syria.
An anonymous source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the increasing numbers of Hezbollah men killed in Syria has raised concerns among the Lebanese Shiites, prompting some of them, particularly reasidents of Ba’albek, to visit Hezbollah Shura member Mohamed Yazbek and demand a halt on deployments of their men to Syria.
Ba’albek residents also stressed that their children had fought Israel in 2006 and other wars “in response to the call for resistance against Israel,” the source said.
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Poll: 71 percent of Israelis say apology to Erdogan unjustified
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Seventy-one percent of Israelis believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apology to his Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the May 2010 Gaza flotilla incident was unjustified, a new poll revealed.
The poll, commissioned by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and conducted over the phone from June 16-19, found that 85 percent of Israelis say their chances of going on vacation to Turkey in the near future are very low. Only 28 percent of Israelis believe that relations between Israel and Turkey under Erdogan will improve in the near future, while 42 percent think relations will stay the same and 30 percent believe they will deteriorate further.
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Israel casts its eyes on violent Sinai region amid Egypt turmoil
(JNS.org) Israel should do all it can to help the new secular government in Egypt beat the Muslim Brotherhood, even if that means amending the Military Annex of the Camp David peace accords to allow more Egyptian military assets into the Sinai Peninsula, the former director of the Israeli Counter-Terrorism Bureau in the Prime Minister’s Office Brig. Gen. (Res.) Nitzan Nuriel told Army Radio on Sunday.
A new Islamist terrorist group in the Sinai calling itself Ansar al-Shariah announced its formation on Friday, Israel Hayom reported. The group, in a statement posted on an online forum for terrorists, said it would gather arms and start training its members.
Israeli Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman (Likud-Beytenu) warned over the weekend that jihadists in the Sinai are taking advantage of the current turmoil in Egypt to stage attacks on Israel. The Sinai-based Sunni terrorist group Jamaat Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis took responsibility for a rocket attack on Eilat last Thursday.
“What is transpiring in Egypt should in no doubt be worrying us,” he said. “This is our largest neighboring country, the first one we signed a peace agreement with, and clearly instability over there carries implications for the entire region.”
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Girls on PA TV call Jews ‘barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs’
(JNS.org) Two young sisters demonized Israel and the Jewish people in a poem they recited on Palestinian Authority TV (PA TV), with one of the girls calling Jews “barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs,” Palestinian Media Watch reported in its July 7 bulletin.
On the PA TV program “Palestine This Morning” July 3, one of the girls said of Jews, “Oh, you who were brought up on spilling blood; you have been condemned to humiliation and hardship. Oh Sons of Zion, oh most evil among creations; oh barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs.”
The other girl advocated for armed violence against Israel in the name of Islam, saying about Jerusalem, “As long as my heart is my Quran and my city; As long as I have my arm and my stones; As long as I am free and do not barter my cause; I will not fear your throngs; I will not fear the rifle.”
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Israeli cabinet approves ‘historic’ equal service bill
(JNS.org) A bill requiring eligible ultra-Orthodox men to report for military duty or civilian service in Israel was approved in a 14-4 vote by the Israeli cabinet on Sunday.
The bill, proposed by a committee headed by Israeli Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri, states that starting in 2017, all eligible haredi men over the age of 18 will be expected to report at the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) induction centers for enlistment, excluding 1,800 students who will be granted exemptions. The proposal allows for a three-year deferment of service, after which each individual will have to decide whether they wish to serve in the IDF or a civilian program.
“After 65 years, we are righting the wrong of inequality in sharing the burden,” Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid said Sunday, Israel Hayom reported. “It is for the good of the haredi community and for the good of Israeli society. There will be true equality after this cabinet meeting. This is a historic day.”
Israeli Arabs were excluded from the proposed bill’s requirements.
“I attach a great deal of importance to involving [haredim] and Israel’s Arab citizens in sharing the national burden, and the current proposal does address the issue, but I feel that it isn’t complete yet,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “We will have to continue dealing with the matter.”
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Omri Casspi agrees to terms with Houston Rockets
(JNS.org) Omri Casspi, the first Israeli-born player in National Basketball Association (NBA) history, has agreed to terms on a two-year, $2 million contract with the Houston Rockets, who will be his third NBA team, the Houston Chronicle reported.
A 6-foot-9 forward whose four NBA seasons have been split between the Sacramento Kings and Cleveland Cavaliers, Casspi averaged career-lows of 4.0 points and 2.7 rebounds per game last season for the Cavaliers. His best season came as a rookie in 2009-10, when he averaged 10.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game for the Kings.
Casspi will be joined in the state of Texas next season by the second Israel-born player in NBA history, 6-foot-3 Israeli point guard Gal Mekel, who reportedly agreed to a three-year contract with the Dallas Mavericks last week.
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Michael Oren, Israeli ambassador to U.S., stepping down this fall
(JNS.org) Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. since July 2009, announced on Friday that he plans to step down from the position this fall.
“Israel and the United States have always enjoyed a special relationship and, throughout these years of challenge, I was privileged to take part in forging even firmer bonds,” Oren said in a statement on his Facebook page.
Oren, who grew up in New Jersey, is Israel’s first American-born ambassador to the U.S., and his replacement could be the second. In late June, Army Radio reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would appoint his close aide Ron Dermer, a native of Miami Beach, Fla., as Oren’s successor.
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Interior minister: ‘Further evidence’ that Hezbollah was behind Burgas bombing
(JNS.org) Tsvetlin Yovchev, the new interior minister of Bulgaria, said “further evidence had been added” to an investigation implicating Hezbollah in the July 2012 bus bombing in Burgas (Sarafovo) that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian driver.
There has been “no change” in Bulgaria’s view—as expressed by former interior minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov—that there is a “justified assumption” that Hezbollah was behind the Burgas bombing, Yovchev said July 4.
“There is no change in the Bulgarian position regarding the terrorist act in Sarafovo,” Yovchev said. “I am familiar with all the facts and the investigation conclusions up to this moment. My expert opinion is that the assessment and the statement that followed are correct. I support them.”
In June, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin appeared to backtrack from Bulgaria’s investigation into the Burgas bombing that implicated Hezbollah, saying there was only an “indication” that Hezbollah was behind the attack. But Vigenin went on to clarify his remarks, telling Bulgaria’s Standart newspaper that Bulgaria had “not reconsidered its stand on Hezbollah” from the initial investigation.
American Jewish Committee Executive Director David Harris in a July 7 statement said Bulgaria, a European Union (EU) member state, “has delivered another strong and forthright indictment” of Hezbollah. Harris called on the rest of the EU to “take meaningful action to label Hezbollah a terrorist organization when they meet on July 22, and end the group’s current ability to fundraise and recruit in Europe.”
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After Morsi ouster, is Hamas next?
(JNS.org) In wake of the ouster of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-controlled government and President Mohamed Morsi, Fatah officials express hope that the Palestinians living in Gaza will oust Hamas from power there.
Hamas, which began as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood more than 25 years ago, is the Islamic terror organization that has controlled Gaza since its overthrow of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in 2007.
“Now it’s Gaza’s turn to get rid of the Muslim Brotherhood branch,” said one Fatah official, the Jerusalem Post reported. “The dark era of political Islam has ended. The era of hypocrisy and lies has ended and Gaza will soon witness its own revolution against Hamas.”
Another Fatah official expressed hope that this will lead to Palestinian unity.
“We hope that the historic victory of the Egyptian people’s will would help our people get rid of the destructive division and restore national unity,” Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf said in an indirect reference to Hamas’s control over the Gaza Strip, according to the Jerusalem Post.
In his statement on the events in Egypt, Fatah leader and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas did not directly mention his rivals, Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood, but instead congratulated the Egyptian people.
“In the name of the Palestinian people and its leadership I congratulate the Egyptian leadership in this transitional phase of its history,” Abbas said, according to the PA’s official news agency, Wafa.
Meanwhile, Hamas officials said that they are not worried about the fall of their fellow Islamists in Egypt, but instead fear for Egypt’s security.
“We do not fear the fall of President Mohamed Morsi,” Hamas leader Ahmad Yousef told Ma’an News Agency. “We fear the dramatic changes that could cause things to go out of hand and lead to bloodshed.”
Egypt’s Christian and Muslim leaders support roadmap for new government
(JNS.org) Egypt’s top Christian and Muslim leaders are supportive of the new roadmap announced by Egypt’s military following the removal of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of Saint Mark Diocese Pope Tawadros II and Grand Imam of al-Azhar Dr. Ahmed el-Tayyib joined secular opposition leader Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei in support of the roadmap for a new government presented by General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi, chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt’s State Information Services reported.
As protests were mounting earlier in the week, Pope Tawadros also tweeted in support of the demonstrators in Tahrir Square.
“How wonderful are the Egyptian people recovering their stolen revolution in a civilized manner with the idea of ‘rebellion’ and its great youth’s sacrifice. I pray for all the people of Egypt,” Pope Tawadros said on his official Twitter account, according to a translation provided by the Huffington Post.
Since his election as pope late last year, Tawadros has been very critical of Egypt’s former Islamist government. In April, the pope called out Morsi for failing to protect Coptic Christianity’s central church in Cairo after an attack by a street mob that led to the death of six Christians.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org