Egypt’s Catholic leader says country in a ‘war against terrorism’
(JNS.org) The ongoing turmoil in Egypt “is not a political struggle, but a war against terrorism,” the head of the Catholic Church in Egypt, Bishop Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, Patriarch of Alexandria, said in a recent statement.
“With pain, but also with hope, the Catholic Church in Egypt is following what our country is experiencing: terrorist attacks, killings and the burning of churches, schools and state institutions,” Bishop Sidrak said.
The Catholic leader, echoing the country’s Coptic Christian leadership, condemned the media coverage of the events in Egypt.
“Our thanks to all Egyptian and international media that report the news and events objectively and impartially while condemning those media that promote lies and falsify the truth in order to mislead world public opinion,” he said.
Bishop Sidrak also reaffirmed his support for the Egyptian military, saying, “Our support is strong, conscious and free for all state institutions, especially the Egyptian police and armed forces, for its effort to protect the homeland.”
In a show of solidarity, Bishop Sidrak issued thanks to Muslims who “have stood by our side, as far as they could, in defending our churches and our institutions.”
Pope Francis I, head of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, also called for peace in Egypt during his Sunday address in St. Peter’s Square on Aug. 18.
“We continue to pray for peace in Egypt together, Mary Queen of Peace pray for us,” Pope Francis said.
While Coptic Orthodox Christians comprise the majority of the roughly 8.5 million Christians in Egypt, the Coptic Catholic Church has about 160,000 followers.
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Syrian civil war patients say they return to fighting after treatment in Israel
(JNS.org) Poriya, a Tiberias hospital, has joined Safed’s Ziv Medical Center as well as Israeli hospitals in the Western Galilee and in Nahariya in treating casualties of the ongoing Syrian civil war.
One Syrian patient, suffering from moderate leg injuries, arrived at the Tiberias hospital for treatment on Monday, Israel Hayom reported. So far, the hospital has treated 11 Syrians, including a 10-year-old girl.
One of the patients at Poriya, 26-year-old Mohammed, recounted the heavy fighting in Quneitra. “I have been fighting for a year and a half, and I don’t believe the war will end any time soon. When I recover, I will return to Syria and continue fighting,” he said.
Baha, another Syrian patient, said that his friends had brought him to the border after he was hurt because they had known of people who had been wounded in the fighting, and then treated in Israel, who safely returned home. According to his account, most of the patients treated in Israel resumed fighting upon their return to Syria.
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Ban Ki-moon backtracks on claim that Israel faces U.N. bias, discrimination
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon backtracked on an earlier admission that the organization that he heads is biased against Israel.
Speaking to journalists on Monday, Ban was asked by an Israel Radio reporter regarding his statements Friday about Israel in the U.N. The secretary-general at first spoke about the claims of incitement against Israel in U.N.-funded camps, saying they would be investigated and that “incitement against any group of people or any religion or tradition and disrespect against any traditions and region and people, ethnic group is unacceptable.”
When pressed about his statements regarding U.N. discrimination against Israel, Ban answered, “No, I don’t think there is discrimination against Israel at the United Nations. The Israeli government in fact, you know, raised this issue that [there is] some bias against Israel. But Israel is one of the 193 Member States, thus Israel should have equal rights and opportunities without having any bias, any discrimination. That’s a fundamental principle of the United Nations Charter and thus Israel should be fully given such rights.”
The statements directly contrast with what Ban said on Friday, when he told university students at the U.N. Headquarters in Jerusalem, “Unfortunately, because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel has been weighed down by criticism and suffered from bias and sometimes even discrimination.”
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Making it official: New olim receive identity documents in Jerusalem
By Maxine Dovere/JNS.org
JERUSALEM—Some 40 hours after landing in Israel last week, many of the new olim who arrived on the 50th flight chartered by the Nefesh B’Nefesh aliyah organization gathered in Jerusalem on Aug. 15 to claim the teudat zehut, their official Israel identity card.
Zev Gershinsky, director of government relations for Nefesh B’Nefesh, smiled widely as he helped complete the documentation for Adina Cherk’s teudat zehut. Cherk, a former Phoenix, Ariz., resident, told JNS.org she had come to Israel to attend a seminary program “to learn more to get closer to Judaism and to get closer to myself.” She described the experience of aliyah with enthusiasm, saying, “If you are going to make aliyah, do it with Nefesh B’Nefesh. They are biggest help in getting you through the whole process.”
Rabbi Arnold Fine and wife of 51 years, Debbie, came to Israel from Canada.
“We just felt it was the right time. If not now when?” Debbie told JNS.org.
Shmuel Grill—“Gimel-Reish-Yud-Lamed” he announced with pride, spelling his last name in Hebrew letter—was seen speaking with a representative of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The former Long Beach, NY, resident and future IDF soldier, asked why he had chosen to serve in the army, told JNS.org, “It’s my home, my country—because I am a Jew.”
Yale University graduate Jessie Oppenheimer’s smile was radiant as she received her teudat zehut. She is awaiting confirmation of her acceptance to a program combining medical school and army service. The 12-year contract includes a commitment of five years of national service. “Everybody tells me I’m crazy, but I’m so excited!” she told JNS.org.
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Israeli economy second-quarter growth exceeds expectations
(JNS.org) Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) announced that the Israeli economy grew at an annual rate of 5.1 percent in the second fiscal quarter of 2013, beating economists’ expectations.
Economists had projected 3-percent growth in the second quarter for Israel. This compares with just 2.7-percent growth in the first quarter and 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 for the Israeli economy.
According to the CBS, the positive report was driven by 6.7 percent growth in private consumption, 1.2 percent growth in the exports of goods and services, and 8.3 percent growth in public consumption, Globes reported.
Analysts also said that natural gas production in the Tamar gas field off the coast of Israel, which began at the end of March, might have also played a role in the higher-than-expected growth rate, Haaretz reported.
The strong growth of Israel’s economy comes despite the departure of internationally renowned economist Stanley Fischer as the head of the Bank of Israel in June. Two of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nominees to replace Fischer withdrew from consideration.
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Latin American trading moves up on the Israeli agenda
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working to improve economic ties with politically friendly Latin American countries in order to compensate for the crippled economy of Israel’s main trading continent, Europe.
The new effort to increase Latin American trading, particularly with Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico, will complement Netanyahu’s simultaneous effort to increase economic ties with China and other East Asian countries. These four Latin American countries formed the free-trade Pacific Alliance last year and account for about 36 percent of the continent’s gross domestic product (GDP). They all trade significantly with North America.
Currently in Latin America, Brazil is Israel’s main trading partner, taking in Israeli exports at about $1.1 billion per year and importing to Israel at about $400 million per year. In June, Israeli President Shimon Peres signed a free-trade agreement with Colombia.
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Ariel Castro’s Jewish lawyers pleased with deal they arranged for him
(Cleveland Jewish News/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Jewish lawyers who defended Ariel Castro, the 53-year-old former school bus driver who kept Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight captive in his house for about a decade, are pleased with the deal they arranged for Castro, they said in an exclusive interview with the Cleveland Jewish News.
On Aug. 1, Castro was sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 1,000 years, after pleading guilty to 937 counts including aggravated murder, kidnapping and rape. Lead Castro lawyer Craig Weintraub and co-counsel Jaye Schlachet say that Castro was entitled to counsel. “I think it’s important to represent unpopular causes because, first of all, it’s what we took an oath to do,” Schlachet said.
“We saved him from potentially lethal injection and 20 years on death row, which would have cost the taxpayers and the community millions and millions of dollars, and we spared the women the anguish and ‘revictimization’ of events,” Weintraub said.
The lawyers added that they are stunned that Castro’s family never pushed to find out what was wrong with their relative. “It’s so troubling that nobody picked up any signals. It’s probably a reflection of our current societal approach to each other,” Weintraub said.
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Palestinian Authority radio broadcast looks forward to future without Israel
(JNS.org) A recent broadcast on Voice of Palestine, the official Palestinian Authority (PA) radio station, looked forward to a future without the state of Israel, Palestinian Media Watch reported in its Aug. 19 bulletin. The broadcast, which came amid renewed Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations, also identified several current Israeli cities as part of “Palestine.”
“Greetings to all our listeners and happy holiday to you, our people in occupied Palestine (referring to Israel), 1948 Palestine, the 1948 territories… Greetings to our people in Acre, Nazareth, Tiberias, Haifa and Jaffa… May your Palestinian identity be rooted in your hearts and minds. Allah willing, one day Palestine will be Palestine again,” the radio announcer said in the Aug. 8 broadcast.
Additionally, an Aug. 14 crossword puzzle in the PA daily newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, identified Jaffa as “a Palestinian city,” according to Palestinian Media Watch.
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Possible terrorism threat means Israelis should avoid visiting Turkey, bureau says
(JNS.org) The Israeli government issued an unequivocal travel advisory on Monday warning Israelis to avoid visiting Turkey, a popular vacation destination for Israelis over the summer and during the upcoming Jewish holidays, Israel Hayom reported.
The Prime Minister’s Office issued its routine semi-annual travel warning, formulated by the office’s Counterterrorism Bureau, stating that all non-essential visits to Turkey “should be avoided.”
The threat issuing from Turkey is defined as an “ongoing potential threat,” a mid-level threat on the bureau’s five-level scale. Turkey is now on the same threat level as countries where jihadi terror cells are known to be operating, including Nigeria, Kenya and Azerbaijan.
The travel warning is for the upcoming Jewish holidays in September. So far, over the summer months of July and August, tens of thousands of Israelis have visited Turkey.
The Counterterrorism Bureau also recommended that Israelis avoid visiting the two countries with which Israel shares a border and a peace agreement: Egypt and Jordan. In those two countries, the threat facing Israelis was defined as a “basic concrete threat,” one level higher than the threat facing Israelis in Turkey. For Morocco, another popular destination for Israelis, an “ongoing potential threat” warning was issued.
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Importance of using boycotts of Israel ‘unquestionable,’ writes JCC in Manhattan director of film programs
(JNS.org) Isaac Zablocki, director of film programs and the Israel Film Center for the JCC in Manhattan, in an Aug. 15 blog post for the Huffington Post stressed what he called the importance of using boycotts to pressure Israel in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Zablocki later clarified that he does not support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In his post, Zablocki opposed a BDS movement letter asking Iranian film director Moshen Makhmalbaf to boycott the Jerusalem Film Festival. Zablocki also criticized calls for Lebanese director Ziad Doueiri to boycott the festival.
In his opposition to those efforts, however, Zablocki seemed to support the broader concept of boycotting Israel.
“In the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nonviolence is a welcome form of protest for the region, and the importance of the use of boycott to get international attention towards pressuring Israel to end the occupation is unquestionable,” Zablocki wrote. “However, the protest of art, culture and education brings up dangers in the realm of freedom and evolution of thought. Artists and educators have an important impact on changing society.”
“When we start to boycott art and limit the reach of great minds and talent to places, we are limiting potential of change,” he added.
To clarify his blog post, Zablocki later stated, “I do not support BDS as has been claimed. I oppose it in all forms. In my article, I only intended to assert the obvious, which is that while people have the right to boycott, I do not support it when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Richard Allen, head of the pro-Israel group JCC Watch, told JNS.org that Zablocki’s blog post is “not shocking,” in light of the JCC in Manhattan hosting events promoting groups such as B’Tselem, Partners for Progressive Israel, and the New Israel Fund. Those groups have been accused of funding and promoting BDS, but all deny that they support the movement. The New Israel Fund states that it opposes BDS and “will not fund global BDS activities against Israel nor support organizations that have global BDS programs.”
Rabbi Joy Levitt, executive director of the JCC in Manhattan, said the organization “does not support BDS.”
“We stand with Israel against de-legitimization and emphasize this through the JCC’s David H. Sonabend Center for Israel,” Levitt wrote in an email to JNS.org.
“Mr. Zablocki’s intention with his Huffington Post article was the exact opposite of its perception and was written to reject BDS as insidious,” she added.
The JCC in Manhattan, according to the most recent Internal Revenue Service Form 990 available, received $571,000 from the UJA-Federation of New York in 2011. JCC Watch, which has been calling for new guidelines that prevent the UJA-Federation of New York’s funding of activities that provide for platform to BDS activists, arranged for three protests over the last three months outside of New York City’s 92nd Street Y. The protests were in response to the Y’s invitation of anti-Israel activists Roger Waters (the Pink Floyd band member) and Alice Walker (the author of “The Color Purple”). The Y is also funded by the UJA-Federation.
Starting Sept. 12, Allen’s group will move its monthly protests from the Y to outside the UJA-Federation building. Promotion of BDS “should not be done with Jewish charitable money,” Allen said.
The UJA-Federation did not immediately return a request for comment from JNS.org.
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Egyptian movement that helped oust Morsi seeks to reverse peace deal with Israel
(JNS.org) The Tamarod (rebellion) movement, a grassroots effort to register opposition to now-deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and force early elections, helped launch the July 2013 protests in Egypt. The same group is now demanding that Egypt sever ties with Israel as part of a wider campaign seeking to end dependence on U.S. aid, in light of recent sanctions imposed by Washington on the Egyptian army.
Tamarod is calling for a reversal of the 1979 peace agreement with the “Israeli entity, which is binding the hands of Egypt’s security forces in Sinai.” The movement’s activists wish to reformulate Egyptian security agreements with Israel in a way that will “ensure Egypt’s right to secure its borders.”
According to the organizers, the new Tamarod petition has so far garnered more than 300,000 signatures.
Israel is closely monitoring the initiative. According to an anonymous official quoted by Israel Hayom, “The fact that there are groups in Egypt trying to promote the issue, specifically now, and that they are calling themselves ‘liberals,’ suggests, more than anything, that their priorities are out of order and bizarre. Even if there is a public demand, the Egyptian leaders, regardless of their affiliation, are well aware of the interests that would best serve the Egyptian people.”
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StandWithUs campaign on Chapel Hill buses responds to church’s anti-Israel ad
(JNS.org) The pro-Israel education group StandWithUs on Aug. 17 launched a one-year campaign that will feature pro-Israel advertisements on the interior of 98 buses in Chapel Hill, NC. The campaign counters an anti-Israel ad placed on Chapel Hill buses by the Church of Reconciliation. The church’s ad campaign, which also ran for one year, will finish at the end of August.
The Church of Reconciliation’s ad stated “Build peace with justice and equality. End U.S. military aid to Israel.” The ad “confuses and deceives the public,” said Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs.
“The ad’s words suggest that the U.S. should stop financial assistance to Israel, implying that only Israel is to blame for a lack of peace,” Rothstein said in a statement. “The message is deceptive, and uses velvet-gloved rhetoric to try to influence unsuspecting commuters who may not know the facts.”
The StandWithUs ad, launched in partnership with NC Triangle Voice For Israel, shows Israeli and Palestinian boys with their arms intertwined, along with the text, “Imagine Peace… in a Middle East where Israel and her neighbors share technology and resources to create a future of peace and prosperity for generations to come. The possibilities are endless.”
In July, StandWithUs responded to anti-Israel advertising by placing pro-Israel ads in San Francisco’s Muni bus system and pro-Israel billboards in Montana. Next month, the group will take out ads in Seattle.
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Judea and Samaria housing prices skyrocket, residents say supply is low
(JNS.org) Housing prices in Judea and Samaria continue to rise at a rate faster than in the rest of Israel.
High demand and low supply characterize the housing market in various Judea and Samaria communities, Israel Hayom reported. In the newly built Leshem quarter of the Alei Zahav community, houses which sold for NIS 900,000 ($252,000) two years ago now sell for up to NIS 1.7 million ($477,000). Similar price spikes have been reported in Yakir, Etz Ephraim, Har Bracha, and other communities in Samaria.
In the last decade, the population of Gush Etzion has tripled, surpassing 20,000. The local council chief, Davidi Perl, said that for every Jewish community in Gush Etzion, an average of 15 families were hoping to be accepted as residents. Overall, 300 families are waiting to move into Gush Etzion.
Housing prices in Gush Etzion, meanwhile, over the last five years have skyrocketed by dozens of percentage points. A piece of land in the Gush Etzion community of Tekoa cost just NIS 50,000 ($14,000) only five years ago. Now, the starting price is NIS 350,000 ($98,000). Demand for housing is so high in Gush Etzion that in recent years, some towns there have begun collecting “entry fees” for prospective inhabitants.
Real estate prices have also risen dramatically in Ariel, doubling in the last three years. A four-room apartment that cost NIS 600,000 ($168,000) three years ago sells today for up to NIS 1.2 million ($336,000). A cottage that could have been bought then for NIS 700,000 ($196,000) sells today for NIS 1.5 million ($421,000).
“It was only recently that we received construction permits, but we are still far off from meeting the minimum requirements in the city,” Ariel Mayor Eli Shviro said. “The demand is tremendous, but the supply is low.”
Israel recently announced plans for 1,200 new housing units in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, a decision that was slammed by the United States due to concern over the fate of Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations. Secretary of State John Kerry, who led the efforts to renew negotiations, said Aug. 12 that the U.S. “views all of the settlements as illegitimate.”
Those communities, however, are situated in an area that is considered to be subject to the result of Israeli-Palestinian final status negotiations.
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Touro Synagogue artifacts dispute to continue after mediation fails
(JNS.org) Talks between the historic Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI, and a New York City synagogue that claims ownership over the Touro Synagogue and its artifacts broke down this week after a U.S. District Court judge declared the mediation failed, the Providence Journal reported.
According to the Providence Journal, a dispute between Congregation Jeshuat Israel, which uses the historic Touro Synagogue that was built in 1763, and New York City’s Congregation Shearith Israel, which was given the deed to the synagogue in the early 19th century when the original Jewish community left, arose over plans to sell the synagogue’s 18th-century finial bells to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for $7.4 million. Touro Synagogue is the oldest synagogue building that is still standing in the U.S.
The bells, which were designed in the mid-1700s by Myer Myers, adorn the handles of the Torah scroll and ring when the Torah is raised. The New York congregation opposed the sale of the bells and claims that Congregation Jeshuat Israel has violated its lease terms, which were established in the early 20th century when the Newport Jewish community was revived.
Lawyers for each of the synagogues told the Associated Press that their lawsuits would proceed now that federal mediation has failed.
The Touro Synagogue is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year. On Sunday, Aug. 18, the synagogue read the famous George Washington letter “To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport.” Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, who is Jewish, delivered the keynote address at the ceremony.
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Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations won’t yield peace deal, 80 percent say in poll
(JNS.org) About 80 percent of Israeli respondents in a new poll, conducted by New Wave Research for Israel Hayom, said Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations would not produce a permanent peace agreement to end the conflict.
About 6 percent of the 500 respondents, who included Israeli Jews ages 18 and up, said a peace agreement would be reached, and 14 percent did not express on opinion on the result of Israeli-Palestinian conflict talks.
The poll indicates that Israeli Jews are growing more skeptical about negotiations as they progress. In a similar Israel Hayom poll in July, 73 percent of respondents said an agreement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would not be reached through the current U.S.-brokered negotiations.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org