Texas A&M to open campus in Nazareth
(JNS.org) Texas A&M University will open a campus in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth in about a year, Israel Hayom reported.
Nazareth is the largest Arab city in Israel. Education Minister Shay Piron said he hoped the new campus would become an alternative for Israeli Arabs who might otherwise go to Arab countries for university studies.
“I see the new campus as another significant step in the integration of Israeli Arabs into society,” Piron said. “The goal is that Arabs and Jews will study as one at the campus.”
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Qatar removes Israeli flag at international sporting event
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Qatari body tasked with overseeing the FINA Swimming World Cup in Doha removed an Israeli flag from outside one of its venues, and state broadcasters whited out the Israeli flag on the swimming lanes as they were seen on TV, Doha News reported.
Aspire Zone, a sporting complex in the Qatari capital, may have been responding to pressure from local groups, who expressed opposition to raising the Israeli flag publicly. Following a tweet that showed a photograph of the Israeli flag alongside several others, a security guard told Doha News on Monday that the flag was removed.
The FINA Code of Ethics states that any tournament shall have “no discrimination on the basis of gender, race, religion, or political opinion.”
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Islamic Jihad terrorist who plotted bus bombing killed after firing at IDF soldiers
(JNS.org) Israel Defense Forces soldiers shot dead Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist Mohamed Assi near the West Bank village of Bil’in on Monday after he fired shots at soldiers near the village, Israel Hayom reported.
Assi, 24, “was responsible for a terror attack in Tel Aviv in the last year, in which 29 Israelis were injured on a bus near the Kirya IDF headquarters,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told reporters on Tuesday.
Army Radio reported that Assi was chased into a cave in an “open field” and was shot dead during an ensuing gun battle.
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Bill: Two-thirds of Knesset needed to approve talks on dividing Jerusalem
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday approved a bill proposed by Member of Knesset Yakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) stating that the Israeli government cannot conduct negotiations with a foreign entity about the division of Jerusalem or its partial relinquishment without receiving the approval of 80 Knesset members—two-thirds of the legislature.
The bill states, “Jerusalem is a city that was reunited. It will not be divided and no part of it will be handed over to anyone. Jerusalem’s sanctity was not given to outsiders. This bill prevents the possibility that at any stage in any political process there will be a discussion about the status of the city of Jerusalem, the joy of the people in Israel.”
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Israeli government votes to bring 899 Indian ‘lost Jews’ to Israel
(JNS.org) The Israeli government unanimously voted Sunday to bring 899 “lost Jews” from India to Israel at the end of this year. The new olim belong to Bnei Menashe, a group of Indian citizens who believe to be descendants of the Jewish tribe of Menashe, one of the 10 “lost tribes” exiled from the land of Israel nearly 3,000 years ago.
Some members of this group already live in Israel today, with 274 arriving this year. The new immigrants will begin arriving in December in the wake of the Israeli government vote.
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Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace among ADL’s top 10 anti-Israel groups
(JNS.org) The pro-Palestinian campus group Students for Justice in Palestine and the far-left Jewish group Jewish Voice for Peace are included in the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) report on the top 10 anti-Israel organizations in 2013.
Joining those groups on the list are ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), American Muslims for Palestine, CODEPINK, Friends of Sabeel-North America, If Americans Knew/Council for the National Interest, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Neturei Karta, and the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
ADL said it considered the endorsement of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns against Israel, as well as tactics such as using anti-Semitic motifs in programming, while compiling its list.
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Egyptian Christian wedding attack’s death toll rises to four, 18 injured
(JNS.org) Egypt’s Ministry of Health announced that the death toll of the attack on an Egyptian Christian wedding on Sunday has risen to four following the death of an eight-year-old girl.
Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on wedding guests as they left the Virgin Mary Church in Warraq, a working-class neighborhood near Giza, Egypt. In addition to the four deaths, 18 people were injured in the attack, Ahram Online reported.
Father Bishoy Lofty, pastor of the Virgin Mary church, said churchgoers “feel sad and angry.”
“The young people are wondering why this is happening to them, why anyone would want to turn a wedding ceremony sad and target innocent people,” Lofty told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org