Hezbollah-bound missiles reportedly bombed by Israel Air Force
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Israel Air Force once again prevented a shipment of advanced missiles to Hezbollah along the Syrian-Lebanese border, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper quoted a senior Israeli security source as saying that on Monday, Israeli warplanes targeted a missiles shipment. The report did not say whether the attack occurred in Syria or Lebanon.
The unconfirmed report, which was not corroborated by any other news source, came on the heels of previous reports in Lebanon in recent days suggesting activity of Israeli jets and drones in Lebanese airspace.
In July, foreign media outlets reported that Israel was behind a series of bombings targeting several weapons stores in Syria. The weapons destroyed in the strikes were reportedly Russian Yakhont missiles kept at depots in Latkia.
The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on the report.
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Nir Barkat wins second term as Jerusalem mayor
(JNS.org) Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat secured a second term in office on Tuesday, defeating rival Moshe Lion after a stormy election campaign. As the final results came in, the vote split 51 percent for Barkat and 45 percent for Lion.
“Over the past five years we have introduced a new vision and we have proved that the city’s true potential was untapped. We have laid the groundwork to further advance Jerusalem in this coming term. For me, Jerusalem is a life’s mission,” Barkat said, according to Israel Hayom.
Both campaigns had filed police complaints alleging election tampering by their rivals. But Barkat said upon winning, “This is no time for fighting. I call on all the sectors in Jerusalem to look to the future.”
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Rick Perry and Brian Sandoval, 2016 GOP presidential hopefuls, visit Israel
(JNS.org) Two Republican presidential hopefuls for 2016, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, are visiting Israel separately this week.
Governor Perry, who failed in his bid for president in 2012, is in Israel to meet with Israeli leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Shimon Peres as well as to announce the planned opening of Texas A&M University’s campus in Nazareth, which will serve the city’s Muslim, Christian, and Jewish populations.
“It makes sense for Muslims, Jews and Christians to be educated together,” Perry told the New York Times last week ahead of his trip.
Perry also attended a water technology conference in Israel and spoke about the challenges Texas and Israel face in water management, according to the Texas governor’s office.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval is in Israel as part of a trade mission focusing on water and agricultural technology, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
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Aiding Hezbollah gets eastern Jerusalem man 42 months in prison
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A Jerusalem District Court judge sentenced an eastern Jerusalem man who joined the Hezbollah terrorist organization during a trip to Beirut to 42 months in prison.
Assam Mishara was convicted under a plea bargain for contact with a foreign agent and transfer of information to an enemy. Mishara, who holds an Israeli ID card, was formerly employed as a driver for Egged, one of the largest bus companies in Israel.
In his sentence, Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe Yoad Hacohen wrote that Mishara and his wife left Israel for Jordan on June 20, 2012, and from there flew to Beirut. Mishara arrived in Dahiya, a suburb south of the capital city known as a Hezbollah stronghold. There, he gave the name of his hotel and his room number to a guard, and told him he would like to meet with members of the Shiite terrorist group. He received an email address and password and was instructed to open a Facebook account to correspond with the organization.
“In recent years, there have been cases presented to the court of individuals making contact with hostile groups. This phenomenon requires deterrent punishment,” the judge wrote.
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Treasury Secretary Lew, Nobel laureate Aumann among 2013 ‘Orthodox Jewish All Stars’
(JNS.org) Jew in the City, an organization working to connect Orthodox Judaism with digital media, has named 10 individuals as 2013’s “Orthodox Jewish All Stars.” Among the winners are U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Nobel laureate in economics Robert Aumann, and Naama Shafir, the first Orthodox female professional basketball player.
The winners will honored at a red carpet event on Nov. 24, coinciding with both the first day of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving. “There is a common misconception that being an Orthodox Jew means you don’t have many career options… Jew in the City is building awareness about a community that otherwise gets depicted as extreme and reclusive, and rarely is presented with any nuance,” said Allison Josephs, award-winning Jewish author and founder of Jew in the City.
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NYC mayor Bloomberg awarded ‘Jewish Nobel Prize’
(JNS.org) The Israeli Genesis Prize Foundation awarded New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg with the inaugural $1 million Genesis Prize, an honor popularly known as the “Jewish Nobel Prize.”
The foundation said the award is meant “to recognize exceptional human beings who, through their outstanding achievement, come to represent a fundamental value of the Jewish people—a commitment to the betterment of mankind.”
Mayor Bloomberg will receive the prize from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel early next year. The New York mayor plans to use the money for a philanthropic cause. “I want to use it to do something that will foster relationships in a very difficult part of the world,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
“It is a great honor for the entire Jewish people to celebrate his achievements, his commitment to improving the world, and in particular his city: New York,” said Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, a member of the selection committee.
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Al-Qaeda-linked rebels launch assault on another Syrian Christian village
(JNS.org) Al-Qaeda-linked rebels are attempting to capture the ancient Syrian Christian village of Sadad.
The assault on Sadad began on Monday when rebels from the U.S. designated terrorist group Jadbat al-Nusra targeted the village’s hospital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Local police and the Syrian military fought back against the assault.
Located 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Damascus, Sadad is an isolated ancient Christian village that is mentioned in the Christian bible. Its villagers still speak Aramaic, the ancient Semitic language spoken by Jesus.
According to the Associated Press, Jabhat al-Nusra has targeted the village due to its strategic location on the highway north of Damascus, not because it’s Christian. But Jabhat al-Nusra has a history of brutally attacking Christians in areas it occupies.
“The Islamist rebel attack against the mainly Christian, Biblical village of Sadad and its hospital is just the latest barbaric act in the destruction of Syria. Christians and other religious minorities in Syria are in danger of being eliminated,” Dr. John Eibner, CEO of Christian Solidarity International (CSI), told JNS.org.
Eibner added, “CSI urges the United States to terminate its direct and indirect military support for Muslim supremacist armies and to insist that the US-financed opposition participates in the Geneva II negotiations with the Syrian government. An end to the killing will benefit all the Syrian people, and enhance stability throughout the region.”
Last month, al-Qaeda-linked rebel forces attacked the ancient Christian village of Maaloula causing the village’s 3,000 residents to flee. Reports indicated that rebels attacked Christian homes and churches, threatening them with beheadings and desecrating churches. Eventually, local resistance committees backed by Syrian government forces eventually forced the rebels to withdraw.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org