Netanyahu: Abbas missed opportunity by not condemning Palestinian terrorism
(JNS.org) In a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas missed an opportunity by not condemning the recent wave of Palestinian terrorism against Israel.
“Peace means ending incitement; it means fighting terrorism and condemning terrorism; it means recognizing Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people; it means meeting Israel’s security needs; and it means being prepared to truly end the conflict once and for all,” Netanyahu said. “If we’re to succeed in our joint effort, President Abbas must reject terror and embrace peace. I hope he doesn’t miss again the opportunity to give Israelis and Palestinians a better future.”
Netanyahu also criticized Abbas’s praising of the latest Palestinian terrorist prisoners released by Israel as “heroes” during a celebration in Ramallah.
“To glorify the murderers of innocent women and men as heroes is an outrage,” Netanyahu said. “How can President Abbas… say that he stands against terrorism when he embraces the perpetrators of terrorism and glorifies them as heroes?”
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Gaza rocket fired at Israel, education ministry director-general’s car stoned
(JNS.org) A Qassam rocket fired from Gaza exploded in Israel on Thursday night on the outskirts of Sdot Negev Regional Council. No injuries were reported. The Israel Defense Forces said it responded by striking a “terror infrastructure site in the central Gaza Strip and three concealed rocket launchers in northern Gaza Strip.”
“The Gaza-based terror organizations will stop at nothing to harm Israeli civilians. The IDF will continue to act against anyone employing terror against the State of Israel,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.
Additionally, the car of Israeli Education Ministry Director-General Menachem Cohen car was stoned while he was traveling on Highway 443 late Wednesday night, Israel Hayom reported.
“We were driving along when I heard a loud ‘bang’ and the side window shattered,” Cohen said. “I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder but we kept going until we reached the hospital. It’s a miracle my son wasn’t hurt.”
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Israel successfully tests Arrow 3 missile interceptor
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel successfully tested the Arrow 3 missile interceptor system, meant to defend the country against long-range missiles, on Friday morning. This was the interceptor’s second successful test. It completed its flight plan in full, meeting every one of the experiment’s goals.
The test fire was headed by the Administration for the Development of Weapons and the Technological Industry at the Israeli Defense Ministry, in collaboration with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency—a U.S. Defense Department division responsible for developing layered defenses against ballistic missiles.
“The development of these types of systems will allow Israel to deal with the threats we are facing and it will help the IDF mount a swift and decisive response, should one be necessary,” said Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
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‘Troycott’ Facebook campaign outvotes ASA boycott through education and dialogue
(JNS.org) A new Facebook campaign by McGill University American History professor Gil Troy, called “Troycott,” has garnered more than 1,100 “likes” in three days, topping the 827 votes of American Studies Association (ASA) members for a boycott of Israel.
Troy, who is also an iEngage Project Fellow with the Shalom Hartman Institute, told JNS.org that he was “particularly offended and contemptuous” of the recent ASA boycott and launched the Facebook page to try to top the ASA vote.
“I am contemptuous because I know how small, marginal, doctrinaire and extreme the subdiscipline of American Studies—which was the idea behind the ‘Troycott.’ I wanted to see if one lowly academic, with a label very much emphasizing the personal nature of my mission, could gather more ‘likes’ than the entire ASA number of votes to boycott—and it worked,” Troy said.
Troy believes the best way to combat the ASA boycott is through education and dialogue such as through programs like the iEngage Project, which emphasizes study and teaching rather than attacking.
“The best way to respond to an anti-intellectual boycott is with a constructive commitment to learning about the topic the boycotters seek to boycott,” he said.
Troy also said he hopes to continue to grow the “Troycott” movement by encouraging students and parents to contact their universities to tell them they support withdrawing from the ASA, and to launch more pro-Israel campus initiatives.
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Israeli security forces apprehend Bat Yam bus bomb terrorists
(JNS.org) Israeli security forces have apprehended 14 members of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group who they suspect were behind the thwarted bus bombing attempt in Bat Yam in late December.
According to the Shin Bet, the Islamic Jihad members admitted during interrogations of planning a major terrorist attack in Israel. The four leading suspects are Yosef Salamah, 22, Sahaha Tamari, 24, his brother Hamadi Tamari, 21 and Sami Harimi, 20.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Tamari brothers along with Salamah, created the bomb using 2kg of improvised explosives with nails and screws placed inside a pressure cooker to be remotely detonated by a cell phone.
The Shin Bet said Harimi illegally smuggled the bomb from the West Bank into Israel using a Bedouin acquaintance for transportation. Then after praying at a mosque, he planted the bomb on the bus.
The bombing was thwarted when passengers noticed a black bag and alerted the driver, who then evacuated the bus before it exploded.
A senior IDF official told Ynet, that the group was also planning another major attack in Tel Aviv.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the security forces for their “quick action” and also noted that one of the suspects as a Palestinian Authority police officer, which Netanyahu said was “further proof of direct involvement of people in the Palestinian Authority in terror activity.”
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Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood planned attacks on Egyptian Christians over Christmas
(JNS.org) Terror groups affiliated with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood had cooperated to plan attacks on churches in the northern Sinai Peninsula over the Christmas holiday, according to a report in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan.
The attacks were planned for the Coptic Christian Christmas on Jan. 7. According to the report, Sinai terror groups were told to expect weapons and funds to arrive through Gaza’s smuggling tunnels “via three members of the Hamas military wing.” But Egyptian intelligence prevented the attacks by intercepting conversations between the Sinai and Gaza terrorist groups.
The military-backed Egyptian government has long accused the Muslim Brotherhood of cooperating with Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, along with several dozen Muslim Brotherhood leaders, is currently awaiting trial on charges of conspiring with Hamas to attack the Egyptian military.
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Egyptian astrologer warns Jews will grow stronger in 2014
(JNS.org) An Egyptian astrologer has predicted on television that the Jewish people will grow stronger in 2014 because Saturn will enter a fire sign in December of this year.
Egyptian astrologer Sayyed Al-Shimi said on Al-Nahar TV that many events in past Jewish and Israeli history happened under similar astrological conditions, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
“When Saturn enters any of the fire signs, the Jews grow stronger. Don’t believe in this merely because I say so. It’s been tested. The Balfour Declaration was released when Saturn was in the fire sign of Leo… the 1948 [War of Independence] took place when Saturn was in the fire sign of Leo. The 1956 [Sinai War] took place when Saturn was in the fire sign of Sagittarius. The 1967 [Six Day War] took place when Saturn was in the fire sign of Aries,” he said.
Israel should “do whatever they can to resolve the Palestinian problem” before December 2014, Al-Shimi warned.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org