Syrian opposition, Lebanese military blame Israel for strike on S-300 missiles
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) On Monday, Syrian opposition groups and the Lebanese military claimed that Israeli Air Force planes bombed S-300 missile launchers in the Syrian port city of Latakia on Sunday night.
The S-300 is an advanced Russian anti-aircraft system. Despite the claims, Russia has apparently not yet supplied Syria with the S-300. The Lebanese military said Israel entered Lebanese airspace in the northern part of the country at 10:45 p.m. Sunday and exited at 11:55 p.m. over the Naqoura area of southern Lebanon.
Other reports said the Latakia blast was related to artillery fire that had no connection to Israel.
Israel has issued repeated warnings that it will not permit the transfer of advanced weaponry from Syria to Lebanon. The Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
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Netanyahu announces international cybercenter in Beersheba
(JNS.org) During the opening of the CyberTech Conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the establishment of CyberSpark, an international cybercenter in the Negev city of Beersheba.
The prime minister, who made the announcement with the president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the mayor of Beersheba, said turning Beersheba into a cyberhub was an effective realization of the vision that Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, had for the Negev.
“There is huge development in [Israel’s] south, and housing prices are significantly lower than in the Dan region. Whoever has common sense should head there,” Netanyahu said, according to Israel Hayom.
The cyberpark will include a high school geared towards science and technology, and a cyber studies center. Staff members have already been recruited.
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Adolf Eichmann’s Israeli prison guards speak out for first time
(JNS.org) The identities of the Israeli prison guards who kept watch over and ultimately carried out the execution of Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann were finally revealed on Monday, 52 years after his trial, Israel Hayom reported.
Unit Aleph-1, a special Israel Prison Service unit, was charged with guarding the Nazi architect of the Final Solution during his trial, with his execution by hanging, and with the cremation of his corpse.
At a conference for commanders of the Israel Prison Service, a short film was screened that re-enacted the measures taken by the special unit to guard Eichmann during his six months of imprisonment, to hang him in June 1962, to cremate his body, and to have his ashes scattered at sea.
According to eyewitness accounts of the guards, the unit contained 22 guards and four officers, carefully selected to ensure that none was a Holocaust survivor. Avraham Merhavi commanded the unit, which was charged with ensuring that Eichmann neither escaped nor committed suicide.
“We did what we did out of loyalty to the State of Israel and to the Jewish people,” said Ovadia Zakuto, who served as a guard in the unit.
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Israel on Campus Coalition hires new assistant director
(JNS.org) The Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) on Monday announced the hiring of Adam Maslia, previously a director of Jewish and philanthropy programming at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, as its assistant director.
The ICC, founded in 2002 as a partnership between Hillel International and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, is now an independent organization that works closely with Hillel as well as the national spectrum of pro-Israel campus groups. The group hired a new executive director, Jacob Baime, last fall.
Maslia “will serve as an expert resource on pro-Israel campus strategy, build and maintain relationships with key officials at partner organizations, and represent ICC at meetings, conference calls, and other venues,” according to an ICC press release.
Pro-Israel students “need to be empowered, in any number of ways,” Baime told JNS.org last October.
“We’ve got to deny Israel’s detractors the opportunity to set the parameters of the campus conversation about Israel, and at the same time, we’ve got to fortify the confidence of the pro-Israel members of the campus community,” he said.
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Israel’s Shin Bet: Terror attacks in Judea and Samaria doubled in 2013
(JNS.org) A report released by the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) shows that terror attacks in Judea and Samaria more than doubled in 2013 from the previous year.
According to the report, there were 1,271 terror attacks overall in 2013, compared to 578 in 2012. Most of the attacks—1,048—occurred in Judea, while there were 260 in the Jerusalem region and 229 in Samaria. Most of these were defined as “hot weapon” attacks, including shootings, firebombs, and grenades attacks.
But the report also said that there were fewer Israelis overall who were killed in terror attacks in 2013. During 2012, 10 Israelis were killed, a number that fell to six in 2013, with five of the deaths occurring in Judea and Samaria.
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PA compares Israel to Nazis for Holocaust Remembrance Day
(JNS.org) Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the official Palestinian Authority newspaper published an op-ed claiming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has preserved it [racism] and acquired it genetically from the days of the Nazis and the Aryan race.”
“Instead of Netanyahu disassociating himself from any act that would remind him of Hitler’s racism, he imitates it and wants to replicate it against the people of Palestine, its inhabitants and nation and even against the citizens of the State of Israel themselves!” the article in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida stated.
Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, noted that there is “no Holocaust education in the PA.”
“For Palestinians, especially youth and young adults, Nazis are some undefined demonic evil people who committed the ultimate horrific crimes against humanity… this is exactly the way the Palestinian Authority demonizes Israel and at times Jews,” Marcus told JNS.org.
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Super Bowl ‘kosher halftime show’ planned by Jewish network
(JNS.org) The Nachum Segal Network announced plans to air its first-ever “Kosher Halftime Show” during Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2.
“The halftime show is a key component of the big game, and the NFL consistently brings the biggest names in contemporary music to play on the main stage. The only issue is that those acts often don’t appeal to the Jewish crowd,” said radio host Nachum Segal. “We are proud to be providing a quality, kosher alternative that will entertain Jewish audiences and maintain a family-oriented vibe even during halftime.”
During the game between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, the network will stream the 20-minute show on its website, www.nachumsegal.com. The video broadcast will feature musical performances by “King of Shlock” Lenny Solomon, Avromie Weisberger, Jonathan Rimberg, Ari Boiangiu, and Ethan Bill.
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Egypt’s Gen. el-Sissi expected to run for president
(JNS.org) Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has endorsed a presidential run by the country’s powerful defense minister, General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the Egyptian news agency MENA reported Monday.
Earlier in the day, Egypt’s interim president, Adly Mansour, issued a decree promoting el-Sissi from the rank of general to field marshal—the highest Egyptian military honor—in preparation for el-Sissi to step down in order to run for president.
Since coming to power as Egypt’s de-facto leader in July, el-Sissi has led a widespread crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and jihadist groups in the Sinai Peninsula. Former President Mohamed Morsi, along with several dozen top Muslim Brotherhood officials, are set to go on trial for aiding Islamic terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org