Netanyahu and Obama to meet in U.S. in March
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House and deliver a speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference in Washington, DC, during his five-day U.S. visit in the first week of March.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the date of the meeting with Obama has yet to be set, but the details are expected to be finalized soon. Netanyahu and Obama last met in September 2013, when Netanyahu traveled to the U.S. for the United Nations General Assembly.
An Israeli political official on Sunday said “no surprises are expected,” with the meeting between Netanyahu and Obama likely to focus on the Iran nuclear program issue and the U.S.-brokered Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations, Israel Hayom reported.
“The leaders will coordinate their positions during a private discussion,” the official said.
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Arab man stabs Jew near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate
(JNS.org) A haredi man was stabbed several times in the upper torso by an Arab assailant near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon, Israel Hayom reported.
The man was walking near the Old City walls when he was approached by an Arab man, who grabbed him and stabbed him before fleeing the scene.
Magen David Adom paramedics treated the Jewish man at the scene and transferred him to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. He was considered lightly wounded and was released from the emergency ward several hours later.
Security forces canvassed the area, but made no arrests. The police said they believed the stabbing was nationalistically motivated.
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Bill would amend Israel’s education law to emphasize teaching of ‘Jewish state’
(JNS.org) The Israeli Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved a bill Sunday to amend Israel’s national education law to include a clause emphasizing teaching the importance of Israel as the Jewish state, Israel Hayom reported.
“There is public agreement that there are attempts to diminish the special connection of the Jewish people to our land. Therefore, education of the younger generation must be intensified,” says the introduction to the amendment, which was initiated by MK Shimon Ohayon (Likud-Beiteinu).
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnuah), Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), and Health Minister Yael German (Yesh Atid) opposed the bill. Its progress is conditional on a legal review to be undertaken by Professor Ruth Gaviszon and on the approval of Education Minister Shai Piron (Yesh Atid), who opposes the current wording.
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Iranian TV airs simulated strike on Israel
(JNS.org) Iranian TV recently aired a video depicting a simulated drone and missile attack on Israel. The video was meant to show what a counter-strike on Israel would look like following an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Among the targets attacked in the Iranian video are the Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Tel Aviv, the Azrieli shopping and business complex, the nuclear reactor in Dimona, Ben-Gurion International Airport, and the oil refineries in Haifa.
At his cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said regarding the video, “The international easing of the sanctions against Iran has not led Iran to moderate its international aggression; the complete opposite has occurred,” according to Israel Hayom.
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Pro-Israel groups divided on support of anti-boycott bill
(JNS.org) Pro-Israel organizations are divided over a new bill in the U.S. Congress that would pull federal funding from universities that boycott Israel.
The bill, titled Protect Academic Freedom Act, proposed by U.S. Reps. Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL), has garnered polarizing reactions over whether or not it is constitutional by limiting free speech under the First Amendment.
“This bipartisan legislation seeks to preserve academic freedom and combat bigotry by shielding Israel from unjust boycotts. It is ludicrous for critics to go after our democratic friend and ally Israel when they should be focusing on the evils perpetrated by repressive, authoritarian regimes like Iran and North Korea,” Roskam said in a statement.
The bill is aimed at targeting groups like the American Studies Association, which recently voted to boycott Israeli academic institutions.
“We welcome any effort to challenge or fight the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement in colleges and universities,” Ant-Defamation League Chairman Abraham Foxman said, Buzzfeed reported. “However well-intentioned, we are not sure that this bill would be the most effective means of recourse.”
According to sources, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) may also come out against the bill.
In a statement to the Washington Free Beacon, an AIPAC spokesperson said the group is reviewing the proposed legislation. Nevertheless, several other groups came out in support of the bill, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Christians United For Israel, and The Israel Project, according to the Free Beacon.
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IAF strikes Gaza terrorist to thwart ‘imminent threat’
(JNS.org) The Israeli Air Force on Sunday morning targeted a terrorist in the Gaza Strip who was involved in multiple attacks against Israel, critically wounding him.
The terrorist was identified as Abdallah Kharti, a Popular Resistance Committee operative affiliated with global jihad. Kharti, a 29-year-old resident of the Nuseirat refugee camp, was riding on a motorcycle in Deir al-Balah when he was struck.
Intelligence showed that Kharti posed “an imminent threat to the lives of Israeli civilians,” said the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit. The IDF said it “will not tolerate any fire at the State of Israel and will continue to forcibly counter any threat of terror.”
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Former CIA chief: Anti-Semitism possibly a factor in Jonathan Pollard case
(JNS.org) Anti-Semitism could be a factor in America’s refusal to release jailed Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who is in his 29th year in prison, former Central Intelligence Agency director James Woolsey told Israel’s Channel 10 network on Saturday night.
Pollard, 59, was arrested by U.S. authorities in 1985 and later convicted of spying for Israel. He is the only person in U.S. history to receive a life sentence for spying for an American ally.
“I certainly don’t think that it is universally true, but in the case of some American individuals, I think there is anti-Semitism at work here,” Woolsey said.
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Poll: 1 in 3 Israelis suffers from cyberbullying
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) One in three Israelis has faced cyberbullying either on Facebook or other social networking sites, revealed a survey conducted by the Israel Internet Association ahead of Safer Internet Day on Feb. 11.
The figures show that 81 percent of those questioned feel the Internet is unsafe for children and teens, and 61 percent of the survey’s participants—comprising parents of children under age 18—said they are exposed to online dangers themselves.
The parents said the primary risk posed by surfing the Web was pornographic material, followed by sexual harassment on social networking sites, ostracization, verbal abuse, and being exposed to violence. Sixty-five percent said they supervise and are involved to a great extent in the way their children use the Internet.
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Israeli police attacked with stones on Temple Mount
(JNS.org) Following the arrest of seven Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem for causing a public disturbance at the Temple Mount after Friday prayers, hundreds of Muslim youths threw stones at Israeli security forces dispatched along the alleyways and roads surrounding the Old City site.
Subsequently, several police officers raided the Temple Mount to disperse the crowds using stun grenades, Israel Hayom reported.
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Maryland lawmakers, Holocaust survivors target French rail company over Nazi ties
(JNS.org) A group of Holocaust survivors and Maryland state lawmakers are attempting to prohibit French rail company SNCF, through its U.S. subsidiary Keolis, from bidding on $6 billion commuter rail project due to the company’s role in the Holocaust.
Maryland Senate Bill 754, introduced by State Senator Joan Carter Conway (D-Baltimore) and Delegate Kirill Reznik (D-Montgomery County), seeks to deny the contract to Keolis and SNCF due to their Nazi collaboration and refusal to pay compensation to Holocaust survivors.
The bill is also supported by a Change.org petition, launched by 92-year-old Holocaust survivor Leo Bretholz, which has gathered nearly 64,000 signatures.
According to the petition, SNCF transported more than 76,000 Jews, including 11,000 children and thousands of U.S. military pilots, to Nazi death camps during World War II. Bretholz said SNCF willingly collaborated with the Nazis, being paid per head, per kilometer for their transport.
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Australian energy giant signs $2.5 billion deal for stake in Israel’s Leviathan gas field
(JNS.org) Australian energy giant Woodside Petroleum Ltd. has signed a preliminary $2.5 billion deal to own a 25 percent stake in Israel’s Leviathan offshore natural gas field.
The deal with Woodside—a leader in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) process, which coverts natural gas to liquid form for easier transport—should boost Israel’s prospects of becoming a natural gas exporter.
Last year, Israel lawmakers passed a bill delegating 40 percent of its natural gas for export, while maintaining a 25-year supply for domestic use.
The Leviathan field is estimated to hold up to 19 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The U.S.-based firm Nobel Energy will remain the largest stakeholder in the field, with 30 percent. Israeli firms Delek Drilling Group, Avner Oil Exploration, and Ratio Oil Exploration will each sell one-quarter of their stake to Woodside.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org