Last Israeli wounded in Gaza war released from hospital
(JNS.org) Gadi Yarkoni, the last Israeli wounded during Operation Protective Edge, was released from Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba on Monday and will enter a rehabilitation program at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.
The orthopedic and intensive care medical teams said an emotional goodbye to the 47-year-old father of three, who was severely wounded by mortar fire from Gaza into Kibbutz Nirim only an hour before the cease-fire took effect. Two long-time members of the kibbutz, Zevik Etzion, 55, and Shahar Melamed, 43, were killed in the attack that wounded Yarkoni.
Yarkoni underwent a series of surgeries and was amputated below the knee on both legs.
“We fought for Gadi’s life, and now, he is expected to have a challenging road ahead of him in rehabilitation. I told him that when he comes back to visit us at Soroka, I want him to be walking,” said Dr. Amir Korngreen, head of the orthopedic trauma unit at Soroka, according to Israel Hayom.
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Bank of Israel governor listed among world’s top central bank chiefs
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Less than a year after her appointment as Bank of Israel governor, Dr. Karnit Flug was selected by the Global Finance magazine as one of the world’s top seven central bank governors.
The magazine, which publishes an annual ranking of central bank governors, awarded Flug its top rating, an A. The other bankers who received that score are from Taiwan, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia.
According to Global Finance, Flug was awarded the top score for her achievements in maintaining a healthy inflation rate, meeting economic growth targets, achieving price stability, and managing interest rates.
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British sporting goods store apologizes for not letting Jewish kids inside
(JNS.org) A British sporting goods store has apologized following an incident in which two Jewish children were not allowed into the store.
According to the U.K. Jewish News, two 11-year-old boys were refused entry by a security guard at the sporting goods store Sports Direct, located in Hertfordshire, north of London, after the guard noticed the badges for a local Jewish school on their school uniforms.
The guard allegedly told the children, who entered the store with a larger group of children, “No Jews, No Jews,” said David Rosen, one of the boy’s parents.
A spokesman for Sports Direct said that the security company has subsequently fired the security guard.
“I apologize for the distress and trouble that your son, you and the others involved suffered,” Sports Direct spokesman Simon Bently said in a statement to Rosen.
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U.N. moves peacekeeping forces from Syria to Israel
(JNS.org) The United Nations moved its peacekeeping force out of the Syrian side of the Golan Heights to Israel, claiming that the troops were in danger from the ongoing Syrian civil war.
Peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which has monitored the Syrian-Israeli border since 1974, were relocated from several positions including Camp Faouar, a base inside of Syria, to Israel.
“The situation in UNDOF on the Syrian side and the area of separation has deteriorated severely over the last several days,” a U.N. statement said. “Armed groups have made advances in the area of UNDOF positions, posing a direct threat to the safety and security of the U.N. Peacekeepers.”
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Hamas denies Khaled Mashaal to be forced out of Qatar
(JNS.org) Reports in the Arab media indicate that the exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, is considering relocating to Tunisia, Turkey or Malaysia. But Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan has denied the rumors.
Radwan said that relations between Hamas and Qatar were “passing through an extraordinary phase,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
Mashaal has been in Qatar since 2012, when he was forced out of Syria—where he had been based for nearly a decade—over tensions with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regarding the civil war there.
After the military ouster of Muslim Brotherhood Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, many top leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood fled to Qatar. Since then, Egypt’s new president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, has declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and has launched a severe crackdown on the group.
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Israel warns of Islamic State threat to Israelis and Jews in Europe
(JNS.org) The Israeli National Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau has issued a travel advisory before the High Holidays, warning that Islamic State terrorists could pose a range of threats to Jewish and Israeli targets in Western Europe.
“During this period, the potential threat has grown,” the Counter-Terrorism Bureau warned.
“There are concerns about additional attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets around the world, with an emphasis on Western Europe, by global jihadi elements (including the Islamic State), particularly by veterans of Syria and Iraq who return to their countries,” the bureau added, referring to May’s shooting at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, in which four people—including an Israeli couple—were killed.
The bureau also renewed a severe travel warning for the Sinai Peninsula, where terror organizations such Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis have been heavily active.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks against anti-Semitism at Berlin rally
(JNS.org) German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke at a 5,000-person rally against anti-Semitism in Berlin on Sunday organized by Germany’s Jewish community at the capital city’s Brandenburg Gate.
“It’s our national and civic duty to fight anti-Semitism,” Merkel said, Reuters reported.
This summer’s Operation Protective Edge has led to a significant spike in anti-Semitic incidents worldwide, according to an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) report published last week. The President of the Central Council of Jews, Dr. Dieter Graumann said that this summer saw “the worst anti-Semitic slogans on German streets for many, many decades,” reported the Associated Press
Merkel said that it is “verging on a miracle that well above 100,000 Jews live in Germany today” 70 years after the Holocaust, and “it is a monstrous scandal that people in Germany today are being abused if they are somehow recognizable as Jews or if they stand up for the State of Israel”
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