Riots sweep through Israeli Arab towns after terrorist stabbings
(JNS.org) The terrorist stabbing attacks that took place in Tel Aviv and Gush Etzion on Monday—killing 26-year-old Israeli woman Dahlia Lemkus and 20-year-old Israel Defense Forces Staff Sgt. Almog Shiloni—emboldened an already violent Arab sector.
A senior source with Israel’s Northern District police department told Israel Hayom that police deployment in the area has been increased following concerns that the residents of some of the Galilee’s Arab towns might attempt to harm their Jewish neighbors.
Recent events have prompted the Israel Police to bolster deployment nationwide, as well as urge public vigilance. The Border Police have also increased their presence on the ground in several volatile locations.
The Arab town of Kafr Kana was the scene of several riots on Monday. Dozens of masked men clashed with police forces, hurling stones and firing flares at the troops, and setting tires on fire. The Northern District Police Central Control Unit was called to the scene and eventually dispersed the riot, arresting dozens of people.
In Nazareth, some 100 demonstrators clashed with police in the city’s Maayan Square, and 20 people were detained for questioning. In a separate incident, a bus traveling through the city’s Paulus VI Road was stoned. None of the passengers were hurt, but the bus sustained some damage.
Also on Monday, unknown vandals scrawled graffiti reading “Death to Jews” alongside a swastika on one of the exterior walls of the Salesian Church of Jesus the Adolescent in Nazareth.
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Jerusalem Sephardi Council awards U.S. professor for historical research
(JNS.org) The Council of Sephardi and Oriental Communities of Jerusalem has awarded an American professor with the “Medal of the Four Sephardi Synagogues” for his research on the Jewish history of Zamora, Spain.
Prof. Jesús Jambrina was recognized for his achievements to preserve the Medieval Jewish quarters of the city of Zamora and his “organization of two outstanding international conferences,” in Zamora and Portugal in 2013 and 2014, respectively, said Prof. Abraham Haim, president of the awarding council.
Jews settled in Zamora after escaping there from Moorish invasions in the 11th and 12th centuries, as well as due to King Fernando I’s repopulation of the region in the mid-11th century. The province of Zamora and the city of the same name are situated northwest of Castilla and Leon (close to the Spanish border with Portugal), two medieval kingdoms to which Jews fled to escape the Almoravide and Almohade Moorish invasions of the 11th and 12th centuries.
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Israel gives Ebola detection equipment to PA and Hamas
(JNS.org) Despite the recent upsurge of Palestinian terrorism, the Israeli government on Sunday transferred Ebola screening equipment to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
The equipment, which was requested by the Palestinians, will be used to diagnose the Ebola virus among people entering the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Crossing, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
The equipment includes a special thermometer, laboratory kits, and protective suits. Beyond the Rafah Crossing, Hamas is solely responsible for handling the equipment in Gaza. Israel is also supplying the Allenby border crossing with Jordan with the detection devices.
The Israeli civilian committee is also holding regular meetings in Israel with the Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs and representatives from Gaza’s Health Ministry regarding the prevention of the spread of Ebola in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel should an infected person be discovered.
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Netanyahu to world powers: Don’t rush into a deal with Iran
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned world powers not to rush into a bad deal with Iran on its nuclear program amid reports that the P5+1 nations—the U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China, and Germany—are nearing a negotiated solution with Iran ahead of the Nov. 24 diplomatic deadline.
Netanyahu said in a statement that he sent a letter to the P5+1 countries that highlights Iran’s desire to destroy Israel.
“[Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is] publicly calling for the annihilation of Israel as he is negotiating a nuclear deal with the P5+1 countries,” Netanyahu said.
“There is no moderation in Iran,” he added. “It is unrepentant, unreformed, it calls for Israel’s eradication, it promotes international terrorism, and as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) report just said, it continues to deceive the international community about its nuclear weapons program. This terrorist regime in Iran must not be allowed to become a nuclear threshold power. I call on the P5+1 countries—don’t rush into a deal that would let Iran rush to the bomb.”
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Israel Aerospace Industries successfully tests joint Israel-India defense system
(JNS.org) Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announced that it successfully tested the jointly developed Israel-India Barak-8 air and missile defense system by shooting down a target that simulated an incoming aircraft.
“The system’s impressive, advanced capabilities proven today in this complex test, are another testimony of IAI’s resilience, advanced and groundbreaking capabilities,” said Joseph Weiss, IAI’s president and CEO.
Barak-8 was jointly developed by IAI and India’s Defense Research and Development Organization, and will be used by both the Israeli and Indian militaries. The system is expected to be rolled out on Israeli Navy ships to protect against incoming aircraft or missiles.
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Joe Biden on U.S.-Israel disagreements: ‘that’s what friends do’
(JNS.org) Amid a rough patch in U.S.-Israel relations, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said disagreement and honest conversation are “what friends do.”
“Like all close friends, we talk honestly with one another,” Biden said Monday at the 2014 General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in National Harbor, Md. “We talk directly with one another. We disagree with one another. We love another and we drive one another crazy. That’s what friends do. … We are straight with one another, and we talk directly about a wide range of issues, including Iran.”
Biden’s comments come in the aftermath of the recent report that an anonymous senior Obama administration official called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “chickenshit.” The revelation of the Netanyahu slur followed harsh U.S. criticism of newly announced Jewish construction in Jerusalem neighborhoods located beyond the 1949 armistice line. Israel and the U.S. are also at odds about what a final nuclear deal with Iran should look like ahead of a Nov. 24 deadline for an agreement between Iran and the P5+1 powers.
Yet Biden said that America “will not let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon. Period.”
“I can guarantee you one thing. We will not sign a bad deal. … And I would not put my 42-year reputation on the line if I were not certain when I say we mean it,” he said.
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