Jonathan Pollard hospitalized after losing consciousness
(JNS.org) Jonathan Pollard, a U.S. citizen convicted of spying for Israel in 1985, was hospitalized on Friday after losing consciousness, according to a family spokesperson.
“Unfortunately we do not have any further information, but we are hoping and praying since he has been hospitalized in the past in very dangerous circumstances,” said Effi Lahav, a spokesman for the Pollard family, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Last month, the Campaign for the Release of Jonathan Pollard, an activist group working for Pollard’s release, said a U.S. Justice Department parole board rejected a request to have Pollard released.
While the group did not release any further details on the hearing, it suggested that it would soon release evidence highlighting the White House’s attempts to prevent Pollard from being released.
Israeli political sources say alternate coalition could prevent election
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Tensions in the political theater have been rising steadily since the motion for the dissolution of the Knesset passed its preliminary and first readings on Wednesday, as all parties are anxiously waiting to see if the bill truly does pass its second and third readings, which have been set for Monday.
While most political experts believe early elections are a fait accompli, some hedged that until the ink is dry on the third reading’s papers, a scenario in which a last-minute political deal is struck to prevent the Knesset’s dissolution cannot be completely discounted.
Knesset sources said Thursday that negotiations have resumed between coalition officials and the haredi parties, in an effort to include them in the government and prevent early elections. Sources in the haredi parties confirmed that overtures have been made to that effect, but refused to say whether talks could actually mature into a deal before Monday.
Israeli law stipulates that early elections must be called at least 90 days and no more than 150 days from the Knesset’s dissolution, meaning the Knesset can theoretically postpone the latter stages of the vote by several weeks. Should the MKs defer the vote, it would afford the coalition time to try and form an alternate government.
Report: Secret British squad saved Lebanese Christian village from Islamic State
(JNS.org) A secret squad of ex-British military members helped save a Lebanese Christian town from an Islamic State invasion last summer, according to a report published earlier this week by the British daily The Telegraph.
The report said that a squad of ex-British soldiers worked to construct a series of 12 watchtowers along the Lebanese-Syrian border during a 17-day period in July, just two weeks before the onslaught of Islamic State jihadists.
The towers enabled the Lebanese army to stop the invasion of Islamic State terrorists, including being able to cut off their advance toward the Lebanese Christian village of Ras Baalbek.
“When the invasion came, a line of vehicles split off and headed for Ras Baalbek,” one of the British team members said, The Telegraph reported. “Then they stopped and looked up at the watchtower and all its artillery waiting for them. They turned around.”
Ras Baalbek is a small village home to approximately 5,000 Christians in Lebanon’s northern Beqaa Valley. It is home to a Christian monastery as well as two Byzantine-era churches.
“During the time of the crisis, the watchtowers helped to protect us,” Faris Mansour, a 76-year-old Christian from Ras Baalbek, said.
Tom Fletcher, the British ambassador to Lebanon, said he believed the watchtowers played a role in preventing a massacre in Ras Baalbek.
“They [Islamic State] want these big symbolic victories — you bust through a border, you carry out a massacre and you get the attention,” he said.
According to an ex-British soldier who worked on the project, the watchtowers were each constructed using six shipping containers welded together for a cost around £150,000 ($236,000).
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