Israeli Arab party’s official says Islamic State learned terror from Zionism
(JNS.org) Raja Zaatra, a public relations official for the Joint Arab List political party in Israel, said the Islamic State terror group learned its actions from Zionism and refused to define Hamas as a terrorist organization.
During a panel discussion about Israel’s upcoming March 17 election at Bar-Ilan University on Tuesday, Zaatra said, “Where did ISIS (Islamic State) learn all these things? Look at what the Zionist movement did in 1948, the acts of rape, murder, plunder, and mass slaughter that were committed.”
Turning to Hamas, Zaatra said that the Gaza-based group is “not a terrorist organization. A people under occupation have a legitimate right to resist.”
After drawing condemnation from across the panel’s political spectrum for his comments, Zaatra told Israel Hayom, “I believe in every word, and I certainly don’t regret what I said.”
MK Hanin Zoabi, a Joint Arab List member, was initially banned from the upcoming election over her history of anti-Israel comments—including remarks that the Hamas kidnappers and murderers of three Jewish teens last summer were “not terrorists,” and that the Israel Defense Forces and Islamic State are “both murderous armies that lack red lines.” But Zoabi’s candidacy was later reinstated by the Israeli Supreme Court.
The Joint Arab List—an alliance of the Israeli Knesset’s Arab political parties—said in a statement, “We have come out with a strong official stance against ISIS’s crimes, and the Joint Arab List condemns them regardless of any historical events.”
Islamic State issued its latest execution video on Tuesday, identifying the victim as 19-year-old Mohamed Said Ismail Musalam, an Israeli Arab from eastern Jerusalem who the terrorist group called a “Mossad spy.” Islamic State also released the names and photos of 13 other individuals the group claims were part of an Israeli Mossad network trying to spy on its operations.
Musalam’s father, Said, told Army Radio, “Mohamed was against Islamic State, seeing what he saw on TV, what they were doing, he was against them. … Everyone who knows Mohamed loves him. … The Mossad? What are you talking about? Why would the Mossad recruit a clueless 19-year-old kid?”
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IDF officer lightly wounded in shooting on Syrian border
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) An officer from the Israel Defense Forces’ Givati infantry brigade was lightly wounded on Tuesday after Israeli troops came under fire in the northern part of the Golan Heights. The officer sustained shrapnel wounds to his hand, was treated at the scene, and did not require evacuation to a hospital.
The incident occurred in a relatively quiet sector. The IDF is investigating whether the shooting was purposeful or an act of errant gunfire from the Syrian side of the border. After the officer was wounded, additional gunfire was heard in the sector, but did not cause any injury or damage.
Due to the ongoing Syrian civil war and recent tensions with the Hezbollah terrorist group, the IDF has been on high alert along Israel’s northern front. In late January, anti-tank missiles fired by Hezbollah operatives killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded seven more near the northern border town of Ghajar. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran of being responsible for the attack, which was thought to be carried by Hezbollah in retaliation for a Jan. 18 airstrike attributed to Israel.
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Israeli teens win Intel science competition with diverse projects
(JNS.org) Winners were announced Tuesday for the 18th annual Intel-Israel Young Scientists Competition, which is organized by the Bloomfield Science Museum, the Israeli Science and Education Ministries, and Intel-Israel.
The final ceremony was held at Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus. Winners of this year’s top prize are Noam Yungerman of the Jerusalem High School of the Sciences and Arts for researching “the growth and decay of sticky fingering structures” in life sciences and mathematics, Noa Eden of Jerusalem’s Boyer School for researching the “role of the Pax6 factor in preserving the identify of adult beta cells in the pancreas,” and Kedem Snir of the Sciences and Arts School for researching the coding of the predictive relation in languages focusing on themes and sign languages.
These winners—who were selected among 59 projects that had reached the finals—will have the chance to go to Pittsburgh, Pa., in May as representatives of Israel in the ISEF (Intel World) competition of Young Scientists, and they will also receive academic scholarships, the Jerusalem Post reported.
While 26 of the final competitors focused on technology and computer science projects, other participants conducted research in the humanities and other fields. Some second and third prize winners will also go to compete in Pittsburgh, and several others will attend competitions in Europe.
The winners of the second prize are Noa Chen of the Sciences and Arts School for her work on the Ashera goddess in biblical times, Roi Gil and Nadav Shalev of the ORT School in Kiryat Tivon for their work on a computerized music program that can make aural music into written notes, and Better Shmayev and May Shushan of the same Ort School for their system for regulating blood flow and pressure plaster casts.
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Israelis exploring cave discover treasure from time of Alexander the Great
(JNS.org) An Israeli father, his son, and a friend discovered a rare trove of artifacts from the time of Alexander the Great inside a stalactite cave in Israel’s Galilee region. The treasure includes coins and jewelry from that period.
Reuven Zakai, his 21-year-old son Hen, and their friend Lior Halony, all members of the Israeli Caving Club, were exploring the cave several weeks ago when Hen first discovered two ancient coins, alongside some jewelry. The group then notified authorities who arrived and unearthed the treasure, which also included 6,000-year-old pottery.
“The valuables might have been hidden in the cave by local residents who fled there during the period of governmental unrest stemming from the death of Alexander, a time when the Wars of the Diadochi broke out in Israel between Alexander’s heirs following his death,” the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said in a statement.
“Presumably, the cache was hidden in the hope of better days, but today we know that whoever buried the treasure never returned to collect it,” said the IAA.
Israeli law says that all discovered antiquities must be reported, and violators could face up to five years in prison.
“[The group that discovered the treasure] understood the importance of the archaeological discovery and exhibited exemplary civic behavior by immediately bringing these impressive archaeological finds to the attention of the IAA,” said Amir Ganor, director of the IAA’s Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery.
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U.K. groups declare appreciation for Israel as safe haven for Mideast Christians
(JNS.org) British Christian groups are circulating a declaration expressing appreciation for Israel as a safe haven for Middle East Christians, support for bolstering ties with the Jewish state, and a call to combat anti-Semitism.
Called the “Shalom Declaration,” the document states, “We deeply appreciate that Israel is the only country in the Middle East which extends freedom of worship to all its citizens and where the Christian community is growing,” the U.K.-based Jewish News reported.
“We grieve and stand with families in Israel and the wider Middle East, who have lost loved ones and with all who are persecuted by the rise of violent extremism and intolerance in the region,” the document adds.
The declaration also calls on Christians and U.K. leaders to work to combat the growing threat of anti-Semitism and forge closer British-Israeli relations.
Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.K. reached their highest levels ever in 2014, according to a report by the British watchdog group Community Security Trust.
The declaration has been endorsed by several Christian organizations, including Christian Friends of Israel and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, as well as individual churches and prayer groups.
“Sadly, we often hear of negativity [about Israel] from elements within the churches in the U.K. The Shalom Declaration is a powerful reminder we have strong friends in the Christian community. They wish to promote the cause of peace in a way which recognizes Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East,” said Steven Jaffe, a consultant with the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
The declaration is expected to be signed by more than 800 Christians at a gathering in Westminster later this month, in addition to signing opportunities for Christians at an Edinburgh Friends of Israel event and a Christian event in Northern Ireland.
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Jordan’s King Abdullah likens Islamic State to Nazism in address to EU lawmakers
(JNS.org) Jordan’s King Abdullah likened the Islamic State terror group’s “expansionist ideology” to that of the Nazis during an address to the European Union parliament in Strasbourg, France, on Tuesday.
“There are those living in Europe today who remembers the ravages that struck the continent in the late 1930s and the World War that followed because of an aggressive, expansionist ideology based on hate and disregard for the very essence of humanity,” Abdullah said, the Petra News Agency reported.
“Today, we are fighting a similar war. A war against an expansionist ideology that feeds on hate; that is committing murder in the name of God and religion to justify evil actions that no religion tolerates, a war against terrorists who disrespect Islam’s values and humanity’s values,” he added, saying that Europe’s role is “vital” in combating Islamic State.
Jordan, a U.S. ally and a peaceful neighbor of Israel, stepped up its efforts to combat Islamic State following an execution video of a Jordanian pilot captured by the terror group last month.
Regarding the continuing persecution of Middle East Christians, Abdullah said he was “outraged and grieved” by recent attacks against Christians and other minority communities, calling it an “offense against humanity as well as Islam.”
“Arab Christians are an integral part of our region’s past, present and future,” said Abdullah.
The king also bemoaned the stalled peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, calling for renewed momentum to “chart the way forward towards a final, comprehensive settlement.”
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Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.
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