Iran transfers tens of millions to Hamas to rebuild terror tunnels
(JNS.org) Iran has transferred tens of millions of dollars to Hamas to help the Palestinian terror group rebuild its network of tunnels destroyed by Israel during last summer’s Gaza war, according to a report in the U.K.’s Telegraph on Sunday.
Citing intelligence sources, The Telegraph also reported that Iran has also restored funding for new missile supplies to replenish stocks that were used up during the Gaza war.
Once close terror allies, Iran and Hamas had a falling out over the Syrian Civil War, which saw Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal leave Damascus for new headquarters in Qatar. However, the latest move may signal a return to strong ties between Iran and Hamas as the Islamic Republic is stepping up its regional influence in areas such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq Yemen and Gaza.
At the same time, Sunni Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt announced the formation of a joint Arab army to counter the influence of Iran and fight Islamic extremism. Israel has also warned of Iranian expansionism in the region with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fearing that the Iran nuclear framework deal announced last week may strengthen its regional influence.
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Israel faces impending cyberattack
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) International hackers have threatened to launch what has become an annual cyberattack on Israeli and Jewish websites starting on Monday and continuing through Tuesday.
One of the hacker groups suspected of leading the attack is AnonGhost, which supports terrorist organizations, including Hamas and the Islamic State group. The attack, nicknamed #OpIsrael, has taken place for the last three years.
In previous years, the #OpIsrael attack was carried out by the Arab division of hacker group Anonymous, which warned of an “electronic Holocaust.”
In a video warning of the cyberattack, hackers said they will bring down government, bank and business websites in retaliation for Israel’s actions toward the Palestinians during Operation Protective Edge this past summer.
The Anti-Defamation League issued a security advisory informing Jewish and Israeli communities of the impending attack, which is expected to take down websites and replace their content with anti-Semitic messages.
ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said that “Israel and Jewish communities worldwide should be on alert, as digital terrorism takes many forms and hackers are getting more sophisticated.”
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Islamic State blows up church in Syria on Easter Sunday
(JNS.org) Terrorists from the Islamic State group have reportedly blown up a church in northeastern Syria on Easter Sunday.
The 80-year-old Church of the Virgin Mary in Tel Nasri, an Assyrian village in Syria’s Hassaka province, was destroyed by the terror group. No deaths or injuries were reported, Reuters said, citing a report by the Syrian State News Agency (SANA).
Assyrian Christian and Kurdish militia have been battling the Islamic State in the region. In February, the Islamic State abducted hundreds of Assyrian Christians from their villages in northeastern Syria. Meanwhile in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Assyrian Christians and other minority groups have been persecuted and driven from their homes in northern Iraq as a result of the Islamic State. The terror group has also destroyed numerous churches and antiquities in Iraq as part of an effort to erase Iraq’s non-Islamic past.
Assyrian Christian groups recently spearheaded an effort asking that U.N. missions from various countries call on the U.N. Security Council to issue a resolution against the Islamic State’s persecution of minorities and to take tangible steps to save those vulnerable groups.
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Netanyahu offers condolences and assistance to Kenyan president
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered condolences and assistance to his Kenyan counterpart in the wake of the brutal terror attack at the east African country’s Garissa University last week.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said that Netanyahu spoke with Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta on Sunday, where he conveyed his condolences in the wake of the “reprehensible terrorist attack” perpetrated on April 2.
Netanyahu also told Kenyatta that Israel and Kenya stand together in the war against terrorism and offered assistance to the east African nation. Israel and Kenya have long enjoyed a close relationship in areas such as agriculture, education, and more recently in military and intelligence assistance in the fight against terrorism.
In a speech over the weekend, Kenyatta vowed to respond “in the severest ways possible” to the attack by al-Shabaab terrorists that left nearly 150 people dead because they were Christian. Kenyatta said that the al-Qaeda-linked Somali terror group posed an “existential threat” and that they will fail to set up an Islamic caliphate in his country, which is roughly 83 percent Christian.
“Our forefathers bled and died for this nation, and we will do everything to defend our way of life,” Kenyatta said, BBC reported.
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Netanyahu: Iran deal ‘keeps Iran’s vast nuclear infrastructure in place’
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the framework deal reached between p5+1 nations and Iran last Thursday “keeps Iran’s vast nuclear infrastructure in place,” in an interview on the CNN news network Sunday.
“They’re getting a free path to the bomb,” Netanyahu said, adding that the issue of Iran’s inter-continental ballistic missile system (ICBM) was not negotiated as part of the deal, “and those missiles are only used for you [the US]. They’re not missiles that can reach us. And they’re geared for nuclear weapons.”
“I think there’s a third alternative and that is standing firm,” particularly with the use of very strong sanctions, Netanyahu said.
Meanwhile U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), vice chair of the of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also spoke on CNN, saying she wishes Netanyahu “would contain himself,” and that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “will be agreeable” when it comes to the deal.
Khamenei has repeatedly called for Israel’s annihilation and called for “Death to America” in a speech earlier this month.
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PA’s Abbas calls for peace talks renewal but won’t recognize Jewish state
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) In an interview with Arab-language newspaper Kul al-Arab that was published on Saturday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for a renewal of peace negotiations with Israel.
Abbas said that negotiating with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not a problem. “The Palestinian people’s hands are always outstretched in peace,” Abbas said. “Ignoring these outstretched hands for peace could be devastating to both sides.”
However, Abbas reiterated that the Palestinian Authority already recognized Israel’s right to exist in the Oslo Accords, but the Palestinians would not recognize Israel as a Jewish state. “I have no hatred or animosity for the Jewish people or the State of Israel,” Abbas said.
Israeli construction Minister Uri Ariel (Habayit Hayehudi) criticized Abbas’s statement.
“After unilaterally violating the agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority by turning to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, how dare Abbas say his hands are outstretched in peace?” Ariel asked.
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Discrepancies revealed between U.S. and Iranian versions of framework deal
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A look at the versions of last week’s framework nuclear agreement published by the U.S. and Iranian governments reveals a number of key differences.
According to Iran, sanctions will be lifted immediately after a final agreement is signed. According to the U.S., sanctions will be conditionally lifted in phases.
Regarding its stockpile of enriched uranium, Iran says it will not be shipped out of the country, while the U.S. says a large part of it will be transferred to Russia. The U.S. version of the deal says restrictions on uranium enrichment will last 15 years, while the Iranian version says 10 years.
On the issue of inspections, the U.S. says Iran has agreed to regular surprise inspections of its nuclear facilities, while Iran says its consent to this is only temporary. Another difference is on the matter of advanced centrifuge development at the Fordo enrichment facility. Iran says the development of these centrifuges can continue, while the U.S. says it cannot and that the Fordo enrichment facility will be turned into a nuclear research center.
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Pope Francis issues Easter prayer for Iran deal, Kenya university massacre
(JNS.org) In his Easter Sunday mass, Pope Francis issued a prayer that the framework deal reached between Iran and p5+1 powers last week would prove to be successful.
“In hope we entrust to the merciful Lord the framework recently agreed to in Lausanne, that it may be a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world,” Pope Francis said, Reuters reported.
The Pontiff also addressed last Thursday’s massacre of Christian students in Garissa University in Kenya by the Islamist terror group al-Shabaab. Nearly 150 people were murdered, most because they were Christians.
“May constant prayer rise up from all people of goodwill for those who lost their lives – I think in particular of the young people who were killed last Thursday at Garissa University College in Kenya – for all who have been kidnapped, and for those forced to abandon their homes and their dear ones,” Pope Francis said.
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420 lone IDF soldiers attend special communal Passover Seder
(JNS.org) More than 400 “lone soldiers” were invited to a special Passover Seder in the Israeli city of Hadera sponsored by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the IDF Education Corps.
This was the 14th annual Passover Seder held for IDF personnel who do not have living parents, or those who do not have families that reside in Israel. Many IDF soldiers who have immigrated to Israel or serve through the Mahal program, which allows non-citizen Jews to volunteer for the IDF, qualify for the “lone soldier” status.
The 420 male and female participants came with a variety of ranks and from a variety of units, and attended the Seder in a resort village in the Givat Olga neighborhood of Hadera, 31 miles from Tel Aviv, reported the Times of Israel.
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Iran-supported Syria praises framework nuclear deal
(JNS.org) The Syrian government praised on Friday the framework deal reached between Iran and P5+1 powers on Thursday.
“Syria welcomes the statement issued on the discussions,” a foreign ministry source said as quoted by Syrian state television, Reuters reported.
“[Syria] considers that this framework agreement will be followed by positive steps and will be another contribution by Iran … to ease tensions in the region and the world,” the source said.
The Syrian government is still headed by the Alawite President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime has been battling a bloody civil war. More than 200,000 people have been killed in the conflict thus far.
Iran has been a major supporter of Assad by supplying his regime with military support and other resources.
“If it wasn’t for the fact that Hezbollah and Iran are supporting Assad militarily, his dictatorial regime would have been finished,” Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-Israeli Middle East analyst who teaches contemporary Iranian politics at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya college in Israel, told JNS.org.
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Israel places third among countries registering U.S. patents
(JNS.org) Israel continues as a global leader among countries registering for U.S. patents. Israeli companies registered more than 3,500 patents in the U.S. in 2015, according to BDICoface, Israel’s biggest business information group.
This figure represents an increase of about 21 percent from 2013 and puts Israel in third place in the world for U.S.-registered patents, behind only Taiwan and Japan.
“The government must continue to nurture the issue through investment in technological education, improvement of infrastructure, and incentives for global hi-tech companies to carry on opening R&D centers in Israel,” said Tehila Yanai, a managing partner at BDICoface, reported Yedioth Achronoth.
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Hamas divides loyalty between Iran and Saudi Arabia
(JNS.org) The Palestinian terror group Hamas is attempting to divide its loyalties between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the wake of the framework nuclear deal reached between the Islamic Republic and P5+1 world powers on Thursday.
“An agreement [on Iran’s nuclear program] would be in Hamas’s favor, since Hamas [already] has strong ties with Iran, and this agreement would improve its relationship with Americans,” Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, told The Media Line.
However, when it comes to the conflict in Yemen, Hamas has expressed support for Saudi Arabia’s opposition to the Houthi rebels.
“What is happening right now is best for Hamas movement on all political levels. We need to be on their side too in order to gain more friends in the region, especially with Egypt. This is why we released our opinion recently about Yemen when we said that we are with the legitimate government in Yemen,” Zahar said.
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Paris kosher supermarket terror survivors sue French media outlet
(JNS.org) Six survivors of the Paris Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket terror attack in January are suing a French cable news outlet for broadcasting their location live during the siege.
The attorney for the hostage survivors said that the broadcast by French 24-hour cable news network BFMTV “lacked the most basic precautions” and endangered those still alive inside the supermarket, AFP reported.
The attack on the Paris kosher supermarket on January 9 by Islamic terrorist Amedy Coulibaly left four people dead. It occurred just days following the attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo by Islamic terrorists Cherif and Said Kouchi that killed 12.
“The working methods of media in real time in this type of situation were tantamount to goading someone to commit a crime,” Klugman told AFP, while blasting the French media for reporting the security force’s movements during the siege.
Klugman added that their lives “could have been at risk if Coulibaly had been aware in real time what BFMTV was broadcasting.”
Several hostages were hidden in a walk-in refrigerator by supermarket employee Lassana Bathily, a 24-year-old Muslim from Mali who was later hailed as a hero and granted French citizenship.
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Muslims to nearly catch up with Christians by 2050, number of Jews to shrink in U.S.
(JNS.org) Islam is expected to nearly catch up with Christianity as the world’s largest faith by the year 2050, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.
The report, titled The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050, predicts that the number of Muslims will rise from 1.6 billion to 2.76 billion by 2050, while Christianity will grow from 2.17 to 2.92 billion by the same year.
In terms of global percentage, Christians will remain steady at 31.4 percent while Muslims will grow from 23.2 percent to 29.7 percent. The report cites high fertility rates among Muslims and increasing secularism among Christians as the main drivers of this change. Most of the worldwide growth in both faiths is expected to occur in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In the United States, Christianity will decline from more than three-quarters of the population to just two-thirds by 2050. Judaism will no longer be the second largest non-Christian faith in the U.S., with Muslims eclipsing Judaism by 2050.
Despite losing its status as the second largest non-Christian faith, Judaism is expected to grow globally by 16 percent by 2050, increasing the Jewish population from 13.86 million to 16 million.
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