Knesset approves minimum jail sentences for rock-throwing
(JNS.org) In a vote of 51-17, the Israeli Knesset on Monday approved a bill designed to toughen penalties for rock-throwing.
The bill, designed as a temporary provision in its current format, passed its second and third reading on Monday, finalizing it into law. Its temporary nature, however, will require Knesset members to vote on it again in three years in order to decide whether to renew it.
The new law, part of efforts to quell a recent wave of Palestinian violence, imposes a minimum prison sentence of three years on anyone convicted of rock-throwing, stabbing, or using other dangerous weapons, with the new law adding rocks to the existing list of dangerous weapons.
Under the law, the minimum prison sentence cannot be less than one-fifth of the maximum sentence. But the court is given leeway to use its discretion in cases involving “special circumstances.”
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Israel closes Palestinian radio station over anti-Israel incitement
(JNS.org) Israeli authorities raided a Palestinian radio station in Hebron before dawn Tuesday on suspicion that the station systematically aired incitement to violence against Israelis. During the raid, conducted by the Israel Defense Forces and the Civil Administration, troops confiscated broadcast and technical equipment, forcing the station off the air.
The Al-Huriya radio station is said to have encouraged violent “resistance” marches.
“The operation to confiscate equipment and close the station was a necessary step in the efforts to rein in the incitement whose results have been obvious over the last month,” said an IDF statement. “The IDF will continue to use every legal means at its disposal to combat terrorists and their accomplices in order to provide security to the citizens of Israel.”
Al-Huriya was established in Gaza in 2002 by Palestine Liberation Organization activists, and was relocated to Hebron after Hamas violently took over the Gaza Strip in 2007. The station has been shut down by Israeli authorities twice: once in 2002 and again in 2008.
Most recently, the station broadcast false claims that Israeli security forces were executing Palestinians and kidnapping Palestinian boys. The station also encouraged stabbing attacks against Israelis and honored the families of terrorists who died while committing attacks.
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Al-Qaeda leader praises Palestinian terror, calls for attacks against U.S.
(JNS.org) Al-Qaeda terror leader Ayman al-Zawahri has released a new audio message titled “To Unite for the Liberation of Jerusalem,” in which he criticized Israel’s “attacks against the al-Aqsa mosque” and called for more terrorist attacks against the Jewish state and the U.S.
“Muslims around the world have learned about the Jewish attacks on the Blessed al-Aksa Mosque,” he said in the video, praising ongoing Palestinian stabbing attacks against “the Jews.”
He also discussed a larger strategy toward “liberating Palestine.”
“First is striking the West and especially the U.S. on its own soil, and attacking their scattered interests in every place. The supporters of Israel must pay with their blood and economy. This will be their price for supporting Israel’s crimes against Muslims and Islam,” he said, the Jerusalem Post reported.
To achieve this goal, Zahwari called for more large-scale, mass terror attacks such as the ones Al-Qaeda carried out on September 11, 2001, or the train bombings in London and Madrid. He also called for “the founding of an Islamic State in Egypt and the Levant, in order to mobilize the nation for the liberation of Palestine.”
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Israel’s Steinitz: Turkish President Erdogan’s AKP party victory ‘unfortunate’
(JNS.org) Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s Minister for National Infrastructure and a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called the election victory of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party on Sunday “unfortunate.”
“During Erdogan’s time in power, and specifically in recent years, relations with Israel have deteriorated from cooperation to bitter tensions,” Steinitz said. “Turkey is drawing closer to Hamas and radical Islam at the expense of relations with Israel, including incitement against Israel.”
Last June, Erdogan’s AKP party suffered a significant setback, losing the governing majority in parliament for the first time since coming to power over a decade ago. In the run-up to the June election, many Turkish voters expressed dismay over Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian policies. But instead of forming a coalition government, Erdogan pushed for new elections while increasing his nationalist rhetoric, and implementing a greater crackdown on dissidents and Turkey’s Kurdish minority.
As a result of Sunday’s election, Erdogan’s AKP regained the majority and will now control 317 seats in the 550-seat parliament, allowing AKP to govern without a coalition partner.
While Erdogan still needs 330 votes to push through reforms to the constitution to expand the power of the president, most analysts expect he will secure enough support for the changes.
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Hillel employee killed on crashed Airbus A321 plane
(JNS.org) After the Airbus A321 carrying Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board, one of the victims was revealed as an employee of Hillel International, the Jewish campus umbrella organization. Anna Tishinskaya, 27, was a former program director of St. Petersburg Hillel.
“On behalf of everyone at Hillel, I extend my condolences to Anna’s family and our colleagues at St. Petersburg Hillel,” said Hillel International President and CEO Eric Fingerhut. “Anna represented the best of what Hillel hopes to achieve—rising from an engaged student to a Hillel professional and then becoming a leader within her community. Her loss will be felt by our Hillel family and the entire Jewish people.”
“[Anna’s] creative energy was boundless—she was a talented artist, singer, and photographer who strove to make the Jewish community an exciting place for herself and others,” said Yasha Moz, director of global relations in the Office of the President at Hillel International, who had worked with Tishinskaya.
On Sunday, Russian authorities dismissed claims by the Islamic State terror group that it brought down the airplane, which crashed in an area of the Sinai known for heavy activity by terrorist groups.
“The key task is to investigate in detail what caused the tragedy,” said Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in a statement broadcast by Rossiya-24 state television.
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