Hezbollah’s Nasrallah claims Israel assassinated Palestinian fugitive in Bulgaria
(JNS.org) Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, on Sunday accused Israel and its foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, of killing fugitive terrorist Omar Nayef Zayed in the Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria last month.
“The Mossad assassinated him and the Arab regimes don’t raise a finger,” Nasrallah said in a speech aired by Al-Manar, the Hezbollah-affiliated satellite television station.
Zayed, from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group, was convicted for the murder of yeshiva student Eliyahu Amedi in Jerusalem in 1986 and given a life sentence. He escaped in 1990 after being admitted to the hospital for medical treatment, and lived in several Arab states before eventually settling in Bulgaria.
Nasrallah claimed that Israel is refraining from attacking Lebanon because it fears Hezbollah’s response. In his speech, he addressed the muddied relations between Hezbollah and Saudi Arabia, which along with other Persian Gulf states recently labeled Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
“Israel is the one worthy of this characterization,” said Nasrallah.
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Year-long Ben Gurion Airport exhibit celebrates Israeli ingenuity and innovation
(JNS.org) A yearlong exhibition featuring 60 celebrated Israeli innovations was launched Monday at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport.
The exhibition is displayed along a large wall just beyond passport control at the airport, with the goal of introducing Israeli science and leading innovators to the 8 million travelers who pass through the airport annually.
“The exhibition is a major public diplomacy asset for Israel,” said Israeli Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis. “We are showing the vast contributions of Israeli science and technology to the world and all of humanity….The world admires and is amazed by our achievements. Therefore, it is fitting that they be shown at the gateway into and out of Israel.”
The exhibition will feature cherry tomatoes, the flash drive, Teva Pharmaceuticals’s Copaxone drug for treating multiple sclerosis, the PillCam disposable capsule that films the gastrointestinal tract, a robot that helps with back pain, the Mobileye collision avoidance system for cars, and Intel chips that were developed in Israel, among other innovations.
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Israeli Knesset bill aims to restrict election activities by NGOs
(JNS.org) Member of Knesset Yoav Kisch (Likud) on Sunday introduced a new bill aimed at reducing the involvement of NGOs in Israeli Knesset elections. The bill would essentially apply Israel’s election laws to advocacy groups such as Victory 2015 (“V15”), which campaigned against the Likud-led government in the March 2015 Israeli election, although it did not endorse a specific candidate or party.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he would consider supporting the measure. It is believed that V15 received tens of millions of dollars to fund its campaign to unseat Netanyahu, but since it did not explicitly back a specific party or candidate, it did not have to comply with Israel’s strict laws on campaign finance and propaganda. V15 now operates as part of a larger movement called Darkenu (“Our Way”).
The new bill states that it would limit political advocacy by V15 and similar organizations “by defining that any organization that engages in activity that would normally be associated with parties during a campaign be considered an ‘actively involved organization’ and would have to comply with fundraising laws and other rules that apply to parties.”
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Egypt kicks away friendly soccer match with Israel
(JNS.org) Egyptian soccer officials have rejected an Israeli proposal to hold a friendly soccer match between the two countries in Israel.
“The main objective behind the request is to break the barriers between the two countries and to spread a peaceful atmosphere,” the Israeli Football Association said when announcing its invitation, Haaretz reported.
Azmi Megahed, media spokesman for the Egyptian Football Association, said, “We will not agree to any matches with the Israel national team or any Israeli clubs….The idea of facing Israel is unacceptable to us because the Egyptian people would never agree to it.”
Egypt’s rejection of the soccer match comes after Egyptian Member of Parliament Tawfik Okasha was removed from office on Wednesday in the aftermath of his hosting of Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Haim Koren for dinner at his home.
Despite those two incidents, Israel-Egypt relations have warmed in recent years under Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, with the two countries quietly cooperating on fighting both Islamic State-affiliated terrorism in the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group.
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White House: no diplomatic breakthrough expected during Biden’s Israel trip
(JNS.org) Vice President Joseph Biden’s upcoming visit to Israel is not expected to generate any major changes in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
On Friday, the White House said “no breakthroughs” on the Israeli-Palestinian track were expected during Biden’s visit, and that instead his trip will focus on increasing U.S.-Israel cooperation on issues including Syria, Iran, and Islamic State. Biden will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
During Biden’s visit to Israel in 2010, the Israeli government announced new Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem, sparking a diplomatic spat that included secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s rebuking of Netanyahu for 45 minutes over the phone.
In addition to Israel, Biden will visit the Palestinian territories (where he will meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas), Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.
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Israel holds its first transgender beauty pageant
(JNS.org) The first “Miss Trans Israel” beauty pageant was held in Tel Aviv last Thursday. Thirty transgender women of different faiths competed, taking to the catwalk in stiletto heels and skinny jeans.
It was the latest event cementing Israel—and Tel Aviv in particular—as a gay-friendly area in the midst of a Middle East region where gays are frequently persecuted.
Although transgender individuals had a “terrible” life in Israel in the past, today they are much more accepted by Israeli society, said Israela Stephanie Lev, the pageant’s organizer, the Associated Press reported.
“We are enlightening people to accept and empower transsexuals,” she said.
The pageant wasn’t limited to Jewish transgender women. The competitors included 21-year-old Talleen Abu Hanna, a Catholic Arab from Nazareth.
“We are normal people. This is normal,” Hanna said.
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