Israeli security forces arrest Hamas weapons smuggler who posed as fisherman
(JNS.org) Israel’s Shin Bet security agency announced the arrest of a Palestinian man who had been attempting to smuggle weapons to the Gaza-based Hamas terror group by posing as a fisherman.
Salim Hassan Na’aman, 39, from the Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza, was arrested in a joint operation by the Shin Bet and the Israel Police after he violated the maritime zone permitted for Palestinian fishing boats. According to the Shin Bet, Na’aman was allegedly attempting to smuggle ammunition and liquid fiberglass that is used to build rockets.
“It emerged that for a lengthy period, he was involved in sea-based smuggling of weapons and other items for Hamas and other terrorist elements in the Gaza Strip,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.
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Comedian Louis C.K. to perform in Jerusalem this summer
(JNS.org) The popular American comedian Louis C.K. is set to perform in Israel on Aug. 18 at Jerusalem’s Pais Arena.
Known for his dark, self-deprecating, and observational humor, Louis C.K. initially announced his plans to perform in Israel during an interview on Howard Stern’s radio show last month. The official details of his Jerusalem show were released Monday.
“I’m going to Israel and doing a show like at a soccer stadium or something there and I’ll get as much money over there as I would here at home,” Louis told Stern, referring to the financial difficulties resulting from the fact that his self-financed show, “Horace and Pete,” has not fared as well as he expected.
Born Louis Szekely, the comedian was raised Catholic, but his paternal grandfather, Dr. Geza Szekely Schweiger, was a Hungarian Jew whose family immigrated to Mexico.
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Federal judge rules in favor of congregants in Touro Synagogue dispute
(JNS.org) A federal judge ruled in favor of the congregants of the 250-year-old Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., in an ownership dispute that threatened to shutter the historic building.
U.S. District Judge Jack McConnell on Monday awarded Newport-based Congregation Jeshuat Israel control over the historic Touro Synagogue, America’s oldest Jewish congregation, while rejecting arguments from New York City-based Congregation Shearith Israel—which has acted as a trustee of the synagogue for nearly 200 years—that it is the rightful owner of the building, the Associated Press reported.
The dispute dates back to 2012, when Jeshuat Israel, facing financial difficulties that threatened to shutter the synagogue, attempted to sell a set of bells from Torah Scrolls to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts for $7.4 million in order to remain open. But Congregation Shearith Israel, which became a trustee of the synagogue in the 1820s, rejected the move and said it was the bells’ rightful owner.
Yet in Monday’s 106-page decision, McConnell wrote, “The central issue here is the legacy of some of the earliest Jewish settlers in North America, who desired to make Newport a permanent haven for public Jewish worship.”
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