Humanitarian aid official indicted for giving charity funds to Hamas
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A serious security affair was exposed on Thursday after the Israeli courts lifted a gag order: Mohammed Halabi, the head of the international aid organization World Vision, has been indicted on suspicion of transferring humanitarian funds to the terrorist organization Hamas.
According to the indictment, Halabi, 38, who was arrested at the Erez border crossing in June, took advantage of his position within the organization to systematically fund the Hamas military wing using millions of dollars in charity funds over the course of many years. The money was allegedly used to build terror attack tunnels among other things.
Halabi joined Hamas’ ranks in the early 2000s. Upon joining, he underwent operational and military training. He was inserted into the humanitarian organization in 2005 by his Hamas operators, and worked his way up the ranks until he achieved the highest ranking position at his branch, the indictment said. He then used the resources and budgets at his disposal to covertly help Hamas, the indictment alleged.
Halabi is considered an important Hamas asset, as someone who controls millions of dollars. It has been claimed that he was able to funnel 60% of the humanitarian organization’s funds into Hamas endeavors.
World Vision is a non-governmental organization considered to be one of the world’s largest humanitarian groups, and as such it is supported by many Western countries as well as the United Nations. Its budget comprises some $2.6 billion and it is active in more than 100 countries worldwide. In Israel and the Palestinian territories, the organization has been active since 1975.
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Nazareth mayor claims Abbas tried to unseat Netanyahu
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas actively meddled in 2015 Knesset election in an effort to unseat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Nazareth Mayor Ali Salam told Israel Radio on Tuesday.
Salam said that on election day, March 17, 2015, Abbas called him and enticed him to bolster the turnout in his city, the largest Arab city in Israel, with the hope that this would translate into more votes for the Arab parties (which ran on a joint list called the Joint Arab List). Prior to the election, some speculated that if no clear winner emerged, the Arabs could make Labor Chairman Isaac Herzog prime minister by throwing their support behind him (although they have principally opposed to entering a coalition).
Salam confirmed that he worked hard to bolster turnout that day and his efforts paid off: Voter turnout spiked from 20 percent at noon to 90 percent in the evening. Salam said Abbas promised him a quid pro quo, by pressing one of the factions in the city to sign a coalition deal with his administration and thus increasing his clout. It is unclear when that promise was made.
On Wednesday, Israel Radio interviewed Muhammad Al-Madani, a senior Palestinian official and a close associate of Abbas, who refuted Salam’s version of events. He denied Abbas tried to pressure Salam to increase turnout to the benefit of the Joint Arab List. But shortly after Madani’s interview ended, Salam spoke with the station and reiterated his claim again.
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Widows of Israeli athletes murdered in Munich get Olympic memorial
(JNS.org) The widows of two of the 11 Israeli athletes killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics participated in a ceremony and minute of silence in the memory of the victims at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Village, where this year’s summer Olympic Games will begin on Friday.
Anke Spitzer remembered her fencing coach husband Andre, while Ilana Romano remembered her husband and weightlifter Joseph Romano at the ceremony led by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach.
“This is closure for us. This is incredibly important. We waited 44 years to have this remembrance and recognition for our loved ones who were so brutally killed in Munich,” Spitzer told reporters.
“That they would be really accepted as members of the Olympic family. It is what we wanted because they were members of the Olympic family,” she said.
In September of 1972, Israeli athletes were taken hostage at the athlete’s village of the Munich games by Palestinian terrorists belonging to the Black September terror group. They killed 11 Israelis over 24-hour standoff with German police, in which five of the terrorists and two police officers were also killed.
While the families of the victims have long called for a minute of silence during subsequent games’ opening ceremonies in honor of the murdered Israeli athletes, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has refused this demand. This year, however, Bach finally inaugurated a Place of Mourning area, which will now be set up at every Olympic Games in the future.
“I never believed it was going to come. After 44 years I am happy for this moment of history,” Romano said, according to Yedioth Achronoth.
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U.S. sent $400 million cash prisoner ransom to Iran, report claims
(JNS.org) The Obama administration secretly sent $400 million worth of cash to Iran at the same time as four American prisoners were released from Tehran in January, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. U.S. officials denied that it was a ransom payment.
U.S. and European officials as well as members of Congress said they were briefed after an airlift of the first payment, paid in euros, Swiss francs and other currencies, of a $1.7 billion settlement deal with Iran over a failed arms deal signed before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The settlement deal also coincided with the landmark Iran nuclear deal that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the support of many in Congress fought against.
Senior U.S. officials, including State Department spokesman John Kirby, denied there was any connection between the payment and the prisoner swap.
“The negotiations over the [arms deal] settlement … were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home,” Kirby said in a statement. “Not only were the two negotiations separate, they were conducted by different teams on each side.”
“The funds that were transferred to Iran were related solely to the settlement of a long-standing claim at the U.S.-Iran Claims Tribunal at The Hague,” Kirby said.
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Netanyahu expresses shock after Palestinian father urges soldiers to kill son
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed outrage over a video of a Palestinian father pushing his 4-year-old son toward Israeli border police, taunting them to shoot the boy.
“I’ve just watched a video that shook me to the core of my being. In just a few seconds, it shows why our conflict persists,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.
The father screams, “Shoot this little boy!” and “kill him” over and over to the soldiers . He tells his son “don’t be scared,” as he pushes him to the soldiers, but obviously scared, he reluctantly continues and one soldier gives the boy a high-five. Then, the father encouraged the boy to throw rocks at the soldiers.
“It’s hard to make a four-year-old hate,” Netanyahu said.
“Imagine your own child at that age. Think of his smile. Imagine her laugh. Picture the unrestrained joy and innocence that only a child possesses. Encouraging someone to murder a child – let alone your own child – is probably the most inhumane thing a person can do. What did this child do to deserve this? The answer is: nothing. He is innocent.”
Palestinian Media Watch found an edited version of the video from the official Palestinian Authority (PA) TV in which they deleted the high-five. The PA TV reporter said: “His son, who has yet to reach the age of five, also knows, despite his young age, that it is forbidden to shake hands with the soldiers, just as it is forbidden to make peace with them.”
Netanyahu said that Palestinian and Israeli children deserve to “live in peace.”
“I’m sure Palestinian parents, many of them, are as outraged as I am at this video. And today I appeal to every father and mother around the world. I ask you to join me in calling for an end to this abuse of children. The Palestinian leadership must stop encouraging children to kill. They must stop encouraging Palestinian parents to call for the death of their own children.”
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Israeli government committee recognizes Armenian genocide
(JNS.org) An Israeli Knesset committee has announced that it recognizes the Armenian Genocide, encouraging the Israeli government to formally adopt the move.
“It is our moral obligation to recognize the holocaust of the Armenian nation,” said the Education, Culture and Sports Committee chairman MK Yaakov Margi (Shas).
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein asked in early July for the State of Israel to recognize the 1915 genocide during World War I when 1.5 million Armenians were murdered by the Ottoman Turkish Empire in their homeland.
But as Israel is waiting to normalize relations with Turkey following a signed agreement last month, it is not clear if and when the Israeli government will officially recognize the Armenian genocide.
Chairwoman of the Armenian National Committee in Jerusalem, Georgette Avakian, spoke to the Knesset about the fact that numerous parliaments around the world and 31 countries have already recognized the genocide.
“The Knesset and the president of the state must recognize the genocide of our nation,” she said.
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