Assad: Syria has received advanced Russian missiles
(JNS.org) Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Thursday that Syria “has received the first shipment of Russian anti-aircraft S-300 rockets,” the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported.
“The rest of the shipment will arrive soon,” Assad reportedly said.
Israel fears that Syria’s receipt of S-300 surface-to-air missiles could be a regional game changer, especially if they fall into the hands of terrorist groups like Hezbollah. Earlier this week, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Israel “will know what to do” if S-300s reach Syria.
*
Palestinians reject Kerry’s peace process proposals
(JNS.org) Following U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s fourth visit to the Middle East in four months in an effort to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, Palestinian officials continue to reject Kerry’s proposals.
On Wednesday, Palestinian negotiator Nabil Sha’ath rejected “exploratory” talks with Israel, involving Jordan as a third party.
“We tried such talks in the past and they we won’t go in this direction again because the negotiations failed,” Sha’ath told the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Voice of Palestine radio station, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Reacting to Kerry’s idea that spurring Palestinian economic growth with up to $4 billion in private investment would improve prospects for peace, PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s economic adviser, Mohammad Mustafa, said, “The Palestinian leadership will not offer political concessions in exchange for economic benefits,” the Times of Israel reported. Kerry’s economic proposal did identity where the money for the Palestinians would come from.
*
Alan Gross lawsuit against U.S. government dismissed
(JNS.org) A lawsuit filed against the U.S. government in 2012 by Alan Gross, who has been imprisoned in Cuba since 2009, was dismissed Tuesday by federal judge.
Gross, serving a 15-year prison term for helping Cuba’s Jewish community access the Internet while he was a subcontractor for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was working to promote democracy, but Cuba convicted him of “crimes against the state.”
The lawsuit against the U.S. said that Gross had not been prepared for the risks he later encountered while doing his job in Cuba, the Associated Press reported. But in his opinion, Judge James Boasberg wrote that federal law does not allow the government to be sued based on injuries that occurred outside of the U.S.
Scott Gilbert of Gilbert LLP, the law firm representing Gross, toldJNS.org, “We are disappointed in the court’s ruling. This is an example of the exception swallowing the rule. We will be filing a notice of appeal shortly.”
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in January stated that Cuba’s detention of Gross is arbitrary. Last September, 44 U.S. senators signed a letter urging Gross’s release on humanitarian grounds, followed by a similar Senate letter in December.
*
Jerusalem anticipates 10 million tourists per year
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Tuesday unveiled his plan to bring 10 million tourists to Israel’s capital every year.
Eighty percent of tourists visiting Israel stop in Jerusalem. In 2012, some 3.1 million foreign tourists and 762,000 domestic tourists stayed at Jerusalem hotels (an 11 percent increase over the previous year).
Barkat, who took part in the 2013 Jerusalem Innovative Tourism Summit on Tuesday, remarked that up until several years ago, only 2 million tourists visited the city annually, whereas today the number has doubled to about 4 million.
“In recent years, we have allocated a lot of resources to the development of tourism in the city… I am pleased that we can show positive results, and the tourism in the city is displaying a consistent upward trend,” Barkat said.
Haifa University calendars Christian, Druze and Muslim holidays
(JNS.org) Haifa University has become Israel’s first university to designate important Christian, Druze and Muslim holidays—Christmas, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha—to the school’s calendar, allowing students from those faiths to take off on those days.
The new holidays, which will go into effect next academic year, however, will not come at the expense of any Jewish holidays.
“This is a precedent-setting decision that reflects our vision,” Haifa University President Amos Shapira told Haaretz.
“Academic excellence in research and teaching is our primary goal and we aim to accomplish this in a culture of tolerance and openness. Our students study together, they do research together and it seems only natural to us that they will also be able to mark the holidays that are important to them together,” Shapira said.
Haifa University, which draws many students from Israel’s diverse northern region, has a large Arab Christian, Druze and Muslim student population.
*
Israeli and Jewish delegations reach out to Russian Christians
(JNS.org) An Israeli delegations from the Knesset’s Christian Allies Caucus and the World Jewish Congress (WJC), with support of the International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem, traveled to Moscow to celebrate Israel’s 65th anniversary and to meet with Russian Christian leaders.
The event, which was hosted by Senior Pastor Mats Ola Ishoel of the Word of Life Church, a Swedish-based international church formed by Ulf Ekman in 1995, urged closer bonds between Israel and Russia and explored the formation of a Russian Israel Allies Caucus in the Knesset.
“The World Jewish Congress is committed to strengthening ties between Christians around the world who share our commitment to Israel and defend it against unfair attacks in their home countries. Our visit to Moscow has strengthened the bond between our people, and we were able to tell the Christians in Russia that Israel will help protect their communities and holy places in the Middle East,” WJC-Israel Chairman Shai Hermesh said in a statement.
*
Preceding provided by JNS.org