Hamas and Iran hold meetings to mend ties
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Despite differences over the civil war in Syria, senior Hamas officials met with Iranian and Hezbollah officials in Beirut last month in an effort to mend ties, the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Sunday.
Palestinian sources cited in the report said “Important meetings were held in Lebanon at the end of last month between officials from Hamas, officials from Hezbollah, and Iranian officials in an attempt to resolve any differences.”
According to the report, “members of the Hamas politburo, Moussa Abu Marzouk and Mohamed Nasr, met with Hezbollah officials at the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon to discuss relations.”
Marzouk was reportedly en route to Egypt from Turkey through Lebanon, just a few days before Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was deposed by the Egyptian military.
“Iranian support to the [Hamas] movement was discussed,” as was the crisis in Syria, the source said.
Relations between Hamas and Iran had become strained over the Syrian civil war. Last year, multiple reports claimed that Hamas had vacated its long-standing Damascus headquarters, so as not to be seen as supporting President Bashar al-Assad, whom Iran and Hezbollah staunchly back in his battle against rebels.
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Turkish Airlines investigated for alleged tax fraud in Israel
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Israeli office of Turkish Airlines is currently being investigated for alleged tax evasion amounting to over 1.5 million shekels ($418,000), a statement by the Israeli Justice Ministry said Monday.
According to the statement, the Tel Aviv District Prosecution’s Taxes and Economics Department is considering pressing criminal charges against the company as well as the head of its local office, Fatih Dogan, for failing to meet Israel’s Tax Authority guidelines for foreign companies operating in Israel. The decision is pending a hearing before the head of the Taxes and Economics Department, attorney Mina Zamir.
Turkish Airlines in considered one of the world’s leading international carriers, and was ranked the seventh-best airline in the world in 2012 and the fastest-growing airline worldwide in 2011. The company’s Israeli office numbers dozens of Turkish employees, whose wages are subjected to both Turkish and Israeli tax laws.
The Tel Aviv District Prosecution believes that between 2006 and 2010 the airline filed false tax reports in Israel, and that the wages paid to the company’s Turkish employees—which were deposited in their bank accounts in Istanbul—were higher than the wages declared in Israel for taxation purposes.
This method allegedly allowed Turkish Airlines’ Israeli office to pay its employees “under the table” and avoid deducting taxes that should have been paid to the Israeli authorities.
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Israelis protest release of 104 Palestinian terrorists for peace talks
(JNS.org) Dozens of demonstrators gathered at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bureau on Sunday to protest the planned release of 104 Palestinian prisoners ahead of renewed peace talks. The prisoner release was approved 13-7 by Israel’s cabinet.
“The prime minister is encouraging terror by releasing terrorists and killers,” Israeli Channel 2 news quoted a demonstrator as saying Sunday as dozens carried pictures of loved ones killed in terror attacks.
Israeli Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with the demonstrators before heading into the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting, assuring them that he would vote against the measure. “I will vote against it and so will my friends,” he told the crowd, according to Israel Hayom. “The release of killers brings a lot of loss and embarrassment to a country. Anyone on the other side who demands the release of murderers and incinerators of women and children is not worthy of being a called a partner.”
Yaron Friedman, whose brother Guy Friedman was murdered in 1992 by Israeli Arab terrorists, said, “Our goodwill gestures actually prompt our enemies to make more demands. You don’t release prisoners before negotiations even begin.”
After the prisoner release passed in the cabinet, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “This moment is not easy for me. It is not easy for the ministers. It is not easy especially for the families, the bereaved families, whose heart I understand. But there are moments in which tough decisions must be made for the good of the country, and this is one of those moments.”
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Israeli Navy installing system to counter Russian Yakhont anti-ship missile
(JNS.org) Israel’s Navy has begun installing a new defense system on its missile boats that would protect them from the feared Russian Yakhont anti-ship missile, Israel Hayom reported.
The Barak 8 medium-range missile is designed to intercept airborne threats, including enemy aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, anti-ship missiles and cruise missiles. “History has never seen ships capable of controlling territory as well as Israel’s Navy using the Barak 8 missile,” according to a source familiar with the weapon.
The Barak 8 would provide Israeli naval craft with a defense against the Russian Yakhont missile, a potent anti-ship weapon that Israel sees a threat to its navy, especially if it falls into the hands of Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah. A Russian shipment of the Yakhont missiles was allegedly destroyed in Syria by Israel a few weeks ago.
The navy has decided to install the Barak 8 systems on its Saar 5 missile boats for the time being. It is believed that the system will be operational on the boats within the coming months.
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Anthony Weiner, whose wife has Islamist ties, under fire for donation from Al Jazeera lobbyist
(JNS.org) Former congressman Anthony Weiner, who is facing growing pressure to quit the race for mayor of New York City after the revelation that he continued “sexting” on social media far after the original lewd photo he posted on Twitter in 2011, is also under fire for accepting a $4,950 campaign donation from John Merrigan, a lobbyist for the Al Jazeera television network.
“Al Jazeera and its lobbyists are no friends to New York City or our Jewish community, and Anthony shouldn’t accept their support,” New York City Councilman Lew Fidler said, according to the New York Post. “They have spread hate and lies against Jews, not only here in New York but across the world. The right thing to do is to give this money back. Anthony should do exactly that.”
Al Jazeera aired taped propaganda messages from al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
“Anthony Weiner should know better than to accept contributions from friends [at] Al Jazeera, which has been a voice for terrorists and spewed hatred against Jews and the state of Israel,” said Assemblyman Alan Maisel, a Democrat from Brooklyn. “They have echoed and attempted to legitimize hate speech about wiping Israel off the map. It’s disgraceful.”
Criticism of Weiner over the Al Jazeera lobbyist’s donation comes against the backdrop of the history of Islamist ties of Huma Abedin, his wife. Abedin worked for the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (JMMA), a publication founded by al-Qaeda Abdullah Omar Naseef that promotes Islamic-supremacist ideology. Abedin and Naseef overlapped at JMMA from 1996-2003.
While studying at George Washington University, Abedin was an executive board member of the anti-Israel and Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Muslim Students Association, and during her time working at the State Department under Hillary Clinton, the department “strongly supported abandoning the federal government’s prior policy against official dealings with the Muslim Brotherhood,” wrote Andrew C. McCarthy for National Review.
Among other policies showing a softened stance to the Muslim Brotherhood during Abedin’s time there, the State Department said the Obama administration would be “satisfied” with a Muslim Brotherhood-led government emerging victorious in Egyptian elections, hosted a delegation including Muslim Brotherhood members of Egypt’s parliament, and worked to reverse a Bush-administration ruling barring Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the Muslim Brotherhood’s founder, from entering the U.S. Also during Abedin’s time, the State Department excluded Israel from its global counterterrorism forum, National Review’s McCarthy noted.
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Hezbollah admits it does not distinguish between ‘military’ and ‘political’ wings
(JNS.org) Following the recent European Union designation of only Hezbollah’s “military wing” as a terrorist organization, a Hezbollah official confirmed that the Lebanese group does not distinguish between its military and political wings.
“Everyone knows that Hezbollah’s political and military wings are one and the same,” Hezbollah international relations official Ammar Moussawi said after a meeting with EU Ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichorst, Ya Libnan, an English-language Lebanese daily, reported.
According to Ya Libnan, Eichorst said that the primary reason for Hezbollah’s designation was its role in the Burgas bus bombing last summer that killed five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry on Thursday released the names and photographs of the two men believed to be behind the Burgas bombing, the Jerusalem Post reported. The suspects are 32-year-old Australian citizen Meliad Farah, also known as Hussein Hussein, and 25-year-old Canadian citizen Hassan el-Hajj Hassan. The Hezbollah suspects are both wanted by Bulgarian authorities and are believed to be living in Lebanon.
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Turkey frees bird it accused of spying for Israel
(JNS.org) Authorities in Turkey have exonerated and freed a bird that was accused of being a spy for Israel.
According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, residents of the village of Altinavya in the eastern province of Elazig became suspicious when they found the kestrel, a common Eurasian bird belonging to the falcon family, with a metallic ring stamped with the words “24311 Tel Avivunia Israel.”
The villagers immediately delivered it to authorities, who proceeded to bring the bird to Firat University for medical examinations, including x-rays, to determine that it wasn’t carrying microchips or other spying devices.
Fortunately for the residents of Turkey—and for the bird—the bird was determined not to be a threat and was allowed to fly away.
This isn’t the first bird accused of being an Israeli spy. Last year, residents in Sudan claimed that a captured hawk was carrying spy devices for Israel. The hawk was found with labels in Hebrew that said “Israel Nature Authority” and “Hebrew University Jerusalem.” In 2011, another bird found in Saudi Arabia was also accused of being a spy when they found a tag for “Tel Aviv University” on its leg.
Ornithologists often attach tracking devices to birds to track their migratory patterns.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org