John Kerry, ‘capitalizing’ on Netanyahu ‘anxiety,’ warns Israel may face increased isolation
(JNS.org) Secretary of State John Kerry, “capitalizing” on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “anxiety” about Israel facing increased isolation, recently warned Netanyahu that the Jewish state might soon face an international delegitimization campaign “on steroids,” columnist Jeffrey Goldberg reported for Bloomberg View.
“There are some early signs that Netanyahu is realizing the price his country may one day pay for its settlements, in particular those near Palestinian population centers,” Goldberg wrote. “He met recently with some of Israel’s leading manufacturers, who expressed their worry that their products may one day be boycotted in Europe, a worry he shares. Kerry, capitalizing on this anxiety, has warned Netanyahu in recent weeks that if the current peace talks bear no fruit, Israel may soon be facing an international delegitimization campaign—in his words—‘on steroids.’”
Kerry, according to anonymous sources cited by Goldberg, believes “the one thing Netanyahu fears as much as Iran’s nuclear program is the growing power of the international movement that seeks to isolate, scapegoat and demonize his country.”
On Monday, reacting to Israel’s announcement of 1,200 new housing units in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, Kerry said the U.S. “views all of the settlements as illegitimate.” But the territories acquired by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, where the Jewish communities referred to by Kerry are situated, are officially considered to be subject to the result of final status negotiations, rather than “illegitimate” at the present time.
Haaretz reported that Helga Schmid, deputy secretary general of the European External Action Service and an aide to European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said the U.S. quietly supported the EU’s recently issued directive to its member states to boycott all transactions with Israeli communities located beyond the pre-1967 lines.
“You should know that we received support for the new guidelines on the settlements from all the European Union’s member states,” an anonymous official who spoke to Haaretz quoted Schmid as saying. “We’re also receiving tacit support from the American administration.”
Kerry has been behind the U.S. effort to broker renewed Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations, whose latest round began Wednesday in Jerusalem.
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Prisoner release accompanied by Hamas rocket fire at Israel
(JNS.org) While Israel completed the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners on Tuesday night—marking the first phase of a process that will free 104 terrorists for the restarting of Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations—Hamas fired two rockets at Sderot and the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
The rockets caused no damage or injuries. On Wednesday morning, the Israeli Air Force conducted an airstrike on rocket-launching equipment in Gaza in response to Tuesday night’s rocket fire, according to an IDF statement. Rocket-launching devices were destroyed in the airstrike, and no casualties were reported.
The Mojahideen Shura Council Environs of Jerusalem, a Salafi Palestinian terrorist group, had launched a Grad rocket attack on Eilat earlier Tuesday. The terrorist group said, “We want to emphasize that Eilat and other Jewish cities will never enjoy security, tourism or a flourishing economy.”
Israel completed the first phase of the prisoner release in time for the resumption of Israel-Palestinian conflict talks on Wednesday in Jerusalem.
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Mahmoud Abbas asks Hamdallah, resigned prime minister, to form new Palestinian government
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has called on Rami Hamdallah, who previously resigned as PA prime minister, to form a new government within five weeks, Ma’an News Agency reported. Hamdallah agreed to fulfill Abbas’s request.
Abbas’s request indicates that the two Palestinian leaders have ended their differences. Hamdallah, who was the president of An-Najah University in Nablus, was appointed PA prime minister on June 2 following the resignation of Salam Fayyad. Just two weeks after his appointment, Hamdallah abruptly resigned over differences on cabinet appointments with Abbas. But Abbas so far has not replaced Hamdallah with another prime minister.
The PA has not held elections since 2006 due to a dispute with Hamas, which ousted the PA and Fatah from the Gaza Strip in 2007. Abbas, meanwhile, has served more than four years since his term as PA president expired in January 2009.
Many analysts suspect Hamdallah, a political newcomer, was originally chosen as prime minister by Abbas in order to maintain Fayyad’s ties with Western countries, which provide the PA with substantial amounts of foreign aid.
While Hamdallah may help Abbas bring stability to the PA amid renewed Israel-Palestinian conflict talks, Hamdallah’s new role may also put unity talks with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, in jeopardy. Hamas called Hamdallah’s original appointment as prime minister “illegal,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
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High Holidays interactive map launched for Birthright alumni
(JNS.org) NEXT: A Division of Birthright Israel Foundation has launched its 2013 High Holidays Initiative, featuring an interactive map of more than 250 holiday services set to take place in more than 145 U.S. cities. The goal of the project is to empower Birthright trip alumni and others in the U.S. Jewish community to create personal High Holidays experiences.
The map is available at birthrightisraelnext.org/highholidays and includes a resource guide as well as small subsidies for Rosh Hashanah meals and Yom Kippur break-the-fasts.
“Taglit-Birthright participants have returned from their summer… Now is the time to build on that connection and help make Jewish opportunities and communities more accessible. We’ve found that Birthright Israel alumni are particularly interested in celebrating holidays with their friends, and the High Holidays Initiative offers them the opportunity to both create these experiences themselves and connect to community events they find meaningful,” said Morlie Levin, CEO of NEXT.
One of Zanzibar acid attack victims, who are both Jewish, leaves UK hospital
(JNS.org) One of the two British-Jewish girls severely burned in an acid attack while on a volunteer trip in Zanzibar has been released from the London hospital where she was staying, and returned home to her family to recover.
Though Kirstie Trup was discharged from the hospital on Sunday, her fellow victim and friend, Katie Gee, is still hospitalized and waiting to undergo surgery to treat burns that affected 80 percent of her right arm and 50 percent of her torso.
The Zanzibar acid attack victims, both 18, were volunteering at a school in the Zanzibar region of Tanzania when they were splashed with acid by men on a motorbike. According to Trup’s father, Marc the girls are “struggling to come to terms” with their injuries. “The enormity of their ordeal is having a devastating effect on them, as is the extent of the injuries,” Marc Trup said, according to The Algemeiner.
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Coptic church head Pope Tawadros urges self-restraint in face of Egypt sectarian violence
(JNS.org) The head of Egypt’s Coptic church, Pope Tawadros II, urged the Egyptian people to prevent bloodshed and violence in the face of growing sectarian violence.
“I call on everybody, with my utmost love, to protect the lives of Egyptians,” Pope Tawadros said on his official Twitter account, according to a translation by AllAfrica.com.
“I ask all Egyptians to use their heads wisely, practice self-restraint and avoid any violence, attacks or recklessness against humanity or property,” Pope Tawadros added.
Pope Tawadros played an unprecedented role in the Egyptian military’s ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. But in the weeks following the ouster, violence against Egypt Coptic Christians has dramatically increased. Several Coptic Christians have been murdered and injured in attacks. Tawadros has canceled his weekly prayer sessions and other public events out of fear for his safety.r
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Correction: Our news brief on the Nefesh B’Nefesh aliyah flight initially quoted Rabbi Yehoshua Fass as saying “For 11 years, on 29 flights…” in the second paragraph. The correct number is 49 flights.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org