Ron Paul condemned over speaking engagement
(JNS.org) Ron Paul, a former Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate, has been condemned for plans to speak at a conference hosted by the Fatima Center, an anti-Semitic fringe Catholic group.
“For Ron Paul to associate himself with such a disreputable, hateful religious movement is simply beyond comprehension,” American Jewish Committee (AJC) Executive Director David Harris said in a statement.
According to AJC, the Fatima Center is a fringe Catholic group led by Father Nicholar Grunner, who was suspended by the Catholic Church in 1996. Grunner rejects Nostra Aetate, a Second Vatican Council ruling that disavowed anti-Semitism and ushered in a new era of positive Jewish-Catholic relations. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization, has also accused Grunner of anti-Semitism.
Paul, who planned to deliver the keynote address at the Fatima Center gala dinner on Sept. 11, is known for his staunch libertarian and isolationist views, including reducing American military aid to Israel. Based on these views and other alleged remarks calling for Israel to be abolished, some have accused Paul of anti-Semitism. But Paul has flatly denied those allegations and says he is pro-Israel.
His son, Rand Paul, is currently a Republican U.S. senator from Kentucky.
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Temple Mount area is site of archaeologists’ discovery of Christian-era gold and silver coins
(JNS.org) Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologists unveiled a collection of three-dozen gold and silver coins found near the Temple Mount’s southern wall. The coins date back to 4th-6th century CE, when Jerusalem was under control of the Christian Byzantine Empire.
Dubbed the “Ophel Treasure” after the biblical term for the elevated City of David in Jerusalem, the collection included a large 10-centimeter gold medallion that featured a menorah, shofar and Torah scroll.
“The 36 gold coins can be dated to the reigns of different Byzantine emperors, ranging from the middle of the 4th century CE to the early 7th century CE,” archeologist Lior Sandberg said, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Archaeologists estimate the coins were abruptly abandoned during the Persian conquest of Jerusalem in 614 CE, due to the position in which they were found.
The finding is also notable due to its rarity. According to the archeologists, this is only the third collection of gold coins to be found in Jerusalem.
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New Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott known for supporting Israel
(JNS.org) Australians elected Tony Abbott of the conservative Liberal Party as prime minister in a national election on Saturday. Abbott is known for supporting Israel, and said during his election campaign that he is “firmly committed to restoring the Australia- Israeli friendship,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
Abbott and his party defeated Kevin Rudd’s Labor party with a majority of 30 seats in the 150-member Australian parliament. Australian Jewish voters turned away from the current administration after Rudd’s foreign minister, Bob Carr, in a speech at the Lakemba Mosque, Australia’s largest mosque, said that “all [Israeli] settlements on Palestinian land are illegal under international law and should cease.”
“That is the position of Kevin Rudd, the position of the federal Labor government, and we don’t make apologies for it,” Carr said, according to Israel National News.
Australia’s election was originally scheduled to fall on Yom Kippur, but was rescheduled.
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Yom Kippur overlap with Christian Feast of the Cross prompts Haifa authorities to coordinate
(JNS.org) Authorities in the northern Israeli city of Haifa are preparing for possible conflicts resulting from the fact that Yom Kippur, which begins at sundown on Friday, coincides this year with the Eastern Orthodox Feast of the Cross.
Haifa is known for its multi-religious population, with several Jewish, Muslim and Christian neighborhoods existing in close proximity. The shrine and world center of the Bahá’í faith is also located in Haifa.
Though Yom Kippur for Jews is a solemn day of fasting and prayer, Christians celebrate the Feast of the Cross with parades, fireworks, and carnivals. Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav met with Archbishop Elias Chacour about Yom Kippur and the Feast of the Cross falling on the same day, and Christian leaders are also coordinating with Haifa police to maintain security during both religious observances, reported Maariv and the Times of Israel.
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Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations have nine-month timetable, U.S. reiterates
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) should strive to strike a permanent peace agreement within nine months, a statement by the U.S. State Department said Sunday, reiterating the original timetable for Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations that the Obama administration established in July.
The statement was released shortly after Secretary of State John Kerry met in Paris with a ministerial delegation assigned by the Arab League’s Peace Initiative Committee. The delegation included the foreign ministers and permanent Arab League representatives of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and was chaired by Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby.
The Arab League meeting was held after Kerry had met with Martin Indyk, Washington’s special envoy to the Middle East. According to the State Department’s statement, Kerry briefed the Arab League delegation on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations between the PA and Israel, and reiterated America’s commitment “to pursuing intensive negotiations to end the conflict through a permanent status agreement.”
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Pro-Syria hackers publish 165,000 Israelis’ information
(JNS.org) A pro-Syrian hacking group breached Israeli and American websites and released the personal information of more than 165,000 Israelis.
The largest breached website in the organized cyberattack was a site that offered Web hosting services. The breached site provided all information on its users, including names, phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses and passwords.
More than 40,000 of the compromised records were reviewed and verified as real by the Internet security firm Maglan. Some of those whose information was released, however, told Israel Hayom that the leaked passwords were not up to date and had been changed a long time ago.
The attacks bear the marks of pro-Syrian hackers from Spain, Canada and Brazil. Aside from placing pro-Syrian slogans on the websites, the hackers repeatedly tried to access and damage important databases. On some of the sites, the hackers left their signature inside the website’s code and not on the home page, which let them slip by unnoticed after stealing the information.
One of the compromised websites, Yamit 2000, would not prompt suspicion for the casual user, as the hackers left no footprint on the actual pages. Deep inside the website’s code, however, hacker group AnonGhost left a note threatening a massive attack on Sept. 11.
Website hashraa.co.il had its entire members’ club database hacked and its information leaked onto the Internet. The website of Member of Knesset Avishai Braverman (Labor) was also infiltrated.
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Abbas awards $6,000 to dance group named for terrorist behind bus attack that killed 37 Israelis
(JNS.org) In the midst of renewed Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas awarded a $6,000 award to the Dalal Group for Popular Arts, a dance group named after Dalal Mughrabi, a Palestinian terrorist who was behind a bus attack in which 37 Israeli civilians died, Palestinian Media Watch reported Sept. 8.
The official Palestinian Authority newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, reported on Abbas’s “Presidential Grant” to the dance group last month. Additionally, “The Lion Cubs and Flowers,” a youth group for boys and girls run by Abbas’s Fatah party, named a class after Mughrabi. Twelve of the 37 Israelis who died in the 1978 bus attack orchestrated by Mughrabi were children.
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In another concession, Israel gives PA 5,000 work permits
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) After previously agreeing to release 104 Palestinian terrorist prisoners for the restarting of Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations, Israel on Sunday made another concession to the Palestinian Authority (PA), issuing 5,000 new work permits to allow residents of PA territories to work in Israel.
The first 26 Palestinian terrorists in the prisoner release were freed in August.
A senior Palestinian source told The Associated Press that the Palestinian team in Israeli-Palestinian conflict talks has rejected an Israeli proposal for a Palestinian state under provisional borders, saying that the PA fears that the provisional borders would become permanent.
“Israel is using the issue of security to take land,” he said. “From the general discussions we had in the last couple of weeks, the Israelis have shown no intention to dismantle any settlement.”
The Palestinian source said the current proposals indicated that Israel would seek to retain control over about 40 percent of the West Bank. Other senior officials in Ramallah indicated that negotiations “are not advancing and will likely soon collapse.”
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WSJ op-ed depicting Syrian rebels as moderate written by author from group with alleged Islamist ties
(JNS.org) A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed on the Syrian civil war that argues “moderate opposition forces” are leading the fight against the Assad regime was penned by an author who works for a group with alleged Islamist ties.
Elizabeth O’Bagy, identified by the Wall Street Journal as senior analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, wrote in her op-ed that the Syrian civil war “is not being waged entirely, or even predominantly, by dangerous Islamists and al Qaeda die-hards.”
“The jihadists pouring into Syria from countries like Iraq and Lebanon are not flocking to the front lines,” she wrote. “Instead they are concentrating their efforts on consolidating control in the northern, rebel-held areas of the country.”
But Daniel Greenfield wrote Sept. 4 for FrontPage Magazine that the Wall Street Journal op-ed did not disclose that O’Bagy is also the political director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force—making her an advocate, not just an analyst, on the issue she wrote about. The task force’s board of directors includes officials of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Muslim American Society, the Hamas-linked Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center mosque, and the Council of Islamic Organizations of Chicago, which advocates for a boycott of Israel. Mouaz Moustafa—the task force’s executive director and a Palestinian Arab—on Twitter has called for the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and on YouTube marked an anti-Israel video from a channel called “JewsExposed” as one of his favorite videos, according to Greenfield.
The Syrian Emergency Task Force arranged for this May’s meeting between Syrian civil war rebel leaders and U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
“It’s strange that no one has called attention to the fact that a group headed by people with such extreme ties and beliefs is dominating American foreign policy on Syria and controlling the itinerary of senior senators like McCain,” Greenfield wrote.
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30 Arabs arrested in Rosh Hashanah riots on Temple Mount
(JNS.org) About 30 Arabs were arrested over Rosh Hashanah weekend, following several riots that broke out in and around the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem.
Last week, the Jerusalem Police issued a statement detailing security arrangements for visits to the Temple Mount by Jewish worshippers during Rosh Hashanah. The statement provoked a call by Islamic Movement head Sheikh Raed Salah urging followers to thwart any such visits.
Riots on the Temple Mount began Sept 4, when dozens of Arab youths began stoning security forces stationed in the compound. Fifteen Arabs, mostly minors, were arrested. The riots resumed on Sept. 6, following the end of the weekly prayer service held in Al-Aqsa Mosque. Dozens of Arab youths began stoning security forces stationed in the Western Wall Plaza and clashed with police near Mughrabi Gate. Security forces stormed the compound once more to disperse the riot, arresting another 15 Arab youths.
In both clashes, the Arab youths were detained for disturbing public order and assault on police officers. Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich condemned the weekend’s riots, saying the Arab youths had aimed “to hurt the Jews who came to pray at the Western Wall on Rosh Hashanah.”
“All violence should be condemned, but all the more so when it comes to the holiest place of the Jewish people,” Rabinovich said.
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Gas mask distribution resumes in Israel as precaution for possible Syria retaliation
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces’ Homefront Command resumed its distribution of gas mask kits to the public on Sunday, as the possibility of a U.S. attack on Syria—and of subsequent Syrian retaliation against Israel—remained ambiguous.
Thousands of Israelis recently descended on gas mask distribution centers, many of which had to close their doors after running out of kits.
The Homefront Command said its distribution centers would work their usual hours this week, with additional centers operating only in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan and Bat Yam, in central Israel, and in Haifa. Despite the recent high demand for gas mask kits, the Homefront Command said it would not open additional distribution centers.
“We are operating on several levels and Homefront Command is geared to meet various scenarios,” Homefront Command Chief Brig. Gen. Zvika Tessler said in a statement, according to Israel Hayom.
“We are in constant contact with local authorities, government bureaus and emergency services. In light of recent developments, Homefront Command officers have been meeting with local officials to coordinate their level of readiness,” he said
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Iran dismisses reports of president Rouhani’s Rosh Hashanah greeting to Jews
(JNS.org) The Iranian media has denied that the country’s president, Hassan Rouhani, sent a Rosh Hashanah greeting to Jews.
A Sept. 4 message from the Twitter handle @HassanRouhani had stated, “As the sun is about to set here in Tehran, I wish all Jews, especially Iranian Jews, a blessed Rosh Hashanah.”
Major media outlets picked up on the tweet, including CNN, whose headline was “Iranian president’s surprising message to Jews.” CNN wrote that Rouhani’s message marked “a sharp shift from his Holocaust-denying predecessor,” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
But Rouhani’s presidential advisor, Mohammad Reza Sadeq, told Fars News Agency that the tweet was falsely reported because Rouhani “does not have a Twitter account.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that he was “not impressed” with Rouhani’s Rosh Hashanah message because Iran “will be judged only by its actions and not by greetings.” The purpose of such greetings, Netanyahu said, was to deflect attention from the Iranian nuclear program.
Iranian Press TV quoted Rouhani as saying in August, “After all, in our region there has been a wound for years on the body of the Muslim world under the shadow of the occupation of the holy land of Palestine and the beloved al-Quds.”
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Jordan’s King Abdullah invokes ‘duty’ to protect Mideast Christians
(JNS.org) Jordan’s King Abdullah, speaking at a two-day conference on the plight of Middle East Christians, declared that it is a Muslim’s “duty” to protect Christians.
The two-day conference in Amman on “The Challenges Facing Arab Christians” brought together more than 70 high-ranking representatives of Middle Eastern churches. The conference was organized by Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, Chief Advisor for Religious and Cultural Affairs, who has a long history of interfaith work.
In his speech to the conference, Jordan’s King Abdullah said that protecting the rights of Middle East Christians “is a duty rather than a favor” because “Arab Christians have had a key role in building the Arab society and in the defense of our nation,” the Jordan Times reported.
“Christians were in this region before Muslims. They are not strangers, nor colonialists, nor foreigners. They are the natives of these lands and Arabs, just as Muslims are,” Prince Ghazi said in his remarks to the conference, according to the Jordan Times.
The conference also focused on the rapid emigration of Christians from the region. Today, nearly every Christian community the Middle East, with the exception of Israel’s small Christian community, is shrinking.
“We have many challenges, we have many problems. We are really afraid, afraid for the present and for the future. … A result of this fear is the emigration of many Christians from Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan,” Patriarch Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, told Vatican Radio.
The conference follows a visit to the Vatican last week by King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan, who both met with Pope Francis.
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Israel’s tourism minister plans Birthright-style program for Christians
(JNS.org) Israeli Tourism Minister Uzi Landau says that he hopes to create a program modeled after Taglit-Birthright Israel trips for young Evangelical Christians, as part of an effort to increase Christian tourism in the Jewish state.
“The Christians have a problem with their next generation too,” Landau said, Ynet reported. “We are looking to get closer to this public in order to generate tourism and support for Israel when they return to their homeland, become our ambassadors and view Israel not through CNN’s eyes.”
The Birthright program, which in January celebrated its 13th anniversary, has brought more than 350,000 young Jews on free 10-day trips to Israel. Landau hopes that the Christian program modeled after Birthright will be funded by private philanthropists— like the Jewish program—and by the Christian community.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org