German Chancellor Angela Merkel: Support for Israeli security part of national ethos
(JNS.org) German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced one week before her country’s upcoming federal elections that “Germany’s support for Israel’s security is part of our national ethos, our raison d’etre.”
Although Merkel acknowledged that she has often made critical comments about construction in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, she said, “It’s equally important to me that the two sides, both Israel and the Palestinians, work towards a durable peace settlement, that’s to say a viable two-state solution. And I will support every step taken by an Israeli Government to make such talks possible.”
Merkel made the comments in an interview with the Jewish Voice from Germany. She spoke highly of German-Israeli relations. “Some years ago we initiated German-Israeli intergovernmental consultations… Israel is still the only true democracy in the Middle East. We want to work together as closely as possible in all spheres and can be proud of our cooperation in culture, science or environmental protection,” Merkel said.
*
‘Homeland’ Israel shoot moved to Morocco due to Syria situation
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) In light of tensions in Syria and a possible U.S. strike still on the table, the award winning TV series “Homeland” has decided to shoot scenes originally slated for Israel in Morocco instead.
According to Israeli media, the American producers of the show contacted their Israeli counterparts on Sunday to notify them of the decision. Estimates say that Israeli production companies are set to lose hundreds of thousands of shekels over the location change.
“Homeland” was adapted from the Israeli drama “Hatufim” (“Prisoners of War”). Its first season hit an all-time high for a new drama series on Showtime, the U.S. cable channel that has broadcasting rights for the show.
In the meantime, a U.S. strike on Syria is on indefinite hold after America and Russia agreed to Russia’s proposal to bring Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile under international control.
*
Knesset members urge Netanyahu not to give land to Palestinian Authority
(JNS.org) A group of 16 Members of Knesset (MKs) in Israel’s governing coalition, many from the Likud, on Sunday urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to give up territory to the Palestinians. In a letter sent to the prime minister during his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the MKs called on Netanyahu “not to return to the Oslo Accord template or cede any more parts of the homeland to the Palestinian Authority.”
The letter was drafted by MK Yariv Levin (Likud-Beiteinu), chairman of the governing coalition, and MK Orit Struck (Habayit Hayehudi). It was also signed by deputy ministers Zeev Elkin, Tzipi Hotovely, Ofir Akunis, Eli Ben-Dahan and Avraham Wortzman.
“I will remain coalition chairman so long as we go down the right path of construction and settling throughout all of Israel,” Levin said, according to Israel Hayom.
Meanwhile, Energy and Water Resources Minister Silvan Shalom (Likud-Beiteinu) said Sunday that “no one believes a permanent agreement can be reached in nine months,” the timetable the U.S. has set for the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations.
*
Israeli-Palestinian conflict talks need proper conduct by PA, legal experts tell Kerry
(JNS.org) Hundreds of legal experts from the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel urged U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to demand that the Palestinian Authority (PA) exercise proper conduct in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations, Israel Hayom reported.
In a letter sent to Kerry on Saturday, the legal experts called on the secretary of state to enforce the rules and behavior stipulated and agreed upon in the preliminary negotiations, and to have the Palestinians stop detrimental behavior, including economic sanctions, boycotts, and acts of incitement.
Former Canadian ambassador to Israel and head of the legal forum’s international division, Alan Baker, as well as the forum’s director, Nachi Eyal, in the letter cited a series of examples that show a “clear and severe lack of good faith on behalf of the Palestinian leadership.”
“Since the start of the negotiations, we are actually witnessing an increase in boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS) activity, officially sponsored, supported and encouraged by the same Palestinian leadership that is ostensibly negotiating with Israel with your support, encouragement and accompaniment,” the letter stated.
The PA celebrated the termination of a contract with Jerusalem Wastewater and Purification Enterprises Ltd. by Royal Haskoning DHV, a Dutch water purification company, according to the letter.
“The termination of the contract has been heralded and celebrated in official press releases by the Palestinian Authority Minister and Head of the Palestinian Water Authority, Dr. Shaddad Attili , as well as by PLO Executive Committee Member Hannan Ashrawi, as a great political success against Israel,” the letter said.
*
Gay rights precedent set as Israel recognizes two men as child’s biological father
(JNS.org) In a precedent-setting move, Israel’s Interior Ministry has recognized two men as the biological father of a baby boy.
The baby is the son of Yuval Topper-Erez, a transgender male who gave birth in December 2011. The Interior Ministry initially refused to recognize the child’s father, Matan, as the biological father. But the couple fought for more than a year, and after gaining support from Interior Minister Gideon Saar and Knesset Internal Affairs Committee Chairwoman Member of Knesset Miri Regev, it received recognition.
“While the solution was not ideal, we are still very happy that the child has been registered on both fathers’ IDs and we thank all those who got involved and helped make this happen,” the father, Matan, told Israel Hayom.
Matan added, “I hope that as a result of our case, every same-sex couple will be registered as the parents in their family, it was worth the fight.”
While Israel does not allow same-sex marriages to be performed, due to the lack of a civil marriage option, the state does recognize same-sex unions from abroad. Same-sex couples can also register for cohabitation status, and receive many of the same benefits as heterosexual couples. Israel is the only Middle Eastern country that recognizes same-sex marriages.
*
Egyptian security forces storm village in which Islamists waged anti-Christian violence
(JNS.org) Egyptian security forces stormed Delga, an Islamist-controlled village in central Egypt that had been the scene of some of the worst anti-Christian violence in Egypt.
According to reports, Egyptian soldiers and police entered Delga in the Minya province just after dawn, firing tear gas and searching for suspects, AFP reported. Security forces had arrested 56 terrorists by Monday afternoon.
The village, located 190 miles south of Cairo, came under the control of Islamists loyal to ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi following the clearing of pro-Morsi camps in Cairo in mid-August. After taking control, the Islamists unleashed a campaign of terror against the village’s sizable Christian minority, who make up about one-sixth of the village’s 120,000 people.
Three churches were torched, dozens of Christian homes were burned, and two Christians were killed, according to Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, AFP reported. Nearly 100 Christian families fled as a result.
Additional reports indicate that Christians were also forced to pay jizya—a special tax for non-Muslims.
“As soon as the crackdown in Cairo started, all the loudspeakers at the main mosques in Delga issued calls for jihad,” said Samir Lamei Sakr, a prominent Christian lawyer who fled from the town later that day, according to The Guardian.
*
Netanyahu proposed settling Gazans in Sinai to Mubarak, Egyptian report says
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed settling Gazan Palestinians in the Sinai Peninsula before the Egyptian leader’s ouster in 2011, the Egyptian newspaper AlYoum AlSabaa reported on Sunday. The report was based on recorded interviews with the former president after the army overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood government in July of this year.
Mubarak said that in his final conversation with Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister proposed a “creative” solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“In my final meeting with Netanyahu in Egypt, he approached me with a proposal to settle Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in Sinai,” Mubarak said in the interview. “Netanyahu came with a map of the border between Gaza, Israel and Egypt, and offered this as a theoretical proposal alone, to test what our response would be. I told him he ought to bury the proposal fast, unless he wanted a war to break out between Egypt and Israel.”
*
Syria chemical weapons deal a victory for Iran and its allies, Iranian official says
(JNS.org) The Russian-American deal to disarm Syria of chemical weapons, rather than stage a military strike on Syria, was “a testament to the victory of the resistance axis comprising Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said last week, before the deal was reached, that the message Syria receives over its chemical weapons usage “will be clearly heard in Iran.”
Free Syrian Army Commander Brig. Gen. Salim Idris, leader of the opposition forces to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, said the deal was a “blow to the uprising in Syria” and that Assad “is fooling the world.”
“The Syrian regime has begun transferring chemical weapons to Lebanon and Iraq,” Idris said, referring to a report on Sunday by the Lebanese newspaper al-Mustaqbal. “The deal will allow Assad to continue slaughtering innocent people.”
Addressing a memorial ceremony for Israeli soldiers killed in the 1973 Yom Kippur War on Sunday, Netanyahu said, “We hope the understandings reached between the United States and Russia regarding the Syrian chemical weapons will yield results.” The prime minister called for “the complete destruction of all of the chemical weapons stockpiles that the Syrian regime has used against its own people.”
*
Protesters: ‘Close your wallets’ to NY Federation over funding of anti-Israel activity
(JNS.org) A group of between 50 and 75 protesters gathered outside the UJA-Federation of New York’s building on Thursday to burn their checks to UJA and to call on Jews to stop donating to the federation until it establishes new guidelines that prevent the funding of anti-Israel activity.
JCC Watch, which partnered with Americans for a Safe Israel on the rally, previously staged protests outside the 92nd Street Y in New York over the Y’s invitation of anti-Israel celebrity speakers including Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters and author Alice Walker. Those rallies called on the UJA-Federation—which commits $900,000 annually to the 92nd Street Y—to establish the new funding guidelines on Israel, but JCC Watch has now refocused its efforts to call for a stoppage of donations to UJA-Federation itself. As such, the theme of Thursday’s rally was “close your wallets.”
“We have a pattern of forces within the UJA-Federation diverting charitable dollars to further political purposes, and these purposes are anti-Israel,” JCC Watch head Richard Allen told JNS.org.
Allen said dozens of UJA employees came outside of the building to witness the protest on Thursday. When a UJA donor and volunteer noted that the funding in question is “only a small part” of the federation’s budget, Allen said he replied, “Even if it’s one penny, it’s wrong, and it makes the whole organization basically treif.”
The UJA-Federation declined to comment.
*
Obama’s handling of Syria means he won’t successfully deal with Iran, Israelis say in poll
(JNS.org) In a new Israel Hayom poll, a majority of Israeli Jews—66.7 percent—characterized U.S. President Barack Obama’s handling of the Syria crisis as “not successful.” Meanwhile, 65.3 percent said that given Obama’s conduct regarding Syria, he would not be able to successfully deal with the Iran nuclear program.
The poll was conducted before Saturday’s announcement that the U.S. and Russia had reached a deal stipulating that Syria would provide a full account of its chemical weapons stockpile within a week, and then the weapons must be destroyed by mid-2014. The deal means the U.S. will not carry out a military strike on Syria, if Syria complies.
*
Israel receives first-ever etrog shipment from Morocco
(JNS.org) Israel has received its first-ever shipment of etrogim from Morocco ahead of the Sukkot holiday, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The etrog, a fruit of the citron tree, is one of the Four Species—along with the lulav from the date palm tree, hadassim from the myrtle tree, and aravot from the willow tree— mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as being connected with the holiday of Sukkot.
According to biblical scholars, the Moroccan etrog grows in the Atlas Mountains, a region that is the birthplace of the original etrog that is mentioned in the bible.
The decision to import approximately 1,500 etrogs was due to a push from Israel’s Sephardic community. A team from the Israeli Agricultural Ministry inspected the fruit to deem it worthy enough for importing before ordering the rest.
Though they agreed to the etrog deal, Israel and Morocco do not share formal diplomatic relations. But the two countries did have brief economic and cultural ties during the 1990s, following the Oslo Accords. Morocco was once home to more than 250,000 Jews, many of whom immigrated to Israel in the mid-20th century. Recent efforts have been made by Morocco to protect its Jewish history and to encourage Jewish tourism.
*
Christian human rights group urges Obama to support religious freedom in Syria
(JNS.org) In an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama, Christian Solidarity International (CSI) CEO Dr. John Eibner, who visited Syria last week, urged the president to support religious freedom in the civil war-battered country.
In his letter, Eibner asked Obama to “present guarantees of the rights of Syria’s religious minorities and religious freedom and parity for all Syrians as central tenants of his Syria policy.”
Eibner, who visited the war-torn city of Homs, warned Obama that failure to secure religious freedom will “substantially increase the risk of genocidal consequences for the religious minorities.”
During his visit, Eibner spoke with several displaced Syrians who are concerned with the growing presence of Al-Qaeda-linked terror groups, such as Jabhat Al-Nusra, within the Syrian rebel groups.
“They [Islamist rebels] established Sharia courts. These courts passed the death sentence on anyone whom they believed was associated with the government,” said Anwar Salem, a Sunni Muslim from Ein Tarma, a district that was also affected by last month’s chemical weapons attack.
*
San Diego State University class replaces map that labeled Israel as ‘Palestine’
(JNS.org) San Diego State University (SDSU) agreed to replace a map from an Arabic language course that excluded Israel and instead labeled all of the Jewish state’s territory as “Palestine.”
Several students, following the usage of the map in Professor Ghassan Zakaria’s Arabic 101 class, sought out the assistance of the pro-Israel education group StandWithUs.
“With no context given to the students about the map, no explanation, and no discussion to frame the reasons for why that particular map was being used—the students were unsure of how to handle the situation,” Nicole Bernstein, regional director of StandWithUs San Diego, wrote in an email.
Ghada Osman, chair of the SDSU Linguistics & Asian/Middle Eastern Languages department, eventually wrote to concerned community members that Zakaria would replace the map with one that identifies Israel.
“Prof. Zakaria explained [to me] that the reason that he utilized the label ‘Palestine’ was because this map was supposed to reflect the view of Arabic-speakers in the region,” Osman wrote. “After assigning the map, Prof. Zakaria’s aim was then to have students get into groups and research the political developments of each area on the map, with the assumption that this would lead to a discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the history of the state of Israel. After our conversation, Prof. Zakaria agreed that it would be more appropriate to discuss the context of the assignment at the outset. He will therefore explain the context and distribute a map that includes labels for members of the Arab League as well as Israel.”
*
Preceding provided by JNS.org