Iron Dome intercepts five Gaza rockets fired at Ashkelon
(JNS.org) The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted five Gaza rockets fired at Ashkelon on Thursday.
In response, the Israel Air Force made “direct hits” on four terror targets in northern Gaza, the Jerusalem Post reported. Earlier in the week, Hamas fired rockets at Israel on the day of former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s funeral, despite a warning by Israel to halt fire on that day.
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Neil Young to perform in Tel Aviv this summer
(JNS.org) After the Pixies, Soundgarden, and Justin Timberlake all announced concert dates in Israel, a folk legend is following suit. Neil Young will arrive in Israel to perform on July 17 in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park, Israel Hayom reported.
“There’s a growing thirst for quality, real rock ‘n’ roll artists who can move everybody. In my opinion, Neil Young totally fulfills that expectation. Young’s arrival in Israel is like a dream come true,” promoter Shuki Weiss said Wednesday.
Young, 68, has been performing for more than 50 years, has released dozens of albums, composed hundreds of songs, and performed at thousands of concerts.
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Israeli security forces thwart terror plan to kidnap Israelis
(JNS.org) The Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) said Wednesday that it thwarted a plan by a Hamas-affiliated terrorist cell in the West Bank to kidnap Israelis in December.
According to the Shin Bet, the plot was organized by Muhammad Bel, a terrorist from Gaza who has been incarcerated in Israel’s Eshel prison since 2008. Bel recruited two Palestinian terrorist prisoners in the West Bank, Ali Harub and Rajab Salah al-Din, with the purpose of recruiting Palestinians outside of prison to kidnap Israelis.
The plot idea was hatched by a Gaza terror group called the Holy Warriors Brigades.
“The Holy Warriors Brigade is a terror group that splintered off from the Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and adopted extremist Islamic characteristics,” the Shin Bet said.
The Shin Bet added that the Holy Warriors Brigade maintains close ties with Hamas and has been involved in recent years on attacks against Israel, including rocket attacks.
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UC campuses postpone start of academic year to avoid High Holiday conflicts
(JNS.org) A majority of University of California (UC) campuses will begin their 2014-15 academic year later than usual, and their winter break will be a week shorter, to avoid scheduling conflicts with the Jewish High Holidays.
Officials say the 2014-15 schedule change comes as a result of a 2007 policy issued due to complaints from Jewish families that move-in days at dorms have been held on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. The policy says UC schools must shift their academic calendars to avoid forcing Jewish students to violate religious bans from working on the holidays. Rosh Hashanah falls on Sept. 25-26, 2014, and Yom Kippur is on Oct. 4.
Jewish University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) student Catherine Eshaghzadeh told UCLA’s Daily Bruin newspaper that she welcomes the calendar shift because the Jewish holidays are a time “when we become a family… I don’t think [the university] should make people choose [between classes and observance of the holiday].”
Most UC campuses will begin fall classes Oct. 2 and end the term on Dec. 19. The winter term will begin Jan. 5. Two campuses, UC Berkeley and UC Merced, are exempt from this change because they follow a semester calendar, reported the Los Angeles Times.
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Filipina caregiver Rose Fostanes wins Israeli X-Factor
(JNS.org) A Filipina caregiver working in Israel on Tuesday was crowned the winner of the first season of the Israeli version of the X-Factor musical reality show.
Forty-seven-year-old Rose Fostanes, who won the competition with Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way,” has been working in Israel for several years. About 20,000 Filipino caregivers and cleaners currently work in Israel.
“I didn’t expect that I will win… Because I’m not Israeli and I don’t have residence here and I’m only a worker,” Fostanes told reporters in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Israel law stipulates that a person living in Israel on a work visa must stick to their job. Therefore, Fostanes currently cannot earn money through singing. But she can apply for an exception.
“If she applies to change this, her request will be looked at just as all applications are,” said an Israeli Immigration Authority official.
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Pew study: Harassment and hostility towards religion increasing worldwide
(JNS.org) Harassment and hostility towards religion has increased worldwide, with Jews and Christians seeing an increase in the number of countries where they are attacked, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.
The Pew survey said that one-third of the 198 countries and territories included in the survey had high religious hostilities in 2012, the highest total since the survey began in 2006. The report also said that the sharpest increase in social hostility was in the Middle East and North Africa that is “still are feeling the effects of the 2010-11 political uprisings known as the Arab Spring.”
Jews and Christians were both the targets of increased harassment.
“Jews were harassed in 71 countries in 2012, slightly higher than the year before (69 countries, which was the previous high). Harassment of Christians continued to be reported in the largest number of countries (110), an increase from the previous year (105) but not a six-year high,” the survey said.
The report added that Jews were more likely to be harassed by individuals or groups in society rather than the governments, while Christians largely faced both types of harassment.
The report also noted that social hostility towards religion reached an all-time high. The report specifically mentioned persecution of Christians by the Muslim-majority in Egypt, mob violence directed towards Christians in Kenya and Nigeria, as well as terrorist-related violence such as the March 2012 shooting at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, by an Islamic extremist.
Other world faiths also saw an increase in harassment, including Muslims, who were persecuted in 109 countries, up from 101 in 2011; Hindus, persecuted in 16 countries, up from 12; and Buddhists, persecuted in 13 countries, up from nine.
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Iranian-American arrested at Newark Airport for attempting to smuggle F-35 blueprints
(JNS.org) An Iranian-American former defense contractor employee was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey last week for attempting to smuggle out blueprints and other materials related to the F-35 joint strike fighter jet, U.S. prosecutors say.
Mozaffer Khazaee, 59, a dual U.S. and Iranian citizen, was a former engineer at the Connecticut-based defense firm Pratt and Whiney. Khazaee was arrested at Newark as he attempted to board a flight last week to Frankfurt, Germany, then on to Iran.
Weeks before that, Khazaee had arranged for a shipping company to take 44 boxes to Iran that contained personal materials, according to Khazaee. But prosecutors said that the boxes tactually held “thousands of pages contained in dozens of manuals/binders relating to the JSF [F-35 Joint Strike Fighter] program,” ABC News reported.
Hailed as the most advanced fighter aircraft ever assembled, the F-35 program has also been the most costly with a price tag of around $400 million. A number of America’s top allies, including Israel, are set to receive orders of the F-35.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org