IDF uncovers ‘advanced’ terror tunnel under Gaza border
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces recently uncovered a terror tunnel in the southern part of the Israel-Gaza border, believed to have been dug by one of the larger Gaza-based terror groups, Israel Hayom reported. Military sources said Thursday that this was the fourth tunnel of its kind to be discovered in the past year and a half.
According to the IDF, the tunnel is located just a few hundreds meters from the Israeli border. It runs 8-9 meters (26-30 feet) deep in some parts and 20 meters (66 feet) deep in others. Fresh foot and tire tracks found in the area, as well as tools and generators, suggest that is had been visited recently by those digging the tunnel. A military source said all signs indicated that the tunnel was to be used as part of a “quality terror attack.”
“This advanced tunnel was intended to pose a direct link and threat to Israeli territory, and enable Hamas terrorists to reach and harm Israeli civilians,” IDF Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said in a statement.
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Hezbollah planted Syria border bomb that wounded IDF soldiers, report says
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Hezbollah has confirmed that its operatives planted the recent roadside bomb that wounded four Israel Defense Forces soldiers on the Israel-Syria border, reported the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai on Thursday. The report quoted senior sources in the Shiite terrorist group as saying that Hezbollah was “ready for war.”
The March 18 border incident left one soldier seriously wounded, while three others suffered light-to-moderate injuries. The Israeli Air Force struck several military targets on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights in response, including artillery batteries and posts, as well as a Syrian Army training facility.
Al Rai further quoted Hezbollah sources as saying the attack came in response to an airstrike that took place on the Lebanese-Syrian border in February, which foreign media sources have attributed to Israel. The official told the Kuwaiti newspaper that the Israeli strike had “crossed a line.”
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Palestinians ‘will not give up one inch of land,’ Abbas says
(JNS.org) Upon returning Thursday from his visit to the United States, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said at a reception in Ramallah that the Palestinians “will not give up one inch of land” nor yield to “pressures” in the American-brokered peace talks with Israel.
“You are aware of all the conditions and the pressures, but I repeat: We will not give in,” Abbas said, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
On the prospect of giving up land, Abbas said, “Not on my watch. I will not let that happen. … Be assured that we will be victorious.”
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Netanyahu’s Latin America trip canceled due to foreign ministry dispute
(JNS.org) The ongoing dispute over labor conditions in the Israeli Foreign Ministry caused the cancelation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned visit to Latin America in April, Israel Hayom reported.
Officials from the National Security Council in the Prime Minister’s Office said the visit to Mexico, Panama, and Colombia was canceled because of labor sanctions imposed by the employees’ union of the foreign ministry, which nullified the diplomatic passports of three senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office. The five-day trip would have required assistance from Israeli representatives in the host countries.
The foreign ministry canceled the passports on the grounds that the Prime Minister’s Office officials were standing in for the workers of the foreign ministry in organizing the meetings abroad.
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CAMERA launches online ad campaign on ‘serious anti-Israel bias’ at NY Times
(JNS.org) The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) has launched a new online advertising campaign that draws attention to what the watchdog group calls “serious anti-Israel bias” at The New York Times.
The online banner, which is appearing on major news sites and blogs—including on the website of The New York Times itself—reads, “Until The New York Times Stops the Bias Against Israel, DON’T Subscribe!”
In January, CAMERA put up a billboard across the street from The New York Times headquarters in midtown Manhattan, also criticizing the newspaper’s coverage on Israel.
“We’re amazed on almost a daily basis at how politicized the news pages have become. Israeli leaders, for instance, are stigmatized as ‘shrill,’ ‘strident,’ ‘stubborn,’ ‘abrasive,’ and ‘cynical’ while no such language is applied to the Palestinian leader who is called ‘conciliatory.’ Opinion-laden language belongs on the opinion pages,” Andrea Levin, executive director of CAMERA, told JNS.org.
“We hope the public will come to understand The Times is not a reliable source on the Arab-Israeli conflict, will speak out about the bias, support our efforts and, until the bias stops, go elsewhere for news,” Levin added.
Eileen Murphy, vice president of corporate communications for The New York Times, told JNS.org, “We fully support CAMERA’s right to advertise their point of view, even when we disagree with it. Few topics of coverage are as sensitive as the conflict in the Mideast. Feelings are very strong on both sides. We recognize that and strive to provide complete, factual and fair coverage.”
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Hillel: Harvard students’ visit to Arafat’s grave ‘causing understandable concern’
(JNS.org) Hillel International responded to growing criticism over a visit by Harvard University students on a Hillel-sponsored tour of Israel to former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s grave near Ramallah.
Blogger Daniel Mael first revealed the visit to Arafat’s grave by the Harvard students as part of the “Harvard College Israel Trek 2014” on TruthRevolt.org. According to the trip’s website, the program “aims to engage a diverse cohort of undergraduate student leaders of all faiths and backgrounds with Israeli history, culture, and politics.” Israel Trek is sponsored by Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) and Harvard Hillel.
In a statement, David Eden, chief administration officer at Hillel International, admitted that the visit to Arafat’s grave is “causing understandable concern,” adding that the image conveyed by that visit is “not what this trip is about.”
“Given our digital online world, the participants may have given insufficient thought to the way in which this particular photograph would be seen and received back home, where the image is being captioned and written about in a very disturbing manner, including sensationalistic interpretations, by people unfamiliar with the Trek’s full program and mission,” Eden stated.
In a blog post for the Times of Israel whose original title, “No apologies for visit to Arafat’s grave,” was changed to “Yes, we visited Arafat’s grave,” Six Israel Trek trip organizers wrote that they “stand firm” behind their decision to visit Ramallah.
“Whether we like or not, Yasser Arafat is important to the Palestinian narrative, and as educators committed to an honest exploration of these issues we could not afford to deviate from Trek policy that encouraged students to document and share their experiences with their respective communities,” they wrote. “We are saddened and sorry that a photo was taken out of context, causing pain to people who we love and respect.”
Israeli Christian leaders call out EU hypocrisy on persecution of Mideast Christians
(JNS.org) A new coalition of Israeli Christian leaders called the “Israeli Christian Lobby” has sent a letter to the head of the European Union’s delegation to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, expressing their frustration with the EU’s “hypocrisy” on the issue of the ethnic cleansing of Middle Eastern Christians.
“The slaughter, persecution, discrimination, apartheid, the ethnic cleansing, and all the crimes committed against the Indigenous Aramaic & Christians of the Middle East, in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority, among others, and continue to be committed without any intervention of the Western countries,” the letter says.
“We are turning to you as someone who represents a Western country, which engraved the values of human and citizens’ rights on its flag. Get up and take action,” it adds.
The coalition plans to rally outside the EU embassy in Israel on Sunday, in solidarity “with those facing persecutions, discrimination, and ethnic cleansing throughout the Arab World,” according to the letter.
Shadi Khalloul, spokesman for the Israeli Christian Lobby, told JNS.org that the letter “aims to raise awareness about Christian ethnic cleansing in the Middle East,” including in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Khalloul added, “The world kept silent while persecuting Jews in Europe until it became a Holocaust, [and] now the world is silent [again]. Western countries must protect Christians in Middle East.”
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Tunisian president expresses support for country’s Jewish community
(JNS.org) Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki visited a Jewish exhibition on the holiday of Purim this week and expressed his support for the Tunisian Jewish community.
About 1,500 Jews live in Tunisia today, a far cry from the 100,000 that lived there before Israel’s Six-Day War in 1967, when the majority of Tunisian Jews left for the Jewish state. Nevertheless, Marzouki called Tunisia a “land of coexistence.”
“Let me reiterate that Tunisia is the land of peace, the land of coexistence, the land of brotherhood, a country that rejects all kinds of discrimination between its citizens—whether racial, religious, or sectarian. We are proud of all our Jewish citizens, who have played an important role in the history of this country,” Marzouki said, Israel National News reported.
“I always say that we have a shared and pluralistic identity in our country. The Arab-Islamic identity is the basis, but in our history there was a Jewish Tunisia, a Christian Tunisia, an Amazigh Tunisia, and Phoenician Tunisia… All these ‘Tunisians’ are part and parcel of our culture and civilization, and we should be proud of them. So, happy Purim, and thank you for this initiative. Carry on, and I wish you all success,” he added.
Tunisia’s relations with Israel, however, are more fraught. The two countries do not have diplomatic relations. Most recently, Tunisia barred several Israeli tourists from entering its borders while a Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ship was making a scheduled stop at the country. Tunisian officials claimed the Israelis did not have proper visa documents. Cruise line officials denied knowing of any such requirements. Subsequently, NCL announced the cancelation all of its stops in Tunisia and called the incident a “discriminatory act.”
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