Israeli transportation minister proposes expansion of Jerusalem’s borders
(JNS.org) Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) announced Thursday that he intends to promote a bill that would expand the borders of Jerusalem.
“This week (May 28), we will celebrate Jerusalem Day, marking 47 years since the city was reunified,” Katz said, according to Israel Hayom. “This is the time to promote an initiative that will strengthen Jerusalem, expand its borders and preserve its Jewish national character. I intend to support the Greater Jerusalem as Capital of Israel Bill.”
The bill calls for the communities of Ma’aleh Adumim, Givat Zeev, the Gush Etzion bloc, and Betar Illit to come under the jurisdiction of Jerusalem and the state of Israel.
According to Katz, a joint council would be established that would allow for centralized activity while protecting each entity’s municipal independence, a model implemented in major metropolises worldwide, including greater London and greater Paris.
“We can raise wide support for this initiative among world Jewry and among friends of Israel in the U.S. and other places that recognize the historic relationship and our right to Jerusalem,” Katz said.
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Israeli FM Lieberman rejects calls to probe shooting, questions video’s authenticity
(JNS.org) Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday rejected international calls for Israel to investigate the apparent shooting deaths of two Palestinians during a riot in the West Bank town of Beitunia last week. Lieberman also questioned the authenticity of the surveillance video released by a pro-Palestinian advocacy group showing the two men collapsing to the ground.
Referring to U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki’s calls for a “prompt and transparent” investigation, Lieberman said, “We do not need an American request to probe the incident. The IDF is the most ethical military in the world.”
“I am sad to see that these demands are not made regarding other incidents,” Lieberman said. “In Syria, 170,000 people have already been killed, and I have not seen any active efforts on the part of the international community to investigate the murders.”
He added, “Hamas executed two civilians in the Gaza Strip, without a lawyer and without a trial. I did not see any demands from the international community to investigate that issue. I reject all these demands and all the hypocrisy that we see now in the world.”
Lieberman noted that the recently released surveillance video “was not released immediately [after the incident], but only after a few days, and that raises questions.”
A senior security official echoed Lieberman’s sentiments in a meeting with the press, Israel Hayom reported. According to the official, there is a “big chance” that the video was staged.
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Tel Aviv U. partnering with Beijing school on research center
(JNS.org) Tel Aviv University (TAU) has announced that it is partnering with Beijing’s Tsinghua University. The universities will invest $300 million to establish the XIN Research Center for the biotech, solar energy, water, and environmental technology industries.
China is interested in having Israeli technology “upgrade” its society, Shangyan Fen—a managing director for Catalyst-CEL, a joint Israeli-Chinese investment fund helping Israeli companies bring their products to the Chinese market—told the Times of Israel.
“This center will open new horizons for Israeli society,” said TAU President Prof. Joseph Klafter, who will sign an agreement with Chinese officials next Tuesday to establish the research center.
The agreement is just one event in a week that has by now been dubbed “China Week” in the Israeli high-tech industry. More than 400 Chinese officials arrived in Israel this week for a series of conferences and seminars, including the Tel Aviv MIXiii 2014 conference.
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Holocaust investigators to recommend charging 20 former Majdanek guards
(JNS.org) Twenty living former guards of the Majdanek concentration camp have been identified by German investigators and may be charged with Nazi-era war crimes.
The suspects, including both men and women, all live in Germany. An investigation into a total of 1,000 possible suspects is ongoing. More than 200,000 people were killed in the Majdanek camp in Poland.
Federal prosecutor Kurt Schrimm told reporters Tuesday that authorities are preparing to recommend to state prosecutors that they pursue charges against the 10 suspects within the next two weeks, reported The Associated Press. The Central Office for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes, which Schrimm has headed for 14 years, has no legal power to file charges itself.
Schrimm said his office’s work is not complete. “We are not finished with Auschwitz. I am convinced that further names will come up from Auschwitz in the coming months,” he said, Reuters reported.
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Israel divestment resolution resoundingly defeated at University of Washington
(JNS.org) A resolution to divest from Israel was resoundingly defeated by the student senate at the University of Washington (UW) on Tuesday night.
Resolution R-20-39, which called on school administrators to “examine its financial assets to identify its investments in companies that provide equipment or services used to directly maintain, support, or profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land,” was overwhelmingly struck down by a vote of 59-8, with 11 abstentions.
Pro-Israel student activists from UW Huskies Against Divestment, as well as unaffiliated student senators, spoke out against the divestment resolution.
“BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) was handed one of its worst defeats on any campus last night. We are so proud of the UW pro-Israel students, who did an amazing job and who inspired us with their commitment and passion,” Robert Jacobs, Northwest director for the Israel education organization StandWithUs, said in a statement.
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Pro-Palestinian activist Corrie’s family takes legal battle to Israeli Supreme Court
(JNS.org) The family of the late American pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie has appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that absolved the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of blame in her 2003 death in Gaza.
Corrie, 23, was killed while trying to block an Israeli bulldozer in operations in southern Gaza during the height of the Second Intifada.
An Israeli court in 2012 supported the findings of an IDF investigation that said the bulldozer driver could not see Corrie, and that her death was an accident.
Prof. Gerald Steinberg, the president of NGO Monitor, told JNS.org that while the Corrie family experienced a “great tragedy,” the family as well as the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement continues to “immorally” use her death to help “Hamas target Israel.”
“Once again, Israeli judges listened tolerantly to the false claims raised by Corrie’s lawyers. The bottom line remains the fact that she was clearly and knowingly in a combat zone, seeking to interfere with IDF soldiers charged with protecting the lives of Israelis,” Steinberg said.
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Abbas: Palestinians to refrain from joining more international organizations
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas said he would refrain from having the PA join more United Nations bodies or other international organizations in the near future.
In an interview with the Times of Israel, Abbas said he is pausing the Palestinians’ unilateral push for international recognition in order to give recent diplomatic efforts more time to develop.
Last week, Abbas met with Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel’s top negotiator in the recently collapsed peace talks, in London. Abbas called the meeting “positive” and told Livni that a new Palestinian unity government would abide by the principles that the Palestinian Authority recognizes—including recognition of Israel, previous peace agreements, and rejection of violence.
Hamas’s leadership, however, has said it will not recognize those principles.
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