U.N. Security Council rejects Arab states’ request to censure Israel
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A petition by the ambassadors of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iran asking the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israel over its recent operation in Judea and Samaria to find the kidnapped boys was denied Thursday.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Ron Prosor slammed the Arab countries for failing to denounce the abduction of Israeli teens Gilad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach, and Naftali Frenkel.
“Instead of denouncing the boys’ abduction, the Arab states have the gall to stand before the international community and criticize Israel,” Prosor said.
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Israel’s Shin Bet names two kidnapping suspects
(JNS.org) Israel’s security agency, the Shin Bet, revealed the identity of two terrorists involved in the kidnapping of Jewish teenagers Naftali Frankel, Gilad Shaar, and Eyal Yifrach.
The terrorist suspects were named as Marwan Quasma, 29, and Amar Abu Eisha, 32, both from Hebron and associated with Hamas.
When security forces learned of the kidnapping, “the Shin Bet and the IDF have been carrying out a wide-scale search aimed at capturing the wanted suspects. The first aim is to track down the location of the abducted youths,” the Shin Bet said Thursday.
Both men have a record of Hamas-related arrests and were involved in activities such as bomb-making training and Palestinian youth recruitment for the Gaza-based terrorist organization. Meanwhile, Israeli security forces arrested a number of other people this week suspected in involvement with the kidnapping.
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U.K. Jewish group forming new pro-Israel Christian group
(JNS.org) The Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), an umbrella group of several major British Jewish organizations, has announced that it is helping to form a new pro-Israel British Christian organization in order to give a “voice to Christian unity in support of Israel.”
Dubbed the “United Christian Alliance for Israel,” the new organization will be formed from “bible-focused Christian communities, organizations, and Christian leaders” that will “proactively stand in support of the Jewish community in Biblical support of Israel through a united positive voice.”
Additionally, the group will travel with JLC leaders to Israel and help promote an event called U.K. Night to Celebrate Israel.
The JLC, which was formed in 2004 by senior leaders from Britain’s Jewish community, is one of the top pro-Israel Jewish groups in the U.K. that actively works to strengthen the country’s Jewish community and support for Israel.
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Germany to loosen immigration restrictions for Ukrainian Jews
(JNS.org) The German government announced Thursday that it will ease immigration restrictions on Jews from Ukraine over Jews from other former Soviet republics. To that end, Germany will be waiving some application requirements for those immigrants.
Jews from the former Soviet Union have been immigrating to Germany since the fall of communism in 1989, predominantly due to anti-Semitism in those countries, leading to an influx of about 200,000 Jews.
German immigration laws were then tightened in 2005. But now, Germany has decided to loosen the restrictions for Ukrainian Jews due to the turmoil in their country, reported The Associated Press.
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Report: Israel would recognize Kurdish Independence
(JNS.org) Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman suggested that Israel would recognize Kurdish independence in northern Iraq.
“Iraq is breaking up before our eyes and it would appear that the creation of an independent Kurdish state is a foregone conclusion,” Lieberman told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris on Thursday, according to Lieberman’s spokesperson.
Although not widely publicized, the Jewish state has a military, intelligence, and economic relationship with the Kurdish people.
“The Kurds have, de facto, created their own state, which is democratic. One of the signs of a democracy is the granting of equality to women,” said Israeli President Shimon Peres a day earlier while on his final foreign trip as president in Washington D.C., Reuters reported.
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