20,000 people attend funeral of IDF soldier from Texas
(JNS.org) In response to a widespread social media campaign to honor a fallen soldier, some 20,000 people crowded the military cemetery in Haifa on Monday evening for the funeral of Staff Sgt. Nissim Sean Carmeli, one of two U.S. citizens killed in fighting in Gaza on Sunday morning.
Since Carmeli lived in Texas for most of his life, and his parents split their time between Israel and the U.S., his friends were concerned his funeral would be sparsely attended and decided to reach out to Israelis around the country. The 21-year-old Golani Brigade soldier rooted for the Maccabi Haifa soccer team, whose fans shared the details of his funeral online, encouraging people to attend.
“The thousands who came to pay their respects show the rare unity of the nation of Israel,” said Meir Azoulay, a Haifa-area resident who attended the funeral, Israel Hayom reported.
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Tel Aviv-area home damaged by Gaza rocket fire
(JNS.org) Palestinian terrorists in Gaza continued to fire rockets at Israel on Tuesday, barraging the southern and central parts of the country.
The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted a volley of rockets fired at the Tel Aviv area. The remnants of a rocket hit a home in the Tel Aviv suburb of Yehud, causing significant damage, Israel Hayom reported. One woman sustained light shrapnel wounds and was taken to the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer for treatment. Several other people suffered shock.
There were also reports of rocket remnants falling in north Tel Aviv.
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Anti-Israel protests spread throughout Europe
(JNS.org) A number of anti-Israel protests have continued throughout Europe, with several of them turning violent, drawing condemnation and shock from European Jewish leaders.
In Germany, several anti-Semitic and anti-Israel incidents have been escalating, with protests occurring daily throughout the country. At some protests, anti-Semitic slogans such as “gas the Jews”have been reported.
According to reports, the protesters are largely composed of Muslim immigrants to Germany and neo-Nazi groups.
In response to the violence and protests in Germany, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dieter Graumann, cited the“explosion of evil and violent hatred of Jews, which shocks and dismays all of us.”
“We would never in our lives have thought it possible anymore that anti-Semitic views of the nastiest and most primitive kind can be chanted on German streets,” Graumann said.
In France, which saw its third anti-Israel protest in a week turn violent, pro-Palestinian protesters attacked Jewish shops and other businesses in the Jewish Parisian suburb of Sarcelles on Monday, AFP reported.
“It is unacceptable to target synagogues or shops simply because they are managed by Jews,” French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.
Thousands of others also demonstrated against Israel in Vienna, Amsterdam, and several other European cities. Additionally, Gerry Adams, the leader of Ireland’s nationalist Sinn Fein party, called on Irish legislators to “stand in solidarity”with the Palestinians during a session of parliament, the Irish Times reported. Adams also called on the Irish government to expel the Israeli ambassador to the country.
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With 9 more soldiers killed, IDF death toll surpasses last two Gaza operations
(JNS.org) Nine more Israeli soldiers and officers were killed in fighting, bringing the number of Israeli military casualties to 27 since the start of the Israel Defense Forces’ ground operation in Gaza. That death toll exceeds the total of 19 Israeli soldiers who died during the Jewish state’s two previous Gaza campaigns, Operation Pillar of Defense of 2012 and Operation Cast Lead of 2008-09.
Four of the nine soldiers were killed when Hamas terrorists, wearing Israeli military uniforms, emerged from a tunnel in Israel and fired a rocket-propelled grenade at an approaching IDF jeep patrol near Kibbutz Nir Am. In response, the IDF killed 10 Hamas gunman.
The IDF also released a video showing the Hamas terrorists infiltrating Israel and subsequently being taken out as they attempted to return to Gaza via the tunnel.
“We paid a heavy price, but we averted a grave disaster,”IDF Southern Command General Sami Turgeman said. “There is no Iron Dome protection against tunnel infiltration.”
Three Israeli soldiers were killed in operations in the Gaza neighborhood of Shejaiya after they were hit by an anti-tank missile, and two Nahal Brigade soldiers were killed overnight, the IDF said Tuesday.
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80% of British Jews feel blamed for Israel’s position on Israeli-Palestinian conflict
(JNS.org) A new study by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research in the United Kingdom shows that about 80 percent of British Jews say that non-Jews are blaming them for the Israeli government’s actions with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The study, authored by Dr. Laura D. Staetsky and Dr. Jonathan Boyd, reveals that one-third of Jews feel that that non-Jews’ support of the boycott of Israeli goods is anti-Semitic, while nearly half feel that the comparisons of Israeli treatment of Palestinians to Nazi treatment of Jews are “definitely” anti-Semitic.
“Most respondents (over three-quarters) maintained that they hear the Israel/Nazi parallel in Britain at least occasionally,”the study states.
The respondents most commonly identified Muslim extremists, teenagers, and people “holding left-wing views”as the perpetrators of anti-Semitic acts.
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Israeli official: U.N. agency returns rockets found at school to Hamas
(JNS.org) A senior Israeli official accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) of returning 20 rockets discovered last week at one of the agency’s Gaza schools to Hamas.
“The rockets were passed on to the government authorities in Gaza, which is Hamas. In other words, UNRWA handed to Hamas rockets that could well be shot at Israel,” the Israeli official told the Times of Israel.
Christopher Gunness, UNRWA’s director of advocacy and strategic communications, said in a statement Monday, “Immediately after the discovery of the rockets, UNRWA proactively informed the relevant parties and successfully took all necessary measures for the removal of the objects in order to preserve the safety and security of the school. Local authorities fall under the government of national consensus in Ramallah. They pledged to pass a message to all parties not to violate UNRWA neutrality.”
UNRWA is refusing to disclose any photos of the rockets, arguing that “any photographic material” is the property of the agency and confidential evidence in the investigation of the incident.
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Arab MKs participate in anti-Israel protests
(JNS.org) Strong opposition to Operation Protective Edge continued in a number of Israeli Arab communities over the weekend, with protests against the Israeli military action held in Haifa, Acre, Sakhnin, and the town of Arraba in the Galilee.
Arab members of Knesset participated in the demonstrations. MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) was handcuffed at one of the protests when hundreds clashed with special police forces deployed to the scene. According to Coastal District Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hagai Dotan and Haifa District Police Chief Commander Avi Edri, Zoabi attacked police officers.
In a separate incident, protesters waved Palestinian flags and yelled anti-military and anti-government slogans during a demonstration organized by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Kafr Kana in the Galilee. Zoabi’s colleague MK Jamal Zahalka participated in the event, calling it “a legitimate protest in light of the killing of our people in Gaza.”
“I don’t know if [Zoabi] and Zahalka can be called MKs,”Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said.
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Israeli surgeons treat Palestinian girl while under fire from Gaza
(JNS.org) As rocket sirens blared at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer last week, a group of Israeli surgeons continued to operate on a Palestinian baby in the center’s intensive care ward, which is not adequately protected from rocket strikes.
The Palestinian infant was suffering from multiple birth defects and arrived at the hospital attached to a respirator.
“The baby required an emergency tracheostomy when the siren began,”Dr. Marina Rubenstein, a senior physician at the pediatric intensive care unit at Sheba Medical Center, told Israel Hayom.
Doctors “didn’t even move from the bed” despite the fact that all Israelis are instructed to enter a protected space when the sirens sound, said Rubenstein.
“Our responsibility is to young children, regardless of where the child is from or the child’s religion,” the doctor said.
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Iran nuclear talks extended by four months
(JNS.org) Iran and the P5+1 powers, including the United States, agreed on Friday, July 18, to extend negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program by four months. A deadline of July 20 for a final nuclear deal had been set when an interim deal was reached.
As part of the extension, Iran will receive access to $2.8 billion of its assets that have been frozen in the U.S. The Islamic Republic “will not get any more money during these four months than it did during the last six months, and the vast majority of its frozen oil revenues will remain inaccessible,”Secretary of State John Kerry said.
“I hope that the next four months will lead to a constructive termination of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but remain concerned that the time will be used by Iran to thwart sanctions and further its efforts towards a nuclear capability,”said U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Illinois), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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