Prime minister, defense minister vow to protect residents of southern Israel
(JNS.org)Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, and several senior Israel Defense Forces officials met with the mayors of Israel’s southern cities on Monday night, August 4, in an effort to put to rest concerns about the region’s security following the decision to withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza.
Netanyahu announced that Prime Minister’s Office Director-General Harel Locker will head a special team dedicated to social and economic growth in Israeli communities near Gaza.
Ya’alon announced that the IDF will be deployed in a way meant to increase the security in the area. “We are committed to restoring the residents’ sense of security, and this goal should lead to a process of growth and development for the communities adjacent to the Gaza border,” he said.
Hof Ashkelon Regional Council head Yair Farjoun, speaking on behalf of the other mayors at the end of the meeting, said the mayors had “a good feeling that the security of the Gaza vicinity communities is a priority for the government,”according to Israel Hayom.
“They made several promises, including putting security cameras in the communities closest to the border, which are under the greatest threat,”Farjoun said.
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Israel pulls troops out of Gaza, begins 72-hour cease-fire
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces pulled its ground troops out of Gaza on Tuesday after the completion of its work to neutralize terror tunnels, while Israel began a 72-hour cease-fire with Hamas at 8 a.m.
“This was a complicated operation carried out by heroic soldiers under difficult combat conditions,”said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who praised the “very impressive results”of Operation Protective Edge.
“The operation struck at a strategic network that Hamas had invested great effort in over the years,”said the prime minister. “These tunnels would have enabled Hamas to kidnap and murder civilians and IDF soldiers by launching simultaneous attacks from the many tunnels that penetrate our territory.”
Israel destroyed 32 cross-border tunnels in its operation, the IDF said.
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Florida Atlantic University students indefinitely table anti-Israel resolution
(JNS.org) The student government of Florida Atlantic University (FAU) on Aug. 1 indefinitely tabled a resolution to divest from Israel. The measure was introduced by the FAU chapter of the anti-Israel group Students for Justice in Palestine.
“As students we may not be able to control the situation around the world, but it’s our duty to maintain a peaceful campus environment,”said Nadav Alkoby, Jewish programming chair for FAU’s Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity chapter. “By combating Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), we took a stand against hate.”
Sara Rafel, director of the Southeast U.S. branch of the Israel education organization StandWithUs, praised pro-Israel students who helped bring about the tabling of the resolution “for their vigilance and commitment to fight for Israel and not back down in the face of BDS bullies and their last-minute, anti-democratic tactics.”
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U.K. National Union of Students adopts pro-BDS resolution
(JNS.org) The U.K.’s National Union of Students’ national executive committee (NUS NEC) has voted to adopt an anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) policy.
The adoption of the BDS policy allows student unions throughout the U.K. to impose sanctions on Israel and support campaigns to boycott Israel on their campuses, the Jewish Chronicle of London reported.
The Jewish National Union of Students (UJS) responded to the decision by saying, “NUS NEC have passed a policy that will only divide student groups, undermine interfaith relations, and suffocate progressive voices for peace on both sides. …The Jewish people have an inalienable right to self-determination, and on this principle, UJS will not compromise.”
NUS is an umbrella group representing more than 600 student unions across the U.K., or 95 percent of all student groups in the country.
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Hungarian mayor holds mock public execution of Israeli leaders
(JNS.org) A mayor of a rural town in eastern Hungary held a mock medieval-style public execution of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former president Shimon Peres in order to protest Israel’s military operation against Hamas in Gaza.
In a video posted online, Erpatak Mayor Mihaly Zoltan Orosz, who hails from the neo-Nazi Hungarian Jobbik Party, is seen standing in a traditional Hungarian costume with effigies of Netanyahu and Peres hanging behind him. After reading an anti-Israel speech, a man wearing the black hood of an executioner kicks out chairs holding the effigies, marking the Israeli leaders’ executions.
The Hungarian Foreign Ministry condemned the mock execution, saying, “The mayor has used the conflict in Gaza and its innocent victims as an excuse to spread hate-inducing propaganda.”
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Antisemitism is running rampant all over Europe. I guess 70 years is long enough for some to get over the guilt of their participation in a holocaust. Those of us living in the US should not feel safe; some of those same elements are our neighbors here. The time to stem this movement is now, and it will require some real leadership from our government. So far the only comments I hear from this country’s elected leader is unjustified criticism of Israel which is another word for Antisemitism. He has said nothing, that I have read, about the problems in Europe.