Israelis overwhelmingly support Netanyahu’s visit to Paris after attacks
(JNS.org) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent trip to France following three Islamist terrorist attacks that killed a combined 17 people caused some controversy, but the overwhelming majority of Israelis support both his visit to Paris and his conduct while there, a new Israel Hayom poll shows.
French President Francois Hollande had reportedly opposed Netanyahu’s participation in the massive anti-terrorism march in Paris on Jan. 11 because the Israeli leader’s presence would be “divisive.” Yet 75 percent of Israelis surveyed by Israel Hayom said Netanyahu made the right decision by going to the march. Only 16 percent of respondents said he should not have gone, and another 9 percent were undecided on that question.
Another issue raised by Netanyahu’s visit was whether he should have issued a call for French Jews to move to Israel. Some saw his comments as offensive because they might have implied that France is incapable of protecting its own citizens. But most Israelis side with the prime minister. When asked if Netanyahu conducted himself appropriately when he urged French Jews to make aliyah, 66 percent of respondents said yes and 25 percent said no.
Additionally, more than three-quarters (76 percent) of respondents said Israel is the safest place in the world to live as a Jew.
Southern Israeli official assures residents he is defending IDF against U.N. probe
(JNS.org) Haim Yalin, the head of southern Israel’s Eshkol Regional Council, sent a letter to residents of Gaza-border communities which assures them that he defended Israel Defense Forces soldiers against a United Nations war crimes probe this week and that he would continue to do so.
Yalin traveled to Geneva as part of an unofficial delegation of seven Israelis testifying before the Schabas Commission—the U.N. Human Rights Council committee that was set up to investigate Israel’s actions during Operation Protective Edge. The commission is not currently investigating the actions of the Hamas terrorist group during the conflict.
The delegation was the initiative of Jewish organizations, rather than the Israeli government, which has refused to cooperate with the U.N. probe due to the committee’s suspected anti-Israel bias. Canadian professor William Schabas, the head of the investigation, is known for his past anti-Israel statements—including comments implying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be brought before an international tribunal for war crimes.
“I traveled with a delegation to testify before a committee in Geneva to defend IDF soldiers, to defend the best of our young men, who were absolutely not taught to kill,” Yalin wrote in his letter, Israel Hayomreported. “They were taught to love their fellow man and to love the land.”
“The soldiers fought in the operation to protect their parents, their siblings, their friends, and their nation,” he wrote. “They did not go into the Gaza Strip to kill, but rather to neutralize the terror tunnels [from Gaza] that reached into Israeli territory.”
Yalin said he was approached “by the World Jewish Congress and the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists to back up the testimony given by residents [of southern Israel] and officials about the conflict.”
Prosecutor: Argentine president secretly negotiated with Iran over Jewish center bombing
(JNS.org) A prosecutor investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires has accused Argentine President Cristina Fernandez of secretly negotiating with Iran to avoid punishments for those behind the attack.
The bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires killed 85 people and injured 300. Iran and Hezbollah have long been suspected of carrying out the attack. In 2013, Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who had been investigating the bombing after Iran and Argentina reached a widely criticized deal to establish a joint “truth commission” to investigate the attack, released an indictment blaming Iran and Hezbollah for the bombing.
On Wednesday, Nisman asked an Argentine judge to call in Fernandez as well as Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman for questioning.
“The president and her foreign minister took the criminal decision to fabricate Iran’s innocence to sate Argentina’s commercial, political and geopolitical interests,” Nisman said, The Associated Pressreported.
Nisman told reporters that he believes the impunity of the Iranians involved in the attack was ordered by Timerman in exchange for securing closer ties with Iran for oil and weapons deals.
B’nai B’rith International said in a statement that it “hopes that because of Nisman’s courage in getting to the bottom of this apparent obfuscation and deception, not only will his fellow countrymen, but the rest of Latin America and the world open its eyes to the evils of Iranian regime and those caught in its web of terror.”
Arab League pushes for resubmitting Palestinian statehood resolution at U.N.
(JNS.org) The Arab League on Thursday authorized its members to seek international support for resubmitting a Palestinian resolution to the United Nations Security Council that calls for Israel’s withdrawal from the disputed territories by 2017.
The decision comes after Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas called on the Arab League to help revive the resolution after the U.N. Security Council rejected it in December.
At Thursday’s Arab League meeting, several Arab countries got the go-ahead to take “the necessary communications and consultations to submit a new Arab proposal to the Security Council,” according to a statement cited by the AFP news agency. The Arab ministers supported the PA’s efforts to join international bodies such as the International Criminal Court and authorized a “financial security net” of $100 million for the Palestinians. The Arab League also expressed “absolute” opposition to recognizing Israel as a Jewish state and condemned Israel for attempting to “Judaize” Jerusalem through its Temple Mount policy, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Jordan, which submitted the defeated U.N. resolution in December on the Palestinians’ behalf, is the lone Arab member on the U.N. Security Council.
Earlier this month, Israel announced it would withhold Palestinian tax revenue that it collects as a punishment for the PA’s bid to join the ICC.
Two jihadists killed in anti-terror raid in Belgium
(JNS.org) At least two suspected jihadists were killed in an anti-terror operation in eastern Belgium on Thursday. The jihadists were planning to launch “terrorist attacks on a grand scale,” Belgian officials said.
“The suspects immediately and for several minutes opened fire with military weaponry and handguns on the special units of the federal police before they were neutralized,” said Belgian Prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt, BBC reported.
Van der Sypt added that additional anti-terror raids were also underway in the Brussels region focused on “several people who we think are an operational cell—certain people who came back from Syria.”
“During the investigation, we found that this group was about to commit terrorist attacks in Belgium,” Van der Sypt said.
Thursday’s events caused Belgium to raise its terror alert to the second-highest level. Belgium has the largest number per capita of jihadists fighting in the Middle East.
Last May, four people were killed inside the Brussels-based Jewish Museum of Belgium by Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old dual French-Algerian national who has allegedly fought with jihadist terror groups in Syria.
Middle East is most violent area in the world for Christians, report says
(JNS.org) Primarily because of Islamic extremism, the Middle East remains the most violent area in the world for Christians, according to a new report on global persecution of Christians by Open Doors USA.
According to the report, which surveyed religious liberty conditions for Christians from November 2013 to October 2014, more than 100 million Christians are being persecuted for their faith—and Islamic extremism is the main driver of the persecution.
“Even Christian-majority states are experiencing unprecedented levels of exclusion, discrimination, and violence,” said David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA. “The 2015 World Watch List reveals that a staggering number of Christians are becoming victims of intolerance and violence because of their faith. They are being forced to be more secretive about their faith.”
The report singled out the Middle East as the most dangerous region for Christians. Both Iraq and Syria, countries plagued by violence led by jihadist groups like the Islamic State, were ranked in the top five (Iraq 3rd and Syria 4th) among 50 countries that have the highest incidence of persecution of Christians. Iran was 7th on that list, and disputed Palestinian territories were also ranked in the top 50 by the report.
“The number of Christians is diminishing and the influence of radical Islam is growing,” the report said of the Palestinian territories.
“Dynamics of Christian persecution in the Palestinian territories are complex,” added the report. “Christians are squeezed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; their ethnicity entailing many restrictions from the Israeli side and their religion putting them in a minority position within the Palestinian community.”
According to the report, Christian converts from a Muslim background are the most persecuted group in the Palestinian territories, followed by all local Christian-background believers (historical Christians and non-traditional Protestants) in Gaza.
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