IDF officer: Hamas is ‘deterred’ and unable to rebuild terror tunnels
(JNS.org) Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip last summer has “left Hamas deterred and restrained, and has created potential calm for years to come,” a senior Israel Defense Forces Southern Command officer said Tuesday, Israel Hayom reported.
The officer, referring to Operation Protective Edge’s dismantling of Hamas’s network of terror tunnels running under the Israel-Gaza border, said the Palestinian terrorist group “has been unable to make use of the tunnels we destroyed” despite its efforts to rebuild them.
Meanwhile, as part of the operational lessons learned from last summer’s Gaza conflict, the IDF is striving to improve its own tunnel warfare abilities. A new tunnel discovery system is slated to become operational in the next few weeks, and the IDF is developing new technology to counter underground threats. The IDF officer said those initiatives still require budget appropriations.
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Hamas military camps prepare youths for next round of fighting with Israel
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) According to information published by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the Hamas terrorist group’s “military wing,” the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is operating summer camps in the Gaza Strip offering military training for young Palestinians.
Hamas conducted a large publicity campaign to recruit Gaza’s youths to attend the camps. MEMRI said the camps are “part of Hamas’s efforts to provide military training to the Gaza population, specifically the youth, and prepare them for the next round of fighting with Israel.”
The camps are divided into four groups: ages 15-17, 18-25, 25 and over, and graduates of previous camps.
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Israeli spending on private health services among highest in OECD
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel is one of the five developed countries where citizens pay the most money out of pocket for medical services and where private expenditure on health has increased the most over the last three years, according to a report issued by the Israeli Health Ministry this week.
The report compared health expenditures among the 34 developed countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The report indicates that in Israel, 39 percent of health services payments come from private patients. The only countries where patients pay more are Chile (54 percent), the U.S. (52 percent), Mexico (49 percent), and South Korea (44 percent). The average among OECD countries is only 27 percent.
The bulk of the expenditure in Israel is for health insurance—82.9 percent of Israelis possess some form of private health insurance to complement state-provided health services, placing Israel third in the proportion of citizens who pay for private insurance. The OECD average is 36 percent.
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Israel blasts UNESCO ‘hypocrisy’ over Jerusalem holy sites
(JNS.org) Israel slammed what it called a “hypocritical” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) resolution that expresses “deep concern” over Israeli activity in and around the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.
Jerusalem’s Old City and its walls were first submitted to UNESCO’s list of endangered world heritage sites by Jordan in 1982. Since then, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee periodically reviews the sites on the list.
At its recent annual session in Bonn, Germany, the World Heritage Committee reaffirmed a resolution submitted by Algeria, Lebanon, and Qatar that expressed “deep concern at the persistence of the illegal excavations and works conducted by the Israeli occupation authorities and the extreme settler groups in the Old City of Jerusalem and on both sides of its Walls.”
Israel Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold blasted the UNESCO resolution, noting that it only refers to the Temple Mount as a “Muslim holy site” and “deliberately ignores the historical connection between the Jewish people and their ancient capital” as well as Christianity’s connection to Jerusalem.
“As the historical heritage sites of this area are being systematically destroyed by jihadist forces, such as the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, UNESCO’s adoption of utterly false allegations about Israeli archaeological practices is misplaced and hypocritical, at best,” Gold said. “The resolution is full of distortions and is totally disconnected from reality on the ground.”
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Palestinians ‘shocked’ by India abstention on U.N. Gaza report vote
(JNS.org) The Palestinian envoy to India said he was “shocked” by the Asian nation’s recent abstention on a vote in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to adopt a report condemning Israel’s actions during last year’s Gaza war.
Palestinian Ambassador to India Adnan Abu Alhaija said in an interview with The Hindu that India’s decision was “affected” by its “burgeoning military relationship with Israel.”
“We were shocked. The Palestinian people and leaders were very happy with the U.N. resolution, but the voting of India has broken our happiness,”Alhaija said.
Last week, India was one of five countries to abstain from the UNHRC vote that adopted a resolution backing a commission of inquiry’s recent report on the war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group. Israel’s ambassador to India, Daniel Carmon, applauded the move by posting on Twitter, “We appreciate votes by members of @UN_HRC, including #India, who did not support yet another anti Israel bashing resolution. We thank them.”
The decision to abstain from the vote may be part of a shifting stance on Israel within the Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Last year, Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met for the first time at the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Modi has also announced plans to become the first Indian leader to visit the Jewish state.
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Israeli religious affairs minister again draws fire for belittling Reform Judaism
(JNS.org) Israeli Religious Affairs Minister David Azoulay has again drawn fire for controversial comments that belittle Reform Judaism.
“A Reform Jew, from the moment he stops following Jewish law, I cannot allow myself to say that he is a Jew,” Azoulay told Israel’s Army Radio on Tuesday. “These are Jews that have lost their way, and we must ensure that every Jew returns to the fold of Judaism, and accept everyone with love and joy.”
Last month, Azoulay—a member of Shas, an Orthodox political party in the Knesset—also harshly criticized Reform Judaism, calling the movement “a disaster for the Jewish people.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Azoulay’s “hurtful remarks” do not reflect the position of his government.
“I have spoken with Minister Azoulay to remind him that Israel is a home for all Jews and that as Minister of Religious Affairs, he serves all of Israel’s citizens,” Netanyahu said.
Union for Reform Judaism President Rabbi Rick Jacobs applauded Netanyahu “for his unequivocal rejection of Minister Azoulay’s offensive comments about Reform Judaism.”
“We appreciate the Prime Minister’s strong and welcome words, while noting that the time may well come soon when he is forced to make clear that Minister Azoulay has forfeited his right to be a member of the [Israeli] government,” Jacobs said.
Azoulay’s comments were swiftly condemned by other Jewish organizations.
“Diaspora Jews, and especially Jews in America, where Reform Judaism is the largest Jewish religious affiliation, are critical to Israel’s sense of wellbeing and security,” said Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which prioritizes the issue of Israel-Diaspora relations. “Representatives of Israel’s government should treat them accordingly.”
Ruderman added that Netanyahu should make it clear that “further derogatory comments will result in the minister’s dismissal.”
“It is unconscionable that for a second time in the less than a month, Minister Azoulay has publicly demeaned Reform Jews,” said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “His disturbing comments come at a time of widening divisions between the Rabbinate and non-Orthodox Israeli Jews, and growing tensions with the non-Orthodox Jewish Diaspora. Instead of bridging those divides, Azoulay’s disturbing remarks contribute to an atmosphere of exclusion and growing mistrust.”
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Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.