Israeli hurt in Beit Shemesh stabbing; 1 perpetrator a known Hamas operative
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) An Israeli man was lightly to moderately wounded in a stabbing attack in Beit Shemesh on Thursday morning—an attack that could have been worse had it not been for the quick response of the Israeli security forces and vigilant civilians.
Just before 8 a.m. in Israel, two terrorists tried to board a school bus in Ramat Beit Shemesh, but were pushed off by civilians. The two then continued toward a synagogue and pounced on a haredi man just outside the building. The man, 18, was stabbed in his upper body. Police officers dispatched to the scene shot and killed both perpetrators.
Both terrorists were 20 years old. One was a known Hamas operative who had previous run-ins with the Israeli authorities, and the other had been jailed in Israel between 2012 and 2014 after being apprehended with a knife near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
The initial investigation into the event revealed that the police fielded a call early Thursday warning of a suspicious man in Ramat Beit Shemesh. Police officers were dispatched to the area and began searching for suspects. At the same time, another report came in about two suspects trying to board a bus transporting children to an area school. The two reportedly disembarked when people began yelling at them and asking them what they were doing, and they were later found near a bus stop. The police fired at them while they were stabbing their Israeli victim. According to police, the terrorists had been wearing shirts bearing symbols associated with Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades—Hamas’s armed wing.
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Waldorf Astoria and other Israeli hotels ranked among best in Middle East
(JNS.org) Less than two years after its opening, the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem this week made it to 7th place in the Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards 2015, a global survey of travelers that ranks the world’s top 100 hotels and resorts. Conde Nast Traveler is considered to be the world’s most prestigious tourism magazine.
In the “Top 15 Hotels in the Middle East” category, the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem ranks 1st, having received a score of 97.5 out of 100. Places 2 to 5, 9, and 11 on the list are all United Arab Emirates hotels, and with the exception of one Omani hotel, all other venues are in Israel: the Mamilla Hotel (6), the King David Jerusalem Hotel (10), the Inbal Jerusalem Hotel (12), the Dan Tel Aviv Hotel (13), the Hilton Tel Aviv Hotel (14), and the David Citadel Hotel (15).
The survey is based on the input of more than 128,000 travelers who stayed at the accommodations and got a first-hand look at the facilities. The construction of the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem involved unprecedented costs in Israeli terms. The manager of the hotel, Guy Kalman, said Wednesday that this was “the first time an Israeli hotel is ranked among the world’s top 10 hotels and makes it to the top spot in the Middle East category,” Israel Hayom reported.
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Netanyahu: ‘no intention of absolving Hitler,’ but don’t ignore Arab incitement
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuted the criticism voiced against him that he attempted to absolve Hitler from responsibility for the Holocaust, in the wake of comments he had made on incitement by the Nazi-sympathizing Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, during World War II.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said at the 37th World Zionist Congress that Arab attacks on Jews during the 1920s “were instigated by a call of the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, who was later sought for war crimes in the Nuremberg trials because he had a central role in fomenting the Final Solution. He flew to Berlin. Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews. And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler [in a 1941 meeting in Berlin] and said, ‘If you expel them, they’ll all come here.’ ‘So what should I do with them?’ [Hitler] asked. [Husseini] said, ‘Burn them.’ And he was sought in, during the Nuremberg trials for prosecution. He escaped it and later died of cancer.”
Critics of Netanyahu’s comments have since pointed out that the Final Solution was already underway when Hitler met with Husseini. Furthermore, a spokesperson for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Steffen Seibert, said that “all Germans know the history of the murderous race mania of the Nazis that led to the break with civilization that was the Holocaust.”
“This is taught in German schools for good reason, it must never be forgotten. And I see no reason to change our view of history in any way. We know that responsibility for this crime against humanity is German and very much our own,” said Seibert, Reuters reported.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu clarified his earlier comments with a new statement that he “had no intention of absolving Hitler from his diabolical responsibility for the annihilation of European Jews. Hitler was responsible for the Final Solution—the extermination of 6 million Jews. He made the decision. At the same time, it is absurd to ignore the role played by the mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini, a war criminal who encouraged Hitler, [Joachim von] Ribbentrop, [Heinrich] Himmler and others to destroy the Jews of Europe. There is much evidence of this, including the testimony of Eichmann’s deputy at the Nuremberg trials.”
Netanyahu further explained that the reason he brought up the issue was to illustrate the long history of Palestinian incitement against Jews, which existed before the establishment of the State of Israel.
“The Palestinian incitement to kill Jews, which began with [Haj Amin al-Husseini], continues today…For the murder to stop, the incitement must stop,” Netanyahu said.
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GOP candidate Ted Cruz: U.S. should not dictate policy to Israel
(JNS.org) Republican presidential contender U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who called for the resignation of Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this week, told the Jerusalem Post in an interview that Kerry’s suggestion “that Israel could become an apartheid state” is “slander.”
That claim is “one often repeated by the terrorists and it should not be coming out of the mouth of a United States Secretary of State,” Cruz said.
Cruz also blasted Kerry and the State Department for moral equivalence.
“There is a qualitative difference between antics of Palestinian terrorists murdering innocent women and children in response to the relentless incitement from the Hamas, from the PA (Palestinian Authority). There’s a qualitative difference between that and the IDF defending the safety and security of the nation of Israel. And John Kerry’s suggestion that they are morally equivalent is wrong, harmful and deeply offensive,” said Cruz.
Furthermore, Cruz said, “The barrier to peace is not the government of Israel. The barrier to peace is Palestinians who refuse to renounce terrorism and refuse to even acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.”
“If Israel chooses to negotiate and reach a settlement with the Palestinian Authority that is Israel’s right as a sovereign state and America can help provide a fair forum for negotiations. But it is not the role of the American government to attempt to lecture the Israeli people or dictate terms of peace,” he said.
With regard to the issue of Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria, Cruz said that “the question of settlements is a question for Israel as a sovereign nation to decide. I don’t believe an American president should be dictating to the nation of Israel where Israelis can choose to live. And the fact that Israelis choose to live in Judea and Samaria is not justification for terrorism or murder. And it is yet another example of the Obama administration’s repeated false moral equivalency to suggest that it is.”
“Israel is a sovereign nation. Israel is our ally. We should stand with Israel,” he said.
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Two more knife-wielding terrorists shot in Israel, car-ramming injures 4
(JNS.org) A female Israeli soldier was stabbed in the neck near Geva Binyamin in Judea and Samaria, before another female soldier shot the attacker and detained an alleged accomplice. Also on Wednesday, a car-ramming attack injured four Israelis.
According to a preliminary investigation, one of the Palestinian terrorists in the first incident stabbed and critically wounded a female soldier, and then ran toward the other soldier with the knife still in his hand, leading her to shoot him from short range.
In the car-ramming, which also took place in Judea and Samaria, Israel’s Channel 2 reported that Israeli passengers who exited their vehicle after coming under attack from stone-throwers proceeded to get run over by a passing vehicle. The four wounded Israelis were transported to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, with one in serious condition, according to the Magen David Adom emergency response organization.
In yet another incident on Wednesday, a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip, exploding in open territory in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council near Israel’s border fence with Gaza. There have been no reports of injuries or damage.
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Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gives blessing to amended nuclear deal
(JNS.org) Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei signed off on an amended nuclear deal that was approved by Iran’s parliament last week.
In a letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Khamenei gave his blessing to the nuclear deal signed between Iran and the P5+1 world powers in July. But Khamenei listed several conditions, including that the nuclear deal would be rendered void if any country re-imposes sanctions on Iran.
“Any comments suggesting the sanctions structure will remain in place or [new] sanctions will be imposed, at any level and under any pretext, would be a violation of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action),” read the letter, Iran’s state-run Press TV reported.
Last week, the Iranian parliament, in a 161-59 vote with 13 abstentions, approved an amended version of July’s nuclear deal.
According to reports, the bill passed by the parliament, known as the Majlis, stipulates that international inspectors would only have limited access to nuclear sites, which was not part of the original deal. The resolution also included new demands on sanctions removal.
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UNESCO drops Western Wall language, but criticizes Israel over Temple Mount
(JNS.org) UNESCO has approved a resolution condemning Israel for its alleged attempts to change the status quo on the Temple Mount, but a bid to declare the Western Wall as a Muslim holy site was dropped from the resolution before the vote.
Twenty-six countries voted in favor of the resolution, which condemned “aggression and illegal measures taken against the freedom of worship and access of Muslims to Al-Aqsa mosque and Israel’s attempts to break the status quo since 1967.”
The U.S., U.K., Germany, Netherlands, Czech Republic, and Estonia voted against the resolution.
The original proposal was submitted by six Arab states—Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates—on behalf of the Palestinians. It called the Western Wall an “integral part” of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount. But that language was removed from the resolution in order to garner more support for the measure.
Nevertheless, the approved resolution recognized Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron as Muslim sites, despite their significance in Jewish history and tradition.
On Tuesday, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova criticized the original Arab-led proposal.
“We all have responsibility to UNESCO’s mandate, to take decisions that promote dialogue, tolerance and peace,” Bokova said in a statement. “This is especially important for young people, who should be nurtured and educated for peace.”
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