Mahmoud Abbas’s brother-in-law undergoes life-saving surgery in Israel
(JNS.org) Amid ongoing tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, a brother-in-law of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas underwent life-saving cardiac surgery at the Assuta Medical Center in Tel Aviv on Thursday, Israel Hayom reported.
The Palestinian leader’s relative is still hospitalized and is under heavy guard. An Assuta spokesperson said the hospital could not confirm or deny the information “for reasons of medical confidentiality.”
Last August, Abbas’s wife, Amina, also underwent surgery at the Assuta hospital. The granddaughter of Gaza-based Hamas terrorist leader Ismail Haniyeh has also received medical treatment in Israel, and a senior Fatah official in February underwent a medical procedure at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikvah.
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Temple Mount forbidden to Jewish visitors, Israeli chiefs rabbis reiterate
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel David Lau and Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef, as well as more than 100 prominent Israeli rabbis, issued a statement Thursday reiterating a previous decree barring Jews from visiting the Temple Mount.
The rabbinical decree forbidding Jewish worshippers from visiting the volatile holy site in Jerusalem has been in place for decades.
“We have been blessed, by the grace of God, to witness the fact that this holy place is in our possession, and many among the people of Israel flock to it, so that they may see it with their own eyes. Some even venture into the Temple Mount, despite the generations-old warning barring us from setting foot anywhere on the premises, so that we do not fail and, heaven forbid, infringe on the purity of this sacred place,” the rabbis’ statement read.
In Jewish law, entering the Temple or the Tabernacle while in a state of ritual impurity is one of 36 offenses punishable by kareth (“cutting off”)—extinction of the soul and denial of a share in the world to come.
“With time, we have become unaware of the exact location of the Temple, and anyone entering the premises may unknowingly enter the holiest of holies, potentially risking kareth,” the rabbis said.
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IDF nabs record number of wanted Palestinians in 2 days
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli security forces arrested more than 100 wanted Palestinians in several raids across Palestinian villages and towns in Judea and Samaria on Wednesday and Thursday.
The record number of arrests came as part of the IDF’s increased deployment in the area to quell the recent wave of terrorism. A military source stressed that while the sweep was the largest of its kind since June 2014, it was not part of any official operation.
The IDF said that 58 wanted Palestinians, including 16 Hamas terrorist operatives and 26 people suspected of participating in riots, were arrested on Thursday night, while 47 were arrested on Wednesday night.
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Islamic State threatens Israel in Hebrew: ‘The true war hasn’t yet started’
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Islamic State terror group on Friday published a Hebrew-language video threatening Israel.
In the video, a masked man holding a weapon and speaking fluent Hebrew says, “The true war hasn’t yet started, what you’ve experienced until now is a child’s war compared to what will happen soon. We promise you that not a single Jew will be left in the entire country….Look how you responded to a few car attacks and stabbings—you fell on your heads, you shot anyone who drove fast and anyone with something in their hand.”
The speaker continues, “Think what will happen to you when soon tens of thousands from all over the world will come to slaughter you and throw you in the trash. We aren’t just full of hot air—we are are closing in on you from every direction, from Sinai and from Damascus and more. The account between us is getting longer and longer. The account will be closed soon.”
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Israeli U.N. envoy and PA foreign minister square off at U.N. Security Council
(JNS.org) Danny Danon, the new Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, faced off with Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on Thursday at a U.N. Security Council session on the subject of the current wave of violence engulfing Israel.
Al-Maliki blamed Israeli “incitement and provocations” for the violence.
“Our Palestinian people, particularly our children, are being killed, targeted by the Israeli occupation forces. They are denied fundamental right to life because of their national and religious identities. Their legitimate rejection of illegal occupation is being faced with killing and destruction,” he said, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Danon said that the current attacks against innocent Israeli civilians have been unprovoked.
“This is not a ‘cycle of violence.’ These are simply unprovoked attacks against Israelis for no reason other than the fact that they are Jews living in their historic homeland,” he said.
“Mothers and fathers worry that their children will be knifed to death when they leave the house and children are worried their parents won’t make it home. This is the true meaning of terror. When you ignore this deliberate corruption of the minds of children, you are not part of the solution—you are a part of the problem,” added Danon.
Danon also refuted the Palestinian claim that Israel is “infringing the rights of Muslims in the sites that are holy to them,” explaining that this false view has been circulating since 1928, years before Israel was even established. He reiterated Israel’s commitment to the maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount.
Israel gained eastern Jerusalem along with its holy sites from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War. But access to the Temple Mount is administered by the Islamic Waqf, a Muslim trust overseen by Jordan that limits non-Muslim visitation and bans Jewish prayer. A recent increase in Jewish visitors has been led by Jewish activist groups calling for greater Jewish access to the Temple Mount, which is a site holy to both Judaism and Islam.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was recently quoted as saying that “the Al-Aqsa [mosque] is ours…and they have no right to defile it with their filthy feet.”
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Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling among U.K. artists opposing boycott of Israel
(JNS.org) Dozens of U.K. artists, including Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, have signed a letter published in The Guardian protesting the idea of culturally boycotting Israel and expressing support for Culture for Coexistence, an independent British network committed to informing and encouraging dialogue about the Jewish state in the cultural community.
“We do not believe cultural boycotts are acceptable,” the letter states.
“We are writing to declare our support for the launch and aims of Culture for Coexistence—an independent U.K. network representing a cross-section from the cultural world. We will be seeking to inform and encourage dialogue about Israel and the Palestinians in the wider cultural and creative community. While we may not all share the same views on the policies of the Israeli government, we all share a desire for peaceful coexistence. Cultural boycotts singling out Israel are divisive and discriminatory,” write the artists.
The letter’s signatories articulated their support for a two-state solution “so that the national self-determination of both peoples is realized, with the state of Israel and a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security.”
“Cultural engagement builds bridges, nurtures freedom and positive movement for change. We wholly endorse encouraging such a powerful tool for change rather than boycotting its use,” they wrote.
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1,300 Israeli Americans attend group’s second national conference
(JNS.org) The fast-growing Israeli American Council (IAC) recently drew 1,300 Israeli Americans to its second annual national national conference in Washington, DC, with conference sessions ranging from the Iran nuclear deal to Israeli culture to fighting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Expanding beyond its Los Angeles headquarters in recent years, the fast-growing IAC says it now reaches 250,000 people nationwide through its nine regional offices.
“We have become a movement,” said IAC National Chairman Adam Milstein. “America is our home. Israel will always be our Jewish homeland. And as Americans of Israeli descent we are uniquely positioned to strengthen the relationship between both countries.”
At the Oct. 17-19 conference, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer said IAC “represents a powerful idea whose time has come.”
“If Israel’s enemies can’t do it with their armies, and they can’t do it with terror, they’re going to try to do with an economic boycott. This is what the IAC is here for,” said U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.).
“I think the Israeli people are best equipped to communicate the truth about Israel, because they are not naive like many in the American Jewish community,” Milstein told JNS.org at the time. “They know the Israeli people, they know that we have very high standards of human rights and freedom, they know the propaganda war of Hamas and Iran.”
IAC is the lead partner in the launching of the new Talk Israel mobile app, which calls itself the “first mobile app to bring you pro-Israel digital content from dozens of sources tailored to your personal preferences and interests using machine learning.”
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Palestinian Fatah terror leader expects more attacks
(JNS.org) The leader of the Fatah-affiliated Tanzim terror group said that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who also leads the Fatah faction, is incapable of controlling the recent wave of violence. and that he expects attacks will continue.
“Neither [Abbas] nor anyone else can control this situation as long as [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu continues to give his soldiers permission to kill people and act in the Al-Aqsa mosque,” Adnan Ghaith, the head of Jerusalem Tanzim, told Israeli media on Thursday.
Ghaith, therefore, expects that Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis will continue.
“No one can control what is happening, and the situation is going to get worse,” he said.
Loyal to Abbas, the Tanzim terror group gained notoriety during the Palestinians’ second intifada. Israeli officials have blamed Tanzim for sparking recent protests in the West Bank. But the terror group has apparently not yet gotten physically involved in the current wave of violence.
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Kerry tells Netanyahu to ‘rekindle’ peace process, PM calls out incitement
(JNS.org) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move “beyond the rhetoric” and to take steps to “rekindle” the peace process with the Palestinians during a meeting between the two leaders in Berlin.
“It’s very important to settle on the steps that can be taken that take us beyond the condemnations, beyond the rhetoric,” Kerry said. “It is absolutely critical to end all incitement and all violence and find the road forward to build the possibility that is not there today for a larger process.”
Netanyahu told Kerry that the current violence is “driven directly” by incitement from Hamas, the Islamic Movement, and the Mahmoud Abbas-led Palestinian Authority.
“I think it’s time for the international community to say clearly to President Abbas: Stop spreading lies about Israel,” Netanyahu said, referring to rhetoric by Abbas that Israel is seeking to change the status quo on the Temple Mount.
Netanyahu also said that Israel is committed to maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount and protecting all of Israel’s holy sites.
“We remain committed to the status quo. We’re the ones that protect all the holy sites. And Israel is acting to protect its citizens as any democracy would in the face of such wanton and relentless attacks,” Netanyahu said.
Following his meetings in Berlin, Kerry will head to Amman, Jordan, to meet with King Abdullah and Abbas.
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Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.