Poll: 71% of Israeli Jews say peace deal would not end Palestinian terror
(JNS.org) Seventy-one percent of Israeli Jews said that signing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal would not bring an end to Palestinian terrorism against Jews, according to the latest Peace Index poll from the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University.
Israeli Arab respondents exhibited the diametrically opposite view, with 72 percent saying a peace deal would in fact halt terror. Sixty-one percent of Israeli Jews, meanwhile, believe the current wave of terror emerged with the planning and guidance of Palestinian leaders.
Less than half (45 percent) of Israeli Jews believe that the Western and Arab forces fighting Islamic State have a high chance of destroying the terror group. A majority of Israeli Jews (59 percent) said most Muslims do not support Islamic State, 58 percent said Israeli Arabs do not support the terror group, and 10 percent said they are “sure” Israeli Arabs do support Islamic State.
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Netanyahu taps top security adviser as new Mossad spy agency chief
(JNS.org) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named Israeli National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen as the new director of the country’s Mossad spy agency. Cohen will replace outgoing Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, who retires in January after five years in office.
Formerly the Mossad’s deputy director, Cohen was named national security adviser in 2013, becoming the fourth intelligence agency official to head the National Security Council, which operates under the Prime Minister’s Office.
“Yossi Cohen has 30 years of experience in operational, intelligence, and executive positions. His service with the Mossad has seen him acquire extensive knowledge in the workings of complex systems and the international theater, and he has a wealth of experience working with the defense establishment,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.
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At start of Hanukkah, Palestinian terror attacks hit Hebron and Jerusalem
(JNS.org) A 40-year-old Israeli man was stabbed and critically wounded near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Monday, the first day of Hanukkah.
After the police realized the Palestinian terrorist was stabbing the Israeli man, they shot and killed him. Israeli ZAKA emergency volunteer David Edrai said, “We received notification of a terror attack near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. I arrived at the scene with two other ZAKA volunteers. There we saw a seriously wounded Israeli who was evacuated to hospital. The terrorist had been shot dead.”
Meanwhile, three Israelis were lightly wounded in a car-ramming and stabbing attack in Jerusalem on Sunday. The terrorist, Amar Yasser Skapi, drove his car on the sidewalk into two men, stopped the car, got out, and began waving his knife. An Israeli police volunteer was stabbed in the hand after Skapi approached his car. As Skapi ran away, an Israeli soldier chased him down and shot him.
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Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport ranked 4th best in the world
(JNS.org) Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport is the world’s fourth-best international airport, according to an annual survey by Conde Nast Traveler magazine.
Conde Nast Readers’ Choice Awards survey participants gave Ben Gurion airport a rating of 7 on a scale of 10. The airport has “easy access from downtown Tel Aviv” and is “one of the world’s most secure airports,” the magazine noted.
El Al Airlines, Israel’s national carrier, was described by Conde Nast as the “top dog.”
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Greece will not follow EU labels on Israeli products from Judea and Samaria
(JNS.org) Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Greece will not follow recently implemented European Union guidelines to label Israeli products from Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, and eastern Jerusalem.
Israel and Greece agreed on extensive bilateral cooperation in economic matters, technology, science, education, trade, energy, and agriculture following last month’s meeting between Kotzias and Netanyahu. Greece joins Hungary in its defiance of the EU’s directive to remove “Made in Israel” labels from Israeli products originating beyond the 1967 lines.
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Orthodox Jewish rabbis advocate partnership between Christians and Jews
(JNS.org) A group of Orthodox Jewish rabbis are advocating for increased partnership between Christians and Jews.
More than 25 Orthodox rabbis from Israel, the U.S., and Europe released the statement titled “To Do the Will of Our Father in Heaven: Toward a Partnership between Jews and Christians” on the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC) website.
“The real importance of this Orthodox statement is that it calls for fraternal partnership between Jewish and Christian religious leaders, while also acknowledging the positive theological status of the Christian faith. Jews and Christians must be in the forefront of teaching basic moral values to the world,” said Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, CJCUC’s founder.
The statement addresses the positive shift in Christian attitudes toward Jews, particularly after seeing a new Christian affirmation of the Jewish covenant following the Second Vatican Council and the Catholic Church’s publication of the Nostra Aetate declaration in 1965.
“Both Jews and Christians have a common covenantal mission to perfect the world under the sovereignty of the Almighty, so that all humanity will call on His name and abominations will be removed from the Earth,” the new statement read.
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Poll: Netanyahu most-admired world leader among U.S. evangelical Christians
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considered the most-admired world leader among American evangelical Christians, with 16 percent mentioning him more than any other leader, according to a new poll by the Brookings Institution.
Among respondents of all religious backgrounds, Netanyahu was the third-most-popular world leader in the survey, behind President Barack Obama and former president Ronald Reagan.
Of the 1,738 people surveyed, 47 percent said the Israeli government has too much influence in American politics and 44 percent said the influence was just right.
In terms of how they vote in American elections, the majority of evangelicals said a candidate’s position on Israel is significant to them.
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