Ukrainian president expresses solidarity with Israel during visit
(JNS.org) Israel on Tuesday welcomed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on an official state visit, by honoring his commitment to stand with Israel and by signing several bilateral agreements focused on developing and strengthening scientific and technological cooperation.
In an address, Israeli President Reuben Rivlin praised the strong relations between the two countries over the years.
“Today, Ukraine and Israel enjoy wonderful progress and cooperation – in education, medicine, culture, and in economics, where our trade has grown from strength to strength,” Rivlin said.
Poroshenko commended Israelis for their “faith” and “determination.”
“Since its independence, your country has faced serious external military threats, in spite of which you have undergone a remarkable transformation. You have propelled Israel to the top in the science, the economy, in military power. Your country stands united, and my country is on a similar path and the same stand.”
“So as I begin this visit, I declare that Ukraine stands with the State of Israel,” Poroshenko declared.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met later in the day with Poroshenko and praised him for his “resolute stance against racism and anti-Semitism.”
Netanyahu said that in addition to the boom in Israeli tourism to the Ukraine, he expects cooperation in various areas between the two countries will continue to expand as well.
Poroshenko also expressed interest in “removing all the barriers in bilateral trade, with a trade turnover between Ukraine and Israel exceeding $ 1 billion yearly.”
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Abbas announces plans to ‘State of Palestine’ passports
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday announced plans to issue “State of Palestine” passports starting next year, replacing the name Palestinian Authority.
“Regarding the issue of a passport under the name Palestine State, we are about to proceed to the passport replacement and the issuance of a new passport within one year or even less. We have already changed all documents issued by ministries and public services and they now bear the name ‘State of Palestine’. We no longer accept from anybody to use the name Palestinian Authority,” Abbas said at a joint news conference following his meeting in Athens with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Meanwhile, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority on Monday aired a joint statement by Palestinian organizations calling for Palestinians to carry out “protests of rage” attacks against Israel and in the capitals of Arab nations on Tuesday and Friday of this week.
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Russia set to build 2 nuclear power plants in Iran
(JNS.org) Russia has announced that it will build two nuclear power plants in Iran starting next week, Iranian Mehr news agency quoted a senior Iranian atomic energy official as saying on Tuesday.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran seems to be referring to extending the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran.
This move come a year after Iran signed a contract with Moscow to build up to eight reactors at the Bushehr power plant, where one nuclear reactor is already running.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, ended this month a 12-year investigation into Iran’s nuclear weapons program and sanctions on Iran are expected to be lifted as a result.
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UN chief condemns rocket fire from Lebanon on northern Israel
(JNS.org) The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday condemned the rocket fire from Lebanon on northern Israel. The attack was meant to avenge the assassination of terrorist Samir Kuntir in Syria which has been blamed an Israeli airstrike.
Ban said that he is “greatly concerned over yesterday’s firing of rockets within UNIFIL’s area of operations from the area of Al-Hinniyah, in the vicinity of Tyr, towards Israel, which is a serious violation of resolution 1701 (2006).”
Three rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel and the Israel Defense Forces sent the Israeli Air Force into southern Lebanon in response for the attack.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is investigating the incident along with the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israel Defense Forces, Ban said in a statement.
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Greek parliament recognizes Palestinian statehood
(JNS.org) The Greek Parliament has become the latest European legislative body to pass a non-binding symbolic declaration calling for recognition of Palestinian statehood.
The move by Greek lawmakers came amid a visit by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely condemned the move by Abbas to gain unilateral international recognition, saying that it has “no practical significance.”
“Instead of Abu Mazen [Abbas] ending incitement and funding terrorism, he goes on a twisted path that will lead him nowhere,” she said.
In spite of the vote, relations between Israel and Greece remain strong following an agreement on bilateral cooperation in various industries and Greece’s refusal to implement the European Union’s guidelines to label Israeli products from Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, and eastern Jerusalem.
Next month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet twice with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The two leaders will meet in Jerusalem as well as a trilateral summit in Cyprus with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades to discuss energy, trade and security issues.
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Terror cell uncovered in eastern Jerusalem
(JNS.org) An Israeli Arab terror cell in Jerusalem was uncovered by the Israeli Shin Bet security service and police force recently. The suspects who were arrested were involved in many attacks in the recent terror wave.
The investigation found that Islam Najar, 18, and Hamza Naja, 22, brothers from Ras-Al-Amud, a neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem, as well as Nader Nasser, 22 and two minors aged 16 and 17 were all involved in several Molotov cocktail and rock-throwing attacks against security forces and Israeli citizens, the Shin Bet said.
Along with other terror cell members, the two minors recently overtook an Israeli Egged bus and burned it to the ground after the bus driver fled.
In order to attract police during riots, the terror cell suspects would block off traffic in the streets, burn trash cans, cut electricity, and then attack security forces with firebombs.
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Israel to establish first Arab college
(JNS.org) Israel will establish the first Arab college in the north of the country, Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Monday.
“For the first time in the annals of the state of Israel we are establishing a general academic college in an Arab town,” said Bennett, Israel National News reported. “This is history for the Arab sector and this is history for the state of Israel.”
Bennett has been working to integrate Arabs into Israel’s hi-tech industry through education and also in employment for Arab women during his last position as Economics Minister.
Establishing an Arab college, Bennett explained, has various benefits to Israeli society. He said “there is no reason and it isn’t right to send young Arabs to study in Hebron or in Arab states. Sometimes this creates radicalism and the right thing is for Israelis to learn in Israel. This is good for them as individuals and good for the entire Israeli society.”
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Brazilian lawmaker likens Israeli ambassador to Nazis
(JNS.org) A video has surfaced of a Brazilian lawmaker comparing the new Israeli ambassador to Brazil Dani Dayan to a Nazi leader because of his affiliation with Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
“To send a settler leader to represent Israel in Brazil is an insult to our country. We can’t accept such provocation,” Brazilian MP Carlos Marun said in a video in August, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Sunday.
“It would be like Germany sending to Brazil a former concentration camp commander as an ambassador, like Chile sending to Brazil an ambassador who is a prison guard from the dictatorship, or South Africa sending a prison torturer from the apartheid regime,” Marun said.
Marun also said he has no problem with the existence of Israel but referred to settlers as “agents of Zionism that the world can’t accept. They are thieves of others’ land. In what is an insult to Brazil, an insult to the government, and an insult to millions of Brazilians whose origins, like mine, are from the Arab world — Israel chooses to send the leader of these settlers to represent it in our land.”
Prior to his pending appointment, Dayan served as head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
A Brazilian official hopes Israel will get the hint that they have rejected Dayan’s nomination after months of silence.
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Israel and Albania strengthen ties
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Monday signed a joint declaration of friendship marking 25 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
During their meeting, Rama expressed an interest in strengthening bilateral relations with Israel in the fields of security, cyber, water, energy and innovation. Netanyahu added that Israel plans to expand relations with Albania in a number of areas including trade.
Netanyahu also thanked Albania, a Muslim majority country, for their steadfast support of Israel.
“I think Albania is the only country whose Jewish population during the Holocaust actually grew because of the refuge and the sanctuary and the friendship and courage showed by the people of Albania. We never forget our friends, and we appreciate that display of humanity, civility and courage in our darkest hours,” Netanyahu said.
Albania recently voted against the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) resolution proposed by Arab nations that called for supervision of Israel’s nuclear facilities.
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