Israel aims to compel social media to combat Palestinian incitement
(JNS.org) Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Sunday proposed new legislation that would compel social media platforms to remove posts deemed to directly incite murder or violence.
According to Erdan, an Israeli law should be enacted in conjunction with legislation in other Western countries. In the past, various visiting government ministers have expressed interest in cooperating with Israel on such an endeavor.
Erdan said his aim is to “systematically expose the Palestinian culture of incitement among relevant audiences around the world.”
The Israeli legal advocacy group Shurat HaDin, meanwhile, is raising money on the crowdfunding website Headstart with the hope of hanging billboards across the home of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, urging him to combat incitement.
“If he doesn’t see the incitement, we will display it opposite his California home,” Shurat HaDin said in a statement.
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After sanctions lifted, Netanyahu vows Israel will continue to ‘monitor’ Iran
(JNS.org) Following the official lifting of international sanctions against Iran over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will “continue to monitor all of Iran’s international violations, including regarding the nuclear agreement, the ballistic missile agreement, and terrorism.”
“The international community must enact severe and aggressive sanctions against each violation,” Netanyahu said. “Were it not for our efforts to lead sanctions and thwart Iran’s nuclear program, Iran would have had nuclear weapons some time ago. Israel’s policy is exactly as it has been—not to allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. What is clear is that Iran will now have more resources to divert to terrorism and its aggression in the region and around the world, and Israel is prepared to deal with any threat.”
Netanyahu added that discussions with the Obama administration—which brokered last summer’s nuclear deal along with the other P5+1 nations—“are currently being completed on a document of understandings for the coming decade regarding security assistance to the State of Israel. This is an important part of permanent policy between us and the United States, our ally, and it is important in order to repel threats in the region, especially the Iranian threat.”
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Israeli mother of 6 killed in Palestinian stabbing attack in Otniel
(JNS.org) Dafna Meir, 38-year-old Israeli mother of six, was murdered in a terrorist stabbing attack at her home in the community of Otniel in the southern Hebron Hills on Sunday.
A Palestinian terrorist attacked Meir at the entrance to her house, where she struggled with him until he overpowered her in the kitchen. Meir’s 17-year-old daughter, who heard her screams, ran to her aid, only to see the terrorist stab her mother again and again.
The terrorist fled the scene, and Israeli security forces were still hunting for him as of Monday. Police investigators believe that the terrorist, who worked at a construction site in Otniel, left the community after the attack. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot toured the scene on Monday and was briefed on the investigation.
The attack occurred while Meir was painting the front door of her house. Three of her six children were inside the house, playing in the basement. The terrorist pounced on her and began stabbing her repeatedly in the head. She screamed and tried to fight him off. During the struggle, the terrorist chased Meir into the kitchen. She continued trying to fight him off until her strength gave out.
Renana, the eldest child, heard the screams and ran upstairs to see what was happening. To her horror, she saw the terrorist stabbing her mother. She later recounted that the terrorist had tried to pull the knife out of her mother, who was already dead, to continue stabbing the rest of the family. But her screams prompted him to flee.
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Catholic charity group announces new aid for Mideast Christians
(JNS.org) The Catholic charity group Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has announced a series of emergency relief programs for beleaguered Christians in Iraq and Syria as winter takes hold in the region.
According to ACN, 19 relief programs will be launched in Syria and 11 will be launched in Iraq. The programs will provide food, medicine, shelter, and pastoral support to the Christian communities in those countries. Some of the programs include building a nursery school in Erbil, Iraq, for Christian refugees; providing financial aid to 182 displaced Christians in Kirkuk, Iraq; and providing food and other needs to 4,500 families in Homs, Syria.
“The help ACN is providing for Christians in countries such as Iraq is urgently needed. The governmental institutions are not doing what is necessary to help these communities, who are struggling so much at this time,” said ACN’s Middle East projects coordinator, Father Andrzej Halemba.
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GOP candidates rip Obama’s SOTU, Clinton, and White House Mideast policy
(JNS.org) Republican presidential candidates voiced harsh criticisms against President Barack Obama and his Middle East policy during Thursday’s GOP debate on the Fox Business network.
Several of the candidates criticized Obama for not referring to Iran’s detention of 10 U.S. sailors in his Jan. 12 State of the Union address. Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) called the images of the sailors being forced to kneel with their hands on their heads “heartbreaking.”
The candidates also criticized Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, with former Florida governor Jeb Bush saying she “wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank [Wall Street reform]—all the things…that have gone wrong in this country. She would be a national security mess.”
On the subject of Syria, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said that “we have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight ISIS, but to prop up [President Bashar] Assad. The fact of the matter is we’re not going to have peace—we are not going to have peace in Syria.”
Only three of the seven candidates in the debate mentioned Israel. Bush said the U.S. needs to move its Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) described Obama’s foreign policy as one in which “we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel.”
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said, “What we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country.”
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Jewish philanthropist purchased 18,000 Powerball tickets for his employees
(JNS.org) Shlomo Rechnitz, a Jewish philanthropist and owner of the Park Avenue Healthcare and Wellness Center in the city of Pomona near Los Angeles, purchased 18,000 lottery tickets for his employees for last week’s Powerball drawing, which had a jackpot of $1.6 billion.
Each ticket Rechnitz purchased came with a card on which he wrote, “We will provide the ticket. You provide the dream.”
“I asked Shlomo what spurred him to do this in the first place…he said, ‘In the new year, everyone wants an extra bit of hope,’ and he wanted to give everyone that bit of hope,” said Rechnitz’s spokesman, Joshua Nass.
News of Rechnitz’s deed broke after a nurse from his daycare center thought she was among the Powerball drawing’s winners, from one of the tickets Rechnitz purchased. Her reported win, however, later proved to be a prank by her son.
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Former Israeli president Shimon Peres recovering well after mild heart attack
(JNS.org) Former Israeli president Shimon Peres, 92, suffered a mild heart attack and was hospitalized on Jan. 14. Despite the scare, Peres’s personal doctor, Dr. Raphi Walden, said the statesman was in “excellent” condition after undergoing a “successful” cardiac catheterization.
“I want to calm everyone down and say that my father is in great condition,” said Peres’s son, Chemi, Israel Hayom reported. “He experienced a relatively minor cardiac incident…but his heart is beating and strong. He is energetic and was conscious the entire time. His heart was not damaged and we hope he will be out of the hospital soon. Other than resting, he is also reading, writing, and keeping up with what’s going on.”
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Police disperse Jerusalem meeting of outlawed Islamic Movement branch
(JNS.org) Israeli police on Jan. 14 forcefully dispersed a gathering in Jerusalem of members of the recently outlawed Islamic Movement’s Northern Branch.
Police learned that the banned group planned to hold a meeting at the Commodore Hotel in eastern Jerusalem, and informed organizers that the meeting would not be allowed to take place. Subsequently, dozens of Northern Branch activists gathered outside the hotel to protest the cancellation of the meeting.
According to police, the protest quickly turned into a riot. After rioters refused to leave the scene, police used crowd-dispersal means, including stun grenades. One senior Northern Branch official was arrested.
Israel outlawed the Northern Branch in November, citing its “mendacious campaign of incitement,” including the promotion of the false accusation that Israel intends to change the status quo at the Temple Mount holy site.
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