Jordanian preacher questioned over Temple Mount incitement
(JNS.org) Israeli police officers from the Jerusalem District last Friday briefly detained Jordanian Sheikh Muhammad Salim for questioning after the Muslim preacher made inciting remarks during a sermon he delivered at the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount.
A crowd of worshipers gathered at the scene to protest Salim’s arrest, chanting “Allahu akbar” (“God is greater” in Arabic). Salim was released from custody after he was questioned by the police.
Jordanian Religious Trusts Minister Hail Daoud harshly condemned Salim’s arrest, telling Jordan’s Petra News Agency, “This is an unacceptable action by the Israeli authorities, who arrested a religious official fulfilling his duties at Friday prayers.” Daoud denied Israel’s claim that Salim was arrested for delivering a sermon that contained incitement to violence.
Israel gained control of the Temple Mount during the 1967 Six-Day War. But the holy site is administered as part of the Jordanian-run Islamic Waqf, which does not allow Jewish prayer at the site and limits non-Muslim visits.
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IDF said to be eyeing purchase of ‘suicide drones’
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces is interested in purchasing “suicide drones,” an Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) official said on Sunday. IAI has developed a suicide drone called Rotem (“Juniper”) that is capable of carrying grenades or cameras, and can be remotely manned by infantry soldiers at the tactical level.
“This is a tool that will change the face of battle at the battalion commander level,” the IAI official said, Israel Hayom reported.
The cost of the Rotem is said to run tens of thousands of dollars. The IAI official said such drones have been sold to foreign militaries, but he would not specify which ones.
The weight of the Rotem is light enough that soldiers can carry up to two on their backs in special carrying cases. The Rotem carries two fragmentation grenades that explode when the drone hits its target.
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Ted Cruz courts New York Jewish voters, bakes matzah
(JNS.org) GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) visited a Chabad-Lubavitch bakery in Brooklyn last Thursday in an effort to woo Orthodox Jewish voters in New York ahead of that state’s April 19 primary election.
Cruz was guided by Rabbi Moshe Winner of Chabad Neshoma Center and other Jewish community leaders as he tried to bake matzah at the Chabad Model Matzah Bakery in Brighton Beach with a group of children. In remarks about the upcoming Passover holiday, which commemorates the liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt, Cruz said he knows the story of the Exodus and has attended several Passover seders in the past.
“It’s hole-y matzo,” Cruz joked when observing that a rolled matzah had many holes.
Cruz also said he is committed to protecting religious freedom in the United States.
“We are fortunate to enjoy tremendous support in the Jewish community here in New York and across the country,” he told Jewish Insider. “I think that’s the result of having built a long record fighting to strengthen our relationship with the nation of Israel and fighting to defend religious liberty.”
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Watchdog group accuses U.N. agency of systematic bias against Israel
(JNS.org) A scathing report released Thursday by the NGO Monitor watchdog group reveals that the Jerusalem-based United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OCHA oPt) “regularly” misrepresents data to distort perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict against Israel.
OCHA oPt “regularly presents data in a manipulative way that erases the context of terrorism and distorts law and morality,” by not distinguishing between Palestinian terrorists and regular civilians, and by amplifying Palestinian causality claims, NGO Monitor said, adding that the agency also falsely equates between legal Israel self-defense tactics and illegal Palestinian terror attacks on Israeli civilians.
For example, stated the report, the agency “presents pie charts purporting to show the number of ‘Palestinian fatalities by Israeli forces in the oPt.’ Yet, this data as presented does not provide any information as to how the fatalities took place, including how many of the fatalities occurred while Palestinians were attempting to murder Israeli civilians or engaged in violent confrontations with Israeli law enforcement. As a result, it is impossible to make any meaningful assessments from OCHA’s figures.”
David Carden, the head of OCHA oPt, said the agency “carries out its operations in line with our global mandate to coordinate principled humanitarian assistance and protection to people in need, in line with General Assembly Resolution 46/182. We have just received the report and we are examining its contents. From a preliminary review it appears that OCHA’s work in the oPt is misrepresented.”
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Zionist Union MK under fire for saying Palestinian stabber ‘not a terrorist’
(JNS.org) Member of Knesset Zouheir Bahloul (Zionist Union) drew sharp criticism, including from his own party, for saying Thursday that a Palestinian who recently launched a stabbing attack against Israel Defense Forces soldiers in Hebron was “not a terrorist.”
The attacker in that incident was shot in the head after he was already immobilized, prompting a storm of debate. Criminal charges are being considered against the IDF soldier who shot him. Speaking to Army Radio on Thursday, Bahloul—an Israeli Arab—said, “I agree that the stabber is a murderer, but he is not a terrorist. My issue is that this word has become too generalized, turning every Arab into a terrorist. In the eyes of Israelis, anyone who fights for their freedom and independence is a terrorist.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Bahloul’s remarks “shameful.”
“IDF soldiers defend us from these bloodthirsty terrorists with their lives. I expect every Israeli citizen, and especially Knesset members, to fully support them,” Netanyahu said.
Zionist Union lawmakers were quick to condemn their party member’s remarks, saying in a joint statement, “We are in the midst of a terror wave, and the government of Israel should begin to deal with it effectively. The terrorist in Hebron was the same as any other terrorist. The comments made by MK Bahloul do not reflect or represent the stance of the Zionist Union.”
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