Report: Egypt blocked UN endorsement of Quartet report
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The American and European effort to have the U.N. adopt the recent Quartet report on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was derailed by Egypt, the Walla news website reported Friday.
Quoting Western diplomats, the report said the EU and the United States wanted the council to endorse the findings and recommendations of the July 1 report, which called on both sides to take measures to advance the two-state solution, but Egypt, which is a non-permanent member of the council, successfully stopped that effort.
Negotiations on a draft presidential statement — a non-binding document issued by the president of the council — began shortly after the report was presented to the U.N., and according to the diplomats, the EU and the U.S. were also exploring the possibility of drafting a full-fledged resolution calling on the two sides to embrace the report.
The report was critical of both Israel and the Palestinians, the diplomats said Egypt was under pressure by the Palestinian authority to prevent any official statement on the report because of its rebuke of Palestinian incitement and terrorism.
*
Argentina: High schoolers dress up as Nazis, attack Jewish peers
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Jewish high school students at a graduation party at a nightclub in Argentina were verbally and physically attacked by students from another school dressed in Nazi costumes, Israel Hayom learned Thursday.
The incident took place on Tuesday night at a nightclub in the tourist town of Bariloche, in Argentina’s Patagonia region. The attackers, from a German high school in the town of Lanus, near the capital Buenos Aires, had drawn Hitler mustaches on their faces and were wearing armbands with swastikas on them. They confronted several Jewish students from an ORT high school, hurling anti-Semitic obscenities at them. A fight broke out between the two sides, and the bouncers at the Cerebro de Bariloche nightclub removed everyone from the club.
Following the incident, the Bariloche Municipality asked that the company that organized the high school graduation trip prohibit the “Nazi” students from participating in any further events.
Silvia Fazio, the principal of the German high school in Lanus, said the students in question had been sent home and that they would be punished harshly.
“In this case a mere apology will not suffice. This is a serious thing. They will be punished and, among other things, we will send them to workshops and activities that deal with education against racism,” she said.
The head of the Delegation of Argentine Jewish Associations, Ariel Cohen Sabban, said he would meet with the manager of the nightclub where the attack occurred.
“This wasn’t a joke and it wasn’t a prank,” Sabban said. “These symbols are proof of an ideology that killed six million Jews. These kids, who are 16 and older, should get between up to three years in prison, because in Argentina what they did is a criminal offense.”
*
Apple updates iPhone software after alleged failed Israeli breach
(JNS.org) Apple has triggered a global upgrade of its mobile operating system in response to an Israeli company’s failed attempt to break into the iPhone of an Arab activist.
An unfamiliar espionage software was used to break into the activist’s phone, according to reports published on Thursday by the San Francisco-based Lookout smartphone security company and the internet watchdog group Citizen Lab. The attempted breach was blamed on the Israeli company NSO Group.
The spyware tried to access the phone by taking advantage of three formerly unknown weaknesses in the iPhone operating system.
Apple said it fixed the vulnerability as soon as it became aware of it.
“The threat actor has never been caught before,” Mike Murray, a researcher with Lookout, told the Associated Press. He called the program “the most sophisticated spyware package we have seen in the market.”
The NSO Group said in a statement that its mission is to provide “authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime.” It did not acknowledge involvement in the attempted breach.
*
Israel’s UN ambassador rejects request to release worker accused of aiding Hamas
(JNS.org) Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon rejected a request by the U.N. for the release of an employee arrested in July for allegedly aiding the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
The U.N. Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) sent a letter to Danon requesting the release of Wahid Abdallah al Bursh, an engineer in the U.N.’s Development Program (UNDP), claiming that diplomatic immunity applies to all U.N. employees. UNDP also requested that a representative of the U.N. secretary-general be allowed to visit the man in jail.
Danon denied OLA’s request on Thursday, saying in a statement, “Israel rejects the claim that a person assisting a terrorist organization recognized by the international community, such as Hamas, could enjoy immunity.”
He told the Jerusalem Post, “Whoever assists a terrorist organization cannot hide behind a claim of immunity.” Earlier Danon also tweeted, “There’s no diplomatic unity for terrorists!”
Bursh has been indicted in a Beersheba District Court for using his position as a U.N. worker to aid Hamas in their military efforts.
Israel’s security agency, the Shin Bet, said Bursh, 38, was recruited by Hamas in 2014 and helped build a naval commando port for Hamas military use in the Gaza Strip. The U.N. claimed that the Palestinian Authority directed the project, not Hamas.
*
Shots fired at IDF patrol boat off Gaza coast
(JNS.org) Shots were fired from the Gaza coast at an Israeli Navy patrol boat on Thursday during the arrest of Palestinian fishermen, Yedioth Achronoth reported.
No casualties or damages were reported.
The Israeli patrol boat fired warning shots when they noticed a Palestinian vessel entered a restricted fishing zone in the northern Gaza Strip.
One of the suspects was lightly injured when he failed to stop. He was taken for medical treatment and interrogation. The other suspect returned to the designated fishing zone as gunfire came from the Gaza coast and was directed at the Israeli patrol boat, which did not return fire.
No one has claimed responsibility for the gunfire.
*
*
Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman. Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)