From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Haredi circumcision practice infects New York baby with herpes
(JTA) — A controversial circumcision practice has led to the infection of a New York City baby with neonatal herpes, according to the city’s health department.
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced Tuesday in a press release that the case was reported in November and resulted “following ritual Jewish circumcision with direct orogenital suction,” a practice known as metzitzah b’peh. This is the fourth such case in 2014 and the 17th since 2000, according to the health department. Two of those cases have resulted in death and another two in brain damage.
Metzitzah b’peh, in which the mohel sucks blood from the wound following circumcision, is a common traditional practice among many haredi Orthodox mohels. When performed directly with the mouth (as opposed to through a sterile pipette), it has been directly linked to the transmission of the herpes virus. New York City health department regulations require the parents of a child to provide prior written consent for the practice, but the regulation has not been enforced.
From PressTV
Israel approves building 380 new settler units in East al-Quds
The Israeli regime has given the green light to the construction of 380 new illegal settler units in two areas of East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
“The municipal commission has given construction permits for 307 homes in Ramot and 73 in Har Homa,” Yosef Pepe Alalu, a city councilor, said on Wednesday, referring to two areas in the city.
Local Israeli authorities are taking advantage of the attention that is given to the March 2015 elections in order to expand construction projects, he said, adding, “This kind of decision distances us from any chance of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians.”
Despite widespread global condemnation of Israel’s land grab policies, the Tel Aviv regime has approved a series of plans for new settler units in East al-Quds in recent months.
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From PressTV
Hamas warns Israeli regime about ‘grave escalation’ in Gaza
Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, has slammed Israel’s recent “grave escalation,” warning Tel Aviv about potential consequences.
A Palestinian was killed on Wednesday in the latest Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.
Israeli officials have claimed a Hamas fighter was targeted after Israeli forces came under sniper fire, which injured an officer.
An Israeli military statement said, “In response to the firing at our forces who were east of the fence in the southern Gaza Strip, we carried out immediate attacks against the relevant targets. There was an airstrike and one by a tank.”
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From PressTV
Israel attacks Gaza, kills Palestinian
Israel launches tank fire and an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip, killing a Palestinian, with the Israeli military claiming it acted after its troops came under fire from a sniper.
The attack was carried out on Wednesday. An Israeli military statement said, “In response to the firing at our forces who were east of the fence in the southern Gaza Strip, we carried out immediate attacks against the relevant targets. There was an airstrike and one by a tank.”
Palestinian medical sources said Tayseer al-Ismary, 33, died after being hit by a bullet.
On December 20, Israeli attacks targeted a military site belonging to the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in violation of an August ceasefire that ended Tel Aviv’s bloody summer war on the Palestinian enclave.
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
IDF soldier seriously wounded in fight on Gaza border
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A soldier was seriously wounded as an Israel Defense Forces patrol came under attack on the Gaza border, leading to an exchange of fire in which the IDF killed a Hamas commander.
A Hamas sniper opened fire on an IDF patrol Wednesday morning, according to Israeli reports. The IDF returned tank fire, killing Tayseer al-Ismary, 33, a Hamas military commander. IDF fire also wounded four others.
The incident follows an exchange of fire between Israel and Gaza on Friday, when a rocket was fired into Israel from Gaza and Israel conducted an airstrike over the coastal strip in response. That exchange was the first fighting between the sides since the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas this summer.
From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Netanyahu hires Republican strategist John McLaughlin
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly hired Republican strategist and pollster John McLaughlin ahead of Israel’s March 17 election.
Israel’s Channel Two reported the move as polls show Netanyahu in a close race with the center-left alliance of the Labor and Hatnua parties, according to the Times of Israel.
McLaughlin, who according to his website has worked with dozens of U.S. congressmen and senators, worked with Netanyahu in 2007, ahead of Netanyahu’s victory in the 2009 Israeli election.
American political strategists have worked on several past Israeli election campaigns. In last year’s election campaign, Netanyahu hired conservative political strategist Arthur Finkelstein, while the Labor party hired strategist Stanley Greenberg, a veteran of U.S. Democratic campaigns.
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From PressTV
Israel allows only 500 Gaza Christians to visit Bethlehem
Israel says it will grant only 500 permits to Palestinian Christians who want to travel from Gaza to Bethlehem to attend the traditional Christmas celebrations.
Israeli forces have announced that they will maintain severe restrictions on Christians arriving from the Gaza Strip for this year’s festivities while there is no restriction for Christians from around the world to visit the city.
This year, only a few hundred Christians living in the coastal enclave, either younger than 16 or older than 35, have been allowed to visit Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity to attend the traditional midnight mass.
Earlier this week, Israel announced that it will consider several restrictive measures on the movement of Palestinian Christians during the Christmas. Palestinians and international rights groups have, time and again, slammed Tel Aviv for restricting Palestinians’ movement in the occupied territories through a racist system.
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From PressTV
Iraqi MP blasts US-led coalition
An Iraqi parliament member has criticized the US-led bombing campaign in the Iraqi provinces of Anbar and Salahuddin as ineffective compared to similar strikes in the country’s Kurdistan region, Press TV has learned.
Parliament Member Aliya Nassif of the State of Law Coalition expressed surprise in a Wednesday statement at the weak impact of the US-led strikes against ISIL terrorists in the two provinces in contrast with the coalition air raids conducted in the areas under the control of Kurdish Peshmerga military units.
The Iraqi MP said that the American double standards in Iraq are not limited to the case in point, as it also includes incidents in which American jetfighters act against the Iraqi air force by engaging in the electronic jamming of aircraft signals.
Nassif further criticized recent remarks by Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan Nichervan Barezani, who has claimed the annexation of the liberated regions of the Nineveh Province.
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From PressTV
Deadly bombing targets anti-ISIL fighters in Iraq, kills 43
The death toll from an attack on anti-ISIL fighters in the vicinity of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad has risen to 43 with tens of others injured in the attack, one of the bloodiest in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, an attacker detonated himself among the fighters at an army outpost in the town of Madain south of Baghdad.
More than 61 others were also wounded in the attack.
Initial reports said 24 fighters and three soldiers were killed in the bombing but later reports raised the number of fatalities to 43.
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From PressTV
‘ISIL shoots down US-led coalition warplane over Syria’
A Syrian opposition group says the ISIL Takfiri militants have shot down a US-led coalition warplane over northern Syria.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that ISIL militants also “took a [non-Syrian] Arab pilot prisoner after shooting his plane down with an anti-aircraft missile near Raqqa city.”
The ISIL also released photographs purportedly showing a captured Jordanian pilot on its websites.
Jordanian officials have not made any comment on the incident.
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From PressTV
Palestinians garnish Christmas tree with Israeli canisters
Palestinian activists have decorated a Christmas tree with leftover Israeli tear gas canisters and stun grenades in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.
The activists garnished the tree in Bethlehem’s Manger Square on Tuesday in a symbolic move to show their anger at Tel Aviv’s atrocities in the occupied territories, said Farid al-Atrash, the head of the independent commission for human rights in the south.
The leftover tear gas canisters and stun grenades had been used by Israeli forces during clashes with Palestinians in the city.
“The world has to move to save the Palestinian people and hold the occupation accountable for its crimes against unarmed people in Palestine,” al-Atrash said.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Roman Polanski Loses Bid To Quash 1977 Sex Case
Fugitive Director Wanted Judge To Dismiss Case
The decision by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Brandlin on Tuesday is the latest defeat for the filmmaker in having the case dismissed without returning to the United States.
Polanski’s attorneys had filed court papers last week seeking an evidentiary hearing on what they called prosecutorial and judicial misconduct in the case in a bid to have it dismissed, at least in part to allow Academy Award-winning director of “The Pianist” to travel freely without the threat of extradition.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Natalie Portman Mocks Ryan Seacrest in Gaza Email Trail
By Lior Zaltzman
The recent Sony hack has left plenty of destruction in its path.
Yet, it also unveiled some incredibly random and hilarious information that we never knew we wanted (and I would argue, still aren’t sure we really need). Like the following chain e-mail correspondence about the war in Gaza, sent to prominent Jewish figures, Sony execs and celebrities like Scarlett Johansson, Russell Simmons, Natalie Portman and…Ryan Seacrest?
On Aug 29, 2014, at 1:29 PM, “Ryan Kavanaugh” wrote:
The problem is that Moore ’ law is kicking in. Before the summer 50 percent of college students supported israel, today less the 25 percent do. There are hate crimes against heed happening in almost every major metropolitan city, now including the US.
We have let this happen. And it’s our job to keep another Hollacast from happening. Many of you may think that can’t happen, that is extreme. My Grandmother told me over and over again remember no one believed it could happen and everyone thought the government would not allow it to. It took 5 years before the us stepped in, and 12 million dead.
If you pull newspapers from pre Hollacast it seems eerily close to our world today.
