American-Israeli man convicted for JCC bomb threats
A teenager suspected of being behind over 100 bomb threats to Jewish community centers in the U.S. hides his face in an appearance at the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court in Israel, March 23, 2017. (Flash90)
(JTA) — A 19-year-old American-Israeli man was convicted of making hundreds of bomb threats to Jewish community centers and Jewish schools in the United States, as well as airlines.
Michael Kadar, who holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship and whose name is barred from publication in Israel, was convicted Thursday in Tel Aviv District Court on several counts including extortion, conspiracy to commit a crime, money laundering and assaulting a police officer. Reuters reported that the conviction was based partly on Kadar’s confession.
The judge said Kadar was competent to stand trial and understood that his actions were improper, despite the claims by defense psychologists that he is autistic and incompetent. Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New Jersey town to pay $1.25 million to Jewish employee in settlement of anti-Semitic harassment suit
Wall Township, New Jersey (Screenshot via Google Street View)
(JTA) — A New Jersey township is settling with a former employee for $1.25 million over allegations he was repeatedly faced with anti-Semitic harassment by other workers.
On Saturday, the Township Committee of Wall agreed to settle with Brandon Jacobs, a former employee in the shore community’s public works and tax collector’s office, the Asbury Park Press reported.
Jacobs, who retired in 2016 on disability, sued the township in 2015, claiming that he faced anti-Semitic harassment from colleagues “on a near-daily basis,” the Press reported. Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New Jewish Agency head walks back comment calling intermarriage a ‘plague’
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog speaks to the foreign press in Jerusalem, Feb. 24, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
(JTA) — The new chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel said his remarks comparing intermarriage to a “plague” had been misunderstood.
On Sunday, Isaac Herzog had used the Hebrew word for “plague” to describe marriages in the Diaspora between Jews and those of other faiths and said there must be “a solution” to the issue.
Syrian army takes key town amid new advances in southwest
Thu Jun 28, 2018 05:56PM
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on November 21, 2017 shows government troops posing with portraits of President Bashar al-Assad and his late father Hafez al-Assad in the Syrian border town of al-Bukamal. (Photo by AFP)
Syrian troops have regained control of al-Harak town in Dara’a Province from Takfiri terrorists as the government widens a major offensive against foreign-backed militants in the troubled southwest.
The military media unit of Lebanon’s Hezbollah reported the recapture on Thursday. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) confirmed that government forces had advanced into the town’s center but fierce fighting continued.
The Britain-based monitoring group, which is sympathetic to militants, also said Syrian aircraft bombed Takfiri hideouts in Busra al-Sham, Nawa, Rakham and other towns in the province.
According to the Syrian state television, government forces entered two villages further northeast. It also said hundred of militants in the Laja area, which the army seized earlier this week, handed themselves in with their weapons to “settle their affairs” with the government.
Syria’s official news agency SANA also said units of the army restored control over the strategic Sukar hill and cemented their positions in the eastern countryside of Dara’a.
It said the terrorists’ supply routes were cut off after new advances in the area between Um Walad and Jbeibib villages of the region.
Malaysia says it is pulling its troops out of the Saudi-led military coalition, which has been relentlessly pounding impoverished Yemen in an imposed war for the past three years.
“The Cabinet made the decision (to bring soldiers home) last week. We are waiting for the preparations carried out by the Armed Forces,” Malaysia’s Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu told journalists in a select media interview at the ministry in the capital Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
“We are also waiting for the cooperation from the Foreign Affairs Ministry that will assist in the move,” he added.
Saudi Arabia and some 20 of its allies, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan, launched a brutal war, code-named Operation Decisive Storm, against Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, Yemen’s former president and an staunch ally of Riyadh, and crush the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement.
The Houthi movement, which is a significant aid to the Yemeni army in defending the country against the invading forces, has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective administration during the past three years.
The military aggression against the impoverished nation was initially consisted of a bombing campaign but later coupled with a naval blockade and the deployment of ground forces into Yemen. Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Arab states’ intel heads, Mossad chief hold secret meeting: Report
Thu Jun 28, 2018 12:02PM
This file photo shows US President Donald Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner (L), in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May 2017.
Spy chiefs of Israel and regional Arab countries have reportedly attended a secret summit hosted by the US president’s senior advisor as Washington moves to conclude a controversial “peace” plan on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without the consent of the Palestinian side.
French news outlet Intelligence Online reported Thursday that the intelligence heads ofJordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia as well as Mossad chief, Yossi Cohen, took part in the clandestine conference initiated by US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and US envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, who were on a regional tour earlier this month.
The report said Palestinian intelligence chief, Majed Faraj, also joined the meeting. However, according to the Palestinian Ma’an news agency, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has denied having sent its representative to the meeting.
Intelligence Online claimed the US views Faraj as an option to replace Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas.
The report did not say where or when the summit took place, but Israel’s Arutz Sheva radio station said it had been held “ten days ago.”
Faraj had reportedly met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo two months ago for a conversation that dealt mainly with the situation of the Palestinian Authority on the day after Abbas leaves office. Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Syria censures US financial support to White Helmets
Sun Jun 24, 2018 05:19PM
The undated photo shows a view of the building of Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in the capital Damascus. (Photo by Syria’s official news agency SANA)
Syria has strongly denounced a recent decision by the administration of US President Donald Trump to resume financial support for the so-called civil defense group White Helmets, which has been blamed for staging suspected chemical attacks in the Arab country.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the additional financial support was a clear piece of evidence that Washington has been playing a leading role in supporting anti-Syria militants since 2011.
“The Syrian Arab Republic condemns the recent US decision to provide USD 6.6 million in financial aid to the White Helmets terrorist organization,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry statement read.
Washington’s attempts to embolden the White Helmets have shamelessly exposed its relationship to the terrorist organization, the statement added.
Elsewhere in the statement, the ministry blamed the United States and its Western allies for using the organization to practice terrorism, particularly in alleged chemical attacks that were staged to tarnish the image of the Syrian government and prolong the conflict.
The undated photo shows Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (L) shaking hands with cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, whose political bloc took the third place in the May parliamentary election, has met with cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose party won the election.
Abadi and Sadr met in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf on Saturday, according to Abadi’s office.
It was the first meeting between the pair since Sadr and head of the country’s Badr Organization Hadi al-Amiri, who won second place in the elections, announced a political alliance between their parties.
Sadr’s Sairoon bloc won 54 out of 329 seats in the Iraqi parliament. The Fatah (Conquest) alliance, led by Badr Organization Secretary General Hadi al-Ameri, and Abadi’s Nasr (Victory) coalition finished second and third with 47 and 42 seats, respectively.
On Thursday, Iraq’s top court upheld a law mandating a nationwide manual recount of all ballots from last month’s parliamentary elections.
The verdict from the Supreme Federal Court confirmed the recount process, which was opposed by some parties who made significant gains in the election. Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Americans act as spokesmen for Israeli occupation, seek to normalize apartheid: PLO
Sat Jun 23, 2018 05:44AM
Israeli forces stand near the controversial separation wall bearing graffiti depicting US President Donald Trump during clashes with Palestinian protesters near an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on December 7, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) says the so-called peace plan, which is expected to be unveiled by the United States, is aimed at normalizing the Israeli apartheid with the Americans serving as the spokesmen for the regime’s occupation.
PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat told the Middle East Eye news portal on Friday that Palestinian negotiators had yet to see an official draft of the US initiative purported to resolve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The US plan is not actually a deal as it is already being implemented by Washington and its allies, he said, stressing that the Americans had become “nothing else than spokespeople for the Israeli occupation.”
“If there’s any plan, this is being implemented on the ground: with moving the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem [al-Quds], withdrawing support for the [so-called] two-state solution, cutting funds to UNRWA and, eventually, trying to normalize the Israeli apartheid in Palestine,” Erekat said.
The remarks come as White House special adviser Jared Kushner and US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt are discussing the US plan with officials in the occupied territories, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar.
Saeb Erekat watches as US President Donald Trump announces his embassy move to Jerusalem al-Quds. (Photo by AFP)
Annapolis’ Capital Gazette mourns employees killed in shooting attack
(JTA) — Authorities in Maryland published the names of the five people killed in what police said was a targeted attack on a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland by a shooter who had been the subject of critical coverage.
The victims of the attack Thursday afternoon on the Capital Gazette were 61-year-old Gerald Fischman, who reportedly was Jewish, sales assistant Rebecca Smith, 34, editor Rob Hiassen, 59, reporter and editor John McNamara, 56, reporter Wendi Winters, 65.
Police arrested Jarrod W. Ramos, a 38-year-old Laurel man. He was charged with five counts of murder, the Baltimore Sun reported. The report did not say how Ramos pleaded.
Ramos’ dispute with the Capital Gazette began in 2011 when a columnist wrote about a criminal harassment case against him. He brought a defamation suit against the columnist and the organization’s editor and publisher. A court ruled in the Capital Gazette’s favor, and an appeals court upheld the ruling. Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Ivanka Trump gave $50,000 to help migrant kids, Texas church says
Ivanka Trump at a White House meeting with woman who own small businesses, March 27, 2017. (Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images)
(JTA) — A church said that Ivanka Trump donated $50,000 to its campaign to help migrant children separated from their families along the border.
Last week, Ivanka Trump reached out to the Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, after hearing about its efforts to help kids separated at the border through a tweet by its pastor, Jack Graham, the church said in a statement.
We @Prestonwood are currently working to provide solutions to care for children during this terrible immigration crisis. Our Espanol ministry let by Gilberto Corredera is stepping up to the challenge to express the love of Jesus. We are broken-hearted and determined to act
Israel confident US won’t ease nuclear limits on Saudi Arabia
Thu Jun 28, 2018 10:14PM
US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry (L) talks to Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz after a lunch event at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC, on June 25, 2018. (Photo by AFP)
Israel’s energy minister says the United States is not planning to ease nuclear non-proliferation limits on Saudi Arabia in case it strikes a nuclear power deal with the Arab kingdom.
In a Reuters interview published Wednesday Yuval Steinitz said Israel vehemently opposes any attempt by Saudi Arabia to clinch nuclear power deals with the US that relax the so-called “gold standard.”
The standard bans Riyadh from enriching uranium or reprocessing spent nuclear fuel to extract plutonium.
“Once you allow one country to enrich uranium or reprocess fuel, it will be extremely difficult to tell other countries in this vicinity or elsewhere in the world not to do so,” Steinitz said, after discussing the matter with US officials in Washington.
By relaxing the limits “you deteriorate the non-proliferation effort, so I am confident the Americans would listen to our concern,” he added.
The US and Saudi Arabia had discussed possible cooperation on nuclear energy under former US President Barack Obama, but those talks were frozen after the Saudis refused to accept the “gold standard.” Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Israel gives go-ahead to railway link with Saudi Arabia: Report
Mon Jun 25, 2018 06:09AM
Israeli officials are taking part in a test ride on a new train route near the northern city of Carmiel on March 21, 2017.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz have agreed to promote a rail link with Saudi Arabia, Israeli media reports say.
Katz and Netanyahu agreed in a meeting this week on the details of the project which would link Haifa’s seaport to Jordan’s rail network and that of Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, the Times of Israel quoted Hadashot news as saying.
Netanyahu then instructed his office to begin advancing the plan in consultations with the US, European Union, and various countries in the Middle East and Asia, the report said.
The line will also include a stop in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, connecting Palestinians to the network.
According to a new PR video from Netanyahu and Katz’s offices, the project is expected to take a relatively short time due to the existing transportation infrastructure in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Persian Gulf Arab states.
“Beyond its contribution to Israel’s economy … the initiative will connect Israel economically and politically to the region and will consolidate the pragmatic camp in the region,” Katz explained when discussing the plan back in April.
Israel’s Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz in front of a map of the proposed rail network on April 5, 2017.
Erdogan and his party win Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections
Sun Jun 24, 2018 07:42PM
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures during a speech on June 24, 2018 in Istanbul. (Photo by AFP)
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party have claimed victory in Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
“Our people have given us the job of carrying out the presidential and executive posts,” said Erdogan in a speech from Istanbul on early on Monday.
“I hope nobody will try to cast a shadow on the results and harm democracy in order to hide their own failure,” he added.
The country’s main opposition party initially said that Erdogan would fall well short of a first-round victory, but after the results were announced that it would carry on its democratic struggle “whatever the result.”
With 99 percent of votes counted in the presidential race, Erdogan had 52.5 percent.
Polls across the country of 81 million people officially closed at 5 pm (1400 GMT). There are no exit polls in Turkey and initial results are expected during the early evening. Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Volunteers rescue Jewish headstones used to pave street in western Ukraine
Volunteers rescue a Jewish headstone used to pave a street in Lviv, one of up to 100 headstones discovered during roadwork in the center of the the western Ukraine city. (Marla Raucher Osborn, Rohatyn Jewish Heritage)
(JTA) — Volunteers have rescued dozens of Jewish headstones used to pave a street in the western Ukraine city Lviv.
“The whole street is made from ‘matzevot,’” Sasha Nazar, director of the Lviv Volunteer Center of the Hesed Arieh All-Ukrainian Jewish Charitable Foundation, told Jewish Heritage Europe, using the Hebrew word for gravestones.
Nazar said he was notified about the discovery last week after city workers began roadwork on downtown Barvinok Street. The Lviv Volunteer Center organized volunteers to work at the site this week to rescue the headstones. Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
How the US pressured Poland into softening its law on Holocaust speech
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland visits the Ulma Family Museum, Jan. 2, 2018. Right-wing critics in his country accused Morawiecki of capitulating to Israel in softening a law on Holocaust rhetoric. (Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — After the prime minister of Poland announced a major retreat on his country’s controversial Holocaust speech law, many of his right-wing critics accused him of capitulating to Israel.
The concession presented by Mateusz Morawiecki was an amendment passed hastily Wednesday in parliament altering a law from February that was meant to punish those who blame the Polish nation for Nazis crimes. The amendment essentially makes it a civil offense rather than a criminal one.
Jewish groups and organizations reacted with cautious optimism to the amendment of a law they believed would stifle scholarship and free speech. In Poland, some critics of the new legislation said it did not go far enough.
To Polish nationalists, however, the original law was essential to defending the country’s honor and preventing scholars and journalists from using terms like “Polish death camps” or portraying Poles as anything but victims of the Nazis. And they knew just who to blame for softening it: Israel. Click here for the full story
