Zio-Watch News Round-up

American-Israeli man convicted for JCC bomb threats — Zio-Watch, July 2, 2018

From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency

American-Israeli man convicted for JCC bomb threats

bomb threat suspect

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.
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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.
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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.

But in an interview Wednesday with the Forward, Herzog said he was using it as a slang word and “didn’t mean it in any negative terms.”
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From PressTV

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)
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.

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From PressTV

Thu Jun 28, 2018 04:22PM
This file photo shows Malaysian soldiers in Kota Kinabalu city in Malaysia.
This file photo shows Malaysian soldiers in Kota Kinabalu city in Malaysia.

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.
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From PressTV

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.
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 of Jordan, 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.
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From PressTV

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)
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 White Helmets are part of the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, the statement said.
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From PressTV

Sat Jun 23, 2018 05:43PM
The undated photo shows Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (L) shaking hands with cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
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.
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From PressTV

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)
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)

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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Ivanka Trump gave $50,000 to help migrant kids, Texas church says

Ivanka Trump

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.