From PressTV
Israel OKs 243 new settler units
The Israeli regime has approved the construction of 243 new illegal settler units in the occupied Palestinian territories, despite mounting international criticism of Israeli settlement expansion.
On Thursday, the municipal planning committee in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) authorized 243 new settler units to be built in the Ramot Alon neighborhood of the city.
It also approved changes to pre-existing plans for 270 settler units in the same area and in Har Homa settlement in the occupied West Bank.
From PressTV
Israel forces shoot, severely injure Palestinian boy
A five-year-old Palestinian child has reportedly been severely wounded after Israeli forces fired a rubber bullet that hit him in the face while he was getting out of a school bus in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
According to media reports, the incident took place on Wednesday when Muhammad Jamal Ubeid and his 14-year-old sister were exiting a school bus near their home in the al-Issawiya neighborhood of East al-Quds.
“An Israeli soldier fired a black rubber-coated bullet at the child from a close distance, injuring him under the eye,” Palestinian media quoted Muhammad’s uncle as saying.
The Palestinian child was transferred to a nearby hospital.
Muhammad’s uncle also said there were no clashes between Palestinians and Israelis in the area at the time of the shooting attack.
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From PressTV
6,500 Palestinians held in Israeli jails: Palestinian official
A Palestinian official says more than 6,500 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, are currently being held in Israeli prisons.
On Wednesday, Abdul-Nasser Ferwana, the head of the Palestinian Detainees Committee, said that most of the Palestinian detainees were imprisoned over the past few months.
“Latest statistics indicate that the current number of detainees is 6,500, held in 18 prisons, detention camps and interrogation centers,” Ferwana said. “Two hundred of them are children. 21 are women, and nearly 500 are held under administrative detention, without charges or trial.”
The Palestinian official added that the arrests and imprisonments had been done in “revenge” and retaliation against a civilian population.
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
U.S. agency pays Alan Gross in contract settlement
(JTA) — The U.S. Agency for International Development has reportedly paid Alan Gross $3.2 million as part of a settlement of with his employer, Development Alternatives.
The settlement, announced Tuesday in a statement by USAID, aimed to resolve claims pending before the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals. The statement did not name a figure, but media reports, citing a spokesperson for the federal agency, put the amount at $3.2 million.
“The settlement, agreed in principle in November, calls for payment by USAID for unanticipated claims under the cost-reimbursement contract, including claims related to Mr. Alan Gross. The settlement avoids the cost, delay and risks of further proceedings, and does not constitute an admission of liability by either party,” the statement said.
Gross, 65, a Jewish-American contractor, was arrested in Cuba in 2009 after setting up Internet access for the Cuban Jewish community while working as a contractor for the USAID. He was released earlier this month after five years in prison.
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From PressTV
Gaza resistance group urges end to all Israeli assaults
A Palestinian resistance group in the Gaza Strip has called for an end to the Israeli regime’s brutal assaults against the besieged costal enclave.
A spokesman for the al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, said resistance fighters in Gaza consider all Israeli attacks that violate the August ceasefire deal as a “declaration of war.”
The Palestinian official also said the Zionist enemy would “pay the price” if it hinders efforts for the reconstruction of Gaza, which was heavily damaged in the Tel Aviv regime’s 50-day military offensive earlier this year.
He also called on the Egyptian officials to ensure that the Cairo-brokered ceasefire which put an end to Tel Aviv’s latest war on Gaza on August 26 will not be violated by the Israeli regime.
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From the Independent
Allow me to cast one or two doubts on the official Sony explanation for cancelling The Interview
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Argentina’s president adopts Jewish godson
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Argentina’s president has accepted an official Jewish godson for the first time in the country’s history.
President Christina Fernandez described in seven tweets her meeting with her new godson, Yair Tawil, a member of a Chabad-Lubavitch family.
He was adopted as a godson under a law passed in the 1920s. The law was passed in order to counteract a legend that led to the death of Argentine boys. According to the legend, the seventh son, born after six boys without any girls in-between, becomes a werewolf whose bite can turn others into a werewolf.
The belief in the legend was so widespread that families were abandoning, giving up for adoption and even killing their own sons.
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From PressTV
Lebanon’s Hezbollah seizes ‘Mossad agent’ in its ranks
Lebanon’s resistance movement, Hezbollah, has reportedly arrested a high-ranking official within its ranks on suspicion of having links with the Israeli spy agency, Mossad.
On Thursday, AFP cited an unnamed source close to investigations into the case as saying that three months ago the Lebanese group detained a “Mossad agent” in its ranks, identified as Mohammad Shawraba, adding that he had been in contact with the Israeli spy service since 2007.
According to the source, the detainee held an important position in Hezbollah’s 910 Unit, which is in charge of the resistance group’s “external operations.”
The investigations revealed that Shawraba was originally from Lebanon’s southern city of Mahrouna, but lived in the capital, Beirut. He was recruited by Israel during his numerous trips abroad.
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From PressTV
Israel commander removed over sexual harassment
An Israeli battalion commander has been removed over allegations that he has sexually harassed Israeli soldiers.
The chief of staff of the Israeli military, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, said on Thursday that Lieutenant Colonel Liran Hajbi, the commander of the Givati Brigade’s 432nd Tzabar battalion, had been dismissed.
Hajbi’s removal came after Israel’s Ground Arm Command (known by the acronym GOC in Hebrew) Southern Command Sami Turgeman instructed Gantz to do so.
Hajbi is suspected of sexual harassment of both male and female soldiers and compelling one of his subordinates to give false testimony regarding his indecent behavior.
