From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Reports: CIA, Mossad collaborated in ’08 killing of Hezbollah’s Mughniyeh
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The CIA and the Mossad collaborated in the 2008 assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, the top Hezbollah operations officer blamed for an array of terrorist attacks, according to two in-depth reports.
The Washington Post and Newsweek in the reports published this weekend for the first time revealed the extent of the cooperation ahead of the Feb. 12, 2008 killing in Damascus. The cooperation included a long period of both agencies tracking Mughniyeh in the Syrian capital, where he kept a secret residence.
The CIA built the explosive device, hidden in the spare tire of an SUV, and the Mossad detonated it long distance from Israel as he walked past, the reports said. Agents from both agencies identified him.
Mughniyeh is believed to be behind, among other terror incidents, attacks on U.S. and French military targets in Beirut in 1983 that killed 299 people, and the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Serbian president called on to apologize for Holocaust Day remarks
(JTA) — Serbian human rights groups called on Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic to apologize for saying at a Holocaust commemoration that Nazis targeted Jews because of their overrepresentation in professions.
Nikolic “is spreading stereotypes about the Jewish people, saying that this minority was ‘over-represented in prestigious professions’,” said the Jan. 28 statement signed by a number of Belgrade-based human rights monitors and civil society groups.
Among the signatories were Belgrade representatives of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.
In his speech on Jan. 27, Nikolic said that for the Nazis, “the biggest threat was seen in the Jewish people, probably on the account of their characteristics and being prominent in the prestigious professions in the domains of finances, art and science,” according to a report by the government-run broadcaster, Voice of Serbia.
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Palestine deems bid to join ICC ‘irreversible’
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says the Palestinian Authority’s decision to become a member in the International Criminal Court is a permanent one and cannot be revoked.
“All powers on earth will never bring the clock back,” Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio on Sunday.
He accused Israel of violating all international laws and conventions through reliance on “the logic of arrogance”. He also accused the US Congress of protecting Israel.
The Palestinian official further warned that the PA would review its political and security ties with Tel Aviv if Israel continues its policy of settlement expansion and withholding the Palestinian tax money. He said that a high-profile meeting is scheduled to be held later in February to decide on the future of ties with Israel.
From PressTV
Israel demolishes homes of 1,177 Palestinians in 2014: UN
The United Nations says Israeli forces have demolished the homes of 1,177 Palestinians in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the occupied West Bank in 2014.
Last year, Israeli troops destroyed the houses of 969 Palestinian in the West Bank and 208 in East al-Quds, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), according to a Sunday report by Israeli daily Haaretz.
“In 2014, according to OCHA figures, the Israeli authorities destroyed 590 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C (in the West Bank) and East Jerusalem, displacing 1,177 people — the highest level of displacement in the West Bank since the OCHA began systematically monitoring the issue in 2008,” the OCHA said in the report.
“The planning policies applied by Israel in Area C and East Jerusalem discriminate against Palestinians,” the report added.
From PressTV
Israeli forces detained 350 Palestinians in January: NGO
A Palestinian nongovernmental organization (NGO) says Israeli forces arrested 350 Palestinians during raids on scores of houses across the occupied West Bank throughout January.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a statement on Sunday that Israeli forces abducted 120 Palestinians from al-Khalil (Hebron), located 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of al-Quds (Jerusalem), last month, making it the city with the largest number of detainees.
The NGO said Israeli soldiers also arrested 60 Palestinians in East al-Quds, 42 in Ramallah and the adjacent city of al-Bireh, 38 in Jenin, 35 in Nablus, located approximately 49 kilometers (30 miles) north of al-Quds, 19 in Qalqilya and 19 others in Bethlehem.
Eleven Palestinians from the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm were also detained by the Israeli troopers along with six from the city of Tubas, located 21 kilometers (13 miles) northeast of Nablus.
Two girls in their 20s were among the detainees, bringing the number of Palestinian females currently being held in Israeli prisons to 24.
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Lieberman: Third Lebanon war, fourth Gaza operation inevitable
Israel’s foreign minister has described as “inevitable” a third war with Lebanon and a fourth aggression in the besieged Gaza Strip in the wake of a recent retaliatory attack by Hezbollah.
“A fourth operation in the Gaza Strip is inevitable, just as a third Lebanon war is inevitable,” Avigdor Lieberman said in an interview with Israel’s Ynet on Sunday.
“There’s no doubt the rules of the game have been changed, what Hezbollah forced upon us. We don’t respond, but rather decide to contain this incident,” Lieberman said, adding that the Lebanese resistance movement is “more determined.”
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
UN peacekeeper in Lebanon likely killed by Israel: Video
A new footage released after recent clashes between Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement and Israel suggests that the Tel Aviv regime was likely responsible for the killing of a Spanish UN peacekeeper in the violence.
The video clip, captured by the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon and distributed in the Spanish media, purportedly shows that an Israeli shell probably targeted Spanish UN peacekeeper Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo on January 28, Russia Today reported on Sunday.
In the footage taken by a cell phone, two United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeepers could be seen talking in their vehicle next to a watchtower, as the sound of the first artillery shell is heard in the background.
Then the camera is aimed at the wall separating Lebanon from the occupied Palestinian territories, with one of the peacekeepers saying, “They’re falling from Israel, man!”
“Hush, hush, let’s see…they’re falling from…How can that be? It cannot be that, huh?,” responds the other peacekeeper.
The two became nervous after hearing the whistling of another shell. “Where, where, where? No time…bunker, to bunker!” can be heard. The shell then strikes a position near their car.
From PressTV
Israel beats Palestinian minor captives: Report
Palestinian minors held captive in Israeli prisons are regularly beaten and assaulted, a new report shows.
According to the report released on Saturday by the Palestinian Department of Prisoner Affairs, many of the captive Palestinian children reported being assaulted and beaten during their arrests and while being interrogated.
Sixteen-year-old Malek Hamdan from East Jerusalem (al-Quds) suffered bone fractures after being beaten while held at an Israeli detention center.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Top House Foreign Affairs leaders urge Kerry to cut P.A. funding
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Leaders from both parties on the House Foreign Affairs Committee urged Secretary of State John Kerry to suspend funding to the Palestinian Authority until it withdraws from the International Criminal Court.
“The United States should not support direct economic assistance to the P.A. until it demonstrates a meaningful reversal of this destructive course and proves it can be a willing partner for peace,” said theletter sent Jan. 22 and relayed to reporters late last week.
The letter, signed by the top Republicans and Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives committee and each of its subcommittees, stopped short of a threat to take congressional action.
The only subcommittee leader not to sign was Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Africa subcommittee.
Click here for the full story
From Ynet News
Netanyahu criticizes UN over Lebanon flare-up
Prime minister slams international peacekeepers for failing to enforce resolution banning Hezbollah rearmament. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused United Nations peacekeepers on Sunday of failing to enforce a resolution barring Hezbollah guerrillas from smuggling weapons into Lebanon.
In a phone call with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Netanyahu blamed Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, for Wednesday’s flare-up that killed two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish peacekeeper in the worst fighting along the Israel-Lebanon frontier since a 2006 war.
Click here for the full story
From The Independent
The open loathing between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu just got worse
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
White House, State Dept. slam reissued West Bank construction tenders
(JTA) — The White House and the State Department criticized Israel for reissuing tenders for the construction of 450 housing units in the West Bank.
The tender announcement will “further isolate Israel internationally,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at Friday’s press briefing.
“We believe that settlements are illegitimate and are counterproductive to achieving a two-state outcome,” Psaki said. “We have deep concerns about these highly contentious construction announcements. They will have detrimental effects on the ground, inflame already heightened tensions with the Palestinians and further isolate Israel internationally.”
Israel’s Housing Ministry again published the tenders on Friday, triggering condemnations by Palestinian officials and protests by Israelis opposed to construction beyond Israel’s 1967 borders.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Netanyahu sends condolences to Japan’s Abe over ISIS executions
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent condolences to his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, on the murders of two Japanese citizens by the Islamic State.
“These loathsome acts of murder by ISIS are a chilling reminder of the need for all free nations to join hands in an uncompromising battle against the Islamist terrorism that is plaguing the Middle East and the entire world,” Netanyahu wrote in his letter to Abe sent Sunday.
The Islamic State announced Saturday in a video released online that it had beheaded Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
Haruna Yukawa, a Japanese aid worker who had been held by the Islamic State, was shown killed in a video released by the group last week.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Prosecutor: Only Nisman DNA found at scene of his death
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Only the DNA of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found at the site of his shooting death.
On Friday, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation into Nisman’s death revealed the information.
“It can categorically be reported that chemical testing of shirt, shorts, gun, pistol magazine, bullets and shell casing has found a single genetic profile that matches without a doubt the genetic profile of the deceased,” Viviana Fein said.
The death of Nisman, who was heading the probe into the bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in 1994, remains unexplained two weeks after his body was found in his Buenos Aires apartment.
Click here for the full story
