From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Poll: Seven in 10 Americans view Israel favorably
(JTA) — Seven in 10 Americans continued to view Israel favorably, despite the breakdown of relations between the U.S. and Israeli leaders, a Gallup poll found.
By contrast, some 17 percent of Americans viewed the Palestinian Authority favorably, according to Gallup’s Feb. 8-11 World Affairs survey. The results were nearly identical to the same question asked one year ago.
However, while 83 percent of Republicans viewed Israel favorably, 48 percent of Democrats shared the same view — a drop of 10 percentage points from last year. The decrease was a possible fallout from the controversy over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial March 3 address to Congress.
The poll also found that 62 percent of Americans say they sympathize more with the Israelis than the Palestinians in their conflict, and that 16 percent sympathize more with the Palestinians, also nearly identical results from one year ago.
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From PressTV
Israel troops fire upon Gazan farmers
The Israeli regime forces have opened fire on Palestinian farmers in Gaza Strip, stepping up a campaign against the coastal sliver’s agricultural properties.
“Since Sunday morning, the occupation forces have opened fire on the eastern regions of the Strip,” the Middle East Monitor publication reported on Monday.
So far no casualties have been reported.
“The Israeli occupation forces targeted the farmers and shepherds in the eastern regions of the two towns of Khan Younis and Rafah as well as the Bureij refugee camp,” said the report, quoting Palestinian media.
Palestinian farmers are constantly fired upon by Israeli troops stationed at the border to prevent them from reclaiming their lands.
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From PressTV
Record rise in 2014 new West Bank settlements: NGO
An NGO has reported an unprecedented 40-percent climb in illegal settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank within the past year.
In its latest report on Monday, the Israel-based group Peace Now said the construction of 3,100 “residential units” began last year in the West Bank, while 4,485 tenders for construction were launched in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) settlement districts during 2014, “a record high for at least a decade.”
The report further underlines that 68 percent of the new construction is carried out in illegal settlements east of the outline proposed by the Geneva Initiative, drafted in 2003.
According to the NGO, the third administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promoted “an average of 460 residential units [for Jews] per month,” mainly in isolated Zionist settlements, which is double the number advanced by the administration of his predecessor.
Out of the 3,100 settler units, whose construction began during 2014, 2,671 were permanent structures and 429 were caravans and light construction structures, the report added.
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From PressTV
Israel forces target, injure Palestinians
Israeli forces have targeted Palestinians with live bullets, injuring at least seven of them in the central part of the occupied West Bank.
According to the residents of the Aida refugee camp in northern Bethlehem, the Palestinians sustained injuries in clashes with Israeli forces late on Sunday, Ma’an news agency reported.
The Israeli forces raided the camp with police dogs and used tear gas and stun grenades against Palestinians, the residents said.
They said the Israeli forces also targeted ambulances that tried to reach the injured Palestinians and an ambulance driver suffered the suffocation caused by excessive gas inhalation.
The Israeli troops reportedly searched several houses in the camp and detained a lot of young Palestinians.
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From PressTV
Israel tax freeze aims ‘to collapse PA: Palestine negotiator
A top Palestinian official says Israel is trying to topple the Palestinian Authority (PA) by continuing to freeze millions of dollars in crucial tax money.
“Israel is aiming to collapse the Palestinian Authority with all its institutions, so the international community should do much more than stating what the results of such move might be,” Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Sunday.
He urged international action to put pressure on Israel to release the PA money which remains frozen since two months ago, adding, “This money is not Israeli money nor donors’ money, this is an unprecedented act of piracy.”
Under an economic agreement signed in 1994 between the two sides, Israel transfers USD 127 million per month in value-added tax and customs duties imposed on goods intended for the markets in Palestine that pass through Israel.
This amount of money collectively makes up around two-thirds of the Authority’s annual budget.
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From Russia Today
US arming Kiev would ‘explode’ situation in E. Ukraine – Russian Foreign Ministry
“It would be a major blow to the Minsk agreements and would explode the whole situation,” TASS quoted Ryabkov as saying.
Moscow would not be able to remain indifferent “to such provocative actions,” he added. “We’ll have to respond appropriately.”
“Is that necessary for those who are allegedly calling for the normalization of the situation in Ukraine? I have serious doubts. People may be irresponsible in their actions, but there must be an end to this madness [of] indulging Kiev’s warmongering,” explained Ryabkov.
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From Russia Today
Settlement rush: Record Israel construction tenders in occupied territories
With the US-brokered talks with the Palestinian Authority breaking down last April, the Netanyahu government has been putting out an unprecedented number of construction tenders, maintains the group Peace Now in a report published on Monday.
The anti-settlement watchdog claims that in 2014 the Israeli government invited bids for building contracts in the settlements that were triple those in Netanyahu’s previous terms in office in 2009-2013.
In the pursuit of the fourth term in office, PM Benjamin Netanyahu is sacrificing good relations with the US, Israel’s primary ally, purely to secure votes from the settlers at the national elections on March 17.
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From Russia Today
From The Times of Israel
In 2012, Mossad said Iran not building nukes — report
Cables leaked to Al-Jazeera at odds with Netanyahu’s presentation of Tehran’s ambitions at the UN a month earlier
The Qatar-based al-Jazeera news network published a 2012 cable allegedly from the Mossad, which said that Iran was not building a nuclear bomb, a statement that appears at odds with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments a month earlier at the UN.
But sources in Jerusalem said the two assessments were not contradictory.
The cable, which was sent by the Israeli intelligence agency to South Africa’s State Security Agency in October of that year, said that at the “bottom line,” Tehran had not begun work to build a bomb, but was “working to close gaps in areas that appear legitimate such as enrichment reactors.”
Still, the enrichment activities undertaken by the Iranian scientists would cut the time needed to construct a nuclear weapon, should it be given the directive, the Mossad cable reportedly said.
The Iranian scientists’ activities “will reduce the time required to produce weapons from the time the instruction is actually given,” it said.
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From The Times of Israel
Leaks reveal Mossad less alarmed by nuclear Iran than PM
Spy agency reportedly had more conservative assessment than Netanyahu even several weeks after famous ‘nuclear duck’ address at UN
A series of cables between intelligence agencies was published by Al Jazeera on Monday, appearing to show that the Mossad assessment on Iran’s nuclear progress was more conservative than that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Earlier, the Israel Electric Company announced it would be limiting supplies to the Palestinians over a huge debt by the PA and the East Jerusalem Electric Company. Power outages lasting an hour were reported in Nablus and Jenin.
Earlier, the Shin Bet announced that it arrested 11 Hamas operatives last month. According to a statement, the group was planning to carry out a terror attack in early December in Hebron.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Al-Qaida-affiliated terrorists urge attacks on ‘American or Jewish’ malls
(JTA) — A threat on “American or Jewish” shopping centers by the terrorist group responsible for the deadly 2013 attack on a Kenya mall has the U.S. security apparatus calling on the public to be vigilant.
Al-Shabab, a Somali group affiliated with al-Qaida, posted a video over the weekend about the Nairobi attack, which killed 67. The video concluded with a masked fighter encouraging followers to attack shopping centers around the world.
“If just a handful of mujahedeen fighters could bring Kenya to a complete standstill for nearly a week, just imagine what the dedicated mujahedeen could do in the West to American or Jewish shopping centers across the world,” the masked person said.
He specifically named the Mall of America in Minnesota, the West Edmonton Mall in Canada, Oxford Street in London and two malls in France.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
When Israeli brashness goes too far
Israelis don’t exactly have a reputation of being polite. But even in a country known for its rudeness, some things cross the line.
Yesterday an argument over duty-free chocolate prompted nationwide soul-searching on local manners — or lack thereof.
A video making the rounds on Israeli social media shows a woman — followed by her family members — screaming at a flight attendant on Israir Airlines for not selling her chocolate. The passengers hurl insults and swear words at the flight attendant — calling him a “piece of trash,” an “a**hole” and a “son of a whore,” and saying “I couldn’t give a f**k about you.”
One relative chases the flight attendant down the aisle. Another asks, “What, is she an Arab? Sell her chocolate!”
The family issued a half-apology, and the airline isn’t taking any further action. But the video has led Israelis to take a hard look at the country’s famously brusque attitude.
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From Russia Today
CIA sought access to ‘terrorist’ Hamas, Obama threatened Abbas – spy cables
The revelations are part of the so-called Spy Cables – a cache of hundreds of leaked classified intelligence papers from all over the world, published by Al Jazeera and the Guardian.
The Spy Cables include papers written by intelligence agencies the world over, including: Israel’s Mossad,… http://t.co/ZgD2gwHBxR
— The WikiLeaks Party (@WikiLeaksParty) February 23, 2015
A portion of the freshly-released files are focused on the Palestinian issue.
One of the documents says a CIA officer contacted a South African intelligence agent in 2012 with a request to help gain access to Hamas. That was allegedly done despite a US government ban on contact with the movement, labeled as terrorist in the United States.
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From Russia Today
ISIS kidnaps at least 90 Assyrian Christians in northeast Syria – report
The abductions happened after dawn, as villages inhabited by the ancient Christian minority were raided by the terrorist group near the town of Tel Hmar, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Tel Hmar is situated in the countryside of the city of Hasaka, controlled primarily by Kurds.
The monitor had no details on the abducted people, except that they were kidnapped from two villages, Tal Shamiram and Tal Hermuz, following the attack by Islamic State fighters, AFP reported.
From Ynet News
US jury awards Israel attack victims over $218m in PLO trial
More than a decade after Sokolow family wounded in Jerusalem bombing, Palestinian Authority found liable for aiding terrorists A US jury on Monday ordered the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority to pay more than $218 million for providing material support to terrorists, a victory for Americans suing over attacks in the Jerusalem area more than a decade ago.
The verdict in the politically sensitive trial in Manhattan federal court added a new dimension to the long-running Middle East conflict, as American victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict sought to use US courts to seek damages.Click here for the full story
From Ynet News
Jewish heirs sue Germany over treasure ‘forcibly sold’ in Nazi-era
Lawsuit filed in Washington DC seeks to have British and American descendants of previous owners declared the rightful heirs to pieces now worth some $226 million.
BERLIN — The heirs of Nazi-era Jewish art dealers say they have filed a lawsuit in the US suing Germany and a German museum for the return of a medieval treasure trove worth an estimated $226 million, which they claim their ancestors sold under Nazi pressure.
The suit, which attorneys said was filed late Monday in the US District Court in Washington DC, is the latest salvo in a long-running campaign by the heirs for return of the so-called Welfenschatz, or Guelph Treasure
From The Times of Israel
France deploys carrier to Persian Gulf to fight jihadists
Rafale jets launch from Charles de Gaulle in first sorties against Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq
MANAMA, Bahrain — France deployed an aircraft carrier in the Gulf on Monday as part of the US-led military campaign against the Islamic State jihadist group in Iraq, a defense ministry official said.
“The integration of the Charles de Gaulle in the operation… (in Iraq) begins this morning,” a member of Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s staff told AFP as his entourage made its way to the carrier.
The first Rafale fighter jet took off in the morning from the Charles de Gaulle as it sailed about 200 kilometers (120 miles) off the coast north of Bahrain in the direction of Iraq.
The warship’s deployment will cut in half the time it takes for the planes to reach Iraq for strikes against IS from their base in the United Arab Emirates.
France launched Operation Chammal in support of the US-led coalition against IS in September.
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From The Times of Israel
Nine years on, Gaza evacuees resettle in the West Bank
Netzer-Ariel, the only group of Gush Katif residents to relocate together over the Green Line, is finally moving into permanent housing
Late in January, Efrat Tawil sat in her mobile home in the large northern West Bank city-settlement of Ariel, amidst piles of bed linens and boxes of books. She and her husband, Rabbi Zion Tawil, were preparing to move into their newly built home on a hill overlooking Ariel University. Moving day had come in the nick of time; the roof of the trailer in which they had been living with their large family for the past nine years had collapsed due to a recent heavy snowfall.
Zion Tawil is the rabbi of Netzer-Ariel, a community of some 100 religious Zionist families — 20 of whom were evacuated from the Gush Katif settlement of Netzarim during Israel’s unilateral disengagement from Gaza in the summer of 2005. For the past decade, the group has been living in temporary dwellings. With their current move to the comfortable, spacious and permanent homes they have built for themselves in Ariel, these families have become the only community evacuated from Gaza to resettle permanently — as a community — over the Green Line in the West Bank.
Although she is happy to be moving in to her new house, Mrs. Tawil said she hadn’t really minded living in a trailer for nine years.
“It’s true that with seven daughters and 15 grandchildren it was a bit problematic, but I didn’t really pay attention to the living conditions, because as soon as we got here, we got right into our mission,” she told The Times of Israel as she took a short break from packing.
The mission spoken of by the rabbi’s wife is the social and religious outreach work to the mainly secular Ariel population that the Netzer-Ariel community has been doing since its arrival in the city immediately following the disengagement from Gaza.
From Netzarim to Ariel
From the Daily Mail
Rothschild bankers ‘could get bonuses early’ to dodge Labour’s windfall tax if Miliband wins the election
- Shadow chancellor Ed Balls wants to bring in tax in first year of parliament
- Rothschild would normally pay staff 2014 bonus in June, after May election
- High street banks expected to pay out bonuses worth more than £5billion
Rothschild is believed to be considering the move after Ed Balls promised to introduce a windfall tax on bankers’ bonuses in the first year of the next parliament if Labour comes to power.
The shadow chancellor has threatened to repeat the move – which Labour say will raise up to £2billion – the following year if bankers do not show more restraint on pay.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Shas spiritual leader: ‘Hatikvah’ a ‘stupid song’
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The spiritual leader of the Sephardic Orthodox Shas party said at a party convention that “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem, “is a stupid song.”
Rabbi Shlomo Cohen, head of the Council of Torah Sages of the Shas Party, made the comments Sunday at a party convention, the Israeli news website Walla reported. Walla also put a recording of the statement on its website.
Cohen told the convention that in 1955, at the ceremony appointing Yitzhak Nissim as Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, those gathered stood and began singing “Hatikvah.” Cohen said he did not stand for the anthem, but that his popular predecessor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, did. Cohen said he asked Yosef why he stood, and Yosef replied that he said the Aleinu, a Jewish prayer recited while standing.
“A real man. Why did he say Aleinu? He didn’t want this stupid song to influence him,” Cohen said.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Oscar nods go to Jewish talent, but Israel loses again
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Jewish artists and themes were featured among the winners at the Academy Awards, but an Israeli nominee again failed to bring home the treasured trophy.
The Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film went to “Ida,” a Polish film about a Catholic novitiate who learns she is the daughter of Jewish parents killed by the Nazis.
But Israel’s losing streak at the Oscars continued as the short film “Aya,” co-written and co-directed by Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun and starring Sarah Adler, failed to win for Best Short Film.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
2 Top Democratic Senators Invite Bibi for Meeting
Feinstein and Durbin Want To Head Off Damage to Ties
Senators Richard Durbin and Dianne Feinstein extended the invitation “to maintain Israel’s dialog with both political parties in Congress,” according to a letter to the Israeli leader seen by Reuters.
Netanyahu has faced criticism at home and abroad for his plans to address Congress on Iran’s nuclear program on March 3, just two weeks before Israeli elections and at a sensitive point in international negotiations with Tehran.
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