From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
N.J. rabbi: Arabs in Israel ‘must be vanquished’
The rabbi of a major modern Orthodox synagogue in New Jersey has written a blog post that calls for Israel to collectively punish Arab Israelis and Palestinians until they realize “they have no future in the land of Israel.”
In the post, written Friday and titled “Dealing with Savages,” Rabbi Steven Pruzansky of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck offers suggestions that range from destroying whole Palestinian towns to uprooting the Dome of the Rock.
“There is a war for the land of Israel that is being waged, and the Arabs who dwell in the land of Israel are the enemy in that war and must be vanquished,” Pruzansky writes.
The post has since been deleted, but it’s cached here.
Pruzansky refers to “the Arab-Muslim animals that span the globe chopping, hacking and merrily decapitating,” and then writes, “At a certain point, the unrestrained behavior of unruly animals becomes the fault of the zookeeper, not the animals.”
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Palestinian man shot was approaching Gaza fence, IDF says
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli troops shot a Palestinian man in northern Gaza who the Israeli military said was approaching the security fence between Israel and Gaza.
Palestinian officials said Fadil Muhammad Halawah, 32, was killed while hunting birds Sunday in the northern Gaza Strip when he was shot, according to the Palestinian Maan news agency.
The Israeli military told Maan that Halawah and another man approached the security fence and did not stop when ordered by Israeli troops.
The soldiers fired warning shots before firing at the men’s lower extremities, hitting one, the IDF said. The IDF could not confirm the condition of the man.
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Jewish settlers torched widow’s West Bank home, Palestinian officials say
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Palestinian home in the West Bank was set afire in what Palestinian officials said was an attack by Israeli Jewish settlers.
A firebomb was thrown through the window of the home located in a village near Ramallah early Sunday morning, the Palestinian Maan news agency reported. “Death to Arabs” and “vengeance” also was spray-painted on the house.
The widow who lives in the two-story house told the B’Tselem human rights groups that she heard people speaking in Hebrew outside the home at the time of the attack. Most of the damage was confined to the first story, according to Maan.
Israel Police are investigating the arson attack.
From PressTV
Israeli killing of Gazan violates truce: Hamas
Hamas says the killing of a Palestinian man in the northern Gaza Strip by Israeli forces constitutes “a violation of a ceasefire agreement” between the Palestinian resistance movement and Tel Aviv.
On Sunday, the Israeli troops shot dead 32-year-old Palestinian farmer Fadel Mohammed Halawa in the northern Gaza Strip.
The bullet was apparently fired from an Israeli army watchtower near the man’s farm close to the occupied territories.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri denounced the killing later in the day, saying it is a “serious violation to the ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt on August 26.”
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From PressTV
Israeli soldiers shoot Palestinian man in Gaza
A young Palestinian man has been seriously injured by Israeli troops in the besieged Gaza Strip following the death of another Gazan by the Israelis.
The latest Israeli attack was carried out in the east of the city of Rafah on Sunday.
Israel claims that its troops opened fire on the Palestinian while he was trying to cross the border.
Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli troops shot and killed 32-year-old Palestinian farmer, Fadel Mohammed Halawa, in the northern Gaza Strip.
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From PressTV
Israeli settlers firebomb Palestinian home in West Bank
The attack was carried out during the early hours of Sunday in the Palestinian village of Khirbet Abu Falah, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of the city of Ramallah.
“At 4:00 a.m. (0200 GMT), settlers came and threw molotov cocktails at a house which partly burned down,” said Masud Abu Mura, the governor of the village.
Abu Mura said that four women, who were inside the house at the time, escaped unharmed.
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Controversial Jewish nation-state bill passes Israeli Cabinet vote
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Cabinet passed a bill that would identify Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
The measure, which has engendered controversy, advanced in a 14-6 vote on Sunday. It must pass a preliminary reading and two other readings in the Israeli parliament, which will consider the so-called nation-state law on Wednesday.
The ministers of the Likud (with the exception of Culture Minister Limor Livnat), Yisrael Beiteinu and Jewish Home parties voted for the bill, which was proposed by Zeev Elkin of Likud. Five members of the Yesh Atid party and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni of Hatnua opposed the nation-state bill. Livnat abstained from the vote.
Under the bill, which “defines the State of Israel’s identity as the nation-state of the Jewish people,” Hebrew would become the official language, with Arabic having “special status.” Also, the measure also calls Jewish law a basis for new legislation, among other matters.
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Obama renews Iran sanctions on eve of deal deadline
WASHINGTON (JTA) — On the eve of a deadline for an Iran nuclear deal, President Obama exercised a routine renewal of sanctions against the country.
The presidential determination issued Friday, three days before the deadline, declared that there are sufficient alternative sources of oil production to justify continuing sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector.
Such determinations are required periodically by law.
The deal between Iran and the major powers would reduce sanctions over time in exchange for guarantees that Iran is not advancing toward a nuclear weapons program.
From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Jonathan Pollard’s first parole application rejected
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jonathan Pollard was turned down in his first application for parole.
“The breadth and scope of the classified information that you sold to the Israelis was the greatest compromise of U.S. security to that date,” the parole commission said in an August letter to the Israeli spy,according to The Jerusalem Post, which obtained the letter and broke the news in a cover story in its Friday magazine.
“You passed thousands of Top Secret documents to Israeli agents, threatening U.S. relations in the Middle East among the Arab countries,” the parole commission letter said. “Given all this information, paroling you at this time would depreciate the seriousness of the offense and promote disrespect for the law.”
Pollard, a former U.S. Navy analyst who was sentenced to life in 1987 after being arrested two years earlier, had not applied for parole until now, the Post said, in part because he favored a presidential commutation, which would release him unconditionally. He has been eligible to apply for parole for 19 years.
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Netanyahu: No Iran agreement is preferable to bad one
JERUSALEM (JTA) — No agreement with Iran on its nuclear program is preferable to a bad one, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday night briefed Netanyahu on the world powers’ nuclear talks with Iran, Netanyahu told his Cabinet Sunday at its regular weekly meeting.
Netanyahu said that a “bad agreement” could “endanger Israel, the Middle East and all of humanity.”
The Israeli leader said his country was monitoring developments in the talks.
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From PressTV
ISIL exploits children as young as 10 in Iraq, Syria: UN
“Children as young as 10, 12 years old are being used in a variety of roles, as combatants, as messengers, spies, guards, manning checkpoints,” Laurent Chapuis, the UNICEF regional child protection adviser for the Middle East and North Africa, said on Sunday.
“What is new is that ISIS seems to be quite transparent and vocal about their intention and their practice of recruiting children,” he said, using a different alternative for ISIL.
Leila Zerrougui, the UN secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, also said the ISIL militants are “abducting” children and “forcing” them to join ISIL. “They are brainwashing children and indoctrinating them to join their group.”
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