From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
ICC won’t prosecute Israel for war crimes in Mavi Marmara incident
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The International Criminal Court said it will not open a war crimes case against Israel in the Mavi Marmara incident.
The Hague court on Thursday reportedly closed a preliminary investigation into the May 2010 incident in which nine Turkish passengers, including one U.S. citizen, were killed in clashes with Israeli commandos who had boarded the Mavi Marmara. The ship was part of a flotilla attempting to break Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza.
The ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said that any cases relating to Israel’s boarding of the ship “would not be of sufficient gravity to justify further action by the ICC.”
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
White House aide Jonathan Greenblatt to succeed Abe Foxman as ADL chief
NEW YORK (JTA) – The Anti-Defamation League’s new national director will be social entrepreneur Jonathan Greenblatt — a special assistant to President Obama who earlier in his career co-founded the bottled water brand Ethos.
Greenblatt, 43, will succeed Abraham Foxman, who announced in February that he would be stepping down effective July 2015. Foxman, 74, has been the ADL’s national director since 1987.
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Egypt gets Israel’s OK for more Sinai troops to fight Islamists
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel has authorized Egypt to deploy two more infantry battalions in the Sinai Peninsula to fight Islamist terrorists.
The authorization included permission to bring in a fleet of attack helicopters as well, Israel’s Army Radio reported Thursday.
Under the terms of the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty, Egypt must ask Israel for authorization before sending troops into the Sinai, which is supposed to remain demilitarized.
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Shmuel Azimov, Chabad leader in Paris, dies
PARIS (JTA) — Rabbi Shmuel Azimov, one of the leaders of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement in France, has died.
Azimov, a native of the former Soviet Union, died in France on Wednesday from an illness that required hospitalization. He was 69. His body was brought to Israel for burial on the same day.
“Despite his eminence, this was a man who spoke to his juniors, to everyone, as equals,” said Rabbi Avraham Weill of Toulouse. “And though he never sought the limelight, he was the driving force behind the educational revolution of the Chabad movement in France. He wasn’t just a spiritual father to thousands of Jews but an actual second father to many of them.”
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Universities called out for trying to suppress protests of Israel
(JTA) — Recent calls for civility in campus debates are a pretext to suppress free speech in protest of Israel, a pro-Palestinian legal advocacy group wrote in a letter.
In the letter dated Monday, Palestine Solidarity Legal Support and its partners, including several civil rights organizations, cited several recent incidents to argue that the concept of civility has been invoked of late to limit the extent of free speech.
It was addressed to John Kelly, the president of Florida Atlantic University, which attractedcriticism last year for disciplining students who protested a lecture by an Israeli soldier.
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
U.S., Israel inaugurate production line for F-35 fighter jet wings
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel and the United States inaugurated a production line for the manufacture of wings for F-35 fighter jets.
The ceremony was held Tuesday at Israel Aircraft Industries near Tel Aviv. Among those on hand were Moshe Yaalon, Israel’s minister of defense, and Daniel Shapiro, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, as well as officials from Lockheed Martin and IAI.
“The special relationship between the United States and Israel is stronger than any disagreement,” Yaalon said, referring to the current flap between the White House and Israel in which an Obama administration official told a U.S. reporter that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a “chickenshit” over several issues. “And there is no dispute on the gratitude that the people of Israel owe the United States for supporting our strength and security.”
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Designer Galliano loses lawsuit against Dior in firing over anti-Semitic rant
(JTA) — The British fashion designer John Galliano lost his lawsuit against Christian Dior for unfair dismissal.
The decision by a Paris employment court was announced Tuesday.
Galliano, who was fired in March 2011 after being filmed making anti-Semitic statements at a Paris bar, was ordered to pay Dior one symbolic euro. He had sued for lost earnings of up to $16 million, claiming that the fashion house was aware of his alcohol and drug addictions before the incident.
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From PressTV
Israeli forces, Palestinians clash in West Bank
Heavy clashes were reported outside Israel’s Ofer Prison, near Ramallah north of al-Quds (Jerusalem), on Thursday. Israeli forces reportedly used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse angry Palestinians protesting in front of the prison.
The latest confrontations come after Israeli forces arrested over a dozen Palestinians across the West Bank overnight.
A Palestinian source told Turkish Anadolu news agency that Israeli forces detained 31 Palestinians in overnight raids in the occupied territory. He said the arrests bring to 188 the number of Palestinians detained in the past two weeks.
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