Archive for May 6, 2015

French inquiry commission requires Palestinians to not execute suspects in Arafat’s death

The case, being reviewed by French prosecutors who have 3 months to close the case or take it to court, require the Palestinian Authority to first assure no death penalty imposed on anyone, if found guilty of killing Arafat.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

France has demanded that the Palestinian Authority promise that it wouldn’t impose the death penalty on anyone found guilty of killing former PLO leader Yasser Arafat, a senior Fatah official said on Wednesday.

Dead Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, before his demise

Tawfik Tirawi, member of the Fatah Central Committee and head of the Palestinian commission of inquiry into the death of Arafat, revealed that the French demand was relayed to the PA about three weeks ago. Continue Reading »

Jewish pilgrimage to Ghriba synagogue in Tunisia under tight security

Hundreds of Jewish pilgrims expected at 2-day religious festival on the Tunisian island of Djerba, despite Israel’s security warning of ‘concrete terror threats’.

By i24news

 

The Jewish pilgrimage to Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba is to take place Wednesday under extra security after the Bardo museum massacre and Israel’s warning of terror threats.

An employee cleans an engraved Star of David at the Ghriba Synagogue on May 5, 2015 on the eve of the annual Jewish pilgrimage to the synagogue on the Mediterranean resort island of Djerba – Photo: Fethi Belaid/AFP

Hundreds are expected to take part, unlike the thousands who flocked to Africa’s oldest synagogue for the annual pilgrimage in the years before a 2002 suicide bombing claimed by al-Qaida that cost 21 lives. Continue Reading »

REPORT: Israel Destroys SCUD Factory in Sudan But Lost UAV In Operation

Sudan claims it shot down Israeli UAV, but denies Arab media reports that the IAF destroyed an Iranian SCUD missile factory & warehouse near Khartoum.

By Ari Yashar

 

The Sudanese army claimed it shot down an Israeli drone, after Arab media reported on Wednesday that Israeli war planes struck sites around the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, destroying weapons sites apparently destined for Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Israeli Heron UAV (illustration) – Reuters

The London-based Arabic-language Al-Araby Al-Jadeed and other Arab news sources reported the strikes, saying they hit a factory producing long-range Scud missiles, a rocket storage site, as well as a convoy that was leaving the military site in Omdurman to the north of Khartoum.

Continue Reading »

2 wounded UN peacekeepers from errant mortar strike inside Syria treated in Israel

In apparent spillover from ongoing civil war, 2 wounded UNDOF peacekeepers stationed in Quneitra, a man & a woman from Nepal, were sent to an Israeli hospital for treatment.

By Danny Brenner, Lilach Shoval, Israel Hayom Staff & Reuters

 

Two United Nations peacekeepers stationed on the Israel-Syria border in the Golan Heights were wounded on Monday when a mortar shell struck their position in Quneitra.

A wounded U.N. peacekeeper is treated at Ziv Medical Center in Safed, Monday – Photo: Ziv Medical Center

It is believed the mortar fire was spillover from the ongoing civil war inside Syria.

The wounded peacekeepers, a man and a woman from Nepal, were transported to an Israeli hospital for medical treatment. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem to become film & TV hub to attract international filmmakers

Noting major Hollywood projects by  Richard Gere & Natalie Portman in Jerusalem, Mayor Barkat says time has come to incorporate the Jewish capital into a global production destination.

 

On the heels of several high-profile Hollywood productions filmed, or filming, in the capital, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat announced on Tuesday his intention to build a major film and television complex in the city to attract more international filmmakers.

Old city of Jerusalem – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

“After Richard Gere and Natalie Portman made Hollywood films in Jerusalem, and NBC filmed here last summer for the series ‘Dig,’ now it’s time to move to the next stage in the development of the film industry in the capital,” Barkat said in a statement. Continue Reading »

Israeli Arabs Enraged Probe of Police Shooting of Kafr Kanna Resident Dropped

Israel Police closes internal investigation into fatal shooting of 22 year-old Khair Hamdan last November, saying evidence demonstrates officers acted in self defense.

By Hassan Shaalan

 

The Police Investigation Unit announced Tuesday that it would close the investigation into a police officer who shot and killed Khair Hamdan, a resident of Kafr Kanna, last year – an incident which led to major rioting and violence in the area.

Video footage showing police officer pointing gun at Hamdan.

The police found during the investigation that an officer who was driving the police patrol vehicle was the one who shot Hamdan, 22, and not another officer who was seen in a video of the incident holding a gun pointed at Hamdan.

Continue Reading »

Pamela Geller: ‘To Not Offend Savages, We’re Giving Up Our Freedoms’

WATCH: After the Texas attack, anti-Islamist activist Pamela Geller speaks out, slamming ‘media elites’ for denigrating those who offend Islam.

By Ari Soffer

 

Pamela Geller, the outspoken head of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, has spoken out after her group’s Mohammed Cartoon event was targeted in a shooting attack by Muslim terrorists on Sunday night.

Pamela Geller – Reuters

In an interview with CNN, Geller lashed out at the media “elites” for criticizing her group – the attackers’ intended victims – as opposed to radical Islamists responsible for such violent attacks.

The event had offered a $10,000 award for the best cartoon depicting the founder of Islam, Mohammed, and featured a speech by Dutch MP Geert Wilders, among other prominent critics of Islam. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Defense Ministry successfully conducts ballistic missile propulsion system test

Israelis were surprised when a rocket designed to propel satellites into space shot across the morning rush hour skies of central Israel, in a successfully planned launch by the Defense Ministry.

By Israel Hayom Staff

 

Israel conducted a test launch of a rocket propulsion system on Tuesday morning, the Defense Ministry announced. The test took place at a military base in central Israel.

A smoke trail is seen over central Israel, Tuesday morning – Photo: Beni Jajati

The Defense Ministry said the test was scheduled far in advance and was carried out as planned.

The system tested on Tuesday is designed to propel ballistic missiles that can carry satellites into space. Continue Reading »

Hezbollah attacks al-Qaida-linked group in Lebanon, near Syrian border

Fighters from pro-Assad Lebanese terror group Hezbollah clash in Lebanon with invading Syrian mujahideen, Nusra Front, opponents of the Damascus regime.

 

BEIRUT – Hezbollah fighters and gunmen from al-Qaida’s Syria wing Nusra Front clashed on Tuesday in eastern Lebanon near the border with Syria, Hezbollah’s television channel and a military source in the Lebanese group said.

Mujahideen members of al-Qaida’s‏ Nusra Front – Photo: REUTERS/file

The source said the group ambushed Nusra fighters in “advanced positions” in the outskirts of the mountain towns of Toufeil and Britel. Nusra Front fighters have regularly been active in areas close to the Syrian border and have targeted Hezbollah and Lebanese army positions in the past. Continue Reading »

Israeli Arab arrested for transferring funds for Hamas agents in West Bank

Malik Khatib from Kafr Kanna was indited for transferring funds from Hamas militants in Gaza to Palestinians in the West Bank and driving illegals from Gaza to Israel.

By Hassan Shaalan & Yoav Zitun

 

An indictment was filed Tuesday morning in the Nazareth District Court against Malik Khatib, 31, a dentist from the village of Kafr Kanna in northern Israel on suspicion he made contact with a Hamas agent and transferred funds to Hamas in Ramallah. He was also charged with illegal transportation and fraud under the Income Tax Ordinance.

Malik Khatib in court Tuesday. – Photo: Mohammad Shinawi

 

At his court hearing Tuesday, Khatib said: “I have no connection to Hamas, I have no connection to any of the allegations – everything is a lie. Continue Reading »

REPORT: Arab Foundation Including Terrorist Organization Funded IDF ‘Tattle-Tales’

Im Tirtzu says the Ramallah-based fund that includes the PFTP terrorist group, paid for the ‘Breaking the Silence’ report against IDF practices during Operation Protective Edge.

By Arutz Sheva staff

 

Grassroots Zionist students’ group Im Tirtzu has responded to a report blaming the IDF of misdeeds in Gaza by pointing to the fact that it was paid for by a Palestinian-Arab fund.

The report by Breaking the Silence is based on alleged testimony from 60 officers and soldiers who served in Operation Protective Edge. The “evidence” includes allegations of indiscriminate fire on civilian targets by soldiers who took part in the fighting against terrorist organizations Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others in the summer of 2014.

Continue Reading »

Islamic State supporters in Gaza give Hamas 72-hour ultimatum

By i24news

 

A group calling themselves “Supporters of the Islamic State in Beit al-Maqdis” in the Gaza Strip issued Monday a 72 hour ultimatum to Hamas to release their prisoners or face “dire consequences.”

Adnan Khader Mayat, Gaza strip Sheikh accused of being linked to Islamic State militants by Hamas

“Hamas and its security forces have 72 hours from the release of this statement to free all Salafist (jihadist) prisoners,” said the statement, adding that “all options are available” to free those prisoners and that “our soldiers are ready to act against chosen targets at the end of this ultimatum.”

Continue Reading »

Merkel joins US vets & Jewish survivors marking 70th anniversary of Dachau liberation

WATCH: German Chancellor Merkel says marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp, “There were unfathomable horrors everywhere. They all admonish us to never forget. No, we will never forget.”

 

Germans will never forget the “unfathomable horrors” that the Nazis inflicted at the death camps, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp near Munich.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and camp survivor Max Mannheimer (in wheelchair) prepare to lay a wreath at Dachau, Sunday – Photo: AP

In a moving speech to 120 elderly survivors from 20 nations and six U.S. Continue Reading »

After #BDSfail with Robbie Williams, movement uses social media to pressure Lauryn Hill

The anti-Israel BDS movement has been putting pressure on singer Lauryn Hill by intimidating her with a social media campaign incorporating memes, hashtags and YouTube video clip.

By LIOR PHILLIPS

 

It’s been a problematic month for R&B singer Lauryn Hill.

SINGER LAURYN HILL performs at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival California in 2011. BDS activists are pressuring Hill to cancel her upcoming performance in Israel, scheduled for this Thursday. – Photo: REUTERS

On Friday, the famed ex-Fugees superstar was set to perform in Lagos, Nigeria, but bowed out after travel delays forced her to cancel. Though the singer has since apologized by filming an acoustic version of her pop classic “Doo Wop (That Thing),” titled “A Message to Nigeria from Ms Lauryn Hill,” this isn’t her first cancellation misdemeanor. Continue Reading »

European Antisemitism Sending Scandinavia’s Jews Into Israeli Real Estate Market

Following in the footsteps of the Jews from France, Belgium & England, anti-Semitic attacks in Sweden and Denmark are motivating their Jewish communities to seek safety in Israel.

By Yael Darel, Calcalist

 

Foreigners purchasing real estate in the center of Israel is nothing new. Over the past year, however, the familiar buyers, from France, Belgium and England, have been joined by new players in the market – Scandinavian Jews, primarily from Sweden and Denmark, who have conducted dozens of real-estate deals in the country of late, focusing on apartments in high-rise buildings in Tel Aviv and Herzliya.

Prime real estate: Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv

Prime real estate: Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv

Some of the buyers have moved into their new apartments, and some are buying for investment purposes or in preparation for a possible move to Israel in the future.

Continue Reading »