Hamas reiterates: We will never recognize Israel
A spokesman for Hamas reiterated on Wednesday (15th) that the terror group that rules the Gaza Strip will never recognize Israel’s right to exist, a firm prerequisite for peace.
Sami Abu Zuhri insisted that Hamas would remain true to its principles and work for the realization of national reconciliation and unify the Palestinian people to their agenda of “liberating” every last inch of the Holy Land.
The remarks were made at the opening session of the 26th International Conference of the Association of Islamic Organizations (ESAM) in Istanbul.
(israeltoday.com)
Abbas snubs U.S., continues payments to terrorists
Nabil Sha’at, Foreign Affairs advisor of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said that the Palestinian leadership would not capitulate to American threats to stop funding terrorists in Israeli jails.
Sha’at termed the terrorists “heroes” and said that the PA is responsible to them and their families.
Every Palestinian prisoner, Israeli Arab and Arab, is entitled to receive from the PA a monthly stipend which grows in proportion to the number of years they serve in jail. Israel and the U.S. see this as an expression of support for terror.
(israelnn.com)
Iranian base near Syrian border caught on camera
Israeli satellite photos published Thursday (16th) appear to strengthen a BBC report a week ago that Iran is building a permanent military base in Syria, 31 miles from Israel’s northern border.
The ImageSat International pictures, published by Hadashot News, show that renovations and alterations were currently undertaken at the site of al-Kiswah, some 8 miles south of Syria’s capital of damascus.
The images show a series of two dozen large low-rise buildings, likely for housing soldiers and vehicles.
Taken over several months, the pictures featured additional buildings being constructed.
(timesofisrael.com)
In first-ever Saudi interview, IDF head says ready to share intel on Iran
In an unprecedented interview to a Saudi news outlet, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot said Thursday (16th) that the Jewish state is prepared to share intelligence with the Gulf Kingdom in their joint effort to curb Iranian influence in the region.
Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have official diplomatic relations.
“We are ready to exchange experiences with moderate Arab countries and to exchange intelligence to confront Iran,” Eisenkot added.
(afp.com; jta.org)
80 members of ‘lost tribe’ arrive from India
About 80 immigrants from the lost tribe of Menashe (Manasseh) from northern India, arrived in Israel Thursday morning (16th), landing at Ben Gurion Airport, with the assistance of the Shavei Yisrael organization. This is the second group of Bnei Menashe to arrive this week, bringing the total number of new immigrants to 162.
At the airport, the immigrants were greeted with singing and dancing in a moving ceremony.
So far, 3,000 Bnei Menashe have immigrated to Israel in the last decade.
(israelnn.com)
Shock as German court rules Kuwait Airways can ban Israelis
BERLIN – A German court ruled Thursday (15th) that Kuwait’s national airline didn’t have to transport an Israeli citizen because the carrier would face legal repercussions at home if it did.
The Frankfurt state court noted in its decision that Kuwait Airways is not allowed to have contracts with Israelis under Kuwaiti law because of the Middle Eastern country’s boycott of Israel.
The court said it didn’t evaluate whether “this law makes sense,” but that the airline risked repercussions that were “not reasonable” for violating it, such as fines or prison time for employees.
(jpost.com; ap.com)
Rebuffing Palestinians, FIFA says “It’s not a playground” for politics
Unrelenting Palestinian efforts to have Israel sanctioned by FIFA over Israeli soccer clubs in the West Bank have deeply angered the world soccer organization, according to a Tuesday (14th) report from Israel’s Hadashot News.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, saying his organization was tired of being pulled into internal political matters.
“We are not the playground of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he wrote.
(walla.co.il)
Two ex-Nazi camp guards charged over hundreds of deaths
German prosecutors investigating Nazi-era crimes said on Wednesday (15th) they had charged two former SS officers in their 90s with complicity in hundreds of murders at the Stutthof concentration camp.
Some 65,000 people died at Stutthof, which Nazi Germany set up in 1939 outside the Polish city of Gdansk.
The two are accused of involvement in the mass killing of 100 Polish prisoners in a gas chamber at the camp and of another 77 wounded Soviet prisoners of war.
They are also accused of participating in the extermination of hundreds of Jews.
(afp.com)
Spain: Court suspends anti-Israel boycott motion in Seville
A Spanish court has dealt another legal blow to the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement operating in the country.
A district court in Seville issued a writ of interim injunction last week against the City Council of La Roda de Andalucia, concerning its boycott of Israeli products as well as its decision to support the BDS campaign.
This ruling hands the BDS campaign in La Roda, whose Council was the first in the world to join the boycott, “a serious loss and paves the way for further legal action against the enforcement of BDS policies,” the Lawfare Project, which conducted the legal battle, said.
This ruling is the latest in a long list of legal setbacks the BDS has suffered in Spain.
(worldisraelnews.com)
Buried testimony from the Warsaw Ghetto goes on display for the first time in Poland
WARSAW, Poland — Eyewitness accounts of Nazi atrocities found buried in the rubble of the Warsaw Ghetto have gone on display in Poland for the first time.
The exhibition, “What We Could Not Shout Out To The World,” includes more than 35,000 documents compiled and hidden by historian Emanuel Ringelblum and other Jews who lived in the ghetto.
The Ringelblum archive survived the destruction of the ghetto and World War II in 10 metal cases and two metal milk bottles that were recovered in 1946 and 1950, respectively.
The exhibition opened to the public Thursday (16th) at the Polish capital’s Jewish Historical Institute. It tells the story of Jewish life in the Warsaw Ghetto and its destruction by the Nazis.
(jta.org)
