Netanyahu at cabinet leads chorus of praise for Trump decision on Iran

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led a chorus of Israeli ministers praising U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision last week to decertify the Iranian nuclear deal, saying on Sunday (15th) that the decision provides an opportunity to alter the agreement and to stop Iran’s increasingly aggressive behavior in the region.
“I believe that every responsible government, and anyone who wants to promote peace and security in the world, needs to take advantage of this opportunity that President Trump’s decision created to improve or cancel the agreement, and of course to stop Iranian aggression,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.
(jpost.com)

Bennett: Israel cannot accept PA-Hamas reconciliation agreement

Education Minister Naftali Bennett on Friday (13th) said Israel cannot accept the reconciliation agreement between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas.
A tweet published on Bennett’s Twitter feed showed a picture of a Hamas terrorist captioned, “This is Saleh al-Arouri. He signed a ‘unity’ agreement yesterday with the PA, in the name of Hamas. He is the one who orchestrated the kidnapping of three teenage boys three years ago. This is a national terrorist government.”
“We have no moral right to stutter or give in. We must act with strength to fight these terrorists, and we must not be silent partners in the efforts to whitewash Hamas. Any cooperation with them will only encourage terror.”
(israelnn.com)

Report: Fatah demands Hamas stop terror attacks from West Bank

Fatah has reportedly demanded that Hamas stop its efforts to launch terror attacks against Israel from the West Bank as part of their reconciliation agreement, a Palestinian source told Ynet Sunday (15th).
Hamas, meanwhile, has set a condition of its own, demanding the Palestinian Authority stop the arrests of Hamas members in the West Bank, the source said.
In another report, Hamas sources told pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday (15th) that one of the conditions of the agreement is that Fatah and Hamas will make decisions of importance together, such as signing a peace agreement or launching a war against Israel.
(aawsat.com; ynetnews.com)

PA funds seized as restitution for tortured Palestinians

Israel’s Execution Office presented the Ministry of Finance with a foreclosure order on NIS 500,000 in Palestinian Authority (PA) funds, to be received as court-mandated reparations for ‘collaborators with Israel’ who were caught and tortured by the PA’s security forces.
The Execution Office is tasked with ensuring a debtor who received a favorable judgment receives their due recompense, and to that end is entitled to seize property or funds owned by the defendant.
The affair began several months ago, when the Jerusalem District Court ordered the PA to pay half a million shekels in restitution to 50 collaborators with Israel who were captured and tortured during interrogation.
The plaintiffs, who never received the money they were owed decided to contact Israel’s Execution Office to stop Israel’s regular transfer of funds to the PA.
(ynetnews.com; ap.com)

Palestinian arrested attempting to sneak bomb into military court

Israeli Border Policemen and the Israeli Military Police arrested a 17-year-old Palestinian Sunday (15th) attempting to enter the Samaria Military Court carrying in his underwear an explosive device.
Security forces stationed at the entrance of the court prevented the suspect from entering and transferred him for investigation before police sappers were called to the scene.
Sappers eventually neutralized the device with two controlled explosions near the site.
(ynetnews.com)

PM: ‘We help because we’re a light to the nations’

Over the weekend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked why Israel always sends aid to disaster areas around the world.
He responded with Biblical words,” Because we are a light unto the nations.” He explained, “We are fulfilling our deepest values.”
He said Iran is trying to put out that light.
(pmo.gov.il)

Putin to visit Iran before year-end

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to travel to Iran before the end of the year, where a trilateral Russia-Iran-Azerbaijan meeting will be held, Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Thursday (12th).
“Actually, it is,” he said when asked whether Putin’s visit to Iran is planned. The Kremlin aide declined though to give the exact date for the visit saying only that it will take place before the end of the year.
(imra.org.il)

Pence to be guest of honor at historic NYC Israeli celebration

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will be the guest of honor in an Israeli gathering celebrating seventy years since the November 29, 1947 United Nations vote that called for the establishment of a Jewish State. Pence will be the keynote speaker at the event hosted by Israel’s permanent mission to the United Nations.
The celebration will take place in New York’s Queens Museum, in the same building which served as the UN headquarters from 1946-1950. The Israeli delegation said that during the celebrations, the hall will be redesigned to appear in its original state from 1947.
“We are honored that Vice President Pence will join us when we celebrate seventy years since this momentous occasion,” said Ambassador Danny Danon. “From the moment President Truman became the first world leader to recognize the new Jewish state, Israel has had no better friend than the United States of America, and the U.S. has no more steadfast ally than the State of Israel.”
(jpost.com; reuters.com)

Uruguayan Holocaust memorial vandalized with anti-Semitic slurs

RIO DE JANEIRO – A Uruguayan Holocaust memorial rededicated last year was vandalized again with anti-Semitic graffiti minimizing the Holocaust.
“They have vandalized us again. What’s going on?” Montevideo Mayor Carlos Varela tweeted along with photos of the vandalized memorial.
Unveiled in 1994, the site has been hit several times in recent years.
This time vandals used black paint to write slurs, including “The Holocaust of the Jewish people is the biggest lie in history.” “Only 300,000 Jews died from Typhus,” and “gas chambers were a fraud.”
Uruguay is home to 12,000 Jews according to the Latin American Jewish Congress. It was the first country in South America to officially recognize Israel.
(jta.com)

Ireland’s Jewish population rose by nearly 29% in 5 years

The Jewish population of Ireland rose by 573 people to 2,557 since 2011, according to the 2016 census, the Irish Times reported on Friday (13th).
Some 56 percent of the Jews of Ireland, or 1,439, live in Dublin.
The increased numbers of Jews are believed to be part of a new influx of employees of hi-tech US multinational companies.
The population of Jews in Ireland had been steadily falling since the 1940s according to the paper. There was a high of 3,907 in Ireland in 1946.
(timesofisrael.com; irishtimes.com)