News Archives - Page 27 of 48

Report on 2014 Gaza War slams Netanyahu, military leadership

hzFebruary 28, 2017News

JTA

Israel’s prime minister, defense minister and army chief of staff did not update the Security Cabinet about the serious threat of Hamas tunnels from Gaza, the nation’s state comptroller said in a report on the 2014 Gaza War.

The Security Cabinet did not have enough information about the threat posed by the tunnels to make decisions about how to proceed during the war, leaving the Israeli military unprepared, Yosef Shapira wrote in the 200-page report released Tuesday afternoon.

The government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not provide the military with clear objectives for the war and also failed in the one identified objective of what was dubbed Operation Protective Edge — to identify and destroy the tunnels. According to the report, which also scored then-Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, the Israel Defense Forces only destroyed about half the cross-border tunnels.

The report also criticized the Security Cabinet for not holding discussions on and dealing with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including the collapse of infrastructure including water and electricity.

hzFebruary 27, 2017News

NBC

Sgt. Yossef Saluta

The Star of David is the best-known symbol of Jewish identity and of patriotism for the state of Israel.

So it may come as a surprise that a six-pointed star hangs around the neck of Sgt. Yossef Saluta, a Muslim Arab.

The 20-year-old poses proudly wearing the necklace and his Israeli army uniform, a rifle slung over his shoulder. He is among a tiny but growing number of Arab Israelis to defy tradition — and often their communities — to serve in the Israeli military.

“There is more openness among Arab Muslims that are not Bedouins to volunteer and join the army,” according to Col. Wagdi Sarhan, the head of the minorities unit in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). “We’re talking about recruitment of dozens of Arab Muslim youth and we are hopeful that the numbers will grow.”

hzFebruary 27, 2017February 27, 2017News

JTA

The Israeli Air Force retaliated for rocket fire from Gaza with strikes targeting five Hamas positions in the coastal strip.

It was not known if the targeted positions were hit by Monday’s airstrikes, which came in response to a rocket fired hours earlier that landed in an open area of the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council in southern Israel early in the morning, the Israel Defense Forces spokesman said. No damage or injuries were reported.

hzFebruary 27, 2017February 27, 2017News

Times of Israel

Opposition Leader Isaac Herzo

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog on Monday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to establish an “emergency national program” to prepare for “waves” of Jewish immigration, amid a series of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States and France.

“I wish to express my shock and vociferous condemnation of the outbreak of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States, France and other places around the world,” Herzog told his weekly Zionist Union faction meeting.

hzFebruary 27, 2017February 27, 2017News

Algemeiner

The late IDF Lt. Hadar Goldin’s parents visit a California mosque

The recent hosting by a California mosque of the parents of a fallen IDF soldier whose body is still held by Hamas was a “humanitarian gesture” meant to “help the healing process,” a mosque official told The Algemeiner on Monday.

“We’re American Muslims and it was an appropriate thing for us to do,” Mohammed Akbar Khan — the director of public relations and interfaith outreach at the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City — said of last week’s visit by Simha and Leah Goldin, the father and mother of the late Lt. Hadar Goldin, who fell in battle in the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge in August 2014.

hzFebruary 26, 2017February 26, 2017News

JTA

An armed French police officer in Paris

Two Jewish brothers said they were abducted briefly and beaten by several men in suburban Paris in an incident that ended with one brother having his finger sawed off by an assailant.

The brothers were hospitalized in what was described as a state of shock following the incident Tuesday night in Bondy. A case report published Thursday by the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, based on a police complaint by the alleged victims did not specify their medical condition.

hzFebruary 26, 2017February 26, 2017News

JTA

Vice President Mike Pence

Vice President Mike Pence pledged to Jewish Republicans that the Trump administration would “never allow” Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, but walked back President Donald Trump’s promise to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

“We told the ayatollahs of Iran they should check the calendar, there’s a new president in the Oval Office,” Pence said Friday addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership conference during Shabbat dinner.

hzFebruary 26, 2017February 26, 2017News

Times of Israel

Human Rights Watch Israel and Palestine director Omar Shakir

Israel said an American employee of Human Rights Watch may enter the country on a tourist visa and should reapply for a work visa, days after barring his entry for alleged anti-Israel bias.

“This is to clarify that the HRW representative may enter Israel with a tourist visa,” said Itai Bar-Dov, the spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington. “With regard to the working visa, this may be reconsidered if the organization appeals the Ministry of Interior decision.”

hzFebruary 25, 2017News

Times of Israel

Tom Perez

Former labor secretary Tom Perez was elected as the Democratic National Committee’s new chairman Saturday, narrowly defeating his chief rival, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, after a contentious campaign. Perez immediately named Ellison his deputy.

The four-month race drew controversy over the Minnesota legislator’s past record of associations with known anti-Semitic figures and critical stances on Israel. His alliance with much of the progressive wing of the party threatened to divide the Democrats as they seek to revitalize themselves after tough losses in the 2016 election.

hzFebruary 25, 2017February 25, 2017News

Times of Israel

J Street’s national conference, which formally gets under way on Sunday after a gala opening on Saturday night, will host a slew of prominent liberal Democrats, numerous members of Congress, a handful of Knesset members and no Republican speakers.

The speaking lineup for the liberal Jewish lobby group’s sixth confab — which runs from February 26-28 at the Washington Convention Center — includes three senators and three House members; four Knesset members and one Palestinian Authority official; one former US secretary of state and one former US negotiator on Israeli-Palestinian peace; many Democrats but no members of the Trump administration. Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were invited but did not respond. (Secretary of state John Kerry and vice president Joe Biden spoke at last year’s conference.)

Report on 2014 Gaza War slams Netanyahu, military leadership

Arab Israelis Are Joining the IDF in Growing Numbers: Officials

Israeli retaliatory airstrikes target Hamas positions in Gaza

Amid US, France anti-Semitic attacks, Herzog says Israel must prepare for ‘waves’ of immigrants

In ‘Humanitarian Gesture’ Meant to ‘Help the Healing Process,’ California Mosque Hosts Parents of Fallen IDF Soldier Whose Body Is Still Held by Hamas

Report: Attackers saw off Jewish man’s finger, beat his brother near Paris

Pence pledges Trump will keep Iran from going nuclear, walks back Jerusalem promise

Israel walks back barring Human Rights Watch worker from country

Tom Perez elected to chair DNC, names defeated Keith Ellison as his deputy

6 members of Congress, 4 MKs, 1 Palestinian negotiator, no top Republicans at J Street confab