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Latest news briefs from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Wednesday, December 8, 2004
(JTA) - Mubarak pushes peace
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is reportedly brokering peace among Israel, the Palestinians and the wider Arab world. The official Egyptian news agency MENA said this week that Mubarak had brought Israeli and Palestinian officials close to a cease-fire agreement that would pave the way for implementing the U.S.-led "road map" for peace. Jerusalem sources confirmed the report Wednesday, saying it was in line with Israel's demand that the Palestinian Authority crack down on terrorism so the Jewish state can scale down its military countermeasures in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Mubarak also flew to Kuwait on Tuesday for what Ha'aretz said would be an effort to push Gulf states into normalizing ties with Israel. Cairo and Jerusalem did not comment, but the report appeared to be consistent with recent assertions by Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom that, following the rapprochement with Egypt, as many as 10 Arab states could open diplomatic missions in Israel.
(JTA) - Shooting of Palestinian probed
Israeli top brass are investigating whether shots fired accidentally by troops in the Gaza Strip killed a Palestinian youth. The probe was announced Wednesday after testimony surfaced linking the slaying last summer of a 15-year-old outside the Morag settlement to soldiers who were on a hike. The Palestinian's father said the boy was hit seven times in the head by deliberate Israeli gunfire. Reports from inside the ranks indicated that one or more of the soldiers may have fired the shots for fun, and accidentally hit the youth.
(JTA) - Sharon praises soldiers
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon praised the morality of Israel's troops. "Israel Defense Force soldiers are most ethical in their operations, compared to any other army I know of in the world," Sharon told reporters Wednesday, playing down mounting reports of abuse of Palestinians at the hands of the military. "If there is a failure, it must be examined. But again, we must understand who the army is facing," Sharon said, referring to Palestinian terrorists. There has been much soul-searching in the Israeli military over recent weeks following high-profile allegations of troops abusing Palestinians.
(JTA) - Amir fiancee defends her man
Yigal Amir's fiancee used an Internet blog to defend his assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. "For Yigal, the religious and rational reasons were equally important," Larissa Trimbobbler said Wednesday in a blog written in her native Russian. The Prisons Service has refused to allow conjugal visits for Amir, who is serving a life sentence in isolation for shooting Rabin dead during a 1995 rally celebrating the Oslo peace accords. For Amir, "it was also important that most of the nation did not accept the Oslo accord which was ratified in the Knesset on the strength of Arab votes," Trimbobbler wrote.
(JTA) - Chanukah candle lit at Ground Zero
An Israeli official and the daughter of a man killed on Sept. 11 lit the first candle at a Chanukah ceremony at New York's Ground Zero. Israel's consul general in New York, Arye Mekel, and Laura Lehrfeld, whose father, Eric, died in the 2001 attack, lit the candle Tuesday. The event was organized by the New York Board of Rabbis.
(JTA) - Swiss Jewish students group off list
Switzerland's Justice Department admitted it had wrongly classified a Jewish student group as an extremist organization. In a report published in August, the department said that the Geneva Jewish Students Association was linked with the far-right Jewish group, Kahane Chai, adding that the students owned firearms and operated a security service. However, in a recently amended report, the justice department dropped the reference to the student body, saying it had been added erroneously.
(JTA) - Progress in Parkinson's research
Israeli scientists made what is being called a major breakthrough in treating Parkinson's disease. The researchers at Hadassah University Medical center in Jerusalem succeeded in showing that embryonic stem cells can help laboratory rats with Parkinson's. According to a statement from Hadassah, the research could help lead to a cure for those with Parkinson's, a degenerative disease of the nervous system that affects millions of people around the world.
(JTA) - Israeli cafe on eBay
A cafe in a historic Tel Aviv neighborhood is up for sale on eBay. Cafe Ta'anug, which sits across from the site where Israel's Declaration of Independence was signed, is being offered for $900,000 on the online auction's real estate section, Ha'aretz reported.
(JTA) - Changes in kosher slaughterhouse
The Orthodox Union is vowing to institute changes at a kosher slaughterhouse it supervises following complaints from a strident animal rights group. The changes to be made at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville, Iowa, by the Orthodox Union, the largest kosher supervisory organization in the United States, came after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals released a video that placed slaughter practices at the plant under question and after the group filed lawsuits with the U.S. Department of Agriculture against both the plant and the Orthodox Union. The changes are the latest developments in a case that has shined the spotlight on a religious practice that gets little public attention.
(JTA) - FBI inquiry into expert's death
The FBI is investigating the death of an American Jewish terrorism expert. Jason Korsower, 29, died in his sleep in his Washington apartment Nov. 26. An autopsy has proven inconclusive, his family said, and the FBI is looking into his death. Citing policy, the FBI refused to confirm or deny that it was investigating the death of the Atlanta native. Korsower worked for the Investigative Project, which is run by Steve Emerson, an expert on Islamist terrorism who has received death threats.
(JTA) - Kosher inmate wins court battle
A U.S. court ruled in favor of an inmate who wants to wear a yarmulke and receive kosher food in jail. On Dec. 2, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta unanimously upheld as constitutional a law passed by Congress that requires state prisons receiving federal funds to allow inmates to exercise their religion. The ruling was a victory for Ralph Benning, 40, who is serving a life sentence for murder in a Georgia jail.
(JTA) - Checking books out again in Montreal
A library at a Jewish school in Montreal reopened eight months after it was firebombed. The reopening of the United Talmud Torah school this week coincides with Chanukah. Donations came in from across Canada to help cover the $500,000 cost of rebuilding the library. Two people have pleaded not guilty to charges in the April attack.
(JTA) - Lebanese soldiers become Israeli
Israel granted citizenship to members of its former allied militia, the South Lebanon Army. In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Knesset ratified a bill from Labor legislator Yitzhak Herzog naturalizing thousands of SLA soldiers and their relatives who fled to Israel as it withdrew from its security zone in southern Lebanon in May 2000. The predominantly Christian militiamen are seen as traitors in Lebanon, and many have been sentenced to death or long prison terms in absentia. Former SLA men who served for at least a year in the militia are eligible for a goodwill grant of $9,000 from Israel's Defense Ministry.
(JTA) - Israeli extradited to Britain
Israel extradited a murder suspect to Britain. Andrei Melnikov, suspected of killing an escaped Israeli convict in a London hotel last March, was flown to Britain on Tuesday, legal sources said. A second Israeli suspect in the case, who took refuge in Belgium, was extradited for trial in October. JTA END
(JTA) - Mubarak pushes peace
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is reportedly brokering peace among Israel, the Palestinians and the wider Arab world. The official Egyptian news agency MENA said this week that Mubarak had brought Israeli and Palestinian officials close to a cease-fire agreement that would pave the way for implementing the U.S.-led "road map" for peace. Jerusalem sources confirmed the report Wednesday, saying it was in line with Israel's demand that the Palestinian Authority crack down on terrorism so the Jewish state can scale down its military countermeasures in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Mubarak also flew to Kuwait on Tuesday for what Ha'aretz said would be an effort to push Gulf states into normalizing ties with Israel. Cairo and Jerusalem did not comment, but the report appeared to be consistent with recent assertions by Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom that, following the rapprochement with Egypt, as many as 10 Arab states could open diplomatic missions in Israel.
(JTA) - Shooting of Palestinian probed
Israeli top brass are investigating whether shots fired accidentally by troops in the Gaza Strip killed a Palestinian youth. The probe was announced Wednesday after testimony surfaced linking the slaying last summer of a 15-year-old outside the Morag settlement to soldiers who were on a hike. The Palestinian's father said the boy was hit seven times in the head by deliberate Israeli gunfire. Reports from inside the ranks indicated that one or more of the soldiers may have fired the shots for fun, and accidentally hit the youth.
(JTA) - Sharon praises soldiers
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon praised the morality of Israel's troops. "Israel Defense Force soldiers are most ethical in their operations, compared to any other army I know of in the world," Sharon told reporters Wednesday, playing down mounting reports of abuse of Palestinians at the hands of the military. "If there is a failure, it must be examined. But again, we must understand who the army is facing," Sharon said, referring to Palestinian terrorists. There has been much soul-searching in the Israeli military over recent weeks following high-profile allegations of troops abusing Palestinians.
(JTA) - Amir fiancee defends her man
Yigal Amir's fiancee used an Internet blog to defend his assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. "For Yigal, the religious and rational reasons were equally important," Larissa Trimbobbler said Wednesday in a blog written in her native Russian. The Prisons Service has refused to allow conjugal visits for Amir, who is serving a life sentence in isolation for shooting Rabin dead during a 1995 rally celebrating the Oslo peace accords. For Amir, "it was also important that most of the nation did not accept the Oslo accord which was ratified in the Knesset on the strength of Arab votes," Trimbobbler wrote.
(JTA) - Chanukah candle lit at Ground Zero
An Israeli official and the daughter of a man killed on Sept. 11 lit the first candle at a Chanukah ceremony at New York's Ground Zero. Israel's consul general in New York, Arye Mekel, and Laura Lehrfeld, whose father, Eric, died in the 2001 attack, lit the candle Tuesday. The event was organized by the New York Board of Rabbis.
(JTA) - Swiss Jewish students group off list
Switzerland's Justice Department admitted it had wrongly classified a Jewish student group as an extremist organization. In a report published in August, the department said that the Geneva Jewish Students Association was linked with the far-right Jewish group, Kahane Chai, adding that the students owned firearms and operated a security service. However, in a recently amended report, the justice department dropped the reference to the student body, saying it had been added erroneously.
(JTA) - Progress in Parkinson's research
Israeli scientists made what is being called a major breakthrough in treating Parkinson's disease. The researchers at Hadassah University Medical center in Jerusalem succeeded in showing that embryonic stem cells can help laboratory rats with Parkinson's. According to a statement from Hadassah, the research could help lead to a cure for those with Parkinson's, a degenerative disease of the nervous system that affects millions of people around the world.
(JTA) - Israeli cafe on eBay
A cafe in a historic Tel Aviv neighborhood is up for sale on eBay. Cafe Ta'anug, which sits across from the site where Israel's Declaration of Independence was signed, is being offered for $900,000 on the online auction's real estate section, Ha'aretz reported.
(JTA) - Changes in kosher slaughterhouse
The Orthodox Union is vowing to institute changes at a kosher slaughterhouse it supervises following complaints from a strident animal rights group. The changes to be made at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville, Iowa, by the Orthodox Union, the largest kosher supervisory organization in the United States, came after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals released a video that placed slaughter practices at the plant under question and after the group filed lawsuits with the U.S. Department of Agriculture against both the plant and the Orthodox Union. The changes are the latest developments in a case that has shined the spotlight on a religious practice that gets little public attention.
(JTA) - FBI inquiry into expert's death
The FBI is investigating the death of an American Jewish terrorism expert. Jason Korsower, 29, died in his sleep in his Washington apartment Nov. 26. An autopsy has proven inconclusive, his family said, and the FBI is looking into his death. Citing policy, the FBI refused to confirm or deny that it was investigating the death of the Atlanta native. Korsower worked for the Investigative Project, which is run by Steve Emerson, an expert on Islamist terrorism who has received death threats.
(JTA) - Kosher inmate wins court battle
A U.S. court ruled in favor of an inmate who wants to wear a yarmulke and receive kosher food in jail. On Dec. 2, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta unanimously upheld as constitutional a law passed by Congress that requires state prisons receiving federal funds to allow inmates to exercise their religion. The ruling was a victory for Ralph Benning, 40, who is serving a life sentence for murder in a Georgia jail.
(JTA) - Checking books out again in Montreal
A library at a Jewish school in Montreal reopened eight months after it was firebombed. The reopening of the United Talmud Torah school this week coincides with Chanukah. Donations came in from across Canada to help cover the $500,000 cost of rebuilding the library. Two people have pleaded not guilty to charges in the April attack.
(JTA) - Lebanese soldiers become Israeli
Israel granted citizenship to members of its former allied militia, the South Lebanon Army. In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Knesset ratified a bill from Labor legislator Yitzhak Herzog naturalizing thousands of SLA soldiers and their relatives who fled to Israel as it withdrew from its security zone in southern Lebanon in May 2000. The predominantly Christian militiamen are seen as traitors in Lebanon, and many have been sentenced to death or long prison terms in absentia. Former SLA men who served for at least a year in the militia are eligible for a goodwill grant of $9,000 from Israel's Defense Ministry.
(JTA) - Israeli extradited to Britain
Israel extradited a murder suspect to Britain. Andrei Melnikov, suspected of killing an escaped Israeli convict in a London hotel last March, was flown to Britain on Tuesday, legal sources said. A second Israeli suspect in the case, who took refuge in Belgium, was extradited for trial in October. JTA END
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