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Latest news briefs from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
(JTA) - Abbas tackles violence
Palestinian Authority presidential hopeful Mahmoud Abbas called for an end to violence against Israelis. "Our uprising should be social and popular in nature," Abbas, the dominant Fatah faction's candidate to succeed the late Yasser Arafat in Jan. 9 elections, told the London-based newspaper Al-Sharq al- Awsat on Tuesday. "Resorting to arms has been harmful" to Palestinians, he said. "This should be stopped and calm restored." Abbas has said Israeli and U.S. calls to crack down on Palestinian terrorists as the Palestinian Authority repeatedly has committed itself to do are unrealistic, saying that instead he hopes to integrate Hamas and a kindred terrorist group, Islamic Jihad, under the Palestine Liberation Organization, which he now heads. In a separate development, Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal told the BBC that his group had been in contact with the United States and the European Union. There was no immediate comment from Washington and Brussels, both of which have blacklisted Hamas as a terrorist group.
(JTA) - Gaza crackdown looms
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon authorized an Israeli crackdown on Gaza Strip tunnelers. Military sources said Tuesday there would be imminent action against Palestinian terrorist groups that increasingly have used tunnels to stage attacks on Israeli troops and smuggle arms into Gaza. On Sunday, Hamas and another group, the Fatah Hawks, killed five Israeli soldiers by detonating mines in a tunnel under their outpost. Operations now planned include targeted attacks on Palestinians leading the digs and raids to uncover new tunnels. Overnight, Israeli forces demolished 10 homes in the central Gaza town of Khan Younis that had been used for mortar attacks against nearby Jewish settlements.
(JTA) - Israel-Egypt deal clinched
Israel, Egypt and the United States signed a sweeping trade accord. Under the agreement clinched Tuesday in Cairo, Israel will open businesses in seven Qualified Industrial Zones in Egypt, whose products will enjoy waivers of import duties to the United States. Israel hopes the agreement, modeled on one it has with Jordan, will boost ties with Egypt. "This is good business for all of us and it will also be one more important ingredient to change the atmosphere in the Middle East," Israeli Trade Minister Ehud Olmert said at a press conference alongside his Egyptian counterpart, Rachid Mohamed Rachid.
(JTA) - Study: Immigrants an asset
A new study found that recent North American immigrants to Israel are a major economic asset to the Jewish state. Each adult North American immigrant represents about $200,000 in value to the Israeli economy upon his or her arrival, according to a study commissioned by Nefesh B'Nefesh, a grassroots organization that encourages North American aliyah. The findings of the report and the announcement that almost 3,000 North American Jews immigrated to Israel in 2004 a 20 percent increase from last year were presented at a news conference Tuesday sponsored by Nefesh B'Nefesh and the Jewish Agency for Israel, which works with the private group. The study calculated the immigrants' value based on their high level of education, work experience, savings and ability to contribute to the Israeli labor market. Nefesh B'Nefesh said the immigrants they have helped bring to Israel in the past three years are "the group with the greatest potential economic contribution in the history of aliyah." The report was criticized by some who said it suggests that bringing North American immigrants should be more of a priority than those from less developed countries.
(JTA) - Lawmakers want Gold Train resolution
Lawmakers are asking the U.S. attorney general nominee to push for a resolution to the Hungarian Gold Train case. Eleven lawmakers signed a letter to Alberto Gonzales, currently the White House counsel, asking him to direct the Justice Department to end efforts to have the case dismissed. Hungarian-born Jews are suing the U.S. government, claiming it mishandled property seized from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "We also hope that your appointment as attorney general will be an opportunity to reach a fair and expeditious resolution to the case," read the letter, authored by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.). "Proper restitution for Holocaust survivors is clearly central to your vision of 'the department's commitment to justice for every American.' "
(JTA) - Rabbi under fire
An Israeli military rabbi received death threats after helping evacuate a West Bank settlement outpost. Military sources said Tuesday that two bodyguards had been assigned to Lt. Col. Yehuda Vizner, chief rabbi of the Army Central Command. The concern is that he could come under attack from right-wing extremists once Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from the Palestinians by removing all settlements from the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank gets under way. A few months ago, Vizner was roughed up by Jewish vigilantes in Jerusalem in what authorities saw as a reprisal for his participation in the removal of an illegal outpost. He has since received several anonymous death threats, sources said.
(JTA) - Brides spared lessons
Israel's chief rabbinate dropped a requirement that Jewish brides-to-be undergo lessons on "wifely behavior." The decision to limit mandatory prenuptial classes to matters dealing directly with the religious wedding ritual was made this week after the High Court of Justice found in favor of a petition filed by the Center for Pluralistic Judaism lobby. Prompted by a television expose on rabbis who force secular prospective brides to hear lectures on how to "properly" tend to their future husbands, the petitioners argued that it was a violation of the freedom of worship. Feminist and non-Orthodox lobbies long have challenged the rabbinate's grip on life-cycle rituals in the Jewish state.
(JTA) - Mutilating mohel sued
An Israeli boy who suffered a botched circumcision was awarded $400,000. Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court found Tuesday that the mohel who operated on the boy, now nine years old and undergoing remedial surgery, was liable for damages caused to the boy's penis. The court rejected a request by the mohel for his employer, Gan Yavne Religious Council, to be equally liable in the lawsuit.
(JTA) - Mossad afoot in Syria again?
Syria accused Israel of trying to assassinate a Hamas man in Damascus. A member of the Islamic terrorist group, who was not immediately named, escaped a blast that tore through his car in the Syrian capital Monday. Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan blamed the Mossad for the bomb, which reportedly was planted under the car seat and detonated shortly after the terrorist and his daughter parked and departed. An Israeli official declined comment on the charge, saying only that Syria should crack down on terrorist groups, as required by the international community. In September, a similar attack killed Hamas mastermind Izzadin Sheikh Khalil in Damascus, and The Associated Press cited Israeli security sources as taking responsibility.
(JTA) - French ban Hezbollah station
A French court ordered a satellite company to cease broadcasts from Hezbollah's TV station. In its decision Monday, the Council of State, France's highest administrative court, gave the Eutelstat satellite provider 48 hours to end the broadcasts. Failure to do so would result in a fine of around $6,500 for every day the channel continues to broadcast. Eutelstat hosts the channel, which broadcasts throughout the 25-member European Union. The decision follows an appeal by Jewish groups and France's public broadcasting authority to the court after the Al-Manar station continued to broadcast anti-Semitic material in breach of an agreement it signed with the authority last month. Among various claims in recent Al-Manar programs was the accusation that Jews spread AIDS in Arab countries. In the ruling, the court said that Al-Manar programs "fall within a militant perspective which includes anti-Semitic connotations." The American Jewish Committee recently wrote to U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow asking that Al-Manar be banned in the United States under existing counterterrorism legislation or by executive order.
(JTA) - Jews up Sudan effort
Jewish groups will launch an educational program for at-risk Sudanese children. The program will take place in Chad, home to more than 200,000 people made refugees by Janjaweed militias backed by the Sudanese government. The $100,000 program is funded through a grant to the Jewish Coalition for Sudan Relief by the American Jewish World Service, the State of Israel, the UJA-Federation of New York, Union of Reform Judaism and United Jewish Communities of Metrowest, N.J.
(JTA) - Jews take sides on commandments case
Several Jewish groups are taking sides on a pending case at the U.S. Supreme Court on the public display of the Ten Commandments. A coalition of Jewish groups filed an amicus brief Monday on the case, Van Orden v. Perry, which involves a granite monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds. The brief suggests the monument violates the separation of church and state and shows an "unacceptable preference for Judeo-Christian faiths." The brief is authored by the American Jewish Congress and signed by the American Jewish Committee, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Union of Reform Judaism, Americans for Religious Liberty and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. A separate brief submitted Monday by the Anti-Defamation League also asks the court to rule the commandments are unconstitutional. The National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs, which represents the Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America, is expected to file a brief in the near future supporting the display as constitutional and endorsing its religious pronouncements.
(JTA) - Sharon to U.S.: No direct P.A. funding
Ariel Sharon told two top congressional leaders that the United States should not directly fund the Palestinian Authority. Reps. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), their parties' whips, are leading the third high-level congressional delegation to Israel in recent months. In his meeting Monday, the Israeli prime minister said the United States should focus on investment and not directly fund the Palestinian Authority because such money might have been used in the past to fund terrorism. The United States last week allocated $22.5 million in direct funding to the Palestinian Authority, though a significant portion of that sum reportedly was earmarked for Israeli companies that provide utilities to the Palestinians. The congressional delegation also met with Israeli Labor Party leader Shimon Peres and Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian Authority official.
(JTA) - Somerville: No divestment
A Boston suburb rejected a proposal to drop its investments in Israel. Somerville's Board of Alderman voted against the measure Dec. 11, five weeks after it was introduced. Drafted by the Somerville Divestment Project, the bill called on the city to drop Israel Bonds from its $137.4 million pension fund, and end investments in American companies that provide military products to Israel, according to the Boston Globe. Somerville's mayor had said he would veto a divestment plan. "Defeating divestment in Somerville sends a strong message to anyone who thinks that blaming one side only for the conflict in the Middle East is a way to achieve peace," Nancy Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, said in a statement. "Peace will only come when terror and violence end and Israelis and Palestinians return to the negotiating table in good faith."
(JTA) - Kach man watched
A right-wing Israeli activist was placed under house arrest. Noam Federman, a leading member of the outlawed group Kach, was banned from leaving his home in the West Bank city of Hebron after sunset as of Monday. Israeli authorities accuse Federman of fomenting violent resistance to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate Gaza Strip settlers next year, a charge he denies. Earlier this year, Federman spent six months in administrative detention but was released after the Shin Bet failed to produce evidence that he was a threat to national security.
(JTA) - Heavenly credit
An Israeli bank plans to offer credit cards that can't be used on Shabbat. Bank Leumi said this week that the initiative was launched at the behest of Orthodox customers, but that it is not yet known when the card will officially be offered. Available under VISA and Mastercard, the card would automatically disable itself during Shabbat. Some press reports suggested it might only be usable in stores that also honor the holy day.
(JTA) - Paying his Druse
Ariel Sharon reportedly wants a Druse diplomat to be Israel's next ambassador in Cairo. The Yediot Achronot newspaper reported Monday that the Israeli prime minister had tapped Magali Wahaba, a loyalist in his Likud Party, to replace Eli Shaked when his term in Egypt ends. Sharon's office declined comment. Members of Israel's Druse community have a mixed reputation in Egypt. Last week, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered the release of Azzam Azzam, an Israeli Druse who had been jailed on espionage charges that both Azzam and Israel vehemently denied. JTA END
(JTA) - Abbas tackles violence
Palestinian Authority presidential hopeful Mahmoud Abbas called for an end to violence against Israelis. "Our uprising should be social and popular in nature," Abbas, the dominant Fatah faction's candidate to succeed the late Yasser Arafat in Jan. 9 elections, told the London-based newspaper Al-Sharq al- Awsat on Tuesday. "Resorting to arms has been harmful" to Palestinians, he said. "This should be stopped and calm restored." Abbas has said Israeli and U.S. calls to crack down on Palestinian terrorists as the Palestinian Authority repeatedly has committed itself to do are unrealistic, saying that instead he hopes to integrate Hamas and a kindred terrorist group, Islamic Jihad, under the Palestine Liberation Organization, which he now heads. In a separate development, Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal told the BBC that his group had been in contact with the United States and the European Union. There was no immediate comment from Washington and Brussels, both of which have blacklisted Hamas as a terrorist group.
(JTA) - Gaza crackdown looms
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon authorized an Israeli crackdown on Gaza Strip tunnelers. Military sources said Tuesday there would be imminent action against Palestinian terrorist groups that increasingly have used tunnels to stage attacks on Israeli troops and smuggle arms into Gaza. On Sunday, Hamas and another group, the Fatah Hawks, killed five Israeli soldiers by detonating mines in a tunnel under their outpost. Operations now planned include targeted attacks on Palestinians leading the digs and raids to uncover new tunnels. Overnight, Israeli forces demolished 10 homes in the central Gaza town of Khan Younis that had been used for mortar attacks against nearby Jewish settlements.
(JTA) - Israel-Egypt deal clinched
Israel, Egypt and the United States signed a sweeping trade accord. Under the agreement clinched Tuesday in Cairo, Israel will open businesses in seven Qualified Industrial Zones in Egypt, whose products will enjoy waivers of import duties to the United States. Israel hopes the agreement, modeled on one it has with Jordan, will boost ties with Egypt. "This is good business for all of us and it will also be one more important ingredient to change the atmosphere in the Middle East," Israeli Trade Minister Ehud Olmert said at a press conference alongside his Egyptian counterpart, Rachid Mohamed Rachid.
(JTA) - Study: Immigrants an asset
A new study found that recent North American immigrants to Israel are a major economic asset to the Jewish state. Each adult North American immigrant represents about $200,000 in value to the Israeli economy upon his or her arrival, according to a study commissioned by Nefesh B'Nefesh, a grassroots organization that encourages North American aliyah. The findings of the report and the announcement that almost 3,000 North American Jews immigrated to Israel in 2004 a 20 percent increase from last year were presented at a news conference Tuesday sponsored by Nefesh B'Nefesh and the Jewish Agency for Israel, which works with the private group. The study calculated the immigrants' value based on their high level of education, work experience, savings and ability to contribute to the Israeli labor market. Nefesh B'Nefesh said the immigrants they have helped bring to Israel in the past three years are "the group with the greatest potential economic contribution in the history of aliyah." The report was criticized by some who said it suggests that bringing North American immigrants should be more of a priority than those from less developed countries.
(JTA) - Lawmakers want Gold Train resolution
Lawmakers are asking the U.S. attorney general nominee to push for a resolution to the Hungarian Gold Train case. Eleven lawmakers signed a letter to Alberto Gonzales, currently the White House counsel, asking him to direct the Justice Department to end efforts to have the case dismissed. Hungarian-born Jews are suing the U.S. government, claiming it mishandled property seized from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "We also hope that your appointment as attorney general will be an opportunity to reach a fair and expeditious resolution to the case," read the letter, authored by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.). "Proper restitution for Holocaust survivors is clearly central to your vision of 'the department's commitment to justice for every American.' "
(JTA) - Rabbi under fire
An Israeli military rabbi received death threats after helping evacuate a West Bank settlement outpost. Military sources said Tuesday that two bodyguards had been assigned to Lt. Col. Yehuda Vizner, chief rabbi of the Army Central Command. The concern is that he could come under attack from right-wing extremists once Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from the Palestinians by removing all settlements from the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank gets under way. A few months ago, Vizner was roughed up by Jewish vigilantes in Jerusalem in what authorities saw as a reprisal for his participation in the removal of an illegal outpost. He has since received several anonymous death threats, sources said.
(JTA) - Brides spared lessons
Israel's chief rabbinate dropped a requirement that Jewish brides-to-be undergo lessons on "wifely behavior." The decision to limit mandatory prenuptial classes to matters dealing directly with the religious wedding ritual was made this week after the High Court of Justice found in favor of a petition filed by the Center for Pluralistic Judaism lobby. Prompted by a television expose on rabbis who force secular prospective brides to hear lectures on how to "properly" tend to their future husbands, the petitioners argued that it was a violation of the freedom of worship. Feminist and non-Orthodox lobbies long have challenged the rabbinate's grip on life-cycle rituals in the Jewish state.
(JTA) - Mutilating mohel sued
An Israeli boy who suffered a botched circumcision was awarded $400,000. Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court found Tuesday that the mohel who operated on the boy, now nine years old and undergoing remedial surgery, was liable for damages caused to the boy's penis. The court rejected a request by the mohel for his employer, Gan Yavne Religious Council, to be equally liable in the lawsuit.
(JTA) - Mossad afoot in Syria again?
Syria accused Israel of trying to assassinate a Hamas man in Damascus. A member of the Islamic terrorist group, who was not immediately named, escaped a blast that tore through his car in the Syrian capital Monday. Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan blamed the Mossad for the bomb, which reportedly was planted under the car seat and detonated shortly after the terrorist and his daughter parked and departed. An Israeli official declined comment on the charge, saying only that Syria should crack down on terrorist groups, as required by the international community. In September, a similar attack killed Hamas mastermind Izzadin Sheikh Khalil in Damascus, and The Associated Press cited Israeli security sources as taking responsibility.
(JTA) - French ban Hezbollah station
A French court ordered a satellite company to cease broadcasts from Hezbollah's TV station. In its decision Monday, the Council of State, France's highest administrative court, gave the Eutelstat satellite provider 48 hours to end the broadcasts. Failure to do so would result in a fine of around $6,500 for every day the channel continues to broadcast. Eutelstat hosts the channel, which broadcasts throughout the 25-member European Union. The decision follows an appeal by Jewish groups and France's public broadcasting authority to the court after the Al-Manar station continued to broadcast anti-Semitic material in breach of an agreement it signed with the authority last month. Among various claims in recent Al-Manar programs was the accusation that Jews spread AIDS in Arab countries. In the ruling, the court said that Al-Manar programs "fall within a militant perspective which includes anti-Semitic connotations." The American Jewish Committee recently wrote to U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow asking that Al-Manar be banned in the United States under existing counterterrorism legislation or by executive order.
(JTA) - Jews up Sudan effort
Jewish groups will launch an educational program for at-risk Sudanese children. The program will take place in Chad, home to more than 200,000 people made refugees by Janjaweed militias backed by the Sudanese government. The $100,000 program is funded through a grant to the Jewish Coalition for Sudan Relief by the American Jewish World Service, the State of Israel, the UJA-Federation of New York, Union of Reform Judaism and United Jewish Communities of Metrowest, N.J.
(JTA) - Jews take sides on commandments case
Several Jewish groups are taking sides on a pending case at the U.S. Supreme Court on the public display of the Ten Commandments. A coalition of Jewish groups filed an amicus brief Monday on the case, Van Orden v. Perry, which involves a granite monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds. The brief suggests the monument violates the separation of church and state and shows an "unacceptable preference for Judeo-Christian faiths." The brief is authored by the American Jewish Congress and signed by the American Jewish Committee, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Union of Reform Judaism, Americans for Religious Liberty and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. A separate brief submitted Monday by the Anti-Defamation League also asks the court to rule the commandments are unconstitutional. The National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs, which represents the Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America, is expected to file a brief in the near future supporting the display as constitutional and endorsing its religious pronouncements.
(JTA) - Sharon to U.S.: No direct P.A. funding
Ariel Sharon told two top congressional leaders that the United States should not directly fund the Palestinian Authority. Reps. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), their parties' whips, are leading the third high-level congressional delegation to Israel in recent months. In his meeting Monday, the Israeli prime minister said the United States should focus on investment and not directly fund the Palestinian Authority because such money might have been used in the past to fund terrorism. The United States last week allocated $22.5 million in direct funding to the Palestinian Authority, though a significant portion of that sum reportedly was earmarked for Israeli companies that provide utilities to the Palestinians. The congressional delegation also met with Israeli Labor Party leader Shimon Peres and Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian Authority official.
(JTA) - Somerville: No divestment
A Boston suburb rejected a proposal to drop its investments in Israel. Somerville's Board of Alderman voted against the measure Dec. 11, five weeks after it was introduced. Drafted by the Somerville Divestment Project, the bill called on the city to drop Israel Bonds from its $137.4 million pension fund, and end investments in American companies that provide military products to Israel, according to the Boston Globe. Somerville's mayor had said he would veto a divestment plan. "Defeating divestment in Somerville sends a strong message to anyone who thinks that blaming one side only for the conflict in the Middle East is a way to achieve peace," Nancy Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, said in a statement. "Peace will only come when terror and violence end and Israelis and Palestinians return to the negotiating table in good faith."
(JTA) - Kach man watched
A right-wing Israeli activist was placed under house arrest. Noam Federman, a leading member of the outlawed group Kach, was banned from leaving his home in the West Bank city of Hebron after sunset as of Monday. Israeli authorities accuse Federman of fomenting violent resistance to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate Gaza Strip settlers next year, a charge he denies. Earlier this year, Federman spent six months in administrative detention but was released after the Shin Bet failed to produce evidence that he was a threat to national security.
(JTA) - Heavenly credit
An Israeli bank plans to offer credit cards that can't be used on Shabbat. Bank Leumi said this week that the initiative was launched at the behest of Orthodox customers, but that it is not yet known when the card will officially be offered. Available under VISA and Mastercard, the card would automatically disable itself during Shabbat. Some press reports suggested it might only be usable in stores that also honor the holy day.
(JTA) - Paying his Druse
Ariel Sharon reportedly wants a Druse diplomat to be Israel's next ambassador in Cairo. The Yediot Achronot newspaper reported Monday that the Israeli prime minister had tapped Magali Wahaba, a loyalist in his Likud Party, to replace Eli Shaked when his term in Egypt ends. Sharon's office declined comment. Members of Israel's Druse community have a mixed reputation in Egypt. Last week, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered the release of Azzam Azzam, an Israeli Druse who had been jailed on espionage charges that both Azzam and Israel vehemently denied. JTA END
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