B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
NOVEMBER 18, 2021
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The Week In News ing, an Italian court issued an international arrest warrant for Shmuel Peleg, on suspicion that he kidnapped his grandson.
Joint Maritime Cable Car Crash Exercise Survivor Needs to Return to Italy The Tel Aviv Family Court on Monday ruled that Eitan Biran, 6, who lost his parents and younger brother in a cable car crash, must be returned to Italy. In her ruling, Judge Iris Ilotovich-Segal rejected the claim of Eitan’s maternal grandfather, Shmuel Peleg, that the child’s place of residence was Israel, since his parents are Israeli and were in Italy for university studies. She also rejected the claim that Eitan’s paternal aunt Aya Biran did not have custody rights.
According to the court ruling, Peleg violated Aya Biran’s custody rights in bringing the child to Israel without her knowledge or consent. “The court did not accept the grandfather’s claim that Israel was the minor’s regular residence, nor the claim that the minor had two regular residences – Israel and Italy. The minor, a six-year-old boy, moved with his entire family to Italy when he was only a month old,” Judge Ilotovich-Segal wrote in her ruling. She added, “When the grandfather came with the minor to Israel, the grandfather removed the minor from his normal place of residence, an unlawful removal, thereby violating the rights of custody. This is not a decision regarding the benefit of the minor; the continuation of the conflict in Italy must be allowed.” The court also ruled that Peleg must pay court expenses amounting to NIS 70,000 ($22,539). Following the Israeli court’s rul-
The militaries of Israel, the U.S., Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) kicked off last Wednesday a multilateral maritime security operations exercise, the U.S. Naval Forces Command Central (NAVCENT) said on Thursday. The Red Sea exercise lasted five days and is the first public naval exercise Israel has held with the UAE and Bahrain since the signing of the Abraham Accords last year. According to NAVCENT, the exercise includes training on the USS Portland and will “enhance interoperability between participating forces’ maritime interdiction teams.” Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of NAVCENT, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces, said, “Maritime collaboration helps safeguard freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade, which are essential to regional security and stability.” On Sunday, November 7, Iran kicked off a military exercise including air, ground, and naval forces, operating from the area north of the Indian Ocean to parts of the Red Sea. The Iranian exercise also integrated the use of drones, manned aircraft, special forces, and defensive and offensive missile systems.
Shin Bet Chief Met with Abbas New Shin Bet security service chief Ronen Bar met last week with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The two reportedly discussed security coordination in the West Bank and efforts to reach a long-term ceasefire between Israel and the Gaza-ruling Hamas ter-
ror group. This was the first time the two have met. The new government, which took office in June, has taken steps to boost trust with the Palestinians, despite the fact that there are currently no public peace talks being held with the Palestinian Authority.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz met with Abbas in August, the first such public meeting between high-level Israeli and Palestinian officials in over a decade. At a briefing following the meeting, Gantz called for the PA to be bolstered as a bulwark against Hamas and other terror groups. In October, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and Regional Development Minister Isawi Frej, both from the leftwing Meretz party, met with Abbas in Ramallah. Horowitz said after the meeting that his party was working to “keep the two-state solution alive” within Israel’s current government, which is headed by the right-wing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Abbas has reportedly for months been trying unsuccessfully to hold a meeting with Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas. Ra’am, an Arab Israeli Islamist party, is also member of the Israeli government coalition. On Sunday, Bar reportedly visited Egypt for talks with his Egyptian counterpart that also addressed Gaza. He was reportedly part of an Israeli delegation to Cairo that included Bennett’s national security adviser, Eyal Hulata. The meeting, like previous ones in recent months, was aimed at discussing the situation in the Gaza Strip and the continuation of a potential comprehensive long-term truce process with the Hamas terror group.
Fatal Shooting in German Colony One person was killed and a second was injured in a Sunday shooting
in Jerusalem’s German Colony neighborhood. The incident occurred near the city’s Orient Hotel. Both victims are residents of one of Jerusalem’s Arab neighborhoods. One of the victims, a man in his 30s, was treated at the scene and was evacuated in critical condition to a Jerusalem hospital, where he later died of his wounds. The other victim suffered light injuries.
Initial investigations show that the incident was criminal, and not nationalist, in nature, and that the two victims worked together at a nearby construction site. United Hatzalah EMT Yishai Solomon, who was one of the first responders at the scene, said, “Together with other EMS personnel, I treated two people who were injured; one was in critical condition and another was in moderate condition. “We performed CPR on the young man who was in critical condition at the scene of the incident. Additionally, we also treated a man in his 40s who was transported by a United Hatzalah ambulance to Shaare Zedek in moderate condition.”
3 Top Mossad Officials Resign Three senior officials in Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency announced that they would resign following decisions by new Mossad chief David Barnea. According to Channel 13, the resignations took place over the past few weeks, and the three officials who resigned were at the top of the agency, comparable to major-generals in the IDF. Reports said that the three who quit were the head of operations, head of the technology division, and head of the counter-terrorism branch. The reports added that a fourth senior official is also considering stepping down. Barnea has worked in the Mossad for 25 years and was appointed to be former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen’s
