The Jewish Voice
JANUARY 13, 2016 tion, the U.N. General Assembly approved a budget of $138,700 to fund the compilation of a fi st-ever blacklist of private Israeli companies doing business in the disputed territories. The funding, which was mandated by the U.N. Human Rights Council last March, reportedly would be used to “investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory” and would “produce a database of all business enterprises” that work in those territories, including eastern Jerusalem. “The types of data they are talking about acquiring would be to form the basis for future sanctions against companies that did business on the West Bank,” former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton told Fox News. The General Assembly measure passed despite opposition from the U.S., which had abstained from December’s Security Council vote against Israeli settlements, allowing the resolution to pass. The U.S. said it would “strongly oppose” any additional measures by the U.N. on the blacklist issue.
MIDDLE EAST
Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and his body will not be returned to his family for burial. Al-Qanbar—a 28-year-old father of four—had a criminal record, but had no known ties to any terrorist group, although he recently posted several pro-Islamic State comments on his Facebook page. Al-Qanbar’s cousin told Israel Hayom that the terrorist had been "very upset" by recent reports that the U.S. was considering relocating its Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, saying the move would "spark a war." After the deadly attack, Israeli police and the Shin Bet security agency raided al-Qanbar’s home in Jabel Mukaber and detained his wife, parents and two siblings for questioning.
Family and friends mourn Shir Hajaj, one of the four Israeli soldiers killed in Sunday’s truckramming terror attack, during her funeral at the Mount Herzl in Jerusalem Monday. Credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90.
Victims of Jerusalem truck-ramming terror attack laid to rest
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) visits the scene of Sunday’s truck-ramming terror attack in Jerusalem. Credit: Shlomi Cohen/Flash90.
Israeli security cabinet orders IDF to raze home of Jerusalem terrorist
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS. org) Israel’s diplomatic-security cabinet approved several security measures in the wake of the Jerusalem truck-ramming attack that killed four Israeli soldiers and wounded at least 16 Sunday. Israeli government ministers voted unanimously to order the Israel Defense Forces to raze terrorist Fadi al-Qanbar’s home in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber. Members of the terrorist’s family will not be able to meet with relatives who live in the
(JNS.org) The four Israeli soldiers killed in Sunday’s truck-ramming terror attack in Jerusalem were laid to rest Monday in separate ceremonies across Israel. The victims were Lt. Yael Yekutiel, 20, from the central Israeli city of Givatayim; cadets Shir Hajaj, 22, from the Jerusalem suburb of Ma’ale Adumim and Shira Tzur, 20, from Haifa; and Sec.-Lt. Erez Orbach, 20, from Alon Shvut, southwest of Jerusalem. Orbach, who was a dual Israeli-American citizen, was laid to rest at a cemetery in Kfar Etzion. Tzur was born to American parents. “[Tzur] was a remarkable girl, invested, a guide in the [Israeli] scouts. Everyone regarded her as an exemplary graduate—an outstanding girl, a social leader and also emotionally sensitive to justice and injustices,” said Mandi Ravinovich, the director of the school system that Tzur attended, the Jerusalem Post reported. The funeral for Hajaj took place
NEWS IN REVIEW
at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cem- Palestinian stabbing attack in Jeruetery, while people gathered to salem’s Old City Oct. 3, 2015. mourn Yael Yekutial in Tel Aviv’s OneFamily “empowers victims Kiryat Shaul cemetery. of terror to rebuild their lives, rehabilitate and reintegrate through Israel cuts $6 million in emotional, legal and fin ncial assisfunding to UN in protest tance programs,” according to the of anti-settlement vote organization’s website. During the ceremony in Jerusa(JNS.org) Israel announced Friday that in an “act of protest,” it will lem, the soccer team symbolically suspend about $6 million in fund- “adopted” Natan. Besides his faing to the United Nations in protest ther’s death and his own injuries, of the recent U.N. Security Council his mother Adele was seriously vote that condemned Israeli settle- wounded in last year’s terror attack. Adele attended Thursday’s ceremoments. The Israeli government ex- ny. plained that the decrease in the country’s $40 million in total Jordan, Palestinians warn against US embassy funding for the U.N. symbolically relocation to Jerusalem represents a cut to the portion of the U.N. budget that is allocated (JNS.org) A top Jordanian govto anti-Israel bodies, including Th ernment minister warned ThursCommittee on the Exercise of the day of “catastrophic” consequences Inalienable Rights of the Palestin- if President-elect Donald Trump ian People; The Division for Pal- relocates the U.S. Embassy in Israel estinian Rights; The Work of the from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Special Committee to Investigate Moving the embassy “will have Israeli Practices; and the Special catastrophic implications on severInformation Programme on the al levels, including the regional sitQuestion of Palestine of the U.N. uation,” Minister of State for Media Department of Public Information. Aff irs Mohammad Al Momani “It is unreasonable for Israel to told the Associated Press. fund bodies that operate against us “It will defin tely affect the bilatat the U.N.,” Israeli Ambassador to eral relationship between countries the U.N. Danny Danon said. in the region, including Jordan, and the parties that will be related to such a decision,” he said. The incoming Trump administration has said that moving the U.S. embassy “is a very big priority.” The 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act passed by Congress provides for the relocation of the embassy. But the law has never been implemented because every president who has Three-year-old Natan Bennett, served since its passage has continwho survived a Palestinian terror uously signed six-month waivers attack in October 2015, with a postponing the move. signed soccer ball at last Palestinian Authority President Thursday's ceremony in Jerusalem that marked his "adoption" by the Mahmoud Abbas also warned Trump not to relocate the embassy. OneFamily soccer team. Credit: “We call on you not to impleSarah Levin, OneFamily. ment your statement…because we Soccer team comprised consider it as an aggressive stateof terror attack survivors ment, when you say you want to ‘adopts’ 3-yearmove the embassy to Jerusalem,” old Israeli boy said Abbas. (JNS.org) A 3-year-old Israeli boy whose leg was severely wound- Palestinian media depicts Israeli soldier killing ed in a Palestinian terrorist attack Santa Claus in cartoon in 2015 joined a soccer team comprised of fellow survivors of terror (JNS.org) In a bloody twist on attacks. the Christmas spirit, the PalestinThe boy, Natan Bennett, joined ian Authority’s (PA) officia daily the OneFamily organization’s soc- newspaper used Santa Claus to cer team—made up of relatives of promote a libel claiming that Israel terror victims as well as survivors carries out “executions” of innocent of attacks—in a ceremony Thurs- Palestinians. day in Jerusalem. Natan’s father, In a cartoon featured in the PA Aharon Bennett, was killed in a newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida
Dec. 26, an Israeli soldier is shown standing above a bleeding Santa Claus who had apparently just been shot at a security checkpoint with a mosque and a church in the background, with the soldier saying, “He tried to carry out a stabbing operation.” According to Palestinian Media Watch, the cartoon is part of a larger libel against Israel stemming from the wave of stabbing terror attacks during the last few years. “After many Palestinian terrorists were killed while carrying out stabbing attacks during the terror wave in 2015-2016, the PA started to claim that Israel planted the knives next to the 'innocent' Palestinian 'victims,'" Palestinian Media Watch noted, adding, “PA and Fatah leaders have reiterated this libel numerous times, even about terror attacks that were documented by security cameras.”
Israeli legal rights group files lawsuit against Twitter over role in Islamic State attacks
(JNS.org) The Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center, a Tel Aviv-based legal rights organization, filed a lawsuit against Twitter over the social media giant’s alleged role in aiding and abetting the Islamic State terror group in attacks in Paris (November 2015) and Brussels (March 2016). Shurat HaDin fi ed the lawsuit on behalf of the families of victims of the aforementioned attacks. “Th s is the first lawsuit to document Twitter’s key role in the rise of ISIS to become the most feared terrorist organization in the world, and to detail how ISIS used Twitter specifical y in connection with two of the worst terror attacks in Europe’s recent history,” Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat HaDin, said in a statement. “Among social media platforms, Twitter has most brazenly refused to cut off its services to terrorists, taking the position that ‘the tweets must fl w’ even if it means assisting in mass murders,” she said. The victims described in the lawsuit include Alexander Pinczowski, 29, and his sister Sascha Pinczowski, 26, who were killed by an Islamic State suicide bomber at the Brussels Airport in March 2016, as well as Nohemi Gonzalez, 26, who was killed by Islamic State as part of the coordinated Paris terror attacks in November 2015 that killed 130 people. The victims’ families
PAGE 25 claim Islamic State uses Twitter “as a weapon of terror, including through bots, special apps and ‘hashtag highjacking’ to infl te its image, recruit members and grow into the most-feared terrorist organization in the world.”
Israeli soldier Sgt. Elor Azaria, who shot dead an immobilized Palestinian terrorist in Hebron last March, is surrounded by family and friends as he awaits to hear his verdict in a courtroom at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv Jan. 4. Azaria was convicted of manslaughter, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for him to be pardoned. Credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90.
Netanyahu supports pardon of IDF soldier convicted of manslaughter
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added his voice to the chorus of Israeli politicians calling for Elor Azaria—the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier convicted of manslaughter Jan. 4 for shooting a subdued Palestinian terrorist—to be pardoned. "This is a hard and painful day for all of us, fi st and foremost for Elor and his family, the soldiers of the IDF, many citizens and the parents of soldiers, myself included," Netanyahu wrote on Facebook. "I call on all Israeli citizens to act responsibly toward the IDF, its commanders and the IDF chief of staff. The soldiers of the IDF are the sons and daughters of all of us. I support pardoning Elor Azaria." An Israeli military court convicted Azaria, 19, for shooting to death a subdued Palestinian terrorist who had just stabbed two soldiers minutes earlier during an attack last March in Hebron. Th incident and subsequent trial was one of the most polarizing aff irs in recent years in Israel. Several other leading Israeli politicians—including Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home), Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud)— called for Azaria to be pardoned.
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