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The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s news as it unfolded.
Likud youth movement urges Hazan to resign
The Likud Youth Movement says that, in light of a court decision determining that MK Oren Hazan did hard drugs and may have been involved in soliciting prostitutes, Hazan should resign or be fired.
“There is no room for a person like Hazan in the Likud faction and in Israel’s Knesset, and there’s no choice but to fire him,” the Likud Youth Movement’s head, David Shayan, says in a statement.
Hazan, who was elected to the Knesset on the ruling party’s youth ticket, should show “respect” to the Knesset and the Likud party and apologize for his actions, Shayan adds.
Iran nuclear negotiator cleared of spying charges
Iran’s intelligence minister says that a British-Iranian member of its nuclear negotiating team has been cleared of spying allegations, according to state media.
Abdolrasoul Dorri Esfahani, part of the team that secured a nuclear accord with world powers last year, was arrested in August and described by a judiciary spokesman as an “infiltrating spy.”
A satellite image of Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment facility. (AP/DigitalGlobe)
But in a written note to parliament, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said the case had been dropped, the official IRNA news agency reports.
“According to the views of the intelligence ministry’s experts, Mr Dorri Esfahani was not engaged in spying,” the note says, according to deputy speaker Masoud Pezeshkian.
Esfahani’s role in the nuclear negotiations has not been clarified.
Local media reported in August that he was not an official member of the team and had only been brought in as an expert on specific economic questions.
However, conservative-linked weekly Ramze Obour claimed he “bypassed the negotiating team and gave invaluable information to the United States.”
— AFP
Haifa film fest blasted for awarding prize to actor accused of assaulting women
Women’s rights groups and politicians express outrage over actor Moshe Ivgy having been awarded Best Actor accolades by the Haifa International Film Festival for his role in the film “The 90 Minute War.”
Actor Moshe Ivgy delivers a statement regarding sexual harassment allegations against him, at the end of a theater show in Tel Aviv on February 7, 2016 (Flash90)
The veteran stage, film and television actor was accused by at least 15 women of sexual harassment earlier this year.
Police said at the time that they had amassed sufficient evidence to prosecute Ivgy for sex crimes.
He has yet to be formally charged with any crime, though.
MKs seek to ax Amnesty International’s tax benefits — report
Coalition lawmakers have approached the head of the Knesset Finance Committee, MK Moshe Gafni, to request that he remove the human rights group Amnesty International from the list of organizations that can receive tax-deductible contributions, according to Army Radio.
The report does not say whether a specific action by Amnesty prompted the MKs’ initiative. Israeli activists have often accused the organization of anti-Israel bias.
Iranian-American held in Iran gets 18-year sentence — report
An Iranian-American held in Tehran has reportedly been sentenced to 18 years in prison for “collaboration with a hostile government,” becoming yet another dual national convicted in a secret trial since Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Robin Shahini during his May 2016 International Security and Conflict Resolution San Diego State University graduation ceremony (Shahini Family Photo via AP)
The sentence handed down to Robin Shahini, a 46-year-old graduate student who lives in San Diego, is the harshest yet for those detained in what analysts believe is hard-liner plan to use them as bargaining chips in future negotiations.
Shahini tells Vice News in an interview aired late on Monday that he “just laughed” after hearing his sentence. He acknowledges supporting the protests that followed Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election, but denies being involved in any sort of spying.
“Whatever information they had is all the pictures I posted in Facebook, in my web blog, and they use all those evidence to accuse me,” Shahini says in a telephone call from prison.
Iranian judiciary officials do not respond to request for comment from The Associated Press, nor does Iran’s mission to the United Nations.
In a statement, the US State Department says it is troubled by reports of Shahini’s sentence.
“We reaffirm our calls on Iran to respect and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, cease arbitrary and politically motivated detentions and ensure fair and transparent judicial proceedings,” it says.
— AP
Opposition MKs want Hazan investigated for ‘pimping’
Three opposition MKs turn to Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit to demand that he remove MK Oren Hazan’s parliamentary immunity so that he can be investigated on suspicion of “pimping.”
In a ruling issued earlier in the day, Judge Azaria Elkalai said that Hazan had taken crystal meth, but said it could not be proved that Hazan had provided prostitutes to friends or customers of a casino he was managing in Bulgaria. Still, he threw out Hazan’s libel suit against Channel 2 for reporting as much about Hazan.
In their letter to Mandelblit, MKs Zehava Galon, Michal Rozin and Tamar Zandberg, all of the left-wing Meretz party, note that “pimping and soliciting prostitution are illegal in Israel as well as in Bulgaria.”
They add that there is “great” public importance to an investigation of Hazan.
“We cannot stand by when an elected official is suspected of offenses that carry not only criminal penalties but also legal and moral turpitude, and continues to retain his public office,” they say.
2 men indicted for murder in Nazareth shooting
Two men from Nazareth in northern Israel are accused of murdering a third man after an altercation in the city.
The two, Wallid Yusef and Muhammad Hamed Yusef, 26 and 22 years old, respectively, shot Yusef Abed al-Halek in the head after a fight, the indictment, filed at the Nazareth District Court, says.
Turkey, US to discuss Muslim cleric wanted by Ankara
Turkey’s justice minister says the country has provided “more than sufficient” evidence to the United States for the extradition of a US-based Muslim cleric accused by Turkey of orchestrating the July 15 failed coup attempt.
Bekir Bozdag speaks to reporters before departing to the US for talks with US Attorney General Loretta Lynch over Turkish requests for Fethullah Gulen’s arrest and eventual extradition.
Bozdag says it is “unacceptable” that Gulen is allowed to continue to lead his organization from a country considered to be “a friend and ally” of Turkey.
He says any delays in the extradition process will threaten ties between the countries.
The minister says: “Fethullah Gulen is to Turkey what Osama bin Laden was to the United States.”
Gulen denies involvement in the coup attempt.
— AP
Israeli said wounded in shooting near Egypt border
An Israeli may have been wounded in a cross-border shooting incident next to Egypt, the IDF says in a statement, citing initial reports.
IDF investigating shooting on Egypt border
The army says the incident took place near Mount Harif, which is about halfway between Eilat and the southern tip of the Gaza Strip.
Details of the incident were still being investigated, the IDF says.
— Judah Ari Gross
Wounded man was working on the border fence – reports
Reports say the man wounded in the shooting incident was an employee of the Defense Ministry working to maintain the border fence.
Authorities have yet to officially confirm those reports.
The wounded man is being taken to a hospital.
He is reportedly in moderate condition.
MK Yehuda Glick: Hazan should resign if he did meth
MK Yehuda Glick says that his fellow Likud Knesset member Oren Hazan should “suspend himself” if he committed the acts that he is accused of — namely, taking crystal meth and hiring prostitutes for his associates when he was managing a casino in Bulgaria.
Glick, speaking about a court decision that threw out away a libel suit by Hazan against Channel 2, which had reported the claims against him, says that today is “a difficult day for Likud, a difficult day for the Knesset, and a difficult day for me personally.”
Likud MKs Yehuda Glick, left, and Oren Hazan during a protest outside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City on July 14, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
He tells Channel 2 that Hazan is a “friend” who helped him on more than one occasion.
Still, Glick continues, the actions attributed to Hazan — the judge confirmed Hazan had taken meth and said it was possible he had also solicited prostitutes — are “completely inappropriate for a public official.
“If he is indeed guilty of these things, it would be right for him to take a step back and suspend himself,” he says.
AJC hails EU parliament for condemning Iran
The American Jewish Committee praises the European Parliament for passing a condemnation of Iran’s repeated threats to destroy Israel and of its Holocaust denial.
“We salute Parliament’s principled stand on this critical issue,” says Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute, the AJC’s EU office.
Members of the EU Parliament take part in a voting session, on December 17, 2014, during a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. (photo credit: AFP/FREDERICK FLORIN)
EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France voted today in favor of an amendment that “strongly condemns the Iranian regime’s repeated calls for the destruction of Israel and the regime’s policy of denying the Holocaust.”
The vote passes with 590 votes in favor, 67 against and 37 abstentions. The amendment is part of a report entitled “EU strategy toward Iran after the nuclear agreement.”
Trump backers arrested outside US embassy in Uganda
Two Ugandans are arrested outside the US Embassy in Kampala while taking part in a demonstration of support for US presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Carrying placards, one emblazoned with the slogan “A vote for Trump is a vote against African dictatorship!” the two men attempt to enter the US embassy grounds in the Ugandan capital.
The men — named by local media as Bigirwa Moses and Allan Kitonsa — are reportedly members of the youth wing of Uganda’s Democratic Party, though spokesman Kenneth Kakande distances his party from the demonstration.
“Today’s protest was not sanctioned by the Democratic Party. Perhaps overzealous young people, excited by what’s taking place in America, were just seeking media attention,” Kakande tells AFP, saying that in his view the billionaire Republican candidate is not suitable for the White House.
Police spokesman Emilian Kayima describes the incident as an “embarrassment by two young men who appeared to be seeking political clout” and says they will likely be charged with unlawful assembly.
A spokesman for the US Embassy in Kampala confirms the incident but declines to comment further.
— AFP
Poles who preserve country’s Jewish heritage awarded
Poles involved in the preserving of Jewish heritage in Poland receive awards during two separate ceremonies in Warsaw.
Professor Ewa Geller receives the Jan Karski & Pola Nirenska Award during an award ceremony at the Jewish Historical Institute.
Geller teaches at Warsaw University’s Department of Neophilology. She earned a PhD degree in 1988 with her dissertation on Polish and East Slavic influences on the Yiddish on the center of I. B. Singer’s works. In 2007, Geller was named Associate Professor at Warsaw University. One of her works is a 17th century health vade mecum in Yiddish, which Geller found in Vienna and translated into Polish.
“I have a deep conviction that without Ewa Geller there would be no contemporary Polish Yiddish research and without Yiddish research there would be no dynamic development of Jewish studies in Poland,” Dr. Joanna Nalewajko-Kulikov, a member of the jury, says during the ceremony.
Geller dedicates her award to all Polish researchers of Yiddish. “Keep it up!” she says.
The Museum of the History of Polish Jews awards its Polin Awards to local activists: Jacek Koszczan of Dukla, Robert Augustyniak of Grodzisk Mazowiecki, and Miroslaw Skrzypczyk of Lelow. A special award is bestowed on Jan Jagielski from the Jewish Historical Institute.
— JTA
Mexican synagogue vandalized twice after Jews lobbied against UNESCO vote
Vandals broke glass windows, smashed furniture, and painted graffiti on the walls of Mexico City’s Agudas Ajim synagogue in two separate attacks.
The attackers used red paint simulating blood to write the word “perros,” which means dogs, and the letter “A” for anarchy, in last week’s incidents.
The vandalism occurred after local Jewish leaders launched a public campaign to urge government officials not to vote in favor of a UNESCO committee proposal that denies Jewish ties to Jerusalem holy sites.
Mexico voted in favor of the resolution and the fight was apparently lost. However, on October 17, the country changed its vote to abstention, though it fired its Jewish ambassador to UNESCO, Andre Roemer, for protesting against the initial yes vote, according to a statement.
An unnamed organized group is believed to have perpetrated the synagogue attacks, according to local Jewish security officials who kept the security alert during the Sukkot festivities high in the Latin American nation, reported Iton Gadol news service.
Mexico is home to some 50,000 Jews, making it Latin America’s third-largest Jewish population after Argentina and Brazil.
— JTA
Israeli dies of wounds sustained in cross-border shooting
Breaking reports are saying the Israeli man wounded in a shooting near the Egyptian border has died.
Video footage posted online shows a helicopter landing at Beersheba’s Soroka medical center with the man before word of his death was released.
המסוק עם העובד שנפגע מירי בגבול מצרים – נוחת בסורוקה
צילום: קבוצת ביטחון שדה pic.twitter.com/f4dESZLXY7— אלי שלזינגר (@EliShlezinger) October 25, 2016
Israel delays appointing new Turkey envoy – report
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has postponed a meeting to nominate a new ambassador to Turkey, reports say.
The meeting, scheduled for October 27, has been postponed and no new date was set, says Arad Nir of Channel 2 news.
A Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirms to The Times of Israel that the meeting has been postponed but does not say why.
Appointing a new ambassador is a key component of the agreement between Israel and Turkey to restore ties after years on the outs.
— Raphael Ahren contributed
IS claims deadly Pakistan police academy attack
The Islamic State group is claiming responsibility for a deadly attack on a Pakistani police academy that killed at least 59 people.
IS says three of its fighters killed 60 police recruits in the attack, but the claim is not confirmed by Pakistani officials and IS does not offer any previously unknown details about the assault.
Gunmen stormed the police academy in the southwestern city of Quetta overnight Monday, killing mostly police cadets and recruits, and waging a ferocious gun battle with troops that lasted into early hours this morning.
— AP
Shooter said to have been an Egyptian soldier
In a guarded tweet, Army Radio’s military reporter, Tal Lev-Ram, speculates that the shooter on the border was an Egyptian soldier.
“One can cautiously speculate that the shooting was carried out by an Egyptian soldier,” he tweets.
אפשר להעריך בזהירות שמדובר בירי של שוטר מצרי.
— tal lev-ram (@tallevram) October 25, 2016
Meanwhile, reports say the victim was not a direct employee of the Defense Minister but rather an external contractor.
Recent years have seen a number of civilian contractors working on Israel’s border fences killed in attacks.
Conservative rabbis in Cleveland, Chicago place wager on World Series
Conservative rabbis in Cleveland and Chicago have placed a friendly wager on the World Series.
The rabbi in the losing city will travel to the synagogue in the winning city to engage in a debate on the Jewish significance of baseball.
Rabbi Stephen Weiss of B’nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, and Rabbi Michael Siegal of Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago strike the deal after the Chicago Cubs clinched the National League title on Saturday night.
The Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs will meet Tuesday night in Cleveland in Game One of the World Series.
“We’re just looking for a way to have a little bit of fun with the World Series and to connect our congregations and engage our people in a little Jewish learning at the same time,” Weiss tells the Cleveland Jewish News.
“Certainly, a very historic Series for both cities and hopefully a lot of fun for both synagogues,” he says.
— JTA
Russia: West hypocritical on Aleppo, doing similar in Mosul
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Western outrage over a Russian bombing campaign in the Syrian city of Aleppo is hypocritical because Western governments are carrying out a similar operation in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
Lavrov says that “the American coalition in Mosul is calling on residents to leave exactly like we did in Aleppo.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R) shows the way to his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault during a meeting in Moscow on October 6, 2016. (AFP PHOTO/VASILY MAXIMOV)
Russia ordered a pause in the bombing of rebel-held areas of Aleppo last week and set-up humanitarian corridors out of the city. However, few local residents or fighters left.
Also today, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov accuses the United Nations and other international groups of not delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo when they had the chance.
Iraqi-led forces are currently attempting to re-take the city of Mosul from Islamic State militants.
— AP
Israeli was killed when smugglers clashed with Egyptian guards — report
Egyptian security sources tell Sky News Arabia the shots that killed an Israeli civilian contractor were fired during a clash between smugglers and Egyptian border guards.
According to the Arabic report, the smugglers opened fire at a group of Israeli contractors during the shootout, before Egyptian forces shot back.
The IDF cannot immediately confirm the report, as details of the incident are still being investigated, a military spokesperson says.
— Judah Ari Gross
Demolition work begins in Calais ‘Jungle’ camp
Workers escorted by scores of French police officers are moving into the “Jungle” camp in Calais on Tuesday, demolishing shacks and tents emptied of migrants being bused to centers around France.
Workers begin the demolition of the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp, in Calais, northern France, on October 25, 2016 as hundreds of migrants boarded buses on the second day of a massive operation to clear the squalid settlement. ( AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPE HUGUEN)
They are tearing down wooden shacks and used earth-moving equipment to carry debris away from the sprawling camp that migrants have used for years as a launchpad for attempts to reach Britain.
The demolition work comes on the second day of a massive operation to clear the squalid settlement in northern France, where an estimated 6,000-8,000 migrants, mostly Afghans, Sudanese and Eritreans, have been living.
Around 2,700 people have already been bused away to shelters around France and around 600 unaccompanied minors have been taken into a part of the camp where families had been living, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says.
— AFP
IDF says shooting death at Egypt border wasn’t terrorism
The shooting on the Egyptian border does not appear to have been a terror attack, according to an initial investigation, the army says.
The IDF is currently in contact with the Egyptian army as it works to sort out the details of the incident.
— Judah Ari Gross
Israeli killed on Egypt border said to be boy, 15
Unconfirmed reports say the Israeli who was killed along the border with Egypt was a 15-year-old boy working on maintaining the fence.
Nimer Abu Amar, 15, named as slain contractor
The Israeli youth killed in the cross-border incident is named as Nimer Abu Amar, 15, from Lakiya in southern Israel.
Israeli killed in Egyptian border shooting was reportedly Nimer Abu Amar, a 15-year-old from Lakiya in southern Israel.
— Judah Ari Gross (@JudahAriGross) October 25, 2016
The incident is reminiscent of an attack from Syria on the Israeli Golan Heights in June 2014 that killed 15-year-old Mohammed Karkara, who was escorting his father, a civilian contractor, to work maintaining the border fence.
MKs says no tax breaks for ‘biased’ Amnesty
Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich says Amnesty International is “significantly biased against Israel and its leaders” and so should not have the same tax benefits enjoyed by other nonprofit organizations.
Smotrich and Likud MK Miki Zohar approach the head of the Knesset Finance Committee, MK Moshe Gafni, to request that he remove the human rights group from the list of organizations that can receive tax-deductible contributions.
Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich attends a meeting of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee in the Knesset on June 20, 2016. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
The committee is to decide Thursday on the list of organizations that qualify for the tax breaks. Under Israeli law, donations or contributions to these organizations can be declared tax deductible.
In the letter to the committee, the MKs cite several Amnesty reports that are highly critical of Israel, including on alleged Israeli war crimes during the 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, and a report on Israel denying water access to Palestinians.
Defense Ministry says slain teen was a subcontractor
The Defense Ministry says in a statement that Nimer Abu Amar, the 15-year-old shot dead today on the Egyptian border, was not a direct employee.
In a statement, it says Abu Amar was employed by a civilian subcontractor working for the Defense Ministry.
ההרוג בתקרית הירי בגבול מצרים הוא נימר אבו עמאר בן 15 מלקייהhttps://t.co/OGXX99IRRQ pic.twitter.com/rv0Lg7W6p0
— חדשות 2 (@Channel2News) October 25, 2016
— Judah Ari Gross
Arafat museum recovers Nobel prize from Hamas
A relative of Yasser Arafat says the Hamas terror group has returned the late Palestinian leader’s 1994 Nobel Peace Prize to the Palestinian government in the West Bank.
Nasser al-Qidweh, Arafat’s nephew, says that the medal will be among dozens of Arafat’s belongings to be displayed in a new museum opening in Ramallah on November 9. Qidweh is president of the Arafat Institute.
Arafat shared the Nobel prize with then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and -foreign minister Shimon Peres for reaching the 1993 Oslo interim peace agreement.
Arafat died in 2004, and three years later many items at his Gaza headquarters were lost when the rival Hamas group seized control of the territory.
Al-Qidweh says the only missing piece that Hamas has returned is the medal.
— AP
3 US senators want women’s golf open moved from Trump course
Three Democratic U.S. senators are increasing the pressure on the US Golf Association to move next year’s women’s open away from a New Jersey course owned by Donald Trump.
Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, Edward Markey, of Massachusetts, and Bob Casey, of Pennsylvania, make the request to move next July’s event away from Trump National in Bedminster in a letter sent Monday.
The senators call on USGA executive director Mike Davis to consider suspending further events at properties owned by the Republican presidential candidate because of what they describe as a “pattern of degrading and dehumanizing women” over decades.
The Trump Organization declines comment.
Trump was recorded in a 2005 video using vulgar language and apparently boasting of sexual assault. He has been accused of unwanted sexual advances by a group of women this month. He has called them liars and threatened to sue.
— AP
MK: Defense Ministry must recognize teen killed on border
MK Omer Barlev says it’s “shocking” that the Defense Ministry employs 15-year-olds, and called on the ministry to recognize the teen slain today as having fallen in the line of duty.
The boy, Nimer Bassem Abu Amar, was working today on the border fence when he was killed by shots fired from Egypt.
“It’s shocking that the Defense Ministry employs 15-year-old children,” writes Barlev, a lawmaker from the opposition Zionist Union faction. “The Defense Ministry shouldn’t hide behind outside contractors,” he said, adding that Abu Amar should be granted the status of a Defense Ministry employee who fell in the line of duty.
מזעזע שמשהב׳ט מעסיק ילדים בני 15 ושלא יסתתרו מאחורי חברה קבלנית שמעסיקה עובד קבלן שהביא את הבן שלו לעבודה. נמר בסם אבו עמר יוכר כחלל משהב׳ט
— עמר בר-לב (@omerbarlev) October 25, 2016
Such recognition would entitle Abu Amar’s family to a series of additional state benefits.
The army says the shooting does not appear to be an act of terror, and the Defense Ministry insisted in a statement that Abu Amar was not a direct employee.
Woman critically hurt in Tel Aviv stabbing
A woman is critically injured in a stabbing in Jaffa. The suspect, who flees the scene, is thought to be her brother.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service treats the woman on site, before transferring her to a hospital.
— Sue Surkes
Trump’s Jewish adviser dismisses anti-Semitism claims
David Friedman, Donald Trump’s adviser on Israel, denies that the GOP candidate’s campaign has been marred by anti-Semitic sentiments among part of its base.
Rather, he tells Israel’s Channel 2 in an interview, “there’s anti-Semitic sentiment among [Hillary] Clinton supporters.”
David Friedman, Donald Trump’s adviser on Israel, speaks to Channel 10 News on September 14, 2016. (screen capture: Channel 2)
When it comes to anti-Semitism, Friedman continues, “The danger in the United States is not on the right…. The movement that you ought to be concerned about is the movement on the left.”
Asked to comment on a recent report by the Anti-Defamation League that found mass anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish journalists, he says he can’t speak about “journalists in particular.”
Still, he asserts, the ADL has “lost all credibility.”
Tel Aviv stabbing victim dies of her wounds
A 37-year-old woman stabbed in Tel Aviv earlier today dies of her wounds.
Magen David Adom rescue workers try to revive the woman, who was stabbed in her Jaffa apartment, but are forced to declare her dead, according to the rescue agency.
Police say they are searching for the attacker, thought to be the victim’s brother.
Palestinian lawmaker calls for boycott of Israel
A top Palestinian lawmaker is calling for a consumer boycott of Israel, according to the Ma’an news agency.
Senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath, who in the past has served in a number of important roles, including as a top peace negotiator, tells The Arab Weekly that “a consumer boycott should be the Palestinians’ weapon against Israel.”
He also states that the peace process with Israel is dead and that the Palestinians must depend on themselves more and work against Israel by means of public action and boycotts, as “rights are not given, but taken by force.”
— Times of Israel staff
US says coalition preparing to retake Raqqa from IS
Defense Secretary Ash Carter says the US-led coalition is laying groundwork for the start of the operation to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa from Islamic State militants. Carter insists there is no delay in the operation.
Carter is speaking alongside French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian after a meeting with 11 other defense chiefs to discuss the progress of the campaign to defeat the Islamic State group.
European leaders, including the French, have expressed worries that the battle to retake Raqqa hasn’t begun yet. There are fears that IS leaders will continue to plot and inspire attacks, like the ones that rocked France and Brussels.in the past year.
Raqqa, in northern Syria, is an Islamic State stronghold, along with the Iraqi city of Mosul.
— AP
Father of teen slain on Egypt border blames government
The father of the Israeli teenager shot dead while working on the Egyptian border fence accuses the government and military of not providing protection and failing to properly respond to the shooting.
The father, Bassem Abu Amar, says the Israel Defense Forces did not sufficiently guard the workers.
“They abandoned him,” he tells reporters outside Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center, where his son was taken after the incident.
“More people could have died. Where’s the prime minister? Where’s the defense minister?” he asks.
While several members of Knesset have expressed condolences to the family and anger at the Defense Ministry for having a minor in its employ through a civilian subcontractor, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman have yet to release public statements on the incident.
According to the manager of the work site, the teen had been working on the Egyptian side of the border during the incident, giving out coffee to the other employees.
— Judah Ari Gross
Police arrests suspect in woman’s killing
Police say they’ve arrested a male suspect in the killing of a woman in Jaffa earlier this evening.
Reports say the arrested suspect is her brother.
The investigation is ongoing, an Israel Police spokesperson says.
Police said willing to permit MK Temple Mount visits
Police are prepared to allow Jewish and Arab MKs to visit the Temple Mount again, one year after banning such visits amid fear they could stoke tensions.
Police say they are committed to “normalization” of the situation on the Temple Mount and ensuring lawmakers have “freedom of movement,” according to Channel 2.
Hadash MKs during a visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, November 2013 (photo credit: Sliman Khader/Flash90)
The decision still needs to be approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan.
Police had stopped such visits one year ago, fearing that they could provoke violence at the flashpoint holy site.
Chanel 2 says that lawmakers will still need to abide by a series of conditions, including visiting without guards or accompanying press.
Clinton blasts UNESCO’s upcoming Jerusalem vote
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton issues a statement criticizing the UN cultural agency’s upcoming vote on Jerusalem:
It is disappointing and wrong to see that UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee is considering a resolution on Jerusalem that fails to recognize and respect the deep and historic ties of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and its holy sites. Tomorrow’s planned vote follows an outrageous UNESCO vote last week on a similar resolution. I have always stood with Israel to reject these biased actions at the United Nations, and I always will.
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