PA hails ‘sincere’ peace efforts of Trump administration
Netanyahu says meeting with visiting US delegation ‘helpful’; EU slams Israel for dismantling Palestinian schools; 16-year-old injured in Jerusalem hit and run dies of injuries
Tamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they unfolded.
Netanyahu tells Kushner peace with Palestinians ‘within our reach’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells senior White House adviser Jared Kushner that he believes peace with the Palestinians is “within our reach.”
“We have a lot of things to talk about. How to advance peace, stability and security in our region — prosperity too — and I think all of them are within our reach,” he says before their meeting.
“So I am happy to see you and the effort you’re leading on behalf of the [US] President [Donald Trump] with Jason [Greenblatt] and other members of your team,” the prime minister says. “I think this is a sign of the great alliance between us and the great goals that guide us.”
Kushner tells Netanyahu that Trump is “very committed” to help broker a peace deal and thanks the prime minister for working with the White House towards that goal.
— Alexander Fulbright
Spanish police identify remains of last terror cell suspect
Police say they identified the remains of the last suspected member of a cell which carried out terror attacks in northeastern Spain.
“Youssef Aalla is the last corpse identified in the Alcanar explosion,” Catalan regional police says, referring to an accidental blast at the jihadists’ bomb factory on the eve of the August 17 assault in Barcelona.
“That is the last known member of the cell” whose remains had not been formally identified, they say.
The explosion also killed an imam, Abdelbaki Es Satty, who is believed to have radicalized the young men in the cell.
It was so strong that “the mushroom cloud that was generated was visible several kilometers (miles) around,” according to court documents.
The blast forced the suspects to turn instead to using vehicles as weapons.
They ran down people in a crowded avenue in Barcelona on August 17, and in the nearby seaside town of Cambrils in the early hours of the following day. Fifteen people were killed and more than 120 injured.
— AFP
Swiss woman indicted over bid to join Islamic State in Syria
Switzerland’s attorney general has indicted a Swiss woman suspected of trying to reach Syria to join the Islamic State group with her four-year-old child in tow.
The office of Attorney General Michael Lauber says the 30-year-old from the Zurich area, whose name wasn’t released, was indicted for alleged violations of laws banning al-Qaeda, IS and associated extremist groups.
The indictment alleges that she traveled illegally with her child from Egypt to Greece in December 2015 in hopes of crossing from neighboring Turkey into Syria.
Greek authorities prevented her from continuing the journey and handed her over to Swiss authorities in January last year.
Switzerland’s intelligence agency estimates that 89 people have left Switzerland since 2001 to participate in jihad, including 75 who went to Syria and Iraq.
— AP
PA says visit of US delegation to Ramallah ‘crucial’
The Palestinian Authority says the meeting with visiting US officials in Ramallah later today is “important and crucial,” according to the official PA news agency Wafa.
Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh underscores the importance of the meeting as it comes after the US delegation’s meeting with other Arab leaders.
According to the report, PA President Mahmoud Abbas discussed the stagnated Israeli-Palestinian peace talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ahead of today’s meetings.
20 Iraqi sailors found dead after ship sinks
The bodies of 20 Iraqi sailors have been recovered after their ship sank following a collision off the country’s southern coast, the transport ministry says.
The Al-Mesbar sank in Iraqi waters on Saturday following the collision with a foreign-flagged vessel, after which eight sailors were rescued and the bodies of four others found.
The ministry says in a statement that 16 more bodies were found when the ship was raised today.
— AFP
US pledges to strengthen Ukraine army, but offers no lethal weaponry
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the United States is committed to help Ukraine’s military, also saying sanctions against Moscow will remain in place until it stops supporting rebels and returns Crimea.
“Mr President, we continue to support Ukraine and remain committed to building the capacity of your armed forces,” Mattis says after meeting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, adding that sanctions against Russia “will remain in place until Moscow reverses the actions that triggered them.”
— AFP
Halamish terrorist targeted Salomons after hearing laughter in their home – prosecutors
The Palestinian terrorist who murdered three members of an Israeli family in the West Bank last month chose to break into the Salomon’s house and attack them after hearing laughter coming from inside their home, according to the indictment filed in Judea Military Court.
The charge sheet says that after 19-year-old Omar al-Abed sneaked into the settlement of Halamish on July 21, he “noticed that the house to his right was dark and quiet, while the house to his left was lit up, with laughter emerging from within.”
After knocking on their door, Abed stabbed to death Yosef, Elad, and Chaya Salomon.
He is being charged with three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.
— Jacob Magid
Palestinians protest arrival of US delegation in Ramallah
Dozens of Palestinians in Ramallah are protesting the visit by a high-level delegation of US officials to the West Bank city later today.
Protesters decried US President Donald Trump, with some chanting that his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, “the dog that serves Tel Aviv” was “not welcome” in the Palestinian city.
Palestinian officials quoted in Hebrew and Arabic media have accused Kushner of taking Israel’s side on Mideast peace process issues, including PA payments to convicted terrorists, which Ramallah has refused to halt.
ברמאללה נערכה הפגנה נגד ביקור המשלחת האמריקנית, שאורגנה ע"י גוף בשליטת הפת"ח. נשמעו קריאות בגנות טראמפ וקושנר: ''כלב ציוני" @Nimrod_Licht pic.twitter.com/yEBL382lDO
— כאן ועכשיו (@kann_news) August 24, 2017
Firebrand cleric Raed Salah charged with incitement to terrorism
A firebrand Islamic cleric accused of inciting violence in connection with deadly tensions last month over the Temple Mount is charged with incitement to commit terrorism over a sermon he gave in the wake of a July terror attack on the Temple Mount in which two policemen were killed.
Police have alleged the sermon was “directly related to the murder of the two policemen and delivered in front of a large crowd.”
Salah was released from prison in January after serving a nine-month sentence for similar offenses.
US general vows to annihilate Islamic State in Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s security forces, with the help of US and NATO ground and air support, will annihilate the Islamic State group affiliate in the country and crush remnants of al-Qaeda, vows the top US general in Afghanistan.
Gen. John Nicholson also has a message for the Taliban: “Stop fighting against your countrymen. Stop killing innocent civilians. Stop bringing hardship and misery to the Afghan people. Lay down your arms and join Afghan society. Help build a better future for this country and your own children.”
Nicholson and Hugo Llorens, the US Embassy’s Special Chargé d’Affaires, tell reporters in the capital Kabul that US President Donald Trump’s new strategy for Afghanistan announced Monday was a promise to Afghans that together they would defeat terrorism and prevent terrorist groups from establishing safe havens.
“We will not fail in Afghanistan,” Nicholson says. “Our national security depends on it, as well as Afghanistan’s security, and our allies and partners.”
But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid was defiant in a telephone interview with The Associated Press: “We are not giving our guns to any one and our Taliban are fighting until the last US soldier is no longer here in Afghanistan.”
— AP
Iran welcomes restoring of Qatari relations
Iran welcomes the recent Qatari decision to restore diplomatic relations with Iran.
According to a report by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi says Tehran “welcome[s] this measure by the Qatari government.”
Qatar had pulled its ambassador in early 2016 after Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric sparked attacks on two Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran. The decision to return the ambassador, announced early today, comes amid a diplomatic dispute between Qatar and other Arab nations.
— with AP
2 hurt in Independence Day blast in Kiev
Two people are hurt in a blast caused by an “unknown object” in central Kiev Thursday as Ukraine celebrated Independence Day, officials say, suggesting it could be the work of hooligans.
The incident, which occurred as US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was visiting the country, occurred near the site of a military parade.
“At 1406 (1206 GMT) we received information about an explosion of an unknown object,” a police statement says.
“A man and a woman received bodily injuries,” it says, adding that investigators and explosion experts were working at the scene on Grushevskogo street, near the building of the Ukrainian government.
Officials quickly cordoned off the area and the wounded individuals were taken away, an AFP correspondent says.
Spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) tells AFP that “so far our first version of the blast is hooliganism.”
— AFP
High Court limits weekly protests outside AG’s home to 500 people
The High Court of Justice rules the weekly protests outside the Petah Tikva home of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit are allowed to continue, but they must be limited to 500 people.
Judges also barred protesters from using loudspeakers during the demonstrations, and limited the gatherings to four hours on Saturday evenings. They also limited the number of megaphones at the protests to 2.
In recent months, the protests against Mandelblit’s handling of a number of graft cases involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family have steadily grown in size.
In response, police have prevented some demonstrators from arriving at Mandelblit’s home and turned key organizers away.
Spain conditionally releases attacks suspect
Spain’s National Court says that one of the four suspects in deadly attacks last week in and around Barcelona has been conditionally freed because of a lack of evidence against him.
Judge Fernando Andreu ruled that Salh El Karib’s passport should be confiscated and that he will be required to show up in court once a week while he remains under investigation.
El Karib, who worked in a cybercafe in Ripoll, the Catalan town where the extremist cell was allegedly formed, had been in police custody since investigators found that he purportedly purchased plane tickets for some of its members.
On Tuesday, the judge freed with similar restrictions another suspect and sent to jail two others. Eight more people connected to the attacks are dead, six of them shot by the police.
— AP
Official says IS fighters ‘completely surrounded’ in Iraqi town
The spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq says the militants are “completely surrounded” in the town of Tal Afar and “are being killed.”
US Army Col. Ryan Dillon says the IS militants in the town are being deprived of their resources and at the “cusp of yet another defeat.”
Iraqi spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, put the estimated number of IS fighters remaining in Tal Afar at 2,000. He says most are foreigners, non-Iraqi Arabs but that there are also some locals fighting with IS.
Rasool says about 10,000 civilians remain inside the city but that authorities have secured safe corridors for them.
Tal Afar is about 150 kilometers, or 93 miles, from Syria’s border and it’s among the last IS-held towns in Iraq.
— AP
Pennsylvania man arrested for racist, anti-Semitic graffiti
Police say a Pennsylvania man who in the past has claimed to be associated with white supremacist groups is jailed on charges he spray-painted graffiti including swastikas and racial epithets in several places near Philadelphia.
Coatesville police say 24-year-old George Rissell is charged with eight counts each of ethnic intimidation, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.
Police say the vandalism early Tuesday damaged the outside of a convenience store, a Mercedes Benz and a garage door.
Officials said the person or persons responsible then apparently went into neighboring Valley Township and left similar graffiti on street signs and the roadway.
Police say a surveillance photo they released of the suspect led to his arrest. Online court records don’t list an attorney for Rissell.
He remains in the Chester County jail unable to post $150,000 bond.
— AP
Israeli man found murdered near Kiev synagogue
An Israeli man was found murdered near a synagogue in the Ukranian capital of Kiev early yesterday morning.
The victim is named as 29-year-old Jerusalem resident Sachroch Torsonov, according to Ynet news website.
Local police say the murder appears to be a targeted assassination, as Torsonov’s killers waited for him before fatally shooting him and then fleeing the scene.
Authorities suspect the incident is criminal in nature, and not racially motivated.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry says it is “aware of the situation” and is being taken care of by the embassy in Kiev.
Hundreds attend Torah procession through East Jerusalem
Some 300 Israeli Jews attend a celebratory march through East Jerusalem, accompanying a Torah scroll to its new home at the Ohel Shlomo synagogue.
Knesset members Nurit Koren (Likud) along with Moti Yogev and Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) are taking part in the traditional procession through the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan.
The event is being held with police permission.
16-year-old injured in Jerusalem hit and run dies
A 16-year-old high school student who was critically injured earlier today in a hit and run accident in Jerusalem has died of his injures,
Hagi Goldstein was a student at Or Hatorah in Ramot, and was a youth leader in a local scouts troop.
The driver of the car who hit Goldstein along the Golda Meir Boulevard in northern Jerusalem fled the scene of the accident. He has since turned himself in to police and will be brought before a judge on Friday for a remand hearing.
Goldstein will be buried later this evening in his hometown of Mishor Adumim.
EU slams Israel for demolishing Palestinian schools
The European Union condemns Israeli measures against three Palestinian schools in the West Bank days before classes restart following the summer holidays.
In a statement, the EU expresses “strong concern about the recent confiscations of Palestinian school structures undertaken by Israel in Bedouin communities in the occupied West Bank.”
“Every child has the right to safe access to education and states have an obligation to protect, respect and fulfil this right, by ensuring that schools are inviolable safe spaces for children,” it says.
On Monday, a kindergarten structure in a Bedouin Arab community in the eastern West Bank was confiscated, while overnight Tuesday a small primary school was demolished in the southern West Bank.
Solar panels used to power another school were also removed.
Israeli officials say the structures did not have proper permits.
Many such projects are built by European NGOs with funding from the European Union.
— with AFP
Trump hails Netanyahu-Kushner meet, says ties with Israel ‘stronger than ever’
US President Donald Trump hails top adviser Jared Kushner and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the two met earlier today in a US-led bid to jumpstart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
“Lets advance #Peace, #Prosperity and #Security in the area, There is no doubt that our relationship is stronger than ever! See you soon,” Trump posts on his Instagram account.
Netanyahu says meeting with US delegation ‘helpful, meaningful’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his meetings with the high-level delegation of US officials earlier today were “helpful and meaningful.”
In a statement, the prime minister says he and the visiting US delegation “discussed ways to promote peace and prosperity in the region.”
“The talks were helpful and meaningful,” it says, adding that Netanyahu “expects the talks to continue in the coming weeks.”
Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, peace envoy Jason Greenblatt and Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategy Dina Powell are visiting the region in a bid to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace.
PA says it ‘highly appreciates’ Trump administration’s peace efforts
The Palestinian Authority says it “highly appreciates” the Trump administration’s efforts to jumpstart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
According to reports, PA officials said they “know that things are difficult and complicated, but that nothing is impossible in light the sincere efforts of the Americans.”
Abbas also reportedly asked the visiting delegation to commit to a two-state solution, a settlement building freeze and a timetable for the resumption of the peace process.
The Times of Israel Community.