Church of the Holy Sepulchre to reopen after Jerusalem suspends tax collection

Israeli court rejects extradition of Australian teacher in abuse case

An Israeli court says an Australian woman accused of sex crimes will not be extradited for reasons of mental illness.

Her lawyer says the Jerusalem District Court rejected the prosecution request Tuesday and ruled the suspect, who cannot be named under a gag order, should be dealt with “in the realm of mental illness.”

Yehuda Fried says that likely means a years-long process before her extradition can be reconsidered.

Australia wants the 54-year-old extradited for sexually abusing children while she was a teacher at a local school. She was arrested following an undercover investigation at Interpol’s request and is suspected of obstructing Israeli court proceedings by attempting to hide evidence.

An Israeli court previously stopped extradition proceedings after determining she was not fit to stand trial. Police claimed she was pretending to be mentally ill to avoid extradition.

— AP

Ultra-Orthodox MK threatens to ‘topple government’ over draft law

A top ultra-Orthodox lawmaker is threatening to topple the coalition if his party’s bill to grant military exemptions to ultra-Orthodox students doesn’t go ahead.

“This is a total crisis, not a mini-crisis,” MK Moshe Gafni, who chairs the powerful Knesset Finance Committee, tells Israel Radio. “I will topple the coalition over this law.”

The Yisrael Beytenu party has vowed to oppose the draft bill, saying it will only support a version being formulated by the Defense Ministry.

The ultra-Orthodox parties were seeking to condition their support for the 2019 state budget on the advancement of their law. Gafni, as the head of the Knesset Finance Committee, is overseeing the final tweaks to the state budget.

The ultra-Orthodox proposal, a quasi-constitutional Basic Law, would enshrine long-term Torah study as equivalent to military service to the state.

United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni with Interior Minister Aryeh Deri at a Finance committee meeting in the Israeli parliament on February 27, 2018.(Flash90)

19 hurt, including Israelis, in Cambodia bus crash

Nineteen people, mostly foreigners, are injured and the driver of the bus they were on is killed in a collision with another vehicle Tuesday in eastern Cambodia, police say.

Police Col. Sam Nal says those injured in the pre-dawn accident in Kampong Cham province are four Germans, three Britons, three Thais, two people from France, two Israelis, a Chinese and four Cambodians. Most have only slight injuries, but two are in critical condition.

The bus they were on was heading to the capital, Phnom Penh, from Siem Reap — site of the Angkor Wat temple complex, Cambodia’s top tourist attraction — when it collided with a minibus. Police say the bus, traveling at a high speed in the dark, hit the minibus as it was trying to turn around.

Serious traffic accidents have become increasingly frequent in recent years in Cambodia as it has upgraded its road system and more people have become car owners. According to an Interior Ministry report, more than 1,500 people were killed in traffic accidents last year.

— AP

Polish Jews protest TV interview with priest on Jews’ subjective ‘truth’

Representatives of Polish Jews complain to the state watchdog on media over a public broadcaster’s airing of an interview with a priest who said Jews have a unique understanding of the concept of truth.

Henryk Zielinski, editor-in-chief of the Catholic weekly Idziemy, said this on February 24 during an interview with TVP, according to a complaint the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland filed on Monday with Poland’s National Council of Radio and Television.

Jews have “a completely different system of values, a different concept of truth,” Zielinski said. “For us, the truth corresponds to facts. For the Jew, truth means something that conforms to his understanding of what’s beneficial. If a Jew is religious, then truth means something God wants.”

In non-religious Jews, “the truth is subjective or whatever serves Israel’s interests,” he added. Zielinski cited the Haggadah — a text read by Jews at the Passover Seder, which contains the story of the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt. “Often these stories have nothing to do with facts,” noted the Catholic priest.

The interviewer, Michał Karnowski, did not contest Zielinski’s assertions, according to the complaint.

Zielinski’s remarks violated the National Council of Radio and Television principles for content on public media, including its ban on ideas that “incite to hatred or discriminate on the grounds of race, disability, gender, religion or nationality,” the Jewish union writes in its complaint.

— JTA

Jerusalem mayor says he’s trying to resolve church crisis

The mayor of Jerusalem says he is working with a third party to resolve a tax dispute with major Christian denominations that has led to the closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity’s holiest sites.

Mayor Nir Birkat told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he wants to negotiate “in the right way.” He declined to identify the third party.

Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and other Christian leaders on Sunday closed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to protest Barkat’s decision to force them to pay property taxes.

Barkat says the taxes apply only to “commercial properties,” and not houses of worship.

Church officials say they were blindsided by the decision. Barkat says his decision is in line with practices common around the world.

— AP

German village votes to keep ‘Hitler bell’ in church

A German village has decided to keep a contentious Nazi-era church bell that bears a swastika and the words “All for the Fatherland — Adolf Hitler,” arguing it serves as a reminder of the country’s dark past.

The parish council of Herxheim voted 10-3 on Monday that the bronze bell from 1934 should remain as “an impetus for reconciliation and a memorial against violence and injustice.”

The council rejected an offer by the regional Protestant Church to pay for taking down the 240 kilogram (530 pound) bell and replacing it.

A memorial pointing to the bell’s history will now be fixed on the heritage-listed church, the Jakobskirche.

The village of just 700 people has repeatedly caught national attention for the controversial “Hitler bell” since a former church organist complained about the inscription.

— AFP

Polish president visits Jewish cultural center amid fight over law

Poland’s president visits a Jewish community center in a conciliatory gesture that comes amid a wave of anti-Semitism in the country and a dispute with Israel over a new law that makes it a crime to blame Poland for the Holocaust crimes of Nazi Germany.

Israel’s ire has in turn sparked anti-Jewish remarks in the public media by prominent commentators and elected officials, something unheard of in decades.

President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday visits the Jewish Community Center in Krakow, the southern Polish city that was once a center of Jewish life. The center is a gathering place for elderly Holocaust survivors and also houses a nursery and preschool, a reflection of the Jewish life that has been reemerging in Poland in recent years.

There, Duda stressed his appreciation for Jewish culture.

— AP

Erdogan slammed for wishing martyrdom on crying 6-year-old girl

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan comes under criticism for telling a small girl dressed in a military uniform that she would be honored if she were “martyred” for Turkey.

Erdogan spotted 6-year-old Amine Tiras weeping and saluting while the president was delivering a speech at his ruling party’s congress in the city of Kahramanmaras on Saturday, and had her brought on stage.

After trying to comfort the girl by kissing her on both cheeks, Erdogan told the crowd: “She has the Turkish flag in her pocket. If she becomes a martyr, God willing, this flag will be draped on her.”

Some people are appalled and take to Twitter to criticize the president.

One user says it is the state’s duty to protect children, not to “kill” them. Another says: “you don’t wish death for a child, you never say: ‘God willing.'”

— AP

Yeshiva University basketball team working to move game from Shabbat

After making it to the NCAA Division III basketball tournament, Yeshiva University is now working with the college sports organization to ensure their first game will not be held on Shabbat, as it is currently scheduled to be, the school’s athletic director says.

“They are keenly aware of our restrictions – they’ve been talking about how to accommodate us since at least Saturday evening,” Yeshiva University athletic director Joe Bednarsh tells The Times of Israel.

An initial version of the schedule for the college basketball tournament shows the Modern Orthodox institution’s team squaring off against York University at 1 p.m. on Saturday, which would conflict with the players’ ability to observe Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest.

This would be the first time in the school’s history that it made it to the national basketball tournament, known collectively as March Madness.

Bednarsh says the published schedule is not final and will likely be changed later today.

“We are not going to be playing on Shabbat,” he says.

Bednarsh reiterates his appreciation for the international response to the Yeshiva University basketball team’s story.

“Nothing has been making me happier than seeing the global reach this story has!” he says, in an email.

— Judah Ari Gross

Gabriel Leiter of Yeshiva University drives on a Purchase College defender in the Skyline Conference championship game, February 25, 2018. (Courtesy of Yeshiva University via JTA)

Hearing in Florida shooting case canceled without explanation

A Tuesday morning hearing in the criminal case against the suspect accused in the Florida high school shooting has been canceled.

Prosecutors are seeking to obtain hair samples, fingerprints, DNA and photographs of Nikolas Cruz, 19. The hearing was removed from the court docket and no explanation was immediately available.

Cruz, who has been charged with 17 counts of murder, was not expected to appear in court because he waived his right to attend the hearing. He is being held without bail at the Broward County Jail.

— AP

Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on February 19, 2018. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

IDF soldier convicted of rape, indecent assault of comrade

An IDF soldier is convicted of rape and indecent assault of a female comrade in an infantry battalion, the army says.

A military court hands down its ruling over the June 2017 incident. The suspect has been imprisoned since June 28, 2017, pending his trial.

The identity of the soldier and his victim remain under a gag order.

Bennett apologizes for campaign video linking MK to Hamas

Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett apologizes for a 2015 campaign video that appeared to suggest that philosophy professor Yossi Yonah — now a Zionist Union lawmaker — was sympathetic to the Hamas terrorist group.

“It was not justified and it was not right,” says Bennett to Yonah in the Knesset, three years later.

The 2015 clip starts with an image of the Hamas logo and menacing music. Then a quote appears: “There’s no difference between the Jewish Holocaust Day and the Palestinian Nakba.” The line, written in broken Hebrew, suggesting it was written by Arabs, refers to the “catastrophe” that for Palestinians is Israel’s creation in 1948.

Images of the Holocaust and violent Palestinian uprisings emerge, followed by more controversial statements, such as “Respect for Zionist soldiers who refuse to serve in the occupied territories” and “As long as there is occupation there will be terror,” mixed with footage of Palestinian protests.

At the end of the one-minute clip, it says: “This is not Hamas! This is Yossi Yonah [from] the Labor party headed by [Isaac] Boujie [Herzog].”

Yonah says he accepts Bennett’s apology.

Read more about the campaign video here.

Bezeq owner, ex-Netanyahu aide to remain in custody until Sunday

Two central suspects in the Bezeq probe are to remain in police custody until Sunday after the Jerusalem District Court rejects their appeal.

Shaul Elovitch, the majority shareholder in the Bezeq telecommunications company, and Nir Hefetz, a former media adviser for Netanyahu, are ordered held until next week.

Former Prime Minister’s Office manager Nir Hefetz, (center) Israeli media tycoon, Shaul Elovitch (left back) and Eli Kamir (right back), seen at the courtroom for the extension of their remand in Case 4000, at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, February 26, 2018. (Flash90)

Government team appointed to resolve tax dispute with Jerusalem churches

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat set up a negotiating team, headed by Likud Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, to resolve a dispute with the city’s churches over municipal taxes.

“As part of the discussion between the Prime Minister’s Office and the Jerusalem Municipality regarding churches’ municipal taxes, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Barkat have agreed that a professional team led by Minister Hanegbi, including representatives of the Ministries of Finance, Foreign Affairs and the Interior and the Jerusalem Municipality, will formulate a solution to the issue of municipal taxes (which do not apply to houses of worship). The team will negotiate with the representatives of the churches to resolve the issue,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

“As a result, the Jerusalem Municipality is suspending the collection actions it has taken in recent weeks,” it says.

Hanegbi will also examine the issue of Jerusalem land sales by the Greek Orthodox Church, with all Knesset legislation suspended until the minister presents his findings, the PMO says.

A pilgrim prays outside the closed gate of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City on February 25, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / GALI TIBBON)

“Israel is proud to be the only country in the Middle East where Christians and believers of all faiths have full freedom of religion and worship. Israel is home to a flourishing Christian community and welcomes its Christian friends from all over the world,” Netanyahu’s office says.

Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and other Christian leaders on Sunday closed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to protest Barkat’s decision to force them to pay property taxes.

The church is revered by Christians as the site where Jesus was crucified and resurrected, and is a popular spot with tourists and Christian pilgrims. Christian leaders have said the building will remain closed indefinitely.

Barkat said his order applies only to “commercial properties, such as hotels and office space, and does not affect houses of worship. He said his decision is in line with norms around the world, and called the church’s closure “unfortunate.”

— with AP

Judge who coordinated with investigator to face disciplinary hearing

The ombudsman handling complaints against judges recommends Judge Ronit Poznansky-Katz face a disciplinary hearing over coordination with an investigator in the Bezeq corruption probe.

Judge Eliezer Rivlin says her actions, however, are not criminal.

According to a WhatsApp chat obtained by Channel 10 news on Sunday, Israel Securities Authority investigator Eran Shacham-Shavit told Poznansky-Katz that authorities intend to release some of the suspects in the probe, while holding others for a few more days.

“Try and act surprised,” he writes.

“I’m practicing my surprised face,” she responds.

Shacham-Shavit also writes that, on the matter of suspects “Stella (Handler) and Iris (Elovitch), we will ask for a few more days tomorrow.

“They will request three days, but you can definitely, definitely give two days,” he says.

The apparent coordination has been condemned by lawmakers across the political spectrum. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has said she will seek the judge’s dismissal if the ombudsman determines the coordination indeed took place.

Judge Ronit Poznansky-Katz (L) and the Israel Securities Authority’s legal adviser, Eran Shacham-Shavit (R)

Dutch groups rescind invitation to convicted Palestinian terrorist

Following protests over a planned speech in the Netherlands by a Palestinian ex-terrorist, two organizations that had planned to host her retract the invitations.

A labor association for Turkish immigrants, HTIB, tells De Telegraaf on Tuesday that it is bowing out of hosting Rasmea Odeh this week. HTIB Chairperson Mustafa Ayranci says this following the publication of a report that called into question the move, as HTIB’s receives state subsidies.

HTIB had volunteered to host Rasmea after Amsterdam’s Nasau Church rescinded its invitation to Odeh, who is visiting the Netherlands as the guest of two Marxist groups, Anakbayan-Europe and Revolutionary Unity.

She spent 10 years in an Israeli prison for her role in a 1969 bombing attack at a Jerusalem supermarket that killed two Hebrew University students, Leon Kanner and Eddie Joffe. Israel jailed Odeh for life, but she was released in a prisoner exchange with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1980 and immigrated to the United States from Jordan. She has said her confession to the bombing was the result of severe torture by Israeli security forces.

Odeh obtained a US immigrant visa in 1994 and citizenship in 2004. In both applications, she failed to disclose her arrest and convictions in the bombings. She pleaded guilty to falsifying her immigration applications and was deported to Jordan in September.

In an email inviting listeners to the HTIB headquarters, the organizers wrote: “We ask you DO NOT POST THIS ADDRESS on any online or public platform. This is for Rasmea Odeh’s safety and security.”

— JTA

Rasmea Odeh stands outside the Theodore Levin US Courthouse in Detroit, on August 17, 2017, for a final court hearing before she was deported for concealing her convictions in two Jerusalem bombings. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Polish delegation said due in Israel to discuss Holocaust law

A high-level Polish delegation, including the country’s deputy foreign minister, is set to arrive in Israel on Wednesday to discuss the controversial Holocaust law, according to Hebrew-media reports.

The Polish leaders will meet with Foreign Ministry officials to discuss the possibility of amending the law, which has set off a furious fight between Jerusalem and Warsaw.

Poland’s president on February 6 signed the controversial legislation, which outlaws blaming Poland as a nation for Holocaust crimes committed by Nazi Germany.

— with agencies

Jewish Agency urges Israel to grant asylum to 500 young African migrants

In a letter to Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, the Jewish Agency for Israel board urges him to “grant legal status to the more than five hundred young migrants who arrived in Israel years ago as unaccompanied minors and were integrated in the education system of youth villages operated by The Jewish Agency and the Ministry of Education.”

“These youngsters have grown up in an Israeli educational environment, speak fluent Hebrew, are imbued with Israeli culture, and are loyal to the State of Israel,” the board says, according to a statement. “Therefore, it is right that they be granted legal status.”

Israel recently launched a campaign to deport unmarried male Eritrean and Sudanese migrants to African countries (widely reported to be Rwanda and Uganda) with jail time facing those who refuse to go. Approximately half of the 38,000 asylum seekers could be deported under the plan. Women, married men, and children will not be deported under “the first stage” of the deportations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.

The Jewish Agency also called on the government to ensure “every migrant has an opportunity to apply for asylum and receive transparent due process in the examination of their application.”

Israel has maintained that most asylum seekers do not actually face persecution at home and have traveled to Israel seeking jobs and a higher standard of living.

Trump appoints campaign manager for 2020 re-election bid

President Donald Trump is naming former digital adviser Brad Parscale as campaign manager of his 2020 re-election campaign.

A person familiar with the announcement confirms Parscale’s selection on the condition of anonymity, as the person was unauthorized to publicly discuss the news. The conservative Drudge Report website first reported his selection.

Trump has left little doubt about his intentions to seek re-election. He filed the paperwork to organize his re-election committee on the same day as his inauguration, held his first campaign rally on Feb. 18, 2017, in Florida, and has mused publicly about would-be Democratic challengers.

Parscale, an Austin-based digital consultant and ally of Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, ran the Trump campaign’s sophisticated digital operations in 2016. He previously worked for the Trump Organization.

— AP

Parts of Ramses II statue found in southern Egypt

Egypt says archaeologists have discovered parts of a statue of one of its most famous pharaohs in the southern city of Aswan.

The Antiquities Ministry says Tuesday the head and chest of the statue of Ramses II were found in the Temple of Kom Ombo during a project to protect the site from groundwater.

Egypt hopes the find, along with other recent discoveries, will help revive its tourism sector, which has been battered by years of unrest since the 2011 uprising.

Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great, ruled Egypt from 1279 B.C. to 1213 B.C. He is credited with expanding Egypt’s reach as far as modern Syria to the east and Sudan to the south.

— AP

Egypt says 3 soldiers killed in Sinai fighting

Egypt’s military says three soldiers, including an officer, were killed while fighting jihadists in the Sinai Peninsula.

Military spokesman Col. Tamer al-Rifai says three other officers and four conscripts were wounded in the fighting on Tuesday, which killed 11 jihadists.

The troops were taking part in a countrywide offensive announced February 9. The army says it has destroyed hundreds of targets and killed dozens of fighters. The latest casualties bring the army’s total death toll to 10 since the operation began.

The figures cannot be independently confirmed as press access is severely restricted.

— Agencies

Netanyahu says Israel won’t tolerate sporadic rocket fire

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not tolerate sporadic rocket fire, apparently referring to launches from the Gaza Strip.

“They will be hit immediately,” he says of those who target Israel. “This wasn’t always the policy, but this policy has proven itself.”

US general: Russia is both ‘arsonist and fireman’ in Syria

The top US general in the Middle East is criticizing Russia for being both “arsonist and fireman” in Syria.

Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of US Central Command, tells a House committee on Tuesday that Russia is at the heart of the conflict in Syria.

Votel says Moscow is “fueling tensions and then trying to resolve them in their favor.”

He says that along with Iran, Russia is trying to bolster the Syrian government under President Bashar Assad and fracture the longstanding strategic partnership between the United States and Turkey.

Votel says Moscow also is exaggerating the presence of Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan and portraying it as a US and NATO failure.

— AP

Addressing Human Rights Council, Iran minister decries US Jerusalem recognition

An Iranian government minister facing European Union and Swiss sanctions for human rights violations has criticized US and Saudi policies at the UN’s top human rights body, defying calls for him to stay away.

Justice Minister Seyyed Alireza Avaei’s visit was criticized because he’s faced EU sanctions for six years for his role in arbitrary arrests, denying prisoners’ rights, and increasing executions in Iran.

At the Human Rights Council on Tuesday, Avaei blasts the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, calling it “illustrative of gross violation of human rights” of Palestinians.

He criticizes a blockade of Yemen by a Saudi-led coalition involved in a three-year “war of aggression” there.

About 100 demonstrators denounce Avaei outside the UN Geneva.

The US delegation says it is “appalled” Iran sent him.

— AP

Donors conference set for March for UN Palestinian agency

A donors’ conference will be held next month to help fill a funding gap at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees caused by the US decision to cut support, Sweden’s deputy UN ambassador says Tuesday.

The March 15 conference in Rome, hosted by Sweden, Jordan, and Egypt, will be attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Both officials have called on countries to step in and fill the gap left from the US cuts.

The United States announced in January that it would give $60 million to UNRWA — a fraction of the more than $350 million annual contribution that it has previously provided to the UN agency’s budget.

“What we need is for UNRWA to maintain its services. This is not only a humanitarian imperative, it’s also critical for the stability in the broader region,” says Sweden Deputy Ambassador Carl Skau.

Conference organizers are closely coordinating with the United States “who are supportive” of the effort, he adds.

— AFP

Palestinians collect food aid at a United Nations food distribution center in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on January 28, 2018. (Said Khatib/AFP)

US team to visit Jerusalem next week to arrange embassy relocation — report

A US delegation is set to visit Jerusalem next week to prepare the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, scheduled for May, Hadashot TV reports.

According to the TV report, the United States asked the Jerusalem municipality for a larger plot of land for the embassy, only to be informed by the city that no such plots are available.

TV: Investigators have incriminating evidence against PM in Bezeq probe

Police possess a “significant” piece of evidence against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Bezeq corruption probe, according to Channel 10.

The evidence is also tied to Shaul Elovitch and Nir Hefetz — the majority shareholder of Bezeq and a former media adviser for the prime minister, respectively — which is why the courts have ordered them to remain in police custody through Sunday, the TV report says.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu takes to Facebook to deny any connection to the case.

Former Prime Minister’s Office manager Nir Hefetz, (center) Israeli media tycoon, Shaul Elovitch (left back), and Eli Kamir (right back), seen at the courtroom for the extension of their remand in Case 4000, at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, February 26, 2018. (Flash90)

“After they claimed the prime minister smoked one million shekels worth of cigars, here comes more hot air: Benefits worth a billion shekel,” writes Netanyahu. “However, all the actions taken [with regard to Bezeq] were substantive, based on recommendations from the professional staff, professional committees, and legal advice.”

“Not a million, not a billion, not a trillion — nothing,” he adds.

The case, known as Case 4000, involves suspicions that Elovitch ordered the Walla news site, which he owns, to grant positive coverage to Netanyahu and his family, in exchange for the prime minister advancing regulations benefiting Elovitch.

US lawmaker concerned over nuclear overtures to Saudi

An American legislator expresses concern over the Trump administration’s efforts to sign a nuclear cooperation accord with Saudi Arabia, which is preparing to build several reactors.

Democratic Senator Ed Markey, of Massachusetts, says any deal is “almost certain” to require a non-proliferation accord, known as a “123 agreement,” of the type the United States has previously signed with South Korea and India, and which is designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

“Previous US efforts to conclude a 123 agreement with Saudi Arabia have been unsuccessful because of its long-standing refusal to commit to foregoing any uranium enrichment or spent-fuel reprocessing on its territory — the so-called… ‘gold standard’ for 123 agreements,” Markey, of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

AFP on Tuesday obtained a copy of the letter, which is dated February 26. Riyadh plans to announce at the beginning of March its short list of firms which will bid to build its nuclear reactors. Besides the US company Westinghouse, Russian, French, Chinese, and South Korean firms are in the running.

A nuclear accord between Riyadh and Washington would allow US corporations to export their nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, while tensions are high surrounding the nuclear program of Riyadh’s regional rival Iran.

— AFP

Church of Holy Sepulchre to reopen Wednesday after tax collection suspended

Christian leaders say the Church of the Holy Sepulchre will re-open on Wednesday, three days after they closed it in a tax dispute with Israeli authorities in Jerusalem.

The announcement comes after the Jerusalem city hall earlier on Tuesday suspended a controversial move to tax church-owned properties until a new government committee finds a solution to the issue.

— With AP

Christian leaders hail ‘constructive intervention’ by Netanyahu

In a joint statement by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Custody of the Holy Land, and the Armenian Patriarchate, Christian leaders say they “look forward” to resolving their tax and land disputes with Likud Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, who was appointed to head a government committee on the issue.

“After the constructive intervention of the prime minister, the churches look forward to engaging with Minister Hanegbi, and with all those who love Jerusalem, to ensure that Our Holy City, where our Christian presence continues to face challenges, remains a place where the three monotheistic faiths may live and thrive together,” the statement says.

“Following these recent developments we hereby announce that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, that is the site of the crucifixion of Our Lord and also of His Resurrection, will be reopened to the pilgrims tomorrow, February 28th, 2018 at 4.00 AM.”

Shots fired at IDF post in central West Bank; no injuries

Shots were fired at an IDF position in the central West Bank, causing neither injury nor damage, the army says.

The military says soldiers found a number of shells near the army post outside al-Bireh, north of Jerusalem.

“Troops are searching the area,” the army says.

— Judah Ari Gross