A-G to police: Look into Arab MKs’ meeting with terrorists’ families

Investigators say fire at West Bank synagogue was arson

Fire investigators say last night’s blaze at the synagogue of the Givat Sorek outpost in the West Bank was started deliberately. The findings are based on evidence at the scene.

The fire gutted the tent that served as a makeshift place of worship and burned the holy books inside.

— Judah Ari Gross

Spain arrests 7 for suspected al-Qaeda, IS links

Spanish police say seven people are in detention over suspected links to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State jihadist groups.

The arrests are carried out in the eastern cities of Valencia and Alicante and in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, the police say in a statement.

“Four of those arrested are Spanish nationals of Syrian, Jordanian and Moroccan origin,” the statement says. A Syrian, a Moroccan and a seventh unidentified person are also taken into custody in the operation, which is still ongoing.

— AFP

Bernie Sanders, Larry David sail the SNL seas together

Larry David and his political alter ego Bernie Sanders make a joint appearance on US comedy show “Saturday Night Live.”

David has portrayed his Democratic doppelganger and fellow Brooklyn native multiple times on SNL.

Sanders is the third presidential candidate to be a guest on the show this season. His rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, came on in October, while Republican front-runner Donald Trump appeared in November.

Balad slams PM for legislation on meeting with terrorists’ families

The Balad party, which forms part of the Joint (Arab) List, hits back at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for planning legislation to disqualify lawmakers who follow in the footsteps of the MKs who met last week with the families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks on Israelis.

All three lawmakers who attended the meeting are from Balad.

“Once Bibi (Netanyahu) realized that there is no ethical or criminal issue with the meeting MKs held on (Israel) releasing (terrorists’) bodies, he began trying to score political points by advancing legislation that would harm the political representation of the Arab minority, and and reduce the scope of political action,” Balad says, according to the Walla website.

Hanegbi: Dani Dayan won’t be envoy to Brazil

Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi, who heads the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, says that Dani Dayan will be reassigned to a new diplomatic posting after Brasilia refused to accept him as the next Israeli ambassador due to his former status as head of the settler movement.

“He has to go somewhere no less important,” Hanegbi says, according to the Maariv website.

Police name Sudanese stabber in Ashkelon

Police identify the Sudanese national believed to have stabbed an IDF soldier in Ashkelon earlier today.

He is named as Kamel Hassan, aged 32.

— Judah Ari Gross

Hamas, Fatah holding new reconciliation effort

Officials from rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas are meeting today in Doha to discuss a new reconciliation agreement between the two.

Both sides have sent high-ranking members, Ynet says, with Moussa Abu Marzouk attending for Hamas and Azzam al-Ahmad for Fatah.

Palestinians: Israel to return 2 more terrorists’ bodies

Israel has decided to return the bodies of more two East Jerusalem Arabs killed while carrying out terror attacks, Palestinian sources say.

The Maariv website names the two as Ahmad Abu Shaaban and Musab al-Ghazali.

Abu Shaaban was shot dead as he perpetrated a stabbing attack at Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station in October. Al-Ghazali was killed while trying to stab police officers near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem in December.

Police confirm probing harassment claims against actor Ivgy

Police confirm they are examining claims that veteran actor Moshe Ivgy sexually harassed a series of women, the NRG website says.

All six women say Ivgy harassed them while they were working together on various films, television shows and plays.

Ivgy says he is “shocked” by the accusations, which he denies.

Erdogan furious at US official’s trip to Syrian town freed by Kurds

Turkey’s president lashes out at the United States a week after President Barack Obama’s envoy visits a northern Syrian town reclaimed from the Islamic State by Syrian Kurdish forces that Ankara considers terrorists.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says in comments published today that Washington must choose between Turkey and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, as its partner.

Brett McGurk last week visited Kobani, where the PYD’s military wing, aided by US-led airstrikes, drove back IS a year ago. Turkey considers PYD a terror group because of its affiliation with Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

Erdogan says: “How can we trust you? Is it me that is your partner or is it the terrorists in Kobani?”

— AP

US outlets name 2nd British member of Islamic State

A joint investigation by The Washington Post and Buzzfeed leads to the identification of a second British Islamic State member involved in beheading Western hostages in Syria.

The Brit is named as 32-year-old Alexanda Kotey, a convert to Islam from West London. According to the Post, Kotey’s identity was confirmed by an American official and others familiar with British nationals in Syria.

Both Kotey’s family in London and British security officials decline to comment on the report, the Post says.

Arab teen indicted for planning Jerusalem attack

A 15-year-old from the Shuafat neighborhood of East Jerusalem is indicted in juvenile court for allegedly planning to stab Jews in the capital’s Old City last week.

The indictment states that the youth left the house with a school bag and a knife he hid under his trousers, Ynet says. He raised the suspicions of a policeman who searched the teen and found the knife.

The youth is charged with attempted murder and possession of a knife.

Minor earthquake causes small stir in south

An earthquake measuring 3.3 is recorded near Moshav Tsofar in southern Israel, some 50 kilometers south of the Dead Sea.

Some local residents say they felt a slight tremor, while others registered no disturbances at all.

Israeli man crosses into Lebanon, UNIFIL brings him back

A gag order is lifted on the Israeli national who crossed the border into Lebanon and was handed back this weekend via UN troops in the area.

The man is named as Oleg Gamerman from Jerusalem, who was declared missing last week. He was returned to Israel on Friday night, after negotiations with Lebanon, via the crossing at Rosh Hanikra.

The man is briefly questioned by security forces following his return, Haaretz says.

PM unveils new bill to suspend MKs for ‘unseemly behavior’

PM Netanyahu announces new planned legislation that would allow MKs to be suspended from the Knesset for what he calls in a Twitter post “unseemly behavior.”

The legislation requires 90 MKs, three quarters of the 120-member house, to vote in favor of the suspension.

It is unclear how long such a suspension would be in effect or who would replace the suspended MK during that period.

The proposed bill comes after three Arab MKs were heavily criticized for meeting last week with the families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks on Israelis.

Syrian army nearing rebel town on Turkey border — monitor

Syrian government troops are advancing toward a rebel town near the Turkish border, as they press on with a Russian-backed offensive that has prompted tens of thousands of civilians to flee, a monitor says.

The town of Tal Rifaat is around 20 kilometers from the Turkish frontier, where Syrians who have fled fighting near Aleppo city have been gathering since the assault was launched Monday.

It is one of the last rebel strongholds in the north of Aleppo province and government troops are just seven kilometers away, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman says regime troops want to push north to the border with Turkey to prevent rebels and weapons from entering Syrian territory.

— AFP

Red Cross in Gaza closes office due to violent protests

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is temporarily closing its Gaza office after protesters repeatedly tried to storm it.

Spokeswoman Suhair Zakkout says the office will operate remotely until “local authorities in Gaza provide assurances that our premises, work and staff are respected.”

Dozens of Gazans have protested daily at the office in recent weeks in solidarity with a Palestinian hunger striker detained by Israel, demanding that the Red Cross help bring about his release. They tried to enter the building forcefully on Sunday, smashing garage windows and causing other damage.

— AP

New Hamas music video lauds suicide bombings

The Palestinian terror group Hamas publishes a new music video supporting suicide bombings inside Israel.

The video shows planners of attacks, a would-be bomber boarding an Egged bus, and then a burning bus, presumably after an attack.

The accompanying song praises those who carry out the explosions “so that Netanyahu will be humbled.”

“To die as a martyr for Al-Aqsa [Mosque] gives the explosive device more and more force,” the song says. “The intifada is not an intifada if the bus roof doesn’t fly off.”

UN official meets with parents of fallen IDF soldier whose body is held by Hamas

A senior aide to Ban Ki-moon meets with the parents of Lt. Hadar Goldin, an IDF officer who fell during the 2014 war in Gaza and whose body is still being held by Hamas.

Simha and Lea Goldin raise the issue of the return of their son’s body, as well as that of fellow soldier Oron Shaul, who died in an attack on an APC that killed seven IDF troops.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon accompanies the Goldins to the meeting with Edmund Mulet, the UN’s assistant secretary-general for Peacekeeping Operations.

Irate worshipers heckle Ban during visit to NYC shul

Worshipers at a central Manhattan synagogue disrupt a speech about the Holocaust by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, as they protest his recent comments attributing Palestinian terror attacks on Israelis to “frustration” over the occupation.

Walla says Ban’s visit yesterday came at his request, as he wanted to mark the recent International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

A-G to police: Look into Arab MKs’ meeting with terrorists’ families

Avichai Mandelblit tells the police intelligence branch to look into a controversial meeting last week between three Arab Knesset members and the relatives of Palestinian terrorists killed while carrying out attacks on Israelis.

According to Channel 10, the meeting included a visit to the home of at least one of the families.

Hamas military wing says it executed member said to be ‘Israeli spy’

The military wing of Hamas says it has executed one of its members, with sources familiar with the case calling him a senior official accused of spying for Israel.

“The [Izz al-Din] Al-Qassam Brigades announce that the death penalty pronounced against its member Mahmud Eshtawi has been applied today at 1600 hours,” Hamas’s military wing says in a statement.

Executions have previously been carried out in the Gaza Strip, including in public squares in the Palestinian territory, but it appears to be the first time the military wing itself has sentenced one of its own through a court martial and then executed him.

The statement does not provide details on the accusations against Eshtawi, other than to say that “the Brigades’ military and Islamic judicial committee issued the sentence because he violated rules and ethics.”

Eshtawi’s duties included overseeing tunnels that have previously been used to store weapons and carry out attacks against Israel, the sources say.

According to the sources, he was in charge of a large unit and was previously a close associate of Mohammed Deif, the Al-Qassam chief who has been a frequent target of Israeli assassination attempts.

— AFP

Jordan: Better global trade terms will help hire Syria refugees

Jordan’s planning minister says his country has been promised easier trade terms by the international community, potentially generating large-scale investment and “hundreds of thousands of job opportunities.”

Imad Fakhoury tells reporters that creating jobs for Jordanians is a priority, but that the trade commitments could also put 200,000 Syrian refugees to work.

Fakhoury is speaking after last week’s Syria aid conference, where donors pledged more than $10 billion, including aid to 4.6 million refugees and their regional hosts, such as Jordan.

Donor countries struggling with a large refugee influx over the past year hope to improve the lives of the displaced and keep them in the region.

Fakhoury says that in addition to trade perks, Jordan will also receive billions of dollars in grants and easy loans in coming years.

— AP

Netanyahu: If US aid deal not suitable, we’ll wait for next president

The PM tells the weekly cabinet meeting that if the terms of a new defense aid package from the US do not meet Israel’s needs, then he will wait until the next president is sworn in before signing the agreement, in the hopes of reaching a better deal.

“It’s still not certain that we will reach an agreement,” Netanyahu tells ministers, according to Haaretz. “We have to see if we can reach an outcome that meets the security needs of Israel, or maybe if we do not reach an agreement with the current administration, we will have to reach an agreement with the next administration.”

Security Council holds emergency talks on N. Korea rocket launch

The UN Security Council is holding an emergency meeting on the North Korean rocket launch, and Japan and its Western allies are demanding swift adoption of tough new sanctions against Kim Jong Un’s regime for violating UN resolutions.

Japan’s UN Ambassador Motohide Yoshikawa says before heading into Sunday’s closed council meeting that the missile passed over Japan and landed near the Philippines, “and this is a clear threat to the lives of many people.”

The United States and China have been working on a new sanctions resolution since North Korea conducted as nuclear test on Jan. 6.

Motohide says that “China calls for more dialogue,” but what’s needed now is pressure and speedy adoption of a robust sanctions resolution.

Britain, France and Ukraine also call for swift and tough new sanctions.

— AP

Turkey: Reaching our limits, but we’ll keep taking in refugees

Turkey has reached the end of its “capacity to absorb” refugees but will continue to take them in, the deputy premier says, as his country faces mounting pressure to open its border to tens of thousands of Syrians who have fled a government onslaught.

Ankara says up to 35,000 Syrians have massed along the border, which remains closed for a third day. The governor of the Turkish border province of Kilis said yesterday that Turkey would provide aid to the displaced within Syria, but would only open the gates in the event of an “extraordinary crisis.”

Deputy PM Numan Kurtulmus tells CNN-Turk that Turkey is now hosting a total of 3 million refugees, including 2.5 million Syrians.

“Turkey has reached the end of its capacity to absorb [refugees],” Kurtulmus says. “But in the end, these people have nowhere else to go. Either they will die beneath the bombings and Turkey will … watch the massacre like the rest of the world, or we will open our borders.”

Kurtulmus says Turkey has admitted some 15,000 refugees from Syria in the past few days, without elaborating. He puts the number of refugees being cared for on the other side of the border at 30,000.

— AP

Sanders: We talked to J Street for Mideast perspective

Bernie Sanders tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he has been in contact with liberal lobby group J Street to discuss the Mideast conflict, as well as with James Zogby, the founder and president of the Arab American Institute.

“We’ve talked to people like Jim Zogby, talked to the people on J Street to get a broad perspective of the Middle East,” Sanders says when pressed on his foreign-policy advisers.

Joint List chief: PM on mission of delegitimization against Arabs

Ayman Odeh, the head of the Joint (Arab) List party, tells Channel 2 television that Netanyahu’s proposed legislation to suspend MKs who behave in an “unseemly” manner is an attempt to undermine Israel’s Arab community.

Netanyahu “has embarked on a delegitimization mission against the Arab population,” Odeh says.

He insists that last week’s meeting between three of his party’s MKs and the families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis was a humanitarian mission over the Jewish state’s refusal to return the bodies of the assailants.

Odeh also decries violence, saying “an attack on a Jew for being a Jew, or a Palestinian for being a Palestinian, is an unacceptable act.”

Labor conference adopts Herzog’s separation plan

The Labor Party conference confirms a new plan to separate from the Palestinians drafted by party leader Isaac Herzog.

In a statement, the party says that “for the first time in decades” it has “adopted a complete and comprehensive security policy outline.”

“Only a separation between us will maintain a Jewish majority in Israel,” Herzog says while presenting his plan. “Only a separation between us will prevent the infiltration of terrorists and strengthen security. Only a separation between us will allow for the completion of the security fence around the settlement blocs. Only a separation between us will maintain security. We have learned the lessons of the Likud’s disengagement from Gaza; the IDF will remain [in the West Bank] and not move.”

— Raoul Wootliff

Ex-Shas chief: Attack by Sudanese man vindicates my anti-migrant stance

Former Shas leader Eli Yishai says that the stabbing attack by a Sudanese man on a soldier in Ashkelon earlier today justifies his opposition to refugees in Israel.

“I’m sad to say I wasn’t surprised that this happened, and it makes no difference whether or not the stabber was emotionally unstable — the writing was on the wall,” Yishai writes on Facebook.

“One of the reasons for my struggle against the infiltrators was the possibility that hostile elements would enter Israel masquerading as refugees. There are many other reasons, some of which were behind my portrayal as a racist, but I don’t regret it for a second and will carry on with my just struggle.”

Heavy metal band Anthrax sued for $1M over Hanukkah sweatshirt

The 1980s heavy metal band Anthrax is being sued for copyright infringement over the Ugly Hanukkah Sweater.

The blue-and-white sweatshirt features dreidels, menorahs and Stars of David, the words “Happy Hanukkah” and the Anthrax logo bracketed by Stars of David. They have been sold on Rockabilia since November of last year; the sweatshirts cost $28.99.

LAST CHANCE to order the limited edition @Anthrax #Hanukkah sweater before 12-6! https://t.co/h6rxWcBVmW pic.twitter.com/AJS29D2Npt

— Rockabilia (@rockabilia) December 3, 2015

But Detroit artist and businessman Aaron Cummins has filed a $1-million lawsuit in the US District Court, claiming he made the original design in 2012 and registered it with the US Copyright Office in 2013, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Anthrax, the Rockabilia website and the merchandising company Global Merchandising Services are named in the suit, according to the newspaper.

According to Rockabilia, the sweatshirts are designed by Axl Rosenberg of MetalSucks.

— JTA

Rahat mayor visits Jewish woman stabbed in town market

Rahat Mayor Talal al-Krenawi pays a visit to Shlomit Gonen, the Jewish Israeli woman stabbed and wounded in an attack at the Rahat market yesterday.

“Shlomit’s stabbing was a stabbing of every Rahat resident,” al-Krenawi says, according to Walla. “Every educational institution in Rahat this morning spoke out against violence. Some of the schools also visited her.

“The terror attack damaged the fabric of our lives,” he adds. “This was not a resident of Rahat, but an illegal alien. I have the information from the CCTV cameras, and we can say with certainty that he was not a local resident. I believe that the police will get to him very soon.”

Ethics panel gets record number of complaints against Arab MKs

The Knesset Ethics Committee receives a record number of complaints against the three Arab MKs who last week visited the families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks on Israelis.

The panel is handling more than 450 complaints over the meeting, Ynet says.

The complainants include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, who each submitted unprecedented personal complaints today, as well as the families of terror victims.

Poll: Falling Palestinian support for third intifada

A new poll of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza finds that less than half support a third intifada, down from almost two-thirds who supported such a development last November.

According to the Awrad research institute, the survey of 1,200 Palestinians shows that just 42% are in favor of a new uprising, as opposed to 63% who supported it late last year, Channel 2 reports.