Labor chief: Jordan Valley settlements ensure security

Large majority of Israelis say Israeli society deeply divided – poll

A survey by the US-based Jewish advocacy group ADL finds a large majority of Israelis are worried about the divides in their society.

Nearly two-thirds, 64 percent, say Israeli society is either “divided” or “very divided.” Only 7% say Israeli society is “unified” or “very unified.”

And Israel will still be very divided in thirty years, 57% affirm.

The survey comes ahead of the Israel 2048 conference on social solidarity slated to take place in Tel Aviv on October 24.

Politicians are the most widely seen culprits for society’s rifts, according to fully 75% of respondents. They are followed by the “traditional media” (73%), new or social media (67%), rabbis and the religious establishment (67%), and the judiciary (42%).

About one in five Israelis (21%) blames Diaspora Jewry for contributing to social division, while a larger 51% say Diaspora Jews should have “little” or “very little” say in decision-making in the country.

The poll was conducted by the Maagar Mohot research institute and was conducted with a representative sample of 510 Israelis.

Pro-secession Catalan groups call more protests

BARCELONA, Spain — Civil society groups in Catalonia are calling for new protests over the jailing of their pro-independence leaders by Spanish authorities.

Spain’s National Court ordered the leaders of Assemblea Nacional Catalana and Omnium Cultural, the grassroots organizations behind the separatist bid, to be held for allegedly orchestrating protests in mid-September that hindered a judicial investigation into preparations for the banned October 1 referendum.

The group says that the first gathering will be later today at the gates of the central government’s office in Barcelona, but a bigger march is planned in Catalonia’s regional capital for Saturday afternoon.

— AP

Haredi protesters block intersections in Jerusalem over draft-dodgers’ arrests

Dozens of Haredi protesters are blocking Jerusalem’s Shabbat Square, a key intersection leading to several ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in the capital.

A second protest is reportedly beginning at the corner of Jaffa and Sarei Yisrael streets near the city’s central bus station.

The protests are part of ongoing clashes between an anti-Zionist faction in the Haredi community and the police over the arrest of draft-dodging yeshiva students.

Haifa’s Rambam hospital practices dealing with chemical weapons attack

Rambam Hospital in Haifa holds a missile defense exercise that includes training medical staff’s response to a chemical attack.

The exercise includes the transfer of all personnel to the hospital’s underground bunker, and treatment of hundreds of people with pretend chemical burns.

The exercise brings together a broad array of Israeli agencies that would be charged with handling the fallout from a massive rocket barrage of the northern city that included the detonation of chemical warheads. The IDF’s Homefront Command, various ministries and emergency rescue services all take part.

Firebrand US lawmaker accepted donation from Nazi supporter

Hard-right Republican lawmaker Judge Roy Moore reportedly accepted a donation from a white supremacist, Nazi supporter and notorious Holocaust denier.

According to a Wednesday report in the Huffington Post, Moore in 2005 received a $1,000 donation from the Foundation to Defend the First Amendment, a nonprofit founded by Willis Carto, a man described by the anti-Defamation League as “one of the most influential American anti-Semitic propagandists.”

Todd Blodgett, who spied on Carto for the FBI from 2000 to 2002, told the website the ideology dominating the Foundation was “total Nazi; and notice I didn’t say neo-Nazi.”

The report said the contribution to Moore was discovered through publicly available tax records, and did not appear to have been returned.

Carto, who died at age 89 in 2015, founded the Liberty Lobby, a white supremacist group, and the Institute for Historical Review, a group that promotes Holocaust denial.

El Al slapped with class action lawsuit over cancellation policy

The Israel Consumer Council files a class action lawsuit against El Al airlines, alleging it illegally charged cancellation fees.

The amount on the claim is $40 million, and the council estimates that tens of thousands of passengers have been affected by El Al’s practices, according to a Wednesday Channel 2 report.

The lawsuit claims that El Al routinely charged passengers to re-book canceled flights in violation of Israeli aviation laws, and that it misled customers.

The lawsuit filed at the Lod District Court applies to passengers who purchased tickets before July 29, 2013.

Four laborers hurt in work accidents within hours

Four people are wounded Thursday within a few hours in various workplace accidents around the country, Channel 2 reports.

A 40-year-old laborer fell from a height at a Tel Aviv construction site and is hospitalized at the city’s Ichilov Hospital in moderate condition.

Earlier, a 30-year-old worker lost several fingers when a metal door closed on his hand in the village of Regba near the northern town of Nahariya.

And on Thursday morning, a 25-year-old laborer fell at a construction site in Sde Moshe, in the Lachish area south of Tel Aviv. He was taken by helicopter to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where he is hospitalized in moderate condition.

At the same time, another worker in his 60s fell from a high ladder in the Haredi city of Modiin Illit. He is hospitalized at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer in serious condition.

Fighters in Syria’s Raqqa prepare for civilian handover

RAQQA, Syria — US-backed forces who captured Raqqa from the Islamic State group prepare Thursday to hand the Syrian city over to a civilian authority, with some of their fighters already headed to the next battle.

Inside the city, positions that had long been manned by fighters of the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces are abandoned, though some remain in the central Al-Naim square, dancing and ululating as they celebrate their victory.

The SDF battled for more than four months, with US-led coalition support, to capture the city that was once the de facto Syrian capital of IS’s self-styled “caliphate.”

They announced the end of combat on Tuesday, though operations to clear explosives and seek out sleeper cells are ongoing.

Raqqa’s capture leaves the jihadists with little remaining territory in Syria, most of it in neighboring Deir Ezzor province, where some SDF fighters are already headed to continue the campaign.

— AFP

Syrian general blamed for US journalist’s death dies in blast

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A Syrian general accused in the 2012 deaths of prominent US journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik is killed by an explosion in the east of the war-torn country.

Issam Zahreddine’s death in the city of Deir Ezzor, where Russian-backed regime forces are battling the Islamic State group, is reported by pro-regime media in Damascus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor says he was killed Wednesday when an explosive device went off in Deir Ezzor city, most of which is now under the control of regime forces.

With his handlebar mustache and bushy gray beard, the 56-year-old general was a recognizable figure in Syria and had a cult following among die-hard supporters of the regime.

In a lawsuit filed in the US in 2016, Colvin’s family alleged that her death was the result of shelling of the media center where she and Ochlik were, in a plan “formulated at the highest levels of the Syrian government.”

— AFP

Israeli man sentenced to 6 years in prison for joining Islamic State

The Haifa District Court sentences an Israeli Arab man to five years and ten months behind bars for joining the Islamic State jihadist group in Iraq last year.

In June, the court found 42-year-old Wissam Zabidat, from the northern town of Sakhnin, guilty of several charges, including membership in a terrorist organization, membership in an illegal group, illegal military training, and contact with a foreign agent.

The sentence marks the harshest punishment levied against an Israeli citizen for joining the ranks of the terrorist organization.

Wissam and his wife had traveled to Iraq along with their three young children and spent over a year with the jihadist group before eventually escaping and making their way back to Israel, the Shin Bet security service said in a statement last October, when charges were filed against the two.

— Tamar Pileggi

Lieutenant colonel suspended in widening IDF graft probe

A lieutenant colonel in the IDF is suspended in a widening probe into allegations of bribery by a private contractor.

An investigation launched by the Military Police in 2015 has examined alleged improprieties in the purchase of services from a civilian contractor in 2012 and 2013, including bribery of IDF officials.

Two other officers were arrested yesterday in the probe. They join 12 that were already under arrest, including both civilians and mid-level IDF officers.

Police nab drug dealing ring that includes an IDF major

At least five suspected drug dealers are arrested by police in recent days in the country’s south, including an IDF major who was allegedly storing large quantities of narcotics in his home.

Two of the dealers supplied the drugs to the officer, and two other detainees are identified by police as his family members.

Police say they found 3.6 kilograms (8 pounds) of hashish and 1.2 kilograms (2.6 pounds) of cannabis at the officer’s home.

Tunisia jails couple for ‘public indecency’ over car kiss

TUNIS, Tunisia — A Frenchman and a Tunisian woman are convicted Wednesday on appeal in Tunis for “public indecency” after an altercation with police who arrested the couple while they were hugging in a car.

The couple, who maintain that they were not kissing, were given a lighter sentence than the original term handed out at their October 4 trial, after widespread outrage on social media and in the press over the incident.

The man was handed four months in prison for “public indecency” and “refusing to obey the police,” with the woman given a two-month sentence on the first charge only.

“What has been reported nationally and internationally is wrong — they weren’t arrested for a kiss, the couple was naked,” a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office, Sofiene Sliti, tells AFP.

At the hearing Wednesday, the woman collapsed into tears when the court president read a police description saying a sexual act was in process when the couple were stopped on October 1 in a suburb of Tunis.

— AFP

At least 20 arrested in Jerusalem Haredi protests

At least 20 Haredi protesters are under arrest after blocking traffic in Jerusalem in protest over the arrest of draft dodgers.

The protesters blocked the Sarei Israel and Jaffa roads, and several times blocked the capital’s light rail line, as police worked to clear the streets.

Hamas chief: We won’t discuss recognizing Israel, but wiping it out

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar dismisses US and Israeli demands that the terror group recognize Israel, saying, “The time Hamas discussed recognizing Israel is over. Now Hamas will discuss when to wipe out Israel.”

In his statement, Sinwar also says “we are ready for a second Shalit deal,” a reference to the 2011 prisoner exchange that was his own ticket out of Israeli prison. In the new deal, he says, “Marwan Barghouti and others will go free.”

— Dov Lieber

Projectile from Syria hits northern Golan, none hurt

A projectile strikes an open field on the Golan Heights in an apparent case of spillover fire from the fighting in Syria, the army says.

No one is reported injured, nor is any property damaged.

It is not immediately clear whether the projectile is a rocket or a mortar shell.

The IDF says it hit in the northern Golan Heights and soldiers are now searching for the debris.

— Judah Ari Gross

US envoy Greenblatt in Egypt for talk on Palestinian reconciliation

US peace envoy Jason Greenblatt is in Egypt for talk on the Palestinian reconciliation process between Fatah and Hamas, a senior White House official says.

“The United States is closely monitoring the reconciliation efforts and is in frequent contact with Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and Israel,” the official says in a statement. “Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt has traveled to Egypt to meet with senior officials about the status of reconciliation. He will also work with the Government of Egypt on the basic principles outlined in his earlier statement today so we can help facilitate an enduring peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

Earlier Thursday, Greenblatt issued a statement affirming that “any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognize the State of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties – including to disarm terrorists – and commit to peaceful negotiations. If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements.”

Netanyahu hails US demand for Hamas to disarm, recognize Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hails the US administration for rejecting any Palestinian government in which Hamas plays a role as long as the terrorist group refuses to recognize Israel and disavow violence.

“I am happy that Jason Greenblatt, President [Donald] Trump’s envoy, made it very clear that Hamas must be disarmed, recognize Israel and uphold previous international decisions,” Netanyahu says at a ceremony marking 100 years since the death of pre-state underground fighter Sarah Aaronsohn in Zichron Yaakov.

Greenblatt’s statement reiterated that any Palestinian government “must be committed to the these principles,” Netanyahu went on. “We want peace. We want a real peace, and exactly because of that we will not conduct negotiations with a terrorist organization in diplomatic guise.”

— Raphael Ahren

NY Jewish woman won’t remove Nazi vandalism

A New York Jewish woman says she won’t be painting over the large swastika and anti-Semitic slur spray-painted on her garage.

“I just want people to see it,” Debra Calabrese of Staten Island tells the Staten Island Advance. “The people driving by can’t believe it. Nobody can.”

The vandalism, which was discovered early Tuesday morning on Staten Island, also includes the misspelled slur “Kyke.”

Calabrese, who has lived in the house for 14 years, told the Advance that she was “devastated” by the attack.

She said police detectives collected evidence on Tuesday and then told her she could paint over the anti-Semitic messages.

Earlier this week, anti-Semitic graffiti was spray-painted on a Jewish nursery school in Mount Kisco, a New York City suburb in Westchester County. Two swastikas were discovered Sunday on the wall of the Bet Torah synagogue preschool.

The incident, which remains under investigation, is being treated as a hate crime by the Westchester County Police.

— JTA

Bulgarian government adopts international definition of anti-Semitism

The Bulgarian government adopts the international working definition of anti-Semitism and appoints a national coordinator on combating anti-Semitism.

Bulgaria’s Cabinet on Wednesday voted to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism, which was adopted last year by the Berlin-based IHRA. The Cabinet also appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev as national coordinator on combating anti-Semitism to serve as a liaison to other countries and international organizations on dealing with the fight against anti-Semitism and hate speech, the Sofia Globe reported.

Bulgaria was admitted as an observer country to the IHRA in December 2012, and is taking steps to become accepted as a full member.

The definition of anti-Semitism, adopted by the alliance in May 2016, is: “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” The IRHA currently has 31 member states and 11 observer countries, including Bulgaria.

— JTA

Labor chief: Jordan Valley settlements ensure security

Visiting the Jordan Valley today, Labor party leader Avi Gabbay lauds the settlements of the eastern frontier of the West Bank.

“The settlement [project] was and remains the beautiful and devoted face of Zionism,” he says in quotes carried by Army Radio.

“Over the years, regardless of the party in power, the settlement project demonstrated commitment, determination and love of country. You, the settlers, are the pioneers of our generations, people who act despite adversity, who cause the wilderness to bloom, who realize the impossible.

“For us, the Jordan Valley was and will remain Israel’s eastern security buffer. And security requires settlement.

“But the security of the Jewish people in its land requires not only tanks and fences, but also national unity. And this is our duty as public servants, to be moderate and remember in every statement we make that without unity there is no nation, and no state.”

Labor governments in the late 1960s and early 1970s first established Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley, and recent policy papers by Labor leaders have emphasized the need to hold on to the Jordan Valley in any future peace deal with the Palestinians.

Hebron shooter Azaria asks president for pardon

Former IDF sergeant Elor Azaria, sentenced to prison for the killing of an incapacitated Palestinian assailant last year in Hebron, appeals to President Reuven Rivlin for a pardon.

In September, Azaria saw his 18-month sentence shortened by four months by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot.

In his appeal to the president, Azaria insists he had an unfair trial. “Unfortauntely I don’t feel that I was given a fair trial. Nothing will change that feeling,” Azaria says in the pardon request.

He insists that “if I had known for certain, in those tense seconds in the field, that the terrorist was not booby-trapped, I would not have fired.”

IDF tanks strike Syrian army post after errant mortar fire

Israeli tanks strike a Syrian mortar position near the Syrian city of Quneitra on Thursday, which fired a shell that struck the northern Golan Heights hours earlier, the Israel Defense Forces says.

On Thursday afternoon, the mortar shell landed in an open field on the Golan Heights in an apparent case of spillover fire from the fighting in Syria, the army says.

There were no reports of injuries or property damage.

In response to the mortar shell, Israeli tanks stationed near the border fired back at the Syrian military position on Thursday evening.

“The IDF holds the Syrian regime responsible for any aggression from within its territory, and will not tolerate any attacks threatening the Israeli sovereignty and the safety of its civilians,” the army said.

— Judah Ari Gross

Israeli extradited from Argentina to face attempted murder charge

An Israeli is extradited to Israel from Argentina to face trial for attempted murder and conspiracy.

The Justice Ministry says the suspect was met at the airport by officers from the Lahav 433 serious crime unit and will appear at the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court on Friday for a hearing on the extension of his remand.

The Justice Ministry did not name the suspect, but the Ynet news site reported it was Yaakov “Akka” Shimon, a member of the notorious Abergil crime family.

Israel Police announced in December he had been arrested by Argentinean police after an international warrant was issued by the State Attorney’s Office on charges of attempted murder and conspiracy.

Syrian media report second Israeli barrage after mortar shell lands on Golan

Syrian media is reporting a second retaliatory barrage of Israeli tank fire on Syrian military positions on the Golan Heights.

Earlier, Israeli tanks bombarded a Syrian army artillery position from which a mortar shell was fired that struck an open field on the northern Golan Heights, in an apparent case of spillover fire.

No injuries or damage were caused by the errant Syrian mortar shell, but the IDF said in a statement that it would not tolerate violations of Israeli sovereignty.

The IDF could not immediately confirm the second strike.

— Judah Ari Gross

IDF denies second round of retaliatory tank fire against Syrian positions

The IDF denies Syrian media reports that it launched a second round of tank fire against Syrian military targets on the Golan Heights in response to a mortar landing in Israel from Syria earlier today.

The IDF says it only launched a single retaliatory strike, but that it came in two barrages.

— Judah Ari Gross

Number of arrests in Haredi protests rises to 120

Police say at least 120 Haredi protesters have been arrested in demonstrations in Jerusalem and Bet Shemesh today protesting the arrests of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers.

EU leader says no support for Catalonian state

BARCELONA, Spain — The head of the European Parliament warns that if Catalonia declares its independence from Spain, “nobody in the European Union” would recognize it as a sovereign state.

Antonio Tajani also says he has no intention of meeting with Catalonia’s leader, Carles Puigdemont, or mediating in the crisis in Spain over a push in Catalonia for independence. Tajani is calling the secessionist dispute an “an internal Spanish matter.”

Speaking Thursday at an EU summit in Brussels, Tajani responds to a question about why he hasn’t yet met with Puigdemont by saying he considers only the Spanish government as a “legitimate” representative in the matter.

He says that Catalonia’s government “has violated the rules of the Spanish constitution and has also violated the rules of Catalan autonomy.”

— AP

France committed to Iran nuclear deal despite Trump decision

PARIS — France reaffirms its support for the Iran nuclear deal following the decision by US President Donald Trump to no longer back it in its current form.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian says after a meeting in Paris with head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, that the deal “remains valid despite the decision of the president of the United States not to certify its implementation.”

Trump announced last week that he would not re-certify the deal to Congress and would terminate the Obama-era pact if Congress can’t come up with new legislation satisfying him on the agreement.

“We didn’t have enough time yet to observe the attitude of Iran,” Amano says. “Yet I can tell you the Iranians are very careful and we continue our controls and inspections without any problem.”

— AP

Lifta named on 2018 World Monuments Watch

Lifta, a Jerusalem-area Arab village abandoned in 1948, is named as one of 25 endangered sites on the 2018 World Monuments Watch list.

Sponsored by the World Monuments Fund, the biannual list is made up of sites endangered by “human conflict and urbanization to natural disaster and climate change.” The list of sites — from ancient ruins to contemporary structures — is meant to be a call to action for conservation, community engagement, and sustainable development, according to WMF.

Lifta, located on hills just outside of Jerusalem, was chosen because “rhe ruins of a Palestinian village in Jerusalem are threatened by a redevelopment plan that has faced popular opposition,” according to the WMF website.

View of Lifta, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, December 17, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

In a recent feature on Lifta in The Times of Israel, it was described as a hillside hamlet that was completely emptied 70 years ago during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. The occupants were never permitted to return, but in contrast to hundreds of other Arab villages that were left empty, bulldozed and subsequently built over after the war, Lifta has remained virtually untouched.