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Actress Drops out of Prestigious Awards Ceremony over ‘Distressing’ Events in Israel

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U.S. actress Natalie Portman has pulled out of a June awards ceremony in Israel because of concerns over “recent events” there, event organizers said Thursday.

Portman, who was born in Jerusalem, will not travel to Israel in June to receive the Genesis Prize, sometimes referred to as “The Jewish Nobel.”

“Recent events in Israel have been extremely distressing to her, and she does not feel comfortable participating in any public events in Israel,” the Genesis Foundation, which sponsors the award, quoted a Portman representative as saying . . .

Clashes have erupted in recent weeks between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters along the Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip. Live fire from Israeli troops has killed dozens of Palestinians and wounded hundreds more, sparking international criticism of Israel’s response to the protests. Israel says it is defending its border and has accused the militant group Hamas, which loosely governs Gaza, of organizing the mass demonstrations a cover for attacks.

Portman was announced as the winner of the 2018 Genesis Prize in November. She had committed to give the $1 million award to “philanthropic programs focused on advancing women’s equality in all aspects of human endeavor,” the Genesis Foundation said. (Read more from “Actress Drops out of Prestigious Awards Ceremony over ‘Distressing’ Events in Israel” HERE)

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Israeli Arab Doubts That Wearing a Yarmulkah Is Dangerous in Berlin. Then This Happens.

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By The Daily Wire. Two young men wearing yarmulkahs on the streets of Berlin were attacked by three young thugs, one of whom, an Arabic-speaking man, whipped out a belt and started to whip them, but there was one additional piece of evidence the attackers didn’t know: one of the victims was a young Israeli Arab who was testing his friend’s statement that wearing a yarmulkah in Germany is dangerous.

That young Arab, Adam Armoush, told the Israeli broadcaster Kann, “They kept cursing us and my friend asked them to stop cursing. They started to get angry and one of them ran to me and I knew it was important to film it because there would be no way to catch him by the time police arrived. Honestly, I’m surprised a thing like this could happen.” (Read more from “Israeli Arab Doubts That Wearing a Yarmulkah Is Dangerous in Berlin. Then This Happens.” HERE)

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Jewish Men Beaten with Belt in Berlin Anti-Semitic Attack

By The Telegraph. There has been public outrage in Germany after video footage emerged of two Jewish men being violently assaulted in an apparent anti-Semitic attack in central Berlin.

The two men, who were both wearing kippah, traditional Jewish skullcaps, were insulted before being set upon and whipped with a belt in one of the city’s most fashionable neighbourhoods.

A group of three unidentified men can be heard on the video clearly shouting “Yahudi”, the Arabic word for Jew.

The two victims stood their ground and threatened to call the police before their main assailant was dragged away by his companions.

The incident was videoed by one of the victims, who was named by Israeli television as Adam Armoush, a 21-year-old Israeli citizen living in Berlin. (Read more from “Jewish Men Beaten with Belt in Berlin Anti-Semitic Attack” HERE)

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No Jews Allowed on Temple Mount on Holocaust Commemoration

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It’s sadly ironic, says an Israeli Islamic scholar, that Jews won’t be able to ascend their Temple Mount next Thursday on Holocaust Remembrance Day because Muslims will be celebrating Muhammad’s “miraculous” night journey there on a mythical winged horse – an event not actually mentioned in the Quran.

The source of the Muslim holiday of “Isra” and “Mi’raj” is indeed is based on a story in the Quran, but the story doesn’t actually mention Jerusalem or the historic site of the Temple.

“This claim is simply fake news,” said Mordechai Kedar, a senior lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University, told Breaking Israel News. “It is entirely based on opinions and not on any textual source. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran and there is not a basis to believe that Jerusalem had any significance for Muhammad.”

Kedar explained that in the Quran, Al-Aqsa specifically referred to a mosque near Jeharna in Saudi Arabia.

“In early Islam, we see that assigning holiness to the Temple Mount was criticized as an attempt to introduce Jewish concepts into Islam,” he said. “Jerusalem only took on any significance in Islam in the late 8th century when the Bedouin Muslims prevented the Damascus Muslims from making Haj (pilgrimage) to Mecca. As an alternative destination for Haj, the Damascus Muslims decided on Jerusalem, adding a Hadith (oral commentary) shifting the scene of Muhammad’s Night Journey to Jerusalem in order to justify their decision.” (Read more from “No Jews Allowed on Temple Mount on Holocaust Commemoration” HERE)

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U.N. Council Adopts Five More Anti-Israel Resolutions

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The United Nations, through its much-criticized Human Rights Council, has moved further out on the anti-Israel limb, adopting five more anti-Israel resolutions to finish up its current meeting in Geneva.

The resolutions drew a response from U.S. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley that may not bode well for the international organization.

She pointed out, according to the Jerusalem Post, that the same national representatives passed only one resolution against North Korea, one against Iran and one against Syria, arguably among the world’s worst human rights violators.

“When the Human Rights Council treats Israel worse than North Korea, Iran, and Syria, it is the council itself that is foolish and unworthy of its name,” Haley said in the statement. “It is time for the countries who know better to demand changes. Many countries agree that the council’s agenda is grossly biased against Israel, but too few are willing to fight it.”

She explained that results such as these show the council failing “to fulfill its duty to uphold human rights around the world.” (Read more from “U.N. Council Adopts Five More Anti-Israel Resolutions” HERE)

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Muslim Countries Urged to Attack Israel

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A Turkish newspaper close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling party is urging 57 Islamic nations to build a joint army specifically to attack Israel, notes a new report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

The Middle East Media Research Institute reports the article appeared on the paper’s website under the title “What If an Army of Islam Was Formed against Israel?” . . .

The article notes, MEMRI said, “that such a joint army will greatly exceed the Israeli army in manpower, equipment and budget, and presents statistics to prove this.”

“It also advocates establishing joint bases for the army’s ground, air and naval forces that will arrive from all over the Muslim world to besiege Israel, while noting that Pakistan, as the only nuclear country, has ‘a special status’ among the OIC countries,” the report said.

MEMRI explained that many of the major points in the newspaper article were “taken from the website of the Turkish SADAT International Defense and Consulting Company, which provides consultancy on defense and warfare, both conventional and unconventional, and on military organization, training and gear.” (Read more from “Muslim Countries Urged to Attack Israel” HERE)

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2 U.S. Congressman Detained on Temple Mount

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. . .It identified the members of Congress as Republican Reps. Scott Tipton of Colorado and David B. McKinley of West Virginia.

They visited the Temple Mount, only to be “detained by Israel police after an Islamic Waqf official, which administers the Temple Mount, lodged a complaint against them,” the report said.

“It appears that they violated some unknown rule when Tipton bent down to pick up a broken olive branch off the ground. His movement seems to have agitated the Waqf official who, apparently believing the congressman was bowing as if in prayer, set off the events that followed.”

The report bluntly explains what happened. They were “physically removed from the Temple Mount by police officers, and frisked and detained for more than a half-hour.” . . .

Tipton told the news agency, “You know it was a little surprising. … We were going around and trying to take it all in and being rushed through, and I happened to pick up an olive branch, ironically a symbol of peace. Apparently, that broke a rule – not one that was defined. We had no forewarning going in of what to do and not to do, no instructions. … We were trying to take in what is obviously a religious site not only for Jews and Muslims, but for Christians as well. … Interestingly, apparently they viewed something as an infraction and then chose to detain us.” (Read more from “2 U.S. Congressman Detained on Temple Mount” HERE)

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Growing Risk of Israeli-Russian Military Conflict as General Threatens Jewish State While Deploying Advanced Stealth Fighters

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Russia has deployed two of its most advanced and sophisticated stealth jets in Syria, in a power move likely to draw US criticism, as the Pentagon expressed its alarm earlier this month over recent close calls with Russian planes in the war-torn country.

Satellite images published by Israeli company ImageSat International on Friday showed the fifth-generation jets — two Su-57 fighter aircraft — at Russia’s airbase in the coastal Syrian city of Latakia. A source in the defense ministry confirmed to RBK news agency this week that the two planes were sent to the Hmeimim base “for a test in real conditions.” The jets are said to be a potential rival to the US’s Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, which American forces use in patrols over Syria.

The deployment came with a covert warning to Israel by a Russian official, who said that the presence of the Su-57s will doubtlessly send a political message, serving as a deterrent “for aircraft from neighboring states, which periodically fly into Syrian airspace uninvited.”

Speaking to the Russian news network Sputnik, Vladimir Gutenov, chairman of the Military Industry Committee in the Russian parliament, said on Friday that the jets “need to be tested in combat conditions, in conditions of [enemy] resistance.”

(Read more from “Growing Risk of Israeli-Russian Military Conflict as General Threatens Jewish State While Deploying Advanced Stealth Fighters” HERE)

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Iran Threatens to ‘Level Tel Aviv’ If Israel Attacks

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Any attacks carried out against Iran will result in the destruction of Tel Aviv, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, warned Israel on Monday, according to the Fars News Agency.

Quoted by Iran’s semi-official government news site, Rezaei, in response to Netanyahu’s comments at the Munich Security Conference, asserted that “If they [Israel] carry out the slightest unwise move against Iran, we will level Tel Aviv to the ground and will not give any opportunity to Netanyahu to flee.”

“The US and Israeli leaders don’t know Iran and don’t understand the power of resistance and therefore, they continuously face defeat,” he was quoted as saying in an interview with Lebanese Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar News.

“Today, the situation of the US and Israel indicate their fear of the Zionist regime’s collapse and the US decline,” he added in the interview.

Israel came in direct conflict with Iran on February 10, when an IAF attack helicopter shot down an Iranian operated drone, and later took out its command center in Syria. (Read more from “Iran Threatens to ‘Level Tel Aviv’ If Israel Attacks” HERE)

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Netanyahu Issues Warning to Iran, Brandishes a Very Ominous Object During Speech

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Brandishing a piece of a downed Iranian drone, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran Sunday not to test Israel’s resolve.

Tensions have been running high after an incursion by an unmanned aerial vehicle of Iranian origin led to strikes on Iranian positions in Syria.

Israel “will act not just against Iran’s proxies that are attacking us, but against Iran itself,” the prime minister said at the Munich Security Conference, which was attended by Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif.

“Here is a piece of that Iranian drone, or what is left of it after we shot it down,” Netanyahu told the conference, holding a piece of the destroyed drone high above his head. “I brought it here so you can see it for yourself. Mr. Zarif, do you recognize this?”

“You should. It’s yours,” he added. “You can take back a message to the tyrants of Tehran. Do not test Israel’s resolve.”

The prime minister, the first Israeli prime minister to address the conference, warned that Israel will “act without hesitation to defend itself.”

He also addressed Iran’s nuclear interests, arguing that Iran “should be stopped and slammed with the most crippling sanctions.”

A series of unusual events nearly brought Iran and Israel into direct conflict with each other last weekend.

The Israeli military shot down a drone that had entered its airspace and bombed the launch site in Syria where Iranian forces are active.

However, as the fighter jets were returning home, one of the Israeli F-16s was hit by a Syrian anti-aircraft missile.

The fighter jet went down in Israel, but the pilot was able to eject from the aircraft safely.

In response, Israel carried out a massive retaliation operation, during which it bombed a dozen Syrian and Iranian military facilities in Syria.

The incident involving the downed jet risked escalating an already devastating regional conflict.

Iran, which Netanyahu claims “lies with eloquence,” denies any wrongdoing. Zarif accused the Israeli prime minister of staging a “cartoonish circus.”

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

Jerusalem Cracking down on Terrorists

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In a move aimed at stemming the tide of Palestinian terrorists illegally entering Israeli communities, especially in areas of Jerusalem where there is lack of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) presence, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot approved a plan to increase cooperation between local security officials and the IDF. The move is meant to improve communication and stop terror in its tracks.

“Though we are grateful that terror attacks in Israel decreased in 2017 from 2016, unfortunately, more Israelis were murdered,” noted Dr. John A.I. Grossman, Chairman of LIBI USA, an organization which provides for the welfare of Israel’s soldiers, to Breaking Israel News.

“Until terrorists stop their bombings, stabbings, car rammings and shooting of Israel’s soldiers and civilians, IDF soldiers must be supported in their efforts to protect those in the Holy Land.”

In an attempt to stop terror attacks before they happens, the IDF has already restructured its brigades and enhanced its cooperation with Jerusalem police units and authorities in nearby areas of Judea and Samaria. There will also be a joint-operations room set up to be used for all security authorities.

IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis told military reporters that enhanced coordination with local police is a necessity due to the increase in the number of Palestinians from Judea and Samaria that have illegally penetrated areas in Israel lacking an IDF presence. (Read more from “Jerusalem Cracking down on Terrorists” HERE)

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