Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Thursday, Mar. 03 '16, Adar 23, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. CONGRESS: ISRAEL-ARAB PEACE DEAL MUST INCLUDE JEWISH REFUGEES
2. OBAMA ADMINISTRATION BALKS AT NETANYAHU'S ANTI-TERROR PLAN
3. DID SENIOR US OFFICIALS MEET WITH PRO-TERROR ARAB MK?
4. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY BANS 'PRO-ISRAEL PINOCCHIO' DURING BDS WEEK
5. 'ALLAHU AKBAR' CHANTS IN COURTHOUSE AS DUMA MURDER TRIAL BEGINS
6. TERRORISTS OPEN FIRE ON POLICE CAR IN SAMARIA
7. MUSLIM NANNY BEHEADED GIRL 'IN REVENGE FOR RUSSIA BOMBING SYRIA'
8. WATCH: STEPHEN COLBERT PLAYS 'FIDDLER ON THE ROOF'
1. CONGRESS: ISRAEL-ARAB PEACE DEAL MUST INCLUDE JEWISH REFUGEES
by David Rosenberg
A bipartisan coalition of 14 congressional lawmakers have cosponsored a bill intended to rectify the losses suffered by Jewish refugees who fled their homes across the Middle East following the establishment of the State of Israel.
According to a statement released on Wednesday by the office of New York Democratic congressman Eliot Engel, the Displaced Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries and Iran Act would require the President "to ensure resolution for Jewish refugees displaced from Arab countries and Iran."
The President would be required to include provisions for Jewish Middle East refugees in any future Arab-Israeli negotiated settlement.
A joint statement released by the bill's sponsors recognized the hardships faced by the ancient Jewish communities across the Middle East and North Africa, and the oppression they suffered under local Arab governments.
"The Arab governments subjected hundreds of thousands of Jews to displacement, political marginalization, or property confiscation with no compensation."
"The Displaced Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries and Iran Act ensures that the interests of all refugees displaced as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict are fairly considered in any final settlement of Arab-Israeli peace."
Close to one million Jews were forced to leave their homes across the Middle East and North Africa following the establishment of Israel in 1948. More than 600,000 settled in Israel, where they and their descendants now make up a majority of Israel's Jewish population.
In most cases, Jewish refugees lost their homes and valuables as they were forced out, and have since been largely unable to either receive compensation or reclaim their property.
While Arabs who fled Israel in 1948 have received widespread international recognition, the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries is largely unknown outside of Israel.
2. OBAMA ADMINISTRATION BALKS AT NETANYAHU'S ANTI-TERROR PLAN
by Arutz Sheva Staff
The Obama administration reacted with concern to reports that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is looking to deport family members of terrorists involved in attacks on Israel, removing them from Judea and Samaria and sending them to the Gaza Strip.
State Department spokesperson Mark Toner responded to questions during a daily press briefing on Wednesday, and addressed Netanyahu's proposed deportation plan.
Toner replied that the reports regarding the deportation plan raise "concerns". He also went on to condemn Israel's policy of punitive home demolitions, saying that the US State Department viewed it as "counterproductive" and arguing that the "only exacerbate tensions on the ground".
The Israeli government claims demolitions of terrorists' homes are a useful deterrent, preventing many potential terror attacks.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recently broached the issue of deporting family members of terrorists as a further deterrent measure. Israel's new Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, reportedly opposes those measure.
3. DID SENIOR US OFFICIALS MEET WITH PRO-TERROR ARAB MK?
by David Rosenberg
MK Hanin Zoabi (Joint List), the outspoken anti-Israel representative of the Arab nationalist Balad faction of the Joint List Party, is in Washington DC today, and State Department representatives are conspicuously mum about who she's been meeting with.
Zoabi visited the Arab Center Washington DC, a pro-PA political think tank this week. The rest of her itinerary, however, is something of a mystery.
The self-described "Palestinian MK" has drawn international attention recently as the target of proposed legislation which would allow the Knesset to expel members who express support for terrorism or negate Israel as a Jewish state. The controversial proposal has aroused criticism among Netanyahu critics both in Israel and abroad.
When a curious journalist smelled a story after hearing that Zoabi had held a number of "meetings" in the capitol, he asked US State Department spokesman Mark Toner in a daily briefing on Wednesday if he could divulge who Zoabi had met with.
Toner declined to answer the question, responding "I don't - I can't - I apologize", claiming he was not privy to that information.
Last month Zoabi was sentenced after pleading guilty to calling Israeli Arabs serving in the Israeli police "traitors". She was handed a six month probation and fined 3,000 shekels for the confrontation which occurred during a demonstration.
She also infamously took part in the Mavi Marmara flotilla, during which jihadists violently attacked Israeli soldiers in a bid to break Israel's blockade on Hamas-controlled Gaza, and regularly features in Hamas publications.
4. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY BANS 'PRO-ISRAEL PINOCCHIO' DURING BDS WEEK
by David Rosenberg
It's "Israel Apartheid Week" at college campuses around the world as BDS activists organize displays, activities, and teach-ins to delegitimize Israel. At Columbia University, Apartheid Week organizers even managed to have the opposition banned.
The opposition in this case are pro-Israel students looking to give their peers on campus the other side of the story.
On Tuesday the Columbia student government ordered a display erected by Artists 4 Israel to be removed, claiming it was "offensive" to some students. Even Pinocchio, the beloved Disney cartoon character, was banned.
The "pro-Israel Pinocchio" display featured a 15-foot-tall inflated figure. The inflated Pinocchio bore a sign reading "Apartheid Week Compassion Abuse", while his extended nose offered a not-so-subtle jab at claims that BDS activists were motivated by human rights concerns rather than a simple dislike of the Jewish state.
Within an hour and a half of the display being set up, the student body government ordered to remove the exhibit, claiming it was too large, potentially dangerous, and the air pump too noisy.
Despite having received the proper permits for a "large display", Pinocchio was removed, while a number of large displays put up by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine were permitted to remain, including a large mock "apartheid wall".
Some charged that a conflict of interest was at work in the Columbia University student government, as the chair of the government, Mariam Elnozahy, happens to be a member of Students for Justice in Palestine. The vice-chair of the government, Karim Nader is also a supporter of the movement, sporting a keffiyeh during Apartheid Week.
For now, however, the order stands and Pinocchio remains persona non grata at Columbia University.
"Pro-Israel Pinocchio" Lance Laytner
BDS displays Lance Laytner
5. 'ALLAHU AKBAR' CHANTS IN COURTHOUSE AS DUMA MURDER TRIAL BEGINS
by David Rosenberg
The trial of Amiram Ben-Uliel and a 17-year-old alleged accomplice, both charged with killing three members of the Dawabsha family in an arson attack, began on Wednesday against the backdrop of angry clashes between the defendants' families and relatives and supporters of the victims.
Today's hearing was closed to the public, leaving supporters on both sides to clash just outside the hearing room.
Arab activists chanted "Allahu akbar" outside of the courtroom and nearly sparked a fistfight with relatives of the accused before being removed by court security.
The accused, Ben-Uliel, a 21-year-old Jerusalem father of one, allegedly plotted with the 17-year-old co-conspirator to attack the Dawabsha home in response to the murder of Malachi Rosenfeld in June of 2015.
According to the indictment, Ben-Uliel tossed a Molotov cocktail into the Dawabsha home, sparking a fire killing three members of the family.
Ben-Uliel confessed to the crime, then later recanted, claiming that his confession was forced and accusing the Shin Bet security agency of torture. His wife and parents also deny the charges.
6. TERRORISTS OPEN FIRE ON POLICE CAR IN SAMARIA
by Ido Ben Porat
Terrorists opened fire on Wednesday night towards a police car at the Rechelim junction, near the city of Ariel in Samaria.
There were no injuries but the vehicle sustained damage from the bullets. Police and IDF forces are searching the area in an attempt to locate the terrorists.
The attempted shooting attack comes hours after two terrorists approached a military post near the community of Har Bracha in Samaria, stabbing two IDF soldiers and fleeing the scene.
One soldier is moderately wounded, while the other suffered light injuries. A military helicopter was sent to bring them both to a hospital.
Early on Wednesday morning, two terrorists broke into the home of Roi Harel in the Binyamin region community of Eli.
The terrorists attacked Harel with knives and clubs, lightly wounding him. Harel heroically fought off the terrorists in order to prevent them from attacking his wife and five children.
The two 17-year-old attackers fled the scene but were later tracked down and killed by security forces.
7. MUSLIM NANNY BEHEADED GIRL 'IN REVENGE FOR RUSSIA BOMBING SYRIA'
by Arutz Sheva Staff
(AFP) Moscow investigators said Thursday that a nanny accused of decapitating a child has been diagnosed schizophrenic, as footage emerged of her apparently linking the killing to Russia's bombing in Syria.
Suspect Gyulchekhra Bobokulova from Muslim-majority Uzbekistan - whom the press have dubbed "the bloody nanny" - was detained on Monday as she was waving the child's severed head outside a metro station in northwestern Moscow. She was sent for psychiatric examinations.
Arriving at a Moscow court on Wednesday, the 38-year-old told journalists that "Allah ordered" the killing as a judge ordered her held in custody for two months over the murder of the girl, whom investigators say was aged either four or five.
Undated footage later emerged on the Internet appearing to show the mother-of-three saying the attack was "revenge" for Russian President Vladimir Putin's bombing campaign in Syria, which began in September.
"I took revenge," she says in the video in response to a question from a man who cannot be seen.
"Against the one that spilled blood," she says, dressed in the same clothes she wore in court.
"Putin is bombing. Bombs from airplanes. Why are you bombing Muslim? Nobody talks about it. They also want to live."
After the appearance of the video, Russia's Investigative Committee - which reports directly to Putin - swiftly released a statement saying Bobokulova has "long been diagnosed with schizophrenia".
"For a person who has long been diagnosed with schizophrenia, the motive at the moment the crime was committed, as a rule, does not coincide with the explanations given after the event," committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
"I appeal to the media: do not make premature conclusions and protect the psychological state of your viewers."
'Deranged person'
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also dismissed Bobokulova's apparent claims that the killing was revenge for Putin's Syria campaign.
"It is obvious that we are talking about a deranged person," Peskov said. "You need to relate to her words as you would to the words of a deranged person."
Bobokulova is suspected of butchering the girl at the family's apartment in northwestern Moscow, before torching it and fleeing the scene.
Witnesses reported seeing an agitated woman dressed in black who threatened to "blow everyone up," with some media reports saying she shouted "Allahu Akbar" - Arabic for "God is greatest" - as she paced up and down with the child's head outside a metro station.
Russia's national television channels have almost entirely ignored the brutal slaying of the child Nastya, who suffered from epilepsy and learning disabilities.
The Kremlin has defended the blackout while rejecting claims it ordered the move, with Peskov saying the subject was "probably too monstrous to be shown on television".
8. WATCH: STEPHEN COLBERT PLAYS 'FIDDLER ON THE ROOF'
by Arutz Sheva Staff
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