Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Monday, Oct. 31 '16, כ"ט בתשרי תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. GERMAN HOSTEL: NO ISRAELIS ALLOWED
2. 'DON'T FRET GLOBAL OPPOSITION, ANNEX JUDEA AND SAMARIA NOW'
3. UNHRC: ISRAEL'S STATUS AT UN DEPENDENT ON ENDING 'OCCUPATION'
4. JAPANESE POP GROUP'S NAZI-ESQUE OUTFITS SPARK CONTROVERSY
5. 'FBI DIRECTOR IS TRYING TO INFLUENCE THE ELECTION'
6. KOSHER FOOD TO BE SERVED IN UN CAFETERIAS
7. FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BLASTS TORAH STUDY
8. US PLANE BURSTS INTO FLAMES SECONDS BEFORE TAKEOFF
1. GERMAN HOSTEL: NO ISRAELIS ALLOWED
by David Rosenberg
Four Israeli families that had reserved rooms at a German hostel in the Black Forest region of Baden-Wurttemberg were stunned last week when managers from the hostel abruptly cancelled their reservations, citing a policy of barring Israelis.
The families had reserved spaces at the hostel a few weeks before via the Booking.com website.
"We made the reservation a few weeks ago for a vacation we're planning for next August," Igor Tsehansky told Yediot Ahronot.
"Because we're four families totaling 17 people, we decided to reserve rooms as far in advance as possible."
Days later, however, Tsehansky says the four families who reserved the rooms began to receive a series of messages from the hostel's managers cancelling the reservation, each with a different reason for the cancellation.
"Each family got a different message. One family got an email saying the hotel only accepts guests for a minimum of one week. Another family got a message saying that booking is only available from Saturday to Saturday."
The third family, however, received a wholly different explanation.
German hostel's cancellation message Screenshot/Facebook
"Hello, We don't Want have [sic] Guests from Israel, because our appartments [sic] are Not for them. Please cancel the Booking. You can cancel without Money. Please do it. Thank you. Greetings, [Barbara] Schmider."
Following a report by Yediot Ahronot, Schmider claimed her message had been "a big misunderstanding," saying that the true reason for the cancellations was overbooking.
"Hello, there is a big misunderstanding. Israelische Guests [sic] are welcome in our house. The Problem is, that we are overbooked. We have forgot to lock the calendar. We have give [sic] the Guests another address by our neighbor. The think [sic] thats ok. We apologize. Best regards B. Schmider."
Representatives of Booking.com offered the families involved cash compensation for the incident, in addition to an apology.
"We are doing everything we can to find a solution for the guests," they told Yediot Ahronot, "and offered them compensation of 1,000 Euros ($1,100), and if necessary we can increase that. We are very sorry about the entire incident."
2. 'DON'T FRET GLOBAL OPPOSITION, ANNEX JUDEA AND SAMARIA NOW'
by Yoni Kempinski
[youtube:2020472]
Following a number of anti-Israel resolutions passed recently denying the historical Jewish ties to the Old City of Jerusalem, Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) has called upon the Israeli government to annex Judea and Samaria, extending Israeli law to the 450,000 citizens living there.
"It's time to apply Israeli law on Judea and Samaria. We're 50 years on in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem [since the Six Day War]. It's time that 450,000 Israelis are treated equally. They serve in the army, they pay taxes, they're part and parcel of Israel. It's time for normalcy. It's time to apply Israeli sovereignty on Judea and Samaria."
Bennett added that while he understands the concerns some Israelis feel regarding the possible international backlash to such a move, there are precedents for annexation.
"Menachem Begin in 1981 did the same thing for the Golan Heights. Eshkol in '67 did the same thing in Jerusalem. And there was always a world [that opposed it]. But there was the will power and the courage to do it, and we need to do what's right for Israelis, for the Jews, and that's the right thing."
Regarding recent UNESCO resolutions dismissing Jewish historical ties to Jerusalem, the Education Minister said the root of the problem was the failure of Israel to clearly express Jewish rights to the historic Land of Israel.
"That's what happens when we don't treat our own land as ours. The UNESCO resolution is an attempt to deny history. But you know what? You cannot change history. Israel is ours for well over 3,000 years. It will be ours - Jerusalem is ours - but it's time to apply Israeli law to Judea and Samaria."
3. UNHRC: ISRAEL'S STATUS AT UN DEPENDENT ON ENDING 'OCCUPATION'
by Chana Roberts
Canadian special investigator and legal expert Michael Lynk has announced at an official UN briefing that Israel's status at the UN dependent on "ending the occupation" and the ability of "Palestine" to act as an independent state.
In response to the question of what could be done to hold Israel accountable for human rights violations against "Palestinians," Lynk asked, "Does the occupying power need to realize that its status in the international community depends on allowing Palestinians to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and on ending the occupation?"
Lynk also wrote a 26-page report on human rights in Judea and Samaria and called on Israel immediately end the "occupation."
"I want to emphasize, if emphasis is needed, the occupation is not lessening, it is becoming more entrenched, more embedded and more anchored...We are not on a path to Palestinian self-determination and independence. This should be a grave concern to the international community," Lynk said. "It is impossible to separate the occupation from Israel's settlement project, if there were no settlements there would be no need for the occupation."
Lynk suggested the ICJ should re-evaluate their opinion on Israeli actions in Judea and Samaria.
"As a lawyer and law professor, I can say that the occupation and its length and its various features violates many aspects of international human rights law and many aspects of international humanitarian rights law," Lynk said. "We have accepted that the occupation has a legal framework to it, but does the occupying power's status to continue the occupation need to be judged either by the UN or by the International Court of Justice?"
At the meeting, Israel explained that Lynk's mandate was biased against Israelis, since Lynk only investigated Israel's actions, completely ignoring those of the Palestinian Arabs, the PA, and their various terrorist activities.
"The UNHRC has been taken over by some of the worst human rights violators in the world. The council has long abandoned it founding principles of universality, impartiality and non-selectivity," Israel said. "Every day around the world human rights are being violated in the most shocking ways and on an unimaginable scale. People are being indiscriminately targeted by barrel bombs, hanged for so called moral crimes and sold as sex slaves in city centers."ia
"The UNHRC deliberately ignores all those violations and continues its biased fixation with the only democracy in the Middle East, the state of Israel," Israel continued. "The rapporteurs mandate fully ignores Palestinians institutionalized incitement to violence and terrorism [against Israel].Allowing the Palestinians to continue to encourage terror attacks will not contribute to building a trust worthy partner in any future peace process."
The UN continuously makes anti-Israel decisions and resolutions, ignoring the fact that the PA and Hamas regularly abuse their citizens and teach their children to be murderers.
The Palestinian Authority has also admitted they don't follow international law, but Israel does.
Palestinian Arabs lead some of the best lives in the Middle East, receiving adequate and quality health care, quality and free education, state-of-the-art classrooms, academic and career opportunities, good jobs with workers' rights, women's' rights, freedom of speech and religion, and an exemption from army service. In fact, many, if not most Palestinian Arabs would love if Israel annexed Judea and Samaria.
Though the PA has not paid its electric bill in several years, PA citizens still enjoy electricity often overloading the grid and causing power outages to Israeli citizens.
In return, Israel has seen two official intifadas, and the current terror wave, which began in October 2015, has included 166 stabbing attacks, 89 attempted stabbings, 109 shootings, 47 vehicular ramming attacks and one bus bombing, killing 42 people and injuring hundreds of others.
Israel responded by saying, "Israel considers the discriminatory and distorted mandate to be illegitimate and will continue to view it as such until the council rights this wrong."
4. JAPANESE POP GROUP'S NAZI-ESQUE OUTFITS SPARK CONTROVERSY
by Arutz Sheva Staff
A Japanese teeny-bop girl band has triggered outrage after wearing military-style costumes which have been compared to Nazi uniforms at a pre-Halloween concert.
The group, Keyakizaka46, sparked an online storm with their black one-piece dresses and
capes, complete with peaked caps bearing a golden bird symbol resembling the Nazi eagle above a swastika.
Social media has lit up since the troupe took to the stage in Yokohama on October 22.
In a Twitter backlash, several users slammed their choice of costume as "unforgivable" and "unacceptable" while Berlin-based Japanese writer Ichika Rokuso posted: "Seventy-one years have passed since the war ended but there are many people who lost loved ones. Please remember that."
Other angry tweeters posted pictures of Nazis next to images of band members, who posed for photos in their controversial garb before the show.
"It is shock marketing," fumed one Twitter user, clearly feeling it was a publicity stunt by the band, who have yet to comment on the row.
Keyakizaka46 have shot to stardom since being formed in 2015 by producer and lyricist Yasushi Akimoto, reaching number one in Japan with their debut single "Silent Majority."
The helium-voiced pop queens are not the first Japanese band to cause offense.
Retro-rock band Kishidan angered the Simon Wiesenthal Center in 2011 when they wore a costume the Jewish organization claimed resembled a Nazi uniform.
In South Korea, girl band Pritz provoked protests two years ago after wearing bright red armbands strikingly similar to the ones Nazi officers wore.
AFP contributed to this report
5. 'FBI DIRECTOR IS TRYING TO INFLUENCE THE ELECTION'
by Yoni Kempinski
[youtube:2020431]
Sheldon Schorer, a representative of Democrats Abroad Israel, sat down with Arutz Sheva to discuss the decision by FBI director James Comey to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as Secretary of State.
Schorer was highly critical of Comey's actions. "It's a gross departure from internal FBI procedures...not to comment on investigations that are current."
He also said that FBI policy is "not to make a comment than can influence an election" when the election is less than 60 days away.
Schorer agreed that the reemergence of the email scandal would be harmful to the Clinton campaign. "That's something that could hurt but not help Hillary Clinton."
Schorer also accused Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump of being inconsistent and unreliable on Israel. "I don't know what he's going to say tomorrow. I'm sure that he doesn't know what he's going to say tomorrow."
6. KOSHER FOOD TO BE SERVED IN UN CAFETERIAS
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon has won the battle for his newest initiative: kosher food will now be served in UN cafeterias.
Last month, Danon sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon explaining the UN accommodates other dietary restrictions in their cafeterias, including Halal food for the Muslims, but no UN headquarters served kosher food for the UN's Jewish representatives.
His efforts to promote awareness and acceptance of kosher food succeeded, and religious Jews will now be able to eat in UN cafeterias. The selection of kosher food will include dairy sandwiches, salads, meat, tuna sandwiches, and hot dogs.
Last month, Danon said he was working, "to work to ensure that the parliament of nations be open and respectful to the traditions of the Jewish people."
"We will walk proudly through the halls of the UN. Just like they respect other religious, they need to respect Judaism as well," Danon said on Monday. "For many Jews around the world, eating kosher food is an integral part of their faith. All of the world's citizens need to feel accepted in the UN, and the organization needs to be accepting of those who keep the Jewish traditions."
7. FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BLASTS TORAH STUDY
by David Rosenberg
French presidential hopeful and former Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron sparked an uproar in the French Jewish community, following the publication of an interview earlier this month of an interview touching upon religious schools in France.
A former member of the Socialist Party now running as an independent, centrist candidate, Macron served in the French cabinet under incumbent Francois Hollande from 2014 until the end of August of this year.
Speaking with Marianne earlier this month, Macron warned of the influence of religion in French schools generally and decrying Jewish schools for emphasizing the Torah.
"It is very important to maintain neutrality in the public sector," Macron said. "Religion cannot be present in school. But I hear few people becoming concerned by the consequences of this phenomenon, [with] more and more children being sent to religious schools which teach them to hate the Republic and teach mainly in Arabic, or," Macron added, "in other places [Jewish schools] teach the Torah more than general studies."
Members of the French Jewish community pushed back against Macron's comments.
"The Torah is the basis of Judaism," one representative of the French Jewish community told Israeli haredi news site Kikar HaShabbat, "and to ban its instruction would mean the annihilation of the Jews."
"Jews, a small community in France, again find themselves targeted for no good reason….the ex-minister's anti-Semitism has come out on behalf of his [political] aspirations, at the expense of national unity."
Surveys show Macron could be a viable candidate, with middling poll numbers for the 1st round of the election, and likely defeating two of the three most highest polling competitors in the 2nd round.
8. US PLANE BURSTS INTO FLAMES SECONDS BEFORE TAKEOFF
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2020450]
Two different plans burst into flames last weekend in the US, as a result of unforeseen technical issues.
One of them, a FedEx plane, caught fire just after landing in Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Florida, when the plane's landing gear failed. The plane crashed and sparks started flying, causing a fire, which the crew soon managed to put out.
The pilot and co-pilot, who were the plane's sole occupants, escaped unharmed.
FedEx has announced the company will cooperate with the authorities.
Two hours earlier, a fire broke out just before takeoff on an American Airlines plane carrying 161 passengers and crew. The plane had been scheduled to fly from Chicago O'Hare International Airport to Miami.
The American National Safety Council has investigated the two incidents and says there is no connection between them.
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