Weekly roundup of world briefs

Ra’am Party head pushing US to recognize Palestinian state

(JNS) — Mansour Abbas, chairman of Israel’s Ra’am Party, said in a recent interview that he has been advocating for the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state in meetings with U.S. government officials and others. 

“Every week I have two or three meetings with international officials, delegations, ambassadors and the like. And I say to them in a clear manner…It’s on you to take an immediate decision to recognize a Palestinian state,” Abbas said in an undated Arabic-language interview, a clip of which was posted to X on March 26. 

“It will give Palestinian hope and enable the Palestinian people to concentrate its energies in building an independent, sovereign Palestinian state,” he added.

Asked to whom he had delivered this message, Abbas answered, “The U.S. government, the European Union, the United Nations and the ambassadors of various countries.” 

Sixty-three percent of Israeli Jews oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state, according to a survey published late last month.

On Feb. 21, the Knesset plenum voted 99-11 to back a government decision to reject any unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood, amid reports the Biden administration was considering such a move.

The same survey found that 44 percent of Israeli Jews said terrorism would intensify should a Palestinian state come into being.

A public opinion poll published on Nov. 14, conducted by the Arab World for Research and Development, found that 75 percent of Palestinians support Hamas’s Oct. 7 murder spree, as opposed to only 13 percent who disapprove.

Israeli student discovers rare Roman-era oil lamp

(JNS) — A high-school student from Hod Hasharon recently discovered a 1,600-year-old Roman-era lamp during a field trip in southern Israel.

When his class stopped for lunch next to the fort of Mezad Tzafir, Yonatan Frankel, 16, began to pick up rocks and examine them.

“One of the stones was full of dirt. I shook it off, and suddenly I saw a design. Then I understood that this was a man-made object and not just a stone,” said Yonatan.

The oil lamp was produced in Petra, Jordan sometime around the fourth or fifth century C.E., according to archaeologists.

“Lamps of this type were uncovered at Mezad Hazeva, and also at Mamshit, Mezad Yotvata and Petra, but the lamp Yonatan found is identical to one discovered at in the same place 90 years ago by archaeologist Nelson Glueck,” explained Israel Antiquities Authority senior researcher Tali Erickson-Gini.

“We know that between the Nabataean-Roman town of Mamshit and the copper mines of Feinan (biblical Punon) in the Central Arava—not far from present-day Moshav Ein Yahav, a trade route was in use in the fourth to sixth centuries C.E.,” she added.

“In order to secure the shipments of copper and possibly even gold from the mines, a series of forts were built between the head of the Scorpions Ascent and Mezad Hazeva, and Mezad Tsafir was one of these. Mounted patrols guarded the important road,” explained Erickson-Gini.

“It’s easy to imagine the lamp lighting up the darkness in the lonely, isolated fort manned by Roman soldiers,” she said.

Yonatan received a certificate of merit for his discovery and for handing over the artifact.

“I wish to thank Yonatan for his good citizenship,” said IAA Director Eli Escusido. “Every object that is turned over to us is kept by the National Treasures Department, and each object can shed significant light, as is indeed the case here, on our past.” 

Nixing delegation to DC ‘a message to Hamas,’ Netanyahu tells US senator

(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) for his “unwavering support for the State of Israel, especially at this time” during the latter’s visit to Jerusalem, per Netanyahu’s office.

The two officials met at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

Netanyahu told Scott that Washington’s decision to abstain, rather than veto, a recent ceasefire resolution at the United Nations Security Council “was a very, very bad move.”

“The worst part about it was that it encouraged Hamas to take a hard line and to believe that international pressure will prevent Israel from freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas,” the prime minister told the senator, per an Israeli read out of the meeting.

Netanyahu also addressed a scheduled Israeli ministerial delegation to Washington, which he canceled following the U.N. vote.

“My decision not to send the delegation to Washington in the wake of that resolution was a message to Hamas: ‘Don’t bet on this pressure. It’s not going to work,’” Netanyahu told Scott. “I hope they got the message.”

JNS sought comment from the senator’s office.

“I will fight every dime to the U.N. Biden and the U.N. might be too weak to stand up to Iran/Hamas, but I will never be afraid to stand with our greatest ally, Israel,” Scott wrote on social media on Tuesday, about the U.N. resolution that the Biden administration allowed to pass.

“The U.N. has a long record of siding with dictators and terrorists and our dollars should not fund its nonsense,” he added.

British lawmakers call to halt arms sales to Israel

(JNS) — The United Kingdom could be closer to following Canada’s decision last week to halt arms exports to Israel over the war in Gaza after more than 130 parliamentarians signed a letter urging London to cut off weapons sales.

Coming on the heels of Monday’s passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding a freeze in fighting during Ramadan, which ends on April 9, the letter was addressed to Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

British defense exports to Israel totaled £42 million ($53 million) in 2022, according to Defense Secretary Grant Shapps.

MP Zarah Sultana, a far-left member of the Labour Party of Pakistani Muslim ancestry, coordinated the letter, which was signed by 107 MPs and 27 peers.

“With the Israeli government now seemingly disregarding the U.N. Security Council’s ceasefire resolution, it is again violating international law and making the case for an end to arms sales impossible to ignore,” Sultana said, as quoted by the Guardian.

“The U.K. government must finally uphold the rights of the Palestinian people, heed this call from 130 cross-party parliamentarians, and immediately end arms sales to Israel,” she continued.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on March 19 expressed his displeasure with Canada’s government over its announcement the previous day that it would halt arms sales to Israel.

“It’s regrettable that the Canadian government is taking a step that undermines Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas terrorists, who have committed terrible crimes against humanity and against innocent Israeli civilians, including the elderly, women, and children,” tweeted Katz.

“History will judge Canada’s current action harshly. Israel will continue to fight until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are returned home,” he added.

Canadian arms exports to Israel amounted to more than $15.4 million in 2022, according to Canadian government data. (The largest non-U.S. export destination that year was Saudi Arabia, which received about $1.15 billion in military exports, or about 54 percent of the total value of all non-U.S. Canadian military exports.)

US, UK designate five ‘key financial facilitators’ of Hamas

(JNS) — Washington and London announced sanctions on Wednesday against five “key financial facilitators involved in fundraising for Hamas.”

The sanctions target Gaza Now and its founder and director Mustafa Ayash and Al-Qureshi Executives and Aakhirah Limited and their director and sole officer Aozma Sultana.

“The United States continues to degrade terrorist financing networks, including by targeting actors fundraising for Hamas,” the U.S. State Department stated.

“Treasury remains committed to degrading Hamas’s ability to finance its terrorist activities, including through online fundraising campaigns that seek to funnel money directly to the group,” stated Brian Nelson, U.S. undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. 

“The United States, in close coordination with our British partners, will continue to leverage our tools to disrupt Hamas’s ability to facilitate further attacks,” Nelson added.

After Oct. 7, Gaza Now “began a fundraising effort in support of Hamas,” according to the U.S. Treasury Department. 

Al-Qureshi Executives and Aakhirah Limited “have given thousands of dollars to Gaza Now and advertised Gaza Now as a partner during a joint fundraiser shortly after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack,” the department added.

The UK Treasury referred to Gaza Now as “a news agency that promotes the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups.”

“The UK and its partners are committed to cutting off funding sources to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and any others supporting terrorist activity that prevents sustainable peace in the Middle East,” stated Charlotte Vere, a baroness and UK Treasury minister.

“We will also never hesitate to take action against those who exploit the integrity of Britain’s financial system, its broader economy and threaten our national security,” she added.

Former neo-Nazi depicted in ‘American History X’ embraces Judaism

(JNS) — The marvels of modern-day DNA testing have revealed another member of the Jewish people. He’s a man who had a swastika tattooed on his neck and whose life inspired a searing American crime drama about violent antisemitism.

Frank Meeink, 48, has dived in head first by embracing devout Jewish practice.

Meeink led a far-right, neo-Nazi group in the 1990s that engaged in such criminal acts as sadistically torturing enemies. Following prison time and then an experience working with a Jewish furniture store owner, Meeink renounced his past bigoted beliefs. His story helped shape the character of Derek Vinyard, the protagonist of “American History X” (1998), played in an Oscar-nominated performance by Edward Norton.

A 23andMe DNA test revealed a reality that would further transform Meeink’s life. He was determined to be 2.4 percent Ashkenazi Jewish through his mother’s maternal great-great-grandmother. This matrilineal descent meant that by many definitions he, too, was Jewish.

“I found out by a beautiful gift from God that I was Jewish through DNA,” said Meeink.

The discovery has now inspired a man who once regarded Jews as the root of all evil to attend synagogue, go to Torah classes, keep kosher, and pray three times daily using tallit and tefillin.

Meeink said he loved that in Judaism, it says: “‘Love the Lord your God.’ And that you don’t need to force your God on nobody else. I wanna try and build this relationship with God.”

Most Americans oppose Israeli actions against Hamas

(JNS) — The majority of Americans now disapprove of the Israel Defense Forces’ actions against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, according to a survey Gallup published on Wednesday.

The proportion of respondents who disapprove of IDF actions increased from 45 percent in November to 55 percent this month, while the share of Americans who explicitly back the military operation dropped from 50 percent to 36 percent.

About 9 percent of respondents in the most recent Gallup poll have no opinion on the IDF’s actions, up from 4 percent in November.

All three major U.S. political groupings have become less supportive of the war against Hamas, Gallup said on Wednesday, pointing to drops of 18 percentage points in approval among both Democrats and independents and a 7-point decline among Republican voters.

Gallup polled a representative sample of 1,016 American adults between March 1 and March 20. (The margin of error is ± 4 percentage points at a confidence level of 95 percent, the organization said.)

Meanwhile, another survey of 2,111 Americans published by Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies and Harris Insights and Analytics this week found that a strong majority of U.S. voters support Israel in the conflict with Palestinian terrorist groups.

Asked whether they favor Israel or Hamas, 79 percent expressed support for the Jewish state, according to Harvard/Harris. In addition, two-thirds said they believe the IDF is trying to avoid harming civilians.

The poll also discovered that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enjoys greater popularity among American voters than Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Police arrest BDS student activists at Vanderbilt sit-in

(JNS) — A student-led sit-in on Wednesday at Kirkland Hall on the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville, Tenn., ended with law enforcement forcibly removing 25 and arresting four.

Police took freshman Jack Petocz, sophomore Samuel Schulman and senior Devron Burks to the Downtown Detention Center on misdemeanor charges of assault and bodily injury to another after allegedly pushing a community services officer. A fourth unnamed student was arrested for the alleged vandalism of breaking a window.

A Vanderbilt spokesperson said that “the university will take action when our policies are violated, the safety of our campus is jeopardized and when people intimidate or injure members of our community.”

The demonstration organized by the Vanderbilt Divest Coalition demanded that the university stop funding organizations identified by the activists as supportive of Israel. To that end, the mostly masked activists sought to set up a vote for an amendment to the Vanderbilt student government’s constitution.

“The blatant disregard for civility, rules, laws and the assault on an innocent security guard are all signs that prove we are headed in the wrong direction,” senior Ryan Bauman, the founder and president of Vanderbilt’s Students Supporting Israel chapter, told Jewish Insider.

“Free expression is a core value at Vanderbilt, as is civil discourse,” the university said in a statement provided to JNS. “All of the protest participants who breached the building will be placed on interim suspension.”

Several reportedly killed in alleged IAF strike near Damascus

(JNS) — An unknown number of people were killed on Thursday in an airstrike near Damascus attributed to the Israeli Air Force, per local reports.

Sky News Arabia cited the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as saying that “several” Syrians working with Hezbollah terrorists were killed and five were wounded in the strike on a building in the Sayyidah Zaynab area, about six miles south of the country’s capital.

A Syrian government military source told state media agency SANA that the alleged Israeli attack also resulted in “material losses.”

At least 12 Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, including a top commander, were killed in an airstrike on Syria overnight on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Tuesday.

The U.K.-based group said that the “unknown aerial bombardment” had targeted IRGC-affiliated militia sites in eastern Syria. Local Syrian media reported that the commander of IRGC-affiliated forces in the region—known as “Al-Haj Askar”—was seriously wounded in one of the strikes. Other reports indicated that he was killed.

Israel has allegedly struck hundreds of targets in Syria in recent years as part of an effort to prevent further Iranian military entrenchment in the country. Jerusalem rarely acknowledges such attacks.

On Feb. 4, Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari revealed that the IAF has attacked more than 50 targets belonging to Hezbollah and other Iran-backed terrorist groups in Syria since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel.