Jerusalem News (22 March 2016, 12 Adar-B, 5776)
1. SECRET OPERATION RESCUES LAST GROUP OF YEMEN JEWS
by Matt Wanderman
2. WIDESPREAD SUPPORT FOR TRUMP AMONG US HASIDIM
by Gil Ronen
3. WATCH: DANON BLASTS UN PLANS TO COMPILE 'JEWISH LIST'
by Ari Soffer, Washington DC
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1. SECRET OPERATION RESCUES LAST GROUP OF YEMEN JEWS
by Matt Wanderman
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/209666
Extracts:
Today (Monday), Israel completed a secret operation to rescue some of Yemen's last remaining Jews.
The plane landed early this morning with 19 new olim, including the heads of the local community. Rabbi Saliman Dahari, who came with his parents and wife, also brought a Torah scroll dating back to the fifteen or sixteenth century.
Deputy Minister for Regional Cooperation Ayoub Kara ([a non-Jewish Druse MK for the Likud]), who played a significant role, has also stated: "I am happy to have achieved this very important goal for my Jewish brothers in Yemen to come to Israel. There is no higher purpose than to save lives in Israel.
"We successfully brought Jewish families that were threatened by death and assimilation. I thank the Prime Minister and the head of the Jewish Agency who supported my desire to bring over the Yemenite Jews, whatever the price.
"The aliyah of Yemenite Jews was my top priority during my campaign for the Knesset and I am happy that we have succeeded in achieving this important goal."
The US State Department helped with the project's organization, which took much of the past year.
Though the fighting in Yemen is primarily between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-backed Houthi jihadists, it has been particularly hard on the country's dwindling Jewish population. The Houthis' motto is "God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam," and the group has threatened to attack Jews unless they convert.
The Jewish Agency has rescued about 200 Jews from Yemen over the past few years.
Fifty Jews still remain in the country, having declined the offer to come to Israel. All live in a closed compound next to the US embassy. A number are elderly and some have relatives who were forced to marry Muslim men.
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2. WIDESPREAD SUPPORT FOR TRUMP AMONG US HASIDIM
by Gil Ronen
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/209678#.VvFV3eJ9670
Extracts:
Donald Trump enjoys widespread support within the Hasidic community in the US, according to experts interviewed by VICE news.
Jacob Kornbluh, a New York-based reporter for Jewish Insider, told the news outlet that there is "no question support for Trump is widespread" among Hasidim, and that the majority of Hasidic voters he's spoken to have said they plan on supporting Trump.
Unlike the majority of US Jews, who are exceedingly liberal, nearly two-thirds of haredi Jews say they are politically conservative, while 57 percent of Orthodox US Jews identify with or lean towards the Republican party, according to a Pew survey of Jewish Americans.
There have not been any polls of Hasidic voters ahead of the primary election, reported VICE, but the fact that Trump has done well thus far among evangelical Christians in the primary states is a fairly good indicator of how Hasidim will vote. Since 2000, haredim in New York have voted in national elections in extremely similar patterns to how evangelical Christians voted, Sam Abrams, a political scientist at Stanford University who studies the politics of American Jewish voters, told the news site.
"Among my circle of friends, at least 90 percent [support] Trump," it quoted Yanky Lichtman, who lives in Lakewood, New Jersey, as saying. "I like the way how he says it. He tells you straight what he thinks and that's a big plus."
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3. WATCH: DANON BLASTS UN PLANS TO COMPILE 'JEWISH LIST'
by Ari Soffer, Washington DC
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/209702
Extracts:
Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon has condemned plans to draw up a database of Jewish businesses and products from Judea and Samaria, saying it echoes anti-Jewish measures imposed against European Jews during the early 20th century.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva at AIPAC's 2016 Policy Conference, Danon related to aggressive protests outside of AIPAC, including a group of anti-Israel activists who targeted him personally Sunday night.
Danon said he was not ruffled by the demonstration, which pales in comparison with the hostility Israel faces daily at the UN. If anything, he said the threatening, often abusive, behavior of protesters simply proved to neutral observers that supporters of the Palestinians were the ones fueling violence.
"We will continue to tell the people the truth, and I know that the American people know that we are showing the facts, and they (the anti-Israel activists) are inciting," he said.
Danon took aim in particular at a proposal within the US by anti-Israel actors "to label products from Judea and Samaria and to actually create a database of all Judea and Samaria produce."
"This is unacceptable," he continued. "It reminds me of times in Europe way back when people and products were labeled. We will not allow it, and I hope that the European and other countries will stand with us."