Jerusalem News
(29 December, 2019, 1 Tevet 5780)
1. Interior Ministry: Only 37.5% of Olim Not Jewish
2. Jews in Monsey NY Attacked by Machete-man from Harlem.
3. More than 235,000 flee intense bombing in northwest Syria
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1. Interior Ministry: Only 37.5% of Olim Not Jewish
By David Israel -
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/aliyah-israel/interior-ministry-only-37-5-of-olim-not-jewish/2019/12/24/
Following a news breaking announcement Monday from Reform Clergy Uri Regev that out of the 154,474 olim who have come to Israel in the last 8 years and were entitled to an Israeli citizenship under the law of return, only 25,375 are halachically Jewish (Reform NGO Claims 6 out of Every 7 Olim in Recent Years Not Recognized as Jews), on Tuesday, Israel's interior ministry has corrected the data on Jewish immigration to Israel in the last 8 years.
The ministry clarified that most olim from the former Soviet Union are not recognized as Jews, but in contrast, most olim from the US and France are Jews.
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The Population and Immigration Authority has retracted the data it provided to Regev, and announced that 61.5% of Russian olim and 66% of olim from Ukraine are not Jews, while 96% of French olim and 95% of US olim are Jewish.
This puts the average among all olim at 37.5% goyim.
According to Yedioth Acharonot, the data the Authority published today about the Jewish identity of olim reflects the fact that some of them have been converted in Israel. Meanwhile, the Authority refuses to reveal what their status was on their day of liyah.
On Monday, Regev cited official data provided by the State Population and Immigration Authority, that 86% of legal olim to Israel over the past 9 years are not recognized by the rabbinical courts as Jews.
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2. Jews in Monsey NY Attacked by Machete-man from Harlem.
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(a)
New York machete stabbings at Hanukkah event in rabbi's home result in 5 wounded: reports
By Dom Calicchio | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-synagogue-stabbing-attack-results-in-several-injuries-reports
A frightening attack at a Hanukkah celebration in the home of a rabbi in a suburb north of New York City on Saturday night placed the entire New York region on edge and had public officials vowing to stop the violence.
The assault in Monsey, N.Y. -- by a machete-wielding suspect who drove away but whom authorities believe was the man they apprehended later -- continued a string of incidents in recent weeks that have included beatings of Jewish people on the streets of New York City and a massacre at a kosher grocery store in nearby Jersey City, N.J.
*BREAKING NOW* Multiple people stabbed inside Rabbi Rottenberg Shul in Forshay (Monsey). Reports a black man armed with a knife began stabbing people.
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(b) Machete Attacker Stabs 5 at NY Rabbi's Hanukkah Celebration
A TIME OF FEAR
https://www.thedailybeast.com/multiple-victims-reported-in-stabbing-attack-near-new-york-synagogue
The attack is said to have occurred at the home of a Hasidic rabbi.
by Allison Quinn
[Extracts]
Five people were stabbed in an attack on a Hasidic rabbi's home in Monsey, New York, on Saturday evening, intensifying fears of further anti-Semitic violence after a spate of such incidents this week. The incident took place in Rockland County, which has the highest per capita Jewish population in the U.S., according to New York officials.
According to Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel, a man covering his face with a scarf knocked on the door at Rabbi Rottenburg's shul during the seventh night of Hanukkah just as the rabbi was lighting the candle. The assailant rushed past the man who answered the door, who said he pulled out a machete and began stabbing people, according to several witnesses.
Ramapo Town Police said the suspect was in custody. He reportedly escaped the scene but was arrested in Harlem after being tracked down through the license plate number of his vehicle.
Of the five victims rushed to local hospitals, two of them were in critical condition as of late Saturday, according to the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council for the Hudson Valley region. The organization said one of the victims had been stabbed six times.
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3. More than 235,000 flee intense bombing in northwest Syria
https://www.timesofisrael.com/more-than-235000-flee-intense-bombing-in-northwest-syria/
By AFP
Extracts:
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Civilians on Friday packed a road leading out of a flashpoint town in northwest Syria, where two weeks of heightened regime and Russian bombardment has displaced 235,000 people.
Pick-up trucks carrying mattresses, clothes and house-hold appliances ferried entire families out of southern Idlib province, most heading towards safer areas further north.
Since mid-December, regime forces and their Russian allies have heightened bombardment on the southern edge of the final major opposition-held pocket of Syria, eight years into the country�s devastating war.
The latest violence in the jihadist-dominated Idlib region has killed scores of civilians, despite an August ceasefire deal and international calls for a de-escalation.
More than 235,000 people fled the area between December 12 and 25, mostly from the beleaguered city of Maaret al-Numan which has been left 'almost empty,' according to the United Nations' humanitarian coordination agency OCHA.
The Idlib region hosts some three million people, including many displaced by years of violence in other parts of Syria.
It is dominated by the country's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, whose chief this week urged jihadists and allied rebels to head to the frontlines and battle 'the Russian occupiers' and the regime.
Since December 19, HTS jihadists and their rebel allies have been locked in fierce battles with regime forces around Maaret al-Numan.
Damascus loyalists have seized dozens of towns and villages from jihadists in clashes that have killed hundreds of fighters on both sides.
The war in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it began with anti-government demonstrations brutally crushed by security forces.
US agency says than 80% of those who have fled southern Idlib this month are women and children