Jerusalem News. 15 December 2024, 14 Kislev, 5785.
Jerusalem News
https://hebrewnations.com/features/jn5/jn1268.html
1. 6 Syrian Druze Villages Asking to Be Annexed by Israel.
2. 12-Year-Old Yehoshua Aharon Tuvia Murdered by Terrorist on Rt. 60.
3. Melbourne synagogue sustains severe damage in predawn attack by masked arsonists
4. Jews wish to settle in South Lebanon.
5.Trials Expose Logistics, Planning Behind Amsterdam Pogrom
6. Citing Antisemitism, Israel Closing Embassy in Ireland; Opening Embassy in Moldova.
7. Historic moment: Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva and Satmar Rebbe invited to White House.
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1. 6 Syrian Druze Villages Asking to Be Annexed by Israel
By
David Israel
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https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/druze/6-syrian-druze-villages-asking-to-be-annexed-by-israel/2024/12/13/
Extracts:
During a council meeting of residents of six Druze villages in southern Syria held overnight Friday, it was decided that the jihadist Syrian rebels should be prevented from reaching the Druze area and suggested annexing their villages to the Israeli Golan Heights.
Out of some 55,000 Israelis living on the Golan, approximately 24,000 are Druze, an Arab esoteric religious group adhering to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and syncretic religion whose main tenets assert the unity of God, reincarnation, and the eternity of the soul.
Yitro (Jethro), the priest of Midian and father of Zipporah, the wife of Moses, is considered to be the Prophet Shuaib, the spiritual founder and chief prophet of the Druze nation, and the ancestor of all Druze.
In 2010, before Syria's devastating civil war, the Druze community in the country numbered about 700,000, comprising roughly 3% of the population. Nearly half of them, approximately 337,500, lived in the Suwayda Governorate, where Druze constituted about 90% of the population, alongside a notable Christian minority. Damascus and its surrounding areas were home to about 250,000 Druze, representing 35.7% of Syria's Druze population. Smaller Druze communities resided on the eastern slopes of Mount Hermon, numbering around 30,000, and in 14 villages in Jabal al-Summaq in Idlib Governorate, where about 25,000 lived.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel Mawafek Tarif Thursday night, in the wake of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and concerns for the safety of the Druze in the south of the country.
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2. 12-Year-Old Yehoshua Aharon Tuvia Murdered by Terrorist on Rt. 60
(This happened when travelling from his scchool in Beiter-Ilit, the hometown of Yair Davidiy).
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/terrorism-news/12-year-old-yehoshua-aharon-tuvia-murdered-by-terrorist-on-rt-60/2024/12/12
By
David Israel
11 Kislev 5785 - December 12, 2024
12-year-old Yehoshua Aharon Tuvia was murdered in a shooting attack that took place Wednesday night on Highway 60 south of Jerusalem. Three other people were wounded moderately and lightly. The hunt for the escaped terrorist continues, and security forces have surrounded Bethlehem and its neighbor Husan.
'A 40-year-old female suffered gunshot wounds to her limbs. She was fully conscious and in moderate condition, and she was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Hospital. Two other injured people, in mild condition from glass shards, were evacuated from the scene. Additional MDA teams are now providing medical care to several people suffering anxiety symptoms.'
A spokeswoman for the Beitar Illit municipality said: 'Unfortunately, the child who was seriously injured in the fatal shooting attack on a bus that was traveling from our city to Jerusalem has been pronounced dead. The family, residents of Jerusalem, were returning from a family celebration, and after the celebration, they were caught in the inferno that the terrorist fired at the bus passengers. The terrorist fired 23 bullets, and fled the scene.'
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3. Melbourne synagogue sustains severe damage in predawn attack by masked arsonists
https://www.timesofisrael.com/melbourne-synagogue-sustains-severe-damage-in-predawn-attack-by-masked-arsonists/
December 6 2024
By Agencies
MELBOURNE, Australia - Arsonists extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue on Friday in what Australia-s prime minister condemned as an antisemitic attack.
A witness who had come to Adass Israel Synagogue to pray saw two masked people spreading an accelerant inside the building at 4:10 a.m., Victoria Police Detective Inspector Chris Murray said.
About 60 firefighters with 17 fire trucks responded to the blaze, which Murray said caused extensive damage.
A board member of the synagogue, Benjamin Klein, said a few congregants were sitting and praying inside when the fire started, and ;they heard loud banging.;
Liquid was poured inside the synagogue and set alight, he said, adding, ;If this had happened an hour later, there would have been hundreds of people inside.;
The congregants ;ran out the back of the synagogue. One man who ran out, his hand got burnt,' Klein said, adding the fire was 'extensive' and that the synagogue's 'inside is completely gutted,' and that holy books and furniture were destroyed.
Previously,
In 1995, the synagogue was damaged by a deliberately lit fire, with walls and Torah scrolls burned. Klein, who was a child at the time, said he remembered standing inside the damaged synagogue with his grandfather, a Holocaust survivor.
Opposition Leader Petter Dutton, meanwhile, said the attack was predictable, amid a rise in antisemitism that he said Albanese had failed to stand up against since the Hamas terror group's October 7, 2023 attack against Israel started the ongoing war in Gaza.
Antisemitic incidents in Australia have quadrupled since the attack, amid a global surge in such incidents. Physical assaults on Jews in Australia spiked from 11 the previous year to 65.
Note:
Yair Davidiy came to Israel from Australia in 1974.
Before then Yair have been brought up in a country town. It was some distance from Melbourne the capital of the State of Victoria in southeast Australia.
In his last few years in Austrlaia Yair lived in Melbourne within walking distance of the Adass synagogue that was attacked.
On occasion Yair prayed there and had friends and associates who regularly attended the synagogue.
The synagogue had a mikva (ritual bath) for men attached to it, a feature that was not available elsewhere.
Adass Yisroel synagogue caters to the Ultra-Orthodox community and at that time was the only one of its kind.
The Chief Rabbi of the Synagogue at the time was Rabbi Ashkenazi. He did not speak English and I knew neither Hebrew nor Yiddish but we met and were on friendly terms.
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4. Jews wish to settle in South Lebanon.
Dozens of Israelis Settle in South Lebanon: 'It's Just Northern Galilea'
By David Israel - 8 Kislev 5785 ' December 9, 2024 0
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/middle-east/lebanon/dozens-of-israelis-settle-in-south-lebanon-its-just-northern-galilea/2024/12/09/
Members of the Uri Tsafon (Awake, O north wind) movement, whose aim is to establish Jewish settlements in southern Lebanon, held their first field activity over the weekend, as dozens of activists arrived near the Lebanese border', on the Lebanese side, in the area of the Shiite village of Maroun al-Ras, where they established a stronghold and announced its name was Mei Marom (water from heaven).
The group's name, Uri Tsafon, is drawn from a verse in The Song of Songs (4:16): 'Awake, O north wind / Come, O south wind / Blow upon my garden / That its perfume may spread. / Let my beloved come to his garden / And enjoy its luscious fruits.
The group's manifesto proclaims that Israel has often found it had no choice but to invade Lebanon to ensure its security:
And what is this 'southern Lebanon?'
It is simply the northern Galilee. The clear natural border between Israel and the mountains of Lebanon runs along the Litani River' the largest of the rivers of Lebanon' an area about which Moses said: 'For your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill, a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey.' (Deut. 8:7).
A few hours later, when IDF forces arrived at the scene, the settlers left the area.
Uri Tsafon announced that their visit was in preparation for the establishment of a future settlement. 'Marun a-Ras was an ancient Hebrew settlement called 'Mei Marom.' '...a village where a guard of priests used to live,' they said. They added: 'With God's help, we will return to all the places where Jews used to live in Lebanon because the land is very, very good.'
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5.Trials Expose Logistics, Planning Behind Amsterdam Pogrom
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/jewish-news/antisemitism-news/trials-expose-logistics-planning-behind-amsterdam-pogrom/2024/12/15/
By
Canaan Lidor
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(JNS) More than a month after dozens of Arab men went on a so-called 'Jew hunt' for Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, the trials of seven suspects revealed this week new information on the logistics of the event that shocked Jews and others worldwide.
The information, which was revealed on Wednesday at a court in Amsterdam, exposed the antisemitic agitation of the alleged perpetrators, and also how organizers worked for days to bus in culprits from across the Netherlands to ambush Israelis, whom the attackers often referred to simply as 'Jews.'
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6. Citing Antisemitism, Israel Closing Embassy in Ireland; Opening Embassy in Moldova
By
Pesach Benson / TPS
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/jewish-news/antisemitism-news/citing-antisemitism-israel-closing-embassy-in-ireland-opening-embassy-in-moldova/2024/12/15/
Citing the Irish government's 'antisemitic actions and rhetoric,' Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar on Sunday ordered the closure of the Israeli embassy in Dublin while announcing the opening of an embassy in Moldova.
Explaining the closing of its embassy in Dublin, Sa'ar said, 'The antisemitic actions and rhetoric that Ireland is taking against Israel are based on delegitimization and demonization of the Jewish state and on double standards. Ireland has crossed all red lines in its relationship with Israel. Israel will invest its resources in promoting bilateral relations with the countries of the world according to priorities that are also derived from the attitude of the various countries towards it.'
Ireland's Tanaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Martin received government approval for Ireland to intervene in South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) under the Genocide Convention, Ireland's Foreign Affairs Department announced on Wednesday. Ireland's intervention is widely expected to be filed in The Hague by the end of December.
Ireland, Norway and Spain extended official recognition of Palestine as a state in May in a move that one analyst described to The Press Service of Israel as 'symbolic' and having 'no effect on the ground.'
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7. Historic moment: Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva and Satmar Rebbe invited to White House
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/400757
For the first time in history, two prominent Hasidic leaders have been invited to the White House as personal guests of President-elect Donald Trump.
The Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Shaul Alter, and the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Aharon Teitelbaum, both received an official invitation to visit the White House after the inauguration of Trump.
The planned visit is intended to express gratitude for the Hasidic leaders' support for the president-elect, which led to a significant rise in the number of votes he received from the haredi public in the United States.
The relationship between the Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva and President Trump began even before the elections, when the President sent a special letter of condolence to Rabbi Alter following the death of his mother, the Gerrer Rebbetzin. The letter was conveyed via Yehuda Kaploun, a close advisor to Donald Trump.
Kaploun is considered a key figure in enlisting the support of haredi leadership, which for the first time, publicly expressed support for the president, given the current situation in Israel.
The historic visit to the Oval Office is expected to take place after the official inauguration of the president for his second term.
Note:
Rosh Yeshiva means "Head of the Academy."
In this case the title is honorific since the person in question is evidently the de facto leader of Gerer Hasidim in the USA.