A7News: Agreement between Hamas and Israel - 'over my dead body'

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Tuesday, Aug. 28 '18, י"ז באלול תשע"ח



HEADLINES:
1. AGREEMENT BETWEEN HAMAS AND ISRAEL - 'OVER MY DEAD BODY'
2. 2 ARRESTED DURING DEMOLITION OF J'LEM SYNAGOGUE
3. FLORIDA SHOOTER DAVID KATZ'S HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
4. JEWISH INMATE WITH LIFE SENTENCE IN CA RECOMMENDED FOR RELEASE
5. REPORT: TRUMP OFFERED US PULLOUT FOR PARTIAL IRANIAN RETREAT
6. FLORIDA SHOOTER IDENTIFIED
7. IDF'S OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES GET BIG BOOST WITH MISSILE PURCHASE
8. JEWISH WOMAN BRUTALLY MUGGED IN CROWN HEIGHTS


1. AGREEMENT BETWEEN HAMAS AND ISRAEL - 'OVER MY DEAD BODY'
by Tal Polon

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas reportedly expressed outrage that a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel was being formulated without his participation.

Channel 10 reported that it had been informed today, Tuesday, by a senior Fatah official in Ramallah that Abbas had said, "Over my dead body will there be a ceasefire and agreement for calm between the sides."

The official cited in the report also quoted Abbas as saying that the signing of an agreement without the consent of the PA was "illegal" and constituted "a betrayal."

Abbas reportedly expressed outrage at Egypt, which is mediating Gaza ceasefire talks, for its readiness to hold talks with Hamas without his presence.

"The Egyptians are not correctly reading the map, and are harming Palestinian national interests. Talks with Hamas, which achieved rule in Gaza through revolution and without agreement and cooperation from the PA, is unacceptable and indicates defiance of the Palestinian leadership," the official said.

Senior Hamas officials recently claimed that a ceasefire deal with Israel was due to be reached soon, following the Eid al-Adha holiday.

On Monday, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said that even if a ceasefire is achieved with Israel, the terrorist organization will continue to "build its capabilities because it has no faith in the Zionist enemy."

"The ceasefire arrangement does not include the construction of a seaport or an airport outside the Palestinian territories - everything published so far on this matter is a lie," he said, according to Channel 10.

He further claimed that "the Zionist enemy has reached the conclusion that the Palestinian resistance cannot be eliminated and Israel will see that it made a grave mistake if the truce with Hamas fails. If a ceasefire is achieved, then we will not delay in working on the lifting of the siege and the lifting of the sanctions on the Gaza Strip."

Hamdan also said that the terrorist organization "wants to obtain a prisoner exchange deal with Israel more than in the past." He added that a prisoner exchange deal would be separate from talks on a truce.


2. 2 ARRESTED DURING DEMOLITION OF J'LEM SYNAGOGUE
by David Rosenberg

Two people were arrested Tuesday morning, during protests against the demolition of an illegally-built synagogue in Jerusalem.

Officials from the municipality of Jerusalem, accompanied by police officers, dismantled a synagogue Tuesday morning which was built in the Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood without any permit or authorization from the city.

The synagogue had been cleared for demolition by a Jerusalem court in 2017.

According to the Kikar Hashabbat website, a group of haredi extremists clashed with police during the demolition. Two of the demonstrators were taken into custody.

In a statement released shortly after the demolition, Jerusalem city officials said that the synagogue had been built in the yard of a private residence.

"This case involved illegal enclosure in a yard with no authorization. The dismantling of the enclosure was carried out based on the ruling of a local court which made its decision in 2017."


3. FLORIDA SHOOTER DAVID KATZ'S HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
by David Rosenberg

The gunman responsible for the deadly shooting rampage in Jacksonville, Florida this Sunday had a history of mental illness and abnormal behavior.

On Sunday, 24-year-old David Katz, a resident of Howard County, Maryland, opened fire with two pistols he had acquired several weeks before, gunning down participants at a video game tournament in the Jacksonville Landing shopping center.

Katz, who had won a similar tournament for video game football the year before, lost a game just minutes before the mass shooting. Police say Katz deliberately targeted fellow players, shooting 13 people – 2 of them fatally – before he shot and killed himself.

According to court papers filed as part of the divorce proceedings for Katz's parents, the couple had become estranged while Katz was a child, and formally divorced in 2007, when Katz was 13 years old, AP reported.

The gunman's parents said that their son had been twice hospitalized for psychiatric care, and Elizabeth Katz, David's mother, claimed her son exhibited disturbingly obsessive behavior.

"His hair would very often go unwashed for days. When I took his gaming equipment controllers away so he couldn't play at 3 or 4 in the morning, I'd get up and find that he was just walking around the house in circles," Elizabeth Katz said.

When she attempted to break her son's video game addiction by locking away his video game controllers in her room, David punched a hole through the door.

David Katz had difficulty concentrating after his parents broke up, his mother said, though David's father often disputed claims regarding the level of his son's mental illness, saying he was never "diagnosed as psychotic". The father, Richard Katz, also pressed his son not to take Risperidal, an anti-psychotic medication he had been prescribed, Elizabeth Katz claimed.

In the years after her divorce, Elizabeth Katz reportedly called 911 on multiple occasions to report abusive behavior by her son, including an incident in which he allegedly was "assaulting" her.


4. JEWISH INMATE WITH LIFE SENTENCE IN CA RECOMMENDED FOR RELEASE
by JTA

A Jewish inmate serving life in prison without parole took a step toward freedom Aug. 21 and credited the local Jewish newspaper for the turn of events.

James A. White Jr., was sentenced in 1981 for the 1972 murder of his wife's ex-husband.

Last week, California's Board of Parole Hearings unanimously voted to recommend commutation of his sentence after 37 years behind bars, in part because of the work he has done in establishing a community college program for fellow inmates.

That program was given wide publicity earlier this year in an article on White by Alix Wall in J. The Jewish News of Northern California.

"There's no doubt in any of our minds that it was your article that was the impetus that forced them to deal with my case," White told Wall last week in a phone call. "Your article changed my life."

White, a decorated Vietnam veteran, is credited with establishing the community college program — allowing inmates to work toward an associate's degree — at Ironwood State Prison in Riverside County. (He has since been moved to the California Medical Facility prison in Vacaville in Northern California's Solano County.)

Some 1,500 Ironwood prisoners have graduated from the community college program since its start in 2001. A 2013 study by the Rand Corp. found that inmates who participated in educational programs were 43 percent less likely to return to prison within three years than those who did not participate.

The next scheduled stop for the case is the state Supreme Court; after that, it is expected to go to Gov. Jerry Brown, who has the power to commute White's sentence. But the hearing was the main hurdle.

"He's not out till he's out," said Rabbi Mendel Kessler, who knows White through his work as a prison chaplain. "But I'm 99 percent sure."

One of the inmates White helped was Ryan Lo, who was released from prison in 2014 after serving 23 years on a murder he committed as a juvenile and now runs a project documenting the experiences of former inmates. Lo was one of the 13 people who attended the board hearing in Sacramento.

"This crazy, old, Jewish guy came by my door and introduced himself, and said, 'I'm James White,'" Lo said. White insisted Lo take college courses, and didn't let up. Lo completed six associate degrees in prison and says White changed his life. In return, he made a promise.

"If I ever do go home, I promise you I will do everything in my power to bring you [White] home with me," Lo said he told himself.

Kessler, who was a chaplain at Ironwood and is now the director of Chabad of Sedona, Arizona, also spoke in favor of White. Calling himself the "odd one out" among a group of speakers that included mainly ex-inmates and veterans, Kessler told the board that while crimes must be punished, White's inspiring example and mentorship in helping other inmates should be recognized.

"From that sense of responsibility that creates civilization, we also have to have the responsibility to rehabilitate all these guys," he said.

White spoke about the college program's success during a 2014 TEDx talk at Ironwood. He also started a veterans organizations and held charitable fundraisers while serving his sentence.

"What he's done, and how he's turned so many lives around," said Shad Meshad, the president and founder of the National Veterans Foundation, who has been working on White's case for decades. "If you could have heard the testimony of these men."

White was born in London in 1939 or 1940 and adopted by James and Margaret White, a wealthy Jewish couple in Connecticut who later moved to Texas. After three years at Texas A&M, White served 10 years in the Army and the Marines, earning the rank of sergeant, and was decorated for his service.

In 1972, White went to Southern California, where he met his wife, Nancy Napoli, and settled in Sunnymead, near Riverside. According to White, Napoli's ex-husband began threatening White and Napoli, ignored a restraining order and then molested one of his former stepdaughters. White went to the man's office and shot him dead. In 1981, he was sentenced to life without parole. White was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder; his friends say that nowadays his sentence would not have been as severe, because PTSD is more well known.

Although the hearing was a major step, White is not free yet.

Due to the circumstances of his case, the California Supreme Court also must weigh in, but his friends are hopeful. The Board of Parole Hearings, which is comprised of 15 full-time commissioners, was unanimous in its vote, and Lo said the number of people who spoke at the hearing was unusually high. (Wall also spoke there).

Kessler also said that the chief commissioner told him afterward that the number of speakers made a difference.

"Basically she said it was very helpful that all those who came to testify came to testify," he said.

White has touched many lives during his nearly four decades in the prison system, but if and when he's released, Meshad said, White will keep doing the same work on the outside: he's promised to come work for Meshad's foundation to keep helping the population he's already helped so much.

"This wasn't a hard decision," Lo said. "This is a special case. This is a person with a phenomenal record."


5. REPORT: TRUMP OFFERED US PULLOUT FOR PARTIAL IRANIAN RETREAT
by David Rosenberg

A report released Tuesday by an Arab media outlet claims that the US offered to withdraw all American forces from Syria, while permitting Iran's Quds Force to remain in the country, an arrangement Israel has warned would lead to continued conflict in the region.

On Tuesday, the Lebanon-based Al-Akhbar newspaper published a report claiming that the US had conducted a sub rosa meeting this June in Damascus with senior representatives of the Assad regime.

During the four-hour meeting, the report claims, the US delegation offered a full withdrawal of all American forces currently deployed to Syria, while permitting Iran to retain a presence in the war-ravaged country.

The US currently has 2,000 soldiers in Syria, working primarily in eastern Syria as advisors in the campaign to defeat ISIS.

In exchange for the withdrawal, the US demanded that Iran, which has deployed thousands of soldiers from its Quds Force to Syria, pullback all of its military assets from southern Syria. Syria would also be required to provided written assurances the US oil companies would be included in the development of Syrian oil resources in the east of the country.

Thirdly, the US delegation asked the Assad regime provide US security agencies with a comprehensive data set on all terror groups operating in Syria, as well as a registry of foreign fighters.

According to the Al-Akhbar report, Syria rejected the proposal, and called on the US to unilaterally withdraw from the country, calling the American presence there an unauthorized 'occupation'.

There has been no official US confirmation regarding the report, which seems to contradict reports by senior US officials that the Trump White House is pushing for the total withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria.

"The objective of the United States… is to get Iran, Iranian forces, Iranian militias, Iranian surrogates out of the offensive operations they're in in both Syria and Iraq, and, frankly, to end Iran's support for Hezbollah," National Security Advisor John Bolton said earlier this month.

The total removal of all Iranian forces from Syria has long been a key demand of Israel, which views the presence of Revolutionary Guards forces on Syrian territory as a serious security threat.


6. FLORIDA SHOOTER IDENTIFIED
by Elad Benari

The man who opened fire at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday has been identified as 24-year-old David Katz, of Baltimore, Maryland, CNN reported.

Two people were killed in the shooting at the Jacksonville Landing shopping and dining complex. Eleven others were injured.

Katz died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Sheriff Mike Williams said at a news conference on Sunday afternoon. There are no other suspects.

The motive for the shooting, which took place during a qualifying event for the Madden 19 Tournament at the GLHF Game Bar, remains unclear.

Some reports said the shooter participated in the tournament and opened fire at participants after he lost.

The Baltimore Police Department on Sunday evening raided Katz's home, which is located in the city's Inner Harbor area. Investigators are interviewing the suspect's family.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the attack and the White House was monitoring the situation.



7. IDF'S OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES GET BIG BOOST WITH MISSILE PURCHASE
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Israel's Defense Ministry, led by the Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure and Israel Military Industries (IMI), signed an agreement to develop and equip the IDF with advanced rockets.

The project is expected to cost Israel hundreds of millions of shekels and comes after Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) decided to equip the IDF with easily accessible, precise missiles and rockets of varying ranges.

According to the Defense Ministry, this agreement will improve Israel's abilities significantly, and will allow Israel to hit a target precisely, from a distance, at a relatively low cost per mission.

The new rockets will use advanced technologies appropriate for the modern battlefield.

"The plan to create an array of precise rockets and missiles is gaining momentum," Liberman said. "Some of it is already being manufactured, and some are still being researched and developed. We are acquiring and developing precise firing systems which will allow us to empower the IDF's offense system and cover every spot in the region, with short- and long-range [missiles]."

IMI Chairman Yitzhak Aharonovich noted, "The innovative rocket systems with which the IDF will be provided via this agreement express our company's technological abilities. The company excels in precise firing abilities and the precise targeting of ground targets."


8. JEWISH WOMAN BRUTALLY MUGGED IN CROWN HEIGHTS
by Tzvi Lev

A Jewish woman was violently mugged by two assailants on Saturday night in New York's Chabad-dominated Crown Heights neighborhood.

According to the report in Crownheights.info, two African-American assailants jumped out of a car and punched and kicked a woman on Saturday night next to Carroll Street and Troy Avenue. The two grabbed her purse and escaped in their getaway car after the woman started screaming for help.

The woman was evacuated to the hospital and she has filed a police report. The Shomrim volunteer law-enforcement group has been searching for the two suspects throughout the day.

Saturday night's assault is not the first time that Jews have been attacked by Crown Heights residents. In April, James Vincent, a 40-year-old African American man, assaulted Menachem Moskowitz he returned home from the synagogue. Vincent strangled him and shouted anti-Semitic curses at him.

Earlier in the week, a Jewish man was assaulted in the same neighborhood as he was walking with another Chabad man late on a Friday night.

The man was attacked by three black men and two black women near the Chabad headquarters. One of the assailants asked the man "do you want to fight?" and began to kick and punch him with others joining in the attack.

A neighbor who heard a man's shouts for help called the Crown Heights Shomrim, who found blood on the sidewalk but not the victim.




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