A7News: 'Trump won't force Mideast peace plan on Israel'

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Tuesday, Feb. 26 '19, כ"א באדר תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. 'TRUMP WON'T FORCE MIDEAST PEACE PLAN ON ISRAEL'
2. ANOTHER RELATIVE INTERROGATED IN KADOURI MURDER
3. EX-ISRAELI MINISTER SENTENCED TO 11 YEARS FOR SPYING FOR IRAN
4. INSIDE MEIR PANIM'S SOUP KITCHEN 'RESTAURANTS'
5. ARGENTINA'S CHIEF RABBI IN SERIOUS CONDITION AFTER ATTACK
6. POLL: RIGHT-WING - RELIGIOUS BLOC 62, LEFT-WING - ARAB BLOC 58
7. NETANYAHU SEEKS SHAKED'S HELP
8. CRUISING ISRAEL - MAHANE YEHUDA


1. 'TRUMP WON'T FORCE MIDEAST PEACE PLAN ON ISRAEL'
by Shimon Cohen

Recent comments by President Donald Trump's son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, this week regarding the upcoming American Middle East peace plan quickly became a hot political topic in Israel, and becoming the focus of the Knesset election campaign now underway.

While many on the Israeli right expressed concern over Kushner's statement that the plan would include provisions "delineating the border", the chairman of the Republican party's Israel branch cautioned against a rush to pre-judge the plan, adding that President Trump would not force Israel into any agreement with the Palestinian Authority.

"I would advise people on the right, and that includes myself, not to panic," said Attorney Marc Zell, a senior member of the Republicans Overseas organization and chief of its Israeli branch.

The Trump administration has refused to release details of its Middle East peace plan, carefully guarding the few copies of the document and limiting the number of people with access to the entire plan to just five in a bid to prevent leaks.

The secrecy surrounding the plan has spawned mass-speculation and false leaks regarding the plan's provisions.

Zell noted that regardless of the plan's contents, Israeli leaders should not be overly concerned with the 'Deal of the Century', as the president has dubbed it, which is expected to be released after Israel's April 9th election.

"The rule by Trump is…Trump and his administration will not force Israel to do something that [Israel] views as being against its security interests. If Israel says, 'No', Washington won't force Jerusalem [to accept it], and that is a very important thing."

But would the mere fact that the Trump administration is putting the proposal on the table not pressure Israel to accept a deal in a way that a more hostile administration, like that of President Obama, would be unable to do?

"I really respect Netanyahu and support him, but when Obama said what he wanted, the Israeli government gave in and accepted the idea of the two-state solution," Zell said, referring to Netanyahu's 2009 Bar-Ilan address in which he formally backed the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state.

On the other hand, Zell continued, "If the Israeli government under Netanyahu or someone else will tell Trump that… it cannot accept the provisions on Jerusalem or the right of return, etc., the US won't force Israel to accept it."


2. ANOTHER RELATIVE INTERROGATED IN KADOURI MURDER
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Tuesday extended the detention of a relative suspected of involvement in the murder of Tamar and Yehuda Kadouri in their apartment in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Another relative was detained today for questioning on suspicion of involvement in the double murder.

Tamar and Yehuda Kadouri, who were both in their 70s, were found dead in their home more than a month ago with signs of severe violence on their bodies.

Last week, it was cleared for publication that two relatives of the Kadouri family are the prime suspects in the murder case.

The details of the suspects and their precise connection to the Kadouri family are under a gag order. Police believe the background to the murder is criminal.


3. EX-ISRAELI MINISTER SENTENCED TO 11 YEARS FOR SPYING FOR IRAN
by David Rosenberg

Former Israeli minister Gonen Segev was sentenced Tuesday morning to 11 years in prison, after he was found guilty of spying on behalf of Iran.

The Jerusalem District Court meted out the 11-year jail term to Segev Tuesday, who once served as Energy and Infrastructure Minister, after breaking away from the secular right-wing Tzomet party to join Yitzhak Rabin's Labor coalition government.

While reporters were not allowed into the court room, given the sensitive nature of the case, prosecutor Geulah Cohen confirmed that Segev had been sentenced to 11 years in prison as part of the plea bargain.

"He admitted having given information to the Iranians over five years," Cohen told reporters.

"The agreement is aimed at protecting security sources and keeping information confidential. A longer trial would not have allowed all the information to be kept secret."

In January, Segev agreed to a plea bargain deal with prosecutors, settling on the 11-year prison sentence.

As part of the deal, Segev agreed to plead guilty to espionage charges, and a charge of transferring information to an enemy power.

In exchange, prosecutors will drop charges of aiding an enemy of the state.

Segev was arrested by Israeli authorities in May 2018, after he sold information to Iranian government agents.

In June, Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency revealed that Segev had been arrested on suspicion of committing the offenses of assisting the enemy in a time of war and of spying against the State of Israel.

Israeli investigators said they had found evidence that Segev had been recruited by the Iranian regime, and that Segev had acted as an agent on behalf of Iranian intelligence.

It was further alleged that in 2012, Segev had opened a channel to Iranian intelligence services via the country's embassy in Nigeria. He later came twice to meetings with his operators in Iran.

Segev is said to have met with his Iranian operators around the world, in hotels and apartments which are believed to be used by Iranian intelligence services. Segev also received a secret communications system to encrypt the messages between him and his operators.

Segev was previously convicted of attempted credit card fraud, and plead guilty to drug smuggling


4. INSIDE MEIR PANIM'S SOUP KITCHEN 'RESTAURANTS'
by Yoni Kempinski

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259604

Arutz Sheva visited the Meir Panim restaurant-style soup kitchen in Jerusalem, speaking with staff and volunteering in kitchen operations to get an idea of what Meir Panim is all about.
"Meir Panim is a set of relief centers here in Israel which provides opportunities for Israelis in need. In each different center we have different things we specialize in," said Mimi Rozmaryn, Meir Panim's Director of Global Development. "Here in Jerusalem we have this free restaurant which provides hot lunches to hundreds of people a week who don't have anywhere to be."

Ellen Tilles, a volunteer with Meir Panim, said that her main mission in coming into the Meir Panim restaurant every day is "to actually feed people."

"I see these people around the city eating out of garbage cans. I would rather they come here and we give them something fresh."

Tilles related her history of volunteering with Meir Panim. "When I first started to volunteer here in 2012, I had not yet made aliyah. I was here only for six weeks each winter, and I fell in love with the people who come here. Eventually I made aliyah with the intent to come here, and that's what I do Sunday to Thursday, I come here each day."

Tovi Galili, a volunteer who works for the Hebrew University, says that the university has been sending its students from all over the world to volunteer at Meir Panim "and have a chance to see Jerusalem in a broader sense, not just going to the Kotel or Shuk Mahane Yehuda, but also to see Israelis, to see what Israel looks like. But it also gives them a sense of purpose."

Rozmaryn explained that the food for the restaurant is "donated from local hotels, event halls and individuals that have excess and don't want to see the food go to waste and the environmental impact of the food being thrown away, and want to help provide an opportunity for people who want to eat."

Volunteers say they aim to provide visitors not just with food, but with a smile and a pleasant atmosphere.

"We don't want them to feel like what they deserve is in the garbage. Here they can sit down, and now there is this beautiful dining room, and it makes it much easier and prettier for them to come here," Tilles said.

"We wanted this restaurant to feel like any other one in the city," Rozmaryn noted.

According to Galili, "There's no questions about who you are, why you're here, we don't necessarily know why people need what they need, but we maintain the sense of dignity that you can come into a restaurant and have that feeling of being served and not have to feel that's it's about having to ask for a hand, it's just giving - for its own sake."

Rozmaryn explained that the restaurant is able to continue its daily operations by virtue of "donations we receive from people all over the world who want to support the folks that are here, want to support Israel, and want to support our efforts. So we are endlessly appreciative and grateful and humbled by our ability to continue doing this work every day."
Tilles said that the feeling she gets from volunteering at Meir Panim is one of "absolute joy."

"It's just a pleasure seeing people being able to eat, being able to sit. It's like my mission - to make people feel comfortable."


5. ARGENTINA'S CHIEF RABBI IN SERIOUS CONDITION AFTER ATTACK
by Ben Ariel

The Chief Rabbi of Argentina, Rabbi Gabriel Davidovich, was violently attacked Monday at his home in Buenos Aires, Yediot Aharonot reported, citing local media.

According to the report, Rabbi Davidovich was attacked by unknown assailants who entered his home at around 2:00 a.m. and told him, "We know that you are the rabbi of the Jewish community."

The assailants stole money and personal effects and attacked his wife as well. As a result of the attack, the rabbi was hospitalized in a local hospital and is in serious condition.

The AMIA Jewish community center described the attack as "alarming" and called on local authorities to quickly investigate the assault.

Channel 13 News reported that the attack on Rabbi Davidovich and his wife is the second anti-Semitic incident in Argentina in two days. On Sunday, gravestones were desecrated in a Jewish cemetery in the northern city of San Luis.

The news coming from Argentina follows a string of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States and Europe.

On Friday, swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti were drawn in a Jewish schoolyard in Queens. The words and drawings, found in the Rego Park Elementary School, have since been erased.

Also on Friday, vandals suspected of being soccer hooligans from The Hague painted graffiti, including swastikas and anti-Semitic texts, on buildings in Amsterdam.

France alone has seen a spate of anti-Semitic attacks in recent weeks, including the daubing of swastikas on nearly 100 graves in a Jewish cemetery in eastern France last Tuesday.

A week earlier, a memorial in Paris to Ilan Halimi, a French-born Moroccan Jewish man who was murdered in 2006, was desecrated.

In addition, swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti were found at multiple locations in Paris, including the window of a bagel shop and mailboxes which featured the portrait of French politician and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil.


6. POLL: RIGHT-WING - RELIGIOUS BLOC 62, LEFT-WING - ARAB BLOC 58
by David Rosenberg

The new Blue and White alliance of Benny Gantz's Israel Resilience party and Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid faction would become the largest party in the Knesset if new elections were held today, a new poll shows – but the right-wing – religious bloc would retain a narrow majority.

According to the poll, conducted by Maagar Mohot and published by i24NEWS and Israel Hayom Sunday evening, if new elections were held today, the Blue and White party of Gantz and Lapid would win 36 mandates.

The Likud, by contrast, would gain a single mandate over its 2015 performance, winning a total of 31 seats.

But the right-wing and haredi parties would retain the rightist majority in the Knesset, though by a razor-thin margin, with 62 seats to 58 for the left-wing – Arab bloc.

The New Right, led by Education Minister Naftali Bennett, would become the third largest party with nine seats, following by Labor with eight. Tied with Labor for fourth place is the Jewish Home-National Union-Otzma Yehudit alliance with eight seats.

Both of the haredi factions, United Torah Judaism and Shas, would win seven seats each, as would the far-left Meretz party.

Yisrael Beytenu, Kulanu, Gesher, Zehut and the Balad-United Arab List alliance would all fail to cross the threshold. Yisrael Beytenu and Kulanu would win three seats-worth of votes, while Gesher, Balad, and Zehut would receive two seats-worth. Four seats are needed to cross the electoral threshold.


7. NETANYAHU SEEKS SHAKED'S HELP
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's attorney approached Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked nd asked her to work to release material that would prove that his relationship with Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch was not inappropriate, News 12 reported.

According to the report, in a letter sent by Netanyahu's attorney Navot Tel Tzur, to Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Netanyahu demanded that Mashad ensure that the Justice Ministry release the answers he sent to the State Comptroller from the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017. It is alleged that there was nothing illegal about the relationship between Netanyahu and Elovitz.

The document also alleged that Netanyahu, in his capacity as Communications Minister, did not make controversial decisions before a famous conflict of interests arrangement was formulated, and that all of his decisions were made after a proper procedure and coordination with the legal authorities.

According to Netanyahu, the Justice Ministry refuses to give these full answers to the comptroller, despite the fact that they are common knowledge, and therefore he wrote to Shaked, "We see the Ministry of Justice's answers to the State Comptroller as documents of great importance to the defense of the prime minister. In light of the fact that the Attorney General's decision is expected to be received in the near future, our appeal to you is a very urgent one."



8. CRUISING ISRAEL - MAHANE YEHUDA
by ILTV

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259568