Weekly roundup of world briefs

Kosher certification agency sues JetBlue, saying they lied about a kosher snack

By Jackie Hajdenberg

(JTA) — One of the United States’ largest kosher certifying agencies alleges that JetBlue airlines sold a snack it falsely claimed was certified as kosher.

In a lawsuit filed last Thursday, Kof-K said JetBlue put the agency’s hechsher, or rabbinical approval symbol, on an artichoke snack that the agency never certified as kosher.

The company that makes the artichoke snack, Elma Farms, was not named in the lawsuit. A JetBlue spokesperson told Reuters on Friday the airline is investigating the claims. An attorney for Kof-K declined to comment to Reuters.

There are approximately 1,400 kosher certifying agencies around the world, but in the United States, the “Big Five” — the Orthodox Union (OU), Organized Kashrut Laboratories (OK), Kof-K, Star-K, and the Chicago Rabbinical Council (CRC) — certify more than 80% of the country’s kosher food products. Kof-K started certifying food as kosher in the early 1970s.

JetBlue’s $9 Mediterranean-inspired vegan snack box also included products certified kosher by the Orthodox Union, the Kashruth Council of Canada and EarthKosher.

This is not the first legal action taken against an airline relating to their provision of kosher food this year. In Brazil, a judge awarded plaintiffs $1,759 after they filed a complaint against American Airlines alleging that they were denied kosher food on board.

Other airlines that have gotten into legal trouble with the Jewish community in recent months also include Lufthansa and Delta, both for refusing to board Orthodox Jewish passengers for different reasons.

Israel offers Jordan assistance after Aqaba port disaster

(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Monday offered assistance to Jordan, following a chlorine gas leak at the Aqaba Port on Monday which killed 13 people and injured 251.

The gas was released when a tank filled with 25 tons of chlorine for export to Djibouti exploded after falling from a crane, according to Reuters.

The Israeli defense establishment “is ready to assist in any way necessary,” said Gantz in a statement, adding that the offer has been transferred “to our Jordanian friends.”

Gantz also tweeted his condolences to Jordan, saying, “Our hearts and thoughts are with those killed and we pray for the recovery of the injured.”

Jordanian state television tweeted a video of the storage tank falling and slamming into a ship deck, sending a cloud of yellowish gas rising into the air. People could be seen fleeing the scene on foot.

When inhaled, chlorine turns into hydrochloric acid, which can lead to internal burns, as well as drowning through a reactionary release of water in the lungs, according to the report.

Israeli youth soccer team reaches semi-finals in European championship for first time

(JNS) — Israel’s national youth soccer team made history over the weekend by becoming the first Israeli team to qualify for the semi-finals of the UEFA Under-19 European Championships in Slovakia.

Israel finished with a 2-2 draw against Serbia in its opening game of the competition on June 19 and was victorious 4-2 over Austria three days later. They lost 0-1 on Saturday to England, but still finished second in their grouping and qualified for the semi-finals.

Culture and Sports Minister Chili Tropper congratulated the Israeli team on making it to the semi-finals. In a statement, he told the team, “You brought determination and the spirit of victory to the field and proved just how much you are real winners.”

Israel will compete against France in the semi-finals on Tuesday while England will go head-to-head with Italy. All four semi-finalists have qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia, set to take place next year.

The Israeli team’s coach Ofir Haim told Israel’s Kan News on Sunday that reaching the semi-finals is a “tremendously exciting” achievement for the athletes. He admitted that the Israeli soccer players will face strong opponents on the French team, but added, “In Israel, we don’t have the physical [ability] and speed of Europe … so we need to make up for it with intellect and wisdom and in other components, and in that we are better than everybody else.”

Hamas claims health of captive Israeli is ‘deteriorating’

(JNS) — A Hamas spokesman announced on Monday that the health of one of the Israeli civilians held captive by the group in the Gaza Strip has deteriorated, according to Israel’s Channel 12.

Hamas is holding Israeli civilians Avra Mengistu and Hisham a-Said captive, both of whom crossed into the Hamas-ruled enclave of Gaza of their own accord.

Hamas is also holding the remains of Israeli soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed in combat during “Operation Protective Edge” in 2004.

In response to Hamas’s claims, the Office of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett released a statement saying, “Hamas has proven yet again that it is a cynical and criminal terrorist organization, which holds mentally ill civilians in violation of all international conventions and laws, as well as the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers. Hamas is responsible for the state of the captured civilians.”

Bennett added that “the State of Israel will continue its efforts, mediated by Egypt, to bring home the captives and the missing, with responsibility and determination.”

A defense source told Channel 12 on Tuesday that the Israeli defense establishment is not aware of any changes in the health conditions of Mengistu or a-Said, adding that Hamas’s statement appears to be an attempt to exert pressure in the context of negotiations for a prisoner swap deal.

Israel to cooperate with world powers to shape possible Iran nuclear deal

(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Monday that Israel would work with world powers to shape any deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

“With the expected or possible resumption of the nuclear talks, we will continue to work together with the United States and other countries in order to make our position clear and influence the crafting of the deal—if there is such,” said Gantz, according to Reuters.

“It would be proper to make clear that Israel does not oppose a nuclear deal in itself. It opposes a bad deal,” he added.

Indirect talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran, the United States and several other world powers have stalled, but there are efforts underway to renew the negotiations.

New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin targeted with anti-Semitic death threat

(JNS) — U.S. Congressman and Jewish candidate for New York governor Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) was recently targeted with an anti-Semitic death threat, The New York Post reported.

A swastika was spray-painted on a Zeldin campaign lawn sign in Huntington, Suffolk County, along with the number 187, the Long Island congressman’s campaign said in a statement on Sunday. The incident came only days before the Republican gubernatorial primary.

The number 187 is the California penal code’s designation for murder and “has been universally adopted as a common death threat,” the Zeldin campaign explained.

Zeldin campaign representative Katie Vincentz added, “In the United States, we settle our scores at the ballot box, and this type of raw hate must never have any home on Long Island or anywhere else in our state and country. Congressman Zeldin is thankful for the Suffolk County Police Department as they work to identify the perpetrators.”

Zeldin faces opponents Rob Astorino, Andrew Giuliani and Harry Wilson in Tuesday’s primary. If elected, he will be the first Jewish Republican governor of New York.

Grand Mufti Of Oman: Palestine can only be taken back through resistance, not peace deals

(JNS) — The Grand Mufti of Oman, Ahmed bin Hamad Al-Khalili, said in an interview on Qatar’s Al Jazeera that the Taliban’s “victory” over the United States was a miracle.

“We saw a child from the Taliban learning the Quran with a gun hanging next to him[;] [The Taliban] combine the Quran with the gun, and this is how they won [against the U.S.].”

According to the report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Khalili also said peace agreements with Israel are “nothing but a waste of time,” and the only way to “take back” the land is through resistance.

“I do not think that Oman has compromised with any regard to the Palestinian cause,” he added.

When asked about former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Oman in 2018, the mufti replied that the visit was political.

101-year-old former Nazi guard sentenced to jail

(JNS) — A German court sentenced a former Nazi concentration camp guard to a five-year jail term on Tuesday.

The 101-year-old Josef Schuetz was found guilty of being an accessory to murder in at least 3,500 cases while stationed at the Sachsenhausen camp in Oranienburg, north of Berlin, AFP reported. He worked at the camp from 1942 until 1945.

There is little chance he will serve time in jail because of his age.

Schuetz had pleaded innocent, claiming he did “absolutely nothing” and did not work at the camp. However, he contradicted himself during the trial and at one point claimed he worked in agriculture during the war even though evidence said otherwise.

However, according to the report, the judge said that he was convinced that Schuetz worked at the concentration camp and had “supported” crimes there.

“For three years, you watched prisoners being tortured and killed before your eyes,” said the judge. “Anyone who tried to escape from the camp was shot. So every guard was actively involved in these murders.”

Schuetz’s lawyer told AFP he would appeal.

IDF foils weapons smuggling operation in Dead Sea area

(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces announced on Wednesday that it foiled a significant weapons trafficking operation in the Dead Sea region last month.

On May 22, IDF observers detected two suspects approaching the border in the Dead Sea area, the IDF said in a statement. Israeli security forces arrested the suspects, and following a sweep of the area seized a bag containing three M-16 rifles, four handguns and ammunition.

The suspects, Israeli Bedouin residents of the Negev region near Dimona, were questioned by the Israel Police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), on suspicion that the weapons’ intended recipients were terrorist elements.

The investigation led to the subsequent arrest of two further suspects, who allegedly led the smuggling activities, according to the IDF.

Southern District state prosecutors are due to formally charge all of the suspects in the coming days.

“The IDF, Shin Bet and Israel Police take a severe view of any involvement by Israeli citizens in the smuggling of weapons into Israel, thereby endangering the security of the state and its residents,” the military said.

‘Muslims need to own Koran’s message that Israel belongs to Jews’

(JNS) — Muslims need to own the Koran’s message and understand that Israel belongs to the Jewish people, at least according to one Pakistani journalist who recently visited the Jewish state.

In the Koran, “there is a claim, a very strong one, that the Jewish people have their historic homeland,” Ahmed Quraishi told Ellie Cohanim on this week’s “Global Perspectives.”

“That claim needs to be recognized.”

Quraishi was recently in Israel on a mission to help reconcile relations between Muslims and Jews. He told Cohanim that the Middle East is on the cusp of solving the Arab-Israeli conflict.

“We really could be at the beginning of the end of that conflict,” said Quraishi.

Quraishi was on a private mission with predominantly Pakistani expats from the United States, though he lives in Pakistan. When he returned to his country, a former prime minister politicized his trip and the state fired him from his role at its TV station.

But Quraishi said that despite his personal loss, “there’s a good part: For the first time in 75 years, in Pakistan’s modern history, we have a very robust, open and positive debate [about making peace with Israel] … President Isaac Herzog became a household name.”

Quraishi met with Herzog on his visit.

Quraishi said that now is the time when moderate Muslim countries need to work with Israel to ensure their security from extremists.

“We see the early signs of the emergence of a new security system in our region,” Quraishi claimed. “That would bring moderate nations together, and hopefully we will see Israel becoming part of this new emerging security system.”

Israeli president Herzog met King Abdullah in Jordan ahead of Biden visit

(JNS) — Israel’s President Isaac Herzog met with Jordan’s King Abdullah this week, Herzog’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.

“During the warm meeting, held at King Abdullah’s invitation, the President and the King discussed deep strategic issues, at both bilateral and regional levels,” the statement said.

“The visit also addressed the protection of stable Israeli-Jordanian relations and the need for dialogue with all actors in the region,” it said.

Herzog’s visit was coordinated with the prime minister and foreign minister.

U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to visit the Middle East in mid-July. He will visit Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the West Bank.

TAU researchers develop experimental drug for autism and other syndromes

By Diana Bletter

(Israel21c via JNS) — Tel Aviv University researchers have unraveled a mechanism shared by mutations in genes that cause autism.

They have also developed an experimental drug that could lead to effective treatments not only for autism, but also for other syndromes that impair brain function, including schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s.

Professor Illana Gozes from the Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sagol School of Neuroscience, who led the study, reported the findings in the scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry.

The scientists focused mainly on the mutations in the ADNP gene, which Gozes said “disrupt the function of the ADNP protein and lead to structural defects in the skeleton of neurons in the brain.”

In the lab, the researchers were also able to identify mutations in SHANK3, a gene associated with autism and schizophrenia. According to estimates, these two mutations are responsible for thousands of cases of autism around the world.

The scientists’ further work led them to develop an experimental drug, Davunetide, that significantly improved the behavior of model animals with autism. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recognized Davunetide as a rare pediatric drug for future treatment of the developmental syndrome ADNP, whose hallmark features are intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder.

US hosted ‘secret meeting’ of Arab and Israeli delegates to discuss Iran threat

(JNS) — The United States held a secret meeting of senior military officials from Israel and Arab states in March to discuss ways of coordinating efforts to deal with growing Iranian missile and drone threats, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

“The previously undisclosed talks, which were held at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, marked the first time that such a range of ranking Israeli and Arab officers have met under U.S. military auspices to discuss how to defend against a common threat,” said the report.

Participating in the meeting were senior officers from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan, the report stated, citing U.S. and regional officials.

The United States was represented by Gen. Frank McKenzie, who was the head of U.S. Central Command at the time.

Last week, NBC reported that Jordan’s King Abdullah II had expressed support for the formation of a Middle Eastern military alliance similar to NATO.

Gas prices in Israel reach near-record high

(JNS) — The price of gasoline in Israel is rising and is close to reaching its all-time high of NIS 8.25 ($2.38) per liter (0.2 gallons) set 10 years ago.

The maximum price allowed for 95 octane gasoline will rise on Thursday evening to NIS 8.08 ($2.34) per liter, the Ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources announced, reported the Israeli business daily Globes.

The cost to fill a tank of an average-sized Israeli car will rise to NIS 347 ($100) on Friday.