Weekly roundup of world news briefs

Maccabi Haifa reaches Champions League group stage for first time since 2009

(JNS) — Maccabi Haifa FC has reached the Champions League group stage for the first time since 2009.

The team will get between $26 million to $30 million due to Maccabi Haifa’s victory over FK Crvena Zvezda (“Red Star Belgrade”) and entry into the Uefa Champions League Group Stage.

After winning the first leg 4-3 at home, the Israelis trailed 2-0 in Belgrade before goals from Daniel Sundgren and a last-minute own goal by Milan Pavkov lifted Maccabi Haifa to a 6-5 aggregate triumph, reported Globes.

Maccabi has previously made the Group Stage twice—in 2002-03 and 2009-10.

The club has won the Israeli championship for the past two seasons, much of it due to the appointment of coach Barak Bakhar, who guided the squad to victory for the first time in 10 years.

Pro-Russia forces in Ukraine free captured Israeli man

(JNS) — Russian official media reported that an Israeli national who was abducted by pro-Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine has been freed and is on his way to Israel.

According to Russian Television and Radio, Vladimir Kozlovsky was given over to the Russian Jewish community and will later go to Israel to join his wife in Tel Aviv.

A news report showed him speaking to his wife, then standing in a synagogue praying with tallit and tefillin.

“He prayed freely in Luhansk after he shared all the information known to him,” said the video, which was shared on social media. “It was decided to transfer the Israeli citizen to the Jewish community of Russia,” it added.

In the video, Kozlovsky initially stated that said he did not expect to survive, but to be tortured and killed.

Swastika Mountain in Oregon to be renamed at year’s end

(JNS) — A mountain south of Eugene, Ore., that bears the same name as the swastika symbol of the Nazi Party will soon be renamed, the Oregon Geographic Names Board confirmed last week.

A final decision on the new name for Swastika Mountain will be made on Dec. 6, reported KOIN-TV. Two proposals—Umpqua Mountain and Mount Halo—have so far been submitted to the Oregon Geographic Names Board.

The mountain was originally named before the rise of the Nazi Party for the now-extinct nearby town Swastika, home to a farmer who branded his cattle with the symbol, reported CNN.

Lane County resident Joyce McClain put in a request to the board to change the name of the mountain after reading about it in a local newspaper, according to Willamette Week. She suggested the new name Umpqua Mountain, and in her proposal included an email from Jeremy Johnson, the cultural resources program manager for the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, in which he voiced support for the name change.

The proposed name Mount Halo refers to Chief Halito, the leader of the Yoncalla Kalapuya tribe, whose name was frequently shortened to “Chief Halo.”

Swastika Mountain, which is more than 4,000 feet tall, is located in the Umpqua National Forest.

The Oregon Geographic Names Board meets no more than twice a year and is run under the supervision of the Oregon Historical Society.

Two additional ‘New York Times’ freelancers caught praising Hitler and Palestinian terrorism

(JNS) — The New York Times has come under fire again for hiring freelancers with a history of anti-Semitic social-media posts.

Weeks ago, the paper severed ties with producer and fixer Fady Hanona, who repeatedly espoused anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hostility and spoke favorably of Adolf Hitler. 

The watchdog site HonestReporting’s investigation of Hanona uncovered social-media posts calling for the killing of Jews “wherever they are: children, elderly people and soldiers.” Hanona wrote: “The Jews are sons of the dogs, and I am in favor of killing them and burning them, like Hitler did to them. I would be extremely happy.” The post was accompanied by two smiling emojis.

The Times claimed it had only engaged with Hanona “in recent weeks” and was no longer doing so. 

Now, HonestReporting has uncovered similar posts by two more freelancers.

Palestinian filmmaker Soliman Hijjy, who contributed to the Times between 2018 and 2021, shared a photo of himself with a caption that roughly translates as “in a state of harmony as Hitler was during the Holocaust.” In a 2012 Facebook post, Hijjy wrote: “How great you are, Hitler.” The Times has published Hijjy’s work covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Freelance photographer Hosam Salem, who appears to be actively contributing to the Times, has expressed support for the terrorist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

According to HonestReporting, Salem expressed joy over the 2014 Har Nof massacre in Jerusalem, in which two Palestinian terrorists murdered four rabbis, including three Israeli-Americans, at a synagogue before killing a Druze police officer. Salem also praised Hamas’s capture of the body of IDF soldier Oron Shaul, who was killed in 2014’s “Operation Protective Edge.” Additionally, he applauded Hamas terrorism and “called for more violence” after an attack killed two IDF soldiers in Judea and Samaria.

As recently as last year, Salem reportedly eulogized Gazan suicide bombers Mohammed Salem and Nabil Masoud, whose 2004 attacks on the Israeli port city of Ashdod killed 10 Israelis and led to the cancellation of a summit between the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers.

According to HonestReporting, a Times spokesperson said the paper was looking into the two freelancers’ social-media history.

Pre-World War II synagogue in Poland closed and faces imminent demolition

(JNS) — A synagogue that served as a Jewish house of worship in the city of Lodz, Poland, before World War II and, in recent years, has once again been used by members of the Jewish community there was abruptly shut down.

According to a report in the Israeli media outlet Ynet, members of the Lodz Jewish community said the locks to the 120-year-old Reicher Synagogue were abruptly changed, and that the building’s owner told them they could no longer enter because of safety concerns due to the building’s age.

The synagogue is one of the few to have survived the Holocaust and has continued to serve as a prayer spot for members of the small Jewish community in Lodz—the second-largest Jewish community in Poland before the war—and which saw a ghetto established there during the war.

The existing Jewish community volunteered to renovate the structure, but the owner declined, leaving many convinced that the owner plans to demolish the building to put up a residential complex instead.

The owner of the synagogue building, a local real estate developer, “doesn’t want us there,” said community member David Gurfinkel.

The leader of “Hakoach Lodz,” a group that seeks to promote Jewish culture in the city, Gurfinkel told Ynet that the Reicher Synagogue once saw 20 to 30 worshippers daily. Those figures vary based on the number of Israeli tourists and the time of year, he said, adding that the population of the local Jewish community has risen in recent months due to the influx of Ukrainian Jews.

Ben-Gurion Airport goes digital to help cut long lines for departing passengers

(JNS) — Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport will launch digital check-in procedures for departure flights next year in an effort to cut down wait times for travelers, reported Ynet.

The Israel Airports Authority announced that online check-in for travelers will be expanded to include luggage. At the new terminal called Touch-and-Play, passengers can weigh their own luggage on a scale and pay a fee, if necessary for their airline, before being able to independently print baggage tags and send their baggage directly to their plane.

These self-service terminals will be placed in the departure hall and are expected to shorten the check-in process by up to 30 minutes, the IAA said in a statement.

More than 50 percent of airline passengers currently chose online check-in, according to officials.

“Advanced technologies will allow us to offer travelers a range of services,” the IAA said. “With more Touch & Play terminals, overseas travelers will be subjected to a security check only after they complete their check-in process, online or via the check-in terminals. This will shorten waiting periods and improve passengers’ experience.”

IAA CEO Hagai Topolansky added: “Our goal is to improve services immediately, and in the long run, transition to the most advanced digital field available.”

The IAA estimates that 18 million passengers will travel through Ben-Gurion International Airport in 2022, rising next year to 24 million.

Actress Gal Gadot visits children in Gaza border town

(JNS) — Israeli actress Gal Gadot paid a visit to the southern Israeli town of Netiv HaAsara on Wednesday, surprising a group of youngsters there.

Netiv HaAsara is one of the closest Israeli towns to the border with the Gaza Strip and was on the front lines during the hostilities earlier this month between the Israeli military and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Gadot, who frequently speaks out in support of Israel’s soldiers, had been chastised on Israeli social media for not speaking out against the rocket attacks launched towards Israeli population centers from Aug. 5-7, reported i24News

The star of the “Wonder Woman” DC Comics series, who has spent much of the year in London working on two new film projects, was among the many Israelis who had to take shelter from the more than 1,100 rockets launched by the terror group. She was pictured on Aug. 7 in a bomb shelter on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, where she sought safety with her children following a Red Alert.

High-schoolers raise $30,000 to buy car, gas and insurance for math teacher

(JNS) — A group of students at a Jewish high school in Los Angeles raised more than $30,000 to buy a car for their math teacher who had to commute from his home in Santa Clarita, Calif., for close to two hours each way by public bus to get to work.

The students from Yeshiva University of Los Angeles Boys High School in Los Angeles’ Pico-Robertson neighborhood surprised Julio Castro with a 2019 Mazda CX-3 on Aug. 25. They also gave him a year of gas money and car insurance, according to ABC 7. The news outlet added that the high schoolers spent the summer raising the money and getting donations from organizations like Galpin Motors and the nonprofit Change Reaction.

“It is roughly two hours. It depends. If I miss my bus, I wait another half-hour or an hour,” Castro told ABC 7 about his commute to work. He said of his new car, “I feel surprised. I feel special. So, thank you to my students. They are like my kids as well.”

Joshua Gerendash, a senior at the high school, praised Castro, saying, “He made sure I understood all of the material by sitting down with me during his lunch breaks and sacrificing his time after school where he could be getting to the bus stop going back home.”

Castro told ABC 7 that he looks forward to using his car to spend more time with his girlfriend and kids.

“Now that I have a car, I get to drop off my kids every morning,” he said. “And then coming here with time to spare, I can use it on my lesson plans. Then on my way back, traffic is still bad, but I’ll be able to make it for dinner.”

Jewish politician receives jail sentence in Russia for comparing Stalin to Hitler

(JNS) — A Jewish politician in Russia was sentenced to 15 days in prison for comparing Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, reported The Times of Israel.

Leonid Gozman, 72, was arrested on Monday and sentenced the following day by Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court for a 2020 Facebook post about a law in Russia that bans comparisons between Russia and Nazi Germany. He wrote: “It’s wrong to put an equal mark between them—Hitler was an absolute evil and Stalin even worse.”

Gozman has been an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He left Russia for Israel at the start of the war but returned to Moscow in June.

The Russian Justice Ministry has listed Gozman as a “foreign agent.” He is being investigated for allegedly violating a law that requires citizens to notify Russian authorities about their foreign citizenship, according to The Times of Israel.

Iran enriches uranium at Natanz with additional centrifuges, reports IAEA

(JNS) — Reuters saw a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday that said Iran has started to enrich uranium with the second of three clusters of advanced IR-6 centrifuges recently installed at an underground plant in Natanz.

According to the confidential report to member states, the second of the three cascades of up to 174 machines each is enriching uranium to up to 5 percent fissile purity. The third has apparently not been fed with nuclear material.

On Monday, a different source stated that the first cascade had been activated.

Meanwhile, Iran needs firmer guarantees from Washington, said its foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, on Wednesday in Moscow. He added that the IAEA should stop its “politically motivated probes” of Tehran.

“Iran is carefully reviewing the E.U.-drafted text. … We need stronger guarantees from the other party to have a sustainable deal,” he said, reported Reuters.

IRGC commander declares time ripe for ground war, ‘Palestinians are ready’

(JNS) — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website posted an interview with Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who argued that the Palestinians and Hezbollah must launch a “ground war.”

According to a report by MEMRI, Salami explained that this is because “while missiles are excellent for deterrence or for waging static wars, they do not liberate the lands.”

He said that despite having access to advanced weaponry, Israel’s army lacked the same level of religious fervor and belief that characterizes the resistance movement and the Palestinians. The interview was posted on Aug. 19.

Salami proclaimed that “it is vital to continue the jihad. … The struggle is spreading within the Occupied Territories … hundreds of thousands of missiles are deployed against Israel, and they can attack.”

He added: “The Palestinians are ready today for ground warfare. Israel’s biggest weakness is ground warfare.”

Israeli military confirms death of 19-year-old soldier in tank training exercise

(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces named a soldier who died overnight during a military tank practice in northern Israel.

Sgt. Eitan Fichman, 19, was most likely hit on the head while inside a tank. His family in Beersheva has been informed, According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

The soldier from the 7th Armored Brigade of the 82nd Armored Corps Battalion was found unconscious by his commander during live-fire training.

The commander quickly notified medical personnel. A paramedic entered the tank to discover Fichman, a tank loader, with a head injury and a low pulse, reported Ynet. Along with a doctor who arrived from a nearby post, they attempted to perform life-saving treatments but announced his death shortly afterwards.

The IDF is investigating the incident.

Syria: Israel fires missiles at Damascus, Aleppo airport

(JNS) — The Israeli Air Force dropped missiles on the airport in Syria’s capital of Aleppo on Wednesday, according to Syrian state media. Subsequently, air-defense systems in Damascus fired at Israeli missiles aimed south of the capital.

“At nearly 8 p.m., the Israeli enemy targeted Aleppo International Airport with a missile strike that caused material damage to the airport,” a military source told Syrian state news agency SANA late in the day.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based opposition war monitor, reported that this is the 23rd Israeli attack in Syria in 2022 and that the one near the capital came about an hour after the one at the airport.

“Four Israeli shells hit a runway of the Aleppo International Airport and warehouses in its vicinity, causing fire and explosions to erupt, likely to be due to the explosion of a batch of Iranian missiles,” asserted the observatory.