Weekly roundup of world briefs

RJC endorses Rep. August Pfluger of Texas

(JNS) — Jewish Coalition has selected its 23rd recommendation of candidates in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate this election cycle.

“Although he is only in his second term, Congressman August Pfluger has established himself as an exemplary defender of our national security and the U.S.-Israel alliance,” Norm Coleman, a former Minnesota senator and current RJC national chairman, and CEO Matt Brooks said in a statement. “Last year, when Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal [D-Wash.] smeared Israel as a ‘racist state,’ Pfluger wrote a resolution to clarify that Israel is not a racist state and got it passed by the House of Representatives overwhelmingly.”

The RJC heads said Pfluger had “led the way on key initiatives to keep terrorists out of our country, tighten sanctions pressure on Iran, and accelerate the delivery of critical refueling aircraft to Israel.” It also highlighted Pluger’s two years as a combat pilot.

“We are proud to endorse Congressman Pfluger for a third term in office, so he can continue his strong and effective service in the House,” the two men stated.

Pfluger responded to the endorsement on X, sharing emojis of the flags of Israel and America, and writing “Thank you! I am proud to stand up for Israel and against antisemitic hate.”

Ohio buys $30 million in Israel Bonds

(JNS) — As the state has done since 1993, Ohio has acquired an Israel Bond, this one at a three-year fixed rate.

“Israel’s need for support remains as they continue their fight against terrorism,” said Ohio’s treasurer, Robert Sprague. “Not only do Israel Bonds help provide much-needed liquidity to Israel, but their solid repayment history and competitive rates also provide a sound investment for Ohio and a great fit on our bond ladder.”

Israel has never missed a payment on interest or principal since the founding of the program, according to the entity.

The bond will mature in three years at an interest rate of 4.81 percent. More than 115 other state and municipal agencies have similarly made such an investment. Ohio is one of the country’s largest buyers of Israel Bonds, now holding $262.5 million.

Last year, Israel Bonds set a new record, bringing in $2.7 billion worldwide, in part as a result of the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“For as long as the war lasts, and then in the peaceful days that we are all hoping and praying for, Israel Bonds will work tirelessly to ensure that the country we hold close to our hearts continues to thrive,” said Dani Naveh, president and CEO of Israel Bonds.

‘Daily Beast’ scrubs mention that Hamas ‘allegedly’ took hostages

(JNS) — “Avoid allegedly. It’s police jargon and is often used incorrectly,” recommends the Associated Press stylebook. “It can make it hard to tell who’s doing the alleging.”

A search of the AP website returns some 45,000 hits for “allegedly,” suggesting that it is sometimes not that hard to tell who is doing the alleging. An Oct. 22 AP photo caption, which remains live on its site, even suggests that Hamas “allegedly” took hostages on Oct. 7.

The Daily Beast made the same claim in a recent story about Israel freeing two hostages in Rafah, and then it thought better of its decision.

“This story has been edited to remove the word ‘allegedly’ in reference to the abduction of Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har by Hamas militants,” an editor’s note now reads atop a Feb. 12 story. The story’s headline still hedges: “Israel says two hostages rescued during overnight mission in Rafah.”

“What was the Daily Beast worried about? That Hamas would sue them after filming themselves on GoPros abducting Israeli civilians and carting them off to Gaza?” wrote the watchdog group Canary Mission.

Israeli housing minister kickstarts process to evict UNRWA

(JNS) — Israeli Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf has instructed the Israel Land Authority to immediately cancel all lease agreements with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and evict it from its main headquarters in eastern Jerusalem.

UNRWA “acted in the service of Hamas and even took part in the brutal massacre on Oct. 7, and mounting evidence shows that the organization has been supporting, assisting and educating [Palestinians] to harm Israel,” Goldknopf wrote in a letter made public on Monday night.

The minister instructed ILA head Yanki Quint “to immediately end all agreements of the Israel Land Authority with the nefarious UNRWA organization and remove them from the territories leased to them and from all the territories that the organization uses in the State of Israel.”

UNRWA maintains extensive facilities in Jerusalem, including a large compound on Shlomo Zalman Shragai Street in Maalot Dafna and structures in the capital’s northeastern Kafr Aqab neighborhood.

The agency has been embroiled in scandal since last month’s revelation of the involvement of 12 of its employees in Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.

One of the UNRWA workers is accused of kidnapping a woman, another of participating in the Kibbutz Be’eri massacre, in which nearly 100 people were killed, and a third of distributing ammunition.

Last week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered the annulment of tax benefits granted to UNRWA, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the country’s military to find alternatives for the distribution of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

The Prime Minister’s Office said on Jan. 30 that intelligence “indicates that out of approximately 12,000 UNRWA employees in the Gaza Strip, about 10% are Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives, and another 50% are first-degree relatives of a Hamas operative.”

Late last week, Israeli forces exposed a Hamas data center underneath the Gaza headquarters of UNRWA, replete with servers, electricity, a backup power station and living quarters for terrorists.

Israel Defense Forces soldiers have also found missiles hidden among UNRWA relief supplies, while UNRWA-marked aid sacks were found filled with dirt and used in the lining of Hamas terror tunnels.

“UNRWA is totally infiltrated [by] Hamas,” Netanyahu told a visiting delegation of U.N. ambassadors earlier this month.

Israeli forces thwart Gush Etzion terror attack

(JNS) — Israeli forces on Tuesday thwarted an attempted vehicular assault in Gush Etzion, according to the military.

The driver, a Palestinian, tried to run over civilians at the Gush Etzion Junction, located south of Bethlehem about 10 miles from Jerusalem, the Israel Defense Forces said.

IDF forces neutralized the assailant following a pursuit. He was subsequently arrested and taken to hospital for treatment.

There were no other injuries in the attack.

A knife was found during a search of the terrorist’s vehicle.

On Sunday, an Israeli police officer was lightly wounded in a stabbing at the Lion’s Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City.

The assailant was neutralized by Israeli security forces on the scene.

Also on Sunday night, a Palestinian terrorist attempted to stab Israel Defense Forces soldiers at the Hussan Junction near the ultra-Orthodox city of Beitar Illit in Judea.

No casualties were reported in the incident and the terrorist was neutralized, the IDF said.

Former Israeli president honors Bedouin heroism on Oct. 7

(JNS) — Israel’s former President Reuven Rivlin on Monday honored 13 Bedouins for their heroic actions during Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, at an event in Jerusalem hosted by The Abraham Global Peace Initiative in collaboration with The Friends of Zion Museum, a Christian-Zionist institution.

Israeli Minister Avi Dichter also attended the event.

During the ceremony, Rivlin bestowed awards upon the Bedouin heroes commemorating their acts of valor, which saved hundreds of Jewish lives.

In his address, Rivlin expressed disappointment over Israel being wrongly blamed for the events of Oct. 7. He urged vigilance, telling global leaders: “It is your duty to ensure that ‘never again’ truly never happens again.”

Said AGPI founder and CEO Avi Abraham Benlolo: “By honoring the Bedouin community today in Jerusalem, we are upholding the essence of our mission at AGPI, fostering interfaith partnerships and fortifying Israel by embracing pro-Israel communities—bringing them under our Abrahamic tent.” 

On Oct. 7, 25 residents of Rahat, the largest Bedouin city in Israel’s Negev desert, headed to Gaza border communities Kibbutz Holit and Kibbutz Sufa to work and did not return.

They were among the 1,200 people killed by Hamas during its invasion of Israel that morning. Thousands more were wounded, and more than 250 were taken back to Gaza as hostages, including six Bedouin.

Two of them, Bilal Ziyadne,18, and Aisha Ziyadne,17, abducted from Holit, were among the 105 hostages returned as part of a November ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Hezbollah rocket wounds mother and son in Kiryat Shmona

(JNS) — Two Israeli civilians were seriously wounded on Tuesday in a Hezbollah rocket attack on Kiryat Shmona, close to the border with Lebanon.

The victims, a 16-year-old boy and a 47-year-old woman, were conscious, Magen Adom emergency rescue personnel said.

Both were evacuated to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.

The son suffered chest trauma, while the mother suffered stomach and orthopedic injuries, he added.

Kiryat Shmona Mayor Avichai Stern said, “Unfortunately, we see these kinds of pictures every day. Whether it’s injuries in Kirat Shmona, in Metula, in Margaliot, in Manara.

“The time has come for us to respond strongly and make a statement—that for every such injury we have, there will be 50 injuries on the other side. Everyone needs to know that that’s the price tag,” Stern said.

On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces attacked a vehicle carrying Hezbollah operatives in the Maroun al-Ras region and destroyed terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Al-Adisa, Al-Khyam and Tir Harfa al Jabin, all in Southern Lebanon.

It was unclear whether Muhammad Abd al-Rasoul Alawiyah, the Hezbollah member in charge of the Maroun al-Ras region, survived the targeted killing attempt, which slew several people.

The IDF has struck more than 3,400 Hezbollah targets in Southern Lebanon since the Iranian terrorist proxy joined the war in support of Hamas.

For its part, Hezbollah fired more than 2,000 rockets at Israel between Oct. 8 and Jan. 9. Additionally, the group has launched dozens of anti-tank missiles and drones at Israeli territory.

More than 80,000 Israelis living in communities near the Lebanese border have been evacuated due to Hezbollah missile attacks. Israel has repeatedly made it clear that if diplomacy fails to distance the Shi’ite terrorist group from the border, it will resort to force to ensure the safe return of its citizens.

The Hezbollah attacks have led to military and civilian deaths and widespread damage in the Upper Galilee.

House rep to investigative Columbia’s response to antisemitism on campus

(JNS) — Administrators at Columbia University have received a demand for documents, joining other Ivy League institutions facing scrutiny from Congress for the failure to protect Jewish students following the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) wrote to Columbia that the House Education and Workforce Committee she chairs has “grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of Columbia’s response to antisemitism on its campus.” She pointed out that the school’s “environment of pervasive antisemitism” goes back long before last fall, citing instances of “assaults, harassment and vandalism.”

Other schools already part of the House investigation include Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Foxx said last week that “Harvard’s responses have been grossly insufficient, and the limited and dilatory nature of its productions is obstructing the committee’s efforts.”

Columbia will have until Feb. 26 to provide the committee with related documents, including reports of anti-Jewish incidents since 2021 and the consequences that perpetrators faced. Foxx also seeks information about requests by student groups to protest and money received from foreign sources, such as Qatar, to do so.

“We have received the letter from chairwoman Foxx and will cooperate fully with any investigation,” a Columbia spokesperson said.

Anti-Israel vandal dumps red wax, akin to ‘blood,’ on Rep. Goldman’s office

(JNS) — Surveillance footage captured an act of vandalism on Monday at the office of Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) in the second such incident against the Jewish congressman since the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

The images show someone wearing a mask and black hoodie with a skateboard at their feet, spraying a red substance at the legislator’s office building in Brooklyn, N.Y. The individual held a handmade sign with smeared red letters stating “the blood of my family on your f***ing hands.”

Two women also appeared at the scene—one wearing a keffiyeh and the other holding a small cardboard sign with no writing.

Madison Andrus, Goldman’s communications director, said “targeting, harassing and threatening the young staff of a Jewish elected official at a time of record antisemitic violence is incredibly dangerous, deeply troubling and counterproductive.”

The previous incident at the representative’s office exhibited a similar theme with the phrase “blood on ur [sic] hands,” among others written on the sidewalk.

Israel prepares to receive 20,000 wounded soldiers in 2024

By Pesach Benson

(JNS) — Israel’s Defense Ministry is gearing up to receive a significant influx of injured soldiers as the war in Gaza enters its fifth month. The ministry disclosed on Wednesday that its Rehabilitation Department expects to have 20,000 new disabled soldiers by the end of 2024 and is laying the groundwork for their care and support.

More than 5,500 wounded individuals have been admitted to the ministry’s rehabilitation wing since Oct. 7, according to figures the ministry released on Wednesday. The majority of these casualties—95 percent —are men with ages ranging up to 30 years old.

Notably, 70 percent of those admitted were reservists.

Eighty-four percent of the injured are classified as lightly wounded, while 9 percent and 7 percent are considered moderately and severely injured, respectively. The most common injuries include limb injuries, psychological and post-traumatic reactions, and internal injuries.

In anticipation of the expected surge in mentally traumatized individuals, the Rehabilitation Division is augmenting its psychological treatment capabilities with initiatives to provide tailored support for those grappling with mental health challenges.

The ministry added that it also postponed most meetings of medical committees for one year to allow wounded soldiers and their families to focus exclusively on their recovery while receiving benefits.

The Rehabilitation Division currently cares for approximately 62,000 people who were disabled while in service. In 2030, the number of disabled IDF and security forces under the care of the Rehabilitation Division is expected to reach 100,000.

Israeli tourism remains in state of collapse amid war

(JNS) — The Gaza war continues to take its toll on Israel’s tourism industry, with the country seeing only 58,600 tourist visits in January, compared to the 257,400 tourists who visited during the same month last year, marking a 77% decrease. 

According to monthly figures released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), only 500 single-day visits were registered, compared to 14,000 in January 2023, a 96% decrease.

Also, far fewer Israelis are traveling abroad. In January 2024, 281,400 Israelis traveled to other countries, down from 611,100 in January 2023, a decrease of more than 50 percent.

Last month, CBS released annual tourism numbers for 2023, which dropped off sharply toward the end of the year; the war broke out during the busiest tourism quarter of the year, which includes the Christmas holidays.

Only 3 million tourists came in 2023, compared to the 4 million that had been predicted. In 2019, Israel enjoyed a record-breaking year with 4.5 million tourists. 

Following the outbreak of the war, most international airlines suspended flights to Israel, and the majority have yet to restore service.

The top 10 countries for incoming tourism last year were the United States, France, England, Russia, Germany, Italy, Romania, Poland, Canada and Spain.

Half the tourists were Christian and nearly a quarter were Jewish.

Fifty-seven percent of incoming tourists were first-time visitors, while 43% had visited Israel more than once.