Weekly roundup of world briefs

Drone downed over southern Kinneret likely came from Syria

(JNS) — Israeli air defenses on Monday morning intercepted a drone just south of the Sea of Galilee that appears to have penetrated the border from Syria to the east.

The drone set off sirens in several towns in the southern Golan Heights area. 

The incident occurred well south of the areas usually targeted by Hezbollah in Lebanon.

According to Israeli Army Radio, military officials believe the object was launched from Syria, a fairly rare occurrence.

Hezbollah has rained thousands of projectiles on northern Israel over the last ten and a half months, but the border with Syria has generally been largely quiet.

Israel lifts most security guidelines after Hezbollah strike

By JNS Staff

(JNS) — The IDF has lifted crowd restrictions issued for Tel Aviv and Haifa as well as many cities and towns in northern Israel that were put in place early Sunday morning during the Air Force’s preemptive strike against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The midday move, which follows the latest security assessment, leaves the IDF Home Front Command guidelines in place in communities along the Lebanon border and in the Golan Heights.

The security instructions are continually updated on the National Emergency Portal and the Home Front Command app.

The pre-dawn Israeli strike foiled a major Hezbollah attack on Israel.

But some mayors from northern communities as well as some Israeli politicians said that the attack was woefully insufficient.

“Beirut needs to be on fire in order for us to return to our homes,” said Metula Mayor David Azulai.

He added that Israel knows where 60-70% of Hezbollah’s weapons are located but has not attacked them over the last 10 and a half months as the Lebanese terrorist group rained down thousands of missiles on northern Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza.

“Why did we attack today? Because there was a planned attack on Tel Aviv,” Azulai said. 

Some 60,000 people from northern Israel remain displaced from their homes because of the war.

Israeli civilian bus hit by roadside bomb near Bethlehem

By JNS Staff

(JNS) — An Israeli civilian bus set off a roadside bomb south of Bethlehem on Sunday night, according to the Israeli military.

There were no injuries reported in the unusual late-night attack, but the bus was damaged in the blast, according to an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson. 

The blast occurred shortly before midnight as the bus, operated by Afikim, went by the Palestinian village of Marah Rabah, located 7.5 miles outh of Bethlehem.

The bomb had been placed on the road in advance, according to the military, which launched a search for the perpetrators.

Hours earlier, one Israeli was lightly wounded in a car-ramming attack outside the city of Ariel in Samaria.

UCLA drops appeal against ruling of failure to protect Jewish students

(JNS) — The University of California, Los Angeles has chosen to accept a ruling that found it did not ensure equal access to the school for all students, including Jews.

Lawyers for the college withdrew an appeal on Friday filed following their defeat in Frankel v. Regents of the University of California, a suit filed by three students.

In his written decision, Judge Mark Scarsi called the situation on campus “so unimaginable and abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating.”

UCLA spokeswoman Katherine Alvarado told The Washington Free Beacon that “we will abide by the injunction as this case makes its way through the courts.”

Mark Rienzi, the attorney who represented the students, said in a statement that “we’re glad to see UCLA in full retreat. Appealing Judge Scarsi’s very reasonable order to stop discriminating against Jews was always a bad idea.”

Rienzi called the appeal’s dismissal “the first step on the road to recovery of a campus that welcomes all, including its Jewish students.”

Nashville officials push for laws to limit future neo-Nazi protests

The city saw a series of far-right antisemitic demonstrations in July.

(JNS) — Leaders in Tennessee’s capital seek to implement measures to constrain the white supremacist activists spreading hate on the city’s streets after a flurry of activity this summer.

WTVF-5 reports that Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, the Metro Council and the city’s Department of Law have collaborated on multiple proposed legal changes.

Measures include requiring buffer zones around demonstrations; prohibiting the display of distracting flags on overpasses; banning the distribution of leaflets on private property; and criminalizing face masks for reasons not exempted from medical, religious or costume purposes.

These efforts come following four demonstrations in the city by the Goyim Defense League on July 6, 14, 15 and 16.

IDF: 90% of Hezbollah rockets, drones fired from civilian areas

(JNS) — Nearly all of the hundreds of rockets and drones Hezbollah fired at Israel early Sunday were positioned in civilian areas of Lebanon near mosques, schools, gas stations and United Nations sites, the Israel Defense Forces said on Monday night.

Out of the 230 rockets and 20 UAVs that crossed into Israeli territory, 90 percent of the launches “were from the heart of a civilian area,” according to the army, which provided an infographic showing sites of rocket launchers in southern Lebanon located just 150 meters (492 feet) from a school and 160 meters (525 feet) from a mosque in the village of Tallouseh, and one placed 525 feet from a U.N. building in the Hanniyeh area, with dozens of others nearby.

Novel virus can shift from Israeli bats to humans

(JNS) — A novel pathogen found in bats is “zoonotic,” meaning that it can transmit from animals to humans, Israeli researchers published online in The Journal of Infectious Diseases on Monday.

Writing in the peer-reviewed article, which will appear in print in the journal published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the nine Israeli scholars note that bats are knowns a a “natural reservoir of several zoonotic viruses that pose a threat to public health worldwide.”

The novel pathogen Israeli Rousettus aegyptiacus Pox Virus, which is “associated with high morbidity and mortality” in Egyptian fruit bats, was found in a female patient, who was hospitalized with “systemic symptoms and severe painful skin lesions on her hands,” per the Israeli scholars.

The researchers performed a quantitative polymerase chain reaction test—which is also called a “real-time PCR” and is one of the tests that has been used to identify COVID—whole genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis to conclude that the poxvirus caused the painful hand lesions.

“The patient interacted with wounded and sick bats as a volunteer in a bat shelter run by the Israel bat sanctuary organization,” the researchers wrote. “Samples collected from the patient’s skin lesions were positive for the presence of IsrRAPXV by PCR. Additionally, phylogenetic analysis showed that this virus is identical to IsrRAPXV originally described by us as the causative agent of skin lesions in fruit bats.”

The scholars—who come from the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv University and Kimron Veterinary Institute (Bet Dagan)—concluded that IsrRAPXV can transfer from bats to humans.

“Veterinarians and volunteers working in bats shelter should meticulously follow the guidelines of working with bats and use required personal protective equipment,” they wrote.

Biden Administration must hold Iran accountable

By JNS Staff

(JNS) — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday that Israel’s preemptive strike against Hezbollah hours earlier demonstrated why the administration must expedite weapons shipments to Israel and impose new sanctions on Iran.

Israel’s actions had helped save countless lives, Johnson added. 

The unequivocal remarks by the Republican legislator came hours after the pre-dawn Israeli Air Force strike against the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group foiled a major Hezbollah attack on Israel.

“Iran and its terror groups must be held accountable,” Johnson wrote in a statement posted on X.

He urged the Biden administration to implement the supplementary sanctions on the Islamic Republic passed by Congress this spring.

B’nai B’rith pushes back against efforts by FIFA to sanction Israeli soccer

By David Swindle

(JNS) — B’nai B’rith International sent a letter last week to the leaders of top soccer organizations worldwide, voicing opposition to a campaign led by the Palestinian Football Association to urge FIFA to sanction the Israel Football Association.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino topped the list of nine recipients—all FIFA council members—in a copy of the Aug. 22 letter provided to JNS. Others included Patrice Motsepe, president of the Confederation of African Football, and Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, president of the Asian Football Confederation.

The Israeli association “is not connected to the war that Hamas started. Indeed, it has suffered—as has all of Israeli society—from Oct. 7, losing players and coaches during the massacre and in the fighting since,” read the letter signed by B’nai B’rith president Seth J. Riklin, B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin and B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem director Alan Schneider.

Mariaschin told JNS that it’s “another example of Palestinian-led BDS, this time being carried out on the field of play. It is war by other means to demonize Israel. FIFA and the international sporting community should reject this brazen politicization of the game of soccer.” 

B’nai B’rith concluded by calling on the leaders “to use your good and high office to thwart any sanction against the IFA based on Israel’s just war of defense against Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations.”

Fire destroys part of Rabin’s childhood home in Jerusalem

(JNS) — The top floor of the late Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin’s childhood home in Jerusalem has been gutted by a fire that broke out on Tuesday afternoon, according to the city’s fire department.

Arson investigators are still investigating the cause of blaze and have not ruled out any possibility yet.   

“Firefighters succeeded at gaining control of the blaze and prevented it from spreading to the rest of the building. However, the fire, which broke out on the rooftop, completely destroyed the entire floor,” said a fire department spokesperson.  

“This was a very intense fire,” said Battalion Chief Shlomi Harush. “When we arrived at the scene, we understood that it was the home where former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin grew up. The actions of the firefighters, who performed with expert professionalism, prevented the fire from spreading to other floors in the building.”

Rabin was born in Shaare Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem in 1922, when it was still located on Jaffa Street in the building that later housed the Israel Broadcasting Authority.

Hochul talks with leaders from 200 New York colleges about campus security

(JNS) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul held a conference call with the academic leaders of more than 200 colleges throughout the state on Monday about new measures to contain intimidation and crime at anti-Israel protests on university campuses. Public safety experts also participated.

Hochul named public safety her “top priority” and said with classes resuming this fall, “it is essential that all students feel safe and are free from harm.”

The governor stated that in the spring, she “directed college campuses to review and update their emergency response plans, and as tensions may be high as we start the academic year, I will continue to ensure all campus leaders and public safety officials have the resources they need to keep students safe.”

The Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services has reviewed campus emergency plans and provided training sessions for staff based on the guidance from the Campus Planning Toolkit issued by the U.S. Department of Education.

The New York State Police has also prepared for activists opposing the Jewish state with troop commanders visiting university administrators to advise on various issues, including the necessary forms to request assistance from local law enforcement.

John B. King Jr., chancellor of the State University of New York system, called safety “paramount.” These academic institutions, he said, “have been and remain fiercely committed to ensuring security, civil discourse and inclusivity on our campuses.”

Israeli delegation heading to Doha to continue hostage talks

(JNS) — An Israeli delegation will head to Doha, Qatar on Wednesday to continue talks on a Gaza ceasefire agreement, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

The delegation, comprising officials from the Israel Defense Forces, Mossad and Israel Security Agency, returned on Tuesday from a round of negotiations in Cairo.

The high-level Cairo talks ended on Sunday without a deal, but discussions continued on Monday with lower-level officials to attempt to bridge the remaining gaps.

“In Doha, the delegation is expected to meet with representatives of Egypt, Qatar and the United States who are continuing the negotiations and work with Israel and Hamas,” according to Israel’s Channel 12.

U.S. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk held talks on Tuesday in Doha with senior Qatari leaders ahead of Wednesday’s negotiations, the Associated Press reported, citing a U.S. official.

According to the Channel 12 report, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held several discussions about the deal in recent days before and after the Cairo talks, with the participation of Mossad chief David Barnea. ISA chief Ronen Bar participated in some of the meetings, according to the report, but Defense Minister Yoav Galant, IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi and the Maj. Gen. (ret.) Nitzan Alon, head of the IDF’s Missing and Captive Soldiers Division, were not present.

Soldier KIA in Gaza, bringing IDF death toll since Oct. 7 to 703

(JNS) — An Israel Defense Forces infantry soldier was killed battling Hamas terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip, the military announced on Wednesday morning.

The slain soldier was named as Staff Sgt. Amit Friedman, 19, of the Nahal Brigade’s 932nd Battalion, from Or Yehuda.

The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27 now stands at 339, and at 703 on all fronts since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, according to official military data.

Additionally, Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, a member of the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, was fatally wounded during a hostage-rescue mission in Gaza in June, and civilian defense contractor Liron Yitzhak was mortally wounded in May.

Herzog hails hostage rescue op as ‘moment of joy’ for Israel

(JNS) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday praised the rescue of hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi from Hamas captivity in Gaza.

“I am overjoyed by the successful rescue of the hostage … a Muslim resident of the Bedouin Israeli community in the Negev, who was kidnapped on Oct. 7 … when Hamas terrorists came to indiscriminately abduct, murder and rape—without distinction by race or religion,” said Herzog.

“I congratulate the Israel Defense Forces, the Israel Security Agency and all the security services, and send my blessings to [Alkadi’s] family on his return, which is a moment of joy for the State of Israel and Israeli society as a whole,” he continued.

“I wish for the immediate and swift return of all our 108 hostages, who are being held cruelly in captivity in Gaza,” he added.

Alkadi, 52, from the Bedouin city of Rahat in the Negev Desert, was rescued from a tunnel in southern Gaza in a “complex operation” by IDF and ISA forces.

The father of 11 was in stable condition and recovering at Soroka Hospital in Beersheva. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described the rescue operation as part of the IDF’s “daring and courageous activities conducted deep inside the Gaza Strip,” which “bring us closer to achieving the goals of this war.”

Israel, he emphasized, “is committed to taking advantage of every opportunity to return the hostages home to Israel.”