Weekly roundup of world briefs

Greece, Israel in talks to develop $2 billion ‘Iron Dome’

By JNS Staff

(JNS) — Greece is negotiating with Israel to develop a 2 billion euro ($2.11 billion) anti-aircraft and missile defense similar to Israel’s highly successful Iron Dome, according to Israeli and Greek officials.

The talks, which were first reported by Reuters last week, come as multiple countries around the world have voiced interest in purchasing the Israeli missile defense system, which has won international accolades for its performance during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Greece currently uses U.S. Patriot and old Russian S-300 systems to defend its airspace.

The emerging defense deal with Israel is part of an ambitious 10-year Greek plan to modernize its military capabilities amid intermittent tensions with arch-rival Turkey, whose volatile leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened Greece.

Israel and Greece maintain strong bilateral ties, and the Hellenic Republic has become a hugely popular tourist destination for Israelis who, over the last year, have virtually shunned neighboring Turkey over its leader’s growing and open support for Hamas and calls for boycotts on Israel.

A separate major energy deal that would connect the power grids of Israel, Greece and Cyprus and include a possible future regional natural gas pipeline linking the eastern Mediterranean allies is expected to be sealed next year.

The expected agreement comes amid burgeoning Israeli relations with both Cyprus and Greece, which have maintained support for Israel throughout the war, and close ties in a variety of fields including energy, defense, tourism, high-tech and cybersecurity.

The long-awaited accord, which was stalled by the nearly 13-month-old war with Hamas in Gaza, will not include Turkey.

French court orders release of Lebanese terrorist

(JNS) — A French court on Friday ordered the conditional release of a Lebanese terrorist, who has been in prison since 1984 for his role in the murders of Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov and U.S. military attaché Col. Charles Ray in Paris.

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah was convicted in 1987 and sentenced to life imprisonment. France’s antiterrorism prosecutor intends to appeal the decision, a spokesperson told AFP.

“In [a] decision dated today, the court granted Georges Ibrahim Abdallah conditional release from December 6, subject to the condition that he leaves French territory and not appear there again,” AFP quoted prosecutors as saying.

Abdallah was given such a conditional release before in 2013, after passing a parole committee. But his release was prevented because France’s then-interior minister declined to authorize his deportation.

An accomplice of Abdallah shot Barsimantov, the second secretary of Israel’s embassy in France, three times in the head on the street in front of his wife and 8-year-old daughter in March 1982. The shooter was never apprehended but the murder was traced back to Abdallah.

Friday’s ruling by the tribunal d’application des peines—the court in charge of overseeing the conditions and enforcement of a prisoner’s sentence—bypasses such government approval.

Abdallah, 73, maintains that he acted as a political fighter for Palestinian rights, rejecting the label of a criminal. He has consistently refused to express remorse for his actions.

Abdallah was linked to the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine before founding a splinter terrorist group, the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions.

Maryland groups offer $7,000 for info leading to arrests in three Jew-hatred incidents

(JNS) — The Montgomery County Police Department, in Maryland, announced that Crime Solvers of Montgomery County, representing local groups, will pay a $7,000 reward for leads that help officers arrest and prosecute those responsible for “three separate incidents of antisemitic vandalism that occurred in the Bethesda area during August of 2024.”

The vandalism occurred at Bethesda Elementary School (Aug. 11), a local Starbucks (Aug. 13) and at Congregation Beth El (Aug. 13), a Conservative synagogue.

Marc Yamada, chief of the Montgomery County Police Department, stated in August that “the recent acts of antisemitic and anti-Israel vandalism at our schools and places of worship are unacceptable” and that the department “is taking every investigative step possible to close these cases by arrest.”

Senators introduce bill, which passed House 422-2, blocking Oct. 7 terrorists from entering US

(JNS) — Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced a bill on Wednesday that aims to block terrorists who participated in Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023, attack from entering the United States.

The No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act, which Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) introduced last year and which passed the House 422-2—with Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) dissenting—bars migrants who “carried out, participated in, planned, financed, afforded material support to or otherwise facilitated in any way the attacks perpetrated by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, from being admitted to the United States.”

It also prohibits “any such individual from being eligible for any immigration benefits,” the senators stated.

“Since January 2021, the Biden-Harris administration has released nearly 100 dangerous individuals on the terrorist watchlist into the country, as well as illegal immigrants from U.S. adversaries like Iran,” Blackburn stated. “This common-sense, bipartisan bill would ensure that no migrant tied to Hamas and the horrific terrorist attack on Oct. 7 is allowed to enter our country or receive immigration benefits on the taxpayer dime.”

Rosen stated that “no one who participated in Hamas’s brutal Oct. 7 terrorist attack should be allowed to enter the United States.”

“That’s why I’m helping introduce bipartisan legislation to prohibit Hamas terrorists from being eligible to receive immigration benefits,” she added. “I’ll always work across the aisle to keep our nation safe.”

‘No shame, no decency, no clue,’ Dana Bash tells Code Pink protester

(JNS) — Dana Bash, chief CNN political correspondent, denounced Code Pink after the anti-Israel group posted video footage of one of its members accosting Bash at Main Line Reform Temple, in the Philadelphia area, where she spoke on Thursday.

“What is going on now is a holocaust,” the Code Pink protester told Bash, accusing the Jewish CNN anchor of being “a mouthpiece for the genocide in Gaza.”

“I’m not here to debate,” Bash says in a video that Code Pink posted. “I will just say one thing. Being anti-Israel, anti-Israeli government, is not antisemitic.” When the agitator says that the protests on campus are anti-Israel, Bash asks if the woman has been to the protests outside her house, “where they call me ‘Zionist trash’ and call for the intifada against me?”

Bash, who co-anchors State of the Union and anchors Inside Politics on the network, later wrote, “You came to a place of Jewish worship, stood on the bimah, near the holy Torah scroll, and pretended to be congregants.”

“You have no shame, no decency, and no clue what you’re talking about,” she added.

Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, wrote that he was sorry that the anchor “had to be verbally confronted by the lunatic fringe at the shul where I grew up and was bar mitzvah-ed.”

Jill Stein, who ran for U.S. president as part of the Green Party, agreed with the protester.

IDF kills Hezbollah propaganda chief Mohammad Afif in Beirut

(JNS) — The Israeli Air Force on Sunday killed Hezbollah propaganda chief Mohammad Afif was killed in a targeted strike on a bunker in Beirut, according to Reuters.

The bunker was located in the Ras al-Naba’a neighborhood in central Beirut, not in Hezbollah’s stronghold of Dahiyeh to the south of the capital, Lebanese security sources told the news agency.

On Oct. 22, Afif was forced to interrupt a press conference in Dahiyeh after the IDF issued an evacuation order for the area ahead of conducting air strikes. The Hezbollah spokesman was rushed away on a bicycle, shortly after declaring that Israeli bombings didn’t scare him, according to an eyewitness report by “PBS NewsHour.”

Israel Hayom contributed to this report.

Iran sets up mental health clinic to ‘treat’ hijab refusers

By JNS Staff

(JNS) — Iranian women who do not want to wear the Muslim head covering are to be given treatment at a special mental health clinic established in Tehran, a British newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The move, which comes days after an Iranian university student stripped down to her underwear in protest over the dress code, is the latest attempt by the Islamic Republic to quash women’s freedom and equality. 

The Telegraph first reported that the “hijab removal treatment clinic” was announced by Mehri Talebi Darestani, the head of the Women and Family Department of the Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

The government official said the clinic will offer “scientific and psychological treatment for hijab removal,” and that the project is focused on promoting “dignity, modesty, and chastity.” 

She claimed that attendance would be optional.

According to the report, the clinic will be overseen by Iran’s Headquarters for Enjoining the Good and Forbidding the Evil, the government body responsible for enforcing religious standards across society.

The department is under international sanction for human rights abuses for its actions against women who do not adhere to Iran’s strict Islamic dress codes.

Iranian Mahsa Amini became an icon for oppressed women around the world as news spread of her death after being arrested by Iranian morality police for “improperly” wearing her hijab two years ago.

Israeli study shows breakthrough in treatment of cancer

By Maytal Yasur Beit-Or

(JNS) — A pioneering study conducted at Beilinson Hospital in Israel has revealed a potential breakthrough in prostate-cancer treatment that could significantly reduce the number of radiation sessions required for effective care.

The research comes as the Israel Cancer Association projects that 2,800 men will receive diagnoses of this type of cancer this year with about 530 fatalities expected. The disease remains the most prevalent cancer among Israeli men and ranks as the fifth leading cause of cancer mortality.

The groundbreaking research, led by Dr. Elisha Freedman, director of urinary system cancers and clinical radiation research at the Davidoff Center’s radiotherapy institute at Beilinson Hospital, focuses on reducing radiation treatments to just two sessions for early-stage patients.

In the initial phase, researchers studied 20 patients who underwent the abbreviated two-session treatment protocol. The results showed no unusual side effects, with treatment outcomes matching those of the traditional five-session approach. Significantly, no cancer recurrence was observed during the 18-month follow-up period.

“This transition to two radiation sessions represents a significant advancement in patient care,” Freedman explained. “We’re seeing fewer side effects, reduced hospital visits and increased treatment capacity. This could revolutionize treatment globally. Given the psychological impact of treatment, reducing radiation sessions appears highly promising, which helped secure approval for expanded research.”

The treatment particularly benefits intermediate-risk patients not requiring hormonal therapy, who comprise the majority of prostate cancer cases. The findings, published in the prestigious International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, have led to an expanded third phase involving 502 patients, comparing outcomes between two-session and five-session treatment groups.

Originally published by Israel Hayom.

IDF surprised by the quantity of Russian arms in Southern Lebanon

By JNS Staff

(JNS) — Israeli forces operating in Southern Lebanon have found a far greater amount of Russian weaponry there than the military had expected, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. 

Some of the weapons, which include modern anti-tank missiles, came from Russian stockpiles in neighboring Syria, according to the report, which cited Syrian security officials and an Arab official.

The sheer amount of modern Russian armaments now known to have been in Hezbollah’s possession has sparked concern that Moscow’s relationship with the Lebanese terrorist organization may be closer than previously assumed, according to the report. 

As much as 60 percent to 70 percent of the weaponry found during the first days of the Israeli ground operation were Russian-made, an Israeli officer told the Journal.

The Russian and Syrian governments didn’t respond to a request for comment, while the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment. 

Israel has tried with little success to maintain good relations with Moscow in recent years due to Russia’s military presence in Syria, walking a diplomatic tightrope regarding the Russia-Ukraine war.

Since it began launching attacks on Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after the Hamas terror group’s invasion of southern Israel, Hezbollah has fired some 16,000 projectiles at the Jewish state. Tens of thousands of Israelis remain internally displaced due to the ongoing fighting, which saw some 30 rockets launched at central and northern Israel on Tuesday morning.

U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein arrived back in Beirut on Tuesday to advance diplomatic efforts toward a ceasefire, though significant gaps reportedly remain between the two sides.

50 school children rescued after bus sinks in wet sand near Eilat

By JNS Staff

(JNS) — A group of 50 Israeli children on a school trip were rescued on Tuesday after their bus got stuck in wet sand near Eilat and nearly overturned.

None of the children were hurt in the incident.

Police officers from the Eilat District joining emergency and rescue teams in evacuating the passengers from the bus, which was listing to the side and in danger of tipping over

The children had been headed to the Flamingo Pools at the northern entrance to Eilat when the accident occurred.

Netanyahu said to torpedo Turkish bid to mediate with Hamas

(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nixed a Turkish initiative to mediate between Israel and Hamas “on the Gaza situation,” according to a report in Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Citing a senior Hamas source, the Qatari-owned, London-based pan-Arab news outlet went on to claim that Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) Director Ronen Bar conducted an undisclosed visit to Turkey on Saturday, where he met with Turkey’s intelligence director to discuss the status of hostages in Gaza. According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Bar’s presence at the meeting was primarily to evaluate the Turkish proposal.

A senior Israeli diplomatic official told Israel Hayom that Netanyahu had authorized Ronen’s Turkey visit to explore potential hostage release arrangements and discuss bilateral relations. 

According to the high-ranking Hamas source quoted by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Turkish authorities extended an invitation to the Israeli government to resume negotiations that could potentially lead to the conclusion of the Gaza war and the return of the 101 Israelis who have been held hostage in Gaza for over a year. 

The source indicated that Ankara has positioned itself to facilitate direct communications with Hamas leadership.

Referring to recent reports that Hamas was moving its overseas headquarters from Qatar to Turkey, the U.S. administration has warned Ankara that “business as usual” with Hamas cannot continue.

Meanwhile, Israeli President Isaac Herzog canceled a scheduled visit to the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, after Erdogan refused to allow the Wing of Zion state plane to traverse Turkish airspace, according to reports in Azeri and Israeli media on Sunday.

Originally published by Israel Hayom.