Israel, Japan Agree to Cooperate on Defense, Technology
In May 2014, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in Japan for a week of bi-lateral talks
with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Foreign Minister
Fumio Kishida and other officials, told Japanese
lawmakers that both Israel and Japan face rogue nations with dangerous nuclear
programs.
“There is a common bond between us,”
Netanyahu told members of the Israel Japan Parliamentary Friendship League.
“We’re both democratic, progressive, technological societies.
“You face North Korea, which is a rogue
regime with nuclear weapons. We face the possibility of Iran, which is a
rogue regime that wants to have nuclear weapons. They’re
cooperating between them, and we should cooperate between us.” (JPost)
At a meeting Tuesday with
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Netanyahu
said, "We are interested in peace and stability throughout
the world. We see a danger and a challenge posed by a rogue state [Iran]
arming itself with nuclear weapons.”
“I think yesterday's UN report is another example of how Iran
continues to deceive the world and advance its nuclear program. Clearly
the Ayatollahs cannot be trusted and if the international community wants to
avoid the specter of nuclear terrorism, they must assure that Iran,
the foremost sponsor of terrorism on the planet, not have the capability to develop
nuclear weapons. This is our number one concern but I
think it should be shared by everyone who is concerned by the proliferation of
nuclear terrorism and nuclear weapons,” he said.
The Prime Minister also discussed the possibility of a
technological and economic partnership with Japan.
One in Four People "Deeply Infected"
with Anti-Semitism
"The Sovereign LORD will
wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove His people's disgrace from
all the earth." (Isaiah 25:8)
In an unprecedented global survey, the
Anti-Defamation League has found that more than one in four adults worldwide
(1.09 billion people) hold deeply stereotypical and negative views toward Jews,
with the top 16 countries having the greatest percentages of anti-Semitism
found in the Middle East.
Greece and Turkey tie for 17th with Eastern Europe and other
Muslim-based nations ranking close behind. Judea-Samaria-Gaza,
Iraq, and Yemen top the charts with index scores of 93%, 92%,
and 88%, respectively. Palestinians aged 50 and older scored high at 98
percent, with their younger counterparts in the 18–49 range scoring 92 percent,
the study concluded.
“For the first time
we have a real sense
of how pervasive and persistent anti-Semitism
is today around the world,” said Abraham H. Foxman,
national director of ADL. "We can now identify hotspots, as well as
countries and regions of the world where hatred of Jews is essentially
nonexistent.” (Times of Israel) Foxman was rescued by a Polish Catholic woman during the
Holocaust.
According to the poll data, Protestant-majority
nations are on the lower end of the spectrum when it comes to
anti-Semitism. The scores reported only 9% of people surveyed in the United States are
anti-Semitic, a drop from 29% in a 1964 ADL survey. (Wall
Street Journal)
Laos had the lowest percentage at 0.2%; then the Philippines, 3%;
and Sweden 4%.
First International Resources ran the poll for sponsor ADL,
compiling "The ADL Global 100: An Index of
Anti-Semitism" from the responses of 53,100 adults in 102
territories and countries. (Haaretz)
“Life Without
Parole” Bill to Block Release of Terrorists
"When justice is done,
it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers." (Proverbs
21:15)
A landmark bill
passed Israel's Knesset Committee for Legislation to issue non-negotiable life
sentences for terrorist prisoners. "Most countries will not negotiate with
murderers and kidnappers," said Jewish Home parliamentarian Ayelet Shaked who pitched the
bill forward in December. "Murderers and terrorists must know that
they will not be released—this is a significant deterrent against
terrorism."
The bill—if passed would modify the 1964 Basic Law, which allows
the standing president to pardon criminals.
These modifications would permit judges ruling over cases of
high-crime to equip their sentences with wording that would lock out the possibility
of future pardons.
"Extreme cases
will be denied the right to pardon, so that murderers cannot generally become a
tool for future negotiations," Shaked said last
December. (Israel National News)
Economics Minister Bennett
has committed his party to move the bill through the three upcoming Knesset readings
that are required to confirm it as law. (St. Louis Jewish
Light)
"Killers should die in prison and not celebrate at
home," Bennett said in a Facebook post. "Today, the State of
Israel is sending a new message on the war on terror and her moral obligation
to the bereaved families."
US Congressmen Witness Temple Mount
Bias
In May 2014,
American legislators visiting Jerusalem saw firsthand the bias against Jews on
the Temple Mount, the site on which the First and Second Temples once stood. The Temple Institute's
director, Rabbi Chaim Richman, organized a visit for Congressmen
Andrew P. Harris and Ron DeSantis with
a group of Jewish worshipers to the Mount.
The congressmen personally witnessed how "outwardly looking
Jewish groups are singled out and accompanied by both Jordan Islamic Waqf guards and Israeli police officers that scrutinize
their behavior for signs of prayer or non-Muslim worship," reported a
Temple Institute statement.
"I'm actually surprised that access is so limited and
especially, really, the discrimination against Jews above any other religion
that visits the Temple Mount," said Harris on his Temple Mount visit May
14. "It surprises me as an American believing in religious freedom that
that would exist." (The Temple Institute)
For Jews to secure a visit to Judaism's
holiest site is a trial, and when they do, they face a
heavy-handed ban against prayer or worship enforced by hawk-eyed guards.
In an official statement,
Richman said that the visiting legislators were joined by Jordan Islamic Waqf guards and Israeli police officers, who prevented
non-Muslim prayer, and an Israeli intelligence officer that "filmed their
every move for much of the visit." (Algemeiner)
To foster co-existence on the Mount,
two Knesset members from opposite ends of the political spectrum—Likud MK Miri Regev and Labor MK Hilik Bar—plan to submit a bill that would allow Jews to pray on the Temple
Mount.
“Muslims must understand that we also
have a right to pray there. I see in these holy sites the
cradle of our existence,” Bar said.
“The time has come
once and for all to neutralize the explosive political issue of Jewish prayer
on the Temple Mount,” Bar said. “There is no reason that
every time a rightwing MK ascends the mount to pray there will be a political
drama with a third intifada threatened. There needs to be a new order in
which everyone respects the rights of the other side.” (JPost)
"There is no reason that Jews should not be allowed to pray
in the holiest site in the world," Regev said.
Source: Bibles
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