14,000 Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Visit Israel
(JNS.org) More than 14,000 Nigerian Christians embarked on a pilgrimage to Israel for the Christmas season, spotlighting growing ties between Israel and Nigeria. John Kennedy Opara, the head of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, said that the pilgrimage will be a “moral and spiritual transformation” for the Christian visitors, AllAfrica.com reported. “Christmas is all about the celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ and you people are going to celebrate him in his own birth place. It is something that many people would love to celebrate in the Holy Land,” Opara said. Last year, Israel and Nigeria inked a bilateral aviation deal during a visit to the Jewish state by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, providing for direct flights between the two countries.
Hamas leader blasts expired Palestinian unity government
(JNS.org) Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh slammed the Palestinian terrorist group’s expired unity government with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah political party for failing to meet the needs of Hamas-ruled Gaza. In early December, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the six-month unity deal had expired, and called for new negotiations between the Palestinian factions. Speaking on Monday after a delegation from the West Bank arrived in Gaza to discuss Palestinian unity, Haniyeh said the defunct pact failed “to keep its commitments, by not carrying out reconstruction [of Gaza], nor unifying institutions under the Palestinian Authority nor organizing elections,” AFP reported.
Israeli president laments persecution of Mideast minorities
(JNS.org) The persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East is “a cause of great worry and pain,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said Tuesday upon his hosting of Israeli Christian leaders for a reception to mark the New Year. “Over the past months, we have been greatly concerned by the ongoing religious persecution and restrictions on freedom of worship for minorities in the Middle East,” Rivlin said. “Because of their faith, hundreds of thousands are being exiled, forcibly converted, attacked, and brutally murdered.”
IDF’s emergency readiness in jeopardy, state comptroller’s report says
(JNS.org) Israeli State Comptroller Yosef Shapira warned Monday that the Israel Defense Forces’ emergency readiness is seriously compromised. Shapira’s newly released audit of the military, performed between January 2013 and March 2014, revealed a series of training deficiencies pertaining to reserves units. Reviewing the months leading up to last summer’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, the report noted that the reserves did not receive regular training, and that the training that was offered failed to properly maintain the level of operational competence required from combat soldiers.
Paris suburb honors jailed Palestinian terrorist leader Marwan Barghouti
(JNS.org) The Paris suburb of Aubervilliers has made jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving several life sentences in an Israeli prison for murder, an honorary citizen of the city. In response, Roger Cukierman–president of the French-Jewish umbrella group CRIF–wrote in a letter to Aubervilliers Mayor Pascal Beaudet that the suburb’s resolution in honor of Barghouti “fails to mention that [Barghouti] was indicted by a civil court for murder and attempted murder in a terrorist organization under his command.”
Hamas bans Gaza orphans from peace-building trip to Israel
(JNS.org) The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas barred a group of 37 orphans in Gaza from visiting Israel as part of a peace-building trip. The group, which included children ages 13-16, was turned back by Hamas authorities at the Erez border crossing into Israel.
“This was a suspicious visit that aimed to normalize our children with the Zionist occupation,” said Hamas spokesman Eyad al-Buzom, the New York Times reported.
Turkish PM backs Palestinian claim that Israel reduces Jerusalem’s ‘Islamic character’
(JNS.org) Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Sunday that Turkey supports the Palestinians’ “common stance” that Israel is trying to “reduce the Islamic character” of Jerusalem. “We back this stance against the reduction or the elimination of Jerusalem’s Islamic character,” Davutoglu told reporters in the central Turkish city of Konya. Turkey, he said, “will do whatever needs to be done internationally to protect Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.” The Israeli government bans Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.
