If there is a Palestinian Arab who deserves to feel aggrieved, surely it is Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish. Three of his daughters and a niece were killed by a shell fired by the Israel Defense Forces during the fighting in Gaza in 2009. Yet Dr. Abuelaish has refused to resort to recrimination and struggles instead to make sense of these tragic deaths.
Following the shooting Saturday that critically injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and left six dead, the Tucson Jewish community has come together to pray for Giffords and the other victims and offer their support. Giffords, who is Jewish, was among 14 wounded in the shooting rampage in front of a Tucson supermarket Saturday morning. Jared Lee Loughner was arrested for perpetrated the shooting and appeared in a Phoenix courtroom Monday. Among those killed were U.S. District Judge John M. Roll, 63; Christina-Taylor Green, 9; Giffords constituent services director Gabriel Zimmerman, 30; and Phyllis Schenk, 79; Dorothy Morris, 76; and Dorwan Stoddard, 76. Zimmerman, a native Tucsonan, was widely reported as being Jewish, although he was not.\n
The Anti-Defamation League said it is \”critical\” to determine whether the man alleged to have shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was influenced by hate speech.
Washington-area clergy joined an interfaith prayer service for the release of U.S. government contractor Alan Gross from a Cuban prison. Tuesday\’s service, organized by the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, was held as U.S. State Department officials in Cuba to attend meetings on migration were set to press for Gross\’ freedom, the Washington Post reported. Cuban authorities detained Gross on Dec. 3, 2009 on his way out of the country, saying he was a spy. Gross\’ family and State Department officials say he was in the country on a U.S. Agency for International Development contract to help the country\’s Jewish community of about 1,500 to communicate with other Jewish communities through the Internet.
Faced with a new Congress intent on slashing the U.S. federal budget, Jewish groups are trimming their agendas to hew to its contours. On issues from Israel aid to the environment to elderly care, Jewish organizations are planning to promote priorities that would find favorable reception in the new Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives. The groups are trying to build alliances based on shared interests and recasting pitches for existing programs as Republican-friendly. “Some parts of our agenda won’t have much traction in this new climate,” acknowledged Josh Protas, the Washington director for the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. “We are looking for items that have bipartisan priorities.”
Joe Straus, overwhelmingly reelected speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, strongly repudiated attacks on his Jewish faith. \”Attacks on people\’s religious beliefs have no place in this House,\” Straus, a Republican, said Tuesday after winning the vote 132-15, according to reports filed via Twitter by KPRC, a Houston NBC affiliate. The KPRC reporter, Mary Benton, said Straus was given a standing ovation.
An operative of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization involved in planning a massive attack on Israel was killed in a targeted attack, the Israeli military reported. Mohammed Najar, 25, was hit by an Israeli airstrike Tuesday while he was driving a motorcycle in the southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli Air Force reported. A second Palestinian was injured, according to reports citing Palestinian sources. Najar reportedly was planning a large-scale attack in the heart of Israel, as well as attacks with rocket-launching cells. It was Israel\’s third targeted assassination in recent months.
An Arab-Israeli suspect in a series of killings and attacks in three U.S. states has been bound over for three murder trials in Michigan. A Michigan judge on Tuesday ordered Elias Abuelazam, 33, a Christian Arab from Ramla, to be tried in a Flint courtroom for a third murder. In addition to the three murder charges, Abuelazam also is facing six assault with intent to murder charges in the Flint area, as well as attempted murder charges in Toledo, Ohio. He is a suspect as well in several attacks in Leesburg, Va.
An Israeli Bedouin was arrested on charges of rape and impersonating a Jewish pilot. The man, 43, is an Israel Air Forces reserves officer from northern Israel who reportedly is married with children and comes from a prominent Bedouin family, Haaretz reported. A gag order issued Sunday by the Tel Aviv Magistrate\’s Court prevents him from being identified. Three women filed complaints against the man, who identified himself as Daniel Tamir and said he was an Israeli Air Force pilot on his profile for the dating service Love Me. None of the women accused him of assaulting them. A fourth woman is due to be questioned by police, Haaretz reported.
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