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Palestinian Islamic Jihad Leader Taunts Israel Over ‘Battlefield Losses’ as First Hostages Released

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Ziyad Nakhalah at a press conference in Tehran. Photo: Reuters/Majid Asgaripour

As 13 of the Israeli hostages seized by Hamas during its Oct. 7 pogrom arrived in Egypt on Friday, the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization taunted the Jewish state in a televised address, saying it had been forced into the Qatari-brokered ceasefire deal by its supposed military failures.

“Had it not been for the losses on the battlefield, the Zionist regime would not have agreed to the ceasefire agreement and the exchange of prisoners,” PIJ secretary-general Ziyad Nakhalah said in the broadcast, according to reports in the official media of the Iranian regime, the terror group’s main sponsor.

He warned that Palestinian terrorist groups would “force the Zionist enemy to exchange all the prisoners on a wider scale.”

Nakhalah appeared to pour cold water on the prospect of further releases of the more than 240 hostages captured during last month’s pogrom. “The rest of the enemy’s prisoners including officers and soldiers will not be released without the release of the rest of our prisoners, and this issue is related to the end of the war and aggression,” he said.

“The enemy’s goals of ending the resistance and crushing it are still in place, so we must continue the battle to neutralize the enemy’s goals. The Zionist enemy will continue its aggression more brutally,” Nakhalah emphasized.

Nakhalah was first elected to head PIJ in 2018, four years after he was officially designated as a terrorist by the US State Department. He was reelected to the helm of the terror organization in February this year.

PIJ terrorists participated with Hamas in the Oct. 7 atrocities, which resulted in the murder of more than 1,200 people, mass rapes, and kidnappings. While PIJ disagrees with Hamas on aspects of their confrontation with Israel, the two groups coordinate on military attacks and are both rooted in the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood organization.

In the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 pogrom, Nakhalah received a phone call from Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who congratulated him on the “brilliant and impressive victories of the Palestinian resistance.”

“You really made the Islamic community happy with this innovative and victorious operation,” Raisi said. “The Zionist regime is declining while the resistance front is conquering the peaks of victory.”

The post Palestinian Islamic Jihad Leader Taunts Israel Over ‘Battlefield Losses’ as First Hostages Released first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Treasure Trove remembers the entertaining Jan and Lillian Bart, top fundraisers for Israel Bonds

Jan Bart (1919-1971) began his career as a cantor, but became a popular entertainer and Yiddish recording artist who dedicated his career to raising funds for Israel.

Bart was born in Poland and immigrated to the United States in 1930. He had a long-running radio program in the New York area, appeared on the Milton Berle television show and starred in the Yiddish film Catskill Honeymoon. One of Bart’s best-selling records was Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish.

When the State of Israel was proclaimed in 1948, Bart dedicated his life and talents to raising funds for the new country. He started by pleading into a megaphone from the back of an open station wagon that the existence of Israel was central to the survival of the Jewish people, and that funds were desperately needed.

When the Israel Bonds program was initiated in 1951, he was asked to sing at the first meeting in Miami. He combined songs and stories with his gift as a fundraiser resulting in events that regularly raised double and sometimes triple the expected return. Over a 20-year period, he appeared at more than 2,200 Israel Bond events in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia and raised more money for Israel than any other entertainer.

Bart toured with his wife Lillian, who was also an accomplished singer. In November 1965, the Barts toured Toronto with Israel Bonds which arranged a performance at almost every synagogue and organization in the city.

During a 22-day visit, they gave 30 performances for multiple Bnai Brith lodges and synagogues, including Shaarei Shomayim, Beth Emeth-Bais Yehuda, Beth Sholom, Clanton Park, Shaarei Tefillah and Beth Tzedec, as well as for groups like Pioneer Women, Hadassah and Mizrachi and several mutual benefit societies.

At the end of the tour, the Barts received a scrapbook of newspaper clippings and letters “in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the 1965 State of Israel Bond Campaign in Toronto through their magnificent interpretation of the lyrics from Fiddler on the Roof and their heart-warming message conveyed to every organization and synagogue in the Jewish community of Toronto.” 

The way that the Toronto Jewish community united 60 years ago is an example for us today.

The scrapbook has recently been donated to the Ontario Jewish Archives by the Barts’ daughter, Judy Bart Kancigor, a California-based food journalist and the author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family.

The post Treasure Trove remembers the entertaining Jan and Lillian Bart, top fundraisers for Israel Bonds appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.

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PA Security Forces End Standoff with Jenin Battalion, Enter West Bank Camp

Illustrative. Palestinian demonstrators call for an end to clashes between Palestinian security forces and terrorists in Jenin, in the West Bank, Dec. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

i24 NewsThe Palestinian Authority on Friday reached an agreement with the jihadists of the Jenin Battalion, ending a six-week standoff in the northern West Bank terror hotbed.

The Jenin Battalion is a local jihadist militia affiliated with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

The PA’s engineering and civil defense crews will begin dismantling explosives planted across Jenin, Palestinian media reported.

A Palestinian security source told i24NEWS that not a single weapon has been handed over by the Jenin Battalion to PA security forces.

The post PA Security Forces End Standoff with Jenin Battalion, Enter West Bank Camp first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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With Hamas Yet to Name 3 First Hostages to Be Released, Netanyahu Slams Violation of Agreement

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

i24 NewsHamas violated the terms of its agreement with Israel even before the ceasefire went into effect, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out on Saturday.

The jihadist group failed to submit to Israel the names of the three hostages slated to be freed on Sunday, in contravention to the terms of the ceasefire stipulating that this information be communicated 24 hours in advance.

“We will not move forward with the outline until we receive the list of hostages to be released, as agreed. Israel will not tolerate violations of the agreement,” Netanyahu said some three hours after the names should have been submitted. “The sole responsibility lies with Hamas.”

The post With Hamas Yet to Name 3 First Hostages to Be Released, Netanyahu Slams Violation of Agreement first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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