Major European carriers to resume Israel flights in February
(JNS) — The Lufthansa Group of airlines will resume service to Israel next month, it announced on Thursday.
The move by the global aviation group, which includes Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways and Eurowings, comes as an increasing number of foreign airlines are renewing flights to Ben-Gurion International Airport as regional tensions de-escalate.
British Airways and Air France are expected to follow suit.
The three major U.S. legacy carriers are still not flying to Israel.
United and American Airlines suspended flights to Israel indefinitely, while Delta is scheduled to resume flights to Tel Aviv in April. United and Delta sought to restart flights to Israel periodically over the last year, only to extend the suspension of service following flareups in the war, while American has stayed away entirely. Some 48,000 passengers passed through Ben-Gurion International Airport on Thursday on more than 300 international flights, including 25,600 departing Israel and 22,400 arriving, according to the Israel Airports Authority.
Erdoğan warns Israel, US: ‘Get your hands off Syria’
(JNS) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned on Wednesday at a Justice and Development (AK) Party meeting that “all countries should get their hands off Syria.”
“Israel and all others attacking in Syria must end their aggressive actions at once,” Erdoğan said. “Otherwise, there will be negative consequences that will affect everyone.”
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement shortly afterwards, saying, “Israel completely rejects the statement of the Turkish President.
“The aggressive imperialist actor in Syria (as well as in northern Cyprus, Libya, and other areas in the Middle East) is Turkey itself, and it is advisable for the Turkish president to avoid unnecessary threats,” it stated
“The State of Israel will continue to act to protect its borders from any threat,” the Ministry added.
With vacancy atop UN high court, pro-Israel activists laud body’s vice president
(JNS) — Following Nawaf Salam’s resignation on Tuesday as president of the International Court of Justice — the U.N. court in The Hague — pro-Israel eyes are on Julia Sebutinde, the Ugandan jurist who is vice president on the court and who has defended the Jewish state amid accusations that it committed “genocide” in Gaza.
According to the court’s statute, the U.N. Security Council will set the date when it and the U.N. General Assembly will elect Salam’s successor, who will complete Salam’s term, which ends on Feb. 5, 2027.
Some who lauded Sebutinde referred to her as a shoo-in for the presidency.
“I congratulate judge Julia Sebutinde from Uganda on her appointment as president of the ICJ, with the hope that she will restore this institution to its historic role in promoting human rights in general and women’s rights in particular, rather than the antisemitic platform to which her predecessors dragged it,” wrote May Golan, the Israeli minister for social equality and women’s advancement.
“This brave and honest woman is a beacon for us all, with her integrity and moral values,” Golan added.
Arsen Ostrovsky, the CEO of the International Legal Forum, wrote that “on a bright note, with pro-Hezbollah Lebanese judge Nawaf Salam leaving his role as president of the ICJ to be prime minister of Lebanon, the new ICJ president should be current vice president and brilliant jurist, Julia Sebutinde, who bravely opposed every single measure against Israel.”
Italian synagogue defaced as protests break out in several cities
(JNS) — Protesters spray-painted “Justice Free Gaza” in red on a synagogue wall in Bologna, Italy on Saturday night following demonstrations sparked by the death of an Italian-Egyptian man during a police chase on Nov. 23, 2024.
Demonstrations took place in several cities, including Rome, Milan, Brescia and Bologna, in memory of Ramy Elgaml, 19, who was riding on the back of a moped driven by his friend Fares Bouzidi during a 5-mile long police pursuit.
Bouzidi, 22, of Tunisian descent, failed to stop at a police roadblock and crashed into a pole with a police car in pursuit, killing Elgaml. Bouzidi, who was arrested for complicity in homicide, claimed the police car touched the moped.
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni on Sunday condemned the rioting in Rome.
“Between firecrackers, smoke bombs and assaults, yesterday evening in Rome we witnessed yet another despicable episode of disorder and chaos by the usual troublemakers who took to the streets not to demonstrate for a cause, but out of pure vengeance,” she said on social media.
