3 more men arrested in London arson of ambulances owned by Jewish emergency service
(JTA) — Three more men have been arrested in London in connection with a series of fires on ambulances owned by the Jewish emergency service corps Hatzola, London’s Metropolitan Police Service announced on Apr. 1.
Two British men, ages 20 and 19, and a 17-year-old dual British and Pakistani citizen were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson. The men were arrested at three different addresses, which were being searched, the police said.
The arrests follow the arrest last week of two British men, ages 45 and 47, in connection with the arson. Those two suspects were released on bail and are being closely monitored while they await a hearing, police said, and their identities have not been made public.
The ambulance arson, which occurred in London’s Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green, is being treated by law enforcement as an antisemitic crime, but authorities have not labeled it as terrorism even as the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism unit is leading the investigation.
“Since this appalling attack last week, we have been working continuously to investigate and identify those responsible,” the unit’s commander, Helen Flanagan, said in a statement. “We know concern among the Jewish community remains high, but I hope these arrests show that we are doing everything we can to bring those responsible to justice.”
A group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
American journalist abducted in Baghdad, Iraqi forces pursue kidnappers
(JNS) — An American journalist was kidnapped on Mar 31 in central Baghdad, Iraqi officials confirmed, as security forces launched an operation to locate her.
The abducted journalist was identified as Shelly Kittleson, 49, a U.S. freelance reporter who has contributed to Al-Monitor and reported extensively from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
Iraq’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that a “foreign journalist” was abducted by unknown individuals, without initially naming her. Security forces began pursuing the kidnappers using “precise intelligence information” and intensive field operations, the ministry said.
According to Iraqi officials, at least two vehicles were involved in the abduction on Saadoun Street in Baghdad. During a pursuit, one of the vehicles overturned near the town of Al-Haswa in Babil province, and a suspect was arrested, but Kittleson was not inside the vehicle. Other kidnappers fled with the journalist, whose whereabouts and condition remain unknown.
Al-Monitor confirmed Kittleson’s identity and called for her immediate release.
Alex Plitsas, a CNN national security analyst who said he serves as a U.S. point of contact for Kittleson, wrote that she “was abducted and may have been taken hostage in Baghdad by Kata’ib Hezbollah,” though no group has claimed responsibility.
The Interior Ministry said efforts are ongoing to track the remaining suspects and “rescue the kidnapped victim.”
El Al to launch direct flights to Argentina, starting this fall
(JNS) — Israel’s flag carrier El Al plans to launch direct flights from Tel Aviv to Buenos Aires this fall, marking a renewed push into the South American market.
The nonstop service, which comes amid growing relations between the two countries, is expected to begin by November, JNS has learned.
“Today, a dream I have pursued with all my effort since taking office as Ambassador begins to become a reality,” Argentinian Ambassador to Israel Axel Wahnish posted Apr. 1 on social media. “It is the concrete result of the strategic relationship that President Milei has built with Israel, and of an investment that the Israeli government has decided to make in response to that relationship.”
Javier Milei, who has emerged as one of the most vocal supporters of Israel globally, is expected to visit the Jewish state this spring and has repeatedly pledged to move Argentina’s embassy to Jerusalem.
El Al operated flights to Brazil more than a decade ago, but its short-lived service to São Paulo was discontinued in 2011.
Argentina’s Jewish community is the largest in Latin America, with an estimated 170,000 members, most of whom reside in the capital.
Lebanon tells United Nations it has banned Hezbollah from militarizing
(JNS) — The Lebanese government wrote to the United Nations Security Council on March 2 that Hezbollah’s decision to enter the war between the United States and Israel and Iran “runs counter to the principle that the decision of war and peace rests exclusively with the Lebanese state.”
The government added in the letter, which JNS viewed, that there is to be an “immediate prohibition of all Hezbollah security and military activities” due to the terror organization’s actions, which have drawn Israeli strikes in response.
The letter noted the Lebanese government’s “refusal to be drawn into the ongoing regional war.”
Beirut has been increasingly critical of Hezbollah in recent months, but an outright ban on the terror group marks a new level of tension between the government and the Iran-backed terror organization that has long controlled south Lebanon.
In the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, which Hezbollah also joined, the international community placed renewed focus on U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for the disarmament of all non-state actors in Lebanon and restoration of sovereignty in all parts of the country.
Hezbollah has refused to disarm, and the Lebanese government, reportedly with pushback from military leadership, has not been able to compel it to yield its weapons.
Mayor of Bath, England, resigns after amplifying idea that Jewish ambulance arson was a ‘false flag’ attack
(JTA) — The mayor of Bath, in southwestern England, resigned from his post Mar. 30 after drawing criticism for amplifying the idea that the London arson of ambulances owned by a Jewish emergency service was a “false flag” attack.
“I have been made aware that I have reposted or replied to some posts which have never aligned to my values and beliefs, and which are abhorrent,” Bharat Pankhania said in a statement issued last week, prior to his resignation from the honorary role. “I am incredibly apologetic that I have not lived up to the standards I set myself. I have of course deleted them, and I wish to apologise unreservedly.”
Days after the Mar. 23 torching of four Hatzola ambulances in London’s Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green, Pankhania shared comments and posts on social media that suggested the fires were set by members of the Jewish community and an instance of insurance fraud, multiple British outlets reported. Law enforcement has deemed the fires an antisemitic attack.
A “false flag” operation is staged to look like an attack in order to garner sympathy for the victim or attribute blame to another party. Accusations that antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents are false flags have surged as such incidents have grown more commonplace.
