Excerpts: Jerusalem synagogue attack: assailants and victims. Internal EU
document warning Israel. Saudi fears IS intentions November 19, 2014

+++SOURCE: AlArabiya News 19 Nov.’14:”The assailants behind the deadly
Jerusalem attack”,by Staff Writer with Associated Press

SUBJECT: Jerusalem Synagogue attack: assailants and victims

FULL TEXT:Following an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue that left four
worshippers dead, sparking Palestinian and world condemnation, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the demolition of the homes of the
assailants.

The two attackers, cousins Ghassan Abu Jamal and Oday Abu Jamal, were from
the Jabal Mukaber neighborhood in occupied east Jerusalem, Agence
France-Presse reported.

Ghassan was a 27-year-old married father of two. He worked at a clothing
store in the Jewish quarter of the city, according to the Associated
Press.He had no criminal record, and was not known to have been affiliated
with any militant groups.

His cousin was a 21-year-old interior decorator and like Ghassan, Oday was
not known to be affiliated with any militancy and was never arrested.He was
unmarried, AP reported.

Clashes later broke out outside the assailants’ home, where dozens of police
officers had converged as residents hurled stones at police, who responded
with tear gas and stun grenades.

Residents said 14 members of the Abu Jamal family were arrested, AFP
reported.

Three of the killed worshippers were U.S. citizens while a fourth was
originally from the UK.

Rabbi Moshe Twersky was a 59-year-old Boston native who came from a line of
influential rabbis.His brother-in-law in New York City described him to AP
as a “gentle, saintly scholar.”
“He lived his life with a kind of perfected modesty and precision,” the
brother-in-law said.“He lived in the image of a gentle God.”

Twersky was the son of Rabbi Isadore Twersky, who founded Harvard University’s
Center for Jewish Studies, and the grandson of Joseph B. Soloveitchik, one
of the most influential Jewish theologians of his generation.After
immigrating to Israel in 1990, Twersky became the head of the Torat Moshe
Yeshiva, one of the first in the country established to cater to post-high
school students from English-speaking countries.He is survived by his wife
Miriam, five children and 10 grandchildren.

Rabbi Kalman Levine, born Cary William Levine, was 55-years-old. “There are
people who, once they get there, their ethic is to never leave the land of
Israel. He was one of those people,” his brother in law said.“He was a very
peaceful, sweet guy - guileless, learned.”
A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Levine attended the University of
Southern California, where he studied the Torah and Talmud. He left in his
20s for Israel, where most recently he was teaching at a Jerusalem seminary.
Levine’s son, Yerachmiel Levine, recalled his father’s dedication to his
religious studies.“He would study all day long and would return home at
night only to learn more until he would fall asleep in his chair,” the son
said.Levine is survived by his wife, nine children and five grandchildren.

Detroit area native Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky moved to Israel with his family
when he was 10 and worshipped frequently at the Jerusalem synagogue where he
died.The third of five siblings, the 43-year-old Kupinsky was a “very
religious man,” said Esther Schwartz, a former neighbor in Oak Park, a
Detroit suburb.Schwartz said her son, who lives in Israel, emailed her about
his slaying.

“All morning I couldn’t stop crying,” the 64-year-old said. “It shook us all
up. This was a child we knew. He got married and had his own family. It’s
shocking, senseless and useless.”Kupinsky is survived by his wife and five
children.

Liverpool native 68-year-old Avraham Shmuel Goldberg immigrated to Israel in
1993, and was a near daily participant in morning prayers at the synagogue
where he died.David Osborne, a friend who was near the synagogue when it was
attacked, said Goldberg was “the most wonderful person you could meet.”He is
survived by his wife, six children and grandchildren.

[With AP]


+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 19 Nov.’14:”EU to Israel: If you want to get along
with us , make peace”, Agencies

SUBJECT: Internal EU document warning Israel

QUOTE: “The document is a ‘non-paper’ meaning it is merely a basis for
future dicussions”

FULL TEXT:OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — An internal European Union document proposes
a series of unspecified “actions” that could punish Israel for its
settlement activities in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The document calls for unspecified moves against European companies
operating in Israeli settlements as well as a refusal “to engage with
settlers,” including politicians and public figures who oppose the
establishment of a Palestinian state.

The document is a “non-paper,” meaning it is merely the basis for future
discussions and far from becoming policy. But it says the proposals were
based on “informal inputs provided by Member States.”

“The EU recalls that the future development of the relations with both the
Israeli and Palestinian partners will also depend on their engagement
towards a lasting peace based on a two-state solution,” the EU’s foreign
ministers said after a council meeting in Brussels.

The meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council comes amid increasing
tension between Israel and the EU over settlement activity.

In Brussels on Monday[[15 Nov.], foreign ministers vowed to continue working
against the sale of goods produced in Jewish communities over the pre- 1967
lines. This includes West Bank settlements, Jewish neighborhoods in east
Jerusalem and Jewish communities on the Golan Heights. The EU believes that
all those communities are illegal. Recently, dairy and poultry products from
over the Green Line were banned from the European market.

The EU’s Foreign Affairs Council said that “the EU and its member states
remain committed to ensure continued, full and effective implementation of
existing EU legislation and bilateral arrangements applicable to settlement
products.” It added that “the EU closely monitors the situation and its
broader implications and remains ready to take further action in order to
protect the viability of the two-state solution.”

It issued a three-page statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part
of a renewed effort by the EU to be involved in any US-led revival of the
peace talks, which have remained frozen since April.

After the meeting, the EU’s new foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini,
said that the EU supports the initiative US Secretary of State John Kerry is
pushing to relaunch the peace process. — Agencies


+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 19 Nov.’14:”Riyadh fears IS wants sectarian war in
Saudi Arabia”, Reuters

SUBJECT: Saudi fears IS intentions

QUOTE:”militants …trying to incite a sectarian conflict via attacks on the
Shiite Muslim minority”

FULL TEXT:RIYADH — Tighter security in Saudi Arabia has made it hard for
Islamic State (IS) to target the government so the militants are instead
trying to incite a sectarian conflict via attacks on the Shiite Muslim
minority, the Saudi Interior Ministry said.

Last week the Sunni group's leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi called for attacks
against the Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, which has declared IS a terrorist
organisation, joined international air strikes against it, and mobilised top
clergy to denounce it.

He spoke after an attack on Shiite civilians, the first since 2006 by
militant Saudis based inside the kingdom.

IS has not claimed the shooting and the Saudis have not held the group
responsible but they arrested more than 50 people including some who fought
with Sunni jihadis in Syria or had been previously jailed for fighting with
Al Qaeda.

As the world's top oil exporter, birthplace of Islam and a champion of
conservative Sunni doctrine, Saudi Arabia represents an important ally for
Western countries battling IS and a symbolic target for the militant group
itself.

"Islamic State and Al Qaeda are doing their best to carry out terrorist acts
or crimes inside Saudi Arabia," Major General Mansour Turki, security
spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told Reuters.

"They are trying to target the social fabric and trying to create a
sectarian conflict inside the country."

The attack by gunmen in the Eastern Province district of Al Ahsa on November
3 killed eight members of the kingdom's Shiite minority who were marking
their holy day of Ashoura.

Turki said he was not aware of any evidence that it was coordinated with IS
operatives outside Saudi Arabia.

He said improved government security, such as guards at possible targets,
increased border defences and surveillance, have made it much harder for
militants elsewhere to organise violence inside Saudi Arabia such as Al
Qaeda's 2003-06 uprising which killed hundreds and led to the detention of
more than 11,000 people.

“Although Saudi citizens have played important leadership roles in various
Al Qaeda organisations, Riyadh has not yet identified any in senior
positions in Islamic State,” Turki said.

“However, the group tends to use Saudi members of IS in its propaganda
because of the kingdom's role as the leading Sunni state,” he said.



‘They want our personality’



Riyadh is worried that the rise of militant Sunni groups, including Al Qaeda
affiliate Nusra Front and IS, as participants in the Syrian war would
radicalise Saudis who might then carry out a new wave of strikes inside the
kingdom.

Although it has backed rebel groups fighting alongside jihadis against
Syrian President Bashar Assad, Saudi Arabia has also taken steps to stop its
people joining militants in Syria or Iraq or giving them money.

Turki said a royal decree in February imposing long prison terms for people
who went abroad to fight or helped others to do so, and for people who gave
moral or material support to militant groups had reduced the number of Saudi
jihadis.

"One of the people we arrested [since the decree] was used by them [Islamic
State] to write Friday sermons. Does this mean they do not have anybody
capable of doing that? Of course not, but they want our language, our
personality, to be reflected in their speeches," he said.

Since the decree was issued, the rate of Saudis travelling to Syria or Iraq
for jihad had slowed sharply, while the rate of Saudis returning to the
kingdom from those countries had accelerated, he said.

The authorities have identified between 2,000-2,100 Saudi citizens who have
fought in Syria since its crisis began in 2011, of whom around 600 have
returned, he said. Of those numbers, only about 200 had left Saudi Arabia
since the February decree while around 170 had come back.



Sectarian attack



The difficulty of getting its fighters past security and into Saudi Arabia
has pushed IS to try to incite sympathisers inside the kingdom to carry out
their own attacks, Turki said.

Unlike the Al Qaeda campaign last decade, the attack in Al Ahsa was not
aimed at government, infrastructure or foreign targets, which are now better
protected by security forces, but struck at unarmed Shiite villagers.

That showed the increasingly sectarian nature of jihadi ideology but also
that tighter security had reduced the number of straightforward targets for
militant attacks, Turki said.

The authorities detained 10 more people on Sunday for the attack, taking to
54 the total number of suspects arrested in 11 different Saudi cities.

"The situation is unlike 10 years ago when we had the first Al Qaeda
attacks. We were not ready at that time. Our public was not informed, our
policemen were not trained or equipped for such a danger," he said.

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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA