Report: Slovenia may soon recognize Palestinian state

Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec informed Israeli Ambassador Eyal Sela that his country is planning to recognize a Palestinian state, Channel 10 news reported Tuesday.

Erjavec said he expects the motion to garner a solid majority in Ljubljana's parliament, whose foreign affairs and defense committee is scheduled to debate the motion on Wednesday.

A final vote on the issue will take place in February, the report said.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor on Friday expressed his objection to parliament's intent to recognize a Palestinian state, saying such a move should be pursued only when it proves conducive to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

"This is not the case right now. Unilateral steps will do little to improve the situation and may even deepen the distrust between the parties," he said.

An Israeli official noted that as Pahor held no executive powers, his position was mostly symbolic.

"The position of the president in Slovenia is important, but he has almost no say on the decision-making process regarding the recognition of Palestine," he said.

During a trip to Brussels last week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas urged European Union member states to recognize a Palestinian state as a way to force progress in the peace talks, frozen since 2014.

"The EU is our natural partner and one of our most important economic partners. We appreciate the EU's position, but ask its members to recognize a Palestinian state," Abbas said.

The London-based Arabic newspaper Al Hayat reported that EU nations were unlikely to agree to the request, which is seen as counterproductive to the peace process.

Diplomatic sources within the EU told the paper that the consensus among the 28-nation bloc was that such a move would most likely be perceived as a backlash to U.S. President Donald Trump's Dec. 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and may exacerbate tensions in the region.

Israel to compensate families of men killed in Jordan embassy incident

Israel has agreed to compensate the families of the men killed in a July shooting incident in its embassy in Jordan.

The incident took place on July 24, when an Israeli security guard working for the embassy shot and killed a Jordanian who attacked him with a screwdriver. A second Jordanian was killed by stray gunfire.

The incident sparked a diplomatic crisis between Jerusalem and Amman, which expelled the embassy's staff, including Ambassador Einat Schlein, and shuttered the facility.

The crisis was defused last week, when Israel formally apologized for the deaths of the two Jordanians.

Israel also apologized for the fatal shooting of Raed Alaa el-Deen Za'eiter, killed by Israeli soldiers at the Allenby Bridge border crossing in 2014.

As part of the agreement, Israel agreed to pay Jordan $5 million in restitution to the families of all three fatalities. The family of the man identified as the assailant in the embassy incident is slated to receive some $2 million.

Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said Tuesday that he was "OK" with the fact the assailant's family would receive compensation, as it was a price paid for restoring solid ties with Jordan.

The Israeli Embassy in Jordan reopened on Tuesday. Schlein has not resumed her post and the Foreign Ministry has issued a tender for a new envoy to Amman.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the agreement last week, saying, "Preserving Israel's relationship with Jordan is of strategic importance. We lend great importance to the strategic relations with Jordan and both countries will work to promote their cooperation and to strengthen the peace agreement."

Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994.

Popular fitness app compromises location of IDF bases

Fitness bracelets, smartwatches and smartphones have long since become a part of our everyday lives. But these items make it possible for hackers or foreign intelligence agencies to spy on IDF soldiers and monitor their operational patrols.

The Global Heat Map, published by the GPS tracking company Strava, uses satellite information to map the locations of subscribers to Strava's fitness service.

The map shows activity from 2015 through September 2017 and although it was posted online in November 2017, the information it contains was only publicized recently.

As a result, the alleged locations of secret IDF training bases were revealed, along with similar foreign military bases across the world.

Similar to the GPS navigation software developed by Israel-based Waze, Strava's application is predicated on the movement of its members and creates interactive maps of their movement.

Heavily populated areas are well lit, but war zones such as Iraq and Syria show scattered pockets of activity that could be caused by military or government personnel using fitness trackers as they move around. Those electronic signals could potentially identify military bases or other secure locations.

Even in the most remote parts of the world, the moment soldiers activate a fitness bracelet or smartwatch, whether doing calisthenics on the base or patrolling in Hebron – it is possible to track their movement. The data could provide information to someone who wants to attack or ambush troops.

"The IDF recently disseminated policy about smartwatch usage, whereby soldiers are instructed not to share their location and classified information, and on how to use them in a safe manner that does not jeopardize IDF activity and their personal safety. The IDF will examine the [Strava] application and will instruct soldiers accordingly," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement.

Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday ordered a review of security protocols after Strava published details of the movements of personnel at American military facilities around the world, including in war zones.

Army Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, said the review will determine if there should be additional training or restrictions on the use of the devices, such as Fitbits.

Manning said he was not aware of any compromise to U.S. security by the map and he did not believe there was any move yet to ban the devices. He also said he wasn't aware of any Pentagon effort to reach out to the company or request that the data be taken offline.

Strava says it has 27 million users around the world, including people who own widely available fitness devices, as well as people who directly subscribe to its mobile app.

Israeli envoy meets with Polish official over Holocaust bill

The controversy over a bill passed last week by the Polish parliament that makes it illegal to blame Poland for Holocaust atrocities rages on.

Israeli Ambassador to Poland Anna Azari met with Krzysztof Szczerski, chief of the cabinet of Polish President Andrzej Duda, to discuss Israel's concerns that the new law places constraints on discussion in Poland about the Holocaust and its Polish victims.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry reported that the meeting was held in a "friendly atmosphere."

"The proposed bill was received in Israel as an attempt to prosecute testimonies of the Holocaust survivors. It evoked many emotions. We think it will make it impossible to tell the truth about the Holocaust," Azari told Szczerski.

Azari said that "we hope we will be able to find a common understanding of the changes the bill proposes. Israel knows who built Auschwitz and everyone knows it was not the Poles. I believe that Poland and Israel, being good friends, will be able to find a common language, as usual."

Szczerski said that Poland wanted to prevent the Polish people from being the target of sweeping accusations of responsibility for the Holocaust and Nazi crimes committed during those years.

Meanwhile, head of the Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to negotiate with the prime minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, about the legislation.

"We do not negotiate about the memory of [Holocaust] victims," Lapid said.

In response to the Polish bill, Israel's Education Ministry has built a lesson for schoolchildren titled "Involvement of local populations, including in Poland, in the Holocaust against the Jewish people."

PM: Israel won't tolerate Iranian military presence in Syria, Lebanon

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Russia on Monday for talks focused on Syria, warning that Israel will not accept Iran's growing military presence there and in neighboring Lebanon.

Before departure for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Netanyahu said that Iran is trying to turn Lebanon into "one giant missile site, a site for precision missiles against the state of Israel, which we will not tolerate."

The Israeli leader further warned of "Iran's relentless efforts to establish a military presence in Syria, which we strongly oppose and are also taking action against."

Russia and Iran have joined forces to back President Bashar Assad throughout the Syrian conflict. Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, helping Assad's forces score a series of victories and win back key ground. At the same time, Russia has sought to maintain close ties with Israel, and the two countries' militaries have established close communications to avoid collisions in Syria.

A Kremlin statement confirmed that the two leaders discussed "Russian-Israeli cooperation in trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian areas as well as some pressing international and regional issues, including the situation in the Middle East and in Syria."

This was Netanyahu and Putin's seventh meeting in the last two and a half years.

Speaking in a video statement after his meeting with Putin, Netanyahu hailed what he described as a "good and profound" meeting.

The prime minister said he reiterated Israel's position, which "views two developments as very serious: first, the attempts by Iran to base itself militarily in Syria, and second, Iran's attempt to produce in Lebanon precision weapons against Israel. I made it clear to him that we will not agree to any of those developments and we will act accordingly."

Speaking with reporters, Netanyahu said that he also addressed this issue in his recent meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders.

"It's important that our enemies understand that Israel will not tolerate this situation and that world powers understand our position," he said.

Netanyahu noted that Iran's efforts to entrench itself militarily in Syria "aim to change the status quo [in the region]. We have the opportunity to create a different reality there [in Syria], a calm reality after years of fighting. Iran is actively trying to agitate the situation on the ground, turn Syria into a military colony and introduce weapons that are very dangerous to Israel and Lebanon.

"We are at a watershed moment in Syria. Will Iran base itself in Syria or will this process be halted? I made it clear to Putin that unless this process comes to a halt, we will stop it. In fact, we are already working to curb it," he said.

Netanyahu said he also presented the Russian leader with Israel's demands to revise the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. The U.S. said it would exit the pact unless significant changes were introduced to it.

The talks with Putin, Netanyahu concluded, were "genuine, sincere and profound, in a positive way, based on personal friendship and a meeting of clear interests."

Environmental Protection Minister Zeev Elkin, who accompanied Netanyahu on his visit to Moscow, described the meeting between the two leaders as "very fruitful. It lasted longer than it was planned." Meetings between Putin and Netanyahu have "contributed greatly to Israel's security," he added.

Putin and Netanyahu met in the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, where they also attended an event marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day and visited an exhibition about a 1943 uprising at the Nazis' Sobibor extermination camp in occupied Poland.

Netanyahu noted that the uprising was led by a Jewish Red Army officer, and praised the Red Army's heroism in defeating the Nazis.

Putin expressed his appreciation, saying that the Israeli attitude contrasts with the removal of monuments to Red Army heroes in some European nations.

Putin noted that Russia and Israel are "cooperating closely in resisting attempts to falsify history and revise the results of World War II, deny Holocaust and downplay a decisive role the Soviet Union played in defeating the Nazis."

"The main lesson from the rise of the Nazis and later the defeat of the Nazis is the need to stand up powerfully to murderous ideology in time. That is our mission today as well," Netanyahu said.

At the end of the visit, Putin presented Netanyahu with a letter that Oskar Schindler – the German industrialist credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust – wrote to his wife, Emilie.

Schindler was named Righteous Among the Nations in 1963. Netanyahu said he would entrust the letter to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

UN employees in Gaza Strip protest against US aid cuts

Schools, clinics and food distribution centers in the Gaza Strip were closed most of Monday by a demonstration by thousands of employees of the United Nations agency that serves Palestinian refugees.

Palestinians have been angered by a U.S. decision to cut aid to the U.N. Relief and Welfare Agency, saying it will cause worse hardship in Gaza.


Video: Reuters

U.S. officials have demanded UNRWA make unspecified reforms. Washington said on Jan. 16 that it will withhold $65 million of a $125 million aid installment to the agency. UNRWA received $355 million from the United States in the 2017 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, U.S. officials say.

Those joining Monday's protest feared job losses among UNRWA's 13,000 employees and cuts to services. They marched to the U.N. headquarters in Gaza City waving Palestinian flags and brandishing banners that read "Dignity is priceless."

UNRWA, which runs 278 schools in Gaza attended by some 300,000 students, has made an international appeal for funds.

"We don't know how to pay for the food we are currently distributing," said UNRWA's Gaza director, Matthias Schmale, who accompanied the marchers. "My biggest worry at the moment is will I be able to distribute food in April at all."

UNRWA is funded mainly by voluntary contributions from U.N. member states, with the United States by far the largest donor.

"We have received $60 million from the U.S. There is no certainty over whether they will give us any more," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said.

The protest comes amid Palestinian anger over U.S. President Donald Trump's Dec. 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Trump criticised the Palestinian leadership for refusing to meet Vice President Mike Pence during his visit to the region and suggested such behavior provided grounds for cutting aid.

"When they disrespected us a week ago by not allowing our great vice president to see them, and we give them hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and support, tremendous numbers, numbers that nobody understands -- that money is on the table and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace," Trump said.

UNRWA was established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1949 after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes during Israel's 1948 War of Independence.

France, Britain shun Syrian peace talks, want UN process

France and Britain will not take part in Syrian peace talks to be held in Russia on Tuesday, saying the talks had to be part of a U.N.-led process and urging Moscow to get the Syrian government to engage in meaningful negotiations.

Russia is hosting what it has called a Syrian Congress of National Dialogue in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday that it hopes will launch negotiations on drafting a new constitution for Syria after almost seven years of civil war.

Western powers and some Arab states believe the Sochi talks are an attempt by Russia to create a separate peace process that undermines the U.N. peace effort while laying the groundwork for a solution favorable to President Bashar Assad and allies Russia and Iran. Russia has invited the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – Britain, China, France and the United States – to the meeting, which the Syrian opposition has said it will boycott.

"All other initiatives, like the Sochi meeting organized by Russia, must support the U.N. process and be in that framework," a French foreign ministry spokesman said in a daily briefing.

"We take note of the Syrian opposition's decision not to go to Sochi. France will not participate in the work being carried out there," the spokesman said.

"The U.K. will not participate in the Sochi conference. Despite Russia's efforts the regime refuses to engage and has damaged confidence that Sochi can help the Geneva process," Britain's Syria envoy Martin Longden said on Twitter.

"We urge Russia to use its influence to persuade the regime to cease its destructive behavior."

France and Britain have backed the Syrian opposition during the seven-year conflict.

French officials said Russia only extended an invitation to attend on the sidelines of the Sochi conference and the foreign ministry declined to say whether any diplomats would attend. France's Syria envoy is not due to go, a diplomatic source said.

"If the talks failed in Vienna it's because the regime was not in the negotiations, it was there figuratively," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was quoted as saying by media during a trip to Japan.

"I think Sochi will not enable a breakthrough because an essential player will not be there due precisely to the regime's refusal to negotiate in Vienna."

Meanwhile, the Kremlin shrugged off a Syrian opposition decision to boycott a peace conference in Russia this week, saying on Monday the event would go ahead regardless and make a meaningful contribution to a political solution.

A spokesman for the Syrian opposition said on Saturday it would not attend the Russian event, dismissing the gathering as an attempt by Moscow to sideline the U.N.-backed peace process.

The decision was a setback for Moscow, which is keen to cast itself and President Vladimir Putin as an important Middle East peace broker after its military helped turn the tide of the conflict in Syria in Assad's favor.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call with reporters: "The fact that some representatives of the processes currently taking place in Syria are not participating is unlikely to stop this congress from going ahead and is unlikely to seriously undermine the importance of the congress.

"Everyone recognizes that immediate breakthroughs in the Syrian peace process are unlikely to be possible. The only thing that is possible is patient, incremental, detailed work that can move us forward. In this sense, the Congress will be a very important, meaningful step on this road," he said.

Separately, Putin's Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentiev told the TASS news agency that Moscow regretted the opposition leadership's decision to stay away, but said he hoped "common sense" would prevail and they would change their minds.

He said some members of other opposition factions would attend and that "all strata" of Syrian society would be represented.

Lavrentiev told TASS he expected the conference to focus on selecting the members of a commission to draft a new Syrian constitution and for delegates to appeal for help to rebuild Syria.

Fresh elections and the country's name are also expected to be discussed.

The opposition says the event is a waste of time, however.

George Sabra, a prominent figure in the Syrian political opposition, said that the Sochi talks were "a project to serve Russian policy. The Russians are trying, through this congress, to find a place for themselves in the Syrian political space after putting their heavy hand on Syrian land."

Top Syrian Kurdish politician Hediye Yusuf, an architect of Kurdish-led autonomy plans for northern Syria, also predicted on social media that the event would yield little of import.

"Sochi will not bring results if the parties that are present on the ground are not there," wrote Yusuf.

Russia, together with Turkey and Iran, was already presiding over a separate track of peace talks in Kazakhstan distinct from U.N.-backed Geneva talks, and the Sochi event was meant to kick-start a peace process mired in disagreement.

Moscow says its own peacemaking efforts are meant to complement, not compete with U.N. attempts.

Israeli president to attend Greek Holocaust museum ceremony

Israel's president has met with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during a visit to Athens that is scheduled to include a cornerstone-laying ceremony for a Holocaust museum.

Reuven Rivlin also met with his Greek counterpart, Procopis Pavlopoulos, in the capital on Monday.

On Tuesday, Rivlin and Tsipras will travel to the northern city of Thessaloniki for the museum ceremony.

Thessaloniki's 55,000-strong Jewish population was deported by Nazi forces during World War II and most of its members were murdered in German concentration camps.

Thessaloniki's new museum will be built next to the railway station where the city's Jews boarded the trains taking them to the camps.

Germany, Israel honor diplomats who rescued Jews during Holocaust

Germany's Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Israel's Ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff on Monday opened an exhibition at the German Foreign Office to honor the righteous diplomats who went against their own government policies and rescued hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust.

Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, the German maritime attaché in Denmark, was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1971.


Video: Reuters

According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Duckwitz tipped off Danish leaders ahead of Hitler's intention of deporting Denmark's Jewish population making possible the rescue of 90% of Danish Jewry.

By the end of World War II, some 6 million Jews had been murdered as part of Hitler's Final Solution.

Gabriel praised relations between Germany and Israel and for the courage of the diplomats but called for alertness to a rise in anti-Semitism fueled by global conflicts and anxiety in Germany and Europe.

The Beyond Duty exhibition is dedicated to the Righteous Among the Nations – referring to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews – and to the Holocaust survivors.

"This is a special exhibition that we would like to open today. It points to the courage of people in the diplomatic service who acted in times when it really was dangerous. Today there are of course also difficult situations and dangerous situations in other countries, no question, but a situation which was as dramatic as the time between 1933 and 1945 where Germany tried to enforce its ideology all over the world and murdered people, in particular, the Jews, has not reoccurred, at least not in this country. And despite this, there was a whole group – not many – but still a group of people who took a stand against this," Gabriel said.

"Whether we are the ancestors of aggressors or of victims; whether we grew up in Germany or elsewhere it is up to all of us to not forget. And above all to refute the assumption that anti-Semitism is marginal in society. I think that this is the cornerstone of doing the past justice today and tomorrow," he continued. "There are of course questions of whether anti-Semitism has been tackled thoroughly enough in Germany. I find it a great shame on our country that police have been a necessary presence outside synagogues for decades.

"Today, as a result of globalization and the many conflicts in the world beyond the relative safety of Germany and Europe, many people have become nervous and so anti-Semitism has found fertile soil within xenophobia and nationalism and has allowed movements and parties with new membership."

Speaking at the event, Issacharoff said, "It is in this spirit that I think the opening of this exhibition today, regarding diplomats recognised as righteous among nations, conceived by Yad Vashem, fulfills a vital role: if there are elements of the Holocaust that can never really be fathomed, these stories around us, of courageous diplomats that saved so many thousands and thousands of Jews, can be understood, admired and must never be forgotten.

"These are stories of great personal courage, integrity and heroism that should be engraved on our collective consciousness and remind us that where there has been a great evil there can always be a greater good."

Prominent rabbis claim women's military service 'lowers birth rate'

A number of prominent religious Zionist rabbis took a stand Monday against women serving in the IDF, addressing hundreds of enlistment-age women.

The event, titled "About the Essence and Uniqueness of Women," was held in Jerusalem and sponsored by the Chotam organization.

Prior to the conference, a minor controversy broke out on social media when it became clear that the list of speakers on "women's specialness" included only two women.

During the conference, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who has been a vocal opponent of women's military service, asked the audience: "They put boys and girls together in an APC, on guard duty – how do they expect the woman to have a family after that?

"What is this good for? Out of 192 countries, only two have compulsory military service for women – Israel and North Korea. Why do it? It's been turned into a banner [issue] and the girls' desire to contribute to Israeli society, their true desire to contribute and do [something] are taken and used to defend the country," he said.

"It doesn't contribute, like the former head of the Shin Bet [security agency] said – it isn't a military consideration, it's a question of values. We aren't talking about equality here, or about respecting women. This is about a new value – gender."

In fact, a number of countries, such as Norway, Bolivia, and Cuba, also have compulsory military service for women.

Rabbi David Fendel, head of the hesder yeshiva Afikei Daat in Sderot, said, "We won't let any agenda obscure femininity. … We aspire to reach a generation of redemption, of homes of sanctity and purity, that combine male strength and female strength."

Rabbi Yehoshua Van Dyke chimed in: "There is a female character, female uniqueness, and when they try and turn women into men it decreases the birth rate. It is contemptuous of women, offends their dignity. Not every rabbi can make decisions about laws of Jewish observance for the public. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has decided that the army is no place for women. We aren't weakening the army; we believe in the army; we believe in the state; so we have the strength to fight for this."

Speakers at the conference also included Tal Geller, a former IDF officer, who argued that the military struggled to meet the needs of minorities in general, and religious girls in particular.

Religious educator Idit Itzkovitch told the audience that "feelings are more dominant in a woman's spirit, and women's role at home is to build feelings of sanctity."

The conference also featured videos of Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, who has taken a strident stance against women's service in the military.

"All rabbis in Israel agree that mixed-gender service in combat units is absolutely forbidden, and that [religious men and women] must not serve in these units," he says in one of the videos. "Most Israeli rabbis also agree that service in other [noncombat] mixed-gender units is forbidden. In principle, we oppose men and women serving together in the army."