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Thursday October 4, 2007

Shorts: Mideast

Assad says raid hit unused building

Israel’s mysterious air raid on Syria last month targeted a disused military building, said Syrian President Bashar Assad said.

Assad made the claim Monday, Oct. 1 in a BBC interview, his first explicit comment about a Sept. 6 sortie the Israeli government refuses to discuss.

Assad said the incident demonstrated Israel’s “visceral antipathy toward peace” and rejected international speculation that a secret Syrian nuclear facility, perhaps supplied by North Korea, had been destroyed.

The Syrian president played down the prospect of a new war with Israel, saying he wanted new peace talks. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has made similar overtures recently. — jta

Christians march in Old City parade

An estimated 6,000 to 7,000 Christians from more than 90 countries staged the annual Feast of the Tabernacles parade in Jerusalem Tuesday, Oct. 2.

They were joined by thousands of Israelis who flocked to the Israeli capital as part of additional celebrations of the Old City’s liberation in the 1967 Middle East war. Some 70,000 to 80,000 participated.

The annual Tabernacles gathering sponsored by the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem is among Israel’s biggest tourist events, bringing as much as $18 million to the local economy. Israeli politicians further note its importance in fostering goodwill among the country’s non-Jewish backers abroad. — jta

Israel releases Palestinian prisoners

Twenty-nine prisoners, mostly from the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, were bused to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Oct. 2 after a 24-hour delay.

The holdup, media reports revealed, was due to a short-lived protest by armed forces chief Lt. -Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, who argued that it was inappropriate to return prisoners to Gaza while Hamas continues to hold hostage and is incommunicado on an Israeli soldier, Sgt. Gilad Shalit.

On Monday, 56 Palestinian prisoners were returned to their homes in the West Bank. Jailed for involvement in terrorist attacks that did not cause serious casualties, the 86 men were freed early by the Olmert government in an effort to shore up Abbas in his power struggle with Hamas. — jta

Fans fight for Tel Aviv diamond

Baseball supporters launched a campaign to stop the city of Tel Aviv from destroying its lone baseball field.

The baseball field at Sportek in Hayarkon Park was renovated this year with funds donated by North American Jews for use by the new Israel Baseball League. Now that the inaugural season is over, the municipality wants to take down the outfield fence and allow the grounds to become uneven again, according to the Jerusalem Post. — jta

Indictment in JDate case

Edward Nisimov, 25, from Akko, was indicted Sept. 30 on multiple counts of fraud, false representation, extortion and aggravated assault against women he met on the popular dating website JDate.

He was accused of approaching several women registered on the site, while using several different identities to con them out of money. On one occasion he allegedly pretended to be billionaire businessman Roman Abramovich. He was able to con them into giving him more than $100,000.

Some of the women reportedly refused to pay Nisimov for his help, at which point he threatened them and their children and even held one of the women at knifepoint.

The Tel Aviv district prosecutor’s office said Nisimov pled guilty to all counts of the indictment, saying his addiction to gambling drove him to it. — ynetnews.com.

Seven Israelis make Forbes list

Stef Wertheimer and family are at number 10 — the highest position for the six Israelis on Forbes magazine’s list of the Middle East’s 20 richest people.

Listed at a net worth of $4.4 billion, Wertheimer saw his fortune grow over the last year after he sold 80 percent of his company, Iscar Metalworking Co., to Warren Buffett in 2006. Wertheimer was followed in 11th place by Shari Arison, the owner of Carnival Cruise Lines, worth an estimated $4.3 billion and then by the diamond mogul and controller of the Africa-Israel Real Estate Group, Lev Leviev, whose estimated wealth is reported to be $4.1 billion.

In 13th place was Yitzhak Tshuva, majority owner of the Delek Group, worth $4 billion, followed by Sammy Ofer and family, the controlling shareholder of the Israel Corporation. The final Israeli on the listwas film producer and businessman Arnon Milchan, who, at $3 billion was ranked 20th. — jps

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