Hamas rejects direct negotiations
Hamas turned down two offers of direct negotiations with Israel.
The offers were made during meetings last month between former President Jimmy Carter and leaders of the terrorist organization, sources told JTA.
Prior to the meetings in Damascus, Carter met in Israel with Eli Yishai, the Shas Party leader and trade and industry minister, and Yossi Beilin, a Knesset member in the opposition Meretz Party.
Yishai asked Carter to ask Hamas officials to open direct talks on a prisoner exchange that would free Cpl. Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas in a cross-border raid two years ago. Beilin asked him to propose that Hamas open direct negotiations between civic leaders as a way of facilitating peace talks. — jta
Police broaden probe of Olmert
Israeli police questioned two more American Jewish moguls in the probe of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Sheldon Adelson and S. Daniel Abraham were questioned by Israeli police in the widening investigation of alleged fundraising irregularities by Israel’s prime minister.
Police reportedly questioned Adelson about whether Olmert asked him to help market a hotel mini-bar service run by Morris Talansky, the American Jewish businessman who allegedly transferred large sums of money to Olmert.
Earlier, Israeli police also raided a Knesset office looking for clues in the case involving Olmert. — jta
Ahmadinejad: Israel a ‘stinking corpse’
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last week the state of Israel is a “stinking corpse” that is destined to disappear, the French news agency AFP reported.
“Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as having said.
“Today the reason for the Zionist regime’s existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation.”
Ahmadinejad further stated that Israel “has reached the end like a dead rat after being slapped by the Lebanese,” referring to the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006. — jpost.com
Olmert addresses sex trafficking
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert acknowledged that Israel is a major player in the illegal international prostitution trafficking of women.
At a Knesset session May 12 on the status of women in the Jewish state, the Israeli prime minister said the trafficking of prostitutes is “an industry that involves not only Israeli women, but also women from abroad who are put up for sale.
“We have become, to my regret, an importer in the field because there is demand, and this is difficult to deal with.”
International agencies regularly cite Israel for its relatively high involvement in the trafficking of women, many of whom are brought in by foot from the Egyptian Sinai. — jta
Controversial bridge to mount approved
Jerusalem’s City Hall says its planning commission has approved the route of a new bridge to the Temple Mount.
An earthquake damaged the old bridge to the site. Palestinians demonstrated against subsequent repair work. They charged Israel was trying to undermine al Aqsa Mosque inside the gate. Israel denied that.
The new bridge will be built on a few columns, guiding it over archaeological findings discovered when the old bridge was destroyed. — ap
Protected scroll put on display
One of the most important Dead Sea scrolls went on display in Jerusalem this week — more than four decades after it was last seen by the public.
The 24-foot scroll with the text of the Book of Isaiah has been kept in a dark, temperature-controlled room at the Israel Museum since 1967.
It went on display two years earlier, but was removed and replaced with a facsimile after curators noticed cracks appearing in the calfskin parchment.
The museum’s curators decided to put the scroll back on display for three months as part of Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations. — ap
Kabbalah museum to open this summer
A museum devoted exclusively to Kabbalah will open in Jerusalem on June 25.
It will display artifacts such as amulets, garments and historical manuscripts; provide education, including personal Kabbalah training; and offer tours of Israel focusing on sites of kabbalistic interest. — jta
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California