Terrorism

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Two teenage Palestinians from a West Bank village have been arrested for the murders of five members of the Fogel family of Itamar.

The Israeli military announced Sunday that Israeli security services - including the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet security service and police - had arrested two teens from the nearby village of Awarta in connection with the brutal Sabbath eve murder in March.

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- FBI records say the agency believed the Jewish Defense League extorted money from rappers by threatening violence.

The JDL has been "extorting money from various rap music stars via death threats," according to a report Thursday in Haaretz on the release of FBI files surrounding the unsolved 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur. The JDL is not otherwise linked to Shakur's murder in the files.

Another JDL target was rapper Eazy-E, according to the documents, which alleged that the JDL would follow-up death threats with demands for protection money.

JTA) -- The suspect in an explosion outside of a Southern California Chabad House was arrested after he was recognized while praying in a suburban Cleveland synagogue.

Ron Hirsch, 60, also known as Israel Fisher, was arrested Monday night in a Cleveland Heights synagogue and Jewish center by the FBI and local police shortly after evening prayers as he sat studying from a Jewish text.

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- An Israeli teen was critically injured when a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit the school bus in which he was riding.

The driver of the bus, which had dropped off all the schoolchildren except for the injured teen, also was wounded by shrapnel in Thursday afternoon's attack, Haaretz reported.

It is unclear whether the bus, traveling near Kibbutz Sa'ad, located next to the Gaza border, was struck by a mortar or an anti-tank missile.

The teen, who was resuscitated at the site of the attack, was airlifted to a hospital in Beersheba.

The 12-year-old girl was seated on the couch across from me, clinging to her mother, her posture helpless and afraid. She’s what they really mean when they say the words “Arab-Israeli conflict,” I thought to myself, trying to maintain a professional mien as I nodded authoritatively, jotted down a few notes, and pretended that I wasn’t about to burst into tears.

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel may cancel a visit by Argentina's foreign minister after a report that the South American country told Iran it would stop investigating two bombings of Jewish targets in exchange for better trade relations.

Argentinian Foreign Minister Hector Timerman is scheduled to visit Israel next week. Israeli Foreign Ministry officials are waiting for a response from their Argentinian counterparts on the veracity of a report in a weekly Argentinian newspaper before deciding how to handle the visit, according to Israeli news reports.

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Six terrorists failed in their attempt to blow up a pipeline carrying natural gas to Israel and Jordan from Egypt.

The timer on the explosives planted at a gas terminal in northern Sinai on Sunday did not go off and the bomb was defused, The Associated Press reported. The terrorists had jumped a guard in the early morning and planted the explosives before fleeing.

(JTA) -- A Facebook page calling for a third Palestinian intifada is abusing technology to promote terrorist violence and should be taken down, the Anti-Defamation League said.

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- President Obama conveyed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his condolences over recent terrorist attacks and reaffirmed "unwavering" commitment to Israel's security.