More Than Half Of Israelis Doubt Peace Is Possible

Israelis were pessimistic about prospects for peace even before the United Nations vote in favor of a Palestinian status upgrade.

More than half of Israeli respondents (51 percent) to a survey compiled from Nov. 21-26 by the Dahaf Institute and Shibley Telhami do not believe that a peace agreement between the Jewish state and the Palestinians will be reached, according to Yedioth Ahronoth. The UN vote that approved the Palestinians’ unilateral move took place Nov. 29.

The poll also revealed that 45 percent of Israelis believe neither their country nor Hamas won the recent conflict in Gaza, while 40 percent of respondents said Israel won the conflict and 11 percent said that Hamas won.

Jewish Woman Brutally Slain By Neighbors In Iran

(JNS.org) — A Jewish woman in Isfahan, Iran, was murdered and cut in half by neighbors who wanted to take over her home.

The family of the 57-year-old woman says that the Muslim neighbors had killed her after having harassed her for years. The neighbors tried to expel the woman and her family from their home and confiscate the property for the adjoining mosque.

“The religious radicals even expropriated part of the house and attached it to the mosque’s courtyard. The Jewish family appealed to the courts with the help of a local attorney…despite the threats to their lives,” said Menashe Amir, an expert on Iranian Jewry, according to Israel National News.

The woman submitted a complaint to authorities about the efforts to take over her home. On Monday the “thugs broke into her home, tied up her two sisters who were living with her and repeatedly stabbed her to death,” Amir added.

The event left the Jewish community in Iran, estimated to be around 25,000 people, worried and fearing escalating violence against it, reported Israel Hayom and Israel Radio. However, a government census published earlier this year now shows there may be fewer than 9,000 Jews left in Iran, and fewer than 100 Jewish families in Isfahan, Amir said.