Mideast Report

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Interior Ministry could not deport the non-Jewish foreign spouses of Israelis if it suspects them of being in Israel illegally.

Ruling on a petition filed by 28 mixed couples, the court said the policy was incompatible with the principles of a democratic state. But the court added that the ministry is entitled to verify whether the marriages are fictional, noting that a deportation could be implemented only after the check was completed and a hearing held.

Soldier wounds 2 Palestinian children

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- An Israeli soldier wounded two Palestinian children in the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday.

An Israeli army spokesman said the shooting of a 13-year-old boy was accidental and that army officials did not know how the girl was shot. The boy said the soldier shot both of them on purpose.

Deri's videotape creates hubbub

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli prosecutors are considering opening a criminal investigation into those responsible for producing a videotape in which convicted politician Aryeh Deri compares the treatment he received during his trial to that of Nazi criminals.

Deri, who was sentenced last month to four years in jail for bribe-taking, fraud and breach of trust while serving in Israel's Interior Ministry, claims he was framed in an attempt to "destroy" him and his party, whose supporters are primarily of Sephardi background.

In the videotape, Deri notes that the only trials whose verdicts were aired live, in addition to his, were the Nazi trials of Adolf Eichmann and John Demjanjuk.

The videotape calls on voters to cast ballots for the Shas Party in a show of defiance against the "elite establishment."

Morocco's king urges Jews to vote for peace

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- King Hassan of Morocco has urged Jews of Moroccan origin to vote for peace in Israel's upcoming elections.

"The Middle East area deserves peace," the monarch told a delegation of some 100 Israeli ministers, legislators and rabbis during an audience in his palace in Marrakech on Monday. The monarch's message was widely viewed as being directed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Hassan has repeatedly refused to meet.

Former PLO leader publishes memoirs

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A former PLO leader acknowledged for the first time in a book published Monday that he planned the attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics that resulted in the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes.

In his autobiography, "Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich," Abu Daoud said his commandos never intended to harm the athletes. He blames their deaths on the German police and then-Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.