Israel News for December 11, 2015

Terror Attack
An attempted car-ramming attack near Hebron was foiled today when the driver was shot and killed at the scene. Hours earlier, shots were fired at the West Bank’s Gilboa checkpoint. There were no casualties. The terrorist was shot by soldiers but managed to escape, before being apprehended by Palestinian Authority security forces.

Four soldiers were wounded in a car-ramming attack at the Beit Arye junction in the West Bank on Thursday afternoon.

One soldier was critically wounded and another three were moderately and lightly wounded. The car escaped the scene but was later found by security forces in the village of Al-Lubben, near the settlement of Beit Arye. Security forces found an M-16 rifle, belonging to one of the soldiers, and a stun grenade in the car. The Shin Bet subsequently found and arrested the driver.

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Rock Attack
A three week old baby was injured in a rock throwing attack just outside of Beitar Elit. The baby, Aviel Mamo, was in a car with his four siblings, driven by his mother. He was evacuated to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem where the slivers of glass in his eye were removed.

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Israeli Released
Back in 2000, Ouda Tarabin, an Israeli Bedouin Arab, crossed into Egyptian Sinai illegally to visit his sister and was caught and convicted of spying for Israel and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Yesterday he was released after serving his full prison term. Israel says that it released two Egyptian prisoners, without providing further information.

Israeli embassy officials in Cairo visited Tarabin regularly in prison in recent years, and senior Israeli officials brought up his case and a request for his release every time there was a possibility of a prisoner exchange between the two countries.

Itzhak Levanon, a former ambassador to Egypt who was involved in efforts to get Tarabin released over the years, told Israel Radio that Tarabin was held in terrible conditions, in a cell without a toilet. He also recounted a conversation he had with then Egyptian President Mubarak, who told him, “We always need to have an Israeli prisoner with us.'”

Tarabin was welcomed back by PM Netanyahu and hundreds of well-wishers. He told Israeli reporters he planned to find a wife and start a family.
Welcome home.

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Trump Cancels
Donald Trump has decided to cancel his planned trip to Israel. He tweeted that he would reschedule at a later date, “after I become President of the US.”

Trump told Fox News there were many reasons he decided to hold off on a trip, among them that he didn’t want to put Netanyahu in a bind. “In fact, I did a campaign ad for him, and he’s a good man, but I didn’t want to put him under pressure,” Trump said. He also claimed that he canceled because he is in the midst of a very powerful campaign that’s going very well.”

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Take Two
Yesterday we reported that Israel’s Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau reprimanded Education Minister Naftali Bennett for visiting a Solomon Schechter Conservative Jewish day school in NYC.

Well, it turns out that Rabbi Lau might not be practicing what he preaches. In October, on a visit to Washington he visited a nondenominational Jewish day school where girls study with boys, lead prayer services and read the torah while wearing prayer shawls.

In response R. Lau claims that he visited Jews from the Open-Orthodox movement. Whatever.

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Jordan Discriminates
Jordanian border guards grabbed the kippot off of the heads of members of an Israeli family entering Jordan. The Hayardeni family was entering Jordan on a planned vacation when the incident occurred. They promised to hide the kippot in their luggage for the duration of their trip, but the Jordanians demanded that they leave them at the border, claiming that no Jewish religious items are permitted in Jordan.

The family filed a complaint with the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The Foreign Ministry responded that it was clarifying the family’s complaint with the Jordanian embassy: “We are with the family, and explaining that there is no justification in banning kippot.”

Despite losing a lot of money on hotel bookings and services that were not refunded, the family decided not to try and go ahead with their Jordanian vacation plans, saying that, “The children said they were not interested, they felt that they were not wanted in Jordan as Jews, which is in fact what we all felt.”

Instead, the Hayardenis are spending their vacation in Eilat. A much better choice these days.

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Road Deaths
According to the latest statistics, 338 people have been killed on Israel’s roads since the start of the year. Shmuel Abuav, the CEO of the Israeli road safety NGO Or Yarok, said “this is the third year running that the State of Israel has registered an increase in the number of road fatalities.” In 2014 a total of 319 were killed, in 2013 – 309 and in 2012 – 292. Abuav explained that the increase in fatalities is a direct consequence of funding cuts by the Ministry of Transport to road safety programs.

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Frozen Potatoes
A recent cold spell in Israel has particularly hurt potato farmers in the Negev. Losses are estimated at NIS 10 million. Besides the crops destroyed now, the cold will also diminish the size of the potatoes in future crops. A large percentage of Negev potatoes are exported to Russia (yes, they still eat lots of potatoes in Russia), which has been cutting back recently because of negative economic conditions. That, combined with the cold wave, spells hardship for Israel’s potato farmers.

Who here knew that Israel grows potatoes?

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Prime Dog
Two guests were bitten by the Netanyahu family dog Kaia at a Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony for Likud MKs held at the Prime Minister’s residence. Kaia bit MK Sharren Haskel and Or Alon, husband of Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely. Haskel, a veterinary nurse attempted to pet Kaia, but the dog was agitated by all the commotion in the home and bit her. Both of the injured guests were treated by the PM’s paramedics and stayed for the remainder of the event. Haskel later joked about the incident on Twitter, ”as someone who used to be a snake wrangler, a small bite from a dog won’t deter me.”

The Netanyahus adopted Kaia after Avner, the younger of their two sons, found out that she was about to be put to sleep.

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