Archive for month: May, 2022

News Update

The IDF captured 2 suspects who attempted to cross the border from Gaza into Israel today. They were found with two grenades and a knife. Also, security forces conducted overnight in Judea and Samaria to search for terror suspects and weapons.

Israeli officials have rejected a request by U.S. Ambassador Thomas Nides, to amend the route of the Jerusalem Day Flag March, to be held on Sunday, so that it avoids the Muslim Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. Jerusalem Day marks the annual anniversary of the liberation and unification of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War. Right Wing young people tend to demonstrate Israeli sovereignty over the entirety of Jerusalem by marching through the city, including the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, carrying flags and chanting nationalistic slogans. Israel’s security agencies and the IDF recommended that the traditional route not be changed in order not to display a show of weakness. PM Bennett also said the route must remain unchanged. Hamas has warned violence if the route is not changed.

Jews were expelled and banned from the Old City and prohibited from visiting the Western Wall by Jordan, from 1948 until 1967. For almost 2000 prior to 1917 (when the British ruled Palestine), Jews could only live in the Old City and worship at the Western Wall under the mostly oppressive and persecutory rule of, first the Christian and then the Muslim rulers of the city. Christians in Jerusalem also faced persecutory restrictions and discrimination under Muslim rule. So let’s all give thanks for the ability to live and visit Jerusalem and worship freely according to our own religious beliefs under the security and protection of the Israeli government, IDF and Israel Police. Remember,

An anonymous US intelligence source told the NYTimes that Israel admitted that it was behind the assassination of a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards last Sunday. Israel is not very happy with the leak. To read more, click here.

The Iraqi parliament approved a bill prohibiting normalization and official relations with Israel. (Are they still a country??)

News Update

Security forces arrested 11 terror suspects and confiscated numerous weapons overnight during raids in the West Bank.

The Jerusalem Magistrate court ruled yesterday that Jews who prayed on the Temple Mount, in violation of the “status quo” in existence since Israel regained sovereignty over the site in the 6 Day War in 1967, were not in violation of any law.  The Police are planning to appeal the ruling, and stopped Jewish worshippers for going up to the Temple Mount today, saying that they will not change the status quo.

Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie-Zoabi, who announced she was leaving the coalition government, has changed her mind and is back in the coalition. A no-confidence vote to bring down the government has thus been averted. To read more, click here.

Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodayar, a senior officer in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, was assassinated outside of his home in Iran yesterday. Israeli security sources claim that Khodayar was behind an Iranian plan to abduct Israelis.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said today that she will reverse her earlier decision and will allow Ukrainian refugees in Israel to work.

News Update

Security forces arrested 14 terror suspects overnight in West Bank raids. The forces came under attack during some of the operations, and responded with gunfire.

PM Bennett has instructed the IDF to use “all kinds of weapons” against terrorists. That could include attack helicopters and air-to-surface missiles.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz will travel to Washington today for meetings with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Gantz will also take part in events in New York and Miami, organized by the American Jewish community, with the participation of families of fallen IDF soldiers.

Israel has delivered 2,000 helmets and 500 protective vests for emergency and civilian organizations in Ukraine. Israel has also set up a field hospital in western Ukraine to treat civilians, and has provided food and medicine to the country. However, Israeli officials have been careful not to directly criticize Russia, which has a major military presence in Syria and has not prevented Israel from carrying out strikes against Iranian backed targets in Syria.

MK Mansour Abbas’ Ra’am party has agreed to support a bill that will subsidize academic scholarships for IDF combat fighters, lone soldiers and soldiers of lower socioeconomic status. The bill was expected to pass with support from the opposition, but doubts arose whether the opposition would oppose the bill in order to make the government look weak. But now with Ra’am’s support, the bill should pass.

Israel has an ambassador in Chad for the first time in 50 years.

Tonight is Lag B’omer, the 33rd day of the 49 days counted between the second day of Passover and the holiday of Shavuot. According to the Talmud, during this period of time in the second century in Israel, 24,000 students of the great sage Rabbi Akiva mysteriously died. One of the reasons given by the Talmud was that their deaths were punishment for their ill treatment of one and other. Whatever the reasons, the students stopped dying on Lag B’omer and so the rabbis turned it into a day of celebration.

Hundreds of thousands of Jews from all walks of life and religious leanings will converge on the town of Meron in the Galilee to celebrate the festival of Lag B’omer at the tomb of the second century Talmudic sage Rabi Shimon Bar Yochai (also a student of Rabbi Akiva) who died on Lag B’omer and who is credited in Jewish tradition for authoring the Zohar, the famous cornerstone of the Kabbalah (Jewish mystical teachings).

According to the Zohar, on the day of his death Rabi Shimon Bar Yochai gathered together all of his students, who were the greatest sages of the time, and revealed to them the deepest secrets of the Kabbalah. During this momentous session his home was filled with an intense light, like a fire.

To commemorate this holy and mystical event, thousands of bonfires are lit in Meron and throughout Israel. In fact, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said that most of the air quality monitoring stations noted a rise in particle concentrations due to the many bonfires lit. This year private bonfires are prohibited, except for in specially designated areas.

The main bonfires in Meron are lit by prominent rabbis, including many Hasidic Rebbes. The first bonfire is lit by the Boyan Rebbe, as has been done for the last 100 years.

In addition to the bonfires, thousands of 3 year old boys are given their first haircut at Meron, following the Kabbalistic tradition performed by the Arizal, one of the greatest expounders of Kabbalah who lived in 16th century Tzfat. Hundreds of hairdressers set up shop in the area to lend a professional hand.

The festivities in Meron continue through the night and into the next day. As a result of last years tragedy, when dozens of visitors were trampled to death, this year all visitors must have tickets (free) to the event, in order to limit the crowds. Safety procedures have been vastly improved at Meron and police will be out in force to assure a safe event.

May the bonfires and prayers at Meron bring light and peace to the entire world.

News Update

Sgt. Maj. Noam Raz, 47, a member of Yamam, Israel’s elite police anti-terror unit, was killed in a shootout with Palestinian terrorists during a raid in the town of Brukin on the outskirts of Jenin this morning. Palestinian sources report that 11 Palestinians were wounded in the shootout, including the brother of a terrorist commander. Sgt. Maj. Noam Raz leaves behind a wife and six children.

Earlier this morning, IDF troops opened fire at a Palestinian who threw a cinderblock at a passing Israeli vehicle in the West Bank. The terrorist also tried to open the doors of the vehicle before being shot.

A man in his 20’s shouted “Allahu akbar” and lunged at police in Jerusalem’s Old City. Police shot and seriously wounded the attacker, who turned out to be unarmed.

Israel has asked the US to persuade the Palestinian Authority to agree to a joint investigation into the killing of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh on Wednesday during exchanges of fire in Jenin. PM Bennett expressed concern that the Palestinians might try to corrupt the evidence or prevent a proper investigation in order to cover up the fact that the reporter was shot and killed by Palestinian fire. The Palestinians have denied Israel’s request to examine the bullet that killed the reporter. Thousands of mourners are attending the journalist’s funeral today in Jerusalem.

Prosecutors filed two indictments today against Sheikh Yusuf Albaz, 63, from Lod, charging the imam with incitement to violence. The Cyber Department of the State Attorney’s Office filed the charges due to Albaz’s public support for rioters who attacked police on the Temple Mount during Ramadan.

Israel, yesterday, approved the building of 4,427 new housing units in various settlements in the area commonly referred to as the West Bank.

News Update

Security forces, after a 4 day manhunt, captured the 2 terrorists who killed 3 and wounded 4 in Elad last week. The 2 were captured on Sunday morning without a fight, in a wooded area not far from Elad. Investigators have revealed that one of the men killed in the terror attack, who worked as a driver, drove the terrorists from an area near the security fence to Elad, thinking that they were workers renovating a synagogue in the town.

A 24-year-old Border Police officer was stabbed and moderately wounded by a terrorist at the Nablus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City. Other Border Police officers at the scene shot and neutralized the terrorist. About an hour later, a knife-wielding Palestinian was shot and killed by a local resident after he infiltrated the West Bank settlement of Tekoa in the Gush Etzion Regional Council. The resident was having tea with his wife on his porch when he spotted the terrorist climbing over the settlements fence. For more, click here. Large military forces were scanning the area for three other suspects who remain at large.

A Palestinian who tried to cross into Israel from the West Bank near the city of Tulkarm was shot dead by an Israeli force that was stationed nearby. Government leaders, including the PM and DM, estimate that the recent terror spree could continue for the foreseeable future.

The UK Sunday Times reported that Israel told allies that it was sending hit teams to assassinate Hamas leaders abroad in retaliation for the recent deadly wave of terror attacks in Israel.

Police returned the bodies of 2 terrorists who murdered 2 Border Police officers in Hadera last month. The terrorist were Israeli Arab citizens. The bodies were returned on the condition that the two funerals together not be attended by more than 100 people, no flags or signs be raised during the funeral and no processions take place.

A new session of the Knesset opened today, with no majority for the government. The opposition, led by former PM Netanyahu met to discuss how to proceed in attempting to topple the government. The opposition doesn’t have a majority either. To read more, click here.