Archive for month: September, 2022

News Update

Security forces arrested nine terror suspects in overnight West Bank raids.

The IDF said that it would change its previous position and provide full security to illegal Jewish West Bank settlement outposts, amid a surge in terror attacks. For more, click here.

The IDF released footage from a deadly shootout between Israeli forces and Palestinian terrorists in Jenin on Wednesday in which at least four terrorists were killed and several others wounded. To see video, click here.

The US State Department deputy spokesman called for an investigation into the death of a 7 year old Palestinian boy who allegedly died of a heart attack caused when Israeli troops entered his home to search for terror suspects who threw rocks at Israeli vehicles on a nearby road. The IDF said, “The IDF is familiar with the claim of the boy’s death. And according to preliminary examination, his death had nothing to do with the IDF’s activities in the area.”

The Central Election Commission (CEC) voted 9-5 to disqualify the Arab Balad party from running in the upcoming election because Balad does not accept Israel as the Jewish state. The party is expected to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court claiming there is no ground for the ruling.

The Israeli shekel is at its weakest against the US dollar since April 2020, at 3.55 shekels per 1 dollar. For more, click here.

News Update

The IDF announced the successful completion of testing on the Gabriel 5 anti-ship naval missile system. The missiles were launched from the German made Sa’ar 6-class corvette Navy ship.

Thailand has signed a contact to buy Hermes 900 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) made by Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems for 4 billion baht ($107.67 million). The Thai navy said the drones would be used to patrol the sea to protect the country’s maritime sovereignty, shipping routes and assist in sea rescue operations. The drone system is already used in many countries including the Philippines, Switzerland, the European Union and Canada.

On Tuesday, a 28 year old terrorist from a village in the West Bank killed an 84 year old Israeli woman in Holon, near the construction site he worked at that was already near the woman’s home. The terrorist was found dead today in Tel Aviv, an apparent suicide.

Palestinian security forces and militants agreed to a truce today to end violent clashes between the two groups primarily in Nablus, that stem from anger at the Palestinian Authority by many Palestinians. For more, click here.

As we approach the end of the Jewish year, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) is reporting that Israel’s population is at 9,593,000. The breakdown is 74% Jewish, 21% Arab and 5% listed as other. According to the data, 45.3% of Jews in the country define themselves as secular, 19.2% consider themselves marginally observant, 13.9% are partially religious, 10.7% are religious and 10% are ultra-Orthodox. Data also shows that 89.3% of Israelis are satisfied with their lives. Among Jews that percentage reached 91.5% , compared to 70.7% among Arabs. The report also found that 70.4% of Jews are satisfied with their economic situation, compared to 51.1% of Arabs.

The average wealth of an adult in Israel shot up by 17.6% in 2021 to $273,500, putting Israel among the six largest gainers in the world, according to the thirteenth annual Global Wealth Report published by the Credit Suisse Research Institute (CSRI). For more, click here.

News Update

Last night, terrorists fired shots at a yeshivah in the settlement of Carmel in the Mount Hebron area in Judea. The shots were fired from outside of the settlement. An 18 year old yeshiva student who was in the midst of a class was wounded in the attack and is in stable condition.

Security forces operating in villages near Jenin arrested several suspected accomplices of the terrorists who shot and killed Major Bar Falah on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid met on Thursday with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Jerusalem. Lapid told the Foreign Minister, “My friend, we are changing the middle east together,” he added. “We are moving it from war to peace. From terror to economic cooperation.”

Forty political parties submitted their final lists for the upcoming November 1 election. The latest polls are predicting that no faction will have enough seats to form a coalition government.

Former Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard got engaged on Wednesday to Rivka Abrahams-Donin, who is the granddaughter of a British Jewish officer who was part of a team that tracked down and captured the Nazi commandant of Auschwitz.

News Update

Security forces arrested 12 terror suspects in overnight raids in the West Bank. In Jenin, a terror suspect attempted to escape and was shot and killed. Troops came under attack during a raid near Jerusalem and shot and wounded at least 2 of the attackers. No troops were hurt.

Prime Minister Lapid met with German President Steinmeier in Berlin today and thanked him for his support. He also urged Germany to reject a new nuclear deal with Iran.

Mossad Chief David Barnea said today that the Mossad has foiled dozens of Iranian terror plots aimed against Israeli business people, tourists and diplomats. He said, “We captured armed Iranian terrorists in Cyprus and in Turkey, managed to prevent an attack minutes before it was to begin.” He also said, “The talks on a return to the [Iran] deal only empower the regime in its policy of terror. If they are not made to answer for that, they will continue to spread terror around the world, in a manner that provides the leadership with plausible deniability. Even if just a fraction of that money is diverted to terrorism, our challenge and that of the world to fight it will be huge. This is one of the major faults of the deal – as I told American officials during my visit to Washington. The deal will bring Iran closer to a bomb. It may be positive in the short term but not in the long run.

The Spirit of Zionism political alliance, led by Yamina leader Ayelet Shaked and Derekh Eretz chief Yoaz Hendel, split after Hendel said he could not support joining a narrow coalition led by opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, should one be formed following the November 1 elections. Recent polling showed the alliance was short of the number of Knesset seats needed to pass the electoral threshold. Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked and the Jewish Home chairman Yossi Brodny are expected to announce a joint run in the elections.

Labor party leader Merav Michaeli rejected Prime Minister Lapid’s request that Labor run on a joint list along with Meretz in the upcoming elections. Both parties are currently very close to falling short of the votes needed to pass the electoral threshold.

The ultra-Orthodox Agudat Yisrael and Degel Hatorah have yet to agree to run in a united block, as they have done in recent elections under the name United Torah Judaism (UTJ). If they run separately, neither might garner enough votes to pass the electoral threshold.

An Israeli woman has been arrested by order of Chief Rabbi David Lau, who heads up the Rabbinical High Court, for refusing for the past 4 years to attend any of the court proceedings related to her accepting a divorce from her husband. Rabbinical Court Administrator Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan said the court had tried to refrain from such an extreme ruling but, “Unfortunately, the woman refused to cooperate and insisted on trapping her husband in a marriage that was only legal on paper. I hope the woman will understand her situation in the coming days and agree to a divorce.” The woman can be held in jail until she agrees to accept the divorce.

India’s economic growth has led to growth in its trade with Israel. It is now Israel’s seventh largest export destination, not including arms exports. India is one of the world’s biggest arms importers, and Israel is second only to Russia in arms sales to it. For more, click here.

News Update

Security forces arrested 25 terror suspects and seized firearms overnight in an extensive crackdown on terrorist activity throughout the West Bank and the Jordan Valley. A Palestinian who threw an explosive device at troops was shot and killed.

An alleged Israeli strike against the Aleppo International Airport destroyed a weapons depot, damaged the runway and killed 3 and wounded 5. MK Ram Ben Barak, chairman of Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that the attack on Syria’s Aleppo International Airport came as a warning to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for allowing terrorist activity against Israel to take place in his country’s territory. Syria is allowing Iran to use its civil airports to smuggle in arms and technology to be given to Hezbollah and other Iran backed terror organizations.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid visited an F-35 fighter jet squadron at an Air Force base in southern Israel on Tuesday and commented, “If Iran continues to try us, it will discover Israel’s long arms and capabilities.” He added, “It’s still too early to know whether we succeeded in thwarting the nuclear deal, but Israel is prepared for any threat and any situation. We will continue to act on all fronts against terrorism and against those who seek to harm us. As agreed between me and President Biden, we have full freedom of action to act as we see fit in order to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear threat.” On Monday, Lapid met with a bi-partisan U.S. delegation headed by Senators Lindsey Graham and Bob Menendez in Jerusalem, where he reiterated Israel’s opposition to a new Iran nuclear deal.

Great Britain’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss says she is committed to the Conservative Party’s outlook on Israel, saying, “There is no greater friend to the UK than Israel.” On the campaign trail, she even suggested that she would be open to moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. She has commented that she has many Jewish friends and that her first boss was an Orthodox Jew. She said, “I want to see the scourge of antisemitism eradicated. That means driving it out from our culture, starting with the schools.”