israel news

Israel News for 10-10-18

Terror Investigation
The investigation by the Shin Bet into the vicious terror attack this week in which 2 Israelis were murdered has revealed that the terrorist forced an Arab cleaner in the building, at gunpoint, to bind Kim Levengrond Yehezkel’s hands with cable tie taken from the company’s storeroom. The terrorist then allowed the cleaner to flee the building before proceeding to murder the young woman. The cleaner, a 20-year-old resident of Nablus, was questioned by the Shin Bet, but at the moment he is not under arrest. There is still no known reason for why the terrorist wanted Kim’s hands bound.

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Meanwhile, Sarah Vettori, who was shot and wounded by the terrorist said that a Palestinian warehouse worker saved her life by pulling her under the table and helping stop the bleeding with tissue paper. The worker, Basel, comes from the same village as the terrorist.

Vettori said, ”Basel saved my life. I was vaguely conscious and Basel, who ran into the office where I was hiding, pulled me under the table and reassured me when he said: ‘Habibti, habibti (My dear, my dear).’ He stroked my face in an attempt to keep me conscious until the ambulance arrived.”

She added, “When I was lying there wounded, I asked Bassel for a glass of water because I felt thirsty, but he said that water shouldn’t be given in these situations, and when I arrived at the hospital the doctors said it is forbidden to drink water (in the case of gunshot wounds), so Basel was correct.”

Vettori, a mother of three, was released from the hospital on Monday since it turned out that the bullet that struck her went right through her body.

The Alon Group, which owns the recycling factory where the attack took place, has decided to keep the factory closed until further notice.

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Student Detained
In a first-of-its-kind case, the state has held an American graduate student at Ben Gurion Airport for a whole week, accusing her of supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old American citizen with Palestinian grandparents, landed at Ben-Gurion Airport last Tuesday with a valid student visa, but she was barred from entering the country and ordered deported. Alqasem is a former president of the University of Florida chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. She remains in custody while she appeals.

Last year, the Knesset passed a denying entry to any foreigner who “knowingly issues a public call for boycotting Israel.” Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan said yesterday that he would drop his efforts to expel her if she apologizes and renounces her BDS support.

In her appeal, Alqasem has argued that she never actively participated in boycott campaigns, and promised the court that she would not promote them in the future. Her attorney claims that all she wants to do is to study in Israel.

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Ancient Find
the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem announced yesterday that archaeologists have uncovered the oldest known instance of the word “Jerusalem” spelled out in full, on an ancient stone carving that was once part of an ancient pottery workshop. The carving says “Hananiah son of Dodalos from Jerusalem” — dates to the first century A.D., making it about 2,000 years old.

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