Israel News for 2-26-18
Navy Attacks
The Israeli navy attacked a Palestinian fishing boat that strayed from a permitted fishing area in the northern Gaza Strip towards Israel last night. The navy verbally warned the ship several and then fired warning shots which were all ignored. One person on the Palestinian boat was seriously wounded and was treated by Israeli sailors who subsequently boarded the boat, but he succumbed to his wounds. The two other men on the boat were taken in for questioning.
Boats are not allowed to stray beyond a fixed limit to the north towards Israeli waters. Israel restricts fishing to a seasonally adjusted zone of between six and nine nautical miles. Egypt keeps similar limitations to the south-west.
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Pilots Faulted
A summary of the investigation by the IDF into the recent shooting down of an Israeli fighter jet by the Syrians said that the crew had chosen “to complete the mission and not defend themselves sufficiently. Their actions did not correlate with standard procedure while under enemy fire.”
The investigation determined that the advanced planning for the operation was done properly, and the intelligence for the mission was sufficient, leading to the successful destruction of the targets, which were marked prior to the retaliatory strike.
In total, the Syrian aerial defense apparatus launched 27 missiles at IAF planes throughout the night and early morning as events unfolded, 13 of them were fired while Israeli jets were attacking the Iranian drone’s control and command center. One of the missiles, a large long-range outdated SA-5 missile, hit the Israeli F-16.
The warning systems in the F-16 that was hit were found to be in order and alerted the pilot and navigator of the threat on time. But the F-16 flight team failed to deploy countermeasures.
A senior IAF officer said, “In the operational theatre, there were a number of planes that did indeed defend themselves against the Syrian launchings while completing their mission. One of the planes that did not defend itself, was hit.” Nevertheless, the investigation concluded that the pilot and navigator’s decision to abandon the plane after it was hit was the right one.
The officer added, “There was no Russian involvement in the incident.”
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Settlement Expansion
The government yesterday unanimously approved a building plan for the Netiv Ha’avot neighborhood in Gush Etzion (West Bank), which will include the allocation of funds for the construction of 350 new housing units. Part of the neighborhood was slated for evacuation next month in accordance with an order by the Supreme Court.
Gush Etzion Council head Shlomo Ne’eman welcomed the decision saying, “This is a massive achievement for the Zionist enterprise in Judea and Samaria,” he said. “The crime of demolishing homes won’t be atoned for by new construction, but will bring about hope for the Zionist enterprise in Gush Etzion.”
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Polish Law Update
Poland’s Justice Minister announced that the controversial law making any mention of Polish complicity in the Holocaust illegal will not be implemented until further discussions in the Polish Constitutional Court and until Israeli and Polish delegations have met to consider rewording it.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who also serves as the country’s state prosecutor, indicated that the law will not be implemented at this stage, despite being ratified, until the Constitutional Court makes a ruling. He also said that the law does not prohibit references to crimes committed by individual Poles and groups, and added that it will not apply to Holocaust survivors, journalists or academics.
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Rabbi Passes
Thousands of mourners attended the funeral procession of Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, who passed away on Shabbat at the age of 86. Rabbi Aurbach, the eldest son of the late sage Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Aurbach ZT”L, was the founder and leader of the radical Jerusalem Faction of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox sect, which fiercely opposes the IDF drafting of yeshivah students as well as any yeshivah students serving in the IDF.
Addressing the crowds of mourners before they carried Rabbi Auerbach’s body to its final resting place in Jerusalem, Rabbi Tzvi Friedman, a prominent rabbi associated with the Jerusalem Faction, said in his eulogy, “We are in a war of destruction. No man should turn up (to the IDF recruitment office). Don’t be scared of the police. Go to prison happily. They can fill the prisons. It won’t help them. He single-handedly directed the struggle while facing ridicule from others.”
Rabbi Aurbach was buried next to his wife in the Har Hamenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem. He did not leave behind any children.
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