Israel News for 6-13-18
Syrian Missiles
According to a commander in the pro-government alliance in Syria, the Syrian army has reinforced its anti-aircraft defenses near the frontier with Israel and additional defenses are set to be deployed in the coming days. He said that the stationing of the Russian-made Pantsir S1 weapon aims “to renew the air defense system against Israel in the first degree.” The Syrian government has been planning to mount an offensive against rebel held territory in areas near the Israeli border, but has yet to make any moves, most likely as a result of American and Israeli pressure along with Russia’s desire to avoid direct conflict with either country.
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Settlement Evacuated
Thousands of police officers participated yesterday in the evacuation of Netiv Ha’avot, a settlement outpost in Gush Etzion. The Supreme Court ruled that the 15 homes in the outpost were illegally built on Palestinian owned land.
Teenagers standing on the house’s rooftop poured paint and threw stones and water bottles at the police. The police began carrying the youths away one by one. The outpost’s residents asked the youths to come down from the rooftops, but they refused. By the end of the evacuation, two teenagers and a young man were arrested for assaulting a police officer, while dozens of other teens were barred from the area. Thirteen police officers were wounded during the evacuation. One was in moderate condition and the others were lightly hurt.
The residents of Netiv Ha’avot will be resettled on a nearby plot of land. They hope to return to rebuild their homes in two years, if the land is legalized.
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Terror Attack Confirmed
The Shin Bet has confirmed that the stabbing attack against an 18 year old girl in Afula by a Palestinian from Jenin was in fact a terror attack. The suspect, who was captured by police after the attack, confessed his terror motive to investigators. Police had initially not labelled the attack as a terror attack.
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Terrorist Arrested
The Shin Bet and the IDF’s elite Duvdevan unit have arrested the terrorist who dropped a marble slab on the head of IDF soldier Staff Sgt. Ronen Lubarsky that killed him last week during a raid at the al-Am’ari Refugee Camp. The terrorist, Islam Yusuf Hamid, 32, was in an Israeli prison from 2004 to 2009 for involvement in a Hamas sponsored shooting attack.
Hamid comes from a family of Hamas terrorists behind several attacks that killed Israelis in the past. Four of his brothers, also Hamas members, are serving life sentences for their involvement in murderous terror attacks during the second intifada, including the 2002 Seafood Market attack in Tel Aviv that claimed the lives of three Israelis. One of the brothers is serving a life sentence for the 1994 shooting of Shin Bet operative Noam Cohen. Hamid’s elder brother is one of the founders of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and the right hand of Marwan Barghouti.
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Preventing Terror
Shin Bet (Israel’s FBI) Director Nadav Argaman revealed that his organization has prevented 250 terror attacks so far this year. Big data and social media tracking has played a major role in the Shin Bet’s success.
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Hunger Strike
MK Yehuda Glick (Likud) launched a hunger strike Tuesday morning, which he intends to continue until Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) raises the tax on loose tobacco for roll-up cigarettes so it is equal to the tax on regular cigarettes, in accordance with international and domestic health organizations’ demands.
Glick said, “World health organizations have asked the State of Israel to raise the taxation on loose tobacco to equal regular cigarettes, and Mr. Finance Minister has dismissed it. The Finance Committee along with its chairman Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism), voted unanimously in favor of increasing the tax on loose tobacco, because children can walk into a supermarket and buy tobacco, and the finance minister just keeps singing his tune.”
He added, “I believe in the Torah that says human life is above everything, I can’t wash my hands clean of this issue anymore, I cannot say that my hands did not spill this blood, and so… I will go on a hunger strike until Minister Kahlon starts caring about our children.”
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