Israel News for March 11, 2016
Illegal Aliens
Police arrested over 250 Palestinian workers living in Israel illegally yesterday as part of a major initiative to stop the current wave of terror. The terrorists who perpetrating stabbing attacks on the Jaffa boardwalk and in Petach Tikva on Tuesday were both illegal Palestinian workers. Most of the Palestinians arrested were currently employed in Israel.
In the wake of the Jaffa attack the government has decided to close breaks in the security fence around Jerusalem and to construct additional fencing in an area near Hebron. The government will also promote new legislation to punish those who employ or give lodgings to illegal aliens.
There are estimated to be thousands of Palestinians living and working in Israel illegally. Since the courts are usually lenient with the illegal Palestinian workers, police are cracking down harder on those employing or lodging the illegals, by shutting down building sites, restaurants and other venues that employ the Palestinians and by impounding the vehicles used to transport them.
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Terrorist Shooter
The Police Internal Affairs Unit has opened an investigation into the actions of the police volunteer who shot the terrorist who stabbed 11 people, killing one, in Jaffa on Tuesday night. The civilian volunteer is suspected of continuing to fire at the terrorist after he was already neutralized.
A video of the incident shows the attacker lying on the ground while bystanders yell to shoot him in the head and congratulate the volunteers. A gunshot is then heard and one of the volunteers yells that there’s no need to shoot because the terrorist was already neutralized.
The video ends several minutes before the terrorist died so it’s unclear whether the shooter actually hit him and, if so, if it was the last shot that killed him.
To watch the video click here.
Rabbi on Shooting
In the wake of the police investigation into the shooting of the Jaffa terrorist by the civilian police volunteer, Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, the Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan and a prominent leader of the Religious Zionist movement, has said that Jewish law prohibits killing a terrorist who is already neutralized.
The rabbi said, “We have to make a clear distinction here between war and civilian actions. In civilian actions, if someone comes to kill you need to prevent the killing, (as per the Torah precept) ‘don’t stand idly by your neighbor’s blood,’ but if it’s possible, do that by harming one of his (the terrorist’s) organs.”
“While sometimes a person is unable to consider things in an organized manner during a time of action – they must act spontaneously within seconds – if there is a possibility to consider and time allows, you must first wound but not kill. It is also forbidden to just kill a non-Jew if it is possible to avoid the killing and it is possible to wound – all of this is under civilian conditions.” Rabbi Ariel added that in war, killing the enemy is permissible under all circumstances.
Is terrorism akin to being at war?
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BDS Victory
As a result of intense pressure from the BDS movement, cosmetics giant Ahava has decided to relocate its manufacturing plant from the settlement of Mitzvah Shalem, in the West Bank, to a site near Kibbutz Ein Gedi, which is within Israel’s pre-1967 borders. Ahava is following the example of SodaStream, which relocated last year from the West Bank industrial zone of Mishor Adumim to the Negev in the face of massive BDS pressure.
The new Ahava plant will be more advanced and will include a visitors center. All the Palestinian workers currently employed in the West Bank plant will likely lose their jobs, as was the case with the Palestinian SodaStream employees. Another BDS victory, and another defeat for Palestinian workers. On the bright side, there will be new jobs for Israeli workers.
In a related story BDS is claiming another victory after British security company G4S announced that it is selling its business in Israel. G4S provides security equipment and has contracts with Israel’s prison system. It employs 8,000 people in Israel. The company claimed that its decision is purely commercial and has nothing to do with BDS pressure.
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Abbas Rejects Biden
According to a report in the Jerusalem based Al-Quds Palestinian newspaper, PA President Abbas rejected a U.S. Peace initiative presented to him by U.S. Vice President Biden at their meeting in Ramallah yesterday.
According to the source, the new American initiative to restart peace talks included designating East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state and halting settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in return for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and giving up the demand for a Palestinian right of return.
Abbas has apparently decided to play it cool and wait for a better offer.
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