Israel News for October 28, 2015
More Terror
Two Palestinians approached two Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in the Jewish area of Hebron last night. One of them tried to stab one of the soldiers. The other soldier shot and killed both attackers. The soldiers were not injured.
Several hours earlier, two Palestinians stabbed a 19 year old Israeli soldier in Gush Etzion. Another soldier shot and killed both attackers. The wounded soldier is in stable condition at Sharei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem.
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Jail for Leader
The head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, will start serving his 11 month prison sentence on November 15th. Salah’s appeal was rejected yesterday by the Jerusalem district court. The court also rejected the state’s appeal to extend his sentence to three and a half years.
Salah was convicted of incitement last March, based on a sermon he delivered back on 2007. Arab leaders, including Knesset members, are calling the sentence unjust and discriminatory. They claim that Jewish leaders and rabbis have made statements that they consider incitement against Arabs, but they have not been arrested and tried for them.
Israeli defense officials believe that keeping Salah behind bars will reduce incitement and help curb the wave of violence and terror. However, his imprisonment could provoke demonstrations that could turn violent. There’s also some fear that Salah’s replacement, who is considered to be even more radical, might stir up trouble.
By the way, this won’t be Salah’s first prison experience. He was previously imprisoned for funneling money to Hamas. So maybe he’s not such a good guy after all.
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Amir’s Brother
After serving more than 16 years in prison for his involvement in the conspiracy to murder Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Hagai Amir, the brother of Rabin’s assassin Yigal Amir, is up to no good again.
Twenty years after Rabin’s murder, Hagai Amir has been detained by Israeli police on suspicion of incitement following a Facebook post claiming that Rabin’s murder was preordained and predicting that God would also cause Israeli President Rivlin to “pass from the world”. His post was in response to Rivlin’s recent statement that Rabin’s assassin would never be released as long as he was president.
Amir stands by his statement with no regrets.
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Boy Recovers
The 13 year old Jewish boy who was stabbed and critically wounded in a terror attack in Pisgat Ze’ev earlier this month was discharged from Hadassah Hospital yesterday in “good condition”. The boy was initially hospitalized with no pulse, and hovered between life and death for days.
The second victim of the same terror attack, a 21 year old man, who was seriously wounded was discharged from the hospital on Sunday.
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Return to Wall
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall (Kotel), urged Jews to continue visiting the Kotel. The number of visitors has dropped dramatically since the beginning of the terror wave.
The rabbi assured people that the way to the Kotel through the Jewish quarter was extremely secure and safe. He added,”I believe that during this period it is our duty to visit the Western Wall, hold the planned bar mitzvahs and pray to God. Let’s be strong and avoid rewarding terror.”
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Live Streaming
Israeli and Jordanian officials said yesterday that new surveillance cameras should be installed within days at the Temple Mount, with the goal of streaming the footage live on the Internet for maximum transparency.
A Jordanian official said that both Muslim clerics and Israeli officials will monitor the images for now, but that “the ultimate goal is for the footage to be seen on the Internet, by everyone.”
Israeli officials confirmed the plan, and in a statement, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office said it hopes to start the process “as soon as possible.”
The sooner everyone can see exactly what happens on the Temple Mount, the better for everyone. Well, maybe just for Israel.
On a related note, Israeli Arab Knesset member Basel Ghattas visited the Temple Mount today, in defiance of PM Netanyahu’s directive prohibiting lawmakers from visiting the site. Ghattas, who is Christian, claims to have seen Jews praying on the Temple Mount. It won’t be long before we can go to the video tape to see for ourselves.
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Israel Supports US
The UN General Assembly voted 191-2 in favor of a resolution to condemn the commercial, economic and financial embargo against Cuba by the US. The only country to join the US in voting against the resolution was Israel. What else is there to say?
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German Army
Who would’ve ever thought this could happen? Three weeks ago 110 soldiers from the German Army’s 1st Panzer Division, led by Brig. Gen. Ernst-Peter Horn, arrived in Israel for joint urban warfare training exercises with Israeli troops. The general visited Yad Vashem and the soldiers toured Jerusalem and joined Israeli families for Shabbat dinner.
A lot of dead men are turning over in their graves, both German and Jewish.
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Trick or Treat
This Halloween, don’t be surprised if you’re greeted by an IDF trick or treater. That’s because Walmart is selling Israeli soldier costumes for kids. Walmart’s website displays a child wearing the uniform with the Hebrew word for IDF (Tzahal) on the shirt and a red beret with an Israeli army insignia on it. The kid is holding a toy Uzi machine gun, which is not included with the $27 costume. I guess a lot of Jewish kids are going trick or treating this year. But maybe they should consider skipping Arab neighborhoods.
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