Israel News for October 21, 2016
IDF Patrol Attacked
An IDF patrol vehicle came under heavy attack from Palestinian rock throwers south of the Gush Etzion Junction. The soldiers came out of the vehicle, warned the attackers to cease and fired a warning shot into the air. When the attackers continued, the soldiers followed standard engagement protocol and opened fire. One attacker was killed. One soldier was lightly injured in the rock attack. The IDF is investigating the incident.
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Terror List
The US State Department has added Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai to its Specially Designated Global Terrorist list, which “imposes sanctions on foreign persons determined to have committed, or pose a serious risk of committing acts of terrorism.”
The US Treasury Department also sanctioned Tabatabai and three other individuals and one company under a standing executive order that prohibits US banks from having any dealings with “persons who commit, threaten to commit or support terrorism” and blocks any property or assets they may have in the United States. The Treasury said it was a joint action with Saudi Arabia aimed at “disrupting Hezbollah’s worldwide commercial and financial infrastructure.”
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Post Election Action
If you want to promote any anti Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council, you should wait until after the US presidential elections to do so. At least that’s the message that the US and Egypt have sent the Palestinians. The US is a permanent member of the council and Egypt currently holds a rotating seat there.
The US has made it clear that it will veto any resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian issue before the election. The Palestinians are heeding the warning and biding there time. Regarding their planned anti-Israel resolution, one senior Palestinian official said, “We’re at the consultation stage now, and we’ll advance our move after the elections. At the moment, there’s no agreement on the final wording, and it’s not clear to us what the American position will be and if, after the elections, the administration really will be willing to cooperate, or will still cast a veto.”
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Amona Protest
Thousands of people demonstrated in Amona, the settlement that is slated for evacuation by the end of the year, calling on the Prime Minister to go against the Supreme Court decision ordering the evacuation. Likud and Bayit Yehudi MKs were in attendance.
Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan (Bayit Yehudi) said, “We were here on the eve of Yom Kippur when we told the residents of Amona that we are committed to solve the issue of the Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, with Amona included. We won’t give up, and if that doesn’t happen, we will present the Resolution Bill ourselves at the beginning of the next Knesset session. There won’t be a government without a resolution.”
The Likud issued a statement in response to the rally saying, “Prime Minister Netanyahu is calmly and responsibly leading a concerted effort to find a solution to the problem of Amona and its derivatives together with the minister of defense, minister of justice and attorney general. It is unfortunate that some people cannot handle the pressure, so that instead of joining forces as part of a real effort would rather charge ahead with a baseless and irresponsible political battering ram that only hurts Amona and the settlement project in general.”
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Priestly Tombs
Did you know that the tombs of Elazar, the son of Aaron the High Priest, and his son Pinchas (the one who the torah portion is named after) are located in the Arab village of Awarta in Samaria? The village is also the home of two of the terrorists who massacred the Fogel family in their home in nearby Itamar in 2011. Samaria Brigade Commander Colonel Gilad Amit will participate in a special prayer service at the tombs.
Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan said, “Wherever you go in the land of Israel there is proof that the land belongs to the Jewish people. This proves how ridiculous the UNESCO resolution that tries to deny the connection between the land and the Jews is. Not only on the Temple Mount, but here in this village in Samaria, where those evil murderers came from, there is proof that this land was always Jewish. Even the most heinous murders fail to break the connection between the Jewish people and their land.”
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