israelAM for August 7, 2015
Terrorist Attacks Soldiers
Raid Mohammed Badwan, a 45 yr. old Palestinian from the West Bank village of Biddu, rammed his car into a a group of soldiers walking on the side of the road at the Shiloh junction in Samaria yesterday. Two soldiers were seriously wounded. A third, Lt. Daniel Albaz, was also injured but managed to open fire on the terrorist and seriously wound him. The soldiers were part of the reinforcements deployed to stem unrest and reprisals in the aftermath of the Duma arson attack last week.
Following the attack the IDF entered the village of Biddu were the terrorist lived, surrounded and searched his house and questioned his family. Violent protests ensued, forcing soldiers to use tear gas and rubber bullets. One soldier was injured by a stone.
Reactions
The PM congratulated the soldiers who reacted quickly to neutralize the terrorist and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded. He added, “I find it puzzling that those who were so quick to denounce terror against Palestinians are silent when the terror is aimed at Jews.”
Palestinian Authority President Abbas made no statement.
President Reuven Rivlin wrote, “I am proud of our soldiers who reacted immediately and stopped the terrorist. We have no tolerance for terror and never will have.”
Defense Minister Ya’alon said, ”The struggle against Palestinian terror requires steadfastness and an iron fist against the terrorists and those who send them. We are deploying the finest people and capabilities in order to prevent attacks on the citizens of Israel. Against terror, one fights with zero tolerance and that’s exactly what we’re doing,
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to condemn the attack. “Once again, even after a Palestinian terrorist intentionally plowed his car into three IDF soldiers today, the UN hasn’t condemned the attack, nor the other recent attacks against Israelis.”
A Hamas spokesman praised the attack but did not claim responsibility for it. He called on all Palestinians to go out to hot spots in Judea and Samaria on Friday and violently confront IDF forces. “We call upon the members of our people in the West Bank to carry out more terror attacks so that the occupiers will learn a lesson.”
Islamic Jihad agreed.
Upshot
Security experts assume that the terrorist was a “lone wolf”, not affiliated with any organized group. That means that this type of random violence can happen anywhere and anytime, requiring a constant state of vigilance.
Did Jewish Leader Criticize Netanyahu?
Haaretz reported yesterday that Malcom Hoenlein criticized PM Netanyahu for “telling U.S Jews what they should do vis a vis their government,” regarding the Iran deal. That was a bit of a shock, since Hoenlein is regarded as being one of the American Jewish leaders closest to Netanyahu and personally opposes the deal.
Well, in an interview with the JTA, Hoenlein denied the Haaretz report claiming that the article “could not be more inaccurate.” He admitted to saying, “we don’t believe Israelis should interfere in American politics or that Americans should interfere with Israeli politics,” but added that in the case of the Iran deal the PM has an obligation to appeal to American Jewry for assistance.
Iran Deal Update
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, a leading Democrate expected to be the party’s next leader in the Senate, has announced that he will vote against the Iran deal. “The very real risk that Iran will not moderate and will, instead, use the agreement to pursue its nefarious goals is too great,” Schumer said.
Schumer joins other Jewish Democrats who indicated their opposition to the deal including New York Rep. Eliot Engel, who is the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Reps. Steve Israel and Nita Lowey of New York and Ted Deutch of Florida.
Ben Gurion is Open
Ben Gurion Airport was due to be shut down for Shabbat as a result of a strike by airport workers over the hiring of temporary contract workers. But they schmoozed it out with the Israel Airports Authority and decided to let the approximately 200 flights and 30,000 pass through unimpeded. A whole lot of travelers are very grateful.
Speaking of airports, some of the world’s leading high-tech companies have reportedly signed a petition calling for direct flights between Tel Aviv and Dublin, the capital of Ireland. Sounds reasonable enough.
Prison Calling
Ezra Sheinberg, the Safed rabbi/kabbalist in jail for sexually assaulting 14 women, seems to be taking his case into his own hands. He was discovered to have used the jail’s public phone to call the husband and brother-in-law of at least one of his accusers to try and convince them to withdraw the charges against him. According to a lawyer for the plaintiffs, he’s been doing this a lot lately. He also gave an interview to a reporter. All of this is obviously against prison rules. In all likelihood, he’ll be losing phone privileges for a while. We hope.
Police Cause Traffic Jam
The Ayalon, Israel’s busiest highway, was shut down yesterday by police after they stopped a car driven by an Israeli Arab who’s passengers were two Palestinian women from Gaza. The problem was that, according to police, “they did not cooperate with the police”. That’s a no no in pretty much every country. In Israel it’s life threatening. Police drew their weapons, strip searched the male driver in the middle of the highway, and detained the women for questioning. Lot’s of angry drivers (angrier than usual) got home late for dinner.
Upshot:
Cooperate with the Police.
