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israel news terror

Israel News for December 1, 2015

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Arab Terror
At around 8:00am today, a Palestinian attempted to stab an Israeli man at the Gush Etzion junction but was shot and killed by soldiers at the scene. A bystander was hit in the hand and lightly wounded by a piece of shrapnel from the shooting. The junction has been the site of ten previous terrorist attacks.

Just moments later, a 25 year old man was stabbed in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem. He said his attacker was an Arab man. Police are searching for the attacker.

Later this morning, a Palestinian woman was found near the settlement of Efrat with a knife in her bag. She was taken in for questioning.

Also today, a Palestinian woman tried to stab an IDF officer at a checkpoint near the West Bank settlement of Einav. She was shot and later died.

For further reading click here.

Jewish Terror
Israeli police and the Shin Bet have revealed that they have made significant progress in the investigation of one of the worst recent Jewish terror incidents, and that they are optimistic that they will solve the case and bring the perpetrators to justice. Since the case is under a strict gag order, the details of the investigation are barred from publication. According to Channel 2 News, the gag order is likely to be lifted in the next couple of days. Any guesses as to what terror incident they’re referring to?

For further reading click here.

The Handshake
In their first face to face encounter since 2010, PM Netanyahu and PA President Abbas shook hands at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris yesterday.

The two found themselves in the same row in a group photo of leaders. Only New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key stood between them. After the group photo, they shook hands and exchanged a few words. No one thinks the handshake represents any improvement in relations between the men.

The PM also had a 10-minute conversation with U.S. President Obama, which U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joined toward the end.

For further reading click here.

Minister to Resign
Knesset Member Yinon Magal of the Bayit Yehudi party informed party leader Naftali Bennett yesterday that he would resign from the Knesset.

Police are investigating harassment complaints filed by four women against Magal relating to when he was editor-in-chief at Walla news.

Magal told Bennett that he was sure that there was no criminal aspect to anything he had done, but that he understood that there were those who had been hurt by his behavior in the past and he therefore wanted to resign from the Knesset.

In response Bennett said, “I have received the notice of Yinon’s resignation, and this is the right thing to do. I hope that the proceedings in which he finds himself will be concluded as swiftly as possible, and that he will be able to devote himself to his family and to his future career.”

Avi Wurtzman, the former deputy education minister, will take over Magal’s Knesset seat.

For further reading click here.

Arab MK to US
The chairman of the Joint List, Ayman Odeh, is set to visit the US on the first diplomatic visit ever for an Arab Knesset member. The Joint List is the unity party formed by the individual Arab political parties in order to gain more seats in the Knesset. The party is currently the third largest faction in the Knesset. That makes Odeh the defacto leader of the Arab Israeli population, and worthy of an invitation to Washington.

Odeh is expected to meet with senior White House and State Department officials. His staff is still attempting to arrange meetings with other highest-ranking Washington personalities. During his stay in Washington, Odeh is scheduled to attend a special event in his honor, hosted by billionaire Daniel Abrahams. Dozens of ambassadors from around the world are expected to attend. Odeh is also expected to visit UN headquarters in New York and meet with a number of UN ambassadors.

Odeh said, “The issues that matter to Israel’s Arab citizens are hardly represented in international dialogue. I’m going to the US to bring that voice with me to influential sources and opinion leaders, and to create contacts and connections with the progressive and civil rights movements.”

He added, “I go so that I may tell the hard truth about Netanyahu and the government in Israel, which rose to power through racist incitement against Arab citizens.”

For further reading click here.

ISIS and Israel
This could be embarrassing. According to reports in the Arab and Russian media, Israel is the major buyer of oil produced and sold by ISIS. The terrorist state produces between 20,000 and 40,000 barrels a day in Iraq and Syria, generating between $1m and $1.5 million in profits.

The oil is transported to the Kurdish city of Zakhu, near the borders of Turkey, Iraq and Syria. From there the oil is smuggled to the Turkish city of Silop, marked as originating from Kurdish regions of Iraq and sold for $15-$18 per barrel to an Israeli broker. The market price for crude oil is currently between $41 and $45 per barrel.

Back in August we quoted the “Financial Times” report that Israel obtained 75% of its oil supplies from Iraqi Kurdistan. Well, a nice chunk of that oil is made in the Islamic State.

If these reports are true, Israel is indirectly supporting ISIS to get oil for less than half the market price. And of course, ISIS is also bolstering the Jewish State.

Let’s hope the reports are false.

For further reading click here.

German Boycott
According to Israel’s Channel 10 news, Galeria Kaufhof, one of Germany’s largest department store chains, has removed Israeli products from its shelves in response to the new EU labeling regulations. The store has over 100 branches and 21,000 employees.

For further reading click here.

Google Denies
Yesterday we reported that the Foreign Ministry had announced that it had reached an agreement with Google for the company to cooperate in removing videos that incite terrorism. Well, after hearing the news, Google denied reaching any agreement with the Foreign Ministry, or with any government, to do anything beyond what it already does to police YouTube.

The Foreign Ministry corrected its original statement but reiterated that Israel was, “extremely grateful for the good relations with Google. Our common objective is to remove dangerous incitement to violence on social media. We have full confidence in the Google teams dealing with this removal.”

For further reading click here.

Israel News for October 22, 2015

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Soldiers Kill Jewish Man
Last night, in another tragic case of mistaken identity, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Jewish man at a bus stop in Jerusalem.

Background
According to police, two soldiers were waiting to get on the bus when a man getting off the bus asked them to show him their identification. They got suspicious and asked him for his ID. An argument ensued and he allegedly attacked them and tried to grab one of their guns. A civilian security guard in the area saw the scuffle, wrongly identified the man as a terrorist and shot at him. Then the soldiers opened fire, killing the man.

The victim was an immigrant from Russia who had served in the IDF in the Nahal Haredi (Ultra Orthodox) Brigade and had worked as a security guard in a school. He was currently studying at a yeshiva in Har Nof, Jerusalem. The rabbis at the yeshiva interviewed by Walla News couldn’t believe how something like this could have occurred. They all described the victim as a quiet, well mannered person who evidently made a bad mistake by arguing with the soldiers.

Police and IDF investigators are sorting through numerous testimonies that include very different facts. In one account the man shouted, “I am ISIS!” (could it have been like, “what, you think I’m ISIS?”). In another, a girl screamed, “Terrorist! Shoot him!”

Upshot
So many factors in this case point to a very tragic and deadly mistake. The soldiers were part of the reinforcements sent to bolster security on buses. They weren’t trained to do police work and handle this kind of situation. The security guard shot before positively identifying who he was shooting at. He probably should have let the soldiers handle the situation. Fear and hysteria took over. In a culture where arguing is commonplace and can often turn violent, this seems to be a case where mistakes were made and shots were fired when they shouldn’t have been. And a man is dead.

For further reading click here.

Terror Continues
This morning two terrorists tried to board a school bus in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. When people nearby shouted at them they got off. When police arrived they found them stabbing an 18 yr. old Haredi man. Police shot and killed one of terrorists and wounded the other. Both of the terrorists were 20 yr. olds from a village near Hebron who were working at a construction site in Beit Shemesh. They were wearing Hamas t-shirts beneath their clothing.The victim was “moderately” wounded.

A vehicle carrying five Israeli soldiers was stoned in Gush Etzion (West Bank) yesterday. When the soldiers got out they were hit by a Palestinian car. One of the soldiers was seriously wounded, 2 moderately and 2 lightly. The terrorist was shot and seriously wounded.

Earlier in the day a 20 yr. old female soldier was stabbed and seriously wounded, near the settlement of Adam. The terrorist then tried to stab another female soldier from the same unit, but she shot and killed him. Another terrorist who took part in the attack was arrested.

For further reading click here.

UNESCO Vote
We’ve got good news and bad news about yesterday’s UNESCO vote to declare Jewish holy sites to be Muslim holy sites. The good news is that the Western Wall was removed from the resolution after strong protests from UNESCO’s director general and many countries. They also removed the part about Jerusalem being the “occupied capital of Palestine.”

Here’s the bad news. They did vote to declare the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron (where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah are buried) and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem as being Muslim sites. They also condemned Israel for a bunch of things, as usual.

The resolution passed by 26 votes to 6, with 25 abstentions. The countries that voted against the resolution were the US, UK, Germany, Holland, Estonia and the Czech Republic. France was one of the countries that abstained. Hmm.

For further reading click here.

PM Backpedals
After making the outrageous statement in a speech on Tuesday that blamed the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem for giving Hitler the idea to exterminate the Jews, PM Netanyahu backpedaled, a little.

In a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the PM clarified that the mufti’s role during the Holocaust was to “call on the Nazis to prevent Jews from fleeing Europe and support the Final Solution.”

Even Merkel was taken aback by Netanyahu’s initial statement so much so that she felt compelled to place responsibility for the Holocaust squarely on Germany. She added, “We stand behind our responsibility and I don’t see any need to change our relation to history.”

So now we’re all clear on this. Hitler was responsible for killing the Jews but the Mufti certainly supported and encouraged his evil plans. Now what about all that Arab rhetoric about pushing us into the sea? Sounds like Jewish destruction to me.

For further reading click here.

Temple Mount Visits
Yesterday Walla News reported from Arab sources that Israeli diplomats told Jordan’s King Abdullah that Israel would reduce the number of Jewish and non-Muslim visitors to the Temple Mount. Both the King and PA President Abbas rejected the offer, claiming that it was insufficient.

They weren’t the only ones unsatisfied with the proposal. Knesset members from the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party called on the PM to clarify whether he instructed the diplomats to make the offer.

Education Minister and head of the Bayit Yehudi party Naftali Bennett said, “I don’t believe that the PM would offer such a proposal.” He added that if the terrorists gain concessions from their terror, then their next wave of terror will be even worse, and that in the Middle East, displays of weakness are not effective diplomacy.

The PM’s office responded that no such proposal ever existed. Good to know.

For further reading click here.

Kurdistan and Jews
Sherzad Omer Mamsani was recently appointed Jewish affairs representative for the government of the semi autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. It shouldn’t be a very taxing job, since there are no Jews in the region (also known as Kurdistan). Mamsani’s main role will be to foster relations with the 200,000 to 300,000 Kurdish Jews, most of whom live in Israel.

Kurdish officials say that there are some 200 to 300 families in Iraqi Kurdistan who outwardly converted to Islam over the last decades but who continue to secretly observe certain Jewish traditions. Mamsani is one of those who claim to have Jewish roots. He’s visited Israel several times and has written about Kurdish – Israeli ties. That cost him a hand, lost in a bombing attack against him by Muslim radicals.

His goal is to reconnect Iraqi Kurds to Jewish culture and to relatives they may have abroad. “We work with the government to reunite families, and to help those Kurds who want to find out about their Jewish roots.” Another longer term goal is to rebuild destroyed synagogues in the region.

Upshot
The Kurds seem to really like Israel. Could be because Israel reportedly purchased a large portion of Kurdish oil exports and because they’ve supplied the Kurds with military assistance, secretly of course. Maybe it’s also because there are no Jews in the country, which makes it a lot easier to be a Jew lover (although it didn’t seem to have worked in Poland).

Hey, anyone fighting ISIS is a friend.

For further reading click here.

High Rent
If you think New York City rents are high, wait until you hear what they’re charging in Tel Aviv. According to the Israeli branch of Sotheby’s International Realty, a Russian (non Israeli) just rented an apartment for $45,000 per month (that’s US dollars, not shekels).

The 3,444 sq.ft. apartment takes up a full floor at the top of the Remez Tower, a high end building in the city’s popular “old north” neighborhood. The rent doesn’t include the $1,000 per month management fee.

According to Isidora Fridman, an executive director at Sotheby’s Israel, a similar sized apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York City rents for $50,000 per month. But why would you want to live on Fifth Avenue if you could live in Tel Aviv?

For further reading click here.