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Israel News for November 26, 2015

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Deadly Accident
A female soldier was killed and around 40 other soldiers were injured when their bus overturned into a ditch near the settlement of Kochav Hashachar in Samaria today. Police said that the driver lost control of the vehicle. Helicopters and ambulances evacuated the seriously wounded from the scene.

Earlier this morning, Border Police officers shot and killed a Palestinian near Tapuah Junction in the West Bank after he got out of a taxi near a military post and began running toward officers while brandishing a knife.

For further reading click here and here.

Close Call
The Palestinians seem to be adept at missing opportunities. They’ve passed up Israeli offers for their own state on several occasions. It looks like they messed up again.

Prior to the recent wave of terror, the IDF had recommended easing restrictions on the Palestinians in the areas of security, economy and construction.

Believe it or not, the military proposed approving requests made by the Palestinian Authority for armored vehicles, weapons (primarily light arms including Kalashnikov and M16 rifles) and ammunition. It also recommended releasing Palestinian security prisoners who have been jailed in Israel for decades.

But wait, there’s more. The IDF recommended measures to make it easier for Palestinians to obtain permits allowing them to work in Israel.

None of these recommendations are going to be implemented because of the ongoing violence. But what happens when the violence ends? Will the government implement the IDF’s recommendations? Scary.

For further reading click here.

New Wall
Defense Minister Ya’alon announced yesterday that the defense establishment will be constructing an updated security fence between Hevron and Kiryat Gat. The sophisticated and hermetically sealed fence, similar to the one on the Sinai border, will be built within a year and will cost hundreds of millions of shekels, with financing coming from the recently approved defense budget.

This decision comes in the wake of a terror attack in Kiryat Gat on Saturday night in which the terrorist, a resident of the village of Yatir near Hevron, apparently snuck into the area through holes in the existing fence. Four people were wounded in that attack.

Is this an isolated initiative, or is it part of a much larger plan to build an impregnable security fence along the entire dividing line between the West Bank and pre-1967 Israel?

For further reading click here.

IAF Strikes
A Saudi Arabian news site has reported that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck a Hezbollah base near Damascus on Monday night. The site cited an Israeli security source who said that Israel believes that Hezbollah is storing advanced Russian anti-tank missiles that are capable of piercing the defenses of the Merkava Mark IV, Israel’s most advanced tank.

Arab sources had also reported an Israeli airstrike near Damascus International Airport around two weeks ago. Earlier in the month it also reported that the IAF struck an advanced missile transfer including long-range Scud missiles as they made their way through Qalamoun en route to Hezbollah.

The message seems pretty clear: Israel will do whatever it takes to stop Hezbollah from getting advanced weapons from anyone. The IAF rules!!

For further reading click here.

Iran Speaks
Not to be overshadowed by the events in Syria, ISIS, Paris and worldwide terror in general, Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, said on Wednesday that Iran would support the Palestinian uprising against Israel “in any way we can,” and rejected U.S. accusations that a recent wave of Palestinian knife and car-ramming attacks amounted to “terrorism.”

He added, “We will defend the movement of the Palestinian people with all of our existence, and in any way and as long as we can.”

Is anyone surprised? Thank God “radical Islam” doesn’t exist, or else we’d really be in trouble.

For further reading click here.

Sexual Harassment
Knesset Member Yinon Magal, the head of the Bayit Yehudi Knesset faction, was removed from his post by party chairman Naftali Bennett after accusations of sexual harassment against him surfaced.

Yesterday, police began an inquiry into the testimonies of several women who claimed that they were sexually harassed by Magal when they worked at Walla News, where Magal served as Editor-in-Chief, and after he left to run for office.

Bayit Yehudi party members have said that if the investigation continues and things get worse, further steps will be considered. In the meantime, Magal will continue to hold his Knesset seat and remain a member of the Committee on the Status of Women. Makes perfect sense, right?

Hey, if Saudi Arabia can chair the UN committee on Civil Rights….

For further reading click here.

Waste Transformer
Turning water into wine is neat. But an Israeli startup is doing something a bit more useful. HomeBiogas is marketing a product that takes your kitchen waste and turns it into gas for cooking. You can even throw in dog pooh (and then cook with it? Yum.)!

According to the company, each kilogram of food waste can generate about 200 liters of gas, enough for an hour’s cooking time on high flame. If fed the optimal amounts of “fuel,” the system can emit enough gas for three to four hours of cooking per day. That’s enough to make several meals for a family.

There are a few downsides. The unit is pretty big and emits a rotten egg smell, so you don’t want to keep it indoors. It also costs $890 plus tax, in Israel. The US suggested retail price is $1,500. But due to its use of bacteria to decompose the waste, the unit will only work in warm climates, like the Mediterranean and Africa.

I doubt Google will be buying this Israeli startup so quickly.

For further reading click here.

Israel News for October 8, 2015

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Breaking News
This morning a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem stabbed and seriously wounded a 25 year old ultra orthodox yeshiva student near the light rail on French Hill in Jerusalem. He then tried to grab the gun from a security guard nearby, but following a scuffle fled the scene. Members of the Yasam anti-terrorist police unit apprehended the terrorist. The story is still unfolding.

Female Stabber
The 18 year old Arab woman who stabbed a 36 year old Israeli man near the Lion’s Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem on Wednesday had aspirations of becoming a martyr. At least that’s what she wrote on her Facebook page hours before her attack. She wrote, “where am I going? I’m going to become a shaheed (martyr). I want to ask you one thing — not to cry for me when I become a martyr. My greatest desire is to be a martyr for Allah.”

Unfortunately for her, she failed in her mission. She also failed to become a murderer, through no fault of her own. She tried her best but she ended up stabbing a reserve paratroop officer. After being stabbed in the head and back he turned to face her, drew his weapon and shot her. She was seriously injured.

The woman was studying to be a history and geography teacher at the University of Bethlehem. We can only hope that she’ll never get the chance to become a martyr or teach children to follow in her evil ways.

For further reading: http://news.walla.co.il/item/2895431

Terror Spree
There were several separate terror attacks in Israel yesterday.

In the southern town of Kiryat Gat, an Arab man stabbed a soldier in a public bus and stole his rifle. The attacker fled into a residential building. Unfortunately for him, anti-terrorist police happened to be around and saw him. They put a quick end to his life of terror and sent him directly to “paradise”. The Palestinian press identified the terrorist as a 17 year old from the Hebron area. The Israeli soldier was lightly wounded and taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

In Petach Tikva, an Arab got off a bus at the entrance to a large mall and stabbed a 25 year old Israeli man. Passersby chased the terrorist, disarmed him and subdued him until police arrived. The victim was taken to the hospital with moderate wounds. The attacker was identified as Tamer Yunis Ahmed Vareidat, 25, from Daheira, near Hebron.

In the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tur, police stopped a 15 year old Arab for questioning. The teen pulled a knife and tried to stab them. The officers subdued him.

Israeli forces at the Al Zaim checkpoint near Mount Scopus in Jerusalem opened fire at an Arab driver when he tried to run them over with his vehicle. The driver was moderately wounded.

There were also stoning incidents near Gush Etzion and Bet El.

Upshot
Doesn’t look like Abbas’s call for calm has been too effective. He might have already lost any control he had to stop the violence. Is this the beginning of a new intifada?

For further reading: http://news.walla.co.il/item/2895353

Barkat Packing
Jerusalem’s mayor Nir Barkat is not afraid to get his hands dirty when it comes to security issues in the city. Back in February he tackled a knife-wielding attacker outside the municipality building.

Barkat was recently photographed carrying an assault rifle during a visit to the Arab neighborhood of Beit Hanina in east Jerusalem.

The mayor’s office remarked that the mayor is a “licensed and trained gun owner” and was carrying his weapon with him during a visit with Israeli security forces. The statement added that “many terror attacks in Jerusalem have been prevented or neutralized due to the quick actions and response of responsible bystanders.”

So it seems that Vladimir Putin isn’t the only leader ready to get physical. Let this be a warning to the terrorists: beware of Barkat.

PM Bans Ministers
There’s a reason why there haven’t been any recent visits by government ministers to the Temple Mount. That’s because prior to leaving on his trip the New York to address the UN, the PM issued an order prohibiting ministers and Knesset members from visiting the site. The order doesn’t apply to Arab Knesset members.

New PM Diggs
Plans have been submitted to the Jerusalem municipal planning committee for the construction of a new residence and office for the Prime Minister in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem. The area already houses other government buildings including the Knesset and the Foreign Ministry as well as many national museums and one of the campuses of Hebrew University.

The two buildings will be built on an empty 7.4 acre plot and will cost around 650 million shekels ($169 million).

It’s about time they moved the PM from his current location in the crowded Rehavia neighborhood, where the residents will most likely be thankful for the traffic relief, demonstrations and official activity. On the other hand, the security in the neighborhood was pretty darn good. But it must have been a logistics nightmare for the PM’s security detail.

Best of luck on the project!

For further reading: http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.679266

Prayers Answered
On the holiday of Shmini Atzeret, which was just celebrated on Monday, Jews say a special series of prayers for rain. Well, what do you know? It looks like our prayers were especially effective this year. There has been a significant amount of rainfall throughout Israel in the last few days, which is very unusual. The rain is expected to continue until the weekend. The usual pattern is for the rains to come in the second half of the month, so if that holds true, this could be a truly blessed year for Israel — at least in the rain department.

For further reading: http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/729/615.html