Israel News for January 10, 2017
Terrorist Killed
A Palestinian terrorist attacked IDF soldiers of the Duvdevan unit with a knife last night as the soldiers were carrying out an operation to arrest terror suspects in the Far’a refugee camp in the West Bank. The 33 year old terrorist was shot and killed by soldiers before causing any harm. During the operation the soldiers were also fired at and attacked with molotov cocktails. There were no IDF casualties.
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Status Revoked
Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri has decided to revoke the permanent resident status of 13 family members of the terrorist who killed four soldiers and injured 15 in Jerusalem on Sunday. The family members, including the terrorist’s mother, will lose all social benefits that go along with permanent residency.
This is the first time residency status of family members of terrorists has been revoked, and it precludes them from appealing to the Supreme Court. Deri decided on the move after consulting with the Prime Minister and the Shin Bet.
Deri said, “This is a decision that signals a new era against terrorism and terrorists who use their status to carry out attacks against citizens. From now on, there will be zero tolerance towards those who are involved in terrorism against Israel. Let this be known to all who are plotting, planning or considering carrying out an attack, that their families will pay a heavy price for their actions and the consequences will be severe and far-reaching.”
Israeli citizenship, however, has never been revoked from people involved in or connected to terror activity.
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UN Condemns
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Sunday’s terror attack but added that the attack should not prevent peace starts from restarting between Israel and the Palestinians. He added that those involved in the planning and implementation of the attack “must be brought to justice, condemned and disavowed.” The UN Security Council made a similar statement condemning the attack.
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Funeral Absence
The four soldiers killed in Sunday’s Jerusalem terror attack were laid to rest yesterday. Surprisingly, and to the consternation of the parents of the deceased, no government officials attended any of the funerals. When contacted by the press they all had different reasons and excuses why they couldn’t attend. As a result, the PM has instructed Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman to formulate binding procedures requiring government ministers, deputy ministers and Knesset members to attend the funerals of fallen IDF soldiers.
The PM did visit soldiers who were wounded in the terror attack and are being treated at Shaarei Tzedek and Hadassah Hospital.
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Tsfat Growing
The city of Tsfat, considered to be one of Israel’s holy cities (along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberius) and home to great kabbalists and mystics since the 1500’s, is already home to thousands of haredi families who make up a significant portion of the city’s population. Now two Hasidic real estate investors have announced that they will build 2,000 new homes in the city, earmarked for the haredi public.
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Kushner Rises
President elect Donald Trump has appointed his son-in-law Jared Kushner as a senior White House adviser working on trade and the Middle East.
Although his name isn’t Joseph (like his grandfather and son), you can’t ignore the juxtaposition of the rise of Jared with the rise of Joseph (prime minister to Pharaoh) in the last few Torah portions (regardless of your personal political views).
May he be blessed with wisdom and success.
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Amazing Story
Would you believe that an Arab boy from East Jerusalem who threw stones at soldiers is now trying to join the IDF? It’s true. To read this amazing story click here.
