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Israel News for January 26, 2016

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Terror Attack
Yesterday two Palestinian terrorists jumped over the security fence of the settlement of Beit Horon, which is located just off of Highway 443 in between Modiin and Jerusalem, and stabbed two women near a grocery store. They also threw three pipe bombs that failed to explode. When they attempted to enter the grocery store to stab more women and children, the cashier, Motti Shalem, blocked them using a large metal shopping cart.

Salem recounted, “the two terrorists came from the direction of the fence, and must’ve breached it and got in. Then they stabbed a woman on the sidewalk, and another at the parking lot, and then tried to enter the store. Me and another guy pushed them back with a supermarket cart, and then they ran, and were shot by the security guard.”

One of the women stabbed, Shlomit Krigman, died of her wounds today. Krigman, 23, was from Shadmot Mehola in the Jordan Valley and lived with her grandparents in Beit Horon. She was laid to rest today in Jerusalem, near the resting place of Dafna Meir, who was murdered by a terrorist last week in Otniel. The other victim, a 58 year old woman, remains hospitalized with moderate wounds.

The attackers were later identified as Ibrahim Alan, from the adjacent West Bank village of Beit Ur al-Tahta, and Hussein Abu Ro’ash, from the Qalandiyah refugee camp, north of Jerusalem. One of them had posted on his Facebook page last Thursday that he planned on committing an attack the following week.

For further reading click here.

New Homes
Israeli planning authorities approved the construction of 153 new apartments in West Bank settlements last week, effectively putting an end to an informal construction freeze that has lasted about 18 months. This comes after Jerusalem’s local planning and building commission gave final approval last month for the construction of 891 units in the Gilo neighborhood of East Jerusalem.

Perhaps the Israeli government feels that the U.S. Administration is unlikely to protest during an election year?

For further reading click here.

Misplaced Rain
Israel has been hit with some massive rain storms this year, which should be a good thing for the country’s water supply. Unfortunately, according to The Hydrological Service of the Israel Water Authority, the level of the Kinneret, Israel’s main reservoir, has risen just 21 centimeters, a worrying figure as far as the Water Authority is concerned, especially given data from previous years, in some of which the level of the lake rose about 20 centimeters in just one rainy day.

A senior Water Authority official said,”We are already at the end of January, and the level is only 17 centimeters above the lower red line. That is not good, and it’s concerning. This year, as in the past few years, the main rain systems have been in the center and the south, and the north has simply not had enough rainfall.”

Unless February and March bring lots of rain to Northern Israel, officials say that this will be the third consecutive year that they will declare the Kinneret and the northern region dry.

But don’t get too alarmed just yet. Most of the water that is used in Israeli homes comes from five desalination plants. But still…

For further reading click here.

Uber Israel
Want to try using Uber in Israel? Forget about it, at least for now. But if PM Netanyahu gets his way, you might be able to Uber after all. The PM and Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz are fighting it out about letting the company operate in Israel.

Katz is adamantly against it, claiming that doing so would oblige the government to pay between 8 and 9 million shekels to taxi drivers. He said, “I don’t know where the myth of the strength of the taxi drivers comes from; they are not a strong group. With all due respect, we’re not talking about the vehicle importers. These are people who work, who have to cope with reality, and my job is to enable them to do so on equal terms. Whoever pays for a taxi license can’t have someone coming with their private vehicle to compete with them.”

The PM met with the Uber CEO during World Economic Forum in Davos, and the CEO expressed his criticism of Katz’s position. Netanyahu believes that letting Uber operate in Israel will lower transportation costs for Israeli consumers. He also feels that security concerns related to the possibility of terrorists using Uber as a means of luring victims into their cars are manageable.

The fight continues, while taxi cabs rule…for the time being.

For further reading click here.

Israel Investing
If you’ve always wanted to invest in an Israeli startup but never thought you’d have the means or the opportunity, your prayers might just have been answered. A new crowdfunding site called crowdmii (mii = made in Israel) is making it possible for supporters of Israel to invest in “Startup nation” companies seeking funding.

Crowdmii CEO Assaf Luxembourg said, “Israel-supporting organizations and communities around the world praise Israeli innovation and entrepreneurship, and are looking for ways to integrate them in their advocacy and Israel-support efforts. We call on them to embrace our campaigns and show not only how Israel helps the world, but also how the crowd can take an active part.”

Check out the site to see the companies and the innovative products and services they’re developing. Be a part of the startup nation!

http://crowdmii.com

Israel News for January 20, 2016

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Hezbollah Cell Busted
The Shin Bet arrested five Palestinians from the Tul-Karem area of the West Bank for planning to commit a terror attack. The five were part of a cell that got their orders from the son of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah via email. They also received $5,000 from Nasrallah Jr., which they used to purchase a gun that they planned to use in the attack.

The Shin Bet claims that Hezbollah’s “133 unit,” which recruits in the Middle East and Europe, has failed in its attempts to build terrorism networks in Israel. This incident is an exception.

For further reading click here.

PM Supports Ban
Speaking during a Knesset session commemorating the 67th anniversary of the legislative body’s creation, PM Netanyahu said that he would not hesitate to prohibit Palestinian workers from entering Jewish settlements as part of Israel’s war against terror.

He said, “We have a strong desire to maintain our and the Palestinians’ daily life, but we will not hesitate, if necessary, to ban the entry of Palestinian into [Israeli] towns. Our goal is to restore calm, coexistence and one day peace.”

The IDF commander of the Judea and Samaria division issued a temporary order banning Palestinian workers from settlements. The order does not include industrial parks, and will be reviewed on a daily basis.

For further reading click here.

Must Read
Occasional we reach out to you with one simple request: please help us get this newsletter to more readers by sharing it with your friends, relatives, coworkers…anyone you think will appreciate it. We’ve found that the most effective way to share is to forward this email with a short personal note recommending that the person subscribe.

As you already probably know, IsraelAM is a personal project that my wife (Natalie) and I (Arnie) have taken on, because we feel it’s a valuable way to help people stay informed about and connected to Israel. We spend a lot of time each day creating IsraelAM, and we don’t have a marketing budget — so we rely on you to help us spread the word. By sharing, you’re also helping Israel. We appreciate your help!

Herzog Solution
Opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) spoke at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv yesterday. He said that the two-state solution was impossible to realize under current conditions, and presented a new plan in which several Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem would be severed from the rest of the city and the separation barrier in the West Bank would be built to encompass all of the settlement blocs.

He said, “I wish to separate from as many Palestinians as possible, as quickly as possible. They over there and we over here; we’ll erect a big wall between us. That is the kind of co-existence that’s possible now. You exist there and we exist here. Ariel Sharon did the right thing when he put up the fence that prevented the infiltration of suicide bombers, but he didn’t finish the job. We want to finish it, to complete the barrier that separates us … Israel must part from Netanyahu so that it becomes possible to part from the Palestinians.”

Herzog blasted PM Netanyahu and PA President Abbas for denying that a third intifada was imminent. He added that there will be no progress under Netanyahu since he’s made “a pact with the extreme right wing.”

Whereas Netanyahu is supported by those who want to annex Judea and Samaria, Herzog wants to keep the Jewish areas but separate in full from the Palestinian ones. He wants to separate totally Arab neighborhoods from Jerusalem, which is against the view of the right wing and the PM that Jerusalem must remain united, including all of the surrounding Arab areas. Herzog said, “Issawiya is not and won’t be part of Israel’s eternal capital. Neither is the refugee camp in Shoafat. We’ll separate from them. We’ll build a wall. Terrorists won’t have access to Jews.

Doesn’t sound so bad when you put it that way.

For further reading click here.

Ethiopian Women
In December of 2012, an investigative report was published that included testimony from 35 women immigrants from Ethiopia who claimed that they had been required to receive birth control shots as a condition for the processing of their requests to come to Israel. The main accusations were leveled against the Jewish Agency, the Joint Distribution
 Committee and the Health Ministry.

Prodded by several female Knesset members, the State Comptroller Joseph Shapira launched an investigation into the allegations in 2013. The investigation recently ended and Shapira concluded that “no evidence could be found for the claims raised that shots to prevent pregnancy were administered to Ethiopian women under pressure or threats, overt or covert, or in any way that was improper.”

Shapira had harsh words in his statement about the attitude of Israeli society to Ethiopian immigrants, which he said contributes to their sense of discrimination. He said one reason for this sense was that they feel they are not masters of their own fate, desires or dignity.

He wrote, “It is our obligation as a democratic and progressive society to fulfill the obligation to human dignity and liberty, as the Basic Law says to ensure equality as determined in the Declaration of Independence.”

For further reading click here.

Trump to Jerusalem
In an interview with the Brody Report, Republic presidential candidate Donald Trump said that he was 100% in favor of moving the U.S. Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Embassy Act, passed in 1995 with overwhelming support in the House and Senate, called for the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem to take place no later than fiscal year 1999. But it has been waived by every president since them, citing U.S. national security concerns.

Whether Trump would be different, if he makes it to the Oval Office, is anyone’s guess. But if you believe what he says, then there’s hope: “We have a president that I think is the worst thing that has ever happened to Israel. But I will be backing it very strongly. They’re our best ally. They’re our best ally in the Middle East. They’ve really been loyal to us. We have not been loyal to them.”

For further reading click here.

Israel News for January 19, 2016

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Terrorist Captured
Early today security forces arrested Moras Adais, a 16 year old Palestinian, for murdering Dafna Meir in Otniel on Sunday. Adais was arrested at his home in a village near Otniel and has no previous record of terror activity. It appears he acted alone, like most of the “lone wolf” terrorists in this recent wave of terror. His father told the Palestinian media that he fully supports his son’s actions, saying “I am proud of my son”.

Adais was not employed as a laborer and presumably snuck into Otniel. The settlement is fenced only in the forested area between one of the large yeshivot and Highway 60, from which terrorists infiltrated in the past. In other parts of the settlement there is no fence, but only electronic measures such as motion detectors and security cameras.

The PM and Defense Minister visited Otniel today and paid a Shiva call to the family of Dafna Meir. They blamed the Palestinian Authority for inciting violence and the international community for using a double standard vis a vis Israel.

Meanwhile, PA President Abbas said in a message to Palestinians that he was opposed to any violence and that “the resistance will continue through peaceful means, and we will not call for anything else.”

For further reading click here. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4754849,00.html

Workers Banned
Starting today, Palestinian laborers have been temporarily banned from working in settlements. The IDF said this was not a “collective punishment” against the workers, but that it was necessary in order to maintain order and to better supervise the workers inside the settlements. The fear is that other attackers might try to imitate the two recent attacks that occurred in Otniel and Tekoa.

According to army statistics, around 120,000 Palestinians are employed by Israelis, legally or illegally, both within and beyond the Green Line.

For further reading click here.

EU vs Israel (again)
The Foreign Ministers of the EU passed a resolution yesterday requiring that all agreements between the European Union and Israel must “unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.”

The resolution states that,“The EU and its Member States are committed to ensure continued, full and effective implementation of existing EU legislation and bilateral arrangements applicable to settlements products. The EU expresses its commitment to ensure that – in line with international law – all agreements between the State of Israel and the EU must unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967. This does not constitute a boycott of Israel which the EU strongly opposes.”

The resolution condemned Israeli settlement activities, calling them illegal under international law and a threat to a two-state solution, and urged Israel “to end all settlement activity and to dismantle the outposts erected since March 2001, in line with prior obligations,” adding that, “Settlement activity in east Jerusalem seriously jeopardizes the possibility of Jerusalem serving as the future capital of both states.”

Believe it or not, the language of the resolution was supposed to be much tougher against Israel, but a coalition of smaller EU members, including Greece, Poland, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic, blocked the language from inclusion. The tougher language was formulated by France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain.

On the bright side the resolution called on all parties (meaning Israel and the PA) to “condemn attacks when they occur.” THat’s something that the Palestinians have not done.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that even though the drafts were softened, the EU “continues to employ a double standard with Israel, while ignoring the PA’s responsibility for the diplomatic stalemate as well as its incitement which is feeding the wave of terrorism.”

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said the conclusions published by the foreign ministers of the European Union continued a problematic line of attempts to intervene in Israel’s sovereign affairs.

For further reading click here.

U.S. Ambassador
Speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference in Tel Aviv, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro criticized Israeli settlements and Israel’s lax law-enforcement against settlers in the West Bank.

Shapiro said, “Too much Israeli vigilantism in the West Bank goes on unchecked,” and that “there is a lack of thorough investigations… at times it seems Israel has two standards of adherence to rule of law in the West Bank – one for Jews and one for Palestinians.”

Shapiro supported the two-state solution as the only way of preventing Israel from turning into a bi-national state, and noted the American administration’s concern and displeasure with Israel’s settlement policies.

The Prime Minister’s Office rejected Shapiro’s allegations of double standards and issued a response saying,”the ambassador’s statements, on the day when a mother of six who was murdered is buried, and on a day when a pregnant woman is stabbed – are unacceptable and wrong. Israel enforces the law on Israelis and Palestinians. The onus for the stalemate in the diplomatic process is the Palestinian Authority, which continues to incite and refuses negotiations.”

Apparently, having a Jewish U.S. Ambassador is not such a great thing for Israel.

For further reading click here.

Heritage Cartel
It has become tradition for Israeli high schools to organize heritage trips to Poland to teach students, close up, about the Holocaust. The logistics behind the tours go like this: The Education Ministry publishes tenders for tour companies to fly the high-schoolers to Poland. Six companies apply. Each school can then bargain with the six to negotiate the lowest price. The reality of the situation turns out to have been much different.

Following a months long investigation, the police uncovered price fixing between the six companies to eliminate any competition. Great for the companies, but a rip off for the schools and students. Police raided the offices of the six companies yesterday and confiscated property and assets. Homes of some of the company executives were also searched. Suspects were arrested, including several CEO’s and high ranking executives.

Shame on the companies for taking advantage of kids trying to learn more about the Holocaust. How low can you go?

For further reading click here.

Israel News for January 11, 2016

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Close Call
Police today deployed large forces and set up numerous checkpoints in the Ashkelon, Ashdod and Sderot areas in the south after receiving intelligence of an impending terror attack by a Palestinian woman from Beit Sira in the West Bank. Police arrested a man in Kibbutz Erez, near the Gaza border, who she was allegedly in contact with. After interrogating him police determined that the woman had not succeeded in getting past the barrier separating the West Bank from the rest of the country. The alert was lifted.

In an unrelated incident today, a Palestinian who attempted to stab soldiers at a checkpoint near Jenin in Samaria was shot and wounded. No soldiers were hurt.

For further reading click here.

Terrorist Funeral
Police are refusing to release the body of the Tel Aviv terrorist, who was shot and killed on Friday, to his family for burial, fearing that radicals will turn the funeral into a pro-terror demonstration, which is against the family’s wishes. Police want to avoid a repetition of a terrorist funeral last week in the northeastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat, in which hundreds of armed Hamas terrorists marched and fired automatic weapons in the air, as thousands of people chanted and waved knives and machetes.

Regarding the investigation into the Tel Aviv attack, police have arrested a relative of the terrorist from his hometown of Arara for aiding him in fleeing from Tel Aviv. Police suspect that there may have been as many as twenty people in the town who either helped or knew the terrorist’s location but did not report him to authorities. The investigation continues.

For further reading click here.

Arson or Accident
A fire broke out last night in a building that houses the office of human rights group B’Tselem, in Jerusalem. B’Tselem’s offices were empty when the fire broke out. At first the fire department said that they suspected arson as the cause of the fire. That triggered statements by B’tzelem and Peace Now blaming the right wing and the government for inciting against the left. Upon further investigation, the fire department today believes that the fire was caused by an electrical failure in the office electrical system. The investigation is still ongoing.

For further reading click here.

Deri Returns
Yesterday the cabinet unanimously approved the appointment of Aryeh Deri, the leader of the Shas Ultra-Orthodox Sephardic party, as Minister of the Interior. The position is the same one that Deri held 22 years ago before he was forced to resign over corruption charges. He was subsequently found guilty of bribery and served 22 months in prison.

Yesh Atid leader MK Yair Lapid had proposed a bill last May, which would have barred anyone convicted of a serious criminal offense from serving as an MK, cabinet minister or mayor. However, the coalition voted the bill down.

Deri had been serving as Minister of Economy until several months ago, when he resigned to allow PM Netanyahu to take over the portfolio and approve the natural gas deal. He then became Minister of Galilee and Negev Development.

The Prime Minister congratulated Deri and said that he is faced with two main tasks – preventing illegal migrants from entering Israel and deporting those already in the country, as well as changing the borders of local councils in order to distribute municipal taxes in a more just manner.

For further reading click here.

Fare Cut
The cabinet today approved a bill proposed by Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon and Minister of the Development of the Negev and Galilee Aryeh Deri to reduce public transportation fares by the amount of VAT. In other words, the rates will be cut by 17%. The state will subsidize the cut by transferring NIS 650 million annually to the public transportation operators. In addition, the bill will prevent future changes in fares resulting from changes in VAT.

Prime Minister Netanyahu commented on the fares cut, saying, “After we cut electricity and water prices and introduced reform in food, we are now lowering public transportation prices, which also has clear social significance. Those using public transportation tend to be more economically disadvantaged – this is a significant relief for them.”
Deri added, “Cutting VAT on public transportation means fulfilling the commitment I took on myself in the election campaign, and will save poor families and those without cars thousands of shekels. This is a major reduction that will be brought up for quick passage by the Knesset in order to make sure that it is not canceled in the coming years.”

For further reading click here.

Hamas terror cell busted

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Security forces uncovered a Hamas terror cell in the West Bank that was planning a string of large-scale suicide terrorist attacks against Israeli targets. The joint Shin Bet, IDF and Israel Police operation has so far led to the arrest of 25 people, mostly students from the University of Abu Dis in East Jerusalem.

 

Interrogation of the suspects revealed that the cell was run by 24 year old Ahmad Jamal Musa Azam from Qalqilya, who was recruited a few months ago by Hamas in the Gaza strip to set up a militant infrastructure to carry out bombing attacks.

 

Azam was in constant contact with his handlers in Gaza, who trained him to make explosive belts and other explosive devices. He recruited several other activists who studied with him at the University of Abu Dis to buy raw material to make explosives, rent apartments, enlist suicide bombers and smuggle them into Israel. Among the recruits was a 19 year old Bedouin-Israeli citizen and a 22 year old resident of the Old City of Jerusalem.

 

 

explosives

Explosives confiscated during the investigation

About a month ago Givati forces uncovered an explosives laboratory in Abu Dis and in a Ramallah store. They found mostly raw chemical materials but the security forces said they have not seen explosives of this scope and quality in the West Bank in a long time. Consequently Duvdevan special forces and the Border Police’s counter-terrorism unit raided the homes of cell members who were arrested and interrogated by Shin Bet.

This is the most significant terrorist cell that has emerged during the recent wave of terror attacks, most of which were carried out by lone terrorists. without organizational affiliation. Some of the 25 detainees are known to security authorities and more arrests are expected.

israel weapons confiscated

Israel News for December 17, 2015

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Weapons Bust
Over the past few months Israeli customs officers at the port of Ashdod have intercepted and confiscated tens of thousands of weapons bound for the West Bank. The weapons include over 50,000 combat knives, tens of thousands of electric shockers, swords, clubs, brass knuckles, airguns, slingshots, camouflage uniforms and those face masks that terrorists wear during violent demonstrations.

Customs officials claim that they intercept weapons shipments on a daily basis and that the weapons are usually hidden in all sorts of ingenious places like hollowed out furniture and books.

If these shipments make it to their destinations they can cause serious casualties to security forces and civilians. Props to the customs officers who are protecting Israel by making sure these weapons stay out of Palestinian hands.

For further reading click here.

Gaza Fighting
An explosive device was detonated against an IDF patrol along the Gaza border near Khan Yunis yesterday. There were no injuries or damage. The IDF responded with mortar fire.
According to a military source, this was the first time since the 2014 Gaza war that explosives were used against an IDF patrol.

Considering that Hamas is trying to avoid another fight with Israel, at least for the time being, it seems as though they are losing some of their control over their border.

For further reading click here.

New Housing
The Jerusalem building and planning board approved a plan to build 891 housing units in Gilo, a Jerusalem neighborhood located just beyond Israel’s pre-1967 borders. The plan had been put on hold during PM Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, to avoid American opposition. But it was just a temporary, diplomatically motivated measure. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be indivisible, including those areas considered part of the West Bank by the international community. With the US election year in full swing, it’s unlikely that the US administration will make much of a fuss about this. Good timing.

For further reading click here.

Kuwait Air Banned
If you’re trying to book a flight with an Israeli passport, cross Kuwait Airways off your list of potential carriers. The airline does not sell tickets to Israelis. Its booking system simply does not accept Israeli passport information.

The US Department of Transportation ordered the airline to “cease and desist from refusing to transport Israeli citizens between the U.S. and any third country where they are allowed to disembark,” and threatened to take action if the airline did not comply.

Kuwait Airways didn’t change its discriminatory policy. Now it has been forced to cancel its flights from New York’s JFK airport to London.

The airline previously filed suit in federal court in Washington saying its policy “isn’t discriminatory because it will sell tickets to passengers regardless of race, national origin or religion – so long as they hold a passport valid in Kuwait,” and asking to be allowed to continue to fly to the United States. So far the airline has not withdrawn its suit, and if it wins it could resume its US flights. The airline claims that its policy is not based on religion, since a Muslim with an Israeli passport will also not be allowed to fly with them.

Saudi Arabian Airlines, beware. You could be next.

For further reading click here.

Best Place
The United Nations has published its Human Development Index (HDI) for 2015, which ranks 188 countries according to their average life expectancy, education and Gross National Product per capita. The index is meant to rank the best countries to live in.

Norway ranked first for the 13th time since 2001. Israel came in at number 18, which is an auspicious number by Jewish standards (it means life). It came in just behind Korea and Sweden, but ahead of Japan, Italy, France and Austria.

The top countries after Norway were Australia in second place, Switzerland third, Denmark fourth, the Netherlands fifth, Germany sixth, Ireland seventh, the US eighth, and Canada and New Zealand tied in ninth place. The bottom five were…oh, who cares. You’ll never end up in any of them, even on a trip.

To see the entire list click here.

Doctor’s Pay
Remember hearing how doctors in Israel don’t make any money because of the socialized medical system? Well, forget about it. According to figures released by the Ministry of Finance, 19 of the top 20 highest paid wage earners in the public sector in Israel are…drumroll…doctors.

The highest paid doc on the list made NIS 128,000 per month, which comes out to over $400,000 per year (yes, that’s in US dollars). That figure doesn’t include any private practice payments the doctor might get outside of the official hospital pay. The 18 other top docs did almost as well.The numbers might not rank with the top docs in the US, but they’re nothing to sneeze at (sorry for the pun), and for Israel, it’s pretty darn fantastic. Sure, not every doctor is making that kind of money, but the same is true for the US.

So to all the Jewish mothers reading this, your boy (or girl) can be a doctor and an Israeli and do ok. For all you single gals (and guys), you can add those interns back onto your eligible list, right behind the startup founders and venture capitalists.

For further reading click here.

French Aliyah
For the second year in a row, France will be the biggest source of immigrants to Israel, followed by Ukraine. About 8,000 French Jews made aliyah in 2015, a thousand more than last year. About 7,000 Jews came from the Ukraine this year. Other notable sources of new Israelis were Russia with 6,300 and the US with 2,900.

Minister of Immigrant Absorption Ze’ev Elkin estimated that the total number of immigrants moving to Israel in 2015 would be 30,000 – up from 27,000 the previous year.

“And the children will return to their borders, and there is hope for the future. “ — Jeremiah 31:16

For further reading click here.

Jerusalem terror attack

Israel News for December 15, 2015

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Terror Attack
A 21 year old Palestinian from Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem, Abed Almohsin Hassoneh, rammed his car into a group of people standing at a bus stop at the entrance to Jerusalem yesterday afternoon. Fourteen people were injured, including a 15 month old boy who was evacuated in critical condition. The terrorist was shot and killed by security officers before he managed to get out of his car to stab people.

After the attack PM Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, where he ordered protective barriers erected at hundreds of Jerusalem bus stops.

The IDF will also deploy two reservist battalions to the West Bank next month to help stem the terror attacks. The reservists will replace conscripts on routine security assignments so the conscripts can train.

For further reading click here.

Abbas Incites
Yesterday PA President Abbas referred to the last three months of violence as a “justified popular uprising,” saying that young Palestinian demonstrators were “driven by despair that a two-state solution is not coming.”

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev condemned Abbas’s comment saying, “There can never be justification for wanton attacks on civilians like we saw today.”

Abbas isn’t alone in his thoughts. According to a poll released by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), two thirds of Palestinians support the current wave of stabbings against Israelis and favor an armed uprising to achieve their nationalistic aspirations. On the bright side, 73% were opposed to young girls taking part in the stabbings.

Only 45% of Palestinians think that a two-state solution is feasible. Regarding Abbas, 65% want him to resign and believe that Hamas would win a new election. The reason for their dislike of Abbas is that they don’t feel that he’s been supportive enough of the recent violence.

Khalil Shikaki, head of the PSR, believes that the poll suggests that violence will continue through 2016 and that it could include heavily armed terrorists.

Not a very optimistic forecast, with or without Abbas.

For further reading click here.

Insufficient Evidence
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told Israel Radio that although the Duma arson attack that killed members of a Palestinian family was clearly perpetrated by Jewish suspects, there was insufficient evidence to bring them to trial. Three suspects are currently being held and interrogated by the Shin Bet. The High Court of Justice ruled on Sunday that they can continue preventing them from meeting with their attorneys.

For further reading click here.

EU Firm
Despite protests by Israel against the EU decision to label goods produced in the West Bank and the Golan, the EU is not backing down. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said after talks with foreign ministers on Monday that the EU is “united on these technical guidelines on the indication of origin, which is in no way a boycott.”

For further reading click here.

Pollard Parole
After 30 years you’d think that the information Jonathan Pollard passed on to Israel is no longer relevant to US security. So why are his parole terms, which include monitoring of his computer at home and at work, so strict? That’s the question Pollard’s lawyers are asking District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan in a bid to have his parole conditions relaxed. The judge is requiring the U.S. Parole Commission to better state its reasons for the parole conditions before ruling on the request.

Pollard’s attorneys cited declarations in which former U.S. National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane and former Senate Intelligence Committee member Dennis DeConcini say information Pollard once possessed is of no value to anyone today.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Tinio told the judge, “The majority of the information that Mr. Pollard had and passed along 30 years ago, your honor, remains classified.” She said the Justice Department’s National Security Division told her that his classified information would be labeled top secret, meaning it could be expected to cause “exceptionally grave damage to national security” if it was released.

However, Tinio did say that the government was willing to continue negotiations over Pollard’s parole. So there is hope.

For further reading click here.

Israel and Turkey
Is there hope for the restoration of Israeli-Turkish relations that broke off in 2010 after the Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla that killed 9 Turkish citizens?

The Turkish Daily Sabah news site cited Turkish President Erdogan as reiterating three preconditions for the restoring of relations between the two countries: an apology for the flotilla raid, compensation to the victims’ families and the lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

While Erdogan reportedly noted that only the first condition has been met, Israel did agree to compensate the families of the flotilla victims. Lifting the blockade of Gaza, however, is a deal breaker for Israel, at least for the foreseeable future.

According to Erdogan, “This normalization process would be good for us, Israel, Palestine and the entire region. The region definitely needs this. I don’t believe the Israeli public is pleased with the current state of relations. We need to consider the interests of the people of the region and introduce peace.”

Meanwhile, back in Turkey, for the first time in history the Chief Rabbi of Turkey lit the menorah on the eighth day of Hanukkah in a public square in Istanbul, in the presence of Turkish government officials, Muslim clerics, foreign diplomats and, of course, members of the Jewish community.

Can you feel the love?

For further reading click here.

israel news stabbing

Israel News for November 30, 2015

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More Terror
Early Sunday morning, a Palestinian man in his late 30’s attacked two Border Police officers near the Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. He shouted “Allahu Akbar” and stabbed one of the officers in the neck, wounding him. The officers shot and killed the terrorist.

A couple of hours later, a woman was walking on Shamgar Street in Jerusalem when a Palestinian terrorist came up behind her, stabbed her in the back and fled. The woman, who was a foreign worker from Nepal, was lightly wounded. The attacker, a 17 year old Palestinian from the West Bank, was apprehended by police.

Also on Sunday, a 16 year old Palestinian attempting to throw a molotov cocktail was shot by Border Police during violent clashes in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The police had come under a barrage of about 10 firebombs just before the shooting. According to police, the officers shot the firebomb thrower in the lower part of the body, but the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that the boy suffered a wound to the chest and was pronounced dead at a clinic he was transferred to.

In response, Palestinian organizations in Jerusalem, including the Fatah’s youth movement, have called for a “day of rage and mourning” on Monday.

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Jews Convicted
A Jerusalem court convicted two Jewish minors in the brutal murder of 16 year old Palestinian Muhammad Abu Khdeir in July 2014. The conviction of the third, and primary, defendant, 31 year old Yosef Haim Ben-David, was suspended due to a last-minute psychiatric evaluation that claimed he was not responsible for his actions at the time of the murder. The court claims that there is enough evidence to convict him. The defendants admitted that the murder was in revenge for the murder of the three Jewish teens who were kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Gush Etzion in the summer of 2014.

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Internet Wars
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely met with YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, and Google’s Director of Public Policy, Jennifer Oztzistzki, at Google’s Silicon Valley Offices last week to find ways of cooperating to censor terror inciting videos.

Hotovely said, “The attacks daily in Israel are the result of youths and children incited by the education system and the social networks, this is a daily war of incitement.”

Foreign journalists who report from the West Bank are required to register with the Israeli military, and any footage that they film is required to go through the Israeli Military Censor’s office before it can be released. But with today’s technology, people can now post uncensored video directly online.

Hotovely said that Google agreed to strengthen relations with Israel’s Foreign Ministry and build a mechanism of “collaborative work” that would make both parties partners in monitoring the published materials and censoring them.

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PM Slams EU
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered Israel’s Foreign Ministry to suspend contact with European Union institutions over all issues related to the peace process with the Palestinians, in response to the EU’s decision to label products made in the West Bank and the Golan.

The senior Foreign Ministry official said that “it is inconceivable that Israel will hold dialogue with EU institutions on how to advance a peace process while the EU simultaneously initiates measures against Israel.” The official added, “Israel will examine each case individually with the guiding principle of making sure Israel’s interest vis-à-vis Europe and EU nations are not harmed.”

Although the suspension of contact sounds tough, it’s really the lightest response that the PM had to choose from, since it doesn’t preclude discussions with individual member states.

According to the senior official, “This decision is almost completely devoid of any real significance. It’s like the EU saying it is cutting communications with Israel but continuing to hold talks with each of its minister’s independently.”

In any case, the EU labeling is not expected to have any significant economic impact on Israel, so the PM’s reaction is probably very appropriate.

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Russia Next Door
With the Russian military increasing their presence in Syria and conducting significant numbers of airstrikes in the area, Israel has been working closely with the Russians to coordinate their respective military operations to avoid a situation similar to the one where Turkey shot down a Russian plane that it claimed violated its airspace.

On Sunday, Defense Minister Ya’alon told Israel radio that despite Israeli and Russian efforts to coordinate military operations in Syria, on one occasion a Russian plane penetrated Israel’s airspace by one mile. He said that Israel immediately made contact and the plane immediately returned to Syrian airspace.

Mistakes are bound to happen, which is why the joint coordination is so important. Israel also wants to make sure that its planes can continue attacking targets in Syria when necessary, without inadvertently crossing paths with the Russians.

A senior IAF officer said that, “Russia is not the enemy, and our policy does not include attacking or firing at any Russian.” He added that despite the mutual coordination, no “demilitarized” zones were defined from which Israel’s air force would be excluded. “We don’t need anyone’s permission and we make sure we get our job done” he said.

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Copt Out
The leader of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II, made a rare visit to Israel to attend the funeral of a senior Coptic official in Jerusalem on Saturday.

Tawadros broke a ban against travel to Israel that was imposed by his predecessor, who opposed the normalization of ties between Egypt and Israel. In response to protests and accusations of betrayal from Egyptian Copts, Tawadros insisted that he was not making an official visit, but was just there for the funeral. He wouldn’t want anyone to think that he was actually interested in pursuing peace. What ever happened to “turn the other cheek”? Peace on earth?

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Modesty Patrol
It looks like the issue of of modest dressing isn’t just one for the religious community. A secular public high school in Kiryat Ono asked their 12th grade female students to lower their skirts to cover their knees or to stand behind a bench to hide their legs, for their yearbook photos. The school explained that their mode of dress was “immodest” and “disrespectful” of the school. The girls were furious, and many felt humiliated by the administration.

Days before the yearbook photo shoot, the girls were warned not to wear sleeveless shirts, low-cut blouses or “too short” dresses and skirts. Dress-code has been an issue throughout the country over the past year, specifically regarding a rule banning girls from wearing super short shorts, which isn’t enforced against boys (can anyone else see the difference here?).

The Education Ministry said the Kiryat Ono school “has a mandate to set norms for dress, in a spirit appropriate to the school’s charter, which is set in cooperation with the students, teachers and parents. The claims were passed on to the [ministry] inspector for the school.”

Knesset Member Ilan Gilon of Meretz who is a member of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women complained to Education Minister Naftali Bennett. He wrote,“The excessive attention given to the length of the students’ dresses is problematic. Since when has the [non-religious] state schools system started demanding a modesty regime from its students? What are the criteria for such dress and what is the educational message that the school’s staff is trying to pass on?”

Do you think secular schools should impose “modest dress” regulations on students? What should those regulations be based on?

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Israel News for November 24, 2015

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More Terror
This morning a Palestinian from Jenin rammed his car into soldiers at the Tapuach junction in the West Bank. Four soldiers were wounded, none seriously. A Border Policeman at the scene shot and wounded the terrorist.

Yesterday, two Israeli soldiers were waiting for some roadside assistance near a gas station on Highway 443, not far from Modiin, after a small accident. A Palestinian attacked and stabbed them.

Pvt. Ziv Mizrachi, 18, from Givat Ze’ev, was pronounced dead by paramedics on the scene who tried to resuscitate him. The female soldier he was with was also stabbed and lightly wounded. She was evacuated in stable condition. Another woman was lightly wounded from gunshots fired in the attempt to stop the terrorist. The terrorist, 16, was shot and killed by soldiers at the scene.

Mizrahi’s uncle, Alon, was killed in the terrorist bombing of the Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem in 2003. Alon was the security guard who blocked the suicide bomber from entering the cafe.

Mizrahi’s mother arrived at the scene shortly after and screamed, “They’ve taken Ziv from me.”

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Kerry Calls
US Secretary of State John Kerry called the family of Ezra Schwartz, the American teen killed in a terrorist attack last week in Israel, to offer condolences. The Schwartzes live in the Boston area.

Kerry, who had once been the US Senator from Massachusetts, was on a visit to Abu Dhabi when he made the call. Kerry told reporters there that there is no justification for Palestinian terror attacks against Israel.

He said, “Look at Ezra Schwartz, who got shot, and another young life cut short. It happens almost every day over there and it’s terrible, and too many Israelis have been killed and stabbed, and too many Palestinians. And there’s no excuse for any of the violence. There’s just no rationale. Even if you’re unhappy and you’re disappointed in the lack of whatever the political horizon is, whatever, violence is not the solution.”

Kerry arrived in Israel today to try and put an end to the violence, at least temporarily. He met with the PM and said that Israel has the right to defend herself against terror attacks on civilians and expressed “complete condemnation for any act of terror that takes innocent lives and disrupts the day-to-day life of a nation.”

Kerry added that, “It is very clear to us that the terrorism, these acts of terrorism which have been taking place, deserve the condemnation that they are receiving.”

Following his meeting with Netanyahu, he will meet President Reuven Rivlin and opposition leader Isaac Herzog. Then, he will head to Ramallah for a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Let’s hope for a miracle, because that’s probably what it will take to stop the violence at this point.

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Silence for Ezra
In a show of support and deep sadness for the murder of Ezra Schwartz last week, there was a moment of silence before the start of the Monday night football game between the Buffalo Bills and Schwartz’s favorite, the New England Patriots. The game was nationally televised. So regardless of whether or not government officials do or do not acknowledge Schwartz’s death at the hands of terrorists, the American people have spoken loud and clear.

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Chelsea Arrives
English soccer Premier League champions Chelsea are in Israel for their Champions League game with Maccabi Tel Aviv, which takes place today. Before their departure, the UK government published a warning regarding trips to Israel due to what they termed a “high threat of terrorism.”

When asked about the security situation, Chelsea defender Gary Cahill said, “I think you just have to rely on people who know a lot more than me about the whole situation to make sensible decisions.”

These days Israel seems a lot safer than Europe.

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Gaza Land Grab
Ever wonder what happened to all the land that Israel abandoned when it evacuated the Jewish settlements from Gaza in the 2005 disengagement?

Well, Hamas has announced that it’s giving the land as compensation to thousands of its government’s officials and employees who haven’t been paid by the Palestinian Authority Ramallah based government in well over a year.

The PA has refused to pay on the grounds that the appointments made by Hamas were illegal. They claim that Hamas should pay, but not from the land that they claim belongs to the Palestinian people — or more realistically, to the PA government.

In any case, PA officials say that Hamas employees will never really see any compensation from Hamas. But neither will the Palestinian people in the West Bank. The real question is which government’s leaders will boost their Swiss bank accounts with the real estate — the PA or Hamas.

This should be good.

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IDF Responds
Israeli warplanes struck a Hamas military compound in the center of the Gaza Strip on Monday night, after a rocket was fired from the Strip at Israel earlier in the day. The rocket landed in an empty area, and no warning sirens were sounded.

According to an IDF statement, the army considers Hamas to be the “sole responsible party for goings-on in the Gaza Strip, and will continue to act with severity to keep the calm in southern communities.

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Mother Complains
The mother of a female soldier who was drafted into the military police last week is complaining. While a complaining Jewish mother might not seem very newsworthy, the reason for her complaint is a bit over board. The mother is upset that her daughter participated in an IDF sponsored Challah separating ceremony in Kfar Chabad.

Wha?? According to Jewish law, when someone kneads a significant amount of dough, they are obligated to separate a piece of the dough to be given to a Cohen (these days the piece is burned). It’s called “separating or taking” Challah, and it’s one of a select number of commandments reserved specifically for women.

So yes, mom is upset that her baby girl broke off a piece of dough as part of her military service. Religious coercion at its best. Some mothers are just impossible to please. Go figure.

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Israel News for November 23, 2015

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More Terror
In Jerusalem today two girls, aged 14 and 16, stabbed a 70 year old Palestinian man from Bethlehem in the head and back with scissors near Machane Yehuda. A policeman shot at them, killing one and seriously wounding the other. Another security guard who ran to help was accidentally shot in the hand.

In Northern Samaria, an 18 yr. old yeshiva student was rammed by a car and lightly injured in a terror attack near the settlement of Chomesh. The terrorist drove off and is still at large.

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Hadar Buchris
Hadar Buchris, a 21 year old woman from Tzfat, was stabbed to death by an Arab terrorist at a hitchhiking station at the same Gush Etzion junction where a terrorist shot and killed Ezra Schwartz and Yaakov Don on Friday. Soldiers shot and killed the terrorist, who was identified as 34-year-old Isam Thwabteh from Beit Fajar, a village near Bethlehem.

According to a witness to the attack, the Palestinian initially spoke with a soldier at the site before carrying out the stabbing. He had no previous record of criminal or terrorist activity.

Buchris was a graduate of the Nov Ulpana college in the Golan Heights. Ayala Eretz Hatzvi, a former teacher, said Buchris spent two years in national service in Moshav Hazorim and Sde Eliyahu after graduation. After a trip to India she moved to Gush Etzion and joined the girls seminary in Bat Ayin. “She was a lovely and beaming girl,” the teacher said.

Buchris will be laid to rest today at Har Hamenuchot in Jerusalem.

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Car Takedown
Earlier on Sunday, Israelis waiting at a bus stop near the Hawara checkpoint outside of Nablus were attacked by an Arab woman with a knife. In the words of Abigail Shomriyah, 21, who was waiting at the stop, “I turned around and saw a terrorist with a large knife and murderous looking eyes. It was a very large knife. I ran in the direction of the soldiers, she ran after me.”

The former head of the Samaria Council, Gershon Mesika, happened to have stopped to pick up some hitchhikers when he saw the attack occurring. He stepped on the gas and rammed his car into the terrorist, knocking her down. Then another by-passer got out of his car and shot her twice. Then a soldier shot her twice. The terrorist was killed. No Israelis were injured.

Would it have made more sense for them to have captured the terrorist, who was already on the ground after being hit by the car, in order to interrogate her to find out who else, if anyone, was involved in planning the attack?

In another incident, a Palestinian taxi driver rammed into an Israeli car near Ma’aleh Adumim and got out of the cab with a 20-centimeter kitchen knife and lightly stabbed an Israeli at the scene in the hand. Two other Israelis who saw this, shot the terrorist and killed him.

The IDF has recently added two infantry battalions to bolster existing forces in Hevron and Gush Etzion. The army has also started checking every Palestinian vehicle on roads used by Israelis in the Hebron and Bethlehem areas. Random checks were implemented in the rest of the West Bank.

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Berlin Retracts
Last week a major German department store based in Berlin removed all products made in the West Bank and the Golan from its shelves. The store claimed, on its Facebook page, that the wines had been temporarily removed so the importer could relabel them in accordance with new European Union rules that require products originating in the West Bank and Golan be distinctly labeled.

Prime Minister Netanyahu didn’t seem to view the move as temporary. He lashed out at the store saying, “This store was owned by Jews, and the Nazis took it away. Ironically, this store is now marking products from Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Golan Heights.” He added, “It began with marking products, and now we have been told that the products have been removed – a boycott for all intents and purposes. We strongly protest this morally, factually, and historically unacceptable measure. We expect the German government, which opposed marking the products, to take action in this serious matter.”

Yesterday, the store announced that it was retracting its decision saying, “We acted too hastily and insensitively. We regret this mistaken behavior, which has led to misunderstanding, and we wish to apologize for it.” They also noted that they offer customers over 200 Israeli made products.

Question: if the store did actually just remove the products temporarily for relabeling, was the PM justified in calling the move a boycott and invoking Holocaust comparisons to bolster his point?

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Car Wars
The motto of car rental giant Avis used to be “we try harder”. It looks like that doesn’t apply to Israeli customers. According to a report in the NY Observer, the Avis branch on 76th and Broadway in Manhattan refused to rent a car to the Senior Vice President of Israeli pharmaceutical conglomerate Teva, Dov Bergwerk, and his wife.

The Israeli couple were renting a car to visit friends in Westchester when the Avis agent on duty, and her manager, refused to honor their reservation on the grounds that Avis did not recognize Israeli documents.

After he phoned customer service who confirmed that Israeli documents were acceptable, the Avis representatives changed course and argued that Bergwerk was being refused because he had argued about the way he was being treated in front of other customers (Ok, the arguing I believe, but in this case it seems like he had every right to argue in the face of anti-Israel discrimination).

Bergwerk said, “The agent stated that the Israeli license did not have the required info in English. I tried to demonstrate that the license had all the required info but she and the manager had no interest. Similarly, the fact that I have had many rentals at Avis and at this location was dismissed as having been ‘done by new employees.”

Avis had no comment on the incident. Do you think the employees were fired? Maybe it’s time to go with Hertz or Budget, at least on the Upper West Side.

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New Towns
The government yesterday approved five new towns in the Negev, despite strong opposition from the Finance Ministry, environmental organizations and some of the local councils.

Minister of Housing and Construction Yoav Galant, who presented the plan to the government, defended the plan saying there will be minimal environmental impact as the towns will be built using existing infrastructure. In response to the argument that they should be investing in the existing towns, he explained that the government would continue to support existing towns but the new towns would strengthen the Negev in general. “Establishing these five towns is essential in strengthening our hold on unpopulated areas in the Negev with great national importance”.

One of the towns will be called Daniel, after the four year old Daniel Turgeman who was killed by mortar fire during operation Defensive Shield last year.

Shai Hajiji, head of the Mirchavim Regional Council, welcomed the decision saying it presented an “attractive alternative to the increase in housing costs in Israel”. I guess that depends on if you consider living in the Negev as an attractive alternative.

For further reading click here.

Iran Storms Temple Mount
In a simulated war game exercise, the paramilitary unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard stormed and “liberated” a replica of the Dome of the Rock. According to Iranian state media, thousands of soldiers participated in Friday’s exercise outside the holy city of Qom in central Iran.

The symbolic operations were backed up by Guard helicopters, drones and Tucano planes that bombed hypothetical enemy positions before ground troops captured the replica of the mosque set up at the top of a mountain.

Dream on.

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