Rookie Israeli soldier thwarts 2 terrorist attacks in 2 weeks
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) An IDF corporal identified as Cpl. T. who has only been serving for eight months has successfully prevented two Palestinian terrorist attacks in less than two weeks—one on Thursday evening, when he shot and killed a terrorist who tried to stab Israelis waiting at a bus stop in Gush Etzion, and another last week, when he shot two terrorists who stabbed another soldier on duty nearby. The soldier was moderately wounded in the attack.
On Thursday, a terrorist later identified as Malak a-Sharif, 25, from Hebron, approached the bus stop and was spotted by the soldiers on duty, who launched the protocol for stopping a suspect. When Sharif pulled out a knife and poised himself to attack and stab them, he was shot and killed.
Cpl. T., who is assigned to the Kfir Brigade’s Shimshon Battalion, said, “While I was guarding the intersection [in Gush Etzion], we discerned the suspect and called out to him to cross the street and come toward us. When he reached us, he pulled out a knife, intending to stab my friend who was with me. That same moment, I cocked my gun and shot him.”
The previous incident took place Oct. 27, when a terrorist stabbed another Kfir Brigade soldier, leaving him with moderate wounds. Cpl. T. happened to be nearby the attack and responded rapidly. He shot and killed two terrorists, preventing what could have been a far worse attack. The terrorists were later identified as Shadi al-Kudasi and Izzedin Abu Shahram, both from Hebron.
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369 House lawmakers urge Abbas to end incitement against Israel
(JNS.org) A total of 369 members of the U.S. House of Representatives (out of 435) signed a letter calling on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to end incitement and inflammatory remarks about Israel that undermine peace.
The letter, spearheaded by Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Ranking Member Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), says that “unless immediate action is taken to end incitement and bring the situation under control, this escalating violence— including stabbings, shootings and other terrorist acts—will undermine the prospects of a two-state solution.”
Additionally, the letter calls out Abbas and the Palestinian media, who have “undoubtable served to inflame the current situation,” citing false claims they made about Israel changing the status quo on the Temple Mount or executing a teenage Palestinian terrorist who was actually being treated in an Israeli hospital.
The letter specifically urges Abbas to end incitement, continue security cooperation with Israel, and agree to renewed unconditional direct peace talks with the Jewish state.
“AIPAC applauds the bipartisan group of 369 representatives who publicly called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to repudiate violence and end incitement against innocent Israeli citizens,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) said in a statement in support of the letter.
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Israeli public diplomacy chief under fire for comments insulting Obama, Kerry
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu froze the appointment of his new national director of hasbarah (public diplomacy), Dr. Ran Baratz, in the wake of comments Baratz made about U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry on Facebook, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Baratz, who was appointed Wednesday, wrote in the wake of Obama’s reaction to Netanyahu’s March speech to the U.S. Congress that “this is what modern anti-Semitism looks like in Western liberal countries. And of course, it comes with a lot of tolerance and understanding toward Islamic anti-Semitism. So much tolerance and understanding, until they are even willing to give them nukes.”
In October of 2014, he also wrote about a speech in which Kerry correlated Israel with the Islamic State that “after his term as secretary of state he is certain to have a flourishing career in one of the stand-up comedy clubs in Kansas City, Mosul, or the Holot detention facility.” He reportedly said Kerry had “the mental age of a 12-year-old.” In a more recent comment, Baratz mocked Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.
According to a State Department spokesman, the U.S. government has found the comments both “troubling and offensive,” and Netanyahu himself issued a statement that “those posts are totally unacceptable and in no way reflect my positions or the policies of the Government of Israel.”
Baratz has since apologized “for the hurtful remarks,” saying that “these postings were written hastily and sometimes humorously, in a manner appropriate for a private person writing on the Internet. It is clear to me that in a government position one must act and express oneself differently.”
Baratz was previously fired from a lecturer position at Hebrew University of Jerusalem amid allegations that his right-wing political views may have been the reason for his dismissal. He is a founder of the politically conservative Israeli website Mida.
In an editorial by the current English-language editor at Mida, Avi Woolf, on Thursday for the Times of Israel, Woolf defended Baratz, writing that although Baratz did issue harsh criticisms, “everyone, in the U.S. and elsewhere, does so—both in an official capacity and otherwise. Senior U.S. officials calling Bibi ‘chickensh*t,’ the old habit of Israeli political rivals calling each other Nazi or fascist or murderer, and many, many others—these are the familiar barbs of politics.”
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Arab woman charged over spying on Haifa for Gaza terror group
(JNS.org) An Arab woman with Israeli citizenship was charged Thursday with entering Israel from Gaza to spy on Haifa institutions and carry out terrorist attacks on behalf of a jihadist group last month, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said.
Nazrin Hassan Abdullah Hassan, 40, was recruited by the Katim Al-Muhajadin terror group, or “Holy Warriors Battalion,” particularly because she has Israeli citizenship and could more easily execute attacks on Israeli soil.
Hassan, mother of seven, is married to a Gaza resident and has recently been living in Gaza. While spending time in Israel during some part of 2014, she was asked to collect intelligence on Israel’s government buildings and infrastructure in Haifa, including a port in Haifa, a train station, Haifa’s Israeli Interior Ministry branch, a courthouse, a synagogue, and security arrangements at each of those locations.
“Upon her return to the Gaza Strip, she passed on this information (including pictures taken with her smartphone) to the terror organization, clearly knowing that it will be used to carry out terrorist activities,” the Shin Bet security said in a statement.
Not only did she receive instructions to carry out terror attacks in Israel, but Hassan also attempted unsuccessfully to recruit Israeli Arab citizens to join the jihadist organization.
Hamas demands arch-terrorists’ release for slain IDF soldiers’ bodies
(JNS.org) Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal is demanding the release of high-profile Palestinian terrorists Marwan Barghouti and Ahmed Saadat in exchange for the bodies of two IDF soldiers, Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed in last year’s Operation Protective Edge. Their bodies are purportedly still being held in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Shaul’s father is demanding that the Israeli government hand over Hamas terrorists’ bodies in return for the bodies of their son and other soldiers.
“Hamas must get everything it needs in return for returning our sons, even if they asked for the release of thousands of prisoners…We have to give them everything, even if they asked for the release of Marwan Barghouti,” Herzl Shaul said, according to Middle East Monitor, which cited the Hebrew-language newspaper Ma’ariv.
“Barghouti will be released in the future and the day which Mashaal has promised is coming, but I do not know when. It might come after a [prisoner] swap or after a war….All I know is that the one who sent our sons to war has to return them dead or alive,” added Shaul.
Israel recently decided to return some bodies of dead terrorists to the Palestinian Authority with the hope that large-scale funerals, which may incite more terror attacks, would not be held. The Israeli cabinet’s decisions on the issue are made “on a case-by-case basis, where the main consideration is if there’ll be a massive funeral, which is why the decision was made to return bodies on the condition funerals are quiet and modest,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said.
But Thursday’s funeral of 22-year-old Palestinian terrorist Ibrahim Skafi—whose body Israel returned the same day he was killed on Wednesday—turned violent, with thousands of participants chanting his praise and throwing rocks at IDF soldiers, Israel National News reported.
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Family of American who was killed by Hezbollah rocket sues Iran
(JNS.org) The family of an American man who was killed in 2006 by a Hezbollah rocket that was fired into Israel is suing Iran and three banks for funding the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, lawyers for the family of terror victim David M. Lelchook argue that Iran, Bank Saderat (Iran’ central bank), and United Kingdom-based Bank Saderat, PLC each “provided Hezbollah with material support and resources…that enabled, facilitated and caused” the death of Lelchook.
Lelchook, a 52-year-old Israeli-American, was killed as he fled home on his bicycle in northern Israel during the 2006 Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah. Lelchook was originally from the Boston suburb of Newton and had been living in Israel for 20 years.
“Hezbollah is a proxy of Iran, which is up to ever more mischief,” said Robert J. Tolchin, one of two Brooklyn attorneys representing the Lelchook family, the Boston Herald reported. “David Lelchook was a 52-year-old man with another lifetime ahead of him, and that’s been taken away from him by a random missile. They call that war? They call that the way a nation behaves?”
Earlier this year a U.S. court ordered the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority to pay more than $218 million for providing support for terror attacks that led to the deaths of several Americans during the second intifada.
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Israel reportedly requesting $5 billion in U.S. military aid
(JNS.org) Israel is requesting $5 billion in annual defense aid from the U.S. over the next decade in order to address growing threats in the Middle East.
Israel currently receives approximately $3 billion a year in U.S. military aid under a deal that is set to expire in 2017. The new package Israel is requesting would provide $5 billion in military aid, Congressional sources told Reuters.
Israel says that the increase will be needed to address growing threats from countries such as Iran. Israel fears that Iran will use sanctions relief from the recently reached nuclear deal and resulting growing economic prosperity to increase its support for terror groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
But the report said that the White House will likely push back against Israel and that the two sides will likely settle on somewhere between $4 and $5 billion. Before the nuclear deal, both sides had been negotiating a military package between $3.6 and $3.7 billion.
“First they have to negotiate with the White House,” one senior Congressional aide said of Israel, Reuters reported.
In addition, Israel has also requested special military equipment from the U.S., including squadrons of F-15 stealth fighter jets, V-22 Osprey aircraft helicopters, refueling aircraft, helicopters, precision weapons, and Arrow 3 missile defense interceptors, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit Washington, DC, next week and meet with U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss the military package and other issues.
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