Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Sunday, Jan. 03 '16, Tevet 22, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. INDICTMENTS FILED IN DUMA ATTACK
2. RESIDENTS: TEL AVIV SHOOTER IS 'DEFINITELY SANE'
3. SHOOTING ATTACK IN HEVRON
4. FAMILY AND LAWYERS OF DUMA SUSPECT REACT TO CHARGES
5. MYSTERY: WHY DID ARMED MAN REFUSE TO SHOOT TEL AVIV TERRORIST?
6. EGYPT REINSTATES AMBASSADOR IN ISRAEL
7. CHANNEL 20 DEMANDS RIGHT TO BROADCAST 'FAIR AND BALANCED' NEWS
8. BIBI: ALL ARAB MKS SHOULD DENOUNCE TERROR ATTACK
1. INDICTMENTS FILED IN DUMA ATTACK
by Uzi Baruch
Indictments were filed on Sunday morning at the Lod District Court against two Jewish youths suspected of involvement in the deadly arson attack in Duma five months ago.
They have been identified as 21-year-old Amiram Ben Uliel from Jerusalem and an unnamed 17-year-old from elsewhere in Samaria. Ben-Uliel was charged with three counts of murder, while the minor was charged as an accessory to murder.
According to the indictment, the two defendants decided in July 2015 to conduct a revenge attack for the murder of Malachi Rosenfeld, which occurred near Duma.
Ben Uliel and the minor met at the Geulat Hatzion outpost several times to discuss targets, eventually settling on a double attack in Duma and the neighboring Majdal village.
They agreed to meet at the Yishuv Hada'at outpost on the night between July 30 and 31 to carry out an attack in Duma "with the intention of killing people in their houses."
Armed with two bottles filled of flammable liquid, rags, a lighter, a matchbook, gloves and black spray paint, Ben-Uliel arrived at the designated spot at 11:00 p.m. on July 30.
When the minor failed to arrive at the designated meeting place before the attack, Ben-Ulliel, after waiting an hour, set off to conduct the attack on his own.
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Ben-Uliel tied one of his shirts around his face and crept into Duma. In an effort to increase the damage, he chose two houses in the center of the village - both belonging to different members of the Dawabshe family.
After preparing the firebombs in the Dawabshe's yard, Ben-Uliel spray-painted a Star of David and the words "revenge" and "long live the Messiah" on a wall near the houses.
He threw the firebombs through unlocked windows into the houses before fleeing on foot.
Eighteen-month-old Ali Saad Dawabshe was killed in the ensuing blaze and his parents were fatally injured. His four-year-old brother was the sole survivor from the immediate family.
Two other Israelis, including a minor, were charged for implication in "other terrorist acts" as well as obstruction in the Duma case.
These included the arson attacks on the Dormition Abbey in May 2014 and the Church of the Multiplication in June 2015, as well as acts of vandalism on Palestinian Arab property.
Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is representing one of the suspects, slammed the indictments, asserting the case was far from over and that the Shin Bet had "opened a Pandora's box."
"I suggest the Shin Bet not rush to celebrate," he added, noting several different high-profile cases in which "the system did everything to prove a crime even at the price of criminalizing innocent people."
"My clients are innocent, my clients have not confessed to the police! Only through torture did they break during Shin Bet interrogations," Ben-Gvir stressed, noting the abuse he clients underwent made their confessions inadmissible.
2. RESIDENTS: TEL AVIV SHOOTER IS 'DEFINITELY SANE'
by Cynthia Blank
Extensive searches continue Sunday in the Tel Aviv area for Nashat Melhem - the Arab-Israeli who murdered two Israelis Friday afternoon in a shooting attack at a pub on Dizengoff Street.
Residents of the Ramat Aviv in north Tel Aviv told Channel 2 on Sunday that Melhem had previously been employed at a vegetable shop in the neighborhood.
Despite claims from family members that Melhem was "insane," the residents stressed he "may have been hot-tempered, but he was definitely sane."
According to residents, Melhem worked as a delivery boy for the vegetable shop until 2008. People who knew him from that period claim that "everyone here in the neighborhood knows him well. His nickname was 'nashnash.'"
"It's not surprising that if he's hiding - he would choose this area," residents said. "He was a delivery boy here and he knows the area he delivered in well. That's why he did this in a place he knows well."
Security forces are maintaining a particularly heavy presence in Ramat Aviv as the entire city remains on alert. Several local business owners have been questioned about information on Melhem.
Authorities have reason to believe Melhem is hiding out somewhere in the greater Tel Aviv area. He is assumed to still be armed.
3. SHOOTING ATTACK IN HEVRON
by Cynthia Blank
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A shooting attack occurred on Sunday afternoon near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron.
It appears the gun used was a sniper rifle.
According to first reports from Magen David Adom, a 20-year-old Israeli female is lightly-to-moderately injured.
She has been transferred to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
4. FAMILY AND LAWYERS OF DUMA SUSPECT REACT TO CHARGES
by Arutz Sheva Staff
The Ben Uliel family, whose son Amiram has been charged as the prime suspect in the Duma arson case, responded to the murder indictment on Sunday, stressing his innocence.
In a video message, the Ben Ulliel family said: "We the parents of Amiram are shocked and appalled by the news that has been associated to our beloved son."
"We believe in the innocence of our son that will be proven in court, and we hope that the courts will reveal the harsh and violent abuse that he has suffered these past weeks during the interrogation process," the family added. "We want to stress that we are against any and all violence against any person."
Oryan Ben Uliel, Amiram's wife, spoke to Arutz Sheva on Sunday and asserted that her husband "is innocent. He didn't do anything. This is all a political witch-hunt."
"My husband is innocent. He suffered incredible amounts of physical and sexual abuse, he was not allowed to sleep. He was abused without mercy until he felt he would die. He kept screaming "God save me! God save me!, and they just kept on hitting him. I saw with my own eyes when they arrested him. The beat hit terribly and then they confiscated all of the cameras on which the arrest was filmed. They pulled confessions out of him regarding things that he did not do."
Oryan claimed that some of things to which Amiram allegedly confessed he could not have done because he was with her at home.
"I know he didn't do these things. I know because he was with me at home on the night in which they accuse him of perpetrating some of these events. It is simply a lie and a political with-hunt. They are accusing him because he has a big kippah and large sidelocks. He didn't do any of this. And the person who did do this is still at large."
Lawyers respond to the indictment
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In a press conference held on Sunday morning, lawyers for the accused also responded to the indictment.
Adi Keidar told reporters that "not only were the suspects abused and tortured, it is my suspicions that the prosecutors who submitted the indictment did it under duress."
"I would like to remind you all that for over 40 days our client was accused of being guilty of direct involvement in a murder, and today, after 40 days it was revealed that these accusations had no connection to reality."
"In the written indictment he is not accused of murder at all," Keidar charged. "I think that this is a day of soul searching for the Israel Security Agency (ISA) and for the prosecution. I believe that in the coming days as we learn more about the alleged proofs that have been attained, only then will we know just how great the oversight on the part of ISA has been."
5. MYSTERY: WHY DID ARMED MAN REFUSE TO SHOOT TEL AVIV TERRORIST?
by Gil Ronen
According to several reports from the murderous terror attack in Tel Aviv Friday, at least one of the bystanders at the scene of the attack was armed with a handgun, but he failed to use it against the terrorist.
David Malka, who owns the Sidewalk Café, which is located at the scene of the attack, said that the terrorist "ran in our direction and kept on firing. Three bullets struck here, and he hit [the] Japanika [restaurant] as well. He ran toward Gottlieb street. Me and two other guys chased after him. We had no weapons. He pointed the weapons at us, and by the time security forces arrived, he had disappeared. I saw him right in front of my eyes and I identified him in the security camera footage.
"One of the guys, who wore civilian clothes, carried a weapon, but he did not draw his handgun," said Malka, who was cited on several news sources. "I don't know who the guy was. There were three or four of us. We told him to shoot, but he didn't fire. He didn't function, it seems he was in some kind of shock."
While it is certainly possible that the man with the handgun was in a state of shock, another possibility being floated by many on social media is that he was afraid of being prosecuted if he fired at the terrorist.
Since the start of the current terror wave, media personalities and politicians from the radical Left have been campaigning to try and keep security forces and civilians from firing at terrorists. Many were shocked when the Attorney General instructed the Department for Investigations of Policemen to summon for questioning a policeman who fired at a terrorist in Jerusalem.
The policeman was eventually cleared of suspicions he had fired at the terrorist after she no longer posed a threat.
Leftist women's groups, under the umbrella of the "Gun on the Kitchen Table" coalition, have succeeded over the years in getting the government to restrict the number of weapons issued to security guards and civilians in general, by claiming that the distribution of weapons will increase the chances that men will use them to kill their domestic partners. Meanwhile, the number of illegal guns in Arab communities is believed to be sky high, and the Tel Aviv terrorist used a gun that his father held with permission.
6. EGYPT REINSTATES AMBASSADOR IN ISRAEL
by Raphael Poch
For the first time in over three years, Egypt will be stationing an ambassador to Israel in Tel Aviv.
Ambassador Hazem Khairat landed in Israel last week and will take the position to the head the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Former president Muhammad Morsi removed the previous Egyptian ambassador in protest of Israel's November 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza. Morsi was later deposed and replaced by President Abbad Al Fatah a-Sisi, who has much closer relations with Israel.
Additionally, Egypt has recently been attempting to stifle smugglers as well as terrorists escaping from Gaza into the Sinai Peninsula, escalating tensions between Egypt and the Hamas controlled strip.
Egypt's preventative actions have included the recent bombardment of the Rafiah area of the Sinai Peninsula, as well as the flooding of smuggling tunnels used to transfer weapons, goods and drugs in and out of the strip.
During the cabinet meeting on Sunday morning Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu welcomed the new Ambassador.
"This past weekend a new Egyptian ambassador arrived to Israel, Hazem Khairat. I welcome his arrival; I welcome the re-stationing of an Egyptian ambassador in Israel, which will enable us to further strengthen relations with this important and key Arab country."
7. CHANNEL 20 DEMANDS RIGHT TO BROADCAST 'FAIR AND BALANCED' NEWS
by Gil Ronen
Cable Channel 20, the Jewish Heritage Channel, is asking the public to show its support for allowing it to broadcast "balanced, fair news", which is "for the nation of Israel and not against it." It has received more than 18,000 "likes" in 19 hours.
The channel is associated with a nationalistic spirit that is quite different from the leftist slant that typifies Channels 2 and 10, which are the only commercial channels that are licensed to broadcast news. Public Channel 11, which also broadcasts news, is also considered left-leaning. Channel 20 may only carry discussions of the news, but may not report news.
None of these channels have house analysts who are associated with right wing views, whereas all of them have analysts and reporters who are associated with the radical left.
On its Facebook page, the channel showed screenshots from Channel 2 that it sees as proof of the its bias. In one screenshot, the captions described the victims of the arson at the Arab village of Duma as having been "murdered." In the other, the victims of the Tel Aviv terror attack were described as having been "killed."
In the first, the perpetrators were described as "murderers." In the second, the perpetrator was referred to "the shooter."
"We are sick of this," explained Channel 20. "We have been sick of this for two decades."
Itay Nevo, a senior journalist in Channel 1, urged his Facebook followers not to support Channel 20, citing as a reason the fact that it recently published a post attacking President Reuven Rivlin. Channel 20 will deserve support, Nevo elaborated, when the people there "understand what journalism is, and what humanistic, democratic and non-propagandist values are."
Channel 20 blasted Rivlin in mid-December for participating in the Haaretz-New Israel Fund conference in the US, alongside an activist from Breaking the Silence. It accused Rivlin of "losing all shame" and said that Rivlin "is busy representing himself and not the Nation of Israel."
"As a private citizen," it added, "Rivlin has the right to do as he pleases, but as president he has no right to spit in the face of IDF soldiers."
8. BIBI: ALL ARAB MKS SHOULD DENOUNCE TERROR ATTACK
by Matt Wanderman
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is currently at the scene of yesterday's terror attack in Tel Aviv.
"Yesterday there was a heinous and unbelievably vicious murder here," he said. "Young people, whose entire lives were ahead of them, the ages of my own children, were innocently sitting celebrating a birthday and were murdered in cold blood. I would like to send heartfelt condolences to the families of those who were murdered and wishes for a complete and quick recovery to the wounded. We are praying for their well-being.
"The Israel Police and ISA are working around the clock to apprehend the murderer. I just received a comprehensive briefing on their operations. They, the security forces of the State of Israel, are working to the best of their abilities. The photograph of the murderer has been published; additional photographs of him will also be published. We have reinforced our units in all relevant areas. I request that the public be on maximum alert.
"I appreciate the condemnations of the crime that have been made by the Arab public. I must say that I expect all Arab MKs, all of them without exception, to clearly condemn the murder without hesitation. Murder is murder, and must be condemned and acted against from whatever quarter.
"Among Israel's Muslim citizens there are many elements that have come out against the violence and wish for full law enforcement in their communities. However, we all know that there is wild radical Islamic incitement against the State of Israel in the Arab sector. There is incitement in mosques, in the educational system and in social media. We are taking strong action against this incitement just as we did when we outlawed the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement and the Mourabitoun. I am not prepared to accept two States of Israel, a state of law for most of its citizens and a state within a state for some of them, in enclaves in which there is no law enforcement and in which there is Islamist incitement, rampant crime and illegal weapons that are frequently fired at events such as weddings. This era has ended.
"I have formulated a plan, along with the Public Security Minister and the Israel Police Inspector General, a plan with a lot of money and resources. We will dramatically increase law enforcement services in the Arab sector. Israel will enforce the law and its sovereignty in all parts of the country – in the Galilee, the Negev and the Triangle, everywhere. We will build new police stations, recruit more police and go into all communities and demand from all of them loyalty to the laws of the state. One cannot say 'I am an Israeli in rights and a Palestinian in obligations.' Whoever wants to be Israeli should be an Israeli all the way, both in rights and in obligations, and the first and highest obligation is to obey the laws of the state.
"I view positively the increasing involvement in the IDF, in civilian service and in the overall life of the state, of the Christian, Druze and northern Bedouin communities, and within the Muslim community as well. I call on all citizens of Israel, especially its Muslim citizens, to take the path of integration, coexistence and peace and not the path of incitement, hatred and fanaticism. We are all citizens of the state and are all bound to maintain it and uphold its laws."
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