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Tuesday, Jan. 12 '16, Shevat 2, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. RADICAL LEFTIST ARRESTED AT AIRPORT FLED OVER 'DEATH THREATS'
2. EU SPONSORS ILLEGAL PALESTINIAN ROAD TO HELP PA ANNEX AREA C
3. TEL AVIV SHOOTER WORE PROTECTIVE EYEWEAR DURING ATTACK
4. JEWISH TEACHER ATTACKED IN FRANCE USED TORAH TO FEND OFF STABBER
5. WATCH: MACCABEATS RELEASE SONG FOR MLK JR. DAY
6. SUICIDE BOMBING ROCKS CENTRAL ISTANBUL SQUARE
7. TWO INJURED AFTER BALCONY COLLAPSES IN JERUSALEM
8. HE-SAID, SHE-SAID BATTLE ERUPTS IN KNESSET GARAGE
1. RADICAL LEFTIST ARRESTED AT AIRPORT FLED OVER 'DEATH THREATS'
by Cynthia Blank
The attorney of the left-wing activist arrested Monday evening at Ben-Gurion International Airport claimed to Channel 2 on Tuesday that he was not attempting to flee the country.
Police had been trailing the man after his name came up in the "Uvda" investigative TV report last Thursday showing how a group of radical leftists get Palestinians in Judea and Samaria tortured and killed for trying to sell land to Jews.
At first they assumed he was headed to the airport to pick up someone who might be arriving, but when they realized he was heading toward flight check-in lines, police detained him.
Police said the activist was arrested on suspicion of having ties with committing a crime as well as contact with a foreign agent. He will be brought for a remand hearing Tuesday.
Because he is accused of security-related crimes, he has been denied the right to see his lawyer for a period of five days.
While it appears the unnamed activist was trying to flee Israel, his attorney Leah Tzemel attributes the move to the death threats he had recently begun receiving.
"People began publishing his address on various right-wing sites and his friends abroad told him to come to them," she alleged. "He thought since there was no arrest warrant preventing him from leaving the country and that he had not been summoned for an investigation - it was a good opportunity to take this vacation."
"The whole story has really hurt him, so he decided to go," Tzemel added. "This is not an escape attempt. He took into account that this could happen, but he has the full right to [leave the country]."
2. EU SPONSORS ILLEGAL PALESTINIAN ROAD TO HELP PA ANNEX AREA C
by Arutz Sheva Staff
The Regavim movement has spotted an illegal road being built by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the middle of the Judean Desert with money transferred from the European Union.
Regavim has filed a court case against the illegal construction with Israel's High Court of Justice.
The PA completed several weeks ago preparations for the construction of a road which extends beyond its territory of control and into Gush Etzion, heading towards the Dead Sea.
Regavim had notified Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) of the illegal building more than six months ago. However, Israeli authorities chose not to take action at that time. Since then heavy machinery has prepared the road for paving.
While previous promises from then ministers Avigdor Liberman and Yisrael Katz regarding Israel's desire to pave a highway connecting Gush Etzion to the Dead Sea have remained as good intentions only, the PA has taken up the work and is building the road instead.
The new road illegally cuts through the Judean Desert, and passes through areas that are under full Israeli control. It has received no permits from the Israeli government.
Preparation has been completed on eight and a half kilometers of the road, which is expected to be twenty kilometers long once it is finished.
Oved Arad, the head of the land division of Regavim said "this road is a snake in the grass. We are talking about a strategic impediment of the highest order. According to the Oslo accords this is the only spot that Israel can construct this important road that can connect from Gush Etzion to the Dead Sea and from there to the Jordan Valley and the Arava."
"If the Palestinians build the road with EU funding, it will allow them to gain control of large amounts of Israeli land in the Judean Desert, and annex it to their control."
"Israel cannot give up on the land, and certainly not to allow foreign countries to come in and take it over."
Sources in Regavim added that "according to documents signed by the EU, they have instructed that the money being used to build the road, is intended for the Palestinian authority to 'gnaw away at' Area C and appropriate its land."
"This is highly illegal and completely unacceptable. Israel must tell the EU that enough is enough."
3. TEL AVIV SHOOTER WORE PROTECTIVE EYEWEAR DURING ATTACK
by Cynthia Blank
While conducting the deadly shooting attack at a pub in Tel Aviv on January 1, Nashat Milhem was seen wearing an unusual pair of white glasses. He wore the same pair a week later when he was killed in a gun battle with security forces.
Walla News! reported Tuesday that police had determined the glasses were a special type used to protect one's eyes from flying objects.
Police initially estimated Milhem's unusual pair of glasses were designed to prevent facial recognition. The technology for this type of glasses has existed for several years and pairs can be easily ordered online.
However, a closer examination of the images of the terrorist reveal he was probably wearing a pair of glasses manufactured by the Rec Specs protective sports eyewear company.
The particular brand, known as MAXX 31, is designed for sporty individuals wishing to protect their eyes from being hit by objects, such as baseballs or hockey pucks.
According to the manufacturer's website, the glasses conform to ASTM F803, The American Society for Testing and Materials' strictest standard for protective eyewear.
Such glasses greatly reduce the chances of eye injuries during sports activity, though the technology behind the glasses was originally designed for protection at shooting ranges.
4. JEWISH TEACHER ATTACKED IN FRANCE USED TORAH TO FEND OFF STABBER
by Arutz Sheva Staff
A Jewish teacher stabbed by a 15-year-old in the southern French city of Marseille on Monday believes the teen, an ethnic Kurd, wanted to decapitate him, his lawyer said Tuesday.
The teenager, who told police he was acting in the name of Islamic State (ISIS), stabbed the 35-year-old teacher in the shoulder and hand in the attack, which took place in broad daylight.
The teacher's lawyer, Fabrice Labi, said his client had told him: "I had the feeling he wanted to decapitate me."
Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said the weapon was blunt, which helped limit the damage. The teacher was released from hospital on Monday night.
"I told him to stop hitting me but he kept going and I didn't think I would get out alive," the teacher told La Provence newspaper, adding he had seen "hatred... in the eyes of the attacker."
The teacher was wearing a skull cap and used his Torah as a shield to fend off the assailant.
"Honestly, I don't know how I will get over this terrible attack," said the teacher, adding he would have to think about no longer wearing his skull cap in public.
Robin said the teenager, who will turn 16 in the coming days, "has the profile of someone who was radicalized on the Internet."
"He claimed to have been acting for Daesh," he added, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS. "You get the sense that he does not have a full grasp of the fundamentals of Islam."
The assault marked the third attack on Jews in recent months in the southern French port city, which has the second largest population of Jews in France after the capital Paris.
Three Jews were assaulted in October, one with a knife near a synagogue by a drunken assailant. In November, another Jewish teacher was stabbed by people shouting anti-Semitic obscenities and support for ISIS.
AFP contributed to this report.
5. WATCH: MACCABEATS RELEASE SONG FOR MLK JR. DAY
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2011418]
The popular a capella group The Maccabeats joined with Naturally 7 to release a new song in honor of the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The music video accompanying the song, titled "Shed a Little Light," was shot outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, where King gave his famous "I have a dream" speech.
6. SUICIDE BOMBING ROCKS CENTRAL ISTANBUL SQUARE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2011407]
A large explosion was heard Tuesday morning in Istanbul's central Sultanahmet Square - a major tourist attraction and hub in the Turkish city.
Turkish security forces and paramedics were quickly deployed to the square.
According to a statement issued by the Istanbul Governor's Office, at least 10 people were killed in the blast and another 15 wounded. The statement confirms that some of those among the injured were German and Norwegian tourists.
It appears the explosion was caused by a bomb planted in the garden of the Sultan Ahmet (Blue) Mosque. The mosque is one of the symbols of Istanbul and a major tourist attraction.
Some witnesses claimed a suicide bomber detonated the device. These reports have not been confirmed by Turkish authorities.
Witnesses speaking to the CNNTürk station reported hearing a loud blast and a huge flame was seen during the blast which took place at around 10:15 a.m Turkish time.
The blast occurred in the heart of Istanbul's tourist district, close to the Sultanahmet tram stop and Dikilitas, the Obelisk of Theodosius.
Police have closed off the roads surrounding the area in fear of a second bomb.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry is currently investigating as to whether any Israelis were in the area during the time of the explosion.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu convened an emergency meeting in Ankara following the blast. A senior official told Reuters that "terrorist links" were suspected, but had made no further comment.
Later on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack was caused by a suicide bomber of Syrian origin.
"I strongly condemn the terror attack which was carried out by a suicide bomber of Syrian origin," Erdogan said in a speech in Turkish capital Ankara in his first reaction to the blast.
"Unfortunately... there are fatalities, including locals and foreigners," Erdogan lamented. "This incident showed again we have to stand together in the face of terror."
"Turkey's determined position will not change. We don't make any difference between the names or abbreviations (of terror groups)."
"The first target of all the terror groups active in this region is Turkey. Because Turkey fights them all with the same determination."
7. TWO INJURED AFTER BALCONY COLLAPSES IN JERUSALEM
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2011415]
Magen David Adom paramedics rushed to Agron Street in Jerusalem on Tuesday to help two people injured after a balcony collapsed.
The bottom of the balcony caved in and fell from a height of six meters.
A 27-year-old woman was moderately injured in the crash, sustaining injuries to her arms and legs. Her 74-year-old father was also lightly wounded as a result of the collapse.
They were evacuated to Hadassah Medical Center in the capital.
Jerusalem Fire and Rescue department said that the balcony had a stone base that was supported by a steel frame.
It appears the frame rusted through and could no longer support the weight of the stone. An engineer has been called to the scene to assess the building.
8. HE-SAID, SHE-SAID BATTLE ERUPTS IN KNESSET GARAGE
by Cynthia Blank
[youtube:2011406]
On the day he returned from a month-long suspension from the Knesset, gaffe-prone MK Oren Hazan (Likud) was already embroiled in another scandal.
During the plenary session on Monday evening, Hazan turned to MK Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin and reportedly began to tease her Zionist Union faction for, in his opinion, not condemning the left-wing NGO Breaking the Silence.
As the Knesset members dispersed to go home, Hazan reportedly waited for Nahmias-Verbin in the Knesset parking garage, where he continued to needle her, saying, "Ayelet, I used to think you were a human being, but it turns out you're sub-human."
The stunned MK lost her cool and responded, "You weren't here a month and things were quiet. You don't talk to me like that. You're the Likud party's punishment."
Hazan then accused Nahmias-Verbin of being jealous of him, to which she spat back, "Of what do I have to be jealous? What have you done in your life to make me jealous of you."
Sources close to Hazan also assert that Nahmias-Verbin called him "zero" and a "dog" despite his attempts to calm her. Those close to Nahmias-Verbin, meanwhile, insist Hazan continued to provoke her.
The fiery exchange reportedly lasted several minutes until someone thought to call a Knesset officer to separate the two parliamentarians.
"The MKs know Hazan, as they know me," Nahmias-Verbin asserted after the fight. "I have never shouted at or argued with Knesset members. It's not my style. The month he wasn't in the Knesset it was simply pleasant to go to work. There were no arguments or unnecessary things. But he would not stop blackening my name inside the plenum and after. I had no choice but to answer him."
Nahmias-Verbin said she will file a complaint with the Knesset Ethics Committee - the same body which sanctioned Hazan for his comments against disabled MK Karin Elharar (Yesh Atid).
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