Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Wednesday, Feb. 10 '16, Adar 1, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. IDF WARNS HAMAS IS FOCUSING ON ONE MAJOR TERROR TUNNEL
2. IGNORING OBAMA, IRAN UPGRADES ITS NUCLEAR-CAPABLE EMAD MISSILE
3. OPPOSITION BLOCKS MINISTER FROM IDF MEMORIAL
4. OLMERT SENTENCED TO AN ADDITIONAL MONTH IN JAIL
5. NEW IDF TECH LOCATES TERRORISTS THROUGH THE FOG
6. SURVEY: HALF OF ISRAELI PARENTS DON'T TALK WITH THEIR KIDS
7. EXPERT: DEAL DELAYS IRAN NUCLEAR BOMB BY 10-15 YEARS
8. WATCH: HAMAS VIDEO CLIP CALLS TO 'ROAST' JEWISH FLESH
1. IDF WARNS HAMAS IS FOCUSING ON ONE MAJOR TERROR TUNNEL
by Shimon Cohen
An IDF appraisal of the current security threats published on Wednesday morning estimates that over 1,000 Hamas terrorists are currently working on digging one central terror tunnel leading deep into sovereign Israeli territory.
The estimation, published in Yedioth Aharonoth, shows a sharp break from past activity when Hamas worked on constructing dozens of smaller tunnels simultaneously. Around 30 such tunnels were destroyed in 2014 Operation Protective Edge, but Hamas has since been busy rebuilding the system.
According to the report, the digging on the main tunnel is advancing at a pace of 50 meters (around 55 yards) a day, and the decision to focus on one central and high-quality tunnel was made by Hamas management in light of the lessons of Protective Edge.
Hamas intends to use the tunnel so as to transport its terrorists deep into Israeli territory and launch a surprise massive attack. The estimation states that the tunnel already crossed under the border fence a considerable time ago.
One hundred special engineering vehicles have been deployed by the IDF to the Gazan front according to the report, including 30 drills which are digging down to search for the tunnels based on intelligence information. However, currently there are still no results to show for the efforts. On Tuesday, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot said the tunnels in Gaza are now the army's main priority.
The report on one major tunnel being constructed confirms the warnings made by Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Langotzki to Arutz Sheva earlier this week. Langotzki, a leading expert on the war on terror tunnels, said that the current activities by security forces to locate the tunnels come too late, as the tunnels have already crossed under the border and reach into Israeli territory.
He also warned that the threat of tunnels exists on the northern border as well, with Iran-proxy Lebanese terror group Hezbollah's tunnel digging abilities already having been proven in the First and Second Lebanon Wars.
Before Protective Edge Hamas had built 33 tunnels over the course of four years, which it unveiled to lethal effect during the confrontation. However, the terrorist group has yet to reestablish its tunnel system to where it was at before the war.
Israelis living in the surrounding environs of Gaza have reported hearing the sound of digging from beneath their homes, with vibrations even shaking their houses. Those reports have come from as far as four kilometers and more in from the border fence, which the IDF apparently takes as meaning that the sounds are not from digging given the distance. However, the IDF says it continues to take every warning seriously and searches for the tunnels, even though currently nothing has been found.
Last Thursday, State Comptroller Yosef Shapira sent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) a draft of his report on Israel's handling of the tunnel threat, which details serious defects in the government's handling of the terror tunnel issue.
Hamas's increasing tunneling activity has been seen in a series of five tunnel collapses in the last two or so weeks, in which 11 Gazans have died. One of the tunnels was a smuggling tunnel on the Egyptian border of Gaza, while all the rest were terror tunnels where the collapse victims were Hamas terrorists.
2. IGNORING OBAMA, IRAN UPGRADES ITS NUCLEAR-CAPABLE EMAD MISSILE
by Ari Yashar
In open defiance of recent US sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile program, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan on late Tuesday told local media that Tehran will soon be rolling out an upgrade of its nuclear-capable medium-range Emad missiles.
The "next generation of Emad with improved precision" will be unveiled in the next Iranian year which starts on March 20, Dehghan said as cited by the semi-official Fars News Agency.
Emad is said to have a 1,700 kilometer range, putting Israel and much of eastern Europe squarely in its sights.
"The missile is being mass-produced but its precision-striking power will improve and its second version will be unveiled next year," Dehghan added, and went on to claim the missile was not a violation of the nuclear deal or UN sanctions because "we will never use a nuclear warhead (on it)."
In light of an Iranian Emad test on October 10 in breach of UN sanctions, US President Barack Obama's administration in January announced it was leveling sanctions on Iran's missile program - sanctions which Iran promptly vowed to defy. Iran in January publicly revealed its 14 underground "missile towns," with the latest facility being shown on Iranian media as convoys of the nuclear-capable Emad missiles were transferred in.
Dehghan also announced that Iran is to receive the Russian S-300 air defense system within the next two months, a troubling development given the advanced system's ability to shoot down missiles as well as jets.
The delivery has been blocked under Western pressure since 2010, given that it is in breach of UN sanctions. But now in the wake of the controversial nuclear deal Moscow is set to deliver the advanced missile system.
According to the Iranian defense minister Tehran and Moscow are also engaged in negotiations on a sale of the Russian Sukhoi-30 fighter jets.
"We have even decided on the number of Sukhoi-30 fighter jets that we want to buy," said Dehghan.
In a last announcement, he said Iran has designed and is testing a new tank called the "Karrar," which he claimed is on par with the Russian T-90. The new tank comes after plans to buy the Russian tank were canceled, according to Dehghan because Iran now has the capabilities to build a similar tank on its own.
"The defense industry designed and built the new battle tank from scratch. If not better, it's still as deadly as the Russian T-90," he claimed.
Following the controversial nuclear deal last July, Iran has shown an openly hostile stance to the US and continued to press its military development.
Critics of the nuclear deal note that Iran will be allowed to inspect its own covert nuclear sites such as Parchin, and likewise the leading state sponsor of terror can simply wait for the limitations on its nuclear program to expire under the deal in 15 years and then build a nuclear weapon.
US Secretary of State John Kerry in January admitted that part of the roughly $150 billion nuclear sanction windfall received by Iran will go to terror.
3. OPPOSITION BLOCKS MINISTER FROM IDF MEMORIAL
by Uzi Baruch
The Knesset opposition has refused to agree to a reduction in its MKs at a plenum session, thereby effectively blocking Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) from taking part in the official memorial of the 73 IDF soldiers killed in a horrific helicopter accident 19 years ago.
MK Shuli Muallem (Jewish Home) is to take part in the memorial, meaning that if Bennett were to take part as well there would only be 59 coalition MKs, erasing the coalition majority in the Knesset. If one more coalition MK were to go, the opposition could call a no-confidence vote and bring down the government with its majority. A reduction arrangement would have opposition MKs limited as well so as to avoid such a situation during the ceremony.
Responding to the decision, MK Betzalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) on Wednesday morning voiced sharp condemnation on Facebook, calling it a "disgrace and inflexibility towards the bereaved families."
Arutz Sheva has learned that Muallem was particularly offended by the opposition conduct. Her husband Lt. Col. Moshe Muallem was the most senior IDF officer to be killed in the 1997 crash, in which two transport helicopters collided while bringing soldiers back to duty in Lebanon.
MK Merav Michaeli (Zionist Union) said after the publication of the move that "the negligence of the government is not the fault of the families."
"As the opposition coordinator I hereby announce that I will allow a reduction (in opposition MKs) so that the minister will take part in the memorial to the helicopter disaster victims," she added, indicating that the opposition would alter its position. Michaeli's party head MK Yitzhak Herzog is the opposition chairman.
Following the helicopter accident, an investigation into the incident found numerous defects in the handling of protocols, but failed to find the exact reason for the crash.
4. OLMERT SENTENCED TO AN ADDITIONAL MONTH IN JAIL
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday morning was handed an additional month of active jail time for disrupting legal proceedings, in a sentencing handed down by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court.
The sentence comes in addition to his jail time for the Holyland corruption scandal. He is to begin serving his sentence in five days.
In the ruling on Wednesday, the court rejected the plea bargain formed between Olmert's attorney and the state, according to which he was to serve six months instead of the year-and-a-half he was sentenced to in the Holyland affair.
Instead of the plea bargain, Judge Avital Chen sentenced Olmert to an additional month, bringing his total jail sentence to one year and seven months. In addition he was handed a 50,000 shekel (nearly $13,000) fine.
In the previous hearing on the plea bargain, Chen criticized the light sentence being requested given the evidence against the former prime minister.
Next Monday, Olmert is to begin serving his jail sentence for the Holyland affair. Wednesday morning's court hearing was his last public appearance before beginning his sentence at a special jail branch with deluxe conditions.
5. NEW IDF TECH LOCATES TERRORISTS THROUGH THE FOG
by Raphael Poch
The IDF has for years had protocol in place to maintain extra vigilance and forces ready at weak points on all bases during the foggy morning hours, as it has feared that terrorists would use the fog cover to conduct attacks on bases.
Such attacks happened hundreds of times during the IDF's presence in Lebanon and during the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit in Gaza. However, the IDF has just developed a method of combating this threat, which will allow them to literally see through the fog.
The new technology, which is based on the drone system, is an advanced specified spy package which contains all of the regular equipment that is used in drones, day and night vision cameras, broadcasting systems, GPS, and others, but now also includes a specialized option for seeing through fog. The specialized camera is called "Savir," and it allows the operator to see and photograph images in high resolution even through fog or cloudy conditions. The Savir can identify people or moving trees or plants from a distance of over two kilometers and can see other images, depending on the need at a distance of up to 20 kilometers.
The Savir system can be operated on land or by sea. The systems are mounted on a rig that is called "Speed LR" which is produced by the Israeli company "Controp," which specializes in surveillance technology and is based out of Hod Hasharon. Yedioth Aharonot reports that the first systems will be ready for installment beginning next month.
The Savir can get a clear picture during heat waves that often cause imaging problems, or during fog and haze. Until now IDF forces have been using radar and radar imaging to locate movement close to their bases during foggy or hazy weather. The radar imaging has drawbacks when it comes to large amounts of movement or movement of wildlife which will trigger the system inaccurately.
The platform can be installed on towers or buildings and include a day camera, as well as a night vision camera that uses a laser to determine precise depth and coordinates.
6. SURVEY: HALF OF ISRAELI PARENTS DON'T TALK WITH THEIR KIDS
by Ido Ben-Porat
The annual survey of the Adler Institute in Herzliya has revealed that 48% of Israeli parents admit to barely speaking directly with their children on a daily basis, with 40% of the youths confirming the results.
The lack of direct contact appears to be due to the long work days of parents combined with the convenience of technology, thereby creating a situation in which nearly a majority of parents and children communicate primarily through their cell phones.
An overwhelming majority of youths was found by the survey to prefer writing with their parents rather than speaking with them. The popular WhatsApp smart phone messaging application came out as the preferred method of communication for youths in talking with their parents, as 32% listed the app as their main method of connecting.
Coming in second in terms of preferred means of communication were SMS text messages at 22%, with 16% of the children preferring phone calls, and 5% preferring writing by email.
Only around a quarter of the youths said that face-to-face conversations are their preferred way of communicating with their parents.
A representative sample of 300 youths aged between 13 and 18 took part in the poll, as did a representative sample of parents to children aged between 13 and 18.
Another finding was that a quarter of the youths do not know elementary details about their own parents. No less than 25% of the youths admitted that they know very little about the daily routine of their parents, their careers, their relationship and their past.
On the flip side of the finding, a quarter of the parents confirmed that their children don't really know them or their daily routines.
Adler Institute director Osnat Harel said that the poll's results should serve as a warning call for parents, but also for policy makers and lawmakers in Israel.
"What is found is an inverse relation between the rise in the need from parents to accompany, mediate for, listen to, bring into conversation and be present for their children, (as compared to) the ability and availability of the parents to do that," she said.
Harel noted that "the economic situation places difficult demands, unrest, an inability to find resources for family free time, and pressures that create anger and anxiety within the home structure. Meanwhile technological developments bring the entire world to your finger tips, but at the same time create dangers and pitfalls for the security of the children without adult inspection and supervision."
"This reality creates a vicious cycle of a loss of control, a loss of authority and respect, estrangement and solitude, and distress that is expressed in violence," she added.
"The parents must take back the responsibility and find the time and resources to be present and involved in the lives of their children. The state must allow parents to learn their role in order to parent correctly in the present reality."
7. EXPERT: DEAL DELAYS IRAN NUCLEAR BOMB BY 10-15 YEARS
by Arutz Sheva Staff
The deal between world powers and Iran has delayed Tehran's acquisition of nuclear weapons by 10 to 15 years, an expert told AFP on Tuesday.
"2015 was by and large a decent year for news on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," John Chipman, the director-general and chief executive of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), told the news agency.
"Principally because, of course, we did see in the last year the conclusion of the P5 plus one agreement on the Iranian nuclear file," he added.
Chipman was speaking to AFP after presenting the IISS's annual assessment of the global balance of military power.
"There are lots of skeptics as to how good an arrangement that is but there is some consensus that at least that it has delayed for some 10 years, and possibly 15 years, the acquisition by Iran of a nuclear weapon," he claimed, adding, "That's good proliferation news for the year 2015-2016."
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently confirmed Iran met its initial obligations under the terms of the nuclear deal reached with world powers last July, thus enabling the implementation of the agreement and lifting of the sanctions on Iran.
The removal of the sanctions came despite a December 2 report from the IAEA which concluded that Iran made a "coordinated" effort to develop nuclear weapons in the past, although the efforts apparently ended at an early stage.
The UN watchdog had also previously released a report which determined that Iran had violated the terms of its nuclear deal with the West by increasing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 460.2 kilograms.
8. WATCH: HAMAS VIDEO CLIP CALLS TO 'ROAST' JEWISH FLESH
by Gil Ronen
[youtube:2012410]
A pro-Hamas video that was uploaded to the Internet earlier this week is dedicated to bomb maker Yahya Ayyash, "The Engineer," who masterminded the first Hamas suicide bombings in the 1990s before being assassinated by Israel by means of an exploding cellphone.
The lyrics of the song, sung before the backdrop of a staged Egged bus bombing, are a prime example of "high" Palestinian culture.
"Be glad, brother Ayyash, for the Compassionate has blessed you," the Al-Wa'ed Band sings. "You did not let a single bus drive through a neighborhood without having chunks of the bus and body parts go flying."
As translated by Palestinian Media Watch, the song is rife with delicate gems of poetry such as this:
"Oh bearer of good tidings, wrap the explosive belt around your waist. The story of the Intifada will only be told when the roof of a bus goes flying.
"Oh Martyrdom-seeker, make them cry. Make the fire engulf them. Turn them into body parts, roast them, bringing joy to the hearts of the steadfast people.
"Oh martyrdom-seeker, it is our duty to defend our people. You are the voice of honor within us.
"We want the dead to fill the streets, and the blood to intensify the pain. Make the Zionist withdraw from the wrath of my avenging people."
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