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Wednesday, Feb. 17 '16, Adar 8, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. ISRAELI OUTRAGE OVER US JUDEA-SAMARIA LABELING 'DECEPTION'
2. IDF CHIEF OF STAFF DISMISSES TALMUDIC 'SLOGAN'
3. 12,000-YEAR-OLD ISRAELI VILLAGE SHOWS START OF FARMING
4. INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED INTO ANTI-SEMITISM AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY
5. BENNETT: ISRAEL ISN'T VEGAS
6. BRIDE-TO-BE CRASH VICTIM HEALS SIGNIFICANTLY
7. 'ANGEL' ON TRAIN PAYS SOLDIER'S 1,950 SHEKEL DEBT
8. PA OFFICIAL: JEWS SHOULD RETURN TO THEIR COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN
1. ISRAELI OUTRAGE OVER US JUDEA-SAMARIA LABELING 'DECEPTION'
by Ari Yashar
Israeli officials expressed outrage late Tuesday, after the International Legal Forum (ILF) argued that the US Customs' January 23 "reissuing" of orders to importers to label all products from Judea and Samaria as not being from "Israel" was a covert policy change.
Slamming the move as deceiving Congress, as well as the American and Israeli public, the Israeli group International Law Forum told Channel 2 that American claims of merely "reissuing" policies from 1995 are in fact false.
The group noted that the 1995 guidelines only applied to goods from the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Judea and Samaria, which was newly established in the 1994 Oslo Accords. The guidelines were meant to distinguish PA goods as not being Israeli.
However, the new orders call for all goods from Judea and Samaria to be labeled as non-Israeli, including those produced by Israeli Jews living in the region.
International Legal Forum's argument Tuesday echoes those of the Legal Grounds initiative, as reported by Arutz Sheva late last month.
Congress is trying to bring US Secretary of State John Kerry in for a hearing to clarify the topic, according to Channel 2, which noted that the State Department claims it was not involved in the January labeling statement.
Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan (Jewish Home) responded to the International Law Forum's appraisal with upset, saying, "the United States is a close friend of the state of Israel, but we also have red lines."
"Labeling products, which means delegitimization of the settlements in Judea and Samaria, is something not to be done between friends. The possibility that this was a deception is most serious, and I intend to speak with the American Ambassador on the topic soon," said Ben-Dahan.
Also responding to the announcement was the Yesha Council of Judea and Samaria, which noted, "unfortunately again it was discovered that the (Barack) Obama and Kerry administration is working in improper ways against the settlements."
"Today it was revealed that the surprising order regarding the labeling of products from Judea and Samaria does not match the orders established in the past in the US, and the publication was done with malice and fraud, while attempting to harm the state of Israel."
"Now the great question remains: to clarify who gave the order and what were their motives. We expect our friends, friends of Israel in the US, to act to change the outgoing order and not to remain silent until it is clear who stood behind this serious step," said the Yesha Council.
2. IDF CHIEF OF STAFF DISMISSES TALMUDIC 'SLOGAN'
by Ari Yashar
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot made a surprising statement on Wednesday morning during a visit to Bat Yam, in which he defended the army's controversial open-fire orders and brushed off the teachings of the Jewish sages.
During his visit to the city's cultural center which was attended by high school students, he said, "the phenomenon of terror accompanies Israeli society throughout the years, and there also were knifings years ago. It could be in Tel Aviv, in Otniel or Ariel. We see mutual influence between what happens in the Middle East with Daesh (ISIS) and what happens for us here (in Israel)."
One of the high school students asked Eizenkot whether he intends to change the opening fire procedures, arguing that the current orders endanger the lives of IDF soldiers and are stricter than ever.
Last August the orders were made even tighter, mandating soldiers in Judea and Samaria to only fire in the air, and not even shoot the lower extremities of an attacker other than in extreme cases of imminent life-threatening danger. In May, it was reported that IDF soldiers were told to avoid killing terrorists, even if they spot them as they are about to throw a potentially lethal firebomb or rock at a car.
But Eizenkot argued the orders don't need changing on Wednesday, and went on to disparage a famous Talmudic maxim on self-defense.
"The IDF cannot speak in slogans like 'when someone comes to kill you – kill him first,'" he said, citing the dictum. Eizenkot also dismissed as a "slogan" the following: "everyone holding scissors must be killed." Arab terrorists have conducted numerous lethal stabbings with scissors during the recent wave of attacks.
The Talmudic dictum was recently quoted by Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef last October, when he praised soldiers who kill attacking terrorists and lauded them for performing a mitzvah.
A week earlier senior Sephardic Rabbi Meir Mazuz urged Israeli bystanders to kill terrorist attackers rather than capture them alive, and Tzfat (Safed) Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu likewise warned not to let terrorists "survive their attacks," to prevent their ability to be freed and return to attack again.
The need to dispatch attacking terrorists as soon as possible has been illustrated on numerous occasions, including in one harrowing attack in Hevron last December, when an Arab terrorist repeatedly stabbed an IDF soldier on the ground even after being shot multiple times.
"Over 40,000 PA security members"
In his visit on Wednesday, Eizenkot also spoke about the security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority (PA).
"There is cooperation with the Palestinian security mechanisms, there are 40,000 security personnel of this sort," he said, noting the large number of PA forces who were established and armed by Israel in the 1994 Oslo Accords.
A growing number of the terrorists in recent attacks have proven to be PA policemen, in a disturbing trend that is being openly promoted by sources such as Hamas.
Following the 2000 Second Intifada or Oslo War, in which over 1,000 Israelis were murdered, PA officials later bragged that 70% of the attacks were conducted by PA Security Force members.
The IDF Chief of Staff also spoke about the threats by Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallh on Tuesday night, in which he threatened to hit Haifa's ammonia tank with a missile.
"Hezbollah is the central enemy, we meet Hassan Nasrallah once a week on the TV," said Eizenkot, addressing the Iran-proxy Lebanese terror group.
"Hezbollah is building all of its abilities in a rural environment, so as to develop a strategic balance against the state of Israel," he said, noting the terror infrastructure in Lebanese villages. "At the same time, the IDF is succeeding in exercising deterrence. In the last decade the Lebanese border has been a quiet front."
3. 12,000-YEAR-OLD ISRAELI VILLAGE SHOWS START OF FARMING
by Arutz Sheva Staff
An ancient prehistoric village dating back 12,000 years has been found by Hebrew University archaeologists during excavations in the Jordan Valley.
The site has been dubbed NEG II, and is located in Nahal (wadi) Ein-Gev at the middle of a perennial stream flowing west to the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). Excavations there have found human burial remains, flint tools, art manifestations, faunal assemblage, ground stone and bone tools. The excavated area revealed an extensive habitation with deep cultural deposits (2.5 to 3 meters deep), and the site is estimated as covering roughly 1,200 square meters.
According to the archaeologists the ancient village shows stark differences from others dating back to the same period in Israel, as it exhibits cultural characteristics from both the Old Stone Age (Paleolithic period) and New Stone Age (Neolithic period).
"Although attributes of the lithic (stone) tool kit found at NEG II places the site chronologically in the Paleolithic period, other characteristics – such as its artistic tradition, size, thickness of archaeological deposits and investment in architecture – are more typical of early agricultural communities in the Neolithic period," said Dr. Leore Grosman of Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology, who led the excavations.
"Characterizing this important period of potential overlap in the Jordan Valley is crucial for the understanding of the socioeconomic processes that marked the shift from Paleolithic mobile societies of hunter-gatherers to Neolithic agricultural communities," emphasized Grosman.
The archaeologists note that the Paleolithic period is the earliest and longest period in human history. The end of the period is marked by the transition over to settled villages and the domestication of plants and animals, in a shift to the agricultural life-style of the Neolithic period.
In research published in the journal PLOS ONE, the archaeologists described the village as one of the latest settlements in the Levant region of the Late Natufian - the last culture of the Paleolithic period. Natufian culture, which lasted from around 15,000 to 11,500 years BCE, has been witnessed in sites spanning from the Negev and the Sinai in the south, up to Syria and Lebanon in the north.
Describing the site, Grosman said, "the buildings represent at least four occupational stages and the various aspects of the faunal assemblage provide good indications for site permanence. In addition, the thick archaeological deposits, the uniformity of the tool types and the flint knapping technology indicate intensive occupation of the site by the same cultural entity."
"It is not surprising that at the very end of the Natufian culture, at a suite of sites in the Jordan Valley, that we find a cultural entity that bridges the crossroads between Late Paleolithic foragers and Neolithic farmers."
The announcement of the find comes the same Wednesday that it was revealed the remains of an ancient settlement from the Chalcolithic period roughly 7,000 years ago were unearthed in northern Jerusalem.
Excavations revealed buildings of a Natufian village Dr. Leore Grosman
Perforated piece, decorated objects, green stone spacers, shell and disc beads Gabi Laron and Ella Klein
4. INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED INTO ANTI-SEMITISM AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY
by Ari Soffer
The Israeli Embassy in London has issued a scathing condemnation of reports of rampant anti-Semitism within a left-wing student society in Oxford University, as Britain's Labour Party says it backs an official inquiry.
It comes after the head of Oxford University Labour Club (OULC) resigned when the Club endorsed Israel Apartheid Week, saying he had come to realize that "OULC and the student left in Oxford more generally have some kind of problem with Jews." Shortly after, Oxford's Jewish Society released testimony from a number of Jewish students recounting disturbing levels of anti-Semitism they themselves had witnessed or been subjected to.
On Wednesday, the Israeli Embassy's Charge d'Affaires Eitan Na'eh issued a statement slamming what he branded "antisemitism masquerading as politics."
"The Embassy of Israel is appalled by reports of antisemitism, intimidation of Jewish students, and support for terrorism against Israel at the Oxford Labour Club," the statement read. "We would not expect such disgraceful activity from any morally upright person - let alone students at one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
"Antisemitism masquerading as politics is abhorrent. It must be recognized as such and condemned by all."
For its part, OULC says it is "deeply disturbed" by the allegations, and launched an official investigation Wednesday.
"We unequivocally condemn any form of anti-semitism," OULC said in a statement.
"We are taking these allegations very seriously and will do whatever is necessary to ensure every Labour club is a safe space for Jewish students."
Officials within the Labour Party have also taken the issue up, specifically MP John Mann, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism.
Mann wrote directly to party leader Jeremy Corbyn urging him to mount an official inquiry into the allegations of anti-Semitism in a Labour Party-aligned club.
"I have always made clear that MPs must directly address accusations of antisemitism from within their own party ranks," Mann wrote, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
"Antisemitism in the Labour Party must not go unchallenged. If these allegations have merit, the perpetrators must be found and routed out of our party.
"I am writing to ask for a full investigation by the Labour Party. A statement of solidarity with Jewish students at this time would also be welcome."
In response, a spokesman for the Labour Party said it would fully back any such probe.
"The Labour Party condemns antisemitism in any form. Following recent allegations of antisemitic behaviour and intimidation at Oxford University Labour Club, Labour Students have launched an immediate investigation and the Labour Party welcomes and supports this action.
"If complaints are made about any individual member of the Labour Party, the party will take robust action to deal with any antisemitic behaviour."
5. BENNETT: ISRAEL ISN'T VEGAS
by Ido Ben Porat
Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) came out against the initiative of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to establish casinos in Eilat and promised to torpedo the project.
"The establishment of a casino in Eilat is unacceptable in my eyes, both from a moral standpoint as well as a practical one," Bennett explained. "It is morally unacceptable because a casino goes against our national values, it serves the strong and weakens the weak. From a practical standpoint, it is prohibited because we will all have to pay the price for the physical and psychological damage that it causes."
Bennett went one step further and used his position as education minister to back his values. "As the minister in charge of education in Israel I fight everyday against harmful trends that affect children, teenagers and women, and I will fight against the establishment of a casino. We will instill in our children an education of values and not one of gambling. Israel is not Vegas, and will not be like Vegas. We will fight it."
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) discussed the casino proposal during an interview she held with Army Radio on Wednesday morning and said "there are a lot of drawbacks to establishing a casino, and I'm not convinced that the benefits outweigh them."
Netanyahu had proposed the idea of opening one casino in Eilat, and Tourism Minister Yariv Levin has suggested the establishment of an integrated casino that would be made up of four or five casinos in the city. The Tourism Ministry is demanding very strict regulations be put in place to prevent Israeli citizens from becoming addicted to gambling.
Levin attacked the Jewish Home faction of the government and said "The Jewish Home faction will single-handedly bring about the collapse of the city of Eilat. The over-righteous eye-rolling of the Jewish Home faction, which ignores the incredible amount of illegal gambling that is currently taking place in Israel without proposing an alternative plan to save the city, is not to be taken seriously. I expect government ministers to deal with issues that concern their own ministries and not to interfere in an area which they have not investigated and do not understand."
6. BRIDE-TO-BE CRASH VICTIM HEALS SIGNIFICANTLY
by Yoni Kempinski
The condition of Sarah Sperling - the 20-year-old who was to be married in two weeks before suffering serious and horrific injuries in the lethal Egged bus crash on Highway 1 this Sunday - improved significantly on Wednesday.
Sperling is hospitalized at Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center, and on Wednesday she is to undergo an additional surgery.
The hospital announced on Wednesday morning that she currently is classified as moderately wounded and is in stable condition. She remains on artificial respiration and put to sleep with anesthetics.
Many groups have been praying for the recovery of the bride-to-be Sarah bat Dina.
A full six passengers were killed in the nightmarish crash, including Ya'akov Meir Heshin (27) and Yisrael Weinberg (26), Leah Malmud (61), Aharon Mordechai Cohen (18), Chaya Pasha Frenkel (23), and Levy Yitzhak Amdadi (17).
The bus driver, Chaim Biton, was arrested early Monday morning on suspicion of negligent manslaughter in the crash, after he hit a truck stopped on the side of the highway which was jutting into the traffic lane. Back in 2013 he similarly hit a truck and caused several injuries near the Shoresh Interchange.
The traffic police are continuing their investigation of the crash. Maj. Gen. Yaron Be'eri, head of the police's traffic department, said on Tuesday that Biton tampered with the bus's black box even as the dead victims of the crash were laid out before him.
"Shortly after the crash, even as the bodies were laid out and the wounded were shouting, the driver found his way towards the tachograph, and did several activities which we are currently checking what their impact was," said Be'eri.
A tachograph is a device installed on buses registering a history log of recent activity of the vehicle and the driver, such as the driving speed, driving hours, rest hours and details on the driver.
A commander in the traffic police also spoke about how cell phone usage often leads to serious traffic accidents, amid suspicions that Biton was using his phone at the time of the crash.
"We all transgress in driving while being distracted. We're all in our phones. People who use a smart phone - that smart phone kills them. We see those killed in traffic accidents with the phone in their hands, we see in investigation that they were using their cell phones," said the commander.
Addressing the lethal bus crash, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) argued that "the bus driver drove with criminal negligence and he needs to be held responsible. With all due respect, a driver needs to be responsible for his driving."
"We must not relieve the drivers from responsibility and therefore we will work in the government to bring in life-saving warning devices. According to all research, when there are these sensors present there is a reduction in the number of wounded."
7. 'ANGEL' ON TRAIN PAYS SOLDIER'S 1,950 SHEKEL DEBT
by Raphael Poch
On Monday an "angel" on a train helped out a soldier in need on a train by paying her family's debt of 1,950 shekel to the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC). According to an eyewitness report, the soldier was crying hysterically into her phone while arguing with the IEC not to cut off the power to her mother's home when another passenger took her phone and paid the debt for her.
The soldier, who lives solely on the meager military stipend, is the only daughter of her single and disabled mother. The mother lives off of her social security benefits which she receives at the end of each month. The amount owed to the IEC had accumulated to a large sum which was more than the family could pay until the next social security stipend would come in.
Daniel Danino, the eyewitness, who is also a soldier, was shocked at the kindness displayed by the gentleman whom she identified as Ofir Yitzhak.
According to a post that Danino posted on her Facebook page, and on a number of groups including "soldiers tweeting", the "angel" Yitzhak "grabbed" the telephone from the hysterical soldier, paid the debt on the spot from his own pocket and provided the soldier with a confirmation number so that she can verify the transaction.
Danino also reported that Yitzhak did it all out of love so that the soldier can have some peace-of-mind.
"This is a man of action, values, humility and with a huge heart," Danino wrote in her description of Yitzhak in her post. She signed off by stating that the entire episode filled her with pride to be part of a nation that devotes itself to helping one another in times of need.
8. PA OFFICIAL: JEWS SHOULD RETURN TO THEIR COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN
by Ben Ariel
Ibrahim Khreisheh, the Palestinian Authority's envoy to the UN Human Rights Council, recently said that it may "be useful" to ask Arab and European countries "to allow the Jews to return to their former lands and homes."
"We never had people from Poland, the Ukraine, Switzerland, France, or England," he added. The comments were made in a February 4, 2016 interview with the official Palestinian Authority TV channel and were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
[youtube:2012622]
"A few days ago, Barack Obama said: 'We are all Jews,'", Khreisheh said, in a reference to the American president's remarks on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
"But we, as Palestinians say: We are Jews, Christians and Muslims. So (Obama) did not invent anything new," he added, before claiming that the Palestinian Arabs' "problem is that the Jews came to Palestine from outside the region, colonized it and established their own state."
Khreisheh also spoke about Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent statement that "Russia was ready to accept back all the Russian Jews, who are suffering throughout Europe", a reference to Putin's offer of refuge in Russia to Jews fleeing anti-Semitism in Western Europe.
"If the Israelis continue on this track, it may be useful to consider asking many countries - Arab countries, European countries and other foreign countries - to allow the Jews to return to their former lands and homes, whether they are Iraqi, Yemeni, Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Lebanese or Syrian," he continued.
If that happens, Khreisheh explained, "Then we, the Palestinians, will return to be the way we were - Jews, Christians and Muslims."
"We never had people from Poland, Ukraine, Switzerland, France or England," he added.
Khreisheh is the same PA official who admitted in the past - also in an interview translated by MEMRI - that the PA has no hope of pressing charges against Israel in international courts because Palestinian terrorist groups are far worse violators of international law themselves.
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