Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Thursday, Feb. 18 '16, Adar 9, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. REPORT: ISRAEL ATTACKS MILITARY OUTPOSTS IN SYRIA
2. BROOKLYN COLLEGE PROTESTERS DEMAND 'ZIONISTS OUT'
3. ANTI-SEMITIC CAMPAIGN TRACKING JEWS, WARNS OF 'JEWISH TERROR'
4. COULD ANKARA BOMBING BE TURKEY'S PRETEXT TO INVADE SYRIA?
5. AIR STRIKES DESTROY HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF ISIS' DOLLARS
6. TRUMP PLEDGES TO BE NEUTRAL, UNPREDICTABLE WITH ISRAEL, PA
7. ISRAELI OLYMPIC HOPEFUL ATTACKED; LOSES SHOT AT COMPETING
8. KIPPAH CLIP TURNED INTO THE TOOL WE ALWAYS KNEW IT WAS
1. REPORT: ISRAEL ATTACKS MILITARY OUTPOSTS IN SYRIA
by Elad Benari
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is claiming that Israel on Wednesday evening struck military outposts in Syria, near the capital Damascus, Reuters reports.
According to the organization, Syrian army outposts south of Damascus were hit by three Israeli rockets.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is a British-based organization which mostly documents human rights abuses in Syria and which is regularly quoted by major news media outlets.
Israel has not responded to the report and Israeli government officials have for the most part never commented openly about any air strikes in Syria, as part of the government's policy of ambiguity regarding operations in the civil war-torn country.
While Israel remained silent, a pro-Assad military source denied the report, according to Reuters, claiming that there have been no Israeli armed strikes inside Syria on Wednesday.
Last month Syrian opposition sources claimed that the Israeli air force conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah positions in the mountainous Qalamoun region, along the border with Lebanon.
Before that alleged Israeli airs trike, the last reported Israeli strike in Syria eliminated arch-terrorist Samir Kuntar, a one-time Hezbollah commander who was reportedly drafted by Iranian special forces to set up anti-Israel terror cells in southern Syria.
In a break from the usual policy of ambiguity, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recently said that Israel "is active from time to time in Syria", and adding the activities are intended "to prevent a military front against us, and also in order to prevent the transfer of lethal weapons from Syria to Lebanon."
2. BROOKLYN COLLEGE PROTESTERS DEMAND 'ZIONISTS OUT'
by David Rosenberg
Student protesters broke into a Brooklyn College faculty meeting on Tuesday, issuing demands and verbally abusing staff members.
One faculty member who spoke to the JTA on condition of anonymity described the protest's anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Protesters called a Jewish professor present at the meeting a "Zionist pig" and demanded that the school throw "Zionists off campus". Other demands included an end to unspecified "racist" classes and wage hikes for teachers.
State Assemblyman Dov Hikind condemned the protesters, calling the incident an "absolute disgrace".
Hikind demanded that CUNY take action to stop similar acts of "intimidation and disruption".
3. ANTI-SEMITIC CAMPAIGN TRACKING JEWS, WARNS OF 'JEWISH TERROR'
by David Rosenberg
A mysterious campaign in Berlin to stoke fears of "Jewish terror" is spreading and becoming increasingly sophisticated.
According to a report by the Department of Research and Information on Anti-Semitism (RIAS), flyers, cards, and notices warning of "Jewish terror" threatening "attacks on Berlin's citizens" have increased around the city since October of 2015.
No organization has claimed responsibility and it remains unclear who is behind the campaign.
While the campaign initially appeared to be limited to the spreading of propaganda, it now appears to be actively tracking Jews living in Berlin. Materials associated with the campaign have been found in homes and attached to cars of Jews residing in the German capital, suggesting that whomever is behind the flyers has been keeping local Jews under surveillance.
Some of the most recent flyers found have warned residents about a possible Mossad attack.
4. COULD ANKARA BOMBING BE TURKEY'S PRETEXT TO INVADE SYRIA?
by Ari Soffer
Turkey has blamed a devastating bomb blast targeting a military convoy in Ankara on Kurdish rebels, and has vowed to respond sharply, raising concerns of an escalation in ongoing violence both at home and in Syria.
28 soldiers were killed and scores more were injured in the attack, which occurred early Wednesday evening.
Notably, on Thursday Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused not just the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) - a Kurdish militant group locked in a decades-long battle for greater rights with Turkey - but also its Syrian Kurdish sister faction, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Those claims in particular - which have not yet been confirmed - will raise fears that Turkey could use the attack as a pretext to launch a limited ground operation inside Syria, something it has been suggesting for several months to stem Kurdish advances.
"It has been revealed that this attack was carried out by members of the terrorist organisation in cooperation with a YPG member who infiltrated (Turkey) from Syria," Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara, referring to the PYD's armed wing, the People's Protection Units.
Davutoglu claimed that the bomber was a Syrian national named Salih Necar, and said nine people had already been detained over the attack.
But PYD leader Salih Muslim denied his fighters played any role in the bombing, and suggested the accusations by Turkey were motivated by Ankara's need to find a pretext to launch a ground operation against Kurdish forces in Syria.
"We deny any involvement in this attack," Muslim told the AFP news agency on Thursday morning.
"These accusations are clearly related to Turkish attempts to intervene in Syria," he added.
Turkish warplanes overnight struck PKK positions in northern Iraq in retaliation for the attack, but Turkey is unlikely to end its response there.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already threatened a harsh response.
"Our determination to respond in kind to attacks taking place inside and outside our borders is getting stronger with such acts," he said shortly after the attack. "It must be known that Turkey will not shy away from using its right to self-defense at any time, any place or any occasion."
The timing of the attack is notable, in that it follows five days of artillery bombardment by Turkish forces of YPG-held territory along the Syrian border, provoking warnings of retaliation by the YPG. It also comes at a time when both Turkey and Saudi Arabia have repeatedly raised the prospect of launching a ground operation inside Syria to bolster rebel forces, who are reeling in the face of regime advances backed by devastating Russian air power, as well as recent lightening advances by the Kurds in the north.
Ankara has been alarmed at the rapid advances made by Kurdish forces and their local Arab allies against both ISIS in the northeast, and against Turkish-backed Islamist rebels - including Al Qaeda's Nusra Front - in northwestern Syria. The PYD has declared it wishes to unite all Kurdish-ruled areas or "cantons" in northern Syria to create a contiguous autonomous Kurdish region - an objective the Turkish government has vowed to block.
On Wednesday, Turkey confirmed it had facilitated the transport of some 500 Islamist rebels to Azaz in northern Syria, where beleaguered rebels are attempting to fend-off a Kurdish advance.
But Kurdish forces have continued to take advantage of a major regime operation against the rebels - thanks to Russia's relentless air campaign and increased support for the regime from Iran and Hezbollah - to launch their own advances against already beleaguered rebel forces.
As Turkey's indirect efforts to stem rebel losses come to naught, could this be the pretext Ankara was looking for to launch its own ground incursion into Syria?
5. AIR STRIKES DESTROY HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF ISIS' DOLLARS
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Hundreds of millions of dollars are believed to have been destroyed in coalition air strikes targeting cash hoards used to finance the Islamic State group, a spokesman for the American military said Wednesday, according to AFP.
Coalition aircraft struck ten more of the cash collection points over the weekend, said Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the American-led campaign against IS in Iraq and Syria.
"We don't have a hard number that we're prepared to release. We believe it is in the hundreds of millions of dollars," Warren was quoted by AFP as having told Pentagon reporters in a video conference from Baghdad.
"Obviously it is impossible to burn up every single bill. So presumably they were able to collect a little bit of it back. But we believe it was a significant series of strikes that have put a real dent in their wallet," he said.
Targeting the cash hoards is part of a broader strategy to disrupt the group's sources of revenue.
In January, An the international coalition destroyed a cash storage facility used by ISIS jihadists in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
It was estimated at the time that the bombs destroyed millions of dollars worth of cash.
ISIS has been described as the richest terrorist organization in the world and has even been the target of an economic campaign which aims to expose the inner economic workings of ISIS and related groups and to stop its campaigning through social media networks.
Warren said the impact of the targeting of the group's cash flow can be seen in reports that ISIS has had to cut salaries paid to its fighters, sometimes by as much as half.
"So this to us is a very significant indicator that these strikes against their ability to generate revenue are beginning to squeeze them a little bit," he said, according to AFP.
AFP contributed to this report.
6. TRUMP PLEDGES TO BE NEUTRAL, UNPREDICTABLE WITH ISRAEL, PA
by David Rosenberg
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, spoke with voters at a televised MSNBC town hall in South Carolina Wednesday night ahead of Saturday's critical primary vote in the Palmetto State.
When asked by an audience member how he would approach negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Trump pledged to be both neutral and unpredictable.
"Let me be sort of a neutral guy," Trump said. "There has to be a certain amount of surprise and unpredictability. Our country has no unpredictability."
On whether he would able to forge a lasting peace as president, Trump admitted it would be a difficult endeavor, but promised to give it "one hell of a shot."
"A lot of people say an agreement can't be made," he acknowledged. "It's possible it's not makeable."
When asked by MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough who he felt was more at fault for the Arab-Israeli conflict, Trump refused to give a direct answer, responding "I don't want to get into it."
His follow up comments, however, gave some indication of his views on the issue.
"You have one side in particular growing up and learning that these are the worst people – these people are the worst people, et cetera, et cetera."
"I was with a very prominent Israeli the other day and he says [a deal is] impossible because the other side has been trained since the time they're children to hate Jewish people. But I will give it one hell of a shot."
Trump continues to lead the GOP field nationwide in the Real Clear Politics average of polls, though Texas Senator Ted Cruz has cut into Trump's lead and is leading in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. The New York billionaire is heavily favored to win in South Carolina on Saturday.
7. ISRAELI OLYMPIC HOPEFUL ATTACKED; LOSES SHOT AT COMPETING
by Raphael Poch
Israeli Olympic hopeful, Maor Ben Harush from Nahariya was run over by a fellow teenager following a verbal altercation that took place on Friday night.
The eleventh-grader Ben Harush, who is a three-time Israeli youth champion of Laser Radial wind surfing, had both of his legs shattered due to being run over in what police are suspecting to be a criminal attack. Ben Harush had also won two bronze medals during world championship competitions.
Doctors at the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya said that Maor will eventually heal, but the rehabilitation that he will have to undergo will take years.
Maor relayed the events of the accident to Yediot Aharonot news site. "We were sitting at a friend's house, not to far away from mine when we got into a fight. There were no fists and we didn't even curse each other out. I remember calling him a clown. He told me 'give me two minutes to call my brother and we'll see who the clown is.'"
Maor said that following the threat he and another friend left on their bicycles, and headed to Maor's house which was not too far away. Before they reached the house, a Mazda 3 rammed into them both at which point Maor lost consciousness. "The next thing I remember I woke up in the Hospital."
Twenty year-old Nir Gaporov is suspected of carrying out the attack and has been apprehended by police. Gaporov and his lawyer Yaron Shomron claim that the incident was a car accident and not an intended attack, as Gaporov lost control of his vehicle before ramming into Ben Harush and his friend.
According to police investigators, the story doesn't match the facts of the incident. Police said that Gaporov is suspected of causing trauma and injury in aggravated circumstances, as well as abandoning the scene of a car accident and and conspiracy to commit a crime.
For years Ben Harush had been training to participate in the Olympics and was thought to be one of Israel's up-and-coming athletes. Following the incident, Ben Harush went through a five hour long surgery after which the resident head of Orthopedics at the hospital told Ben Harush's father that had he not been an active sportsman, the damage done in the crash would have caused a double amputation.
Maor's friend suffered a broken hand and a bruised leg in the crash. He received treatment in the hospital and has already been released.
Ben Harush's father lamented his son's injuries and the lost opportunity of competing in the Olympics. "The way was paved for him. He sacrificed everything in order to get this shot at competing, and now it is ruined, and for what? For 'honor'? The doctors are saying it will be years of physiotherapy and rehab before Maor will be back to normal."
8. KIPPAH CLIP TURNED INTO THE TOOL WE ALWAYS KNEW IT WAS
by Raphael Poch
[youtube:2012664]
Yeshiva students around the world grew up knowing that the most available and useful tool that they possessed was the one that held their kippah onto their head - the kippah clip.
Now an Israeli from Tel Aviv has modified the classic clip and has turned it into the multi-faceted tool accessory that we all knew it to be, calling it the MTA hairclip. Yaakov Goldberg has added some small features to the clip such as a serrated edge, a nail file, a beer bottle opener, a coin for shopping carts and even an 8mm wrench. He modified the material to increase strength and manufactures the clips in three styles and colors each with their own specific uses. The clips still look like regular kippah clips, but are reinforced with steel to make certain that they do not bend or break.
Goldberg said that he came up with the idea thanks to his religious friends who not only hold their kippahs in place with the clip, but also perform multiple other tasks with the simple clip. "I actually came up with the idea because I have a lot of Jewish friends who all wear a kippah and hold it in place with a simple hair-clip. They often use the clip to open boxes or screw and unscrew things so I thought 'why not take this and make it into a real, functional multi-tool?'"
Goldberg said in an interview with the Daily Mail that he tried to accessorize the accessory in as many ways as he could. "I thought of all the useful little things people always want to be close to them and tried to incorporate them into the clip. One of the hardest parts was creating all these functions in something so small."
The silver clip is only 6cm long and the pink and black varieties are only 5cm long.
"Trying to make everything work was difficult," Goldberg said. "I made a lot of samples of each tool and then had to work out how to combine them."
Goldberg said there were some safety issues involved as well, as the clip can second as a flat-blade screwdriver or knife. "The knife can cut 'all sorts, from fruit to rope', but it won't cut the hair while wearing it."
The added benefit of the clip is that one almost never forgets to take it, and it is not an "extra" tool that one needs to think about. "There are various tools on the market but you have to remember to take them with you,' Mr Goldberg continued. "Often people will leave it in their kitchen or their bag and they don't have it when they need it. With the hair-clip it's on your head all the time, you don't need to think about it and remember to carry it with you."
The clip is available for purchase online via Amazon or the website "Monkey Business" where it sells for between $6-7 dollars a piece. Goldberg says that customers are really enjoying it.
"The feedback so far has been great. People really like it and have found it very useful. I took on board what people said after I made the first one. Some people felt a bottle opener was missing, so I included that in the newer designs."
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