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Wednesday, Feb. 03 '16, Shevat 24, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. TWO SERIOUSLY INJURED IN JERUSALEM SHOOTING ATTACK
2. WILL THE PALESTINIANS THWART REFORM KOTEL PLAZA?
3. HAMAS PARADES 'CAPTURED ISRAELI TANK' - THERE'S JUST ONE PROBLEM
4. OBAMA HASN'T PROSECUTED A SINGLE PALESTINIAN TERRORIST
5. HERZOG PEDDLES PEACE PLAN TO KERRY
6. OFFICER INDICTED PASSING INFO TO ANTI-ASSIMILATION GROUP
7. POLL: HALF OF ISRAEL'S JEWS WANT TO ANNEX JUDEA-SAMARIA
8. TERROR VICTIM RECOUNTS ORDEAL: I FELT THE LIFE SEEP OUT OF ME
1. TWO SERIOUSLY INJURED IN JERUSALEM SHOOTING ATTACK
by Ari Soffer
[youtube:2012167]
Two female border police officers aged 19 and 20 have been seriously wounded in a shooting attack close to Jerusalem's Damascus Gate.
Both officers - one of whom is in critical condition - have been evacuated to hospital.
According to initial reports, three Arab terrorists armed with concealed Carl Gustav sub-machine guns, knives and bombs were spotted acting suspiciously by Border Police officers close to Damascus Gate.
When officers approached, one of the terrorists produced his ID, and another suddenly opened fire, wounding two officers.
Other officers in the vicinity returned fire, eliminating all three.
The terrorists have been identified as Palestinian Arabs from the Jenin area in Samaria.
It is the second attack this week, following Sunday's shooting attack between Bet El and Ramallah, just north of Jerusalem.
Several other attacks have also been thwarted this week by alert police officers, including several planned stabbing attacks.
2. WILL THE PALESTINIANS THWART REFORM KOTEL PLAZA?
by Dalit Halevi
The religious leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has expressed fierce opposition to the new decision of the Israeli government to expand the non-Orthodox mixed prayer section of the Western Wall (Kotel).
PA Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Hussein reissued claims that the Kotel is a Muslim site belonging to the Islamic Waqf, referring to it as "Al-Buraq" Wall, a name given by Muslims to the Kotel in the 1920s in an attempt to claim it. The name refers to Mohammed's "winged steed" he supposedly rode to Jerusalem in his "night journey."
Joining his call was Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, head of the Supreme Muslim Council, who said, "the ground allocated by the occupation for prayer is Islamic Waqf land, and the assault on it is considered an assault on the rights of Muslims and Arabs."
The Al-Aqsa union for maintaining holy sites to Islam likewise said the decision harms "Muslim sites," adding, "the Al-Buraq Wall is an inseparable part of Al-Aqsa Mosque."
"The Al-Buraq Wall is an inseparable part of the western wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque and all the plaza grounds adjacent to the Al-Buraq Wall (belong to the) Islamic Waqf," added the union in an attempt to warp history at the holy site. The Kotel is the remaining western outer wall of the Second Temple, while the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built may centuries later on top of the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.
Sheikh Omar Kiswani, director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, claimed that the UN has recognized the Kotel as part of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and therefore the new prayer space breaches international law.
However, while UNESCO last October passed a shocking resolution claiming ancient Jewish sites such as the Cave of Machpelah to be "Islamic," the PA demand to have the Kotel also recognized as "Islamic" was swiftly removed from the resolution following widespread condemnation, including from UNESCO's own Director-General.
The new Reform and Conservative prayer space, which is an extension of a pre-existing prayer section constructed back in 2013, has raised controversy in a number of circles.
On Monday Dr. Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University's archaeology institute warned Arutz Sheva that the new ramp for the prayer space will cover the last remaining site testifying to the destruction of the Second Temple, thereby seriously harming Jewish heritage.
3. HAMAS PARADES 'CAPTURED ISRAELI TANK' - THERE'S JUST ONE PROBLEM
by Ari Soffer
At a funeral-rally last Saturday for seven Hamas terrorists, who died when the tunnel they were working in collapsed on top of them, Gaza's Islamist rulers proudly paraded what they claimed was a captured, rebuilt Israeli Merkava tank.
The rally was organized by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's "military wing," whose members were killed in the accident, and was meant to be a show of force replete with the usual threats against Israel.
At one point, Al-Qassam Brigade spokesman Abu Obeida delivered a speech from the tank's turret, flanked by several masked gunmen.
But as Israeli PM Netanyahu's Arabic-language spokesman pointed out, there was just one problem: the "tank" was clearly a fake.
As Ofer Gendelman noted: "tanks aren't made of wood and don't run on wheels."
Well, maybe in Gaza they do:
4. OBAMA HASN'T PROSECUTED A SINGLE PALESTINIAN TERRORIST
by Ari Yashar
US Justice Department officials admitted before the House Subcommittee on National Security on Tuesday that President Barack Obama's administration has not prosecuted a single Palestinian terrorist who murdered US citizens in Israel and elsewhere.
The hearing was called to investigate the Justice Department's failure of its congressional mandate to bring such murderers to justice, reports the Washington Free Beacon.
Palestinian Arab terrorists have murdered no fewer than 64 American citizens since 1993, including two unborn children, but the US government has yet to take any legal action against them. In the hearing, Justice Department officials said that initiating cases into the murders could take "many years."
During the hearing, which examined the role of the Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism (OVT) in prosecuting terrorism against Americans in Israel, Representative Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said the Justice Department has repeatedly refused to give answers to Congress on the matter.
DeSantis, who serves as chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security which held the hearing, said the Justice Department "has not been able to cite one example for this committee of even a single terrorist who has been prosecuted in the US for any of the 64 attacks against Americans in Israel."
"Indeed, many of these terrorists roam free as the result of prisoner exchanges or evasion," added the subcommittee chair, noting "this is not what Congress intended" when it created the OVT in 2005.
"This is not what the American people want, and this does not provide justice to the victims' families that has been so tragically elusive."
One of the most remarkable cases noted in the hearing was that of Ahlam Tamimi, the female Arab terrorist behind the infamous Sbarro pizza restaurant bombing in Jerusalem on August 9, 2001 in which 15 people were murdered, including a pregnant American woman. Tamimi currently lives in Jordan and hosts a show on Hamas's Al Quds TV station.
The US administration has yet to bring Tamimi to justice, instead allowing her to live freely and incite to terrorism on TV.
"When the (oversight) committee questioned the DOJ (Department of Justice) about this case, the department declined to comment," said DeSantis. "If in fact bringing to justice the perpetrators of terrorism against Americans in Israel is a high priority for the DOJ, then surely people of this nature should be prosecuted for their crimes."
"Understandable frustration"
In the hearing Brad Wiegmann, deputy assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's national security division, claimed there are several "open investigations" but refused to provide any further details, reports Washington Free Beacon.
"While I cannot discuss these investigations today or the facts of specific cases, it's important to note the absence of public charges associated with a particular overseas attack does not mean that there are no charges, or that no such charges will be brought," Weigmann said.
He stated that prosecution might only come "many years" after a terrorist attack.
"I can certainly understand the frustration of some of the families that the Department of Justice has not prosecuted more cases involving terrorist attacks against Americans in Israel," he added, noting the Obama administration has taken action on several attacks conducted by Al Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists.
But most of the 64 murders yet to be acted on "do not involve any of the recent attacks within Israel," Weigmann claimed.
The most recent such attack in fact took place just last November, when 18-year-old US citizen Ezra Schwartz was murdered by an Arab terrorist in a shooting attack in Judea's Gush Etzion.
Nonexistent investigations?
Schwartz's uncle Peter Schwartz testified at the hearing, and stated that the Obama administration has been very obtuse regarding any investigation of the case.
"We are not aware of what if any US actions have been undertaken to investigate this case, and we still have many unanswered questions about the attack that claimed Ezra's life and what role our government can play in answering them," Schwartz said before the committee.
Also testifying at the hearing was Sari Singer, who was wounded in an Arab terror attack on a Jerusalem bus back in 2003, and said she has lost faith in the government's will to defend its citizens.
"The government's track record in extraditing or even seeking extradition of Palestinian terrorists who have murdered American citizens is nonexistent," Singer said.
"I grew up believing that my country would be there for me and protect me no matter where I was in the world. These last years have left me feeling let down."
Obama's administration last August moved to limit compensation for American victims of Palestinian terror, directly interfering in a court case by claiming in a legal briefing that a large cash restitution could harm chances of peace talks.
The hearing from Tuesday can be viewed in full below.
[youtube:2012154]
[youtube:2012155]
5. HERZOG PEDDLES PEACE PLAN TO KERRY
by Ari Yashar
Opposition head MK Yitzhak Herzog (Zionist Union) on Wednesday afternoon met with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome, and in the course of the meeting presented his "separation" peace plan involving a regional effort to create a Palestinian state in Israel.
During the meeting, which is the fourth between the two in the last half-year, Kerry expressed interest in Herzog's plan, which would form a regional security committee consisting of Egypt, Jordan and Israel together with other Arab states.
This committee would coordinate a joint fight against radical Islamic terror, according to Herzog, and likewise advance "confidence building measures" in the Middle East. In a meeting with Kerry last November he clarified those measures would include "removing territories from Israel."
"The security situation cannot continue," Herzog told Kerry. "Israelis are murdered on the streets and the world is focusing on ridiculous initiatives and boycotts. This is an act of ignoring the reality."
Pushing his plan, Herzog said, "the separation plan is the only way to move things in the region and advance towards the vision of two states in the future. It won't be realized tomorrow morning, but if we want to succeed in creating a true prospect (for peace) we need to take drastic steps. To stop the big words."
"Israel cannot wait for long negotiations. Our citizens are murdered and we must make a process of separating (from the Palestinians) which will be the realistic basis for the vision of two states which I believe in with all my heart as the only solution to the conflict."
Herzog's words come even amidst a bitter spat that threatens to split his Labor faction, after he announced the "two-state solution" is not feasible at the current time due to the ongoing Arab terror wave without consulting his party members.
"By the end of Obama's term"
In his meeting with Kerry, Herzog added that the Americans must "advance the establishment of a regional security council with the participation of the moderate Arab states."
"The committee needs to take place before the end of President (Barack) Obama's term," added the MK, in apparent effort to get the lame duck president to force Israel's hand. The US administration of late has been seen as relatively anti-Israel, an impression strengthened this month by the revelation that the US has been spying on sensitive Israeli military programs for the past 18 years.
"This is an important step in the war on radical Islamic terror which threatens the entire Western world and countries in the Middle East in particular. In addition, a committee like this could be fertile ground to advance processes and security and confidence building measures in our region," concluded Herzog.
Long before he lost to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the last elections, Herzog outlined his national plan in December 2013, calling to divide Jerusalem and make enormous territorial concessions.
Ahead of the recent elections in May 2015, Herzog met with Kerry and US Vice President Joe Biden in Munich, in a meeting he tried to play down and disconnect from the elections amid accusations that he was trying to gain American support and harm the government's position.
6. OFFICER INDICTED PASSING INFO TO ANTI-ASSIMILATION GROUP
by Ido Ben-Porat
An indictment was submitted Wednesday to the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court by the state attorney's department for the investigation of officers, charging Border Police officer Matan Amichai with harming privacy and misusing his post.
The accusations against Amichai refer to an incident half-a-year ago, when during a routine mission to identify crimes adjacent to the Shiloach (Silwan) neighborhood just south of Jerusalem's Old City a Border Police force checked a car in which two Arab residents of Silwan were riding with two Jewish girls.
Amichai, who was part of the Border Police force, is accused of taking the teudat zehut (ID card) of one of the Jewish girls and photographing it with his cell phone.
Later he sent the image through the WhatsApp phone application to former MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari, with the words: "the ID card of a girl who went with two Arabs and her friend to Eilat, the two are from Silwan, Michael if you can pass this to the proper sources please do. We are Magavnikim (Border Police officers - ed.) from Silwan, please save this anonymously. I wanted to cry now."
He also sent the image to Bentzi Gopshtain, director of the Lehava anti-assimilation organization.
"We members of the Border Police of Silwan stopped a car next to Silwan and saw two Arabs going with two Jewish girls to Eilat, here is the ID card of one of the girls, please do something...we can't do anything in a case like this," he wrote to Gopshtain, again asking that the matter be handled anonymously without referencing him as the source of information.
According to the indictment, Amichai knowingly misused the private details of a person and arbitrarily harmed her rights.
In response to the indictment, Gopshtain said in a statement, "instead of the Israel police giving this officer a certificate of appreciation for his concern for his sisters, he receives an indictment. This is a disgrace. The police need to deal with Arabs who seduce our daughters. The government of Israel must combat assimilation."
"Every day I receive cases from citizens, soldiers, officers and security personnel. The people of Israel care about assimilation. I expect that the new Attorney General, as someone for whom assimilation is important, will cancel the indictment."
Leftist MKs last November unsuccessfully tried to get Lehava banned, despite the fact that the courts already ruled the group's activities to prevent assimilation as per Jewish law are completely legal. Practically all cases of assimilation in Israel involve Arab men and Jewish women, with the women frequently suffering extensive abuse.
7. POLL: HALF OF ISRAEL'S JEWS WANT TO ANNEX JUDEA-SAMARIA
by Ari Yashar
A new poll has found that just under half of the Jewish public in Israel supports the annexation of Judea and Samaria, indicating that the notion of establishing a Palestinian state in Israel's Biblical heartland in a "two-state solution" is being shelved.
The poll was conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, and found that 45% of Jewish Israelis back annexing the entire area liberated in the 1967 Six Day War.
In response to the findings Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, directors of Women in Green (WiG) which works for the application of Israeli sovereignty in the region, warmly welcomed the results.
"The conclusions arising from the results of the poll are that the People of Israel have stopped apologizing, giving in and dancing to the music and tune of Israel's and the world's leftists. The People of Israel say clearly: the Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel," said the two in a joint statement.
"The People of Israel are returning to Zionist values and are no longer willing to be dragged into delusional and disastrous political plans, and are moving into a phase of taking initiative and leadership. The idea of two states, which was led by the radical Left, is being dropped from the agenda and instead, a Jewish Zionist vision for the People of Israel and its land is taking shape."
Katsover and Matar added that "the continuous terror as a result of the Palestinian Authority's incitement is another nail in the coffin for the illusory plan of the Left."
The two estimated that if the poll had asked about annexation of a more limited scope, such as just the Jewish communities in the region, "the percentage of supporters of annexation would have been considerably higher."
"The results of the poll give us encouragement and strength, and the enthusiasm to continue with even greater effort in the campaign for the application of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. The path is becoming shorter until the time when the political echelon will translate the results of the poll into a law proposal, a vote and decisions," concluded the two.
8. TERROR VICTIM RECOUNTS ORDEAL: I FELT THE LIFE SEEP OUT OF ME
by GIl Ronen and Yoni Kempinski
[youtube:2012143]
Mendy Rivkin, the Israeli man stabbed and seriously wounded by an Arab terrorist last Wednesday night, has told of his terrifying ordeal and miraculous recovery.
Rivkin was out with his wife in Givat Ze'ev, Jerusalem, when the terrorist stabbed him twice in the back; he was lucky to survive.
"I feel much better every day," he told reporters from his hospital bed. "I'm getting stronger daily and I feel very lucky. Every day I go up a rung on the ladder and the steps keep getting bigger."
"I went out with my wife to have a meal," he recounted. "Suddenly I felt two blows to the shoulder and I felt all the air go out of me. I told my wife that I'd been stabbed twice.
"I immediately went into a store. I pushed my wife with me by instinct as I fell. I got the coat off and lay down on it. I was cold. Again I shouted that I'd been stabbed and I felt the life seep out of me.
He said he saw God's hand in the speedy arrival of paramedics, whose emergency first aid likely saved his life.
Rivkin said that while the experience was a traumatic one, he had resolved not to let it defeat him.
"The feelings are unpleasant ones at first, but on second thought I decided that I will not let them scare me or give a prize to terror under any circumstances. We will raise our heads and win," he said.
A Chabad hassid, Rivkin quoted the last Lubavicher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in a message urging the Israeli government not to give an inch in the face of terror.
"The Lubavitcher Rebbe said that just by talking about handing over territory, we are endangering millions of Jews. We are utterly forbidden to talk about handing over territories in any way, in any diplomatic context. It must stop.
"It has caused damage, and there are thousands who did not get to reach a press conference like this. I got to rise from the dead, in a certain sense, maybe just to send this message and say – 'Guys, this is our land. God gave it to us as a gift. Under no circumstances can we give it up.
"We must start raising our heads because we are a wonderful nation," he added. "We need to stand tall because we can beat this thing. We can attack all those who are challenging us.
"So guys, let's win, and with God's help we will succeed. And stop thinking about handing over territory. We need to defeat terror in the toughest way possible."
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