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Friday, Apr. 15 '16, Nissan 7, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. SANDERS ATTACKS ISRAEL IN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
2. DRILL PREPARES FOR GAZA INFILTRATION, HOSTAGES, SUICIDE BOMBERS
3. TEL AVIV, PALESTINE?
4. JERUSALEM CHIEF RABBI: WOW IS 'SATAN INCARNATE'
5. READ, DON'T WAR: JEWISH EDUCATION FOR UKRAINIAN JEWISH REFUGEES
6. EU 'DEEPLY CONCERNED' OVER ISRAELI SECURITY FENCE
7. FAMILY OF ISRAELI ARAB IN HAMAS CAPTIVITY WANTS ANSWERS
8. EX-MK, RIGHT-WING ACTIVISTS BURN PLO FLAG IN FRONT OF IDF HQ
1. SANDERS ATTACKS ISRAEL IN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
by Ari Yashar
Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Thursday night took aim at Israel once again in a CNN debate with Hillary Clinton in Brooklyn, ahead of the fateful New York primaries.
[youtube:2014508]
Sanders has recently been showing an increasingly open anti-Israel stance even while claiming to be pro-Israeli.
Just last week, in an interview, he made the outrageous claim that Israel killed 10,000 "innocent people" in Gaza during 2014 Operation Protective Edge. The actual total was just over 2,000, and roughly half of the dead were terrorists in a near unheard of combatant to civilian ratio. Facing backlash, Sanders inexplicably denied he made the claim.
Then on Thursday it was reported that Sanders had suspended his Jewish outreach director, after she was revealed as being a virulent hater of Israel.
In the CNN debate on Thursday night, Sanders again attacked Israel for Operation Protective Edge, saying, "we're going to have to say that Netanyahu isn't right all of the time."
"Of course Israel has the right to defend itself. That's not up for debate," he said, but then continued: "We had some 10,000 civilians who were wounded, 1,500 who were killed. Was that a disproportionate attack? I believe it was."
Calling for an "even-handed approach" by the US, he said, "as someone who's 100% pro-Israel, in the long run, if we're ever to bring peace…we have to treat Palestinian people with respect and dignity."
He also condemned the squalor in Gaza, saying, "right now, in Gaza, unemployment is somewhere around 40%. It hasn't been rebuilt...houses decimated, health care decimated, schools decimated."
Sanders failed to mention Hamas' role in causing the destruction by launching three consecutive terror wars against Israel, and how the group has been cynically exploiting its civilians while siphoning off international humanitarian donations to rebuild its terror infrastructure.
In response to Sanders, Clinton noted how as Secretary of State she negotiated a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization in 2012. She added that Israel didn't invite the rocket attacks on its towns, and noted that after Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 Hamas turned it into a "terrorist haven."
At the same time she called for the implementation of a two-state solution, by which Israel would withdraw from Judea and Samaria. Critics warn that doing so would pave the way for a repeat of the 2005 Disengagement plan from Gaza.
2. DRILL PREPARES FOR GAZA INFILTRATION, HOSTAGES, SUICIDE BOMBERS
by Reut Hadar
Magen Yehuda, a volunteer NGO to train first response teams to combat terror throughout Israel, held its most wide-scale drill yet on Thursday.
The drill was meant to prepare emergency teams in the Gaza Belt region to prepare for terror threats from the Hamas enclave of Gaza.
Thursday's drill simulated an infiltration of terrorists into a local kibbutz in which they barricaded themselves into the cafeteria and took hostages. It included explosives being planted, and then a scenario in which the teams had to deal with a suicide bomber.
The drill was unique, training Kibbutz Erez's local security team and emergency team together with a large number of additional forces including special units of the IDF, police, Magen David Adom (MDA), civilian teams, local security teams and more.
Tzur Meir, director of Magen Yehuda, said, "in the drill goals such as training the emergency system for situations and responses in accordance with the ascribed threat were achieved."
Listing other goals achieved, he noted they included a "check of the level of professionalism and preparedness of the local security team and emergency teams of the towns to give an effective response in accordance with the scenarios."
The drill also was for a "sharpening and improvement of the communications between the town and the army and emergency forces at the time of an incident. And more than anything, (for an) increase of the feeling of security among the residents."
Magen Yehuda works together with IDF and the security forces to train local security teams in over 400 towns in Israel, and also trains civilians to know to respond effectively in the complicated security situation in Israel, said Meir, adding that the NGO runs on donations from generous Jews worldwide.
The drill Tomer Feder
3. TEL AVIV, PALESTINE?
by Ari Yashar
An Israeli activist on Thursday night exposed on Facebook how a company sent a package from Germany to Tel Aviv, located not in Israel but in "Palestinian Territory" according to the postage.
The Facebook post with a picture of the package was uploaded by Enough is Enough, a page founded by activist Anna Berg who is a Swedish Jew living in Israel.
"According to the company that sent this package from Germany, Tel Aviv is... wait for it... Palestinian. Yes, you heard that right. Europe is lost and on psychedelic drugs apparently. #‎PallywoodHasArrivedInGermany," wrote Berg.
Tel Aviv, Palestine? Screenshot/Facebook
Making the mistake all the more ironic is that Tel Aviv was established in 1909 by Jews, becoming the first new Jewish city in the ancient Jewish homeland of Israel, and isn't even beyond the so-called "Green Line."
In her post Berg continued by saying the company that sent the package was a German branch of dbrand, which appears to be a Canadian-based company selling smart phone skins.
Berg made Aliyah to Israel in April 2014, and currently lives in Tel Aviv where she is active as "a designer, blogger and avid advocate for Israel," according to her page.
She "has been an avid advocate and ambassador for Israel for years, and has, among other things, organised several pro-Israeli rallies and Facebook petitions."
4. JERUSALEM CHIEF RABBI: WOW IS 'SATAN INCARNATE'
by Chaim Lev
Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shlomo Amar, on Thursday harshly condemned the Reform group Women of the Wall (WoW), over the latter's plans to hold a female priestly blessing at the Kotel (Western Wall) in a provocative and public breach of tradition.
"In a civilized country they would need to put them (WoW) in a hospital for mental patients until they healed, this is complete insanity," said Rabbi Amar, who in the past served as Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel.
Speaking in his weekly Torah lesson, the rabbi continued by noting on the criticism leveled against Judaism's opposition to assimilation, saying, "to say that a Jew shouldn't go out with an Arab woman is called racism? These crazies, they lost their minds completely."
Expressing shock that the government, which includes religious and haredi parties, still hasn't put an end to the plan to build another Reform prayer space at the Kotel, he said, "I'm surprised that they still haven't cancelled this evil edict on the Kotel."
"Now they told me that several foolish women are publishing that they are doing the priestly blessing, what a disgrace, it is a shame that they aren't even embarrassed, what do they want? They regret being born women? They don't know that a woman is a princess."
The rabbi accused WoW of belittling women, saying, "they're thinking to honor women? They are belittling all women. They're embarrassed of being born women? For us women are respected. Let them search in all of world literature, is there a passage like 'a woman of valor' (eshet chayil)? They won't find anything similar or even close. So they say we are belittling (women)? Fools."
"They want to do the priestly blessing with tefilin (phylacteries). Do the mitzvah that God gave you and thank God that you are women and that your reward is great. Those who thought with their faulty minds to honor women, they belittle them and everyone is silent in our great transgression."
Sharpening his tone, he said, "why don't they cry out bitterly about this? This is (like) bringing an idol into the Temple. May Heaven have mercy, the heart is torn and broken, this is a desecration of God's name, will we not be zealous for the honor of God's name? They're quiet and letting things pass."
"This insanity enters, they don't see that its really satan incarnate? And we are silent on these things."
WoW has a long history of sparking provocations at the Kotel. Just last month they broke their promise to the attorney general, according to which they agreed to stop smuggling in Torah scrolls to the women's section of the Kotel in light of the controversial new Reform prayer space being built.
Regarding the group's goals, back in July 2013 WoW head Anat Hoffman wrote an article on the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism website entitled "support our rally to end the chief rabbinate," in which she called "to throw out the whole rabbinate."
5. READ, DON'T WAR: JEWISH EDUCATION FOR UKRAINIAN JEWISH REFUGEES
by Hezki Baruch and Nitzan Keidar
As Ukraine attempts to bounce back from both a civil war with pro-Russian separatists and a difficult economic situation, Jewish refugees are looking for a place to recover.
The Kiev Jewish Community of Ukraine, headed by Rabbi Moshe Asman, established a village for those refugees - the Antebka village - and aims to bring them back to Judaism and to provide them with hot food, educational institutions and employment services.
A considerable number of refugees who live there are young parents who need quality education for their children.
In the village, these refugee children will learn all they need - both core curriculum subjects and Jewish topics.
Arutz Sheva visited the site, and noted that the facilities are far more well-stocked than other local schools.
Ya'akov, one of the refugees, told Arutz Sheva at the scene about his experiences at the site.
"We have it very good here," he said. "It is not our home, because our homes are on the other side of the country, but it still feels like a fancy hotel for us."
"Here I know I will have a job, I will get up tomorrow and know my family can eat, and [they will know] where they will put down their heads at night," he added. "It's much more than before."
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Photos credit Hezki Baruch/Arutz Sheva.
6. EU 'DEEPLY CONCERNED' OVER ISRAELI SECURITY FENCE
by Arutz Sheva staff
The European Union said on Friday it was "deeply concerned" by Israel's construction of a new part of the security fence between it and Palestinian Authority (PA) controlled territories.
Cranes last week began erecting the fence in the Cremisan valley near the Palestinian town of Beit Jala south of Jerusalem after a legal battle.
The EU said in a statement it was "deeply concerned at the relaunch of works for the construction of the separation barrier in the Cremisan valley."
"Once built, the barrier will severely restrict access of almost 60 Palestinian families to their agricultural land and profoundly affect their
livelihoods," it claimed.
Residents of Beit Jala fear the construction may lead to the expansion of the southern Jerusalem neighborhood Gilo and the nearby town of Har Gilo.
They have sought to campaign against it, but after a nine-year legal battle Israel's High Court ruled in July 2015 that the wall was legitimate and allowed construction to resume.
Israel began building the barrier of walls and fences between it and the PA in 2002 at the height of the Second Intifada terror war, saying it was crucial for security.
AFP contributed to this report.
7. FAMILY OF ISRAELI ARAB IN HAMAS CAPTIVITY WANTS ANSWERS
by Arutz Sheva staff
A year of uncertainty for Hisham Al-Sayed's family finally came to an end this month when a grainy black and white photo appeared on a Hamas-affiliated television channel.
Their 27-year-old son had disappeared a year earlier from his home in the Negev desert in Israel.
But the image of Sayed's face was the first time the Islamist terror movement that runs Gaza had said they were detaining him.
"When I saw him on the video, I felt relieved of course because I knew he was there. Before that I didn't know that he was still alive," his father Sha'aban said to AFP, from the living room of their modest home at the end of a dirt road.
Sayed is a Bedouin Muslim Arab with Israeli citizenship, without any apparent connection to the Israeli authorities, making his case particularly unusual.
How he got from his home into Gaza is unclear.
The Israeli army declined to comment on the matter, but his family say he could have somehow scaled or cut the heavily guarded fence surrounding Gaza.
The family says Sayed has schizophrenia and has disappeared to Jordan and Egypt multiple times, eventually being returned by the authorities.
In fact, they say, he twice before broke into Gaza in 2010 and 2013, with the authorities eventually returning him after realizing he was unwell.
"But this time, I don't why, in April 2015, they (Hamas) kept him and detained him, but didn't say they had him," his father said.
In the months after his disappearance, a police call was put out in Israel, but the family gradually learned he was likely to be in Gaza.
Then on April 1 this year, Hamas released a video with photos of four Israeli citizens they claim to be holding.
Two of them, Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, were soldiers in the 2014 war in Gaza. The Israeli army believes they were killed and Hamas has yet to provide reliable evidence to counter that.
The third is Avraham Mengistu, an Israeli Jew of Ethiopian descent, who Hamas announced they had in 2015 and whose family also say has mental health problems.
The fourth face was Sayed, who was accused of being a soldier for the Israeli army. It was the first time Hamas had publicly confirmed holding him.
'Mentally ill'
His family dismiss the claim he is a soldier or a spy as ridiculous and are worried for his health.
"Hisham is mentally ill. He has schizophrenia," his father said. "He needs to take tablets every day, and some every month. I hope Hamas give him his tablets."
The family are Muslims and say they have previously had good relations with people in Gaza.
Many Israeli Bedouins serve in the Israeli military, though they are not obliged to.
A letter written by the "community of Israeli Bedouins" earlier this month said Hamas was acting "immorally" as it was "holding a mentally disabled Muslim person," according to Israeli media.
Sayed's father called for intervention from Turkey and Qatar, two nations which have favorable relations with Hamas.
"I call on anyone that has a relationship with Hamas to talk to them about this matter. Because it is not reasonable for Hamas to use someone with psychological problems."
Sayed's mother Manal, wearing a hijab, echoed his call.
"I don't want to interfere in Gaza," she said. "Just return him to me, that is all."
AFP contributed to this report.
8. EX-MK, RIGHT-WING ACTIVISTS BURN PLO FLAG IN FRONT OF IDF HQ
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[video:2014493]
A day after the IDF punished two soldiers for burning the PLO flag at the Awarta checkpoint near Shechem, rightwing activists demonstrated in front of army headquarters in Tel Aviv, burning the PLO flag and proclaiming their support for the two jailed soldiers.
On Wednesday, Arab witnesses observed soldiers burning a PLO flag near the Awarta checkpoint, near the Huwarra army base south of Shechem. The witnesses filed a formal complaint with the IDF over the incident.
The army acted swiftly to punish those involved in the incident. One soldier received a 28-day jail term, while the other, a squad commander, was stripped of his command and given 20 days in jail.
Some nationalist activists, however, were none too happy over the army's response to the incident, blasting the rush to condemn the two soldiers.
On Thursday, rightwing activists gathered for a demonstration in front of the Kirya army base in Tel Aviv, which serves as IDF headquarters.
The demonstrators were led by former MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union), Hevron activist Baruch Marzel, and Lehava founder Bentzi Gopshtain. All three activists are former members of the outlawed Kach party, which was founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane.
During the demonstration, participants torched the PLO flag and praised the soldiers involved in Wednesday's incident. Ben-Ari condemned Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) for the rush to punish the soldiers, calling him "confused" and saying that he was acting against his own soldiers.
The PLO flag, which was banned in Israel for decades as a terrorist symbol, was legalized as part of the Oslo Agreement in 1993.
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