Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Tuesday, May. 03 '16, Nissan 25, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. 12 YEARS AFTER DISAPPEARANCE, ISRAELI 'SPY' ON WAY HOME
2. IDF GOES TO WAR AGAINST ITS SOLDIER
3. MASSIVE EFFORT TO SMUGGLE WEAPONS INTO GAZA FOILED
4. SENIOR UN OFFICIAL DENIES HAMAS USES CEMENT FOR TERROR TUNNELS
5. ARDENT ATHEIST - AND STAUNCH ZIONIST
6. LABOUR SECRETLY SUSPENDED 50 MEMBERS IN RECENT MONTHS
7. HUNGARY: ISRAELI BACKPACKER WAS KILLED DURING ROBBERY
8. ONE MODERATELY WOUNDED IN JERUSALEM STABBING
1. 12 YEARS AFTER DISAPPEARANCE, ISRAELI 'SPY' ON WAY HOME
by David Rosenberg
On Monday, Bargas Awidat, an Israeli Druze student held in Syria for the past 12 years, was abruptly released from prison and is now making his way back to Israel.
In 2002 Awidat travelled to Syria to study dentistry. In 2004, however, he disappeared without a trace, leaving his family and Israeli authorities searching for clues.
It was only in 2010 that Syria admitted that it was holding him prisoner in the Al Adra prison complex in Damascus.
Awidat, now 47, was accused of working as an Israeli spy, a claim he denies.
The Druze student had been snatched from his dorm room by Syrian secret police before being summarily tried and convicted of spying. He was given a life sentence.
Since the Syrian civil war erupted, however, Assad has worked to appease the Druze population, many of whom have pivoted away from his murderous regime, and Awidat's sudden release from prison may be linked to the regime's desire to repair strained relations with the Druze.
2. IDF GOES TO WAR AGAINST ITS SOLDIER
by Uzi Baruch
MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) sent a letter to IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkott on Tuesday morning, following reports that the IDF put a lawyer from a large firm into the reserves in order to serve as a prosecutor.
Smotrich asked Eizenkott to explain the reasoning for the move, as well as how much the military is paying for the lawyer's services.
Yediyot Aharonot reported that the military prosecutor decided to strengthen its ranks with a top-rated private lawyer, and enlisted him into the reserves. The lawyer, Nadav Weisman, is a prosecutor and senior partner in Israel's largest legal firm.
Weisman is also a lieutenant colonel in the IDF, where he served as a prosecutor in the judicial corps. During his service, he handled a number major cases, including that of Staff Sergeant Assaf Waxman, who was killed when an APC overturned, and the case of Sergeant Roi Dror from Duvdevan, who dehydrated and died during a training exercise.
The report stated that the military prosecutor needs significant reinforcements in order to handle the legal team representing Elor Azariya, the soldier who killed a neutralized terrorist. His defense attorneys include former Deputy Military Advocate General Ilan Katz, Eyal Besserglick and Beni Malka.
Military sources were quoted as saying hiring Weisman shows that the prosecution does not intend to back down and is not afraid of taking the case to court, even if it means forcing officers and soldiers to take the stand.
3. MASSIVE EFFORT TO SMUGGLE WEAPONS INTO GAZA FOILED
by Uzi Baruch
Authorities have announced that customs investigators, along with the Israel Security Authority (ISA, also known as the Shin Bet or Shabak), recently prevented an attempt to smuggle four tons of ammonium chloride into Gaza.
The chemical, which is used in the production of weapons, was hidden in bags of salt. Four tons would have allowed Hamas or other terror groups to create hundreds of long-range rockets.
About a week before Passover, a shipment labeled as 40 tons of salt reached the Nitzana crossing, which is used for transporting goods between Egypt and both Israel and Gaza.
An extensive search of the containers revealed bags of ammonium chloride hidden among the salt.
Ammonium chloride is classified as a dual-use item, meaning that it has both civilian and military functions. Anyone who wishes to bring it into Gaza requires a license.
Suspicions have been raised in the ISA over the large amount of salt going to Gaza, because salt shipments are frequently used to smuggle chemicals for producing rockets.
The ISA believes that the importer, a Gaza resident with connections to Hamas terrorists, intended that the material be used for terror. This case illustrates the terror organizations' efforts to smuggle in dual-use materials in order to increase their fighting potential, while camouflaging their actions as intended to help the civilian population rebuild.
So far, authorities ave foiled dozens of attempts to smuggle forbidden materials into Gaza, including sulfuric acid, diving suits, rocket propellants, polyurethane, bars of sulfur, rolls of fiberglass, and coal designed to heat furnaces and process metal.
4. SENIOR UN OFFICIAL DENIES HAMAS USES CEMENT FOR TERROR TUNNELS
by Matt Wanderman
UN Assistant Secretary-General Robert Piper claims that there is no proof that Hamas is taking advantage of UN-provided construction material for "military purposes," the pro-Hamas Middle East Monitor reports.
He made his remark after Israel announced that it was blocking the transfer of cement into Gaza because Hamas uses it to build terror tunnels. Piper said that the United Nations has provided 1.2 million tons of construction materials to Gaza, though he did not explain why despite that very few reparations have been carried out since 2014's Operation Protective Edge.
Recently, the Palestinian Authority claimed that the reconstruction is stymied by a lack of funds. Critics, including the Gaza-based think tank PalThink, say that the PA is trying to improve its own standing rather than Gaza. "Whenever the PA proposes development plans, it mixes between the reconstruction of Gaza and its own financial needs in order to get billions for its treasury," says isntitute head Omar Sha'ban.
Despite Piper's protestations, Hamas seems to make far more progress on building tunnels than on repairing residential neighborhoods and public services.
Robert Piper heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), which handles natural disasters and complex emergencies.
5. ARDENT ATHEIST - AND STAUNCH ZIONIST
by Shimon Cohen
Once reviled as the "most hated man in the country", attorney turned radio host Yoram Sheftel is something of an enigma.
Lambasted in the late 1980s for representing John Demjanjuk, the man accused of being the Treiblinka death camp's notorious "Ivan the Terrible", Sheftel became one of Israel's most successful – and despised – attorneys.
Today, Sheftel is the host of a weekly talk radio show. Expressing staunchly conservative, pro-Zionist political views and known for his often creative slurs ridiculing the Israeli left, Sheftel's show has often been compared to American talk radio giants like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and Mark Levin.
Sheftel revels in on-air drama, arguing – often passionately – with callers, particularly those affiliated with the left. Referring to the Israeli Labor Party as "the red rag" and Mahmoud Abbas as "Abu Adolf Mazen", his rhetoric has won him large numbers of both supporters and detractors.
Along with his strongly Zionist beliefs, however, Sheftel is also an ardent atheist. While some see his Jewish identity and atheism as an inherent contradiction, Sheftel sees no inconsistency in his views.
In response to an open letter questioning how his atheism and Jewish identity mesh, Sheftel recently sat down with Arutz Sheva to shed some light on his unique worldview.
Sheftel began by pointing out that both Theodor Herzl and Zeev Jabotinsky – two of modern Zionism's most important leaders – were complete atheists, yet were both motivated by an overriding love of the Jewish people.
Laying out the basis of his own Zionist beliefs, Sheftel said Jewish nationhood had the same basic features as other countries around the world, yet was also distinguished by the role of religion in creating ethnic identity.
"We are, first of all, a people in the same sense as all other nations. We have a language, and national tradition, and land over which we are sovereign."
"A French person can be Protestant or Catholic or even Jewish or Muslim. In this sense Judaism is distinct from other nations; the Jew is distinguished by his religion. There is no such thing as a Muslim Jew or a Christian Jew."
Sheftel was quick to add that "Someone who is Jewish according to Jewish traditional law is completely Jewish even if he is an atheist, since even Jewish sinners remain Jews."
"I'm not embarrassed by my atheism, but I do recognize the fact… that the more a person keeps tradition and lives according to the Torah and its commandments, he is also [likely] to be more Zionist. I understand that completely. There is nothing more Zionist than the religion of Israel."
"But on the other hand there is also a huge exception to this in the case of haredi Judaism, which refuses to bless the Jewish people and the State of Israel in synagogue," said Sheftel, "which is the reason why I will never set foot in a haredi synagogue."
Regarding the basis of his own atheism, Sheftel cited the Holocaust.
"I don't want to get into a theological debate, so as not to offend people, but if the question is anyway being asked, so I'll say what I think," said Sheftel, saying it was "God's total absence during the Holocaust" that led to his disbelief.
"I've never heard, nor has anyone ever come with a valid explanation that makes sense on this subject, and this is one of the things that shows that, in effect, we appear to be alone in this world. What's more certain – and this is true even for the believer… that we must always rely only on our strength and determination because the State of Israel – and this is a historical fact – was established not by the righteous Messiah, the son of David, but by a community of total heretics".
"One more thing I'd like to say; despite the fact that I am a total atheist, I [nevertheless] regularly go to synagogue and put on tefillin once or twice a week, learn Torah, and eat kosher, because I'd say that even a total atheist can't hide from the fact that a certain lifestyle rooted in religion sanctified the Jewish people for 3,000 years, and someone who sees himself as part of the Jewish people can't use his atheism as an excuse to cut himself off from all of this".
6. LABOUR SECRETLY SUSPENDED 50 MEMBERS IN RECENT MONTHS
by Ben Ariel
The British Labour party has secretly suspended 50 of its members over anti-Semitic and racist comments in recent months, senior sources revealed to the Telegraph on Monday night.
The report came hours after it was reported that the party had suspended three members in one day over anti-Semitic comments, but the source said the party's compliance unit has actually suspended 50 members in the past two months.
They include up to 20 members within the past two weeks alone, with the unit struggling to cope because it does not have necessary resources, according to the Telegraph.
While more than 50 have been suspended, only 13 have been publicly named since October after being suspended.
"There are just six people in the compliance unit with one more joining after the EU referendum and frankly, it's nowhere near enough," the source told the newspaper, adding, "They can't cope with the number of new members that have joined since Jeremy became leader, they need more resources."
Labour has come under fire due to repeated anti-Semitic remarks by its members. Its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has come under fire for calling Hamas and Hezbollah his "friends", and on Sunday he outright refused to condemn those two terrorist organizations despite being urged to do so by local Jewish groups.
Earlier on Monday it was revealed that Corbyn had glorified Fatah arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in Israel, and compared him to Nelson Mandela.
Last week two other Labour Party members were suspended for anti-Semitic comments. Bradford West MP Naz Shah, who had called for the removal of Jews from Israel, was suspended by the party's General Secretary despite objections from Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn.
Ken Livingstone, a senior party official and former mayor of London, was also suspended after defending Shah and claiming that that Hitler "supported Zionism."
John Woodcock, a Labour MP and critic of Corbyn, said Monday night, "The Labour party should make public the number of incidents it has had reported in recent years to the present, we mustn't allow any impression that we are seeking to minimize this very serious issue or sweep it under the carpet."
7. HUNGARY: ISRAELI BACKPACKER WAS KILLED DURING ROBBERY
by JTA
JTA - The Israeli citizen found dead in Hungary was killed in a brutal robbery for his two mobile phones, laptop computer and cash, the Hungarian Prosecutor's Office said Monday.
Ofir Gross, 40, who traveled to Hungary for vacation from his studies in biomedical engineering in Germany, was found dead on Saturday evening in the courtyard of a ruined countryside house in the small eastern Hungarian town of Tiszakécske, according to the prosecutor's office, which said the murder was strictly about the robbery.
According to the prosecution, quoted by the Internet news website 24.hu, the two suspects, ages 21 and 19, are from nearby villages and were detained in order to prevent them from fleeing. The older suspect reportedly was known as a drug user and recently was released from prison where he served time for robbery, according to the website.
Gross was killed on April 22, the prosecutor's office determined, according to 24.hu. The alleged killers reportedly used bricks found in the courtyard of the neglected countryside house, then hid the body inside the home. Police found the body under rubbish.
The older suspect reportedly sold one of Gross' cellphones and the laptop. The alleged killers also buried his other belongings, including a tent and knapsack.
Gross' family arrived in Budapest on Sunday to identify the body.
8. ONE MODERATELY WOUNDED IN JERUSALEM STABBING
by Ari Yashar
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A 60-year-old Israeli man was stabbed and moderately wounded in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem on Monday night.
The stabbing reportedly took place in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, and the victim then fled to the Lion's Gate, where police officers are stationed.
The man, who suffered from stab wounds to his upper body, was evacuated to Shaare Tzedek Hospital in the capital where he was said to be fully conscious and in a stable condition.
Haim Attias, a volunteer ambucycle driver with United Hatzalah who was the first EMS personnel on the scene, said, "A student from the Shuvu Banim yeshiva left the building and was stabbed in his upper body. When I arrived on the scene he was fully conscious, he even ran towards nearby police officers so that they could call for medical help. After providing first aid treatment the wounded man was taken to hospital by emergency ambulance."
The Arab terrorist fled the scene, but was captured some two hours later following an extensive search by police forces. The terrorist is said to be an 18-year-old Palestinian Arab who admitted to carrying out the attack.
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