Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Tuesday, Jul. 05 '16, Sivan 29, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. DAUGHTER INJURED IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL
2. BOMB SCARE ON EL AL PLANE SCRAMBLES SWISS FIGHTER JETS
3. IDF PREPARES TO DESTROY HALLEL YAFFA ARIEL'S KILLER'S HOME
4. MAJORITY OF ISRAELI JEWS AGAINST TERRITORIAL WITHDRAWALS
5. 42 'NEW' BUILDING TENDERS IN KIRYAT ARBA? 'A TOTAL FARCE'
6. REPORT: ABU MAZEN BOYCOTTING MIDDLE EAST QUARTET
7. CORBYN 'REGRETS' CALLING HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH 'FRIENDS'
8. WATCH: GRIEVING MOTHER TURNS TABLES ON STUNNED VISITORS
1. DAUGHTER INJURED IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL
by Ido Ben-Porat
The 14-year-old daughter of Rabbi Michael Mark, who was injured in the drive-by shooting which killed him on Friday, was released from hospital Tuesday.
Tehillah Mark was hospitalized in moderate-to-serious condition last Friday. In the attack, Palestinian terrorists overtook the car her father was driving, together with the family's mother and a younger son, and fired some 20 bullets at the vehicle, causing it to overturn.
Michael Mark was murdered, his wife Chava was left seriously injured and their two children were also injured.
Tehillah's condition steadily improved since arriving at Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital, after a Palestinian passerby rescued her and her younger brother from the car. She was able to attend her father's funeral on Sunday, but was taken back to hospital to recover further before being released today.
Her mother Chava awoke from her coma on Sunday, two days after the attack, and was only strong enough to be informed of the tragic news of her husband's death on Monday.
Relatives say Chava can't recall the events of last Friday, but is able to recognize and communicate with those around her.
2. BOMB SCARE ON EL AL PLANE SCRAMBLES SWISS FIGHTER JETS
by Nitsan Keider
Swiss media report that the local air force escorted an El-Al plane after receiving notice of a bomb threat aboard the jet. The flight was traveling from New York to Tel Aviv.
It is believed that French authorities informed Switzerland of the threat, after which two Swiss fighter jets were dispatched to accompany the plane from the French border until it left Swiss airspace.
The Israeli Foreign Minister released a statement noting: "A few minutes ago an incident was reported in which an El Al passenger plane was allegedly intercepted over Switzerland. Of course, the report was inaccurate. The plane is fine and on its way to Israel.
"After checking with El Al, the situation is thus: US air traffic authorities received an anonymous message about an explosive in the plane's cargo hold. The Americans updated the Swiss authorities (when the plane entered Swiss airspace) and the latter scrambled fighter jets to escort the plane. An investigation confirmed that the plane is 'clean' and it is continuing on its planned flight path."
3. IDF PREPARES TO DESTROY HALLEL YAFFA ARIEL'S KILLER'S HOME
by Arutz Sheva Staff
The IDF and the Civil Administration went to the home of the terrorist who murdered Hallel Yaffa Ariel on Sunday night to inform the family that they intend to destroy the building.
IDF and Border Police forces also arrested seven wanted terrorists in Judea and Samaria. An IDF spokesperson says that three of the detainees are suspected of being involved in terror attacks and violence against civilians and security forces.
Two Hamas members were arrested in Shechem along with another member a little south of the city and a fourth Hamas member near Jericho.
All seven suspects have been taken for questioning by security forces.
Furthermore, the IDF seized three improvised weapons in Beit Fajjar, southwest of Bethlehem.
The seized weapons
4. MAJORITY OF ISRAELI JEWS AGAINST TERRITORIAL WITHDRAWALS
by Ari Soffer
The majority of Israeli Jews (52%) believe Israel should not give up more territory in Judea and Samaria, according to a new Peace Index survey, saying they would vote against such a move in a national referendum were it to be held.
In contrast, just 36% of those polled said that they would vote for a withdrawal, other than from the "major settlements blocs" such as Gush Etzion and Ma'ale Adumim.
The Arab public's views were, unsurprisingly, rather different: 69% said that if a referendum were held they would vote to withdraw.
The survey also covered a range of other questions, which reflected a clear split in opinions between Israel's Jewish majority and Arab minority.
On some topics there was some agreement, however. For example, when asked if they favored holding a plebiscite in the first place, 59% of Israeli Jews - together with 73% of Israeli Arabs - favored holding a referendum on whether Israel should withdraw from Judea and Samaria, as long as it would be part of a final status agreement with the Palestinians.
Another fact gleaned from the poll is that most Israelis do not actually know what the "Green Line" is.
Those surveyed were asked whether they thought the following sentence is true or false: "The Green Line is the border line of Israel which was established with the ceasefire agreement signed at the end of the War of Independence in 1949."
Only 15% of Israeli Jews were "sure" the sentence was correct, while another 33% said they "thought" it was. In contrast, 39% were either sure or fairly sure that the statement was incorrect, whereas 13% other didn't know or refused to answer.
In contrast, 63% of Israeli Arabs polled were either sure or "thought" the statement was correct - 42% of whom were sure.
It should be noted however that the wording of that question is somewhat misleading, as the Green Line was never in fact an internationally-recognized border, but the de-facto armistice lines based on the positions of Jewish and Arab forces at the time of the 1949 ceasefire.
However, there were many more disagreements than agreements between the two populations as a whole.
While a slim majority (51%) of Israeli Jews, for example, believed that all citizens of Israel should have a right to vote in a referendum over whether to expel all Jews from Judea and Samaria, a large minority (44%) said they thought Arab citizens should be excluded from deciding the fate of Jewish communities there.
Beyond their opinions of what should happen vis-a-vis Judea and Samaria, when asked what they thought the future held in practice, 37.5% of Jews said it would remain as it is now, 20% believed the international community would force Israel to withdraw to the pre-1967 lines, while the same proportion believed that Israel would annex the region without providing full national rights to the Palestinian Arabs living there. A small minority (9%) believed that Israel would annex it and give all Arabs there full voting rights.
Among Israeli Arabs, 45% believed the current status-quo would continue.
When asked which of those outcomes they believed was most desirable, 23% of Israeli Jews favored the current status-quo, 12% supported giving in to international pressure and withdrawing totally, 32% supported annexation without granting full citizenship to Palestinians, and 19% favored annexation and full citizenship for Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria (essentially a binational state.)
Among Israeli Arabs, the picture was again different, though not necessarily as drastically so as one might suspect.
35% of Israeli Arabs believed that Israel should cave to international pressure and withdraw, while only slightly less - 33% - believed that the situation should stay as it is. Understandably, only a tiny minority (3%) believed Israel should annex Judea and Samaria without granting full citizenship to all Palestinian Arabs, while 26% believed in full Israeli annexation and the establishment of a bi-national state.
Other topics covered in the poll included the United Kingdom's recent referendum result calling for the country to leave the European Union, and Israel's reconciliation deal with Turkey.
On the UK referendum, Israelis were asked whether they thought Britain leaving the EU would impact Brussels' ability to pressure Israel. 48% of Israeli Jews said it would have no effect either way, 17% believed it would actually strengthen EU pressure against Israel, while 11% said it would weaken the EU's capabilities in that regard. 24% said they didn't know.
In contrast, a clear majority of Arab Israelis (65%) believed a "Brexit" would have no impact either way.
On the deal with Turkey - which had not yet been signed at the time of the poll, which was conducted on the eve of the agreement's formal announcement - 43% of Jews polled said that Israel and Turkey would both benefit, while 38% believed Turkey came out much better off than Israel. Just 7.5% believed Israel had got the better deal, while the remainder of those surveyed either didn't know, or believed that neither country benefited from it.
49% agreed with the families of soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, whose bodies are being held by Hamas in Gaza, and Avera Mengistu - the mentally ill Israel civilian captured alive by the Islamist terror group - that their release should have been a precondition to Israel signing the deal, while 40% disagreed.
5. 42 'NEW' BUILDING TENDERS IN KIRYAT ARBA? 'A TOTAL FARCE'
by Eliran Aharon
The head of the Yesha Council, which represents the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria, has blasted the recent announcement of 42 "new" building tenders in Kiryat Arba as nothing more than a "gimmick".
The announcement by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman came in response to the brutal murder of 13-year-old Hallel Ariel in the Jewish town next to Hevron last Thursday. Ariel was stabbed to death in her sleep by an Arab terrorist, who broke into her house in Kiryat Arba's Ramat Mamre (Givat Harsina) neighborhood, where the housing tenders were announced.
However, critics have pointed out that the 42 tenders in question are in fact not new at all, but rather consist of old tenders which were announced and then promptly frozen due to American pressure some time ago.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva Tuesday, Yesha Council leader Avi Roeh, who also heads the Binyamin Regional Council in southern Samaria, attacked the government for "insulting the intelligence" of Judea and Samaria residents.
"This is a gimmick," he said. "This is a farce.
"It seems that the prime minister still hasn't internalized that action is needed, not throwing crumbs - not to mention the fact that we are talking about 42 housing units which have been recycled several times already."
"This really insults our intelligence as citizens of Israel and residents of Judea and Samaria, who are forced to attend funeral after funeral," he continued.
Roeh added that residents expected more from an ostensibly right-wing government "in which Yisrael Beytenu, Jewish Home and Likud are sitting."
"There is no doubt that the decisions are not the kind of decisions expected from this government," he said.
The Yesha leader also warned that the ongoing building freeze throughout Judea and Samaria was still in effect, token announcements notwithstanding.
"The prime minister holds fast to the idea that construction plans which are on the table of the Civil Administration must be frozen, and there is no doubt that this harms our ability to prepare for construction in the coming years," he stated, warning of a severe housing crisis in around "five to ten years, even if we start to approve building plans now."
Roeh also commented that the government's failure to properly respond to murderous Arab terrorism was harming the morale of Judea and Samaria residents, as well as wider Israeli society.
"Over 10 months of terror the nation of Israel was revealed as a strong and steadfast nation, which pursues the terrorists in order to subdue them," he said of the many individual acts of heroism exhibited by security forces and civilians alike.
In contrast, he said "instead of taking the right decisions to expand communities and apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, the government puts out announcements of 42 housing units in response to the murder of a child (sleeping) in her bed in her home."
"This raises many question marks," Roeh challenged, adding he met on Monday with Judea Regional Council head Yochai Dimri in Otniel - home to the Mark family whose father was murdered in a terror attack a day after Hallel Ariel - to discuss how to deal with the continuing inept government response and ongoing building freeze.
6. REPORT: ABU MAZEN BOYCOTTING MIDDLE EAST QUARTET
by Rachel Kaplan
In an odd turn of events, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is reportedly boycotting the UN's Middle East Quartet, according to the Al-Hayat news service.
The Quartet issued a report last week, detailing several recommendations in order to revive negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. These recommendations, which include an immediate construction freeze across Judea and Samaria, were widely viewed as not in the country's best interests.
However, there is another side to the report, and Abu Mazen is furious about the Quartet's findings.
Among the "terrible" accusations leveled at the Palestinians, the report emphasizes how Palestinians who commit acts of terror are glorified among the Palestinian public. They are hailed as heroes on advertisements calling for more violence. The Quartet report adds that many public areas, including street squares and schools, are named after terrorists.
The report also fingers the Palestinian Authority itself, pointing out the leaders' refusal to condemn acts of terror.
Finally, it condemns the incitement materials constantly distributed by Hamas and other organizations.
7. CORBYN 'REGRETS' CALLING HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH 'FRIENDS'
by Matt Wanderman
[youtube:2016848]
As the UK Labour Party continues trying to fight allegations of pervasive anti-Semitism, party head Jeremy Corbyn has stepped back from his notorious statement calling Hamas and Hezbollah "friends."
Corbyn testified at the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into anti-Semitism on Monday, in what the Jewish Chronicle reports is the first time an opposition leader has testified at a select committee hearing. He began by insisting that he has opposed racism throughout his career and claiming to have worked at eradicating anti-Semitism from the party.
"A long time ago there were sometimes anti-Semitic remarks made, when I first joined the party and later on. In recent years, no, and in my constituency not at all," he said. "I received the reports and thought the best thing to do was set up the (Chakrabarti) inquiry."
However, Committee chair Keith Vaz said that Chakrabarti's final report was biased and tried to show the party in a good light. "It was hardly an independent report. She joined the Labour party. She referred to 'we' in the Labour party, so it's not independent, that's why it's been criticized."
Vaz questioned Corbyn over his well-known affiliation with known anti-Semites and anti-Israeli activists, and asked whether he is "fostering a period where anti-Semitism" exists in Labour.
"That is unfair. I want a party that is open for all," answered Corbyn. "There are many Jewish groups in the party, some are critical, some are not."
When asked whether he supported former London mayor Ken Livinstone's claim that Hitler supported Zionism, Corbyn said: "Ken Livingstone made remarks that are wholly unacceptable and wrong."
He similarly denounced other Labour members who made public anti-Semitic remarks, such as Jackie Walker.
As for his infamous remark that Hamas and Hezbollah are "friends," he said that the term was "inclusive language I used, which with hindsight I wish I had not used. I regret using those words." After the Committee repeatedly asked him about Hamas's charter, he acknowledged that it is anti-Semitic.
At the same time, though, he denied that his controversial comment last week was intended to compare Israel and ISIS.
8. WATCH: GRIEVING MOTHER TURNS TABLES ON STUNNED VISITORS
by Ari Soffer
In an outpouring of national solidarity, thousands Israelis from across the country have flocked to Kiryat Arba over the past several days to comfort the family of Hallel-Yaffa Ariel, the 13-year-old girl murdered in her sleep by an Arab terrorist.
But little did they know that it was they who would be comforted, by none other than Hallel's grieving mother, Rena.
Far from encountering a broken woman, they heard Rena deliver a remarkably rousing - and moving - speech, delivering her words of chizuk (encouragement, or literally "strength") to the dumbstruck crowd.
Watch her speech, recorded by a visitor, below:
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