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Monday, Nov. 28 '16, כ"ז בחשון תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. CHIEF OF POLICE: ARSON IS TERROR
2. REPORT: WOMEN INTEGRATED INTO IDF DESPITE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE
3. MATERNITY WARD MIXED UP: ARAB MOTHER TAKES JEWISH BABY
4. FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO US: BOYCOTT FRENCH PRODUCTS
5. LIKUD MK PROPOSES BILL TO TREAT ARSONISTS AS TERRORISTS
6. BECOME AN EXPERT THROUGH AUGMENTED REALITY
7. ULPANA GIRLS' UNUSUAL DEMAND
8. WATCH: CAR GOES UP IN FLAMES - BECAUSE OF STATIC ELECTRICITY
1. CHIEF OF POLICE: ARSON IS TERROR
by Yoni Kempinski, Neve Tzuf
Chief of Police and former deputy head of Shabak Roni Alsheich visited the Binyamin town of Neve Tzuf (Halamish) on Sunday afternoon. Neve Tzuf suffered an Arab arson attack on Friday night, when arsonists threw Molotov cocktails and ignited three different locations in the town.
18 houses were burned and 30 more were damaged in the incident. Thankfully, there was no loss of life.
Referring to the arson attacks, Alsheich said, "I don't know for sure [how many cases were arson] and I don't want to disturb the investigations. There's no doubt that from the moment the subject made headlines, it became a 'wave,' because everyone saw how easy it was. And we also explained how simple it is to carry out an arson - we need to take that into account as well."
"I would guess that the first few incidents also involved a degree of negligence, while the later ones were already pure arson. But we're conducting a thorough investigation," he emphasized.
Referring to Arabs from Binyamin, Judea and Samaria, Alsheich said: "It's obvious that in areas where the Palestinian Arabs have a lot of control, it's very easy to throw a Molotov cocktail at the neighboring Jewish town and be done with it. It's harder for a Palestinian Arab to cross over the Green Line, but it's not that hard. At the end of the day, there are innumerable illegals here, so you really have the whole spectrum...if the fire was an arson, it is absolutely a terror attack."
A significant number of those arrested, however, were Arabs with Israeli citizenship, but those fires were not set in Judea and Samaria.
"This isn't new, but it's on a larger scale, more acts of arson were carried out within the span of only a few days. The weather was worse, which made it easier and made the damage much greater - and that's what's new.
"Our security and rescue abilities are being tested again. Our success in dealing with this incident came from the fact that we all worked together. During an event which takes only a few seconds to produce results, there's no way you'd be able to save a life without working together," noted Alsheich.
"Our main challenge was to get everyone out alive. The decision making, which started at the very first second, was all correct and it passed the test. We'll have other challenges. Constant practice and proper management ensured there was no loss of life."
2. REPORT: WOMEN INTEGRATED INTO IDF DESPITE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE
by Shlomo Pyotrovsky
For nearly two decades, the IDF has operated mixed-gender combat units, integrating female service members into a variety of positions through the Israeli military.
While the IDF's public relations division has made much of Israel's progressive approach to gender in the armed forces, a new report suggests the army may be ignoring reality that does not conform to the vision it has pursued since the late-1990s.
According to the report, published by the national religious Liba Center, the IDF's own studies of mixed-gender units reveal a far less optimistic view of female service in combat roles than the image projected by army spokespeople.
The Liba Report, segments of which were obtained by Arutz Sheva, cites internal army studies going back as far as 2000 which show female combat soldiers suffered serious physical injuries at a rate significantly higher than their male peers.
The first such study, conducted from 1999 to 2000, showed that women in combat units suffered serious injuries during training at a rate more than six times higher than men. While just 8% of men suffered such injuries, a full 50% of women did, including many suffering from broken bones.
A later study, also conducted in 2000, assessed the feasibility of integrating women into the elite air rescue unit – the 669. The conclusion of the study clearly stated that female service members were not suited to the physiological stress. Other studies surveyed showed that during times of physical exertion, including in combat situations, female service members are far more likely to suffer irreversible injuries.
In a multi-year study of male and female members of the mixed-gender Caracal battalion, it was revealed that despite having reduced standards as a mixed unit, 12% of the battalion's female soldiers suffered from stress fractures during their operations in Caracal, while 0% of the male soldiers did.
The study also revealed that male soldiers were adversely affected by the lowered standards of Caracal units, with male Caracal service members having on average lower physical fitness levels than male combat soldiers in non-mixed battalions. In general, female soldiers required a 30% reduction in the standards the IDF imposed on male soldiers for physical abilities.
Despite these and a number of other studies surveyed by the Liba Center report, the IDF has proceeded with expanding the roles open to female combatants rather than reduce them.
Over the past decade, for instance, female soldiers have been increasingly integrated into units across the army as paramedics, and by 2009 a special course for female soldiers was opened, with the ultimate goal of bringing the number of female army paramedics to 50% of the total.
Yet even from the beginning a number of incidents suggested many female paramedics were unable to fulfill their duties in the field. One female paramedic in 2006 serving on Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights along the Syrian border was found to be unable to bear the load required of paramedics.
In another case in the winter of 2008, a female paramedic assigned to the 202nd Paratroopers operating in the Har Dov area along the Lebanese border was found unable to carry the required weight, forcing the platoon doctor to take her place.
3. MATERNITY WARD MIXED UP: ARAB MOTHER TAKES JEWISH BABY
by Chana Roberts
Last Sunday afternoon, a Jewish mother who had just given birth to a boy in Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem left her room to take her son from the ward's nursery. Upon arrival, however, she discovered her son's bassinet was empty.
Shocked and scared, the Jewish mother alerted those around her and together they began to search the ward for her baby.
Without informing the mother, Shaare Zedek staff began looking into the possibility that the baby had been kidnapped or switched with another mother's baby and thereafter taken off hospital premises.
After half an hour of relentless searching, the mother finally found her son in the arms of an Arab woman. The Arab woman, who had also given birth to a son in Shaare Zedek just a few days prior, was "amazed" to discover she had been taking care of a strange baby the entire time.
As it turned out, the Arab woman's baby was left in the nursery when she took the Jewish mother's son.
After the incident, Shaare Zedek worked to reassure the Jewish family, who insisted hospital staff evaluate the baby's health and tell them whether their baby had been fed by the Arab mother in the meantime.
The maternity ward's shift manager said, "I'm not covering anything up. I really have no idea how this happened. The hospital's head nurse is looking into how the mix-up happened. Someone is calling everyone again and again, in an effort to understand how this happened."
The shift manager, who found the baby, said, "The staff members who spoke to this mother told me she was in complete shock. Even now, she doesn't understand what happened, how it happened, and why it happened. The Arab mother is healthy, but we are doing blood tests on both her and the Jewish baby in order to be certain."
Shaare Zedek reported there were 28 babies in the nursery at the time the switch occurred. The baby was accidentally given to another mother who was hospitalized in the same ward, and was returned to his true mother after only 17 minutes.
20,000 babies are born in Shaare Zedek every year. Although the hospital insists they have high security standards and are careful to avoid mix-ups, this is not the first time such a case has happened, and serious security lacks have been reported both in Shaare Zedek and in other Israeli hospitals as well.
In addition, earlier this year an Arab posed as a doctor and walked around Shaare Zedek's maternity ward, stealing belongings and sexually harassing the new mothers.
Several cases of mix-ups happen every year, with every one of them involving a hospital nursery and a mother who was not rooming in.
It's important to note that Israel signed the World Health Organization's "Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative" to provide full breastfeeding support, prohibit formula advertisements in hospitals, and offer full rooming-in to every mother and baby. In practice, none of these are properly implemented in Israel, nor are they enforced by the government.
Shaare Zedek's rooming-in ward is relatively new and the pediatrician's checks are still done in the nursery, although a parent is allowed to accompany the baby.
4. FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO US: BOYCOTT FRENCH PRODUCTS
by David Rosenberg
Kulanu MK and former Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren encouraged Israeli consumers not to buy French products, noting France's labelling of Israeli goods from Judea, Samaria, and the Golan Heights.
In a Twitter comment late Sunday night, Oren wrote Israelis should "think twice" before buying imported goods from France.
"France is labeling Israeli products from Judea, Samaria, and the Golan. Israelis should think twice before buying French products."
While France does not boycott Israeli goods nor encourage such boycotts, on Thursday the French government announced it would request all businesses to clearly label products produced by Israeli businesses in Judea, Samaria, and the Golan Heights.
The decision came one year after the European Union issued a non-binding decision recommending member states single out all imports from Judea, Samaria, and the Golan Heights that were produced by Israeli businesses, labelling them clearly as such.
While the November, 2015 notification distanced itself from efforts to boycott Israel, the move was slammed by Israel, which claimed it would enable boycotters to target Israeli products and would help them delegitimize Israeli businesses.
The EU has claimed that the 2015 decision was merely a clarification regarding its "consumer information regulations", since it does not recognize Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem, or the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.
Yet the EU's "consumer information regulations" have yet to be invoked regarding other territorial disputes around the globe, where control or sovereignty is not recognized by the EU.
Experts have long noted the EU's "official double standard"; targeting Israel's control of its historic homeland while ignoring Morocco's occupation of the Western Sahara, Turkey's control in Northern Cyprus, and a number of other disputed regions around the globe.
In a letter to the EU's Foreign Affairs chief Catherine Ashton in November, 2013, Northwestern University professor Eugene Kontorovich and former Israeli Ambassador to Canada highlighted the European central government's systematic singling-out of the Jewish state.
"We understand that the EU has provisionally approved a contentious agreement with Morocco that extends EU-Moroccan fisheries treaties into the territory of Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara.
"We understand that the deal both applies beyond Morocco's recognized sovereign territory into occupied territory, and further, actually pays Morocco for access to the Western Saharan fishery.
"On all these points, it would appear that this agreement directly contradicts what the EU has called obligations of international law in its dealings with Israel and as such represents an official double-standard practiced by the EU.
" In fact, the EU has been negotiating this agreement with Morocco even as it imposes on Israel unprecedented funding guidelines and rules of origin requirements that say the exact opposite."
5. LIKUD MK PROPOSES BILL TO TREAT ARSONISTS AS TERRORISTS
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) has proposed a bill proclaiming arsonists as terror activists. The bill comes in the wake of last week's arson intifada, and aims to allow the Israeli government to punish arsonists the same way as terrorists.
Katz said, "We should act to the full extend of the law against arson terrorists and to send a message of warning."
Likud MK Sharren Haskel said, "The wave of fires that has forced the evacuations of more than 75,000 citizens is an escalation, and we must treat it as such...We must use every possible legal means to stop ecological terrorism. The amendment to the bill will enable... to confiscate and demolish property belonging to arsonists....and to define them as terrorists."
It should be noted that terrorists receive salaries from the Palestinian Authority for carrying out attacks on Jews. It is not clear if the PA would pay arsonists' salaries if the Israeli government chose to treat them as terrorists.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said arsonists are terrorists, and promised to bring them to justice.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) said on Thursday that he would personally strip every proven arsonist of his residency status, while on Saturday night, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said the terrorists' homes must be demolished.
Meanwhile, MK Oren Hazan (Likud) said it is time to expel terrorists and their families. Hazan has submitted a bill to this effect, which the Ministerial Committee on Legislation has been sitting on for several months.
In a video on his Facebook page on Friday, Hazan said, "It is sad, shocking and painful to watch the land of Israel going up in flames. The time has come to end this screwup. We will end this hate-inspired environmental terrorism. Every terrorist must know we will get to every one of you."
Chief of Police Roni Alsheich said earlier on Monday that the earlier fires may have been caused partially by negligence, but when the Arabs saw it was so easy to start a fire, they began to carry out arson attacks.
If the bill passed, it would allow the government to demolish the arsonists' homes and strip them of citizenship. It would also allow the arson victims to receive compensation as if they were victims of a regular terror attack.
6. BECOME AN EXPERT THROUGH AUGMENTED REALITY
by ILTV
[brightcove:2021508]
7. ULPANA GIRLS' UNUSUAL DEMAND
by Shlomo Pyotrovsky
Students at the Tzvia ulpana [a branch of the religious Zionist girls' high school Tzvia network that emphasizes the teachings of Rabbi Avraham Kook] in Haifa were evacuated last Thursday as multiple fires scorched the northern coastal city, though thankfully, their school was not destroyed in the blazes, which have since been attributed to arson.
But before the girls returned to their studies on Sunday, they presented the school administration with an unusual demand: no classes until they give their thanks to the men and women who helped save their school and neighborhoods.
Specifically, the students asked to visit the local fire department and personally thank the firefighters who fought the blazes across Haifa for three days straight.
The girls brought with them candies, prepared "Thank You!" signs, and on Sunday made their way to the Gesher Paz fire station in Haifa to meet with the people who helped to save their city.
Firefighters at the Gesher Paz station were taken aback by the surprise visit, saying that the heartfelt thanks "gives us so much strength".
Rabbi Yoel Beri, head of the Tzvia ulpana, praised the girls' dedication to a trait so often neglected.
"Showing appreciation is something we teach in the ulpana all year, and now it's found expression the day after the fires [were extinguished] when the students refused to return to their studies before they personally gave their thanks to the wonderful firefighters."
8. WATCH: CAR GOES UP IN FLAMES - BECAUSE OF STATIC ELECTRICITY
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[video:2021511]
A woman filling up her car at a gas station in northern Israel received a shocking surprise Saturday evening when a static charge suddenly sparked a fire at the gas pump, setting her car ablaze.
Last week, unseasonably dry weather sparked fires across Israel, and helped spread fires deliberately set by arsonists targeting Jewish communities.
But the dry weather, with 5% relative humidity (compared to a seasonal average of 60-65%) has also led to a dramatic increase in static shocks.
While buildups of static electricity ordinarily constitute little more than an annoyance, for one woman getting gas at a station in Kibbutz Ginosar in northern Israel, one static charge almost ended in disaster.
When the woman reached out to remove the gas nozzle from her gas tank, a static charge exiting her hand and entering the nozzle suddenly set off a small explosion from the gas fumes around the nozzle, lighting the nozzle and the woman's car on fire.
Luckily, the woman was able to remove the nozzle and flee without injury. A team of firefighters were called to the scene to extinguish the blaze.
Gas station where the fire occurred in Kibbutz Ginosar
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