Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Sunday, Nov. 27 '16, כ"ו בחשון תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. FIRES RAGE THROUGHOUT ISRAEL OVER SHABBAT
2. WATCH: SUPERTANKER OPERATES IN ISRAEL
3. TRUMP SLAMS VOTE RECOUNT EFFORTS
4. WATCH: 'THERE'S NO DOUBT IT WAS A TERROR ATTACK'
5. TRUMP ADDS MCFARLAND, MCGAHN TO NEW ADMINSTRATION
6. MINISTER ERDAN: DESTROY ARSONISTS' HOMES
7. 'MOMENTS YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND AT ALL'
8. CLINTON CAMPAIGN BACKS VOTE RECOUNT EFFORTS
1. FIRES RAGE THROUGHOUT ISRAEL OVER SHABBAT
by Chana Roberts
[youtube:2021443]
On Friday night, all the residents - 350 families - of the town of Neve Tzuf (Halamish) in Samaria were forced to leave their homes after arsonists set fire to 3 different locations throughout the town.
Fifteen houses were completely destroyed and collapsed, while 25 other houses were seriously damaged from the flames.
Four civilians were lightly injured, including two firefighters.
Three firefighting teams from the Palestinian Authority helped to battle the blaze.
A spokesperson for Neve Tzuf said, "The town has suffered a blow tonight, but we're strong and we'll manage to deal with it. The town's welfare staff and the Binyamin Regional Council are working to take care of all the residents' needs."
As well, arsonists reignited a fire in Haifa on Saturday.
The Israel Electric Company disconnected the town, as well as four buildings in Ma'ale Adumim and the towns of Ateret and Nachliel, from the electric grid from Friday night until Saturday morning.
On Friday, arsonists set fire to Beit Meir, near Jerusalem.
2. WATCH: SUPERTANKER OPERATES IN ISRAEL
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2021448]
3. TRUMP SLAMS VOTE RECOUNT EFFORTS
by Arutz Sheva Staff
President-elect Donald Trump released a statement on Saturday, responding to Green Party nominee Jill Stein's request for a vote recount.
"The people have spoken and the election is over, and as Hillary Clinton herself said on election night.... It is important to point out that with the help of millions of voters across the country, we won ..the most [electoral votes] of any Republican since 1988...we carried nine of 13 battleground states, 30 of 50 states, and more than 2,600 counties nationwide - the most since President Ronald Reagan in 1984."
In Trump's opinion, Stein's motive in requesting a vote recount may not be to win the presidency but to line her personal pocket.
"This recount is just a way for Jill Stein, who received less than one percent of the vote overall and wasn't even on the ballot in many states, to fill her coffers with money, most of which she will never even spend on this ridiculous recount. All three states were won by large numbers of voters, especially Pennsylvania, which was won by more than 70,000 votes. This is a scam by the Green Party...the results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused, which is exactly what Jill Stein is doing."
Stein has raised $5.2 million so far, in a campaign to raise about $7 million to fund the recount. This, despite the fact that the estimated cost to fund a voting recount in Wisconsin alone is only $1 million.
If a recount did occur, all states would be required to present their final results by December 19.
4. WATCH: 'THERE'S NO DOUBT IT WAS A TERROR ATTACK'
by Eliran Aharon
[youtube:2021452]
Miri Maoz Ovadiya, a resident of Neve Tzuf, told about the arson terror attack on Friday night in an exclusive interview with Arutz Sheva.
"We had an extremely difficult, though miraculous Shabbat, last night at around 10-11 o'clock a major fire was caused by terrorists who put this community on fire in three different places, and because of the crazy winds that we had, the fire spread very, very quickly," Ovadiya said.
"We received messages to leave our houses immediately, to evacuate the community, no much time [sic] to think, I took my son and drove out of there...we were evacuated to two nearby communities, welcomed wonderfully by the people, mostly to ensure that the security forces can continue fighting the fire, which they did, for the entire Friday night, Shabbat morning, until they managed to put it out. We're extremely lucky and blessed that there's no loss in life after this crazy tragedy..."
When asked whether the fire was certainly a terror attack, Ovadiya said there was "no doubt."
"The security forces tracked down people that were seen setting the place on fire and running off, and the security forces are trying to find these people," Ovadiya said.
She also noted that over 60 families are not yet allowed to return to their homes, and the community is trying to find solutions for them for the next month, until they will be allowed to start rebuilding their lives.
5. TRUMP ADDS MCFARLAND, MCGAHN TO NEW ADMINSTRATION
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Despite talks of a vote recount, President-elect Donald Trump continues to build his new administration.
Former government official and one-time Fox News analyst Kathleen Troia "K.T." McFarland has been asked by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as deputy national security advisor.
She will the third woman appointed to Trump's administration.
"I am proud that KT has once again decided to serve our country and join my national security team," Trump said in an official statement.
McFarland said, "The American people chose Donald J. Trump to lead them for a reason. He has the courage, brilliance and energy to Make America Great Again, and nobody has called foreign policy right more than President-elect Trump, and he gets no credit for it. I'm honored and humbled that he has asked me to be part of his team."
In addition, attorney Donald McGahn has been asked to serve as White House counsel. McGahn is a partner at Jones Day, and also served as Trump's campaign lawyer. McGahn is currently advising Trump on the transition process.
"Don has a brilliant legal mind, excellent character and a deep understanding of constitutional law," Trump said of McGahn in a statement on Friday. "He will play a critical role in our administration, and I am grateful that he is willing to serve our country at such a high-level capacity."
Neither position requires the approval of the Senate.
6. MINISTER ERDAN: DESTROY ARSONISTS' HOMES
by Hezki Baruch
On Saturday evening, Channel 2 interviewed Minister of Public Security, Strategic Affairs and Minister of Information Gilad Erdan (Likud) regarding the recent arson intifada.
"The Fire Department has all of the fires currently under control," Erdan said. "They have the ability - and they have received much help from international firefighting teams - and are successfully dealing with all the incidents."
"We're not finished yet, and a lot can happen before next Tuesday [when rain is predicted], especially since these aren't wildfires, they're arson attacks. The Fire Department has asked all schools to refrain from nature hikes until the end of next week."
Erdan also said, "most of those arrested are Arab Muslims from Judea and Samaria, with a very small number being Arabs with Israeli citizenship. 35 suspects have been taken for questioning so far, and 23 of them are under arrest as a result. Some of them are guilty of online incitement to terror, the same incitement which causes people to carry out stabbing attacks. This is a new type of incitement to terror, a terror that encourages Arabs to take advantage of the weather in order to burn entire towns and harm the residents."
Erdan also called on the government to enforce severe punishments for the arsonists.
"We have tools that are proven to work, such as destroying terrorists' homes. If we can destroy the home of a terrorist who stabbed or shot their victim, we must also destroy the homes of the arsonists, who carried out their attacks because of 'nationalistic' motives. There's no difference," he said.
Erdan, who visited Neve Tzuf on Saturday night, tweeted, "I'm on my way to Halamish-Neve Tzuf, to see the scene of last night's arson attack. It's horrific to think about the bestial people who wanted to burn an entire town, along with its residents and children."
Residents of the town were able to escape in time, but those whose homes were burned to the ground, especially on streets which have imported wooden homes that were totally destroyed in minutes, are left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
[album:open
7. 'MOMENTS YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND AT ALL'
by Eliran Aharon
[youtube:2021424]
Arutz Sheva spoke with residents of Beit Meir about the terrifying and chaotic moments during which the community was engulfed in flames.
One couple related their escape from the burning community: "We got into the car and started to flee the scene. There was a huge fire at the entrance to the community, and we couldn't get out.
"Hundreds of cars there, and we can't get out. We saw the fire right in front of us. Terrifying...
"We saw the giant flames right in front of us. After that more firefighting teams started to arrive...
"They cleared the way for us... and we just traveled, without even seeing where we were going.
Another couple noted: "The uncertainty was very frightening...we heard the police yelling outside...in a couple of minutes we managed to be driving out in our car, but the entrance of the community was blocked."
"That sudden fear that you're lost....
"There's a big traffic jam, everything gets filled with smoke...everybody's choking inside their cars...moments you can't understand at all.
"Everyone is under pressure the police the army...there's no water to put out the fires…there were thirty people trapped in a building."
Residents of Beit Meir, which is just off the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, were evacuated from their homes, including 300 people at the guest house, most of them to the nearby town of Shoresh, others to their families in other places.
25 firefighting crews worked at the scene to extinguish the flames, and succeeded in doing so shortly before 5:30 a.m.
Police have so far arrested two suspects linked to the arson.
Hebrew video:
[video:2021431]
8. CLINTON CAMPAIGN BACKS VOTE RECOUNT EFFORTS
by Chana Roberts
Green party nominee Jill Stein has pushed for a vote recount in the battleground state of Wisconsin. Stein herself won only 1% of the national vote, indicating her recount campaign is not motivated by a personal interest to become president.
On Saturday, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton announced her campaign's intent to back Stein's push for a statewide vote recount.
Campaign lawyer Marc Elias wrote in a post on Medium that, "Because we had not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology, we had not planned to exercise this option ourselves, but now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides."
[youtube:2021453]
Elias also acknowledged that "the number of votes separating Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the closes of these states - Michigan - well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount." However, he feels it is "important, on principle" to join and oversee the process.
"We certainly understand the heartbreak felt by so many who worked so hard to elect Hillary Clinton, and it is a fundamental principle of our democracy to ensure that every vote is properly counted," Elias wrote. "Now that a recount is underway, we believe we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reported."
Hillary Clinton's campaign said Saturday it intends to back the statewide election recount effort in the battleground state of Wisconsin spearheaded by third-party candidate Jill Stein.
For their part, Wisconsin election officials admitted to receiving Stein's paperwork, but insisted on waiting to receive a cost estimate from the county clerks.
Clinton's campaign is trying to fundraise $7 million to pay for the recount effort. As of Friday afternoon, they had managed to raise $5.2 million. However, Stein has expressed an intent and desire to pay for the recount out of pocket.
Wisconsin law calls for a vote recount at any candidate's request, provided the candidate can pay to fund the recount. However, the state has never actually performed a recount, and election officials estimate the effort will cost up to $1 million.
It is not clear why they do not wish to take money from the Clinton Fund, since they have used the charity to fund personal expenses - even non-necessary ones - in the past.
Stein also plans to file for a recount effort in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Unlike Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Michigan has not yet finished counting its votes, and has not yet declared an official winner. Though Michigan's electoral votes have not gone to a Republican candidate since 1988, they have so far given Trump a 10,704-vote lead over Clinton.
President-elect Donald Trump still holds narrow leads in all three states, but it is widely accepted that Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are the states which allowed him to win the elections. His team has continuously ignored Stein's vote recount campaign, instead focusing on his expected transition to the White House.
In Wisconsin, Trump led Clinton by a full 22,000 votes, and in Pennsylvania, his lead is currently 70,010.
Though Trump won a landslide victory with over 290 electoral votes, Clinton still leads in the popular vote, and her lead has grown to over 2 million.
The deadline to request a recount is next Wednesday, and the deadline by which a recount must be finished is December 13.
As of Friday, Clinton had secured two million more votes than the president-elect. However, in order to win the presidency, she would need to win all three of those states. Currently, Clinton has won 232 electoral votes, versus Trump's 290 and the required 270 to win the presidency.
The Obama administration, however, does not support a recount.
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