Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe/
Friday, Dec. 23 '16, כ"ג בכסלו תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. SUSPECT IN BERLIN MARKET MASSACRE KILLED IN SHOOTOUT
2. BERLIN TRUCK TERRORIST VISITED MOSQUE AFTER MURDEROUS ATTACK
3. PASSENGER PLANE HIJACKED OVER LIBYA AMID BOMB THREAT
4. CONCERNS FOR SAFETY OF MISSING EX-MK
5. 'ETHNIC CLEANSING' IN SYRIA
6. ARE ALL DREAMS PROPHECY?
7. IDF SOLDIER SHOT IN SHECHEM
8. BAR MITZVAH GIFT: IDF RECEIVES TORAH SCROLL FROM CONNECTICUT
1. SUSPECT IN BERLIN MARKET MASSACRE KILLED IN SHOOTOUT
by David Rosenberg
Authorities in Milan, Italy say a man matching the description of the key suspect in this past Monday's attack on a Berlin Christmas market was shot and killed during a shootout Friday morning.
According to the Italian Ansa news outlet, the man was shot after he drew a gun during a security check outside of the Sesto San Giovanni train station.
Anis Amri, a 24-year old Tunisian whose ID was found inside the truck used to run down shoppers in Monday's attack, has been the main suspect since Tuesday, after a Pakistani migrant was initially detained following the massacre, but later released for lack of evidence.
Italian police contacted German security officials after the incident and efforts are being made to positively identify the man killed as Amri.
The attack left 12 dead and 48 wounded. One Israeli, Dalia Elyakim, was killed in the attack. Her Husband, Rami, was wounded is listed in serious condition.
Earlier on Friday, German police revealed that Amri had visited a Berlin mosque just hours after the deadly attack, adding that they believe he is still located in the German capital.
A man reportedly matching the Amri's description was also spotted in Denmark, Danish police said on Friday.
[youtube:2022376]
2. BERLIN TRUCK TERRORIST VISITED MOSQUE AFTER MURDEROUS ATTACK
by David Rosenberg
Police say that Anis Amri, the prime suspect in Monday's deadly terror attack in Berlin, visited a local mosque shortly after the murderous attack that killed 12 and left 48 wounded.
On Friday it was revealed that Amri, a 24-year old Tunisian migrant living in Germany, was spotted on a closed circuit television system while entering a mosque in the Moabit neighborhood of Berlin.
Authorities have reported that Amri entered the mosque roughly eight hours after the attack on a Christmas market, in which a truck ran down shoppers preparing for the upcoming Christmas holiday.
The mosque in question was raided by police on Thursday in connection with the ongoing investigation into Monday's attack
3. PASSENGER PLANE HIJACKED OVER LIBYA AMID BOMB THREAT
by David Rosenberg
A passenger plane carrying 118 people was reportedly hijacked on Friday over Libya and diverted to the island nation of Malta in the Mediterranean.
The Airbus A320 jetliner, operated by Libya's Afriqiyah Airways, was supposed to be on a domestic flight within Libyan airspace before it was diverted.
Two terrorists onboard the flight reportedly threatened to blow up the plane if their demands to divert to Malta were not met.
Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat acknowledged there was a "potential hijack situation", but provided no further details.
"Informed of potential hijack situation of a #Libya internal flight diverted to #Malta," Muscat wrote in a tweet Friday. "Security and emergency operations standing by –JM."
4. CONCERNS FOR SAFETY OF MISSING EX-MK
by Gary Willig
Former Yisrael Beytenu Knesset Member and journalist Sharon Gal has gone missing, Yediot Aharonot reported.
Gal reportedly told his superiors at his workplace, Channel 20, that he intended to take a two-week leave of absence. He then asked for a further week off. He has not been heard from since.
Gal's associates fear that he may have gotten into trouble with loan sharks.
"He may have left because of a threat from the creditor, but he doesn't talk about it." one of Gal's friends told Yediot Aharonot. He said that Gal had fallen into significant debt.
"We also fear for his safety, since there are reports that his creditors violently threatened him and may have beaten him, so he is afraid to appear in public." the friend added.
Channel 20 has reportedly concluded that Gal will not be returning to work and is looking for a replacement.
5. 'ETHNIC CLEANSING' IN SYRIA
by Hillel Fendel
The Syrian government, Russia, and Iran are trying to depopulate Syria of the Arab Sunnis, and thus change the demographic makeup of Syria. So writes Dr. Harold Rhode, who served for 28 years as an Islamic world advisor in the U.S. Secretary of Defense office.
Writing this week for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Rhode explained that before the "Arab Spring," the Sunnis were the largest religio-ethnic group in Syria, mostly inhabiting a very fertile strip of land from Aleppo to Damascus to the Jordanian border. Those Sunnis who are still there, even after five years of civil war, are now being forced to move to areas near the Turkish border.
Rhode says the explanation for this strategy is fairly simple: Bashar Assad and his regime are themselves of the Alawite sect – which the Sunnis do not even recognize as Moslem. The Shi'ites, on the other hand, recognize the Alawites as a branch of Shi'ism.
According to the Sunnis, therefore, Assad is not a legitimate leader, as Islamic law requires that only Muslims may rule a Muslim country. Prior to the Arab Spring, the Alawites constituted only an eighth of Syria's population, keeping order in the country through coercion, not via democracy. However, when the Arab Spring provided the opportunity, the Arab Sunnis revolted against Assad, joined by Sunni support from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere.
The Alawite fear of the Sunnis is thus clear. Iran, a Shi'ite country, also has a long-standing with the Sunnis, and Russia, too, has an axe to grind with the Sunnis; some 98% of the former Soviet Muslims are Sunni.
Thus, the Iranians, Russians, and Syrian governments all joined together to fight against the Sunni fundamentalists, forcing them to leave the country via bombing, terrorism, and other methods. "It is therefore not surprising," writes Rhode, "that the overwhelming numbers of Syrian refugees are Arab Sunnis from the Damascus-Aleppo corridor which has been the traditional heartland of the Arab Sunni community. Indeed, the majority of migrants currently living in refugee camps in Jordan and Turkey are largely Arab Sunni, as are the refugees who made it to Europe."
With the Sunnis dislocated, the Russian-Iranian-Assad coalition has moved on to the next-stage: repopulating the emptied-out areas with Shiites, mostly from Iraq.
Thus, the coalition attacks places like Aleppo, but holds its fire from the Christians, Sunni Kurds, and Druze throughout Syria. The fundamentalist Sunni Turkish government, on the other hand, is clearly on the side of the Sunnis and opposes the above coalition.
Rhode concludes that the United States, for its part, has failed to grasp that the fighting in Syria is mostly a battle for the demographic future of that country – and that soon, Syria is liable to be relatively Sunni-free.
6. ARE ALL DREAMS PROPHECY?
by Judy Simon
Joseph, the master dreamer, had two prophetic dreams in this week's Torah portion. He also interpreted two dreams of others prophetically.
We dream all the time. Do our dreams touch on prophecy as well?
And: Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum and Rabbi Avraham Aryeh Trugman each discuss the subject of dreams and prophecy.
[audio:2022380]
Click here to download the podcast
7. IDF SOLDIER SHOT IN SHECHEM
by Kobi Finkler
An IDF soldier was wounded early Friday morning when terrorists opened fire on Israeli forces operating in the town of Balata on the outskirts of Shechem in Samaria.
The wounded soldier was evacuated to a hospital, where his injuries have been listed as light-to-moderate. His condition is stable.
Israeli forces apprehended two wanted terrorists during the operation in Balata, and confiscated spare parts of firearms.
In a separate operation, IDF forces arrested a wanted terrorist from Hirbat a-Tabke in Judea, who is suspected of violent attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces.
A third IDF operation overnight led to the confiscation of thousands of shekels in terror infrastructure funding in the town of Seir in Judea.
8. BAR MITZVAH GIFT: IDF RECEIVES TORAH SCROLL FROM CONNECTICUT
by Yoni Kempinski
[youtube:2022372]
The IDF received a special gift Thursday - a Torah scroll flown in all the way from the state of Connecticut.
The scroll was dedicated in a ceremony at a Yad Lebanim memorial to fallen IDF soldiers. The dedication ceremony was attended by Deputy Defense Minster Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan and IDF Chief Rabbi Eyal Karim.
Dr, Daniella Rotner, a resident of West Hempstead, New York, donated the Torah scroll in memory of her late grandmother and in honor of the Bar Mitzvah of her son, Joshua, who put on his tefillin [phylacteries] for the first time at the Western Wall last week.
The Torah scroll was brought from a synagogue built by the Jewish community of Norwich, Connecticut, a synagogue which used to be the place of prayer for 450 worshipers every Shabbat, but which now, due to demographic changes, does not hold Shabbat services.
------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe/
