Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Sunday, Jan. 01 '17, ג' בטבת תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. BENNETT: WE'LL PROPOSE LAW TO ANNEX MA'ALE ADUMIM
2. POLICE ARREST JEWS FOR MAKING STAR OF DAVID OUT OF ROCKS
3. HAMAS VIDEO SHOWS NETANYAHU DRESSED AS A CLOWN
4. TRUMP TEAM INVITES NETANYAHU TO INAUGURATION CEREMONY
5. WOMEN OF THE WALL CALL TO END USING WALL FOR PRAYER
6. TRUMP: ISRAEL IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME
7. NETANYAHU AND PUTIN DISCUSS REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
8. 39 DEAD IN ATTACK ON ISTANBUL NIGHTCLUB
1. BENNETT: WE'LL PROPOSE LAW TO ANNEX MA'ALE ADUMIM
by Hezki Baruch
Education Minister Naftali Bennett spoke on Sunday morning about the issue of applying Israeli sovereignty to the Jerusalem-area city of Ma'ale Adumim.
"By the end of January, we will have submitted a proposal to apply Israeli law in Ma'ale Adumim," Bennett promised on Twitter. "I expect every member of the government to support this law."
On Saturday night, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) spoke about the possibility of annexing Ma'ale Adumim, as well as the rest of Area C.
The Israeli government has not yet issued an official response to the UN Security Council's recent anti-Israel resolution. The reason for this is assumed to be concern over possibly vengeful actions the Obama administration may take before leaving office on January 20.
2. POLICE ARREST JEWS FOR MAKING STAR OF DAVID OUT OF ROCKS
by Orly Harari
The Judea and Samaria Police received on Saturday a report of the word "revenge" written with rocks, along with a Star of David, on the ground between the Arabs' illegal settlement and the Jewish town of Susya.
According to the Arabs' claim, the Jews hit them and tried to force them off Susya's property, by not allowing them to work the land.
The police have arrested three Jews who are suspected of being involved in the incident.
"This morning we received a report of rocks being arranged to form the word "revenge" along with a Star of David. The rock arrangements were near Susya and on the Arabs' property. IDF forces arrived in the area after a disagreement broke out between the Jews and the Palestinians. The soldiers were attacked by Jews who refused to leave the area, in opposition to orders. Three adult Jews were arrested."
The illegal Arab building near Susya is not new and continues to grow. However, the Civil Authority refuses to do anything about it.
3. HAMAS VIDEO SHOWS NETANYAHU DRESSED AS A CLOWN
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Hamas' military wing and their Izz ad-Din al-Qassam brigade publicized on Saturday two video clips in honor of kidnapped and murdered Sgt. Oron Shaul's birthday.
Shaul was kidnapped and murdered during 2014's Operation Protective Edge. Hamas has not yet returned his body.
The first video, which was published four days after Shaul's birthday and the day before New Year's Eve, shows people wearing IDF uniforms sitting around a table. On the table is a cake which says "Oron is in captivity for three years."
Later, a Hebrew-language subtitle appears, which says "One more New Year away from home." Underneath it, an Arabic subtitle reads, "A new year, and the soldier Oron Shaul is far from his family."
The second video clip shows a soldier tied to a chair, with a picture of Oron Shaul glued onto the actor's face. Opposite him, the cake waits, and the soldier struggles to free himself and reach it, but to no avail. At the end of the video, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu walks in the door, dressed as a clown. Netanyahu then walks towards the cake and puts out the candles.
"The decision is in the government's hands," reads the final subtitle in Hebrew and Arabic.
4. TRUMP TEAM INVITES NETANYAHU TO INAUGURATION CEREMONY
by Chana Roberts
The New York Post reported US President-elect Donald Trump's advisers invited Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to the inauguration ceremony on January 20.
On Sunday, the Trump transition team, led by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, contacted Netanyahu regarding Netanyahu's participation in the ceremony.
"There's a plan for Trump to meet with Netanyahu. They're talking all the time. And Netanyahu is talking about possibly going to the inauguration," a source close to Trump said.
Immediately after the US elections, Netanyahu called Trump to congratulate him. Immediately following the elections, Trump invited Netanyahu to visit the US "at the earliest possible opportunity."
Trump has continuously emphasized that Israel is "very important" to him, and has also promised to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
5. WOMEN OF THE WALL CALL TO END USING WALL FOR PRAYER
by Arutz Sheva Staff
In court last week, Dr. Susan Weiss, attorney for the "Original Women of the Wall" (O-WOW), admitted that advocating for women's rights is not the main objective of the group.
She explained that the agenda of WOW is, in effect, to force change upon the entire way the Western Wall has been run since its liberation in the 1967 War.
This is also in contradiction to the way prayers were held there before 1949 when Jews were allowed to go to the site to pray - except for the periods when the Turks and British did not allow separating men from women with a partition.
When the "Center for Women's Justice" filed suit last year on behalf of O-WOW, their stated claim was that the women of O-WOW merely wanted to pray in their own fashion -- including reading from a Torah scroll in the women's section. Preventing them from doing so, they argued, violated Israel's antidiscrimination laws.
Their day in court revealed a different interest. Judge Elyakim Rubenstein asked their lead attorney, Dr. Susan Weiss, what sort of alternative site might be acceptable to the group. She replied that in her view, none was necessary. Rubenstein then asked what she would do, were it up to her. Her response was:
"In actuality, there wouldn't be a Mechitzah (gender divider partition, ed.) there at all, and I would send all of them to their synagogue. Perhaps I would earmark certain hours for them… It needs to be a public plaza. 'All of them' includes both observant women and those women who want to wear tzitzis (ritual fringes)."
She went on to say that the Wall is not a synagogue, and should not be treated that way. Rather than arguing that women should have Torah scrolls at the Wall, she in essence argued that no one should. Orthodox men, too, would not pray if there is no partition.
Leah Aharoni is co-founder of Women For the Wall, an organization created by women who pray at the Wall regularly and object, as do many others including haredi and religious Zionist women, to the disturbances created by O-WOW and Women of the Wall (WOW). "This confirms what we have said from the beginning," she said. "They are not advocating for women's rights. Rather, they want to deny observant Jews the ability to pray at the Wall."
Neither, she argued, is their suggestion offensive only to the observant Jews who stream to the Wall on a daily basis. "For most visitors," she said, "the idea that they can go to the Wall at any hour of the day or night, any time of the year, and find people pouring out their hearts to G-d... that is a critical part of the experience."
This experience would be denied to millions of Jews, if the members of O-WOW were to have their way.
O-WOW come to the Wall only on the first day of the Jewish month.
6. TRUMP: ISRAEL IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME
by Elad Benari
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday night stressed the importance of Israel and criticized Secretary of State John Kerry over his recent comments that Jewish homes in the Land of Israel are an obstacle to peace.
"We have to protect Israel. Israel, to me, is very, very important. We have to protect Israel," Trump told reporters at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to Politico.
He also said with regards to Kerry's statements, "I disagree with what he has done with Israel".
Trump this past week criticized the UN and the Obama Administration for treating Israel "with disdain and disrespect" and urged Israel to "stand firm" until he takes office on January 20.
Last Saturday, the President-elect said he would work to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) despite the fact that the vote at the Security Council made it more difficult.
"The big loss yesterday for Israel in the United Nations will make it much harder to negotiate peace. Too bad, but we will get it done anyway!" wrote Trump.
The President-elect is a strong supporter of Israel, though during his election campaign he initially stated he would be "neutral and unpredictable" when it comes to the Israel-PA conflict.
He later clarified his comments and said that while he would be happy to broker a peace deal, "in order for an agreement to happen, the Palestinians need to show interest. It's a little difficult to reach an agreement when the other side doesn't really want to talk to you."
Trump has also said he would do his best to bring an end to "the war that never ends", describing an Israel-PA peace deal as "the ultimate deal".
7. NETANYAHU AND PUTIN DISCUSS REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
by Ben Ariel
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening spoke by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, the two leaders discussed developments in the region, with emphasis on Syria and continued security coordination in this sphere, which has already proven itself in preventing misunderstandings.
Israel and Russia have a joint mechanism to coordinate military operations in Syria, and in particular concerning the use of Syrian airspace. The mechanism was agreed upon during a meeting between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Putin late last year.
Russia has also expressed an interest in mediating Israel-Palestinian Authority peace talks which have been frozen for more than two years.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said several months ago that Putin wanted to host an Israeli-Palestinian summit to revive the talks.
Several days later, Netanyahu and Putin held a telephone conversation in which they discussed the peace process, among other things, though a Kremlin spokesman later clarified there was "nothing concrete" yet on a meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu.
Most recently, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said his country is waiting for Israeli and Palestinian Arab proposals on holding a direct meeting between Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Netanyahu.
The PA refuses direct negotiations with Israel and has instead chosen to impose preconditions on such talks.
8. 39 DEAD IN ATTACK ON ISTANBUL NIGHTCLUB
by Ben Ariel
[youtube:2022673]
39 people were killed and at least 40 were wounded when two gunmen opened fire in a nightclub in Istanbul during New Year's Eve celebrations on Saturday night.
Footage from the area appeared to show a number of ambulances and police vehicles outside the Reina nightclub, located in the Besiktas area of the city.
CNN Turk reported the two attackers were dressed in Santa costumes.
"Unfortunately, at least 35 of our citizens lost their lives. One was a police officer. Forty people are receiving treatment in hospitals," Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin told reporters, according to the AFP news agency.
"What happened today is a terror attack," he added.
The local Dogan news agency reported that some witnesses claimed the attackers were "speaking Arabic", while NTV broadcaster said special force police officers were still searching the nightclub.
The attack comes three weeks after two explosions outside a soccer stadium in Istanbul killed 29 people and wounded 166.
In July, an attack on the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul left 45 people dead, including 19 foreigners.
Countries around the world were on heightened alert during New Year's Eve celebrations on Saturday due to terror threats.
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