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Tuesday, Aug. 16 '16, י"ב באב תשע"ו
HEADLINES:
1. SERIES OF PLANNED HEZBOLLAH ATTACKS IN ISRAEL FOILED
2. 2 INJURED IN AUSTRIA STABBING ATTACK
3. RED CROSS ON ALEPPO: MYRIADS TRAPPED, DEVASTATING URBAN CONFLICT
4. 'CHILDCARE PROFESSIONALS GIVE SO MUCH AND GET SO LITTLE'
5. RIOTS IN REFUGEE CAMP OVER IDF OPERATION
6. RUSSIAN WARPLANES BOMB SYRIA FROM IRANIAN BASE
7. TRUMP: WE SHOULD ONLY ADMIT THOSE WHO SHARE OUR VALUES
8. DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN OPENS IN ISRAEL
1. SERIES OF PLANNED HEZBOLLAH ATTACKS IN ISRAEL FOILED
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Cleared for publication: In an operation involving the IDF, the Shin Bet, and the Israel Police several terror cells have been recently exposed. The terrorists, residents of Judea and Samaria, had been recruited through Facebook by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon and Gaza.
The arrest of the terrorists prevented the cells from carrying out attacks in Israel.
The Shin Bet emphasized that the terror cells reflect a concentrated effort by Hezbollah over the past few years to recruit terrorists from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, to commit terror attacks against Israeli targets.
The recruits were instructed to help with fundraising for terror operations as well.
Among the cells exposed was one from the Qalqilya area. The cell had been ordered to commit an attack against an IDF patrol. Heading the cell was Mustafa Kemal Hindi, 28, of Qalqilya who was recruited to the Hezbollah in December of 2015 through a Facebook page containing anti-Israel and jihadist content.
Hindi told interrogators that he was in constant contact with his Hezbollah controller through Facebook, and later through email. The controller even sent him an encryption program to allow them to communicate undetected.
Hindi was directed to gather recruits and act against Israel, including shooting at IDF patrols in the area.
Hindi recruited four terrorists from Qalqilya and they began to gather information on army patrols in the Qalqilya area and training with hunting rifles.
In June 2016 the cell-members were arrested before they managed to bring their plans to fruition. Indictments have been filed against the terrorists.
In addition, security forces arrested terrorists who had been recruited by a Hezbollah operative from Gaza and were ordered to commit suicide and shooting attacks.
Mohammed Faiz Abu Jadian, the Gaza Hezbollah operative, had recruited several terrorists from Judea and Samaria through Facebook. Most of the terrorists received encryption programs through email.
2. 2 INJURED IN AUSTRIA STABBING ATTACK
by Arutz Sheva Staff
A man with a knife has attacked two people on a train in Austria, reports say.
According to local police the 60-year-old suspect was brandishing a knife and injured two passengers.
A bystander reportedly wrestled the suspect to the ground and neutralized him. He was then held down until police arrived and made the arrest.
Austrian police say the attacker, a 60-year-old German national, appeared mentally confused.
The two victims are said to be seriously injured and were evacuated to the hospital after the attack: A 19-year-old man who had wounds to his stomach and back and a 17-year-old male who suffered a throat injury.
The reported attack happened in the town of Roethis, near the Austrian-Swiss border.
The attacker is currently being questioned by police.
Any connection to the train attack in Switzerland in which the attacker set a train coach on fire, eventually resulting in the death of one woman, has been ruled out.
This is a developing story
3. RED CROSS ON ALEPPO: MYRIADS TRAPPED, DEVASTATING URBAN CONFLICT
by Hillel Fendel
The fighting in Syria's second-largest city is "beyond doubt, one of the most devastating urban conflicts in modern times." So says the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer.
Fighting in the city has been intensifying during the past weeks with hundreds of people killed and untold numbers injured. Public services have all but broken down. Two million people are trapped, and tens of thousands are without aid.
"No one and nowhere is safe," Maurer said Monday. "Shellfire is constant, with houses, schools and hospitals all in the line of fire. People live in a state of fear. Children have been traumatized. The scale of the suffering is immense. For four years, the people of Aleppo have been devastated by brutal war, and it is only getting worse for them."
The ICRC reports that tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, and many others forced to leave temporary shelters they had been living in.
The civil war in Syria between various opposition groups and the Assad regime has raged for over five years, with various estimates placing the total number of deaths at over 400,000. The U.S. backs the opposition, Russia supports Assad, and the Islamic State is involved as well. Russia has intimated that it might allow ceasefires of more than the current three hours a day in order to alleviate the suffering.
"The human cost of the fighting in Aleppo is simply too high," Maurer said. "We urge all parties to stop the destruction and indiscriminate attacks, and stop the killing. Parties involved in the fighting need to respect the basic rules of warfare, in order to prevent the loss of more innocent lives."
The ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Aleppo report that they have been delivering nearly 50,000 meals and 500,000 liters of water each day for the past two weeks, in addition to providing other emergency services.
4. 'CHILDCARE PROFESSIONALS GIVE SO MUCH AND GET SO LITTLE'
by Hezki Baruch
The Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality held a discussion yesterday regarding employment conditions under Treasury Ministry regulations for workers in childcare centers, a matter brought up to the daily agenda by MK Uri Maklev (UTJ).
Attorney Ruth Dayan from the Local Government Center informed the Committee that agreements between the Treasury Ministry and other local authorities to enable the transfer of funds to the childcare centers have not yet come to a close and still need final approval - this, two weeks before the opening of the new school year.
Galit Yakobov, Manager for the Daycare and Childcare Branches, told the Committee that the agreements have not yet come to a close because there is disagreement between the Treasury Ministry and the Welfare Ministry regarding whose authority it is to approve the funds.
Even so, Yakobov said that "There is more to the process after this, but there is a chance to convene before the opening of the new school year. We expect this as an emergency measure, and the vacation time of our workers has been cancelled so as to ensure that there won't be delays on our part once the issue is resolved."
In the suggestions to the daily agenda, it was noted that "3,700 childcare professionals, working under the auspices of the Treasury Ministry, work at a rate below minimum wage without basic social benefits.
"We're talking about a serious blow to workers' rights; the daycare professionals don't have worker's compensation or pension benefits. Their wages don't include pension savings, unemployment insurance, allotments for worker's compensation, overtime pay, payment for preparation of the daycare, and more. Vacation days don't include sick days, days for mourning, and more," it was written.
MK Maklev said that "It's unfair to demand that a worker give her all when she has to deal with such sub-par conditions. If we heard of a private enterprise that demands so much from its workers in exchange for so few benefits, we would be outraged - how much more so, then, when we are talking about the Government."
5. RIOTS IN REFUGEE CAMP OVER IDF OPERATION
by Uzi Baruch
In an operation in the Al-Fawwar refugee camp intended to damage the terror infrastructure in Judea, a force consisting of three IDF battalions entered the camp in order to make arrests, conduct weapons searches and serve summons' for questioning by security forces.
To this point IDF forces found and confiscated two pistols, a commando knife, stun grenades and ammunition. In the course of the operation riots broke out in several areas with dozens of Palestinians throwing rocks and bricks and improvised explosive devices at the soldiers. No IDF personnel were hurt.
The battalions responded with crowd-dispersal measures, firing Ruger bullets in the direction of the rioters in order to neutralize the threat. The IDF forces are continuing the operation, intending to pursue it until all objectives are met.
6. RUSSIAN WARPLANES BOMB SYRIA FROM IRANIAN BASE
by AFP
Russian warplanes on Tuesday flew out from an Iranian air base to conduct strikes against jihadist groups in war-torn Syria, the defense ministry in Moscow said.
The raids are the first Russia has reported carrying out from a base in Iran since the Kremlin launched its Syrian bombing campaign in support of long-time ally Bashar al-Assad last September.
"On August 16 Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamedan air base (Islamic Republic of Iran), conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib," the ministry said in a statement.
The strikes resulted in the destruction of "five large warehouses with weapons, ammunition and fuel" and jihadist training camps near Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, the village of Saraqeb in the Idlib region and Al-Bab, an ISIS-held town in Aleppo province, the statement said.
The bombing also targeted three command centres near the village of Jafra and Deir Ezzor, killing "a large number of fighters", Moscow said.
Iran and Russia are the two firmest backers of the Assad regime and have opposed international calls for the Syrian leader to step down in a bid to resolve a civil war that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.
Iran is Assad's main regional ally and has provided steady military, financial, and political support to the regime.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu claimed separately in comments aired Monday that Russia and the United States are also close to joining forces around Syria's ravaged second city of Aleppo, where Russian planes and regime forces are battling rebels for control.
Fighting for the city has intensified after regime troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July.
The increased fighting has raised concerns for the estimated 1.5 million civilians still in Aleppo, including some 250,000 in rebel-held areas.
7. TRUMP: WE SHOULD ONLY ADMIT THOSE WHO SHARE OUR VALUES
by Ben Ariel
[youtube:2018193]
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday promised to institute "extreme vetting" of immigrants to protect the nation from radical Islamic terror, as part of his plan for fighting terrorism.
He also promised an international conference to strengthen the coalition fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria while arguing he would take major steps to clamp down immigration at home.
"The common thread linking the major Islamic terrorist attacks that have recently occurred on our soil…is that they have involved immigrants or the children of immigrants," he said in a speech in Youngstown, Ohio, and quoted by The Hill.
"We should only admit into this country those that share our values and respect our people. We will be tough, and we will be even extreme," Trump added.
He said the fight against radical Islamic terror was this generation's Cold War, and added it was long "overdue" to reestablish an "ideological screening test" like the one America used during that time.
"Just as we won the Cold War in part by exposing the evils of Communism and the virtues of free markets, so too must we take on the ideology of radical Islam," said Trump, according to The Hill.
Trump also blamed the Democrats' foreign policy for creating the vacuum that allowed ISIS to thrive.
"The rise of ISIS is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton," he said.
In 2009, before the Obama-Clinton Administration took over, Trump pointed out, "Libya was stable. Syria was under control. Egypt was ruled by a secular President and an ally of the United States. Iraq was experiencing a reduction in violence. The group that would become what we now call ISIS was close to being extinguished. Iran was being choked off by economic sanctions."
"Fast-forward to today. What have the decisions of Obama-Clinton produced? Libya is in ruins, our ambassador and three other brave Americans are dead, and ISIS has gained a new base of operations."
"Syria is in the midst of a disastrous civil war. ISIS controls large portions of territory. A refugee crisis now threatens Europe and the United States."
"In Egypt, terrorists have gained a foothold in the Sinai desert, near the Suez Canal, one of the most essential waterways in the world."
"Iraq is in chaos, and ISIS is on the loose."
"ISIS has spread across the Middle East, and into the West. In 2014, ISIS was operating in some seven nations. Today they are fully operational in 18 countries with aspiring branches in six more, for a total of 24 – and many believe it is even more than that. The situation is likely worse than the public knows."
Another danger is Iran, "the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism", which "is now flush with $150 billion in cash released by the United States – plus another $400 million in ransom," continued Trump, who warned that the nuclear deal with Iran "puts Iran, the number one state sponsor of radical Islamic terrorism, on a path to nuclear weapons."
"In short," he added, "the Obama-Clinton foreign policy has unleashed ISIS, destabilized the Middle East, and put the nation of Iran – which chants 'Death to America' – in a dominant position of regional power and, in fact, aspiring to be a dominant world power."
"Our new approach, which must be shared by both parties in America, by our allies overseas, and by our friends in the Middle East, must be to halt the spread of radical Islam," said Trump.
"All actions should be oriented around this goal, and any country which shares this goal will be our ally. We cannot always choose our friends, but we can never fail to recognize our enemies," he continued.
In that regard, Trump said he would call for an international conference focused on this goal.
"We will work side-by-side with our friends in the Middle East, including our greatest ally, Israel. We will partner with King Abdullah of Jordan, and President Sisi of Egypt, and all others who recognize this ideology of death that must be extinguished."
Trump also said that American values should be impressed upon "newcomers," calling for the assimilation of immigrants.
"Assimilation is not an act of hostility, but an expression of compassion. Our system of government, and our American culture, is the best in the world and will produce the best outcomes for all who adopt it," said Trump.
"This approach will not only make us safer, but bring us closer together as a country."
8. DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN OPENS IN ISRAEL
by Yoni Kempinski
[youtube:2018188]
The Donald Trump campaign launched a ground campaign in Israel today, trying to get US citizens living in Israel to make sure to vote for the Republican candidate.
Marc Zell, Chair of Republicans in Israel, who is leading the campaign, said: "There are 300,000 to 400,000 potential votes in Israel, and many of them are coming from the key battleground states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. These are states with large Jewish populations, where the Jewish vote matters. We estimate there might be 10 to 12 thousand votes from Florida alone here."
Speaking to potential voters, Zell recounted how in 2000, George Bush beat out Al Gore thanks to a few hundred votes in Florida. "1,500 votes for Bush came from Israel during that election. So if they hadn't voted, Bush wouldn't have been President. Your vote really counts."
Campaign activists are hitting Israeli malls in areas with high concentrations of American citizens to make their pitch to voters on the fence, and have begun distributing Trump hats, stickers, and buttons.
Emphasizing his support for Israel and playing up frustration among American-Israelis over the Obama administration's handling of America's relationship with Israel and the Iran nuclear deal, the Trump operation in Israel has rolled out a new logo with the slogan "Trump – the Israeli Interest" – in Hebrew.
"The Hebrew logo was designed in the same spirit as the American logo," said a Trump campaign press release. "The message is clear: he is appealing to the American-Israeli community, which leans to the right politically and is more associated with the Republican Party."
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