Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Tuesday, Sep. 20 '16, י"ז באלול תשע"ו
HEADLINES:
1. ISRAELIS BELIEVE TRUMP BETTER FOR ISRAEL - BUT PREFER CLINTON
2. ISRAELI AIR FORCE SHOOTS DOWN UNMANNED HAMAS AIRCRAFT
3. MAN FOUND CHAINED NAKED INSIDE SHED IN BEDOUIN VILLAGE
4. FRANCE PLANNING BIG PUSH FOR MIDEAST PEACE CONFERENCE
5. POLL: EUROPEAN JEWS AFRAID TO ATTEND HOLIDAY SERVICES
6. ARCHAEOLOGISTS DIG UP NAZI TIME CAPSULE WITH WAR-ERA ARTIFACTS
7. TED CRUZ TO SENATE: DON'T DICTATE SOLUTIONS TO ISRAEL
8. TRUMP PRAISES ISRAELI COUNTER-TERRORISM
1. ISRAELIS BELIEVE TRUMP BETTER FOR ISRAEL - BUT PREFER CLINTON
by David Rosenberg
Israelis believe Republican presidential nominee would be better for Israel than his rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, yet narrowly favor the Democrat in this November's election.
According to a poll conducted by Panels on behalf of the Knesset Channel, by a margin of 6 points Israelis are more likely to believe that a Trump presidency would be better for Israel than a Clinton one.
While neither candidate received a majority, 44% said Trump would be better for Israel, compared to 38% for Clinton.
Despite that, however, 43% of Israelis said that were they able to participate in the elections, they would vote for Clinton, compared to 39% who said they would support Trump.
After fainting at a 9/11 memorial ceremony in Manhattan last Sunday, Mrs. Clinton's health has come under increased scrutiny. A video showing the former Secretary being carried by aides into a waiting van has sparked speculation that Mrs. Clinton's health is far more fragile than once thought – a claim she and her personal physician have denied.
After initially suggesting Mrs. Clinton had simply become "overheated" during the ceremony and left to cool down, campaign spokespeople later stated the former Secretary was suffering from pneumonia and had become dehydrated.
When asked if they believed Clinton and her campaign with regards to her health, Israelis were fairly evenly divided on the issue, with a small plurality of 49% saying they accepted her claims, compared to 43% who did not.
2. ISRAELI AIR FORCE SHOOTS DOWN UNMANNED HAMAS AIRCRAFT
by Arutz Sheva Staff
An Israeli Air Force fighter jet shot down an unmanned aircraft from the Gaza Strip early Tuesday afternoon, an army spokesman said.
The unmanned craft, believed to be controlled by Hamas, was detected flying along the Gaza coastline.
Israeli security forces tracked the aircraft's movements, and an Israeli Air Force fighter jet shot down the craft.
"Earlier today a Hamas UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) took off from the Gaza Strip and was intercepted by an IAF aircraft just off the coast of the Gaza Strip," a statement from the military read.
"The UAV was under IAF surveillance from the moment it took off from the Gaza Strip."
Eyewitnesses in the area reported seeing the plane shoot the drone down.
An IDF spokesperson said the Hamas UAV never managed to penetrate Israeli airspace.
Even after Israel's 2005 Disengagement from Gaza, the IDF still maintains control over airspace over the Strip.
"The IDF will not allow any violation of [local] airspace and will act firmly against any such attempt," an IDF spokesman said regarding the incident.
"Hamas has been developing its drone capabilities especially in the last two years," Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said.
"Today's event proves once more that Hamas continues to invest in tools of terror and not the needs of the people of Gaza," he added.
AFP contributed to this report
3. MAN FOUND CHAINED NAKED INSIDE SHED IN BEDOUIN VILLAGE
by Orly Harari
A senior police officer overseeing the demolition of illegal structures in a Bedouin village in southern Israel made a disturbing discovery, a police spokesperson reported on Tuesday.
While walking through the village, the officer heard crying from inside a tin shed. When the officer opened the shed, he was stunned to find a man, in the nude, bound to the wall of the shed with iron chains.
Israeli police unchained the man and removed him from the shed. He was then transferred for medical treatment.
The man told police he had been chained in the shed for years.
Police notified local social welfare workers regarding the incident.
According to the initial investigation, the man was locked away in the shed by his family due to an unspecified condition, and because he had been throwing stones at local children.
4. FRANCE PLANNING BIG PUSH FOR MIDEAST PEACE CONFERENCE
by David Rosenberg
After its failure to convince Israel to participate in a regional summit earlier this year, the French Foreign Ministry is looking to organize an international Middle East peace conference, and is prepared to offer Israel and the Palestinian Authority benefits packages if the two can conclude a final status agreement.
The move marks a notably different approach by France, which earlier this year had issued what amounted to a virtual ultimatum, threatening that if Israel and the Palestinian Authority did not reach an agreement during this year's planned summer meeting, France would unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood.
France's Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, later backtracked, dropping his predecessor Laurent Fabius' pledge to automatically recognize a Palestinian state.
Now Ayrault has replaced the stick with a carrot, pledging incentive packages to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the event an agreement is reached.
Speaking at the United Nation's annual ministerial meeting, Ayrault pushed the planned conference, which France hopes will be held before the year is out.
"[T]his week must be a moment of political mobilization that we can reach that goal," Ayrault said on Monday.
Ayrault hosted a meeting with leaders from the more than 20 states that attended the June summit hosted by France, discussing efforts for the proposed peace conference later this year.
France's renewed efforts to bring together Israeli and Palestinian Authority leaders and reboot negotiations stalled since 2014 comes less than two weeks after Russian officials said they had secured the agreement of both Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet for renewed final status talks – though no date was set for such a meeting,
5. POLL: EUROPEAN JEWS AFRAID TO ATTEND HOLIDAY SERVICES
by Ido Ben Porat
A survey by the European Jewish Association suggests few Jews in Europe will attend synagogue for this year's Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur holidays as security fears grow and with harassment by Muslims on the rise.
According to the study, which spanned 700 Jewish communities from England to the Ukraine, 70% of European Jews said they would not be attending synagogue during the holiday season.
The study also showed that membership in Jewish organizations and local communities had dropped significantly, with 50% of Jewish communities registering a decline in the number of active members, compared with only 11% who showed an increase.
EJA General Director Rabbi Menachem Margolin noted that three-quarters of Jewish communities in Europe had reported increased security presence by local and national authorities due to elevated terror threat levels over the past year.
The overwhelming majority of community leaders, Rabbi Margolin added, said that other security precautions, including increased private security, had been undertaken over the past year.
"The challenge faced by most Jewish communities has been doubled in recent months," said Rabbi Margolin. "On the one hand, the surge in harassment of Jewish individuals, institutions, and communities by, among others, Muslim refugees and migrants – and on the other, as a result of the refugee crisis there has been a substantial increase in activity among far-right extremist groups across the continent."
The primary focus of the far-right lately has been on Islamic immigration, Rabbi Margolin said, but "based upon testimony by rabbis and community leaders, we have a worrisome picture signaling a significant increase in the level of nationalism and xenophobia, targeting European Jews as well."
6. ARCHAEOLOGISTS DIG UP NAZI TIME CAPSULE WITH WAR-ERA ARTIFACTS
by JTA
Archaeologists in Poland have unearthed a Nazi time capsule circa 1934 that contained images of Adolf Hitler, newspapers and other artifacts.
The archaeologists had been aware for years of the existence of the time capsule, which was buried underground, but had not been able to reach the copper cylinder container, according to The Independent.
The capsule was located earlier this month in the northwestern town of Zlocieniec, which was part of Germany during World War II, and is believed to have been hidden during the construction of a building used to train Nazis. The archaeologists had to cut through various obstacles, including concrete and German mines, to reach the capsule, which they opened using a chainsaw.
In addition to photographs of Hitler and newspapers, it contained two copies of the Nazi leader's manifesto, "Mein Kampf," as well as coins and material promoting the town of Zlocieniec, which was referred to by its former German name, Falkenberg, according to The European Pressphoto Agency.
The capsule is being kept by the National Museum in Szczecin, also in northwestern Poland, where its contents will be shown to the public, according to The Independent.
7. TED CRUZ TO SENATE: DON'T DICTATE SOLUTIONS TO ISRAEL
by David Rosenberg
Hours after 88 senators publicized a joint letter to President Obama, urging him to continue America's longstanding policy of vetoing anti-Israel resolutions in the United Nations Security Council, Texas Senator and 2016 GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz rejected the letter, saying its call for a two-state solution violated Israeli sovereignty.
The bipartisan letter, coauthored by Republican Mike Rounds of South Carolina and Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, emphasizes the senators' frustration "that talks between Israelis and Palestinians remain stalled," adding that the "only way to resolve the conflicts between the two is through direct negotiations that lead to a sustainable two-state solution with a future state of Palestine."
Early Tuesday morning Senator Cruz responded to the letter, praising its spirit and goal of encouraging President Obama to oppose anti-Israel activities in the UN.
Nevertheless, the statement issued by the senator's office read, the letter itself infringes upon Israeli sovereignty as it suggests Israel must pursue the two-state solution and establishment of a Palestinian state.
"Unfortunately, the language in the opening paragraph declaring the 'two-state solution' as the 'only' resolution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians undermines this well-intentioned effort, and makes it impossible for me to sign," said Cruz.
"This matter is an internal one for Israel to decide, and it is not the place of the United States – or the United Nations – to impose a solution on a sovereign nation."
8. TRUMP PRAISES ISRAELI COUNTER-TERRORISM
by Yoni Kempinski
[youtube:2019332]
Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump says that while police in the US know a lot about who might be a potential terrorist, they are afraid to act for fear of being accused of racism. He then suggested that the Americans will do well to learn from Israel regarding counter-terrorism practices.
Speaking to Fox News show "Fox and Friends", Trump criticized the prevailing "politically correct" atmosphere he claims is hindering the fight against terror.
"Our local police, they know who a lot of these people are," Mr. Trump opened, "but they're afraid to do anything about it, because they don't want to be accused of profiling, and they don't want to be accused of all sorts of things."
"Profiling" is a technique used to maximize the efficiency of the use of security resources. Security personnel assess different degrees of risk by profiling individuals and deciding if they are likely to be a terror threat. This involves paying more security attention to people who are part of "higher-risk" groups, such as males, young people, and - most controversially - Muslims.
Trump went on to mention that profiling is used very heavily in one place where security is of paramount concern - Israel.
"You know, in Israel, they profile. And they've done an unbelievable job, I mean, as well as you can do, and they'll profile. If they see someone suspicious, they will take that person and they'll check him out."
The presidential candidate ended by suggesting that the US also will simply be forced to implement profiling as a core practice. "Do we have a choice? Look what's going on. Do we really have a choice? We're trying to be so politically correct in this country, and it's only going to get worse."
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