11/03 Links Pt1: Abbas: Glick's shooter is a martyr; UNRWA teaches Rachel’s tomb is an Islamic shrine

From Ian:

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Daphne Anson: "We Are Not Occupiers & We Are Not Settlers .... ": Israel's UN Ambassador Prosor

I am here to convey one simple truth. The people of Israel are not occupiers and we are not settlers. Israel is our home and Jerusalem is the eternal capital of our sovereign state.
There are many threats in the Middle East, but the presence of Jewish homes in the Jewish homeland has never been one of them.
It says a great deal that the international community is outraged when Jews build homes in Jerusalem, but doesn’t say a word when Jews are murdered for living in Jerusalem. The hypocrisy is appalling.
Throughout history, Jerusalem has been the capital for one people and only one people – the Jewish People.

Ambassador Prosor Addresses the Emergency Security Council Session on Jerusalem

Palestinian 'Narrative'? Their Own Covenant Refutes It

In recent years, the Palestinian Arabs, broadly conceived to include the Palestinian Authority, the various political and militant factions, and their supporters abroad, have been pushing a narrative in which a flourishing Palestinian Arab national society of ancient origin was brutally attacked and overrun by an imperialist Zionist invasion intent on stealing what had been their "Palestine" since time immemorial.
Curiously, the Covenant of the Palestine Liberation Organization, initially adopted in 1964 and revised in 1968, contains an article that refutes this claim.
Article 6 of the Covenant reads: "Jews who were living permanently in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion will be considered Palestinian." That "invasion" is usually identified with the Balfour Declaration of 1917, so this article acknowledges that there were Jews in the Land before then.
Let us leave aside that Abbas's insistence that his Palestinian state be Judenrein violates this provision of the supposedly sacred Covenant and address the question: Who were these Jews?
Conceptually, they potentially fall into three categories, any one of which establishes that the Palestinian narrative is false.(h/t Alexi)

Khaled Abu Toameh: Egypt's War on Terrorism: World's Double Standards

The Egyptians have finally realized that the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has become one of the region's main exporters of terrorism. Israel reached this conclusion several years ago, when Hamas and other terror groups began firing rockets and missiles at Israeli communities.
The Egyptians have also come to learn that the smuggling tunnels along their shared border with the Gaza Strip work in both directions. In the past, the Egyptians believed that the tunnels were being used only to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip. Now, however, they are convinced that these tunnels are also being used to smuggle weapons and terrorists out of the Gaza Strip.
Now that the Egyptians have chosen completely to seal off their border with the Gaza Strip, the chances of another military confrontation between Hamas and Israel have increased. Hamas will undoubtedly try to break out of its increased isolation by initiating another war with Israel.
The Egyptians, for their part, are not going to mind if another war breaks out between the Palestinians and Israel -- as long as the military confrontation is taking place on the other side of the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt.
And of course, the international community will once again rush to accuse Israel of "genocide" against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Needless to say, the international community will continue to ignore Egypt's bulldozing hundreds of homes and the forcible eviction of thousands of people in Sinai.
If anything, the Egyptian security crackdown in Sinai has once again exposed the double standards of the international community toward the war on terrorism. While it is fine for Egypt to demolish hundreds of houses and forcibly transfer thousands of people in the name of the war on terrorism, Israel is not allowed to fire back at those who launch rockets and missiles at its civilians.

Abbas' paper tells children and adults to use violence

Text: “Purification before prayer is performed with stones”

Two cartoons in Abbas’ official Palestinian Authority daily encourage Palestinians to throw stones at Israelis. One cartoon showed a father and son before an Israeli Police barrier at the entrance to the Dome of the Rock. The father hands his son a slingshot and the text instructs:
“Purification before prayer is performed with stones.”
The other cartoon showed a man standing on top of the Dome of the Rock shooting with a slingshot while giving blood to the Dome.

Stone-throwing at cars has led to the deaths of many Israelis, such as the deaths of Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan on Sept. 23, 2011.
For years, the Palestinian Authority and Fatah have voiced the libel that Israel is planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Muslim holy sites. Lately, Palestinian leaders have been condemning Jewish visits and those who wish to pray at the Temple Mount, warning of the “danger” of Judaization of Jerusalem.
Such a warning was issued by PLO Executive Committee and former PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Alaa), who warned of the conference organized by Rabbi Yehuda Glick, who was later shot and critically wounded by a terrorist.

Palestinian children as strategic weapons

Terror organizations are aware of the norms of democratic countries in general and of Israel Defense Forces soldiers specifically: Do not hasten to shoot at a child. An Israeli soldier confessed not long ago about the trauma he suffered after shooting above the head of a Palestinian girl who ran in his direction during an arrest being carried out at a nearby house. The way she looked when she heard the shot stuck with him. The terrorists count on this kind of sensitivity.
Moreover, children naturally looks less suspicious, so they can be used to transfer explosive devices, collect intelligence and to carry out terror attacks. In 2012, children were the weapons that left 19 people injured from stone throwing and Molotov cocktails, and another 12 from stabbing. In 2013, 34 people were injured by thrown stones and Molotov cocktails, and six by stabbing. The deaths from traffic accidents caused by thrown stones are hard to count. No small feat when one of your main goals is to disrupt the enemy's life.
Some do it for the money that is sorely lacking at home, and some are charged with ideology of martyrdom that has been fed to them since birth in the media, the schools, the mosques and the value given to those who are prepared to die and to kill Jews. And we still have not spoken about the gains won by terror if these children are arrested, injured or killed and it is broadcast in the world media. Just look at the case of Muhammad al-Dura. The media will not let the facts get in the way of a good story. Terrorism profits when its children are on the front lines.

Hamas’ Youth Weapons Training Sparks Outcry among Palestinians

Photos published in Hamas-affiliated media in the Gaza Strip showed activists from the organization’s military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, teaching dozens of Palestinian children how to use weapons.
These images sparked criticism among many Palestinians who argued that the children are too young to take part in such training, Fateh Voice reported. Social media users claimed these images paint the “Palestinian resistance” in a negative way.
What really disturbed the Palestinian critics is the fact that the training took place shortly after the recent fighting with Israel.
However, many social network users praised Hamas for giving the children weapons training. Some users described the children as heroes and the “Generation of Liberation.”
In addition, Hamas hung posters in Gaza mosques calling for young people to join the ranks of the organization.

Rachel’s Tomb Hijacked

On the 11th of Heshvan, which this year falls on November 4, Jews observe the “yaarzeit” memorial for Rachel, the Biblical matriarch who bore Joseph and died in child birth as Benjamin was born.
As part of our agency’s continuing reportage of the PA school books now used in the UNRWA educational facilities, funded by the US, the EU and other western nations, we have come across a newsworthy phenomenon: UNRWA schools now teach that Rachel’s tomb is a shrine to a Muslim.
This is consistent with PA educational policy, which does not recognize any area in any part of Palestine, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, as Holy to Jews. UNRWA students learn that the Western Wall, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron are exclusively holy and special to Moslems, and devoid of anything Jewish.

'Yehuda Glick Likely Will Return to Full Function'

Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick, the target of an assassination attempt by an Arab terrorist in Jerusalem last Wednesday, underwent a fourth surgery Monday morning at the Shaare Tzedek Hospital in the capital city.
The hospital's surgery department chairman Prof. Petachia Reisman said: "this morning we finished the fourth surgery that included restoration and improvements to the abdominal wounds, and which will allow us in the coming days to start to wake him up."
"We really hope that in the coming days it will be possible to wean him off of the artificial respirator, but it is important to understand that he still has not left the danger, and there may be other pitfalls in the road," emphasized the professor.
Nevertheless, Reisman added that "there is a progressive improvement in his condition. We have no evidence of significant neurological damage, and we hope that in the end of the process he will be able to return to full functioning."

Former PA PM Called for Attack Against Glick's Conference

Last Wednesday morning, hours before Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick was shot by an Arab would-be assassin at an event at the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem that night, former Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei called for "immediate intervention" against the event.
The shocking revelation was made by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), which translated a statement released in the official PA news agency WAFA last Wednesday morning by Qurei, also known as Abu Alla, who is a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee.
In his statement, Qurei warned of "extremist biblical plans encouraging settlers and extremist Jews to carry out large-scale invasions of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and calling on the entire Jewish nation to invade the Mosque."
Glick at the conference called for Jewish prayer rights at the Temple Mount - the holiest site in Judaism - where the Jordanian Waqf (Islamic trust) has discriminated against Jews through its de facto control of the site, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has gone along with their "status quo."
Qurei added Jerusalem is "undergoing one of the most dangerous periods since the beginning of the Israeli occupation," and called for "immediate intervention in order to protect the 'first direction of prayer' (Jerusalem) and rescue it from the threat of Judaization."

Abbas says Glick shooter will go to heaven as martyr

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinian man who shot Temple Mount activist Yehudah Glick would go to heaven as a martyr.
“With anger, we have received the news of the vicious assassination crime committed by the terrorists of the Israeli occupation army against [your] son Mu’taz Ibrahim Khalil Hijazi, who will go to heaven as a martyr defending the rights of our people and its holy places,” Abbas wrote in a condolence letter sent Saturday to the shooter’s family.
The PA president also expressed his “sincere condolences,” and spoke of Palestinian rights to the land.
Israel Radio’s Gal Berger said an Abbas spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the letter and posted a photo of it on Twitter.

Netanyahu: Abbas condolence letter to Glick shooter is act of incitement

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with incitement for allegedly writing a letter of support to the Israeli-Arab family of the man who attempted to assassinate right wing activist Yehuda Glick on Wednesday night.
"When we are trying to calm the situation, Abu Mazen sends condolences over the death of one who tried to perpetrate a reprehensible murder. The time has come for the international community to condemn him for such actions," Netanyahu said.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman added, “This shows that Abu Mazen is a partner, a partner for terror, a partner for terrorists, a partner for murders.”
The foreign minister added, “This despicable letter by Abu Mazen openly support terror and encourages further killings.”
Liberman warned that Abbas was helping the Israel-Palestinian conflict disintegrate into the realm of threats and violence.

Livni slams Abbas for praising would-be assassin

Livni joined other Israeli leaders who earlier lashed out at Abbas for praising the actions of East Jerusalem resident Mu’taz Hijazi, the suspected shooter of Rabbi Yehudah Glick in an apparent attempted assassination last week.
Such praise was “not only risible but also dangerous,” Livni warned on Monday in an interview with Israel Radio.
“You can’t on the one hand go round saying you condemn violence and on the other hand send letters encouraging it,” she said. The move “could lead [Abbas] to lose control” of the Palestinian street amid rising Arab-Jewish tensions, “and the responsibility for that would also fall on Abbas.”

Thoughts on Rabbi Yehuda Glick's shooting (from a Muslim) (h/t Sara/IsraellyCool)


Glick Shooter Posthumously Fired From Begin Center (satire)

“We were willing to overlook his previous terror activity when we hired him, and even his shooting of one of our keynote speakers, but now that he’s dead we can no longer justify keeping him on staff,” said Makov. “Being dead is unacceptable, and we have no choice but to terminate Mr. Hijazi effective immediately.”
Commentators voiced disagreement Sunday over whether the Center went far enough in penalizing the attempted murderer. “They should have fired him the moment he was killed,” argued political analyst Hanan Crystal on Voice of Israel radio this morning. “Waiting until today just makes things worse, and broadcasts weakness and wishy-washiness.”
Yediot Acharonot defense columnist Ron Ben-Yishai praised the Begin Center, specifically citing the interval between the shooting death and the announcement of termination as evidence that the Center let cooler heads prevail before taking such drastic action, and did not let the heat and emotions of the moment dictate their response. “They deserve to be commended for their calm, deliberate response,” he wrote.
In a column for the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, Editor-in-Chief Aluf Benn disagreed, asserting that no punitive action at all should have been taken, since, he contended, Mr. Hijazi’s death was not his own doing. “It was the police and GSS who killed him – all he did was shoot a man touting the abominable notion that Jews should be allowed to pray at their holiest site.”

Jordan’s king says he’ll resist ‘unilateral’ Israeli policies in Jerusalem

Jordan’s King Abdullah II denounced Israel’s “unilateral policies” in Jerusalem and called for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in a speech delivered Sunday to Jordan’s parliament.
Saying Jerusalem was “watered by the blood and sacrifices of our martyrs,” and calling Israel’s operation in Gaza “vile,” Abdullah lashed out at the Israeli government and said Amman would work in the United Nations to advance the Palestinian cause.
“Jordan will continue to confront, through all available means, Israeli unilateral policies and measures in Jerusalem and preserve its Muslim and Christian holy sites, until peace is restored to the land of peace,” he said.

Netanyahu reportedly met Jordan’s Abdullah over Jerusalem unrest

The two leaders met Saturday to discuss resolving ongoing unrest in Jerusalem, which has seen waves of violence centered around the holy site, the Kuwaiti al-Jarida daily reported, citing unnamed senior Jordanian officials.
The report added that Netanyahu had agreed to temporarily close the site, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, to Jewish visits in the coming days, and to increase coordination with the Islamic Waqf on managing the site.
Netanyahu also agreed to change the way non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound, according to the report.

Watch: MK Shuli Mualem Harassed by Islamists on Temple Mount

Jewish Home MK Shuli Mualem became the latest Knesset Member to visit the Temple Mount following its brief closure last week, after Temple Mount activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick was gunned down in an attempted assassination.
Footage from her visit shows how Muslim worshipers - mainly women - subjected her to the same kind of harassment which other Jewish visitors are regularly accustomed to. Muallem retained her composure as dozens of Islamists hurled verbal abuse and shouted "Allahu Akbar!", with some having to be physically restrained from reaching her.
One Arab woman who attempted to physically assault her was detained for questioning by police.

Moshe Feiglin Responds to Report on Arab Photo and Cyber-Stalking

The specific circulation of so many of Feiglin’s photos indicates that the Islamists have their eye on him.
We asked Moshe Feiglin if the threat to him is real, as it was to Yehuda Glick, and if he is afraid as a result.
We would add that the government assigned a permanent security detail to Feiglin following the assassination attempt on Yehuda Glick at the Begin Center conference on Wednesday night. Feiglin and other MKs were in attendance at the conference that night.
Moshe told JewishPress.com that IDF soldiers recently fought in Gaza, and it was very dangerous, and that was their front. He [Moshe] is blessed to be able to fight on our most important front, the Temple Mount, which is the key to our existence in the Land of Israel.
Moshe said the threat to him is real, but it is not something new.

School Calls For Calm As Nerds Provoke Bullies By Entering Library (satire)

Student body president Barry O’Bama, , who in the past has claimed to support the nerds, also expressed shock at the nerds’ actions. “This is an incredibly sensitive time of the school year, with midterms right around the corner. There was no reason for the nerds to act is such an arrogant manner right now.” The president continued, “If the nerds want to continue to receive my support, they will need to stop acting as though everything belongs to them and sit back down with the bullies to negotiate over what parts of the school they are allowed to enter.”
A group of more outspoken nerds refused to back down. “The library was originally a place where everyone could study. We don’t want to stop anyone from coming here; we just want to use it for its original purpose as well, he said.” Some nerds claim the library is the most important place for them in the entire school, and was where the first and second nerd study groups used to meet before nerds were ousted from many school facilities.
Mahmoud Abbas, the local bully leader, was unconvinced. “This is a bully hang out and will always be a bully hang out. Any attempt to challenge that is a declaration of war,” he said as he hung a “No Nerds Allowed” sign on the door with school administrators looking on.

"Perverting International Law": David Singer's sequel on Sweden & Palestinian statehood

I have now been supplied with an English translation of the opinion piece written by three law professors on 20 October upon which Sweden's Foreign Minister relied when claiming that the international law criteria for the recognition of the State of Palestine had been satisfied.
As I suspected when I wrote my article – the three professors do not maintain that those international criteria have been satisfied.
They never could have – if they were to retain any shred of professional credibility.
Sweden's Foreign Minister has some answering to do in explaining why she tried to hide behind the opinions of these three law professors who never said what she claimed.
The three professors indeed argue that those criteria have been replaced by a new controversial and questionable principle they call the "legality principle" to justify the right of Sweden to recognise the State of Palestine under international law.

Abbas to present US peace framework to PLO

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will present to the Palestine Liberation Organization leadership on Sunday night an American framework for the resumption of peace talks with Israel, Israel Radio reported.
The website of the Palestinian newspaper al-Quds quoted sources who indicated that the PLO would reject the proposal.
The move comes a day before the scheduled meeting between top US diplomat John Kerry and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Monday, on ways to advance a Middle East peace deal.

Goldberg struggles to defend administration nonsense

Jeffrey Goldberg, the journalist who broke the ‘chickenshit‘ story, tried to put a good face on the Obama Administration’s pretense of frustration with PM Netanyahu. Let’s see why his — and the administration’s — position doesn’t make sense.
"The Israeli government doesn’t seem to understand that the status quo is unsustainable. As I’ve written (over and over again), I am not arguing for an immediate pullout from the West Bank; the times are too dangerous, and the Palestinian Authority too weak and corrupt and cowardly, for such a move."
First of all, exactly what is the ‘status quo’? I would describe it as follows: Israel controls the borders and airspace of Judea and Samaria, and Israel treats all of Jerusalem as its indivisible capital. It does not control the lives of the 95% of the Arab population of Judea and Samaria that are in areas controlled by the PA. It isn’t that this is unsustainable, but rather that the Palestinians and their friends in Washington and Europe would like it to be different.
But as he admits in the next sentence, there is no alternative. The Palestinians won’t and can’t offer an acceptable deal, and anyway it’s too dangerous. So if there’s no alternative, then we’d best find a way to sustain the allegedly ‘unsustainable

I barred Netanyahu from State Dept., Baker says

James Baker, a former secretary of State, didn’t seem troubled during an interview on Sunday by recent anonymous comments from Obama administration officials knocking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
Baker said that administration officials calling Netanyahu “chickenshit” in The Atlantic couldn’t be a positive for U.S-Israeli relations.
But he also noted that he had his own issues with Netanyahu when he was secretary of State under President George H.W. Bush.
“These kinds of things can happen from time to time,” Baker said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“There are always tensions in all foreign policy relationships, even with allies. But it can be overcome.”
Baker said that Netanyahu – then a senior Israeli official on foreign policy – had said that “American policy in the Middle East is based on lies and distortions” during the George H.W. Bush administration.
“I barred him from the State Department,” Baker said. “That may not be widely known.

The Real Bibi

In the last several years senior Obama administration officials, disagreeing with Israel on many issues, have repeatedly personally lambasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu. In background conversations, these officials have called him everything from "chickenshit" and cowardly to "Aspergery," obtuse, recalcitrant, reactionary and even anti-American.
These accusations are far from the mark. Maybe Bibi is blustering and pompous, even myopic, overly attached to all the settlements and not responding quickly enough to opportunities in the Middle East. But the other issues under dispute -- Jerusalem, the Iranian nuclear program, Islamic fundamentalist groups on Israel's periphery (Hamas in Gaza, jihadists in Sinai, Hizbollah in Lebanon, ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Al Nusra in the Golan Heights) -- worry nearly all Israeli politicians. After all, they are responsible for a tiny state (8,000 square miles) with a small population (6 million Jews) in the midst of the dark hole of the New World Order.
But, "chickenshit" and cowardly? How many Americans have fought as much and as successfully in wartime? Bibi fought in the front lines in the 1969 War of Attrition and 1973 Yom Kippur War where he became a captain in the elite Syeret Matkal special forces. He led his men on dangerous missions often deep in enemy territory in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Bibi even stormed a Sabena airplane seized by terrorists at Lod Airport. There he was shot in the shoulder by the terrorists before they were subdued.

Arabs Arrested over Desecration of Ancient Jewish Cemetery

Police have finally arrested some of the culprits behind the constant desecration of the Mount of Olives Jewish cemetery, thought to be the oldest cemetery still in use in the world, as three Arab suspects were arrested on Monday on suspicion of destroying graves.
The three suspects, aged 22, 15-and-a-half and 12, are residents of the north-eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of A-Tur, and are thought to have destroyed graves at the site over the course of the past month. Security cameras at the cemetery have also been destroyed, and fires set on the tombs of hassidic leaders.
On October 12 dozens of graves at the cemetery were uprooted and smashed, and following the event police launched an investigation that led to the arrest today.

Hamas spokesman’s sister treated in Israeli hospital

The sister of Hamas senior official Moussa Abu Marzouk is being treated in an Israeli hospital for cancer, Israel Radio reported Monday.
The hospitalization of the sister of Abu Marzouk is the latest case of a relative of a member of the terror group being treated in Israel despite a toxic relationship with the Jewish state.
There are few details known about the case, including which hospital is treating the woman.
The 60-year-old woman, who was not named in the report or by medical officials, suffers from advanced-stage cancer. Her condition is critical, and she remains hospitalized in Israel, according to the report.
Marzouk is one of Hamas’s top officials, and has served as its main Gaza spokesman in recent years.

Saudis rejects poor quality Palestinian olive oil

Saudi Arabian authorities refused on Wednesday to allow 20,000 Palestinian olive oil containers through the Jordanian-Saudi land borders for “not matching the Saudi specifications.”
Muhammad al-Barqawi, one of the Palestinian olive oil exporters, told Ma'an that the Saudi government refused to allow 15 vehicles carrying olive oil into Saudi Arabian.
Al-Barqawi said the oil was tested in the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture laboratories before being exported and that they fit all international standards.
He said that the Saudi Arabian authorities have been holding the vehicles, carrying more than 300 tons of Palestinian olive oil, since Sunday.

PA asks Israel for additional Gaza border crossing

The Palestinian Authority has asked Israel to open a new terminal for transferring goods from Israel into Gaza, senior Palestinian sources told The Times of Israel.
Gaza’s need for construction materials in the wake of the summer war between Israel and Hamas was too great and too urgent to depend on the Kerem Shalom crossing alone, the sources said.
The existing crossing can only handle 450 trucks per day. Israel has agreed to expand the crossing so it will be able to handle 700 trucks, but the PA is asking for a second crossing to further expand Gaza’s import capacity.
The new crossing could be located either at the now-shuttered Sufa crossing, or in the former Erez industrial zone on the Israel-Gaza border, which was home to joint Israeli-Gazan businesses in quieter times and which is currently unequipped for inspecting and letting through large vehicles but does serve as a crossing for people.
Israel has not yet responded to the request, the Palestinians said.

Israel nixed US request to send ex-bomber to West Bank, papers show

A Jordanian-born Palestinian responsible for a deadly 1982 airline bombing sought to be deported to the West Bank upon completing his prison sentence last year, but the Israeli government denied the request, citing problems with his identity papers, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Since then, there have been “confidential diplomatic dealings” aimed at moving Mohammed Rashed out of the US and fulfilling an earlier commitment to deport him, court filings show.
Rashed was released from federal prison in March 2013 for the bombing of Pan Am 830, which killed a Japanese teenager and injured more than a dozen passengers aboard the Hawaii-bound plane. A onetime lieutenant of a Palestinian bomb maker featured on the FBI’s list of most-wanted terrorists, Rashed remains at a federal immigration detention facility in New York state that houses those awaiting deportation.

Yielding to Israel pressure, Hamas arrests rocket launchers

Hamas has arrested five Palestinians suspected of involvement in firing a rocket at Israel from the Gaza Strip on Friday night.
According to Israeli defense officials, the arrests were made after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon sent harsh messages to Hamas, via Egypt, following the rocket fire. The officials said the messages were "unequivocal" and that Hamas immediately clarified that it was not responsible for the rocket fire and that it remained committed to the post-Operation Protective Edge cease-fire. Hamas also pledged to arrest the perpetrators of the rocket fire.
It is still unclear which terrorist group the five arrested suspects belong to.
Following the rocket fire, Israel decided to close the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings from Gaza to Israel, except for urgent humanitarian cases.

Egypt finds hundreds more tunnels from Gaza

Egypt is reportedly doubling down on its work to set up a buffer zone with the Gaza Strip, after it discovered hundreds more tunnels running from the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave into the Sinai Peninsula.
According to a report on Sky News Arabic on Saturday, Cairo recently uncovered the tunnels using satellite imagery.
The move to set up the planned 13-kilometer (8-mile) buffer zone, which will be 500 meters (yards) wide, was begun after militants attacked an army checkpoint near Sheikh Zuweyid town last week, killing 31 soldiers. No group claimed responsibility, but Egyptian reports pointed blame at Hamas and other Gaza terror groups.

Nasrallah: Hezbollah fighting in Syria to prevent Zionist, US hegemony

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said his Lebanese organization's involvement in the Syrian civil war is intended to deter US and Zionist hegemony in the region.
Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar quoted Nasrallah as rejecting claims that the events in the region are tied to the coming of the Imam Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of humankind. According to Shi'ite Islam, the Mahdi is the “hidden Imam”, who has already been born and is in “occultation”, hidden from the world until he returns alongside Jesus Christ to save humanity and bring about justice. In Twelver Shi'ite Islam, the main branch of Islam practiced in Iran, the Mahdi will establish an Islamic State.
"We do not need a religious plea to fight in Syria. We do not fight in order to match the signs that are being circulated as a prelude to Reappearance," al-Manar quoted him as saying.

How Hezbollah indoctrinates preschoolers to embrace 'resistance' against Israel

Hezbollah, the Shi’ite terrorist organization in Lebanon, wastes little time in raising the next generation of jihadists determined to fight Israel.
An Arab blogger posted an item on his blog which features a children’s magazine geared toward preschoolers who are taught the merits of “resistance” and “martyrdom.”
Mahdi Magazine is a monthly magazine issued by Hezbollah’s youth scout movement, which also bears the name “Mahdi.” (According to Shi’ite Islamic doctrine, the Mahdi is the redeemer of Islam who will rule for up to 19 years before the coming of the Day of Judgment, after which he will rid the world of evil.)
The magazine features colorful illustrations, rhymes, poems, and written exercises interspersed with military terminology, battle lore from Hezbollah’s wars fought with Israel, and short stories honoring fallen Hezbollah fighters.
The cover features a large birthday cake sitting atop a school bus, all under the heading “I resist.”
The magazine also includes an instruction guide for parents designed to aid them in indoctrinating “the idea of resistance.”