Monday, March 09, 2015
Khaled Abu Toameh: The Palestinians Want... Peace?
The latest PLO and Fatah campaign is not directed only against settlement products. Rather, it is targeting anything made in Israel, as a part of an "anti-normalization" movement, whose goal is to thwart any encounters between Israelis and Palestinians, including peace conferences.JCPA: Is the PLO Threat to End Security Coordination with Israel an Empty Threat?
While some Israelis, Americans and Europeans are talking about the need to revive the peace process after the March 17 elections in Israel, the Palestinians are clearly moving in a different direction.
"We are headed for confrontation with Israel." — Mahmoud Aloul, senior Fatah official.
The Palestinian Authority's strategy now is to intensify its campaign to isolate and delegitimize Israel in the international community, and promote all forms of boycotts of Israelis and Israeli goods; to force Israel to make concessions through international pressure and through campaigns of boycott and divestment.
These campaigns are further radicalizing Palestinians, driving many of them into the open arms of radical groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
If Abbas is interested in returning to the negotiating table (as he sometimes declares he is), then he needs to prepare his people for that and not incite them even more against Israel.
Those who are opposed to the presence of Israeli products in their villages and cities will be the first to oppose the resumption of peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis.
It is now clear that Abbas’ threats are empty; they were an attempt to pressure Israel to free the frozen tax revenues. The PLO Central Committee’s decision was also aimed at containing popular rage over the freezing of the revenues and at showing that the PA is not prepared to submit passively to the Israeli sanction.Hamas offers long-term calm in exchange for end of blockade
In reality, Abbas knows that ending security coordination with Israel will harm the Palestinians most of all. Just a few months ago, Israel rescued Abbas’ rule when the Israel Security Agency (Shabak) apprehended an extensive Hamas network in Judea and Samaria that had planned to destabilize the PA with a series of attacks.
The security coordination is an inseparable part of the Oslo agreement signed by Israel and the PLO in 1993. Although the PA has violated numerous clauses of the agreement, so far it is refraining from violating this particular clause.
Fatah sources claim that the large-scale exercise conducted by the IDF in Judea and Samaria a few days before the PLO Central Committee met in Ramallah was meant to signal to the Palestinians that Israel will not hesitate to reconquer all of the West Bank if it needs to do so.
An escalation of the conflict between Israel and the PA has been deferred for now. Nevertheless, the Palestinians have not withdrawn their application to join the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Hamas recently sent a series of messages to Israel indicating interest in a long-term ceasefire lasting for several years, in exchange for an end to the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, sources told The Times of Israel.The inevitable Hamas retraction
Senior Hamas officials met with Western diplomats about the ceasefire, and also reached a number of understandings about the character of the ceasefire, also known as a tahdiyya.
During the talks, Hamas officials emphasized that they were willing to agree on a ceasefire of at least five years (though some sources said the offer was for 15 years), during which time all military activities “above and below ground” from both parties would end. At the same time, the blockade on Gaza would be removed, including restrictions on exports, and Israel would allow the construction of a seaport and an airport.
The Western diplomats included Swiss Consul Paul Garnier, who has become the key figure in maintaining contacts with Hamas.
Garnier visited Gaza a month ago, and met with several Hamas leaders, including Moussa Abu Marzouk, Bassem Naim, Ghazi Hamid, and others.
Garnier presented these conditions to senior EU officials who are in touch with Israeli leaders.
Hamas denies it offered Israel a temporary ceasefire
The Problem With Anti-Bibi Derangement Syndrome
Last night opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu pulled out all the stops in an effort to show that the Likud Party leader is out of touch and on his way to defeat in the March 17 election. But despite massive funding from foreign backers and an all-out effort by the coalition of left-wing parties and promotion by a sympathetic media, the effort seems to have flopped. Only an estimated 35-40,000 people turned out in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, a venue where the left has, in the past, produced mobs of hundreds of thousands to demonstrate their clout. Despite the vitriol poured out upon the prime minister, he appears to be holding his own in the polls with his party and those more likely to join a coalition led by him still holding a large advantage over his chief rivals. That reality runs counter to most of what we are hearing and seeing in the U.S. media about Netanyahu, who, despite the cheers he got for his address to Congress last week, has been smeared as a warmonger or worse by his critics. But at this point, it’s worth the effort to unpack some of the charges being made against him both by those who have succumbed to Netanyahu derangement syndrome and those affecting a more nuanced view of him.'Yedioth Ahronoth's libelous report -- a disgrace to journalism'
The Tel Aviv rally seemed to reflect the worst excesses of Israeli politics, which can sometimes make even the bitterest U.S. battles seem like bean ball in comparison. The loudest voice being heard against Netanyahu these days is not so much the man who wishes to replace him as prime minister, Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog, as it is former Mossad chief Meir Dagan. Dagan has spent the past few years denouncing Netanyahu from every possible platform, calling him a danger to Israel for not making peace with the Palestinians and for taking too strong a stand against the Iranian nuclear threat.
Senior Likud members lashed out against the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth and its publisher Arnon (Noni) Mozes on Sunday for having published what has come to be known as the "concessions document" over the weekend.Netanyahu: Bar Ilan Speech is Dead
The document in question appeared to be a draft submitted during U.S.-mediated peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in 2013, suggesting that Israel, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was willing to negotiate on the basis of 1967 borders, divide Jerusalem and afford Palestinian refugees a right of return.
Shortly after the document was made public, former American diplomat Dennis Ross, who mediated the talks, explained that at no stage of the talks did Netanyahu agree to any of the clauses included in the document.
On Sunday, the top echelon of the Likud convened a press conference to criticize Yedioth Ahronoth's decision to publish the document, in an obvious attempt to dissuade Likud voters from supporting the incumbent leader less than two weeks before the election.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared Sunday that the 2009 Bar Ilan speech in which he voiced support for a demilitarized Palestinian state is no longer relevant.Palestinians are no longer an Arab priority
The Friday brochure Olam Katan that was distributed at synagogues this Sabbath asked the parties running for election where they stood on the idea of establishing a Palestinian state.
Deputy Minister Tzipi Hotovely replied to the brochure in the name of Likud, and said that “The Prime Minister has announced to the public that the Bar Ilan speech is null and void. Netanyahu's entire political biography is a struggle against a Palestinian state.”
Following the publication in Olam Katan and ensuing queries by reporters, Likud's Election Staff said that “Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that in the situation that has formed in the Middle East, any territory that is vacated will be taken up by extremist Islam and the Iran-backed terror groups. Therefore, there will be no retreats and no concessions – this is simply irrelevant.”
The upheaval in the Arab world, which many have mistakenly called the "Arab Spring," and the fall of the regimes in Tunis, Egypt, Libya and Yemen have somehow skipped the Palestinian Authority, and at this time -- despite Hamas' grip on the Gaza Strip -- Mahmoud Abbas is the Palestinian Authority's true leader.Arabs to Propose New Resolution to 'End Israeli Occupation'
Nevertheless, one can say that what has happened in the Arab world, especially in its more moderate nations such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Persian Gulf emirates, has resulted in an unprecedented low in the way these regimes now approach the Palestinian issue, and in the support they offer past Palestinian demands -- an independent state, a moratorium on settlement construction in Judea and Samaria, the eviction of isolated settlements, releasing Palestinian prisoners, and regulating the status of millions of Palestinian refugees.
Hamas' status has also been undermined. Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since it violently seized power there in 2007 and brutally expelled Fatah officials, governs daily life in the Strip, and controls the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt as well as the crossings between Gaza and Israel.
The Arab League will on Monday propose a new resolution calling for bringing an end to “Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories”, the Turkish Anadolu news agency reported Sunday.European Parliament Members Urge EU Freeze on PA Funding
The Arab League said it plans present the resolution to the United Nations Security Council later, according to the report.
"Just and comprehensive peace is a strategic option," the League wrote in the draft resolution, describing Arab-Israeli peace as an "indivisible" and "comprehensive endeavor."
It added that peace would not be achieved without full Israeli withdrawal from all “occupied Palestinian and Arab territories”, including the Golan Heights, according to Anadolu.
The potential resolution also calls for withdrawal from territories in southern Lebanon, the Arab League said.
Eleven members of the European Parliament are calling on the European Union to fight terrorist by freezing funds to the Palestinian Authority.Watch: Rock from Illegal EU Settlement Nearly Downs Drone
The group has sent a written declaration to the EU, urging the European body to cut its financing to organizations actively involved in promoting terror “as the best way to fight terrorism.”
German Liberal member of the European Parliament, Michael Theurer, is one of the signatories to the declaration.
The European Jewish Press reported this weekend the group has found that the Palestinian Authority and countries such as Pakistan have been financing terror via Hamas and Al Qaeda, among other groups.
“We have many indications … the Palestinian Authority [funnels] EU money towards terrorist organizations, such as Al Qaeda or Hamas,” Theurer said over the weekend. “With this written declaration we are urging the European Court of Justice and he European External Action service to follow up on these indications and deliver final proof so that funding can be frozen,” he said.
After exposing last month how the European Union (EU) is breaching international law by actively building illegal structures for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Area C of Judea and Samaria, the Regavim organization has released footage from a research drone that was nearly downed while documenting the illegal buildings.Why Obama's 'Muslim Grievances' policy towards terrorism is so attractive and why it is fatally flawed.
The drone was conducting a routine surveillance mission over an illegal EU settlement to the east of Jerusalem, documenting continued illegal building without coordination with Israel despite the fact that Area C, under the 1993 Oslo Accords - which the EU signed onto - is designated as being under full Israeli control.
From the buildings which clearly bear an EU flag symbol on their outside walls, a group of illegal Arab settler children hurled rocks at the drone and nearly downed it, before the field researcher operating the machine managed to dodge the rocks and climb to a safer altitude.
The shocking words of J Street's co-founder, Daniel Levy:Obama’s Favorite Israeli Novelist: Obama Criminally Naïve on Iran
Bottom line: if we're all wrong, and the collective Jewish presence in the Middle East can only survive by the sword, it cannot be accepted, it's not about what we do - sound familiar? They hate us for what we are, not what we do - if that's true, then Israel really ain't a very good idea.
This disturbing idea, proudly stated by J Street's leader, is exactly what President Obama was saying at the "Summit on Countering Violent Extremism." You just have to switch out a few words:
Bottom Line: if we're all wrong, and the Islamist ideology exists because its followers actually believe in its message and see it as authentic Islam, it's not about what we do - sound familiar? They hate us for what we are, not what we do - if that's true, then America really ain't a very good idea.
The self-centered nature of Liberals will be our undoing if not actively countered. This idea that everything is really the fault of Israel and the West can be comforting because it imbues Westerners with an inflated sense of self-importance making them think they have the power to enact change on their own, can only lead to our own destruction.
This is exactly why it is also so dangerous.
A prominent Israeli novelist and liberal peace activist describes President Barack Obama’s handling of the threat from Iran as “criminal naiveté” and says “[Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu is right” to warn against the deal Obama is attempting to strike with Iran.Iran nuclear commitments do not go far enough: France
The novelist, David Grossman, gave the remarks over the weekend in an interview with an Italian newspaper. Grossman has been a harsh critic of Netanyahu and supporter of Obama.
President Obama has cited Grossman many times in the past. He praised Grossman’s views on the peace process in a 2008 interview in the Atlantic, took a Grossman novel on vacation to Martha’s Vineyard in 2011, and quoted Grossman in a major 2013 speech in Israel.
Grossman said in his interview that Iran “is an expanding danger in the region which could soon pose a threat not just to Israel but to the entire free world. We need to listen to Netanyahu.” Grossman added, “Netanyahu is right when he says that according to the emerging deal there is nothing to prevent the Iranians from developing a nuclear bomb once the deal expires in another 10 years, and on this matter there is no difference in Israel between Left and Right.”
Commitments offered by Iran in talks with six world powers on its nuclear program do not go far enough and more work needs to be done, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Friday.Republican senators warn Iran: Nuclear deal may be revoked after Obama leaves office
Fabius said he had invited U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and the foreign ministers of Germany and Britain to Paris on Saturday to review the state of the Iran nuclear negotiations.
"We are in favor of a solid agreement ... for now there remain difficulties," he told reporters in Riga where he was taking part in a European Union foreign ministers' meeting.
"There has been progress but as far as the volume, checks and duration of the envisaged commitments are concerned, the situation is still insufficient, so there is more work to be done," he said.
A group of Republican senators has written a letter to the Iranian leadership warning that any nuclear deal Tehran signs with the current US administration will not necessarily be honored after President Barack Obama leaves office.Analysis: Fact-Check on Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif in NBC Interview
The letter, first reported by Bloomberg on Sunday, was initiated by Senator Tom Cotton and signed by 47 Republicans, including Ted Cruz ,Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell and Orin Hatch.
The letter is the latest effort by Congress to gain some control over an emerging deal with Iran, which many senators see as allowing the Islamic Republic to retain too much of its nuclear infrastructure, a view that was expressed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his speech to Congress last week.
“It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system … Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement,” the letter states.
The senators point out to the Iranian leadership that any international treaty not approved by Congress "is a mere executive agreement."
Iran’s chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, was interviewed on NBC this week. Below are some of the assertions he made, and the truth behind these claims.Israel and Saudi Arabia: Facing Iran and Obama Together
On Inspections:
“We were– said all along that our nuclear program is exclusively peaceful. And when we have experts sitting together they can ascertain that, rather easily… The IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations, has come out and said, ‘There is nothing that is going on behind– public attention in Iran.’”
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the expert United Nations agency tasked with overseeing Iran’s nuclear program. To date they have been unable to conclude that Iran’s ongoing and unfrozen nuclear program is peaceful.
As recently as February 2015, the inspectors reiterated: “the Agency is not in a position…to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.”
While Israel and Saudi Arabia share security interests, that has not led to bilateral ties, and Dr. Michal Yaari of the Open University, an expert in Saudi political and security affairs, explained to Arutz Sheva why the Saudis refuse to advance ties further.Dermer: Israelis and Arabs 'on Same Page' on Iran
"There are definitely people who oppose the relationship. For them the issues over Israel’s occupation and the Temple Mount are too much," said Yaari, referring to Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria and on the holiest site in Judaism.
As the custodian of Islam’s two holiest cities – Mecca and Medina – it apparently would seem out of character for Saudi Arabia to be lenient about Israeli control over Jerusalem, which Islam perceives as the third holiest city.
The only way that the Saudis could be more public about any of their connections with the Israelis apparently would not be through an alliance against Iran, but rather in the context of a regional agreement between Israel and her neighbors.
Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, discussed the Iranian nuclear issue on CNN's State of the Union Sunday, and explained that Iran is a threat not just to Israel, but to the entire region and the world.Report: Democrats Saw Netanyahu's Speech - And Edited It
"What is interesting,” he noted, “is that Israelis and Arabs are on exactly the same page when it comes to the Iranian issue. When Israelis and Arabs are on the same page, people should pay attention. Because that happens about once a century.”
Asked about the politics behind Netanyahu's speech, Dermer said that the invitation to address Congress was House Speaker John Boehner's idea. “It was Speaker Boehner who called me,” he explained, “and I assumed that he was going to inform the White House. He did, but he did so only a couple hours before [the invitation was announced].”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu showed unnamed Democrats a copy of his landmark Congress speech before he delivered it, according to a senior political journalist.The New Democrats: Pro-BDS, pro-Iranian nukes
Writing in Makor Rishon's weekend supplement, Amnon Lord – who was on the plane with Netanyahu on the way to Washington and back, together with other journalists – explained:
"The dramatic buildup on the day of the speech centered on certain information that Netanyahu would reveal in the speech. And he apparently intended to do this, at first. But on the night before the speech, Netanyahu was busy rewriting certain parts of the speech that dealt with the deal. During his speech, there was a feeling that something like this had happened, and on the way home I asked one of the members of the prime minister's team if there had been serious last-minute rewrites.
"He said that a version of the speech was handed over to the Democrats, and that they requested that the prime minister forego detailing a certain aspect of the deal, to avoid embarrassing them.”
The Obama-organized boycott of Netanyahu's talk is of a different scale entirely, and more than just symbolic. The vice president, secretary of state, and every other member of the Obama team found somewhere to be other than at Netanyahu's speech. They were joined by what we should now call the BDS Democrats, the 56 Democrats from the House and Senate who refused to attend Netanyahu's talk, and by their absence, they did something more significant than boycott a hummus brand. They boycotted the leader of an American ally, and boycotted Israel, and then lined up for the camera to hammer Netanyahu as soon as the talk was finished.Feinstein Doubts Netanyahu is an Ally of America
This despicable behavior should mark these members from here on. It is good to see that one Jewish Democratic congresswoman, Jan Schakowsky, received some immediate negative feedback after her boycott of Bibi's speech. Schakowsky has gotten a free pass for years as a supposed pro-Israel member, while effectively limiting her support for Israel to voting for foreign aid. That has become the lowest common denominator standard that is used by Jewish groups to call someone pro-Israel.
The Jews on campus who align with SJP and its allied anti-Semites and Israel-haters serve a useful function, allowing these groups to attempt to detoxify their otherwise noxious conduct by claiming, "Look, Jews are also members of SJP and other pro-boycott groups." Senators Al Franken, Brian Schatz, and Bernie Sanders, and House members Steve Cohen, Schakowsky and John Yarmuth, have done the same thing this week by their participation in the boycott, doing real damage not just to maintaining a bipartisan pro-Israel consensus in Congress, but in legitimizing and making it easier for other members to boycott Netanyahu and boycott Israel as well.
At this point, it seems as if for some members, earning points from the Congressional Black Caucus for standing with Obama and his outreach to and swooning for Iran, matters a lot more than standing with Israel.
For the second week in a row, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has used the Sunday news shows to slam Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Last week, Feinstein said that Netanyahu was "arrogant" to think he speaks for all Jews. Sunday, Feinstein appeared on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos and expressed doubt that the PM is truly an ally of the United States and said she now feels embarrassed and humiliated by his actions.Sen. Cruz Says Charges Against Sen. Menendez Are Political Retribution for Opposition to White House on Iran
Stumping for a nuclear agreement with Iran, Feinstein said it promised to be a real "sea change" for that nation and would essentially "protect from a breakout" in production. That is, if Netanyahu doesn't stand in the way.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) suggested Saturday that the Justice Department’s criminal corruption charges against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) are political retribution against the New Jersey Democrat for opposing the White House’s negotiations with Iran.Assemblyman Dov Hikind: Obama Worse than Jimmy Carter
Cruz made the allegations to a throng of reporters jammed into the corner of a tent outside the Iowa Ag Summit in Des Moines without even having been asked about the Menendez criminal charges.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-NY) was extremely impressed by his speech.Ron Paul Institute Accuses Netanyahu of ‘Playing the Holocaust Card’
“It can only be for political reasons that you just cannot admit what the Prime Minister said and did, the reaction that he got and the latest polls’ results is unbelievable . . . the Prime Minister accomplished unbelievable things.”
When asked how he saw this speech weighing on Israel’s relationship with the Democratic party, he could not see this becoming a long-term issue.
“The relationship between America and Israel is going to be just fine. There have been so many bumps in the road in the past. I remember very clearly when Prime Minister (Menachem) Begin decided to bomb the nuclear reactor in Iraq. I remember the editorials in all the papers. I remember Ronald Reagan, who was a great friend of Israel, publicly criticizing Israel.”
“If the Prime Ministers of Israel led Israel based on what the Presidents of the United States said, that would be disastrous for the people of Israel. The President of the US does what is in the best interest of the people of the US; the Prime Minister of Israel does what is in the best interest of the people of Israel,” said Hikind.
The Ron Paul Institute published a column on Friday arguing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “played the Holocaust card” in an effort to manipulate the U.S. government into starting a war with Iran.Missing Peace: Third Gaza War Averted Largest Terror Attack On Israel Ever
The column, written by Gareth Porter, also claimed that the Israeli Prime Minister’s recent address to congress greatly exaggerated the threat of a nuclear Iran and “served Netanyahu’s political interest in manipulating the policy of the US government and other other world powers.”
Last week, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs in Israel published an extensive investigation into operation Protective Edge- better known as the Third Gaza War- in the summer of 2014.Widow of Slain Border Policeman Gives Birth
Hirsch Goodman was one of the authors of the report; he confirmed that the war averted a major disaster for Israel.
Already during the war, Israeli media reported that Hamas had planned a mega-terror attack that was scheduled to be carried out on Rosh HaShanah (Jewish New Year).
Israeli security sources, citing information acquired in interrogations of captured Hamas fighters, described a scenario under which hundreds of heavily armed Hamas fighters would have spilled out into Israel in the dead of night and within 10 minutes have been in a position to infiltrate several sparsely populated and lightly guarded Israeli communities. Palestinian terrorists would have sought to “kill and kidnap as many Israelis as they could.”
Details of the plot, which were first published by the Hebrew-language Ma’ariv, described it as set to take place when Israelis would have been celebrating the Jewish New Year, on or around September 24, 2014. Observers noted that attack scenarios lined up with recently revealed data about the scope and nature of the offensive tunnel network.
The widow of Border Policeman Major Jedan Assad, who was murdered in a Jerusalem car terror attack four months ago, gave birth to a son Monday morning.Security Video Shows Terrorist Plowing into Policewomen
The son was born at a weight of 3.55 kilos (7.8 lbs) at the Ziv Medical Center in Tzfat.
In 1995, Major Assad enlisted to the army and joined the Herev minorities battalion. He served as an officer and took part in operations in Lebanon and Gaza.
He later served in the Liaison Unit to Lebanon and joined the Border Police about six months after his release. He served for 12 years in the Border Police in Jerusalem, in two different battalions, as a platoon commander and operations officer.
When he was murdered in the terror attack, his wife, Darin, was in the sixth month of her pregnancy with the baby, who is her second son from Jedan hy”d.
Security camera video aired on Channel 10 shows the moment in which an Arab terrorist plowed into a group of female Border Police in Jerusalem with his car on Friday:Viva la revolucion? Zionist Union uses Che in campaign materials
The hit-and-run terror attack occurred at about 10:00 a.m. Friday near the Border Patrol's base in the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood in Jerusalem.
A police statement clarified that the Arab terrorist attack was conducted in a private car that approached the base from Zaks Junction before going up on the sidewalk and running over five people, of whom four were from the security forces.
The suspect continued driving but was shot by forces stationed at the gate of the base, at which point he got out of the car with a knife apparently in his hand.
Zionist Union baffled many with its use an image of Marxist guerilla leader Che Guevara, best known for his part in the Cuban revolution, in its campaign this week.Shas’s Arab outreach coordinator stabbed in Arab village
The party set up a stand with Guevara's iconic image, which can be found on t-shirts and posters around the world, at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya Sunday, with the words "we are the revolution" under it. Guevara's face is cut out, so that passers-by could take picture with their own face there instead, and the party had a photographer on hand who made magnets for the students.
A Zionist Union spokesman said Monday that the stand will be brought to college campuses throughout the week.
Reshet Bet reporter Eran Cicurel asked Zionist Union activists at the stand what Guevara has to do with the party, and they gave answers like "the spirit of revolution" and "he symbolizes someone who came from the people and made a change"
A Shas party activist responsible for the party’s outreach to the Arab community was lightly wounded Sunday night from being stabbed four times after leaving an elections parlor meeting in the Galilee village of Ein Mahal.Police, Shin Bet, carry out searches in Umm al-Fahm for 'terror financing'
Police said the suspect in the attack is a resident of the Arab village, but that the motive for the attack is still under investigation.
The victim, Michael Illouz, is in his 50s, a resident of the Krayot area near Haifa.
“Father really fought with him,” Illouz’s son Yechiel told the NRG news site. “He tried to stab him in the chest again and again. He suffered cuts to his hands and is now receiving medical care at [Haifa’s] Rambam Hospital.”
Agents from the Shin Bet General Security Service and detectives from the LAHAV 433 branch of the Israel Police executed search warrants in the Israeli Arab city of Umm al-Fahm on Monday, as part of an ongoing investigation into organizations accused of “funding terror activities” police said.With eye to Israel's election, PA trying to prevent flare-up of tensions in West Bank
Police said the searches were carried out in the Umm al-Fahm area as a continuation of the investigation that in January resulted in the closure of three NGOs the Shin Bet said were funneling money in order to “inflame tensions on the Temple Mount”.
Police said a number of people were detained during the searches and that investigators seized computers, documents, and money.
On January 12th, the Shin Bet and Police closed the charities Ruad Al-Aksa, The Al-Jaffar Fund for Art and Literature, and the Nazareth-based Muslims for Al-Aksa.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is behind a security operation in the West Bank that is trying to prevent a serious terrorist attack against Israel and to prevent tensions from flaring up. Early Monday morning PA security forces arrested dozens of Hamas operatives who planned to carry out attacks in the coming week. An Israeli security source told The Jerusalem Post's Hebrew sister publication Maariv-Hashavua that great pressure is being exerted on Abbas's forces to calm the street after a very long period in which the same street was incited against Israel.Hamas says West Bank arrests prove security cooperation ongoing
The source emphasized that the incitement against Israel still exists, but along side it, one can clearly see the efforts being made to frustrate terror attacks. The source did not give a reason for the PA's anti-terror efforts but said the Israeli election set to take place in nine days cannot be ignored.
On the one hand, Abbas publicly declares that the election does not interest him, but on the other hand the assessment in the Israeli security apparatus is that the Palestinian leadership is hoping for a political change in Israel and that it will once again receive the tax revenue that Israel collects for the PA.
Referring to Israel's freezing of the Palestinian tax revenue, the source said if it were not an election period such a lengthy freeze would lead to active hostilities.
The IDF for its part is continuing to prepare for the day after the election and it has given itself until the end of March to be fully prepared for any engagements in the West Bank. Following its major drill in the West Bank last month, a senior IDF source said that most of the drilled exercises were completed successfully and the others were being dealt with.
The Palestinian Authority arrested dozens of Hamas operatives across the West Bank Sunday night and Monday morning, in a move the Islamic movement said ran counter to a PLO decision to halt security coordination with Israel.In Gaza, Abbas’s Fatah practices attacking IDF positions
According to Hamas daily Al-Resalah, Palestinian and Israeli forces apprehended more than 80 Hamas officials in the raid, including released prisoners, charity workers and students.
The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority has continued to carry out arrests against members of the Hamas group in the West Bank, despite a unity deal reached between the rival movements last June.
Fatah’s armed wing in Gaza carried out a military exercise Friday simulating the takeover and bombing of IDF positions, the Lebanese TV station al-Mayadeen reported Sunday.Boys Rap at Hamas Rally in Gaza: We Will Capture Soldiers, Fight Jews
The al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades ended their training course, named after deceased Fatah official Ziad Abu Ein, with a show of force including a military march over an Israeli flag and a shooting range with a poster of Israel Defense Forces Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee as the target.
During Operation Cast Lead, Fatah’s armed wing claimed responsibility for firing rockets at the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Sderot, alongside Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Abul Abed, the commander of al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in Gaza, told al-Mayadeen that his men were not only bettering their combat skills but also improving their rocket launch capabilities.
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