IDF Blog: The Palestinian Attacks that Terrorized Israel this Year
In the past 12 months the lives of thousands of Israelis have been threatened by Palestinian terror. Driving your car, taking the bus, or simply walking around- daily routine has become dangerous to Israelis. Here is a recap of all the main terrorist attacks against Israelis in the last year.PMW: Fatah: Israel is decapitating the Dome of the Rock
October 2014
October 22- A 20 year old Palestinian terrorist, Abed a-Rahman a-Shalud, drove his car into a Jerusalem light rail station, killing a three-month-old infant, Haya Zissel Braun, and a 22 year-old Ecuatorian, Karen Mosquera, and injuring seven others.
November 2014
November 10- A Palestinian stabbed an IDF soldier near the Haganah train station in Tel Aviv. The soldier, Almog Shilony, was evacuated to the hospital in critical condition. He succumbed to his wounds later that evening.
In a cartoon published on the website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, Israel is portrayed as an Islamic State executioner dressed in black with a Star of David on his hood and the text “Judaization” across his robe. The executioner is swinging an axe, about to decapitate a Palestinian whose head is the Dome of the Rock. The Palestinian is resting his head on a sleeping chopping block labelled “the international disregard.” [Website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, Sept. 19, 2015]Is the Iran Deal a Dud?
This cartoon is yet another example of how the Palestinian Authority and Fatah - both headed by Mahmoud Abbas - keep fanning the flames of recent months’ riots and unrest in Jerusalem. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA and Fatah support and promote the riots in Jerusalem.
PA Chairman Abbas himself promised that Allah will reward those who "will not allow" Jews' "filthy feet" to "defile" the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem.
The official PA daily has published cartoons promoting rock throwing and both PA and Fatah officials have endorsed continued conflict at the Temple Mount, encouraging Ribat - religious conflict/war to protect land claimed to be Islamic.
Earlier this month, Fatah spokesman in Jerusalem, Raafat Alayan, repeated the libel that Israel is acting “to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and build the alleged Temple”:
Two new studies have confirmed that this fear is justified. Iran will be able quickly to produce nuclear weapons fuel even under the terms of the JCPOA.
Iran can emerge in 15-20 years, or less, as a nuclear power with the potential, at a time of its choosing, "to make enough weapon-grade uranium for several nuclear weapons within a few weeks." – David Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
If sanctions failed to do the job, and if Iran engaged in future illegal nuclear activity -- no matter how serious -- would the U.S. use military force? When the U.S. and its allies discovered that North Korea had illegally built a nuclear weapon and massively cheated on the agreed framework, did anyone use military force to stop its effort? No.
The likelihood is far greater that the U.S. will look the other way in order not to admit that the deal it agreed to is a dud.
Iran has already repeatedly attacked the United States, from the murder of 241 Marines in Lebanon in 1983, to the attack on Khobar Towers; the murder of Americans over Lockerbie; the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya; the attack on the USS Cole; has been complicit in the attacks of September 11, 2001; is still holding four Americans hostages and, openly, is daily threatening America again.
Shmuley Boteach: The Deal is Done, But We Must Continue to Fight Iran’s Use of Terror and Death
Iran will engage in nuclear blackmail, forestalling any Western attempts to curb their expansion of support for terror proxies that kill Americans and American soldiers. The repeated saber-rattling of North Korea, and its murder of South Korean soldiers with no repercussions, will repeat itself in the Middle East.Iran on Israel: ‘We Are Going to Destroy Them’
It may be a done deal, but it’s worth noting that Weinberg and others’ knee-jerk reaction in favoring what the political establishment laid out, and her resorting to talking points to support this flawed deal, is the opposite of the Jewish values she represents. Iran hangs gay men from cranes in city squares. Iran stones women to death. Iran shoots peaceful protesters through the heart in front of the world. And Iran has lied for more than a decade about its nuclear program. So why have we now legitimized them through this deal?
And what if President Obama plans to go further – as many believe – and reopens the iconic U.S. Embassy in Tehran, appointing an ambassador, before the end of his term? Would Democratic lawmakers support bringing in a regime from the cold that savagely brutalizes its own people?
No person of conscience can be silent as Iran proudly proclaims and plans the annihilation of Israel and the exportation of terror around the globe.
Those who did not even publicly object to Iran’s repeated promise to exterminate six million Jews in Israel have degraded, however unwittingly, the victims of genocide the world over, who once had cause to believe that “Never Again” actually meant never again.
The deal may be done. But the fight against Iran’s brutality and genocidal ambitions continues.
The commander of Iran’s army said on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic would destroy Israel at all costs despite the recent nuclear deal aimed at reining in the country’s rogue behavior, according to comments by these officials.Ad featuring kids, mushroom cloud slams Democrat for backing Iran deal
Ataollah Salehi, commander of Iran’s army, said that no matter how many weapons are given to Israel, “we are going to destroy them,” according to comments reported in Iran’s state-controlled press and independently translated from Persian for the Washington Free Beacon.
The comments follow reports that Iran has unveiled new advanced military hardware and intends to violate international prohibitions on its construction of ballistic missiles, which could be used to carry a nuclear payload.
“Israel only barks, no matter how much weapons are given to [it], we are going to destroy them, we will promise this task will be done,” Salehi was quoted as saying by the Fars News Agency.
Salehi expressed pride in Iran’s support for terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah that seek the Jewish state’s destruction. The military leader also said that Iran has been directly responsible for attacks on Israel.
“We are glad that we are in the forefront of executing supreme leader’s order to destroy the Zionist regime,” he said. “They have been hit by those supported by us [Iran] even though they have not confronted us directly; if they confront us directly they will be destroyed.”
A conservative group is airing an ad showing kids counting down to a mushroom cloud to slam Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado over the Iran nuclear deal.MEMRI: Former Minister Belayat: Algeria Should Obtain Nuclear Weapons to Drive the Jews out of Palestine
The ad by the group Advancing Colorado shows children counting down from 10 in different languages, then a huge explosion and billowing cloud. Over charred and smoking rubble it claims that Bennet is “jeopardizing our safety” by backing the deal.
The ad offers a taste of how the GOP may seek to use the Iran issue politically after Senate Democrats including Bennet blocked Republican attempts to unravel the deal.
Bennet is up for re-election next year in a competitive state, though Republicans don’t yet have a candidate against him. He is the most vulnerable Senate Democrat this cycle, but in 2018 a number of potentially vulnerable Democrats will be defending their seats and Republicans will likely try to make them pay a price for supporting the agreement.
Former Algerian Minister of Urban Development and former head of the FLN party Abderrahmane Belayat stated that Algeria should obtain nuclear weapons. Speaking on September 20 at an event organized by Al-Hiwar newspaper under the title "Zionist Violation of Al-Aqsa," Belayat said that Algeria should place its nuclear weapons on a mountain and tell the Jews to leave Palestine.
'Sunnis, Shi'ites fight each other, but they agree Israel has no place in Mideast,' Netanyahu says
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said that Israel was facing two primary enemies - "extremist Shi'ite Islam led by Iran and its satellites, and the Sunni version which is currently led by Islamic State."Why Republican candidates support Israel
Speaking at a toast honoring the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Mossad spy agency, the prime minister said that "while Israel cannot solve all of the main problems in the Middle East, they are revealing themselves in full force."
Although Sunnis and Shi'ites are in conflict with one another, "there is one thing that they agree on, and that is that we don't have a place in this Muslim realm, as they see it," the premier said.
"Alliances change," Netanyahu said. "They rise and fall and rise again, and they send their troops in every which way - and we are amidst all of this."
"There's one certainty - nobody makes alliances with the weak," the prime minister said. "Our real defense during the state's existence and the 65 years of the Mossad's existence is the might of the State of Israel. It is this might that we are nurturing."
Dear Ann,Senior Israeli official: World needs to see through Abbas's 'charade'
Israelis have never asked American soldiers to defend them. They would not want that. They would, however, like Americans to support their right to defend themselves. Most Americans do. I assume you do, too.
I'm running out of space, so here's my last point for today: George Gilder, as I hope you'll agree, is one of contemporary America's most brilliant conservative minds (and, as you probably know, he doesn't happen to be Jewish). A few years back he wrote a book called "The Israel Test." His straightforward conclusion: Israel is "the most vulnerable source of Western power and intelligence."
More to the point, Israel is "not only the canary in the coal mine, it is also a crucial part of the mine." If Americans will not defend Israel, they will "prove unable to defend anything else. The Israel test is finally our own test of survival as a free nation."
I think most of the candidates on the stage last week understand how Gilder reached that conclusion. You clearly don't, but you're smart enough to follow Gilder's reasoning. Unless this is not about reason. Unless this is about something else. In which case, no words or argumentation will convince you.
The international community should end the “charade” whereby Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas refuses to negotiate with Israel, deliberately creates a crisis, adds to the crisis through inflammatory rhetoric and then pleads to the world to “save us,” a senior government official said on Wednesday night.Controversy surrounds IDF shooting death of Palestinian woman in Hebron
The official, who said the world should finally hold Abbas “accountable” for his behavior, was responding to the PA leader’s comments in Paris on Tuesday alongside French President François Hollande warning of a third intifada resulting from violence in Jerusalem, and calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end Israel’s actions in the Old City, stop settlement activity, and return to negotiations.
“We spoke about what’s happening at Al-Aksa,” Abbas told a news conference after meeting with Hollande. “It’s extremely dangerous. We don’t want it to continue, and [if it did] the alternative would be chaos or an intifada that we don’t want.”
Hollande urged calm in Jerusalem and said the post- 1967 status quo on the Temple Mount should not be put into question.
The senior government official in Jerusalem said that while it is incumbent upon all responsible leaders to do what they can to encourage calm, Abbas is doing the exact opposite.
The IDF Spokesman’s Office said shots were fired by soldiers to remove the threat posed by a woman advancing towards them with a knife.Hevron Stabber Told Friends 'She Was Planning Attack'
The unit “acted in accordance with expectations, and that the whole incident will be investigated,” it said.
A senior army source said Hashlamun set off a metal detector at Hasam Shoter (the policeman’s checkpoint) in Hebron, which separates the Israeli and Palestinian sections of the city.
She ignored requests by the soldiers to stop, and stood in a suspicious manner before advancing toward the soldiers, the source said.
“Soldiers shouted for her to stop, and fired at the ground. She, nevertheless, continued to walk toward them, and pulled out a large knife. The soldiers fired at her legs, but she did not stop. At this stage, she was hit in the lower body,” the source said.
Minutes after the incident, the IDF recovered the knife from Hashlamun, and published a photograph of the knife on the ground.
The Palestinian woman shot on Tuesday morning at an Israeli army checkpoint had been planning to conduct a terror attack for months, despite Palestinian reports she was an innocent bystander.Jordan's King Abdullah won't speak with Netanyahu, Arab media report
Palestinian eyewitnesses at the Hashoter checkpoint in Hevron claim Hadeel al-Hashlamon, 18, was shot for no reason, though the IDF maintains she was gunned down only after trying to stab a soldier.
An investigation into the incident, Channel 2 reports Thursday, reveals that al-Hashlamon was known to the Israel Security Agency and had long expressed a desire to commit a terrorist act.
In recent months, al-Hashlamon told friends on numerous occasions she wanted "do something" and carry out an attack. The day before the incident in Hevron, she asked to separate from her husband and told him they would not see each other again.
Photographs disseminated by the Palestinian activist group "Youth Against Settlements," however, seems to portray al-Hashlamon as standing far away from IDF forces with no knife in hand, while the soldiers' weapons are drawn.
Israeli authorities are investigating the suspicion that al-Hashlamon may have coordinated the attack, and its documentation, in advance, having arrived on scene at the same time as the Palestinian photographer.
Relations between Jordan and Israel have soured to the point where King Abdullah is refusing to communicate directly with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Channel 2 reported on Thursday, citing Arab and Jordanian media sources.Temple Mount closed to Jewish visitors, tourists for Muslim holiday
The Kuwaiti daily A-Jarida is reporting on Thursday that King Abdullah refused Netanyahu's request to hold a secret meeting in the Red Sea resort town of Aqaba, just over the border near Eilat.
According to the reports, the Hashemite monarchy is furious with the Israeli government over recent statements accusing Amman of playing a destabilizing role and turning a blind eye to Palestinian provocations on Temple Mount.
The reports indicate that not only has the Jordanian government refused to accept any back-channel messages from the Prime Minister's Office, but it is also considering a recall of its ambassador to Tel Aviv as a means to express its displeasure with Jerusalem's policies as they relate to the Islamic holy sites.
The Jordanian government "has changed its diplomatic tactics" in response to Israel's latest measures relating to Temple Mount, local press reports say.
The Temple Mount will be closed to Jewish visitors and tourists on Thursday due to the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, the Festival of the Sacrifice, Israel Police said Wednesday night.Arab MKs Threaten Israel with 'Intifada' on Sukkot
The Muslim holiday coincided with Yom Kippur for the second time in two years, and Israel tightened security in Jerusalem and the West Bank to be on alert for possible unrest.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon also issued orders to ease restrictions on access to West Bank Palestinian worshipers to the holy site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, which houses the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque. It is the third-holiest site in Islam and the holiest in Judaism.
Married Palestinian men from the West Bank over 45 years of age, and women 30 years old and over, will be allowed to pray at the site, according to Ya’alon’s instructions, which were described as overtures.
Islamic Movement officials have threatened Israel with a third intifada to begin on Sukkot, against the backdrop of so-called Israeli "attacks" at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.IDF troops arrest Palestinian carrying explosives in Jordan Valley
In an interview with a Turkish news agency, translated by The Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI), the Islamic Movement's Northern Branch chairman Sheikh Raed Salah warned that "if Israel's violations continue, a third Palestinian intifada will break out in the West Bank and Jerusalem."
Salah, who was convicted in 2003 for funding Hamas, then called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to pressure Israel with international lawsuits, and also demanded that Jordan be more forceful in its condemnation of the Jewish state.
The Islamic Movement's Jerusalem advisor, Ali Abu Sheika, also joined the act, warning of "a genuine intifada against the occupation in late September on Sukkot" as a result of the "critical and dangerous situation on Al-Aqsa."
Several Joint List MKs, who have been quite vocal in their attacks on Israel's attempts to defend itself against the Islamist extremists violently rioting on the Mount, issued threats as well.
Israel Defense Forces troops manning a post in the Jordan Valley arrested a Palestinian man who approached their position carrying an explosive device, the military said Wednesday.Security cabinet to vote on tougher legislation against stone-throwers
The incident occurred hours after the Yom Kippur holiday ended. The suspect was taken in for interrogation, the army said.
Earlier, two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the West Bank settlement of Psagot, near Ramallah. Palestinians were suspected of throwing the firebombs at the fence of the Jewish settlement, Israel Radio reported. The explosives didn’t catch fire and no injuries were reported.
Rocks were also thrown at the light rail by residents of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat. Damage was caused to the train, but no injuries were reported. Police were searching for suspects.
Several fires were also reported in Jerusalem during Yom Kippur, which ended Wednesday at sundown. According to Ynet, several of the incidents were suspected of being arson.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Thursday to vote on proposed legislation introducing mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of throwing rocks and firebombs, and easing the rules governing police use of live fire in rock-throwing incidents in Jerusalem.Radical Arab MK to Meet Top Terrorist in Prison
The cabinet will also vote on introducing fines to parents of minors caught throwing rocks or firebombs and possibly revoking their social security benefits should they refuse to pay.
The cabinet vote comes despite opposition by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein who, at a meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday, suggested instituting minimum sentences for such offenses through a one-year trial period. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is said to be looking for a three-year provision.
MK Basel Ghattas, considered too radical even for his Joint List party, is at it again, with plans to meet arch-terrorist Marwan Bhargouti, who he argues is a “symbol of Palestinian struggle.”Sinai: Egypt Claims it Killed 500 Terrorists in 16 Days
Barghouti, 56, was sentenced to five life sentences in 2002 after being convicted of multiple murder and attempted murder charges for attacks carried out by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades on Israeli civilians and soldiers during the Second Intifada.
In an interview, Ghattas asserted it was “a great honor” for him to meet with Barghouti, saying: “The Palestinian prisoners are the conscience of the struggle of Palestine for freedom and independence and for an end to the occupation."
“Without true Palestinian leadership during these difficult days when there does not seem to be any possibility of a peace agreement – and in light of Israel's attempt to change the status-quo on the Temple Mount and expand its occupation of Jerusalem, I felt it was necessary to meet with this man, a son of the Palestinian people,” said Ghattas.
Last June, Ghattas's fellow Arab Joint List MKs expressed anger over his participation in a flotilla that attempted to sail to Gaza in June.
The Egyptian military claimed Wednesday to have killed more than 500 jihadi terrorists over the previous 16 days, as it gears up for the second phase of an intensive counter-terrorism operation in the restive eastern Sinai Peninsula.Saudi Arabia: More than 717 pilgrims die in stampede in worst haj disaster in 25 years
Scores more terror suspects were also arrested during the operations.
According to the state-controlled Al Ahram, the first 16-day phase of "Operation Martyr's Right" achieved all of its primary objectives, including "destroying terrorist hideouts and artillery storage facilities."
"This operation reflected the cohesion between the army, police and the people of Sinai – as well as the unprecedented welcoming [of the people of Sinai] of joint cooperation to control the security situation and to regain their rights of security and stability," the army said in a statement.
The operation also extended to parts of western Egypt where armed Islamist groups have gained a foothold.
On Monday, soldiers killed 10 terrorists in the Bahariya Oasis. Authorities say they were planning attacks against tourists and other "foreign interests" during the festival of Eid al-Adha, which began Wednesday.
The second stage of the operation will be aimed at restoring order and the rule of Egypt's central government to Sinai, which has been almost entirely ungoverned since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
At least 717 pilgrims were killed on Thursday in a stampede outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi authorities said, the worst disaster to strike the annual haj pilgrimage in 25 years.PreOccupiedTerritory: Mossad Unconcerned People Might Catch On To Hajj-Stampede Device (satire)
At least 805 others were injured in the crush at Mina, a few kilometers east of Mecca, caused by two large groups of pilgrims arriving together at a crossroads on their way to performing the "stoning the devil" ritual at Jamarat, Saudi civil defense said.
Thursday's disaster was the worst to befall the pilgrimage since July 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims were crushed to death in a tunnel near Mecca. Both stampedes occurred on Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), Islam's most important feast and the day of the stoning ritual.
Photographs published on the Twitter feed of the Saudi civil defense on Thursday showed pilgrims lying on stretchers while emergency workers in high-visibility jackets lifted them into an ambulance.
Israeli intelligence operatives expressed confidence today that even after repeated incidents involving hundreds of fatalities in stampedes surrounding the annual Hajj pilgrimage, no suspicions have raised regarding the Israeli machine that causes the disasters.
A stampede today near Mecca claimed at least 717 lives as two large groups of pilgrims converged on a bridge in the adjacent village of Mina. Hundreds more were injured, and witnesses said emergency workers had troubled reaching the site in large numbers because of blocked roads, the Associated Press reported. However, neither official Saudi media nor local observers appear to have caught on that the Mossad is behind the stampede, as part of a broader campaign to sow disaster and instability in the region, and then exploit the chaos to maintain its usurpation of Arab land and resources.
Mossad Colonel Gulli Bul said his organization was “extremely satisfied” that so far, none of the several stampedes at the Hajj in recent decades has been traced back to the agency. “The technology behind the device, which obviously I am not at liberty to discuss, is one coup,” he explained, “but that pales in comparison to the success we have enjoyed in our efforts to conceal the origins of these incidents, which, given the media hype in the Muslim world surrounding the Hajj, is no small feat.”
The few experts willing to discuss such a device spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for their safety. “Any organization capable of developing and deploying a stampede-machine undetected can certainly make my death appear an unambiguous suicide or accident,” said one.