Wednesday, October 07, 2015
Khaled Abu Toameh: Abbas Calls for Murder, Palestinians Attack
The terrorists did not need permission from Hamas leaders to murder the first Jews they ran into. The inflammatory rhetoric of Abbas and Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and media outlets was sufficient to drive any Palestinian to go out and murder Jews.A Method Behind Palestinian Madness
Instead of condemning the murder of the Jews, the PA denounced Israel for killing the two Palestinians who carried out the Jerusalem attacks.
The Palestinian Authority and its leaders are in no position today to condemn the murder of any Jews, simply because the PA itself has been encouraging such terrorist attacks through its ceaseless campaign of incitement against Israel.
The PA is playing a double game: it tells the world that it wants peace and coexistence with Israel; meanwhile it incites Palestinians against Israel, driving some to set out with guns and knives to murder Jews.
Although Abbas has repeatedly stated during the past few years that he does not want another intifada against Israel, his statements and actions show that he is doing his utmost to spark another wave of violence, in order to invite international pressure on Israel.
This slow buildup to a third intifada is about anti-Jewish hate not complaints over settlements or borders. It also shows that any further Obama administration pressure on Israel to further empower Abbas — whose own Fatah Party was behind the shooting of the Henkins — would also be madness. Just as Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 enabled Hamas to create a terror base there, so, too, would any retreats from the West Bank make possible the establishment of more safe havens for terrorists. Though neither side wants the status quo, such an alternative is unthinkable.NY Post Ed: Israel-bashing just came back to haunt the State Deptartment
The Obama administration continues to push for more “daylight” between its stance and that of Israel and snubs Netanyahu while refusing to condemn Abbas or to respond to the killings of Jews with anything more than mealy-mouthed statements urging both sides to show restraint. But that’s exactly what Abbas is counting on as he subtly orchestrates a wave of bloody terrorism. Abbas also knows that international indifference to the murder of Jews fueled by anti-Semitism continues to work in his favor to create more pressure on Israel rather than on the Palestinians. The only way to halt the bloodshed is an unambiguous American stance in favor of Israel’s right to take tough action to suppress terrorism and a clear statement to Abbas to either accept Netanyahu’s offer of talks without preconditions or to forget about further U.S. backing.
Unfortunately, Abbas knows that Obama is more interested in his feud with Netanyahu and appeasement of Iran than in standing with democratic Israel against terrorist murderers. That means the blame for the rising toll of bloodshed from Palestinian terrorism in the coming week will belong as much to an indifferent Obama as it does to Abbas.
The administration has called the attack a tragic mistake. But Lee recalled Israel’s August 2014 shelling of a UN school in Gaza — which State immediately labeled “disgraceful,” adding: “The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians.”
Lee asked: Does that policy still hold?
Toner was at a complete loss. He haltingly apologized for the loss of life, stressed that the United States avoids civilian casualties, said any further comment would be “too much speculation” and begged Lee to “give me a pass [while] we wait for the investigation to run its course.”
That’s a pretty reasonable position, actually. But it flies in the face of last year’s instantaneous criticism of Israel — made long before any investigation had even begun.
Enemies like the Taliban, Hamas and Hezbollah quite intentionally hide among civilians, using them as human shields.
Innocents die in all wars — but the fog of war is rarely more dense than when the other side is deliberately trying to make you kill civilians.
Israel’s known that for a long time — and now the Obama administration is painfully coming to learn it, too.
Should Aid to the Palestinians End?
When it comes to the Middle East, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry embrace an old conventional wisdom proven false by the events of the last five years. They believed, for example, that the road to peace ran almost exclusively through Jerusalem. The events of the Arab Spring, however, showed that the Arab-Israeli conflict was largely peripheral to the forces — sectarianism, religious radicalism, and illegitimacy of leadership — that was really destabilizing region. Never mind that Syria, Yemen, Libya, and at times Egypt were alight: Obama and Kerry continue to believe that the chief impediment to peace in the Middle East was Israeli neighborhoods and constructions in disputed areas of Jerusalem and the West Bank. By making a total freeze — including on natural growth — a sine qua non before there could be any new negotiation, Obama essentially gave Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas an excuse to walk away from serious talks.JCPA: Abbas’ UN Speech and the Unrest in Jerusalem
Now, it appears that Abbas is willing to precipitate a Third Intifada. While he will not be able to defeat Israel militarily — despite any aid and assistance the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip might receive from Iran — he hopes that he will be able to win the peace, as the international community will inevitably pressure Israel to make concessions under fire. With Obama and Kerry allowing their personal disdain for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and perhaps Obama’s seeming broader disdain for Israel to color their actions, Abbas may be correct to believe that the White House will not protect Israel from the mob it faces at the United Nations.
Abbas may be gambling, but he won’t be the only one to lose. So, too, will the Palestinians more broadly. Abbas seems willing to gamble the relative security and economic development in the West Bank upon the idea that the international community can somehow convince Israel to commit suicide as an entity. After all, if the question was just the creation of a Palestinian state, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert have put offers on the table. Netanyahu is not walking away from those offers; only demanding affirmation of the Palestinian recognition of Israel’s right to exist. Negotiations over land swaps are relatively cut-and-dry. Perhaps the “right to return” to territory not within the Palestinian state remains an obstacle, but a resolution to that will not be had by affirming Palestinian enmity toward Israel.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is attempting to make political gains by outflanking his opponents and problems on the domestic front, while threatening a descent into political chaos – that is, an intifada-type confrontation.The Palestinian Endgame?
On September 30, 2015, Abbas gave a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in which he outlined the unilateral steps he intends to take to achieve Palestinian sovereignty in the territories and east Jerusalem without reaching a peace agreement with Israel.
Abbas denied the Jewish people’s historical and religious bond with the Land of Israel and Jews’ right to worship on the Temple Mount.
Abbas revealed his consistent support for terror. Thousands of Palestinian prisoners are serving time in Israel after being convicted of murdering Jews, attempted murder or abetting the murder of Jews. Abbas demanded that Israel free all the Palestinian terrorists.
The Palestinian Authority glorifies the deeds of the Palestinian terrorist “prisoners,” portrays them as “national heroes,” and grants them financial and social assistance for life.
Whether Abbas can survive these conflicts, let alone bequeath a durable political legacy, is highly debatable. All of this indicates that Abbas’ successor is likely to be either a terrorist or a supporter of terrorism. This does not bode well for the future.Palestinian attacker stabs soldier, is shot dead by police
Then there are external predators, such as Iran and the various Islamist factions battling in Syria and Iraq. ISIS and Al Qaeda are already present in Gaza and the West Bank, and there is little confidence that the PA’s security apparatus can withstand their provocations over the long-term. Indeed, Barnea notes that 14 percent of Gazans now support ISIS.
Meanwhile, the Iranians, for whom Abbas has long been an irrelevance, have loudly proclaimed that they are the genuine leaders of the Palestinian liberation struggle, which they regard as synonymous with the general Islamist struggle for the elimination of Israel. As a result, Tehran has boosted support for both Hamas and Hezbollah in the wake of the nuclear deal. A renewed war on Israel’s northern or southern fronts—or both—would again leave Abbas a bystander, and could lead to his final disappearance from Palestinian politics.
It is often said that Palestinian political strategy is habitually self-defeating. But Abbas’ sullen rejection of cooperation with Israel could result in irrevocable damage. The surest path to a Palestinian state is through negotiations with Israel. By deliberately weakening the PA in a short-sighted maneuver, Abbas is opening the gates for the conquest of Palestinian politics by foreign forces that believe in such high ideals as the subjugation of minorities and the pursuit of jihad as a foreign policy. A Palestinian state living peacefully alongside the State of Israel, however, is not among them.
A Palestinian man stabbed an IDF soldier and grabbed his gun in the southern city of Kiryat Gat on Wednesday, before he was shot and killed by police.Palestinian woman stabs Israeli man in Jerusalem, is shot
The soldier was lightly injured in the attack, with wounds to his head, apparently inflicted with a pair of scissors.
Another person was injured as well.
Magen David Adom paramedics provided first aid at the scene, the rescue service reported.
After grabbing the soldier’s weapon, the attacker fled to a nearby apartment building, where he was cornered by police.
He was shot after he opened fire at the officers, police said.
The attacker was identified in media sources as Amjad Hatem al-Jundi, from the West Bank town of Yatta in the southern West Bank, and in Israel illegally. His age was listed by Israeli news site Ynet as 19 years old and by the Palestinian Ma’an news agency as 24.
A teenage Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli man near the Lions’ Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem on Wednesday morning and was then shot at the scene.Israeli woman injured in West Bank rock-throwing attack
She was shot by her victim, who was stabbed in the back, police said.
The man was initially treated near the scene of the attack, the Magen David Adom emergency medical service said in a statement.
The stabber, 18, was in critical condition, while the Israeli man was moderately wounded.
An Israeli woman was injured on Wednesday morning when Palestinians threw rocks at vehicles in the West Bank and allegedly tried to pull her out of her car.Israelis shoot at mob assailing Jewish woman, injure Palestinian
Seven Israeli vehicles were damaged by rock-throwing Palestinians near Beit Sahour, on the road from Jerusalem to the West Bank settlement of Tekoa.
Witnesses said that a mob opened the door of the woman’s car when it came to stop and tried to pull her out. She was kicked multiple times, and was lightly wounded. The car’s front windshield was smashed.
The woman, 38, was treated by Magen David Adom paramedics near the scene of the attack and then evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem for further medical attention, MDA said.
Israelis shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian teen during a rock-throwing incident in the West Bank early on Wednesday, witnesses said.Six cops injured in clash with Islamist protesters in Jaffa
The shooting took place near Beit Sahour, on the road between Jerusalem and the settlement of Tekoa, as Palestinians threw rocks at an Israeli woman’s car and surrounded the vehicle.
“A group of Israeli citizens nearby saw the incident and fired at the attackers,” an IDF spokesman confirmed to The Times of Israel.
The 18-year-old Palestinian was in intensive care but in stable condition after the shooting, a Red Crescent medic told AFP.
Six police officers were lightly wounded when a demonstration against the recent measures taken by Israel at the Temple Mount turned into a violent riot in the Jewish-Arab city of Jaffa. Two were taken to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital for treatment.Jerusalem Mayor – Armed and Dangerous
In the city’s main square, local Arab residents waved Palestinian flags and chanted, “In spirit and in blood, we will redeem al-Aqsa mosque.”
Israeli media reports said the protesters were members of the hardline northern branch of Israel’s Islamic Movement.
When police arrived at the scene to disperse the demonstration, which was held without a permit, some masked protesters began hurling rocks at the officers. The protesters also blocked roads with dumpsters and tires. Six people were arrested.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat caused a minor storm yesterday when he was spotted in the Beit Hanina neighborhood, next to Shuafat, armed with what appeared to Israel’s Channel 1 as a mini-assault rifle, which the reporter misidentified as a variation of the Galil. The Arabs have been violently rioting in Beit Hanina and Shuafat.PMW: Palestinian baby named after terrorist who stabbed four in Jerusalem
Channel 1 was very concerned that the mayor was walking around Jerusalem without a proper license for the weapon. It’s still difficult for the average Jerusalem resident (and Israeli) to get a gun license.
In fact, Barkat, who earlier this year caught a terrorist mid-attack in Jerusalem has a proper license for a .40 caliber Glock pistol (personally, I recommend the CZ P-07, but to each their own). He was using it with a RONI carbine conversion kit, which allows quick conversion of a handgun into a carbine rifle (it’s very cool). The conversion kit increases shooter accuracy.
The mayor’s office released a photo of the gun in the RONI, and the mayor’s gun license.
A Palestinian baby was named after terrorist Muhannad Halabi just hours after he stabbed the two Israelis Nehemiah Lavi and Aaron Bennett to death in Jerusalem three days ago.Abbas: Israel to blame for violence, not Palestinians
WAFA, the official Palestinian Authority news agency and the official PA daily both reported on the joyous naming. Both sources described the killer who murdered the two Israelis and also stabbed a mother and her baby as a "hero of our people," who was "murdered by the occupation army."
Muhannad Halabi killed 2 Israelis, Rabbi Nehemiah Lavi and Aharon Bennett, and injured Bennett's wife, Adele, and their 2-year-old son in a stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem on Oct. 3, 2015. Following the attack, he was shot and killed by Israeli security forces. Palestinian Media Watch reported that prior to his attack, in a post to his private Facebook page, the terrorist referred to recent terror attacks as part of a "third Intifada," and said that it was a response to Israel's actions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and that the Palestinian people would not "succumb to humiliation." This was a reference to the PA libel that Israel is plotting to take over and destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to the PA's portrayal of Jews praying on the Temple Mount as "an invasion of the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Israel of causing the recent escalation in violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank while insisting that he is acting to calm tensions.Woman Fired Over Facebook Photo of Jerusalem Stabber
“I am in favor of a nonviolent popular campaign, but I am against violence and using weapons,” Abbas said in an interview published Wednesday in the Hebrew daily Haaretz. “I have made that clear several times — we don’t want to return to the cycle of violence.”
Abbas, who spoke to the newspaper from his headquarters in Ramallah, blamed alleged changes in arrangements enabling visits by Jews to the flashpoint Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem — changes repeatedly denied by Israel — for straining tensions and fueling the violence.
“We didn’t strive for violence and we didn’t act to escalate [the situation], but the aggression against the al-Aqsa mosque and the worshipers lead things there,” he said. “We are trying to act all the time so that it won’t become worse.”
A female customer service representative at the Pelephone cellular phone company was dismissed by the company after posting on her Facebook page a photo of the terrorist who stabbed a Jewish teen in Jerusalem early Sunday morning, along with the words "shahid" (martyr) and, "my love".PreOccupied Territory: Fatwa: Rocks Used To Attack Jews Also Granted Paradise (satire)
According to a report in the Globes financial newspaper, Pelephone received numerous complaints from customers who said that the employee’s Facebook post was offensive. Following the complaints, a company representative asked the employee to remove the photos but she refused, and was ultimately fired.
It should be noted that the employee claimed that she personally knew the terrorist and claimed that the Facebook post was intended only to express her condolences for the death of an acquaintance, not to express sympathy and support for the stabbing attack.
A leading Muslim cleric has declared that attacks on Jews involving rocks or other projectiles also guarantee a place in Heaven for the projectiles, not only the perpetrators, sources reported this morning (Wednesday).UN chief condemns recent killings of Palestinians, without mention of Israeli terror victims
Imam Awil Qillemal of the Al-Aqsa Mosque called on fellow Palestinians to use any hard object to hurl at Jews, saying that no item is too lowly to be admitted to the Afterlife if it has been used in the sacred task of trying to kill the Jewish infidel. His exhortations come against the backdrop of heightened tensions in Jerusalem and surrounding areas, where Palestinians have been protesting the presence of Jews on the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site and the location of Al Aqsa. The protests have included firebombs, rocks, cinder blocks. stabbings attacks, shootings, fireworks aimed at police, and, this morning, an attempted lynch of an Israeli motorist south of the city.
Qillemal said he was moved to make the pronouncement amid concerns that the movement to banish Jews from their holy places and shed Jewish blood might be tainted by unfairness. “It must be made clear that all entities are equally obligated, eligible, and rewarded for participating in the holy work of shielding Al Aqsa – and the rest of the Earth – from the filthy feet of the Jews,” said the Imam, using phraseology that echoed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s address to his people two weeks ago. He clarified after his sermon that the pleasures of Paradise will belong to any type of object used in an attempt to kill Jews, whether Molotov cocktail bottles, butcher knives, motor vehicles, firearms, or construction materials.
Ban said he did not believe that the demolition of homes belonging to Palestinian terrorists or the construction of new Israeli settlements "will do anything other than inflame tensions still further."Nasrallah: Netanyahu confused, the West Bank is on the brink of an intifada
Ban acknowledged the death of four Palestinians, referring to a 13-year-old boy whom the IDF said was accidentally killed by misfire and three terrorists who were killed by security forces following attacks that killed four Israelis.
While he said the "escalation of violent incidents underscores the need for urgent action by both sides," Ban placed responsibility on Israel to investigate incidents of violence.
"The Secretary-General condemns the killings and looks to the Government of Israel to conduct a prompt and transparent investigation into the incidents, including whether the use of force was proportional," the UN statement said.
However, Ban's statement made no specific mention of the four Israeli causalities in terrorist shootings and stabbing over the past week, nor did he mention steps the Palestinian Authority government should take.
He also pointed toward the reported hundreds of Palestinians injured in clashes with Israeli security forces, and called these events "yet another worrisome sign of violence potentially spiraling out of control."
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah attacked both Saudi Arabia and Israel in comments he made on Tuesday, warning that a third intifada was brewing in the West Bank.JPost Ediorial: BBC bias
Nasrallah blamed Saudi Arabia for "the killings in our region," and hinted at their involvement in the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper reported.
Nasrallah accused the Saudis of funding terror activities in the region, and referred to the Gulf state's official Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam as an "existential threat," serving, along with Israel, the interests of the United States in the region.
Saudi Arabia enables Islamic State and al-Qaida to act in Yemen, Nasrallah claimed, neglecting the real danger that these terror organizations pose to the region.
He also blamed Riyadh for the hajj stampede that killed over 700 pilgrims in late September.
He stressed that Saudi Arabia must not be blinded, and should remember that "Israel remains their real enemy."
"We must be weary of Israel and always be ready," Nasrallah said. "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in a state of confusion, while the West Bank is on the brink of a third intifada."
When the media overseas at all bothered to note who the victims were, they were mostly described as “settlers.”Backwards Headlines and Dehumanizing Israelis: BBC and Co. Run Rampant
Presumably that categorized them as somehow culpable.
A broad-spectrum sense of something undesirable adheres to “settlers” that makes shedding their blood semi-understandable, even if this is only tacitly hinted at.
This tactic is used regardless where victims reside. It’s an all-purpose castigation. It was even applied last year to the four elderly congregants axed to death during morning services in a west Jerusalem synagogue, well within Israel proper. It’s a non-specific unspoken insinuation of illegitimacy against all Jews in Israel.
Just as the identities of the four were never dwelled upon, so Adele’s story wasn’t told. But callous dehumanization is only the beginning. It gets lots worse when reports are skewed to the extent that a casual glance at the headline suggests Israeli wrongdoing.
Likewise suggested is that the attacker is the victim and that there is no connection between him and his actual victims. Such outrageous word-manipulations cannot be dismissed as unintentional.
International news outlets are often accused of displaying an anti-Israel bias, highlighting Palestinian claims and narratives while playing down or ignoring the Israeli viewpoint altogether.In Article on Disputed Burial, NY Times Buries Palestinian Violence
Selective headlines, misleading and selective use of terminologies and blind trust of Palestinian (or pro-Palestinian) sources - fact-checking be damned - are just some of the more obvious examples of this phenomenon.
Former Associated Press journalist Matti Friedman famously went a step further earlier this year, blowing the whistle on the ingrained anti-Israel bias within his own former company, and shedding light on how international journalists have long since eschewed objective reporting in favor of hostile propaganda where Israel is concerned.
The latest case in point is the saga over the BBC's outrageous initial headline announcing a brutal attack by an Islamist terrorist in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday night.
A 19-year-old Islamic Jihad terrorist went on a deadly stabbing and shooting spree, murdering two innocent civilians and injuring several others - including a two-year-old boy and his mother, the latter of whom was then beaten and mocked by Arab passersby - before the terrorist was shot dead by Israeli police.
In a now-notorious choice of headline, the BBC incredibly cast the murderer as victim, declaring: "Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two."
In the article today ("Dispute Over a Burial Reveals Palestinian Divisions") about internal Palestinian disagreement about the location of Fadi Alon's upcoming burial, The New York Times once again buries Palestinian violence.The New York Times Veers From Its Downplay of Palestinian Terrorism, But Only On the Web
In the second paragraph, reporters Diaa Hadid and Rami Nazzal identify Fadi Alon as "21, shot dead the day before by the Israeli police."
It is only in the fourteenth paragraph that Hadid, a former writer for Electronic Intifada, and Nazzal give readers a clue about why Israeli police shot Alon. They write:
Mr. Alon was fatally shot by police officers early Sunday after he stabbed and wounded a 15-year-old Jewish boy on a road outside the Old City, according to the police. A video clip showed Mr. Alon being shot, apparently as he was trying to flee, with Israeli civilians in pursuit and shouting "Shoot him!"
Thus, when Hadid and Nazzal finally do belatedly acknowledge Alon's violent attack, they cast it as an Israeli police claim. Alon stabbed his unnamed Israeli victim, "according to the police," but Alon was simply "shot dead," without any qualification. (For the record, the name of Alon's 15-year-old victim is Moshe Malka. His name does not appear once in any Times coverage.)
Given The New York Times' tendency to conceal or downplay Palestinian terrorism, as well as its Israeli victims, it was surprising to find a revealing first-hand account of a recent Palestinian terror attack, as described by one of the victims. In the article by Isabel Kershner, entitled “Survivor of Jerusalem Stabbing Recounts Attack on Her Family,” Odel (Adele) Benita-Bennett recounts her traumatic ordeal as her husband lay dying after being stabbed repeatedly in an alley of Jerusalem's Old City while she ran down an alley “with a knife stuck in the base of her neck, desperately seeking help.” Bennett is quoted describing the “cruel and mocking” reactions of passersby:Exclusive: First-Hand Account How The Guardian Twisted the Story
“I screamed, I begged for aid,” Mrs. Bennett, 22, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish mother of two, said in an interview on Tuesday from her hospital bed, where she was recovering from multiple stab wounds.
“They stood chatting and laughing — they spat at me,” she said of the Palestinians in the alley. One man continued drinking cola out of a can, she said; others shook her off when she tried to hold onto them to lift herself off the ground. “I was looking for one glimmer of mercy in their eyes,” she said in a weak voice.It is remarkably unusual for such detailed coverage of a Palestinian terrorist attack or the perspective of an Israeli victim to appear in The New York Times. It is an example of the type of thorough and comprehensive reporting readers might expect from a newspaper of record, as The New York Times considers itself. But, unfortunately, Times editors chose not to include the article in the newspaper's print edition. Unlike the first article mentioned, which equates the deaths of Palestinian terrorists with their Israeli victims, Ms. Kershner's informative article is limited only to the web.
As a follower of HonestReporting’s work, I know that there is a persistent problem with anti-Israel bias in the media, but last week, I got a view of journalistic bias from up-close, when a Guardian article by Kate Shuttleworth managed to completely skewer the facts concerning my Saturday night date with my husband.Netanyahu cancels Germany trip amid terror wave
It was a bit of an unusual date; we attended a memorial in downtown Jerusalem for Naama and Eitam Henkin, who’d been murdered by a Palestinian terrorist a few days earlier. An Israeli Arab woman joined our memorial, in solidarity, at which point our small circle caused something of an uproar from passersby.
According to The Guardian, however, my husband was “a left-wing protester” who “staged a sit-in” in response to a protest being held by Lehava, an organization “that advocates killing Arabs.” First of all, my husband is not a left-wing protester. (I asked him again five minutes ago, just to make sure.) Second of all, he didn’t stage a sit-in, for two reasons: 1. He did not organize the event. 2. It was not a sit-in, it was a memorial service.
The event was (to the best of my knowledge) not organized as a response to the Lehava protest. While some Lehava protesters took offense at our presence, we invited those who came over to join our circle, and one of them did so for a short while. Also, Lehava doesn’t officially advocate killing Arabs – if it did, it would be shut down by the Israeli government, which has laws against incitement to violence. Additionally, the article referred to the Israeli Arab woman who joined our memorial as a “Palestinian girl,” which both disrespects her accomplished adult credentials, such as the fact that she holds a master’s degree and has children, and makes it sound like she doesn’t have Israeli citizenship when in fact, she does.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed a Thursday visit to Germany due to a surge in Palestinian terror attacks, an Israeli official said Wednesday.Shin Bet bars Israeli athletes from traveling to Oman for windsurfing match
“The trip has been postponed due to the security situation,” the official said on condition of anonymity, amid a series of clashes and attacks involving Palestinians, Israeli security forces and Jewish settlers.
The cancellation came after three attacks on Wednesday left four Israelis lightly injured. One Palestinian assailant was killed in the attacks and several others were injured.
On Tuesday, officials had said the prime minister would cut short the planned visit, but still considered it too important to cancel.
The participation of Israel’s windsurfers at next weekend’s world championships in Oman was thrown into serious doubt on Tuesday after the Ministry of Culture and Sport notified the Israel Sailing Association that the delegation is not allowed to fly out to the Muslim Sultanate on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.IDF Investigation: Hebron knife woman lunged at soldiers before being shot dead
The ministry explained that the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), which is responsible for the safety of Israel national teams when competing abroad, had not authorized the trip to Oman due to security concerns.
The windsurfers received visas to enter Oman several months ago, but the Shin Bet said it has failed to reach an agreement with local security forces and therefore wouldn't permit the windsurfing delegation’s visit to the country.
The championships begin on Saturday, October 17 and will run for a week.
A Palestinian woman armed with a knife that she concealed under a burka ignored calls by soldiers to put her weapon down for several minutes, before lunging at them and getting shot in the process last month, an IDF investigation into the incident has found.Nuclear smugglers sought terrorist buyers
During the September 23 incident, Hadeel al-Hashlamun, 18, arrived at the Hasam Shoter military checkpoint in Hebron and set off a metal detector, a senior IDF Central Command source said on Tuesday.
"She came under suspicion from the force at the military point, and had been passing through the checkpoint for a number of days," the source said. "Soldiers told her to place her bag down so that they can check what was inside. She lifted up her left hand to place the bag, and the company commander then saw that she had a knife in her right hand," the source said.
"That's how the incident began. He lifted up his firearm, but did not open fire yet, since his life was not in danger. He acted with restraint. If you freeze the situation, you have a company commander facing a woman with a knife in her hand, and she is unwilling to throw down the knife. Someone is filming from the side, and civilians are behind him, because this is a checkpoint that civilians pass through."
Over the pulsating beat at an exclusive nightclub, the arms smuggler made his pitch to a client: 2.5 million euros for enough radioactive cesium to contaminate several city blocks.Jailed Saudi Blogger Wins Free-Speech Prize
It was earlier this year, and the two men were plotting their deal at an unlikely spot: the terrace of Cocos Prive, a dance club and sushi bar in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova.
“You can make a dirty bomb, which would be perfect for the Islamic State,” the smuggler said. “If you have a connection with them, the business will go smoothly.”
But the smuggler, Valentin Grossu, wasn’t sure the client was for real — and he was right to worry. The client was an informant, and it took some 20 meetings to persuade Grossu that he was an authentic Islamic State representative. Eventually, the two men exchanged cash for a sample in a sting operation that landed Grossu in jail.
The previously unpublicized case is one of at least four attempts in five years in which criminal networks with suspected Russian ties sought to sell radioactive material to extremists through Moldova, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. One investigation uncovered an attempt to sell bomb-grade uranium to a real buyer from the Middle East, the first known case of its kind.
A Saudi blogger who has been jailed and flogged for “insulting Islam” was awarded a major free-speech prize on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.Extremist ideology underpinning ISIS has 'wide support among Muslims', says Tony Blair
The blogger, Raif Badawi, shares the PEN Pinter Prize with British poet James Fenton.
Badawi is serving a 10-year sentence after being convicted of insulting Islam and breaking Saudi Arabia's technology laws with his liberal blog. He also was sentenced to 1,000 lashes, spread over 20 instalments, and fined $266,000.
The flogging has been suspended since Badawi received 50 lashes in January, a punishment that sparked international outrage.
In June, Saudi Arabia's supreme court upheld the sentence against Badawi, who ran a site called Free Saudi Liberals and has been in custody since 2012.
Western governments have condemned Badawi's treatment, and rights groups including Amnesty International have campaigned for his release. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom accused Saudi Arabia of handing a "medieval" punishment to Badawi.
The former Labour prime minister claimed millions of young Muslims are taught a version of the religion that is "dangerous".
Speaking at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York, Mr Blair said while only a small percentage join groups such as Islamic State (ISIS), extreme views are widespread and must be tackled.
He said: "The conspiracy theories which illuminate much of the jihadi writings have significant support even amongst parts of the mainstream population of some Muslim countries.
"There are millions of school children every day in countries round the world - not just in the Middle East - who are taught a view of the world and of their religion which is narrow-minded, prejudicial and therefore in the context of a globalised world, dangerous."
The former PM said Western society should overcome the fear of upsetting ideas held by parts of Muslim society for fear of it being seen as an attack on Islam.
He claimed anti-Semitic views among the religion were an example of how parts of the faith find it difficult to contribute to a peaceful society.
