Monday, October 12, 2015
PMW: Palestinian parents celebrate terrorist children's Martyrdom-death, PA promotes it
Amid the current Palestinian riots and wave of terror attacks, Palestinian Authority and Fatah officials continue to praise terrorist murderers as "Martyrs" and "heroes." Some also encourage Shahada - seeking death as Martyrs for Allah. Becoming a Martyr (Shahid) represents the highest religious achievement that can be attained by a Muslim.MEMRI: Fatah Officials, Palestinian Social Media, Palestinian Authority Dailies Encourage Continued Violence
Shortly after the murders of 4 Israeli civilians in two separate attacks on Oct. 1 and 3, Fatah Central Committee member Mahmoud Al-Aloul addressed Palestinian youth on his Facebook page. He encouraged them to "rise up against the enemies," calling the youth "potential Martyrs for the beloved Palestine":
"#Resist_boycott_rise up (literally "make intifada") #General_mobilization_Fatah's_Shabiba [student movement]
More resistance and escalation against the occupation everywhere. Let us make the country a hell for the enemies and tell them clearly, in a way that will split the sky - resist, boycott, advance, rise up, for our land is forbidden to the enemies, and all the members of the Shabiba (i.e., Fatah youth and student movement) are potential Martyrs for the beloved Palestine."
[Fatah Central Committee member Mahmoud Al-Aloul's Facebook page, Oct. 5, 2015]
In another post, Al-Aloul stated that "whoever loves the Shahada (seeking Martyrdom) is not afraid of the settler herds." He ended with the following words of encouragement: "and #let's_continue_the_attacks" [Fatah Central Committee member Mahmoud Al-Aloul's Facebook page, Oct. 5, 2015]
Fatah seems to be speaking in two voices regarding the violent events of the last few days, which have been described variously as "an intifada," a "popular awakening," the "Al-Aqsa Rage" events, etc. Alongside statements by PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas expressing a desire to avoid escalation and continue the security coordination with Israel, the Palestinian media has been publishing statements by PA officials, especially Fatah officials, as well as op-eds, that advocate continuing the violence. Some described the stabbings as acts of self-defense and others called to maintain a high level of tension and conflict. In some cases, PA spokesmen even chose to deny that violent attacks have taken place, claiming that Israel was falsely accusing Palestinians of terrorism in order to justify their killing. For example, commenting on the attempted car bomb attack at the Al-Za'im checkpoint on October 11, Palestinian Authority (PA) security services spokesman 'Adnan Al-Damiri said that the vehicle had caught fire due to an electric malfunction. The PA daily Al-Ayyam claimed that "Israel concocted a false and deceptive story about an alleged [attempted] bombing, as it has done on numerous occasions in the past." Following the death of Mustafa Al-Khatib, who was killed on October 12 as he attempted to knife a soldier in Jerusalem, the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida stated that "the occupation forces usually accuse Palestinians of attempted knifings in order to justify shooting at them and killing them."Video: Palestinians Asked 'Is Stabbing Israelis Heroic?
Additionally, a delegation of Fatah officials, including figures close to Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas, paid a condolence visit to the family of a terrorist who was killed after he murdered two Israelis in Jerusalem's Old City. An investigative article in the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reviewed reactions by Palestinians on social media who expressed joy at the killing of Jews.
As part of his "The Ask Project," in which viewers are encouraged to field questions for him to ask random Palestinians or Israelis, amateur documentary maker Gil Corey-Shuster asked a random selection of Arabs in Hevron the following question: "Do you view stabbing Israeli soldiers and civilians as heroic?"Palestinians: Is stabbing soldiers and civilians heroic? (h/t IsraellyCool)
The answers were overwhelmingly supportive, with only one interviewee making any distinction between soldiers or civilians. Even that respondent however said that Israeli civilians who carry private weapons for self-defense are legitimate targets because "if he had the chance he would use his gun and shoot" Arabs.
The most commonly given justification for stabbing attacks was Palestinians' own sense of grievance against Israel - but when asked if according to that logic Israelis who lost loved ones could legitimately attack Palestinians, all responded in the negative.
Just one Palestinian man, a shopkeeper, said he did not support such attacks and in fact expressed his outright opposition to them.
Netanyahu: Terrorism comes from a desire to annihilate us, not from Palestinian frustration
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the opening of the Knesset's winter session on Monday, rejecting the notion that the current wave of terrorism plaguing Israel is a legitimate answer to Palestinian frustration. "Terrorism comes from the desire to annihilate us," he stated.Israeli woman, 19, badly hurt in knife attack near Hadera
"A hundred years of terrorism and a hundred years of attempts to destroy the Zionist enterprise, and our enemies haven't learned," he said.
"There is no way to stop the Zionist enterprise," he said.
"This is our home. This is our homeland. Our will to live will defeat our enemies' desire to kill," he said.
Four Israelis were wounded Sunday evening in a knife attack on Route 65 at the entrance to the kibbutz of Gan Shmuel, near the northern city of Hadera. One of the four, a 19-year-old female soldier, is in serious condition.Female soldier remains in critical condition after stabbing
The terrorist, a 20-year-old Israeli Arab from Umm al-Fahm, was arrested by police at the scene. He was also injured in the attack, the second on Israelis on Sunday.
The Shin Bet identified the suspect as Alaa Raed Ahmad Ziwad of Umm al-Fahm, originally from the village of Silat al-Harithiya, who received Israeli citizenship through his father’s family unification.
A 19-year-old soldier critically injured in a stabbing attack Sunday remained in life-threatening condition Monday morning, hospital officials said.Terrorist Smiles in Court: 'I Didn't Do Anything'
The female soldier, whose name has not been released for publication, was moved overnight to Sheba Hospital at Tel Hashomer near Tel Aviv, known for its neurological department and neurosurgery ward, after suffering stab wounds to the head and upper torso in the terror attack.
She had initially been taken to Hadera’s Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera — the nearest hospital to the site of the stabbing along a highway next to the town of Gan Shmuel.
The soldier was sedated and receiving ventilation and was expected to go into surgery Monday morning, the Walla news site reported.
The woman was one of four Israelis wounded Sunday evening in a knife attack on Route 65 at the entrance to the kibbutz of Gan Shmuel, near the northern city of Hadera.
Alla Raeed Ahmed Zayud, 20, the Arab terrorist and Israeli citizen from Umm El Fahm who on Sunday night wounded four Israelis in a terror attack, appeared in court on Monday with a smile on his face, and pretended as if his murderous attack never happened.Attacker killed in stabbing attempt in Jerusalem Old City
Zayud ran over two soldiers, and then got out of his car to stab two passersby. One of the soldiers is in serious condition, and the rest of the victims are defined as suffering light to moderate wounds. The attack took place at a bus station near Gan Shmuel on Highway 65 in northern Israel, between Hadera and Afula.
And yet the Arab terrorist showed no remorse for his actions in court, or even any willingness to recognize his deeds.
In a court hearing to extend his arrest at the Haifa Magistrate's Court, he said, "I didn't do anything. They want to turn me into a terrorist. I don't know what they want from me. I'm not a terrorist."
The terrorist's statements, which fly in the face of a mountain of evidence, evidently did little as his arrest was extended until Wednesday.
A man attempted to stab a police officer and was shot and killed in Jerusalem’s Old City Monday morning, the latest incident in a spate of terror attacks that have rocked the capital and the rest of Israel over the last two weeks.
Police said there were no injuries in the attempted attack and the attacker was pronounced dead at the scene.
The incident occurred near the Lions’ Gate entrance to the Old City, the site of two previous stabbing attacks, including one that left two people dead over a week ago.
A police spokesperson said the attacker, an Arab man, approached the area from a cemetery to the north and was asked to take his hands out of his pockets by police, who suspected something was amiss.
The man then took a knife out of his pocket and tried to stab a police officer. The officer was wearing a protective vest and was not injured.
“The officers quickly shot the attacker,” the spokesperson said.
Lions’ Gate stabber named as East Jerusalem teen
A teenager from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber was named as the attacker who tried to stab a police officer and was shot to death in the capital’s Old City Monday.2 Israelis gravely injured in third stabbing of day in Jerusalem
Police said Mustafa Khatieb, 17, tried to knife a Border Police officer near Jerusalem’s Lions’ Gate before he was shot and killed Monday morning.
A number of attackers in the last two weeks’ spate of stabbings have been in their late teens and early 20s, but Khatieb would appear to be only the second minor involved in such an incident.
On Saturday, Ishak Badran, 16, also from East Jerusalem, stabbed two people near the Old City’s Damascus Gate.
Two Israelis were gravely injured in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem Monday, the third terror attack to hit the capital in a single day. The attack took place in the northern neighborhood of Pisgat Ze’ev, adjacent to a light rail station.Border policeman, 20, wounded in Jerusalem terror attack
One 13-year-old victim was hospitalized in critical condition. Doctors at the Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus said he suffered multiple stab wounds to his upper body, and he was undergoing emergency surgery in hopes of stabilizing his condition.
The second victim, 25, was said to be in stable yet serious condition. Doctors said he suffered two stab wounds to his upper body.
According to police, the attackers, two East Jerusalem Arabs aged 13 and 17, stabbed the 13-year-old boy who was riding his bike. When eyewitnesses began to run toward the scene of the attack, the two assailants fled. While escaping, one was hit by a car and seriously injured.
An Israeli Border Police officer, 20, was lightly wounded in a stabbing attack in northern Jerusalem Monday afternoon.Gaza rockets strike Israel for third straight night
The attack took place outside police national headquarters on the capital’s Haim Bar Lev Road, near a stabbing attack last week at the adjacent light rail station.
The attacker was an Arab woman roughly 18 years old, according to early reports.
She was approached by the officer, who said she acted suspiciously. When he was close, she turned around and stabbed him with a knife she held in her hand.
The officer then shot the assailant. She was evacuated to hospital with moderate wounds.
Tensions on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip remained high on Sunday, with clashes between Palestinian rioters and Israeli soldiers reported at several locations along the border fence.Rabbi Permits Carrying Cell Phone on Shabbat because of Wave of Terror
Late Sunday night, two rockets were fired from Gaza toward southern Israel. One exploded in an open area in the Eshkol region of southern Israel, while the second failed to make it out of Gaza, exploding near the border fence. No injuries or damage were reported.
This marked the third straight night terrorists in Gaza fired rockets at southern Israel. On Saturday night, the Israeli Air Force struck two Hamas weapons manufacturing sites in Gaza. Two Palestinians were reportedly killed in the strikes. On Sunday, Hamas warned Israel of consequences if the situation in Gaza continues to escalate.
On Friday and Saturday, nine Palestinian rioters were killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers on the Israel-Gaza border.
Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, founder and director of the Zomet Institute that is dedicated to the adaptation of technology to Jewish law, has ruled that it is permissible to carry a mobile phone on Shabbat for emergency use.4-Year Minimum Sentence for Rock Throwers Approved by Government
His ruling is only of several obvious signs that Israelis are preparing themselves for more Arab attacks against Jews.
Police report a surge in the number of daily calls made by worried Israelis to police emergency hotlines. Israelis usually call the police approximately 600 times a day to report suspicious individuals, vehicles, or devices, but that number has soared to 25,000.
The Cabinet unanimously approved on Sunday Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's proposal to impose minimum prison sentences on those who throw rocks, firebombs and fireworks, and to impose fines on minors and their parents.Palestinians Publish Pictures of Israeli Undercover Counter-Terror Agents
The measure mandates a four-year minimum sentence for rock throwers.
Netanyahu said: "We are doing this as an emergency measure and will consider the extent of its implementation; if need be, we will make the law more severe."
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has been fighting for months for legislation in this vein, in the face of opposition from leftist and legal circles.
Online activists posted an image allegedly featuring the pictures of several undercover Israeli counter-terror agents who have been tasked with arresting Palestinian rioters amid ongoing clashes with security personnel in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the Israeli news site Walla reported on Sunday.Sniper Fire Effective against Rioters, Says Police Chief
So-called mista’arvim are undercover soldiers whose job it is to infiltrate Palestinian society for intelligence-gathering and counter-terrorism efforts, including arrests and law enforcement, and their success depends on their ability to move inconspicuously among Arab communities.
The image posted to social media included a banner reading: “These are the despicable mista’arvim. Spread these pictures of them around. And you, children of Jerusalem, remember their faces.”
The picture came amid heightened tensions between Palestinians and Israelis over the last several weeks. Mista’arvim have played a crucial role in attempting to stop riots, rock-throwing and firebomb attacks before clashes erupt. Palestinian rock-throwers claimed the life of a 60-year-old man in Jerusalem last month, after hurling stones at his vehicle caused him to lose control and smash into a telephone pole.
The government’s recent decision to let police snipers use Ruger-type sniper rifles with less-than-lethal ammunition against rock and firebomb throwers has been very effective, according to Acting Police Commissioner Bentzi Sau.Israeli Traffic Cop Who Prevented Possible Mass Murder Recounts Encountering Female Terrorist (VIDEO)
Sau told the government Sunday that since the Rugers went into action, the events in which Arab youths throw rocks and firebombs against Jewish motorists tend to be shorter and less intense, and sometimes the use of the Ruger brings them to an immediate end.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein recently approved the use of the Ruger sniper rifles against violent rioters.
As part of his declared "war" on rock-throwing terrorists in Jerusalem, Netanyahu sought permission from the all-powerful Attorney General to deploy snipers to target the attackers.
While the army regularly deploys sniper teams to tackle rock- and firebomb-throwing rioters in Judea and Samaria, police in the capital were not able to do so under their previous rules of engagement, and were only allowed to respond to rioters with rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas.
The Ruger uses regular 0.22 bullets with a smaller amount of gunpowder, making the bullets less lethal.
The Israeli traffic cop who prevented what could have been a major terrorist attack in Jerusalem Sunday morning recounted details of the event from his hospital bed for Israel’s Channel 2.Israeli Social Media Alight Over Border Policewoman Who Neutralized Terrorist While Holding Ice Cream
Sergeant Major Moshe Chen, a senior Israel Police officer, was injured in the failed suicide bombing – committed by a female terrorist — that took place in a vehicle at the A-Zaim checkpoint near Ma’aleh Adumim. With burns covering his face and body, Chen had managed to phone for medical help and back-up.
Chen, 45, described driving home to Jerusalem from a shift at work and noticing the woman’s car behind him, mainly because she was in the lane reserved for public transportation, security vehicles and cars with three or more passengers. She aroused his suspicion, however, when she began tailgating him at a fast pace. It was then that he stopped and went to her window.
“Luckily, I [had on] a bullet-proof vest,” he said. “I told her she was in violation of the traffic laws. And then she shouted, ‘Allahu akbar!’ – and smoke began to billow out of her car. I thought something was burning, so I went to get a fire extinguisher. Suddenly there was an explosion, and I realized she was a terrorist.”
While Chen suffered burns, the terrorist was flung from her car, and was clearly seriously wounded. Because of this, Chen said, he told onlookers who began to gather at the scene “not to shoot because she was already injured and the danger had passed.”
An Israeli Border Policewoman became a viral sensation in Israel last week, but for the wrong reason, said a writer for Israel’s Channel 2 on Sunday.Khaled Abu Toameh: Fatah leaders split over support for disturbances
Shai Levi took the Israeli public to task for poking fun at the young woman, who was among Israeli security forces confronted by a female terrorist at the Afula central bus station in northern Israel on Friday.
After entering the bus station, the terrorist attempted to stab a soldier waiting on the platform. Border Police officers on the scene opened fire on the terrorist’s lower body – to neutralize, rather than kill, her.
Video footage of the incident showed one of the Border Police, the young woman in question, taking part in subduing the terrorist, without letting go of a decadent looking ice cream she had been eating. It is this, more than the attack itself, which created the most buzz in Israel, currently ravaged by daily stabbing attacks and other acts of Palestinian terrorism. (h/t )
Differences have erupted among top leaders of the Fatah faction regarding the latest wave of attacks against Israelis, Palestinian sources said on Sunday.What kind of person would want this small child to throw rocks at Israeli soldiers?
According to the sources, as reported by the Rai Al-Youm online newspaper, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also head of Fatah, has been facing demands from some of the faction’s leaders to openly support the new Palestinian intifada.
These leaders are reportedly unhappy with the PA’s failure to play any role in or support the current wave of attacks on Israelis, the sources told Rai Al-Youm.
The Fatah leaders, according to the sources, are demanding that their representatives be given a green light to participate in the funerals of the Palestinian assailants killed by the IDF and Israel Police.
The sources named three senior Fatah officials as spearheading the demands for a Fatah role in the current unrest: Tawfik Tirawi, Sakher Bseiso and Sultan Abu al-Ainain.
We have dealt many times with the issue of promoting children to throw rocks at Israeli soldiers.'Anoint your knives with poison' : What incitement looks like on social media
It was one of the reasons there was such an uproar when Bassem Tamimi appeared before third graders in Ithaca, NY, and advocated the children become “freedom fighters for Palestine.”
It’s also one of the dramatic aspects of the current violence — whether called an “Intifada” or not. Young children and teens are pushed to the front or take it on themselves to attack.
Like the 16 year old who stabbed two elderly Jews in Jerusalem and went after police before he was shot dead:
Facebook posts call on people to 'set the area on fire' and 'anoint the knives with a poisonous substance'; Hundreds of masked people demonstrate in Arab villages.Nazareth mayor slams Arab MKs for fostering violence
Arab incitement is alive and well on social network sites, as organizers call on people to arrive "masked, to set the area on fire." Other sites even advised would-be terrorists on where to go and how to stab the "occupying troops".
On Facebook, one can find posts calling on social media users to join the disturbances: "For al-Aqsa and the martyrs, you are invited to participate in a demonstration of anger at the Bridge of Tayibe"; "Every young person who doesn't go has no honor"; "At 8pm at the entrance to Qalansuwa, come masked. This has deliberately been organized at a late hour so that they won't be able to identify us. We will ask them to turn off the city lights so we won't be identifiable, we will set the area on fire"; "All together at the big demonstration in Nazareth. Don't forget that after that we will head towards the main road as they want to block it."
Nazareth Mayor Ali Salem on Sunday criticized Arab Knesset members for their role in recent violent demonstrations, saying in two separate interviews to the Israeli media that their actions were detrimental to the Arab community.Mayor screams at Joint List head on live TV: You've destroyed Nazareth
“I blame the leaders; they are destroying our future, they are destroying coexistence,” Salem, the Muslim mayor of Israel’s largest Arab city, told Army Radio.
He said that while he disapproves of Israel’s actions on the Temple Mount, the Israeli Arab leadership must make their voices heard in an appropriate manner.
“We need to find a way to live together. We cannot fight like this. We are damaging ourselves,” he told Israel’s Walla website site.
A demonstration in Nazareth turned violent Thursday night as protesters clashed with security forces. Over 200 people took part in the protest, according to police estimates, and it descended into rioting when protesters set fire to tires and garbage cans and hurled stones at police.
Ali Salam yelled at Joint List head Ayman Odeh: Enough with the interviews, go take a hike, you've destroyed everything - Go back to Haifa!JCPA: The Other Casualty of the Wave of Palestinian Terror
Nazareth mayor Ali Salam screamed at Joint List head Ayman Odeh (Hadash) to leave his city during an interview he was conducting with Channel 2 there on Sunday night.
"Ayman, you need to go elsewhere, you've destroyed our city!” yelled Salam at Odeh from his car which pulled up next to Odeh who was standing on the sidewalk in front of the television camera.
“Get out of here. Enough with the interviews!” shouted Salam.
“You all have destroyed everything - Go back to Haifa!”
“Not even one Jew stopped by today, not even one,” the Nazareth mayor yelled at the Joint List chairman.
The terror attack in Tel Aviv on October 8, 2015, when a Palestinian construction worker attacked a soldier and four other civilians in the heart of the city, has potentially far-reaching implications. This attack differs from other recent ones because the Palestinian worker was apparently from the West Bank with a permit to work in Israel. This puts into question some basic assumptions that have guided Israeli employment policy to date. If Palestinians with permits to work in Israel are attacking Israeli citizens, it will require a rethinking of overall economic relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and the state of relatively open borders that has been largely preserved despite the separation fence.Metal detectors planned at Temple Mount entrance
These attacks are reminiscent of the “Intifada of Knives and Stones” that preceded the first Intifada in 1987. Those knife attacks led to Israel banning Palestinian workers from entering Israel — their main source of livelihood until then — and instead, Israel replaced them with foreign workers.
There is no doubt that the Palestinian labor in Israel is desirable in almost every respect, and Israel should seek to preserve it. However, Israel must take into consideration, that even if Palestinian workers in Israel is positive for both sides, some Palestinians see it as negative and act to impede the process, just as they did during the “Intifada of Knives.”
The Israeli Police has decided to place metal detectors at the entrance to the Temple Mount, Interim Police Chief Bentzi Sau said on Sunday, in order to prevent people from bringing weapons to al-Aqsa Mosque.IsraellyCool: Latest Blood Libel: Shot Through The Heart, Guess Who’s To Blame Edition
Metal detectors have already been placed in the Old City following the recent knife attacks that took place in the neighborhood.
The plan is to be presented to the Cabinet, Sau told the press. He added that police are not coordinating the initiative with the Waqf, which administrates the Temple Mount, because the detectors are to be placed outside the actual Temple Mount.
The following image, purportedly of a palestinian boy killed by Israel during the First Intifada, is making the rounds on social media.Honest Reporting: The Disappearing Ongoing Terror Wave
When confronted with this image, my immediate reaction was that it looks too cinematic. So I did what I normally do: the trusty reverse image search.
Firstly, I noticed was this image has not been around since the first intifada (1987-1993).
Then after a little digging, I found the source, confirming my suspicions: it is from a movie called Kingdom of the Ants.
In a recent CNN report, terror against Israelis has disappeared. A video captioned “spiral of violence grips the Middle East” tells of Palestinians throwing “rocks and marbles” against “tanks and tear gas.” Israeli’s Prime Minister is described as “stern and contentious” in contrast to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who “doesn’t want the situation to escalate.”Orla Guerin tells BBC audiences Al Aqsa Mosque ‘sacred to Jews’
Readers would never know that Abbas and Palestinian officials have been “waging an unprecedented campaign of incitement against Israel” in what Palestinian journalist Khaled Abu Toameh describes as “calls for murder.”
An Associated Press story purports to be a timeline of “the latest developments in ongoing tensions between Palestinians and Israelis” but these tensions usually turn out to be that a Palestinian was stopped during or after killing or trying to kill an Israeli. Like many other stories, this one leads with the “shooting and wounding” of a Palestinian and then mentions that the “motorist” was attempting run over people at checkpoint.
Similarly, BBC writes “Israeli-Palestinian Violence Spreads Over Gaza Border” which in itself is inaccurate since the Gaza government has taken credit for some of the attacks in Israel. These include what Hamas praised as “the heroic terror attack,” the murder of Eitam and Na’ama Henkin, a Tel Aviv doctoral student and his graphic designer wife shot to death in their car in front of their four children.
Guerin continues:AFP Headline Fumbles, Drops Palestinian Bombing
“Well the confrontation here is escalating. There are Palestinian stone-throwers on this side, Israeli security forces on the other. Rubber bullets have been used and there have been injuries [sic] taken away. The fear is that clashes like this could spread. Some here already calling this the third Intifada – or uprising. Israeli security officials are playing that down but the police are on alert, especially in Jerusalem’s Old City. It’s home to the Al Aqsa Mosque; sacred to Muslims and Jews. Tensions over the shrine have fuelled the latest unrest and unleashed a new danger for Israelis: stabbing attacks.” [emphasis added]Either veteran reporter Orla Guerin is astoundingly under-informed or – like her colleague Nawal Assad – she has elected to deliberately amplify popular propaganda according to which “Palestinian Muslims consider all that compound [Temple Mount] to be the Al Aqsa Mosque”. Either way, a correction of the inaccuracy promoted by Guerin is clearly necessary.
Guerin likewise misleads audiences with the inaccurate claim that stabbing attacks on Israelis are “new”. its correspondents would be aware of the fact that sixteen stabbing attacks took place between January and August 2015.
Guerin’s report continues with portrayal of one of the fatal attacks in the current wave of terror as a “lone wolf knife attack”:
An Agence France Presse headline yesterday attributes a bombing attack, carried out yesterday morning by Palestinian Asra Jabas at a checkpoint near Jerusalem, to Israel:Independent’s revised headline on Israeli response to Gaza rocket attack still misleads
"Israeli air strike, bomb attack as Palestinian unreast widens."The casual reader who glances only at headlines and does not read the accompanying story would believe that Israeli carried both a bomb strike and a bomb attack.
Following CAMERA's communication with AFP, editors updated the story with a new headline, opting to omit the bombing entirely, rather than noting that it was carried out by a Palestinian.
The original Indy headline bizarrely framed the proportionate Israeli attack on a terror weapons site as an act of Israeli “revenge” against a pregnant Palestinian woman and her baby. However, following our post and a complaint to the journalist, the headline was revised.Wave of terror brings rare BBC reporting on missile attacks from Gaza
Here’s a graphic showing how the headline looked before and after our post.
Though we’re always glad when editors address problematic language following our complaints, and the word “retaliatory” is of course better than “revenge”, the headline still fails as it advances a false narrative suggesting that Israelis intentionally attacked a pregnant woman and her baby in “retaliation” for some other previous (unstated) attack.
With this being the first BBC News headline describing a missile attack from the Gaza Strip since September 2014, one cannot but conclude that its appearance is linked to augmented BBC reporting on the current wave of terror attacks which, despite its headline, are the subject matter of the bulk of that report.Jordan Bans Religious Jews' Tefillin at the Border
Less than 24 hours later – late on the evening of October 10th – another missile was launched at the Hof Ashkelon area but was successfully intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system. The Israeli airforce later responded with strikes on Hamas weapons manufacturing sites in the northern Gaza Strip and Palestinian officials announced that two people had been killed when an explosion at one of the targeted sites caused a nearby home to collapse. The BBC headlines did not take long to appear.
BBC Arabic promoted its report on the incident at the head of its main webpage on the morning of October 11th with a headline devoid of any reference to what preceded the Israeli response.
A Jordanian security official last week forbade a group of religious Israeli tourists to bring in tefillin, the ritual phylacteries that Jewish men wear every weekday. The official, a report on Israel Radio said, told the group that bringing in such objects was not permissible, and demanded that they surrender the phylacteries before crossing the border.Arabs Destroy 'Secret Cave' of Bar Kochba Rebellion
The official said that Jordan did not allow the ritual objects in the country in order to ensure the “safety” of the travelers. Muslims who saw the objects – or worse, saw Jews wearing the objects – would be offended, the official said, and might not be able to restrain themselves from attacking the wearers.
An Israeli officials said that the phenomenon was not new, but that Israeli travel agents and government agencies did not inform tourists to Jordan of the regulations because they are not “official,” but imposed at the discretion of border officials in Jordan depending on the situation.
Palestinians last week badly damaged an ancient cave in the Gush Etzion area. The cave, which was dated from the days of Bar Kochva – some 1,900 years ago – was effectively destroyed, officials of the Gush Etzion Field School said.What happens when Palestinians burn a church
Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Yaron Rosenthal, head of the Field School, said that in recent months, the IDF has stopped providing protection for sites like the cave – providing opportunities for Arabs who seek to damage the age-old connection between Jews and the Land of Israel to act.
The cave, Rosenthal said, was one of the largest of the “secret caves” used by Jewish revolutionaries fighting Roman terror during the Bar Kochba rebellion, between 132 and 136 CE. The cave, which is the entrance to a network of subterranean passages that run for many kilometers under the Judean Hills, may have held hundreds of Jewish rebels and large amounts of supplies. A large part of the network is located under the Arab village of Arabiya, which is located on the ruins of a large Jewish town from the Mishnaic period, over 2,000 years ago.
Arab vandals, sometime during or before the Sukkot holiday, used a tractor to destroy the entrance to the cave. It was only by chance that a member of the Field School who was very familiar with the cave passed by and reported on what happened. Rosenthal said that the tractor destroyed priceless archaeological finds.
On September 26, Palestinian terrorists influenced by IS burned down the St. Charbel Monastery in Bethlehem, which is under the control of the Palestinians. Damage was caused to the church and its furniture.Hamas Official Storms Off Al Jazeera Debate; Israeli Panelist Responds With Praise for Sheikh’s Son (VIDEO)
Christian witnesses said that two days before the fire broke out, vandals broke in and stole items from the church. Apparently this was part of a mission to gather information.
Father Gabriel Naddaf, an Arab-Israeli priest of the Greek Orthodox Church, was the first to make the fire public and wrote on his Facebook page:
"We call upon [Palestinian Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas to condemn the attack and ensure the safety of the Christian Holy Places within their territory. It is exactly this type of attitude by the leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA) that encourages vandalism and terrorism against Christian sites as Palestinians extremists know that they will not be brought to justice or punished for their acts."
"In contrast to the state of Israel, which safeguards the rights of all its citizens, including its Christian and Muslim community, the Palestinian Authority allows corruption and intimidation, especially towards its Christian population. This is why historical places like Bethlehem that had a Christian majority before the Palestinian Authority was given control of these territories, they now have only a small percentage of Christians as they were driven away due to the unfavorable conditions and persecution against them," he continued.
Senior Hamas official Sheikh Hassan Yousef stormed off the set of an Al Jazeera debate yesterday, when he discovered he was sharing the panel with Ofir Gendelman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Arab media adviser, Israeli news website nrg reported on Sunday.
Expressing outrage as having to be in the same broadcast with a “liar, cheat and criminal” such as Gendelman, Yousef, refused to continue the interview.
Later, Gendelman responded to Yousef through the following Arabic post on Facebook:
What a shame! I would like to take this opportunity to thank his [Yousef’s] son, Mosab, who worked for the Shin Bet for years, and whose courage, humanity and dedication to human life saved hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians whom Hamas planned to kill in brutal terrorist attacks.
Mosab Yousef, known in Israel and the West as the “Son of Hamas” or the “Green Prince” (the title of a 2014 documentary film about his life), is Sheikh Hassan’s eldest son. Deciding to take revenge on Israel for repeatedly arresting his father, Mosab was going to obtain weapons and perpetrate a terrorist attack. But he was arrested by Israeli security services before he had the chance to execute his plan.
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