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Sunday, January 14, 2018

01/14 Links: Thwarting Hamas terror, one tunnel at a time; For 38 Terrifying Minutes, Hawaii Experienced Israeli Life under Rocket Threat; Ron Prosor: The problem is UNRWA

From Ian:

Thwarting Hamas terror, one tunnel at a time
This morning, the IDF completed the destruction of a Hamas terror tunnel that infiltrated Israeli territory.

This operation, led by the Southern Command, was carried out in the area of crossing to the Israeli side. The tunnel crossed the border under the Kerem Shalom Crossing, ran adjacent to the gas pipeline, and crossed into Egypt.

This is a severe breach of Israel's sovereignty, a serious threat to Israeli civilians, and a threat to the humanitarian efforts that Israel allows for the people in the Gaza Strip.

The Kerem Shalom Crossing was closed in order to maintain the safety of all those in the area of the crossing. Hamas is responsible for the consequences of the closing and chooses time after time to jeopardize the welfare of the citizens of the Gaza Strip.

The tunnel was located using the latest technological, intelligence, and operational capabilities. Since its discovery, the tunnel was monitored up until its destruction.
IDF Destroys the 3rd Hamas Terror Tunnel in 2 Months


“The extraordinary cooperation among the branches of combat engineering, intelligence, and the technological lab for tunnel detection in the Gaza Division is what creates these technological breakthroughs and significant achievements in underground detection,” said Commander of the Southern Brigade in the Gaza Division, Col. Kobi Heler.

This is the third tunnel that was destroyed in Israel in the past two months and serves as further evidence of the advanced operational, intelligence, and technological capabilities that the IDF has developed. Locating these tunnels is part of wide-scale defense efforts led by the IDF and the Southern Command.
Breaking News from the Kerem Shalom Crossing


“We are not seeking to escalate the situation, we are defending our sovereignty and our civilians against the multiple threat by Hamas. We will continue to operate in that manner. We will continue to defend our sovereignty against threats from above and below the ground. We also remain prepared for a wide variety of military scienerios against Hamas, but we do not seek to escalate the situation,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, Head of the International Media Branch.

The IDF will continue its efforts above and below ground to thwart any attempts to harm Israeli civilians and will continue to act in order to maintain the relative quiet in the region achieved after Operation Protective Edge.
After Latest Anti-Terror Tunnel Operation, Israeli Military Hails ‘New and Groundbreaking Technology’ Used Against Subterranean Threat
The Israeli military has destroyed three cross-border Hamas terror tunnels in recent months using “new and groundbreaking technology,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus — the head of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit’s international media branch — said in a video published on social media on Sunday.

“We are happy to be able to have those capabilities,” Conricus said.

In another video posted online by the IDF following its latest anti-tunnel operation, this one in the Kerem Shalom area, Col. Kobi Heler — the commander of the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade — said, “Hamas is accountable for all terror activities emanating from the Gaza Strip and is responsible to stop any acts above and below the ground that breach Israeli sovereignty.”

At a meeting in New Delhi on Sunday with Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “But even where I am here in India, I think of you, IDF soldiers, and of the splendid work that you did yesterday in eliminating another tunnel. We are systematically eliminating the tunnel infrastructure of Hamas and Islamic Jihad; they should not try us.”
For 38 Terrifying Minutes, Hawaii Experienced Israeli Life under Rocket Threat
For thirty-eight terrifying minutes on Saturday, Hawaii residents unfortunately experienced a sampling of life in Israel during recent wars here when Hawaiians received a mistaken emergency alert notification warning of a “ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii.”

Gov. David Ige said the false alarm was a human error caused when the wrong button was pushed during a shift change at the state emergency management agency. The warning was issued amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, and some in Hawaii may have feared an incoming nuclear attack. The mistake was reportedly corrected 38 minutes later by a second message confirming the false alarm.

The error is unacceptable and warrants the “full investigation” promised by the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

While Israelis have not contended with nuclear missile attacks, the entire country lives under rocket threat and has experienced sustained rocket attacks punctuated by alerts that leave only seconds to find shelter.

The scenes that unfolded in Hawaii, with people reportedly left “crying and screaming,” could have taken place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa or Sderot. At this point, however, most Israelis, especially those living along the Gaza wire, have become so accustomed to rocket alerts that there seems to be a lot less panic.

The rocket risk here underscores the strategic threat posed to the Jewish state by territorial withdrawals, and the projectile threat must be taken into consideration when foreign diplomats call for Israel to create a Palestinian state in the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem.



Visiting bombed tunnel site, IDF general says main victims are Gaza residents
The head of the army’s Southern Command on Sunday said the principal victims of the Hamas attack tunnel bombed by Israel this weekend were the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, as the airstrike required Israel to shut down the main crossing for goods into the coastal enclave.

“This terror tunnel, which crossed under the Kerem Shalom Crossing, harms — first and and foremost — the residents of the Gaza Strip,” said Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, during a visit to the site where the tunnel entered Israeli territory.

On Sunday morning, the Israel Defense Forces announced it had destroyed a border-crossing Hamas attack tunnel, the third in recent months, that penetrated hundreds of meters into both Israeli and Egyptian territory from the Gaza Strip, in an airstrike on Saturday night.
IDF Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, center-right, and the head of the Southern Gaza Brigade, Col. Kobi Heller, far right, visit the Kerem Shalom Crossing on January 14, 2018, where an alleged Hamas attack tunnel was discovered and destroyed by the military the day before. (Israel Defense Forces)

Zamir indicated that the army will destroy more such tunnels in the coming months, as the Defense Ministry completes the construction of a barrier around the Gaza Strip designed to prevent underground penetration into Israeli territory.

“We are determined to continue to thwart terror tunnels and to act in order to bring security to the residents of the area around Gaza and the State of Israel,” the general said.
Latest tunnel strike puts Hamas leaders in a tough spot with Cairo
Hamas leaders find themselves in a worrisome situation. Another of their tunnels penetrating into Israeli territory has been exposed and destroyed. In total, three tunnels (four, by another tally) have been destroyed in about two and a half months, and it seems like Hamas is quickly losing its most significant strategic weapon ahead of the next possible military confrontation with Israel.

Yes, the terror group still has its rockets — and due to the success of the Iron Dome defense system, it has focused on developing short-range rockets with large warheads and mortars. But still, the attack tunnels were considered the crowning glory of Hamas’s military capabilities. Now, it’s becoming clear, that weapon is about to lose its relevance.

This could push Hamas to initiate an offensive in the near future in an attempt to utilize its remaining tunnels reaching into Israeli territory.

But the probability of such a scenario is not high. Had Hamas leaders in Gaza, headed by Yahya Sinwar, wanted to do so, they would have acted a long time ago. It is clear that the group’s leaders in the Strip are not interested right now in an outbreak of violence. That could have been deduced from Hamas’s lack of reaction after the March assassination of Mazen Fuqha, its Gaza operative who directed terror networks in the West Bank, and of course more recently after the various tunnels were demolished.

Hamas’s wish to avert a military confrontation at this time can also be inferred from its actions to prevent escalation with Israel, like arresting operatives belonging to “rogue” organizations and the remarkable deployment of “restraint forces” whose job is to foil attacks on Israeli territory.
PMW: PMW's Role in Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Salaries to Terrorist Prisoners
  • Palestinian terrorists have admitted that the payment of the salaries by the PA served as motivation to carry out terror attacks.
  • The PA salaries to terrorists were used to purchase weapons that were used in a terror attack resulting in the death of Malachi Rosenfeld and the injury of others.
  • Since exposing the PA's practice of paying salaries to terrorists in 2011, PMW had been instrumental in changing the approach of foreign governments.
  • New Israeli legislation being discussed would penalize the PA by reducing the sum that it pays to terrorists and their families from the taxes Israel collects on the PA's behalf.
Palestinian Media Watch played an active role in the hearing last week in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of Israel's parliament discussing legislation to deduct from the tax revenues that Israel transfers to the PA, the amount the PA pays in funding to terrorists and their families.

Recognizing PMW's expertise since it first exposed this PA practice and from years of researching the subject, PMW was the only non-government organization to appear before the Committee discussing the new legislation. To date the committee has held three hearings, all attended by PMW. During the first two hearings, PMW gave extensive presentations that included specific examples of terrorists who attributed their terrorist actions to the PA salaries; specific proof that withholding the taxes resulted in a reduction of the terrorist salaries; examples of the decisions of foreign governments demanding that their donations to the PA not be used to pay the terrorist salaries; and comprehensive details and figures regarding the payments themselves.

In addition to PMW, present at last week's hearing was Shai Maimon, who was himself injured in a Palestinian terror attack. He told the committee that according to the indictment of the terrorists involved in the attack, the weapons used in the terror attack in which Malachi Rosenfeld was murdered and he was injured, were purchased using money that the terrorist received in prison as salary from the PA.
Abbas praises the 'uprising'
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee on Saturday held a meeting in Ramallah under the leadership of the leader of the PLO, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas.

The chairman of the Palestinian National Council and the head of the PA government were in attendance as well.

At the end of the meeting, an official statement was issued in which the PLO Executive Committee praised the "uprising of the Palestinian people" in response to the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and stressed the importance of further strengthening the "popular struggle by peaceful means."

The Executive Committee expressed its support for the convening of an international conference with full powers under the auspices of the United Nations in order to ensure the establishment of an independent state of "Palestine" with eastern Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of June 4, 1967, and a solution to all final status issues, headed by the issues of the “refugees”, based on UN Resolution 194.

In addition, the PLO Executive Committee rejected proposals for an interim solution, a phased solution or the establishment of a state with temporary borders, as well as the demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

UNRWA: If US pulls funding, impact could be 'catastrophic'
Losing significant funding from its largest donor, the United States, could be "catastrophic" for Palestinians, said a U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinian refugees.

Last week, President Donald Trump said the United States may withhold future aid payments to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees over what he called the Palestinians' unwillingness to talk peace with Israel.

A State Department official later said that no decision had been made on payment.

The United States is the largest donor to the agency, with a pledge of nearly $370 million as of 2016, according to UNRWA's website.

The U.N. agency, founded in 1949 to aid Palestinian refugees, provides educational and health services in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

"The human impact of losing significant funding could be catastrophic in the real lives of real people whom the U.N. is mandated to protect," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said over the weekend.

"Palestine refugees are among some of the most vulnerable people in the Middle East. Our health services offer a lifeline, quite literally, to vulnerable women and children, the sick and the elderly," he said.
Ron Prosor: The problem is UNRWA
When the U.S. announced it was considering halting American funding for UNRWA, Israel should have held on to this suggestion with both hands. The Israeli response, however, which reflected the defense establishment's thinking, was to stutter and hesitate. Israel was shortsighted, preferring a short-term quiet for which we will all pay for heavily in the mid- to long term.

The defense establishment fears the instability caused if the funding for UNRWA stops. In my view, there are U.N. organizations that are already active, like the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and others, that can supply humanitarian services to answer the needs of these Palestinians relatively quickly. Many Palestinians who receive money and services from UNRWA would shed no tears if they would receive this aid from another organization, one that has not indoctrinated them. Will this be easy? No. Are some of the defense establishment's arguments rational? Yes. But this view looks at the long term. We have a ticking time bomb here, and if we do not defuse it now, in the long term it will blow up in our faces.

We are standing now at a historical crossroads. The American administration has expressed a new line of thinking regarding the U.N. and the Middle East, and is now unwilling to fund organizations that act against the national security of the U.S. UNRWA is an organization that acts against the national security interests of the State of Israel and all those in favor of a regional peace agreement. Closing UNRWA would be the first step in treating the sickness before it becomes truly becomes malignant.
Modi and Netanyahu embrace, trade tweets at start of India visit
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unexpectedly met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he landed at New Delhi's airport on Sunday afternoon, a gesture of warmth that was not in the original schedule.

Modi, with whom Netanyahu has developed a close relationship, greeted Netanyahu with a warm hug, and then hoisted his arm into the air for the cameras.

After greeting Netanyahu at the airport, Modi tweeted the following Message in Hebrew: “Welcome to India, my friend Prime Minister Netanyahu. Your visit to India is historic and special. This visit will strengthen the close ties between our countries.”

Netanyahu was quick to respond in a tweet of his own in which he re-tweeted Modi's Hebrew greeting and added "Thank you my dear friend Modi for the warm and personal reception to India. I greatly value this moving gesture."

This is a reciprocal six day visit following the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Israel during July 2017.

Modi will devote a good part of the next four days with Netanyahu, spending an amount of time with him that Indian sources said was rare for a visiting leader. The only day on the five day trip that the two will not be together at some point is on Thursday, when Netanyahu flies to Mumbai.
India and Israel are all-weather friends
There is something intangible yet palpable which makes India-Israel relations special. Every Israeli who has visited India has felt it. Every Indian who has travelled to Israel has felt it. Every person who joins the incredible journey of India-Israel relations has felt it. Everyone who witnessed the chemistry between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Prime Minister Modi, likely to be seen again in the coming days, has felt it. It runs beneath every government to government, business to business and people to people interaction between our nations for generations.

Today, we are standing at an exciting juncture. Behind us are nearly 26 years of growing partnership between India and Israel, stemming from a deep connection between our two peoples. It is a connection which took its first steps in antiquity and has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. Ahead of us is a future brimming with possibility and endless potential to shape a better world together.

Our joint journey is based on shared values and is fuelled by a drive for innovation. Our two peoples have transformed from ancient civilisations to vibrant modern democracies, and we continue to evolve in order to meet the challenges of our time and the challenges of tomorrow. The key, however, is not only to adapt as reality around us changes, but to think ahead and transform the world as it is into a better one for future generations.
How Israel helped India during the Kargil war
In May 1999, the Indian Army learned of Pakistan's large-scale military intrusions in the Kargil-Dras sector. What followed was a counter-offensive code-named Operation Vijay.

"Pakistan's phased infiltration in forward outposts in inhospitable and elevated terrains revealed the Indian's military unpreparedness in both spotting and preventing the incursions across the LoC, as well the lack of training and experience in mountain warfare," wrote Nicolas Blarel in his book The Evolution of India's Israel Policy (OUP).

Amid the discussion on how and what went wrong, India turned to Israel, a country with technology and experience in border control and counter-terrorism. Israel aided India with mortar and ammunition and became one of the few countries that helped India directly. According to Blarel's book, Israel even provided India with laser-guided missiles for its fighter jets and surveillance drones.

The Indian Air Force came across various problems while providing air support to ground troops including "inaccurate unguided missiles and limited sight of the Pakistani bunkers". They even had orders not to cross the LoC under any circumstances. At this time, Israel provided laser-guided missiles for IAF Mirage 2000H fighters. The precision bombing material then "limited the advantage of the Pakistani soldiers based on high position" and helped India without violating the orders to not cross LoC.

During Kargil, Israel was forced by United States of America and other countries to delay delivery of shipment of arms that were ordered before the intrusion. Israel, however, delivered the order quickly.
Indian Jews 'pained' Netanyahu won't address them during visit
Members of India’s tiny Jewish community are disappointed that they will not be invited to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his upcoming visit to Mumbai, according to an active member of the community.

In a signature campaign addressed to Netanyahu last week, Solomon F. Sopher, a prominent figure in the community, wrote on behalf of the Jewish community of India that "Indian Jewry is extremely pained to note with a heavy heart that you have taken a bitter decision not to meet the community during your visit to Mumbai."

Netanyahu is set to pay a visit to the Chabad center in Mumbai that was the target of a terror attack on November 2008, as well as meeting with a few Jewish community leaders.

A signed letter from at least 208 people said that the community conveys “our extreme pleasure and honor to welcome you (Netanyahu) to India. We don’t need to explain what the State of Israel means to every Jew and you as its [sic] prime minister visiting Mumbai for the very first time is historic.”

The letter went on to say that the Jewish community was eagerly looking forward to meeting with Netanyahu and “your decision to meet a handful of so called ‘Jewish Leaders’ is being very unfair to the Jews of India.”

“Our Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi addressed a gathering of approximately 8000 Indians in Tel Aviv during his visit in July 2017 in Israel,” the letter noted. “Can you not, Mr. Prime Minister address your 300-400 Jewish brothers and sisters for just 15 minutes? It will mean so much to them and make them so happy."

Over 4,000 Jews live in India, the majority of them in Mumbai.
Nariman House, witness to 26/11 attacks, to be turned into memorial
The Nariman House, that was under siege during the 26/11 terror attacks, is being converted into a 'living memorial' dedicated to those killed in the carnage.

A formal announcement on the setting up of the memorial will be made during the Mumbai visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week.

Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, the Jewish couple who served as directors at the Nariman House, also known as the Chabad House, were killed along with six others when the place came under attack by 10 Pakistani terrorists during the November 2008 attacks.

The couple ran a cultural and outreach centre for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in the five-storey landmark building in south Mumbai's Colaba area.

The couple's son Moshe Holtzberg, who was two years old then and was saved by his Indian nanny, will return to the Nariman House this week for the first time since the tragedy struck the family more than nine years ago.

Widow's friends to march in Tel Aviv
Friends of Yael Shevach, widow of Rabbi Raziel Shevach, who work as teachers at the Ma'ale Levona Ulpan, will hold a "Mothers’ March" on Tuesday in Tel Aviv.

Rabbi Shevach was murdered in a terrorist attack near Havat Gilad in Samaria last week.

The women will protest the policy of containment of Arab terror, and demand that the government and the IDF provide full security to the hundreds of thousands of Jews living in Judea and Samaria.

In a video released by the mothers, they say, "We, Yael Shevach's colleagues, are hurt and shocked, frustrated by this distorted reality, in which a Jewish man is murdered on his way home.”

"As women and mothers, who are responsible for and who care for the safety of our children and our family, we are not willing to give up on living in all of our land, including Judea and Samaria, and we call upon every mother to join us in the ‘Mothers’ March’ that will take place this Tuesday, the day on which Rabbi Raziel’s family will get up from the shiva."

"We will walk through the streets of Tel Aviv and demand an immediate policy change regarding the security of the residents," the widow's friends stress.
Security guard critically wounded in Jerusalem stabbing discharged from hospital
A security guard who was stabbed in the heart during a terror attack at Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station was released Sunday from the hospital, with doctors describing his condition as very good.

Asher Elmaliach, 46, who sustained critical injuries when he was stabbed on December 10, had been hospitalized as Shaare Zedek Medical Center in the capital.

Elmaliach “is being released today in very good overall condition and is transferring to rehabilitation for physical strengthening,” the hospital said in a statement that noted that he had asked for his privacy to be respected by the media.

The security guard, who suffered injuries to his heart and lungs, spent weeks on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, or ECMO, which takes strain off the heart and lungs by performing some of their functions, namely removing carbon dioxide from the blood and resupplying it with oxygen.
Shin Bet arrests Israeli for planning ISIS attacks
Israel's Security Agency, the Shin Bet, revealed on Sunday that it arrested an Israeli citizen on suspicion of supporting ISIS and planning to carry out an attack for the jihadist group.

An indictment was filed in the Central District Prosecutor's Office on Sunday against Hassan Taher Shir Yusuf, a resident of the Arab-Israeli city of Taibeh.

According to the agency, Yusuf started becoming more religious between the years of 2014-2015 and examined possibilities of joining the Islamic State group in Syria.

The findings of the investigation also revealed that Yousef had watched videos showing how to prepare explosives and had even tried to find someone to purchase an M16 for him.

Over the past summer, in parallel to protests which broke out on the Temple Mount over the placement of metal detectors, Yousef tried to persuade others to join him in carrying out attacks against Israelis, including a shooting attack in Jerusalem, a car bomb attack in front of the police station in Taibeh and a stabbing attack.
Arab teens beat ultra-Orthodox Jews, force them to praise Hamas
The Jerusalem District Prosecution filed an indictment Sunday against 19-year-old Ahmad Faroukh for a race-motivated assault against two ultra-Orthodox Jews in in his home neighborhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem two weeks ago.

On December 30th, during the Sabbath’s early morning, Faroukh and another friend spotted the two on their way to tevilah (dipping) at the Shiloah spring in the neighborhood. Faroukh’s friends then stood up and hit one of them in the head, and the two fled the scene.

On their way back from the mikvah and to the Western Wall, Faroukh and his friend blocked the worshipers' way “in order to attack and humiliate them together because they are Jews," the indictment document reads.

Faroukh’s friend then asked one of the men about his payot (sidelocks) and then took one sidelock from each of them and tied them together, despite their constant request for him to stop. The ultra-Orthodox are restricted from untying their sidelocks during the Sabbath.

Faroukh's friend complained over the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israel Police in Arabic, and Faroukh translated his complaints to Hebrew and forced the two Jews to repeat him. They also praised Hamas and made the two ultra-Orthodox men repeat their praise as well.
IsraellyCool: A Whole Bunch of New Lies Surrounding Shirley Temper
I think I may need to rename Ahed Tamimi “Shirlie Temper”, because everything about her and her story does not seem to hold up to the truth.

Those Random and Brutal Soldiers
In this interview with the vile Abby Martin from a few years ago (but being recirculated now), she claims “at any time I can expect a soldier coming towards me to shoot me and kill me. This feeling affects us permanently.”

Does it make any logical sense whatsoever to actively approach such apparently random and brutal soldiers and start slapping them around and kicking them?

This reminds me of her claim last year that she was “scared to even go outside or visit my friends.”
Who Slapped First?

The detestable George Galloway outright lies in this next video, claiming the soldier slapped Tamimi first.
Ahed Tamimi is NO Malala
The enduring commitment of Malala to her cause of women’s education is what makes her an activist, coupled with her lack of hatred and animosity, her peacefulness and compassion, makes her outstanding.

Starkly contrasting the employed style of peaceful advocacy by Malala, Ahed has gained notoriety among right-wing Israelis and fame among liberal and pro-Palestinian circles for her aggressive opposition to Israeli soldiers near Nabi Salih. At 13, she, in one of many incidents, approached an Israeli soldier and proceeded to shout and menace. She held her fists high and shoved him, and as he walked away from the conflict, Ahed can be seen following and blocking him, still berating and assaulting him despite his evident attempt to de-escalate. Ahed is establishing a dangerous norm for Palestinian resistance, now apparently accepted by the international community: advocacy through violence.

However the two share one apparent similarity, not in their advocacy per se, but in their shared adversity. Malala was shot in the head in 2012 by the Tehrik-i-Taliban (the Pakistani faction of the Taliban) as a result of her outspokenness on female education, yet carried on in her advocacy, still perpetuating her pacifist philosophy. On the verge of death, Malala maintained her kindness towards others, including her detractors. Ahed has faced hardships as well, with continued violence and faltering socio-economic conditions inside the West Bank. On a personal level, Ahed’s 14 year-old cousin was shot recently with a rubber bullet and rushed into surgery during a protest in Nabi Salih. But unlike Malala, Ahed’s challenges and misfortunes appear to have spurred her actions of violence, extending the sequence of conflict.

It is tempting by media and political organizations to seize upon youthful activists as poster children for change. To some extent, the images of Ahed Tamimi in the West Bank and Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan are both compelling to general audiences as they represent young women seeking to change power structures and status quo. Yet it’s a mistake to consider Ahed and Malala similarly, as their methodologies of advocating their respective causes contrast widely. Ultimately, Ahed’s deliberate provocation of violence and her inciting conflict truly undermines the legitimacy of her cause.
Corbyn Ignores Iran, Attacks Israel
Jeremy Corbyn’s silence on the pro-democracy demonstrations in Iran is something that was commented on and forgotten about almost as quickly as the demonstrations were suppressed by the regime.

Naturally when Israel banned anti-Zionist organisations from the country Corbyn started commenting. According to Electronic Intifada his spokesman said the following;
“Jeremy is concerned by reports that activists campaigning for justice for Palestinians, against illegal settlements and the ongoing occupation have been barred from Israel,”

At the very least it’s a double standard. Since there are draconian reporting restrictions imposed on journalists in Iran and since they actually shut down the internet to stop word of the demonstrations getting out one would say that even labelling this a double standard is harsh on Israel.

Still it’s Corbyn, the man who served on the Iranian state’s mouthpiece several times from 2009-12. Amnesty International reported that the Islamic Regime hanged at least 1,314 during that period.
Posters in Jerusalem declare city the 'capital of Palestine'
Posters reading, "Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine" in Arabic were placed on several of the city's streets on Saturday.

Salah ad-Din Street, where the Justice Ministry and Jerusalem District Court are located, was among the targeted streets, along with Sultan Suleiman Street, where posters were placed on utility poles.

The act was an apparent reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's Dec. 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Maor Tzemach, chairman of the Lach Yerushalayim ("For You, Jerusalem") advocacy group, which seeks to safeguard Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, said: "Unified Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of Israel for more than 3,000 years. No incitement or sticker will change this fact. Any incitement in the public sphere in Jerusalem must be met with a strong hand."
Hamas official injured in Lebanon car bombing
A Hamas official was injured in a car bombing in Sidon, southern Lebanon, according to a spokesperson for the terror group.

Ayman Shanaa, a Hamas official in Lebanon, said Mohammad Hamdan was “injured lightly in the legs by a car bombing,” but a medical official source said his wounds were severe.

Hamdan was hit in “the explosion of a bomb placed under a BMW brand car,” a military source told AFP.

Initial reports said Hamdan was the brother of Senior Hamas leader Osama Hamdan, but the claim was widely denied.

The explosion occurred while he was opening the door of his vehicle.
Gazans exhume disabled man's body, claim he was killed in riots
Officials in the Gaza Strip exhumed the body of a disabled Gazan man Sunday as part of efforts to prove the man was killed during clashes with IDF soldiers following President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"Ibrahim Abu Thurayeh's body was exhumed this morning for another autopsy to refute Israeli claims that come as an attempt to evade their responsibility for this crime," Mohammad Al-Najjal, the deputy justice minister in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, told AFP.

Najjal said the authorities in Gaza decided that "in order to refute the occupation's claims, the bullet in his head must be presented to international parties," he added.

He said "the results of this autopsy will be presented to international parties including the ICC (International Criminal Court)."
For Second Time, Haaretz English Edition Corrects on Abu Thuraya's Leg Injury
For the second time this month, CAMERA's Israel office prompts correction of Haaretz English edition coverage of double amputee Ibrahim Abu Thuraya. As noted earlier today on CAMERA's Snapshots blog, a January 8 Op-Ed by Amira Hass ("One Palestinian More or Less, What Does It Matter to the Israeli Army?") misleadingly refers to "Abu Thuraya, whose legs had been amputated after an Israeli air strike nine years ago."

As earlier reported, Abu Thuraya injured his legs in a clash with soldiers, and not in an air strike. Haaretz ran this AP story last month stating:
While relatives have claimed Abu Thraya lost his legs in an Israeli airstrike while trying to rescue people, AP records show that he was wounded on April 11, 2008, in a clash between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. AP television footage from that day shows Abu Thraya identifying himself as he is taken away on the back of a pickup truck. He is also seen being taken on a stretcher.

The Hebrew version of Hass' Op-Ed does not claim that Abu Thuraya lost his legs in an Israeli air strike. It states (CAMERA's translation):
Less than two weeks after he wrote this, the army's criminal investigation unit announced that it would investigate the circumstances of the death of Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, a double amputee.

Following CAMERA's communication with Haaretz about this discrepancy in the English edition versus the English edition, along with a tweet today on the subject, editors have commendably corrected the English version.


JCPA: Students for Justice in Palestine Unmasked
Executive Summary
  • The Students for Justice in Palestine network serves as the leading student arm of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement in the United States.
  • SJP is not as they claim, a “grassroots” student organization; it is a terror-affiliated anti-Semitic network that currently operates with autonomy and impunity at colleges and universities across the United States.
  • SJP has adopted a policy of “anti-normalization” of relations with Zionist groups and most Jewish organizations with the exception of the equally radical, anti-Zionist and pro-BDS Jewish Voice for Peace. Students for Justice in Palestine advances their proprietary view of Palestinian justice by undertaking initiatives to isolate, demonize, and ultimately destroy the state of Israel.
  • Many students and university administrations have treated SJP as a pro-Palestinian equivalent to pro-Israel student groups such as StandWithUs, The Israel on Campus Coalition or Hillel. However, as this monograph documents, SJP is an extremist organization that maintains affiliations with Arab and Islamic terror groups, is overtly anti-Semitic, incites hatred and violence against Jewish students, and rejects the existence of the state of Israel in any borders.
  • SJP has been linked to terror groups. Some have defined SJP as a campus front for Hamas at University of California, Berkeley. Principal backers of SJP include founders, financial patrons and ideological supporters who have been connected to Islamist terror organizations such as Hamas, Hizbullah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Download pdf
USC prof includes 'Israeli zionists' on list of 'terrorists'
A petition is calling on the University of Southern California to discipline a professor who included “Israeli Zionists” on a list of “terrorists” during a classroom presentation.

The controversy originated with a lecture that Dr. David Kang delivered on October 26 to students in International Relations (IR) 210: International Relations Introductory Analysis, a mandatory course for all IR majors and minors.

During that class, Kang showed a slide labeled “Who are terrorists?” that listed nine groups and individuals, including the Columbian communist guerrilla movement FARC, Scottish folk hero William Wallace, the Tamil Tigers, and the Irish Republican Army.

Third on the list was “Israeli zionists,” immediately followed by communist dictators Kim Jong-il, Kim Il-sung, Mao Zedong, and Ho Chi Minh.
AFP Last To Correct Its Own Arabic Mistranslation
BBC and The Guardian, clients of Agence France Presse photo service, along with Getty Images, a distribution partner of AFP, have all corrected an AFP photo caption which mistranslated an Arabic sign about the boycott of Israeli good. Only AFP has failed to answer CAMERA's call to correct.

Though the inaccurate captions in question date to 2015, last week they again appeared on numerous news sites due to the Israeli Strategic Affairs Ministry publication of a list of 20 BDS organizations whose key activists will be denied entry into Israel. The captions wrongly state that the pictured sign is "calling to boycott Israeli products coming from Jewish settlements." In fact, the Arabic writing on that sign makes no reference whatsoever to a selective boycott of "Israeli products coming from Jewish settlements." The sign actually states: "Boycott your occupation...support your country's produce."

Moreover, the sign is credited to "the national campaign for boycott of the occupation and its goods" along with two other groups.
Uruguayan hostel says Israeli guests ‘not welcome’
A Uruguayan hotelier rejected an Israeli couple as guests, saying he disagrees with Israeli politics.

Amit Bradush, 22, and his partner received a personalized message from the hotelier via the Booking.com platform explaining their reservation had been canceled because his political view was “very contrary to the policies of your country,” reported El Pais news website.

“I had not seen that they were from Israel, I strongly oppose the policies of their country, they are not welcome in my house,” Buena Vista ecological resort’s owner Mauricio Pinero wrote, saying that the pre-payment had been reimbursed. He added that young Israeli guests who are on their post-army trek are particularly difficult.

“I am neither a discriminator nor an anti-Semite. The kids who come after finishing military service in Israel have a profile of celebration, arrogance and things that are not good. We work with a different type of audience. It is not a problem with anyone in particular,” he added.

Jewish and Israeli officials have criticized the action, which drew intense media coverage in Uruguay.
Germans Tackling Exploding Anti-Semitism?
The German government also decided to introduce extensive discussions about Germany's Nazi past in the course designed to make newcomers integrate into democratic societies.

The situation seemed to be getting out of control with escalating anti-Semitism among more than a million asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Teachers familiar with the curriculum, however, predict a bleak future for the efforts to convince the Muslim refugees about European history of Nazi Germany: most of them are already drunk with the anti-Semitic propaganda spread across the Muslim world by Nazi-sympathizing Islamists.

The course book introduced by Federal Bureau for Immigration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, BAMF), carries a full chapter and other small sections about the Holocaust and the atrocities committed by Nazi regime against Jewish citizens of Europe.

A senior teacher for the integration course, requesting anonymity, told this author that she finds most of the Muslim participants struggling to understand the Nazi crimes, with many of them soft towards Nazis or assuming that the Jews were to be blamed for Holocaust instead of being the victims of it.
Israeli auto-tech, robotics, photonics light up Las Vegas
Intel’s blockbuster acquisition of Israel’s Mobileye last year is finally bearing public fruit: The combined companies unveiled their first autonomous vehicle at the Consumer Technology Association’s flagship event, CES, in Las Vegas on January 9-12.

Mobileye develops the sensors and software that allow a car to know where it is in relation to its surroundings. That key component for the coming self-driving car age was the main reason Intel bought the company in March 2017 for more than $15 billion.

Prof. Amnon Shashua, Mobileye’s CEO and now a senior VP at Intel, shared the CES stage with Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, as a Mobileye-powered autonomous Ford Fusion drove onto the stage. The car is equipped with 12 cameras, radar and scanners that give it a 180-degree view from a distance of up to 300 meters.

The Ford Fusion was just a prototype, but another Mobileye product is already installed in 2 million cars from BMW, VW, Nissan and eight other car manufacturers, Krzanich announced at CES.

The technology – dubbed REM (for “road experience management”) – uses Mobileye sensors to draw high-definition maps of road conditions in near real time, crucial for both fully autonomous driving and the advanced safety systems of today’s cars.
Wilfrid Israel, an unsung Holocaust hero, gets his due
As International Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches, a film sheds light on an oft-forgotten wealthy German Jew who — through a combination of wily negotiations with the Nazis, large sums of his own money and a long series of selfless acts — saved thousands of Jews in the 1930s and 1940s.

“The Essential Link, The Story of Wilfrid Israel” is a documentary by Israeli director Yonatan Nir, which is still making the screening rounds after being shown at a number of film festivals, including Tel Aviv’s DocAviv.

The story wasn’t a natural subject for Nir. In fact, the filmmaker was somewhat surprised to find himself working on a passion project about the Holocaust.

“I do stories about animals, about personal journeys,” said Nir, who is known for the award-winning “Dolphin Boy” (2011) and “My Hero Brother”(2016). “This was totally different but I had no choice but to make it.”

This film, which was six years in the making, offered unexpected surprises to Nir about Kibbutz Hazorea, where he was born and raised, even about his own family.




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