Monday, September 17, 2018
Mahmoud Abbas: Fresh American Blood on His Hands
In a speech before the PLO Executive Committee in Ramallah on September 15, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas repeated the old libel that Israel was planning to establish special Jewish prayer zones inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Abbas claimed that Israel was seeking to copy the example of the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, where Jews and Muslims pray in different sections.PMW: PA says teenage killer who murdered Israeli was victim
Abbas did not say what his lie was based on. He also did [not] provide any evidence of Israel’s ostensible plot against the Al-Aqsa Mosque . . .
Hours after reports were published of Abbas’s allegation, a 17-year-old Palestinian from the town of Yatta in the southern West Bank fatally stabbed Ari Fuld, a 45-year-old Israeli-American citizen and father of four, in a shopping center in Gush Etzion, south of Bethlehem.
According to Palestinian terrorist groups, the terrorist, Khalil Jabarin, decided to murder a Jew in response to Israeli “crimes” against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in particular and Islamic holy sites in general.
In other words, the terrorist was influenced by Abbas’s incitement, and this is why he decided to set out on his deadly mission. There is no doubt that the terrorist saw the reports quoting Abbas’s claim that Israel was planning to allow Jews to pray inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Yesterday, a Palestinian teenager, Khalil Jabarin, stabbed and murdered Israeli Ari Fuld in the parking lot of a supermarket. Before succumbing to his wounds, Fuld, together with another civilian, shot and wounded Jabarin, which led to his capture.PMW: Cleric on PA TV: Israelis like "rats burrow under the ground" of Al Aqsa
Today, the PA is portraying terrorist murderer Jabarin as a victim of an unprovoked Israeli shooting. The headline in the official PA daily indicated that he had not even attacked anyone:
Headline: "The shooting and wounding of the boy Khalil Jabarin, and his arrest claiming that he killed a settler next to 'Etzion'"
The report continued to insinuate this, stating that Jabarin "stabbed a settler according to the Israeli occupation's version," and even accused Israel of neglecting the injured terrorist, claiming he was "left bleeding on the ground for more than 20 minutes":
"The boy Jabarin was wounded by a number of bullets fired by the occupation's soldiers (sic., by two Israeli civilians, one of whom Jabarin had just stabbed and mortally wounded) next to the '[Gush] Etzion' Junction, and this was after he stabbed a settler according to the Israeli occupation's version. He was left bleeding on the ground for more than 20 minutes, and then was transferred to the hospital. Jabarin is an 11th grade student in a science study track."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 17, 2018]
This is a typical example of the PA's modus operandi whenever a terrorist is killed or injured while committing a terror attack. The PA routinely describes Israel's self-defense measures to stop the terrorist as an attack on the Palestinian terrorist who is portrayed as an innocent "victim." Palestinian Media Watch reported extensively on this PA tactic during the terror wave in 2015/16, when the PA and Fatah claimed that the many terrorists committing stabbing attacks were "innocent" victims.
A Palestinian cleric compared Israelis to rats, claiming Israel is excavating under the Al-Aqsa Mosque like "rats burrow under the ground only for evil and destruction." He also stated, in the interview on official Palestinian Authority TV, that due to Israel's digs the mosque has "no foundations now":
Sheikh Raed Da'na from the Religious Source of Authority in Jerusalem: "The blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque has no foundations now... Al-Aqsa is now empty of the rocks and that which supports it, due to the Israeli machine that is excavating under it (sic., Israel does not excavate under the Temple Mount), as rats burrow under the ground only for evil and destruction." [Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, July 23, 2018]
This statement is just one in an endless stream of false accusations by Palestinian leaders that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is "in danger" and that Israel is carrying out a deliberate plan to destroy it. At times, PA leaders have intensified the repetition of this libel in order to ignite fury among Palestinians and urge them to use violence and carry out terror attacks against Israelis. This was the case before and during the terror waves in 2014 and 2015/16 in which dozens of Israelis were murdered and hundreds wounded.
Therefore it is not surprising that Hamas was quick to justify yesterday's murder of Israeli Ari Fuld by a Palestinian teenager with the alleged "danger" to Al-Aqsa. Hamas presented "the heroic operation" as a reaction to Israel's "harming Al-Aqsa":
"While blessing this heroic operation, we emphasize that harming the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line, and that this operation is a response to warnings regarding the danger of what the occupation is currently doing, and what it intends to do at the Al-Aqsa Mosque." [Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, Sept. 16, 2018]
For decades, Palestinian leaders have alleged that Israel is destroying the mosque, and it is not the first time Palestinians have referred to Israel as rats or mice eating away at the foundations of the mosque.
Caroline Glick: Ari Fuld, A Fighter for Israel in Life and Death
Ari Fuld, who was murdered Sunday outside of a supermarket in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, was the sort of person you could always count on to put his own interests on hold to help Israel. His passion for Israel and its defense permeated everything he did.
Fuld, the New York native, U.S. citizen, and 45-year old father of four, did not even let his wounds stop him from defending Israel. After the Palestinian terrorist stabbed him in the back, Fuld — a combat verteran from Israel’s elite Golani Infantry Brigade — managed to swerve around and pursue his attacker, shooting him in the back several times before he collapsed from his wounds. He died shortly thereafter at a Jerusalem-area hospital.
Fuld moved to Israel in the early 1990s. He studied in a yeshiva and served in the Israeli army. He grew up in Riverdale, New York, and studied at SAR Jewish Day School there, where he father served as principal.
His childhood friend, Avi Abelow, moved to Israel at the same time. Both men settled in Efrat, a suburban community south of Jerusalem, with a large American émigré population. They lived on the same street, sat next to one another at synagogue every day, and raised their children together.
Both men also devoted their lives and careers to defending Israel against hostile media coverage on social media and other platforms. Fuld was about to embark on a world speaking tour when he was murdered.
A donation can be made here:https://t.co/Rv54dWU9y5
— The Mossad (@TheMossadIL) September 16, 2018
Ari Fuld's miraculous war story
A recounting of the late Ari Fuld’s experiences during the Second Lebanon War sheds further light on his heroism and devotion to the Jewish people.Ryan Bellerose: A Tale of Two Heroes
As related several years ago in the Chabad movement’s Sichat Hashavua, Ari was trekking miles into Lebanon with his fellow soldiers during the war, when his commander, who was at the head of the company, was suddenly shot and collapsed. Three soldiers who were nearby ran to help him, when missiles were shot in their direction and they, too, were wounded and collapsed.
The deputy commander then took charge, and ordered Ari and several of his comrades to run ahead, into the line of fire, and drag the wounded soldiers back to cover, as there was high risk that the wounded soldiers would be captured by the enemy.
Ari and his comrades didn’t hesitate for a second, and ran straight into the chaos, where bullets were flying and explosions could be heard in every direction.
When they reached the wounded soldiers, they heard several loud explosions behind them. The area in which they had been taking cover several moments before had been completely bombed out.
After dragging the wounded soldiers out of the line of fire, a combat medic rushed to treat Ari and told him to lie on the ground, but Ari refused, believing that he had not been hit. The medic looked at him in bewilderment, pointing out that Ari’s backpack had been completely ruptured by bullets. Taking off Ari’s pack, the medic discovered bleeding, and Ari realized there was a danger that he had actually been hit in a central artery, but still could not feel it.
The medic discovered that the source of the bleeding was a large piece of shrapnel which had cut Ari in the back, but had been stopped by his vest just before it could penetrate deeper.
One Hero, Ari Fuld, worked hard, raised money for others, never took a really large wage despite raising prodigious amounts of money for several causes, raised 4 children on a limited budget, was a respected religious man who helped others return to their ancestral ways and was a shining example of what a Jewish person could aspire to be. He protected his people and continued to serve in the military reserves regularly, put others first, and showed his love and veneration for his ancestral lands by volunteering untold hours and travelling the entire world to debunk lies and spread honest truth. He was a hero to his people and in the story of the Jewish people. He will be forever remembered as a respected and loved husband , father and hero. They may never name a school after him, but the people whose lives he touched and anyone who ever met him, will remember him with fondness and respect. When he died, an entire country mourned and thousands of people attended his funeral. He is a hero not just for the way he died, mortally wounded and chasing the coward who murdered him and preventing that coward from harming anyone else with what were literally his last breaths, but for the way he lived, selflessly, for others not just himself.Uri Zaki, Ari Fuld’s left-wing sparring partner, grieves his friend
The other “hero”, Khalil Jabbarin was a 17-year-old loser, he has done nothing notable with his life. Except one thing, he took a knife and snuck up behind a man who was on the phone and stabbed him in the back and then ran away. He killed a Jew, so now he is being lauded as a hero by his people, who handed out candies and posted his picture and name all over the place telling everyone what a hero this kid was. They will probably name a UNRWA school after him, at least if UNRWA still exists after this year. But in a few days he will be forgotten, nobody will remember anything he did, nobody cares. He is not even a footnote in the story of his people. The only lives he touched were the lives of the friends and family of the man he killed. The only thing of note he ever did was something evil, and pathetic. Nobody will look back at him with fondness or respect and when he dies, I doubt his funeral will reach double digits. He is being called a hero by his people because he snuck up behind a man and stabbed him and then ran away.
These heroes are the difference between these two peoples. One people have heroes who are heroes because they are loved and respected and do heroic things and place others before themselves. They do extraordinary things and are exemplary human beings. The other people? All you need to do is try to kill a Jew. I know which hero will stand before the creator unbowed and without trembling, and which one will be going somewhere unpleasant.
The truth is that there are not two heroes at all; there was one hero and one pathetic pitiful excuse for a human being.
Ari Fuld, 45, father of four, died on Sunday in the Gush Etzion terror attack. Fuld chased and shot the terrorist after he was stabbed, preventing the perpetrator from harming others.Michael Lumish: Ari Fuld: 1973 - 2018
Originally from New York, Fuld lived in Efrat (a settlement in Gush Etzion, in the West Bank). His wife, family and friends mourned him and emphasized his courage and dedication to his country and religion.
Well-known left-wing activist Uri Zaki, spouse of Meretz chairwoman Tamar Zandberg, mourned the death of his colleague and sparring partner.
“I’m shocked and pained [to hear of] the vile murder of my friend Ari Fuld,” wrote Zaki on Twitter.
Fuld and Zaki hosted a political talk show on ILTVNews. Although strictly on complete opposite ends of the political spectrum, Zaki said to Army Radio Monday morning, “We mainly agreed that we both want the best for the State of Israel. After the broadcast, we would sit down for a bottle of whiskey”.
I don't have a lot to say about this other than that it saddens me greatly.Opposition leader Tzipi Livni visits family of terror victim Ari Fuld
I was not a friend of Ari's, but I knew of him and we occasionally crossed paths in a friendly manner on Facebook. He was friends with others who I consider friends and he was just -- to my mind -- part of the larger pro-Jewish / pro-Israel network of people.
The Judeosphere.
I have to say, I am a little surprised at the tremendous outpouring for this man. I had no idea that he was so well-known. I knew he was well-liked and respected among many people, but even Netanyahu and others within the Israeli government are expressing their sadness at this murder.
And that, unfortunately, is all that I can do.
He had four children.
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni visited the Efrat home of terror victim Ari Fuld on Monday. Fuld was murdered in a terrorist incident on Sunday at the Gush Etzion Junction.IDF maps home of Fuld's killer for demolition
"I came to comfort and embrace the family of Ari Fuld, a hero who in his last moments fought and saved the lives of others," Livni said. "It is important to me to stress to the family that even if we have disagreements, we are all partners in our love for the people of Israel and the land of Israel. I share in their pain from the terrible loss and the anger at the terror which we're all united in fighting."
Thousands gathered to mourn Ari Fuld from late Sunday night into early Monday morning in Kfar Etzion, a religious settlement in the West Bank.
A father of four, Fuld stood between the junction’s mall and the Rami Levi supermarket when he was stabbed in the back by Khalil Yusef Ali Jabarin, 17, from the city of Yatta in the South Hebron Hills.
IDF troops raided the West Bank town of Yatta and began mapping for demolition the home of the teenaged Palestinian terrorist who murdered Ari Fuld outside a shopping mall in Gush Etzion on Monday.
The IDF carried out house-to-house searches in Khalil Yusef Ali Jabarin’s home village near Hebron, questioned his relatives, and confiscated work permits and material from his home to be used for investigation.
American-born Fuld, a father of four, was standing between the Gush Etzion junction mall and the Rami Levi supermarket when he was stabbed in the back by Jabarin, who had no security-related history.
Mortally wounded, Fuld chased his Palestinian attacker, jumped over a short stone wall and shot him before collapsing. He was evacuated to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center where he succumbed to his wounds.
Jabarin, who was shot by Fuld and another armed civilian, was evacuated in moderate condition and fully conscious to Hadassah University Medical Center in Ein Kerem.
A controversial tactic, Israeli officials say home demolitions are a key deterrent to stop other potential attackers, but Palestinians and human rights groups criticize the army for using collective punishment by demolishing the homes of the terrorist’s families.
How much coverage in the online UK press of the horrific terrorist murder of Ari Fuld? None in @BBCNews @Independent @guardian @Telegraph @thetimes. Apparently the slaughter of an Israeli "settler" doesn't count for UK editors.
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 17, 2018
Ari Fuld’s Murderer Clearly Driven By Poverty and Desperation
I mean c’mon! He clearly couldn’t even afford jeans without holes in the knees.Palestinian groups applaud Gush Etzion attack
And the gates to his house? They look silver. No gold there (hat tip: Max).
The house seems to be only two-storey.
It is no wonder he felt a compulsion to stab a Jewish man to death.
Alternatively, I am being sarcastic (duh) and you all get my point – he killed Ari Fuld because he had been fed on a diet of hate and incitement.
Palestinian society has a real sickness, and until regular palestinians who truly desire peace and coexistence raise their voices and act against such terrorists and those who enable them, there will be no peace.
Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, praised the murder of Ari Fuld on Sunday, saying it was a “natural response to Zionist crimes against the Palestinians.”How the PA reported the murder of Ari Fuld
The Palestinian Authority did not immediately comment on the terrorist attack.
The PA’s official news agency, Wafa, reported on the attack in a brief item under the headline: “The occupation injures a teenager south of Bethlehem.”
The report identified the terrorist as 17-year-old Khalil Ali Jabarin of the town of Yatta south of Hebron. According to the report,Jabarin was injured “under the pretext that he attempted to carry out a stabbing attack” in Gush Etzion.
Hamas quickly reacted to the terrorist attack and called it a “heroic stabbing operation.”
Husam Badran, a senior Hamas official, said in a statement: “We welcome this heroic operation and affirm that harming al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line.” The terrorist attack, he added, came in response to what Israel is planning to do in the al-Aqsa Mosque. Our Palestinian people will not remain silent towards the ongoing violations against al-Aqsa.”
The official Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa presented the terrorist who murdered Ari Fuld Sunday morning as a victim of an Israeli shooting.Mayor of Palestinian city, home to Ari Fuld's attacker, condemns terror
Wafa ran the story on the terror attack with the headline: 'Israeli forces injure Palestinian near Bethlehem.'
The body of the article read: "A Palestinian young man was injured by gunfire on Sunday when he was shot by Israeli forces, after he allegedly carried out a stabbing attack targeting an Israeli settler in Gush Etzion settlement complex, near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank."
The article continued: "The Palestinian Military Liaison said the young man, who comes from the Makhamreh family from Yatta town in the southern West Bank, was lightly injured after being shot by the forces."
No mention was made of the fact that an Israeli man was murdered.
Ibrahim Ali, the mayor of the West Bank village of Yatta, the home of the Palestinian terrorist responsible for the Sunday attack that killed Israeli-American Ari Fuld, condemned the terror incident in an interview on Army Radio Monday morning.Terrorist’s parents say they alerted PA, Israel before deadly stabbing of Fuld
"I condemn every act of violence, both against Palestinians and against Israelis," Ali said. Ali also said that he knew the family of the terrorist responsible for the attack, Khalil Yusef Ali Jabarin, though not Jabarin himself.
However, he added, Palestinians in the city are living in a situation that leads to such attacks. "Many things can cause a person to reach a state of abject humiliation," he said. "People here are hungry and they have no money to buy food. Their self-respect has been trampled."
"One of the things that causes these attacks is Israeli policy," Ali said.
The parents of a Palestinian teenager who carried out a deadly terror attack in the central West Bank on Sunday warned both Palestinian Authority and Israeli security forces about their son before the lethal stabbing, according to a senior PA official and Israeli military sources.How Feasible Is a Long-Term Truce with Hamas?
On Sunday, 17-year-old Khalil Jabarin of Yatta, a village south of Hebron, fatally stabbed 45-year-old Ari Fuld, an American Israeli resident of the Efrat settlement and a father of four, outside a shopping mall at the Gush Etzion Junction.
A senior PA official based in the southern West Bank said Jabarin’s father warned PA security forces that his son had gone missing Sunday morning, after he fought with him about going to school.
“The father and his son got into a fight this morning. The father wanted his son to go to school, but he refused and eventually the father beat him,” the official, who asked not to be named, told The Times of Israel. “The son then ran away and the father told the security forces that his son went missing. The security forces tried to find him, but they weren’t able to before [the stabbing].”
When asked if the PA security forces informed their Israeli counterparts that Jabarin had gone missing, the official said that the father had only informed them that his son had disappeared and not that he was planning to carry out an attack.
The prospect of a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas brings with it both risks and opportunities. While it remains far from clear that such an arrangement is even feasible, Israel is giving Egyptian mediation efforts a chance.Behind a BBC News video on Gaza airport
At present, the Israel-Hamas truce is based on the minimal formula of “quiet for quiet.” But many obstacles stand in the way of efforts to broaden this arrangement.
As time passes, this minimalist formula, in place since the end of Operation Protective Edge in 2014, faces a growing risk of collapsing into a new war. The truce has already been punctured by five major escalation rounds since May of this year alone, in which Hamas and other armed radical forces in Gaza terrorized southern Israeli areas by firing over 600 rockets and mortars.
The Israel Air Force responded by launching extensive waves of air strikes, hitting hundreds of high-value Hamas military assets in Gaza. Targets included Hamas naval attack tunnels, rocket manufacturing factories, battalion headquarters, command posts, urban warfare training camps, and other enemy assets that Hamas invested considerable time and money in creating.
These rounds of fighting appear to be the result of a calculated campaign by Hamas leader Yihya Sinwar to escalate the situation to the brink of war, but to hold back from tumbling into the abyss.
So while BBC audiences were correctly told that Israel had been “urged to allow it to reopen“, they were not informed why Israel might consider an international airport situated literally meters from its border and controlled by a terrorist organisation which does not co-operate with Israel on anything – let alone aviation safety and security – and which has been responsible for hundreds of terror attacks and the firing of thousands of missiles against Israeli civilians, to be a security concern.Palestinian envoy says US revoked his family’s visas, closed his bank accounts
But why were BBC audiences presented with this report now? The 20th anniversary of the opening of the Gaza Strip airport is still over two months away and while one may surmise that this report has some connection to this month’s anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords, a rather more mundane reason may be equally relevant.
On the same day that the BBC’s report emerged, AFP’s Gaza office produced a filmed report from the exact same location and with some strikingly similar visuals.
However, unlike the BBC version, AFP’s report also included contributions by officials from the Palestinian Aviation Authority and the Gaza Civil Aviation Authority who, it appears from a written AFP report published on the same day, accompanied the agency’s journalists to the location.
“Zuhair Zomlot, coordinator of the Civil Aviation Authority in Gaza, joined AFP on the tour.”
The reopening of the Gaza Strip airport has of course long been on the wish-list presented by Hamas during negotiation of assorted ceasefire agreements. Now an AFP Gaza bureau report produced in cooperation with Gaza based officials has apparently been recycled into a context-free ‘stocking filler’ BBC video which does nothing to provide audiences with the information needed for full understanding of how the fact that “Gaza currently has no functioning airports” is connected to Hamas terrorism.
The Palestinian envoy to the United States said his residency permit and those of his family members in the country have been canceled and the PLO’s bank accounts have been closed following the Trump administration’s decision to shut down the Palestinian Liberation Organization office in Washington.US confirms defunding of Palestinian coexistence programs
Speaking to the Hezbollah-linked al-Mayadeen television network, Husam Zomlot said on Sunday that US officials have ordered him and his family to leave the country “immediately.”
Zomlot is already in Ramallah, having been recalled by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas earlier this year as part of the PA’s protest against US President Donald Trump’s decision to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem in May. Abbas had already halted most diplomatic ties with the Trump administration in December after the US officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
But according to PLO official Hanan Ashrawi, Zomlot’s wife and children were still living in the US until last week. The administration has now “revoked the visas of Ambassador Husam Zomlot’s wife and two children despite their being valid until 2020. Ambassador Zomlot’s son Said, 7, who is in second grade, and daughter Alma, 5, who is in kindergarten, were pulled out of Horace Mann Elementary School in Washington DC last week and have since left the country,” a statement from Ashrawi’s office said.
Ashrawi called the rescinding of the visas “spiteful.”
The United States on Sunday confirmed it has cut additional aid to the Palestinians for programs supporting conflict resolution with Israelis, adding to more than $500 million in other cuts.Trump officials reportedly angry at US Jews for not cheering embassy move
The latest cuts come from $10 million in programs on reconciliation involving Palestinians as well as Jewish and Arab Israelis.
The portion of the money involving Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip was being redirected to programs between Jewish and Arab Israelis, a US Embassy official said.
It was not clear how much of the $10 million was being redirected.
US officials also could not confirm whether the latest cut meant all non-security related aid to the Palestinians had now been eliminated.
“As announced in August, the administration redirected more than $200 million that was originally planned for programs in the West Bank and Gaza,” a US Embassy official said.
“At the same time, we redirected a portion of the $10 million which was planned for conflict management and mitigation.”
The Trump administration is reportedly frustrated with the American Jewish community for not embracing the US president more warmly after he moved the US embassy to Jerusalem.The U.S. Is Correct to Stand Up to the International Criminal Court
A new report released Sunday by the Jewish People Policy Institute, a Jerusalem-based think tank, quoted a White House official who alleged the president’s predecessor, Barack Obama, would be beloved for doing the things Trump has done.
“We can take justified criticism, but if Obama had transferred the US embassy to Jerusalem, the American Jewish community would have been united in applauding him!” the official said.
Trump remains deeply unpopular with US Jews. An American Jewish Committee poll from one year ago found that 77 percent US Jews had an unfavorable view of the president.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington’s executive director, Ron Halber, said the Trump administration’s broader, deeply controversial policies made it uncomfortable for Jewish Americans to praise the president for anything.
“Even if a silent majority of American Jews support the embassy move, they find it hard to publicly give Trump credit when they, like other Americans, have such intense negative feelings toward the man and his policies,” Halber told The Times of Israel on Sunday morning.
“It’s frankly because of a simple fact,” he went on. “More Jews in this country are Democrats and many, many Jews in this country are very upset with the Trump administration for reasons that have nothing to do with Israel and are therefore emotionally reluctant to applaud him when he does something that many American Jews wanted.”
Last week, National Security Adviser John Bolton gave a speech in which he threatened that the U.S would consider taking legal action against officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) should it try to prosecute Americans. It could do the same, he added, if the ICC prosecuted citizens of America’s allies, including—Bolton explicitly stated —Israel. Jeremy Rabkin comments:China's envoy to Israel lauds 'strong and vibrant' bilateral ties
Some critics [of the speech] warned that such action would undermine respect for the rule of law around the world—since it threatens targeting actual judges! That is missing the point. As a nonparty to the ICC treaty, the United States has never agreed to submit its nationals to the court. Still less has the United States agreed that third-party states can extradite Americans to this court in The Hague.
It is one thing for national courts to prosecute Americans for offenses committed on their territory. . . . It is something quite different for a court claiming to speak for humanity at large to try Americans without—as we see it—any serious legal ground for such action. . . . Why are the officials of the ICC entitled to a special privileged status? To say that [John] Bolton’s blast against the ICC undermines “respect for the rule of law” implies that any official of any corrupt or tyrannical regime who is locally designated a “judge” must have a claim on our respect. That is not respect for law but for the mystique of the robe. . . .
President Trump has repeatedly complained that most NATO states shirk the costs of military preparedness. That’s a serious problem. But surely it is worse when our partners, lacking the resources to provide military assistance, still want to participate in legal second-guessing of what fighters have done. The European idea seems to be that Americans will do the fighting and Europeans will assist with the judging.
The Chinese Embassy in Israel celebrated 69 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China with a reception at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on Sunday.Israel, Turkey said in talks to repair relations, return envoys
At the event, Chinese Ambassador to Israel Zhan Yongxin spoke of the special significance of this year's celebrations.
"Sixty-nine years ago, on Oct. 1, 1949, the People's Republic was founded. The Chinese people, having gone through more than 100 years of hard struggle, finally witnessed the rebirth of their nation and embarked on a glorious journey for dignity, prosperity and strength," he said.
"This year's national day celebration carries special significance, as it also marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up – an endeavor that transformed China and the world."
Zhan praised China-Israel ties, calling bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, technology, agriculture, education, health care, culture and academia "strong and vibrant."
"Last year, Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu paid a successful visit to China. During the visit, the leaders of our two countries announced the establishment of the China-Israel Innovative Comprehensive Partnership, elevating the bilateral relations to a new level and charting the course for our future cooperation," Zhan said.
Noting that while bilateral trade was $50 million in 1992, by 2017 it had surged past $13 billion and that China is now Israel's largest trading partner in Asia and the third-largest globally.
Israel and Turkey are holding backchannel talks in a bid to restore the all-but-severed diplomatic relations between the two nations.IDF bus accidentally enters refugee camp; 4 troops hurt in ensuing clashes
After the violent protests on the Gaza border in May in which over 60 Palestinians, most of them members of Hamas and other terror groups, were killed, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan placed the blame for the deaths squarely on Israel, calling it a “terrorist state” that commits “genocide.” Turkey recalled its ambassador and expelled Israel’s ambassador, Eitan Na’eh, and consul in Istanbul.
Israel responded at the time by expelling Turkey’s consul-general in Jerusalem and summoning the country’s deputy ambassador in Tel Aviv for a dressing down.
According to a report Monday in the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, if the latest talks bear fruit, both governments expect to return their respective ambassadors after the Jewish holiday season, or roughly in early October, some five months after the spat — the latest in a series of diplomatic crisis spanning years.
Two private jets, one Israeli and one Turkish, left their respective countries for Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday morning, flying via Amman, the report said. The flights are believed to be connected to the ongoing talks, but neither government has confirmed their purpose.
Turkey already returned its economic attache to Israel in recent weeks.
Palestinians attacked an Israeli military bus that accidentally entered the Qalandiya refugee camp on Sunday night, injuring three soldiers and a border guard, officials said.Israel to deport French-US professor arrested at West Bank protest
The bus entered Qalandiya, north of Jerusalem, shortly before 7 p.m. for as yet unknown reasons.
The military vehicle was quickly surrounded and residents began pelting rocks at the bus, the army said.
In response, the Israeli troops fired gunshots into the air to scare off the crowd.
A contingent of Border Police officers stationed nearby were called to the refugee camp to help. The border guards made “wide use” of tear gas and other less-lethal riot dispersal means in order to break up the riot, a police spokesperson said.
An American-French law professor arrested by Israel while protesting against the demolition of a Palestinian village in the West Bank is to be deported, his lawyer said Sunday.Palestinians admit boy who died in border clash not killed by IDF fire
US-born Frank Romano, who teaches law at the Paris Nanterre University, was detained on Friday while taking part in a demonstration at the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem.
“There is an administrative decision to deport him,” lawyer Gaby Lansky told reporters.
“Like thieves in the night, instead of bringing Frank Romano to a hearing to free him from jail, which I requested and which was set for 4 p.m. in Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, without notifying me or the court, at 2 p.m., police transferred him to immigration for deportation,” Lansky wrote on Twitter.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli Interior Ministry could not immediately confirm such a decision.
The village of roughly 200 people in the West Bank will be demolished, after an Israeli court paved the way for its razing.
The Palestinian boy killed in a Gaza border riot on Friday was not killed by IDF fire but by a "hard object that fractured his skull and caused internal bleeding," the Palestinian human rights group Al-Mezan said in a report on Sunday.Drone from Gaza enters Israel
The report did not specify the nature of the "hard object" but, in all likelihood, 12-year-old Shady Abdel Aal was hit in the head by a rock thrown by other Palestinians at IDF troops.
The IDF says it has evidence showing the boy was hit by a rock thrown by protesters.
IDF Spokesman in Arabic Maj. Avichay Adraee tweeted on Sunday night that according to sources and eyewitnesses, the boy was wounded by a rock thrown by another protester.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which over the weekend said the boy had been killed by Israeli fire, admitted it was impossible to determine the cause of death definitively because, in line with Muslim custom, autopsies cannot be performed on "martyrs."
In May, the Gaza Health Ministry removed a baby from its official death toll after it was found that she died from a pre-existing medical condition, not from Israeli tear gas as claimed.
IDF soldiers on Sunday night spotted a drone that infiltrated Israeli territory from Gaza and fell near the border.JCPA: Hamas Creates New Force to Fight in Gaza
IDF forces are conducting searches along the border area in an attempt to locate the object.
On Friday, some 13,000 Palestinian Arabs rioted at several locations along the Gaza border fence. Some of them threw grenades and explosive devices at IDF soldiers.
One IDF officer was lightly injured in the incident and received medical treatment. In response, the IDF attacked two Hamas positions along the Gaza border.
Hours earlier, on Friday morning, IDF troops neutralized an explosive device that was located near the Gaza border.
The device was discovered near the border fence separating southern Gaza from Israel. No injuries or damages were reported.
Over the past two weeks, Hamas has created a new unit called, “The Night-time Deployment Unit.”The Gaza Palace of Justice: Snapshots from Concentration Camp Gaza
The purpose of the unit is to strike against IDF soldiers deployed on the Gaza border during the night and to break the routine of incidents on the border ending in the evening hours or on only one day of the week.
The unit has already started taking action by attempting to breach the border fences, launching incendiary balloons toward the Israeli communities close to Gaza, tossing explosives, placing IEDs, burning tires, and activating sirens.
The establishment of the new unit is part of Hamas’ strategic decision to ramp up again the incidents on the border following the failure to secure a calm through the Egyptian-sponsored negotiations. The tactic is part of the strategy to pressure Israel to remove the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Today was the grand opening celebration for the Gaza Palace of Justice, a multimillion dollar complex bankrolled by Qatar.
The complex consists of 3 buildings, each consisting of 7 floors and will house the Supreme Judicial Council, the Magistrate's Court, an administrative building, chapel, cafeteria and clerks' offices
This administrative and judicial complex, on ten dunans of Gaza real estate cost nearly $12 million dollars to build. Yet, people like Lynn Gottleib of the Rabbinic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace still claim "Israel does not permit building materials to come into Gaza."
In tacit threat, Israel releases satellite photos of Syrian presidential palace
Israel on Monday released photographs taken by its newest spy satellite of sites located deep inside Syria, including Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s palace, in an apparent threat to the regime.
The images, taken by the Ofek 11 spy satellite, were released by the Defense Ministry to mark 30 years since Israel’s first orbital launch on September 19, 1988.
The three photographs released by the ministry showed the Syrian Presidential Palace, also known as the Palace of the People; tanks on a Syrian military base; and the Damascus international airport, which was reportedly targeted by an Israeli missile strike on Saturday night.
The publication of the images could be seen as both a show of strength and a tacit threat to Syria, where Israel has routinely conducted air raids against Iranian targets — over 200 of them since 2017, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The Saturday night strike reportedly targeted an Iranian plane at the Damascus international airport that was delivering weapons to pro-regime forces and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps units fighting in Syria’s civil war, as well as several weapons storage facilities at the airport itself.
The Israelis destroyed an IRGC 474 on the tarmac at Damascus International Airport, as well as storage facilities disguised -- poorly (see image) -- as DHL and UN facilities. Also took out Russian-made S-200 antiaircraft missiles. https://t.co/ZQQhiP44Rq pic.twitter.com/9vJuG9lBxL
— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) September 16, 2018
Defense Minister: Germany Committed Over Long-Term to Help Iraq Rebuild
German forces will be needed in Iraq for a long time to help rebuild the country’s military as it struggles to ensure that Islamic State militants do not regroup in underground cells, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday.
Germany, which has about 125 soldiers in Iraq, is committed to supporting Baghdad as it rebuilds now that the fight to reclaim territory formerly held by Islamic State (IS) militants is largely over, she said during a visit to German troops at the Taji military base about 30 kilometers north of Baghdad.
“The fight against IS left deep wounds and scars in the country. It will take patience … to strengthen Iraq again,” she said when asked why Germany was bracing for a longer-term engagement in Iraq. “This is about a reconstruction of a country in all areas.”
Iraq not only needed stability but also economic growth and cooperation, von der Leyen told reporters, noting that Germany had invested about 1.4 billion euros ($1.63 billion)in Iraq since 2014.
Germany this year began shifting its military training activities to the central part of Iraq after focusing in the past more on training Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq.
German forces will also advise the Iraqi Defense Ministry on issues such as mine-clearing and development of defenses against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, von der Leyen said.
Lebanese Journalist Salem Zahran: Kuwaiti Emir Canceled Deals with China at Trump's Order: The Jews Rule the World pic.twitter.com/fgF3krBHp5
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 17, 2018
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