Pregnant woman critically injured, six others hurt in West Bank shooting
A pregnant woman was left in critical condition and six others suffered moderate or light injures in a terror attack Sunday evening, when shots were fired from a passing car at a crowd of people waiting at a bus stop outside the Israeli West Bank settlement of Ofra.
The woman, 21, suffered wounds to her upper body and was rushed to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, in the capital, the Magen David Adom paramedic service said. The woman, who was said to be in the 30th-week of her pregnancy, was undergoing surgery at the hospital late Sunday.
A man, 21, with moderate wounds, was taken to the same hospital as were two others who had light injuries. Army Radio said the woman’s husband was among those lightly injured.
Another person, 22, with moderate injuries, and two 16-year-old girls with light injuries, were taken to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in the north of the capital, MDA said.
In security camera video of the shooting, posted to social media, a white car is seen slowing down near the bus stop, after which bullets can be seen striking the crowd who scramble for cover. The car, which comes to a stop for a few moments while the shooting apparently continues, then speeds off down the road as IDF soldiers are seen running to bus stop.
The car from which the shots were fired was believed to have at least two occupants.
The IDF launched a manhunt for the terrorists.
Father of wounded pregnant woman: She opened her eyes
The father of Shira Ish-Ran, who was critically wounded in the shooting attack in Ofra last night, staying at her bedside at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.Condition of baby, delivered after mother shot in terror attack, deteriorates
In a conversation with reporters, he spoke about the condition of his daughter, who is still in serious condition, and of the baby who was delivered following the attack.
"We thank the Almighty that our son-in-law Amichai is recovering and is in relatively good condition. A miracle happened that he was shot with three bullets but is still in good condition," said the father, Chaim Silverstein.
"Our daughter Shira is still in intensive care. Her condition is steadily improving but is still serious. We got to go into the ICU for a few minutes. She kept an eye and a half on all the tubes that were going in and out.
"She was cried with excitement when she saw us. We had to leave because her pulse had risen too high.
"Our situation is improving, we pray and thank all of the people of Israel, people from all over the world turned to us and said they were praying for Shira and Amichai and the baby.
The condition of a baby delivered after his mother was critically wounded in a shooting attack outside the West Bank settlement of Ofra on Sunday night has deteriorated, the hospital said Monday.
A pregnant woman was seriously injured by gunfire from a passing car as she waited, among a crowd of people, at a bus stop outside the settlement of Ofra on Sunday evening. Six other people were injured in the attack and the manhunt for the terrorists, who fled the scene, was ongoing.
The baby boy was delivered on Sunday night by Cesarean section in the 30th week of pregnancy, and was immediately transferred to the ward for premature babies at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, the hospital said.
Initially said to be in “stable” condition, the hospital said Monday the baby’s condition worsened and he was now hooked up to a ventilator and undergoing treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit.
JCPA: Hamas Tries to Ignite the West Bank
A grim shooting attack took place near the community of Ofra in the Ramallah area on December 9, 2018. The drive-by shooting attack was carried out from a car driving past a bus stop. As a result, seven Israeli citizens were injured, one of whom was in an advanced stage of pregnancy; she and her baby were left in serious condition.Manhunt for terrorists who shot at Ofra bus stop, injuring 7, enters second day
Video showing the drive-by shooting attack near Ofra.
Security sources reckon that this incident was perpetrated by a terrorist cell that has already carried out shooting attacks in the area, such as shooting at a bus near Beit El about six weeks earlier. This cell is apparently affiliated with Hamas.
IDF forces are operating in Palestinian villages in the area of the attack in an attempt to locate the terrorist cell, and particularly in the village of Silwad, close to Ofra.
Several senior Hamas figures grew up in this village, such as Khaled Mashal, former chairman of the movement’s political bureau, and Ibrahim Hamed, currently jailed in Israel, who used to head the military wing of Hamas and is responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israeli civilians and the injuries of hundreds more.
The Hamed clan in Silwad identifies with Hamas, and security sources expect to carry out arrests in the village.
Security sources have gathered photographs from CCTV cameras in the area, while Hamas has publicized its activities on social media networks to sabotage the cameras to hinder the investigation carried out by Israel’s security forces.
The Israeli military’s search for a group of terrorists who opened fire at Israeli civilians waiting at a bus stop outside the West Bank settlement of Ofra, injuring seven people including a pregnant woman, entered its second day on Monday, with troops setting up roadblocks and sweeping nearby Palestinian villages.Netanyahu slams PA incitement after ‘monstrous’ Ofra attack
Just before 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, shots were fired from a passing car at the Ofra bus stop, which was full of people following a communal Hannukah event.
In security camera video of the shooting, posted to social media, a white car is seen slowing down near the bus stop, after which bullets can be seen striking the crowd who scramble for cover. The car, which comes to a stop for a few moments while the shooting apparently continues, then speeds off down the road as IDF soldiers are seen running to bus stop.
The white car was believed to have at least two occupants.
Seven people were hit by the gunfire, including a seven-month pregnant woman who was critically injured.
Doctors were able to perform an emergency Cesarean section on her and deliver the baby on Sunday night. The conditions of the mother and child remained precarious as of Monday morning.
The Palestinian Authority is contributing to incitement against Israelis after the terrorist attack in Ofra, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the Knesset Monday.Netanyahu resists calls to legalize Ofra over shooting attack
“Of course there are celebrations and praise,” Netanyahu said at a Likud faction meeting. “Of course, there is no reason to expect a condemnation from the Palestinian Authority. They only contribute to the incitement here.”
Seven were injured in Sunday night’s drive-by shooting, including a 30-year-old pregnant woman, for whom labor was induced. She and the baby were in critical condition when Netanyahu spoke.
The prime minister said “horrible terrorists tried to murder a mother and a baby that was in her womb. This is a monstrous thing.”
“We are all praying for the well-being of the injured in last night’s terrorist attack in Ofra. We strengthen the doctors who are fighting for the baby’s life,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday decried the actions of the “horrible terrorists” who “tried to murder a mother and a baby in her womb” in a shooting attack outside the West Bank settlement of Ofra the night before, but declined to immediately move to legalize the community in response.US slams ‘absolutely disgusting’ West Bank terror attack
“It’s monstrous,” Netanyahu said at the opening of the weekly Likud faction meeting at the Knesset. “Security forces are pursuing [them]. They’ll capture them, we’ll bring them to justice and settle the score.”
But at the same time, behind closed doors, he resisted voices within his party and others who called to respond by legalizing Jewish homes in the settlement built on private Palestinian land. The premier said the government was working through the courts to get retroactive approval for construction, but “what you think is simple is much more complex.”
Seven people were injured Sunday night when a passing Palestinian vehicle opened fire at a crowd of pedestrians waiting at bus stop around 9:30 p.m. The manhunt for the terrorists, who sped away from the scene, was ongoing.
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt on Sunday slammed the terror attack near the West Bank settlement of Ofra, terming it an “absolutely disgusting” act and calling on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to condemn it.After Ofra shooting U.S. diplomats point at U.N. for failing to condemn Hamas
“Absolutely Disgusting – Terrorists attack a group of Israelis celebrating Hanukkah. My prayers and thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Greenblatt said in a tweet. “President Abbas, will you condemn the act this time??”
In the wake of Sunday night's terror attack near Ofra which Hamas termed “heroic,” US Ambassador David Friedman underlined that the UN could not even get itself to condemn that organization last week.Hamas praises ‘heroic’ West Bank shooting attack
“Another vile act of Palestinian terrorism last night included the shooting of a pregnant woman. Hamas calls the shooters “heroic” — yes, the same Hamas that the UN could not resolve to condemn last week. The US stands with Israel against terrorists even if others won’t,” Friedman wrote in a tweet on Monday.
Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump's special representative for international negotiations, also highlighted Hamas's reaction and slammed the UN vote as a result. In a tweet directed at the UN, he wrote: “Hamas praises yet another terror attack. You had the ability to help fight against terror. Is this what the UN wants its legacy to be?”
The UN on Thursday failed to adopt an American-sponsored resolution that would have – for the first time – condemned Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror organizations in Gaza.
Although 87 countries supported the anti-Hamas measure, while 57 opposed and another 33 abstained, the measure did not pass because the Palestinians succeeded in getting a measure passed necessitating a two-thirds majority. That measure passed by a slim three votes.
Of the top ten countries who received US foreign aid in 2018, Israel was the only country that supported the measure.
A Hamas spokesman praised the terrorist attack adjacent to the Ofra settlement in the central West Bank on Sunday in which a pregnant 21-year-old Israeli woman and six others were wounded, describing it as “heroic.”IsraellyCool: Latest Libel: Avi Dichter’s Threat To Kill All Palestinians
Shots were fired from a passing car at a crowd of people who were waiting at a bus stop near the settlement. The pregnant woman was in a critical condition, and was “fighting for her life” in the hospital late Sunday. Doctors delivered her baby, which was in a stable condition.
“The heroic Ofra operation is an affirmation of our people’s choice and legitimacy in resisting the Zionist occupation and its settlers,” Abdelatif al-Qanou, a Hamas spokesman, posted on his Facebook page. “It proves that any attempt to condemn the Palestinian resistance will fail in the face of the desire and valiance of our Palestinian people.”
He stopped short of claiming credit for the attack.
While Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, its activities in the West Bank have largely been curtailed by near constant activity by the IDF and Shin Bet security service and also by the Palestinian Authority security forces.
The Hamas spokesman added the shooting “is a message that our people will continue its struggle and uprising until it reclaims all of its stolen rights.”
Anti-Israel Facebook page The Palestinian Information Center has posted the following seemingly genocidal quote by Avi Dichter, Chairman of Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee:UN Approves Terror, Torpedoes Peace
It links to this article:
Chair of the Defence Committee at the Israeli Parliament Avi Dichter has called for killing all the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
As he was commenting on the peaceful protests of the Great March of Return taking place along the eastern fence of the Gaza Strip, he said: “The Israeli army has enough bullets for every Palestinian.”
Dichter is a senior member of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, which is a right wing one.
The post has been shared 217 times as of the time of this post.
The same claim was also reported by Russian propaganda outlet RT.
Naturally, when I saw this, I knew it was lie even before investigating. And sure enough, it did not take too long to discover the truth.
Heck, I will even use another anti-Israel site to expose the lie to you:
Dichter then goes through a typical Hasbara rant, explaining to Gazans how they should be so happy because of what is happening in Syria.
His threatening tweet from this morning comes after another one which he posted yesterday, which now appears to be removed (saved and posted on Facebook by Younes Arrar). There he wrote:
“If the protesters in Gaza will continue to try to hurt IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens, I am not worried. The IDF has enough bullets for each of the terrorists”.
Hamas and the other Palestinian terrorist groups have interpreted the failure of the US-sponsored resolution as an internationally sanctioned license to continue killing Jews.A year after Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, it’s clear he means business
What Hamas is telling the UN and the rest of the world is: "Now that you have refused to brand us terrorists, we have the right to launch all forms of terrorist attacks and kill as many Jews as possible." Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders are, in fact, threatening not only to continue, but also to step up, their terrorist attacks on Israel.
When Hamas and its supporters celebrate, the few Palestinians who are described as moderates and pragmatists and who are opposed to violence and terrorism, will have to hide.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah have boasted that what happened at the UN was a "slap in the face of the US and Israel." In fact, what happened at the UN is a severe blow to the "moderates" among the Palestinians and to any chances of reaching a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Now that the UN has legitimized Palestinian terrorism, no Palestinian leader will be able to return to the negotiating table with Israel. Thus, with this move, the UN has expertly torpedoed even the remotest possibility of peace talks.
In an age when doomsday predictions are as common as thunderstorms, it can be instructive to look back at events and compare the predictions to what actually happened. The decision by President Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is an example that offers major lessons.Netanyahu: Israel will build West Bank settlements despite ICC pressure
Long before Trump made the announcement on Dec. 6, 2017, and pledged to move our embassy to Jerusalem, there were endless warnings that the change would cause global unrest. Opponents in America, Europe and the Arab world, including current and former government officials, vehemently insisted the peace process between Israel and Palestinians would be destroyed. Some even warned that America would be sucked into another Mideast war.
Ho-hum. It’s a year later and the sky still refuses to fall. Nor is the Mideast burning.
In fact, little or nothing has changed between the parties as a result of the announcement and the subsequent embassy move from Tel Aviv. There was no peace process at the time because the Palestinians had refused even to negotiate, and that remains the case.
Also, Israel already was moving beyond the Palestinian issue and, because of threats from Iran and Islamic State, had established working security alliances with several Arab states, including Saudi Arabia. Those arrangements are intact and expanding, as are its relationships with China and others outside the region.
Among the lessons that hindsight affords is that conventional wisdom was simply wrong. It turns out that those supposedly in the know actually knew nothing.
Israel is facing a fierce campaign over existing settlements because of efforts against it at the International Criminal Court, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Likud politicians on Monday, in response to criticism for not doing enough to advance settler activity in the West Bank.Qatar pushing for Gaza airport, Israel unenthusiastic, envoy says
Netanyahu said he is proceeding carefully in order to make sure everything is legal, because of the “aggressive campaign against settlements that were already built.” His spokesman confirmed that this smear campaign is coming straight from the ICC.
The Prime Minister spoke in the closed section of the Likud faction regarding construction in Judea and Samaria.
Last week, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that she was close to a decision on whether to open a full-fledged criminal probe against Israel and Hamas for alleged war crimes. Her probe also includes West Bank settlement activity.
The government will continue building new homes in settlements despite pressure not to, Netanyahu assured the politicians.
“I am a prime minister who stood up to two very very difficult US presidents for 12 years. We built and we built and we built,” Netanyahu said, referring to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. “There is no and there will be no government that is as successful in repelling these pressures and maneuvering around them on the matter of settlements.”
“We built and we built and we built,” he repeated, “with wisdom and great persistence. What you think is simple is much more complex, but we are navigating it wisely in order to find the way, and when we find it, we will build and we will have the court’s backing.”
If he is unable to get support from the court, Netanyahu added that things might change, but in the meantime he is trying make sure it doesn't face opposition in court.
A Qatari envoy overseeing the Gulf state's humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip said on Monday that he had proposed building an airport in the blockaded Palestinian enclave but had received no response from Israel.Israeli planes can use Omani, Sudanese airspace, Netanyahu says
In coordination of Israel and the United Nations, Qatar has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to various Gaza projects that the partners say are designed to stave off Palestinian poverty and prevent escalations in violence.
"They (Israel) said it would be discussed and they procrastinated ... We will renew our request," Qatari Ambassador Al-Emadi told the Gaza-based news agency SAWA.
"The Israeli side had security concerns and we told them we can resolve them by having the planes fly to Doha and return to Gaza from there and under Qatari security supervision," Al-Emadi said.
Israel had not responded, Al-Emadi said, but had proposed that such an airport be built on its side of the border - an idea the diplomat said had been rejected by Qatar.
Cogat, the Israeli government agency that has been coordinating with Qatar on the Gaza aid efforts, declined comment on Al-Emadi's remarks. Gaza is under the control of Hamas Islamists, who have fought three wars against Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said Israeli planes can fly over Sudan and Oman, adding that he is working on getting Saudi Arabia’s permission for this as well.Merkel’s party rejects freeze of funds for Palestinian terrorism
“When I was in Oman, Sultan Qaboos [bin Said] confirmed to me right away that El Al can fly over Oman,” the prime minister told Israeli diplomats in Jerusalem.
“Therefore, only one small thing remains for us to do,” he added, pointing to Saudi Arabia on a map. “We need to get that El Al can fly over this, and that’s it — we open new markets.”
Netanyahu also indicated that Israel is allowed to fly over Sudan — a Muslim-majority nation in northern Africa that does not have diplomatic ties with Israel.
“Currently we can fly over Egypt, Chad, and apparently, we can fly over Sudan, and then we can fly directly to Brazil, which would save about two hours,” he said.
Members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union Party voted against a motion on Saturday in Hamburg to stop public funds for the Palestinian Authority’s payments to terrorists and financial aid to the families of terrorists who have murdered and injured Israelis.What kind of education is Germany funding in Gaza?
According to the motion titled “Freeze aid to the Palestinian Authority,” the “Palestinian Authority [PA] has for years already paid the families of Palestinian terrorists… and with the payments, the PA knowingly and willingly supports terror against Israel and makes this a worthy financial business.”
The motion said that so long as the Palestinian Authority does not stop this activity, Germany and the EU should not provide financial aid to the PA that is controlled by President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Bild journalist Timo Lokoschat first reported on his Twitter feed about the rejected motion.
The motion noted that the families of convicted Palestinian terrorists receive payments ranging from $300 to $3,000 a month depending on the terrorist’s criminal conviction.
Critics of the so-called “martyr” payments say the Palestinians incentivize terrorism with funds, and Europe enables the terrorism with financial aid to the PA.
UNRWA, as a UN agency, is bound by the UN endorsed principle of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict peacefully, as well as by UNESCO principles of peace education (see the Appendix below). Also, as a UN agency, it should treat all member states equally, including the State of Israel.More than 1,500 landmines cleared at Jesus baptism site on Jordan River
It is incumbent on the German taxpayer to see whether the PA textbooks used in UNRWA schools advocate a peace or call for an armed struggle, recognize the existence of Israel as a sovereign state in the region and the presence of its six-million Jewish citizens in the country as well as their holy places there, treat Jewish/Israeli individuals as ordinary human beings, renounce terrorist activity against civilians, employ self-criticism in this regard, etc.
All these are sensitive issues not only in the context of Israeli-Palestinian relations, but also against the background of German-Jewish history and past relations.
Germany, more than any other country, should be extra-careful while dealing with issues closely connected to the safety and wellbeing of the citizens of the Jewish State.
Fifty years after the monasteries at the Qasr al Yahud baptism site became an active war zone, the Defense Ministry and British anti-mine organization HALO Trust are finally making progress in clearing the estimated 6,500 landmines and booby traps that line the holy site.PM pushes bill to expose donors behind nonprofit organizations
Since work began in the spring, a team of 22 specialized bomb sappers from Georgia (the country) have cleared 1,500 landmines from three of the seven church compounds, officials told The Times of Israel on Sunday.
Marcel Aviv, the head of the Israel National Mine Action Authority, a branch of the Defense Ministry, he hopes they will finish the work in December 2019.
Christians believe that Qasr al-Yahud, located about 10 kilometers (about six miles) east of Jericho, is the spot on the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized. Qasr al-Yahud was a popular pilgrimage spot until 1968, when Israel blocked access and enfolded it in the closed military zone along the border with Jordan, fearing terrorists could use the churches as staging grounds for attacks on Israeli settlements. The Jordan River is only a few meters wide at that point.
For decades, the bullet-pocked church buildings stood shuttered, yellow signs warning of landmines flapping in the wind.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly pushing a bill that would mandate nonprofit organizations involved in political activities, especially during election time, to make their list of donors public.
Netanyahu has spoken on the matter with the heads of the coalition factions after learning that the Left has managed to secure a long list of foreign donors who plan to spend millions on campaigns aimed at convincing the public to vote him out of office.
The prime minister is said to be concerned that these donors would partner with various nonprofit organizations to disguise their actions, and believes enacting legislation that would mandate transparency on the nonprofits' part would prevent that.
"You could, for example, register a nonprofit under the name 'Zionism 2019' and use it to disseminate anti-Right and anti-Netanyahu propaganda during the election campaign," a coalition official explained.
"What this law would do is expose who is behind it, so hypothetically speaking, any ad by such an association would have to also say, 'Sponsored by George Soros.'"
This bill stands to join two other pending legislative proposals, the so-called "V15 bill" and "Soros bill."
During the previous elections, the Victory 2015 campaign explicitly urged voters to replace the government, but its allegedly clear ties to the leftist parties, as well as the obscure origins of its multi-million dollar funding, have prompted suspicions that its activities were, in fact, illegal.
LISTEN: This is sound of terrorists digging underground attack tunnels from Lebanon into Israel. This is also the sound that helped us catch them before any Israeli civilians were killed, as Hezbollah intended. #CondemnTheTunnels pic.twitter.com/k4yYJ4Vdyu
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 10, 2018
State rules Palestinian stabber was mentally ill, thus not a terrorist
The Justice Ministry ruled Monday that a Palestinian assailant who stabbed an Israeli man to death in Jerusalem earlier this year was not a terrorist because he was mentally ill.PA seeks extradition of more than 100 ‘thieves’ accused of corruption
The decision relied on a legal opinion given by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit at a closed-door meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in November. An attorney representing the family of Adiel Kolman — who was knifed to death in March by Abd al-Rahman Bani Fadel in the Old City of Jerusalem — obtained the opinion through a Freedom of Information request.
Mandelblit wrote that “it is important to clarify and emphasize that a person’s mental distress creates difficulties in determining that his actions were motivated by nationalism.”
The attorney general’s assessment was given as part of a deliberation over whether to demolish Fadel’s home in the northern West Bank village of Aqraba. The 28-year-old assailant was shot dead by police officers while attempting to flee the scene. Arguing that their son was not responsible for his actions, Fadal’s parents later provided authorities with files documenting his complex medical history.
“As a result, the basis for the exercise of the demolition, whose purpose is to deter other people from acting out of similar motivations… has been abandoned,” Mandelblit wrote.
The Palestinian Authority has provided the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) with the names of more than 100 Palestinian fugitives who are wanted by the PA for their role in financial corruption, President Mahmoud Abbas revealed on Saturday.Jordanian Political Commentator Sufyan Tal: The Holocaust – the Greatest Lie in Modern History
Speaking at a conference held in Ramallah on the role of the Palestinian private sector, Abbas said that he was confident that the fugitives will return the money they stole to the Palestinian people, and that Interpol has already issued “red notices” to six fugitives. An Interpol “red notice” is a request to locate and provisionally arrest someone pending extradition.
“This means there are six thieves who will not be able to escape justice,” Abbas said. “We have a court that specializes in corruption cases, and it should have no mercy on anyone. We’re talking about more than 100 people who ran away. One stole $5 million, a second stole $10 million, and a third stole $20 million. They will all be brought [back] and you will see them here in the homeland.”
The PA leadership, Abbas added, has decided to wage a “rigorous war” on corruption. He said that he had told Rafik Natshe, head of the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission, that no one should be excluded from the war on corruption.
Speaking on Al-Quds TV (Lebanon) on November 11, 2018, Jordanian political commentator Sufyan Tal said that Rupert Murdoch and Alex Springer are prominent Zionists who are recruited to make the world believe Jewish-Zionist lies. He said that the Holocaust is an example of one of these lies, and that it is the greatest lie in modern history. He said that modern research and statistics prove that it is illogical for six million Jews to have been gassed by the Germans because each Jewish woman would have had to have given birth three times per year for that to have been possible. He added that Murdoch and Springer make laws in Europe that punish anybody who doubts or denies the Holocaust, including reputable scholars.