Wednesday, July 05, 2023

07/05 Links Pt1: BBC apologises after presenter said 'Israeli forces are happy to kill children'; Palestinian child sacrifices; Israeli woman held hostage in Iraq by Hezbollah

From Ian:

'Israeli forces are happy to kill children,' BBC anchor tells ex-PM Bennett
A BBC anchor told former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett that "Israeli forces are happy to kill children" in an interview where Bennett responded to criticism of the Israeli operation in Jenin. The BBC interview was conducted by host Anjana Gadgil and was posted to Bennett's YouTube channel on Wednesday.

"The Israeli military are calling this a 'military operation,' but we now know that young people are being killed, four of them under eighteen. Is that really what the military set out to do? To kill people between the ages of 16 and 18?”

“Quite to the contrary," Bennet replied. "Actually, all 11 people dead there are militants. The fact that there are young terrorists who decide to hold arms is their responsibility." The former Israeli prime minister went on to explain that, of many of the terror attacks over the past year, events that have collectively ended several dozens of Israeli civilian lives, the perpetrators have come from, and we trained in, Jenin. "Jenin has become an epicenter of terror," he says. "All the Palestinians that were killed were terrorists in this case."

"Terrorists" or "children?" Bennett, BBC anchor vie over IDF actions in Jenin
“Terrorists, but children. The Israeli forces are happy to kill children,” Gadgil responded. After asking the BBC anchor how she would define an armed 17-year-old shooting at her family, she doubled down, citing the UN which has "defined [the militants] as children."

After reiterating his question for the anchor, Gadgil insisted, "We're not talking about that." Bennett affirmed that that dynamic was precisely what the conversation was about.

“No Israeli mom wants to send their boy into Jenin. We do it because we’ve got no choice,” Bennett said. “This is asymmetric. We are not targeting civilians. They are only targeting civilians.”

Penultimately, Gadgil, who remarked that actions such as the ones Israel has taken in Jenin would only serve to escalate the conflict, asked how the conflict would come to an end.

“When they decide that they accept the Jewish State in the land of Israel, it’ll end,” Bennett stated.






BBC Anchor Utters Blood Libel During Live Interview With Ex-Israel PM Naftali Bennett
“The Israeli forces are happy to kill children,” is just one of the profoundly disturbing statements made by BBC News presenter Anjana Gadgil during an interview with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett about the IDF’s recent counterterrorism raid in Jenin.

Gadgil’s anti-Israel bias was exposed in her first question to Bennett:
First of all, the Israeli military is calling this a military operation, but we know that young people are being killed — four of them under 18 — is that really what the military set out to do? To kill people between the ages of 16 and 18?

Of course, the malicious suggestion that the Israeli army “set out” to kill children is patently false, and Gadgil’s failure to tell viewers that every single one of the Palestinians who died in the raid was claimed by a terrorist organization is tantamount to journalistic malpractice.

While Bennett deftly handled the question, including explaining that at least 50 Israelis have been murdered in attacks perpetrated by terrorists from the West Bank city that has emerged as the epicenter of Palestinian terrorism, the fact remains that such an appalling question should never have been asked in the first place.
BBC apologises after presenter said 'Israeli forces are happy to kill children'
A BBC spokesperson told the JC: “BBC News has received comments and complaints concerning an interview with Naftali Bennett broadcast on the BBC News channel about recent events in the West Bank and Israel.

“The complaints raised relate to specific interview questions about the deaths of young people in the Jenin refugee camp.

“The United Nations raised the issue of the impact of the operation in Jenin on children and young people.

“While this was a legitimate subject to examine in the interview, we apologise that the language used in this line of questioning was not phrased well and was inappropriate.”

However, the corporation stressed the BBC covered the wider events in Jenin in an “impartial and robust way.”


Rabbi Leo Dee: Ordinary Palestinians silently thank Allah for the Jenin operation
When Lucy, Maia and Rina were suddenly and brutally taken from this world during Pesach, I cried in pain. Not against every Arab, not against every Muslim, but against every terrorist.

I have Palestinian friends and acquaintances. That is the norm when you live in Efrat. Indeed it is the norm when you live in any location in Judea and Samaria (unaffectionately known as the “West Bank”).

Our local supermarket is located in Area C and I select my tomatoes and cucumbers standing next to Palestinian men and women who live in Bethlehem and Hebron. Unsurprisingly, most of these people are just like you and me. Many of them work in construction in Jerusalem or Beit Shemesh and earn more than twice what a Palestinian Authority employee (even a doctor) would earn in their own territory. This is the majority.

And then there are terrorists. They are not like you and me. They were mostly brought up in UNRWA run “refugee” towns and trained in terrorist skills during summer camps and fed hatred through Palestinian Authority textbooks that glorify past murderers of innocent civilians. That UNRWA even considers them refugees after 75 years is a direct result of United Nations antisemitism. Nobody, today, considers the millions of descendants of those 700,000 Jews expelled from Arab countries in the 1940’s and 1950’s as refugees.

What most people are unaware of is how the “good” Palestinians hate the terrorists. They despise them. However, they live in fear, in a terror state, the Palestinian Authority (PA). And the PA is funded by world governments to rule over the ten cities in the region and much of the land in between. The citizens of those 10 cities would prefer to run themselves under the protection of the IDF, but the presence of the PLO (the heavily armed PA army) is ubiquitous and feared. They unanimously describe the murderers of my family as “inhuman” and “not believing in Allah” when they see me. But only in private. A public statement would likely lead to them, and their families, being shot at in the street. And such shootings occur every day. These “good” Palestinians are the silent victims of PA terror.


Israeli woman held hostage in Iraq by Hezbollah
Israeli-Russian citizen Elizabeth Tzurkov is being held hostage by the Shi'ite militia Khataib Hezbollah in Iraq, the Prime Minister's Office announced on Wednesday.

Tzurkov has been missing in Iraq since March, but is alive and well, considering the circumstances, a senior Israeli diplomatic source said. The PMO said that it sees Iraq as responsible for her well-being.

A senior Israeli diplomatic source said that Jerusalem is doing "all it can,” through a number of channels, to ensure her safety and return, and has been in touch with Tzurkov's family. The source would not give details on the efforts to free her, nor would say which other countries are involved. Israelis cannot legally enter Iraq

Tzurkov entered Iraq on her Russian passport to do research for her PhD at Princeton University, a senior diplomatic source said, and she has likely traveled to Lebanon and Syria as well.

It is illegal for Israelis to enter enemy states such as Iraq, even with a foreign passport. The source pointed out that the government of Israel has long warned against such travel.

Tzurkov, a former leader of the left-wing Palestinian rights NGO Gisha, was a prominent voice on twitter with regards to the Syrian civil war for many years, and has tweeted about her IDF service. The diplomatic source said it is likely Khataib Hezbollah knew she was Israeli.

He also said it is possible that Iran is apprised of the situation.
Palestinian child sacrifices - opinion
The Palestinian leadership is furious with the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Launching a lengthy diatribe, the Palestinian Foreign Affairs Ministry declared: “The State of Palestine is appalled by the decision of the secretary-general of the United Nations to, once again, omit the Israeli occupation army and settler militias from the list of children’s rights violators.”

From their point of view, the Palestinians have every reason to be angry.

For decades the Palestinian Authority has been brainwashing Palestinian children. The kids are taught that Jews are the source of all evil in the world, and that Israel was established on stolen Palestinian land.

Jews, according to PA teachings, are carriers of diseases, spread drugs among the innocent Palestinians, and constantly desecrate the al-Aqsa mosque – a term they use broadly to describe the entire Temple Mount. Killing Jews, so the kids are taught, is both a moral and religious requirement. In the eyes of the Palestinian leadership, the Palestinian children are just ammunition to achieve political goals.

The parents of the youngsters are also part of the policy. Most of them, like their children, grew up indoctrinated by the PA manifest of Jew-hatred. When their kids are arrested for participating in terror, the parents are proud of their progeny.

Outrageously, if kids are killed while trying to murder Jews, the parents rejoice their children have “achieved martyrdom.” Either way, whether the kids are dead or incarcerated, the families benefit from the generous PA “pay-for-slay” terror reward payments.

Brainwashing the Palestinian children to hate, kill, and be killed, as demonstrated by Palestinian Media Watch, is not random. Rather, it is part of a concerted effort to vilify and delegitimize Israel.
UN Rights Chief: IDF airstrike on Jenin may be ‘willful killing’
The Israeli use of armed drones during its two-day military campaign against the Palestinian West Bank city of Jenin this week may amount to “willful killing,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk charged.

“Israeli forces operations in the occupied West Bank need to abide by international human rights standards on the use of force,” Volker said on Tuesday.

He spoke hours before the IDF ended its two-day Operation Home and Garden in Jenin designed to destroy terrorist infrastructure in that city. Volker said that Israel was still bound by international law in such a context, even if the goal was to eliminate terrorism.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on human rights standards
Those human rights “standards do not change simply because the goal of the operation is stated as “counterterrorism,” he explained.

The scale of the Jenin operation, “including the use of repeated airstrikes, along with the destruction of property, raises a host of serious issues with respect to international human rights norms and standards, including protecting and respecting the right to life,” Volker stated.

“Some of the methods and weapons used…are more generally associated with the conduct of hostilities in armed conflict, rather than law enforcement,” he stated.

In specific, he explained, “The use of airstrikes is inconsistent with rules applicable to the conduct of law enforcement operations. In a context of occupation, the deaths resulting from such airstrikes may also amount to wilful killings.”
UN Security Council to hold closed door meeting on Jenin
The United Nations Security Council plans to hold a closed-door meeting Friday on the two-day IDF military raid on the West Bank city of Jenin to destroy Palestinian terror infrastructure that ended early Wednesday morning.

The United Kingdom, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council for the month of July, convened the session at the request of the United Arab Emirates, France, China, and Brazil.

The Security Council last held a closed-door session on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict less than two weeks ago when the 15-member body gathered to discuss accelerated West Bank settlement activity.

Palestinian Authority demands
Palestinian Authority envoy Riyad Mansour had written this week to British Ambassador Barbara Woodward asking for a Security Council meeting and demanding action to “hold Israel accountable for its crimes” in Jenin and elsewhere in the Palestinian territories.

He asked that the UNSC take steps such as imposing an "arms embargo” against Israel and the “withholding of any assistance that can be exploited to sustain its colonization schemes, with a view to ending this illegal, deplorable situation.”

Mansour also called on the UNSC to ensure international protection for the Palestinian people, whom he said, are “entitled to defend themselves” against Israeli aggression.

“They must not be left to the mercy of Israel and its military forces and settler militias who have taken the paralysis of the international community as a green light to carry on with their crimes and terror against them,” he said.


The Caroline Glick Show: Israel's Operation in Jenin EXPLAINED
In Caroline Glick’s Cold Open this week she discusses:
- the IDF operation in Jenin.
What is the end goal of the operation and is there limited potential due to the government and IDF not being on the same page?
- the continued assault of government officials at home and abroad by the left as they protest at Haifa port and Ben Gurion Airport
- Special Envoy to Iran Robert Mailey being on unpaid leave and if that signals a change in US policy
- The appointment of Dan Shapiro to Special Envoy for the Abraham Accords
Don’t miss the show. You won’t get this analysis of the Middle East anywhere else.




Inside the Iranian Jihad in Jenin | Our Middle East
Why has Israel started an operation in Jenin? Is Iran spreading its tentacles deep into Israel?

On this week's Our Middle East, host Dan Diker speaks with Arab Affairs expert Yoni Ben Menachem to give an inside perspective on the current operation being conducted by the IDF in Jenin.
They talk about
-- the buildup of terrorist forces connected to Iran in the West Bank and how previous governments should have already acted against it.
- Iran's goal in supporting various factions within and on the border of Israel
- What the IDF needs to do in order to be a successful operation.


The Israel Guys: Is it True That Israel Killed 8 Palestinians in the West Bank?
Israel is continuing their full-scale military operation in the terrorist city of Jenin in Samaria. Meanwhile, Israel has begun to take incoming fire from the mainstream media and US politicians. These attacks range from accusations that a full-scale massacre is being committed in Jenin to a Congresswoman calling for the US to cease all funding to the apartheid nation of Israel. Even with this much criticism however, the IDF is determined to take care of business, doing whatever it takes to keep their nation safe.

The big question is: what is actually true, which of the mainstream media pieces are fact, and are lies.


Is the operation in Jenin really another Defensive Shield?
The deterioration in the Jenin refugee camp actually began with the outbreak of COVID-19. The Palestinian Authority distanced itself from the area to the point of complete detachment from knowing what was going on.

The Palestinian Authority never had a firm grip there, but its weakness turned into a loss of control. Therefore, it is also important to note that we don’t see a similar situation in other cities in the West Bank, which is one of the reasons why we are currently far from an intifada, and likewise far from an operation approaching the scale of Operation Defensive Shield.

Security forces, backed by the Israeli government and under international pressure, did everything they could to allow Palestinian Authority mechanisms to return to Jenin and maintain law and order within the chaos.

Nevertheless, it’s justified to criticize Israel’s policy because it’s the one that turned the camp into a fortified, isolated target that attracts terrorists, weapons caches and other means of combat – and enjoys financial and ideological support from terrorist organizations in Gaza to Iran.

The first ones to suffer from the deteriorating situation today are Jenin’s own residents. These are 40,000 Palestinian who were taken in the past two years as hostages by militants and terrorists.

The city, which until 2020 was one of the leading centers of economy and trade in the West Bank, has been suffering a continuous decline in trade volume, especially in relations with Arab-Israelis, who are worried about entering the city out of fear of running into armed clashes.

In 2019, more than a million Arab-Israeli vehicles entered the city, leaving over 1.5 billion shekels in purchases. Today, the numbers are barely reaching 3,000.

But the Jenin refugee camp’s destructive tendencies don’t end at its borders alone. A series of terror attacks originating from the camp, mainly shooting attacks, have claimed the lives of dozens of innocent Israelis.

Some of the attackers are local residents, some fled there, and some received guidance and weapons in the camp. This is a reality that Israel can’t tolerate. Security officials estimated that a large cache of weapons, including illegal weapons and rockets, would be found after forces entered the camp. However, at the time of writing, no extraordinary amount of military equipment or weapons has been found, though a large amount have been found. Therefore, despite Israel scrambling together an operation for several months, with heavy planning by IDF special forces, Shin Bet, and the Air Force, it seems that we’re in the final stages of a focused counterterrorism act. This isn’t anything like Operation Defensive Shield.


Soldier killed as massive Jenin operation winds down, all troops leave West Bank city
An Israeli soldier was killed after being shot in the West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday evening, as Israeli forces began to withdraw from the area, nearly two days into a major operation.

The Israel Defense Forces said the soldier, named Wednesday as Sgt. First Class David Yehuda Yitzhak from the elite Egoz commando unit, was treated at the scene, before being taken to a hospital in Israel, where he was declared dead.

IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the non-commissioned officer was shot while securing the beginning of the military’s withdrawal from Jenin, in a tight alleyway in the refugee camp.

He said the army was investigating if the NCO was hit by so-called “friendly fire” by other Israeli forces in the area, but could not immediately rule out the possibility that he may have been hit by Palestinian gunfire.

Yitzhak, 23, from the West Bank settlement of Beit El, was to be buried at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery on Wednesday afternoon.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement that his “heart and thoughts” were with Yitzhak’s family.

There were other sporadic clashes between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops as the latter slowly left the West Bank city later on Tuesday night. The withdrawal was completed during the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday.

Hagari said troops would remain on alert in the area regardless, “in order to be prepared for whatever is required.”


Israeli soldier killed as army withdraws from Jenin
An Israeli soldier has been killed in the northern West Bank city of Jenin as IDF forces began withdrawing themselves from the Palestinian city




Palestinians celebrate ‘victory’ after IDF pullout from Jenin
Hundreds of Palestinians, chanting Allahu Akbar! (God is [the] greatest), took to the streets of the city of Jenin and its refugee camp late Tuesday to celebrate after Israeli security forces completed their withdrawal from the area.

Flashing V-for-Victory signs with their hands, the Palestinians also chanted slogans in support of the local armed groups, specifically the Jenin Battalion, a militia said to be directed and funded by the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Most of the commanders of the Jenin Battalion had fled the Jenin Refugee Camp shortly before the start of the large-scale Israeli security operation.

“We swear to God to protect the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the soil of the camp,” some of the young men chanted, pledging to “follow in the path of the martyrs.”

“We taught them an unforgivable lesson,” said 23-year-old Ahmed Rashid, referring to the Israeli soldiers. “They were forced to pull out less than two days after the invasion because they failed to achieve most of their goals. Thank God, most of the fighters have not been harmed.”

Palestinian sources said 12 Palestinians were killed and at least 120 injured, 30 of them seriously, during the Israeli operation. Almost all those killed were identified as gunmen.

Shortly after the Israeli withdrawal, dozens of Palestinians attacked the local headquarters of the Palestinian security forces in Jenin with stones and explosive devices. The protesters accused the Palestinian security forces of “hiding” during the Israeli operation and failing to “defend” the Palestinians against the “aggression.” No one was hurt as Palestinian security officers responded with tear-gas to disperse the assailants.


Jenin residents blame Abbas, Hamas for IDF raid
Residents of the Jenin refugee camp are blaming the Palestinian Authority and Hamas for this week’s two-day Israeli military incursion, laying bare divisions within the Palestinian terrorist groups.

Significant numbers of Hamas operatives feel betrayed by their leaders in Gaza and have quit in anger. The aftermath also exposes a widening rift in the Strip between Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

On Wednesday morning, after Israeli soldiers left the camp, the enormous extent of the damage became clearly visible. Dozens of overturned vehicles lay on the sides of roads and soot marks were visible on windows and walls.

Houses close to the al-Ansar mosque—where terrorists had barricaded themselves and where Israeli forces found tunnels and weapons—were significantly more damaged.

The destruction was clearly visible on the roads, the result of terrorists placing explosive charges under the asphalt. The Israel Defense Forces used armored bulldozers to clear away the improvised explosive devices.

Funerals for the 12 terrorists killed during the two days of fighting were already underway. No noncombatants were killed.

Pointing fingers
On Tuesday night, after Israeli forces withdrew from the camp, hundreds of residents came out and shouted slogans condemning Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as a “traitor.” Residents accused the P.A. of not preventing the raid and even cooperating with Israel. A P.A. police station near Jenin was set on fire.

Anger was also directed at Hamas for not coming to the camp’s aid. During the two days of fighting, Hamas prevented Gaza terrorist groups from firing rockets at Israel. At least one of the thwarted launches was being carried out by Islamic Jihad.

On Tuesday night, as soldiers were leaving the camp, five rockets were fired from the Strip, drawing Israeli retaliatory airstrikes on two Hamas weapons-making facilities.

A significant number of Hamas operatives in the camp have quit the organization, feeling betrayed by the Gaza leadership.

They delivered an angry message to the Gaza leaders saying they no longer want to be seen as part of Hamas.


Israel strikes Gaza after rocket attack as fighting shifts following Jenin offensive
The Israeli military struck two sites in Gaza early Wednesday in retaliation for rocket fire on southern Israel hours earlier.

The flareup in Gaza came as a massive military operation in the West Bank drew to a close, with hundreds of Israeli troops withdrawing from Jenin after two days of intense fighting in the Palestinian refugee camp.

Warplanes struck “an underground weapons workshop used by the chemical unit of the Hamas terror group and a site for processing rocket components,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement just before 5:30 a.m.

It said the strikes were carried out in retaliation for rocket fire on southern Israel earlier in the day.

A Palestinian security source said there were no injuries.

Palestinian media reported that Israeli planes hit sites in al-Baydar, west of Gaza City, and Beit Lahiyeh, in the northern Strip. Several homes in al-Baydar were damaged, according to Palestinian reports.

Several hours earlier, the Iron Dome air defense system managed to knock down five rockets fired out of Gaza toward the city of Sderot and nearby areas.

Shrapnel from an interceptor hit a home in Sderot, causing damage to a ceiling, but no injuries.


Fragment from Gaza rocket interception crashes into kids’ paddling pool in Sderot
A large fragment from a rocket hit a home in Sderot in the early hours of Wednesday morning, crashing into a children’s paddling pool in the yard as the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted a volley fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip.

There were no injuries, but the fragment damaged the roof of the home as well as the pool.

Neta Ohayon told Channel 12 she heard the bang as the rocket parts hit her family’s home, but only realized what had happened when she went outside as it got light.

Ohayon said that when the rocket warning sirens went off in Sderot she, her husband and their sleeping four-year-old twins, did not have time to reach their reinforced shelter room before they heard the detonations from the first Iron Dome interceptions.

“One of the booms was very loud, and that was in fact a large fragment that hit the roof of the house and immediately fell into the paddling pool and caused the damage,” she said.
CAIR calls on Biden intervention to stop ‘war crimes’ in Jenin
One of the Jewish state’s most long-term, vocal opponents in the United States has condemned recent drone strikes and troop deployments by the Israel Defense Forces over the weekend.

Nihad Awad, co-founder and national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement: “We strongly condemn the war crimes that Benjamin Netanyahu’s racist government is committing against Palestinian civilians in the Jenin refugee camp using American taxpayer dollars, and we call on the State Department to do the same.”

Awad went down his list of grievances, including “ongoing attacks on refugees, violent settler rampages, illegal settlement expansion, the murder of dozens of Palestinian children this year alone, and the refusal to hold anyone accountable for the brazen assassination of American citizen and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.”

He said “the Israeli government is completely out of control because it does not expect to face any consequences from the Biden administration.”

A new report was released last month by the Investigative Project on Terrorism about CAIR’s extensive history of antisemitism. The group’s involvement in the White House’s recent national strategy to counter antisemitism has also received significant criticism.


Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Raid in Jenin: More Media Mess Ups
Israel’s large-scale operation in Jenin has concluded after 48 hours, dealing a major blow to Jenin’s terror networks.

While the fighting may be coming to an end, the media bias continues.

During the first hours of the operation, HonestReporting took several international media outlets to task for their biased and misleading coverage of Israel’s counter-terror raid.

As the operation continued, HonestReporting was forced to call out more global news outlets for their skewed and biased coverage.

Related Reading: Media Fails Come Thick and Fast as Israel Launches Precision Strikes on Jenin Terrorists

Here are just some more of the worst cases of media bias that HonestReporting addressed.

The Media’s Whitewashing of Terrorism
As Israel made clear at the outset of this counter-terror raid, the operational goal was to reduce the threat of terror emanating from Jenin. According to the IDF, in the past year, 50 terror attacks have originated in Jenin and there were 19 instances of terrorists escaping there after carrying out attacks.

However, this did not stop some international news outlets from downplaying the nature of Palestinian terrorism or whitewashing Palestinian terrorists.

The New York Times downplayed the vicious nature of Palestinian terrorism by claiming that Palestinian terror groups are focused on “targeting…the occupation” or by referring to terrorism as “Palestinian armed struggle” and “an ethos of defiance.”

These statements ignored the indiscriminate nature of Palestinian terrorism as well as the fact that terrorists have targeted Israeli civilians in both the West Bank and pre-1967 Israel.


The ABC’s of Skewed Jenin Coverage
Not only does ABC’s headline state the disputed claim as fact, but the accompanying article by assignment editor Ellie Kaufman, apparently reporting from New York, also fails to note Israel’s denial, citing only the Doctors Without Borders allegation:
Israeli forces fired tear gas inside of a hospital in the West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday that injured 125 people as a two-day raid on the city continued, Doctors Without Borders said.

The tear gas fired inside of the hospital made the emergency room “unusable,” and the ER and the rest of the hospital were “completely filled with smoke,” after the attack, Doctors Without Borders said in a tweet.

Marcus Moore’s broadcast, embedded on the same page, likewise cites the Doctors Without Borders accusation without including the Israeli denial. He avers: “Thousands of civilians flee, mainly to a local hospital where Israeli forces fired tear gas, leaving the emergency room unusable according to Doctors Without Borders.”

In a second dismal failure, Kaufman blames a protesting car, as opposed to the Palestinian assailant, for a brutal car ramming and stabbing attack which injured eight Israelis, including a pregnant woman who lost her unborn child. Assigning agency to the protesting car, Kaufman writes that “an [sic] car rammed into a bus stop in Tel Aviv in protest of the raid, injuring six.” Not all of the injured (there were eight, not six) were wounded by the car ramming. As footage of the attack demonstrated, several were injured after the ramming when terrorist Abed al-Wahab Khalaila exited the vehicle following the ramming attack, and chased after victims, stabbing them.


Guardian Israeli resistance to Palestinian extremism is futile
First, before addressing the merits of their arguments, let’s clarify why the UN-administered area of Jenin is the current focus of Israeli military operations: a staggering 45% of its residents are believed to be affiliated with terror groups; more than 50 shooting attacks this year were carried out by terrorists from that area of the city; Iran has stepped up efforts to strengthen its proxy Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which has a significant base of operations in Jenin; and the city houses sophisticated weapon-making factories for use in future terror attacks.

Now, turning to the substance of four journalists’ take on the Jenin operation.

First, it’s asserted that the operation will not end terrorism, which is a straw man argument, as neither the government nor the military has ever maintained that this is their objective. Eroding, rather than destroying, terrorist capabilities in Jenin, is the military objective.

Second, there’s the cliche that the anti-terror operation will only make the terrorists angrier, more radical and, thus, result in increased terror, and that the root-cause of the violence is the absence of a peace process, as well as settlement construction and Israel’s occupation.

This latter point is among the most morally obtuse and ahistorical accounts of what drives the conflict. The suggestion that extremists from Hamas, PIJ and other terror groups murder innocent Israeli civilians out of frustration with the lack of progressive towards two-states, or out of frustration over Jews building homes within existing settlement blocs, is belied by, well, most of what’s actually occurred in the region since Olso.


Israeli who killed Tel Aviv terrorist: 'Attacker was a monster, giant'
"I saw a driver get out of his car and stab the first person he came across," recounted Kobi Yekutiel, the Israeli civilian who killed the terrorist who carried out a ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, in an interview Wednesday morning with 103FM.

A Palestinian resident of Hebron had run over several people in Tel Aviv before getting out of the car and stabbing someone in the neck. Yekutiel, who was at the scene on his motorcycle and armed, shot and killed the terrorist.

Ultimately, nine people were wounded in the attack.

Yekutiel explained that he had thought at first that it was a fight between drivers following a car accident.

"I was afraid to pull out a gun without knowing what the situation was about, but then he stabbed someone and started running towards others," he said. "That's when I realized that this was a terrorist attack.

"I took out my gun, everyone was running in my direction away from the attacker. I was seven meters away, maybe even less. He saw me with the gun and kept running towards me and another man next to me. I put a bullet or two in his upper body, but he kept trying to run and fell on the ground with the other man. But he still held up the knife and tried to put it into the man's head.

"I didn't think twice. I got close so I wouldn't hurt the other man, and I shot two bullets into the terrorist's head."


Two women still sedated and in serious condition after Tel Aviv terror attac
Six people remained hospitalized Wednesday the day after a terror attack in Tel Aviv, including two women who were in serious condition.

The city’s Ichilov Hospital said in a statement that both women were sedated and intubated.

One of the women was pregnant and lost her child due to injuries she sustained in the attack.

The hospital said two others who were lightly wounded were being treated in its neurosurgery and orthopedics departments.

Two victims of the attack remained at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, which reported their condition had improved and was no longer life-threatening.

One of them, a 30-year-old man, suffered stab wounds to his stomach and underwent surgery Tuesday.

Another man, 76, was treated for knife wounds to his chest and is in intensive care.

A 66-year-old man who had injuries to his face was released from the hospital Tuesday night.

Simcha Kuzai, whose daughter Rebecca Shinfeld is hospitalized at Ichilov in a serious condition, told Channel 13 news that she had tried to get hold of her after learning of the attack.
Pregnant woman injured in Tel Aviv terror attack loses baby
A pregnant woman injured in a Tel Aviv terror attack yesterday has lost her baby.

The woman was one of seven people injured after a Palestinian terrorist carried out a car-ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv yesterday afternoon.

The combined car-ramming and stabbing took place on Pinchas Rosen Street.

The Israeli Police said they received a report about "a car that attacked a number of civilians" in north Tel Aviv.

A spokesman added: "It appears that the suspect was driving a vehicle traveling from south to north, rammed into pedestrians standing in the shopping centre and proceeded to get out of the vehicle to stab civilians with a sharp object."

Speaking at the scene of the attack, police chief Yaakov Shabtai said the "terrorist" was a resident of the West Bank and was shot dead by an armed passerby.

A local medical official said the incident appeared to have included at least one stabbing victim.


Hamas calls Tel Aviv terrorist attack 'heroic revenge'
Ofer Cassif, Jonathan Conricus, and Yehudah Glick debate the Tel Aviv attack and the events surrounding the Jenin operation.




PMW: Fatah active in Jenin battle as PA calls to defeat Israel
5 of the first 9 terrorists killed in Jenin are affiliated with Fatah

Fatah calls for holy war: “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Onward to Jihad, onward to Jihad”

PA PM Shtayyeh endorses Jenin terror: “The occupation and its invasions cannot defeat heroic Jenin… Our people will not bend down and will not submit. We will continue the struggle until the criminal occupation passes from the world”

Fatah official calls on PA Security Forces to join terror in Jenin

Fatah to join terrorists and “fight the Israeli enemy”

Even before the current Jenin battle, PA loved the terror hub, coining Jenin: “A beautiful bride, who perfumes herself daily with the scent of Martyrdom"

Fatah official praised Jenin terrorist ambush of Israeli forces in June as “loftiest examples of pride and honor”


Jenin Governor: Hamas Should Not Be Allowed To Have Weapons; They Will Turn Them Against Us
General Akram Rajoub, the governor of Jenin, said in a June 8, 2023 interview on Quds News Network (Palestine) that Hamas should not be allowed to have any weapons, because it will eventually turn them against Fatah like it did during its takeover of the Gaza Strip. He said that Hamas does not wage resistance, and he pointed out that it abandoned the Palestinian Islamic Jihad during the latter's recent conflict with Israel. He added that Hamas does not believe in partnership.


Deputy Chair Of Hamas Political Bureau: We Call Upon Our People To Retaliate For Occupation's Crimes
Saleh Al-Arouri, the deputy chairman of Hamas's political bureau, said in a July 3, 2023 interview on Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas-Gaza) that the Palestinian people should support Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp and "take action" by any means available. Al-Arouri said that the Palestinians should follow the example of the "heroes" who have retaliated for the "occupation's crimes" in the past, such as Khairy Alqam, who murdered seven Israelis in a Jerusalem shooting attack in January. He said: "We are all prepared to sacrifice our souls for the sake of Allah." Al-Arouri added that the occupation doesn't understand that Palestinians want to become martyrs.


In West Bank Sermon, Palestinian Authority Official Dr. Nasser Al-Qaram Praises Martyrdom
Dr. Nasser Al-Qaram, head of the Palestinian Shari’a Court of Appeals, said in a Friday, June 23, 2023 sermon in Nablus that was aired on Palestine TV: “We ask Allah to grant us martyrdom.” Al-Qaram added that Jihad is the “pinnacle of Islam.” He stated that the Quran has warned Muslims about the “sons of Zion”, citing several passages from the Quran that malign the Jews.

The MEMRI Lantos Project exposes anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in the Middle East region and Middle Eastern communities in the West with the aim of supporting legislation and educating media and the general public.




Seth Frantzman: Syria-Jordan ties on drug smuggling amid Israel’s Jenin operation
As Israel was beginning its operation in Jenin, Jordan’s foreign minister was in Damascus to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

This shows how important ties with Syria are for Jordan and how the issue of drug smuggling, a multi-billion dollar business, is very important for Amman.

When Syria was invited back to the Arab League, the issue of drug smuggling, which is fueled by Damascus, was an important factor.

The importance of Syria-fueled drug smuggling for Jordan
Jordan’s top diplomat Ayman Safadi visited Damascus “at a time of increasing regional engagement with the Assad regime, peaking with Damascus’s return to the Arab League after years of isolation since Syria’s war began in 2011,” Arab News noted.

The meeting included discussions about “refugee returns and the necessary measures to facilitate the voluntary return” of refugees from Jordan. Jordan hosted almost a million Syrian refugees at the height of the conflict in Syria almost a half-decade ago. “Arab states hope to find a solution for the millions of Syrian refugees living in neighboring countries, including 1.3 million in Jordan,” Arab News noted.

Jordan cares deeply about drug smuggling issues. Iranian-backed groups in Syria smuggle catpagon and other drugs around the region, destabilizing areas of Syria and threatening Jordan and the Gulf. This is important because while Israel is operating in Jenin against Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Iran is also fueling militias in Syria. This means Iran fuels militias in Iraq, Syria as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon, and also PIJ in Jenin and Gaza. Therefore Jordan’s meeting, while it is not directly linked to Jenin, is in the context of Iran’s backing for destabilization in the region.




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