February 9, 2018
Stabbing foiled at IDF post near Hebron
A Palestinian tried to stab an IDF soldier near Hebron Thursday (8th), but was apprehended by troops without causing any injuries, the army said.
The suspect was transferred to security forces for further questioning.
The attempted attack came the day after a civilian security guard was stabbed in the arm in an attack at the entrance to Karmel Tzur, in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.
(timesofisrael.com)
A house in the Druze village of Majdal Shams hit by gunfire from Syria
Hours after a home in Majdal Shams was hit by gunshots from the fighting in Syria Thursday (8th), an IDF drone flying over the Syrian border came under machine gun fire.
The house was damaged when several bullets hit the structure but no one was injured.
The drone was gathering intelligence in the northern Golan.
(ynetnews.com)
Secret Iranian missile factory in Lebanon requires preemptive Israeli attack
While PM Benjamin Netanyahu declares “Israel is not seeking war,” top Israeli analysts say that the conflict over a secret Iranian missile plant in Lebanon makes an Israeli strike almost inevitable.
Netanyahu has told his Cabinet that Iranian weapons factories are currently “in the process of being built” and Israel is “determined to do whatever is necessary to prevent those developments.”
“With Iran entrenching itself in Syria, and now Lebanon, This process has to be stopped. If it doesn’t stop by itself, we will stop it,” Netanyahu told reporters.
(worldisraelnews.com)
Bennett: No more ‘surgical precision,’ all Iranian threats are ‘legitimate targets’
Naftali Bennett, Minister of Education, and a member of Israel’s security cabinet, said in an Interview on Israel Radio, Wednesday (7th) that it’s “illogical” to send the IDF to fight terror organizations such as Hamas and Hizbullah when hitting their Iranian backers makes more sense.
“Iran is behind the anti-Israel activity in Syria and Lebanon,” Bennett said on the program, “while it sits safely in its place. I am promoting a policy that calls for focusing our efforts against Iran itself.”
“The force behind everything is Iran and we must pinpoint the laser on it,” Bennett commented. “I am putting forward a strategic line and saying that we will not be handling things with surgical precision – we view neighborhoods that have rockets as legitimate targets.”
(israelradio.org)
Hamas publishes hit list of rabbis, politicians
The Hamas terror organization on Wednesday (7th) circulated on social media a photo of a number of prominent Israeli rabbis and politicians who it apparently sees as potential targets for assassination.
The “hit list” photos were displayed at a Hamas event held in honor of Ahmed Nasser Jarrar, a Hamas terrorist who commanded the cell that murdered Rabbi Raziel Shevach and was eliminated during an IDF raid on Tuesday (6th).
(israelhayom.com)
Hamas: PA helped Israel track down Rabbi’s murderer – Khaled Abu Toameh
Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades on Wednesday (7th) claimed that the Palestinian Authority provided the lead that helped Israel track down and kill Ahmed Jarrar, who headed the cell that killed Rabbi Raziel Shevach in the West Bank on January 9. “Security coordination with Israel must end,” said Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas official in Gaza.
(timesofisrael.com)
IDF boosts Judea and Samaria deployment over spike in terrorism
Israel’s military deployed three additional battalions to Judea and Samaria Wednesday (7th), over concerns that the spate of deadly attacks in the area signals a new wave of terrorism.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot ordered to bolster deployment on the ground following a security situation assessment held wednesday (7th). The military believes the Palestinians’ motivation to carry out terrorist attacks is on the rise, inspired by the recent murders of Har Bracha resident Itamar Ben-Gal and Havat Gilad resident Rabbi Raziel Shevach.
(israelhayom.com)
Report: Hamas-affiliated UNRWA personnel prevent food from reaching Gazans
According to an Israel Resources News Agency (IRNA) report Tuesday (6th), a significant cause of the Gaza Strip’s “humanitarian crisis” can be attributed to the Hamas terror organization itself.
These revelations were made just a short time after the American government suspended $65 million in previously planned donations to the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), which is the major aid organization for Palestinians in Gaza.
According to the INRA report, 68 donor nations continue to pour food, medicine, and cash into UNRWA. Meanwhile, the report contends that the UNRWA workers’ union, under the tight control of Hamas for the past 18 years, hoards food supplies, while contracting foreign press to record a staged humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile, the Hamas government has been questioned as to why it demands ever larger aid payments from donor countries, while spending $260 million annually on terror and military expenditures, instead of using the aid for food staples, electricity, heating oil, and other basics that its citizens lack.
(israelnewsagency.com)
Palestinians call to blacklist, punish Arab journalists who visited Israel
The Palestinian Authority on Thursday (8th) denounced a visit by Arab journalists to Israel and called for punishing them.
Last week, the Israeli Foreign Ministry hosted a delegation of nine Arab journalists from Morocco, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria, in a bid to let them get to know Israel, its history, and its society from up close, the ministry said.
But the PA said that the visit was aimed at “promoting normalization between the Arabs and Israel. The Palestinians oppose other Arab nations establishing ties with the Jewish state.
(timesofisrael.com; afp.com)
U.S. Jewish leaders to visit United Arab Emirates
In yet another sign of rapprochement with the Persian Gulf States, a group of prominent U.S. Jewish organizational leaders, led by Malcolm Hoenlein, will travel in the coming days to the United Arab Emirates.
The visit comes amid increasing small signs of normalized interaction between Israel and the Gulf states, including reports Wednesday (7th) that Saudi Arabia will allow Air India to fly over its territory on flights to and from Israel, and a 23-person delegation from Bahrain that visited Israel in December.
Hoenlein, who was in Israel last week, said he will not be delivering any message to the UAE from Jerusalem.
(jpost.com; reuters.com)
