News Digest — 4/24/23
Report: Israel’s Artillery Targets Hezbollah In Southwest Syria
An Israeli artillery strike targeted a site belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist movement near Quneitra in southwest Syria early Monday morning (24th), according to Syrian reports.
According to local reporter Nour Abo Hassan, the Israeli military targeted the Qurs al-Nafl site near the Syrian-Israeli border.
An explosion could be heard in a video reportedly from the area. The pro-Assad al-Watan newspaper reported that 20 shells were fired at the Qurs al-Nafl site.
The Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV stated that no injuries were reported in the attack.
Syrian and Israeli officials have not confirmed the report.
Later in the morning leaflets were reportedly dropped by the IDF in the area warning the Syrian army against cooperating with Iran and Hezbollah. The leaflets stressed that such cooperation “brings more harm than benefit.”
The leaflets included a photo of Samer al-Dana, the commander of the 41st Brigade of the Fourth Division of the Syrian Army, and an individual named Tariq Maher who it identified as the head of Hezbollah intelligence in Syria.
The Qurs al-Nafal site has been targeted repeatedly by alleged Israeli strikes in recent years. Last May, an alleged Israeli strike targeted the site. Additional strikes have targeted other sites in the area.
The strike comes just a few days after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel had “doubled” the pace of strikes in Syria in the first quarter of 2023 in order to prevent Iranian weapons deliveries, according to Walla. “We are systematically harming Iranian abilities and assets in the area. We will not allow Iran to set up a Syrian army that will turn the Golan Heights into Lebanon.”
The strike also comes two weeks after the IDF concluded airstrikes in the Damascus area and fired artillery shells and conducted UAV strikes against rocket launches in Syria after six rockets were fired in two waves toward the Golan Heights.
(jpost.com; walla.co.il)
Halevi Pleads To Keep ‘Noise Of Debates’ Out Of IDF Cemeteries On Memorial Day
The Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, called Sunday (23rd) for Israelis to show respect on upcoming Memorial Day and not turn military cemeteries into a “scene of debate,” amid heightened tensions over the government’s plans to overhaul the judiciary.
There has been growing speculation that ministers from the hardline government will be heckled and face protests while participating in upcoming Memorial Day ceremonies.
While small-scale protests are a common occurrence at event s commemorating Israel’s war dead, often by bereaved families, the prospect of the political battle over proposed changes to the judiciary spilling into cemeteries and wreath-laying ceremonies on Monday night (24th) and Tuesday (25th) has sparked concerns that the moves could offend families and harm the sanctity of the day.
In a statement published by the IDF, Halevi said: “Memorial Day establishes a deep connection between the personal and the national. This year, precisely in the shadow of tensions, we must focus on the personal memorial and wrap ourselves in its human power.”
“The decree of memorial obliges us to unite around it and focus on what connects us,” Halevi wrote in the article.
“We must all respect the cemeteries and not turn them into a scene of debate,” he said.
“There is a deafening power in restraint and silence, and solitude with our fallen loved one cannot not exist under the noise of debate,” Halevi added.
Some families had said they would visit the graves of their loved ones in the days before Memorial Day, to avoid the government ministers.
The chairman of Yad Labanim, Eli Ben-Shem, said earlier this week that thousands of parents of fallen soldiers had demanded that politicians not attend or speak at Memorial Day ceremonies at military cemeteries.
Ben-Shem warned that verbal confrontations could break out at military cemeteries if government ministers and MKs – particularly those who did not serve in the IDF – attend Memorial Day events at the sensitive sites.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant – as well as opposition’s Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz – have also urged Israelis to put aside deep divisions for the single day this week.
In addition to the call by Netanyahu, Gallant, Lapid, and Gantz, a group representing reservist soldiers protesting against the government’s judicial overhaul called on its activists not to demonstrate against the reforms on Memorial Day.
Israel’s Memorial Day will commence on Monday evening (24th) with a one-minute siren blaring across the country. On Tuesday morning (25th), a two-minute siren will sound ahead of national memorial ceremonies at Israel’s 52 military cemeteries.
Memorial Day is one of Israel’s few national, non-religious holidays, during which large swaths of the Israeli public typically visit the graves of loved ones and comrades.
Fifty-nine soldiers have been killed during their military service since Israel’s last Memorial Day, according to figures released by the Defense Ministry on Friday (21st). Another 86 disabled veterans died due to complications from injuries sustained during their service. The numbers brought the totals to 24,213 of those who have died during service to the country since 1860.
Israel Arrests Pro-Terror Jordanian Lawmaker Caught Smuggling Massive Amounts Of Weapons, Valuables
Amman’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed that a Jordanian lawmaker was arrested by Israel on Saturday night (22nd) after being caught smuggling hundreds of weapons and massive amounts of gold into Israel.
The lawmaker, identified as Imad Al-Adwan, was said to have been arrested crossing the Allenby Bridge border, located approximately 3 miles east of the Palestinian Authority-administered city of Jericho, Jordanian media reported Sunday (23rd).
Diplomats normally do not undergo inspection, but in this case, customs officials were reportedly given an intelligence warning.
According to the Jordanian ministry’s spokesman, officials are following the case “to find out the merits of the situation and address it as soon as possible.”
Al-Adwan is on record for praising the Hamas terror group and calling for “resistance” against the “Zionist enemy.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has declined comment. However, Israel’s Kan news reports that Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi would not answer calls from his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen regarding the incident.
There has been a surge in violence over the past year. Israel says the Palestinian areas of Judea and Samaria have been flooded with illegal weapons, including guns smuggled from neighboring Jordan.
This latest incident threatens to further strain what are already tense relations between Jordan and the Jewish state. According to Hebrew-language Maariv, Jordanian MP Khalil Atieh has demanded Al-Adwan’s immediate release.
Earlier this month King Abdullah II told Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that “every Muslim” should deter “Israeli escalations” in Jerusalem.
Jordan controlled Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem between 1948 – when the Kingdom and other surrounding Arab countries attacked the fledgling Jewish state – until the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel, in a war of defense, regained the territories. Jordan however, retained custodianship of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.
Jordan and Israel have maintained a cold peace, including security collaboration since signing an agreement in 1994.
(ap.com; worldisraelnews.com; kan.org.il)
UN Refuses To Recognize Two Killed In Palestinian Attacks As Terror Victims
The UN recently refused to include the name of Irina Korolova and Staff Sgt. Asil Sawaed who were killed in separate terror attacks, to the list of terror victims.
Korolova, a 60-year-old foreign worker from Ukraine, who was killed in a shooting attack near a synagogue in Jerusalem back in January, won’t be recognized by the UN due to her not being an official Israeli national.
Seven victims were killed in the harrowing terror attack, though in the UN’s records, the names of only six of them are included. In addition, according to the UN’s definition, the attack occurred “in occupied Palestinian territory, ” therefore the victims are considered to be “Jewish settlers.”
Staff Sgt. Sawaed, an Israeli Border Policeman killed after being stabbed in a terrorist attack at a military checkpoint in East Jerusalem, also won’t be recognized by the UN, the reason being that he was hit by police guard fire after he was stabbed, so supposedly died of that and not his stab wounds.
As was previously reported by Ynet, the UN distorts data regarding the murder of Israeli citizens in terrorist attacks. For example, the UN doesn’t include Shulamit Rachel Ovadia, 84, who was killed last year in a terrorist attack in Holon, on its list of victims.
The decision was made by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which monitors international crises around the world and publishes a bi-weekly report with the names of people killed and injured in terrorist attacks, both Israelis and Palestinians.
While innocent Israelis aren’t recognized in the report, the names of terrorists who confronted IDF troops can be seen there. Following the UN’s refusal to alter the list, Israel informed OCHA personnel that their visas in the country would not be renewed.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, and the “Btsalmo” organization wrote scathing letters to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, writing that “It’s unacceptable for UN officials to ignore these facts and not take into account the full number of Israeli terror victims.”
“Rachel Ovadia’s only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s enough that the shameful inquiry committee ignores Palestinian terror, and its colleagues openly express anti-Semitic comments concerning her without condemnation from UN officials.”
“OCHA’s unwillingness to quickly condemn and properly label these Palestinian acts only encourages the terrorists to continue their actions. This behavior must stop immediately,” the letter added.
“Btsalmo” head Shai Glick added, “The UN’s Anti-Semitism is soaring to new heights. To claim that an Israeli policeman wasn’t killed in a terrorist attack because a security guard hit him is a severe blow to this grieving family and all Israeli citizens.”
“To dismiss the murder of an Israeli woman because she is a foreign resident is a serious violation of human rights. To say that a terror victim is a Jewish settler is an anti-Semitic statement. The UN has lost its moral compass.”
Iranians Chant “Long Live Israel” At Sports Match
Following the historic visit of Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi to Israel last week, social media has been filled with Iranian-Israeli solidarity. On Friday (21st), a video went viral on social media of Iranians in Bandar Genaveh (southwest Iran) at the Ramadan Cup for Futsal, chanting “Down with Palestine, Long live Israel.”
The chants came in response to the entrance of regime-affiliated mullah for Friday prayers.
Amongst Iranians, there is some degree of social resentment over their government funding of Palestinian terrorist organizations and other foreign terrorist proxies rather than funding projects within the country that would benefit the people of Iran who have suffered for years under sanctions due to the nuclear program of the regime.
Additionally, the regime’s animosity towards Israel and public antisemitism, including Holocaust denial, has been a staple of the regime since its inception over 44 years ago.
Previously, videos of Iranians refusing to step on the Israeli flag outside of universities have also gone viral on social media.
