December 13, 2018
Netanyahu Vows No Jew To Be Uprooted From West Bank As Long As He Leads
“As long as I am the prime minister of Israel, not a single Jew will be uprooted from his home,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday (11th) at the dedication of a new interchange in the West Bank.
Not only will no Jewish homes be uprooted in Judea and Samaria, he said at the ceremony near Geva Binyamin in the Binyamin region, but more homes will be built.
Channeling the Jewish Biblical claim to Judea and Samaria, Netanyahu said, “Here in this place where our forefathers walked thousands of years ago – names like Geva Binyamin, Michmas, Ofra and Anatot – take us straight to the days of the Bible. These are places that are at the heart of our history 3,000 years ago – the Kingdom of Saul and then the Kingdom of Judah. These places come straight from the Bible to the heart of our homeland and we will continue to strengthen the settlement there.”
Netanyahu, who was accompanied at the ceremony by Transportation Minister, Israel Katz, said that the interchange sends a “tremendous message” to the residents of the area because it will significantly ease traffic from the settlements in Samaria on Route 60 to and from Jerusalem.
“We are not stopping here,” he said. “We will complete the construction of bypass roads, widening lanes, improving infrastructures – there are two aspects here: transportation and security combined.”
Netanyahu began his statements by relating to Sunday night’s terror attack near Ofra, sending wishes for a complete recovery to Shira Ish-ran and her infant son, who is fighting for his life.
“This act of terror, like others, shows the depth of our enemies’ hatred of us, Jews and Israelis,” he said. “They have no moral inhibitions when they come to harm innocents. We will chase those responsible for the attack and get rid of them. We will prove to them that their desire to uproot us from our land will encounter a firm wall. They want to uproot us from here, but they will not.”
(jpost.com)
One Terrorist Killed, Another Hurt In 2 Foiled West Bank Attacks
Border Police officers shot and killed a Palestinian man who attempted to carry out a car-ramming attack in the West Bank on Tuesday (11th). Within minutes, a second attempted vehicular attack was prevented in the Jordan Rift Valley, as soldiers shot and wounded a terrorist who was trying to run them over.
An initial investigation into the first incident revealed that while Border Police officers were securing an Israel Civil Administration (ICA) operation in Idhna, northwest of Hebron, a Palestinian crashed his vehicle into an ICA car.
As the terrorist tried to escape, he hit a Border Police officer with his car, lightly wounding him. Border Police officers shot and killed the terrorist.
The second incident took place during an ICA operation against illegal structures in a village in the Jordan Rift Valley.
While ICA inspectors were examining the buildings, a Palestinian driver tried to run over an IDF soldier securing the operation. The soldier shot at the car, lightly wounding the terrorist. He received medical care at the scene.
Meanwhile, security forces continue to hunt for the terror cell that carried out the shooting attack in Ofra on Sunday night.
The defense establishment is concerned that the terrorists’ success in fleeing the scene of the drive-by shooting in Ofra, combined with the successful escape of the terrorist who carried out the attack in the Barkan industrial area weeks ago, will encourage more attacks.
PM Netanyahu has promised in both cases to “hunt down those responsible and make them pay.”
(ynetnews.com; ap.com)
Revolutionary Guard Commander: Iran Can Expand Range Of Missiles Beyond 1242 Miles
Brig.-Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, said Monday (10th) in Tehran that Iran enjoys the technology to increase the range of its missiles beyond the present 1242 miles. “We have the capability to build missiles with higher ranges. The digit, 1242 miles, is not a divine decree.”
He said Iran doesn’t feel restrained regarding the range of its missiles because of any agreement. He noted that many enemy bases are 186-250 miles away from Iran, while another group of enemy targets are distanced 435-500 miles from the country.
Hajizadeh blasted the West’s pressure on Iran to limit the country’s missile program and regional presence, saying, “Europe and the US are the two blades of the same pair of scissors to pressure the Iranian nation.”
(farsnews.com)
Former Israeli Defense Minister: Nations Of The Free World Must Speak In Unison on Iran – Avigdor Lieberman
→The United States is doing an invaluable service to the West by resolutely confronting Iran with crippling economic sanctions. Though they might not even realize it today, the nations of the free world – and the people of Iran themselves – will look back and thank this U.S. administration for the strategic clarity guiding its Iran policy.
→The threat posed by Iran to Israel and to most of the Arab world is imminent. There is a reason Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain and other countries in the region support the tough U.S. policy on Iran: Iran’s attempt to assert regional hegemony and spread its revolutionary ideology through terror proxies and massively building up its missile arsenal poses an acute danger.
→Under the direction of Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani, Iranian operatives work closely with Hamas counterparts on Lebanese soil in order to synchronize a future attack on Israel from Lebanon and Gaza. Over the last decade, the Quds Force has provided hundreds of millions of dollars to Hamas and Islamic Jihad for their military buildup in Gaza.
→But the Iranian threat is not restricted to the Middle East. In recent months, Israel has repeatedly conveyed real-time intelligence to European governments to thwart imminent terrorist attacks by iranian operatives on European soil.
→Disunity and muddled strategic thinking are always seen in only one way by the world’s malign powers: as an opportunity. Fumbling the ball on Iran will have dire consequences down the road, which far exceeds the threat of Iran itself. But when the nations of the free world pool their energies, speak in unison and act in concert, no force of tyranny is powerful enough to withstand.
(israeldefense.co.il)
Iran Said To Arrest Over 100 Christians In Crackdown On Conversions
Iranian authorities have reportedly arrested over 100 Christians in the past few days, as they seek to crack down on conversions and what they claim is proselytizing by evangelicals.
Citing Open Doors UK, a charity that monitors persecution of Christians around the world, the Telegraph reported Monday (10th) that growing public interest in the minority faith, which makes up less than 1 percent – or around 350,000 of the population, has worried the Islamic regime, leading to crackdowns on churches and congregants.
While the existing Christian minority is supposedly accepted by Iran’s rulers, conversion from Islam is a punishable offense.
“This spike in arrests is highly concerning,” Zoe Smith, head of advocacy at Open Doors, told the paper. “It follows an established trend of the Iranian government: as the number of converts to Christianity increase, so the authorities place greater restrictions on churches.
“The restrictions are worse for churches seen to be attended by Christians who have converted from Islam. Not only that, but the government is asking unreasonably high bail amounts and seeing longer prison terms for Christians.”
She added that Church leaders are being “put under pressure to leave the country or face an arrest.”
Rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have criticized Iran for its mistreatment of Christian converts, as well as other religious and ethnic minority groups.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lambasted Iran on several occasions for its treatment of Christians. In July he said Iran was torturing and jailing Christians in a “brutal” persecution campaign. Last Christmas he mocked iran’s foreign minister for posting holiday greetings on Twitter.
“Saying ‘Merry Christmas’ while jailing Christians in your own country is the height of hypocrisy,” Netanyahu said.
(timesofisrael.com; telegraph.co.uk)
