June 29, 2018
Terror infiltration from Gaza thwarted
During Wednesday night of this week, an IDF force identified two terrorists who were crawling toward the security fence in an attempt to infiltrate Israel from the southern Gaza Strip.
The force responded with tank fire at the terrorists and thwarted the infiltration attempt.
Molotov cocktails were identified at the scene.
Over the course of the night, IDF forces, the Shin Bet, Border Police and Israel Police arrested 13 suspects suspected of involvement in terrorist activities and violent disturbances against civilians and security forces.
The suspects were taken for questioning.
(www.israelnationalnews.com)
Terrorist spotted ‘settler,’ stabbed her nine times and fled
An indictment was filed yesterday morning against 20-year-old terrorist Nur a-Din Shinawi from Jenin, who stabbed student Shuva Malka in Afula about two weeks ago.
Shin Bet interrogation revealed Shinawi entered Israel in February 2018 while on a tour and remained in Israel without legal permits while working as a plasterer in the Upper Nazareth and Iksal areas.
At some point, Shinawi decided to carry out an attack in the State of Israel against a soldier or religious person, and for this purpose equipped himself with two knives.
Interrogation also revealed at the time of the incident Shinawi, on his way to his home to Jenin, noticed Shuva who looked religiously Jewish (he calls her “a settler”) at the bus stop, and decided this was the opportunity to carry out the attack he had planned before.
He waited for a moment when she would be alone and came up behind her and stabbed her nine times to her upper body. After he thought he had made certain he’d caused her death he fled the scene.
When Shinawi became aware police were chasing him, he planned to kill one of the policemen with the other knife, but before he could he was neutralized by the police and arrested.
In the interrogation, Shinawi said the background for his act was a security check his mother underwent by kippah-wearing policeman at the Temple Mount area’s entrance during Ramadan in 2017. He claims that since then his hatred of religious Jews has increased.
At the end of the investigation, the Northern District Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment against Shinawi for the offenses: attempted murder under terrorist circumstances, serious injury under aggravated, terror circumstances, preparing terror activity, illegal entry into Israel, and possession of a knife for an illegal purpose. At the same time, a request for his detention until the end of proceedings was also filed against the defendant.
(www.israelnationalnews.com)
Severe crisis in El Al
El Al on Thursday (6/28) canceled a flight to Mumbai scheduled to leave Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m.
The Mumbai cancellation is the airline’s ninth in recent months.
On Wednesday, El Al canceled Flight 011 to New York, explaining to passengers that there were “operational constraints” and that the company would find an alternative for the passengers. Last Thursday, El Al canceled a flight to England, after it had been delayed several hours.
It is estimated that the reason for the cancellations is El Al’s failure to come to an agreement with the pilots.
Meanwhile, the Pilots’ Committee said, “El Al pilots work to the limits of the law and their work agreements in order to keep to the busy summer schedule planned by the company, and in order to serve the passengers.”
(www.israelnationalnews.com)
Chief rabbi opposes new Western Wall plan
Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau on Thursday called to cancel the new Western Wall agreement, which the Ministerial Committee for Holy Sites is expected to approve in the coming days.
A statement issued by Rabbi Lau’s office read: “The Chief Rabbi believes that it is unthinkable that the site which has been considered holiest to the Jewish people for thousands of years will undergo changes which are not in accordance with Jewish law, and have not received approval of the chief rabbis.”
In the statement, Rabbi Lau thanked Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) for opposing any change to the status quo and refusing to aid harming the Western Wall plaza. He also said that the Chief Rabbinate must remain the sole authority determining prayer arrangements at the Western Wall.
“The Chief Rabbi calls on all the ministers, Knesset members, and anyone to whom the heritage of the Jewish people’s holiest site is important, to stand together and do everything possible to prevent any changes not in accordance with Jewish law and tradition from occurring in the Western Wall plaza. Committees will be created and disband, but the Western Wall, the remnant of our Holy Temple, will remain holy forever.”
Outgoing Chairman of the Executive of The Jewish Agency for Israel Natan Sharansky responded, “The Western Wall is a central symbol, both religious and national, for every Jew in the world. The State of Israel, which was created to serve as a home for every Jew, must enable every Jewish individual to pray according to his or her preference and custom in a place that is so important to the entire nation.”
“The arrangement known as the Western Wall agreement, formulated after extensive talks with all relevant parties and approved by the government, ensures that prayers held in the main section of the Western Wall will continue to be conducted according to the rules set by the Chief Rabbinate. It enables any Jew, of any denomination, to pray according to his or her preferred manner in the southern section of the wall, without altering the established practice in the main section.”
He also slammed Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev for acting according to her conscience to protect the site’s heritage.
“Minister Regev’s conscience is her own matter, but her public about-face regarding the need to set established prayer practices at the site is most regrettable,” Sharansky said. “I hope the Prime Minister brings about the completion of the expanded prayer area known as Ezrat Yisrael, as he has repeatedly promised the Jewish people in Israel and abroad that he would.”
On Sunday, the government will appoint Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as the new chairman for the Ministerial Committee, displacing Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev (Likud), who opposed the plan.
(www.israelnationalnews.com)
Thousands of Syrian refugees heading towards Israel
Thousands of Syrian civilians are headed towards the Golan Heights in northern Israel, Arabic media outlets reported Thursday according to Reuters.
More than 60,000 people are believed to be moving from the Daraa region in southern Syria towards the Israeli border, following a wave of air strikes by forces loyal to the Assad regime.
According to the London-based anti-Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, bombings by Assad’s forces in the Daraa district on Wednesday and Thursday had killed at least 46 people.
The ongoing campaign by regime forces in Daraa reportedly has the backing of Russian forces deployed in the region.
The violence in Daraa has sparked a new wave of evacuations in the Daraa district, which borders Jordan in the south and Israel to the west.
While Jordan has in the past taken in large numbers of Syrian war refugees, with over 650,000 officially registered there by the United Nations Refugee Agency and another 600,000 living in the Hashemite kingdom according to the Jordanian government census, Jordan closed its border with Syria in 2014.
Despite the new wave of refugees in southern Syria, Jordan indicated it would not accept more Syrian nationals into the country.
“We have received enough numbers of Syrian refugees,” said Jordanian communication minister Jumana Ghunaimat in an interview with the Jordan Times earlier this week. “We already have a large number and we simply cannot receive more.”
On Wednesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) placed the number of refugees attempting to flee the country at 45,000.
Prior to the announcement by Jordan that no new Syrian migrants would be accepted, the refugees were seen heading towards the Jordanian border, OCHA said.
(www.israelnationalnews.com)
