News Digest — 4/13/22
Joseph’s Tomb Repaired In Covert Dawn Mission
A construction team from the Samaria Regional Council quietly arrived at Joseph’s Tomb compound early Wednesday morning (13th) to repair damage caused by Palestinian vandals.
Earlier this week a mob of dozens of rioters from Nablus broke in, set the site’s rooms on fire, and caused extensive damage, including breaking the headstone on top of the grave itself.
Clashes were reported at the site, and the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that 18 Palestinians sustained injuries.
After the site was vandalized, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, “We will not accept an attack like this on a place holy to us, right before Passover, and we will capture the rioters. Of course we will take care to rebuild what they wrecked, just like we always do.”
The Samaria Regional Brigade under the command of Col. Roy Zweig secured the repair mission, during which construction workers rebuilt the broken parts of the tomb’s gravestone and repaired and painted the walls that were defaced. The team also cleared away broken fragments and rubble, and fixed the windows.
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said, “This is a historic day. We arrived at dawn, just before the holiday of freedom, to restore the Jewish people’s national honor, as well as the honor of the grave that was desecrated.”
“The wild rioters from the Palestinian Authority knew very well why they were destroying and burning the grave of Joseph. They know that as long as the Jewish people in Israel and from overseas, led by the Samaria settlements, continue to visit their holy places and national heritage sites, they cannot defeat us,” Dagan said.
Israeli Terror Victim Meets Civilian Who Saved His Life
A week and a half ago, a resident of Gush Etzion in Judea boarded a bus to Jerusalem at the Elazar junction. Seconds later, an Arab terrorist boarded the bus and began stabbing him with a screwdriver, trying to murder him.
Another passenger quickly shot and neutralized the terrorist, saving the life of the stabbing victim as well as others on the bus, thus preventing a mass-casualty incident.
The victim was seriously wounded but has made a miraculous recovery and has been released from the hospital to recover at home.
The courageous passenger who likely saved many lives visited the wounded victim, who wanted to show his appreciation. They each described what happened from the moment they noticed the suspicious individual at the bus stop until the attack began.
It was an emotional meeting that ended with a hug and smiles and thanks for what they said was a miracle. They both offered prayers that the current terror will end and that the Jewish people will celebrate Passover in peace.
“This incident ended miraculously thanks to the passenger’s vigilance and quick response. We thank him and wish the victim a complete recovery,” said Gush Etzion Regional Council Head Shlomo Ne’eman.
“And to our enemies we say: ‘You are wasting your time. Your path of terror will come back to haunt you, and you will pay with your lives.’ ”
“We will continue to cultivate our land full-steam ahead and forever,” he stated.
Study: ‘Palestinian Children’ Learn To Murder Jews
A new study by IMPACT-se examined the new textbooks written by the Palestinian Authority’s (PA’s) education department and taught in both PA and UNRWA schools, and found that they contain more extreme material than previous textbooks.
The study reported by Yediot Aharonot, examined over 10,000 pages of material from the PA’s new curriculum, and found a significant rise in the amount of material inciting towards killing Jews, violence, and antisemitism.
A significant portion of the curriculum writers receive their salaries from the European Union.
All of the Palestinian Authority’s school subjects are taught by means of violent terrorism. In grade 10, Palestinian Authority children learn in official materials that “jihad for the freedom of Palestine is the personal obligation of every Muslim.”
In grade four, they learn addition and subtraction using numbers of “martyrs” who died in the fight against Israel, and about gravity by means of throwing rocks.
For the first time, the Palestinian Authority’s official curriculum includes incitement and an instruction to murder and injure Jews.
Everything starts with education and a look at the Palestinian textbooks shows that the Palestinian leadership is interested in educating the next generation to try ending the conflict with Israel by means of violence and not with discourses of peace,” said Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se.
The materials were exposed following a European decision to freeze over 200 million euro in financial aid to the Palestinian Authority following a demand to remove inciting materials from school textbooks.
(isnn.com)
Thousands Of Guns Smuggled Into Israel Via Jordan Since 2020
Thousands of illegal weapons have been smuggled into Israel via Jordan over the past two years, according to a report in Israeli media, following upgrades to Israeli security on the border with Egypt.
While a separation fence erected on the Israeli-Jordan border in the 1980s and 1990s does exist, it does not constitute a genuine obstacle, particularly given the challenging landscape that includes a significant number of hidden paths for smugglers to use. If that wasn’t enough, the IDF doesn’t allocate many troops along the border as Israel and Jordan are not at war.
According to assessments, over a five-year span, thousands of weapons have been smuggled into Israel and into the hands of Palestinian terrorist organizations, including Arab-Israeli crime organizations and others.
M-16 rifles, Kalashnikovs, shotguns, pistols, and sniper rifles have increasingly been smuggled across the Israel-Jordan border following the IDF’s establishment of a modern and formidable obstacle on the Egyptian border.
The smuggling is also transpiring in the Jordan Valley and to its north. In addition to Palestinian involvement in smuggling operations, the assessment is that Bedouin in Israel’s north and south, and in a few cases, Arab-Israeli residents of the Galilee region, are also involved.
According to IDF data, between 2020 and 2021. Security forces thwarted 15 arms smuggling operations, seizing 262 weapons.
A significant improvement was seen in the first three months of 2022 after security forces succeeded in thwarting six smuggling efforts and seized 147 weapons, the same amount seized throughout all of 2021. In total, over 1,500 weapons were seized in Israel between 2020 and 2021.
An M-16 rifle, which is sold in Jordan for around $8,000, is worth double that in Judea and Samaria. Should smugglers succeed in getting that weapon into Israel, it would garner up to $25,000.
The security system has invested quite a lot of money recently in a program to improve the response on Israel’s eastern border. Among other things, the IDF has added various means for intelligence collection and observation, including cameras and radars, and reinforced troops on the ground.
(isnn.com)
Canada Set To Outlaw Holocaust Denial
Canada is set to outlaw Holocaust denial, a move that has the backing of the current Liberal Party government coalition and the opposition Conservative party.
The CTV news reported on Saturday (9th) that language adding Holocaust denial to the criminal code is in the must-pass government budget.
Coalition officials cast the charge as consistent with current Canadian laws criminalizing incitement to hatred and promotion of genocide.
“There is no place for antisemitism and Holocaust denial in Canada,” Marco Mendicino the public safety minister, told CTV. “That’s why we’ve pledged to prohibit the willful promotion of antisemitism through condoning, denying or downplaying the Holocaust. The Holocaust was one of the darkest chapters in human history. We must preserve its memory, combat contemporary antisemitism and be unequivocal when we say: ‘Never Again’.”
Irwin Cotler, the veteran human rights activist who is currently Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting anti-Semitism, said: “Holocaust denial and distortion constitute a cruel assault on memory, truth and justice – an antisemitic libel to cover up the worst crime in history –and thereby a cruel and mocking rebuke to Holocaust survivors and their legacy.”
The language echoes a separate law already advanced by a Conservative member of parliament, Kevin Waugh of Saskatchewan. He called the decision a “win for everybody.”
Canada now joins a number of European nations, including Germany, that have criminalized Holocaust denial.
For Ukraine’s Jews, This Passover Will Have Very Little To Do With Freedom
Passover is the Jewish festival of freedom, but for Ukraine’s roughly 250,000 Jews, both those who left and those who did not make it out in time, this holiday will be far from festive and will have very little to do with freedom.
In the Jewish community of Dnipro, a city known as Ukraine’s Jewish capital, they are working around the clock to provide dozens of communities with the basic goods necessary for Passover.
“We purchased 50,000 handmade matzah kits, a majority of which were baked here in Dnipro prior to the war, alongside grape juice, other food, and kosher meat, and we added first-aid packages to the kits,” Chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, Rabbi Meir Stambler explained.
“We’re sending the products with bus drivers who are taking refugees and bringing them to our integration centers in Dnipro before they are delivered outside the country’s borders. Here in Dnipro, we will hold a few public Seders. My wife and children are in Israel. And obviously, there would need to be a miracle for us to celebrate together,” said Stambler. “It is hard to believe that on this holiday, we are still at the height of this terrible war,” he added.
Public Seders will also be held in cities on the frontlines of the fighting, like Kharkiv.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine has warned of a serious shortage of food products and paramedical items.
The Chabad in Odessa has invested great efforts in Passover preparations to show Jewish residents of the city it was business as usual despite the ongoing war.
In the coming days, 2,000 food packages containing meat, chicken, oil, wine and grape juice for community members of Odessa will be distributed. Also the Chabad there has arranged for hotel rooms for 250 people interested in keeping the entire 9 days of the holiday. The Chabad is also preparing a Passover Seder for 300 women and children in the German capital of Berlin.
Additionally, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has provided matzahs to members of the Jewish community in Ukraine.
“All of our current efforts are being done to allow all Jews left in Ukraine to properly celebrate the holiday from a place of joy and safety, and with God’s help, we will have great success,” said Rebbetzin Chava Wolf, who along with her husband, Chabad emissary and Rabbi of Odessa and southern Ukraine Abraham Wolf, opened a family orphanage in the city 21 years ago.
