News Digest — 7/7/23
IDF Eliminates Terrorists Behind Har Bracha Shooting
The two terrorists that carried out Thursday’s (6th) shooting attack on a police car in the Samaritan neighborhood of Har Bracha were eliminated Friday morning (7th) in an IDF operation in Shechem (Nablus).
An exchange of fire took place after soldiers tried to detain terrorists Hiri Shahin and Hamza Makbul in the city center. The two were killed as a result of the exchange. Weapons suspected to have been used in the attack were also seized during the raid.
Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir congratulated the soldiers who carried out the raid. “In the name of all the people of Israel, I congratulate the heroic soldiers who entered the Kasbah of Nablus and killed the two terrorists who shot at policemen in Har Bracha. The entire nation of Israel thanks you. Terrorists and those trying to harm the State of Israel do not deserve a single day of freedom and I am happy about the precise operation,” he was quoted as saying.
Following the raid, a message was distributed to the residents of Har Bracha, where the initial attack took place: ”We thank the security forces, headed by Brigadier General Shimon Siso, division commander Avi Belot and commanding General Yehuda Fuchs for quick, determined and precise action to eliminate the terrorists,” it read.
“Thanks also to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for approving the military operation in Jenin for the security of the entire country.”
In the meantime, IDF soldiers mapped the home of the terrorist who carried out Thursday’s (6th) shooting attack near Kedumim, during which an IDF soldier was Killed.
During the operation, fireworks and rocks were thrown at soldiers, injuring one soldier lightly.
‘Cleared For Publication:’ Victim Of Kedumim Attack Identified As IDF Soldier Shilo Amir
The IDF has cleared for publication that a Givati Reconnaissance soldier, Staff Sergeant Shilo Amir, 22, from Kibbutz Meirav in northern Israel was murdered by a terrorist on Thursday (6th) near Kedumim in Samaria.
Earlier Thursday (6th), security forces identified and stopped a suspicious vehicle for inspection near the Mitzpeh neighborhood of Kedumim. During the inspection, an assailant inside the vehicle opened fire toward them. The forces responded with live fire and the assailant fled. IDF soldiers and security personnel pursued the assailant and engaged and neutralized him. IDF homefront command activated the town’s alarm system and ordered residents to enter their homes.
Amir was severely injured by the terrorist’s fire and later succumbed to his wounds.
The military wing of the Hamas terror organization took responsibility for the attack.
The terrorist who carried out the attack was Ahmed Yassin Halal I’tan, a 19-year-old Hamas operative from the village of Qibya in Samaria.
The IDF wrote in a statement: “His family has been notified. The IDF sends its heartfelt condolences to the family and will continue to support them.”
Staff Sergeant Shilo Amir will be laid to rest on Friday (7th) at the Har Herzl military cemetery at 10 a.m.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to Twitter to express his condolences: “My wife Sara and I send our deepest condolences to the family of IDF soldier Staff Sergeant Shilo Amir, 22, from Meirav, a soldier in the Givati Reconnaissance Unit, who was murdered today in a terror attack while conducting routine activity adjacent to the community of Kedumim. I salute his teammates who eliminated the terrorist a short time later.”
Following the attack, MK Danny Danon called for the restoration of targeted countermeasures against terrorism. “The fight against terrorism does not end with the end of an operation. The State of Israel must continue to thwart terrorist operatives.”
MK Zvi Sukkot said in response to the attack that “it is possible and necessary to pursue specific terrorists 24 hours a day, but unless the roots are addressed, nothing will change. The roots are the terrible incitement that comes from the Palestinian Authority, which pays salaries for life to murderers of Jews.”
Rabbi Leo Dee: Ordinary Palestinians Silently Thank Allah For The Jenin Operation – Rabbi Leo Dee
When Lucy, Maia, and Rina were suddenly and brutally taken from this world during Pesach, I cried in pain. Not against every Arab, not against every Muslim, but against every terrorist.
I have Palestinian friends and acquaintances. That is the norm when you live in Efrat. Indeed it is the norm when you live in any location in Judea and Samaria (unaffectionately known as the “West Bank”). Our local supermarket is located in Area C, and I select my tomatoes and cucumbers standing next to Palestinian men and women who live in Bethlehem and Hebron. Unsurprisingly, most of these people are just like you and me.
And then there are terrorists. They are not like you and me. They were mostly brought up in UNRWA-run “refugee” towns and trained in terrorist skills during summer camps and fed hatred through Palestinian Authority textbooks that glorify past murderers of innocent civilians. That UNRWA even considers them refugees after 75 years is a direct result of United Nations anti-Semitism.
What most people are unaware of is how the “good” Palestinians hate the terrorists. They despise them. However, they live in fear, in a terror state – the Palestinian Authority (PA). They unanimously describe the murderers of my family as “inhuman” and “not believing in Allah” when they see me.
Jenin has become a center for terror and the IDF is wise and brave to enter and eliminate it. The “good” Palestinians silently thank Allah for the operation, but they have little hope as the international funding of this terror state goes on and on.
US Administration Allocates $223 Million For UN Agency That Promotes Jihad, Jew-Hatred In Textbooks
President Joe Biden’s administration has allocated $223 million for the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian “refugees” (UNRWA), a body which has a history of promoting terrorism and Jew-hatred among Palestinian children.
The Biden State Department raised the annual funding for the agency by $16 million, despite repeated reports showing that the UNRWA-run schools are used to indoctrinate Palestinian youth in the ideology of jihad terrorism.
The textbooks, generously funded by the US and European countries, are designed to raise the next generation of recruits for Palestinian terrorist organizations, investigative reports show. “UNRWA’s teachers and schools regularly call for the murder of Jews and create institutional teaching materials that glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis and incite anti-Semitism, a recent report found,” the news agency Jewish News Syndicate noted June 25.
In 2018, President Donald Trump ended all funding for the UNRWA, rightly labeling it an “irredeemably flawed” organization. President Biden reversed the decision shortly after taking office, pledging $235 million for the UN agency in 2021. The US pays nearly one-third of the agency’s $1 billion annual budget.
The US State Department announced Monday (3rd) that the United States budget for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian “refugees” (UNRWA) will reach a record high of $223 million this year.
The increasing amount of support, which is $16 million higher than the previous year, solidifies Washington’s position as the largest donor to UNRWA. Since the beginning of Biden’s term as President, the US has allocated almost a billion dollars to UNRWA.
The announcement of support for UNRWA comes despite the statements of Barbara A. Leaf, the US assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs who criticized UNRWA. In a conversation with members of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee last week, Leaf said that the State Department is aware of ongoing reports of ‘incitement to violence’ in UNRWA schools.
“We have concerns about curricula or classroom instruction that promote violence and terrorism. It’s a work in progress, and we are committed to it,” Leaf said. However, she did not elaborate on how the State Department plans to address this issue.
‘Glory To The Martyrs:’ Berlin Police Approve Pro-Hamas Rally
A mere three months after a protest in Berlin featured chants of “Death to Jews” and “Death to Israel,” German police stood by as yet another pro-terrorist march took place in the capital city, JNS learned on Thursday (6th).
On late Wednesday afternoon (5th), tens of mainly German Muslim protesters gathered in Berlin’s central Potsdamer Platz under the slogan “An immediate halt to aggression against Jenin.” The rally, which received prior approval from local authorities, ensued after Israeli forces withdrew from Jenin following a two-day counterterrorism operation.
More than 1,000 IDF troops participated in the raid, believed to be the largest deployment in Judea and Samaria in two decades. The military announced on Tuesday (4th) that its forces had killed 12 Palestinians during the 48-hour operation, all confirmed terrorists, and arrested more than 100 terrorist suspects.
Ahead of the demonstration in Berlin, a police spokesman assured JNS that measures had been taken to prevent illegal incitement. “There was a dialogue between the police and the organizers, and prohibited chants were discussed,” the spokesman said, while noting that “sufficient” officers would attend the protest.
In April, at a march organized by the German chapter of the Palestinian NGO Samidoun, hundreds of Muslims chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to Jews,” sparking calls for tougher action against anti-Jewish protests.
Among other restrictions, the police subsequently banned the glorification of violence, statements that advocate “the annihilation of the State of Israel and/or its inhabitants,” as well as the display of symbols associated with Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Yet in video footage of Wednesday’s (5th) pro-Jenin rally, obtained by JNS, one speaker can be heard saying: “Glory and salvation to the righteous martyrs,” while calling for the release of all terrorists imprisoned by Israel.
Songs played during the protest praised Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas, and implored attendees to die for “Palestine.” Participants furthermore chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan that essentially calls for the destruction of the Jewish state and likely runs afoul of Berlin’s prohibition against advocating for the annihilation of the State of Israel.
A handful of law enforcement officers seemingly stood by as the events transpired.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident in Berlin earlier this week, anti-Israel activists disseminated flyers that described the Jewish state as a “parasite occupation.” The leaflets, which were plastered on historic monuments, including Cafe Moskau, read: “From the river to the sea…Jenin, we bow to you! Glory to your martyrs, freedom for your prisoners.”
Abraham Accord Arab States Seen Sticking With Israel Despite Jenin Raid
Public fury is growing in the Arab world over one of Israel’s biggest military operations in the West Bank in years, yet Arab states which normalized ties with Israel are unlikely to turn their condemnation of the Israeli assault into action. The military operation is diplomatically awkward for the four Arab states that have signed peace pacts – known as the Abraham Accords – with Israel, and it makes the already distant prospect of including Saudi Arabia in the US-backed push for normalized ties even more remote. But analysts said economic and trade interests were likely to trump any moral outrage felt in the Abraham Accord states – Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Morocco.
Palestinian officials say they feel betrayed by their Arab brethren for reaching deals with Israel without first demanding progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
