October 24, 2018
IDF Soldier Wounded In Hebron Stabbing Attack; Terrorist Shot Dead
A Palestinian terrorist stabbed and lightly wounded an IDF soldier near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Monday (22nd).
In a statement, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said that the incident took place near the Cave of the Patriarchs, when a Palestinian man lunged at the soldier standing guard at a checkpoint near the holy site, stabbing him in the upper torso.
Other soldiers present shot and killed the terrorist. The wounded soldier who sustained skin-deep wounds of the chest was treated at the scene and transported to a nearby hospital, the military said.
The Cave of the Patriarchs pilgrimage site is a frequent flashpoint, since both Palestinians and Israelis regularly pass through the area.
The incident comes amid a spate of Palestinian terror attacks in recent weeks. Last Monday (15th), a terrorist was shot and killed after attempting a stabbing in Samaria.
That same day, Israeli Supreme Court Justice David Mintz narrowly escaped a carjacking by three Arabs armed with hammers at another junction in Samaria.
On Thursday, October 11, an Arab terrorist wounded two Israelis in a stabbing attack in Samaria. The terrorist initially eluded capture. He was later seized by Israeli forces.
(israelhayom.com)
Israeli Farmers Distressed As Jordan Declares Intention To Reclaim Land
If Jordan reclaims the land it leased to Israel 24 years ago, it will cause serious damage to the state’s security as well as destroy dozens of farmers’ livelihood, warned Eyal Bloom, Central Arava Regional Council head, on Monday (22nd).
“This means the collapse of 30 farms on 346 acres,” Bloom said. “I call upon the Prime Minister of Israel to resolve this crisis immediately. Apart from the importance of the land for agriculture, it constitutes a buffer between the settled areas of the Arava and the State of Jordan and due to their location they are critical for the security of the region and the state.”
The Arava refers to an arid region running from south of the Dead Sea to the Red Sea. It forms part of the border between Israel and Jordan. Over decades, Israel has turned the harsh terrain into an agricultural wonder.
Jordan’s King Abdullah took Israel by surprise when he messaged Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday morning (21st) informing it that he had decided “to end Article 2 of Annex 1 (b) of the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty.” The section refers to two areas of land covering a total of about 1,000 acres. Israel ceded the area to their Arab neighbor in the framework of the 1994 peace agreement, in which Jordan agreed to lease it back to Jewish farmers for a period of 25 years.
Part of the land, Naharayim includes the Island of Peace, the site where in 1997 a terrorist killed seven Israeli girls from Beth Shemesh on a school outing. The terrorist, Ahmad Daqamseh, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released last year.
The Jordanian Parliament praised King Abdullah’s decision and said it came in response to the demands and wishes of the Jordanian people.
(worldisraelnews.com; jpost.com)
IDF Says Hizbullah Still On Border Illegally Posing As Environmental NGO
The Israeli military on Monday (22nd) accused the Lebanese Hizbullah terrorist group of conducting clandestine activities along the border with Israel under the guise of an environmental group known as “Green Without Borders.”
The Israel Defense Forces made a singular claim in June 2017, identifying five observation posts owned by the non-governmental organization, which the army said were actually being used to carry out intelligence and reconnaissance work for the Iran-backed terror group.
“Now we are revealing a new position,” said a senior official from the IDF Northern Command.
The alleged Hizbullah observation post was located in the Lebanese town of Aadaysit Marjaayoun, less than half a mile from the border and from the Israeli community of Misgav Am, according to the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“We see them gathering intelligence on Israeli activities,” the official told reporters.
The officer said the military believes that Hizbullah is using that information in order to prepare to commit attacks against Israeli military and civilian targets.
The senior official said the IDF had notified the peacekeeping United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) about the site and hoped it would inspect the observation post.
“We expect UNIFIL to surveil these positions and visit them. Until now, they haven’t done so,” he said.
According to the IDF, the alleged Hizbullah position represents a violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
The resolution calls for armed groups besides the official Lebanese military and UNIFIL to remain north of the country’s Litani River.
(timesofisrael.com)
Amb. Nikki Haley: ‘Iran’s Use Of Child Soldiers Is A Moral Outrage’
US UN Ambassador Nikki Haley told the UN Security Council on Thursday (18th): “Some in the international community still labor under the mis-impression that the Iranian regime might be a responsible international actor, or might abide by the laws of a civilized society. Many, many things about the Iranian regime contradict this premise.”
“One of the most glaring is the continued use of children to fight and die in Iranian aggression abroad. The use of children soldiers is a moral outrage that every civilized nation rejects, while Iran celebrates it. In the Iran-Iraq war, 36,000 school-aged Iranian children were killed acting as human minesweepers.”
“The Basij Resistance Force is a paramilitary force operating under Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The Basij indoctrinate school children and provide combat training to children as young as 12-years-old. These children are then coerced into fighting abroad for the IRGC. The Basij also targets Afghan immigrants in Iran, some as young as 14-years-old, to fight in Syria. Last week, we identified the sources of the Basij’s funding, and took action to cut them off from the global economy and financial system.”
“The sanctions the United States are leveling against Iran are broad and deep – and for good reason. Any company or individual that does business with this Iranian network is complicit in sending children to die on the battlefields of Syria and elsewhere.”
(usun.state.gov)
Facebook Deletes Farrakhan ‘Termite’ Post; Twitter Has Not
Facebook removed a video of Louis Farrakhan comparing Jews to termites, a violation of the social-media giant’s hate-speech rules, website The Warp reported.
The video, in which the Nation of Islam leader said he was not an anti-Semite, but instead an “anti-termite” was taken down by Facebook sometime Wednesday afternoon (17th) last week.
A Facebook representative told The Wrap that the video was deleted because Farrakhan “refers to Jews as termites, which amounts to Tier 1 hate speech,” violating company policies.
According to Facebook’s community standards, a Tier 1 violation includes, “Dehumanizing speech such as reference or comparison to insects and animals that are culturally perceived as intellectually or physically inferior.”
On Wednesday, at the time Facebook deleted the hateful post, Twitter announced it would not do so.
A Twitter representative explained that a new policy against “dehumanizing” language, such as comparing “groups to animals and viruses” had not yet gone into effect.
Twitter is aware of Farrakhan’s racist tweets. In June, it removed the Nation of Islam leader’s blue-check verification not long after Farrakhan tweeted against “the Satanic Jew.”
(worldisraelnews.com)
