September 14, 2018
Netanyahu: 17 Years After 9/11 Attacks, Europe Appeasing Iranian Terror
As the world marks 17 years since the 9/11 attacks in the United States, the time has come for Western governments to take part in “the strong and clear effort of the Trump administration against the terrorist regime in Tehran,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday (12th).
Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu took European leaders to task for “appeasing Iran,” something he said “helps the unending attack on the values and security of free societies.”
Netanyahu again noted the irony that on the same week in June that an Iranian terror cell tried to carry out an attack against an Iranian opposition group in Paris – an attack that Israeli intelligence helped to thwart – European leaders were trying to “appease” Iran and looking for ways to soften the fallout from the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal.
Al-Qaeda, the terrorist group that carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks, has “passed the torch” of extremist Sunni terrorism on to Islamic State, while the extremist Shia variety of terror is being led by Iran, the premier said.
“They both have the same goals: to destroy the free societies as we know them, to destroy Israel, and also to destroy the West and others. The time has come for the world to unite in a struggle against the terrorist organizations. It did so to a certain degree in the attack against Islamic State, but has not done it against Iran – the opposite is the case,” he said.
(jpost.com)
Israeli Court Sentences Terrorist To 35 Years For Stabbing 2 Police Officers
The Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday (12th) sentenced Palestinian terrorist Ayman Kurd to 35 years in prison for the stabbing and wounding of two policemen at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City in September 2016.
He was also ordered to pay $92,000 in damages to the two victims.
Police woman Tzipi Yaakobian, who was on her way to work with another officer when they were attacked, was gravely wounded. She sustained a neck wound which rendered her handicapped, while the second victim, a 45-year-old male officer was moderately wounded.
The terrorist was shot and wounded.
Yaakobian, 38 and a mother of two, was hospitalized in serious condition for weeks and then began a prolonged rehabilitation process, but she remains disabled as a result of the attack.
The court noted its decision that Kurd, a 21-year-old from Hebron, was motivated to carry out the attack after his cousin stabbed an IDF soldier before being shot dead.
The judges underscored that “The terrorist showed determination and cruelty in his intent to kill. He followed the policemen, attacked them from behind and stabbed them…until the knife broke from the force of the attack.”
(worldisraelnews.com)
Palestinians Declare Trump Their Enemy, Threaten Explosion Of Violence
Palestinian Authority officials have warned that their people will respond to US President Donald Trump’s latest foreign policy moves in, apparently, the only way they know how – with an explosion of violence.
Earlier this month, Trump made good on his promise to cut all American funding to UNRWA, the United Nations body set up to perpetuate the Palestinian refugee issue, one of the major roadblocks to peace. He then slashed aid to Palestinian hospitals in eastern Jerusalem, purportedly over the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to conduct peace talks with Israel. This week, Trump ordered the closure of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) offices in Washington, DC. The mission served as the de facto PA “embassy” to the US.
In remarks to Israel’s Channel 10 News, Palestinian officials lashed out at Trump, and threatened that his policies would mean more bloodshed for Israel.
“Trump has become an enemy of the Palestinian people and an enemy of peace,” said the officials. “The American president is encouraging terror and extremism with his policies that could lead to violence in the region, which will explode in the faces of Israel and the US.”
(israeltoday.co.il)
Report: Nearly 8,000 Acres of Land Lost To Arson Terrorism
According to a report, the number of incendiary kites and balloons being sent by Palestinians over the Gaza border and causing fires in Israel has fallen in recent weeks, enabling the Israel Nature and Parks Authority to begin assessing the ecological and financial damage to Israeli parks and nature reserves.
Authorities are also working on a plan to minimize the damage if the arson terrorism campaign resumes next summer.
The four-month arson terrorism campaign, part of the campaign of border violence orchestrated by the Hamas terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip, has resulted in appalling damage. Some 8,000 acres of Israeli fields, parks and other lands have been reduced to ash. The Karmiya Nature Reserve near Ashkelon was 50% consumed.
The report found that 2,987 acres of national parks and nature reserves, 2,440 acres of JNF-owned land, 1,047 acres of agricultural fields, and 1,504 acres of open land have been burned. Since the arson terrorism began, 14% of all nature reserves in the region bordering the Gaza Strip have been lost to fires.
The parks authority is concerned that invasive plant species could replace local plants and cause more damage.
The fires have annihilated wildlife as well as flora. The bee-eater birds indigenous to the Besor Reserve are all gone, including their nests.
As well as destroying animal habitats, Hamas also used animals to set the fires, releasing hawks into Israel to which operatives had attached burning fuses.
Chief Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) scientist Dr. Yehoshua Shkedy said “If there are fires next year, it will take dozens of years for the reserves and parks to recover. If there are 10 years before the next fire, then maybe we can fix the damage in a few years. It also depends how you define rehabilitation, because it will never return.”
Shkedy said that there was $4 million in damages to nature reserves alone and that the amount of territory lost will make it too difficult for them to rehabilitate themselves, requiring human intervention.
(israelhayom.com)
Australian Lawmaker With Jewish Wife Attacked With Pig Entrails At Office Door
The district office of an Australian member of Parliament whose wife is Jewish was targeted by racists who threw pig entrails at his front door.
The early Wednesday morning (12th) attack followed less than two weeks after an attack on another office of Labor lawmaker, Mike Kelly by the Antipodean Resistance in which the far-right group plastered swastika stickers on his door.
This week’s attack took place in the New South Wales city of Queanbeyan, located just 10 miles from Australia’s capital Canberra. The swastika attack occurred in the coastal town of Bega, 135 miles from Queanbeyan.
“The series of attacks directed at my electorate offices are evidence of the need for constant vigilance and the confrontation of extremist groups in our country,” Kelly, a colonel in the military, told the media.
“If the perpetrators think they will intimidate me into refraining from defending Israel or supporting our Jewish community, they are deluded,” he said. “Actions like this only spur me to greater efforts and commitment…to fight racism and ignorance wherever I find it.”
(jta.org)
