Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
Friday, Aug. 31 '18, כ' באלול תשע"ח
HEADLINES:
1. A SECRET MISSION TO IRAN
2. AMSTERDAM: THREE INJURED IN STABBING ATTACK
3. IN GOOD OR BAD TIMES: WHY AREN'T OUR PAYCHECKS GROWING?
4. ANALYSIS: TRUMP INTERVENES IN IRAQ IN ORDER TO STOP IRAN
5. DON'T LIKE THE NEW NATION-STATE LAW? IT'S YOUR PROBLEM
6. ISRAELI KILLED IN THAILAND: YEDIDYA KELLERMAN
7. WATCH: MASS BRAWL RIPS THROUGH PONOVEZH YESHIVA
8. 'WE SAW AN ISRAELI TRUCK BRINGING WILD BOAR'
1. A SECRET MISSION TO IRAN
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Arutz Sheva has discovered that Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar recently visited Iran on a secret diplomatic mission.
He was sent by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
All official sources have refused to confirm details such as the purpose of the visit and the exact dates.
It is possible that Rabbi Lazar's visit to Iran is connected to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's attempts to prevent Iran from establishing itself in Syria.
Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of both Iran and Syria signed an agreement to tighten military and security cooperation between their countries.
2. AMSTERDAM: THREE INJURED IN STABBING ATTACK
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Three people were injured in a stabbing attack at an Amsterdam train station.
The count includes two victims, as well as the stabber himself, who was injured by a bullet. All three were transferred for treatment, the NL Times reported.
Police fired at the suspect before arresting him.
AT5 reported that witnesses saw two people start fighting on the train platform. As the flight escalated, one of them drew his knife.
It is not yet clear what the motive for the stabbing was.
3. IN GOOD OR BAD TIMES: WHY AREN'T OUR PAYCHECKS GROWING?
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Just this week, President Trump tweeted "for all of you that have made a fortune in the markets or seen your 401Ks rise beyond your wildest expectations, more good news is coming!"
Even though the economy appears to be strong and growing stronger by many measures, for workers in "production and nonsupervisory" positions, paychecks have fallen in the past year relative to inflation.
Heidi Shierholz is director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute and a former chief economist at the Labor Department, under President Obama. Harry Holzer is a professor of Public Policy at Georgetown. He also served as Chief Economist for the U.S. Department of Labor, under President Clinton.
Both of them try to answer why our paychecks don't grow.
[קישורים:6:Radio]
4. ANALYSIS: TRUMP INTERVENES IN IRAQ IN ORDER TO STOP IRAN
by Yochanan Visser
Almost seven years after former US President Barack Obama pulled out the US military to the last soldier from Iraq, the United States announced it would keep its current force of between 7,000 and 9,000 troops in Iraq despite the defeat of Islamic State's caliphate.
Col. Sean Ryan, spokesman for the US-led anti-ISIS coalition, said the United States would keep its Special Forces in Iraq "as long as we think they're needed."
Ryan said that once ISIS is definitely defeated Iraq, would still need help to stabilize the country which has seen relentless war since the American invasion in 2003.
The announcement by the American spokesman came two days after the State Department issued a travel warning for US citizens not to go to Iraq because of "terrorism and armed conflict."
Iraq is currently going through a new political and humanitarian crisis, while ISIS is once again stepping up its attacks on the Iraqi military and civilian targets.
As I pointed out in an analysis about Iraq two weeks ago, ISIS has currently 17,000 Jihadist fighters in Iraq who are increasingly destabilizing the warn-torn country.
This week ISIS terrorists caused the death of at least 70 Iraqis and slaughtered 20 cows belonging to residents of the village of ad-Udheim in revenge for their alleged cooperation with the Iraqi security forces.
Another reason for the continuation of the US presence in Iraq is the political crisis in the country which started immediately after the parliamentary elections on May 12, and the Iranian attempts to turn the country into another proxy state.
Firebrand anti-Iranian Shiite politician Muqtada al-Sadr surprisingly won these elections - after which the Iranians interfered and dispatched Qassem Soleimani, the shrewd commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, to Bagdad in order to secure the forming of a pro-Iranian government.
To offset the Iranian meddling in the forming of a new government in Iraq, the Trump administration this week dispatched Brett McGurk to Baghdad in order to discuss the situation with Iraqi politicians.
McGurk together with Douglas Silliman, the American ambassador in Iraq, have been conducting talks with high-level Iraqi politicians all week.
This was done to end the stand-off created by Soleimani who succeeded in forcing al-Sadr into accepting the forming of a government with the Iranian-controlled Fatah Alliance led by Hadi al-Amiri.
Al-Amiri is a Shiite extremist whose Badr organization maintains a close relationship with the Iranian Islamist regime and who fought on the Iranian side in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
The Iranians also attempted to deny Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi - an ally of the United States - a second term. To realize this goal, they created a manmade humanitarian crisis in southern Iraq by cutting off the electricity supply.
The already dire humanitarian situation in Iraq was furthermore exacerbated by a severe water shortage which this week caused the illness of more than 17,000 people who drank contaminated water.
The London-based Arabic language paper Asharq al-Awsat (The Middle East) reported that "17,000 cases of colic and diarrhea were reported due to contaminated water over the past two weeks."
"The hospitals in Basra receive about 1,500 such cases on a daily basis," Asharq al-Awsat wrote, quoting Riad Abdul-Amir, the Director-General of the Public Health Directorate in Iraq's southern district Basra.
Al-Abadi, not Iran, was blamed for the humanitarian crisis and the ensuing violence which spread from Basra to other regions in Iraq. Iraq subsequently released $2.5 billion to solve the crisis but it didn't placate the anger among the Iraqi population.
The Americans apparently understood their ally was in trouble and staged their own intervention in the political process which must lead to the forming of a new government in Iraq.
McGurk's intervention immediately led to demonstrations in Bagdad's so-called Green Zone where protesters held banners saying "those who sit with (US President) Donald Trump's messenger betray the martyrs' blood."
Some Iraqi politicians, furthermore, want to block what they dub American meddling in internal Iraqi affairs and want the new Iraqi parliament to debate Trump's decision to keep US troops in Iraq, which they say is illegal under international law.
Muqtada al-Sadr, meanwhile, called for a day of rage after the American announcement.
The controversial winner of the Iraqi elections told his followers to hold a million man march against sectarianism, corruption, terrorism and against "the occupation."
Sadr's call about a protest against the "occupation" was interpreted by commentators as a signal to the Trump Administration to end what Iraqi politicians call "interfering" in the negotiations aimed at forming the biggest parliamentary bloc.
Trump, however, is looking at the broader picture and realizes he has to act in Iraq in order to implement his new Iran containment policy.
5. DON'T LIKE THE NEW NATION-STATE LAW? IT'S YOUR PROBLEM
by Jay Shapiro
Jay Shapiro Claims that the opposition to the new Nation-State Law is due to a distortion of its meaning.
In his opinion, the new Nation-state law deals with the character of the state and not with civil rights.
[audio:2046758]
[קישורים:7:Radio]
6. ISRAELI KILLED IN THAILAND: YEDIDYA KELLERMAN
by Tal Polon
The Israeli man killed in northern Thailand in a traffic accident has been identified as Yedidya Kellerman, 25, a resident of Nof Ayalon.
Kellerman, who married around a year ago, was traveling with his wife, Kesem, for their honeymoon at the time of his death. Kesem was also moderately injured in the accident.
The Israeli consulate in Bangkok, ZAKA, and Chabad emissaries in Thailand are working to have the body transferred to Israel.
According to Mati Goldstein, commander of ZAKA's international unit, Kellerman was run over by a drunk driver as he walked with his wife on a street in the town of Pai in northern Thailand. He said that Kellerman was killed on the spot.
"The impact of the crash was hard and deadly. The local doctor who arrived was forced to confirm his death at the scene."
Yedidya worked as an mortgage adviser and event photographer. He served in the IDF's armored corps and participated in 2014's Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.
The tragedy follows a string of incidents in recent months in which Israelis have been killed while traveling abroad.
In July, a man was killed and his wife was seriously injured in a zip-lining accident in Honduras. The Israeli couple was also on their honeymoon at the time.
A week before that, an Israeli citizen was killed in a traffic accident when his motorcycle collided with a bus in the Kullu district of the state of Himachal Pradesh in India.
A week prior, a 19-year-old Israeli youth was killed in a motorcycle accident in Zanzibar, off the eastern coast of Africa.
7. WATCH: MASS BRAWL RIPS THROUGH PONOVEZH YESHIVA
by Tzvi Lev
Students hurled tables and book holders on Wednesday at Bnei Brak's flagship Lithuanian-haredi Ponevezh Yeshiva as part of a long-running feud between two rival factions.
The brawl raged on throughout the morning and only ended when police detained the main instigators after being called to the scene. Three students were injured after being sprayed by tear gas
The quarrel was part of a longstanding dispute between the two factions over control of the yeshiva and the division of its territory. The supporters of Rabbi Shmuel Markovitz on the one hand, nicknamed the "haters," and Rabbi Eliezer Kahaneman's rival camp, called the "terrorists" have long been at loggerheads and tensions frequently lead to violence.
The flagship Yeshiva of Lithuanian haredi Judaism has been roiled by the power struggle between the two for over twenty years, and both sides observe an uneasy status quo, in which campus space in Bnei Brak is evenly divided between the two factions.
Ponovezh head Rabbi Berel Povarsky pleaded for calm after the violence and said that the students should concentrate on studying Torah. "The evil inclination wants to interrupt our learning of Torah during the month of Elul in the most important yeshiva in the world, our yeshiva," he said.
A similar brawl took place a year ago after one faction appropriated a new classroom for themselves, upsetting the delicate status quo. Students from the other faction subsequently defaced the classroom with derogatory graffiti.
The brawl broke out in the Yeshiva dining hall soon after, when a student from the "haters" faction shoved a supporter of the "terrorist" faction. The fight quickly spread to other parts of the campus, as students hurled furniture, deployed tear gas, and set off fire extinguishers.
Ponovezh is one of the top institutions in the haredi world, and the ongoing internal strife has been a black eye for the community.
8. 'WE SAW AN ISRAELI TRUCK BRINGING WILD BOAR'
by Mordechai Sones
The Ad Kann organization revealed documentation from a Combatants for Peace organization tour where residents of the a-Dik village in western Samaria claim that area settlers release wild boar into the village.
An Ad Kann secret plant documented leaders of the tour, held four years ago in the village, describing how the settlers come at night with trucks full of of wild boar and release them in the village, and the damage that the animals cause residents and their crops.
On tape a village resident speaks in Arabic as a Combatants for Peace interpreter describes to the people how the wild pigs harm the residents: "We're suffering. The peasants and the farmers suffer from the pigs spoiling their agriculture; the pig only looks for where there's dirt and garbage. Lately, the pigs have begun to enter the houses and the gardens of the houses."
Later on, the interpreter explained that the settlers were the ones who brought the boar to the village, saying "the pigs that are here now are from the settlers, they brought them," and "we saw the truck bringing pigs. An Israeli truck carrying boars." In addition, a female resident spoke in Arabic, and the interpreter explained how she "saw a truck with pigs coming from the town of'Ali Zahav and released them into the village".
Ad Kann chose only now to reveal the documentation with the false story because it did not want to compromise the plant at the time.
The organization says they intend to release more material about Combatants for Peace in the coming days. The organization added that Combatants for Peace is behind the alternative memorial ceremony for the "Palestinians" held on the eve of Memorial Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Hostilities.
Ad Kann Director Gilad Adam said: "During a tour of the extremist Combatants for Peace organization, activists uncovered a blood libel from the anti-Israeli organizations, this time a false claim that residents from Alei Zahav brought trucks full of wild pigs at night into the village and disperse them among the houses there.
"The need of these organizations to cling to such blatant lies in order to turn the Jews into monsters is reminiscent of dark periods in history. Of course, on the other side stands the village of arch-murderer, the engineer Yihya Ayash. Ad Kann organization will continue to uncover the truth behind this distorted phenomenon," he added.
[audio:2046729]
------------------------------------------------
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Friday, August 31, 2018
Thursday, August 30, 2018
A7News: Israeli killed in Thailand: Yedidya Kellerman
Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
Thursday, Aug. 30 '18, י"ט באלול תשע"ח
HEADLINES:
1. ISRAELI KILLED IN THAILAND: YEDIDYA KELLERMAN
2. 'ROSH HASHANAH ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT - LET NO ONE BE ABSENT'
3. MONSEY RESIDENTS SUSPECTED OF DEFRAUDING $14 MILLION ARRESTED
4. TERROR ATTACK THWARTED AT SAMARIA MILITARY COURT
5. 'MY CHILDREN WEREN'T ACCEPTED TO SCHOOL BECAUSE THEY'RE BLACK'
6. 'TRUMP WAS FURIOUS WHEN HE LEARNED WHAT UNRWA, PA WERE DOING'
7. INFILTRATORS TO BE HOUSED NEXT TO SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE
8. PM: ONLY THE STRONG CAN MAKE PEACE
1. ISRAELI KILLED IN THAILAND: YEDIDYA KELLERMAN
by Tal Polon
The Israeli man killed in northern Thailand in a traffic accident has been identified as Yedidya Kellerman, 25, a resident of Nof Ayalon.
Kellerman, who married around a year ago, was traveling with his wife, Kesem, for their honeymoon at the time of his death. Kesem was also moderately injured in the accident.
The Israeli consulate in Bangkok, ZAKA, and Chabad emissaries in Thailand are working to have the body transferred to Israel.
The tragedy follows a string of incidents in recent months in which Israelis have been killed while traveling abroad.
In July, a man was killed and his wife was seriously injured in a zip-lining accident in Honduras. The Israeli couple was also on their honeymoon at the time.
A week before that, an Israeli citizen was killed in a traffic accident when his motorcycle collided with a bus in the Kullu district of the state of Himachal Pradesh in India.
A week prior, a 19-year-old Israeli youth was killed in a motorcycle accident in Zanzibar, off the eastern coast of Africa.
2. 'ROSH HASHANAH ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT - LET NO ONE BE ABSENT'
by Mordechai Sones
[video:2046721]
Students for the Temple Mount movement activists entered haredi neighborhoods in a night operation to encourage ascent to the Temple Mount. Movement activists posted thousands of notices in haredi neighborhoods in Bnei Brak, Beit Shemesh, and Jerusalem imitating "pashkvilim" encouraging Rosh Hashanah travel to Uman in Ukraine, while the movement's posters suggested visiting the holiest site of the Jewish people - the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
"Temple Mount on Rosh Hashana - Come, Feel, Understand" and "Let no-one be absent from the Temple Mount" are examples of slogans plastered in the neighborhoods of Mea Shearim, Itzkovich in Bnei Brak, Kikar Hashabbat and others, as well as on main roads.
Students for the Temple Mount movement head Tal Koppel said, "We decided to prepare for the coming Rosh Hashanah by reminding the general public of the importance of the Temple Mount, the holiest place that is worthy of visiting and greeting on Rosh Hashanah."
Koppel added, "As we wrote: 'Let no-one be absent', for while there may be those who look for holiness in the Ukraine, in practice our absence from the Temple Mount in favor of alternative holy places is a disaster for the Jewish people."
[album:open:10579]
3. MONSEY RESIDENTS SUSPECTED OF DEFRAUDING $14 MILLION ARRESTED
by Mordechai Sones
Seven Monsey residents were arrested yesterday on suspicion of defrauding the government for an estimated $14 million in a case that exploded about a year ago, but whose reverberations continue to affect the local haredi community.
It is suspected that Brooklyn County board administrators used a state-sponsored program to increase access to computers and the Internet to purchase computers and other equipment.
The FBI called the fraud "outrageous" because the administrators made use of money intended to increase exposure to the Internet during a haredi public campaign against Internet exposure.
"This indictment is important not only because fraudsters should be responsible for their crimes, but also because the next generation of students should have access to communications services, access to the Internet, and related equipment," the State Attorney was quoted as saying.
"Schools have to fight for every dollar these days to supply their students with the high-tech, expensive equipment and technology they need in this day and age to succeed in life," said FBI Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney about the indictments. "The suspects in this investigation allegedly used funding from a program designed to give underprivileged schools internet access to pad their own bank accounts. To add insult to injury, school officials, who see the day-to-day struggle to even find money for pencils and paper, were allegedly involved in the scheme."
Prosecutors allege that in some cases the school listed on the application would not have allowed its students to use the classroom technology while in others the school did receive technology, but the program was over-billed and the defendants pocketed the difference, reported Patch.
In one example the school in question was a day care center serving 2-4-year-olds that applied for funding for technology including video-conferencing, distance learning, and high-speed internet, and received almost $500,000.
In return for participating in the scheme, prosecutors allege school officials took cellphones and security and alarm systems not covered under the program for staffers' personal use.
4. TERROR ATTACK THWARTED AT SAMARIA MILITARY COURT
by Arutz Sheva Staff
On Thursday morning, Border Police officers thwarted an attempted attack at the Samaria Military Court in Salem, in the Menashe district.
The security forces arrested two PA youths to the court, and three explosive devices were found in their possession, apparently intended to be used.
A police sapper was called to the scene and the entrance to the military court was closed until the incident was fully dealt with.
It should be noted that the military court in Salem, Samaria, is a permanent target for attacks of this nature. In February this year, three PA Arabs were arrested by Border Police near the entrance to the courthouse with three pipe bombs. The day before, an Arab who had hidden a pipe bomb in his clothes at the entrance to the courthouse was arrested.
A week before that attempted attack, a PA terrorist from Jenin was arrested at the entrance to the military court after the metal detector in the area warned that something was wrong. In the search, a pipe bomb was found in his clothes and the terrorist was arrested.
In December 2017, a 16-year-old terrorist from Jenin was arrested in the same manner. Forces managed to locate a bomb that was neutralized later on. A few days earlier, a 17-year-old terrorist from Jenin was arrested after he hid two explosive devices in his clothes.
5. 'MY CHILDREN WEREN'T ACCEPTED TO SCHOOL BECAUSE THEY'RE BLACK'
by Ben Shaul
American Jewish rapper Nissim Black, who immigrated to Israel two years ago, said that the haredi school he applied to send his children to rejected them due to the color of their skin.
Black, who converted to Judaism and now lives in Jerusalem, said that the school principal refused to accept his children for irrelevant reasons. As a result, the Black children are still at home even though the school year has already begun.
"She said explicitly that the school cannot accept my children because they're black," Black told Kol Hai Radio. "She said it makes 'too many problems.'"
"It's inconceivable that someone would be rejected because of their skin color. It's only because of their skin color. If there are other reasons, that's legitimate, but not because of skin color."
Black also noted that he met with the Lithuanian-haredi Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, who expressed shock at the principal's behavior.
"He was shocked by what I told him, and said that being black is a virtue, not an issue."
Black also emphasized that his children are not aware of the reason they have not yet started school.
"They don't know anything," he said. "They're waiting and they think that we're looking for the best place for them. They have no idea. G-d forbid they should know."
6. 'TRUMP WAS FURIOUS WHEN HE LEARNED WHAT UNRWA, PA WERE DOING'
by Hezki Baruch
[youtube:2046641]
David Bedein, the head of the Center for Near East Policy Research, spoke to Arutz Sheva about the late Arizona Senator John McCain, who passed away on Saturday after a year-long battle with brain cancer, and of the US administration's rejection of the so-called 'Palestinian right of return.'
"Ten years ago, exactly, I had the opportunity to meet Senator McCain when Noam Bedein (Bedein's son and the head of the Sderot Media Center) organized a briefing for Senator McCain in Sderot when he was running for president. And he brought him to a house which had been destroyed by missiles," Bedein said.
"I came down there as the correspondent for the Philadelphia Bulletin and covered the event. A few months before Senator McCain had given over an interview to Amir Oren from Haaretz where he talked about his commitment to push Israel for unilateral withdrawals from Judea and Samaria," he added.
"We're sitting in the living room which had been destroyed by missiles. I asked Senator McCain, 'well, how do you react? Will you change your position now that you've seen what happens when Israel hands over territory to the other side?'
"He got very angry at me and said: 'No. You have to understand: Israel has a peace partner. Israel had better withdraw as soon as possible from the West Bank and give it to Abbas. Abbas is a man of peace.' He was very angry and he said 'I don't like your question,'" Bedein recalled.
"My conclusion is that while McCain was, as he saw it, very favorable to Israel, it would have been very difficult to deal with a McCain Administration where we had someone who loved Israel so much, but was at the same time demanding withdrawals.
"It was easier to deal with Obama, who simply didn't like Israel so much and demanded withdrawals," Bedein said.
Bedein praised the reports that the Trump Administration would reject the 'right of return.'
"This is the conclusion of a process over the last two year: In December of 2016 I had the opportunity to meet with president-elect Trump's adviser, who was about to come to Washington. She was here in Jerusalem, and I showed her the [UNRWA] schoolbooks," he said.
"She told me who she was working for, and she asked if she could have all of the books. I gave the books to her, and for the last two years, our office, the Center for Near East Policy Research, has been in touch with the administration at the highest levels, giving them everything we could about the schoolbooks.
He said that the center's most recent report showed that "the right of return through the armed struggle become the most important and dominant theme of Palestinian Authority and UNRWA education."
"This got directly to the president of the United States, and he blew his stack, because he was told by the Peres Center for Peace ... that the Palestinian Authority has a peace curriculum. They just didn;t tell them that the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA had vetoed that peace curriculum.
He showed how a fifth grade textbook instructed students to model their lives after Dalal Mughrabi, one of the terrorists who carried out the Coastal Road Massacre in 1978, when 38 Israelis were murdered by terrorists.
According to Bedein, COGAT, the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, is what is preventing reform of UNRWA. "They need feedback that an education system which teaches children to murder Jews is not appropriate for a peace process."
7. INFILTRATORS TO BE HOUSED NEXT TO SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Two Jewish businessmen purchased apartments for illegal African infiltrators near the home of Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut, Channel 20 reported.
The New York businessmen bought two apartments, the Bereishit Movement's Yehoshua Hame'iri told Channel 20.
"The idea is to house Eritreans, who will work in gardening," Hame'iri said, noting that the idea came from an interview with Tel Aviv's right-wing activist May Golan. "Currently, the number of people stands at 15."
He also added that the pair were planning to purchase a third apartment.
Earlier this month, the Jerusalem Appeals Court dealing with issues of status and residency in Israel, recommended the State deport Eritrean asylum seekers back to their country "regardless of their political position as supporters or opponents of the regime."
Activists backing deportation say Sudanese and Eritrean infiltrators, most of whom live in southern Tel Aviv, have caused the local crime rate to skyrocket, endangering Israeli citizens.
A January poll showed that most Israelis support deporting the infiltrators.
8. PM: ONLY THE STRONG CAN MAKE PEACE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke Wednesday at a ceremony to rename Israel's nuclear research facility for former President Shimon Peres.
"Shimon aspired toward peace," Netanyahu said, "but he knew that true peace can be achieved only if our hands strongly grasp defensive weaponry. In the Middle East, and in many parts of the world, there is a simple truth: There is no place for the weak. The weak crumble, are slaughtered and are erased from history while the strong, for good or for ill, survive. The strong are respected, and alliances are made with the strong, and in the end peace is made with the strong."
"This process, of normalization by leading countries in the Arab world with the strong State of Israel, is happening before our eyes on a scale that would have been impossible to imagine a few years ago. This process bears hope within it that, in the end, the cycle of peace will be completed. But it is impossible to deny the fact that there are yet many enemies in this region and beyond," he added.
"But our enemies know very well what Israel is capable of doing. They are familiar with our policy. Whoever tries to hurt us – we hurt them.
"I am not spouting slogans. I am describing a persistent, clear and determined policy. This is our policy. It is backed by appropriate deployment, equipment, preparedness and – in the hour of need – appropriate orders.
He said that his government was focused on preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons and to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in Syria. "We are working to prevent Iran from establishing a military presence in Syria. We will not relent in pursuit of this goal just as we did not relent in bringing about the cancellation of the bad nuclear agreement with Iran, a goal which was seen as impossible when I put it on the international agenda for the first time several years ago."
"In the diplomatic sphere, we will continue to apply pressure on the dangerous, extremist regime in Iran. Just yesterday we saw the fruit of this pressure in remarks by the Iranian President who said that many among the Iranian people have lost hope in the future and strength of Iran due to the resumption of economic sanctions. In the military sphere, the IDF will continue to take strong and determined action against Iran's attempts to station forces and advanced weapons systems in Syria. No agreement between Syria and Iran will deter us; neither will any threat deter us.
"Whoever threatens us with destruction puts himself in similar danger, and in any case will not achieve his goal."
------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe/
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
Thursday, Aug. 30 '18, י"ט באלול תשע"ח
HEADLINES:
1. ISRAELI KILLED IN THAILAND: YEDIDYA KELLERMAN
2. 'ROSH HASHANAH ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT - LET NO ONE BE ABSENT'
3. MONSEY RESIDENTS SUSPECTED OF DEFRAUDING $14 MILLION ARRESTED
4. TERROR ATTACK THWARTED AT SAMARIA MILITARY COURT
5. 'MY CHILDREN WEREN'T ACCEPTED TO SCHOOL BECAUSE THEY'RE BLACK'
6. 'TRUMP WAS FURIOUS WHEN HE LEARNED WHAT UNRWA, PA WERE DOING'
7. INFILTRATORS TO BE HOUSED NEXT TO SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE
8. PM: ONLY THE STRONG CAN MAKE PEACE
1. ISRAELI KILLED IN THAILAND: YEDIDYA KELLERMAN
by Tal Polon
The Israeli man killed in northern Thailand in a traffic accident has been identified as Yedidya Kellerman, 25, a resident of Nof Ayalon.
Kellerman, who married around a year ago, was traveling with his wife, Kesem, for their honeymoon at the time of his death. Kesem was also moderately injured in the accident.
The Israeli consulate in Bangkok, ZAKA, and Chabad emissaries in Thailand are working to have the body transferred to Israel.
The tragedy follows a string of incidents in recent months in which Israelis have been killed while traveling abroad.
In July, a man was killed and his wife was seriously injured in a zip-lining accident in Honduras. The Israeli couple was also on their honeymoon at the time.
A week before that, an Israeli citizen was killed in a traffic accident when his motorcycle collided with a bus in the Kullu district of the state of Himachal Pradesh in India.
A week prior, a 19-year-old Israeli youth was killed in a motorcycle accident in Zanzibar, off the eastern coast of Africa.
2. 'ROSH HASHANAH ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT - LET NO ONE BE ABSENT'
by Mordechai Sones
[video:2046721]
Students for the Temple Mount movement activists entered haredi neighborhoods in a night operation to encourage ascent to the Temple Mount. Movement activists posted thousands of notices in haredi neighborhoods in Bnei Brak, Beit Shemesh, and Jerusalem imitating "pashkvilim" encouraging Rosh Hashanah travel to Uman in Ukraine, while the movement's posters suggested visiting the holiest site of the Jewish people - the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
"Temple Mount on Rosh Hashana - Come, Feel, Understand" and "Let no-one be absent from the Temple Mount" are examples of slogans plastered in the neighborhoods of Mea Shearim, Itzkovich in Bnei Brak, Kikar Hashabbat and others, as well as on main roads.
Students for the Temple Mount movement head Tal Koppel said, "We decided to prepare for the coming Rosh Hashanah by reminding the general public of the importance of the Temple Mount, the holiest place that is worthy of visiting and greeting on Rosh Hashanah."
Koppel added, "As we wrote: 'Let no-one be absent', for while there may be those who look for holiness in the Ukraine, in practice our absence from the Temple Mount in favor of alternative holy places is a disaster for the Jewish people."
[album:open:10579]
3. MONSEY RESIDENTS SUSPECTED OF DEFRAUDING $14 MILLION ARRESTED
by Mordechai Sones
Seven Monsey residents were arrested yesterday on suspicion of defrauding the government for an estimated $14 million in a case that exploded about a year ago, but whose reverberations continue to affect the local haredi community.
It is suspected that Brooklyn County board administrators used a state-sponsored program to increase access to computers and the Internet to purchase computers and other equipment.
The FBI called the fraud "outrageous" because the administrators made use of money intended to increase exposure to the Internet during a haredi public campaign against Internet exposure.
"This indictment is important not only because fraudsters should be responsible for their crimes, but also because the next generation of students should have access to communications services, access to the Internet, and related equipment," the State Attorney was quoted as saying.
"Schools have to fight for every dollar these days to supply their students with the high-tech, expensive equipment and technology they need in this day and age to succeed in life," said FBI Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney about the indictments. "The suspects in this investigation allegedly used funding from a program designed to give underprivileged schools internet access to pad their own bank accounts. To add insult to injury, school officials, who see the day-to-day struggle to even find money for pencils and paper, were allegedly involved in the scheme."
Prosecutors allege that in some cases the school listed on the application would not have allowed its students to use the classroom technology while in others the school did receive technology, but the program was over-billed and the defendants pocketed the difference, reported Patch.
In one example the school in question was a day care center serving 2-4-year-olds that applied for funding for technology including video-conferencing, distance learning, and high-speed internet, and received almost $500,000.
In return for participating in the scheme, prosecutors allege school officials took cellphones and security and alarm systems not covered under the program for staffers' personal use.
4. TERROR ATTACK THWARTED AT SAMARIA MILITARY COURT
by Arutz Sheva Staff
On Thursday morning, Border Police officers thwarted an attempted attack at the Samaria Military Court in Salem, in the Menashe district.
The security forces arrested two PA youths to the court, and three explosive devices were found in their possession, apparently intended to be used.
A police sapper was called to the scene and the entrance to the military court was closed until the incident was fully dealt with.
It should be noted that the military court in Salem, Samaria, is a permanent target for attacks of this nature. In February this year, three PA Arabs were arrested by Border Police near the entrance to the courthouse with three pipe bombs. The day before, an Arab who had hidden a pipe bomb in his clothes at the entrance to the courthouse was arrested.
A week before that attempted attack, a PA terrorist from Jenin was arrested at the entrance to the military court after the metal detector in the area warned that something was wrong. In the search, a pipe bomb was found in his clothes and the terrorist was arrested.
In December 2017, a 16-year-old terrorist from Jenin was arrested in the same manner. Forces managed to locate a bomb that was neutralized later on. A few days earlier, a 17-year-old terrorist from Jenin was arrested after he hid two explosive devices in his clothes.
5. 'MY CHILDREN WEREN'T ACCEPTED TO SCHOOL BECAUSE THEY'RE BLACK'
by Ben Shaul
American Jewish rapper Nissim Black, who immigrated to Israel two years ago, said that the haredi school he applied to send his children to rejected them due to the color of their skin.
Black, who converted to Judaism and now lives in Jerusalem, said that the school principal refused to accept his children for irrelevant reasons. As a result, the Black children are still at home even though the school year has already begun.
"She said explicitly that the school cannot accept my children because they're black," Black told Kol Hai Radio. "She said it makes 'too many problems.'"
"It's inconceivable that someone would be rejected because of their skin color. It's only because of their skin color. If there are other reasons, that's legitimate, but not because of skin color."
Black also noted that he met with the Lithuanian-haredi Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, who expressed shock at the principal's behavior.
"He was shocked by what I told him, and said that being black is a virtue, not an issue."
Black also emphasized that his children are not aware of the reason they have not yet started school.
"They don't know anything," he said. "They're waiting and they think that we're looking for the best place for them. They have no idea. G-d forbid they should know."
6. 'TRUMP WAS FURIOUS WHEN HE LEARNED WHAT UNRWA, PA WERE DOING'
by Hezki Baruch
[youtube:2046641]
David Bedein, the head of the Center for Near East Policy Research, spoke to Arutz Sheva about the late Arizona Senator John McCain, who passed away on Saturday after a year-long battle with brain cancer, and of the US administration's rejection of the so-called 'Palestinian right of return.'
"Ten years ago, exactly, I had the opportunity to meet Senator McCain when Noam Bedein (Bedein's son and the head of the Sderot Media Center) organized a briefing for Senator McCain in Sderot when he was running for president. And he brought him to a house which had been destroyed by missiles," Bedein said.
"I came down there as the correspondent for the Philadelphia Bulletin and covered the event. A few months before Senator McCain had given over an interview to Amir Oren from Haaretz where he talked about his commitment to push Israel for unilateral withdrawals from Judea and Samaria," he added.
"We're sitting in the living room which had been destroyed by missiles. I asked Senator McCain, 'well, how do you react? Will you change your position now that you've seen what happens when Israel hands over territory to the other side?'
"He got very angry at me and said: 'No. You have to understand: Israel has a peace partner. Israel had better withdraw as soon as possible from the West Bank and give it to Abbas. Abbas is a man of peace.' He was very angry and he said 'I don't like your question,'" Bedein recalled.
"My conclusion is that while McCain was, as he saw it, very favorable to Israel, it would have been very difficult to deal with a McCain Administration where we had someone who loved Israel so much, but was at the same time demanding withdrawals.
"It was easier to deal with Obama, who simply didn't like Israel so much and demanded withdrawals," Bedein said.
Bedein praised the reports that the Trump Administration would reject the 'right of return.'
"This is the conclusion of a process over the last two year: In December of 2016 I had the opportunity to meet with president-elect Trump's adviser, who was about to come to Washington. She was here in Jerusalem, and I showed her the [UNRWA] schoolbooks," he said.
"She told me who she was working for, and she asked if she could have all of the books. I gave the books to her, and for the last two years, our office, the Center for Near East Policy Research, has been in touch with the administration at the highest levels, giving them everything we could about the schoolbooks.
He said that the center's most recent report showed that "the right of return through the armed struggle become the most important and dominant theme of Palestinian Authority and UNRWA education."
"This got directly to the president of the United States, and he blew his stack, because he was told by the Peres Center for Peace ... that the Palestinian Authority has a peace curriculum. They just didn;t tell them that the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA had vetoed that peace curriculum.
He showed how a fifth grade textbook instructed students to model their lives after Dalal Mughrabi, one of the terrorists who carried out the Coastal Road Massacre in 1978, when 38 Israelis were murdered by terrorists.
According to Bedein, COGAT, the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, is what is preventing reform of UNRWA. "They need feedback that an education system which teaches children to murder Jews is not appropriate for a peace process."
7. INFILTRATORS TO BE HOUSED NEXT TO SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Two Jewish businessmen purchased apartments for illegal African infiltrators near the home of Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut, Channel 20 reported.
The New York businessmen bought two apartments, the Bereishit Movement's Yehoshua Hame'iri told Channel 20.
"The idea is to house Eritreans, who will work in gardening," Hame'iri said, noting that the idea came from an interview with Tel Aviv's right-wing activist May Golan. "Currently, the number of people stands at 15."
He also added that the pair were planning to purchase a third apartment.
Earlier this month, the Jerusalem Appeals Court dealing with issues of status and residency in Israel, recommended the State deport Eritrean asylum seekers back to their country "regardless of their political position as supporters or opponents of the regime."
Activists backing deportation say Sudanese and Eritrean infiltrators, most of whom live in southern Tel Aviv, have caused the local crime rate to skyrocket, endangering Israeli citizens.
A January poll showed that most Israelis support deporting the infiltrators.
8. PM: ONLY THE STRONG CAN MAKE PEACE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke Wednesday at a ceremony to rename Israel's nuclear research facility for former President Shimon Peres.
"Shimon aspired toward peace," Netanyahu said, "but he knew that true peace can be achieved only if our hands strongly grasp defensive weaponry. In the Middle East, and in many parts of the world, there is a simple truth: There is no place for the weak. The weak crumble, are slaughtered and are erased from history while the strong, for good or for ill, survive. The strong are respected, and alliances are made with the strong, and in the end peace is made with the strong."
"This process, of normalization by leading countries in the Arab world with the strong State of Israel, is happening before our eyes on a scale that would have been impossible to imagine a few years ago. This process bears hope within it that, in the end, the cycle of peace will be completed. But it is impossible to deny the fact that there are yet many enemies in this region and beyond," he added.
"But our enemies know very well what Israel is capable of doing. They are familiar with our policy. Whoever tries to hurt us – we hurt them.
"I am not spouting slogans. I am describing a persistent, clear and determined policy. This is our policy. It is backed by appropriate deployment, equipment, preparedness and – in the hour of need – appropriate orders.
He said that his government was focused on preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons and to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in Syria. "We are working to prevent Iran from establishing a military presence in Syria. We will not relent in pursuit of this goal just as we did not relent in bringing about the cancellation of the bad nuclear agreement with Iran, a goal which was seen as impossible when I put it on the international agenda for the first time several years ago."
"In the diplomatic sphere, we will continue to apply pressure on the dangerous, extremist regime in Iran. Just yesterday we saw the fruit of this pressure in remarks by the Iranian President who said that many among the Iranian people have lost hope in the future and strength of Iran due to the resumption of economic sanctions. In the military sphere, the IDF will continue to take strong and determined action against Iran's attempts to station forces and advanced weapons systems in Syria. No agreement between Syria and Iran will deter us; neither will any threat deter us.
"Whoever threatens us with destruction puts himself in similar danger, and in any case will not achieve his goal."
------------------------------------------------
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Wednesday, August 29, 2018
A7News: Left looks to block demolition of terrorist's home
Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
Wednesday, Aug. 29 '18, י"ח באלול תשע"ח
HEADLINES:
1. LEFT LOOKS TO BLOCK DEMOLITION OF TERRORIST'S HOME
2. US, ISRAEL TEAM UP TO TIGHTEN IRAN SANCTIONS
3. 'NOTHING BEATS THE ONLY DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST'
4. KFC RETURNING TO ISRAEL
5. 'ABUSIVE ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS AT UN IS PATHETIC'
6. J.K. ROWLING CALLS OUT CORBYN'S ANTI-SEMITISM
7. 'TRUMP WAS FURIOUS WHEN HE LEARNED WHAT UNRWA, PA WERE DOING'
8. TRAGEDY AT HAIFA PORT
1. LEFT LOOKS TO BLOCK DEMOLITION OF TERRORIST'S HOME
by Ido Ben Porat
[video:2043666]
HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual, which benefits from New Israel Fund budgets, is providing legal assistance to the family of the terrorist who murdered Duvdevan fighter Ronen Lubarsky.
HaMoked filed petitions against the demolition order to the terrorist's house that was issued by Central Command head Nadav Padan at the beginning of the week.
The family of the fighter hopes the Supreme Court will not prevent the demolition and hopes the terrorist will be sentenced to death. "We congratulate the defense establishment on issuing a demolition order and hope the Supreme Court will not delay the demolition or render it meaningless by destroying a room or a wall," the family said.
According to them, "the purpose of the destruction is not revenge but deterrence and prevention of terror. We demand that the defense establishment toughen the sentence and issue a death sentence to the terrorist who murdered Ronen."
At the beginning of the week a demolition order was issued for the house of the terrorist who killed Lubarsky during an operation to arrest a terror cell planning a shooting attack on Psagot.
Sgt. Ronen Lubarsky, a Duvdevan fighter, was critically wounded with a marble block that a terrorist threw during an operation against a squad of terrorist operatives involved in shooting attacks in Judea and Samaria.
Jews against terrorist home demolitions
Flash 90
Sgt Ronen Lubarsky Hy"d
Family
2. US, ISRAEL TEAM UP TO TIGHTEN IRAN SANCTIONS
by Arutz Sheva Staff
The US and Israel formed a new joint taskforce charged with ensuring that economic sanctions imposed on the Tehran regime are enforced.
The decision to form the new taskforce was formally adopted during a meeting Tuesday night between US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Israel's Finance Minister, Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu).
The meeting, which is the fourth between Mnuchin and Kahlon in the past 12 months, focused primarily on Iran and the economic sanctions reimposed on the rogue regime by the Trump administration earlier this year.
To ensure enforcement of the sanctions regime, the US Treasury Department and Israeli Finance Ministry agreed to form a joint taskforce, to be made up of US and Israeli officials from both the Department and the Ministry, which will be charged with tracking enforcement of sanctions in the hi-tech sector.
"The economic sanctions that the US imposed on Iran are proving themselves," Kahlon said.
"The meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is intended to deepen our strategic-economic ties with the US. The joint taskforce which we established will be crucial in tightening sanctions on Iran."
3. 'NOTHING BEATS THE ONLY DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST'
by Mordechai Sones
A satirical video released by the Tzabar group in cooperation with the Derech Chaim movement today portrays an Arab Knesset member in his Knesset office and speaking in the plenum, wandering around the Knesset and freely inciting against the State.
The repeating refrain throughout the video is "Democracy here is a celebration, there's no country like it."
In the video, the Knesset member participates in a demonstration to liberate "Palestine" with PLO flags, pushes a policeman who came to maintain order in the area, participates in the Gaza flotilla that includes "a few blows with soldiers", and comforting terrorist's family members calling out "So come on, give us more missiles!"
The Knesset Member is also portrayed in his office displaying a picture of Abu Mazen, encouraging Hamas in its war against Israel, smuggles cell phones into jail because "with immunity I can do anything", and ending with the sentence "When the Knesset salary comes in, I let out one big laugh."
Boaz Albert of the Sabra group and one of the creators of the video says, "We've become accustomed to a strange and inconceivable reality in which the enemy uses our democratic game against us. What's perhaps more serious is that we're captives in this game, because this is a democracy.
"This reality is getting worse, and the enemy representatives in the Knesset are becoming bolder and more daring because of our inability to respond. We can be angry, we can protest, and we can simply present it as it is - they celebrate us, our naivete."
[youtube:2046674]
4. KFC RETURNING TO ISRAEL
by Arutz Sheva Staff
KFC is planning to open branches is Israel, Israel Hayom reported.
Quoting Eretz Radio, the site said that while KFC isn't planning to open a Be'er Sheva branch in March 2019, official KFC representatives are in Israel and planning to re-launch their famous chicken menu in the country.
KFC has already tried and failed three times to gain a foothold in the Israeli market. The company's last attempt ended when they closed their last Israeli branch in 2012.
In a statement, KFC said, "We are very optimistic about the Israeli market, and we believe that that chain can succeed here."
"We are currently planning our re-launch in Israel. We will be able to provide further details at a later date."
5. 'ABUSIVE ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS AT UN IS PATHETIC'
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2046671]
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley spoke on Wednesday night at a Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) conference.
In her speech, Haley reiterated the Trump administration's stance on the number of Palestinian Authority (PA) and Gaza "refugees" receiving aid from UNRWA, and said their "right of return" to Israel is not on the negotiating table.
Haley also said that the US needs to investigate whether the countries receiving US funding are interested in cooperation.
"What we should do is, the countries that we give money to, do they believe what we believe?" she said. "Are they still actually wanting to be our partner and work with us? If they're not and they're shouting, 'Death to America,' why would we give them a single penny? And so you are seeing the efforts of de-funding those things that are not helpful to us and that aren't in the United States' interest."
Regarding the UN bias against Israel, Haley said, "I knew that there was a bias against Israel, but I hadn't really put a lot of thought into it, until I attended the first session. And when I saw literally how abusive all of those countries were being to Israel, in a way that was pathetic - really I had no choice but to get up and say this is completely wrong."
"I came out and said, 'We are not going to condone this anti-Israel bias'."
"We started to make sure that the Israel-bashing sessions, as I call them, that they have once a month, we now try and talk about - they';re supposed to be sessions on the Middle East, not sessions on Israel. And so now we're actually making them talk about other areas in the Middle East.
"Now, frankly, they're scared to say anything negative about Israel because they don't want me to yell at them."
6. J.K. ROWLING CALLS OUT CORBYN'S ANTI-SEMITISM
by JTA
J.K. Rowling went head to head with a fellow British writer on Twitter over his criticism of Jewish complaints about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
Simon Maginn, who has written five thrillers under his own name and satirical comedies under the name Simon Nolan, on Sunday in a tweet called Jewish outrage over Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's 2013 comments indicating that "Zionists" do not understand British culture "patently synthetic outrage," and called on a Jewish tweeter to "Explain your deep and wounding sense of injury."
Rowling, who is not Jewish, tweeted in response: "How dare you tell a Jew that their outrage is 'patently synthetic'? How dare you demand that they lay bare their pain and fear on demand, for your personal evaluation? What other minority would you speak to this way?"
[twittervideo:2046603]
Maginn then called on Rowling to explain, noting that Corbyn has said that his comments did not refer to Jews but was "a rather complicated joke about the Palestinian Ambassador's fluency in English."
The opening salvos set up a back and forth that lasted throughout Sunday. Rowling tweeted several quotes from Jean-Paul Sartre's "Anti-Semite and Jew" — a famous essay on anti-Semitism by the philosopher — and lambasted him for demanding that a British Jew explain how he feels under anti-Semitic attack "when there are literally hundreds of accounts currently online explaining how British Jews currently feel?"
Maginn accused Rowling of "libel" for publicly calling him an anti-Semite in one of her tweets, but tweeted that "I'm not going to mount a legal action against you because I haven't got any money and you've got a lot, but false + defamatory = libellous. What a class act you are. What a nasty vicious little bully. Blocked."
Early Monday morning he continued his harangue, opening with a tweet reading: "BREAKING NEWS: From today, any statement by Jeremy Corbyn or his supporters is now *automatically antisemitic*, unless cleared by a panel comprising Dan Hodges, J K Rowling, Stephen Pollard and (wild card entry) David Baddiel."
Dan Hodges is a columnist for the Daily Mail who has accused Corbyn supporters of overt anti-Semitism. Pollard is the editor of London's Jewish Chronicle newspaper, and Baddiel is a British comedian and activist who campaigns against anti-Semitism in British soccer matches.
Maginn called on Rowling to apologize for "a sickening personal accusation against a complete stranger who disagrees with you politically," also tweeting that "your followers surely deserve better than this kind of behaviour from you. So do I. I deserve an apology."
Rowling, who has 14.4 million followers on Twitter, did not respond.
Maginn has tweeted against Jews in the past. In July, in response to the Labour Party rejecting the complete international definigion of anti-Semitism, he wrote: "Astounding isn't it, that a group which claims to be silenced, oppressed, powerless manages to keep the story running day after day, week after week, month after month, in every Tory paper and on the Tory BBC. Must be terrible to be so oppressed, so silenced."
It is not the first time that Rowling has debated anti-Semitism on Twitter. In April, she posted a screen grab of a non-Jew attempting to explain what Judaism is — "Judaism is a religion not a race" — and explained why this is hardly relevant to defining anti-Jewish bias.
She tweeted: "Most UK Jews in my timeline are currently having to field this kind of crap, so perhaps some of us non-Jews should start shouldering the burden," she said. "Antisemites think this is a clever argument, so tell us, do: were atheist Jews exempted from wearing the yellow star? #antisemitism."
She also responded when someone argued that Arabs can't be anti-Semitic because they are Semites. "The 'Arabs are semitic too' hot takes have arrived," she tweeted.
7. 'TRUMP WAS FURIOUS WHEN HE LEARNED WHAT UNRWA, PA WERE DOING'
by Hezki Baruch
[youtube:2046641]
David Bedein, the head of the Center for Near East Policy Research, spoke to Arutz Sheva about the late Arizona Senator John McCain, who passed away on Saturday after a year-long battle with brain cancer, and of the US administration's rejection of the so-called 'Palestinian right of return.'
"Ten years ago, exactly, I had the opportunity to meet Senator McCain when Noam Bedein (Bedein's son and the head of the Sderot Media Center) organized a briefing for Senator McCain in Sderot when he was running for president. And he brought him to a house which had been destroyed by missiles," Bedein said.
"I came down there as the correspondent for the Philadelphia Bulletin and covered the event. A few months before Senator McCain had given over an interview to Amir Oren from Haaretz where he talked about his commitment to push Israel for unilateral withdrawals from Judea and Samaria," he added.
"We're sitting in the living room which had been destroyed by missiles. I asked Senator McCain, 'well, how do you react? Will you change your position now that you've seen what happens when Israel hands over territory to the other side?'
"He got very angry at me and said: 'No. You have to understand: Israel has a peace partner. Israel had better withdraw as soon as possible from the West Bank and give it to Abbas. Abbas is a man of peace.' He was very angry and he said 'I don't like your question,'" Bedein recalled.
"My conclusion is that while McCain was, as he saw it, very favorable to Israel, it would have been very difficult to deal with a McCain Administration where we had someone who loved Israel so much, but was at the same time demanding withdrawals.
"It was easier to deal with Obama, who simply didn't like Israel so much and demanded withdrawals," Bedein said.
Bedein praised the reports that the Trump Administration would reject the 'right of return.'
"This is the conclusion of a process over the last two year: In December of 2016 I had the opportunity to meet with president-elect Trump's adviser, who was about to come to Washington. She was here in Jerusalem, and I showed her the [UNRWA] schoolbooks," he said.
"She told me who she was working for, and she asked if she could have all of the books. I gave the books to her, and for the last two years, our office, the Center for Near East Policy Research, has been in touch with the administration at the highest levels, giving them everything we could about the schoolbooks.
He said that the center's most recent report showed that "the right of return through the armed struggle become the most important and dominant theme of Palestinian Authority and UNRWA education."
"This got directly to the president of the United States, and he blew his stack, because he was told by the Peres Center for Peace ... that the Palestinian Authority has a peace curriculum. They just didn;t tell them that the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA had vetoed that peace curriculum.
He showed how a fifth grade textbook instructed students to model their lives after Dalal Mughrabi, one of the terrorists who carried out the Coastal Road Massacre in 1978, when 38 Israelis were murdered by terrorists.
According to Bedein, COGAT, the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, is what is preventing reform of UNRWA. "They need feedback that an education system which teaches children to murder Jews is not appropriate for a peace process."
8. TRAGEDY AT HAIFA PORT
by Ido Ben Porat
A 33-year-old diver who was involved in underwater work was killed Tuesday at the Haifa port.
The scuba diver, a resident of the Galilee, was critically injured during his work, after which he was treated by an MDA team and evacuated to Rambam Hospital in Haifa while efforts were made at resuscitation, but doctors at the hospital soon confirmed his death
The diver is an employee of the company building the new gulf port in the eastern part of Haifa Bay.
According to estimates, the diver was sucked into a pipe while carrying out work and was trapped, leading to his death. Investigators from the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Transport were summoned to the scene and an investigation was opened by police.
------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe/
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
Wednesday, Aug. 29 '18, י"ח באלול תשע"ח
HEADLINES:
1. LEFT LOOKS TO BLOCK DEMOLITION OF TERRORIST'S HOME
2. US, ISRAEL TEAM UP TO TIGHTEN IRAN SANCTIONS
3. 'NOTHING BEATS THE ONLY DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST'
4. KFC RETURNING TO ISRAEL
5. 'ABUSIVE ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS AT UN IS PATHETIC'
6. J.K. ROWLING CALLS OUT CORBYN'S ANTI-SEMITISM
7. 'TRUMP WAS FURIOUS WHEN HE LEARNED WHAT UNRWA, PA WERE DOING'
8. TRAGEDY AT HAIFA PORT
1. LEFT LOOKS TO BLOCK DEMOLITION OF TERRORIST'S HOME
by Ido Ben Porat
[video:2043666]
HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual, which benefits from New Israel Fund budgets, is providing legal assistance to the family of the terrorist who murdered Duvdevan fighter Ronen Lubarsky.
HaMoked filed petitions against the demolition order to the terrorist's house that was issued by Central Command head Nadav Padan at the beginning of the week.
The family of the fighter hopes the Supreme Court will not prevent the demolition and hopes the terrorist will be sentenced to death. "We congratulate the defense establishment on issuing a demolition order and hope the Supreme Court will not delay the demolition or render it meaningless by destroying a room or a wall," the family said.
According to them, "the purpose of the destruction is not revenge but deterrence and prevention of terror. We demand that the defense establishment toughen the sentence and issue a death sentence to the terrorist who murdered Ronen."
At the beginning of the week a demolition order was issued for the house of the terrorist who killed Lubarsky during an operation to arrest a terror cell planning a shooting attack on Psagot.
Sgt. Ronen Lubarsky, a Duvdevan fighter, was critically wounded with a marble block that a terrorist threw during an operation against a squad of terrorist operatives involved in shooting attacks in Judea and Samaria.
Jews against terrorist home demolitions
Flash 90
Sgt Ronen Lubarsky Hy"d
Family
2. US, ISRAEL TEAM UP TO TIGHTEN IRAN SANCTIONS
by Arutz Sheva Staff
The US and Israel formed a new joint taskforce charged with ensuring that economic sanctions imposed on the Tehran regime are enforced.
The decision to form the new taskforce was formally adopted during a meeting Tuesday night between US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Israel's Finance Minister, Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu).
The meeting, which is the fourth between Mnuchin and Kahlon in the past 12 months, focused primarily on Iran and the economic sanctions reimposed on the rogue regime by the Trump administration earlier this year.
To ensure enforcement of the sanctions regime, the US Treasury Department and Israeli Finance Ministry agreed to form a joint taskforce, to be made up of US and Israeli officials from both the Department and the Ministry, which will be charged with tracking enforcement of sanctions in the hi-tech sector.
"The economic sanctions that the US imposed on Iran are proving themselves," Kahlon said.
"The meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is intended to deepen our strategic-economic ties with the US. The joint taskforce which we established will be crucial in tightening sanctions on Iran."
3. 'NOTHING BEATS THE ONLY DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST'
by Mordechai Sones
A satirical video released by the Tzabar group in cooperation with the Derech Chaim movement today portrays an Arab Knesset member in his Knesset office and speaking in the plenum, wandering around the Knesset and freely inciting against the State.
The repeating refrain throughout the video is "Democracy here is a celebration, there's no country like it."
In the video, the Knesset member participates in a demonstration to liberate "Palestine" with PLO flags, pushes a policeman who came to maintain order in the area, participates in the Gaza flotilla that includes "a few blows with soldiers", and comforting terrorist's family members calling out "So come on, give us more missiles!"
The Knesset Member is also portrayed in his office displaying a picture of Abu Mazen, encouraging Hamas in its war against Israel, smuggles cell phones into jail because "with immunity I can do anything", and ending with the sentence "When the Knesset salary comes in, I let out one big laugh."
Boaz Albert of the Sabra group and one of the creators of the video says, "We've become accustomed to a strange and inconceivable reality in which the enemy uses our democratic game against us. What's perhaps more serious is that we're captives in this game, because this is a democracy.
"This reality is getting worse, and the enemy representatives in the Knesset are becoming bolder and more daring because of our inability to respond. We can be angry, we can protest, and we can simply present it as it is - they celebrate us, our naivete."
[youtube:2046674]
4. KFC RETURNING TO ISRAEL
by Arutz Sheva Staff
KFC is planning to open branches is Israel, Israel Hayom reported.
Quoting Eretz Radio, the site said that while KFC isn't planning to open a Be'er Sheva branch in March 2019, official KFC representatives are in Israel and planning to re-launch their famous chicken menu in the country.
KFC has already tried and failed three times to gain a foothold in the Israeli market. The company's last attempt ended when they closed their last Israeli branch in 2012.
In a statement, KFC said, "We are very optimistic about the Israeli market, and we believe that that chain can succeed here."
"We are currently planning our re-launch in Israel. We will be able to provide further details at a later date."
5. 'ABUSIVE ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS AT UN IS PATHETIC'
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2046671]
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley spoke on Wednesday night at a Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) conference.
In her speech, Haley reiterated the Trump administration's stance on the number of Palestinian Authority (PA) and Gaza "refugees" receiving aid from UNRWA, and said their "right of return" to Israel is not on the negotiating table.
Haley also said that the US needs to investigate whether the countries receiving US funding are interested in cooperation.
"What we should do is, the countries that we give money to, do they believe what we believe?" she said. "Are they still actually wanting to be our partner and work with us? If they're not and they're shouting, 'Death to America,' why would we give them a single penny? And so you are seeing the efforts of de-funding those things that are not helpful to us and that aren't in the United States' interest."
Regarding the UN bias against Israel, Haley said, "I knew that there was a bias against Israel, but I hadn't really put a lot of thought into it, until I attended the first session. And when I saw literally how abusive all of those countries were being to Israel, in a way that was pathetic - really I had no choice but to get up and say this is completely wrong."
"I came out and said, 'We are not going to condone this anti-Israel bias'."
"We started to make sure that the Israel-bashing sessions, as I call them, that they have once a month, we now try and talk about - they';re supposed to be sessions on the Middle East, not sessions on Israel. And so now we're actually making them talk about other areas in the Middle East.
"Now, frankly, they're scared to say anything negative about Israel because they don't want me to yell at them."
6. J.K. ROWLING CALLS OUT CORBYN'S ANTI-SEMITISM
by JTA
J.K. Rowling went head to head with a fellow British writer on Twitter over his criticism of Jewish complaints about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
Simon Maginn, who has written five thrillers under his own name and satirical comedies under the name Simon Nolan, on Sunday in a tweet called Jewish outrage over Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's 2013 comments indicating that "Zionists" do not understand British culture "patently synthetic outrage," and called on a Jewish tweeter to "Explain your deep and wounding sense of injury."
Rowling, who is not Jewish, tweeted in response: "How dare you tell a Jew that their outrage is 'patently synthetic'? How dare you demand that they lay bare their pain and fear on demand, for your personal evaluation? What other minority would you speak to this way?"
[twittervideo:2046603]
Maginn then called on Rowling to explain, noting that Corbyn has said that his comments did not refer to Jews but was "a rather complicated joke about the Palestinian Ambassador's fluency in English."
The opening salvos set up a back and forth that lasted throughout Sunday. Rowling tweeted several quotes from Jean-Paul Sartre's "Anti-Semite and Jew" — a famous essay on anti-Semitism by the philosopher — and lambasted him for demanding that a British Jew explain how he feels under anti-Semitic attack "when there are literally hundreds of accounts currently online explaining how British Jews currently feel?"
Maginn accused Rowling of "libel" for publicly calling him an anti-Semite in one of her tweets, but tweeted that "I'm not going to mount a legal action against you because I haven't got any money and you've got a lot, but false + defamatory = libellous. What a class act you are. What a nasty vicious little bully. Blocked."
Early Monday morning he continued his harangue, opening with a tweet reading: "BREAKING NEWS: From today, any statement by Jeremy Corbyn or his supporters is now *automatically antisemitic*, unless cleared by a panel comprising Dan Hodges, J K Rowling, Stephen Pollard and (wild card entry) David Baddiel."
Dan Hodges is a columnist for the Daily Mail who has accused Corbyn supporters of overt anti-Semitism. Pollard is the editor of London's Jewish Chronicle newspaper, and Baddiel is a British comedian and activist who campaigns against anti-Semitism in British soccer matches.
Maginn called on Rowling to apologize for "a sickening personal accusation against a complete stranger who disagrees with you politically," also tweeting that "your followers surely deserve better than this kind of behaviour from you. So do I. I deserve an apology."
Rowling, who has 14.4 million followers on Twitter, did not respond.
Maginn has tweeted against Jews in the past. In July, in response to the Labour Party rejecting the complete international definigion of anti-Semitism, he wrote: "Astounding isn't it, that a group which claims to be silenced, oppressed, powerless manages to keep the story running day after day, week after week, month after month, in every Tory paper and on the Tory BBC. Must be terrible to be so oppressed, so silenced."
It is not the first time that Rowling has debated anti-Semitism on Twitter. In April, she posted a screen grab of a non-Jew attempting to explain what Judaism is — "Judaism is a religion not a race" — and explained why this is hardly relevant to defining anti-Jewish bias.
She tweeted: "Most UK Jews in my timeline are currently having to field this kind of crap, so perhaps some of us non-Jews should start shouldering the burden," she said. "Antisemites think this is a clever argument, so tell us, do: were atheist Jews exempted from wearing the yellow star? #antisemitism."
She also responded when someone argued that Arabs can't be anti-Semitic because they are Semites. "The 'Arabs are semitic too' hot takes have arrived," she tweeted.
7. 'TRUMP WAS FURIOUS WHEN HE LEARNED WHAT UNRWA, PA WERE DOING'
by Hezki Baruch
[youtube:2046641]
David Bedein, the head of the Center for Near East Policy Research, spoke to Arutz Sheva about the late Arizona Senator John McCain, who passed away on Saturday after a year-long battle with brain cancer, and of the US administration's rejection of the so-called 'Palestinian right of return.'
"Ten years ago, exactly, I had the opportunity to meet Senator McCain when Noam Bedein (Bedein's son and the head of the Sderot Media Center) organized a briefing for Senator McCain in Sderot when he was running for president. And he brought him to a house which had been destroyed by missiles," Bedein said.
"I came down there as the correspondent for the Philadelphia Bulletin and covered the event. A few months before Senator McCain had given over an interview to Amir Oren from Haaretz where he talked about his commitment to push Israel for unilateral withdrawals from Judea and Samaria," he added.
"We're sitting in the living room which had been destroyed by missiles. I asked Senator McCain, 'well, how do you react? Will you change your position now that you've seen what happens when Israel hands over territory to the other side?'
"He got very angry at me and said: 'No. You have to understand: Israel has a peace partner. Israel had better withdraw as soon as possible from the West Bank and give it to Abbas. Abbas is a man of peace.' He was very angry and he said 'I don't like your question,'" Bedein recalled.
"My conclusion is that while McCain was, as he saw it, very favorable to Israel, it would have been very difficult to deal with a McCain Administration where we had someone who loved Israel so much, but was at the same time demanding withdrawals.
"It was easier to deal with Obama, who simply didn't like Israel so much and demanded withdrawals," Bedein said.
Bedein praised the reports that the Trump Administration would reject the 'right of return.'
"This is the conclusion of a process over the last two year: In December of 2016 I had the opportunity to meet with president-elect Trump's adviser, who was about to come to Washington. She was here in Jerusalem, and I showed her the [UNRWA] schoolbooks," he said.
"She told me who she was working for, and she asked if she could have all of the books. I gave the books to her, and for the last two years, our office, the Center for Near East Policy Research, has been in touch with the administration at the highest levels, giving them everything we could about the schoolbooks.
He said that the center's most recent report showed that "the right of return through the armed struggle become the most important and dominant theme of Palestinian Authority and UNRWA education."
"This got directly to the president of the United States, and he blew his stack, because he was told by the Peres Center for Peace ... that the Palestinian Authority has a peace curriculum. They just didn;t tell them that the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA had vetoed that peace curriculum.
He showed how a fifth grade textbook instructed students to model their lives after Dalal Mughrabi, one of the terrorists who carried out the Coastal Road Massacre in 1978, when 38 Israelis were murdered by terrorists.
According to Bedein, COGAT, the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, is what is preventing reform of UNRWA. "They need feedback that an education system which teaches children to murder Jews is not appropriate for a peace process."
8. TRAGEDY AT HAIFA PORT
by Ido Ben Porat
A 33-year-old diver who was involved in underwater work was killed Tuesday at the Haifa port.
The scuba diver, a resident of the Galilee, was critically injured during his work, after which he was treated by an MDA team and evacuated to Rambam Hospital in Haifa while efforts were made at resuscitation, but doctors at the hospital soon confirmed his death
The diver is an employee of the company building the new gulf port in the eastern part of Haifa Bay.
According to estimates, the diver was sucked into a pipe while carrying out work and was trapped, leading to his death. Investigators from the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Transport were summoned to the scene and an investigation was opened by police.
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Tuesday, August 28, 2018
A7News: Agreement between Hamas and Israel - 'over my dead body'
Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Tuesday, Aug. 28 '18, י"ז באלול תשע"ח
HEADLINES:
1. AGREEMENT BETWEEN HAMAS AND ISRAEL - 'OVER MY DEAD BODY'
2. 2 ARRESTED DURING DEMOLITION OF J'LEM SYNAGOGUE
3. FLORIDA SHOOTER DAVID KATZ'S HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
4. JEWISH INMATE WITH LIFE SENTENCE IN CA RECOMMENDED FOR RELEASE
5. REPORT: TRUMP OFFERED US PULLOUT FOR PARTIAL IRANIAN RETREAT
6. FLORIDA SHOOTER IDENTIFIED
7. IDF'S OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES GET BIG BOOST WITH MISSILE PURCHASE
8. JEWISH WOMAN BRUTALLY MUGGED IN CROWN HEIGHTS
1. AGREEMENT BETWEEN HAMAS AND ISRAEL - 'OVER MY DEAD BODY'
by Tal Polon
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas reportedly expressed outrage that a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel was being formulated without his participation.
Channel 10 reported that it had been informed today, Tuesday, by a senior Fatah official in Ramallah that Abbas had said, "Over my dead body will there be a ceasefire and agreement for calm between the sides."
The official cited in the report also quoted Abbas as saying that the signing of an agreement without the consent of the PA was "illegal" and constituted "a betrayal."
Abbas reportedly expressed outrage at Egypt, which is mediating Gaza ceasefire talks, for its readiness to hold talks with Hamas without his presence.
"The Egyptians are not correctly reading the map, and are harming Palestinian national interests. Talks with Hamas, which achieved rule in Gaza through revolution and without agreement and cooperation from the PA, is unacceptable and indicates defiance of the Palestinian leadership," the official said.
Senior Hamas officials recently claimed that a ceasefire deal with Israel was due to be reached soon, following the Eid al-Adha holiday.
On Monday, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said that even if a ceasefire is achieved with Israel, the terrorist organization will continue to "build its capabilities because it has no faith in the Zionist enemy."
"The ceasefire arrangement does not include the construction of a seaport or an airport outside the Palestinian territories - everything published so far on this matter is a lie," he said, according to Channel 10.
He further claimed that "the Zionist enemy has reached the conclusion that the Palestinian resistance cannot be eliminated and Israel will see that it made a grave mistake if the truce with Hamas fails. If a ceasefire is achieved, then we will not delay in working on the lifting of the siege and the lifting of the sanctions on the Gaza Strip."
Hamdan also said that the terrorist organization "wants to obtain a prisoner exchange deal with Israel more than in the past." He added that a prisoner exchange deal would be separate from talks on a truce.
2. 2 ARRESTED DURING DEMOLITION OF J'LEM SYNAGOGUE
by David Rosenberg
Two people were arrested Tuesday morning, during protests against the demolition of an illegally-built synagogue in Jerusalem.
Officials from the municipality of Jerusalem, accompanied by police officers, dismantled a synagogue Tuesday morning which was built in the Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood without any permit or authorization from the city.
The synagogue had been cleared for demolition by a Jerusalem court in 2017.
According to the Kikar Hashabbat website, a group of haredi extremists clashed with police during the demolition. Two of the demonstrators were taken into custody.
In a statement released shortly after the demolition, Jerusalem city officials said that the synagogue had been built in the yard of a private residence.
"This case involved illegal enclosure in a yard with no authorization. The dismantling of the enclosure was carried out based on the ruling of a local court which made its decision in 2017."
3. FLORIDA SHOOTER DAVID KATZ'S HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
by David Rosenberg
The gunman responsible for the deadly shooting rampage in Jacksonville, Florida this Sunday had a history of mental illness and abnormal behavior.
On Sunday, 24-year-old David Katz, a resident of Howard County, Maryland, opened fire with two pistols he had acquired several weeks before, gunning down participants at a video game tournament in the Jacksonville Landing shopping center.
Katz, who had won a similar tournament for video game football the year before, lost a game just minutes before the mass shooting. Police say Katz deliberately targeted fellow players, shooting 13 people – 2 of them fatally – before he shot and killed himself.
According to court papers filed as part of the divorce proceedings for Katz's parents, the couple had become estranged while Katz was a child, and formally divorced in 2007, when Katz was 13 years old, AP reported.
The gunman's parents said that their son had been twice hospitalized for psychiatric care, and Elizabeth Katz, David's mother, claimed her son exhibited disturbingly obsessive behavior.
"His hair would very often go unwashed for days. When I took his gaming equipment controllers away so he couldn't play at 3 or 4 in the morning, I'd get up and find that he was just walking around the house in circles," Elizabeth Katz said.
When she attempted to break her son's video game addiction by locking away his video game controllers in her room, David punched a hole through the door.
David Katz had difficulty concentrating after his parents broke up, his mother said, though David's father often disputed claims regarding the level of his son's mental illness, saying he was never "diagnosed as psychotic". The father, Richard Katz, also pressed his son not to take Risperidal, an anti-psychotic medication he had been prescribed, Elizabeth Katz claimed.
In the years after her divorce, Elizabeth Katz reportedly called 911 on multiple occasions to report abusive behavior by her son, including an incident in which he allegedly was "assaulting" her.
4. JEWISH INMATE WITH LIFE SENTENCE IN CA RECOMMENDED FOR RELEASE
by JTA
A Jewish inmate serving life in prison without parole took a step toward freedom Aug. 21 and credited the local Jewish newspaper for the turn of events.
James A. White Jr., was sentenced in 1981 for the 1972 murder of his wife's ex-husband.
Last week, California's Board of Parole Hearings unanimously voted to recommend commutation of his sentence after 37 years behind bars, in part because of the work he has done in establishing a community college program for fellow inmates.
That program was given wide publicity earlier this year in an article on White by Alix Wall in J. The Jewish News of Northern California.
"There's no doubt in any of our minds that it was your article that was the impetus that forced them to deal with my case," White told Wall last week in a phone call. "Your article changed my life."
White, a decorated Vietnam veteran, is credited with establishing the community college program — allowing inmates to work toward an associate's degree — at Ironwood State Prison in Riverside County. (He has since been moved to the California Medical Facility prison in Vacaville in Northern California's Solano County.)
Some 1,500 Ironwood prisoners have graduated from the community college program since its start in 2001. A 2013 study by the Rand Corp. found that inmates who participated in educational programs were 43 percent less likely to return to prison within three years than those who did not participate.
The next scheduled stop for the case is the state Supreme Court; after that, it is expected to go to Gov. Jerry Brown, who has the power to commute White's sentence. But the hearing was the main hurdle.
"He's not out till he's out," said Rabbi Mendel Kessler, who knows White through his work as a prison chaplain. "But I'm 99 percent sure."
One of the inmates White helped was Ryan Lo, who was released from prison in 2014 after serving 23 years on a murder he committed as a juvenile and now runs a project documenting the experiences of former inmates. Lo was one of the 13 people who attended the board hearing in Sacramento.
"This crazy, old, Jewish guy came by my door and introduced himself, and said, 'I'm James White,'" Lo said. White insisted Lo take college courses, and didn't let up. Lo completed six associate degrees in prison and says White changed his life. In return, he made a promise.
"If I ever do go home, I promise you I will do everything in my power to bring you [White] home with me," Lo said he told himself.
Kessler, who was a chaplain at Ironwood and is now the director of Chabad of Sedona, Arizona, also spoke in favor of White. Calling himself the "odd one out" among a group of speakers that included mainly ex-inmates and veterans, Kessler told the board that while crimes must be punished, White's inspiring example and mentorship in helping other inmates should be recognized.
"From that sense of responsibility that creates civilization, we also have to have the responsibility to rehabilitate all these guys," he said.
White spoke about the college program's success during a 2014 TEDx talk at Ironwood. He also started a veterans organizations and held charitable fundraisers while serving his sentence.
"What he's done, and how he's turned so many lives around," said Shad Meshad, the president and founder of the National Veterans Foundation, who has been working on White's case for decades. "If you could have heard the testimony of these men."
White was born in London in 1939 or 1940 and adopted by James and Margaret White, a wealthy Jewish couple in Connecticut who later moved to Texas. After three years at Texas A&M, White served 10 years in the Army and the Marines, earning the rank of sergeant, and was decorated for his service.
In 1972, White went to Southern California, where he met his wife, Nancy Napoli, and settled in Sunnymead, near Riverside. According to White, Napoli's ex-husband began threatening White and Napoli, ignored a restraining order and then molested one of his former stepdaughters. White went to the man's office and shot him dead. In 1981, he was sentenced to life without parole. White was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder; his friends say that nowadays his sentence would not have been as severe, because PTSD is more well known.
Although the hearing was a major step, White is not free yet.
Due to the circumstances of his case, the California Supreme Court also must weigh in, but his friends are hopeful. The Board of Parole Hearings, which is comprised of 15 full-time commissioners, was unanimous in its vote, and Lo said the number of people who spoke at the hearing was unusually high. (Wall also spoke there).
Kessler also said that the chief commissioner told him afterward that the number of speakers made a difference.
"Basically she said it was very helpful that all those who came to testify came to testify," he said.
White has touched many lives during his nearly four decades in the prison system, but if and when he's released, Meshad said, White will keep doing the same work on the outside: he's promised to come work for Meshad's foundation to keep helping the population he's already helped so much.
"This wasn't a hard decision," Lo said. "This is a special case. This is a person with a phenomenal record."
5. REPORT: TRUMP OFFERED US PULLOUT FOR PARTIAL IRANIAN RETREAT
by David Rosenberg
A report released Tuesday by an Arab media outlet claims that the US offered to withdraw all American forces from Syria, while permitting Iran's Quds Force to remain in the country, an arrangement Israel has warned would lead to continued conflict in the region.
On Tuesday, the Lebanon-based Al-Akhbar newspaper published a report claiming that the US had conducted a sub rosa meeting this June in Damascus with senior representatives of the Assad regime.
During the four-hour meeting, the report claims, the US delegation offered a full withdrawal of all American forces currently deployed to Syria, while permitting Iran to retain a presence in the war-ravaged country.
The US currently has 2,000 soldiers in Syria, working primarily in eastern Syria as advisors in the campaign to defeat ISIS.
In exchange for the withdrawal, the US demanded that Iran, which has deployed thousands of soldiers from its Quds Force to Syria, pullback all of its military assets from southern Syria. Syria would also be required to provided written assurances the US oil companies would be included in the development of Syrian oil resources in the east of the country.
Thirdly, the US delegation asked the Assad regime provide US security agencies with a comprehensive data set on all terror groups operating in Syria, as well as a registry of foreign fighters.
According to the Al-Akhbar report, Syria rejected the proposal, and called on the US to unilaterally withdraw from the country, calling the American presence there an unauthorized 'occupation'.
There has been no official US confirmation regarding the report, which seems to contradict reports by senior US officials that the Trump White House is pushing for the total withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria.
"The objective of the United States… is to get Iran, Iranian forces, Iranian militias, Iranian surrogates out of the offensive operations they're in in both Syria and Iraq, and, frankly, to end Iran's support for Hezbollah," National Security Advisor John Bolton said earlier this month.
The total removal of all Iranian forces from Syria has long been a key demand of Israel, which views the presence of Revolutionary Guards forces on Syrian territory as a serious security threat.
6. FLORIDA SHOOTER IDENTIFIED
by Elad Benari
The man who opened fire at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday has been identified as 24-year-old David Katz, of Baltimore, Maryland, CNN reported.
Two people were killed in the shooting at the Jacksonville Landing shopping and dining complex. Eleven others were injured.
Katz died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Sheriff Mike Williams said at a news conference on Sunday afternoon. There are no other suspects.
The motive for the shooting, which took place during a qualifying event for the Madden 19 Tournament at the GLHF Game Bar, remains unclear.
Some reports said the shooter participated in the tournament and opened fire at participants after he lost.
The Baltimore Police Department on Sunday evening raided Katz's home, which is located in the city's Inner Harbor area. Investigators are interviewing the suspect's family.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the attack and the White House was monitoring the situation.
7. IDF'S OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES GET BIG BOOST WITH MISSILE PURCHASE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Israel's Defense Ministry, led by the Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure and Israel Military Industries (IMI), signed an agreement to develop and equip the IDF with advanced rockets.
The project is expected to cost Israel hundreds of millions of shekels and comes after Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) decided to equip the IDF with easily accessible, precise missiles and rockets of varying ranges.
According to the Defense Ministry, this agreement will improve Israel's abilities significantly, and will allow Israel to hit a target precisely, from a distance, at a relatively low cost per mission.
The new rockets will use advanced technologies appropriate for the modern battlefield.
"The plan to create an array of precise rockets and missiles is gaining momentum," Liberman said. "Some of it is already being manufactured, and some are still being researched and developed. We are acquiring and developing precise firing systems which will allow us to empower the IDF's offense system and cover every spot in the region, with short- and long-range [missiles]."
IMI Chairman Yitzhak Aharonovich noted, "The innovative rocket systems with which the IDF will be provided via this agreement express our company's technological abilities. The company excels in precise firing abilities and the precise targeting of ground targets."
8. JEWISH WOMAN BRUTALLY MUGGED IN CROWN HEIGHTS
by Tzvi Lev
A Jewish woman was violently mugged by two assailants on Saturday night in New York's Chabad-dominated Crown Heights neighborhood.
According to the report in Crownheights.info, two African-American assailants jumped out of a car and punched and kicked a woman on Saturday night next to Carroll Street and Troy Avenue. The two grabbed her purse and escaped in their getaway car after the woman started screaming for help.
The woman was evacuated to the hospital and she has filed a police report. The Shomrim volunteer law-enforcement group has been searching for the two suspects throughout the day.
Saturday night's assault is not the first time that Jews have been attacked by Crown Heights residents. In April, James Vincent, a 40-year-old African American man, assaulted Menachem Moskowitz he returned home from the synagogue. Vincent strangled him and shouted anti-Semitic curses at him.
Earlier in the week, a Jewish man was assaulted in the same neighborhood as he was walking with another Chabad man late on a Friday night.
The man was attacked by three black men and two black women near the Chabad headquarters. One of the assailants asked the man "do you want to fight?" and began to kick and punch him with others joining in the attack.
A neighbor who heard a man's shouts for help called the Crown Heights Shomrim, who found blood on the sidewalk but not the victim.
------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe/
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
Tuesday, Aug. 28 '18, י"ז באלול תשע"ח
HEADLINES:
1. AGREEMENT BETWEEN HAMAS AND ISRAEL - 'OVER MY DEAD BODY'
2. 2 ARRESTED DURING DEMOLITION OF J'LEM SYNAGOGUE
3. FLORIDA SHOOTER DAVID KATZ'S HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
4. JEWISH INMATE WITH LIFE SENTENCE IN CA RECOMMENDED FOR RELEASE
5. REPORT: TRUMP OFFERED US PULLOUT FOR PARTIAL IRANIAN RETREAT
6. FLORIDA SHOOTER IDENTIFIED
7. IDF'S OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES GET BIG BOOST WITH MISSILE PURCHASE
8. JEWISH WOMAN BRUTALLY MUGGED IN CROWN HEIGHTS
1. AGREEMENT BETWEEN HAMAS AND ISRAEL - 'OVER MY DEAD BODY'
by Tal Polon
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas reportedly expressed outrage that a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel was being formulated without his participation.
Channel 10 reported that it had been informed today, Tuesday, by a senior Fatah official in Ramallah that Abbas had said, "Over my dead body will there be a ceasefire and agreement for calm between the sides."
The official cited in the report also quoted Abbas as saying that the signing of an agreement without the consent of the PA was "illegal" and constituted "a betrayal."
Abbas reportedly expressed outrage at Egypt, which is mediating Gaza ceasefire talks, for its readiness to hold talks with Hamas without his presence.
"The Egyptians are not correctly reading the map, and are harming Palestinian national interests. Talks with Hamas, which achieved rule in Gaza through revolution and without agreement and cooperation from the PA, is unacceptable and indicates defiance of the Palestinian leadership," the official said.
Senior Hamas officials recently claimed that a ceasefire deal with Israel was due to be reached soon, following the Eid al-Adha holiday.
On Monday, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said that even if a ceasefire is achieved with Israel, the terrorist organization will continue to "build its capabilities because it has no faith in the Zionist enemy."
"The ceasefire arrangement does not include the construction of a seaport or an airport outside the Palestinian territories - everything published so far on this matter is a lie," he said, according to Channel 10.
He further claimed that "the Zionist enemy has reached the conclusion that the Palestinian resistance cannot be eliminated and Israel will see that it made a grave mistake if the truce with Hamas fails. If a ceasefire is achieved, then we will not delay in working on the lifting of the siege and the lifting of the sanctions on the Gaza Strip."
Hamdan also said that the terrorist organization "wants to obtain a prisoner exchange deal with Israel more than in the past." He added that a prisoner exchange deal would be separate from talks on a truce.
2. 2 ARRESTED DURING DEMOLITION OF J'LEM SYNAGOGUE
by David Rosenberg
Two people were arrested Tuesday morning, during protests against the demolition of an illegally-built synagogue in Jerusalem.
Officials from the municipality of Jerusalem, accompanied by police officers, dismantled a synagogue Tuesday morning which was built in the Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood without any permit or authorization from the city.
The synagogue had been cleared for demolition by a Jerusalem court in 2017.
According to the Kikar Hashabbat website, a group of haredi extremists clashed with police during the demolition. Two of the demonstrators were taken into custody.
In a statement released shortly after the demolition, Jerusalem city officials said that the synagogue had been built in the yard of a private residence.
"This case involved illegal enclosure in a yard with no authorization. The dismantling of the enclosure was carried out based on the ruling of a local court which made its decision in 2017."
3. FLORIDA SHOOTER DAVID KATZ'S HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
by David Rosenberg
The gunman responsible for the deadly shooting rampage in Jacksonville, Florida this Sunday had a history of mental illness and abnormal behavior.
On Sunday, 24-year-old David Katz, a resident of Howard County, Maryland, opened fire with two pistols he had acquired several weeks before, gunning down participants at a video game tournament in the Jacksonville Landing shopping center.
Katz, who had won a similar tournament for video game football the year before, lost a game just minutes before the mass shooting. Police say Katz deliberately targeted fellow players, shooting 13 people – 2 of them fatally – before he shot and killed himself.
According to court papers filed as part of the divorce proceedings for Katz's parents, the couple had become estranged while Katz was a child, and formally divorced in 2007, when Katz was 13 years old, AP reported.
The gunman's parents said that their son had been twice hospitalized for psychiatric care, and Elizabeth Katz, David's mother, claimed her son exhibited disturbingly obsessive behavior.
"His hair would very often go unwashed for days. When I took his gaming equipment controllers away so he couldn't play at 3 or 4 in the morning, I'd get up and find that he was just walking around the house in circles," Elizabeth Katz said.
When she attempted to break her son's video game addiction by locking away his video game controllers in her room, David punched a hole through the door.
David Katz had difficulty concentrating after his parents broke up, his mother said, though David's father often disputed claims regarding the level of his son's mental illness, saying he was never "diagnosed as psychotic". The father, Richard Katz, also pressed his son not to take Risperidal, an anti-psychotic medication he had been prescribed, Elizabeth Katz claimed.
In the years after her divorce, Elizabeth Katz reportedly called 911 on multiple occasions to report abusive behavior by her son, including an incident in which he allegedly was "assaulting" her.
4. JEWISH INMATE WITH LIFE SENTENCE IN CA RECOMMENDED FOR RELEASE
by JTA
A Jewish inmate serving life in prison without parole took a step toward freedom Aug. 21 and credited the local Jewish newspaper for the turn of events.
James A. White Jr., was sentenced in 1981 for the 1972 murder of his wife's ex-husband.
Last week, California's Board of Parole Hearings unanimously voted to recommend commutation of his sentence after 37 years behind bars, in part because of the work he has done in establishing a community college program for fellow inmates.
That program was given wide publicity earlier this year in an article on White by Alix Wall in J. The Jewish News of Northern California.
"There's no doubt in any of our minds that it was your article that was the impetus that forced them to deal with my case," White told Wall last week in a phone call. "Your article changed my life."
White, a decorated Vietnam veteran, is credited with establishing the community college program — allowing inmates to work toward an associate's degree — at Ironwood State Prison in Riverside County. (He has since been moved to the California Medical Facility prison in Vacaville in Northern California's Solano County.)
Some 1,500 Ironwood prisoners have graduated from the community college program since its start in 2001. A 2013 study by the Rand Corp. found that inmates who participated in educational programs were 43 percent less likely to return to prison within three years than those who did not participate.
The next scheduled stop for the case is the state Supreme Court; after that, it is expected to go to Gov. Jerry Brown, who has the power to commute White's sentence. But the hearing was the main hurdle.
"He's not out till he's out," said Rabbi Mendel Kessler, who knows White through his work as a prison chaplain. "But I'm 99 percent sure."
One of the inmates White helped was Ryan Lo, who was released from prison in 2014 after serving 23 years on a murder he committed as a juvenile and now runs a project documenting the experiences of former inmates. Lo was one of the 13 people who attended the board hearing in Sacramento.
"This crazy, old, Jewish guy came by my door and introduced himself, and said, 'I'm James White,'" Lo said. White insisted Lo take college courses, and didn't let up. Lo completed six associate degrees in prison and says White changed his life. In return, he made a promise.
"If I ever do go home, I promise you I will do everything in my power to bring you [White] home with me," Lo said he told himself.
Kessler, who was a chaplain at Ironwood and is now the director of Chabad of Sedona, Arizona, also spoke in favor of White. Calling himself the "odd one out" among a group of speakers that included mainly ex-inmates and veterans, Kessler told the board that while crimes must be punished, White's inspiring example and mentorship in helping other inmates should be recognized.
"From that sense of responsibility that creates civilization, we also have to have the responsibility to rehabilitate all these guys," he said.
White spoke about the college program's success during a 2014 TEDx talk at Ironwood. He also started a veterans organizations and held charitable fundraisers while serving his sentence.
"What he's done, and how he's turned so many lives around," said Shad Meshad, the president and founder of the National Veterans Foundation, who has been working on White's case for decades. "If you could have heard the testimony of these men."
White was born in London in 1939 or 1940 and adopted by James and Margaret White, a wealthy Jewish couple in Connecticut who later moved to Texas. After three years at Texas A&M, White served 10 years in the Army and the Marines, earning the rank of sergeant, and was decorated for his service.
In 1972, White went to Southern California, where he met his wife, Nancy Napoli, and settled in Sunnymead, near Riverside. According to White, Napoli's ex-husband began threatening White and Napoli, ignored a restraining order and then molested one of his former stepdaughters. White went to the man's office and shot him dead. In 1981, he was sentenced to life without parole. White was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder; his friends say that nowadays his sentence would not have been as severe, because PTSD is more well known.
Although the hearing was a major step, White is not free yet.
Due to the circumstances of his case, the California Supreme Court also must weigh in, but his friends are hopeful. The Board of Parole Hearings, which is comprised of 15 full-time commissioners, was unanimous in its vote, and Lo said the number of people who spoke at the hearing was unusually high. (Wall also spoke there).
Kessler also said that the chief commissioner told him afterward that the number of speakers made a difference.
"Basically she said it was very helpful that all those who came to testify came to testify," he said.
White has touched many lives during his nearly four decades in the prison system, but if and when he's released, Meshad said, White will keep doing the same work on the outside: he's promised to come work for Meshad's foundation to keep helping the population he's already helped so much.
"This wasn't a hard decision," Lo said. "This is a special case. This is a person with a phenomenal record."
5. REPORT: TRUMP OFFERED US PULLOUT FOR PARTIAL IRANIAN RETREAT
by David Rosenberg
A report released Tuesday by an Arab media outlet claims that the US offered to withdraw all American forces from Syria, while permitting Iran's Quds Force to remain in the country, an arrangement Israel has warned would lead to continued conflict in the region.
On Tuesday, the Lebanon-based Al-Akhbar newspaper published a report claiming that the US had conducted a sub rosa meeting this June in Damascus with senior representatives of the Assad regime.
During the four-hour meeting, the report claims, the US delegation offered a full withdrawal of all American forces currently deployed to Syria, while permitting Iran to retain a presence in the war-ravaged country.
The US currently has 2,000 soldiers in Syria, working primarily in eastern Syria as advisors in the campaign to defeat ISIS.
In exchange for the withdrawal, the US demanded that Iran, which has deployed thousands of soldiers from its Quds Force to Syria, pullback all of its military assets from southern Syria. Syria would also be required to provided written assurances the US oil companies would be included in the development of Syrian oil resources in the east of the country.
Thirdly, the US delegation asked the Assad regime provide US security agencies with a comprehensive data set on all terror groups operating in Syria, as well as a registry of foreign fighters.
According to the Al-Akhbar report, Syria rejected the proposal, and called on the US to unilaterally withdraw from the country, calling the American presence there an unauthorized 'occupation'.
There has been no official US confirmation regarding the report, which seems to contradict reports by senior US officials that the Trump White House is pushing for the total withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria.
"The objective of the United States… is to get Iran, Iranian forces, Iranian militias, Iranian surrogates out of the offensive operations they're in in both Syria and Iraq, and, frankly, to end Iran's support for Hezbollah," National Security Advisor John Bolton said earlier this month.
The total removal of all Iranian forces from Syria has long been a key demand of Israel, which views the presence of Revolutionary Guards forces on Syrian territory as a serious security threat.
6. FLORIDA SHOOTER IDENTIFIED
by Elad Benari
The man who opened fire at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday has been identified as 24-year-old David Katz, of Baltimore, Maryland, CNN reported.
Two people were killed in the shooting at the Jacksonville Landing shopping and dining complex. Eleven others were injured.
Katz died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Sheriff Mike Williams said at a news conference on Sunday afternoon. There are no other suspects.
The motive for the shooting, which took place during a qualifying event for the Madden 19 Tournament at the GLHF Game Bar, remains unclear.
Some reports said the shooter participated in the tournament and opened fire at participants after he lost.
The Baltimore Police Department on Sunday evening raided Katz's home, which is located in the city's Inner Harbor area. Investigators are interviewing the suspect's family.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the attack and the White House was monitoring the situation.
7. IDF'S OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES GET BIG BOOST WITH MISSILE PURCHASE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Israel's Defense Ministry, led by the Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure and Israel Military Industries (IMI), signed an agreement to develop and equip the IDF with advanced rockets.
The project is expected to cost Israel hundreds of millions of shekels and comes after Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) decided to equip the IDF with easily accessible, precise missiles and rockets of varying ranges.
According to the Defense Ministry, this agreement will improve Israel's abilities significantly, and will allow Israel to hit a target precisely, from a distance, at a relatively low cost per mission.
The new rockets will use advanced technologies appropriate for the modern battlefield.
"The plan to create an array of precise rockets and missiles is gaining momentum," Liberman said. "Some of it is already being manufactured, and some are still being researched and developed. We are acquiring and developing precise firing systems which will allow us to empower the IDF's offense system and cover every spot in the region, with short- and long-range [missiles]."
IMI Chairman Yitzhak Aharonovich noted, "The innovative rocket systems with which the IDF will be provided via this agreement express our company's technological abilities. The company excels in precise firing abilities and the precise targeting of ground targets."
8. JEWISH WOMAN BRUTALLY MUGGED IN CROWN HEIGHTS
by Tzvi Lev
A Jewish woman was violently mugged by two assailants on Saturday night in New York's Chabad-dominated Crown Heights neighborhood.
According to the report in Crownheights.info, two African-American assailants jumped out of a car and punched and kicked a woman on Saturday night next to Carroll Street and Troy Avenue. The two grabbed her purse and escaped in their getaway car after the woman started screaming for help.
The woman was evacuated to the hospital and she has filed a police report. The Shomrim volunteer law-enforcement group has been searching for the two suspects throughout the day.
Saturday night's assault is not the first time that Jews have been attacked by Crown Heights residents. In April, James Vincent, a 40-year-old African American man, assaulted Menachem Moskowitz he returned home from the synagogue. Vincent strangled him and shouted anti-Semitic curses at him.
Earlier in the week, a Jewish man was assaulted in the same neighborhood as he was walking with another Chabad man late on a Friday night.
The man was attacked by three black men and two black women near the Chabad headquarters. One of the assailants asked the man "do you want to fight?" and began to kick and punch him with others joining in the attack.
A neighbor who heard a man's shouts for help called the Crown Heights Shomrim, who found blood on the sidewalk but not the victim.
------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe/
Monday, August 27, 2018
A7News: 'Inciting to murder Israelis didn't seem to bother FIFA'
Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
Monday, Aug. 27 '18, ט"ז באלול תשע"ח
HEADLINES:
1. 'INCITING TO MURDER ISRAELIS DIDN'T SEEM TO BOTHER FIFA'
2. 'WE WERE BRAINWASHED'
3. IDF'S OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES GET BIG BOOST WITH MISSILE PURCHASE
4. 'THIS IS TREASON - TIME TO PUT ARAB MKS ON TRIAL'
5. IRAN INKS DEAL WITH SYRIA, VOWS TO CONTINUE MILITARY COOPERATION
6. FLORIDA SHOOTER IDENTIFIED
7. WILL TRUMP ELIMINATE THE RIGHT OF RETURN?
8. AFTER ABBAS
1. 'INCITING TO MURDER ISRAELIS DIDN'T SEEM TO BOTHER FIFA'
by Benny Toker
Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, wondered in an interview with Arutz Sheva why FIFA had suspended Jibril Rajoub from his post only after his calls against Argentina and its star Lionel Messi.
"For years Rajoub incited to murder Israelis, we filed three complaints in this matter, but they apparently were afraid of punishing him, and only now that he threatened Argentine athletes decided to dismiss him and give him a fine. So apparently inciting to murder Israelis is not as bad as inciting against athletes from Argentina."
Marcus believes Rajoub's suspension from his position in the Football Association will not harm him and may even strengthen his standing in the Palestinian Authority. "Jibril Rajoub is a senior official in the PA, he is responsible for youth and sports in the Palestinian Authority, he is registrar of the Central Fatah Committee, and many see him as a successor to Abbas. His suspension from FIFA will not prevent him from moving forward, and maybe it will advance him, because whoever gets into trouble with the world, that advances him among the Palestinians and makes him even more a hero. "
He hopes that law enforcement in Israel, at least, will put Rajoub on trial for inciting to murder Israelis. "We filed a complaint together with families of terror victims from 2016, we documented all the calls for Rajoub's incitement to murder Israelis, and they should prosecute him, and if the police do not give us a response, we will make a request to the Supreme Court to compel the police to respond to the complaint."
[audio:2046580]
2. 'WE WERE BRAINWASHED'
by Hezki Baruch
[youtube:2046534]
Leah Aharoni, one of the founders of Women for the Wall, a religious organization which opposes the Women of the Wall group which stages provocations at the Western Wall every month, spoke to Arutz Sheva about the New Israel Fund's attempts to influence religious organizations in Israel.
Last week, several leading religious Zionist rabbis - Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Rabbi Dov Lior and Rabbi Shlomo Aviner - caledl on religious Zionist organizations not to accept funds from the New Israel Fund (NIF).
The video was produced by the "Hotam" organization as part of a campaign against religious organizations funded by the NIF. The campaign's leaders claim that the NIF has set itself the goal of changing Israeli society from within by penetrating religious Zionist organizations.
"Twenty-five years ago, I was a young, 20-something-year-old woman, and I got an opportunity to join a program to learn more about democracy and leadership," Aharoni said. "We got together, about 30 young women, all of us from the religious community, and we got a 500 shekel monthly scholarship that we got in cash in an envelope. And every week we would have a meeting with another thought leader. But what happened was the thought leaders all had the same thoughts. They were all left-wing and pretty radical."
She said that the meetings took place with people from Israel and Europe who called the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria "evil" and alleged oppression of religious Jewish women.
"After a few weeks we figured out what was going on, and we asked where the money was coming from. Where was that money in cash coming from? And we didn't get an answer.
"After two years, it came out that the sponsor was the European Union, and the idea was to brainwash a small but high-quality group of men and women in the religious community and have them spread these ideas inside the community," she said.
"This is the method that the New Israel fund and the European Union have used in the religious and haredi communities ever since. What's the idea? They find young, idealistic people who have important issues that they would like to advance in the community. They give them training. They give them funding. And then they make them part of this ecosystem. And this group of young, religious, idealistic leaders are now becoming a Trojan Horse who are now advancing leftist,liberal, and sometimes anti-religious values inside the religious community.
"This is the method the New Israel Fund is using to bring down the religious community, to bring down the Jewish identity of Israel, and to ultimately turn Israel into a nation of all its citizens.
3. IDF'S OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES GET BIG BOOST WITH MISSILE PURCHASE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Israel's Defense Ministry, led by the Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure and Israel Military Industries (IMI), signed an agreement to develop and equip the IDF with advanced rockets.
The project is expected to cost Israel hundreds of millions of shekels and comes after Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) decided to equip the IDF with easily accessible, precise missiles and rockets of varying ranges.
According to the Defense Ministry, this agreement will improve Israel's abilities significantly, and will allow Israel to hit a target precisely, from a distance, at a relatively low cost per mission.
The new rockets will use advanced technologies appropriate for the modern battlefield.
"The plan to create an array of precise rockets and missiles is gaining momentum," Liberman said. "Some of it is already being manufactured, and some are still being researched and developed. We are acquiring and developing precise firing systems which will allow us to empower the IDF's offense system and cover every spot in the region, with short- and long-range [missiles]."
IMI Chairman Yitzhak Aharonovich noted, "The innovative rocket systems with which the IDF will be provided via this agreement express our company's technological abilities. The company excels in precise firing abilities and the precise targeting of ground targets."
4. 'THIS IS TREASON - TIME TO PUT ARAB MKS ON TRIAL'
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) excoriated Arab lawmakers on Monday over their plans to push the United Nations to adopt a resolution condemning Israel's passage of the Nationality Law.
In mid-July, the Knesset passed the controversial 'Nationality Law', which codified in Israel's Basic Laws the state's status as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and established Hebrew as the sole official language, while giving Arabic a special standing.
The law declares that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and sets the Hebrew calendar as the official calendar of the state.
Arab lawmakers objected to the law, denouncing its affirmation of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people as an 'apartheid' measure which discriminates against the country's Arab minority.
On Sunday, Israeli media outlets reported that the predominantly Arab Joint List party is preparing a resolution for the United Nations which would censure Israel over the Nationality Law.
It is unclear whether the resolution would be introduced in the General Assembly or the Security Council, where the US would likely veto it.
On Monday, Minister Yariv Levin blasted the proposal, calling its backers traitors to the State of Israel.
"In any normal country," Levin told Army Radio, "there is only one way this would be viewed –as treason. I hope that the justice system puts them on trial."
A day earlier, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) condemned the proposed resolution, tweeting: "Members of Knesset from the joint list who receive salaries from the state and win all the parliamentary tools still dare to besmirch our name in the world."
"Anyone who collaborates with the Palestinian Authority against Israel should ask himself whether his place is in the Palestinian or Israeli parliament," Edelstein wrote in his Twitter account.
5. IRAN INKS DEAL WITH SYRIA, VOWS TO CONTINUE MILITARY COOPERATION
by David Rosenberg
Iran vowed to continue its military cooperation with the Assad regime, signing a deal with the Syrian government on Monday, in defiance of calls for Tehran to withdraw its forces from Syria.
The deal was inked a day after Iranian defense minister Amir Hatami arrived in Damascus, as the two powers gear up for a large-scale campaign in the Idlib province in northwestern Syria.
Hatami rejected calls by the US and Israel that Tehran withdraw its Quds Force from Syria.
"No third party can affect the presence of Iranian advisers in Syria," Hatami was quoted as having told reporters in Damascus.
On Monday, Iran and the Assad regime formalized their understanding regarding Iran's involvement in Syria, signing a deal cementing Iran's 'cooperation' with the Assad government.
"Syria is passing the phase of crisis to the phase of reconstruction and as a result, the signed agreement will define the areas of presence, contribution and cooperation between Tehran and Damascus," Hatami said, according to a report by Mehr.
According to a report by the Lebanese media outlet Al Mayadeen, a Hezbollah mouthpiece, Hatami said that Iran will work to rebuild Syria's military, as well as its arms industries.
The Russian media outlet Sputnik cited a senior Syrian official, who stated that Monday's deal was drafted in part in response to pressure by Israel and the US to force Iran out of Syrian territory.
Both the US and Israel have urged Russia to back the demand, seen as being key to Israel's security, but have yet to win clear backing from the Kremlin.
During his meeting with President Donald Trump in Helsinki last month, President Vladimir Putin reportedly expressed support, in principle, for the removal of Iranian forces from Syria.
6. FLORIDA SHOOTER IDENTIFIED
by Elad Benari
The man who opened fire at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday has been identified as 24-year-old David Katz, of Baltimore, Maryland, CNN reported.
Two people were killed in the shooting at the Jacksonville Landing shopping and dining complex. Eleven others were injured.
Katz died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Sheriff Mike Williams said at a news conference on Sunday afternoon. There are no other suspects.
The motive for the shooting, which took place during a qualifying event for the Madden 19 Tournament at the GLHF Game Bar, remains unclear.
Some reports said the shooter participated in the tournament and opened fire at participants after he lost.
The Baltimore Police Department on Sunday evening raided Katz's home, which is located in the city's Inner Harbor area. Investigators are interviewing the suspect's family.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the attack and the White House was monitoring the situation.
7. WILL TRUMP ELIMINATE THE RIGHT OF RETURN?
by Arutz Sheva Staff
US President Donald Trump is expected to announce a new policy effectively canceling the Palestinian Authority (PA) Arabs' claim to the "Right of Return," News 2 reported.
According to the report, the new plan will include a number of steps aimed mostly at UNRWA, the United Nations (UN) agency for PA "refugees."
The report also said that the plan will go into effect in September, when the administration publicizes its policy, as well as a report regarding the number of refugees. According to the US, the true number of refugees stands at half a million, and not the five million UNRWA claims there are.
The Trump administration is also expected to announce funding cuts to UNRWA in Judea and Samaria, as well as its rejection of UNRWA's unique policy of allowing PA refugee status to be inherited.
Israel will be requested to rethink its policy of allowing UNRWA to operate in Judea and Samaria, since this permission would potentially allow Arab states to take over funding UNRWA in the area.
The US National Security Council responded that "the administration will announce its policy regarding UNRWA at the proper time."
8. AFTER ABBAS
by ILTV
[brightcove:2046525]
------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe/
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
Monday, Aug. 27 '18, ט"ז באלול תשע"ח
HEADLINES:
1. 'INCITING TO MURDER ISRAELIS DIDN'T SEEM TO BOTHER FIFA'
2. 'WE WERE BRAINWASHED'
3. IDF'S OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES GET BIG BOOST WITH MISSILE PURCHASE
4. 'THIS IS TREASON - TIME TO PUT ARAB MKS ON TRIAL'
5. IRAN INKS DEAL WITH SYRIA, VOWS TO CONTINUE MILITARY COOPERATION
6. FLORIDA SHOOTER IDENTIFIED
7. WILL TRUMP ELIMINATE THE RIGHT OF RETURN?
8. AFTER ABBAS
1. 'INCITING TO MURDER ISRAELIS DIDN'T SEEM TO BOTHER FIFA'
by Benny Toker
Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, wondered in an interview with Arutz Sheva why FIFA had suspended Jibril Rajoub from his post only after his calls against Argentina and its star Lionel Messi.
"For years Rajoub incited to murder Israelis, we filed three complaints in this matter, but they apparently were afraid of punishing him, and only now that he threatened Argentine athletes decided to dismiss him and give him a fine. So apparently inciting to murder Israelis is not as bad as inciting against athletes from Argentina."
Marcus believes Rajoub's suspension from his position in the Football Association will not harm him and may even strengthen his standing in the Palestinian Authority. "Jibril Rajoub is a senior official in the PA, he is responsible for youth and sports in the Palestinian Authority, he is registrar of the Central Fatah Committee, and many see him as a successor to Abbas. His suspension from FIFA will not prevent him from moving forward, and maybe it will advance him, because whoever gets into trouble with the world, that advances him among the Palestinians and makes him even more a hero. "
He hopes that law enforcement in Israel, at least, will put Rajoub on trial for inciting to murder Israelis. "We filed a complaint together with families of terror victims from 2016, we documented all the calls for Rajoub's incitement to murder Israelis, and they should prosecute him, and if the police do not give us a response, we will make a request to the Supreme Court to compel the police to respond to the complaint."
[audio:2046580]
2. 'WE WERE BRAINWASHED'
by Hezki Baruch
[youtube:2046534]
Leah Aharoni, one of the founders of Women for the Wall, a religious organization which opposes the Women of the Wall group which stages provocations at the Western Wall every month, spoke to Arutz Sheva about the New Israel Fund's attempts to influence religious organizations in Israel.
Last week, several leading religious Zionist rabbis - Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Rabbi Dov Lior and Rabbi Shlomo Aviner - caledl on religious Zionist organizations not to accept funds from the New Israel Fund (NIF).
The video was produced by the "Hotam" organization as part of a campaign against religious organizations funded by the NIF. The campaign's leaders claim that the NIF has set itself the goal of changing Israeli society from within by penetrating religious Zionist organizations.
"Twenty-five years ago, I was a young, 20-something-year-old woman, and I got an opportunity to join a program to learn more about democracy and leadership," Aharoni said. "We got together, about 30 young women, all of us from the religious community, and we got a 500 shekel monthly scholarship that we got in cash in an envelope. And every week we would have a meeting with another thought leader. But what happened was the thought leaders all had the same thoughts. They were all left-wing and pretty radical."
She said that the meetings took place with people from Israel and Europe who called the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria "evil" and alleged oppression of religious Jewish women.
"After a few weeks we figured out what was going on, and we asked where the money was coming from. Where was that money in cash coming from? And we didn't get an answer.
"After two years, it came out that the sponsor was the European Union, and the idea was to brainwash a small but high-quality group of men and women in the religious community and have them spread these ideas inside the community," she said.
"This is the method that the New Israel fund and the European Union have used in the religious and haredi communities ever since. What's the idea? They find young, idealistic people who have important issues that they would like to advance in the community. They give them training. They give them funding. And then they make them part of this ecosystem. And this group of young, religious, idealistic leaders are now becoming a Trojan Horse who are now advancing leftist,liberal, and sometimes anti-religious values inside the religious community.
"This is the method the New Israel Fund is using to bring down the religious community, to bring down the Jewish identity of Israel, and to ultimately turn Israel into a nation of all its citizens.
3. IDF'S OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES GET BIG BOOST WITH MISSILE PURCHASE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Israel's Defense Ministry, led by the Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure and Israel Military Industries (IMI), signed an agreement to develop and equip the IDF with advanced rockets.
The project is expected to cost Israel hundreds of millions of shekels and comes after Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) decided to equip the IDF with easily accessible, precise missiles and rockets of varying ranges.
According to the Defense Ministry, this agreement will improve Israel's abilities significantly, and will allow Israel to hit a target precisely, from a distance, at a relatively low cost per mission.
The new rockets will use advanced technologies appropriate for the modern battlefield.
"The plan to create an array of precise rockets and missiles is gaining momentum," Liberman said. "Some of it is already being manufactured, and some are still being researched and developed. We are acquiring and developing precise firing systems which will allow us to empower the IDF's offense system and cover every spot in the region, with short- and long-range [missiles]."
IMI Chairman Yitzhak Aharonovich noted, "The innovative rocket systems with which the IDF will be provided via this agreement express our company's technological abilities. The company excels in precise firing abilities and the precise targeting of ground targets."
4. 'THIS IS TREASON - TIME TO PUT ARAB MKS ON TRIAL'
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) excoriated Arab lawmakers on Monday over their plans to push the United Nations to adopt a resolution condemning Israel's passage of the Nationality Law.
In mid-July, the Knesset passed the controversial 'Nationality Law', which codified in Israel's Basic Laws the state's status as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and established Hebrew as the sole official language, while giving Arabic a special standing.
The law declares that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and sets the Hebrew calendar as the official calendar of the state.
Arab lawmakers objected to the law, denouncing its affirmation of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people as an 'apartheid' measure which discriminates against the country's Arab minority.
On Sunday, Israeli media outlets reported that the predominantly Arab Joint List party is preparing a resolution for the United Nations which would censure Israel over the Nationality Law.
It is unclear whether the resolution would be introduced in the General Assembly or the Security Council, where the US would likely veto it.
On Monday, Minister Yariv Levin blasted the proposal, calling its backers traitors to the State of Israel.
"In any normal country," Levin told Army Radio, "there is only one way this would be viewed –as treason. I hope that the justice system puts them on trial."
A day earlier, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) condemned the proposed resolution, tweeting: "Members of Knesset from the joint list who receive salaries from the state and win all the parliamentary tools still dare to besmirch our name in the world."
"Anyone who collaborates with the Palestinian Authority against Israel should ask himself whether his place is in the Palestinian or Israeli parliament," Edelstein wrote in his Twitter account.
5. IRAN INKS DEAL WITH SYRIA, VOWS TO CONTINUE MILITARY COOPERATION
by David Rosenberg
Iran vowed to continue its military cooperation with the Assad regime, signing a deal with the Syrian government on Monday, in defiance of calls for Tehran to withdraw its forces from Syria.
The deal was inked a day after Iranian defense minister Amir Hatami arrived in Damascus, as the two powers gear up for a large-scale campaign in the Idlib province in northwestern Syria.
Hatami rejected calls by the US and Israel that Tehran withdraw its Quds Force from Syria.
"No third party can affect the presence of Iranian advisers in Syria," Hatami was quoted as having told reporters in Damascus.
On Monday, Iran and the Assad regime formalized their understanding regarding Iran's involvement in Syria, signing a deal cementing Iran's 'cooperation' with the Assad government.
"Syria is passing the phase of crisis to the phase of reconstruction and as a result, the signed agreement will define the areas of presence, contribution and cooperation between Tehran and Damascus," Hatami said, according to a report by Mehr.
According to a report by the Lebanese media outlet Al Mayadeen, a Hezbollah mouthpiece, Hatami said that Iran will work to rebuild Syria's military, as well as its arms industries.
The Russian media outlet Sputnik cited a senior Syrian official, who stated that Monday's deal was drafted in part in response to pressure by Israel and the US to force Iran out of Syrian territory.
Both the US and Israel have urged Russia to back the demand, seen as being key to Israel's security, but have yet to win clear backing from the Kremlin.
During his meeting with President Donald Trump in Helsinki last month, President Vladimir Putin reportedly expressed support, in principle, for the removal of Iranian forces from Syria.
6. FLORIDA SHOOTER IDENTIFIED
by Elad Benari
The man who opened fire at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday has been identified as 24-year-old David Katz, of Baltimore, Maryland, CNN reported.
Two people were killed in the shooting at the Jacksonville Landing shopping and dining complex. Eleven others were injured.
Katz died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Sheriff Mike Williams said at a news conference on Sunday afternoon. There are no other suspects.
The motive for the shooting, which took place during a qualifying event for the Madden 19 Tournament at the GLHF Game Bar, remains unclear.
Some reports said the shooter participated in the tournament and opened fire at participants after he lost.
The Baltimore Police Department on Sunday evening raided Katz's home, which is located in the city's Inner Harbor area. Investigators are interviewing the suspect's family.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the attack and the White House was monitoring the situation.
7. WILL TRUMP ELIMINATE THE RIGHT OF RETURN?
by Arutz Sheva Staff
US President Donald Trump is expected to announce a new policy effectively canceling the Palestinian Authority (PA) Arabs' claim to the "Right of Return," News 2 reported.
According to the report, the new plan will include a number of steps aimed mostly at UNRWA, the United Nations (UN) agency for PA "refugees."
The report also said that the plan will go into effect in September, when the administration publicizes its policy, as well as a report regarding the number of refugees. According to the US, the true number of refugees stands at half a million, and not the five million UNRWA claims there are.
The Trump administration is also expected to announce funding cuts to UNRWA in Judea and Samaria, as well as its rejection of UNRWA's unique policy of allowing PA refugee status to be inherited.
Israel will be requested to rethink its policy of allowing UNRWA to operate in Judea and Samaria, since this permission would potentially allow Arab states to take over funding UNRWA in the area.
The US National Security Council responded that "the administration will announce its policy regarding UNRWA at the proper time."
8. AFTER ABBAS
by ILTV
[brightcove:2046525]
------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe/
Sunday, August 26, 2018
A7News: Bennett praises Trump: 'Brave step for justice'
Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
Sunday, Aug. 26 '18, ט"ו באלול תשע"ח
HEADLINES:
1. BENNETT PRAISES TRUMP: 'BRAVE STEP FOR JUSTICE'
2. TITANIC VICTIM'S HEBREW LETTER WATCH BEING AUCTIONED
3. PA: WE HAVEN'T RECEIVED US AID FOR A YEAR
4. 1,460 GOLANI AND GIVATI BERETS IN FRONT OF 'HAKIRYA'
5. BREATHTAKING ACCOUNT OF PARATROOPER'S FIRST JUMP
6. BEACH ASSAULT ON THREE ARABS
7. WILL TRUMP ELIMINATE THE RIGHT OF RETURN?
8. FOR FIRST TIME IN 40 YEARS, CURE FOR ACUTE LEUKEMIA WITHIN REACH
1. BENNETT PRAISES TRUMP: 'BRAVE STEP FOR JUSTICE'
by Mordechai Sones
Education Minister Naftali Bennett today welcomed the plan to be announced by the Trump Administration that would negate recognition of the "right of return" and inherited "Palestinian" refugee status.
"American abolition of recognizing the fictitious 'right' to return and the fictitious hereditary refugee status would be a courageous step for justice that would shed layers of lies: Refugee status is not inherited, and the unique invention of the Palestinians was motivated by political will to harm Israel. The State of Israel will of course support this necessary step," tweeted Bennett.
According to last night's News 2 report, President Trump is expected to announce a new policy effectively canceling PA Arabs' claim to the "Right of Return".
'We demand' - training next generation of professionally impecunious
Flash 90
According to the report, the new plan will include a number of steps aimed mostly at UNRWA, the United Nations (UN) agency for PA "refugees."
The report also said that the plan will go into effect in September, when the administration publicizes its policy, as well as a report regarding the number of refugees. According to the US, the true number of refugees stands at half a million, and not the five million UNRWA claims there are.
Bennett
Flash 90
The Trump administration is also expected to announce funding cuts to UNRWA in Judea and Samaria, as well as its rejection of UNRWA's unique policy of allowing PA refugee status to be inherited.
Israel will be requested to rethink its policy of allowing UNRWA to operate in Judea and Samaria, since this permission would potentially allow Arab states to take over funding UNRWA in the area.
The US National Security Council responded that "the administration will announce its policy regarding UNRWA at the proper time."
Gratitude
Flash 90
Mannah from UNRWA
Flash 90
Monthly food aid at United Nations distribution center (UNRWA) in southern Gaza
Flash 90
Spacious UNRWA facilities, southern Gaza
Flash 90
2. TITANIC VICTIM'S HEBREW LETTER WATCH BEING AUCTIONED
by JTA
A pocket watch featuring Hebrew letters that belonged to a Jewish Russian immigrant who died aboard the Titanic is up for auction.
Heritage Auctions will put the watch on the block Saturday at a public auction at its headquarters in Dallas. Online bidding has already started and reached $11,000 by Friday morning. The back of the timepiece features Moses holding the Ten Commandments.
Its owner, Sinai Kantor, was an immigrant from Russia bound for New York with his wife, Miriam, who survived the accident aboard the Titanic when it sank during the cruise ship's maiden voyage in 1912. Dozens of Jews were among the 1,503 passengers who died. The British liner had a kosher kitchen.
Paperwork, including a provenance letter from a descendant of Kantor's, attests to the watch's history, Religion News reported.
Kantor, a furrier who wanted to study dentistry or medicine in America, was 34 when he and his wife, also an aspiring doctor, boarded the liner in Southampton, England. They hailed from Vitebsk, today a city in northwest Belarus. His wife survived the wreck.
The couple paid 26 pounds sterling (approximately $3,666 today) for their ticket. The voyage had 285 second-class passengers.
Jonathan Sarna, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University, told Religion News that securing passage on a ship like the Titanic would have enabled the Kantors to skip difficult questions at Ellis Island and dock elsewhere, where their wealth and status would have facilitated the immigration process.
Kantor's widow received her husband's clothing, Russian passport, notebook, telescope, corkscrew, "silver watch and strap," and Russian, German and English currency on May 24, 1912.
Kantor is buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens, according to Israeli Titanic researcher Eli Moskowitz, author of a book on the Jews of the Titanic.
3. PA: WE HAVEN'T RECEIVED US AID FOR A YEAR
by Dalit Halevy
Yousuf al-Mahmoud, the official spokesman of the PA, confirmed that the American administration has not met its financial "commitment" to the Palestinian Authority for more than a year, and therefore there is nothing new in the American announcement of a cut in millions of dollars in aid to the PA that was recently published on the matter.
Mahmoud added that the American announcement of the cessation of aid was part of the policy of "blackmail" and pressure exerted by President Donald Trump against PA leadership in an attempt to force it to accept the "Deal of the Century," the American peace initiative to resolve the conflict.
Mahmoud stressed that the "Palestinian people" and their leadership would not submit to any pressure and would not bargain over their national principles, since these principles are sacred to every "Palestinian" and cannot be replaced with something "tainted."
He said that the current US policy supports the "Israeli occupation" and undermines any possibility of peace.
4. 1,460 GOLANI AND GIVATI BERETS IN FRONT OF 'HAKIRYA'
by Yoni Kempinski
[video:2046517]
On the occasion of the four-year anniversary of Operation Protective Edge, the Misdar Hadar volunteer organization has begun this morning holding a special beret formation in the Sharona Garden opposite 'Hakirya' army headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The exhibit marks the 1,460 days since the end of the war without the return of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin from the battle in Rafah and Staff Sergeant Oron Shaul from the battle in Saja'iya.
In the evening, the project will include an event marking four years since the end of Protective Edge without the boys' return, with the participation of MK Amir Peretz, MK Oren Hazan, and the Goldin family.
The beret exhibition will operate in the coming week and every day from 17:00 there will be creative activities in the adjacent garden for families wishing to identify with the struggle for the return of the boys.
5. BREATHTAKING ACCOUNT OF PARATROOPER'S FIRST JUMP
by Mordechai Sones
[youtube:2046514]
Arutz Sheva reported on 18-year-old Jacob Katz, who at the time had arrived from his home in Florida and was beginning learning in the preparatory military Mechina in Eli. He began IDF service in March, where he'd planned to enter a combat unit. The Paratroopers was his first choice.
Then, Katz said, "We always say, 'Our brothers and sisters in Israel.' It's the classic line in every AIPAC speech... If we really care about our brothers and sisters in Israel, we should treat them like that, and I really believe that's the truth."
Jacob pursued his goal to join the Paratroopers imbued with the sense of mission his parents' example and inspiration gave him. He went through the grueling multi-tiered selection process and was accepted in the legendary elite corps. He recently completed his first jump, and shared his experience with Arutz Sheva:
Wrapped in snug apparatuses of compacted parachutes and thick straps, we sat on the gravel in four rows of sixteen, two weeks of training behind us and a tarmac in front. What were once butterflies in my stomach had become no less than metal aircraft, cruising and colliding through my insides. Barely able to swivel our helmeted heads side to side, we anxiously scanned the sky and awaited for our limousine to pick us up. After a slow motion landing a couple hundred meters away, our ride drifted towards us like a black glacier.
Four gigantic propellers accompanied the bellowing mammoth as it opened wide and let us in. We sat on four benches that stretched the length of its cavity— two benches facing inwards, the other two facing out. Packed in extremely close proximity to one another, we nervously fidgeted with a seat-belt that took way too long to figure out. Following a series of rehearsed chants lead by an instructor situated near the airtight doors, we had officially begun our ascent. After an absolutely indeterminable amount of time, somewhere between 4 and 20 minutes, we had arrived not at, but over, our destination.
An instructor delicately and deliberately made his way up and down our row of 32, securing our yellow straps protruding from our backpack onto the metal cable tensely dangling above our heads.
Red seat with seatbelt for paratrooper or airborne forces in military transport
iStock
Suddenly, we heard the bell's sharp screech, and two doors in the back of the cabin opened up wide. Extremely wide. The first two groups of eight soldiers took their marks and stood up tall with a soft bend at the knees. They approached the opening in a careful, synchronized shuffle. There was a pause of about a minute as if the instructors were awaiting the "fire!" command; and, as they finally received the (literal) green light, the unimaginable happen. The absurd occurred. The illogical became the actual. People literally started jumping out of the airplane. What.
One after the other, they dropped at the speed that water drips from a pipe before it turns into a thin, steady stream. Before I could fully understand what had occurred, the line was no more. The bench was beginning to empty. The plane circled back for its second pass.
Another group of soon-to-be paratroopers took center stage. After pausing in place for all of 60 seconds, a commander gave the first-in-line a slap on the shoulder and shouted kfotz! (jump!). Just like that, the tension was cracked like a whip and the plane become 16 soldiers lighter.
Pass number 3.
I counted the few friends sitting to my left and realized that I'd be number 7 in the next batch of jumpers. I calculated several more times, just to make sure, as if it would make any material difference whatsoever.
Once our fearless leader got the command to rise, we stood up the way that dominoes fall down—with the help of each other, and with no way to turn back. After carefully extending both legs, as if whispering to each one "don't fail me now," we turned towards the back of the aircraft, right hand on our reserve chute, left hand at forehead level clutching a bright yellow strap connected to a wobbly cable.
Before I could get a hold on reality, the first soldier in my line was energetically encouraged (pushed) out of the side entrance...or rather, exit. Watching him make that leap, however, got me no more in touch with reality. In fact, as I inched closer to the windy opening, I was taken over by a sensation that was as intense as it was absent. Just split seconds away from my departure, nothing in the world felt real; where I was, what I was doing, and what I was feeling utterly dissipated. At that moment, as my reality shut off, as far I was concerned, I didn't even exist. I was on the verge of acting in a way so contrary to what seemed to be real, that I could not fathom it was actually taking place.
The soldier in front of me disappeared. I rotated my body and turned off my consciousness. I stood face to face with the sky itself, and I jumped.
Imagine a leaf blower turned on to full blast. Now imagine two of them pointed at you as you struggle to open your eyes. Now, picture a thousand, supercharged leaf blowers focusing their attention on one, helpless little leaf as it unsuspectingly made its way earthward on a sunny morning. It was like getting hit by an air-tsunami.
Descending airborne troops
iStock
I stepped into chaos. "21!" My legs were flung sideways as I tucked down my head and hugged my chest. "22!" I looked directly up and saw the plane zooming, already miles away. "23!" I began to realize I was falling. "24!" The parachute caught wind. "25" I watched it expand. "26" total silence.
The view was almost as unbelievable as my vantage point. It was bright. It was clear. There were thirteen human beings suspended before me in mid air. I saw not buildings but entire cities, not beaches but a coast. I belted as loud as I could and got a glimpse of one of my pal's smile from a couple dozen meters below. I was standing atop a sky scraper without cement, a platform without a ledge, and a mountain without any earth.
Somewhere between 0 and 100 meters from the ground, I braced for impact. Forearms hugging my helmet, and legs firmly pressed together, I scanned the sandy surface and approximated exactly where I'd make my mark.
Paratrooper jump
iStock
Then, at a pace quicker than I had anticipated, I entered a height I recognized from our training—about 12 meters from the ground. I saw my dune with which I stood to be acquainted, and adjusted my body at a slight angle to facilitate my landing. Dividing the shock along my side— hitting my shins, thighs and then back—I made my landing. I finished by throwing my straightened legs to the opposite side, and ended in the shape of an "L," lying on a slight incline.
My parachute, however, was far from finished as it and a gust of wind tried going for round two. I appreciated the enthusiasm, but quickly rolled on my back and detached the 150sq meter tarp from my harness. Taking a double check to ensure my ankles were less than broken, I exhaled.
Israeli soldier of Partrooper's Brigade folds parachute
Flash 90
I stood up as if having just landed on the moon, and yelled loud enough for my family to hear me back in Florida. I snapped a picture, packed up the chute, and trekked back to our meeting point where I high-fived just about everyone in sight. My friends and I debriefed, compared blurred recollections, and laughed at the absurdity of it all.
It was like we all had the same dream.
Before boarding the buses back to base, I experienced something that made me see my jump in an entirely new light.
Lined up behind a metal railing some 100 feet from us were the cheering parents, siblings and relatives of nearly all those who had taken their leap. Some had waited outside for over three hours. Not only had they waited, but they'd also brought restaurant-ordered food, cold drinks and endless snacks for everyone wearing green. One mom lugged two folding tables from home and set up a spread that made me wonder if another hundred paratroopers were on their way down. I was greeted and congratulated by dozens of people who I had never met, and was encouraged to take a bite from every cut up mango, gooey pastry and puffy bread roll. I watched my friends take pictures with parents who had pride bursting through their teeth. As I grabbed my final sesame-something, we were called back to board the buses.
I quickly relayed my shock and delight to my buddies sitting around me, each one carrying a leaning tower of home-cooked food. I told one of them how happy I was without my family even being there.
"That's what Tzahal is," he responded. "This country will do anything for its soldiers. It's normally expressed through parents, but it's true of everyone. That's Tzahal. That's Israel."
I smiled proudly and shook my head as if something were just too good to be true.
On the ride back to base, I studied his words—"That's Tzahal. That's Israel." I tilted the corner of my forehead against the window and sat in contemplation as if living in some movie. As we traveled by the most normal of Israeli houses, malls and farms, I began realizing that the morning's spotlight had been surely misdirected. While everyone in sight seemed obsessed with what we had just done, the truly remarkable aspect was to be found elsewhere.
It is not our jump that remains significant, but rather why we jumped that makes a difference. It is why we jump that matters.
We jump, we crawl, and we run for the very strip of land that caught us when we were falling. We lose sleep, march all night, and spend weeks away from home so that our families can sleep well, take walks, and eat dinner around the same table. The State of Israel itself on its own is an anomaly; but, the only thing more unbelievable than its existence is the unconditional, unbounded love and commitment that its people share for one another. Whether expressed through years of national service, countless, sincere Shabbat invitations, or schnitzel at the end of a military exercise, the Country carries with it an affirmation that those falling will eventually be caught, and that those jumping do not leap in vain.
Paratroopers: Not just jumping from planes:[youtube:2046516]Shown: Shiryon - Armored corps; Metzada & Duvdevan - Counter Terrorism units; Tzanhanim- Paratroopers
[youtube:2046513]
Soldiers rappel down to attack from helicopter
iStock
Parachute jumper over the sunset
iStock
6. BEACH ASSAULT ON THREE ARABS
by Mordechai Sones
Police arrested a man suspected of involvement in an attack on three Israeli Arabs from Shfaram.
During the night, a 23-year-old man was arrested who allegedly took part in the incident.
One of those attacked, a doctor, told News 10 of the events - and claimed the incident was a nationalistic attack. According to him, before they were beaten, they were asked twice whether they were Arabs.
"We were on the beach," he said, "I and two other guys. One works as a registered nurse, the other works in a factory. It's a beach we go to almost every week. A young man with an iron bar approached us and asked us 'who are you?'" According to him, they told the young man to approach them because his question was unclear, and they told him to repeat his words.
"He asked us again, 'Are you Arabs?' We told him yes, so he went away and returned after a few minutes with his friends," he continued. "They were about seven or eight people and asked us again if we were Arabs, and when we said that we were they were beating us all over our bodies. For a moment I thought my friends were no longer alive from the beatings we'd received. They both lost consciousness. They had bruises on the head and body. They also had knives and iron chains, all that was needed for murder." He also said that two Jewish passersby were the ones who called the police and started treating the wounded.
Zionist Union Chairman Avi Gabbay spoke up: "Good citizens who wake up every morning and save lives go to the sea and undergo a shocking and painful attack, just because they are Arabs. I watched the pain in their testimony. I wish the racists who attacked them a long prison term."
7. WILL TRUMP ELIMINATE THE RIGHT OF RETURN?
by Arutz Sheva Staff
US President Donald Trump is expected to announce a new policy effectively canceling the Palestinian Authority (PA) Arabs' claim to the "Right of Return," News 2 reported.
According to the report, the new plan will include a number of steps aimed mostly at UNRWA, the United Nations (UN) agency for PA "refugees."
The report also said that the plan will go into effect in September, when the administration publicizes its policy, as well as a report regarding the number of refugees. According to the US, the true number of refugees stands at half a million, and not the five million UNRWA claims there are.
The Trump administration is also expected to announce funding cuts to UNRWA in Judea and Samaria, as well as its rejection of UNRWA's unique policy of allowing PA refugee status to be inherited.
Israel will be requested to rethink its policy of allowing UNRWA to operate in Judea and Samaria, since this permission would potentially allow Arab states to take over funding UNRWA in the area.
The US National Security Council responded that "the administration will announce its policy regarding UNRWA at the proper time."
8. FOR FIRST TIME IN 40 YEARS, CURE FOR ACUTE LEUKEMIA WITHIN REACH
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Acute myeloid leukemia is one of the most aggressive cancers. While other cancers have benefited from new treatments, there has been no encouraging news for most leukemia patients for the past 40 years. Until now.
According to an article published Friday in the scientific journal Cell, Professor Yinon Ben-Neriah and his research team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU)'s Faculty of Medicine have developed a new biological drug with a cure rate of 50% for lab mice with acute leukemia.
Leukemia produce a variety (and a high quantity) of proteins which together provide leukemic cells with rapid growth and death protection from chemotherapy.
To date, most of the biological cancer drugs used to treat leukemia target only individual leukemic cell proteins. However, during "targeted therapy" treatments, leukemic cells quickly activate their other proteins to block the drug. The result is drug-resistant leukemic cells which quickly regrow and renew the disease.
However, the new drug developed by Ben-Neriah and his team functions like a cluster bomb. It attacks several leukemic proteins at once, making it difficult for the leukemia cells to activate other proteins that can evade the therapy. Further, this single molecule drug accomplishes the work of three or four separate drugs, reducing cancer patients' exposure to therapies and the necessity of dealing with their often unbearable side effects.
Additionally promising is the new drug's ability to eradicate leukemia stem cells. This has long been the big challenge in cancer therapy and is one of the main reasons that scientists have been unable to cure acute leukemia.
"We were thrilled to see such a dramatic change even after only a single dose of the new drug. Nearly all of the lab mice's leukemia signs disappeared overnight," shared professor Ben-Neriah.
BioTheryX recently bought the rights to this promising drug from HU's technology transfer company Yissum. Together with Ben-Neriah's research team, they are now applying for FDA approval for Phase I clinical studies.
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Sunday, Aug. 26 '18, ט"ו באלול תשע"ח
HEADLINES:
1. BENNETT PRAISES TRUMP: 'BRAVE STEP FOR JUSTICE'
2. TITANIC VICTIM'S HEBREW LETTER WATCH BEING AUCTIONED
3. PA: WE HAVEN'T RECEIVED US AID FOR A YEAR
4. 1,460 GOLANI AND GIVATI BERETS IN FRONT OF 'HAKIRYA'
5. BREATHTAKING ACCOUNT OF PARATROOPER'S FIRST JUMP
6. BEACH ASSAULT ON THREE ARABS
7. WILL TRUMP ELIMINATE THE RIGHT OF RETURN?
8. FOR FIRST TIME IN 40 YEARS, CURE FOR ACUTE LEUKEMIA WITHIN REACH
1. BENNETT PRAISES TRUMP: 'BRAVE STEP FOR JUSTICE'
by Mordechai Sones
Education Minister Naftali Bennett today welcomed the plan to be announced by the Trump Administration that would negate recognition of the "right of return" and inherited "Palestinian" refugee status.
"American abolition of recognizing the fictitious 'right' to return and the fictitious hereditary refugee status would be a courageous step for justice that would shed layers of lies: Refugee status is not inherited, and the unique invention of the Palestinians was motivated by political will to harm Israel. The State of Israel will of course support this necessary step," tweeted Bennett.
According to last night's News 2 report, President Trump is expected to announce a new policy effectively canceling PA Arabs' claim to the "Right of Return".
'We demand' - training next generation of professionally impecunious
Flash 90
According to the report, the new plan will include a number of steps aimed mostly at UNRWA, the United Nations (UN) agency for PA "refugees."
The report also said that the plan will go into effect in September, when the administration publicizes its policy, as well as a report regarding the number of refugees. According to the US, the true number of refugees stands at half a million, and not the five million UNRWA claims there are.
Bennett
Flash 90
The Trump administration is also expected to announce funding cuts to UNRWA in Judea and Samaria, as well as its rejection of UNRWA's unique policy of allowing PA refugee status to be inherited.
Israel will be requested to rethink its policy of allowing UNRWA to operate in Judea and Samaria, since this permission would potentially allow Arab states to take over funding UNRWA in the area.
The US National Security Council responded that "the administration will announce its policy regarding UNRWA at the proper time."
Gratitude
Flash 90
Mannah from UNRWA
Flash 90
Monthly food aid at United Nations distribution center (UNRWA) in southern Gaza
Flash 90
Spacious UNRWA facilities, southern Gaza
Flash 90
2. TITANIC VICTIM'S HEBREW LETTER WATCH BEING AUCTIONED
by JTA
A pocket watch featuring Hebrew letters that belonged to a Jewish Russian immigrant who died aboard the Titanic is up for auction.
Heritage Auctions will put the watch on the block Saturday at a public auction at its headquarters in Dallas. Online bidding has already started and reached $11,000 by Friday morning. The back of the timepiece features Moses holding the Ten Commandments.
Its owner, Sinai Kantor, was an immigrant from Russia bound for New York with his wife, Miriam, who survived the accident aboard the Titanic when it sank during the cruise ship's maiden voyage in 1912. Dozens of Jews were among the 1,503 passengers who died. The British liner had a kosher kitchen.
Paperwork, including a provenance letter from a descendant of Kantor's, attests to the watch's history, Religion News reported.
Kantor, a furrier who wanted to study dentistry or medicine in America, was 34 when he and his wife, also an aspiring doctor, boarded the liner in Southampton, England. They hailed from Vitebsk, today a city in northwest Belarus. His wife survived the wreck.
The couple paid 26 pounds sterling (approximately $3,666 today) for their ticket. The voyage had 285 second-class passengers.
Jonathan Sarna, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University, told Religion News that securing passage on a ship like the Titanic would have enabled the Kantors to skip difficult questions at Ellis Island and dock elsewhere, where their wealth and status would have facilitated the immigration process.
Kantor's widow received her husband's clothing, Russian passport, notebook, telescope, corkscrew, "silver watch and strap," and Russian, German and English currency on May 24, 1912.
Kantor is buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens, according to Israeli Titanic researcher Eli Moskowitz, author of a book on the Jews of the Titanic.
3. PA: WE HAVEN'T RECEIVED US AID FOR A YEAR
by Dalit Halevy
Yousuf al-Mahmoud, the official spokesman of the PA, confirmed that the American administration has not met its financial "commitment" to the Palestinian Authority for more than a year, and therefore there is nothing new in the American announcement of a cut in millions of dollars in aid to the PA that was recently published on the matter.
Mahmoud added that the American announcement of the cessation of aid was part of the policy of "blackmail" and pressure exerted by President Donald Trump against PA leadership in an attempt to force it to accept the "Deal of the Century," the American peace initiative to resolve the conflict.
Mahmoud stressed that the "Palestinian people" and their leadership would not submit to any pressure and would not bargain over their national principles, since these principles are sacred to every "Palestinian" and cannot be replaced with something "tainted."
He said that the current US policy supports the "Israeli occupation" and undermines any possibility of peace.
4. 1,460 GOLANI AND GIVATI BERETS IN FRONT OF 'HAKIRYA'
by Yoni Kempinski
[video:2046517]
On the occasion of the four-year anniversary of Operation Protective Edge, the Misdar Hadar volunteer organization has begun this morning holding a special beret formation in the Sharona Garden opposite 'Hakirya' army headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The exhibit marks the 1,460 days since the end of the war without the return of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin from the battle in Rafah and Staff Sergeant Oron Shaul from the battle in Saja'iya.
In the evening, the project will include an event marking four years since the end of Protective Edge without the boys' return, with the participation of MK Amir Peretz, MK Oren Hazan, and the Goldin family.
The beret exhibition will operate in the coming week and every day from 17:00 there will be creative activities in the adjacent garden for families wishing to identify with the struggle for the return of the boys.
5. BREATHTAKING ACCOUNT OF PARATROOPER'S FIRST JUMP
by Mordechai Sones
[youtube:2046514]
Arutz Sheva reported on 18-year-old Jacob Katz, who at the time had arrived from his home in Florida and was beginning learning in the preparatory military Mechina in Eli. He began IDF service in March, where he'd planned to enter a combat unit. The Paratroopers was his first choice.
Then, Katz said, "We always say, 'Our brothers and sisters in Israel.' It's the classic line in every AIPAC speech... If we really care about our brothers and sisters in Israel, we should treat them like that, and I really believe that's the truth."
Jacob pursued his goal to join the Paratroopers imbued with the sense of mission his parents' example and inspiration gave him. He went through the grueling multi-tiered selection process and was accepted in the legendary elite corps. He recently completed his first jump, and shared his experience with Arutz Sheva:
Wrapped in snug apparatuses of compacted parachutes and thick straps, we sat on the gravel in four rows of sixteen, two weeks of training behind us and a tarmac in front. What were once butterflies in my stomach had become no less than metal aircraft, cruising and colliding through my insides. Barely able to swivel our helmeted heads side to side, we anxiously scanned the sky and awaited for our limousine to pick us up. After a slow motion landing a couple hundred meters away, our ride drifted towards us like a black glacier.
Four gigantic propellers accompanied the bellowing mammoth as it opened wide and let us in. We sat on four benches that stretched the length of its cavity— two benches facing inwards, the other two facing out. Packed in extremely close proximity to one another, we nervously fidgeted with a seat-belt that took way too long to figure out. Following a series of rehearsed chants lead by an instructor situated near the airtight doors, we had officially begun our ascent. After an absolutely indeterminable amount of time, somewhere between 4 and 20 minutes, we had arrived not at, but over, our destination.
An instructor delicately and deliberately made his way up and down our row of 32, securing our yellow straps protruding from our backpack onto the metal cable tensely dangling above our heads.
Red seat with seatbelt for paratrooper or airborne forces in military transport
iStock
Suddenly, we heard the bell's sharp screech, and two doors in the back of the cabin opened up wide. Extremely wide. The first two groups of eight soldiers took their marks and stood up tall with a soft bend at the knees. They approached the opening in a careful, synchronized shuffle. There was a pause of about a minute as if the instructors were awaiting the "fire!" command; and, as they finally received the (literal) green light, the unimaginable happen. The absurd occurred. The illogical became the actual. People literally started jumping out of the airplane. What.
One after the other, they dropped at the speed that water drips from a pipe before it turns into a thin, steady stream. Before I could fully understand what had occurred, the line was no more. The bench was beginning to empty. The plane circled back for its second pass.
Another group of soon-to-be paratroopers took center stage. After pausing in place for all of 60 seconds, a commander gave the first-in-line a slap on the shoulder and shouted kfotz! (jump!). Just like that, the tension was cracked like a whip and the plane become 16 soldiers lighter.
Pass number 3.
I counted the few friends sitting to my left and realized that I'd be number 7 in the next batch of jumpers. I calculated several more times, just to make sure, as if it would make any material difference whatsoever.
Once our fearless leader got the command to rise, we stood up the way that dominoes fall down—with the help of each other, and with no way to turn back. After carefully extending both legs, as if whispering to each one "don't fail me now," we turned towards the back of the aircraft, right hand on our reserve chute, left hand at forehead level clutching a bright yellow strap connected to a wobbly cable.
Before I could get a hold on reality, the first soldier in my line was energetically encouraged (pushed) out of the side entrance...or rather, exit. Watching him make that leap, however, got me no more in touch with reality. In fact, as I inched closer to the windy opening, I was taken over by a sensation that was as intense as it was absent. Just split seconds away from my departure, nothing in the world felt real; where I was, what I was doing, and what I was feeling utterly dissipated. At that moment, as my reality shut off, as far I was concerned, I didn't even exist. I was on the verge of acting in a way so contrary to what seemed to be real, that I could not fathom it was actually taking place.
The soldier in front of me disappeared. I rotated my body and turned off my consciousness. I stood face to face with the sky itself, and I jumped.
Imagine a leaf blower turned on to full blast. Now imagine two of them pointed at you as you struggle to open your eyes. Now, picture a thousand, supercharged leaf blowers focusing their attention on one, helpless little leaf as it unsuspectingly made its way earthward on a sunny morning. It was like getting hit by an air-tsunami.
Descending airborne troops
iStock
I stepped into chaos. "21!" My legs were flung sideways as I tucked down my head and hugged my chest. "22!" I looked directly up and saw the plane zooming, already miles away. "23!" I began to realize I was falling. "24!" The parachute caught wind. "25" I watched it expand. "26" total silence.
The view was almost as unbelievable as my vantage point. It was bright. It was clear. There were thirteen human beings suspended before me in mid air. I saw not buildings but entire cities, not beaches but a coast. I belted as loud as I could and got a glimpse of one of my pal's smile from a couple dozen meters below. I was standing atop a sky scraper without cement, a platform without a ledge, and a mountain without any earth.
Somewhere between 0 and 100 meters from the ground, I braced for impact. Forearms hugging my helmet, and legs firmly pressed together, I scanned the sandy surface and approximated exactly where I'd make my mark.
Paratrooper jump
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Then, at a pace quicker than I had anticipated, I entered a height I recognized from our training—about 12 meters from the ground. I saw my dune with which I stood to be acquainted, and adjusted my body at a slight angle to facilitate my landing. Dividing the shock along my side— hitting my shins, thighs and then back—I made my landing. I finished by throwing my straightened legs to the opposite side, and ended in the shape of an "L," lying on a slight incline.
My parachute, however, was far from finished as it and a gust of wind tried going for round two. I appreciated the enthusiasm, but quickly rolled on my back and detached the 150sq meter tarp from my harness. Taking a double check to ensure my ankles were less than broken, I exhaled.
Israeli soldier of Partrooper's Brigade folds parachute
Flash 90
I stood up as if having just landed on the moon, and yelled loud enough for my family to hear me back in Florida. I snapped a picture, packed up the chute, and trekked back to our meeting point where I high-fived just about everyone in sight. My friends and I debriefed, compared blurred recollections, and laughed at the absurdity of it all.
It was like we all had the same dream.
Before boarding the buses back to base, I experienced something that made me see my jump in an entirely new light.
Lined up behind a metal railing some 100 feet from us were the cheering parents, siblings and relatives of nearly all those who had taken their leap. Some had waited outside for over three hours. Not only had they waited, but they'd also brought restaurant-ordered food, cold drinks and endless snacks for everyone wearing green. One mom lugged two folding tables from home and set up a spread that made me wonder if another hundred paratroopers were on their way down. I was greeted and congratulated by dozens of people who I had never met, and was encouraged to take a bite from every cut up mango, gooey pastry and puffy bread roll. I watched my friends take pictures with parents who had pride bursting through their teeth. As I grabbed my final sesame-something, we were called back to board the buses.
I quickly relayed my shock and delight to my buddies sitting around me, each one carrying a leaning tower of home-cooked food. I told one of them how happy I was without my family even being there.
"That's what Tzahal is," he responded. "This country will do anything for its soldiers. It's normally expressed through parents, but it's true of everyone. That's Tzahal. That's Israel."
I smiled proudly and shook my head as if something were just too good to be true.
On the ride back to base, I studied his words—"That's Tzahal. That's Israel." I tilted the corner of my forehead against the window and sat in contemplation as if living in some movie. As we traveled by the most normal of Israeli houses, malls and farms, I began realizing that the morning's spotlight had been surely misdirected. While everyone in sight seemed obsessed with what we had just done, the truly remarkable aspect was to be found elsewhere.
It is not our jump that remains significant, but rather why we jumped that makes a difference. It is why we jump that matters.
We jump, we crawl, and we run for the very strip of land that caught us when we were falling. We lose sleep, march all night, and spend weeks away from home so that our families can sleep well, take walks, and eat dinner around the same table. The State of Israel itself on its own is an anomaly; but, the only thing more unbelievable than its existence is the unconditional, unbounded love and commitment that its people share for one another. Whether expressed through years of national service, countless, sincere Shabbat invitations, or schnitzel at the end of a military exercise, the Country carries with it an affirmation that those falling will eventually be caught, and that those jumping do not leap in vain.
Paratroopers: Not just jumping from planes:[youtube:2046516]Shown: Shiryon - Armored corps; Metzada & Duvdevan - Counter Terrorism units; Tzanhanim- Paratroopers
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Soldiers rappel down to attack from helicopter
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Parachute jumper over the sunset
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6. BEACH ASSAULT ON THREE ARABS
by Mordechai Sones
Police arrested a man suspected of involvement in an attack on three Israeli Arabs from Shfaram.
During the night, a 23-year-old man was arrested who allegedly took part in the incident.
One of those attacked, a doctor, told News 10 of the events - and claimed the incident was a nationalistic attack. According to him, before they were beaten, they were asked twice whether they were Arabs.
"We were on the beach," he said, "I and two other guys. One works as a registered nurse, the other works in a factory. It's a beach we go to almost every week. A young man with an iron bar approached us and asked us 'who are you?'" According to him, they told the young man to approach them because his question was unclear, and they told him to repeat his words.
"He asked us again, 'Are you Arabs?' We told him yes, so he went away and returned after a few minutes with his friends," he continued. "They were about seven or eight people and asked us again if we were Arabs, and when we said that we were they were beating us all over our bodies. For a moment I thought my friends were no longer alive from the beatings we'd received. They both lost consciousness. They had bruises on the head and body. They also had knives and iron chains, all that was needed for murder." He also said that two Jewish passersby were the ones who called the police and started treating the wounded.
Zionist Union Chairman Avi Gabbay spoke up: "Good citizens who wake up every morning and save lives go to the sea and undergo a shocking and painful attack, just because they are Arabs. I watched the pain in their testimony. I wish the racists who attacked them a long prison term."
7. WILL TRUMP ELIMINATE THE RIGHT OF RETURN?
by Arutz Sheva Staff
US President Donald Trump is expected to announce a new policy effectively canceling the Palestinian Authority (PA) Arabs' claim to the "Right of Return," News 2 reported.
According to the report, the new plan will include a number of steps aimed mostly at UNRWA, the United Nations (UN) agency for PA "refugees."
The report also said that the plan will go into effect in September, when the administration publicizes its policy, as well as a report regarding the number of refugees. According to the US, the true number of refugees stands at half a million, and not the five million UNRWA claims there are.
The Trump administration is also expected to announce funding cuts to UNRWA in Judea and Samaria, as well as its rejection of UNRWA's unique policy of allowing PA refugee status to be inherited.
Israel will be requested to rethink its policy of allowing UNRWA to operate in Judea and Samaria, since this permission would potentially allow Arab states to take over funding UNRWA in the area.
The US National Security Council responded that "the administration will announce its policy regarding UNRWA at the proper time."
8. FOR FIRST TIME IN 40 YEARS, CURE FOR ACUTE LEUKEMIA WITHIN REACH
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Acute myeloid leukemia is one of the most aggressive cancers. While other cancers have benefited from new treatments, there has been no encouraging news for most leukemia patients for the past 40 years. Until now.
According to an article published Friday in the scientific journal Cell, Professor Yinon Ben-Neriah and his research team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU)'s Faculty of Medicine have developed a new biological drug with a cure rate of 50% for lab mice with acute leukemia.
Leukemia produce a variety (and a high quantity) of proteins which together provide leukemic cells with rapid growth and death protection from chemotherapy.
To date, most of the biological cancer drugs used to treat leukemia target only individual leukemic cell proteins. However, during "targeted therapy" treatments, leukemic cells quickly activate their other proteins to block the drug. The result is drug-resistant leukemic cells which quickly regrow and renew the disease.
However, the new drug developed by Ben-Neriah and his team functions like a cluster bomb. It attacks several leukemic proteins at once, making it difficult for the leukemia cells to activate other proteins that can evade the therapy. Further, this single molecule drug accomplishes the work of three or four separate drugs, reducing cancer patients' exposure to therapies and the necessity of dealing with their often unbearable side effects.
Additionally promising is the new drug's ability to eradicate leukemia stem cells. This has long been the big challenge in cancer therapy and is one of the main reasons that scientists have been unable to cure acute leukemia.
"We were thrilled to see such a dramatic change even after only a single dose of the new drug. Nearly all of the lab mice's leukemia signs disappeared overnight," shared professor Ben-Neriah.
BioTheryX recently bought the rights to this promising drug from HU's technology transfer company Yissum. Together with Ben-Neriah's research team, they are now applying for FDA approval for Phase I clinical studies.
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