A7News: Doctors fighting to save the life of baby born after Ofra attack

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HEADLINES:
1. DOCTORS FIGHTING TO SAVE THE LIFE OF BABY BORN AFTER OFRA ATTACK
2. ISRAEL CALLS ON GERMANY TO END FUNDING OF JEWISH MUSEUM
3. ARAB STATE OKAYS ISRAELI FLIGHTS
4. OCASIO-CORTEZ CLAIMS JEWISH ANCESTRY
5. US CASTIGATES 'VILE ACT OF PALESTINIAN TERRORISM'
6. CONDITION OF BABY BORN FOLLOWING SHOOTING ATTACK WORSENS
7. IDF LOCATES ANOTHER TUNNEL ON LEBANON BORDER
8. NETANYAHU WINS SUPPORT FOR BILL AIMED AT ENSURING HIM A 5TH TERM


1. DOCTORS FIGHTING TO SAVE THE LIFE OF BABY BORN AFTER OFRA ATTACK
by Eliran Aharon

Several victims of Sunday night's terrorist attack outside of Ofra, north of Jerusalem, remain hospitalized at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, including a 30-year-old woman critically wounded in the attack, as well as her new-born son.

Doctors at Shaare Zedek delivered the child, who was in the 30th week of pregnancy, via an emergency caesarian section, after the mother was evacuated to the hospital in critical condition.

The woman had suffered multiple gunshot wounds in Sunday night's attack. Her husband was also wounded in the drive-by shooting.

On Monday, Dr. Alon Schwartz, a senior surgeon at Shaare Zedek's trauma unit, said that the mother's condition had stabilized, while her new-born son's condition had deteriorated, raising concerns about possible neurological damage.

"The pregnant mother who gave birth in an emergency situation, and the child she gave birth to, are being treated here at the hospital. The mother is in the intensive care ward, and her condition has stabilized following surgery she underwent overnight, and basically, we're satisfied with the results," said Dr. Schwartz.

"There already is no active bleeding. We're continuing to provide supportive care, and over the course of the next few days, we will try to take her off the respirator and the medications she's receiving."

"She has a long way to go, and wounds like these are very complicated and we have a lot of challenges ahead of us, but we will do everything to get through the processes in the proper manner and to get her off of the treatment she's currently receiving."

Regarding the infant's condition, Dr. Schwartz seemed less optimistic, saying that the hospital staff was "fighting for his life".

"His condition deteriorated overnight, and he is being treated with medication to sustain his blood pressure and is [on] assisted breathing. We're concerned about possible neurological damage. He has undergone imaging tests, and we're fighting for his life."

A total of six people were wounded Sunday night, when terrorists opened fire from a vehicle as it passed by the bus stop on Route 60, next to the Israeli town of Ofra, north of Jerusalem.

The terrorists fled the scene immediately after the attack, and Israeli security personnel are currently searching for the perpetrators.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/255954

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/255954


2. ISRAEL CALLS ON GERMANY TO END FUNDING OF JEWISH MUSEUM
by Toby Axelrod, JTA

Israel is pressuring Germany to end funding for dozens of political, cultural and religious organizations that it accuses of anti-Israel agitation both abroad and at home – including the Jewish Museum Berlin – according to an unofficial letter obtained by a German left-wing daily newspaper.

The Tageszeitung, or Taz, obtained a copy of the unsigned seven-page letter sent to the office of Chancellor Angela Merkel and to the Federal Development Ministry, urging Germany to "review its funding guidelines." The letter's origin is not named, but sources told the Taz that it bore the hallmarks of the Jerusalem-based watchdog group NGO Monitor, a non-governmental organization.

The letter reportedly accuses Germany of going out of its way to support groups that are engaged in anti-Israel activity and that try to intervene in Israel's internal affairs. As one of many examples, the letter names the left-wing +972 magazine of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, a think-tank associated with the Green Party, saying its authors "regularly accuse Israel of apartheid."

The letter reportedly also accuses the Jewish Museum Berlin of stressing the "Muslim-Palestinian view" in a current exhibit about the city of Jerusalem, and comments on the museum's "regularly occurring events and discussions with prominent supporters of the BDS [anti-Israel boycott] movement." Germany's international film festival, Berlinale, is confronted with the same charge.

The letter names foundations, church-based groups and partner organizations in both Israel and the Palestinian Authority as being involved in anti-Israel activities, and criticizes German funding for films by groups that support BDS.

It urges Germany to "tie its further financial support to the complete halt of such activities."

A German government spokesperson told the Taz that there is an ongoing conversation between the two countries about Germany's support for
NGOs and that the Israeli government has provided information as well. The spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny that the letter in question came from official Israeli contacts.

Meanwhile, some groups have responded defensively to the allegations. A Böll Foundation spokesperson told the Taz that the group had seen an
increase in pressure from Israel on NGOs – both within Israel and in the Palestinian territories – seen as critical of the government.


3. ARAB STATE OKAYS ISRAELI FLIGHTS
by Arutz Sheva Staff

An Arab Gulf state will allow Israeli civilian flights to enter its airspace, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced Monday, cutting the travel time from Israel to India.

Speaking at an Israeli Foreign Ministry conference on Monday, Netanyahu revealed that Israeli passenger jets will now be permitted to fly over the Gulf Arab state of Oman, on the southeastern end of the Arabian Peninsula.

According to Netanyahu, the Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said al Said, had given permission to Israel's national airline, El Al, to enter his country's airspace.

"The Sultan of Oman, Qaboos, has permitted El Al flights over Oman," said Netanyahu.

Netanyahu said that the decision to permit El Al flights was part of a broader change in Israel's position globally.

"Our diplomatic map has changed dramatically, following diplomatic efforts by Israel."

The announcement comes following Netanyahu's meeting with the Sultan during a trip to the Arab state in October. The visit was the first of its kind to the Gulf state by an Israeli Prime Minister since Yitzhak Rabin's 1996 trip to Oman.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia also permitted flights to and from Israel to enter its airspace, green lighting plans by Air India to create a shortened route between Tel Aviv and New Delhi.


4. OCASIO-CORTEZ CLAIMS JEWISH ANCESTRY
by David Rosenberg

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/255949

Democratic congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has claimed that she is descended from Sephardic Jews who were forcibly converted to Catholicism.

Ocasio-Cortez, who was elected last month to the US House of Representatives for New York State's 14th congressional district, told supporters at a Hannukah party organized by the left-wing Jews for Racial and Economic Justice that she has Jewish heritage.

"A very, very long time ago – generations and generations ago – my family consisted of Sephardic Jews," Ocasio-Cortez said.

"The story goes, during the Spanish Inquisition, so many people were forced to convert on the exterior to Catholicism, but on the interior continued to practice their faith and continued to be who they were, even though they were pressured to not be that on the outside world."

Her family later fled to Puerto Rico to escape persecution, Ocasio-Cortez said.

Following the expulsion of non-Christians from Spain in 1492, thousands of Sephardic Jews were forced to convert to Catholicism. Many continued to practice Judaism in secret even after ostensibly converting to Catholicism.

Many of these secret Jews, dubbed the "Anusim" ('Coerced Ones'), emigrated to the Western Hemisphere, settling in colonies across what would become Latin America.

According to Reconectar, an NGO which helps descendants of Anusim reconnect with their Jewish heritage, there are at least 14 to 15 million self-identified 'Bnei Anusim' (descendants of Anusim), with as many as 100 million descendants worldwide of Iberian Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism.

"Given the birthrate over the years, studies have estimated the number of descendants of these Jews at anywhere from 100 million to 150 million and even some who claim there are as many as 200 million around the world descended from Spanish and Portuguese Jews," Reconectar President Ashley Perry told Arutz Sheva.

According to the Beit Hatfutsot (Diaspora Museum) in Tel Aviv, Cortez, Ocasio-Cortez's mother's maiden name, was a Jewish family name.

Last month, Ocasio-Cortez drew criticism after she compared Jewish Holocaust refugees to members of the so-called 'migrant caravan' from Central America seeking to enter the United States.

"Asking to be considered a refugee & applying for status isn't a crime," tweeted Ocasio-Cortez.

"It wasn't for Jewish families fleeing Germany. It wasn't for targeted families fleeing Rwanda.
It wasn't for communities fleeing war-torn Syria. And it isn't for those fleeing violence in Central America."


5. US CASTIGATES 'VILE ACT OF PALESTINIAN TERRORISM'
by David Rosenberg

The American Ambassador to Israel David Friedman condemned the shooting attack by Palestinian Arab terrorists on Israeli civilians outside of the town of Ofra Sunday night, calling the drive-by shooting "vile".

"Another vile act of Palestinian terrorism last night included the shooting of a pregnant woman," Friedman tweeted Monday morning.

Friedman also condemned Hamas for celebrating the attack, and slammed the United Nations over its failure to back a US-led effort to condemn the Gaza-based terror group in the General Assembly.

"Hamas calls the shooters "heroic" — yes, the same Hamas that the UN could not resolve to condemn last week. The #US stands with Israel against terrorists even if others won't."

Six people, including a pregnant 30-year-old woman, were wounded Sunday night when terrorists opened fire from a car as it passed by a bus stop outside of Ofra, north of Jerusalem.

The wounded woman was critically wounded, while her husband was lightly wounded.

Hospital officials at Shaare Zedek Medical Center delivered the victim's baby via an emergency caesarian section late Sunday night.

Hamas hailed the attack Sunday night, calling it a 'blessed shooting'.

"We appreciate the blessed shooting that proves that the resistance is present in the occupied West Bank despite the ongoing attempts to destroy it," Hamas said.

Hamas later called the terror attack a "heroic shooting", claiming that the targets were "Israeli occupation soldiers", rather than Israeli civilians.

"The West Bank is taking the initiative today to resist the occupation, and to respond to its ongoing aggressions against our people, where the heroic shooting of a group of Israeli occupation soldiers near the settlement of 'Ofra' in Ramallah, is an affirmation of the legitimate right of our people to resist the occupation."

White House special envoy Jason Greenblatt also mentioned the UN General Assembly's failure to condemn Hamas, tweeting Monday morning that the UN had "defended" Hamas' support for terror.

"UN this is what you defended last week when you failed to condemn Hamas. Hamas praises yet another terror attack. You had the ability to help fight against terror. Is this what the UN wants its legacy to be?"


6. CONDITION OF BABY BORN FOLLOWING SHOOTING ATTACK WORSENS
by Arutz Sheva Staff

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/255945

The baby delivered after his mother was wounded in a shooting attack north of Jerusalem has taken a turn for the worse, doctors reported Monday morning.

Arab terrorists opened fire on a group of Israeli civilians waiting at a bus stop next to the town of Ofra in Samaria, wounding six.

A 30-year-old pregnant woman was critically wounded in the attack. The woman's husband was also wounded in the attack.

After the woman was rushed to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, doctors there performed an emergency caesarian section in an attempt to save the life of the unborn child.

The baby, in the 30th week of pregnancy, was successfully delivered.

On Monday, however, Shaare Zedek's Dr. Yonatan Halevy announced that the child's condition had deteriorated, and that the baby is currently in critical condition.

The mother's condition has stabilized, though hospital officials say she remains in serious condition. Her husband's condition has also improved.

White House special envoy Jason Greenblatt condemned the attack Sunday night, calling it "disgusting", and called on Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas to issue a condemnation.

"Absolutely Disgusting – Terrorists attack a group of Israelis celebrating Hanukkah. My prayers and thoughts are with the victims and their families. President Abbas, will you condemn the act this time??"

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/255945


7. IDF LOCATES ANOTHER TUNNEL ON LEBANON BORDER
by Arutz Sheva

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/255872

The IDF has located another Hezbollah terror tunnel on the Lebanese border.

The tunnel passes from Lebanese territory into Israel and was active in recent days.

The IDF said that the tunnel was never a threat to Israel.

The tunnel is located in the eastern sector of the Lebanese front.

The IDF Spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, said that the IDF's Yahalom Unit is inspecting the tunnel's entire length and all of its components.

The IDF added that despite difficult weather conditions, its forces are continuing their operation to locate all Hezbollah tunnels.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/255872

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8. NETANYAHU WINS SUPPORT FOR BILL AIMED AT ENSURING HIM A 5TH TERM
by David Rosenberg

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu scored an important political victory Sunday, winning coalition support for a bill aimed at preventing Israel's president from denying him a fifth term as premier.

On Sunday, the government's Ministerial Committee for Legislation endorsed a bill, dubbed the "Sa'ar Law", which would require the president to select the prime minister from party leaders, and prohibit the president from choosing other Knesset Members.

Netanyahu, who will become Israel's longest serving premier next July if he remains in office, is expected to run for a fifth term as prime minister next year, despite police recommendations that he be indicted on corruption charges in three separate cases.

In February, police announced that they would recommend charges be filed against Netanyahu in both the Case 1000 and Case 2000 investigations, involving allegations of the receipt of gifts from wealthy businessmen and charges of collusion with a newspaper publisher.

Last week, investigators said they believed sufficient evidence had been collected to also indict the Prime Minister in connection with the "Case 4000" (the "Bezeq-Walla affair"), which revolves around claims Netanyahu back changes to telecommunication regulation favoring the Bezeq corporation, in exchange for favorable coverage from the Walla! media outlet. Both companies are owned primarily by businessman Shaul Elovitch.

While Netanyahu has pushed back against the allegations, some senior Likud officials fear that President Reuven Rivlin could move to deny Netanyahu the premiership after next year's election – even if the Likud emerges as the largest faction and the only party with a viable path to a majority coalition.

Under current Israeli law, the Israeli president nominates whichever MK he believes will be most able to form a stable ruling coalition. While the president has traditionally chosen party leaders, Rivlin has the discretion to choose other MKs, allowing him to circumvent Netanyahu.

To prevent such a scenario from occurring, Netanyahu and his allies have drafted the "Sa'ar Law", named after former Likud minister Gideon Sa'ar – a popular former lawmaker who has signaled his intention to run with the Likud again in 2019, and could be tapped by Rivlin to serve as Prime Minister in Netanyahu's place.

The bill would, if passed, require the president to choose from party leaders when selecting a candidate for the premiership.

Israel's next general election is scheduled for November 2019, but could be held earlier if the current coalition collapses.

While the Likud-led government enjoyed a relatively wide majority, with 66 lawmakers in the 120-member Knesset, last month, former Defense Minister Avidgor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) bolted the government, leaving the coalition with a razor-thin 61-seat majority.

With the possibility of new elections in the next few months, Netanyahu and his allies have pushed for passage of the "Sa'ar Law", despite statements by President Rivlin indicating that he would choose the next premier based on the recommendations of party leaders.