A7News: Residents of terror tunnel village flee as cement floods streets

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Friday, Dec. 28 '18, כ' בטבת תשע"ט



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HEADLINES:
1. RESIDENTS OF TERROR TUNNEL VILLAGE FLEE AS CEMENT FLOODS STREETS
2. 'OUR FRIEND'S BABY WAS MURDERED - AND THE UN REMAINS SILENT'
3. FRANCE BLASTS ISRAEL OVER SETTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION
4. ISRAEL TURNED AWAY A RECORD 19,000 VISITORS IN 2018
5. WHY IS THE US GOVERNMENT PAYING LOUIS FARRAKHAN TO SPREAD HATE?
6. LIQUID CEMENT USED TO DESTROY TERROR TUNNEL FLOODS VILLAGE
7. RUSSIA ACCUSES ISRAEL OF 'GROSS VIOLATION' OF SYRIAN SOVEREIGNTY
8. ARIEL UNIVERSITY ORDERED TO FREEZE OPENING OF MEDICAL SCHOOL


1. RESIDENTS OF TERROR TUNNEL VILLAGE FLEE AS CEMENT FLOODS STREETS
by Arutz Sheva Staff

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/256843

Cement poured out into the streets in the village of Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon, after Israeli security forces pumped the cement into a cross-border terror tunnel.

Earlier this month, the IDF launched Operation Northern Shield with the aim of locating and neutralizing terror tunnels built by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon into northern Israel.

Five such cross-border tunnels have been located since the launch of Northern Shield, including one which originated in Kafr Kila.

On Thursday, the IDF reported that forces operating on the northern border had flooded a Hezbollah tunnel with liquid cement.

Hezbollah had dug the tunnel in Kafr Kila at a site it had long claimed was used as a brick factory and chicken coop.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/256843


2. 'OUR FRIEND'S BABY WAS MURDERED - AND THE UN REMAINS SILENT'
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Israeli college students who studied with one of the victims of the Hamas terror attack outside of Ofra earlier this month have called on the United Nations to formally condemn the attack, and the resulting death of their fellow student's newborn son as a result of the shooting.

On December 9th, Hamas terrorists opened fire on a group of Israeli civilians waiting at a bus stop outside of the town of Ofra, north of Jerusalem.

Seven people, including 21-year-old Shira Ish-Ran and her husband, Amichai, were wounded in the drive-by shooting.

Doctors were forced to perform an emergency caesarian section on Shira to deliver her child. Shira was in the 30th week of pregnancy at the time.

While the condition of Shira and her husband improved, their newborn son, Amiad Yisrael, died three days after the attack.

On Friday, students at Orot Israel College in the town of Elkana in Samaria – where Shira Ish-Ran was enrolled – called on the United Nations to condemn the December 9th attack, and to formally condemn the Hamas terror group.

The letter, addressed to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, noted the UN's failure earlier this month to pass a resolution condemning Hamas for its terrorist activities.

We the undersigned are students studying for our Bachelor's in Education, at Orot Israel College in Elkana, Samaria.

Last week, our fellow student, Shira, 21 years old- stood alongside her husband Amichai near the entrance to the settlement of Ofra, when accursed terrorists opened fire upon them with the express purpose of murdering them merely because they were Jews.

Shira, who was in the 30th week of her pregnancy, was seriously wounded, and her baby was delivered preterm in an emergency operation. Unfortunately, her wounded baby managed to live for only three short days before returning his soul to his Creator.

During those three days, in which for every moment the baby was struggling for his life, he dangled between life and death. Before he even knew the world, those terrorists cut short his life.

This tiny baby that was not yet born has already passed from this world.

This baby who was waiting in his mother's womb for the moment he would breathe his first breath was murdered solely because he was a Jew.

Mr. Secretary General, until this very moment we have not yet heard your voice raised in condemnation of those heinous murderers and those who sent them. We have not yet heard your voice of condemnation at the General Assembly, which so frequently rushes to condemn the State of Israel for its deeds.

We, who are friends of Shira- a young woman who was supposed to bring new life to this world and become a first-time mother in ten short weeks, respectfully demand of you to condemn this most awful hate crime.

Ignoring this most dastardly of crimes serves to strengthen the Islamic terror which is striking us and encourages future murderous attack upon innocent civilians.

Those who murder a baby in his mother's womb must be ostracized and shunned by the entire civilized world. Whoever supports them must know that the entire world stands in opposition to them and condemns them. They must know that they will have neither succor nor support; not in economic issues, not in education, not in any form that they may seek.

It is still not too late. Please Mr. Secretary General, rise up and condemn this murder in a loud and unequivocal voice. Convene the General Assembly, convene the Security Council, and declare that whosoever murders babies is not a human being and has no place in our civilized world.

We are awaiting your response, and even more importantly we are awaiting your actions. It is not too late.


3. FRANCE BLASTS ISRAEL OVER SETTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION
by David Rosenberg

The French government condemned Israel over plans for nearly 2,200 new homes in Israeli towns across Judea and Samaria, calling settlement construction a "violation of international law" and warning the housing projects would undermine the two-state solution.

Earlier this week, Israel's planning council for Judea and Samaria approved 1,113 new housing units, and gave interim approval for another 488 homes in Israeli towns in the area. A day later, additional permits were issued, pushing the total number of homes approved to 2,191.

France issued a formal condemnation of the plans Thursday night, urging Israel to "reconsider" the decision to permit continued construction in the settlements.

"France condemns this decision, which expands settlement activity in the West Bank," the statement read.

"Settlement activity is in violation of international law, as reaffirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 2334. It undermines – on the ground and in people's minds – the conditions for a two-state solution, the only way to ensure a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and heightens tensions."

"We therefore call on the Israeli authorities to reconsider these decisions."

Israel green-lighted the new housing units following a wave of terror attacks in Judea and Samaria in December, including a deadly shooting at Givat Assaf Junction, near Beit north of Jerusalem which left two dead and two wounded.

A few days earlier, terrorists also wounded seven Israelis outside of Ofra, an attack which killed a newborn child delivery shortly after the attack.


4. ISRAEL TURNED AWAY A RECORD 19,000 VISITORS IN 2018
by Marcy Oster, JTA

Israel turned away visitors at a record pace in 2018.

Of the about 4 million visitors to Israel in 2018, nearly 19,000 were turned away by immigration staff when they reached an entry point over concerns that they would commit criminal or security crimes in the country, the business daily Globes reported, citing statistics from the Population and Immigration Authority.

Some 16,534 people were turned away in 2016, compared to 1,870 who were refused entry in 2011, according to the report.

Staff from the Population and Immigration Authority are stationed at Israel's airports and other entry points and are empowered to refuse to allow a foreign visitor to enter.

They use information on the potential visitor's background and, now, information from social media to help determine whether someone can enter the country.

The report said that tourists from eastern European countries often are scrutinized more because they are more likely coming to work illegally in the country and sometimes to immigrate. Tourists are also turned away if they are likely to immigrate unlawfully.

Those trying to enter at land border points are simply turned back. At Ben Gurion Airport they are held in a detention center until they can be put on a plane home.

Tourists who are denied entry can appeal the decision.

This year several activists from the United States urging a boycott against Israel were turned away. One of them, Lara Alqasem, who arrived to attend a one-year program at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, successfully appealed the decision after spending two weeks in detention at the airport.


5. WHY IS THE US GOVERNMENT PAYING LOUIS FARRAKHAN TO SPREAD HATE?
by David Rosenberg

The Nation of Islam has received more than half a million dollars in funding from the federal government – despite its lengthy history of anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia and even anti-American rhetoric.

According to a report by The Washington Examiner, the Justice Department has paid the militant black supremacist organization $364,500 in contracts for "religious services" to prison inmates, including "spiritual guide services" and "study services."

The Justice Department brought in the Nation of Islam to preach to inmates despite the organization's long history of spreading fringe conspiracy theories and anti-Jewish and anti-white incitement

Louis Farrakhan, the 85-year-old leader of the black supremacist group, was condemned by the US Senate in 1984 after he praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and derided Judaism as a gutter religion.

In the intervening 34 years, Farrakhan has since accused American Jews of being part of the "Synagogue of Satan", compared Jews to termites, warned of the eventual annihilation of whites, claimed that white people were artificially created by a mad scientist and calling them only "potential humans", accused "the Jews" of helping Adolf Hitler "get the Third Reich on the road" and earlier this year led a chant of "Death to Israel, Death to America" during a visit to Tehran.

Nevertheless, the Department of Justice has contracted Farrakhan's Nation of Islam to preach to prisoners in federal correctional facilities. According to the Bureau of Prison's records, the Nation of Islam has been paid $364,500 since 2008 for its services.

Congressman Peter King (NY-R) condemned the department's funding of the Nation of Islam, calling it "beyond the pale".

"Categorically, no group or entity or individual associated any way with Farrakhan or the Nation of Islam should receive any federal funding. What Farrakhan preaches is hatred and anti-Semitism and racism, and to use any federal money for any group that's he's involved with that do any type of teaching or proselytizing is just wrong," King told the Examiner.

Fox News reported that in addition to the money paid to the Nation of Islam by the Department of Justice, the federal government had paid Louis Farrakhan $160,000 in agricultural supports for farms it operates, including Muhammad Farms in Georgia. The money, the report noted, was paid directly to Farrakhan's personal residence in Chicago.


6. LIQUID CEMENT USED TO DESTROY TERROR TUNNEL FLOODS VILLAGE
by Gary Willig

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/256798

The IDF, led by the Northern Command and the Galilee Division, completed the neutralization and destruction of the terrorist attack tunnels that were dug from the area of ​​a Lebanese Shi'ite village and were exposed by the IDF as part of Operation Defensive Shield.

The attack tunnels were built as a secret and significant component in the attack plan that Hezbollah has been trying to develop in recent years and were intended to allow the terrorist group's Ratwan unit to infiltrate into Israel without becoming subject to IDF fire.

The exposure and destruction of the tunnels has significantly impaired Hezbollah's ability to carry out its plans, along with a series of activities carried out in recent years to improve the elements of the "elite" and "fortification" projects.

The IDF's activity thwarted and prevented Hezbollah's attempt to strike the city of Metula and its residents while removing the tunnels from the picture. The tunnels were neutralized over several days using a complicated engineering method with many different components.

IDF Spokesman Brigadier General Ronen Manelis said that "the responsibility for the digging of the tunnels and its implications rests with the Lebanese government. The IDF will continue to act in coordination with the heads of the relevant authorities and their residents, and to update them as necessary."

Manelis said that Hezbollah planned to "cut off" the land routes in northern Israel after entering the areas adjacent to Metula and other places, both from the underground tunnels that have now been exposed and through the infiltration of terrorists over the border.

Over the years, Hezbollah claimed that its facility in Kafr Kila was a chicken coop next to a "block factory" and even sent a reporter to report from there. The work of the excavation of the terrorist tunnels was carried out under the guise of that "factory."

The destruction of the tunnel in the village of Kila was accomplished through the pouring of liquid cement into the tunnel. The entrance to the factory and several streets in the village have been flooded with cement.

"These pictures of the flowing cement will speak for themselves and show the Lebanese government under which Hezbollah operates," the IDF Spokesman said, adding that the operation was proceeding according to plan.

It should be noted that although the IDF has given information on a number of tunnels to UNIFIL to deal with them, the UN peacekeeping force does not appear to have taken any action yet. The operation is not over yet and it will take time until we neutralize all the tunnels," the IDF Spokesperson said.


7. RUSSIA ACCUSES ISRAEL OF 'GROSS VIOLATION' OF SYRIAN SOVEREIGNTY
by AFP and Arutz Sheva Staff

Moscow on Wednesday said Israel had violated Syria's sovereignty with airstrikes the day before, after Israel and Damascus blamed each other for the hostilities.

"We are very concerned by the attacks and how they were made. This is a gross violation of the sovereignty of Syria," the Russian ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.

Moscow's defense ministry earlier said Israeli strikes had endangered two passenger planes.

"The provocative actions of the Israeli air force.. directly threatened two airliners," ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

He said the attack came from over Lebanese territory and came as "two airliners, not from Russia, were preparing to land at the airports of Beirut and Damascus".

He said restrictions were imposed on the use of Syrian government forces' air defense systems "to prevent a tragedy". One of the planes was redirected to a Russian airbase within Syria.

The Russian defense ministry said three Syrian military personnel were injured in a strike that saw Israeli warplanes drop 16 bombs.

The targets of the Israeli air strikes were several Hezbollah leaders, according to a report by Newsweek. The airstrike was conducted minutes after the leaders boarded a plane bound for Iran, according to the report.

Several Iranian ammunition supply points were also a target of the bombing, the source said. The supply points contained valuable, GPS-guided ammunition from 2017, some of the best available to the Iranian army and Hezbollah.

Israel has not confirmed or denied that it is behind the airstrike.


8. ARIEL UNIVERSITY ORDERED TO FREEZE OPENING OF MEDICAL SCHOOL
by Tzvi Lev

Ariel University's plan to open Israel's sixth medical school next year suffered a major blow after Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber ordered the school to freeze its plans amid claims of conflict of interest.

Zilber ordered Ariel University on Thursday to "refrain from taking irreversible steps to establish the faculty" and to update students that had registered "that the establishment of the faculty is now under examination".

Zilber says that the vote to approve the new medical school in the Council of Higher Education was improper due to an alleged conflict of interests. One of the members of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education, Dr. Rivka Wadmany Shauman, had voted at the time in favor of establishing the faculty of medicine at Ariel University - despite the fact that she was a candidate to teach in the institution as part of the teacher training program.

Zilber now says that the Council of Higher Education must hold another vote to approve the medical school. The Planning and Budgeting Committee had voted in July 4-2 to approve the establishment of a medical school in Ariel University.

The new program would have become Israel's sixth medical school, joining other programs at the Hebrew ‎University Tel Aviv University, Ben-‎Gurion University, the Technion, and Bar Ilan University's medical school in Safed.