A7News: Hamas: Coming hours will decide if conflict continues

Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Friday, Mar. 29 '19, כ"ב באדר ב תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. HAMAS: COMING HOURS WILL DECIDE IF CONFLICT CONTINUES
2. FRENCHMAN ADMITS GUN-RUNNING
3. THE RETURN OF THE SOLDIERS AS A DEMAND IN COALITION NEGOTIATIONS
4. THE ANTI-SEMITIC EXCUSES FOR HATRED OF JEWS
5. DID OBAMA CONTROL TIMING OF ANTI-ISRAEL UN RESOLUTION?
6. SYRIAN TV CLAIMS ISRAEL ATTACKED IN ALEPPO
7. HUNDREDS ATTEND FUNERAL OF LONE SOLDIER
8. POLL: LIKUD PULLS INTO TIE WITH BLUE AND WHITE


1. HAMAS: COMING HOURS WILL DECIDE IF CONFLICT CONTINUES
by Chana Roberts

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh hinted that if talks do not succeed soon, war may break out.

"We are continuing the marathon of talks with Egypt in order to reach serious understandings that Israel will honor," Haniyeh said. "We are at a crossroads, and the coming hours will decide which direction we'll take."

Earlier this week, Hamas claimed that Israel "refused" to come to an agreement.

On Thursday night, Egyptian intelligence officials warned Hamas that "any mistakes on your part on Saturday may lead to war with Israel."

According to Mako, the Egyptians told Hamas that it was their efforts which prevented a war from breaking out a few days ago. Now, they said, Hamas needs to take active and significant steps in order to prevent conflict.

Egypt's demands from Hamas included, among other things, stationing Hamas members along the border fence in order to prevent masses of Gazans from infiltrating Israel and to prevent weapons from reaching the border area.

On Monday, a rocket hit a home in the Sharon region, injuring seven members of the Wolf family. Hamas initially claimed that the rocket was fired by mistake, later changing their story to say that "bad weather" caused the launch.

However, on Tuesday Hamas admitted that the launch had indeed been intentional, and was carried out at Iran's behest.

The IDF responded to the attack - which was followed by additional rockets - by striking at Hamas military targets in Gaza.


2. FRENCHMAN ADMITS GUN-RUNNING
by AFP, Arutz Sheva Staff

A Frenchman formerly employed by his country's Jerusalem consulate has been convicted of arms dealing after admitting three offences in a plea bargain, the Israeli Justice Ministry said Friday.

Romain Franck, who worked as a driver for the consulate, went on trial a year ago accused of exploiting reduced security checks for diplomats to smuggle 70 pistols and two automatic rifles from Gaza to Judea and Samaria.

"As part of a plea bargain the defendant admitted and was convicted of three counts of importing and trading in weapons and of fraud," the ministry said in a written response to an AFP query.

"Sentencing will be given on April 8," it added.

He faces a possible seven-year jail term, the ministry said.

Franck was arrested in February 2018 and his trial began the following month at the district court in the southern Israeli city of Be'er Sheva.

Israeli officials have said he acted on his own without the consulate's knowledge and that diplomatic relations with France were not affected.

The Shabak (Israel Security Agency) has said he was paid a total of around $5,500 for the guns he smuggled for a network involving several Palestinian Authority (PA) Arabs.

At a hearing in November Franck's lawyer, Kenneth Mann, said that his client's actions were not those of someone seeking to help PA terrorists.

"He was scared, he is young and inexperienced," Mann told reporters.

"He has no ideological or political involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."


3. THE RETURN OF THE SOLDIERS AS A DEMAND IN COALITION NEGOTIATIONS
by Arutz Sheva Staff

More than 200 people participated in the weekly gathering "Misdar Hadar," named in Hadar Goldin's memory on Friday afternoon.

Misdar Hadar is active in lobbying for the return of IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens from Gaza.

Hamas has been holding the bodies of IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul since the 2014 Operation Protective Edge.

In addition, two Israeli civilians who went missing in Gaza - Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed - are believed to be held by Hamas as well.

The event, the 49th consecutive gathering, was held at the Cinemateque Plaza in Sderot, with the participation of the Goldin family, MK Haim Yellin (Labor), National Union Chairman MK Bezalel Smotrich, attorney Michal Kotler (Blue and White candidate) and Idit Silman (Union of the Right candidate).

Hadar Goldin's father Professor Simcha Goldin, harshly criticized the outgoing government. "The Prime Minister, the ministers in the cabinet, and the leaders of Operation Protective Edge failed to bring Hadar and Oron home," he said.

"Anyone who approaches the Gaza area and sees the IDF deployed with large forces there understands that the war didn't end because the leadership in the government and the army didn't insist on bringing the soldiers back from the battlefield," Goldin continued.

"Netanyahu is now talking about a small agreement but he also knows that the IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens can be returned if this issue is presented as top priority and is presented as a condition that Egypt will insist on. If that happens, the IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens will be returned even before the elections," Goldin concluded.

"We will raise the issue of returning the IDF soldiers as a demand in coalition negotiations," MK Bezalel Smotrich said. "The next government will act on several levels to put pressure on Hamas until the boys are returned."

MK Haim Yellin (Labor) said that the last night was difficult for the residents of Gaza border communities. "520 truckloads were on the fence last night and anyone who has not experienced his house shaking from explosions couldn't begin to understand what I'm talking about. We must return to the value of mutual responsibility. Our sons must be returned."


4. THE ANTI-SEMITIC EXCUSES FOR HATRED OF JEWS
by Dr. Sam Minskoff

[audio:2055706]

Dr. Sam Minskoff, a member of the Aliyah Team at Arutz Sheva, discusses the usual adage that countries' poor economies contribute greatly to rising Jew hatred, pointing out that the adage is not necessarily applicable in modern times.

He also addresses those self hating Jews who are deaf, dumb and blind to what it is to be a Jew and could not care less, to the extent that aliyah (immigration to Israel) is discouraged and moreover forbidden to the unfortunate, pitiful group who will just have to miss out on the miracles and blessings of living as a Jew in G-d-given Israel.

In so doing, Dr. Sam Minskoff implores the leadership that insists on caving in to Israel's enemies for the sake of being loved and accepted to stop that suicidal psychotic tendency and LIVE.

[קישורים:10:Radio]


5. DID OBAMA CONTROL TIMING OF ANTI-ISRAEL UN RESOLUTION?
by David Rosenberg

The Obama White House may have exerted more influence over a controversial anti-Israel United Nations resolution than previously believed, according to a new report by The New York Times.

In December 2016, following the 2016 presidential election, the Obama administration ordered the US mission to the UN to abstain from a Security Council vote on resolution 2334, which condemned Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem as 'flagrant violations' of international law with "no legal validity".

The surprise decision not to veto the measure – abandoning the traditional US policy of barring blatantly anti-Israel measures at the Security Council – was initially seen as a parting blow to the Netanyahu government in Israel, but not part of an orchestrated effort by the Obama administration to target Israel.

US officials emphasized that the measure had been drafted by Egypt, with no indications the US had been involved in either the preparation or timing of the resolution.

But a new report by the NYT Thursday suggests that the Obama administration had in fact resolved to enable the resolution to be passed earlier in 2016, but used its influence to push off the UNSC vote until after the 2016 election.

"There is a reason the U.N. vote did not come up before the election in November," a former US official told NYT.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that the Obama White House was supportive of the resolution, but felt compelled to push off its passage until after the November election.

"Was it because you were going to lose voters to Donald Trump? No. It was because you were going to have skittish donors. That, and the fact that we didn't want Clinton to face pressure to condemn the resolution or be damaged by having to defend it."

Obama's deputy national security advisor, Ben Rhodes, went even further, arguing that the Obama administration, and much of the Democratic party's base, is far less sympathetic towards Israel than the party as a whole, with the "donor class" keeping party officials on an at least ostensibly pro-Israel line.

The Washington view of Israel-Palestine is still shaped by the donor class," Rhodes told the NYT. "The donor class is profoundly to the right of where the activists are, and frankly, where the majority of the Jewish community is."


6. SYRIAN TV CLAIMS ISRAEL ATTACKED IN ALEPPO
by Elad Benari

The official Syrian news agency SANA reported on Wednesday evening that heavy explosions were heard at the airport in the city of Aleppo.

According to the report, a number of "enemy airstrikes" struck the Shiekh Najjar District of the city.

Syrian state television reported that the attack was an Israeli attack and noted that "Syria's air defense forces intercepted several missiles."

It was also reported that the attack targeted warehouses used by the Iranian forces operating on Syrian soil.

The entire city of Aleppo is reportedly in darkness as the electricity flow to the city stopped immediately after the attack began.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that there were casualties in the attacks on Aleppo.

Last month, official Syrian media outlets claimed that Israeli tanks had opened fire on positions in Kuneitra on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.

Subsequent reports claimed that the attack was an Israeli airstrike and that it killed two members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Israel did not comment on the reports.


7. HUNDREDS ATTEND FUNERAL OF LONE SOLDIER
by Arutz Sheva Staff

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/261055

Close to 1,000 soldiers and civilians arrived Thursday at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem to pay their last respects to IDF soldier Alex Sasaki, who passed away this week.

Sasaki, a lone soldier from the Golani Brigade who immigrated from the United States to contribute to the state through combat service in the IDF, was found dead earlier this week.

On various Facebook pages, an appeal was made to the public to attend Alex's funeral out of respect and appreciation for his contribution to the IDF.
Among the participants at the funeral were Alex's friends from the Golani Brigade, cadets in an officers' course who were on a tour of Jerusalem, and many citizens who wanted to pay him last respects and support his family in their time of distress.

One of the soldiers told Israel Hayom, "The Education Corps issued a statement about Alex's funeral so that as many soldiers as possible could come to accompany him on his last journey." Alex's friends in the Golani Brigade covered his grave with the earth of Jerusalem as some of them cried. Alex's commander, Yonatan Lux, said kaddish for him.

"Your friends and commanders saw you as an inspiration, a loyal friend who performs his responsibility in the best possible way," lamented Lieutenant Colonel Itai Matak, commander of the 12th Battalion. "You came to Israel, enlisted and chose the difficult and significant path. For me, you are the embodiment of Zionism. You brought calm and unity. We will remember your joy for life and your smile that remained even on the cold and hard nights."


8. POLL: LIKUD PULLS INTO TIE WITH BLUE AND WHITE
by David Rosenberg

The Likud party has pulled into a tie with the Blue and White party, according to a new poll, as the right-wing – religious bloc opens up a wider lead over the left-Arab bloc.

The new poll, conducted by the Midgam polling firm's Mano Geva and veteran pollster Mina Tzemach on behalf of Channel 13, gives the Likud 30 seats – identical to the number the center-left Blue and White party is projected to win.

As a whole, the parties affiliated with the Israeli Right or the haredi bloc – the Likud, Union of Right-Wing Parties, New Right, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Kulanu, Yisrael Beytenu, and Zehut - would win a total of 64 seats if new elections were held today.

The left-wing and center-left parties would win 45 seats, while the two Arab lists would win 11 mandates, the poll shows.

After the Likud and Blue and White party, the third largest party, if new elections were held today, would be Labor with 10 seats.

The far-left Meretz faction would win five – the same number it won in 2015 – and the two Arab lists would win a combined 11 seats – seven for the Hadash-Ta'al list, and four for the United Arab List-Balad ticket.

Gesher, the party of former Yisrael Beytenu MK Orly Levy, would fail to pass the minimum threshold. Yisrael Beytenu would also fail to pass the threshold.

The center-right Kulanu would win four seats if new elections were held today, as would the haredi Shas party. The United Torah Judaism faction would win seven seats, as would the Union of Right-Wing Parties and the libertarian-leaning Zehut. The New Right would win five seats.