A7News: Watch: Thousands celebrate Purim in Hevron

Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday



Thursday, Mar. 21 '19, י"ד באדר ב תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. WATCH: THOUSANDS CELEBRATE PURIM IN HEVRON
2. WATCH: BETO O'ROURKE TAKES AIM AT NETANYAHU
3. POLICE INVESTIGATIONS GRILLS SOLDIER WHO KILLED ROCK-THROWER
4. POMPEO: US HAS 'MORAL OBLIGATION' TO STAND UP TO HOSTILE FORCES
5. 'US TO RECOGNIZE ISRAELI SOVEREIGNTY OVER GOLAN NEXT WEEK'
6. ARIEL TERRORIST NEUTRALIZED
7. POLICE RAID YESHIVA ESTABLISHED AT SCENE OF ATTACK
8. 'GANTZ, WHAT DOES IRAN KNOW YOU ARE HIDING FROM US?'


1. WATCH: THOUSANDS CELEBRATE PURIM IN HEVRON
by Eliran Aharon, Hevron

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/260693

[album:open:10978]


2. WATCH: BETO O'ROURKE TAKES AIM AT NETANYAHU
by David Rosenberg

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/260694

Former Texas congressman and 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke, whose 2018 Senate bid against incumbent Ted Cruz drew nationwide attention, blasted Israeli premier Binyamin Netanyahu, accusing the Israeli leader of "openly siding with racists" and using anti-Arab demagoguery in the 2015 Knesset election.

Speaking at a campaign event in Keene State College, a liberal arts school in New Hampshire, O'Rourke suggested that the Israeli premier could not serve as a negotiating partner for final status talks with the Palestinian Authority, comparing Netanyahu unfavorably with PA chief Mahmoud Abbas.

"Right now we don't have the best negotiating partners on either side," O'Rourke said during a question-and-answer session at the event.

O'Rourke referenced Netanyahu's support for a deal to bring the right-wing Otzma Yehudit party into a temporary alliance with the Jewish Home party, forging a joint list to ensure that both factions enter the Knesset.

The former congressman, who recently announced his 2020 presidential bid, also hit Netanyahu over the Prime Minister's comments during the 2015 Knesset election, in which the Netanyahu warned of heavy voter turnout for the radical anti-Zionist Arab Joint List party.

"In Israel, we have a Prime Minister who openly sided with racists, who in a previous election warned that the Arabs were coming to the polls. And on the Palestinian side you have an ineffectual leader, Mahmoud Abbas. He hasn't been very effective in bringing his side to the table either."

On election day in 2015, Netanyahu warned that his "right-wing government is in danger. Arab voters are heading to the polling stations in droves," adding that "left-wing groups" of "busing in" Arab voters to boost the Joint List faction.


3. POLICE INVESTIGATIONS GRILLS SOLDIER WHO KILLED ROCK-THROWER
by Mordechai Sones

Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brigadier General Eran Niv and Etzion Regional Brigade Commander Colonel David Shapira conducted an investigation following an incident that occurred Wednesday evening at the Efrat intersection at the entrance to the city of Bethlehem.

According to the investigation, an IDF soldier guarding a military post near the junction identified an Arab throwing rocks at vehicles and performed the procedure for arresting a suspect that ended in gunfire.

The possibility is being examined that the incident involved friction between Arabs including rock throwing.

The IDF Spokesman said the investigation of the incident continues as the Military Police Chief Investigations Division opened an investigation.

MK Betzalel Smotrich of the National Union responded, "I didn't understand what the problem was and what there is to investigate. Whoever throws rocks at Israeli vehicles is a terrorist, and it's very good that he was shot and killed."


4. POMPEO: US HAS 'MORAL OBLIGATION' TO STAND UP TO HOSTILE FORCES
by Arutz Sheva Staff

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and his wife Susan on Tuesday visited Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, where the Secretary of State laid a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance and signed the guest book.

He also visited the US Embassy in Jerusalem's Arnona neighborhood, accompanied by Ambassador David Friedman, and held a working meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.

At the beginning of the meeting, Rivlin said, "Mike, you are a great friend of Israel and we value your strong support very much. The United States is Israel's most important strategic ally and we deeply appreciate what you do for the security of Israel and the region. Our countries are allies and I believe we see eye to eye on the challenges and the opportunities in our region."

Rivlin also asked Pompeo to send his warmest regards to US President Donald Trump and thanked him on behalf of the State of Israel for the important step of opening the American Embassy in Jerusalem.

Pompeo thanked Rivlin for the warm welcome, saying: "Mr President, I am sure that you know that Israel has no better friend than the United States. These are not just words, this is what we do on a daily basis for the benefit of us both. The United States has a moral and political obligation to prevent hostile forces eroding regional stability, and that is what we will do."

The meeting focused on the various regional challenges, particularly on Israel's northern border, on the build-up of Iranian forces in Syria and Lebanon and on Iranian support for Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Pompeo at Yad Vashem
Matty Stern/ U.S. Embassy Jerusalem
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with President Reuven Rivlin
Mark Neiman (GPO)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with Ambassador David Friedman Matty Stern/ U.S. Embassy Jerusalem


5. 'US TO RECOGNIZE ISRAELI SOVEREIGNTY OVER GOLAN NEXT WEEK'
by David Rosenberg

The White House may be preparing to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, say senior Israeli officials, suggesting that an announcement regarding recognition could come as early as next week.

According to a report Thursday morning by Israel's Channel 13, senior Israeli officials believe the Trump administration is preparing to formally recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights – ending a decades-long US policy of non-recognition of Israel's annexation of the strategic plateau.

The officials cited by the report say the US could announce plans to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan as early as next week, coinciding with Israeli premier Binyamin Netanyahu's meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington, during the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference.

Israel captured the Heights from Syria during the Six Day War in June, 1967, after the Syrian army used the strategic high ground overlooking the Galilee to attack Israeli towns and farms.

From 1967 to 1981, Israel administered the Golan Heights via military law, mirroring the system used in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip. Roughly two-thirds of the Golan Heights remained under Israeli control following the 1973 Yom Kippur War and creation of a demilitarized zone between Syria and Israel.

In 1981, however, the Menachem Begin government applied Israeli law directly to the Golan Heights with the Golan Heights Law, effectively annexing the territory to the State of Israel.

The United Nations and major world powers, including the US, Russia, and European Union have hitherto refused to recognize Israel's annexation of the Golan.

Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, however, some US lawmakers have called for the State Department to recognize Israel's annexation of the Golan.

Last year, Senators Tom Cotton (R.-Arkansas) and Ted Cruz (R.-Texas) proposed a resolution endorsing recognition of the Golan as sovereign Israeli territory.

Earlier this month, the State Department signaled a change in policy towards the Golan, dropping references to the "Israeli-occupied Golan", referring to the territory instead with the more neutral phrase "Israeli-controlled".

The move drew criticism, however, from former United States Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, who said the Golan Heights are "Syrian territory."

"Like it or not, the Golan Heights are Syrian territory."

"Israel cannot give them up now given its legitimate security concerns. But to recognize Israel's annexation of territory that is not its own is to play with fire for partisan political purposes. No Arab state will accept it," Indyk tweeted.

"It would also contravene the 1974 Israel-Syria Disengagement Agreement, which Netanyahu and Putin recently invoked to govern the resumption of Syrian government responsibilities on the Golan border with Israel."


6. ARIEL TERRORIST NEUTRALIZED
by Arutz Sheva Staff

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/260608

The terrorist who murdered 2 Israelis in a shooting and stabbing attack in Samaria on Sunday has been neutralized after engaging in a shootout with security forces near Ramalllah.

Heavy fire has been reported in the area.

The Shin Bet reportedly located the building in which the terrorist, Omar Abu Lila, was hiding. A SWAT team was sent to capture Lila, who engaged the forces.

The terrorist was killed in the firefight

According to Arab media, the IDF blew up the house in which the terrorist was hiding, and that 11 Arabs were injured as a result of exchanges of fire with the terrorist.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/260608


7. POLICE RAID YESHIVA ESTABLISHED AT SCENE OF ATTACK
by Yoni Kempinski

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/260603

On Tuesday afternoon, large police forces raided the Beit Midrash that was built at the scene of the combined attack at Ariel Junction.

Police forces tried to detain boys who were in the area and to check others. The raid took place during Rabbi Dov Lior's shiur.

Rabbi Lior gives class at place of attack
Eitan Shiober



8. 'GANTZ, WHAT DOES IRAN KNOW YOU ARE HIDING FROM US?'
by Gary Willig

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu accused Blue and White leaders Benny against and Yair Lapid of being"panicked" over Iran's hacking of Gantz's cell phone.

"[Benny Gantz],, what do the Iranian's know you are hiding?" Netanyahu asked at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

The prime minister dismissed the claims of Gantz and Lapid that new developments in the Submarine Affair may implicate him.

"There is nothing new except for one thing, Lapid and Gantz's panic," Netanyahu said.

"Why are they panicked? The answer is obvious," he stated.

"The reason for their panic is because Iran hacked Gantz's phone and stole information from him," Netanyahu explained.

"Benny Gantz, what are you hiding from the Israeli people?" he asked. "Why did not you tell this to your party partners when you were updated by the Shin Bet? What would you hide from them? Did you make irresponsible use of your personal phone when you were chief of staff and the head of a cyber company ans should know that these devices are accessible to the intelligence forces of the enemy?"

"How can a prime minister stand against Iran, our greatest enemy, if Iran has personal information about him? This is not mere gossip. It's a matter of national security," he declared.

Netanyahu told Gantz to come clean about the information which was taken from his phone. "The only way you will not be subject to blackmail is to expose the public to it now."

"I say this with regret, but you have a consistent problem of lack of judgment. Where was your judgment when you participated in the shameful memorial event which grouped together both Israeli casualties and Palestinian casualties from Operation Protective Edge, including 1,000 Hamas terrorist? Where was your judgement when you supported the dangerous Iran nuclear agreement which I opposed? Where was the judgment of Yair Lapid and yourself when you said that there are good parts to the agreement, that the Iranians are rational, and that the absence of an agreement will destroy our relations with the United States?

"Citizens of Israel, if I regain your trust, I will continue to lead the country with discretion, responsibility and strength to many more tremendous achievements," Netanyahu concluded.