[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 01/21 Link Pt1: Hamas's Liberation Army, Thanks to the EU; "State of Palestine" Army thanks to the US

From Ian:

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Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas Forms "Liberation Army" in Gaza, Thanks to EU Support

The Palestinian Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip, Hamas, has intensified its efforts to achieve the destruction of Israel.
Hamas has obviously interpreted these two decisions -- by the EU court (to remove Hamas from the list of terror organizations) and the International Criminal Court -- as a green light to proceed with its plans to eliminate Israel.
The main goal of Hamas's "Liberation Army" is, of course, to prepare for war against Israel, according to Hamas spokesman, Mushir al-Masri. "The main purpose of these training camps is to prepare an army for the liberation of Palestine and its holy sites in the near future."
The EU court that removed Hamas from its list of terror groups has committed a crime not only against Israel, but also against the Palestinian teenagers who are being trained as jihadists in the movement's camps throughout the Gaza Strip.
The happy feeling among Hamas leaders is that the Europeans and the ICC are helping them achieve their goal of wiping Israel off the face of the earth.

The West Bank Army of the "State of Palestine," Thanks to the United States

Last week, officials from the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem attended a Palestinian protest over Israel's removal of olive trees illegally planted in the West Bank. Coordinated with the Palestinian Authority [PA] but not Israel, the Consulate personnel ended up clashing with Israelis living nearby. It was, perhaps, the quietest international almost-incident you never heard of.
This week, with the focus off Paris, the Middle East Quartet (the U.S., EU, Russia & the UN) plans to meet. The U.S. Consulate's determination to provide the trappings of Palestinian statehood to the PA outside the negotiating process should come under scrutiny.
The olive tree incident prompted an article in the Israeli press about the Consulate, including the use of Palestinian security, rather than IDF combat veterans as required by a 2011 agreement. Some IDF guards were fired, according to the article. Others resigned, blaming the appointment of a new consulate security officer, who they said, established a Palestinian armed militia. "He is training them with weapons, combat and tactical exercises. There is a lack of responsibility here - who ensures that such weapons, once given over to Palestinian guards, won't make their way to terror groups?"

Palestinian stabs Tel Aviv commuters in terror attack

A Palestinian man stabbed commuters on a Tel Aviv bus during rush hour Wednesday morning, injuring some 17 people, several seriously, police said.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said it was a terror attack.
Four of the victims were hospitalized in serious condition, another five were left in a moderate condition, and the remaining were lightly injured according to media reports.
The attacker was identified as a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Tulkarem, 23. He was shot after a short chase, during which he continued to stab people on the street, and taken into police custody.
He was named later as Hamza Matrouk, 23, a resident of the West Bank refugee camp of Tulkarem. He had crossed into Israel illegally. Matrouk said he was motivated to carry out the terror attack by the Israel-Hamas war this summer, and recent tensions surrounding the Temple Mount. He also said he had seen and been influenced by material promising paradise to “martyrs” who kill Jews, investigators who questioned him said.

Tel Aviv: Another Target of Terrorism




Passengers recount panic and confusion during Tel Aviv attack

One of the prison service officers who helped bring the attack to an end told how he and fellow officers realized something was wrong when the they saw the bus ahead of them begin to zigzag down the street.
Beni Butrashvilli and other officers from the prison service’s Nachshon unit, which specializes in transporting and securing inmates, were traveling in a vehicle behind the number 40 bus when it started to weave across the road.
“I saw the bus stop on a green light and then people burst out and screamed for help,” he recalled. “We understood that it was a terror attack.”
The attacker, identified as a 23-year-old Palestinian man from Tulkarem, was shot and lightly injured before being captured.
Butrashvilli said he and the other officers sprang into action, chasing after the stabber as he tried to make his escape.

WATCH: Dramatic video of Tel Aviv terrorist pursuing victims as he flees bus

Hours after a Palestinian terrorist boarded a Tel Aviv bus, stabbing and wounding nine Israelis on Wednesday morning, dramatic security camera footage of the event was revealed.
The footage in question, first obtained by Channel 10, captures those aboard the bus fleeing from the scene, followed on foot by the 23-year-old terrorist from Tulkarm in the northern West Bank.
As the terrorist runs from the bus, he is seen stabbing a woman in the back, who then falls to the ground.
The terrorist continues on his way away from the bus, pursued on foot by three Israel Prison Service officers, who happened to be driving behind the bus at the time that the terror attack took place.
At least four of the victims – including the bus driver – were listed in serious condition, while three others suffered moderate injuries and two were lightly hurt. Several more people suffered shock, according to Magen David Adom paramedics.

Netanyahu blames Palestinian leadership for Tel Aviv attack

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv Wednesday morning to the wave of terror that struck Paris earlier this month, blaming the Palestinian leadership for incitement that led to the assault.
A chorus of Israeli politicians also condemned the attack, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman blaming Arab-Israeli lawmakers as well, even as the Hamas terror group praised the stabbing, which left 17 people injured, several seriously.
In a statement sent by his office shortly after the attack, Netanyahu lashed out at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for encouraging violence against Israeli civilians.
“The terrorist attack in Tel Aviv is the direct result of the poisonous incitement being disseminated by the Palestinian Authority against the Jews and their state,” Netanyahu said.

Statement by PM Netanyahu on This Morning’s Terrorist Attack in Tel Aviv

During the rush hour this morning, Jan. 21, there was a terrorist stabbing attack on a bus in Tel Aviv in which 13 people were injured, four seriously.
The following is the statement from the Prime Minister about the attack:
“The terrorist attack in Tel Aviv is the direct result of the poisonous incitement being disseminated by the Palestinian Authority against the Jews and their state. This same terrorism is trying to attack us in Paris, Brussels and everywhere.
It is Hamas – Abu Mazen’s partners in a unity government – that hastened to commend this attack. This is the same Hamas that announced it will sue Israel at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Abu Mazen is responsible for both the incitement and the dangerous move at the ICC in the Hague.
I just spoke with the head of the Israel Prison Service Nahshon unit, Menashe Ganish, and I praised the determined action by the unit’s fighters, who saved many lives and prevented a worse attack.
We will continue to take strong action against the terrorism that has been trying to attack us since the founding of the state, and we will see to it that it does not achieve its goal.”

'PA Sues Israel at ICC While Raising Generation of Terrorists'

MKs have begun responding to the stabbing attack that occurred on a bus in Tel Aviv Wednesday morning, in which around ten people were wounded - five of them moderately or critically - by an Arab terrorist who was shot in the leg and arrested.
"We should not show restraint to any attack, we must act without mercy against every attack on Israeli citizens and inflict a heavy cost on the Palestinian Authority (PA)," said MK Danny Danon (Likud). Reportedly the terrorist hailed from Tulkarem in Samaria, which is under PA rule.
Noting on the PA's recent bid to sue Israel for "war crimes" at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Danon added "at a time when the Palestinians are suing us at the UN they also are educating an entire generation with murder and incitement."

Tel Aviv terrorist says he was motivated by Operation Protective Edge

The 23-year-old Matrouk left his home in Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Wednesday morning and entered Israel in order to carry out the attack, the Shin Bet stated.
Matrouk, who is in Israeli custody after having been shot in the leg by Israel Prison Service officers who happened to be at the scene of the attack, had no prior arrests.
According to the Shin Bet, Matrouk admitted to illegally entering Israel and carrying out the attack with a knife he purchased in Tulkarem.
He further told his Shin Bet interrogators that his attack was motivated by Operation Protective Edge, the religious tension at the Temple Mount and extremist Islamist television programs. Matrouk hoped to make it to heaven by carrying out the terror attack.
He was remanded to custody after receiving medical treatment for his gunshot wound.
Palestinian Ma'an News Agency quoted residents of the Tulkarm refugee camp as saying Matrouk was not affiliated with any political faction.

Palestinian cartoons praise Tel Aviv stabbing attack

Palestinian media rejoiced Wednesday over the gruesome Tel Aviv stabbing attack with a series of celebratory cartoons.
The first cartoon, drawn by cartoonist Bahaa Yaseen, was posted within the first 90 minutes following the attack. It shows a smiling terrorist holding a bloody knife and praising the attack, which at the time was reported to have injured 10 people. The figure stands in front of a sign that reads "Occupied Tel-A-rabia," a play on the words Tel Aviv. On the bus is the number of the bus line on which the attack took place and a Jewish star. Blood pours out of the doors and onto the street.
The next one, posted by the Palestinian Shehab agency and also drawn by Yaseen, shows a smiling cartoon knife next to the text "Good morning, Palestine" in Arabic. The blade of the knife has the Palestinian flag with the red part of the it made by blood. Behind the cheerful weapon is an Israeli flag covered in blood.
Both of the cartoons were eventually removed from Twitter and Facebook. (h/t Yenta Press)

PA and Fatah paved the way for today’s stabbing attack in Tel Aviv

Recent PMW reports documented that PA and Fatah have been encouraging stabbings and other means of violence against Israelis
Abbas' advisor after synagogue murders:
"Blessed be your quality weapons, the wheels of your cars, your axes and kitchen knives... because [they are being used] according to Allah's will.
We are the soldiers of Allah."
[Facebook page of Abbas' advisor Sultan Abu Al-Einein, Nov. 19, 2014]
Official PA daily after stabbing attempt:
"Every Palestinian has the right to feel proud of what is seen in the video of the stabbing of the two soldiers in Jerusalem...
Now, every Palestinian raises his hand holding a knife together with this young Palestinian, and stabs the Zionists"
[Al-Asima, bi-weekly distributed with official PA daily, Jan. 5, 2015]
Fatah video after synagogue murders:
"I'm coming towards you, my enemy, We're going down from every house with cleavers and knives,
With grenades we announced a popular war. I swear, you won't escape, my enemy"
[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page," Nov. 22, 2014]

Hamas leaders praise Tel Aviv stabbing as ‘heroic’

Three weeks after an instructional video on stabbing attributed to Hamas emerged online, movement members gleefully extolled the bus assault, heralding it as a sign of things to come.
“A morning of resistance, a morning for the nation,” wrote Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum on his Facebook page, above a photo of a black-handled combat knife lying on the pavement encircled by police tape.
Gaza-based Hamas official Husam Badran praised the act on Facebook as “extraordinary” and called for more “acts of resistance” either by individuals or groups.
Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau based in Qatar, called the attack “heroic and brave,” adding that it is “the natural response to the crimes of the occupation and its terror against our people.”

Herzog Waits Record 20 Minutes Before Exploiting Stabbing (satire)

Opposition leader and current electoral front-runner Isaac Herzog showed an unprecedented level of restraint in Israeli politics this morning by refraining from using today’s stabbing attack in Tel Aviv to score political points for a full twenty minutes.
The attack took place at about 7:30 Wednesday morning during rush hour, and Herzog was able to withhold exploiting the reports to attack rival Binyamin Netanyahu for more than a thousand seconds. Finally he was able to hold back no longer, and used the incident to illustrate how Israelis cannot feel secure under the current Prime Minister’s leadership. By then an eternal two-digit number of minutes had passed since initial reports of the stabbings emerged, representing a new sense of discipline and responsibility on the part of the candidate.

After Stabbing On Tel Aviv Bus, EU To Stop Selling Buses To Israel (satire)

Brussels, January 21 – In a quick reaction to this morning’s stabbing attack on a Tel Aviv bus, the European Union’s governing body ordered a German bus manufacturer to cease supplying Israel at once with buses, lest more of the vehicles be involved in violence.
A man from the Palestinian city of Tulkarm went on a stabbing spree at about 7:30 this morning on the number 40 bus as it traveled along Begin Boulevard. 13 people suffered wounds of varying severity, four of them serious. Prison Services personnel who happened to be on the scene chased the attacker, shot him in the legs, and placed him under arrest. Concerned at the turn of events, the European Commission issued an immediate directive to manufacturer MAN SE to place on hold all contracts for the sale of buses to the Dan Transportation Company, which operates the Tel Aviv area’s local routes, amid worries that MAN might be encouraging violence by having its vehicles serve as venues for attacks.
“We cannot in good conscience allow for products under our aegis to be associated with political or religious violence,” said Commission spokeswoman Hedda Pmaias. “This is especially important at a time when tempers flare so easily, and murderous violence is a constant risk,” she said, referring to the fatal attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Kosher supermarket in Paris.

Canada’s FM: A Jewish state today is more important than even a few years ago

John Baird has no intention of apologizing. The Palestinians would like the Canadian foreign minister to say he’s sorry for his government’s unabashedly pro-Israel stance. They shouldn’t hold their breath.
In fact, Baird is waiting for an apology from Ramallah — not for having his car pelted with eggs and shoes Sunday during his visit there, but for a top Palestinian official’s comparison between Israel and terrorists of the Islamic State.
“People may disagree with our position with respect to Israel, but so be it,” Baird said Tuesday in Tel Aviv, as he wrapped up a three-day visit to the region. “It’s always wise to speak with moral clarity,” he submitted, adding that despite Ottawa’s unflinching friendship with the Jewish state, “we have a pretty good relationship with most of the Arab countries in the region.”
But evidently not so much with the Palestinians, as his visit to Ramallah Sunday underlined. While Palestinian protestors booed, hurled shoes and eggs at Baird and told him he was unwelcome in their land, senior Palestine Liberation Organization official and ex-chief peace negotiator Saeb Erekat released a statement denouncing Baird and urging him to ask the Palestinian people for forgiveness for his country’s consistent support for Israel.

PLO to Discuss New UN Statehood Bid

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee will meet in Ramallah on Wednesday to discuss a new Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations (UN).
Sources close to the meeting, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Ma'an news agency that the new UN resolution would call for the end of the “Israeli occupation” within two years, allowing for a year of negotiations.
The negotiations would be sponsored by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the sources said.
The new bid will also call for a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders with eastern Jerusalem as its capital and the implementation of UN resolution 194 on the “right of return” for refugees.

Erekat: Relations With Israel Reached the Point of No Return

Palestinian Authority (PA) chief negotiator Saeb Erekat threatened a new approach vis-a-vis Israel in the wake of about $127 million in taxes collected for the PA being frozen, a response to the PA joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) to sue the Jewish state.
Erekat, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist group's executive committee, told the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper on Tuesday that the withholding of taxes would not cause the PA to stop its unilateral ICC moves, which are themselves a breach of the 1993 Oslo Accords that created the PA.
Now that the "state of Palestine" - as the PA falsely signed itself - has joined numerous international institutions in breach of the Oslo Accords, Erekat declared that relations with Israel have reached a point of no return.

EU's Mogherini Calls for 'Fresh Look' at Israel-PA Peace Talks

Diplomats must take a fresh look at the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the hopes of reviving the negotiations after March elections in Israel, the EU's foreign policy chief said Tuesday, according to AFP.
"What I'm afraid of is that on one side the lack of process is in itself something that is deteriorating the situation," Federica Mogherini said at the Brookings Institution.
"But on the other side, I'm also worried about the fact that a process that has gone on for so long, if we just restart the process and that's it, it might not be enough," she added.
Mogherini suggested one way forward would be to enlarge the Middle East Quartet steering the negotiations.

Israel hints it wasn’t aiming to kill Iranian general

An Israeli security official said on Tuesday that an alleged Israeli helicopter missile strike on the Syrian side of the Golan earlier this week that killed a top Iranian general was aimed at what was believed to be a caravan of low-ranking Hezbollah fighters.
The remarks by the unnamed official to Reuters came despite Israel’s refusal to officially take responsibility for the air attack that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guards General Mohammed Allahdadi. Several others also died in the strike, including Jihad Mughniyeh, son of late Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh and head of the Shiite group’s operations in the Syrian Golan Heights, and Mohammed Issa, another senior Hezbollah officer.
“We did not expect the outcome in terms of the stature of those killed – certainly not the Iranian general,” the source was quoted as saying. “We thought we were hitting an enemy field unit that was on its way to carry out an attack on us at the frontier fence.”
“We got the alert, we spotted the vehicle, identified it was an enemy vehicle and took the shot. We saw this as a limited tactical operation.”

Sources Reveal Jihad Mughniyeh 'Was Nasrallah's Bodyguard'

Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a terrorist cell in Syria Monday, was one of the personal bodyguards of Hezbollah's top terrorist Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli sources said.
In addition, the sources said that the vehicle that Mughniyeh and his fellow Hezbollah terrorists were riding in had “definitely” entered the Syrian side of the Golan from Lebanon.
The sources said that Mughniyeh had been seen in a video taken on December 6, 2011, when Nasrallah emerged from his underground secret bunker for a rare public appearance.
Nasrallah has been “off the radar” for years, fearing that the IDF would target him for elimination. During a speech Nasrallah made, Mughniyeh appeared on stage with the Hezbollah terror chief, positioning himself to the rear of Nasrallah – in essence “watching his back” as one of the security staff.

Iran vows to keep fighting Israel after general’s death

Senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders said Israel will be punished for killing one of its generals in a January 18 airstrike in Syria that also killed six Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.
Nasser Soltani said “Israel will certainly pay for what it did.” He spoke during a funeral ceremony Wednesday for Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, who will be buried in his hometown of Sirjan in southeastern Iran on Thursday.
Soltani was quoted by the state TV as saying that Allahdadi was “martyred while performing his advisory mission” in Syria.
Mourners stomped on and burned Israeli flags at the ceremony, which was also attended by IRGC head Mohammed Ali Jaafari.

Lebanese Politicians Urge Hezbollah to Retaliate Against Israel From Syria, Not Lebanon

Following Sunday’s alleged strike by the Israeli air force on Qunaitra in the Golan Heights, in which a top Iranian general was killed along with leading Hezbollah operatives, some of Lebanon’s leading politicians have urged the Islamist organization not to retaliate from Lebanese territory.
Leading the call was Walid Jumblatt, the veteran Druze leader of the Progressive Socialist Party. “Lebanon cannot afford any adventure,” Jumblatt said in remarks published on Tuesday by local daily Al-Mustaqbal. “What happened in Qunaitra on Sunday was an attack on Syrian territory and not Lebanese territory.”
Jumblatt added: “We have nothing to do with what is happening in Syria. We are interested in our occupied lands in Kfar Shouba Hills and the Shebaa Farms.”
Jumblatt warned against being dragged into a new war with Israel, “while praising Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s situational awareness and good judgment,” The Daily Star reported.

IDF Expanding Elite Tunnel Unit to Meet Emerging Gaza, Lebanon Threats (VIDEO)

The IDF’s Yahalom “Diamond” special engineering unit, which focused on finding and destroying Hamas tunnels in Gaza during the summer’s Operation Protective Edge, will be upgraded in size and mission scope due to growing concerns of possible Hezbollah attack tunnels from Lebanon, Israel’s NRG News reported Tuesday.
The army’s General Staff on Monday announced that it had appointed a lieutenant colonel to head expanded conscript and reserve forces, due to the greater manpower required to search, find and destroy such tunnels on both borders.
“Lt.-Col. Yaron Ben-On was appointed commander of Yahalom unit,” the IDF said in a statement.
Among the many lessons learned in an internal military audit of the 51-day operation, meant to thwart both rocket fire from above and Hamas terror squads from below, was the lack of an clear doctrine on how to deal with the lengthy concrete tunnels, many with numerous branches and extensive warfare and survival equipment, according to a senior officer in the Southern Command.

External legalists to assist state comptroller's probe of Gaza op

Three international law experts will join State Comptroller Yosef Shapira in his review of Israel's decision making process during Operation Protective Edge, waged in the Gaza Strip over the summer. The audit may render investigations by global bodies, such as the International Criminal Court in The Hague, unnecessary.
The first of the three consultants is Professor Michael Newton, a world renowned expert on International humanitarian law, who served as a the legal adviser to the Iraqi Special Tribunal during former dictator Saddam Hussein's trial, held between 2004 and 2006.
The second expert is Professor Moshe Halbertal, from the New York University School of Law, who consulted on the Israel Defense Forces Code of Ethics.
The third expert is Professor Miguel Deutsch, who served on the public committee headed by retired Justice Jacob Turkel, which investigated the events of the 2010 naval commando raid on a Gaza Strip-bound Mavi Marmara.

Elliott Abrams: Human Rights Watch and the Destruction of Rafah

As noted, this has been criticized by Amnesty International. It published a lengthy analysis in November, titled "Egypt: End wave of home demolitions, forced evictions in Sinai amid media blackout."
All of this is interesting for many reasons, but one that isn't immediately apparent ought to be noted: Human Rights Watch, which has put out report after report criticizing Israel for its conduct along the same border and near Rafah, and which never misses a chance to smack Israel, appears to be dead silent about the same conduct when Egypt undertakes it. A search of the HRW web site produces no criticism, no report, on Egypt's destruction of homes in an apparent effort to stop terrorism and defeat smuggling tunnels.
Consider HRW's 20-page report in 2004 about Israeli conduct in Gaza and titled "Razing Rafah." The title alone shows the bias. In actual fact, Egypt is indeed razing and destroying Egyptian Rafah -- a city that exists on both sides of the Sinai-Gaza border. By contrast, Israel never planned to destroy the entire Gaza city of Rafah, nor of course did it do so. HRW has once in a while demanded that Egypt -- which is keeping the Rafah border crossing between Sinai and Gaza closed except for a few days once in a blue moon -- open the crossing. But where's the 20-page report? Where are the statements of the sort Amnesty (which, by the way, has also been unfairly critical of Israel in many of its own statements) has made?
HRW's pattern of bias toward Israel is seen in what it says, and here in what it does not say. Destruction of homes by Israel for security reasons: a violation of international law that must be denounced at length and repeatedly. Destruction of homes by Egypt in essentially the same location for essentially the same reasons: silence. Maybe a new 20-page HRW report on Egyptian Rafah is in the works. Maybe there are dozens of statements by HRW about "Razing Rafah" on the Egyptian side of the border and I just haven't been able to find them. Maybe there really is no bias in HRW's coverage of Israel. But it doesn't look that way.

IDF to Honor Four Female Soldiers From Operation Protective Edge

The IDF will award 53 soldiers, among them 4 women, military decorations for their service during this past summer’s Operation “Protective Edge.” Among the women, one received a citation (talash), and three others received medals of appreciation from the Israeli Southern Command.
Lieutenant Dr. Regina Pekman, a medical officer in the 188 Brigade, received a citation for her actions on July 31, 2014. Lieutenant Dr. Pekman arrived to a deployment area in Israel, which was bombarded by mortar shells. She commanded the evacuation of injured IDF soldiers, while providing medical treatment for many other Israeli soldiers which were wounded. All through the incident, “Red Alert” alarms were heard, and the entire area was under rocket fire.
Sergeant Ronnie Jackson, an electronic observation handler, from the observation unit in the “Nesher” battalion, received an award for her actions on July 17, 2014. Sergeant Jackson identified a group of 13 Hamas terrorists that infiltrated Israel through a terror tunnel, near Kibutz “Sufa” on the Israeli-Gaza border. Jackson reported her findings to her commanders, which led to a successful Israeli response that prevented the terrorists from killing Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Latest Palestinian Blood Libel: The Case Of The Thirsty Old Woman (Updated)

A few weeks ago, IDF Spokesperson in Arabic Avichay Adraee tweeted the following photo of an IDF soldier giving a drink to an elderly palestinian woman.
Palestinians and their supporters responded to this with the claim we shot and killed her moments later.
They have also disseminated images....
While the motionless woman does seem to be the same one being given the drink, it does not constitute proof she is dead (she might be resting). Furthermore, there is no sign of blood or a wound as one would expect in the case of someone shot in the head from one meter as claimed.
Also, a Google search of her name reveals all the reports of her being shot at close range originate after Avichay Adraee posted on January 2nd the photo of the soldier giving her water. But her death supposedly occurred on August 3rd. Why the radio silence for 6 months?

Japan’s Abe cuts short visit to region amid Islamic State hostage crisis

Islamic State struck at Japan on Tuesday in the midst of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit here, threatening to kill two Japanese hostages unless Tokyo paid a $200 million ransom.
Abe, who on Tuesday cut short a visit to the Palestinian Authority because of the hostage situation, told a Jerusalem press conference called to sum up his two-day trip to Israel that his country would not give in to the terrorist threat.
“I strongly demand that they not be harmed and that they be immediately released,” he said of the two hostages, identified as selfstyled military consultant Haruna Yukawa and journalist Kenji Goto. “I am extremely indignant at such an act.”

Israel, Japan Agree on Anti-Terror Cooperation

Before leaving Israel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to cooperate with the Jewish state to fight terror, The Japan Times reported yesterday:
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to work together to enhance anti-terrorism measures as they held talks Sunday in Jerusalem, Japanese officials said.
“Despicable acts of terrorism cannot be tolerated whatever reasons there may be,” Abe said in reference to the recent terrorist attacks in Paris.

Muhammad Dahlan and the Succession Battle for the PA Chairmanship January 21, 2015, Yoni Ben MenachemPA Chairman Abbas faces a political challenger.

In recent weeks, Muhammad Dahlan has taken a much more active involvement in Gaza. He is attempting to exploit the difficult situation there after Operation Protective Edge to return as an active and relevant political figure, and views himself as the potential successor of his bitter enemy, Mahmoud Abbas, as chairman of the Palestinian Authority.
Gaza-born Dahlan was accused of corruption in 2011 and expelled from the Fatah movement. Now based in Dubai, he was also the object of grave accusations of involvement in the assassination of senior Palestinian figures. Abbas personally accused Dahlan of having played a part in the death of Yasser Arafat at a meeting of the Fatah Revolutionary Council in March 2014, and his words were broadcast on Palestinian TV.
Dahlan is now attempting to play a political role while using his personal and regional connections to strengthen his status and popularity, beginning with the residents of Gaza.

Beheading Trending in Gaza (satire)

The Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip has unveiled a new initiative to rid the territory of Christians, pacifists, liberals, feminists, homosexuals, atheists, and Justin Bieber fans, using the time-honored Muslim method, beheading.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zukhri called a press conference this morning to unveil the project, which will be called Gazans United In Lessening Liberal Orientations Toward Islam’s Nefarious Enemies (GUILLOTINE). Under GUILLOTINE, Gaza schools will be allotted the necessary equipment and classroom instruction time for students to become proficient in the art of severing a human head with a blade, and community centers will hold training sessions for adults to acquire the basic skills.
Militants began to deliver saws specially designed to fulfill this purpose to the people of Gaza and are already teaching courses decapitation both schools and kindergartens. The University of Khan Younis has scheduled multiple master GUILLOTINE classes with experts from the Islamic State in an effort to make Gazans among the leading decapitation practitioners of the twenty-first century.

Talks Break Down as Muslim Brotherhood Refuses to Reconcile with Egyptian Government

The Egyptian government is trying to rehabilitate the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which was deposed from power in July 2013. However, these attempts so far have been met with a stubborn refusal from the Brotherhood, the Arab21 news site reported (Arabic link).
Sources in the Muslim Brotherhood said that there were several rounds of talks between the leaders of the movement and officials from the government of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, sometimes directly and sometimes with mediation.
The conversations focused on the regime’s desire to get the conservative Islamic movement to recognize the legitimacy of the Egyptian regime. In return, the regime promised it will integrate the Muslim Brotherhood back into political life and release arrested members, the news site reported.
The Egyptian government purposefully did not arrest the more moderate leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood last year, in order to sustain contacts with them and reach a political solution to the crisis. Those leaders include Muhammad Ali Bashr, Amr Daraj, and Yasser Ali, the last of whom was the spokesperson of deposed president Mohamed Morsi.

Iran-Backed Rebels Storm Presidential Palace in U.S.-Allied Yemen

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched an attack on the American-supported government of Yemen that, according to a report in The Washington Post, will leave the president of that beleaguered nation politically “badly weakened.”
The coup-style strikes by the Houthi rebel faction — believed backed by Iran — marked a major setback for President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, a staunch ally of the United States in the fight against al-Qaeda’s powerful branch in Yemen.
But it appeared the rebels would not immediately press their advantage and seek to topple the government.
A long televised statement by the rebel chief, Abdulmalik Houthi, leveled sweeping criticism against Hadi for alleged corruption and failures to unite a country beset by near nonstop unrest, a growing water shortage and a patchwork of rivalries.
Houthi did not declare change in government, but rather “demanded talks that could leave Hadi further weakened but still nominally in charge.”
An earlier report on CNN cited a government minister who claimed that the rebels had staged a coup.

Breaking: Religious Freedom Advocates Make Public Offer to Be Whipped in Raif Badawi’s Place

Five well-known religious liberty advocates have written a letter to the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, calling on the Saudi government to put a halt to the “grave injustice” of the public scourging of Raif Badawi, convicted of blasphemy, and offering to each receive 100 lashes of Badawi’s sentence in his place.
Badawi, a 30-year-old blogger and freedom of expression activist, has already received the first 50 lashes of a total of one thousand to which he was sentenced for having equated different religions in an article he posted.
Breitbart News has obtained a copy of the letter, which bears the signatures of the five advocates, all of whom are members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom: Princeton Law Professor Robert P. George, Harvard Law Professor Mary Ann Glendon, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, Daniel I. Mark, who teaches political science at Villanova University, and Katrina Lantos Swett, President of The Lantos Foundation.
In their letter, the five signatories remark on having seen “officials representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” participating in the recent March in Paris to protest the “brutal murders committed in the name of Islam.”

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 1/21/2015 12:00:00 PM