01/11 Links Pt1: Clinton Considered Plan to Spark Palestinian Protests; Hamas' and Hezbollah's pyromania

From Ian:

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Clinton Considered Secret Plan to Spark Palestinian Protests

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton considered a secret plan created by her then-advisers to foment unrest among Palestinian citizens and spark protests in order to push the Israeli government back to the negotiating table, according to emails released as part of the investigation into the Democratic presidential frontrunner’s private email server.
In a Dec, 18, 2011, email, former U.S. ambassador to Israel Thomas Pickering suggested that Clinton consider a plan to restart then-stalled peace negotiations by kickstarting Palestinian demonstrations against Israel.
Pickering described the effort as a potential “game changer in the region,” recommending that the United States undertake a clandestine campaign to generate unrest. Clinton requested that his email be printed.
“What will change the situation is a major effort to use non-violent protests and demonstrations to put peace back in the center of people’s aspirations as well as their thoughts, and use that to influence the political leadership,” Pickering wrote.

PMW: Palestinian children wear “suicide belts” to celebrate Fatah’s 51 years of violence

When one looks at Palestinian Authority education and messaging to its children, it is no wonder that in the last three months, most of the terror attacks have been carried out by young Palestinians. At Fatah's anniversary celebrations in Bethlehem last week, young masked children were dressed with “suicide belts” and equipped with "guns" and "RPGs".
Palestinian Media Watch has reported that a central part of PA educational messages to children is promotion of violence and glorification of terrorists.
The official PA daily reported on this Fatah event, specifically mentioning the fact that children participated in the procession brandishing toy weapons and “suicide belts,” however the PA mouthpiece did not express any reservation or disapproval over this at all:
“Children were seen carrying models of RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and explosive belts, and they all walked through the alleys of the refugee camp in the procession, during which the sound of songs of the national revolution were heard.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 8, 2016]

PMW: PA and Fatah glorify Tel Aviv murderer of 3

Abbas’ Fatah movement posted an uncensored version of the picture of dead terrorist murderer Nashat Melhem lying in a pool of blood. It also praised the killer of 3 as a “Martyr” and congratulated him on its official Facebook page:
Text: “Nashat Melhem died as a Martyr (Shahid) after an armed confrontation in the courtyard of a mosque in Umm Al-Fahm on blessed Friday, congratulations and may Allah receive you in Heaven”
[emphasis added, Official Facebook page of the Fatah Movement, Jan. 8, 2016]
Nashat Melhem was a 29-year-old Israeli Arab terrorist who carried out a shooting attack, killing 2 Israelis, Alon Bakal and Shimon Ruimi, and wounding 8 others, at Hasimta bar in Tel Aviv on Jan. 1, 2016. While fleeing after the attack, Melhem killed a taxi driver, a Bedouin Israeli Amin Shaaban. A week after the attacks, on Jan. 8, 2016, Israeli security forces tracked down Melhem to his hometown of Arara in the north of Israel. After Melhem opened fire, the Israeli soldiers shot and killed him.
The PA Ministry of Health called the murderer “one of the dearest Martyrs (Shahids),” whose “name is engraved with his pure blood.” The ministry explained that it was unable to include terrorist Melhem on its list of “Martyrs” because he did not come from the areas under the ministry’s jurisdiction. Following criticism, the ministry issued a press release emphasizing Melhem’s status as “Martyr” (Shahid) despite the omission from the list:

MEMRI: Jibril Rajoub to Israelis: You Sons of Bitches, We Will Accept Nothing Less than a Palestinian State

At a ceremony marking the 51st anniversary of the establishment of Fatah, the movement's Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub, former head of the Preventive Security force, addressed the Israelis, saying: "You sons of bitches, we will accept nothing less than a Palestinian state. We own this place, we are its people, while you are alien here." Rajoub, who serves as the head of the Palestinian football association and the head of the Palestine Olympic committee, further said: "To this day, resistance has remained a genetic code among all Fatah members." The ceremony, held at Burqin, near Jenin, was broadcast on the Palestinian Awdeh TV channel on January 6, 2016.

Palestinians Tell Us What They Want

The reaction to the Tel Aviv shooting is more evidence that the conflict isn’t about borders or settlements, let alone anything Israel’s prime minister might say. Rather, it remains what it always has been: an existential struggle between two national movements over one piece of land. If the Palestinians ever undergo a sea change in their political culture that might allow their leaders to make peace and end the century-old war to eradicate Zionism, they would find that a majority of Israelis still willing to make tremendous sacrifices in terms of territorial concessions. But the support for Milhem’s slaughter and the many other individual acts of terror carried out over the last three months during the so-called stabbing intifada demonstrates that Palestinians and even many Arab citizens of Israel consider any murder of a Jew to be a blow against the “occupation.” Moreover, by applauding Milhem, they are also making clear they think cosmopolitan Tel Aviv is just as much of an “illegitimate and illegal Jewish “settlement” as the most remote hilltop community in the West Bank inhabited by right-wing extremists.
Those who urge Israel and Netanyahu to disregard the failure of past attempts to make peace and the disastrous and bloody consequences of Oslo and the Gaza withdrawal need to think long and hard about the Palestinian reaction to Milhem. So long as so-called “liberal Zionists” as well as the Obama administration ignore the truth about Palestinian intentions, their critique of Israel is worthless. What’s more, those who are supporting the “Palestinian resistance” should not kid themselves that they are backing a movement about freedom. The cheers for Milhem as Palestinians continue to hold rallies in favor of the murder of random Jews should remind everyone that those who back such “resistance” are supporting terror, not justice.

Watchdog ‘Not Surprised’ Left-Wing Activists Revealed to Be Helping PA Prevent Land Sale to Jews (INTERVIEW)

Steinberg said he is “not particularly surprised that one of B’Tselem’s Palestinian employees was involved with Nawi and Ta’ayush. For radical Palestinians, the Israeli NGOs operating under the facade of human rights are good cover, and provide access to resources via the New Israel Fund (NIF) and European governments.”
Steinberg continued, “After the program was aired, B’Tselem and the NIF went on the attack against Ilana Dayan, who until then had been a close ally. In addition to trying to shift attention away from their own organizations, they are trying to prevent the broadcast of Part 2 of the expose, on the links between Breaking the Silence, another member of the NIF network, and Nawi.”
There have also been reports, said Steinberg, “of an internal schism within the NIF over how to handle its growing isolation in Israel and to keep its main American donors in the dark. All of the responses to criticism aroused by the ‘Uvda’ program are coming from NIF officials in the United States, particularly their spokesperson, Naomi Paiss. In contrast, the Israeli NIF president, Talia Sasson, and her CEO, Rachel Liel, have been conspicuously silent throughout the ongoing crisis.”
Steinberg concluded that “what makes Israel’s situation different from other democracies is the massive resources that outside players — the NIF and European governments — irresponsibly give to various radical and anti-democratic groups. Without this money, the small groups of activists in Ta’ayush, B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence and the rest would have far less impact.”

American Jews with the blood of Palestinians on their hands

As of now, it can officially be revealed that funders of extremist so-called human rights organizations B’Tselem and Ta’ayush are complicit in the murder of innocent Palestinian Arabs. It is high time that donors to these organizations who pretend to care about Israel – or decency – stop funding these dangerous and unethical organizations.
Israel’s Channel 2's highly-respected and far from right wing “Uvda” ("Facts") investigative reporting program, aired secretly recorded footage of Nasser Nawaja, a Palestinian leader of B’Tselem, and Ezra Nawi, a Jewish Israeli activist who is a leading member of an organization named Ta’ayush telling how they conspired to entrap Palestinians interested in selling land to Israelis, and lead them to their deaths at the hands of the Palestinian Authority death squads.
Their hands are bloody – yes, they have blood on their hands. It cannot be washed away.
Nawi said of Arabs who wish to sell land to the Jews, “Straight away I give their pictures and phone numbers to the Preventive Security Force” – a certain death sentence given the Palestinian Authority’s policy of the death penalty for selling land to Jews. Nawi boasts that, “The Palestinian Authority catches them and kills them. But before it kills them, they get beat up a lot.”
They boasted of having passed names of Arabs to the Palestinian Authority, and have blood on their hands; and so, too, do the donors to B’Tselem and Ta’ayush. The responsibility for their torture and deaths cannot be whitewashed away.

EU-linked group gives B’Tselem 30,000 euros to fight ‘NGO transparency’ bill

The European Endowment for Democracy provided the B’Tselem organization a €30,000 grant last month to fight proposed legislation to require NGOs that receive half of their funds from foreign governments to detail that information and wear special identifying tags in the Knesset.
According to the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, the seven-month grant was given on December 15, the day after the Im Tirtzu organization released a video calling the heads of four left-wing human rights NGO’s – including B’Tselem – foreign agents.
“The funding was allocated amid a heated internal Israeli debate over the role that foreign government- funded NGOs play in Israeli democracy,” said NGO Monitor spokesman Aaron Kalman. “The nature of the grant, openly aiming at influencing Israeli legislation, again highlights the infringement on sovereignty and the manipulative intent of European government funding in the context of Israeli democracy.”
But B’Tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said, “I fail to see the problem with a grant that we are clearly proud of.” (h/t Yenta Press)

Fire at offices of left-wing NGO B'Tselem caused by electrical fault, not arson

A fire ripped through a commercial building on Sunday in Jerusalem that is home to the offices of the left-wing NGO B’Tselem.
Fire and emergency crews rushed to the scene in an effort to douse the blaze. No individuals were injured.
Investigators are now trying to determine whether the fire was an accident or the result of foul play. Earlier Sunday evening, there were reports of at least one person trapped on the fourth floor of the building, which houses a number of other NGOs.
“B’Tselem employees were not in the building when the fire erupted,” the NGO’s director-general, David Zonshein, told The Jerusalem Post’s Hebrew-language sister publication Ma’ariv. “The fire broke out at numerous points in the building, and those trapped on the fourth floor are not members of B’Tselem. The firefighters are now extricating them.”
"If this is proven to be a deliberate arson, then it can not be seen in isolation from the wave of attacks and slander against human rights organizations [in Israel]," a later statement from the organization read. "The damage to our offices will not prevent us from continuing our work to document the injustices of the occupation and expose them."
On Monday, an Israeli fire brigade official said that the was likely caused by a short circuit, and not as a result of an arson attack.

PM mocks accusers as no foul play declared in B’Tselem blaze

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday hit back at those who rushed to blame him for a fire that gutted the B’Tselem human rights group offices in Jerusalem, after an investigation found the blaze was caused by an electric short circuit.
At a Likud faction meeting in the Knesset, the prime minister chided his critics for quickly condemning him and his political allies over the blaze.
“Our opponents rushed to condemn, even before the flames were extinguished. Before the fire investigators even arrived at the scene, left-wing MKs and NGO heads charged that I and the national camp were directly responsible for the fire,” he said.
“Well, I don’t know if there was arson involved. All signs point to an electrical short, but maybe they will still blame me for the short. I won’t be surprised.”

Will Guardian/Telegraph update B’Tselem fire stories to note arson likely not the cause?

The Jerusalem Fire Department is now saying that a fire which broke out Sunday night at the offices of the NGO B’Tselem “was likely caused by a short-circuit and not arson, which was initially suspected.” As Ynet noted, the fire “raised concerns” by some “of a deliberate, politically motivated attack on the group’s headquarters” by right-wing extremists.
Indeed, the Guardian and Telegraph both published stories based on the initial speculation of a politically motivated arson, both using the fire to buttress the narrative of incitement against human rights defenders by the government and right wing groups
The article ended thusly:
Vandalism attacks, including torchings, by suspected far-right Israeli groups have caused damage to Palestinian property and mosques and churches.
Two Israelis were charged last week over the death of a Palestinian baby and his parents in the West Bank last year after their home was set on fire.
Israel’s right-wing government has proposed legislation to limit foreign donations from governments and private benefactors to B’Tselem and many other Israeli NGOs, something that could severely restrict the organisation’s ability to operate.
In addition to the misleading narrative concerning the possible political significance of the fire, the Guardian misleads readers in their characterization of the proposed NGO legislation – a bill which would in fact only require greater transparency of NGOs which receive a significant amount of funds from the EU.

Palestinian attempts stabbing of soldier near Jenin, shot by forces

A Palestinian assailant tried to stab an IDF soldier while undergoing a security check at a roadblock near Jenin. He was shot and injured by another soldier on the scene.
The Samaria Regional Council sent the media photographs of the wounded Palestinian lying on the road next to a concrete boulder, while an IDF soldier gave him emergency medical treatment. A separate photo showed the knife on the ground.
No soldiers were wounded in the incident. The Palestinian assailant was transferred to the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera.
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan called on the government to take harsher measures against Palestinians.
If an attack happens on a road, that road should then be closed to Palestinians, Dagan said.
“Unfortunately the state of Israel is simply reacting to terrorists instead of rooting them out,” he said.
With each attack there should be a clear and harsh response, he said.

Cops call off search for Palestinian would-be attacker

Police on Monday arrested a Palestinian man, calling off a heightened state of readiness shortly after declaring a “security operation” and setting up checkpoints in southern Israel.
Reports said the roadblocks were set up by law enforcement in an effort to locate a Palestinian woman suspected of intending to carry out a suicide bombing.
After approximately one hour, however, police found and arrested the man, who they believe was meant to drive the suspected would-be terrorist to the site of the attack, but not the suspect herself.
After an initial investigation, police now believe the female suspect never entered into Israeli territory, a police spokesperson said.

Erdan conditions release of TA shooter's body on restraint at funeral

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan stressed in a statement on Monday that as long as the family of the gunman in the January 1 Tel Aviv shooting, Nashat Milhem, complies with Israel's conditions his body will be released for burial.
Police have demanded the family ensures that Milhem's impending funeral will not turn into a breeding ground for incitement of terror activity.
On Sunday Erdan delayed the release of Milhem's body and demanded that police take preventative measures against an outbreak of violence.
Security forces killed Milhem on Friday concluding a week-long manhunt for the perpetrator that shot and killed two people in a Tel Aviv bar along with the murder of a taxi driver in the city.

Relative of TA killer Milhem held as key accomplice

A relative of Tel Aviv gunman Nashat Milhem was remanded into custody for seven days on Sunday on suspicion of playing “a central role” as an accomplice in the January 1 killings, a TV report said.
The male suspect was first arrested on January 5, and police have “strong evidence” connecting him to the killings, Channel 10 said.
Two days after Israeli Arab Milhem was cornered in his home village of Arara and shot dead when he opened fire on the forces that had come to arrest him, security forces continued to arrest suspects who may have helped him before and after he killed three Israelis in Tel Aviv on January 1, and continued to search several homes belonging to the wider Milhem family in Arara.
The killer’s father Mohammed and his brother Ali were released from detention Sunday, with limitations placed on their movement, and the family had anticipated burying the gunman at a small ceremony. However, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan instructed the Israel Police to delay the return of the body, for fear that the ceremony would be hijacked by extremist groups, and the funeral was reported unlikely to take place before Monday.

Hamas' and Hezbollah's pyromania

There is a link between the capture of the Hamas cell that we learned about last week and the attempt by Hezbollah to carry out a terrorist attack on an IDF patrol along the northern border. In both cases, the planned attacks were either thwarted in advance or ended without casualties, but no less important is the fact that deterrence is apparently working against these organizations. Both are uninterested in sparking an escalation in hostilities along their respective borders, and yet both insist on playing with fire and risking a conflagration.
Hamas and Hezbollah have no interest in seeking a large conflict with Israel. Hamas is still licking its wounds from the previous rounds of violence, and despite its efforts to rehabilitate the Gaza Strip, the coastal enclave is still in ruins. Hamas is also more regionally isolated than it has been in many years. Even its ally, Turkey, is trying to make amends with Israel.
Hezbollah's situation is none the better. In the past few years, the Shiite terrorist organization has been mired in the Syrian mud, at the cost of over a thousand of its best fighters. This is a significant number for an organization with only a few dozen thousand fighters in its ranks. Additionally, the civil war in Syria has taken a heavy financial toll and has brought radical Islamist terror to the streets of Lebanon's Shiite towns and villages.
The last thing these organizations want or need is an all-out war with Israel. And yet both have shown a willingness to play with fire and ignore certain warnings, even when it's clear to them that the flames they are fanning can spiral out of control.
In recent years, Hezbollah has worked to establish a loyal network along the Israel-Syria border on the Golan Heights. Allegedly, it is doing this to avoid a clash with Israel on the Lebanese border.

Report: Israeli air force strikes Hezbollah in Qalamoun, Syria

Syrian opposition sources claim the Israeli air force conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah positions in the mountainous Qalamoun region, along the border with Lebanon.
The alleged strikes were first reported by Syrian opposition outlet 7alpress, which claimed on Twitter that "two consecutive Israeli raids" targeted Hezbollah positions outside the town of Flita late Sunday night.
A subsequent report added that ambulance sirens were heard in Yabrud, southeast of Flita, "after Israeli aircraft targeted Hezbollah’s positions."
Lebanon's Now. news site cited several other rebel sources, some of whom said they counted as many as five strikes by aircraft on Hezbollah targets.
Other Lebanese media sources also reported on "unidentified" explosions in the area.
Israel is believed to have repeatedly struck Hezbollah positions and weapons convoys in Syria, as part of efforts to prevent the Iranian proxy group obtaining "game-changing" sophisticated weaponry, as well as to thwart attacks by Hezbollah and affiliated terrorist groups along the Golan Heights border with Israel.

Hezbollah said to get arms direct from Russia, can use against Israel

Hezbollah is receiving long-range missiles, laser-guided rockets and other sophisticated weaponry directly from Russia in Syria, and is free to use that weaponry against Israel if it so chooses, Hezbollah fighters told the Daily Beast website.
In a report published Monday, Hezbollah field commanders with troops fighting alongside Assad regime forces were quoted saying that they are getting “heavy weapons directly from Russia with no strings attached.”
“We are strategic allies… The Russians are our allies and give us weapons,” said a Hezbollah officer named as Commander Bakr, who oversees some 200 fighters.
A Hezbollah recruiter and trainer named Assir was quoted saying Moscow has placed no restriction on the use Hezbollah can make of Russian arms. They can be utilized “against Israel if the organization deems it necessary,” the report said.
“When it comes to Israel,” Assir was quoted saying, “Hezbollah doesn’t take directions from anyone.”

On One-Year Anniversary, Hyper Cacher Massacre Survivor Recounts Bloody Ordeal

A survivor of last year’s Hyper Cacher massacre in Paris told Sky News about his harrowing ordeal.
Alain Couanon recounted rushing downstairs with a number of fellow hostages to the cellar of the kosher grocery store as soon as Islamist terrorist Amedy Coulibaly entered the premises. He described how at some point after hiding in the cold, dank area, they were sent a message by Colibaly telling them that if they did return to the ground floor, he would come down and kill them all.
Couanon told Sky News about his attitude at that moment. “After a few minutes I thought, ‘Well, if I have to be killed, in a way I prefer to be killed on the first floor than in a cellar like a rat.'”
He said that he and the other captives were surrounded by bloody corpses as they waited with Coulibaly — whom he described as “extremely quiet, calm [and] polite” — on the ground floor. He was “not aggressive at all,” Couanon said of Coulibaly. “He was speaking in a very, very normal very, very polite way. Even with a certain kind of, well, I’d say, kindness.”

Sarkozy: We didn't fight the Nazis for Jews to flee France

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy delivered a blistering critique of anti-Semitism in France Sunday evening.
Speaking at a dinner in London honoring for his work protecting France's Jewish minority during his time in office - both as president and, before that, interior minister - Sarkozy warned that the current rapid rise in anti-Semitism in his country was a betrayal of everything Europeans fought for against Nazi Germany.
"We do not want French Jews to leave France because they are afraid," he said. "We want them to be comfortable to wear a kippah."
"We must stand up to protect our Jewish communities. It is impossible not to." he told his audience, among them dignitaries including British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Conference of European Rabbis President Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt.
"We did not fight the Nazis to force the Jews to run to Israel 70 years later."

Muhammad cartoons censored at Charlie Hebdo exhibit in Tel Aviv

Two Israeli caricaturists had their drawings censored at a Tel Aviv exhibit to commemorate last year’s terrorist attack on the Paris offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Hebrew-language media reported on Sunday.
The works were allegedly censored after the French Embassy expressed concern over their portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad, both Globes and NRG reported.
Caricaturists Vladik Sandler and Roy Friedler had submitted cartoons to the “Apres Charlie” (“After Charlie”) exhibition — a tribute to the 11 people, including five cartoonists, who were murdered in the attack on January 7, 2015.
The exhibit opened Thursday and runs throughout January at the French Institute in central Tel Aviv.

Germany: Muslim 'refugees' stage anti-Semitic attack, robbery

German police arrest two Muslim migrants Sunday, after they staged an anti-Semitic attack on a Jewish man in northern Germany the previous day.
Their victim - a 49-year-old French citizen - was pushed to the floor and robbed at Puttgarden ferry port by the two attackers, who shouted "Yahud" (Arabic for "Jew"), according to the UK's Jewish News.
His attackers have been identified as Syrian and Afghan nationals respectively. Apart from assaulting their victim, they stole a bag of money, his bank card and cellphone, and a train ticket.
They had reportedly arrived in Denmark along with thousands of others claiming refugee status, but were deported after it was found they lacked the correct paperwork. They were waiting for a train to a refugee center at the time of the robbery.

Youth attacks Jewish man with machete at Marseille synagogue

A Jewish man was injured Monday morning during an attempted stabbing attack outside a synagogue in the southern French city of Marseille, police sources said.
Binyamin Amsalem, a teacher, sustained light injuries to his hand when a man wielding a machete attacked him when he was on his way to the synagogue for morning prayers, local reports said.
The attacker reportedly threw the knife before fleeing the scene.
Police said the perpetrator was caught 10 minutes later and has been taken into custody.
“The individual does not seem to be in full control of his faculties,” a source close to the matter was quoted as saying. Other sources however, quoted police as saying he was “not mentally unstable.”
Reports said he is 16 years old.

European Anthropologists Discover Fascinating Nomadic Tribe That Expresses Gratitude Through Theft, Sexual Assault (satire)

A leading team of European anthropologists has uncovered a fascinating but little-known nomadic group that expresses the concept of gratitude and thankfulness by robbing and sexually assaulting their hosts. Professor Holgar C. from the University of Berlin spoke to the Daily Freier about this exciting discovery.
“What we see here is a nomadic group that has departed a violent and dangerous ecosystem and been welcomed into a safe and peaceful ecosystem. At this point they conduct a ceremonial show of gratitude to their hosts by congregating at train stations and attempting to rape the indigenous women. On some occasions they will also conduct an elaborate ritual of rifling through the women’s purses for trinkets and ornaments. Sometimes they will even record the solemn ritual on a smart phone!”
Professor Holgar also admonished the public not to pre-judge others just because they behave differently. “I think it is important that we don’t inject our own value judgments into this study . Just as Westerners shake hands while Japanese people bow, different groups can express gratitude in different ways. So while you might express gratitude with a small but thoughtful gift or handwritten note, this group expresses gratitude by forming coordinated packs, surrounding women, and then sexually assaulting them. Fascinating, really.”

Netanyahu says he’ll advance Arabs while enforcing law

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that a national effort is required to close the social gaps between the Jewish and Arab communities in Israel, and that success will only come alongside more robust law enforcement in Arab towns.
Speaking ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu also announced the approval of NIS 2 billion ($510 million) plan to develop the Druze and Circassian communities.
“Any sensible person knows that there are large gaps between the Arab and Jewish population, resource gaps and disparities in law enforcement, gaps and discrepancies in rights and obligations,” Netanyahu said. “These gaps formed over decades, and it is time to make a major national effort to reduce them.”
“The unprecedented program that the government approved ten days ago will do even more in that direction,” he added, referring to a NIS 15 billion ($4 billion) five-year development plan for Arab communities.
“At the same time, we will also implement a comprehensive law enforcement plan for the Arab community,” Netanyahu continued. “I want to make it clear that nothing we do in various areas of infrastructure, tourism, education, in trade and economy — these things can’t progress if we don’t deal with the question of enforcing Israeli law in the Arab community.
“These two programs are intertwined, and they will help and benefit the citizens of Israel, primarily Arab citizens,” he said.

Bereaved families fight parole for accomplice in bus bombing

Families of the victims of a March 2003 suicide bus bombing in Haifa are up in arms over a parole committee hearing set for Tuesday for an Arab Israeli convicted of assisting the bomber, who killed 17 people and injured dozens, many of them children.
Mounir Rajbi, convicted in a January 2004 plea deal of aiding and abetting the enemy during wartime and trying to cover up a crime in connection with the Egged Bus 37 attack, is expected to ask for an early release, cutting his sentence short by one-third.
According to his original indictment, Rajbi, who is being held in the Eshel prison in southern Israel, allowed suicide bomber Mahmoud Kawasme to sleep in his home in Haifa, and even suggested to Kawasme the proper location to carry out his attack in order to kill as many children as possible.
Ron Kehrmann, whose 17-year-old daughter Tal was killed in the attack, told the NRG news site that the families of the bombing victims are afraid that Rajbi will be released on parole.

IDF Blog: 5 Tools to Maintain Secure Borders in 2016

Israel faces a number of threats from terrorist groups like Hezbollah on the northern border and Hamas in Gaza. Keeping our borders secure is of primary importance. These are five tools the IDF uses to keep them safe and virtually impenetrable.
1- Patrol Balloons
These hi-tech balloons gather intelligence and patrol above Israel’s borders. What really makes the balloons stand out is their ability to remain in the sky for long periods of time. A balloon doesn’t require constant refuelling like an aircraft does, and therefore is able to supply a constant source of intelligence on a target or a suspected area. If there’s an area not visible from the ground, these surveillance balloons can reach a height and cover ground that may be difficult to detect from below.
2 – Bedouin Trackers Unit
The IDF’s Trackers Unit is comprised of a few hundred combat soldiers, most of whom come from Israel’s Bedouin community and draft as volunteers. A tracker’s work is based on following signs left by suspects. By examining footprints, trackers can decipher the age, height, direction, pace, and shoe type of the suspect. The trackers set out on missions equipped with weapons, military apparatus, and sharpened senses. Even with technology continuing to advance, the trackers’ senses on the border are irreplaceable.

Gaza Salafi Leader: ‘Many Islamic State Supporters Within Israel’

Breitbart Jerusalem on Sunday interviewed Abu Ayna Al-Ansari, a top Salafi militant in the Gaza Strip associated with Islamic State (IS) ideology, about the possibility of IS cells among the Israeli-Arab population.
The possible association of the Tel Aviv shooter, Nishat Melhem, to the Islamic State organization has been a matter of debate on social media after his elimination by Israeli police on Friday.
Melhem, an Israeli-Arab, opened fire at a bar in central Tel Aviv earlier this month, killing two, and then apparently killed a taxi driver while escaping. A week later, he was found in his hometown of Arara and killed when he raised his weapon to police forces attempting to arrest him.
As Breitbart Jerusalem reported, an online pamphlet of unknown origin purporting to represent the Islamic State surfaced Saturday on numerous social media accounts belonging to Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs.
The digital poster, replete with official IS logos, claims Nashat Melhem, the assailant behind last weekend’s Tel Aviv pub shooting, was “one of the supporters of the caliphate in occupied Palestine.”

Senior Muslim Brotherhood figure arrested over Giza shooting

Egypt has arrested a senior member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group on suspicion of involvement in an attack on Israeli Arab tourists on Thursday at a hotel close to the Giza pyramids.
No one was hurt in the attack, during which more than a dozen individuals opened fire on the tourists with fireworks and birdshot, causing some damage to the hotel’s facade and tour buses parked nearby.
Egyptian media reported Monday that security services had arrested Abed Al A’al Al Asiri, along with two of his sons and seven other suspects.
The tourists, who numbered roughly 40, were Israeli Arabs, mainly from the northern town of Umm al-Fahm.

Egypt upholds prison sentence for former autocrat Mubarak

An Egyptian court on Saturday upheld a three-year prison sentence for graft that was already served by former President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons, who are out of prison and will not have to serve additional time.
Mubarak and his sons, one-time heir apparent Gamal and wealthy businessman Alaa, who were also implicated in the case, spent over four years in custody. The ruling gave them credit for time served.
Mubarak is being retried over the killing of hundreds of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his nearly three decades in power. Gamal and Alaa are still embroiled in corruption cases.
The three were found guilty of embezzling millions of dollars’ worth of state funds that were intended for the maintenance of official residences but were instead used to upgrade the Mubaraks’ private homes.

In Christmas Message, Egyptian President Vows to Restore All Coptic Churches

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi celebrated Christmas with Coptic Christians, issuing a speech in which he pledged to rebuild churches torn down by Islamists.
The Mass took place at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Abbasiya.
In 2014, Sisi became the first Egyptian president to celebrate Christmas Mass.
“In this occasion, I want to exhort you all, let no one come between us,” he declared. “Nothing can harm us, not our economic conditions or political conditions. Unless we diverge, we can overcome anything.”
The Muslim Brotherhood hunted and destroyed at least 65 Coptic churches in 2013 after the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
“God has created us different … in religion, manner, colour, language, habit, tradition … and no one can make us the all same,” continued Sisi.

Al-Sisi in Christmas Mass Apologizes for Not Rebuilding Churches Burned Down by Extremists

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