Weekend Violence Rocks Israel

This past weekend was one of violence in Israel. Immediately following Friday prayers, hundreds of Muslims rioted on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, hurling stones at police officers. On Saturday night, terrorists operating out of the Gaza Strip fired a missile into southern Israel. And, one person was killed when his car exploded in what police believe to be a mob hit in Tel Aviv.

The Temple Mount riot was expected by police, who had received information over the past week of Muslim plans to instigate a violent demonstration. To minimize casualties, police closed the holy site to non-Muslims ahead of time. When the predetermined time came, the Muslims suddenly and without provocation began attacking Israeli police stationed in the area. Israeli security forces subsequently stormed the Temple Mount and arrested seven rioters.

Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said no officers were injured in the altercation, and that police presence was boosted in the Old City to prevent further unrest. Radical Muslims have long demanded a prohibition on any and all Jewish access to the Temple Mount, arguing that the presence of Jews "contaminates" the holy site.

On Saturday evening, terrorists fired at least one rocket from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Last Thursday, three missiles struck southern Israel. The attacks come despite Hamas making a show of securing the border region between Gaza and southern Israel.

Israel responded to the rocket fire with aerial assaults on known terrorist positions. According to Palestinian sources, a 28-year-old militant involved in recent rocket attacks was seriously injured in the Israeli reprisals while riding his motorcycle.

Early Sunday morning, a residential area in Tel Aviv was rocked when a car exploded killing the driver instantly. Local media reported that the victim had known ties to organized crime. It was the third crime-related car bombing in Israel in the past week. Investigators suspect an intensifying gang war between local crime families.

In related news, police announced the recent arrest of four Palestinian Arab men from eastern Jerusalem who were planning a terrorist attack against a Jewish wedding.

According to the indictment, the men, aged only 19-21, intended to attack a local wedding hall with machine guns while disguised as Orthodox Jews. The hall in question can accommodate up to 1,500 guests. Police said the attack would have been a massacre had they not stopped it in time.

Israel today

Harriet Sherwood adaciously suggests that Palestinians have abandoned terror

All Harriet needs for Christmas is a new brain.

One of the many articles published in early November by the Guardian about the Swiss report on the death of Yasser Arafat concluding that the late Palestinian leader was likely poisoned – a theory contradicted by a subsequent  French report - was penned by Harriet Sherwood, and titled ‘Arafat polonium find likely to be another hurdle for peace talks‘.  

Sherwood’s story strangely argued that the Swiss findings were “likely to worsen the already corrosive atmosphere of the faltering peace negotiations and fuel popular demands that the Palestinian leadership walk out”, and, we noticed after reviewing the article again, this even more curious conclusion about Palestinians.

Arafat was a man who divided the world: revered by Palestinians and their supporters, reviled by Israel and its allies. Nine years after his death, a portrait of him still hangs in most Palestinian homes. Nonetheless, the Palestinian people have inevitably moved on. Acts of violence, espoused by Arafat, are rare in the West Bank, and rocket fire from Gaza has dropped; instead, the Palestinian leadership has invested its hopes in diplomacy and negotiations.

The broad suggestion that Palestinians have largely abandoned Arafat’s ‘strategy’ of terrorism represents an almost staggering distortion based on empirical data on the quantity of terror attackssince his death.  (In 2005 alone, 2,990 Palestinian terror attacks were recorded.)  Further, though such attacks have decreased overall in comparison to the height of the 2nd Intifada, this reduction is largely attributed to the construction of Israel’s security fence and more effective counter-terror measures, not changing Palestinian attitudes towards terror.

Additionally, Sherwood’s claim that “acts of violence…are rare in the West Bank” is also simply not true.  As BBC Watch’s Hadar Sela recently reported, “statistics provided by the ISA [Israel Security Agency] for the months July to November 2013 shows that the number of terror attacks taking place in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] and Jerusalem since the renewal of direct negotiations between Israel and the PLO on July 29th has more than doubled”. 

Terror incidents since July, 2013.

Sherwood’s additional claim that “rocket fire from Gaza has dropped” is also extremely misleading.  As the graph below on rocket attacks from Gaza demonstrates, rocket attacks from Gaza increaseddramatically since Arafat’s death in 2004 (and Hamas’s control of the Strip in 2006).   While rocket attacks did decrease following the Gaza war (Cast Lead) in 2008-09, they increased again each year after the conflict until Israel launched an eight-day war in November 2012 (Pillar of Defense).

Beyond the statistical evidence contradicting Sherwood’s specific claims, it’s hard to understand how anyone covering the region as long as she has could possibly come to the conclusion that Palestinians have in any way abandoned terrorism.  In addition to the ubiquitous examples of the Palestinian glorification of terrorists, a comprehensive report on Arab public opinion by Pew Global in September demonstrated that “support for suicide bombing and other violence aimed at civilian targets is most widespread in the Palestinian territories“.  A staggering 62% of [Palestinian] Muslims, per this poll, believe that such attacks “are often or sometimes justified in order to defend Islam from its enemies”.

Though we’ve, on occasion, noted reports by Sherwood which suggest a modest amount of improvement in her coverage of the region, the amount of disinformation conveyed in those two sentences we cited (on Palestinian attitudes towards terror) again reminds us that her pro-Palestinian sympathies will trump a sincere commitment to accuracy almost every time.

source

After a grenade thrown into a bus now 9 people injured by stonethrowing Palestinians

Eight Israeli citizens and a Palestinian girl sustained moderate injuries when stones were hurled at the direction of vehicles traveling in south Mount Hebron. 

The injured Israelis were treated by paramedics on scene and later evacuated to the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba. The girl was evacuated by the Red Crescent.

The bus passengers were returning from Shabbat events in Hebron. Following the stone hurling incident, the bus continued to the Meitar checkpoint, where security forces and medics tended to those who were injured.

The Palestiniangirl was in a car traveling in the area.

On Frida, a bomb was hurled at a school bus in the northern West Bank. No injuries or damage were reported. Security forces were canvassing the area.

Ynet news

Last week a 9 year old child now this - Retired IDF reserves colonel murdered in Jordan Valley

Retired IDF Colonel Seraya Ofer, 61, was murdered in a suspected terror attack outside his home in the northern Jordan Valley early Friday. The man's wife, Monique Omer, told security forces her husband was bludgeoned to death by two Palestinians wielding iron bars and axes.

 

Omer said that at around 1 am she and her husband heard suspicious noises outside their home in the northern Jordan Valley community of Brosh Habika. The man was attacked by the Palestinians as he stepped outside to investigate, she said.  

The wife, who witnessed the scene from the widow and fled the house, apparently phoned an acquaintance, who contacted the police while the woman was crawling through the bushes. During her escape the woman fell and sustained cuts from a barbed wire fence.

 

Monique made it to a nearby road and stopped a passing car for help. She was evacuated to the Emek Medical Center in light to moderate condition at around 3 am.

 

She reportedly told paramedics, "Don't worry about me; go to him (her husband), save him."

 

Ynet.news