Video: Eyewitness describes Thursday's terror attack in Beit Shemesh
Here's an interview in English with someone who was an eyewitness to Thursday's terror attack in Beit Shemesh. Incredibly, the two terrorists wandered around the area unmolested for about an hour.
Let's go to the videotape.
A Beit Shemesh resident recounts this mornings terrorists attack where he saw two suspicious people waiting by his local bus stop, and followed them until the police came. It's a miracle that more people were not killed. Credit: Arutz Sheva
Posted by StandWithUs on Thursday, October 22, 2015
For those who missed it in my previous post, we spent a few minutes in our reinforced (it's not really hermetically sealed - no one is expecting chemical weapons) a short while ago. Sirens went off in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and Maaleh Adumim among others. Iron Dome shot down two missiles.
The sirens alerting Israelis to incoming rockets sounded
Thursday afternoon in Jerusalem, Beyt Shemesh, Maaleh Adumim, Binyamin
and Samaria regions.
Initial reports say Iron Dome rockets intercepted two missiles over Jerusalem.
Additional details are not yet available.
This is the first time that we've had an alarm since Tuesday night.
They've had a busier day in the center of the country.
Hamas terrorists on Thursday afternoon launched yet another heavy
barrage of rockets at Israeli cities in the center of the country.
Sirens were heard in Ramle, Lod, Nes Tziyona, Yavne, and other areas
south of Rishon Lezion. Several of the missiles were destroyed
in mid-air by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, while others fell in open areas. No injuries or damage were reported.
The rockets at the central plain cities were a continuation of the
heavy barrage that Israel faced on Thursday, the third day of Operation
Protective Edge. Six missiles were fired at Tel Aviv Thursday, with a
barrage of four missiles fired at about 8 AM, as tens of thousands of
commuters were driving into the Tel Aviv area. Two more missiles were
fired at about 11:30 AM. All six were shot down by Iron Dome missiles.
No damage to any buildings was reported, although several cars were said
to have been struck by shrapnel. One woman was treated for shock in
Ramat Gan, Magen David Adom officials said.
On both occasions, warning sirens were heard in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan,
Bnei Brak, Holon, and Bat Yam. Hamas took responsibility for at least
four of the rockets, with Islamic Jihad terrorists firing the other two.
This cannot continue. While thank God there have been few injuries and little property damage, the country's economy cannot continue like this.
I have just been told that Kol B'rama radio is reporting that one of the rockets may have fallen in the Shuafat 'refugee camp.' BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
UPDATE 8:50 PM
Where they hit... from the same link....
Iron Dome rockets intercepted two missiles over Jerusalem, out
of a total of four that were fired at it. No one was directly hurt, but a
74-year-old man in Kfar Adumim suffered a serious head injury as he ran
to the bomb shelter. He was taken to Hadassah Hospital where he is
under anesthesia, and being artificially respirated.
"Four rockets were fired at Jerusalem, of which two landed in open areas and two were intercepted," an army spokesman told AFP, without giving further details.
Witnesses and Palestinian security sources told AFP one rocket struck near Maaleh Adumim, while a second hit close to an Israeli military prison near Ramallah.
Three loud blasts could be heard around the city shortly after sirens wailed, sending people scrambling for shelter, AFP correspondents said.
About twenty minutes ago, a Code Red warning went off in Beit Shemesh according to someone who posted on Facebook. It sounds plausible. Hamas shot 30 rockets in 10 minutes this evening and Code Red signals went off in Ashdod, Rehovot... and Tel Aviv.
Hamas fired over 30 rockets in a ten-minute period into Israel on
Monday, with hits reported in Sha'ar HaNegev, the Eshkol Region,
Netivot, Sderot, and Be'er Sheva between 8:00 - 8:10 pm IST.
No buildings were reportedly damaged. One Ashkelon resident is being treated for shrapnel injuries.
"Code red" sirens have reportedly been sounded as of 8:30 pm as far
as Tel Aviv and in Gush Etzion; rockets could be seen from as far away
as Beit Shemesh, just West of Jerusalem, eyewitnesses told Arutz Sheva.
The barrage follows the Security Cabinet decision to prepare for escalation in the South, including a possible military campaign.
Time to root the vermin out. To hell with Obama and Kerry.
UPDATE 8:59 PM
Within minutes of posting this, I got back tweets claiming that the sirens in Jerusalem and Mevasseret (which I did not report) were a false alarm, and another from someone claiming not to have heard anything in Tel Aviv. See the report above.
As you all know, I am in the US right now. I am leaving back to Israel tonight, and will be there tomorrow.
The Beit Shemesh 'do over' election is over. The public paid millions of shekels to have a second election and the results show that it was a total waste of money.
If you read the Kalman Liebskind piece that was linked above, you will see that a total of 36 people were found to have voted without their identification cards. That's it. And in perhaps the biggest sign that the result was correct the first time, the difference between this time and last time was FOUR votes. If Moshe Abutbol (the incumbent who won both elections by a little less than a thousand votes) had not been Haredi there would never have been a second election. But don't expect anyone to apologize for the fraud perpetrated on the Israeli taxpayer. The media are still acting like there was fraud the last time.
As to the 'found' identification cards the last time, everyone who has been here in the Haredi community for long enough knows that Neturei Karta pays people not to vote and takes the identification cards for the day to ensure that those who are paid don't vote.
I really did not want to get involved in Beit Shemesh's 'do-over' Mayoral election (a family friend is running one candidate's campaign), but this is really too much and has to at least be pointed out.
For those who are not familiar with the story, in the Beit Shemesh Mayoral election in October, the Haredi incumbent defeated the secular challenger by less than 1,000 votes. During the day, police supposedly found 'hundreds' of identification cards in a home in Beit Shemesh. But it turns out - at least if this story by a supporter of the secular candidate (link in Hebrew, but I'm embedding an English translation below) is correct - that the total number of identification cards found was... 161. Those identification cards were not used to vote. They were turned in by people who were paid (yes, that happens in the Jewish state) not to vote, and who deposit their identification cards for the day in order to ensure that they really don't vote. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
The Jerusalem district court ruled that the elections should be done over, and the Supreme Court upheld that ruling. The new elections are taking place on Tuesday.
I'm embedding the English translation below. A comment will follow (Hat Tip: Asher G).
President Obama and his Chicago friends have nothing - nothing - on the Israeli court system.
But the key to this article is the last sentence:
It is difficult to imagine that there is any other sector, other than the Chareidi sector, whose election victory the court could feel so free to invalidate based on such flimsy evidence.
In Beit Shemesh in a few days there's a re-election, the result of a Supreme Court appeal after a very close election last October. The election pits a Haredi candidate against a secular candidate. The election is very hotly contested, and there are posters all over the city.
The poster above pictures Yair Lapid, the national leader of the secular Yesh Atid party. It says "This man is counting on your indifference. Come together and stand up for [your] lives." (The second sentence is a verse from the Purim Megilla to be read one week from tonight in Beit Shemesh and one week from tomorrow night in Jerusalem).
The poster - which was posted on the side of a private home - has gotten the Haredi candidate's campaign manager called in for questioning by the police, even though the posters are apparently being put up by individuals and not by any official campaign. The proposed charge is 'incitement.' (Link in Hebrew).
The Yesh Atid party filed a Supreme Court appeal against the sign, and Israeli Arab judge Salim Jubran has ordered it taken down, because it exceeds the permitted size for campaign signs. Yesh Atid admitted that the sign had been posted anonymously on a private home, but Jubran ruled that he has been in many election campaigns and posting oversized posters on private homes is forbidden.
Video: 'Palestinian' tries to stab Haredim near Beit Shemesh
Here's a video of a 'Palestinian' trying to stab Haredi passengers on a 128 bus near Beit Shemesh (which, for what it's worth, is not across the green line) on Sunday night.
Let's go to the videotape.
And to think that all my Beit Shemesh friends on Facebook (and I have several) have been too busy worrying about the fakakta local elections to even mention this.
Breaking: IDF soldier found dead in Ben Shemen forest
An IDF soldier who was last seen getting on a bus from Tel Aviv to Beit Shemesh last Monday has been found dead in the Ben Shemen forest, which is about midway between those two locations. The soldier's name was Bogdan (Dan) Shirikov (pictured). An earlier story appears here.
Further details when I have them.
UPDATE 12:51 PM
Israel Radio is reporting that this was a suicide and not a terror attack.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
