Change: Trump demands Sbarro murderer's extradition, tells 'Palestinians' to end incitement
One of Haaretz's editorials today speculated that ultimately, the 'Palestinians' will have to save Israel from enacting a 'two-state solution.' Israel Radio's midnight news gave two signals that the 'Palestinians' are being put in a position where they will have to behave properly, or there will be no support from the United States for a 'Palestinian state.'
First, the United States has demanded that Jordan extradite Ahlam Tamimi, who planned the Sbarro suicide bombing 16 years ago and drove the bomber to the downtown Jerusalem restaurant.
Tamimi scouted for a target before leading the bomber, Izz al-Din
Shuheil al-Masri, to the Sbarro restaurant. They arrived just before
2:00 pm, when the restaurant was filled with customers, dozens of women,
children and babies, and pedestrian traffic outside was at its peak.
Tamimi
departed before Al-Masri, thought to be carrying a rigged guitar case
or wearing an an explosive vest weighing 5 to 10 kilograms of
explosives, nails, nuts and bolts, detonated his bomb.
She is
currently a television host in Jordan, has hosted Hamas arch-terrorist
Saleh Arouri (who ordered the kidnapping of three Jewish teenagers in
June 2014), bragged of her involvement in others murders of Israelis and
is considered as a symbol of the Palestinians fight.
Israel Radio reported that Tamimi was sentenced to 16 life sentences (15 Israelis were murdered in the bombing and a 16th - Chana Nachenberg - is in a vegetative state to this day), but was released as part of the 'terrorists for Gilad' trade in 2011. Israel Radio said that two of the terrorists' victims were US citizens (I think it was actually more than two - Malki Roth and Shoshana Heyman HY"D were also American citizens).
Jordan may have a tough call to make, honoring its strong alliance to
the US, with trying to avoid offending its majority Palestinian
population and an anti-extradition trend in its court system, according
to Shurat Hadin which is representing the family of the victim Chana
Nachenberg (Finers and Nachenbergs) who was grievously injured in the
bombing and remains in Israel in a coma even until now.
According
to Shurat HaDin President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner: "We are glad that
the US Department of Justice has decided to move forward against this
notorious mass murderer. We have been requesting for a long time that
this unrepentant Palestinian terrorist be rearrested, extradited and
prosecuted by American law enforcement officials."
"It was
outrageous that Israel released this criminal with so much innocent
blood on her hands and who has publicly rejoiced that she killed 8
Jewish children. For too long Jordan has become a safe haven for
Palestinian terrorists and, hopefully, this is a change of policy for
the new Trump administration, to start to pursue the numerous
Palestinians who have killed US citizens in Israel," she said.
Chana
Nachenberg's father, Yitzhak Bennett Finer, has responded: "We applaud
the efforts of the Department of Justice in trying to bring Tamimi to
justice and we hope they'll be successful. Our daughter Chana Nachenberg
had the prime of her life taken from her because she has spent the past
15 and half years in a vegetative state on a respirator as a result of
this inhuman act of the heinous bombing of Sbarros. Her daughter Sarah
has grown up without a mother and her husband David without the love of
his wife."
Jordan is highly unlike to extradite Tamimi. If the royal family is about anything, it's about self-preservation. Extraditing Tamimi (whose clan includes prominent Jordanian lawyers) would bring about fighting that has been unseen since the Black September uprising in 1970. There is almost no chance that King Abdullah will take that risk to keep the United States happy.
In a second report this evening, Israel Radio reported that the United States' Jerusalem Consulate's readout of Trump envoy Jason Greenblatt's meeting with 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen today included a demand that the 'Palestinians' stop incitement to terrorism.
During a meeting at the Palestinian
Authority’s headquarters in Ramallah, Abbas committed to combat
Palestinian incitement, the statement said. The Palestinian leader and
Greenblatt also discussed building up the PA’s security forces,
advancing the peace process, and improving the Palestinian economy.
According to the readout, Abbas told
Greenblatt that “he believes that under President Trump’s leadership a
historic peace deal is possible, and that it will enhance security
throughout the region.”
“President Abbas committed to preventing inflammatory rhetoric and incitement,” the statement added.
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has been adamant that PA-sanctioned media and school
curriculum are responsible for inciting terrorism.
...
The Palestinian daily al-Quds cited sources in
the US Congress who said Greenblatt warned Abbas that US lawmakers are
working to condition US aid to the Palestinians — with the exception of
security assistance — on ending incitement, including payments to the
families of Palestinian terrorists.
The PA pays monthly stipends to families who
have a member who is considered to have been “martyred,” which usually
means being killed by an Israeli while carrying out a terror attack or
suspected attack, or who is spending time in Israeli prison for
perpetrating a terrorist act.
The US government has already taken measures
to ensure its aid isn’t funneled to the families of terrorists. That
includes paying the debts of the PA directly, rather than transferring
funds into the PA’s coffers.
In the 12th year of his four-year term, Abu Dodobird may have finally found an American President who is willing to stand up to him. The 'Palestinians' must be really disappointed that Hillary Clinton lost the election. Heh.
Belgium's state broadcaster reported that
the Belgian-born French citizen was injured in a shootout that ended
with his capture. The Belgian counter-terrorism source said two people
were wounded.
"We have him," tweeted Theo Francken, Belgium's state secretary for asylum policy and migration.
The
26-year-old Abdeslam was brought to a hospital after being shot in the
leg, CNN Belgium affiliate VTM reported, citing a police source. The
same broadcaster said two suspects may still be in the house in
Molenbeek where Abdeslam was captured.
Three
explosions were heard in that area early Friday evening, CNN French
affiliate BFMTV reported, though it wasn't clear if those were
controlled blasts or part of a continuing operation.
Molenbeek, the impoverished Brussels suburb where Friday's raid took place, has a reputation as a hotbed for jihadism.
Several members of its large, predominantly Muslim population -- many
of whom are first-, second- and third-generation immigrants from North
Africa -- have been linked to terror plots and attacks.
Last
fall, Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens cited Molenbeek as a place
where more needs to be done to address what he called Belgium's "foreign
fighter problem."
...
Earlier Friday, the Belgian federal
prosecutor's office revealed that the 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam's
fingerprints and DNA were found in a Brussels apartment raided three
days earlier. One person was killed and two people escaped that
operation, according to authorities.
The man killed by a special forces sniper was Mohamed Belkaid, an Algerian who used the name Samir Bouzid, and who is believed to have directed the Paris attackers via calls from Belgium, according to the prosecutor's office.
Belkaid
is believed to have helped Abdeslam travel prior to the attacks and
transferred money to a female cousin of Paris ringleader Abdelhamid
Abaaoud following the attack, the Belgian senior counter-terrorism
official told CNN in January.
Authorities
believe Abdeslam was using the apartment as a hideout following the
Paris attacks, according to the Belgian counter-terrorism official.
...
Investigators think Abdeslam may have been
the driver of a black Renault Clio that dropped off three suicide
bombers near the Stade de France, one of the attack sites near Paris.
They also believe he had worn a suicide belt found on a Paris street
after the attacks.
He is believed to
have called friends to take him to Belgium after the attacks. They
passed through police checkpoints, but Abdeslam had not yet been
identified as a suspect and they were allowed to continue on their way.
Surveillance video emerged of him and another man at a gas station near the Belgian border the day after the attacks.
He has eluded authorities ever since.
You have to wonder whether ISIS will try to take hostages in an attempt to spring him, or whether being targeted by hostage-taking to exchange for terrorists is something that only happens to Israel, which finds itself urged by 'friends' to give in to the hostage-takers.
One of my neighbors just came by for something and invited us to a Kiddush (celebration) at his synagogue tomorrow morning. The Kiddush is to celebrate 45 years (on the Jewish calendar) since he was released from being a hostage at Dawson's field in Jordan.
New Barak leak: Netanyahu opposed 'terrorists for Gilad' deal
In yet another leak of the supposedly 'secret' tapes of Ehud Barak's autobiography, it was disclosed today that Prime Minister Netanyahu opposed the 'terrorists for Gilad' trade.
Speaking of the Shalit prisoner exchange,
Barak tells his interviewers — who are working on his biography — that
Netanyahu was opposed to the exchange of the captive IDF soldier for
1,027 Palestinian prisoners, but gave in after Barak pressured him.
“Bibi [Netanyahu] is forced into action, and
shows a side [to his personality] that is less elegant, less about
self-control, less pretty, when he’s in a personal crisis over
something,” Barak says in recordings he did not know would become
public.
“As much as he was opposed to [the] Gilad
Shalit [exchange], and I pressured him for months to do two things, to
do Gilad Shalit and immediately afterward to pass in the government [and
in] the Knesset [the recommendations of] the Shamgar Committee” that
recommended changing Israel’s prisoner exchange policy.
“In the end he was convinced he had to free
Shalit but wasn’t convinced to do the obvious next step [of passing
Shamgar], and that’s how he found himself in the [June 2014] kidnapping
of the three kids,” teenagers whose kidnapping by a Hamas-affiliated
cell in the West Bank triggered that summer’s Gaza war.
What he refers to as 'Shamgar' was a law that would prohibit Israel from trading terrorists for Israelis being held hostage. As if that would stop any Israeli government from doing exactly that....
As some of you might recall, I opposed the 'terrorists for Gilad' trade. And I still think it was the wrong thing to do.
General Security Service stops mass terror attack at Teddy Stadium
Israel's Shin Bet General Security Service has broken up a large 'Palestinian' terror cell that was planning a mass terror attack at Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium. The terror cell was commanded from - where else? - Turkey.
The Shin Bet announcement confirmed a Times of Israel report last week that said Israel had arrested dozens of members
of a Hamas terror network operating throughout the West Bank. The
network, Palestinian officials said, was funded and directed by Hamas
officials in Turkey who have set up a de facto command center in the
Muslim country.
More than 30 Hamas operatives were arrested
during the month of September, the Shin Bet said Thursday. The majority
were recruited while studying in Jordan and trained in either Syria or
the Gaza Strip, which they entered via tunnels from Sinai.
The Shin Bet said the ring was preparing to
kidnap Israelis in Israel and abroad, enter Israeli villages, detonate
car bombs, perpetrate roadside attacks, and execute a terror attack in
Teddy Stadium, where the Israeli soccer team Beitar Jerusalem plays its
home games.
The Shin Bet asserted that the plan was
evidence of an “indefatigable” desire on Hamas’s part to rehabilitate
its terror infrastructure in the West Bank and to tug Israel into a
sharp military response, which might indirectly lead to the toppling of
PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s regime, which is “one of Hamas’ goals.”
...
As with the previous network, the man behind the terrorist grouping was
Saleh al-Arouri, a Hamas leader who was deported from the West Bank to
Turkey in 2010, the sources said.
Anyone want to argue that deporting terrorists on their release prevents them from carrying out terror attacks? It seems to me that we shouldn't be releasing them at all whether or not they're going to be deported.
Israel is holding back channel talks with the 'Palestinian Authority' relating to Gaza, in which it is making concessions and receiving nothing in return.
This secret backchannel
of communications puts senior Israeli officials in contact with
['Palestinian Prime Minister' Rami] Hamdallah, and runs in parallel to indirect talks in Cairo between
Israel and Hamas and other Gaza terror factions. Israel and Palestinians
agreed last Tuesday to resume talks late next month on cementing a Gaza
ceasefire, allowing time for Palestinian factions to resolve their
divisions.
A senior official within
the Palestinian Authority has told Ynet that the Israeli official met
with Hamdallah on Tuesday evening, and the two discussed ways in which
Israel can alleviate the suffering of Gazans in wake of the Operation
Protective Edge.
A senior Israeli political official confirmed the report,
telling Ynet that the talks were "coordination intended to change the
situation on the ground."
...
"The goal is to make
sure that there is oversight about what is happening in Gaza, and that
can be done either with the UN or the Palestinian Authority. For the PA
to do that, we need to coordinate our moves and change the situation on
the ground for regular Gazans. The goal is to solidify the ceasefire."
The Ramallah meeting highlights the fact that communication
between Israel and the Palestinians is conducted on two levels: The
public, albeit indirect, channel in Cairo, mediated by the Egyptians and
led by Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed, in which Hamas is also a partner;
and the secret channel, revealed here for the first time.
...
The two central
issues the sides discussed in the meeting– both of which are of the
utmost importance for Gaza's residents – are permitting men over 60 to
enter Jerusalem for religious services during the Muslim holy days, and
allowing Gaza-made produce and goods (namely, fish) to be exported to
the West Bank.
Another issue being negotiated is easing some of the restrictions
barring young Gazans from attending West Bank universities or even
studying abroad.
Other restriction-alleviating measures that were willingly conceded
by Israel have already been made public, such as an increase the number
of merchants allowed to travel from Gaza to the West Bank to 200 a day;
raising the age limit of Gazans allowed to visit family outside of the
Strip to 16; and permitting humanitarian visits for grandparents.
In the meantime, in Cairo, the delegations are working on the
toughest issue of all – the border crossings between Israel and Gaza (as
well as Gaza and Egypt) and who oversees them. The possibility that
goods made in Gaza will be exported abroad is also being discussed.
I am in favor of letting the 'Palestinian Authority' rather than the United Nations run Gaza. It's much easier diplomatically to take action against the 'Palestinian Authority' if necessary.
But Arutz Sheva reports that there is also an exchange of live terrorists for the body parts of two Israeli soldiers who were killed in the summer war that is on the verge of being finalized. Why are we once again trading live terrorists for bodies? What could go wrong?
Terrorist who planned and funded teens' kidnapping was released for Gilad and deported to Gaza
Last week, I reported on the arrest of Hussam Kawasme, the confessed ringleader of the plot to kidnap Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach HY"D (May God Avenge their blood) in June. Two other terrorists who are also members of the Hebron Kawasme clan - Marwan Kawasme and Omar Abu Aysha - are wanted in connection with the kidnapping and remain at large. Now, the Times of Israel reports that a third Kawasme brother, Mahmoud Kawasme, who was released as part of the terrorists for Gilad trade and deported to Gaza, has become very close with Hamas in Gaza, and planned and funded the operation on Hamas' behalf.
Mahmoud Ali Kawasme was one of the Palestinian inmates deported to Gaza in the 2011 prisoner swap for Gilad Shalit.
He is suspected of funding and planning the
June 12 West Bank attack in which Israeli students Gil-ad Shaar, Eyal
Yifrach and Naftali Fraenkel were abducted and killed near Hebron.
His ties to the attack and to Hamas will
likely further implicate the terror group in the killings. Israel has
alleged Hamas involvement, though Hamas’s leadership has denied any
connection to the scheme.
Mahmoud Kawasme’s brother, Hussam, was recently arrested by the Shin Bet and the police anti-terror unit near Jerusalem.
Hussam Kawasme admitted during his
interrogation that he was the commander of the two kidnappers, Marwan
Kawasme and Omar Abu Aysha. All four live in the same area of Hebron.
The latter two are from the Haris neighborhood, while the families of
Hussam and Mahmoud live in the nearby Wadi Abu Ktayla neighborhood in
the northwestern part of the city.
Mahmoud Kawasme is a known Hamas operative who
was imprisoned in Israel until the Gilad Shalit deal, when he was
deported to Gaza under the terms of the agreement, which also obligated
the former prisoners to not return to terror.
Kawasme, though, continued to work with
members of Hamas’s military wing there, in an attempt to bring about
terror attacks in the West Bank. He maintained contacts with terror
operatives in Hebron, as well as other cities like Tulkarm.
According to Palestinian sources, Mahmoud
Kawasme initiated and planned the kidnapping along with his brother
Hussam. Senior members of Hamas’s military wing were aware of the plan,
and gave him money to fund the attack. The kidnappers needed vehicles,
Israeli license plates, weapons, and safe houses.
Israel has not rushed to blame Hamas’s senior
leadership for the kidnapping and murder. Israeli officials have said
there was a general directive for a kidnapping and funding for it, but
there is still no proof of a direct order to kidnap the teens.
But you can bet that if this 'cease fire' holds, Obama-Kerry will be pressuring us to free more 'Palestinian' terrorists (not to mention that Hamas wants us to re-free all the terrorists who were arrested after the kidnapping).. What could go wrong?
They may not have homes to which to return but Ismail Haniyeh and his friends are still trying to set conditions for a 'cease fire' - ten of them in fact in return for ten years of quiet (they might ever...) - rather than just accepting one unconditionally (link in Hebrew).
1. Israel to move its tanks away from the border and allow 'Palestinian' farmers to work land along the 'security fence.'
2. Free all terrorists arrested after the kidnapping and murder of Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach HY"D (May God Avenge their blood), including those released as part of the terrorists for Gilad (Shalit) deal, and ease up on the conditions of 'Palestinian' terrorists in Israeli prisons, including Jerusalem residents and 'Israeli Arabs.'
3. Open the borders of Gaza and allow goods and materials to pass freely, including building materials (used to build bunkers and rockets) and anything necessary to operate Gaza's power plant.
4. Establish a seaport and an airport (they used to have one until Israel had to destroy it at the beginning of the intifadeh) under the supervision of the United Nations.
5. Widen the fishing zone to 10 kilometers from the shore, and allow the use of larger boats to transport goods.
6. Turn the Rafah border crossing into an international crossing to be operated by the United Nations and friendly Arab nations (CiJ comment - Presumably not including Egypt. This is not within Israel's power to decide).
7. International monitors to monitor borders and Israel is forbidden to overfly Gaza. (You mean like EUBAM was in control and fled?).
8. Ease the granting of approvals to pray at al-Aqsa mosque (the Temple Mount) in Jerusalem.
9. Refrain from interfering in the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation.
10. Re-establishment of industrial zones (to replace what they destroyed) and improvement of development conditions in the Gaza Strip.
In the meantime, Hamas has announced that it has developed a new rocket, the Ahmed Yassin. No, it doesn't blow up sitting in a wheelchair. Hamas claims it has a range of 180 kilometers and that it carries a particularly large payload.
Peace is at hand!
UPDATE 2:48 PM
JPost and Arutz Sheva now reporting this story, as is Channel 2 television. JPost is reporting that the proposal was presented on al-Jazeera Arabic by Azmi Bishara. Bishara, who fled Israel and now lives in Qatar, suggests that Turkey and Qatar would be better mediators than Egypt, which he claims has too many shared interests with Israel.
How is it that the Mossad has not knocked off Bishara yet? Hmmm.
Prominent Leftist Gershon Baskin is backing the IDF operation in Gaza, acknowledging that Israel really has no choice. Here are some examples:
I spent hours yesterday morning and afternoon trying to convince my main Hamas contact to speak to his leaders
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) July 9, 2014
to call for an immediately unconditional 24 hour ceasefire in order to prevent the escalation.
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) July 9, 2014
My message made it all the way up to Khaled Mashal.
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) July 9, 2014
I wanted to try to prevent the inevitable death of innocent people and the destruction that this war would cause.
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) July 9, 2014
The Hamas leadership decided to ignore the possibility of the ceasefire and challenged Israel to "bring it on".
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) July 9, 2014
These irresponsible leaders are criminals to their own people. I can honestly say that Netanyahu did not want to escalate this war.
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) July 9, 2014
It is so unfortunate that these Hamas leaders, some sitting in hotel abroad and others safely hiding underground in ground put the innocent
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) July 9, 2014
people of Gaza in the direct line of fire. This is criminal. Force alone will never be a proper response to the problems of human suffering
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) July 9, 2014
Israel had to respond with force, I am sorry to say,
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) July 9, 2014
How does this end?No one knows.In 2012 Israel ran out of targets,didn't enter on the ground, Hamas declared victory
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) July 9, 2014
If Israel goes into Gaza on the ground,it will seek to not only destroy rocket supplies,it will seek to kill Hamas & Jihad leaders.
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) July 9, 2014
Baskin is Co-Chairman of IPCRI - Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information and is a renewable energy entrepreneur. He was involved in the negotiations for the terrorists for Gilad trade two and a half years ago. You can follow Baskin's Twitter feed here.
UPDATE 10:53 AM
One more tweet:
My Palestinian friends who are criticizing me for what I wrote, please respond how you would deal with the situation if you were Israeli PM
— Gershon Baskin (@gershonbaskin) July 9, 2014
Funny. I asked the same question yesterday from an investment banker who emailed me that 'three wars in three years' is spooking business here. He didn't answer.
What Hamas wants: Would you believe a 'cease fire'?
A Hamas spokesman actually asked for a 'cease fire' this evening according to a report on Israel Radio. But the request came with five conditions that Israel is very unlikely to fulfill:
1. Stop 'persecuting' Hamas in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
2. Reinstate the 'understandings' from Operation Pillar of Defens.
3. Stop flying over Gaza, including with drones (you've got to be kidding).
4. Release all the re-arrested terrorists from the terrorists for Gilad trade (fat chance).
5. Stop interfering with Hamas' unity agreements with Fatah.
Assuming that they are tried and convicted, can you ever, ever imagine Israel insisting on the release of the six youths who are accused of murdering Mohammed Abu Khadr as an incentive for coming to the table for 'peace talks'? Can you even imagine Israel insisting that the six be released as part of a final 'peace settlement'? You know 'forgive our enemy' and all that? Of course you can't. Why is that? Eugene Kontorovich explains four reasons why.
1) Prisoner swaps. We know Israel will never ask for these
Jewish killers to be released as part of a peace deal. This is because
Israel recoils with revulsion from their act. They are no one’s heroes.
...
2) Pensions. Israel will never pay pensions to the killers. The
prime minister will not take photos with them, or do anything other
than condemn them. The glib questions making the rounds–will Israel
knock down the Jewish terrorists’ houses–rather avoids the question that
home demolitions are in part a way of offsetting the generous financial
benefits Palestinian terrorists receive.
...
4) Community support. The fact that the killers of three Jewish
boys have hid out for three weeks shows they have a base of support, an
organization: people to keep their secret, feed them, etc. Jewish
killers had nowhere to hide because there is no Jewish community that
accepts this.
All true. Kontorovich also has a great idea for Prime Minister Netanyahu.
A useful initiative for Prime Minister Netanyahu now would be to offer
to make a joint statement with Abbas, that neither would ever seek the
release of either set of killers.
Not a shot in hell that Abu Bluff would go along. That seems like all the more reason to make such a demand in public (like in front of the Americans) so that Abu Bluff can feel a little uncomfortable and embarrassed.
When Hamas Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaar HY"D (May God Avenge their blood), it was looking for another Gilad Shalit. Unfortunately, its terrorists got three of them, panicked and murdered them all.
The three teens were waiting at Geva’ot
Intersection, west of the settlement of Alon Shvut in the Etzion Bloc
south of Jerusalem, soon after 10:15 p.m, looking to catch a ride
heading west on Route 367 toward Beit Shemesh and from there to
locations in central Israel where each of them lived.
The prevailing assessment within the defense
establishment is that the kidnappers, at least at first, only saw one of
the hitchikers, perhaps Yifrach, who did not know Shaar and Fraenkel.
Only once the kidnappers’ Hyundai i35 came to a stop did the kidnappers
realize that they would be outnumbered by their hostages within the
small confines of the car. This may be what changed the nature of the
crime from kidnapping to murder, security sources suggested.
Inside the Hyundai, Israel alleges, were Hamas terrorists Amer Abu Aysha and Marwan Kawasme.
Recognizing, too late, that the car was not an
innocent Israeli vehicle, one of the teens called the police at 10:25
p.m. and whispered, “We’ve been kidnapped.” The call was transferred
immediately to a senior female officer, who continued to ask questions
but received no reply.
The call lasted for 2:09 minutes and was then cut
off. The officer called the number eight more times, but received three
busy signals and reached voicemail five times.
The kidnappers, apparently realizing that a
call had been made, shot the three teens dead soon afterwards in the
backseat of the car, military sources said.
...
The killers then drove a further 10 minutes or
so before switching vehicles. They abandoned the Hyundai i35, a
relatively new vehicle, and set it on fire.
They transferred the bodies to the second
vehicle, and drove close to the field in the Halhul area where the three
corpses were ultimately discovered, bound, partially buried, and in
what eyewitnesses said was “in not good condition,” on Monday afternoon.
The land where the bodies were found belongs to the Kawasme family,
Channel 2 news reported.
Unfortunately, I would bet that Aysha and Kawasme are beyond the reach of the IDF - either in Gaza or Qatar.
Oh my: Beware whose car you push, three more victims for Gilad?
Greetings from... New York City.
A report on another blog claims that the three teenagers who were kidnapped ten days ago were lured into pushing a 'broken down' car operated by an Arab and then ambushed down the road after pushing the car (Hat Tip: Mrs. Carl).
1) The boys were not hitchhiking. They were waiting at Tzomet HaGush,
which is a bus stop, as well as a hitchhiking spot. (I’ve been there
many times. It’s where the gas station for Efrat is located.) An Arab asked the boys to help him push his car that had broken down.
The last sighting of the boys - by a witness who was at the bus stop -
was at 10:15 p.m. of them pushing the Arab’s car, which had Israeli
license plates, down the road.
Presumably, the three boys were then ambushed when they got further down the road. (This was not witnessed.)
At 10:20 p.m., a 911 call was received, and one of the boys managed
to say that they’d been kidnapped. The 911 operator notified his
immediate supervisor (a young, low level police officer), who made the
decision that it was probably a prank call. One hour later, they sent an
army patrol to Tzomet HaGush to investigate, but found nothing. (If
anyone had been kidnapped an hour earlier, they would be long gone.)
At 3 a.m., the parents of the boys called their local police station,
and again at 4 a.m. and then at 5 a.m. the army was notified, but the
army commander didn’t receive the information for another hour, so no
action to search for the boys was taken by the army until 6 a.m. Eight
hours wasted. If they had acted immediately, at 10:20 p.m., they could
have immediately set up road blocks all over the area and perhaps
stopped the kidnappers’ vehicle.
This actually makes sense. There's a lot about the story that didn't fit until now. I had heard - somewhere - that the first driver who picked them up dropped them off a short distance from Kfar Etzion. Tzomet HaGush made sense as being that spot and would have allowed them to catch one of the two remaining buses from Efrat to Jerusalem. If the driver was from Beer Sheva, he would have been heading south from Tzomet HaGush, while the boys - from Nof Ayalon, Elad and Dolev - would have been heading north. The only thing that still doesn't make sense is why the driver said that they were heading to the South Hebron Hills - if that was the case, he should have taken them.
It also explains how one driver - with accomplices up the road - would have managed to kidnap three boys. Most Israeli cars have only five seats. If you had two kidnappers in a car, how could they kidnap three boys? Two in front would have allowed one boy (at least) to open a door and jump out. One in front and one in back would have been suspicious. But if there was only one driver and they pushed his car to a more isolated location....
We already heard the police story. Some heads should roll for that one.
But wait. There's more.
2) They know who the two kidnappers are. They were among the
prisoners that were released in the Shalit trade. They identified them
by process of elimination, because out of all the known terrorists, they
alone are missing from their homes, and they had told their employers
ahead of time that they wouldn’t be at work for a few days. They are
from villages near Chevron, which is why the search is focusing there.
The burned-out car that was found was burned in the hopes of
destroying any DNA connecting them to the crime, but apparently you
can’t destroy the DNA by burning .
I've heard before that the army knows who the kidnappers are. I was not aware that they were released in the Shalit trade - another reason for Israel's Leftist-controlled media to keep their identities quiet.
The murderer is Ziad Awad. Awad is 42 and is from the village of Idna. He was arrested at the beginning of the month along with his 18-year old son Iz-a-Din, who helped plan the terror attack and helped his father to escape. The family that plays together....
Awad carried out the attack with a Kalashnikov rifle while riding a motorcycle. He told his son that he did it for the sake of Islam and that those who murder Jews gain admittance to Paradise. So much for anyone who still believes that this is not a religious war.
Awad was originally arrested in 1999 and sentenced to 27 years in jail for murdering 'Palestinian collaborators.' He was released in the 2011 terrorists for Gilad trade.
The army says it was a miracle that no one other than Mizrachi was killed - Awad shot hundreds of rounds.
I believe that tens of people should spend some time in Mizpe Hila this summer in front of the Shalit home with pictures of Mizrachi.
I also believe that Awad (not from the same village as - but possible related to - the two Awad scumbags who murdered the Fogel family of Itamar in 2011) and his son ought to get the death penalty. It's long past time to start implementing it.
UPDATE 2:22 PM
Israel to renew punitive measure - discontinued in 2005 - of destroying homes of terrorists. Will start with home of B. Mizrachi's killer.
— Herb Keinon (@HerbKeinon) June 23, 2014
I'm sure Leftist Noam Shalit will lead a demonstration against the home demolition. He's only into collective punishment when Jews are being punished.
But the death penalty would be much better. It is the only thing that will assure that Awad will never again go free.
Our Prime Minister is like a little kid who is showing off how much candy he's been given. Yes, 'Bibi' is so proud of himself because the IDF has 'rearrested' 50 Hamas terrorists who were released in the spineless 'terrorists for Gilad' deal because... wait for it... they violated the conditions of their release.
"I wish to extend my congratulations to the troops and commanders of
the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) for the complex
operations that they carried out overnight," Netanyahu tweeted on his
Twitter account.
"The operation overnight in which Hamas
terrorists were arrested, including those released in the prisoner swap
for Gilad Schalit, is an element that carries with it an important
message," the prime minister wrote on his Twitter account. "This is all
part of a series of many operations that will continue, and their goal
is to retrieve the kidnapped youngsters and strike a blow to Hamas in
Judea and Samaria."
The prisoners had signed a document on their
release vowing to live up to a set of conditions, which they have since
violated, a senior security source stated.
The former prisoners, all members of Hamas, were selected by the Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] for arrest.
Since when is someone who is extorted required to abide by the deal he signed while being blackmailed?
Is it just this week that they violated the conditions of their release, or have they been violating them since 2011, but our gutless government ignored the violations until now?
Has Ahlam Tamimi (who led the Sbarro terrorist to the site of his murderous attack and then broadcast the story on television that night) violated the terms of her release? Why isn't Netanyahu going after her?
The video, that is a total of 38 seconds long, shows Schalit buttoning
the infamous shirt he was released in, tying his shoelaces and being
escorted by armed and masked Hamas Kassam brigades men.
The video
also features the images and year of capture of other Israeli soldiers,
such as Yaron Hen, Nachshon Vaksman and Shahar Simani.
The video
ends with a darkened image of a hunched down soldier and the text "we
started our goal [mission]... and we'll reach the end" in Hebrew and
Arabic.
An upcoming visit to Canada by Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier who spent five years in Hamas captivity, has led some people to question whether he should be treated as a hero.
The Jewish Tribune’s Israel correspondent, Atara Beck, noted that an IDF investigation into the kidnapping revealed that Shalit had not paid much attention
to the briefing before the patrol, did not open fire at the terrorists,
and was unaware of the fact that there were other soldiers in the area
because he had not listened carefully to the briefing.
Two IDF soldiers, Hanan Barak and Pavel Slutzker, died in the same attack.
Beck said that many in the Canadian Jewish
community are questioning JNF Canada’s decision to bring Shalit to
Canada as a guest speaker, fearing that this may broadcast a message of
weakness rather than heroism.
The same issue of the Jewish Tribune
featured a letter to the editor signed by Harry Smith from Montreal, who
said that bringing Shalit to Canada as a guest speaker is “a foolish
idea”.
“Perhaps it is the Palestinians residing in Canada
who should be given front row seats. They surely would bask in the glory
of our shame,” wrote Smith, adding, “This young man is, by his own
admission, a stumblebum. He could not be bothered to even bring his
weapon out of his vehicle. In fact, he never bothered listening to
instructions. He anticipated stumbling his way through army service.…
What were his superiors thinking? Why didn’t they just put him on
kitchen duty? A few more like this hero and Israel will cease to exist.”
That's what happens with a universal draft: You get a lot of soldiers who don't really want to be there. Gilad Shalit was obviously one of them.
Terrorist freed for Gilad continues to plan terror attacks from Qatar
A Hamas terrorist who was serving ten life terms in an Israeli prison, but was freed in exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, has been discovered to be planning terror attacks against Israelis from his new home in Qatar, according to Israel's security agencies.
The ISA named the
Ramallah suspect as 26-year-old Bahar Sa’ad. He was arrested in a joint ISA, IDF
and Israel Police operation in May. During his questioning, it became apparent
that Sa’ad had met with Hashem Ibrahaim Hajaz, a Hamas member sentenced to 10
life sentences for his involvement in the murder of 10 Israelis between 2001 and
2003. Hajaz, who is I currently based in Qatar, was released as part of the 2011
deal, in which Israel released and deported over 1,000 Palestinian security
prisoners.
“During their meeting [in Jordan], Sa’ad was recruited to
Hamas and instructed to advance shooting and kidnapping attacks against settlers
and soldiers upon his return [to the West Bank],” the ISA said.
“Sa’ad
was also instructed to recruit additional members, and agreed to travel to Sudan
to undergo military training. He was arrested before he could act... He
was supposed to receive four weapons from an unknown courier acting on behalf of
Hajaz,” it added.
The ISA said the investigation showed how, once again,
exprisoners that were released in the 2011 deal had returned to terrorism, and
then attempt to secure the release of additional security prisoners.
I could not find anywhere a list of attacks on Israelis in which Mr. Hajaz was involved. I wonder why it's apparently such a secret.
Terrorist released for Gilad offered $60K to another 'Palestinian' to open fire on Israelis
A 'Palestinian' terrorist released as part of the 'terrorists for Gilad' trade offered another 'Palestinian' from Nablus (Shchem) $60,000 to open fire on Israeli soldiers and civilians. Fortunately, the 'Palestinian' from Nablus was caught by Israel's General Security Service (Shin Bet) before he could carry out the attack.
The suspect, Amir Brakhat, 24, had made the Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca,
where he met Amir Dukan, a convicted terrorist from Nablus who had been
released by Israel to Gaza, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said.
Dukan
offered Brakhat 60 thousand dollars in exchange for opening fire on
Israeli traffic near Nablus, or hurling a grenade at the IDF checkpoint
located in Hawara, the investigation revealed.
"Upon his return,
Brakhat got in touch with Dukan and said he was prepared to carry out
the attack. He tried to obtain a gun," the Shin Bet said.
"This
investigation again illustrates the attempts by terrorist organizations
to promote their activity in the West Bank, through the increased use of
ex-prisoners released in the 'Schalit deal,'" the Shin Bet added.
"In
this context, the Umrah is exploited for meetings on Saudi territory,
for the passing of messages, ideas, and plans to carry out acts of
terrorism," it said.
The security agency has observed an increase
in the number of terror plots involving ex-security prisoners who are
among 1200 former prisoners released by Israel in 2011 in exchange for
the release of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, who was being held captive in
Gaza by Hamas.
Aren't you glad we did the 'terrorists for Gilad' trade? But wait, that's not all Mr. Dukan is up to.
The Shin Bet also announced on Wednesday that it arrested two men on
suspicion of attempting to smuggle Hamas money earmarked for terrorism
from Jordan to the West Bank. The money originated from the same Amir
Dukan who is the center of the first investigation, the investigation
found.
The men had hidden 10,000 Euros and 900 dollars in cigarette cartons.
France honoring 'Palestinian' terrorist group responsible for Zeevi and Fogel murders
An event will be held in Paris on Wednesday to honor 'Palestinian' terrorism, and in particular the Popular Front for the Liberation of 'Palestine,' the group responsible for the assassination of Tourism Minister Rechavam Zeevi and for the murders of five members of the Fogel family in Itamar two years ago.This is from the first link.
A public event in support of Palestinian Arab terrorism will take
place next Wednesday, the 17th of April, at the chamber of commerce of
Saint-Denis, a popular district in the outskirts of the Parisian
municipality. Many well known 'anti-racist' organizations support the
initiative, including the "Ligue des Droits de l’Homme" and the
"Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les Peuples".
Salah
Hamouri, the member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP) who planned to assassinate former Sephardic Chief Rabbi
Ovadia Yosef, Shas’ spiritual leader, will attend the event. Hamouri
was one of 550 prisoners freed to complete a deal in which Israel
released 1,027 prisoners for soldier Gilad Shalit.
"Rabbi Yosef
deserves to die", the French terrorist declared after his liberation.
The terrorist is an object of a worship in the French leftist press and
benefits from important support, to the point of being given the title
of honorary citizen in three cities in France.
Present at the
Saint-Denis event will also be a public official of the city of Bezons,
which just granted honorary citizenship to Majdi Rahima Rimawi, the
Palestinian PFLP terrorist who was sentenced to life in prison in Israel
for his role in the assassination of then-Tourism Minister Rehavam
Ze'evi. Fathya Barghouti, the wife of Rimawi, will also attend the
French initiative.
We must not forget that PFLP terrorists killed Jews in Paris itself. On
Friday October 3, 1980, the eve of Succot, a motorbike bomb exploded
outside the Copernic Synagogue, the liberal synagogue of the Paris
elite. Four people lay dead on the street and in the synagogue interior.
The bombing fell on the 39th anniversary of the “Jewish Decrees” of the
Vichy regime.
France is a really sick country. No wonder so many of its Jews are moving here. Read the whole thing.
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
