Arrest of Jewish suspects reignites Arab riots across Israel
(JNS.org) Violent Arab riots were reignited on Sunday evening following the news that Israeli authorities had arrested six Jewish suspects in the abduction and murder of Palestinian youth Mohammad Abu Khudair.
In northern Israel, hundreds of young masked Arabs threw stones at police forces and set fire to tires and trash cans, Israel Hayom reported.
At the entrance to the Israeli Arab village of Tamra in the Western Galilee, some 200 masked rioters demonstrated. Police special forces rounded up the rioters, pushing them back into the village to prevent the blockage of traffic on Route 70.
Riots also broke out in Nazareth, Shfaram, I’billin, Kafr Nahaf in the Western Galilee, and Kafr Kanna in the Lower Galilee, with dozens of young protesters waving Palestinian flags and throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at special forces and border police officers attempting to disperse the crowd. Some 67 rioters were arrested on Sunday and arraigned on Monday morning.
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Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party splits from PM’s Likud
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, announced Monday that his party would be splitting from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, effectively dissolving a political partnership the two parties formed ahead of the 2013 Israeli general election.
According to Army Radio, Netanyahu and Lieberman held a long private meeting on Monday morning. Lieberman then continued to a Yisrael Beiteinu faction meeting, after which he called a press conference in Jerusalem and announced the split, which spells the end of the Likud-Beiteinu Knesset faction.
“It’s no secret that the differences of opinion between the prime minister and me have become pivotal and fundamental,”Lieberman told reporters. “The situation no longer enables us to maintain the joint faction called Likud-Beiteinu.”
Lieberman said his party would remain part of Israel’s governing coalition.
“[Netanyahu] is entitled to his opinions and I’m entitled to mine, just as everyone else in the coalition has the right to their own opinions,”he said. “This is a strong coalition and it will carry on.”
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Arab taxi driver charged with murder of Jewish woman
(JNS.org) The suspect in the May 1 murder of 20-year-old Israeli Jewish woman Shelly Dadon of Afula was named Sunday as 34-year-old Hussein Yusuf Halifa, a taxi driver from the northern Israeli Arab village of I’billin.
Dadon was found stabbed to death in an abandoned parking lot in Migdal Haemek. Halifa was arrested last month by Northern District Central Division Police and the Shin Bet Security Agency, but the details of the case were under a gag order until Sunday.
“The suspect drives people to work every day in the Ramat Gavriel industrial area in Migdal Haemek,”said Northern District commander Maj. Gen. Zohar Dvir, Israel Hayom reported.
“That morning, he picked up Shelly, who was on the way to a job interview in the industrial area, and then murdered her in a deserted parking lot nearby. The motive has still not been completely clarified, but we are not yet ruling out a nationalistic [reason],”Dvir said.
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Netanyahu expresses condolences to slain Arab youth’s father
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the father of murdered Arab teen Mohammad Abu Khudair to express his condolences.
“I want to express my shock, and the shock of all Israeli citizens, at the despicable murder of your son,” Netanyahu told Hussein Abu Khudeir on Monday. “We acted immediately to apprehend the murderers, and they will be tried and brought to justice. We reject such cruel behavior.”
Israel has arrested six suspects in the killing of Mohammad Abu Khudair. Three of the suspects re-enacted the crime to the Israeli police. All of the suspects, including some who are minors, are being held on terrorism charges.
Yishai Frenkel—the uncle of Naftali Frenkel, one of the Israeli teens murdered by Hamas terrorists—also called Hussein Abu Khudair to offer comfort.
“We expressed our deep empathy with their sorrow, from one bereaved family to another bereaved family,”Frenkel said, Ynet reported.
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Amid continued rocket attacks on Israel, IAF airstrikes kill terrorists
(JNS.org) Another Gaza rocket was fired at Beersheba, southern Israel’s largest city, as part of a barrage of 20 rockets directed at Israel on Monday morning. No deaths or injuries were reported.
In response to the rocket fire, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck 14 targets in Gaza in two separate waves. The airstrikes killed nine terrorists, including seven Hamas operatives inside of a tunnel in Rafah, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Previously, on Sunday night, the IAF killed two Palestinian terrorists who were planning to carry out a rocket attack on Israel, according to the IDF.
On Saturday evening, Palestinian terrorists had fired a series of rockets at Beersheba and Ashkelon. The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted the rockets directed at Beersheba. Nearly 150 rockets have been fired at Israel since mid-June.
Saturday’s rockets targeting Beersheba were the first rockets launched at that city since the Israel-Gaza conflict of November 2012 (Operation Pillar of Defense).
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Netanyahu on riots: Israeli Arabs ‘can’t have it both ways’
(JNS.org) Amid continuing riots in eastern Jerusalem and in Israeli Arab towns, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israeli Arabs who enjoy the benefits of Israeli citizenship “can’t have it both ways.”
“They can’t enjoy National Insurance stipends and child allowances while simultaneously violating the most basic laws of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said at his weekly cabinet meeting. “I call on the leaders of the Arab community to act responsibly and stand up to this outpouring of violence and restore calm. Anyone who fails to respect the law will be arrested and punished severely.”
The riots were sparked by the murder of Arab teen Mohammad Abu Khudair, whose charred body was found in the Jerusalem area last week. Israel on Sunday arrested six Jewish suspects in connection with the crime.
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Israel arrests alleged accomplice in murder of Jewish teens
(JNS.org) An Israeli undercover unit over the weekend arrested former Hamas activist Hossam Dofash, suspected of being an accomplice in the kidnapping and murder of the three Jewish teens, Palestinian media reported. Israeli security forces are still on the hunt for the two main suspects, Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisheh.
The suspect claims he was not involved in the crime, telling the Israeli news website Walla, “I will not turn myself in because I have done nothing wrong.”But Palestinian sources in Hebron reported that Dofash had avoided going home in recent days.
Dofash was arrested seven years ago and served a four-year prison term for involvement in Hamas activity, Walla reported.
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