IDF renews search for missing soldier 18 years after disappearance
(JNS.org) Israeli Navy divers have started searching water reservoirs in the Golan Heights in a renewed effort to find Cpl. Guy Hever, an IDF soldier who went missing nearly two decades ago.
One water reservoir has been searched thus far, with no results, the IDF said. Additional reservoirs may be checked as well. Searches of open land areas in the Golan over the years have turned up no evidence of Hever’s fate.
The last confirmed sighting of Hever took place on Aug. 17, 1997, at his base in the Golan. Hever, then 20, later left the base carrying his Galil rifle, dog tag, and ID card. There has been no contact with him since. One Golan resident believes she saw Hever at the Katzabia junction in the Golan a few hours after he left his base.
In addition to extensive searches of the Golan, Israel also engaged in diplomatic efforts to determine whether Hever somehow ended up in Syria.
Hever is one of five known missing Israeli soldiers. The other four are Zechariah Baumel, Tzvi Feldman, Yehuda Katz, and Ron Arad.
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Report: Israel hits Hezbollah-linked facilities in Syria near Lebanon border
(JNS.org) The Israeli Air Force struck a weapons convoy and munitions storage facilities in the Qalamoun region near Syria’s border with Lebanon on Saturday night, Lebanon’s Almustaqbal television station reported Sunday.
According to the report, the targeted storage facilities housed long-range surface-to-surface missiles that Syria had transferred to the Hezbollah terrorist group. A number of Hezbollah fighters and Syrian military soldiers were reportedly killed in Saturday’s strike and members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard were reportedly among the wounded.
The same report said it was the third Israeli strike in the Qalamoun region over a period of one week. Israel declined to comment on the report.
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Netanyahu aims to allow Israelis living abroad to vote in elections
(JNS.org) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that he plans to spearhead several electoral reforms, including one that would allow Israelis living abroad to vote in general elections.
Under Israeli law, absentee ballots are reserved for diplomatic corps personnel and official Israeli emissaries only. The law does not allow citizens who are traveling or have moved to other countries to vote.
The prime minister has also decided to promote the Jewish state bill, which seeks to declare Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
Additionally, Netanyahu plans to change the system of choosing a government after an election, so that the head of the party with the largest number of votes is automatically tasked with forming the government. Under Israel’s current Election Law, the president consults with the parties and chooses the person he believes has the best chance of forming a coalition.
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Israeli culture minister mulls revoking funding for ‘Nakba’ film festival
(JNS.org) Israeli Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev (Likud) has established a task force to examine the legality of the “48mm” film festival, also known as the “International Film Festival on Nakba and Return.”
The festival, first held in 2013, is “dedicated to films about the Palestinian Nakba and return of refugees.” It features documentary and feature films from around the world as well as films by Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers.
The Palestinians use the word Nakba (“Catastrophe”) to describe the displacement of Palestinian refugees during Israel’s War of Independence. The task force is expected to determine whether films slated to be screened at the festival, scheduled for Dec. 4-6, violate Article 3B of the Budget Foundations Law, which stipulates that the state will not fund any form of art that encourages incitement to violence or racism, or supports armed struggle against Israel.
“It is our responsibility and our duty to make sure that public funds are not diverted toward incitement against the state,” Regev said.
The task force will watch the films and then submit a recommendation to the Culture Ministry, which will in turn review the team’s findings with Israel’s attorney general.
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Israeli customs agent saves Gazan merchant’s life at border crossing
(JNS.org) An Israeli customs agent’s resourcefulness saved a Gazan merchant’s life last week after the latter suffered a heart attack at the Erez border crossing.
The merchant had arrived at the crossing to enter Israel on Nov. 26 when he suddenly collapsed as a result of a heart attack. An Israeli customs agent, who had undergone paramedic training in the past, rushed over to the man and began resuscitation efforts, using a defibrillator.
Another crossing employee, also a trained paramedic, joined the resuscitation efforts. An Israeli Magen David Adom ambulance later arrived at the scene with two additional paramedics.
After the merchant’s condition was stabilized, he was transported to a hospital, where he underwent a catheterization procedure and regained consciousness.
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PM: Israel will not transfer even 1 meter of land to the Palestinians
(JNS.org) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Sunday that Israel will not hand over territory to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Speaking to a meeting of Likud party ministers, the prime minister denied recent reports suggesting that the government planned to transfer 10,000 dunams (2,500 acres) of land over to PA control as a confidence-building measure.
“There will not be any transfer of land,” Netanyahu said. “Not 40,000 dunams, not 10,000, and not even one [square] meter.”
Israeli Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis also denied the recent reports.
“After the delusional idea of transferring weapons to the Palestinians,” Akunis said, referring to remarks to the media by an anonymous IDF officer who said the IDF would recommend easing restrictions on the Palestinians to calm tensions, “we are hearing about the initiative by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories to hand over 10,000 dunams. We cannot let this happen.”
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Two wounded in back-to-back Palestinian stabbing attacks in Jerusalem
(JNS.org) A Nepalese woman was stabbed by a Palestinian terrorist on Sunday while waiting at a bus station in Jerusalem. The terrorist fled the scene.
The woman, a 30-year-old foreign worker living in Israel, sustained moderate injuries to her back and was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem for treatment.
Security forces combed the area for the attacker, ultimately apprehending him at a nearby construction site. The attacker, a 17-year-old Palestinian from the Hebron area, confessed to the stabbing.
Earlier Sunday, another Palestinian terrorist from Hebron stabbed a border policeman in the neck in the Old City in Jerusalem. Abed al-Rahman, 38, came into the Old City through Damascus Gate, and upon noticing a pair of border policemen patrolling the area, he pulled out a knife and stabbed one of them while yelling “Allahu akbar!”
The other policeman shot and killed the attacker. A search of his body yielded another concealed knife. The victim was evacuated by emergency medical personnel who described his condition as light-to-moderate and stable.
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Israel to establish diplomatic presence in Abu Dhabi
(JNS.org) Israel is set to establish its first diplomatic presence in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Israeli office will not formally constitute diplomatic representation to the United Arab Emirates, but instead to the United Nations International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which has its headquarters in the Gulf state.
Dore Gold, director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, visited Abu Dhabi last week to discuss the future activities of the office and to finalize the opening of the mission, including meeting with IRENA Director-General Adnan Amin, Haaretz reported.
The opening of the mission follows a several-year process by Israel to establish a presence in the UAE. In 2009, Israel supported the UAE’s bid to host the headquarters of IRENA with the understanding that it would eventually allow Israel to have a diplomatic presence in the Gulf State. But the 2010 assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai, which the UAE blamed on Israel, set back the process. Israel will be the only country in the 145-member IRENA that will have its diplomatic mission in Abu Dhabi accredited solely to IRENA.
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7 Israeli soldiers hurt in 2 terrorist ramming attacks
(JNS.org) Five Israeli soldiers were wounded in a Palestinian vehicular ramming attack at the entrance to the Arab village of Beit Ummar near Hebron on Friday. The attack took place hours after a terrorist ran down two soldiers near Kfar Adumim.
In the first attack, the soldiers were lightly to moderately injured, and the terrorist was shot dead by security forces. In the second attack, four of the victims sustained moderate wounds and a fifth was lightly injured. The assailant was shot and killed by security forces.
Rescue efforts were hindered by a crowd of Palestinian rioters who surrounded the victims and hurled rocks and firebombs at security forces.
The terrorist behind the first attack was 30-year-old Fadi Hasib of the Ramallah area. Hasib’s brother was recently killed after stabbing an Israeli at an intersection across from the site of Friday’s ramming attack. The two soldiers wounded in the attack had recently immigrated to Israel from the U.S. and Germany with the Tzabar scouts program.
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Israeli defense minister seeks security fence between Hebron and Kiryat Gat
(JNS.org) Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon is seeking to build a security fence to separate Hebron from the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat amid the wave of Palestinian terror plaguing Israel.
“We are aware of the issue of the fence, and now with the budgetary approval for the massive fence we plan to build one similar to the border fence with Egypt—it will take some time but it will happen,” Ya’alon said, the Jerusalem Post reported.
A number of terrorists have infiltrated Israel’s Lakhish Regional Council, which includes Kiryat Gat, in recent weeks. On Nov. 20, a terrorist stabbed and wounded four Israelis, including a 13-year-old girl, in Kiryat Gat. Two other women, ages 56 and 44, as well as a 51-year-old man were wounded in the attack.
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U.N. adopts 6 anti-Israel resolutions
(JNS.org) The United Nations General Assembly last week adopted six anti-Israel resolutions sponsored by the Palestinian Authority and Syria.
In one of the resolutions, the U.N. condemned Israel for retaining the northern Golan Heights region, demanding that Israel hand that territory to Syria. Another resolution urged Israel to end its “occupation” of the Palestinian territories and invoked the Palestinians’ right to self-determination. Six nations—Israel, United States, Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau—voted against the measures, with four countries abstaining.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch, called the world body’s timing on the resolutions “morally galling and logically absurd.”
“It’s astonishing,” said Neuer. “At a time when the Syrian regime is massacring its own people, how can the U.N. call for more people to be subject to [Syrian President Bashar] Assad’s rule?”
Neuer added, “What is also outrageous is that these resolutions claim to care about Palestinians, yet the U.N. proves itself oblivious to the hundreds of Palestinians who continue to be slaughtered, maimed and expelled by Assad’s forces.”
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Egypt, Israel reject bid to reduce U.S.-led peacekeeping force in Sinai
(JNS.org) Egypt and Israel refused to reduce the U.S.-led peacekeeping force in the Sinai Peninsula after the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) as well as some of its 12 contributor countries proposed to withdraw about one-fifth of the troops due to concerns over increased violence.
Six troops were wounded by a roadside bomb in September, and the MFO believes they are too vulnerable. The Egyptian military has been battling an Islamic State-affiliated terror group in the Sinai Peninsula.
“We said this is not the proper time, during a war on terrorism. It would give jihadists the wrong message,” an Egyptian official told Reuters. “That was the main outcome: No talks about any reduction now.”
The MFO wanted the 400 troops to be replaced with remote surveillance equipment, the official said.
The proposal was reviewed at a recent meeting in Rome with Egypt, Israel, and a U.S. delegation in attendance. Nearly 1,900 peacekeepers are positioned in the Sinai to monitor its demilitarization, in accordance with the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace accord.
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Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei tells Palestinians to continue ‘intifada’ against Israel
(JNS.org) Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week expressed solidarity with the Palestinians by encouraging them to keep fighting Israel while Iran pledges to “defend [their] movement in any way” they can, according to Iran’s Press TV.
“The intifada of Palestinian people in the West Bank has started and people are fighting [against Israel],” Khamenei said.
“About 60 years have passed since the occupation of Palestine and these people have changed for a number of generations, but the cause of Palestine still exists,” he added.
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Israel instrumental in thwarting terror attack in Germany
(JNS.org) Israel provided key intelligence to Germany two weeks ago regarding an impending terror attack at a soccer stadium, the German magazine Stern reported last week.
German authorities cancelled a scheduled soccer game between Germany and the Netherlands at Hanover’s HDI Stadium on Nov. 17.
The intelligence Israel received revealed a threat similar to the attacks in Paris four days earlier, including specific times and targets.
“We had received specific indications that an attack with explosives was planned,” Hanover Police President Volker Kluwe told the German NDR state broadcaster. “We took them seriously and that is why we took the measures.”
Visitors who had already arrived at the stadium—which seats more than 40,000—were evacuated from the venue as well as from other locations, including Hanover’s TUI multi-purpose arena (where a concert was about to begin) and a local train station.
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