Middle East Roundup: January 1, 2016

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Hezbollah reportedly determined to avenge arch-terrorist’s death
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Hezbollah terrorist group will no longer “accept Israel killing its operatives” and has made up its mind to exact revenge over the recent death of arch-terrorist Samir Kuntar, Lebanese media reported Thursday.

Kuntar was killed on Dec. 19 in an airstrike near Damascus. Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah has accused Israel of assassinating the infamous terrorist, and vowed that a “painful retaliation will follow.”

The threat prompted Israel to use third-party mediators to warn Nasrallah that any attempt by the Shi’a terrorist group to escalate tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border would be met with a forceful Israeli response.

According to Lebanese media, Nasrallah met with a German mediator in Beirut several days after Kuntar’s death. The mediator told him that any retaliation by Hezbollah would earn a wide-scale Israeli reaction, perhaps even to the tune of a military campaign in Lebanon.

Nasrallah reportedly replied, “The decision to retaliate over Kuntar’s death has been made, and it’s final. There’s no turning back. The days when Hezbollah was willing to accept the killing of its operatives by Israel are over.”

The Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar television quoted Nasrallah as saying, “To us, whatever the consequences and threats, which we don’t fear, we can’t tolerate and forgive those who shed the bloods of our fighters and brothers anywhere in the world.”
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IDF reservists to sue NGO Breaking the Silence for slander
(JNS.org) Several hundred Israel Defense Forces (IDF) combat reservists and officers who organized a committee called “Reservists at the Front” are currently working to file a slander lawsuit against the nongovernmental organization Breaking the Silence, which publishes and promotes testimonies (often anonymous) about alleged IDF misdeeds. The reservists claim that Breaking the Silence intentionally and consistently disseminates outright lies.

Amit Deri, a major in the IDF reserves and one of the leaders of the campaign against the NGO, told Israel Hayom that “over a long period of time we’ve collected facts that prove that Breaking the Silence twists, manipulates and sometimes even lies, slandering IDF soldiers and commanders in Israel and the world.”

“Breaking the Silence has a video clip called ‘Equal Treatment for Prisoners’ that includes the message from Avner Gvaryahu’s testimony [published in the U.K.’s The Independent newspaper during Operation Protective Edge] that we abuse prisoners and beat them regularly, as a policy. Members of his [army] team claim that’s a complete lie and that he libeled them.”

The IDF soldiers and officers plan to reach out to Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein for approval to file the slander lawsuit. Reservists at the Front needs Weinstein’s permission to proceed because the litigants are IDF soldiers.

Reservists at the Front also recently sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which they wrote, among other things, that Breaking the Silence was indirectly helping the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. After the letter was received, a meeting was scheduled for Netanyahu and the reservist leaders on Sunday.
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Vigilant hotel staff thwarts terrorist bombing in Eilat
(JNS.org) A bombing at a hotel in the resort city of Eilat was recently averted thanks to the hotel staff’s vigilance, Israel’s Southern District Attorney’s Office revealed Thursday.

The suspects, identified as Jerusalem residents Khaleel Nimri and Ashraf Salaymeh, both Arab citizens of Israel, were indicted before the Beersheba District Court on charges of conspiracy to aid the enemy during a time of war. Both were remanded pending the conclusion of the legal proceedings.

The investigation, headed by a joint Shin Bet security agency and Southern District Police task force, found the two had met while working and living in Eilat and that, inspired by the current wave of terrorism, Nimri had decided to avenge the death of a childhood friend killed in October while trying to carry out a stabbing attack in Jerusalem.

The indictment alleged that Nimri had originally suggested the two carry out a stabbing attack, targeting a religious Jew. Salaymeh refused, saying the plan increased the chances they would both get caught, rendering their act “insignificant.”

Salaymeh then suggested they plant an explosive device at one of the city’s hotels, to which Nimri agreed. The prosecution said the two chose the Be Center Hotel, located at the heart of Eilat, and continued to surveil it for several days. One of them also watched online videos on constructing bombs.

According to the timeline detailed by the prosecution, on Nov. 30, Salaymeh arrived at the hotel with the purpose of learning its interior layout. He approached the front desk, told the staff he was interested in renting a room for a prolonged stay, and asked to see the types of rooms available.

The staff became suspicious after he began asking questions about the layout of the dining room, the number of exits the hotel has, and its occupancy rate. He was also particularly interested to learn whether religious Jews were staying at the hotel.

At one point, one of the hotel receptionists alerted the manager and hotel security to Salaymeh’s presence. They reported the incident to the authorities, which led to Nimri and Salaymeh’s arrest.

Hotel owner and manager Shlomi Koren told Israel Hayom, “The receptionist felt the questions were suspicious and immediately informed hotel security. They turned over the footage from our security cameras to the police. I’m very proud of my employees. Their vigilance saved many lives.”
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Hamas again planning suicide terror attacks against Israeli leaders
(JNS.org) Sources within the Palestinian terror group Hamas have publicly admitted to plans of re-launching suicide bombing attacks against Israeli political and military officials, according to the Lebanese daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, which was cited by the Jerusalem Post.

“Hamas sleeper cells have received orders to strike targets inside occupied Palestine,” Al-Akhbar quoted Hamas sources as saying.

Targets will include “Israeli political and security figures,” not only in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem, where sleeper terror cells exist, but in Israeli territory that is not situated beyond the 1967 lines, according to a Hamas leader.

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency and IDF already discovered and arrested one of these sleeper terror cells earlier this month in Abu Dis, near Jerusalem. The Shin Bet said the group’s plans included bombings, including suicide bombings, in Israel.

Officials told Al-Akhbar that the sleeper cell was caught only because one of its members asked the Palestinian Authority security services to provide the terrorists with forged documents.
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U.N. warns that millions of children from war-torn Iraq could be ‘lost’
(JNS.org) A senior United Nations official on Wednesday said millions of Iraqi children are at risk of becoming a “lost generation” due to persecution by the Islamic State terror group.

“We’re at risk of losing a generation through the lack of education, health, and protection,” Peter Hawkins, UNICEF’s (United Nations Children’s Fund) Representative in Iraq, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a U.K.-based charity.

“Schools, clinics, water facilities, etc., are deteriorating further and further, which makes the life of children very difficult. [We’re] seeing increasing signs of stunting. Nutrition is becoming a problem,” Hawkins added.

More than 2 million children are out of school, and education has been disrupted by the war for almost 3 million children in Iraq, according to the U.N.

Nearly 14,000 teachers have fled northern Iraqi territory that is now controlled by Islamic State. Almost one in five schools there have been damaged or destroyed, or are being used for other purposes, Hawkins said.

UNICEF and Iraq’s health ministry have vaccinated 600,000 Iraqi children against measles and polio this year, but Hawkins said that progress for providing access to humanitarian aid is “very, very slow.”
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Palestinian Authority blocks protesters from Fatah-led march near Ramallah
(JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Wednesday blocked Palestinian protesters from marching towards the Beit El Junction, north of Ramallah.

The protest was organized by the Palestinian Fatah faction to celebrate the 51st anniversary of its first suicide car bomb attack against Israel, which occurred at that junction. PA President Mahmoud Abbas also heads Fatah.

Senior Fatah officials complained about the PA preventing them from protesting at the Beit El Junction, denouncing the PA leadership for “assaulting public freedoms, including the freedom of expression,” according to the Jerusalem Post.

The Fatah faction has posted several images on its official websites, as well as on its Facebook and Twitter pages, to “commemorate” 51 years of terrorism against Israel.

“Half a century of sowing terror in the eyes of the sons of Zion,” read one post on Fatah’s Facebook page, Palestinian Media Watch reported.

An image of the number 51 in the shape of a knife, a bullet, and a rifle was posted on the Fatah website with the text, “Revolution until victory.”
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Israel approves economic development plan for minority communities
(JNS.org) The Israeli government on Wednesday approved a systematic and structural economic development plan that will benefit the welfare of minority communities in the Jewish state, including Muslims, Christians, Bedouin, Druze, and Circassians.

“This is a significant addition designed to assist minority populations and reduce gaps. The plan will lead to the end of close-to-the-ground construction and a transition to high-rise construction as exists throughout the country,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

“At the same time, the plan will strengthen law enforcement in the minority sector with emphasis on illegal construction,” Netanyahu added.

The plan aims to reduce societal gaps and spur economic development in sectors including education, public transportation, housing, law enforcement, and community services, for the purpose of improving employment rates, scholastic achievements, accessibility to public transportation, and increasing personal security.

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Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.