IDF officer: Hamas is deterred, but gearing up for next war with Israel
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Eyeing a fresh round of violence with Israel, the Hamas terrorist organization is sparing no effort to enhance its arsenal and train its operatives, especially from the Gaza-ruling group’s elite “Nukhbah” terror unit, a senior officer with the Israel Defense Forces Southern Command told reporters Thursday.
In a briefing with military correspondents, the officer said that Hamas’s special forces currently include some 20,000 operatives. Hamas also strives to develop its drone and naval capabilities, including terrorist divers, he said, adding that the terror group was actively pursuing improved rocket-launching capabilities. But Hamas has yet to rehabilitate its pre-2014 firing abilities, which were significantly crippled during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge.
Hamas is currently focusing on developing its short-range projectile fire apparatus, which proved more effective during the summer 2014 war with Israel, as it challenged the Iron Dome missile defense system’s interceptors. The officer said the Islamist group was trying to increase the amount of explosives its arsenal of short-range projectiles can carry, as well as to develop mid-range rockets that could “escape” the Iron Dome. One of the innovations said to be in development are “barrel bombs” capable of packing up to 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of explosives.
“There is concern of miscalculation on Gaza’s part, meaning Hamas suspects we are planning some sort of operation, therefore they’re on very high alert and they lend great importance to any statement by the IDF. They’re concerned we might strike Gaza to affect the situation in Judea and Samaria,” said the officer, adding, “Hamas saw the [months-long terror wave] in Judea and Samaria as a strategic opportunity it hoped to seize. It is very disappointed by the fact the situation in Judea and Samaria has stabilized.”
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Bernie Sanders suspends Jewish coordinator for anti-Netanyahu profanities
(JNS.org) The presidential campaign of Democratic primary candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) has suspended an activist recently hired as the campaign’s Jewish outreach coordinator after she was found to have posted profanity-laced social media messages about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Simone Zimmerman is active in the self-described “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobby J Street and the “Open Hillel” movement—both of which have been criticized in the Jewish community for ignoring Israeli grievances in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and whitewashing Palestinian terrorism. Open Hillel rejects the Hillel campus umbrella organization’s guidelines on shunning partnerships with anti-Israel groups, while J Street has also been scrutinized for co-sponsoring events with anti-Israel organizations. Zimmerman has also been involved with IfNotNow, a new movement of young American Jews who oppose Israeli control in the disputed territories.
In a February op-ed for Haaretz, Zimmerman outlined her views on Israel, including her perceptions on what she called “grave injustices committed by the Jewish state” and the “disastrous reality of holding millions of Palestinians under military occupation.”
“Tell the UC Regents: anti-Zionism is not racism, it’s a political belief,” Zimmerman retweeted from the Twitter account of the anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace in March, reacting to the University of California Board of Regents’ adoption of a report that condemned both anti-Semitism and forms of anti-Zionism that are anti-Semitic.
The initial decision to hire Zimmerman came after Sanders recently inflated the number of Palestinian civilian deaths in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war at least sevenfold—to 10,000—in an interview with the New York Daily News.
In the wake of Zimmerman’s hiring, her past Facebook posts came to light, including one in which she wrote, “Bibi Netanyahu is an arrogant, deceptive, cynical, manipulative asshole,” and “F**k you, Bibi, for daring to insist that you legitimately represent every fraction of the Jewish world.” She later edited those posts to remove the profanity.
The former head of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, wrote in an email to Jewish Insider that Sanders “needs to fire Simone Zimmerman” because “no amount of word changes can cure her ugly characterization of the prime minister of Israel and the Israeli army and people defending themselves.”
Sanders’s spokesperson, Michael Briggs, told the New York Times that Zimmerman has “been suspended while we investigate the matter.”
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Israel-U.S. study: early PTSD treatment no guarantee for lasting recovery
(JNS.org) Some patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who undergo early psychological or drug treatment will not necessarily recover over the long run, according to a joint study by Israel’s Hadassah University Medical Center and New York University’s (NYU) Langone Medical Center.
Many people suffering from PTSD do recover after early treatment, but a good number are still affected by the condition for years, explained Arieh Shalev, a professor at Langone, in the publication of the study by the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
“We assume that people living in an otherwise stable environment would have better conditions for long-term recovery than individuals who experience lengthy wars or live in a constant state of violence,” said Shalev, who is also a co-director of NYU Langone’s Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center.
“This might explain part of their spontaneous recovery without initial treatment. However, what this study tells us at its core is that there is a significant public health challenge ahead. Individuals continually expressing initial PTSD symptoms, and who are resistant to early treatment, should be the focus of future research,” Shalev added.
Shalev encouraged future research of PTSD focused on those “who remain chronically distressed and disabled and require care long after their traumatic incident.”
Israel, given its history of wars and terrorism, has a substantial number of civilians and soldiers suffering from PTSD. While early treatment is offered in Israel, there is no longterm follow-up treatment.
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Arab Knesset member: ban Jews from Temple Mount ‘in any way possible’
(JNS.org) Israeli-Arab Member of Knesset Jamal Zahalka called on Palestinians to prevent Jews from visiting the Temple Mount holy site “in any way possible,” just a day after the Joint Arab List party lawmaker returned from a two-month suspension from the Knesset.
“In light of the daily increase of [Jewish] ascent to the [Al] Aqsa mosque, it is up to us to stop it in any way possible,” he told the Palestinian site Dunya al-Watan on Wednesday.
“Our people have the right to the mosque, and we must protect it with all of our power. The Palestinian nation is the guardian of the mosque….The increase in Jews who go up will cause the third intifada to break out and continue throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem depending on which Palestinian organizations join in the fighting,” said Zahalka, adding that “Israel continues its 100-year-old colonial Zionist project,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
Although Israel gained eastern Jerusalem and its holy sites from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War, the Temple Mount is being administered by the Islamic Waqf, a Muslim trust overseen by Jordan that limits non-Muslim visitation and bans Jewish prayer. Israel, however, provides security at the site. An increase in Jewish visitation has been led by activist groups calling for greater Jewish access to the Temple Mount. Israel blames Palestinian incitement relating to the Temple Mount for the Palestinian terror wave against Jewish Israelis that began last fall.
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem-based Temple Institute, a group that supports Jewish visitation to the Temple Mount, said that an unidentified Jewish couple was able to be married on the Temple Mount for the first time in 2,000 years.
“Two appointed witnesses met the couple at the entrance to the Temple Mount. The witnesses were duly obligated to hear the declaration of marriage from the lips of the groom and see him place the gold wedding band on the bride’s finger,” though the vows had to be exchanged quietly “without drawing the attention of the Israel Police or the Muslim Waqf guards who would be accompanying the group of Jewish worshipers,” the Temple Institute said in a statement.
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