Israeli security cabinet orders IDF to raze home of Jerusalem terrorist
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel’s diplomatic-security cabinet approved several security measures in the wake of the Jerusalem truck-ramming attack that killed four Israeli soldiers and wounded at least 16 Sunday.
Israeli government ministers voted unanimously to order the Israel Defense Forces to raze terrorist Fadi al-Qanbar’s home in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber. Members of the terrorist’s family will not be able to meet with relatives who live in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and his body will not be returned to his family for burial.
Al-Qanbar—a 28-year-old father of four—had a criminal record, but had no known ties to any terrorist group, although he recently posted several pro-Islamic State comments on his Facebook page. Al-Qanbar’s cousin told Israel Hayom that the terrorist had been “very upset” by recent reports that the U.S. was considering relocating its Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, saying the move would “spark a war.”
After the deadly attack, Israeli police and the Shin Bet security agency raided al-Qanbar’s home in Jabel Mukaber and detained his wife, parents and two siblings for questioning.
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(JNS.org) The four Israeli soldiers killed in Sunday’s truck-ramming terror attack in Jerusalem were laid to rest Monday in separate ceremonies across Israel.
The victims were Lt. Yael Yekutiel, 20, from the central Israeli city of Givatayim; cadets Shir Hajaj, 22, from the Jerusalem suburb of Ma’ale Adumim and Shira Tzur, 20, from Haifa; and Sec.-Lt. Erez Orbach, 20, from Alon Shvut, southwest of Jerusalem.
Orbach, who was a dual Israeli-American citizen, was laid to rest at a cemetery in Kfar Etzion. Tzur was born to American parents.
“[Tzur] was a remarkable girl, invested, a guide in the [Israeli] scouts. Everyone regarded her as an exemplary graduate—an outstanding girl, a social leader and also emotionally sensitive to justice and injustices,” said Mandi Ravinovich, the director of the school system that Tzur attended, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The funeral for Hajaj took place at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery, while people gathered to mourn Yael Yekutial in Tel Aviv’s Kiryat Shaul cemetery.
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U.S. Navy fires warning shots at Iranian ships; Iran’s former president passes away
(JNS.org) A U.S. Navy destroyer fired three warning shots at four Iranian fast-attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz, according to two American defense officials.
Sunday’s incident occurred when the USS Mahan attempted to establish radio contact with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ships, and when the Iranian ships did not respond to requests to slow down, the U.S. ships fired three warning shots at the vessels, Reuters reported. A U.S. Navy helicopter also dropped a smoke float before the warning shots. The Iranian boats came within 900 yards of the Navy vessels.
Meanwhile, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died at age 82 Sunday. While Rafsanjani, who served as president from 1989-1997, is often viewed as a moderate within Iran, he was a strong critic of Israel, calling the Jewish state a “forged” and “temporary” country while also saying that Israel could be wiped out by a single nuclear weapon.
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Israeli satellite uncovers launchers for Russian nuclear-capable missiles in Syria
(JNS.org) Israel’s Eros B satellite has uncovered two Russian ground-to-ground SS-26 Iskander missile launchers in Syria’s Latakia air base, which is also used by the Russian Air Force.
Israel-based ImageSat International, which operates the satellite, said that the launchers were hidden under camouflage nets, but recent heavy rains in the region forced the Russians to move the launchers out from underneath the nets and therefore exposed them to the satellite, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. Additionally, two other vehicles that are part of the Iskander system were spotted in the area.
“This revelation approves several unconfirmed reports of the Iskander presence in Syria and uncovers the system’s deployment site,” ImageSat said.
The Iskander missiles are capable of carrying a nuclear payload with a range of 249-311 miles.
According to the report, both Syria and Iran have asked the Russians to sell them the missile system, but Russia has so far refused their requests at Israel’s insistence. Israel is also concerned that the missiles could be stolen from Russia and given to the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
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NASCAR’s Alon Day honored as Israel’s Athlete of the Year for 2016
(JNS.org) Alon Day, the first Israeli to compete for America’s NASCAR racing circuit, was recognized by Israel’s Ministry of Culture and Sports as the Jewish state’s Athlete of the Year for 2016.
“It’s a big achievement for me and for the Israeli motorsport movement to win this prize for the first time ever,” Day said, Motorsport.com reported. “It shows that people are watching me, watching NASCAR, and becoming more and more interested in motorsports.”
Day, the only native Israeli who races in NASCAR, competed full-time in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, and also made a pair of starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Trust Series last year.
“It’s a big honor to be the first Israeli in American NASCAR,” Day told JNS.org last August, shortly after his first NASCAR race. “I raced in European NASCAR for two years, but being here for the main events, it’s big. I’m fortunate to be the one.”
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Anti-Israel activist to host DNC candidate forum
(JNS.org) Candidates for chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) will participate in a forum hosted later this month at a restaurant owned by an anti-Israel activist, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The candidate forum, hosted by the advocacy group Democracy in Color, will be held at the Washington, D.C.-based Busboys and Poets, a restaurant owned by Iraqi-born Andy Shallal.
The Free Beacon cited a past report quoting Shallal as saying in 2007, “Israel continues to violate international law…while the U.S. and its allies sit on the side, getting its marching orders from Tel Aviv. Folks, this is not an accident—this is a plan to create a new American-Israeli century, and those who dare to speak out will be squashed.”
Further, the Free Beacon quoted a report from 2013 that said Busboys and Poets has sold t-shirts stating “Occupation Isn’t Pretty,” referring to Israeli control in the disputed territories.
The frontrunner for DNC chair is U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), a vocal congressional supporter of the Palestinian cause who has organized letters urging more U.S. pressure on Israel and voted against funding Israel’s Iron Dome missile system.
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JNF, ALEH lay cornerstone for new rehabilitation hospital in Israel’s Negev region
(JNS.org) The Jewish National Fund (JNF) and ALEH—an Israeli network of facilities serving children with severe and complex disabilities—laid the cornerstone for ALEH’s latest rehabilitation hospital, which will provide long-term care to residents of Israel’s southern Negev region.
The Neuro-Orthopedic Rehabilitation Hospital, which was funded in part by the Israeli government and JNF and is set to open in 2019, will feature three 36-bed inpatient wards specializing in neurological, spinal and orthopedic rehabilitation, and will utilize advanced technologies such as robotics and virtual reality. The development of a sports center, public facilities for outpatient services and a research center are also planned for future stages of construction, according to ALEH.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog, chairman of the ALEH Negev-Nahalat Eran rehabilitation village, said the facilities and services will also be available to those undergoing treatment at the hospital, which will enhance care for the Negev region.
“We believe that the residents of the south deserve the same care as those in every other part of the country,” Almog said, referencing the commonly held sentiment that southern Israel is an underserved area compared to other regions in the Jewish state.
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Soccer team comprised of terror attack survivors ‘adopts’ 3-year-old Israeli boy
(JNS.org) A 3-year-old Israeli boy whose leg was severely wounded in a Palestinian terrorist attack in 2015 joined a soccer team comprised of fellow survivors of terror attacks.
The boy, Natan Bennett, joined the OneFamily organization’s soccer team—made up of relatives of terror victims as well as survivors of attacks—in a ceremony Thursday in Jerusalem. Natan’s father, Aharon Bennett, was killed in a Palestinian stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City Oct. 3, 2015.
OneFamily “empowers victims of terror to rebuild their lives, rehabilitate and reintegrate through emotional, legal and financial assistance programs,” according to the organization’s website.
During the ceremony in Jerusalem, the soccer team symbolically “adopted” Natan. Besides his father’s death and his own injuries, his mother Adele was seriously wounded in last year’s terror attack. Adele attended Thursday’s ceremony.
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Israel and China sign bilateral construction labor deal
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel’s construction sector, which has long suffered from a lack of sufficient manpower, received a boost after an Israeli delegation signed a bilateral agreement with the Chinese government to bring more than 6,000 Chinese laborers to Israel in the next half year.
The agreement, which followed protracted negotiations, is slated to be made official in late February, the Israeli news website Walla reported.
Israel’s Finance Ministry has long been promising to open Israel’s doors to some 20,000 Chinese laborers, but the government’s efforts have until now been unsuccessful.
“After efforts that lasted for more than a year and a half, I’m happy our representatives signed a deal to bring thousands of Chinese workers [to Israel], who will provide an energy boost to resolving the housing crisis. This achievement is an excellent beginning to 2017,” Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said.
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Palestinian media depicts Israeli soldier killing Santa Claus in cartoon
(JNS.org) In a bloody twist on the Christmas spirit, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) official daily newspaper used Santa Claus to promote a libel claiming that Israel carries out “executions” of innocent Palestinians.
In a cartoon featured in the PA newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida Dec. 26, an Israeli soldier is shown standing above a bleeding Santa Claus who had apparently just been shot at a security checkpoint with a mosque and a church in the background, with the soldier saying, “He tried to carry out a stabbing operation.”
According to Palestinian Media Watch, the cartoon is part of a larger libel against Israel stemming from the wave of stabbing terror attacks during the last few years.
“After many Palestinian terrorists were killed while carrying out stabbing attacks during the terror wave in 2015-2016, the PA started to claim that Israel planted the knives next to the ‘innocent’ Palestinian ‘victims,'” Palestinian Media Watch noted, adding, “PA and Fatah leaders have reiterated this libel numerous times, even about terror attacks that were documented by security cameras.”
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Republican senators introduce bill to move US embassy to Jerusalem
(JNS.org) Three leading Republican senators introduced legislation that calls for relocating the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The proposed legislation initiated by U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) asserts the need to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate the U.S. embassy there in an effort to “remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected, as they have been by Israel since 1967.”
The Washington Free Beacon first reported that the legislation would freeze a significant portion of the U.S. State Department’s funding until the department completes the embassy’s move to Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and ordered that the U.S. embassy be moved there from Tel Aviv. But the law also allowed the president to delay the move for six-month periods for national security reasons. As such, every president since 1995 has refrained from ordering the move, citing security concerns. President-elect Donald Trump, however, has vowed to relocate the embassy to Jerusalem.
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