IDF uncovers secret tunnels, explosives labs in West Bank
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Combat Engineering Corps uncovered numerous secret underground compartments in Palestinian homes during the course of the ongoing search for three Israeli teens kidnapped in the West Bank.
Engineering Corps special forces discovered the secret compartments in various locations, in one case under a washing machine. Israeli troops have also uncovered more than a dozen explosives laboratories, the IDF said.
“We were not surprised, but the number [we discovered] is not what you see every day,” an officer from the unit said, reported Israel Hayom. “Still, on the first floor lives a family and on the third floor there is an explosives lab.”
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Palestinians to push for full EU recognition by end of year
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) In light of the collapsed peace talks with Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is planning a diplomatic push for full recognition by the European Union by the end of 2014, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told the Ramallah-based newspaper Al-Ayyam.
Al-Maliki said he had raised the issue before European foreign ministers, who promised to consider the Palestinian initiative favorably.
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Netanyahu blasts Presbyterian divestment from Israel
(JNS.org) Speaking to a Jerusalem gathering of nearly 300 international Jewish journalists on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) for its vote to divest from Israel.
“When the Middle East is fragmented in this horrible war, this savage, savage war between militant Shiites and militant Sunnis… the only place where you have freedom, tolerance, protection of minorities, protection of gays, protection of Christians and all other faiths, is Israel,” Netanyahu said at the first Jewish Media Summit.
PCUSA leaders voted Friday at the church’s biennial general assembly in Detroit to divest from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions, all companies that do business with Israel, in a 310-303 vote.
“Let’s arrange a bus tour for [Presbyterians] in the region. Let them go to maybe Syria, Lebanon, Iraq. I would give two pieces of advice, though: one, make sure the bus is an armored bus, and two, don’t say you are Christian,” said Netanyahu.
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Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee visits missing Israeli teen’s family
(JNS.org) Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee visited the family of kidnapped Israeli teen Naftali Frenkel on Sunday immediately after landing in Israel.
“I came here to show solidarity with the Frenkel family. This is a young man who is also an American citizen and I am here not just as an American, but as a father,” Huckabee said, according to Israel Hayom.
The former Republican presidential candidate said Israel and the world should do everything possible to get the three abducted teens back, and that the U.S. would always stand by Israel’s side in such difficult times.
“I think Israelis have every right, and America should be with Israel in saying: You touch that boy, who’s an American citizen, and you will have hell to pay for it. That should be the only message we are sending right now,” Huckabee said.
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Armed Gazan arrested after infiltrating southern Israel
(JNS.org) A terrorist armed with a grenade infiltrated southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Sunday. He was apprehended between the Yated and Sdei Avraham communities by a local patrol, Israel Hayom reported.
Israeli forces called to the scene arrested him and brought him in for interrogation. The man said he infiltrated the border to Israel from southern Gaza. No casualties were reported in the incident.
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Netanyahu: Israel has proof that Hamas is behind kidnapping
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) As the massive effort to rescue three kidnapped Israeli teens entered its 10th day on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel possesses “clear-cut evidence” that Hamas was behind the abduction.
“Soon, this information will be made public and then the world will put the remarks made by [Palestinian Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas in Saudi Arabia to the test in a practical manner,” Netanyahu said, referring to Abbas’ call for the release of the captured boys.
In his remarks last week, Abbas said the three teens are “human beings like us and should be returned.” He also vowed to dissolve the Fatah-Hamas unity government if Hamas is proven to have been behind the kidnapping, adding that those who kidnapped the three teenagers “want to destroy us” and that the Palestinian Authority would “hold them accountable.”
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Israeli teen killed by mortar fire from Syria
(JNS.org) A 13-year-old Israeli boy was killed Sunday in the Golan Heights by an explosion resulting from a mortar shell fired from Syria.
Three others were injured after the detonation of the mortar, which was fired from near the Quneitra crossing between Syria and the Israeli-controlled portion of the Golan Heights. The teenage victim, identified as Mohammed Karaka, was killed while riding in a vehicle with his father, an Israeli Defense Ministry employee working to bolster Israel’s border fence with Syria.
The Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit tweeted in reaction to the incident, “Today’s event on the #Syria border intentionally targeted Israelis. The explosion is the most serious attack against Israel in recent months.”
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Ex-Israeli coach David Blatt hired to lead NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers
(JNS.org) Coach David Blatt, who spearheaded the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv to a Euroleague championship this season, accepted a head-coaching job with the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday.
The 55-year-old Blatt hails from Massachusetts and played at Princeton University under Hall of Fame coach Pete Carill. Other than coaching Maccabi Tel Aviv, Blatt also coached in Greece, Russia, and Turkey over a 20-year career. He coached the Russian national team to the bronze medal at the Summer Olympics in London.
“I’m not leaving Maccabi for a bigger contract. I’m not necessarily leaving for a better place. I’m leaving to follow my dream [to coach in the NBA],” Blatt had said after announcing his resignation from Maccabi Tel Aviv earlier this month.
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