Russian victim of Jaffa terror attack praises care he has received in Israel
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Yevgeny and Irina Tsiplin, a Russian couple wounded in Tuesday’s Palestinian stabbing spree in Jaffa, say they are grateful for the medical care they received and continue to receive following the incident.
Tsiplin was treated for mild injuries and released from Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center, where his wife, who is six months pregnant, continues to receive medical care for moderate injuries. The couple was visiting Israel for the first time.
“The doctors told us that everything is fine with the pregnancy,” Tsiplin said.
He went on to describe the circumstances of the attack, saying, “We came to Israel to travel on our own for 10 days, and [on Tuesday] we decided to visit the boardwalk. The terrorist ran up and injured me and then my wife….There was a group of American tourists beside us, and he also attacked them. There was a doctor among the group and he was the first to help us until emergency services arrived.”
Despite the shock of the attack, he said, “What happened to us could have happened anywhere in the world, so I am not afraid to come back here. We really enjoyed ourselves, and that is also what we will tell our friends.”
Tsiplin also pointed out the kindness he was treated with following the attack. “The attack was a terrible tragedy, but the way we were cared for and the treatment we received were amazing,” he said. “We received outstanding medical care, and people came to talk to us and to offer help, including social workers and even the mayor of Tel Aviv.”
There are seven wounded victims from Tuesday’s attack who are still hospitalized. The tourists who were injured are being afforded the same rights as Israeli terror victims, despite not holding Israeli citizenship. Israel’s National Insurance Institute visited the victims in the hospital to ensure their needs were met and is now looking into the possibility of flying in family members to accompany foreign victims.
American business school student Taylor Force, 29, was killed in Tuesday’s attack.
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Israeli Shin Bet agent killed by friendly fire near Gaza
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli Shin Bet security service agent Amir Maimoni, 29, was killed Tuesday night while on operational duty near the Gaza Strip. Thousands gathered on Wednesday to lay him to rest at a military cemetery in southern Israel.
Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, who eulogized Maimoni, confirmed that he was killed by friendly fire from a fellow unit member. The Shin Bet, Israel’s clandestine internal security agency, opened an investigation into the circumstances leading to the tragic incident.
Cohen said, “This was another necessary and complex operation in which you took part as a fighter and commander, same as you have done these past two years since joining our ranks. You did this out of a sense of duty and desire to contribute to the security of the people and country. Your family…which is deeply rooted [to the country] and is sadly no stranger to bereavement, instilled in you the values, sense of duty and desire to contribute. Unfortunately, there was a tragic operational development that took place last night during a mission in the field….As a result, a fellow Shin Bet officer misidentified [Maimoni] and shot at Amir, hitting him. All efforts to revive him were for naught.”
Maimoni’s father, Efraim, said of his son: “We don’t know what Amir did within the framework of his job, but we know he was a hero.”
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France lobbying Arab states to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian talks before August
(JNS.org) French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault is seeking support from Arab states in an effort to relaunch peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
“[The Israeli-Palestinian conflict] is a powder keg waiting to explode,” said a senior French diplomat ahead of Ayrault’s two-day visit to Egypt, where he will meet with Arab ministers, Reuters reported Wednesday. “Everybody sees it, and yet nobody is doing anything. We know this isn’t going to be resolved in three months, but it’s imperative to give a new political horizon to the process.”
France reportedly plans to ask Arab countries to commit to a conference, taking place before May, that would set forth incentives aiming to jump start Israeli-Palestinian negotiations by August.
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Jewish Agency to distribute $1 million to terror victims and their families
(JNS.org) The Jewish Agency for Israel on Wednesday announced that it will distribute a total of $1 million to more than 100 victims of the current Palestinian terror wave in Israel.
“The support provided by Jewish communities around the world is not only financial in nature. This is an expression of Diaspora Jewry’s solidarity with the people of Israel, which is also manifested by the hundreds of thousands of Jews who visit Israel, the tens of thousands of Jewish young people who participate in Israel experience programs, and the record number of Jews who choose to immigrate to Israel—even now,” Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said in a statement.
The funds will be disbursed by the Jewish Agency’s Fund for Victims of Terror in cooperation with the Jewish Federations of North America and Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal. Each terror victim or victim’s family member will receive about $6,400, on top of a grant of slightly more than $1,000 that the Jewish Agency already offers them to help with immediate needs.
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Intel buys Israeli company Replay Technologies, reportedly for $175 million
(JNS.org) The Intel Corporation has acquired Replay Technologies, an Israeli sports imaging company.
Intel announced the acquisition on its website, but did not disclose the purchase price, which the Jerusalem Post reported as $175 million.
Tel Aviv-based Replay is a start-up that developed a 3-D video technology already being used by U.S. professional sports broadcasters. The National Basketball Association’s All-Star Weekend recently used Replay’s technology to provide a 360-degree view of that weekend’s slam dunk contest.
“Intel has been collaborating with Replay since 2013 to optimize their interactive, immersive video content on Intel platforms,” Intel said. “Technology now plays an unprecedented role in sports—and we’re just getting started.”
Founded in 2011, Replay has raised a total of $27 million—including $13.5 million raised last month with the help of Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners.
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Iran fires missiles labeled ‘Israel must be wiped out’
(JNS.org) Iran on Wednesday reportedly test-fired two ballistic missiles inscribed with the wording “Israel must be wiped out.” The missile test comes in the aftermath of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, an agreement that Israel vehemently opposes due to Iran’s hostile attitude towards the Jewish state and its funding of terrorism by groups such as Hamas.
The semi-official Iranian Fars news agency published pictures claiming to show the Qadr H missiles being fired in Iran’s eastern Alborz mountain range at a target some 870 miles away off Iran’s coast in the Sea of Oman.
Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division, said the test was intended to show Israel that Iran has the capability to hit it, Fars reported.
“The 1,240-mile range of our missiles is to confront the Zionist regime,” Hajizadeh said. “Israel is surrounded by Islamic countries and it will not last long in a war. It will collapse even before being hit by these missiles.”
This missile launch comes shortly after the launch of several other missiles by the Islamic Republic, which was criticized by the U.S. State Department.
“If confirmed, we intend to raise the matter in the U.N. Security Council. We will also encourage a serious review of the incident and press for an appropriate response. This development underscores why we continue to work closely with partners around the world to slow and degrade Iran’s missile program,” Deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Tuesday, CBS News reported.
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‘Guitar hero’ to get new instruments after using his against terrorist in Jaffa
(JNS.org) An online fundraising campaign on GoFundMe has been launched to replace the guitar of 26-year-old Israeli man Yishay Montgomery, who on Tuesday broke his guitar by using it to subdue a terrorist who went on a stabbing rampage on the boardwalk near Jaffa. In the incident, visiting American business school student and U.S. army veteran Taylor Force, 29, was killed, and 11 Israelis were injured.
Montgomery, who has been dubbed ”guitar hero,” was playing his guitar on the street when the attack began. “I was sitting on the beach and I heard screaming coming from down the road,” he told Israel’s Channel 2. “I immediately got up and started running after [the terrorist] with the guitar—I hit him on the head with it. He was so shocked he didn’t know what to do with himself.”
A local music store has already gifted Montgomery with a replacement guitar. Meanwhile the fundraising campaign, which has so far raised $2,304—exceeding its $2,000 goal—states that “Yishay may very well have saved many lives as he neutralized the attack. He deserves a new top of the line guitar or two or 3. Only the best for this life saving guitar hero! We love you Yishay!”
The launcher of the campaign, Ed Dvir in Philadelphia, wrote on the fundraising page he plans to purchase several guitars and deliver them to Montgomery when he visits Israel.
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Palestinian terror surge, media incitement continue after American veteran killed
(JNS.org) Two Palestinian terrorists were shot dead by Israeli police on Wednesday after carrying out two shooting attacks in which one Israeli man was seriously hurt with a head injury. Passengers on an Israeli bus alerted police when they saw the two terrorists on the street and heard them shooting. Israeli police chased the suspects, shooting at them and eventually killing them.
The incident took place around the same time as another Palestinian terrorist tried to stab Israeli soldiers at the Salfit checkpoint near Ariel in Samaria. He was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers.
The incidents come after a Palestinian terrorist killed a visiting American business school student and U.S. army veteran, 29-year-old Taylor Force, and wounded 11 Israelis in the port city of Jaffa. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a special security situation assessment late Tuesday night following the day’s attacks, with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh, and Shin Bet security agency and military officials in attendance. The Israeli officials agreed on a series of new counterterrorism measures, including inspecting and repairing breaches to the security fence in Jerusalem, and constructing a new section of the Israeli security fence near the Palestinian town of Tarqumiyah, west of Hebron.
The ministers also agreed to promote the quick passage of a law imposing harsher punishment on people who harbor or aid terrorists, or on media outlets inciting terrorism, as well as the tightening of procedures for the allotment of commerce and work permits inside Israel. “This is a state of emergency. We have to generate deterrence, and I can only hope all the bleeding hearts that are busy lecturing us wake up to reality,” said Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud), Israel Hayom reported.
In a meeting with U.S Vice President Joe Biden, who arrived in Israel on Tuesday just as news of Force’s death broke, Netanyahu said, “We have taken many steps in recent months to fight Palestinian terrorism and we’re taking even stronger measures now. I believe that to fight terror, all civilized societies must stand together, and while Israel has many partners in this decisive battle, we have no better partner than the United States of America.”
Meanwhile, the Palestinian political faction Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (PA) both celebrated Force’s death by posting a drawing of a knife held over the PA map of “Palestine”—which in the map includes all of Israel, not just PA territory—on Fatah’s official Facebook page, and by referring to the murdered American and the other victims as “settlers” on official PA television. PA TV also referred to Force’s killer as a “Shahid.”
“Official PA TV coined the American and other victims ‘settlers.’ The PA often calls all Israeli cities—‘occupied’—and all Israelis, ‘settlers,’ a category of people they have claimed that international law gives them the right to murder. By calling the American a ‘settler’—even though he is not Israeli and was in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, official PA TV news is putting the blame on the victim,” Palestinian Media Watch reported.
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