Israeli security forces prevent stabbing attack near Jerusalem
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli security forces at the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem foiled a terrorist attack Friday morning.
The terrorist was arrested and there were no injuries reported among the Israeli troops.
According to available details, a Palestinian woman who arrived at the checkpoint on foot entered the vehicle lane and began approaching the troops while trying to conceal an object held in her hand. The troops called on the woman to stop, but she continued to advance in their direction. She drew a knife, at which point the troops fired in her direction.
The woman sustained minor injuries to her leg and was taken to a nearby hospital. She was placed under arrest.
The Qalandiya checkpoint is often targeted by terrorists. A similar attack was foiled Nov. 23.
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Defeating projections, Israeli economy grows by 3.5 percent in 2016
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Israeli economy grew by 3.5 percent in 2016, exceeding the Bank of Israel’s original prediction of 2.8 percent growth, the central bank’s research department said.
The bank’s data indicates that Israelis’ standard of living grew by 2.9 percent this year, that private consumption rose by 5.9 percent, and that per capita growth increased by 1.5 percent. The Bank of Israel had initially predicted 0.5 percent per capita growth in 2016. This year has also seen unemployment in Israel drop to a record low of 4.8 percent.
According to the data, first quarter economic growth was slow in 2016, but the economy began accelerating in the second quarter, when overall investments jumped by 10 percent—double the central bank’s original projection. Imports (excluding defense imports) rose by 10.2 percent this year, and overall consumption (excluding defense consumption) grew by 4.3 percent.
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Israel sees 27,000 new immigrants in 2016, slight dip from previous year
(JNS.org) Israel saw approximately 27,000 new immigrants arrive this year, with newcomers from Russia and Brazil rising significantly but overall immigrations down from 31,000 in 2015, according to newly released year-end figures from the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli Ministry of Aliyah and Immigration Absorption.
Some 7,000 immigrants arrived in Israel from Russia, which was the highest country total, up from 6,600 who arrived in 2015. But all the other top countries for aliyah saw declines from their 2015 totals. Approximately 5,500 immigrants arrived from Ukraine, compared to 7,221 who came last year. An estimated 5,000 new immigrants came from France, compared to 7,900 in 2015. Aliyah from the U.S. amounted to 2,900 immigrants, compared to 3,070 last year.
Nevertheless, there were increases in aliyah from some other countries. Newcomers from Brazil increased significantly, with some 760 immigrants in 2016 compared to 497 in 2015. Immigration from Belarus and South Africa also saw increases this year.
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Dozens of New Zealand pro-Israel groups slam anti-settlement UN resolution
(JNS.org) Twenty-seven pro-Israel organizations in New Zealand penned a letter to Prime Minister Bill English strongly objecting to his government’s support for the recent United Nations Security Council resolution targeting Israeli settlements.
The Dec. 23 resolution was first introduced by Egypt, which backed down after President-elect Donald Trump intervened, before New Zealand took the lead in pushing for a vote along with Senegal, Malaysia and Venezuela.
Haaretz reported Thursday that ahead of the vote, the U.K. worked with the Palestinian Authority to pressure New Zealand to push the vote forward.
“We are ashamed of the role of New Zealand in this travesty and feel betrayed by our government,” the New Zealand pro-Israel groups’ letter stated. “New Zealand partnered with Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela to sponsor the resolution, countries which do not share our liberal Western values. The resolution has been praised by Islamic Jihad and Hamas. This is nothing to be proud of.”
New Zealand’s support for the resolution came just a week before the end of the country’s two-year term on the Security Council.
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Arrested Hamas operative provides Israel with intelligence on terror tunnels
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A Hamas operative arrested by security forces after crossing the Gaza Strip border into Israel has provided the Israeli defense establishment with valuable intelligence on the Palestinian group’s grid of cross-border attack tunnels, the Shin Bet security agency revealed Wednesday.
Bilal Razania, 24, a member of Hamas’s Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades “military wing,” was arrested Nov. 27. He is the brother of Mustafa Razania, head of Hamas’s internal security apparatus.
Razania reportedly provided interrogators with extensive information on Hamas’s terror tunnel enterprise, his own operations as a sniper, and various other Hamas and Islamic Jihad operations and operatives. He told interrogators that during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, waged against Hamas in 2014, he relayed messages between his brother and top Hamas officials.
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‘Most impressive Jewish baseball team ever assembled’ to visit Israel
(JNS.org) Ten American Jewish professional baseball players who are representing Israel in an international tournament are visiting the Jewish state for a week starting Jan. 3.
The players are members of Team Israel’s squad for the next World Baseball Classic (WBC) tournament, which is scheduled for March 2017 in Seoul, South Korea. The visiting group includes Ty Kelly of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets, Ryan Lavarnway of the Oakland Athletics, Jon Moscot of the Cincinnati Reds, Corey Baker of St. Louis Cardinals’ Minor League system, Gabe Kapler of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ front office, and free agents Ike Davis, Sam Fuld, Josh Zeid, Cody Decker and Jeremy Bleich.
“The team is clearly the most impressive Jewish baseball team ever assembled, and we are very proud that they will be representing our country at the WBC,” said Peter Kurz, president of the Israel Association of Baseball.
According to the WBC’s rules, the American Jewish players can take the field for Israel in the international competition because they are eligible for Israeli citizenship.
While in Israel, the players will visit Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, an Israeli Air Force base, the Masada fortress and the Dead Sea, in addition to meeting Israeli baseball players and practicing for the WBC.
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Report: Arab lawmakers increasingly visit Palestinian terrorist and security prisoners
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Arab members of the Israeli Knesset legislature have been increasing their visits to Palestinian terrorist and security prisoners, a new report by Israel’s Shin Bet security agency revealed Tuesday.
The report found that in 2016 Arab Members of Knesset (MKs) submitted 13 requests to visit arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti and 14 requests to visit Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the outlawed northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel.
Barghouti, formerly the Palestinian Fatah party’s secretary general, is serving five consecutive life terms following his 2004 conviction on five counts of murder. Salah is serving a nine-month jail sentence following his May 2016 conviction on charges of incitement to violence and racism.
The Arab lawmakers also visited terrorist Mahmoud Jabarin, who killed three Israeli soldiers in 1992, and Bilal Kayed, an operative of the Salah a-Din Brigades who was convicted of a series of security offenses and plans to carry out terrorist attacks.
An ongoing investigation into MK Basel Ghattas (Joint Arab List)—who is suspected of smuggling cellular phones, SIM cards and coded messages to Fatah security prisoners in Ketziot Prison—prompted Israeli Police Major Crimes Unit investigators to look into his past visits to Palestinian security prisoners to see whether he smuggled contraband to them.
According to the Shin Bet report, Joint Arab List party leader MK Ayman Odeh visits Barghouti regularly, and MK Ahmad Tibi often visits both Barghouti and Salah.
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Israel exposes Arab terrorist cell that planned to target IDF soldiers
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel recently exposed an Arab terrorist cell that was planning to target Israeli soldiers in the southern part of the country, defense officials revealed Tuesday.
The cell’s three members were arrested in a joint police-Shin Bet security agency operation. Three Bedouins were also arrested on suspicion of aiding the cell’s operations.
According to the Shin Bet, terror cell members Mahmed Masri, 37, from Be’er Sheva, and Abdullah Abu Ayyash, 26, from the Bedouin town of Kuseife, allegedly planned to detonate explosives at soldiers’ hitchhiking posts, wait for first responders to arrive and then stage shooting attacks. The third suspect is a resident of Qalansawe, an Arab town in central Israel.
The Shin Bet said Masri’s apparent motive was the government’s outlawing of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel last year. Masri and Ayyash allegedly planned to target major bus stops and hitchhiking spots in the southern town of Dimona and at the Nevatim Airbase. They were planning to flee to Jordan after carrying out the attacks, the Shin Bet said.
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