Israeli border policewoman seriously wounded in latest Palestinian attack
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) An Israeli border policewoman was seriously wounded on Monday morning when she was stabbed by a Palestinian woman at Rachel’s Crossing, the main transit point between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
The attacker was arrested at the scene and brought in for questioning. Three knives were found in her possession. The policewoman, who was stabbed in the neck, was transported to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital for medical treatment.
The stabbing marks the latest incident in a spate of Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces. Last Friday, a Palestinian man opened fire on Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in the Jordan Valley. Also recently, a border policeman was critically wounded in a stabbing by a Palestinian man outside Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate, two days after an Israeli man was killed and another wounded when a Palestinian attacker shot them in their vehicle in Samaria.
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Hamas official confirms that indirect talks with Israel are underway
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of Hamas’s leaders in the West Bank, confirmed that Israel and the Gaza-ruling Palestinian terrorist group are in the midst of negotiations through mediators.
Upon his recent release from Israeli prison, Yousef told Channel 1 journalist Yoram Cohen that Hamas and Israel are trying to work out a deal for a long-term truce. According to Yousef, the deal being negotiated involves Israel helping Gaza rebuild following last year’s war there and providing a floating port along the Gaza coast, in exchange for Hamas maintaining a state of calm over the long run.
Yousef warned that if Gaza is not rebuilt soon, Hamas violence would resume.
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Israel makes ‘uneventful’ interception of latest Gaza flotilla
(JNS.org) Israel on Monday intercepted a ship of pro-Palestinian activists that had set sail for Gaza on Friday in the latest attempt to breach the naval blockade of the coastal territory.
“In accordance with international law, the Israeli Navy advised the vessel several times to change course,” the Israel Defense Forces said. “Following their refusal, forces visited and searched the vessel in international waters in order to prevent the intended breach of the maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip. The forces have reported that use of force was unnecessary, and that the process was uneventful.”
Among those aboard the Marianne of Gothenburg vessel, which originated in Sweden, was an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, Basel Ghattas (Joint Arab List).
“I would like to express my appreciation to the sailors of the Israel Navy for their perfect and precise operation in stopping the ship off the coast of Gaza,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “This entire flotilla is hypocritical. There is no need for these small boats to deliver consumer goods or humanitarian assistance to Gaza. Since Operation Protective Edge, Israel has delivered 1.6 million tons of materials to Gaza, more than any other country, in a clear manner, as our unequivocal policy. This means almost a ton of equipment for every resident, 800 trucks a day.”
The flotilla effort had said it was attempting “to highlight the violation of the rights of 1.8 million Palestinians living in the world’s largest open-air prison.” Israel and Egypt maintain a naval blockade of Gaza in order to prevent the smuggling of weapons and other materials that can ultimately be used for terrorism against their countries.
The flotilla interception marks a much smoother operation for Israel than the events of May 2010, when a Turkish flotilla was intercepted by the IDF as it attempted to break the Gaza blockade. The confrontation turned violent after militants began attacking Israeli naval commandos, leading to the deaths of nine Turks and the deterioration of Israel’s relations with Turkey.
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Islamic State-signed leaflets threaten Jerusalem Christians with ‘massacre’
(JNS.org) Leaflets distributed in Jerusalem in the name of the Islamic State terror group threatened Christian residents of the city with a “massacre” if they do not evacuate by the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to Israeli media reports.
Haaretz reported the discovery of leaflets in several Jerusalem locations on Saturday that were signed by “Islamic State, Jerusalem Emirate” and stated, “We tell the heretic Christians, you must clear out immediately or we’ll massacre you on Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, and one month is time enough to evacuate.” Additionally, Israel National News reported that leaflets signed by “ISIS Palestine,” vowing “revenge” against Christians, were found in eastern Jerusalem on Thursday.
Islamic State is notorious for its brutal slaughtering of Christians and other regional minority groups during its conquests in Iraq and Syria.
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Earthquake hits Sinai coast, felt from Eilat to Tel Aviv
(JNS.org) An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale occurred off the coast of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula shortly after 6:30 p.m. Saturday and was felt all the way from Eilat at the southernmost tip of Israel to the greater Tel Aviv area in central Israel.
The epicenter of the seismic event was 39 miles from Eilat and 192 miles from Jerusalem. Hundreds of residents of metropolitan Tel Aviv and southern Israel reported feeling the quake, which they said lasted a few seconds. No injuries were reported. Flight traffic at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport was suspended for about 10 minutes while runways were inspected.
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Israeli wins gold medal at European judo competition
(JNS.org) An Israeli judo competitor, Sagi Muki, on Friday won the gold medal in the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, by defeating Georgian opponent Nugzari Tatalashvli in the 73-kilogram (161-pound) weight class. The win marks Israel’s first gold medal in that competition.
“I managed to grab the opponent after he made a mistake, and I scored an ippon (the highest score a competitor can achieve in a Japanese martial arts contest),” Muki told Sport TV. “I wasn’t in a rush, and I took advantage of the opportunity that I got. I’m ecstatic.”
For his victory, Muki will be awarded 40,000 shekels (about $10,500) from the Israeli Olympic Committee.
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Three Islamist terror attacks rock France, Tunisia, and Kuwait
(JNS.org) Three Islamist terrorist attacks killed at least 60 people around the world on Friday.
In France, terrorists attacked a U.S.-owned chemical plant near Lyon, which they tried to blow up but failed to do, leaving behind a beheaded body with the severed head pinned to the gate and covered with Arabic writing.
In Tunisia, at least one gunman opened fire at a beach resort, killing at least 37 people, most of them tourists. He was later shot to death by authorities. In Kuwait, a suicide bomber affiliated with the Islamic State terror group blew himself up in one of the largest Shiite mosques in Kuwait City during Friday prayers, killing at least 27 people.
While Col. Steve Warren, a U.S. Pentagon spokesman, warned that “it’s too soon to know whether these attacks were all coordinated or whether they were all just completely separate,” Islamic State issued a call for global jihad in an audio message earlier last week.
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Vatican signs first treaty with ‘State of Palestine’
(JNS.org) The Vatican on Friday signed its first official treaty with what it called the “State of Palestine,” while also urging “courageous decisions” to be made to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The treaty, which was announced in May, covers the Catholic Church’s activities in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher said he hopes the treaty will be a “stimulus to bringing a definitive end to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which continues to cause suffering for both parties,” Reuters reported.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the treaty “harms the international effort to convince the Palestinians to return to the negotiations table for direct talks with Israel.”
“Israel cannot accept the one-sided assertions in the agreement, which do not take into consideration Israel’s vital interests and the singular, historic status of the Jewish people in Jerusalem,” the ministry added.
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Pope Francis meets with B’nai B’rith delegation
(JNS.org) Pope Francis met with a delegation of Jewish leaders from B’nai B’rith International on Thursday at the Vatican, where he called for continued Jewish and Christian cooperation “for the good of the peoples of our time.”
Pope Francis said that “respect for life and creation, human dignity, justice, and solidarity unite us for the development of society and for securing a future rich in hope for generations to come,” Vatican Radio reported.
Founded in 1843, B’nai B’rith is the world’s oldest Jewish service organization and works to fight anti-Semitism and other human rights abuses, in addition to providing humanitarian aid and emergency assistance to those in need.
The meeting with Pope Francis “provided us an opportunity to directly reaffirm the bond between the Jewish community and Catholics worldwide” and “also gave our delegation an important chance to discuss urgent issues in the Middle East that affect both faiths in the region,” B’nai B’rith Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said.
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