Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Defense minister says Israel gathers intelligence ‘of very good quality
and we share it with our allies’
BY AFP AND TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF September 9, 2014, 1:15 pm |The Times of Israel|
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Tuesday called for world intelligence agencies to
work together against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
“In order to stop and overcome the Islamic State, we have learnt since 9/11 that there must be
cooperation between intelligence agencies from across the free world, a sharing of experience
and operational cooperation,” he told Israel Radio.
The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group is at the forefront of a sweeping assault that has overrun
swaths of Iraq and holds significant areas of territory in neighboring Syria.
US President Barack Obama on Friday called for a broad coalition to defeat the IS jihadists and
he is to chair a key UN Security Council session on the threat on September 24.
Asked about the proposed international coalition, former military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin
indicated Israel would likely share its intelligence with its allies.
“The intelligence that we gather in the Middle East — which deals with threats from Iran,
(Lebanon’s Shiite) Hezbollah, what’s happening in Syria, terrorist organizations in Sinai and the
Gaza Strip — is of very good quality and we share it with our allies,” he told the radio.
Reuters, citing an unnamed Western official, reported Monday that Israel had provided the US
with intelligence and satellite images on Islamic State positions, as well as information on
Westerners joining its ranks, to assist Washington in its ongoing operation against the Islamic
State.
Israeli spy satellites were said to have greater access to the region, allowing the US to “fill out
its information and get a better battle damage assessment” in the aftermath of its airstrikes, the
diplomat said, according to the report.
Last week, Yaalon adopted a recommendation by the Shin Bet internal security agency and
designated both the Islamic State and al-Qaeda affiliated Abdullah Azzam Brigades as an
“illegal organization” under Israeli law.
The move allows for legal measures to be taken against both organizations as well as anyone
found to be supporting or financing them.
Last week, IS released a video showing the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff, who also
reportedly held Israeli nationality, in the second such execution of a US journalist within a
fortnight.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades is a Lebanese jihadist group linked to Al-Qaeda which
periodically claims rocket fire on Israel.
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Date: Monday, September 8, 2014
By TOVAH LAZAROFF, GIL HOFFMAN
09/07/2014 21:47 |The Jerusalem Post |
The US and Israel are fighting a common battle in the Middle East against the same terrorist forces linked to radical Islam, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee said while visiting Israel last week.
“One thing we hope Americans understand. The enemies of Israel are the enemies of the US. Whether it’s the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaida, Hezbollah, Hamas – all are branches from the same evil tree,” he said.
He called on supporters of the Jewish state to join him on October 5 for a “Stand with Israel” rally his America Takes Action organization is co-sponsoring in Washington DC together with Concerned Women for America. The rally will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. in Upper Senate Park.
“Most of us get it. We know who the good guys are, we know who the bad guys are. We want all of America to understand,” Huckabee said and added that Israel was America’s one true friend in the region.
Huckabee issued his call as he stood in Gush Etzion along with MK Danny Danon (Likud) and regional council head Davidi Perl.
Danon said that a strong show of support from Americans at the rally was important for Israel and would make an impression on the Obama administration.
“We always hear criticism coming from the White House and the United Nations. I know there is a majority in the US that supports Israel,” Danon said.
Huckabee noted that they stood close to where Hamas kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers in June. Their deaths, he said, were part of the larger conflict with radical Islam, whose extremist followers threaten to kill those who do not follow their interpretation of the religion.
Huckabee, who is a strong supporter of Israel and often visits the country, also expressed his support for a new plan to build a fifth Jewish city in Judea and Samaria, named Gva’ot.
Last week, Israel drew international and Palestinian condemnation when it reclassified close to 400 hectares from survey land to state land, an initial first step toward building that project.
The reclassification marked the end of a civil administration investigation into the land’s status which determined that none of the parcels in question was private Palestinian property. Palestinians have argued that the land belongs to five area villages.
There is now a 45-day objection period.
Danon, who met Huckabee at a lookout point by the Gva’ot property, said that US Secretary of State John Kerry should come to Gush Etzion to see the situation for himself before criticizing the land reclassification.
When “Palestinians build in Hebron, it is legitimate. But it is also legitimate that Jews will build neighborhoods in Gush Etzion,” Danon said.
The international community is incorrect when it charges that Israel expropriated the land, he said, because it already belongs to the Jewish homeland.
“I would invite Secretary Kerry to come here and see what we are talking about. [On] vacant land in the heart of Israel, we want to build another Jewish neighborhood,” Danon said.
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Date: Friday, September 5, 2014
September 5, 2014|7:54 am |The Christian Post|
A Christian leader in the Holy Land has said that a "two state solution" for Israel and Palestine is the only way to achieve long-term peace in the region as the truce held out a second week; but another warned that reconciliation between the two societies remains a far away goal.
"It would be wonderful to see two states developed as this is the only way to keep lasting peace and for Islamic radicalism to be contained," Munir S. Kakish, chairman council of Local Evangelical Churches in the Holy Land, told The Christian Post in an email on Thursday. "A two state solution is good for both Israel and Palestine."
The long-term ceasefire agreed on by Israel and Hamas last week was brokered by Egypt and made in the hopes of stopping the fighting, which began in July and killed over 2,200 people, mostly civilians.
Israel targeted terror tunnels and Hamas sites across Gaza that were used to launch rocket attacks on Israeli territory, and accused the Palestinian militants of hiding out in residential areas and using people as human shields.
Hamas, on the other hand, blamed Israeli aggression for the high death toll, and said that a heavy economic blockade on Gaza had made life there extremely difficult.
"They want a meaningful ceasefire to end the seven years of blockade and travel restrictions that make Gaza one large prison. They want a deal to make life livable," Kakish told CP in a previous interview. "The West did not address the problems in the Gaza strip. The blockade, travel restrictions, economic disaster, lack of any healthcare have all created a condition where life is not acceptable."
A report by the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development added that even before the beginning of the violent conflict in July, Gaza's local economy was "in a state of total collapse" due to the blockade and previous military operations between Israel and Hamas in December 2008 and November 2012.
Liran Dan, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said last week that the terror tunnels had been destroyed, and despite the partial lifting of the Gaza blockade, Hamas failed in its goal to open a seaport and airport.
Some Israeli newspapers, such as Maariv, called the outcome of the conflict a "draw," Voice of America noted.
"Both have gained. Psychologically, Hamas has broken the idea that Israel can win wars. Also, the borders have been opened to bring in food, gas, and other materials that are badly needed. Neither side reached their initial goals. So far Hamas is not happy with the borders as they are not wide open, but they are claiming victory in the wake of destruction. Time will tell about airport and sea port," Kakish said on Thursday.
"Israel gained by destroying many tunnels but did not accomplish long term peaceful borders and disarmament of Gaza."
A ministry director of a group working to bring Israelis and Palestinians together told CP on Friday that, despite the long-term truce, reconciliation between the two societies is still a long way off.
"I don't think our societies are moving toward reconciliation, not only among Israelis and Palestinians, but also because there are many internal divisions within Israeli society and Palestinian society that need to be dealt with. Also, while this remains, both communities will continue to experience the economic pull of the conflict," said Salim J. Munayer, the director and founder of Musalaha Ministry of Reconciliation.
He added that if the fundamental issues behind the conflict are not addressed, namely "security, recognition for both Israelis and Palestinians and an end to the occupation for the Palestinians," then the violence is bound to flare up again.
"From my point of view, peace is the best means for there to be security as well as economic security," Munayer said.
Kakish agreed that war could erupt again in the future. He added that Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization are unlikely to agree that the PLO should rule Gaza.
"With their PLO soldiers of about 1,000 on each border, the unity government will collapse. This is what Israel wanted all along. Israel knew that the PLO rule in a unity government will not last. Both parties, PLO and Hamas, are working hard and arguing how best to work together as Palestinians," Kakish said.
"PLO leadership and the Palestinians are fed up with no solutions. Israel showed weariness and weakness in her latest wars with Hisballah and Hamas. This gave momentum for [PLO Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas to propose his latest proposals — ask for a Palestinian state with a deadline to end Israeli occupation."
He added that Abbas could use Palestine's upgraded status at the U.N. to take Israel to the crime courts if the terms are not agreed, while Israel could do the same with Hamas.
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Date: Thursday, September 4, 2014
Russ Jones (OneNewsNow.com) Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Members of the Boy and Girl Scouts of Israel are in Memphis, Tenn. teaching about Israel to both Jewish and Christian
scouts.
Arad Drori is on a two-month service trip and is working at the Jewish Community Center in Memphis.
During Drori's stay here in the U.S., his homeland has been embroiled in a bitter war with Hamas. He says his heart "feels like
it's in Israel," but the war with Hamas makes his presence in the United States even more important.
"Because then I can explain things more and I can really get the community to be supportive about Israel, which it does," he
tells OneNewsNow.
Next year Drori turns 18 and will fulfill his three-year mandatory military service for Israel.
"Everybody wants to be in the army, wants to serve the country," he says.
That's because being in the Israeli army makes its solders feel like they're a "true citizen of the state," he adds.
Drori says he has seen firsthand strong support of Israel from Jews and Christians during his time in the U.S.
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Date: Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Israel won the military conflict with Hamas, but it and Jews around the world are facing the most hostile environment since World War II. We have noted the surge in anti-Semitism in Europe. Relations with the United States are frayed, and the president’s animus toward our closest Middle East ally is hard to miss.
But in the sea of troubles there is a bright spot, namely the unflagging support for the Jewish state from American evangelicals. This was not a foregone conclusion, although now we have grown accustomed to polls showing that the highest level of support for Israel is among Christian conservatives. Christians United for Israel is by far the largest pro-Israel organization with 1.8 million members. Concerned Women for America recently added support for Israel to its short list of key issues.
Penny Nance, executive director of CWA, told me that in the wake of the Gaza war and with rabid anti-Semitism in Europe and the Middle East, “We felt we needed to do something.” That something turned out to be a rally in Washington on Oct. 5, co-hosted by former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
“I’ve lost count!” says Huckabee when I asked him during a brief phone interview how many times he has been to Israel. In 2014 alone he has gone 3 times (the most recent departing Saturday night). “I first went 41 years ago. I was 17,” he recalls.
Like many pro-Israel Christians, he sees “an important connection between our countries” as vibrant democracies (“My Lord, their [political] arguments among themselves make us look like pikers!”) where women’s rights are protected, politicians are held accountable (he recalls the prosecution of former prime minister Ehud Olmert) and the press is free from government restraint.
So, he’s no stranger to Israel policy. However, his participation in the October rally comes at a time he is plainly troubled by current events and concerned about international criticism of Israel. “A lot of people are very naïve about the Middle East,” he observes. “Whether it is ISIS or Egypt or Iran all are tied together by one key fact. [The Islamists’ objectives] are not about territory. It’s about the annihilation of anyone who doesn’t agree with their ideology.”
Huckabee contends that the media, and many in the GOP, don’t understand how critical foreign policy is to evangelicals. “It is one of my frustrations, especially with the donor class. Obviously they never spent more than three minutes with us,” he says. “We are not tribal; we’re global.” He contends that the media and GOP candidates are kidding themselves if they think simply being in agreement on marriage and the life issue will be enough to win over evangelicals.
In holding the rally, Huckabee and CWA aim to impress upon voters and politicians alike the importance of support for Israel and the threat of spreading Islamic radicalism, which both Israel and the United States face. Without naming names, he voices his exasperation about the lack of seriousness and failure to appreciate the interconnectedness of the Islamist threat. “A lot of Americans don’t get it,” he says bluntly.
As for a potential presidential run, Huckabee sits atop many polls but somehow evades the chattering class’s radar. He seems in no rush to make up his mind. He says, “It’s certainly important to wait until after the 2014 midterms. For me, I’ll decide at the end of the first quarter of 2015, definitely by the end of the second quarter.” He has virtually 100 percent name recognition and a platform with Fox News so it makes sense for him to see how things play out. But the rally and Huckabee’s participation in it are timely reminders that the evangelical community is going to grill candidates on Israel and foreign policy just as stringently as they will on social issues. You get the sense that fair weather friends of Israel need not apply.
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Date: Wednesday, August 27, 2014
GAZA CITY — Palestinians in the Gaza Strip poured into the streets Tuesday to celebrate the announcement that Hamas and Israel had agreed to an open-ended cease-fire after 50 days of warfare that has killed more than 2,200 people.
“We have won,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri exulted at a news conference in front of Shifa Hospital. He said the group’s fighters had accomplished “what no Arab army has done. We have defeated them,” referring to Israel.
His exuberance aside, officials from Hamas and another Gaza-based militant group, Islamic Jihad, said the cease-fire agreement essentially brings Israel and Palestinians back to terms agreed on in the truce signed after the 2012 Gaza war.
A senior official in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, speaking about the latest cease-fire on the condition of anonymity, said Hamas had gained little, if anything, from the conflict, which has left vast tracts of Gaza in ruins.
“Hamas is now finally accepting a cease-fire proposal that was first proposed by Egypt on July 15,” the official said. “There is nothing more to the proposal than there was a month and a half ago.”
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. "strongly supported" the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas and asked all sides to comply with its terms. (AP)
Under the deal, Israel will immediately ease restrictions on Gaza and allow relief aid and construction materials to enter the coastal enclave. The deal will also allow Gaza fishermen to venture six miles offshore; until now, they were restricted to three miles.
Other demands by the Palestinians — building a seaport and an airport, opening all border crossings and improving the movement of goods and people — are set to be discussed in Cairo. Israel also will press its demand that Gaza be demilitarized.
The cease-fire deal was modest. To be dealt with later are the big questions about who will control the Gaza Strip: Hamas, which currently runs the enclave and denies Israel’s right to exist, or the Palestinian Authority, which is committed to nonviolence and has been unsuccessfully seeking to create a sovereign state in the West Bank and Gaza.
U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry welcomed the deal and urged the two sides to “fully and completely comply with its terms.”
Kerry also sounded a note of caution, saying in a statement: “We are all aware that this is an opportunity, not a certainty. . . . We are approaching the next phase with our eyes wide open. We have been down this road before, and we are all aware of the challenges ahead.”
The senior Netanyahu aide expressed similar views, saying, “There have been 11 cease-fire attempts that have either been rejected or violated by Hamas, and the key to moving forward and easing the restrictions is honoring cease-fires.”
In Gaza City, residents who an hour earlier were hunkered down in their houses, listening to rocket and missile fire, burst into the streets after the deal was announced.
Hamas and Israel have agreed to an open-ended cease-fire after 50 days of warfare that has killed more than 2,200 people.
Aug. 26, 2014Palestinians celebrate what they said was a victory over Israel following a cease-fire in Gaza City. Suhaib Salem/Reuters
There were fireworks and chants, and flags of Hamas and Islamic Jihad were waved while banners celebrated the sacrifices of martyrs. Israeli drones continued to fly overhead, as they have for the entire conflict.
During his emotional news conference, Abu Zuhri boasted that the Gaza brigades had shut down Tel Aviv’s international airport and that Hamas rocket fire had forced Israeli residents in the border communities to flee their homes.
“Whatever Netanyahu says, he will not be able to defend his failure,” the Hamas spokesman said.
Meanwhile, even as Hamas leaders started to announce the deal, mortar rounds fired from Gaza killed two Israeli civilians and seriously injured several others on a kibbutz near the border, and Israeli airstrikes claimed eight lives in Gaza.
The conflict has killed about 2,130 Palestinians and 70 Israelis.
Israeli news media reported that the Netanyahu cabinet was split on the decision to accept the cease-fire proposal brokered by Egypt.
The fiercest critic appeared to be the hawkish economy minister, Naftali Bennett, who, according to the news portal Walla, had requested that Netanyahu bring the proposal to a cabinet vote.
Community leaders from Israeli farm towns bordering the Gaza Strip — those hit hardest by rocket fire from the enclave, especially in the past few days — were skeptical about the cease-fire agreement, telling Israeli news channels that only time will tell whether the deal is for real.
“The leaders on both sides will probably each declare victory, while the people on each side do not feel like they are victors at all,” said Miri Eisin, a former army colonel who served as the deputy head of Israel’s combat intelligence corps.
“I am not sure that this is a cease-fire or that it will be respected any better than the previous ones,” said Giora Eiland, former head of Israel’s National Security Council. “We will need to wait two or three days to see if this is stable enough. All previous declarations were not very reliable.”
‘A lose-lose situation’
“It is much more a lose-lose situation than a decisive victory to either side,” Eiland said.
Israeli hard-liners are complaining that the deal did little to guarantee that Hamas would not quickly rearm and begin firing rockets and mortar rounds again.
“The decision to accept the latest cease-fire with Hamas is completely without justification,” said Danny Danon, a member of parliament and leader of Netanyahu’s Likud party.
“After thousands of rockets fired at our cities, and scores of Israelis killed and wounded, we are agreeing to accept the very situation that allowed Hamas to arm itself and prepare its forces for their murderous attacks on Israel,” Danon said.
Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, made the cease-fire announcement in front of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
“We accept the cease-fire,” Abbas said. “It will provide food and construction materials for Gaza,” which he described as being in a “disastrous situation, almost unimaginable.”
“Later we will have more talks,” he said.
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Date: Tuesday, August 26, 2014
BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF August 26, 2014, 10:39 am |The Times of Israel|
As fighting between Israel and Hamas persisted for a 50th day Tuesday, retired US general John Allen was set to meet with Israeli officials to discuss the possible renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians once the Gaza operation ends.
John Allen, a four-star marine and former commander of US forces in Afghanistan, arrived on an unannounced visit Monday night, Israel Radio reported.
He was previously involved in drawing up a US plan for security arrangements in the Jordan Valley reportedly rejected by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
His visit comes as Egyptian and Palestinian negotiators say the sides are working toward a ceasefire to end nearly two months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said late Monday the Islamist group conceded that there are contacts to reach a truce between Israel and the Palestinian factions and that “the efforts are advancing more than in the past, but we haven’t received a concrete response from Israel.”
“We’re prepared to discuss at a later stage the various controversial issues: the sea port, the prisoners and the airport,” he said. “What’s important at this stage is ending the Israeli aggression, opening the crossings and rebuilding the Strip.”
Zuhri did not mention the lifting of Israel’s naval blockade which has been a main sticking point in negotiations.
Hamas is demanding an agreement to lift the blockade as part of a ceasefire whereas an Egyptian proposal, that Israel is said to support, calls for a lull first followed by talks on major issues.
Israel has not released any information about ceasefire talks. In the past officials in Jerusalem have said Israel would only negotiate if rocket fire stopped as part of a truce.
Rocket fire continued on Tuesday morning with several people lightly injured after a rocket hit a home in the southern town of Ashkelon.
Earlier in the morning Hamas said it fired a barrage of rockets including four at Tel Aviv and one at Haifa. The terror group said the rockets were in response to the overnight bombing of a tower block in Gaza City that left two dead and 20 injured. The IDF said one rocket was intercepted over Tel Aviv by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
The US has presented its own draft elements for a Security Council resolution on a ceasefire between Israel, Hamas and other Gaza-based terror groups, Reuters reported Monday, and is working with other countries on a joint text.
US officials and UN diplomats said the US draft has been presented to several countries and follows a separate text brought forward by Jordan and a previous one jointly by Britain, France and Germany.
“The US has come up with its own draft,” a UN diplomat, who declined to be named, told Reuters. “It’s quite different from the two others. Now they’re working to combine the drafts and come up with a common text.”
“We’ll work on coming up with a single draft,” another UN diplomat told Reuters “What’s important is that the Americans are engaging and there’s a new momentum in pushing for a ceasefire resolution in the Security Council that would be better than previous ones.”
UN diplomats said the US and Israel have been increasingly open to the idea of a Security Council resolution on a ceasefire.
Hamas has fired over 4,000 rockets at Israel in the past 50 days, including some 600 from close to schools, mosques and other civilian facilities, the Israeli army says.
Over 2,000 people have been killed in Gaza as Israel seeks to thwart the rocket attacks and smash a network of attack tunnels dug by Hamas under the border.
Gaza-based human rights groups claim over 70 percent of those killed are civilians, while Israel asserts 750-1,000 of the dead are Hamas and other gunmen.
It also blames Hamas for all civilian fatalities, since Hamas set up its rocket launchers, tunnel openings and other elements of its war machine in Gaza neighborhoods and uses Gazans as human shields.
Sixty-eight people have died on the Israeli side: 64 soldiers and 4 civilians, most recently a 4-year-old boy killed by mortar fire on Friday.
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Date: Monday, August 25, 2014
Ryan Jones| Israel Today | Monday, August 25, 2014
One of the hot topics on the agenda at Sunday’s cabinet meeting in Jerusalem was whether or not the Israeli school year could begin as scheduled next Monday, even as Hamas and its terrorist allies continue to pound much of the country with rockets and mortars.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu determined that towns and communities in the vicinity of Gaza, those most often targeted by the terrorists, will only open the school year if their respective local school facilities have been reinforced against missile strikes.
Many schools in southern Israel have been reinforced, but not all.
Other options tabled at the meeting were to allow students from southern Israel to attend classes virtually via their home computers, or to hold studies in large community bomb shelters.
In truth, it might not matter what the government decides, because most of the residents of the area known as the “Gaza envelope” fled their homes amidst incessant rocket fire, and vowed they will not return until the IDF can fully curb the threat.
Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said the government would provide assistance to any families wishing to relocate away from the Gaza envelope, which to many sounded dangerously close to admitting that Hamas had succeeded in permanently driving Jews away from another part of their promised land.
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/24874/Default.aspx
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Date: Friday, August 22, 2014
BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF AND REBECCA SHIMONI STOIL August 21, 2014, 9:17 pm
A hold up in the US supply of Hellfire missiles to Israel has been resolved and the incident
“is behind us,” Israel’s Channel 10 news quoted a senior Israeli official as saying on
Thursday night. The official said Israel had been assured that the suspension of the sale
“was just bureaucracy.”
The unconfirmed report did not specify when the weapons would be delivered.
The news came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed American support for Israel
during the ongoing war against Hamas, noting that he spoke almost daily with Secretary of State
John Kerry, and had held four calls with President Barack Obama since the conflict erupted 45
days ago.
A senior Israeli official last Thursday had confirmed to Israeli media that the US suspended a
planned shipment of Hellfire precision missiles.
The decision to hold off on the transfer was most likely on grounds of increased diplomatic
tension, the official said, corroborating a Wall Street Journal report that day on the affair.
The Journal report claimed that US-Israeli tensions were at a record high, with Obama and
Netanyahu said to have held a “particularly combative phone call” the previous day.
Later last Thursday, the State Department said that weapons shipments to Israel would
be undergoing additional review due to the war in Gaza, but denied that the Pentagon had engaged
in weapons transfers to Israel behind the back of the White House and State Department.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf said she was not aware that anyone had been “caught off-guard” by
such transfers.
Harf described an inter-agency process, including the Pentagon, White House and State
Department, to review such transfers, and said that she “would disagree” with the report in the
Journal to the effect that the State Department and White House were “surprised” that the
Pentagon continued to provide weapons to Israel.
The State Department spokesperson worked to downplay the scale and implications of the
additional review. “As I have said many times, the US has an unshakable commitment to Israel’s
security,” Harf asserted, citing Obama’s recent approval of an additional funding package for the
Iron Dome missile defense project.
“There has been no change in policy” regarding Israel’s security assistance, Harf insisted. She
added, however, that given the situation, it is natural that there would be “additional care” taken in
the review process. She emphasized that “additional steps” were not tantamount to an official
“review” of US military aid for Israel.
“It’s not an unusual step,” Harf said. “The general principle is that when there is an ongoing crisis
or conflict in which we are providing weapons, we would take an additional look at it,” she said.
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Date: Monday, August 18, 2014
BY MITCH GINSBURG AND AP August 18, 2014, 7:14 pm Updated: August 18, 2014, 7:44 pm |The Times of Israel |
Israel’s Shin Bet security service said Monday it thwarted a Hamas coup attempt in the West Bank aimed at toppling Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and starting a third intifada uprising.
The Shin Bet said it arrested more than 90 Hamas operatives in May and June, confiscated dozens of weapons that had been smuggled into the West Bank, and seized more than $170,000 aimed at funding attacks. It produced photos of the confiscated weapons and cash and a flowchart of the Hamas operatives who had been questioned, and said they planned a series of massive attacks on Israeli targets, including the Temple Mount, in order to start a widespread conflagration. Indictments are expected to be filed against at least 70 of the suspects.
Terror cells were set up in dozens of Palestinian West Bank towns and villages — including in and around Jenin, Nablus, eastern Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Hebron — the Shin Bet said.
Many of those recruited for the cells were students studying chemistry and engineering, and academics, according to the investigation.
Weapons caches discovered by the Shin Bet during a sweep of Hamas operatives in May and June, 2014 (photo credit: Shin Bet)
The Shin Ben said the plot was orchestrated by senior Hamas official Salah al-Arouri, who is based in Turkey and enjoys the support of the local officials there.
Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 from forces loyal to Abbas. It is currently negotiating in Cairo over a ceasefire to formally end the past six weeks of Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Israel-Hamas fighting was preceded by Israeli arrests of hundreds of Hamas members in the West Bank following the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers in June. The Shin Bet said it uncovered the West Bank coup plot due to information gleaned from those arrests.
The three teens — Eyal Yifrah, Gil-ad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel — were slain on June 12 in the West Bank. Their killings were followed by the slaying of a Palestinian youth in what was a likely revenge attack. Hamas stepped up rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza, leading to Israeli airstrikes from July 8 at the start of what was called Operation Protective Edge. Nine days later, Israel sent in ground troops to destroy Hamas’s underground cross-border tunnels constructed for attacks inside Israel.
Detailing what it said was the thwarted bid to topple the PA in the West Bank, the Shin Bet said Monday that Hamas military cells in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, run through headquarters in Turkey, sought to execute a string of attacks against Israel, overthrow the PA, and establish a second front against Israel during Operation Protective Edge.
The Shin Bet revealed that during a three-month operation, it arrested 93 activists and confiscated 24 rifles, six pistols, seven rocket launchers, a large amount of ammunition, a getaway car, and funds amounting to over NIS 600,000 (some $170,000). It said that the infrastructure for the unusually “severe” string of attacks was based, also, on a “forward front in Jordan.”
Using a network of couriers to Jordan and Turkey, the Shin Bet said, the Hamas activists transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars of funds into the West Bank, with the intention of purchasing arms, and preparing safe houses, warehouse for weapons and laboratories for manufacturing rockets.
The leader of the operation, Riad Nasser, a resident of the village Dir Kadis, was recruited by al-Arouri, the head of West Bank operations for Hamas abroad, the Shin Bet said. Al-Arouri was one of the founders of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing
The Times of Israel’s Avi Issacharoff reported in June that, according to an Israeli security official, al-Arouri was behind the kidnapping and killing of the three Israeli teens on June 12.
Udeh Zaharan, a resident of Zarka in Jordan and a former Israeli security prisoner, funneled the money into the West Bank via a network of couriers, the Shin Bet said.
Other key operatives included Majdi Mafarja, a resident of Beit Likiya, who has a doctorate in computer science and was recruited in Malaysia. According to the Shin Bet, he was arrested on May 22 and admitted during interrogation that he had served as courier for apparently encoded messages for the military wing of Hamas.
Salah Barakat, an Israeli citizen and resident of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa, was arrested on July 1 and admitted, too, to passing messages from the Hamas diaspora to the operatives in the field.
Suspected key terrorists arrested by the Shin Bet during a sweep of Hamas operatives in May and June, 2014 (photo credit: Shin Bet)
Muhammad Kafaya, a former leader in the Hamas student union in Abu Dis University, was arrested on June 27. He turned over 19 rifles and five handguns.
The Shin Bet called the network “one of the most widespread we have known,” and said that its existence pointed to the danger of Hamas operations abroad, particularly in light “of Hamas’ strategic intentions of toppling the PA.”
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