Tag Archives: Israel

Israeli soldiers kill three Palestinians in West Bank

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday including one the military said had tried to stab a soldier, as four months of tensions simmered.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 21-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli army gunfire during a confrontation between troops and protesters in the town of Beit Jalla, near Bethlehem. The military said troops had fired at “rioters who hurled firebombs and rocks at the soldiers”.

In a separate incident, a military spokeswoman said troops fatally shot a Palestinian who got out of a car and tried to stab a soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron. The driver of the vehicle was shot and wounded, and fled the scene, the spokeswoman added. Palestinian officials said he died.

Since Oct. 1, Palestinian stabbings, car-rammings and shooting attacks have killed 24 Israelis and a U.S. citizen. The wave of bloodshed has raised fears of wider escalation, a decade after the last Palestinian uprising subsided.

During the period, Israeli forces or armed civilians have killed at least 142 Palestinians, 90 of whom authorities described as assailants. Most others have been killed in clashes with security forces.

Four Israelis, including a soldier and a prison officer, were charged on Tuesday with aggravated assault in connection with the death of an Eritrean national, who was shot and beaten after being mistaken for a gunman during an attack in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Oct. 18.

An Arab citizen of Israel shot and killed one person and wounded 11 in the incident. He was shot dead, and a security guard also fired at the Eritrean, wounding him.

The Eritrean, an asylum-seeker, was then set upon by the four defendants, who prosecutors said kicked him as he lay on the ground and hit him with a bench. He died of his wounds.

The security guard, who authorities said had acted reasonably in the heat of the shooting attack, was not charged.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta, Writing by Ori Lewis, Editing by Jeffrey Heller)

Israel Retaliates After Hezbollah Bombs Army Vehicles

Israel launched a military response after Islamic militants bombed one of its army convoys on Monday, reports indicate.

According to the BBC, Israel’s artillery attack against the Lebanese village of Wazzani was a retaliatory measure after the Islamic militant group Hezbollah claimed responsibility for attacking Israeli vehicles that were patrolling contested territory near the Lebanon border.

Hezbollah’s bombing came in the wake of the death of one of its key members, the BBC reported, and the Lebanon-based group had previously said it would seek to avenge Samir Kuntar’s death by attacking Israel.

Greek Parliament Votes to Recognize Palestine as a State

Greece’s parliament is urging the country’s government to recognize Palestine as a state.

The move came as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attended Tuesday’s session, according to a news release. While parliament approved a resolution asking Greece’s government “to speed up all necessary procedures towards the recognition of the State of Palestine,” the government still has to take that formal step. There’s no indication when or if that action will actually occur.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who also attended the session, called the gesture “a very important and historical step” in a news release. Addressing parliament, Abbas expressed gratitude for the vote, which he said sent “a message of support and solidarity” to Palestinians.

The resolution was approved one day after Abbas told reporters in Athens that Palestine would begin to issue “State of Palestine” passports before the end of 2016.

The Greek resolution notes that the country “has steadily supported the two-state solution,” which favors creating a Palestinian state separate from Israel. Such a state would be based on 1967 borders and have East Jerusalem as its capital, according to the adopted resolution.

Al-Jazeera reported that multiple other European parliaments have passed similar resolutions.

Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, condemned the action, telling French news agency AFP that Abbas was continuing chase “recognition which has no meaning in practice.”

“Instead of (Abbas) ceasing to incite and fund terror, he is following a flawed path that will lead him nowhere,” AFP quoted the deputy foreign minister as saying.

In September, the State of Palestine flag was raised at United Nations headquarters in New York. Israel dismissed that action as a photo opportunity.

Archaeologists Find 1,500-Year-Old Marble Slab at Site of Miracle of the Swine

Archeologists in Israel unearthed ancient Hebrew inscriptions on a 1,500-year-old slab of marble while excavating near the Sea of Galilee, according to multiple published reports.

Haaretz, a news organization that covers Israel and the Middle East, reported that the discovery is the first evidence that a Jewish community once lived at Kursi, on the sea’s Eastern shore.

Kursi holds some biblical significance. It’s believed to be where Jesus performed the Miracle of the Swine (Mark 5:1-20), in which He healed a man who was possessed by demons by forcing the demons into a herd of 2,000 pigs that ran down an embankment and drowned in the sea.

Archaeologists told Haaretz they found the slab, which measured about 60 inches by 27 inches, in what they believe was a synagogue. They believe the tablet commemorates something — what, exactly, isn’t clear — but the eight-line message begins with the phrase “remembered for good.”

Arutz Sheva, another Israeli news site, reported that the inscription is Aramaic, but written with Hebrew letters. Those behind the discovery were working to translate it, but had already read “Amen” and “Marmariya” — which, depending on who you ask, either refers to marble or Mary.

New Guidelines Could Force Israeli Paramedics to Treat Terrorists Before Victims

The former Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister has criticized controversial new health guidelines that could, in theory, lead to Israeli paramedics treating wounded terrorists before their victims.

Avigdor Liberman called the Israeli Medical Association’s reported decision “shameful” in a translated posting on his Facebook page and said those behind it “just don’t live in reality.”

He was reacting to an article in the Israel Hayom newspaper that said the Israeli Medical Association’s Ethics Committee issued a new directive that revised the guidelines for triage.

The new rules, the newspaper reported, instruct paramedics to treat patients solely based on the severity of their injuries. Previously, there was a provision called “charity begins at home” that allowed paramedics to delay treating perpetrators even if their victims were less seriously hurt.

But the watchdog group Physicians for Human Rights filed a petition that sought to abandon that policy, Israel Hayom reported. The major argument for the change is that it’s not up to the health professionals to levy guilt in an emergency situation; that duty lies with the legal system.

“Doctors are not judges. Leaving the directive as it is means doctors have to determine guilt and penalize the guilty party by withholding medical care,” the association’s ethics director, Tammy Karni, told Israel Hayom, noting it would be easy for someone to mistake a victim as an attacker.

Some critics, though, believe that the new rule — if followed by the letter — may create situations where severely injured terrorists will receive treatment before their less-severely injured victims. In extreme cases, a terrorist’s life may be saved and a victim may die because of treatment order.

Rav Yuval Cherlow, who heads the Ethics Committee of Israel’s Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, told the Jewish news agency JNS.org that victims should always be treated before terrorists, unless there are some circumstances where it’s not easy to determine who was the assailant. In those cases, Cherlow said emergency personnel should treat victims based on wound severity.

But Israel Hayom reported that all Israeli emergency personnel are now required to follow the rules set by the Israeli Medical Association, which governs medical ethics throughout the nation.

Three Israelis Killed in Latest Attacks in Tel Aviv and West Bank

Israel police told BBC News that at least three Israelis were killed Thursday morning in attacks by Palestinians that took place in Tel Aviv and the occupied West Bank.

Two of the victims were stabbed to death by a Palestinian man at the entrance of a shop in Tel Aviv. The shop also functions as a synagogue. Hours later, a second attack killed another Israeli in a drive by shooting incident.

So far, an official death toll has not been released as multiple news agencies including Haaretz and Fox News are reporting 5 deaths while other agencies are reporting only 2 or 3.

Police officials told Reuters that the first attacker was apprehended.

Dozens of Palestinians and 15 Israelis have been killed since the new wave of violence began in two months ago. Most of the Palestinian deaths were from attackers that were shot by police or were killed in clashes with troops in the West Bank.

Morningside Announces William Koenig’s Return to the Jim Bakker Show!

William Koenig will be at Morningside once again on Thursday, December 3rd!  It has been a long time since we have had this influential teacher on the Jim Bakker Show and we are thrilled he is returning!

With 13 years of experience as a White House news correspondent and author of Eye to Eye – Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel, and  Israel: The Blessing or the Curse, William Koenig knows how to give a unique perspective on the historical events surrounding Israel.  He is a student of the Bible as well as the Middle East and intimately acquainted with our nation’s history in the region and our most serious outside threat – Islam.

His biblical worldview helps address the unique complexities in Israel, the Middle East, with Russia, China and Europe and provides an understanding of how events will unfold in the days ahead.

Mr. Koenig’s book Eye to Eye – Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel is a must read for our ministry!  We know he will continue to provide extraordinary behind the scenes insight on what is currently happening in our world.

Please join Jim and Lori Bakker as they welcome back William Koenig to Grace Street!  Taping begins at 11:30am CT.  Or watch us via live feed on Jimbakkershow.com/watch-us-live.

ISIS Branch in Sinai Peninsula Threatens to Attack Israel in Latest Video

One of the Islamic State’s branches located on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula released a video on Wednesday, threatening to attack Israel.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the 14-minute video was titled “And Then They Will Be Vanquished.” It features one masked member of ISIS, demanding that Egyptian soldiers repent or be killed for attacking the Sinai jihadis.

“Indeed, this apostate army has failed to carry out the mission it was tasked with, and was embarrassed in front of the public and in front of its masters,” the speaker declares.

The terrorist continued by saying that ISIS would raise its flag over a famous Cairo landmark, the Cairo Tower.

Director of Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor of the Middle East Media Research Institute, Rafael Green, told Fox News that the video focuses on the fighting going on in Egypt, but the threat against Israel comes at the end of the video.

The gunman quoted the well-known hadith: “Judgment Day will not come until you fight the Jews and kill them. The Jews will hide behind stones and trees, and the stones and trees will call, ‘O Muslim, o servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him – except for the gharqad tree, which is the tree of the Jews.’”

“The video is focused on the war against the Egyptian military. The threat to Israel comes at the end, where he says that they will reach the Jews,” Green said.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the speaker could be heard delivering his message while footage showed the Egyptian military allegedly killing civilians and blowing up tanks. Then, images of dead Egyptian soldiers were shown.

And while this same branch of ISIS claimed they brought down the Russian plane that crashed in the Sinai Peninsula recently, the new video made no reference to the crash.

Despite Past Differences, Meeting of Obama and Netanyahu was Productive

In their first sit-down summit after a year of rocky relations, President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a public show of praising their countries’s’ unique political, cultural and military ties.

The leaders emphasized areas of shared interest, including negotiations on a new security arrangement and the goal of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, even as the two sides grapple with fresh outbreaks of violence.

According to news reports, each said to the other what he most wanted to hear: Netanyahu declared that he still believes in a two-state road to peace, and Obama declared that he remains devoted to Israel’s security and nailing down a new military aid package.

Obama and Netanyahu looked to move past their differences and focus instead on areas of common ground, including the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East and the fight against Islamic State and other extremist groups.

“I think this is a tremendously important opportunity for us to work together to see how we can defend ourselves against this aggression and this terror; how we can roll back. It’s a daunting task,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu and Obama to Meet for the First Time Since the Iran Deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama will meet today at the White House. It will be their first meeting since their public disagreements over the Iran nuclear deal.

CBS News reports that the two world leaders will discuss Israel-Palestine relations, Middle East security issues, and the nuclear deal with Iran. They will also discuss an extension to a 10-year agreement that expires in 2017 where the U.S. will continue to provide military aid to Israel.

And while the Obama administration did recently admit that Palestine-Israel peace will not be achieved during Obama’s term in office, administration officials did tell CBS News that Obama will discuss with Netanyahu the possibility of peace talks with the future administration.

However, the ultimate goal for both countries is to reopen channels of communication and to ease past tensions, according to Ilan Goldenberg, a former State Department official who now directs the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.

Prime Minister Netanyahu will also be speaking at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal organization, during his visit to the U.S. Political analysts believe it is a move to mend bridges with U.S. Democrats after his speech in March where he condemned the nuclear deal with Iran.