Shmulik Hadad Alex Fishman
Jews in Judea, Samaria Get Their Guns Back
Policeman: Eastern Jerusalem is Not for Jews
Latest Update: 04.08.11, 19:45 / Israel News 'I built one coop myself'
Kids prepare gift baskets for troops
Sa'ar: Hamas has sustained heavy damage in recent days
Published: 04.08.11, 15:47 / Israel Opinion Lukewarm response hurt Israel
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Nissan 4, 5771, 08 April 11 09:45
by Maayana Miskin
(Israelnationalnews.com) Following a series of meetings in the Knesset's Internal Affairs Committee, police have agreed to reconsider hundreds of weapons confiscations involving Israelis living in Judea and Samaria. Many of those whose guns were taken have reported that they were returned.
While most Israelis are not allowed to own a personal gun, an exception has traditionally been made for Jews living in Judea and Samaria due to the frequent terrorist attacks in the region. However, in 2007 the IDF began an operation to confiscate weapons and “put gun permits in order.”
Jews living in the region, and their supporters in Knesset, accused Defense Minister Ehud Barak of “making the settlers fair game” by leaving them unarmed.
Tension over gun permits reached a boiling point with the murder of four Jews near Beit Chaggai in 2010. One of the victims, Yitzchak Imas, had owned a gun, but his gun was confiscated just weeks before the attack that killed him, his wife, and two others – leaving the four with no way to fight back when terrorists open fire on their car.
The shooting led to the Internal Affairs Committee's involvement. MKs told police in no uncertain terms that they must review the confiscations within the month, noting, “This could be a matter of life or death.”
“We must not have a 'quick trigger finger' when it comes to taking away their weapons,” said MK Aryeh Bibi (Kadima). He hinted that the confiscations may have happened for political reasons, saying, “You need to look at the officers who are involved in this, who they spend time with. It could be with the left wing... We need the best officers, those are the ones who need to redo the whole examination.”
Bibi added that police should review the confiscations “in one day, two days, a week. The inspection should not take months.”
Hevron Hero Gets Weapon, Payment
One of the cases often mentioned in discussions of weapons confiscations was that of Uri Amsali of Kiryat Arba, whose gun was confiscated shortly after he used it to fight off terrorists during a shooting ambush in 2002 that left 12 Israelis dead.
While most were praising Amsali for his bravery, the Interior Ministry called on him to hand in his weapon. Amsali successfully fought the order in 2003 with help from the Judea and Samaria Human Rights Organization.
However, five years later when he went to register the birth of a daughter, Amsali was told that there was an outstanding order for him to turn in his weapon – and that without doing so, he would not be allowed to register the birth. His appeals were rejected, with officials saying that they could not hear his case until he gave his weapon to police.
In 2010 Amsali filed a court case, which dragged out for several months. During that time he was forced to travel without a gun on roads on which fatal shooting attacks took place.
Days after the Internal Affairs Committee finished its work in the matter, Amsali was informed that he would be getting his gun back. Amsali decided to file for compensation as well, and the Jerusalem District Court backed his claim, awarding him nearly 7,000 shekels to cover the court fees and lawyers' bills he had incurred while fighting the confiscation order. The Amsali case cost the state a total of approximately 10,000 shekels.
Nissan 2, 5771, 06 April 11 05:37
by Gil Ronen
(Israelnationalnews.com) Day after day, Israelis are exposed to new harrowing stories about Arab-on-Jew brutality and police pro-Arab bias. While most mainstream media fail to feature the stories prominently, or do not report them at all, they surface in free news media like Arutz Sheva and on certain blogs.
The common theme in all of the stories is increasingly audacious Arab-on-Jew brutality and unfathomable police bias against the Jews involved - raising the suspicion that Israel's police - the one police force in the world Jews believed would never turn on them - have been successfully subverted by extremist elements.
Two new stories were reported Wednesday: one in Hevron, the other in Jerusalem.
'Hallucination' #1: Sticks in Hevron
In Hevron, nationalist activist Itamar Ben-Gvir was detained for interrogation after he attempted to chase down two Arab youths who had brandished sticks and menacingly approached a car he was in.
"This was one of the most hallucinatory stories I have been in," Ben Gvir told Arutz Sheva. "We held a march in Hevron to welcome a Torah scroll that was dedicated to Jonathan Pollard. I hitched a ride with someone when we suddenly saw two Arabs coming close to our car, standing with sticks in their hands and raising the sticks."
"A Border Policeman who stood next to our car did nothing and it was clear to me that if I do not do something all of the windows will be smashed, so I ran after them and the policeman started chasing after me and arrested me instead of arresting them, and claimed that they hadn't hurt me and matters hadn't gotten out of control."
"When I was taken to the Hevron police station, the policemen asked the Border Police what happened and they told them their version. The stations policemen asked them why they didn't arrest the Arabs and suddenly, in the questioning, the Border Police forgot to tell what had happened with the sticks."
"This is a phenomenon of a culture of lies - a pattern of police behavior that we are familiar with, unfortunately," Ben Gvir said. "This is not the first time that Border Police lie and even more worrisome is the behavior of the Border Policeman on the ground who arrested me instead of arresting them."
Ben Gvir said the incident was a sign of "moral bankruptcy" and said that "since this has become a systematic problem, I will have no choice but to sue these policemen so that they explain in court why they behaved as they did."
Ben Gvir said that the problem starts at the top of the power echelon, with the Minister of Public Security, Yitzchak Aharonovich (Israel is Our Home). Aharonovich's insistence on daily confrontations with Jewish settlers trickles down to the lower ranks of the police, he accused.
However, the problem does not exist only in Judea and Samaria, where "settlers" are involved.
'Hallucination' #2: Wadi Joz - Not for Jews?
Two Jews were arrested near the Old City of Jerusalem Tuesday, as they made their way to the monthly Circling of the Gates.
The two-one from Jerusalem, the other from Binyamin - were driving through Wadi Joz when two Arab vehicles began chasing them. Near the Lions' Gate, the Arabs overtook the Jews' vehicle and blocked it. Several Arabs came out of the cars, and began saying that the Jewish car had hit one of their cars.
More Arabs began to crowd around the group and A., the Jewish driver, called out to police who were standing nearby and complained that the Arabs were threatening him and blocking his car. He made clear that he had never hit the Arab vehicle.
According to the Honenu organization, the police decided to believe the Arabs, and carried out a search in the Jews' car. They even called a police bomb-remover to check the car for explosives, as the Jewish owners stood by, dumbstruck.
The two were then arrested for obstructing a police officer and holding "racist incitement literature." Ironically, the supposed "incitement literature" consisted of a report by the Human Rights in Yesha organization that detailed police bias against Jewish settlers. The two were held overnight and brought before a judge for arraignment Wednesday morning.
An Arab police investigator, Harb Kaher, presented secret material to the court and asked that the two be detained for an additional 48 hours. He said that "the event occurred in eastern Jerusalem and the suspects have no reason to be there. They said that they were en route to the Kotel but that is not a common route to the Kotel."
Attorney David Halevy, who represented the two on behalf of Honenu, explained that Wadi Joz is a common route to the Kotel. He added that no place in the country is off limits to Jews, and that this holds doubly true for the capital, Jerusalem. Halevy said that the two had been beaten by the arresting policeman, whose identity they did not know, but Kaher refused to give the policeman's personal details.
Judge Irit Cohen released the two on bail.
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Iron Dome intercepts rockets fired at Ashkelon
IDF hits back at rocket-launching cell, killing two gunmen, after Iron Dome intercepts three of four Qassam rockets fired at Ashkelon. Meanwhile incessant barrage of projectiles continues, damaging various structures
Four additional rockets were fired at Ashkelon Friday and three were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, the IDF announced, adding that it had bombed the terror cell that had fired the rockets, identifying a direct hit.
Hamas announced a short while later that two of the organization's gunmen were killed in the airstrikes. One of the men was Rayid Shehadeh, a commander in the military wing. Three civilians have also been killed, among them a mother and daughter, according to Gazan sources.
Two mortar shells also exploded Friday evening in a kibbutz in Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. No injuries were reported but a residential structure was damaged.
Terrorists in Gaza continued rocket fire towards Israel throughout Friday, hitting chicken coops as well as a factory and causing serious damage. Eleven mortar shells were also fired throughout the afternoon and early evening.
At around 5:45 pm, residents of Ashkelon witnessed loud explosions. A number of them wrote to Ynet that they had seen Iron Dome intercept rockets in the sky.
The system was installed just Monday, and made its first interception Thursday evening. Defense Minister Ehud Barak praised the successful interceptions by Iron Dome, calling them "an extraordinary achievement of the Israeli defense industry".
"The experiment will continue, but we must remember that we are still far from a solution," he added.
The IDF said earlier that Air Force craft bombed two terror cells in the southern Gaza Strip, east of Khan Younis. "The terrorists were firing mortar shells from the heart of a civilian neighborhood in the southern Strip," the army said in a statement.
Altogether 24 mortar shells and six Qassam rockets were fired at Israel by Friday evening.
The army added that apparently civilians had been harmed in its retaliatory strikes. "Hamas chooses to operate from within civilian populations and uses them as human shields," the statement says.
Rescue forces in Gaza claim that the civilians killed in Gaza are a 20-year old woman and her mother, as well as a 55-year old man. Three people were also injured, according to sources.
In another strike that was executed Friday afternoon, IAF jets bombed smuggling tunnels in Rafah. Palestinian sources reported that a fire broke out in the area, and postulate that the bomb hit a pipeline through which fuel was being smuggled.
Yair Farjoun, head of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, said he believes the army should respond to the fire of additional mortars Friday afternoon as it did to the missile fire at the school bus Thursday.
"We have 20km of road that can be seen quite well from Gaza's higher buildings," he said. "We don’t want to start thinking that every car or bus that passes by will become a Palestinian target. The defense establishment will have to respond severely to this fire."
Seven of the mortar shells fired Friday exploded in a town close to the border fence, and four additional shells fell in the area. The damage done to a factory in the south is attributed to a Qassam rocket, which authorities say damaged infrastructure.
But by far the most extensive damage was done to a number of chicken coops. "I built one of the coops by hand, and it will need to be rebuilt," said Hashi Rubin, of the kibbutz in which the mortars exploded.
Head of the Eshkol Regional Council, Haim Yalin, said that the attacks were "well-coordinated". He complimented southern residents, among them students at the Nitzanei Eshkol School, who were ordered to rush home when the barrage of mortars began.
"The residents behaved in a model fashion. The students remained in their classrooms for an hour together with their teachers, who quickly realized that the school was the safest place to be. I hope the government brings calm and stability, because this is not what the residents of the Gaza vicinity deserve," he said.
The Iron Dome missile defense system, which intercepted its first rocket Thursday, was not activated by the mortars. But on Thursday, after the successful interception, students from Sinai elementary school in Ashkelon decided to thank soldiers with gift baskets.
Sinai elementary school pupils in Ashkelon (Photo: Ran Yadei)
Ran Yadei, a parent of a student in the sixth grade, told Ynet that the soldiers stationed in Ashkelon and guarding the city 24 hours a day deserve a treat.
"We wanted to express the gratitude of the residents of Ashkelon and the entire south to all of those busy with the task of defending us from rockets," he said.
Terror organizations in Gaza announced a unilateral ceasefire at 11 pm Thursday, a few hours after firing an anti-tank missile at a school bus in Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, critically wounding a 16-year old boy.
The IDF retaliated, bombing terror cells as well as smuggling tunnels throughout the night and Friday morning. Altogether 10 Palestinians have been killed so far in the strikes.
Ilana Curiel and Elior Levy contributed to this report
Hamas said on Saturday it would escalate it attacks against Israel to include a wider range of targets if the IDF failed to halt its aerial assaults on theGaza Strip.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri blamed Israel for an escalation in violence. "If the Israeli escalation continues, amid international silence and complicity, the reactions by resistance factions will broaden," he told Reuters, saying such actions would be necessary to protect Palestinians in Gaza.
RELATED:
On Friday, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said that "Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip will not be able to break the will of the Palestinian people."
He also called for the cessation of IDF attacks in Gaza.
On Thursday night, Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip declared a unilateral cease fire some hours after it shot a school bus with an guided anti-tank missile and fired dozens of mortar shells and projectiles. The attack on the school bus left a 16-year-old in critical condition.
The IDF, however, continued to strike back at targets despite the Palestinian attempt to calm the situation.
Since then, over 20 Grad-model Katyusha rockets have been fired by Gaza-based groups into Israel. The IDF's Iron Dome anti-rocket defense system successfuly intercepted several of the longer-range Grads. Dozens more Kassam rockets and mortar shells have exploded in Israeli territory over the weekend.
According to Palestinian reports, at least 16 Palestinians have been killed in recent days by IDF strikes aimed at Hamas and other terrorist elements in the Strip. At least 8, including a number of Hamas commanders were confirmed as being members of terrorist groups.
04/09/2011 11:04
Talkbacks (6)
Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar told Israel Radio on Saturday that Hamas has sustained heavy damage from IDF operations in recent days. The IDF continue to strike Hamas, he added, "we will not permit sporadic shootings or the disruption of life" inside Israel.
While deflecting questions about a new IDF operation in the Gaza Strip similar to Operation Cast Lead, Sa'ar said: "We won't give up our right to defend ourselves," and will continue to operate, under full consideration, to implement a principle of defending our citizens".
RELATED:
Also speaking with Israel Radio, former national security adviser Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland said that if quiet cannot be reached in the Gaza Strip that Israel needs to consider a more extensive operation similar to the 2002 Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank.
Acknowledging the possibility that both Israel and Hamas want to avoid a serious escalation, Eiland said that if such a calm does not prevail, Israel should conduct a more extensive operation in the Strip.
There are two options for such an operation, he explained. One is to strike Hamas with the goal of establishing deterrence against the continued firing of rockets and mortars. The second option, he said, is to topple the Hamas regime in Gaza. He warned, however, that whatever regime replaces Hamas may very well be worse than the current situation.
If a more extensive operation is embarked upon, Eiland said, the most important thing is that Israel needs to define its goals, specifically what it wants to achieve and to plan how it can accomplish it. He pointed to the Second Lebanon War as an example of an operation where such an approach was not taken.
He added that if such an operation embarked upon, that there will no doubt be a heavy price paid by Israel. If it results in quiet, however, then it would be worth stopping the current situation of constant fire that we have today.
Eiland said that the best situation Israel can expect from Hamas is a quiet similar to that enjoyed on the Lebanese border in the past five years since the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
Hamas must pay dearly
Op-ed: Following attack on school bus, only way to restore lull in Gaza region is deterrence
Every American or European mother fully understands the meaning of firing at a yellow bus. A yellow bus is an international warning signing that means “these are children.” Those who fire at a yellow bus with the intention of murdering children are war criminals of the worst kind and a partner for nothing.
Hence, in response to the attack, Israel took the gloves off Thursday. Here there is no need to explain and apologize. The world can and should understand it.
Now we are preparing for several days of fighting in the Strip, including the possibility of rocket attacks at civilians beyond the Gaza region. The IDF Southern Command presented the plan for the upcoming days of fighting to the defense minister. Barak approved, and postponed his trip to the United States.
This time, Israel intends to exact a very heavy price from Hamas, as the State of Israel and IDF have no solution that would fortify civilian transportation in the Gaza region. The only immediate solution is deterrence – and deterrence can only be achieved via plenty of fire.
This time, officials will not accept a Hamas request for a lull via secret channels of UN officials in the area, as happened in the past. In the coming days, the cannons, missiles, tanks, jets and rockets will do the talking, until the blood quota is filled.
Nothing that happened Thursday was coincidental. All the attacks were planned and well orchestrated by Hamas, and the IDF Southern Command prepared for it. Back in the previous round, which started on March 19, we learned that Hamas and Islamic Jihad postpone their response and wait for the timing convenient for them.
On April 2, two senior figures in Hamas’ military wing were assassinated, and the organization announced that it intends to avenge their killing. The clock started ticking and the response arrived Thursday. The surgical strike in Sudan Tuesday may have accelerated the response.
Everything that happened yesterday was expected, with the exception of two surprises: The firing of the anti-tank missile at a civilian bus, and Iron Dome’s success in intercepting a Grad rocket.
In military exercises held in the past three or four years, the issue of anti-tank fire at civilian vehicles in the Gaza region always came up. Thus far, rockets and such missiles were fired at military vehicles, including a missile fired at an IDF vehicle that missed its target Thursday.
Yesterday, possibly because of the success of the newly installed missile shield in IDF tanks, and maybe because they could find no other targets, the shooters decided to target the yellow bus. For this crazy decision, Hamas must pay dearly.
Hamas ended the previous round of fighting at the end of March with a sense of achievement. Israel’s relatively lukewarm response gave it the feeling that it can go a little further. Today we also understand that the agreement between Hamas and Islamic Jihad regarding the restoration of the lull at the border with Israel includes some secret understandings as well.
These understandings may include greater coordination between the two groups in fighting Israel, as well as a “price tag” for every killed member in any group. On Thursday, the terrorists fully fulfilled this price tag: They fired at a civilian bus in the aims of murdering children, and they launched rockets at civilian communities. Now, Hamas must not be allowed to complete the current round of fighting with a sense of victory.
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