New details have emerged about the cross-border Islamic Jihad attack tunnel the IDF destroyed in late October. The tunnel from Gaza, which infiltrated about 200 meters into Israel and was located 2 km. from Kibbutz Kissufim, is believed by the IDF to have been intended to be used to attack Kissufim and/or abduct soldiers. Several terrorists worked around the clock except on Fridays, digging between 10 and 20 meters a day, at a depth of 26 meters, aided by electricity, oxygen tanks to avoid suffocation and water. The Islamic Jihad men did not try to hide the sand they removed, creating large…
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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday continued his exaggerated response to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by threatening regional war. Speaking in Cairo, Abbas stated: “Jerusalem is the key to peace if it is our capital, and if it is not – it is the key to war. Trump will need to chose. “There is no such thing as a Palestinian who will give up even one millimeter of Jerusalem.” There were two key problems with Abbas’ remarks. First, it has by now become clear that Trump’s declaration regarding Jerusalem was not really…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised US Ambassador David Friedman for articulating the “unvarnished” truth on Wednesday when he tweeted that terrorism and the Palestinian reaction to it are the reasons there is no peace. “An Israeli father of six was killed last night in cold blood by Palestinian terrorists. Hamas praises the killers and PA laws will provide them financial rewards,” Friedman wrote on his Twitter account in reaction to the murder of Raziel Shevach. “Look no further to why there is no peace.” Friedman has some 61,100 followers on his Twitter account. Netanyahu, at a brief conference with foreign journalists on Wednesday…
The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the umbrella organization that is internationally recognized as the representative of the Palestinian people, will push to withdraw formal recognition of Israel and end Washington’s longstanding role as mediator of the peace process. Instead, the PLO will pursue an “international formula” for achieving statehood. The developments were outlined in a report that aims to redefine not only the parameters for future relations with Israel and the United States but also change the status of the Palestinian Authority from a “transitional authority” to a “state under occupation.” The details are intended to…
While the US declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel continues to cause diplomatic disputes, a poll released Wednesday revealed that the majority of Jewish Israelis believe the announcement was good for Israel and that President Donald Trump understands Israel’s interests. The monthly Peace Index of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University found that 65% of Jewish Israelis believe Trump’s December announcement was in Israel’s best interest, while two-thirds of Arab-Israeli respondents think it was not. Furthermore, 64% of the Jewish public thinks that the recent United Nations resolution rejecting the US declaration is not likely to cause harm…
The Knesset’s passage of a law that requires two-thirds of its members to approve any future transfer of land in Jerusalem to a foreign entity is “equivalent to a declaration of war on the Palestinian people,” Nabil Abu Rudeinah, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman, said on Tuesday. Late Monday night, the Knesset passed the law, with 62 lawmakers voting in favor of it and 52 against it. While many of the law’s backers hope it will make it more difficult to divide Jerusalem as a part of a future peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, only a simple…
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with the local authorities of the communities near the Gaza border in southern Israel on Tuesday. During his visit to the area, he addressed the tensions that followed the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by US President Donald Trump. Lieberman said that Israel knew that there would be “a price to pay” for Trump’s declaration. “The important thing now is to support the Jerusalem issue – and we are prepared to pay any price,” he added. During his speech, the defense minister expressed his appreciation for the residents near the Gaza border. “I…
Some 800 Palestinians took to the streets in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza on Wednesday, clashing with IDF troops in another “Day of Rage” against the US’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. According to the IDF, violent protests broke out in Jerusalem, Kalkilya, Halhoul, Hebron, Bethlehem, Tulkarm and Kalandia with Palestinians throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks at troops and burning tires. According to a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Red Crescent, 81 Palestinians were injured in the clashes across the West Bank. Three were injured by live bullets, 23 by rubber bullets, and 23 by tear gas. Another 12…
IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis warned Hamas Thursday its “only option is to stop the rocket fire,” and that the Israeli military would not tolerate anything less than “complete quiet” on its border with the Gaza Strip. “We’ve seen in the past three and a half years that Hamas when it wants to, knows how to prevent rocket fire coming from Gaza,” Manelis said in an interview with Army Radio. In July 2014, Israel fought a lengthy and devastating war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel set a new balance of power after it ended, determining that any rocket…
One week after President Donald Trump announced that the US recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the quiet that has been felt in southern Israel for the past three years has shattered, leaving residents concerned that another conflict is around the corner. The past week has seen the most serious peak of violence between Israel and Hamas since the end of Operation Protective Edge in 2014. This year, 23 rockets targeted Israel. That includes 12 in the past week, of which four were intercepted and eight struck Israeli territory. While the rocket fire has been limited to communities around the Hamas-run…