Israel is one major terror attack away from Operation Defensive Shield 2 - http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Analysis-Israel-is-one-major-terror-attack-away-from-Operation-Defensive-Shield-2-421322
One could be forgiven for thinking that Netanyahu is just waiting for this wave of terrorism to pass.
This current intifada, or "present wave of terrorism," as it is known among military circles, has been anticipated by the defense establishment for the past year. There wasn't one army briefing which I attended that didn't include warnings of how Judea and Samaria had become "a powder keg."
A year ago, the IDF began preparing for this level of unrest. One possible scenario that kept defense officials awake at night was an attack by a Jewish extremist similar to what was witnessed in the West Bank village of Duma.
"If they tell me, 'You have an additional battalion of reinforcements,' then I immediately deploy it to Judea and Samaria," a senior military official told me last year.
Just before March of this year, the combination of a stalled peace process and the freezing of tax revenues to the West Bank fueled a very real concern that we were on the verge of a violent Palestinian uprising. After the Duma tragedy, the reassessment changed, with the focal point being the Temple Mount.
The defense establishment was ready for this scenario as well. Nonetheless, there are some very serious questions that have gone unanswered, questions regarding how we still got entangled in this complex set of circumstances.
How does a defense establishment - which has proven itself capable of "threading the needle" and plucking out a wanted terrorist from a Palestinian hospital in an operation worthy of a Hollywood action flick - show itself to be inept at stopping a terrorist cell that had already carried out attacks in the past before gunning down the Henkin couple?
This is certainly a story that is worthy of the label "intelligence failure." The fact is that senior officials in the defense establishment acknowledge that they do not have the tools to deal with the current situation. The cell responsible for the attack near Itamar is a small, ad hoc, and localized entity that was not operating under the auspices of an organization. It was not being funded by anyone, nor was it guided or instructed by any party.
This was simply a group of terrorists, one of whom just happened to be a Hamas member. Experiences shows that the smaller these cells are, the harder it is to find out about them through intelligence channels. The members of this particular cell kept a low profile. Of the three terror attacks they tried to execute, one succeeded.
How does one deal with a situation where two terror attacks take place in the same vicinity within a few days of each other, as happened on Saturday at Lion's Gate in Jerusalem's Old City. Police were well aware of the potential that tensions could spiral out of control, which is why it beefed up its forces with the most capable officers.
Still, despite the police's efforts, how does a terrorist manage to sneak into the area with a knife hidden in her possession, pick a target, and carry out the attack? Why wasn't there a security check at the entrance to the gate? Why is there no deterrence despite the presence of hundreds of police?
The answer is fear. The prime minister is afraid of an intifada. Benjamin Netanyahu listened carefully to the possible scenarios - and he grew apprehensive. Some of these assessments predicted that mobs of hundreds of Arabs would swarm into the streets, only this time it wouldn't be to vote for Isaac Herzog in the elections. Instead, their main preoccupation would be murdering Jews.
This column was written just before Wednesday's attack in Kiryat Gat, but Netanyahu knows that a similar event could just as easily take place tomorrow in Acre, or the Triangle, or the Galilee, or Jaffa.
That is why the security forces must act with restraint so that the day-to-day routine is not disrupted. This especially applies not just to Judea and Samaria, but also to Temple Mount. These instructions come straight from the top. The problem is that Israel has for quite some time lost the deterrence factor there. For quite a while, it has not had a grip over events there.
How else does one explain the fact that any bearded Jew in the vicinity of Temple Mount becomes a walking stick of dynamite? All he has to do is close his eyes and recite the "Shema Yisrael" prayer - and we have another intifada. The Palestinians are empowered to run the day-to-day affairs of Temple Mount, including security responsibilities. You don't believe it? Just go on Facebook and watch with disgrace how Wakf officials instruct police to arrest Jews worshiping at the site.
If this is the case, why does the defense establishment claim that terrorism is waning? Those who compare this wave of terrorism to the attacks of the second intifada, when buses and restaurants were being blown to pieces, hundreds were killed, and thousands more maimed, could not bring themselves to acknowledge that what is taking place on the streets of Israel today is an intifada.
When Netanyahu asked defense officials, he was told: "No, this is not an intifada." But reality is lying. An intifada is a popular uprising aimed at a civilian population with the goal of harming innocents. We are one successful terrorist attack away from Operation Defensive Shield 2.
If the Itamar attack would have ended with the murder of not just the Henkin couple but also their four children, you can be certain that we would be in the midst of Defensive Shield 2, just as the Passover bombing of the Park Hotel in 2002 led to Defensive Shield 1.
What to make of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas? Is he an inciter? Or is he working to calm things down? While Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon adamantly claim that the head of the PA is inciting to violence, IDF officers say the opposite is the case.
According to senior military officials, Abbas is the man most responsible in the West Bank for curbing terrorism. He has ordered his security forces to thwart attacks and maintain security cooperation with Israel. He is exercising his power to ensure that all is being done to prevent acts of terrorism.
One could be forgiven for thinking that Netanyahu is just waiting for this wave of terrorism to pass. There is no doubt, however, that we are dealing with one of many waves of terrorism. Those that are forthcoming will be much more violent, much more severe.
Will The Discovery Of Huge Amounts Of Oil In Israel Lead To War In The Middle East? - By Michael Snyder -
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/will-the-discovery-of-huge-amounts-of-oil-in-israel-lead-to-war-in-the-middle-east
Billions of barrels of oil have been discovered in Israel, and this discovery could essentially make Israel energy independent for many decades to come. But there is just one problem. This discovery was made in the Golan Heights. If you are not familiar with the Golan Heights, it is an area that Israel took from Syria during the Six-Day War of 1967. The government of Israel considers the Golan Heights to now be part of Israeli territory, but the United Nations does not recognize Israel's claim. Instead, the UN still recognizes Syrian sovereignty over that area. So now that massive amounts of oil have been discovered there, what will this do to tensions in the region? Could this discovery of oil help set the stage for World War III?
When I first read about the discovery of all this oil, I was quite stunned. Ever since 1948, Israel has had to import virtually all of the oil that it uses, and so this oil in the Golan Heights could be a huge game changer. The following is an excerpt from an article in an Israeli news source about this discovery...
Three drillings have so far taken place in the southern Golan Heights which have found large reserves of oil. Potential production is dramatic - billions of barrels, which will easily provide all Israel's oil needs. Israel consumes 270,000 barrels of oil per day.
Although the existence of the oil in the ground is a fact, the critical phase now is to check how easily it can be extracted and whether it involves high production costs. In a period of very low oil prices, extraction will have to be relatively cheap to make exploitation of the field profitable.
Just as Israel's offshore Mediterranean gas discoveries have created an entire energy industry, so the Golan oil find could also generate a new industry around it.
As I write this, the price of U.S. oil is sitting at $48.13 a barrel, so when you are talking about "billions" of barrels of oil you are talking about a tremendous amount of money.
Do you think that Syria and Israel's other Arab neighbors are going to enjoy sitting there as Israel pumps "their oil" out of the ground?
Apparently this discovery is highly unusual. Here is what one scientist told Israeli television about what they found...
"We are talking about a strata which is 350 meters thick and what is important is the thickness and the porosity. On average in the world strata are 20-30 meters thick, so this is ten times as large as that, so we are talking about significant quantities," geologist Yuval Bartov of Afek Oil and Gas told Israeli television.
Needless to say, this is great news for Israel.
But it is also going to give renewed motivation to those that wish to take the Golan Heights back from the Israelis. The following comes from a Jewish news source...
Syria has claimed the entire Golan since it lost the strategic and water-rich area in the Six-Day War in 1967.
If oil can be extracted, it will be a huge bonanza for Israel and an enormous reason for whoever rules in Syria, or for Hezbollah that is fighting with Assad's forces and is based in Lebanon, to launch a war on Israel.
And this comes at a time when tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians have reached a fever pitch. Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters have been regularly clashing in the heart of Jerusalem, and Palestinians were even temporarily banned from Jerusalem's Old City for the first time in decades due to a series of recent stabbings and shootings.
Things have gotten so bad that Benjamin Netanyahu felt that he had to cancel his upcoming visit to Germany just to deal with the crisis. The following comes from Reuters...
Israel's prime minister canceled a visit to Germany on Wednesday after a spate of attacks that included the stabbing of an Israeli soldier by a suspected Palestinian militant who police said was then shot dead by special forces.
A steady rise in street violence, which Israeli and Palestinian leaders have sought to calm, has been fueled by confrontations around Jerusalem's al Aqsa mosque complex, Islam's third holiest shrine which Jews also revere as the vestige of their two ancient temples.
In the third knife attack in Jerusalem in less than a week, a young Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli on Wednesday near that contested site and was then shot by the injured man.
The international community has become desperate to find a solution to this never ending cycle of conflict and violence. The call to establish a Palestinian state has become deafening, and most global leaders seem to believe that two states living side by side in peace could finally bring stability to the region.
Many had expected France to introduce a UN Security Council resolution which would give formal recognition to a Palestinian state last month, and there is still a chance that it may be submitted for a vote in the weeks ahead. France has indicated that it will not go ahead without U.S. approval, and so that means that the fate of the division of the land of Israel lies in the hands of Barack Obama.
So what will he ultimately do?
According to Politico, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has twice asked Obama to publicly announce that he would veto any such resolution, but Obama never responded...
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on two different occasions this year went to White House chief of staff Denis McDonough seeking a public commitment from President Barack Obama that he would veto any U.N. resolution calling for an independent Palestinian state.
Both times, Obama did nothing.
And in recent months there have been other signs that Obama is weighing his options...
In June, Obama and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power declined to commit to blocking a Palestinian resolution.
Behnd the scenes, Reid - who is Obama's most steadfast ally on Capitol Hill - first approached McDonough shortly after Earnest's comments and asked that the president reverse his position.
McDonough said the White House "would look into it," said a source close to the issue, but took no action.
On the second occasion, Reid, a strong supporter of Israel during his career in the Senate, believed such a declaration by Obama would help assuage nervous Senate Democrats as they weighed whether to back the president on the Iran nuclear deal. Reid was hopeful that he could block the Iran disapproval resolution, but he wanted to be certain he would have the votes in the face of fierce opposition from pro-Israeli groups.
When push comes to shove, I fully expect that Barack Obama will eventually give his full public support to the UN Security Council resolution that France has been working on.
I believe that we will see an internationally-recognized Palestinian state, but I also believe that this will just set the stage for war on a scale that the Middle East has never experienced before.
Netanyahu's Temple Mount boomerang: The Palestinian knife strikes in Tel Aviv too - http://www.debka.com/article/24934/Netanyahu's-Temple-Mount-boomerang-The-Palestinian-knife-strikes-in-Tel-Aviv-too
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon seemed to believe that an order to Jewish cabinet ministers and Knesset members Thursday, Oct. 8, to stop visiting Temple Mount would be the winning step for de-escalating the current Palestinian rock-throwing, firebomb and stabbing rampage.
They were wrong. No sooner was the order released than it became a boomerang. Israeli Arab lawmakers announced that they would visit Temple Mount and Al Aqsa regardless. In Jerusalem, within minutes, another Israeli was stabbed and badly hurt in Jerusalem opposite police national headquarters and, a few hours later, a female soldier and four others were attacked b a Palestinian wielding a screwdriver in Tel Aviv. A passing air force officer chased the fleeing assailant and shot him dead.
The prime minister's order gave the Israeli Arab community's political leaders an opening for joining the campaign waged on behalf of the Palestinians by the radical Israeli Islamist movement, led by Sheikh Raad Saleh for making Temple Mount into a flaming shared anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish arena of confrontation. The Temple Mount issue gave Israeli Arabs a legitimate pretext for demonstrating their solidarity with the Palestinians in their campaign of anti-Israel terror.
If Netanyahu hoped that elected Arab lawmakers would be responsible enough to lend a hand in a move meant to quench the flames of violence and save lives, he missed the point.
Israeli Arab lawmaker Jamal Zahalke, chairman of the United Arab faction, made straight for Temple Mount, only to be stopped by police at Lions Gate (the scene of two fatal stabbing attacks against Israelis) and barred entry.
He thereupon pulled out a press release and intoned: "I am standing at Lions Gate after being unlawfully prevented from entering Temple Mount. I don't give a fig for Netanyahu and his decisions."
Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi announced that he would lead a large group of prominent Israel Arabs on a visit to Temple Mount the next day, Oct. 8, to attend Friday prayers at Al Aqsa Mosque. He dismissed the prime minister's gesture as "crazy."
By snatching at the lead role of the current Palestinian campaign of terror, with all its murderous dimensions, the political representatives of the Israel Arab community have crossed a red line which until now they prudently avoided.
Once they present themselves at the gates of Temple Mount, the clock can't be turned back in a hurry.
Zahalke and Tibbi become part of the rampaging Palestinian street over which no one has overall control.
The seven security forces battalions subject to the Palestinian Authority assert limited control over segments of that street - but no more. No one at PA headquarters in Ramallah has any say in the Palestinian street; neither does any Arab ruler in the region.
This explains the hollowness of calls by Israeli opposition leaders Yitzhak Herzog, Tzipi Livni, Yair Lapid and Amos Yadlin to seek a "regional accommodation" for resolving the Palestinian question. The Kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan and the Egyptian president are overtaxed by their own burning problems and have made it clear that they have no time for the never-ending Palestinian question.
So it's over to Israel. The Netanyahu government needs to get its act together and shift its focus to curbing Palestinian violence by an effective counter-terror strategy - away from counter-productive steps for deterring Jews and hoping against hope for diplomatic points overseas.
Obama Is Using the Threat of a UN Resolution That Would Divide the Land Of Israel to Blackmail Netanyahu - By Michael Snyder -
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/obama-is-using-the-threat-of-a-un-resolution-that-would-divide-the-land-of-israel-to-blackmail-netanyahu
Barack Obama has sunk to a new low. He is using the threat of a UN Security Council resolution that would divide the land of Israel and give full UN recognition to a Palestinian state to blackmail Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Many had expected France to submit this resolution to the Security Council for a vote in September, but the French made it very clear that they were not going to go ahead unless they had U.S. approval. So that means that all of the power is in Obama's hands, and apparently he is not shy about using it as leverage in order to get what he wants. And apparently one thing that Obama wants is for the Israeli government to keep any new settlement construction from happening in "Palestinian areas" of east Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
I have not seen anything about this in the U.S. media, but this is major news over in Israel. The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in a major Israeli news source...
The administration of US President Barack Obama has denied reports in Israeli media Tuesday, according to which Obama threatened Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against lifting the unprecedented building freeze in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
Channel 2 reported on Tuesday night that Netanyahu folded to pressure from Obama, who threatened that if Israel approved new construction following the wave of Arab terror attacks, the US would not veto a looming UN Security Council resolution that would establish "Palestine" and declare "settlements" in Judea-Samaria illegal.
This potential UN Security Council resolution is still very much alive. At the end of September I wrote an article that quoted a Jerusalem Post piece about it, and just yesterday I quoted a Politico article that discussed how Obama has been weighing his options regarding this resolution.
Ultimately, I believe that Obama will throw his support behind this resolution and it will be submitted to the UN Security Council for a vote, but for the moment he seems to be using the threat of it to push Netanyahu around.
Of course the Obama administration is publicly denying all of this. U.S. State Department spokesperson Mark Toner told reporters that everything that Channel 2 was reporting was untrue, and that there is no reason to be concerned.
But this is what Obama and his minions do. They lie and then they tell more lies to cover up their previous lies. What is true really doesn't matter to them. The only thing that matters is what is politically expedient.
And the media over in Israel is not really buying what the U.S. State Department is selling. Here is another excerpt from the article that I quoted above...
Despite Toner's claims, Judea and Samaria regional heads who met with Netanyahu on Tuesday night say he refused their demands to renew building, directly referencing international pressure.
The report of Obama's threat comes just a week after a report in Politico that revealed Obama twice refused to veto a UN resolution establishing a Palestinian state.
According to the report, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid asked White House chief of staff Denis McDonough twice this year to have Obama publicly announce he would veto a UN Security Council call establishing "Palestine." On both occasions, Obama flatly ignored the request.
Obama does and says all sorts of things behind closed doors that he would never admit to publicly. That is why we can never trust any of these "public denials". In so many instances we find out that things that the Obama administration "denied" later turned out to be true.
In this case, Obama truly is playing with fire. As author William R. Koenig has pointed out, there are very serious consequences for trying to divide the land of Israel. An article published by the Examiner summarized just some of the things that we have seen in that regard in recent years...
Nine of the ten costliest insurance events in U.S. history, six of the seven costliest hurricanes in U.S. history, three of the four largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history, nine of the top ten natural disasters in U.S. history ranked by FEMA relief costs, and the two largest terrorism events in U.S. history all transpired on the same day or within 24-hours of U.S. presidents applying pressure on Israel to trade her land for promises of peace and security, sponsoring major land for peace meetings, or making major public statements calling for a Palestinian state.
For example, October 1991, President George H. Bush promoted and proudly signed the infamous Oslo Accord at the Madrid Peace Conference. The Oslo Accord was labeled a land for peace accord that demanded Israel award their land to the Palestinian terrorists in exchange for peace. This perverse proposition was if you give us your land and we'll stop killing you.
The next day the Perfect Storm hit Kennebunkport, Maine. Waves over 30 feet demolished the home of President George H. Bush, the instigator of the Oslo Accord. This very rare storm started in the north Atlantic, moving east to west, the wrong direction for storms to move.
I don't know exactly when Barack Obama threatened Netanyahu, but it is quite interesting to note that Hurricane Joaquin has been creating tremendous havoc along the east coast of the United States in recent days. Officials in South Carolina described it as "a 1,000-year storm", and major flooding caused billions of dollars in damage.
Could it be possible that there is some connection?
Of course what will be much worse is when Obama finally tires of toying with Netanyahu and decides to move forward with this resolution at the UN Security Council. By playing a pivotal role in the dividing of the land of Israel, Obama will be cursing this nation. Let us hope and pray that day is put off for as long as possible.
I know that this must sound very strange to many of my readers. If you are skeptical, just take note of the date when this UN Security Council resolution finally gets approved and watch what happens to this country afterwards.
I think that you will be absolutely shocked by what takes place.
Nothing like a Third Intifada to regain the World's Empathy! - Olivier Melnick - http://www.newantisemitism.com/antisemitism/nothing-like-a-third-intifada-to-regain-the-worlds-empathy
On Wednesday September 30th, Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas delivered his annual speech to the United Nations General Assembly. It had been advertised for weeks as a "bombshell." Apparently, Mr. Abbas wanted to stir the pot ahead of his yearly opportunity to lambaste Israel in front of a global audience at the UN.
The "bombshell" that Mr. Abbas dropped was thethreat to cancel the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It was a threat, not an actual move. It was a threat with very few details, characterized by vagueness:
"Thus, we declare that as long as Israel refuses to commit to the agreements signed with us, which render us an authority without real powers, and as long as Israel refuses to cease settlement activities and to release of the fourth group of Palestinian prisoners in accordance with our agreements, they leave us no choice but to insist that we will not remain the only ones committed to the implementation of these agreements, while Israel continuously violates them. We, therefore, declare that we cannot continue to be bound by these agreements and that Israel must assume all of its responsibilities as an occupying power, because the status quo cannot continue and the decisions of the Palestinian Central Council last March are specific and binding."
It looked like Mr. Abbas was grasping for straws. But you can always count on the bias of our liberal media to stir the pot further as many of them bought Mr. Abbas toothless threat, hook, line and sinker.
Most of the international press responded to it as if it was an official reneging of the agreements, their headlines spoke tons:
* Sun Herald: Abbas says Palestinians no longer bound by pacts with Israel
* Associated Press: Palestinian leader declares he is no longer bound by agreements signed with Israel.
* The New York Times: Mahmoud Abbas, at U.N., Says Palestinians Are No Longer Bound by Oslo Accords.
Frankly, I believe that Mahmoud Abbas was pouting at the UN General Assembly. If it was not for the fact that later on the UN raised the Palestinian flag along with the Vatican flag for the first time ever -booth entities have official observer status-Abbas would have had a temper tantrum.
There is no question that Mr. Abbas' latest threat can still be considered a repudiation of peace, even if it is an empty threat because it clearly shows his heart. But He is tired of playing second fiddle to other Middle East terror virtuosos. The Palestinian struggle has been losing momentum in recent weeks, being replaced in the news by other crisis that deserve our attention. The following list is a brief overview of what has kept Abbas out of his cherished international limelight.
* ISIS continues to spread throughout the region, terrorizing Christian, Jews and Muslims alike as they indiscriminately behead those in their way of a caliphate.
* Iran is rapidly becoming a nuclear threat to the entire region. By the way, if they bomb Israel, will the nuclear holocaust stop short of leveling out Gaza and the West Bank? Of course not! Iran is also a threat to the Palestinian Authority, even if they ignore it.
* Syria's civil war and its recent Russian incursion, including some military actions is definitely further destabilizing the region.
Mr. Abbas's had the chutzpah to propose the annulment of the Oslo Accords, pointing the finger at Israel. It is akin to having Hitler make the statement that he would not dialogue with the Jewish community because of their crimes against the Germans. Ludicrous of course. The only difference is that 75 years ago, it would never fly but today, most of the world chooses to side with the Palestinians. Mr. Abbas knows it and he is banking on it to further his agenda.
He also knows that if he wants to retain his credibility within the Palestinian circles, he must make the news again, and in a bigger way. We have seen some rock throwing activity from the Temple mount in recent weeks as well as physical harassment in the old city against Jews on their way to the Western Wall for Holy Days prayers. Mr. Abbas probably thinks that now would be the ideal time for a third intifada (uprising).
Mr Abbas is pouting because to a certain extent the world isn't really paying attention to him as much as he would like it. But cancelling the Oslo Accords would also force the Palestinian Authority to dismantle and would eradicate all the credibility-as undeserved as it may be- that they have built over the years. He cannot afford to make that move.
A third Intifada on the other hand, would provide Mr. Abbas with the fuel he needs to revive his campaign of Jew-hatred. Even though in direct contradiction with real facts and the truth, Palestinian victimization and Israel's demonization would most certainly draw the attention of a world audience so enamored with tolerance and social justice. Not to mention that he is even losing popularity within his own people. The very people sick of Abbas' failures who are also pushing for another armed intifada.
The next few weeks will tell us if Israel will soon be faced with another Palestinian uprising. With ISIS pushing from the north, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula; Iran putting the final touch to its nuclear arsenal and Russia coming to Assad's rescue in Syria, that is a very full plate for Benjamin Netanyahu.
A third Intifada would complicate things for Israel but we must not forget that even if the world finds favor with Mahmoud Abbas, God holds Israel in the palm of his hand. Regardless of the many people in Israel who do not believe in God, that does mean that God doesn't believe in Israel.
Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: "If this fixed order departs From before Me," declares the Lord, "Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever. (Jeremiah 31:35-37)
Netanyahu curtails German trip to deal with worsening Palestinian terror crisis - http://www.debka.com/article/24932/Netanyahu-curtails-German-trip-to-deal-with-worsening-Palestinian-terror-crisis
After the Israeli cabinet launched measures Tuesday, Oct. 6, for "strengthening anti-terror defense" - such as cameras in the sky - and officials labored to spread word that the surge of Palestinian violence of the past week was beginning to ebb, Israel was hit that night from offside by a vicious pro-Palestinian upheaval in the Tel Aviv suburb of Jaffa. Hundreds of Israeli Arabs swarmed onto the streets to hurl rocks and burning containers at police, passing buses and Jews on the street. Six police officers were injured. Fired up by the radical Israeli Northern Muslim Movement, the rioters brandished Palestinian flags and yelled "Allah is Great!" and "With our blood we shall redeem Al Aqsa!"
The Army Radio Station studio was besieged for five hours.
At length, the police announced the disturbance had been brought to an end by negotiations with Arab community leaders in Jaffa.
That strategy was part and parcel of the efforts made by IDF officers to bring an end to the surge of Palestinian violence besetting Jerusalem and the West Bank through revived negotiations with Palestinian security chiefs and soothing rhetoric poured out for the public by government and military officials. But the gap between that rhetoric and the unruly situation on the ground was impossible to bridge. The rocks and firebombs kept on flying - even after three killer-terrorists' homes were demolished in Jerusalem Monday night.
Here too, the measure failed to impress as a deterrent because the punishment was meted out for terrorist crimes committed in 2014 and were therefore a year old - evidence of Israeli's extremely slow response to murderous terror.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu finds himself cornered by two conflicting crises. While facing popular demands to quell Palestinian violence that caused four Israeli deaths and 30 people injured during the High Festivals, he is confronted with a mutiny within the government coalition and his own Likud party. At least half a dozen ministers angrily reject the line taken by the prime minister and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon for the past year - that the terror crisis must be handled "calmly and responsibly" - as nothing but softness on Palestinian terror.
Netanyahu has shot back by threatening to break up the government, which is less than a year old - either by inviting the opposition parties to join a new national unity government or calling a snap election.
This threat is fairly hollow. Replacing the mutinous ministers with members of the Labor opposition is a non-starter since its leader Yitzhak Herzog scarcely controls his own party. A coalition with Yair Lapid's Future party and Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu would be harder to control than the present lineup.
Netanyahu finds himself in this corner because he is handling the two crises by political means as part of the same problem.
This tactic is taken by Palestinian extremist leaders as a sign of Israeli weakness and encourages them to pour more fuel on the fire of anti-Israel violence. Ineffective measures, such as the cameras in the sky, which never worked on the 443 highway to Jerusalem, for instance, make things worse. The trickle of rockets from Gaza contradicts Ya'alon's pledge to stop it. A proactive, creative hand against the escalating Palestinian violence would gain the support of all the ministers and ease the popular sense of pervasive insecurity.
Massive Oil Deposit Found in Southern Golan. The 'Hook in the Jaw? - Michael Kaplan -
http://www.ibtimes.com/israel-oil-discovery-massive-reserve-could-meet-domestic-demand-obstacles-production-2130639
Israel Oil Discovery: Massive Reserve Could Meet Domestic Demand, But Obstacles To Production Lie Ahead
A massive oil reserve has been discovered in the Golan Heights by an Israeli energy company, regional news outlets reported Wednesday. The find by Afek Oil and Gas, confirmed to be 10 times larger than the average oil field worldwide, could boost Israel's relatively young oil industry and meet domestic energy demands.
"There is enormous excitement," Yuval Bartov, the oil and gas chief geologist for Afek, told Channel 2 News, according to Globes. "It's a fantastic feeling. We came here thinking maybe yes or maybe no and now things are really happening."
Israeli oil companies were searching for oil around the clock, with little success until the latest discovery. It was first announced last month, but the size of the find was only confirmed recently. Afek Oil and Gas is a subsidiary of American company Genie Energy. Since Israel's founding, companies have drilled 530 exploratory wells in search for oil, but few of them have turned up commercially viable product, The Times of Israel reported.
The recently discovered oil reserve was expected to provide billions of barrels of oil. However, given the current low price of oil, extraction will have to be inexpensive in order to make the field profitable.
The reserve would bolster Israel's oil industry. Noble Energy, an oil and gas exploration and production company based in Houston, announced the discovery of a gigantic natural gas field in the Mediterranean in 2010. Israel has since met much of its domestic needs and has also signed agreements to export its oil, including to neighboring Egypt.
The newly found reserve is not without controversy. Numerous environmental groups and residents of the Golan Heights are bitterly opposed to the drilling, expressing fears that it could damage the region's landscape. When Afek first began exploration in the area late last year, environmentalists filed a petition against drilling that ultimately reached the High Court of Justice.
The international community considers the Golan Heights occupied territory, further complicating oil production. Much of the Golan Heights was captured from Syria during the war in 1967, and Israel's sovereignty over the region remains contested.
Israelis Fear Start of Third Intifada Following Series of Deadly Terror Attacks - By Lea Speyer - http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/50260/israelis-fear-start-third-intifada-following-series-terror-attacks-jerusalem/?utm_source=Breaking+Israel+News&utm_campaign=065db857ed-BIN_morning_10_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6d3627f72-065db857ed-86588445#DAbDI6c1wAfdq5g5.97
"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10)
Israelis are bracing for what many have begun to call the start of a Third Intifada following a series of deadly and violent Palestinian terror attacks across Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
Late Saturday evening and early Sunday morning, two incidents in Jerusalem's Old City left two Israeli men killed and three others injured.
Following the conclusion of the Sabbath, a Palestinian terrorist, identified as 19-year-old Muhanad Shafeq Halabi from al-Bireh, near Ramallah, stabbed Rabbi Nehemia Lavi and Aharon Bennett to death. Bennett's wife and two-year-old son were injured in the attack.
Israeli security forces responding to the attack shot dead the terrorist. Bennett's wife remains in serious condition after undergoing emergency surgery. The baby was lightly wounded and remains in stable condition.
The Islamic Jihad terrorist group took credit for the stabbing attack. Before carrying out the attack, Halabi wrote a post on Facebook warning of a Third Intifada.
"According to what I see, the Third Intifada has erupted. What is happening to al-Aqsa is what is happening to our holy sites, and what is happening to the women of al-Aqsa is what is happening to our mothers and women. I don't believe that our people will succumb to humiliation," he wrote. "The people will indeed rise up."
The second attack, which took place in the early morning hours of Sunday, saw an Israeli teen injured after being stabbed by a Palestinian outside the Old City near Damascus Gate. The terrorist was shot dead by security forces. The 15-year-old victim remains in stable condition, suffering from wounds inflicted to the back and chest.
Hamas affiliated media identified the terrorist as Fadi Aloon, a resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya. According to reports, Aloon expressed interest on Facebook in becoming a shahid (martyr), asking God to forgive his sins.
The twin stabbing attacks come just three days after a horrific terror attack Thursday, in which two Israeli parents were shot dead in front of their four children while traveling in Judea and Samaria.
Fatah's armed wing, which comes under the jurisdiction of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a "harsh response" to the latest uptick in terrorism across Israel. He blasted Abbas' Fatah party, who praised Saturday's stabbing attack, calling the terrorist a "hero."
"Behold the 'moderates' of the Palestinian Authority and [our] alleged peace partner," Netanyahu said on Sunday. "I am on my way to Israel and when I arrive I will head immediately to the Kirya to meet with top security officials to adjudicate a harsh response to Palestinian Islamic terrorism."
"We are waging a bitter war against terror - and we will do so vigorously."
Cutback of Israeli troops on West Bank led to upsurge of Palestinian terror. Four Israelis dead - http://www.debka.com/article/24928/Cutback-of-Israeli-troops-on-West-Bank-led-to-upsurge-of-Palestinian-terror-Four-Israelis-dead
Amid a wave of terror that has hit Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria during the holiday of Sukkot, and which has already resulted in the murder of four Israelis, it is necessary to point a finger at some senior IDF officers and members of the Israeli security establishment as partially responsible.
Putting all political issues aside, we point to a decision by IDF Chief of Staff Gady Eisenkot to reduce the number of IDF forces in Judea and Samaria so as to detach them for other missions, that we are unable to reveal here. It was a serious error for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon to approve the troop reduction in the face of warnings regarding a surge in terror attacks, especially in Jerusalem.
Yaalon and Eisenkot corrected this error on Thursday, October 1, immediately after the murder of Eitam and Na'ama Henkin by killers who appeared to function like professionals. They ordered the immediate redeployment of four battalions to flashpoint areas in Judea and Samaria.
There is no way to immediately turn the clock back and restore security to these areas overnight. It will take time and, meanwhile, there more terror attacks are foreseen in the near future.
The general feeling in some military quarters is that the commanders responsible for security in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem, down to the heads of regional brigades were not the right choices for dealing with complex and sensitive security situations. The officials who made those appointments must be held responsible for incorrectly presuming that the situation in those areas would stay calm in the long term and therefore failing to instal officers best able to handle the current threats.
In the space of 48 hours, during the Jewish festival season, two pairs of Israel parents were attacked by Palestinian terrorists. After gunmen killed the first couple Eitam and Na'ama Henkin in a drive-by ambush near Alon More Thursday night, a second couple and their two-year old child were knifed in the Old City of Jerusalem Saturday night, Oct. 3 by a another Palestinian terrorist on their way to the Western Wall. They were among a large crowd thronging through the main street to the Kotel.
The father and a second man died of their injuries before reaching hospital, the mother is in grave condition.. The child was struck in the foot. A fourth victim is in very serious condition. After his stabbing attack, the terrorist snatched the sidearm of one of his victims and began shooting at passing tourists before Border Guards police cut him down. The dead terrorist has meanwhile been identified as Muhand Halabi, 19, from El Bireh near Ramallah.
The victims were later named as Nehamia Lavi, 41, resident of the Old City of Jerusalem and a rabbi at he Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva. Rabbi Lavi was married with seven children, and Aharon Bennett, 23, an IDF serviceman, who lived with his wife and two-year old son in Beitar Ilit. His wife and the second woman injured in the attack are in grave condition. The child was slightly hurt.
Jerusalem is beset for some weeks now by fast escalating aggressive Palestinian terror.The heavily beefed up forces of Border Guards and IDF troops are clearly failing to staunch or avert the rising violence.
The fatal stabbing attack in Jerusalem Saturday followed two overnight attacks elsewhere in the city: gunfire on an Israeli vehicle near Maale Adummim. In the southern district, gunshots from Jebel Mukabar reached the neighboring Jewish neighborhood of Nof Zion. No one was hurt in both these incidents. Saturday night, there was more shooting from Jebel Mukabar.
Police have imposed a curfew on the Old City of Jerusalem and shut all the gates to Temple Mount.
The large-scale army raid of Nablus in pursuit of the murderers of Eitam and Na'ama Henkin has rounded up a number of suspects.
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