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US Youth Slain by Terrorists Was Bringing Food to Soldiers in West Bank

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Ezra Schwartz, an American yeshiva student who was killed Thursday in a West Bank terror attack, had been volunteering delivering food parcels to Israeli soldiers in the area when he was shot by a Palestinian terrorist.

Schwartz, 18, of Sharon, Massachusetts, was remembered as “a fun person to hang out with, very charismatic.”

He was one of three people killed in a terror attack near the settlement of Alon Shvut. He was studying for a year at Yeshivat Ashreinu in Beit Shemesh . . .

Schwartz was killed when an assailant opened fire from inside his car at vehicles near the Etzion Bloc junction. Police named 51-year-old Ya’akov Don of nearby Alon Svhut and 24-year-old Palestinian Shadi Arfah of Hebron as the other victims of the shooting . . .

The United Synagogue Youth program which Ezra joined in 2013 released a statement saying he “is remembered as being a warm and funny member of the…community. Staff on his trip recalled today that he used his deep experience in Judaism to teach other teens how to participate in Jewish ritual.” (Read more from “US Youth Slain by Terrorists Was Bringing Food to Soldiers in West Bank” HERE)

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The Knife Intifada… Coming to a City Near You

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Over the past few decades, Israel has served as the harbinger for everything the Islamic jihad has wrought on western civilization. The suicide bombings began there and have now become widespread throughout the world. Now Israel is suffering from the most devastating form of terror – the ubiquitous threat of spontaneous stabbing attacks from Muslims living among them.

Well, it didn’t take long for the knife intifada to come to America, too.

Last Wednesday, 18-year-old Faisal Mohammad, in a scene eerily similar to what is happening in Israel on a daily basis, went on a stabbing rampage against his classmates at University of California Merced. Thanks to the heroic interference from Byron Price, a construction worker on scene, only four people were injured and nobody was killed. Mohammed was eventually shot dead by campus police after arriving to the scene. But a manifesto written by Mohammad, discovered by the coroner after his death, showed that he intended to “kill a lot of people.” The manifesto also contained references to Allah.

Every time one of these attacks occur, the first reaction from most observers – to the extent they even recognize Jihad as the root cause – is to suspect ISIS of being involved. In reality, what we are now facing in this country, much like Israelis are confronted with in their neighborhoods, is a widespread freelance Jihad that is even more dangerous than the targeted command-and-control attacks of the past that were the hallmark of Al Qaeda.

In Israel today, many of the attacks are not emanating from “Palestinian” Arabs living in Judea and Samaria but from the 1.5 million Israeli Arabs who have citizenship and work among them. The success of the global cyber jihad is lighting all of the fuses around the world in a way that presents the West with a greater existential threat than isolated “9-11 style” attacks.

Consider the following finding from a recent counterterrorism report put out by the House Committee on Homeland Security:

There have been more U.S.-based jihadist terror cases in 2015 than in any full year since 9/11. The number of U.S. terrorist cases involving homegrown Islamist extremists has gone from 38 in July 2010 to 127 today—more than a three-fold increase in just five years.

You wouldn’t know it from the media coverage or the silence from most elected officials, but we have suffered from a number of homegrown terror attacks this year. These attacks are not directed by Al Qaeda or ISIS, they are inspired by their change in focus to fard ‘ayn – the individual duty to carry out Sharia law.

At its core, this is the problem with the mass immigration from the Middle East and Obama’s imminent plan to bring in thousands of more Islamic refugees from Somalia and Syria – a plan that has, thus far, gone unchallenged by Congress. It’s not just a threat of admitting a handful of professionally trained terrorists. It’s the certainty of bringing in a large percentage of those who believe in Sharia law and will inevitably subvert our culture and be lured into global Jihad. We are witnessing the suicide of a nation with our immigration policies and the willful disregard of the threat posed by the Muslim Brotherhood here at home. What is especially tragic is that we are not learning the vivid lessons of Europe and Israel.

With this clear and present danger staring us in the face, we don’t need a political leadership with a particular degree of sentience to realize the problem. We need those with the courage and common sense to put aside the political correctness and spare this country – the “Great Satan” (as the Jihadists endearingly call the U.S.) – from becoming as endangered as the “Little Satan.” (For more from the author of “The Knife Intifada… Coming to a City Near You” please click HERE)

Watch a recent interview with the author below:

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Obama Continues to ‘Blame the Victims’ as Terrorists Pummel Israel

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If there was any doubt about President Obama and the Obama administration’s animosity toward the Jewish State of Israel, it was erased during the month of October.

Obama has taken a Palestinian incited wave of terrorism and found different ways to blame it on the Jewish State, justifying the Palestinian actions and encouraging them to incite and carry out more terrorism.

An Israeli named Nehemia Gershuni-Aylho has been keeping a running list of each and every attack in Israel since the first of the year. His list is published on the Internet and includes what happened (knife attack, stone throwing, rocket, etc.), what town/city it happened, how many people were hurt/killed, who attacked (Israeli Arab, or Jew) the target, and of course the source of their information.

According to Gershuni-Aylho’s list through Sunday October 18 there have been 1,414 Israeli Arab or Palestinian attacks on Jews since the first of the year, 1,028 during the first 18 days of October. Sadly there were also 18 attacks by Jews against Arabs since the first of the year, 13 occurred during the first part of October.

How did this latest wave of terrorism begin? Much of it began with incitement from Ramallah where Palestinian Chairman Abbas has been claiming that the Israeli Jews plan to change the status quo on the Temple Mount. (Read more from “Obama Continues to ‘Blame the Victims’ as Terrorists Pummel Israel” HERE)

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United Nations Moving Forward With Plan to Declare Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall A Muslim Holy Site

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Israel said Monday that it is working to thwart a Palestinian bid to have the Western Wall in Jerusalem declared a Muslim holy site by the UN’s cultural body in a vote [today].

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry called the proposal “an attempt to distort history and blur the connection between the Jewish people and its holiest place and to create a false reality.”

The Western Wall is one of the few remnants of the ancient retaining wall that held up an artificial plateau on which a refurbished Second Temple stood in the reign of King Herod the Great. The Temple and much of the wall were later destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E.

For Jews, who are forbidden from praying on the Temple Mount by Israeli regulations, the Western Wall is the prayer site closest to the ancient site of the Holy of Holies inside the destroyed Temple. It is considered the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray.

According to Muslim tradition, the Temple Mount is where Mohammad tied the winged animal Buraq, which he rode on the night he ascended to heaven. Atop it lies the Dome of the Rock — a Muslim shrine — and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. (Read more from “United Nations Moving Forward With Plan to Declare Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall A ‘Muslim Holy Site'” HERE)


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UPDATE: UNESCO has decreed that the second and third holiest sites in the Jewish faith are actually Muslim. At the same time, the initial draft proposal declaring that the Western Wall was also a Muslim holy site was withdrawn after facing widespread criticism

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has adopted a resolution condemning Israel for restricting the freedom of worship at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque and for mishandling holy sites.

The resolution submitted by Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates on behalf of Palestine, was adopted Wednesday with 26 votes in favor, six against, including the United States, Britain and Germany, and 25 abstentions, including France.

The adopted resolution referred to Jerusalem as “the occupied capital of Palestine”. It condemned “restrictions of freedom of worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque”, reaffirmed other complaints about Israeli management of holy sites and Israeli actions in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.

The head of UN’s cultural body, Irina Bokova, called on the UNESCO board Tuesday “to take decisions that do not further inflame tensions on the ground and that encourage respect for the sanctity of the holy sites”. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Israel Deploys Hundreds of Soldiers in Jerusalem

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By Judah Ari Gross and Raoul Wootliff. Six companies of Israeli soldiers were mobilized in Jerusalem Wednesday, as the IDF joined efforts to secure the city following an escalation in the violence there. The move is part of a slew of measures passed by the security cabinet overnight Tuesday aiming to prevent further terror attacks after the deadliest day so far in the current wave of unrest.

Tuesday saw four terror attacks, two of which, in Jerusalem, left three Israelis dead. All told, over 30 were injured.

“In accordance with the cabinet’s decision last night, as of this morning 300 IDF soldiers have already begun spreading out to provide additional security under police command,” an Israel Police spokesman said in a statement Wednesday morning.

Police also began setting up checkpoints at “the exits of Palestinian villages and neighborhoods in east Jerusalem,” where most of the recent attackers have come from, a police spokeswoman said. Those police actions are intended to return security and order to all the country’s residents, the police said.

The security cabinet also voted to ramp up security arrangements on Jerusalem’s public transport, where the IDF will bolster security until the Transportation Ministry enlists additional guards. Soldiers will be stationed at bus and light rail stops, as well as on buses and trains across the city. (Read more from “Israel Deploys Hundreds of Soldiers in Jerusalem” HERE)

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Kerry Links ‘Increase in Violence’ to Israel’s Settlement Activity

By Rebecca Shimoni Stoil and AP. Expansion of building in settlements has increased Palestinian frustration, leading to the current upswing in violence, Secretary of State John Kerry told an audience at Harvard University Tuesday evening. Speaking about America’s ability to impact outcomes throughout the world, Kerry warned that “unless we get going, the two-state solution will be conceivably stolen from everybody.”

“There’s been a massive increase in settlements over the course of the last years,” Kerry said during a question-and-answer session, “and there’s an increase in the violence because there’s this frustration that’s growing.” Kerry noted that there was also “a frustration among Israelis who don’t see any end.”

“I look at that and I say if that did explode — and I pray and hope it won’t — and I think there’re options to prevent that, then we would inevitably be at some point engaged in working though those kinds of difficulties,” Kerry continued. “So better to find the ways to deal with it before that happens than later and I think what always perplexes me – we’ve been through Oslo, Wye Plantation, Madrid, countless negotiations. Most people I talk to have a pretty damn good sense of what has to be done.”

“It’s a question of making the judgments and having the courage to go there,” Kerry insisted, adding that “we have 16 months left in this administration and we’re going to stay engaged and try to work through these issues because there are options and there is a better other side to the current conflict we’re witnessing.”

The top US diplomat stressed that the Obama administration would keep pushing for an agreement in its remaining 16 months in office. US-backed talks collapsed spectacularly in April 2014 after a nine-month effort and negotiations have been in a deep freeze ever since. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Something Massive Was Just Discovered Under Ground in a Key Region of Israel That Could Ratchet Tensions Higher

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Israel’s relationship with surrounding nations could change significantly because of a recent discovery in their nation.

Massive oil reserves have been found near their Syrian border.

“There is enormous excitement,” Yuval Bartov, chief geologist for Afek Oil and Gas, an Israeli subsidiary of Genie Energy, an American company, said Tuesday. “It’s a fantastic feeling. We came here thinking maybe yes or maybe no, and now things are really happening.”

The potential of the discovery is vast, Bartov said. The field could meet Israel’s domestic oil consumption needs for many years, eliminating any need to import oil from Arab neighbors. Israel uses about 270,000 barrels of oil per day.

“We are talking about a strata which is 350 meters thick and what is important is the thickness and the porosity,” Bartov said. “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. The important thing is to know the oil is in the rock and that’s what we now know” . . .

The reserves were found in the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War and formally annexed by Israel in 1981. The region already contains vital underground water sources that provide Israel’s chief source of fresh water. (Read more from “Something Massive Was Just Discovered Under Ground in a Key Region of Israel That Could Ratchet Tensions Higher” HERE)

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NATO Allies Making It Easier for Iran to Attack Israel?

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1234In early 2013, NATO supposedly came to its ally’s help: As Turkey was under threat from Syrian missiles — potentially with biological/chemical warheads — the alliance would build a mini anti-missile defense architecture on Turkish soil. Six U.S.-made Patriot missile batteries would be deployed in three Turkish cities and protect a vast area where about 3.5 million Turks lived.

The Patriot batteries that would protect Turkey from Syrian missiles belonged to the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. In early 2015, the Dutch mission ended and was replaced by Spanish Patriots. Recently, the German government said that it would withdraw its Patriot batteries and 250 troops at the beginning of 2016. Almost simultaneously, the U.S. government informed Turkey that its Patriot mission, expiring in October, would not be renewed. Washington cited “critical modernization upgrades” for the withdrawal.

Since the air defense system was stationed on Turkish soil, it unnerved Iran more than it did Syria. There is a story behind this. First, Patriot missiles cannot protect large swaths of land, but only designated friendly sites or installations in their vicinity. That the six batteries would protect Turkey’s entire south and 3.5 million people living there was a tall tale. They would instead protect a U.S.-owned, NATO-assigned radar deployed earlier in Kurecik, a Turkish town; and they would protect it not from Syrian missiles with chemical warheads, but from Iranian ballistic missiles . . .

What was stationed in Kurecik was an early-warning missile detection and tracking radar system. Its mission is to provide U.S. naval assets in the Mediterranean with early warning and tracking information in case of an Iranian missile launch that might target an ally or a friendly country, including Israel. So, a six-battery Patriot shield to protect the NATO radar in Kurecik against possible Iranian aggression was necessary. And that explains why the Iranians went mad about Kurecik and openly threatened to hit it . . .

Why, otherwise, would a country feel “threatened” and threaten others with starting a “world war” just because a bunch of defensive systems are deployed in a neighboring country? Iran did so because it views the NATO radar in Turkey as an asset that could counter any missile attack on Israel; and the Patriots as hostile elements because they would protect that radar. In a way, Iran’s reaction to the NATO assets in Turkey revealed its intentions to attack. (Read more from “NATO Allies Making It Easier for Iran to Attack Israel?” HERE)

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Israel Recovers Ancient Sarcophagus Hidden by Contractors

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Part-NIC-Nic6481924-1-1-0Israeli authorities have recovered a Roman-era sarcophagus that construction workers sought to hide after digging it up at a building site, officials said Thursday.

The limestone coffin, estimated at 1,800 years old and discovered last week during work on a new neighbourhood in coastal city Ashkelon, was described as “unique” by Gabi Mazor, a retired Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist and expert on the era.

The contractors who encountered the find opted to extract it themselves with a tractor, damaging it before hiding it beneath a stack of metal sheets and boards, according to the authority.

Police have questioned the contractors on suspicion of not reporting their find and of damaging it, and the authority pledged that legal proceedings would be pursued against those involved . . .

Around the coffin are engraved images of “bulls’ heads, naked Cupids, and the head of the monstrous female figure Medusa which includes remains of hair together with snakes, part of a commonly held belief in the Roman period that she protects the deceased,” Mazor said. (Read more from “Israel Recovers Ancient Sarcophagus Hidden by Contractors” HERE)

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Israeli Archaeologists Unearth Unique Stepped Structure in City of David

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SteppedStructuresIsrael1An archaeological excavation in the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David, the site of ancient Jerusalem, unearthed a pyramid-shaped staircase. This unique structure was located right next to the 2,000-year-old Second Temple stepped street, famed for leading religious pilgrims from Shiloah (Siloam) Pool to the temple. The dig was carried out in partnership between the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the City of David Foundation, according to a release from the Israel Antiquities Authority.

“The structure exposed is unique. To date such a structure has yet to be found along the stepped street in the numerous excavations that have taken place in Jerusalem and to the best of our knowledge outside of it,” said excavation directors, archaeologists Nahshon Szanton and Joe Uziel, in the release. “We believe the structure was a kind of monumental podium that attracted the public’s attention when walking on the city’s main street. It would be very interesting to know what was said there 2,000 years ago. Were messages announced here on behalf of the government? Perhaps news or gossip, or admonitions and street preaching – unfortunately we do not know” . . .

“Given the lack of a clear archaeological parallel to the stepped structure, the purpose of the staircase remains the mystery,” they said in the release. “It is certainly possible the rabbinical sources provide valuable information about structures, such as this, although for the time being there is no definitive proof.” (Read more from “Israeli Archaeologists Unearth Unique Stepped Structure in City of David” HERE)

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Israeli NGO Calls on British Authorities to Probe New Palestinian Resistance Curriculum

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An Israeli NGO called on the British authorities to investigate an offensive new curriculum developed by the National Union of Teachers that educates young students about Palestinian “occupation, freedom and resistance.”

“An immediate, thorough and independent investigation by the Charities Commission as well as the U.K. education authorities is clearly required,” demanded the president of Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, Gerald Steinberg.

Steinberg called the curriculum, which was developed by NUT together with a Christian charity called Edukid that aims to educate children living in poverty or conflict zones, “a fictitious narrative that promotes hate and incitement.”

Some have said the “extremist agenda” attempting to describe the often violent and unresolved Palestinian struggle for a state does not belong in a classroom with three-year-old students.

“We need to be more vigilant about the politicization of British classrooms,” said Tom Wilson of the Henry Jackson Society, according to the U.K. Daily Telegraph. (Read more from “Israeli NGO Calls on British Authorities to Probe New Palestinian Resistance Curriculum” HERE)

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