20 apr 2015
Israeli extremist groups of settlers stormed the Old City of Jerusalem and roamed around the gates of the holy Aqsa Mosque after midnight Sunday.
Jerusalemite sources revealed that dozens of Israeli policemen secured the settlers during their tour in which they chanted slogans demanding expelling and killing of the Arabs.
Some of the extremist settlers harassed Jerusalemites in the process, the sources said.
In their monthly march, the settlers started their tour from al-Buraq Wall to the west of Jerusalem into the Old City where they performed Talmudic rituals in al-Qattanin Market close the Aqsa Mosque, the sources added.
Jerusalemite sources revealed that dozens of Israeli policemen secured the settlers during their tour in which they chanted slogans demanding expelling and killing of the Arabs.
Some of the extremist settlers harassed Jerusalemites in the process, the sources said.
In their monthly march, the settlers started their tour from al-Buraq Wall to the west of Jerusalem into the Old City where they performed Talmudic rituals in al-Qattanin Market close the Aqsa Mosque, the sources added.
An Israeli man stabbed a Palestinian worker on a construction site north of Tel Aviv on Monday, Israeli police and media reported.
The victim, a Palestinian worker for the Herzliya Municipality, told police that a man with a Russian accent shouted "Death to Arabs" before stabbing him in the shoulder.
The worker was transferred to hospital for treatment.
Israeli police are searching for the suspect, who fled the scene of the attack.
Anti-Palestinian attacks in Israel are frequent and often involve the desecration of holy sites in addition to physical assaults.
In February, suspected Jewish extremists set fire to part of a Christian seminary in East Jerusalem's Old City and sprayed "Jesus is a son of a whore" and "Redemption of Zion" on the walls.
A day earlier, extremist Jewish settlers set fire to a mosque in the southern West Bank town of al-Jaba and sprayed racist slogans calling for killing Arabs and Muslims on the walls in Hebrew.
The victim, a Palestinian worker for the Herzliya Municipality, told police that a man with a Russian accent shouted "Death to Arabs" before stabbing him in the shoulder.
The worker was transferred to hospital for treatment.
Israeli police are searching for the suspect, who fled the scene of the attack.
Anti-Palestinian attacks in Israel are frequent and often involve the desecration of holy sites in addition to physical assaults.
In February, suspected Jewish extremists set fire to part of a Christian seminary in East Jerusalem's Old City and sprayed "Jesus is a son of a whore" and "Redemption of Zion" on the walls.
A day earlier, extremist Jewish settlers set fire to a mosque in the southern West Bank town of al-Jaba and sprayed racist slogans calling for killing Arabs and Muslims on the walls in Hebrew.
Soldiers, Settlers, Invade Olive Orchard Near Bethlehem
Israeli soldiers invaded, on Monday at dawn, several Palestinian communities in the West Bank different parts of the West Bank, and kidnapped twelve Palestinians, including four children. Soldiers stormed a telecommunications company in Hebron, while Israeli extremists prevented a Bethlehem farmer from entering his olive orchard.
Media sources in Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, said the soldiers invaded several neighborhoods, including the in Old City, and kidnapped three Palestinians after interrogating their families and ransacking their property.
The sources said the army kidnapped Yazan Yosri Abu Sneina, 22, and two brothers identified as Ashraf, 22, and Sharaf Shukri al-Fakhouri. The soldiers beat the two brothers before kidnapping them.
Also, soldiers invaded the al-Jinan Telecommunications Company in the Al-Manara Junction area, in the center of Hebron city, and violently searched it while interrogating the employees.
In addition, army invaded Beit Fajjar town, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and kidnapped four Palestinians, after searching and ransacking their homes.
The kidnapped have been identified as Ibrahim Mustafa Taqatqa, 25, ‘Eid Ahmad Taqatqa, 27, Husam Kamel Taqatqa, 26, and Shawqi Nasser Taqatqa, 40.
Soldiers also invaded Husan nearby town, searched homes and kidnapped four Palestinian children identified as Mos’ab Daoud ash-Sha’er, 13, Amir Mohammad Zaghoul, 15, Abdullah Tareq Shousha, 15, and Abdul-Aziz Hamamra, 15.
Furthermore, soldiers and settlers invaded a Palestinian orchard in the al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem, and prevented a farmer from plowing his land.
Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in al-Khader, said the soldiers, and armed guards of Efrat illegal settlement, invaded the 10-Dunam olive orchard, and ordered the owner, Emad Ahmad Da’doa’, to stop plowing his land.
Salah said the Da’doa’ owns the orchard, and have all legal deeds, yet, the soldiers are claiming it is a “state land” - the family filed an appeal against an Israeli decision to illegally annex its land, but the Israeli court is yet to respond.
Israel recently started bulldozing sections of the orchard to build new illegal settlement units to expand the Efrat, an issue that would surround al-Khader with a chain of settlements and outposts, and prevent any natural growth of the town.
In related news, soldiers invaded Faqqou’a village, east of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, stormed three homes and violently searched them before interrogating the families.
Soldiers also invaded Jalboun and Sielet al-Harethiyya nearby villages, and conducted live fire drills near homes in the al-Jalama village, east of Jenin.
Furthermore, soldiers invaded Qaffin town, north of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, and kidnapped a former political prisoner identified as Khaled Yacoub Kittana.
Israeli soldiers invaded, on Monday at dawn, several Palestinian communities in the West Bank different parts of the West Bank, and kidnapped twelve Palestinians, including four children. Soldiers stormed a telecommunications company in Hebron, while Israeli extremists prevented a Bethlehem farmer from entering his olive orchard.
Media sources in Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, said the soldiers invaded several neighborhoods, including the in Old City, and kidnapped three Palestinians after interrogating their families and ransacking their property.
The sources said the army kidnapped Yazan Yosri Abu Sneina, 22, and two brothers identified as Ashraf, 22, and Sharaf Shukri al-Fakhouri. The soldiers beat the two brothers before kidnapping them.
Also, soldiers invaded the al-Jinan Telecommunications Company in the Al-Manara Junction area, in the center of Hebron city, and violently searched it while interrogating the employees.
In addition, army invaded Beit Fajjar town, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and kidnapped four Palestinians, after searching and ransacking their homes.
The kidnapped have been identified as Ibrahim Mustafa Taqatqa, 25, ‘Eid Ahmad Taqatqa, 27, Husam Kamel Taqatqa, 26, and Shawqi Nasser Taqatqa, 40.
Soldiers also invaded Husan nearby town, searched homes and kidnapped four Palestinian children identified as Mos’ab Daoud ash-Sha’er, 13, Amir Mohammad Zaghoul, 15, Abdullah Tareq Shousha, 15, and Abdul-Aziz Hamamra, 15.
Furthermore, soldiers and settlers invaded a Palestinian orchard in the al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem, and prevented a farmer from plowing his land.
Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in al-Khader, said the soldiers, and armed guards of Efrat illegal settlement, invaded the 10-Dunam olive orchard, and ordered the owner, Emad Ahmad Da’doa’, to stop plowing his land.
Salah said the Da’doa’ owns the orchard, and have all legal deeds, yet, the soldiers are claiming it is a “state land” - the family filed an appeal against an Israeli decision to illegally annex its land, but the Israeli court is yet to respond.
Israel recently started bulldozing sections of the orchard to build new illegal settlement units to expand the Efrat, an issue that would surround al-Khader with a chain of settlements and outposts, and prevent any natural growth of the town.
In related news, soldiers invaded Faqqou’a village, east of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, stormed three homes and violently searched them before interrogating the families.
Soldiers also invaded Jalboun and Sielet al-Harethiyya nearby villages, and conducted live fire drills near homes in the al-Jalama village, east of Jenin.
Furthermore, soldiers invaded Qaffin town, north of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, and kidnapped a former political prisoner identified as Khaled Yacoub Kittana.
Israeli settlers have stolen large amounts of nutrient-rich soil belonging to Palestinians in the Salfit-district village of Kafr ad Dik, witnesses reported Sunday.
Witnesses said, according to Ma'an News Agency, that Israeli bulldozers moved huge piles of the fertile soil from Kafr ad Dik into the illegal Israeli settlement of Lishim.
According to researcher Khaled Maali, the red soil was of an extremely high quality.
He said it would now be used in settlers' gardens and also to grow trees in land bordering exclusive settler routes that Israeli military forces have seized from Palestinians as a "buffer zone" for the roads.
In 2012, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israeli police were aware of settlers stealing Palestinian soil, but did nothing about it.
An Israeli police official quoted in the report said there was no formal way of enforcing laws against this kind of theft.
Kafr ad Dik town has been exposed to Israeli confiscation and razing of lands, as well as the demolition of homes and water wells, according to the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem.
More than 85 percent of the village's 15,500 dunams are classified Area C under the Oslo Accord, giving Israel full civil and military authority, ARIJ says.
Of those lands, nearly 1,300 dunams have been confiscated for the construction of settlements, which are illegal under international law.
Land has also been confiscated for the construction of Israeli bypass road no. 446, which passes through village lands for 4km and divides the village's north and south.
Approximately 75m have been seized on each side of the road so as to create a "buffer zone."
Witnesses said, according to Ma'an News Agency, that Israeli bulldozers moved huge piles of the fertile soil from Kafr ad Dik into the illegal Israeli settlement of Lishim.
According to researcher Khaled Maali, the red soil was of an extremely high quality.
He said it would now be used in settlers' gardens and also to grow trees in land bordering exclusive settler routes that Israeli military forces have seized from Palestinians as a "buffer zone" for the roads.
In 2012, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israeli police were aware of settlers stealing Palestinian soil, but did nothing about it.
An Israeli police official quoted in the report said there was no formal way of enforcing laws against this kind of theft.
Kafr ad Dik town has been exposed to Israeli confiscation and razing of lands, as well as the demolition of homes and water wells, according to the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem.
More than 85 percent of the village's 15,500 dunams are classified Area C under the Oslo Accord, giving Israel full civil and military authority, ARIJ says.
Of those lands, nearly 1,300 dunams have been confiscated for the construction of settlements, which are illegal under international law.
Land has also been confiscated for the construction of Israeli bypass road no. 446, which passes through village lands for 4km and divides the village's north and south.
Approximately 75m have been seized on each side of the road so as to create a "buffer zone."
19 apr 2015
Tension ran high in the Aqsa Mosque plazas on Sunday morning after an Israeli policeman assaulted a Jerusalemite woman for trying to confront settlers who broke into the Aqsa Mosque.
Media sources revealed that dozens of Jewish settlers earlier on Sunday stormed the Aqsa Mosque’s plazas from the Magharebah gate and provocatively performed Talmudic rituals under protection of Israeli policemen and Special Forces.
The sources said the Palestinian worshipers have been heading since the morning hours to the Aqsa Mosque to defend the holy site from settler incursions. They confronted the settlers by chants of Allahu Akbar until the Jewish settlers went out of the Mosque via Silsilah gate.
Clashes took place in the Mosque’s plazas between Jerusalemites and Israeli Special Forces when a policeman attacked a female Jerusalemite worshiper after she confronted settlers.
Policemen took photos of all of the Jerusalemite worshipers including women and children, the sources said.
Media sources revealed that dozens of Jewish settlers earlier on Sunday stormed the Aqsa Mosque’s plazas from the Magharebah gate and provocatively performed Talmudic rituals under protection of Israeli policemen and Special Forces.
The sources said the Palestinian worshipers have been heading since the morning hours to the Aqsa Mosque to defend the holy site from settler incursions. They confronted the settlers by chants of Allahu Akbar until the Jewish settlers went out of the Mosque via Silsilah gate.
Clashes took place in the Mosque’s plazas between Jerusalemites and Israeli Special Forces when a policeman attacked a female Jerusalemite worshiper after she confronted settlers.
Policemen took photos of all of the Jerusalemite worshipers including women and children, the sources said.
18 apr 2015
Khaled Kotina
Danino says investigation concluded Khaled Kotina committed a 'horrible attack' which claimed the life of Shalom Yohai Cherki.
A Palestinian driver deliberately rammed his car into a Jerusalem bus stop this week and killed an Israeli man in a "horrible attack", police chief Yohanan Danino said on Saturday.
"Today we can say that it is a horrible attack," Danino said in a statement after an investigation into Wednesday's incident. He ruled out initial suggestions that it had been an accident.
Shalom Yohai Cherki, 26, and Shira Klein, 20, were seriously injured in the attack on the bus stop in east Jerusalem. Cherki, the son of prominent rabbi Ouri Cherki who is well known in the city's francophone community, died of his injuries on Thursday morning and was buried later that day.
The driver, 37-year-old Khaled Kotina from east Jerusalem, who was also hurt, was arrested and interrogated by police. Israel has been shaken by a spate of deadly attacks by Palestinians in the Holy City since last October. In March, five Israelis were injured when a Palestinian drove into a group of pedestrians before getting out of the car to try to stab people.
An Israeli border guard was killed and several people were injured in November when a Palestinian drove his vehicle into people waiting at a stop on the city's light railway system. And in a similar attack, two people including a three-month Israeli-American baby were killed in October.
Tensions have been running high in Jerusalem since a 50-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza last July and August.
Danino says investigation concluded Khaled Kotina committed a 'horrible attack' which claimed the life of Shalom Yohai Cherki.
A Palestinian driver deliberately rammed his car into a Jerusalem bus stop this week and killed an Israeli man in a "horrible attack", police chief Yohanan Danino said on Saturday.
"Today we can say that it is a horrible attack," Danino said in a statement after an investigation into Wednesday's incident. He ruled out initial suggestions that it had been an accident.
Shalom Yohai Cherki, 26, and Shira Klein, 20, were seriously injured in the attack on the bus stop in east Jerusalem. Cherki, the son of prominent rabbi Ouri Cherki who is well known in the city's francophone community, died of his injuries on Thursday morning and was buried later that day.
The driver, 37-year-old Khaled Kotina from east Jerusalem, who was also hurt, was arrested and interrogated by police. Israel has been shaken by a spate of deadly attacks by Palestinians in the Holy City since last October. In March, five Israelis were injured when a Palestinian drove into a group of pedestrians before getting out of the car to try to stab people.
An Israeli border guard was killed and several people were injured in November when a Palestinian drove his vehicle into people waiting at a stop on the city's light railway system. And in a similar attack, two people including a three-month Israeli-American baby were killed in October.
Tensions have been running high in Jerusalem since a 50-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza last July and August.
Settlers from Leshem settlement to the west of Salfit leveled Palestinian lands and stole its fertile soil, eyewitnesses revealed on Saturday.
The eyewitnesses said Israeli bulldozers leveled the lands and gathered fertile soil in piles to be used later for construction and gardening in the settlement.
The Palestinian researcher Khaled Maali pointed out that the settlers are gathering the best soil which is red and brown in color.
Maali said the stolen soil is going to be used for paving main roads which are being opened in Leshem outpost at the expense of the lands of four Palestinian towns in Salfit.
He highlighted that such Israeli practices run contrary to the international law as well as the Fourth Geneva Convention which does not permit stealing or changing the landmarks of occupied lands, constructing over it or confiscating its stones and soil.
The eyewitnesses said Israeli bulldozers leveled the lands and gathered fertile soil in piles to be used later for construction and gardening in the settlement.
The Palestinian researcher Khaled Maali pointed out that the settlers are gathering the best soil which is red and brown in color.
Maali said the stolen soil is going to be used for paving main roads which are being opened in Leshem outpost at the expense of the lands of four Palestinian towns in Salfit.
He highlighted that such Israeli practices run contrary to the international law as well as the Fourth Geneva Convention which does not permit stealing or changing the landmarks of occupied lands, constructing over it or confiscating its stones and soil.
17 apr 2015
The family of Khaled Zuheir Qutteineh denied the claims of the occupation police and the Israeli media that the accident Khaled had was deliberate on a terrorist background.
The occupation forces along with Israeli Intelligence raided and searched Qutteineh family house in the neighborhood of “Dahyet Al-Salam” and confiscated a computer and a cell phone.
The Intelligence interrogated Khaled’s wife and called Khaled’s parents and his brother Mohammad for interrogation on Thursday night.
Khaled’s wife said that her husband left the house on Wednesday night to drop off his parents to their house in the Old City concurrently with the heavy rainfall the city of Jerusalem witnesses.
She added: “What happened with Khaled is a normal accident because of the bad weather conditions. I only found out about this morning from my mother-in-law and I was surprised especially because my husband doesn’t have any political interests and he does not even watch the news.”
Qutteineh got married last November and they are expecting their first baby in the new few months.
She explained that her husband has been working in cleaning the mosques in the neighborhood of Ras Shihadeh in Anata for several months.
The accident occurred on Wednesday night after Khaled lost control of his vehicle in the area of Mount Scopus in Street Number 1 and seriously injured two Israeli; note that one of them was announced deal on Thursday night.
The Israeli police said that they are still investigating the incident and added in a statement they issued on Thursday afternoon: “with the initial investigations and data collection, the police suggest that the incident was most likely carried out on national background suspicious and the police are still investigating the incident and considering all options.”
The occupation forces along with Israeli Intelligence raided and searched Qutteineh family house in the neighborhood of “Dahyet Al-Salam” and confiscated a computer and a cell phone.
The Intelligence interrogated Khaled’s wife and called Khaled’s parents and his brother Mohammad for interrogation on Thursday night.
Khaled’s wife said that her husband left the house on Wednesday night to drop off his parents to their house in the Old City concurrently with the heavy rainfall the city of Jerusalem witnesses.
She added: “What happened with Khaled is a normal accident because of the bad weather conditions. I only found out about this morning from my mother-in-law and I was surprised especially because my husband doesn’t have any political interests and he does not even watch the news.”
Qutteineh got married last November and they are expecting their first baby in the new few months.
She explained that her husband has been working in cleaning the mosques in the neighborhood of Ras Shihadeh in Anata for several months.
The accident occurred on Wednesday night after Khaled lost control of his vehicle in the area of Mount Scopus in Street Number 1 and seriously injured two Israeli; note that one of them was announced deal on Thursday night.
The Israeli police said that they are still investigating the incident and added in a statement they issued on Thursday afternoon: “with the initial investigations and data collection, the police suggest that the incident was most likely carried out on national background suspicious and the police are still investigating the incident and considering all options.”
Adv. Gaby Lasky: “Rejection of the appeal against the boycott law changes the basic constitutional rules in Israel. Boycott of cottage cheese is allowed, but not if it settler-made cottage cheese” .
On April 15th the Supreme Court in Jerusalem rejected the appeal against the “Anti Boycott Law” which was lodged by former Knesset Member Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom and other Israeli peace and human rights groups, and keeping in force the law enacted several years by the right-wing majority in the Knesset - criminalizing any call for a boycott of Israel and defining a boycott of settlement products as also being “a boycott of Israel”.
"This is a deplorable ruling with far-reaching implications” said Adv. Gaby Lasky, who represented Gush Shalom in this appeal. “The Justices effectively changed the basic Israeli constitutional law as we had known them, giving the interest of maintaining settlements in the Occupied Territories a precedence over the fundamental right of all citizens to Freedom of Political Expression. In fact, the Supreme Court has been captured by the political precepts of anti-democratic right wingers, giving its stamp of approval to a piece of legislation designed to gag one side of the political spectrum. "
Lasky went on to say: "This is a ruling which should have been simple and straightforward. The court should have come down on the side of the Freedom of Expression - especially since the Supreme Court itself had previously laid down clear limits on what are the grounds for infringing that basic freedom. A clear and present threat to public order or national security, and a prohibition upon explicit calls for violence or racism – hitherto, these were the sole grounds which might justify an infringement of Freedom of Expression. With the new ruling, the court gave in to an oppressive parliamentary majority, which invented new and unacceptable grounds for striking at the Freedom of Expression.
"Under the legal situation created in the State of Israel by the Anti Boycott Law and now ratified by the Supreme Court, it is acceptable to call for a boycott of cottage cheese due to its high price - but absolutely forbidden to call for a boycott of the same cheese because it is produced in a settlement" said Lasky. (The reference is to the “Cottage Cheese Boycott Campaign” which had touched off the mass Social Protest Movement in 2011 Israel).
Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, which had been the first to lodge the above appeal, expressed its disappointment with the deplorable ruling, which keeps in place the ban imposed by the right-wing majority in the Knesset – making any citizen or group calling for the boycott of settlements and their products liable to severe penalties. The Supreme Court’s ruling is particularly disturbing and ominous at this juncture – exactly when the agenda of Netanyahu’s talks with the extreme-right parties on forming a new governing coalition includes proposals for new draconian measures, aimed at dealing devastating blows to the Supreme Court itself as well as to the Freedom of Expression and Assembly in Israel.
It is unacceptable to have a law which states that “a boycott of an Israeli-controlled territory” is tantamount to a boycott of Israel itself. There is an essential difference between the legitimate sovereign territory of Israel and the territories occupied in 1967 - which are not a part of Israel under International Law, nor indeed under Israel’s own laws. The building of settlements in the Occupied Territories is a violation of International Law. The main purpose for which these settlements are established is to make it impossible for the Palestinians to ever create their own independent state - thereby also making it impossible for Israel’s citizens to ever reach peace with their neighbors.
It is the right of those who oppose the settlements not to consume the products produced there, not to fund with their money to a settlement project to which they are strongly opposed. It is the right of activists to make a loud and clear call for a boycott of settlement products. It is the right of such organizations as Gush Shalom to compile a detailed list of settlement products, post it for the broadest public view, spread it at the entrances to supermarkets and call upon customers not to consume the products appearing on it. Also at the present moment, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling, we reiterate and reaffirm our view that this right is valid. In recent years, Gush Shalom had been forced to conduct activities with the Anti Boycott Law as a Damocles’ Sword ever hanging overhead. We are sorry to find the Justices ruling that this sword would continue to hanging over our heads.
It should be noted that, regardless of the whatever any of us does or desires, the global movement to boycott Israel (BDS) is gathering an increasing momentum, due to the policy of occupation and oppression enacted by the government of Israel. Many people around the world - including many Jews – have come to feel that Israel's actions in recent years justify the imposition of a boycott. The only real way for Israel to deal with this boycott campaign is to change its policy in the Occupied Territories, which pours ever more fuel on the boycott conflagration.
Most such boycotters are abroad, out of reach of the Israeli law. Punitive measures against those who are subject to Israeli law would do nothing but exacerbate the situation.
On April 15th the Supreme Court in Jerusalem rejected the appeal against the “Anti Boycott Law” which was lodged by former Knesset Member Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom and other Israeli peace and human rights groups, and keeping in force the law enacted several years by the right-wing majority in the Knesset - criminalizing any call for a boycott of Israel and defining a boycott of settlement products as also being “a boycott of Israel”.
"This is a deplorable ruling with far-reaching implications” said Adv. Gaby Lasky, who represented Gush Shalom in this appeal. “The Justices effectively changed the basic Israeli constitutional law as we had known them, giving the interest of maintaining settlements in the Occupied Territories a precedence over the fundamental right of all citizens to Freedom of Political Expression. In fact, the Supreme Court has been captured by the political precepts of anti-democratic right wingers, giving its stamp of approval to a piece of legislation designed to gag one side of the political spectrum. "
Lasky went on to say: "This is a ruling which should have been simple and straightforward. The court should have come down on the side of the Freedom of Expression - especially since the Supreme Court itself had previously laid down clear limits on what are the grounds for infringing that basic freedom. A clear and present threat to public order or national security, and a prohibition upon explicit calls for violence or racism – hitherto, these were the sole grounds which might justify an infringement of Freedom of Expression. With the new ruling, the court gave in to an oppressive parliamentary majority, which invented new and unacceptable grounds for striking at the Freedom of Expression.
"Under the legal situation created in the State of Israel by the Anti Boycott Law and now ratified by the Supreme Court, it is acceptable to call for a boycott of cottage cheese due to its high price - but absolutely forbidden to call for a boycott of the same cheese because it is produced in a settlement" said Lasky. (The reference is to the “Cottage Cheese Boycott Campaign” which had touched off the mass Social Protest Movement in 2011 Israel).
Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, which had been the first to lodge the above appeal, expressed its disappointment with the deplorable ruling, which keeps in place the ban imposed by the right-wing majority in the Knesset – making any citizen or group calling for the boycott of settlements and their products liable to severe penalties. The Supreme Court’s ruling is particularly disturbing and ominous at this juncture – exactly when the agenda of Netanyahu’s talks with the extreme-right parties on forming a new governing coalition includes proposals for new draconian measures, aimed at dealing devastating blows to the Supreme Court itself as well as to the Freedom of Expression and Assembly in Israel.
It is unacceptable to have a law which states that “a boycott of an Israeli-controlled territory” is tantamount to a boycott of Israel itself. There is an essential difference between the legitimate sovereign territory of Israel and the territories occupied in 1967 - which are not a part of Israel under International Law, nor indeed under Israel’s own laws. The building of settlements in the Occupied Territories is a violation of International Law. The main purpose for which these settlements are established is to make it impossible for the Palestinians to ever create their own independent state - thereby also making it impossible for Israel’s citizens to ever reach peace with their neighbors.
It is the right of those who oppose the settlements not to consume the products produced there, not to fund with their money to a settlement project to which they are strongly opposed. It is the right of activists to make a loud and clear call for a boycott of settlement products. It is the right of such organizations as Gush Shalom to compile a detailed list of settlement products, post it for the broadest public view, spread it at the entrances to supermarkets and call upon customers not to consume the products appearing on it. Also at the present moment, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling, we reiterate and reaffirm our view that this right is valid. In recent years, Gush Shalom had been forced to conduct activities with the Anti Boycott Law as a Damocles’ Sword ever hanging overhead. We are sorry to find the Justices ruling that this sword would continue to hanging over our heads.
It should be noted that, regardless of the whatever any of us does or desires, the global movement to boycott Israel (BDS) is gathering an increasing momentum, due to the policy of occupation and oppression enacted by the government of Israel. Many people around the world - including many Jews – have come to feel that Israel's actions in recent years justify the imposition of a boycott. The only real way for Israel to deal with this boycott campaign is to change its policy in the Occupied Territories, which pours ever more fuel on the boycott conflagration.
Most such boycotters are abroad, out of reach of the Israeli law. Punitive measures against those who are subject to Israeli law would do nothing but exacerbate the situation.
Head of Israel's police said car ramming incident in Jerusalem in which an Israeli was killed was probably a terror attack.
The head of Israel's police said Thursday evening that a Jerusalem incident in which a Palestinian man swerved his car into Shalom Yohai Sharki and his friend Shira Klein was most likely a terror attack and not a traffic accident as initially suspected.
"According to initial suspicions, this is a terror attack," Police Commissioner Danino told Army Radio hours after Sharki succumbed to the wounds he sustained in Wednesday's incident in Jerusalem. Sharki is the son of a prominent religious-Zionist rabbi and the brother of a prominent Israeli journalist.
The incident took place on the eve of Israel's Holocaust Memorial Day events. "We view such events with utmost severity, especially when it takes place on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day."
Sharki and Klien were seriously injured by the vehicle Wednesday night at the French Hill junction in Jerusalem as they waited for a bus before being hit in what is now being investigated as yet another incident of vehicular terror. At the time, police said the driver "swerved from his lane and hit two civilians standing at the station". Sharki was laid to rest Thursday, with his father, Rabbi Uri Sharki, eulogizing him as a hero who attempted to save his friend from what he called a "terrorist".
"We have no doubt this a terror attack – this boy was sitting in a bus station with a young girl and the terrorist rammed himself into them and killed him because he was Jewish," the rabbi said. His brother, Yair, echoed the claims saying "when I saw the pictures from the scene, I had no doubt this was a terror attack."
Over 2,000 people attended his funeral, which his partner, Klein, was unable to attend as she lays in a hospital bed, still in serious condition from the attack. The driver, Khaled Kutina, 37, is currently being investigated by the police and defense establishment. At face value, he fits the profile of a 'lone wolf' attacker, and joins a long list of similar incident in Jerusalem, in which a Palestinian or Israeli Arab with a car ploughs into a crowd, usually at a bus or light rail station.
The latest such attack took place at the beginning of May, when a Palestinian rammed his car into group of military police officers, wounding five. The attack took place outside a Border Police base in northern Jerusalem on Shimon HaTzadik street, which was also the site of a November 5 hit and run terror attack that killed one border police offer and injured 13 people. The area has seen no less than 5 terror attacks in the past year.
The head of Israel's police said Thursday evening that a Jerusalem incident in which a Palestinian man swerved his car into Shalom Yohai Sharki and his friend Shira Klein was most likely a terror attack and not a traffic accident as initially suspected.
"According to initial suspicions, this is a terror attack," Police Commissioner Danino told Army Radio hours after Sharki succumbed to the wounds he sustained in Wednesday's incident in Jerusalem. Sharki is the son of a prominent religious-Zionist rabbi and the brother of a prominent Israeli journalist.
The incident took place on the eve of Israel's Holocaust Memorial Day events. "We view such events with utmost severity, especially when it takes place on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day."
Sharki and Klien were seriously injured by the vehicle Wednesday night at the French Hill junction in Jerusalem as they waited for a bus before being hit in what is now being investigated as yet another incident of vehicular terror. At the time, police said the driver "swerved from his lane and hit two civilians standing at the station". Sharki was laid to rest Thursday, with his father, Rabbi Uri Sharki, eulogizing him as a hero who attempted to save his friend from what he called a "terrorist".
"We have no doubt this a terror attack – this boy was sitting in a bus station with a young girl and the terrorist rammed himself into them and killed him because he was Jewish," the rabbi said. His brother, Yair, echoed the claims saying "when I saw the pictures from the scene, I had no doubt this was a terror attack."
Over 2,000 people attended his funeral, which his partner, Klein, was unable to attend as she lays in a hospital bed, still in serious condition from the attack. The driver, Khaled Kutina, 37, is currently being investigated by the police and defense establishment. At face value, he fits the profile of a 'lone wolf' attacker, and joins a long list of similar incident in Jerusalem, in which a Palestinian or Israeli Arab with a car ploughs into a crowd, usually at a bus or light rail station.
The latest such attack took place at the beginning of May, when a Palestinian rammed his car into group of military police officers, wounding five. The attack took place outside a Border Police base in northern Jerusalem on Shimon HaTzadik street, which was also the site of a November 5 hit and run terror attack that killed one border police offer and injured 13 people. The area has seen no less than 5 terror attacks in the past year.
16 apr 2015
Shalom Yohai Sharki 25
Two pedestrians waiting for bus struck by car; Arab driver lightly injured; police investigating possibility of deliberate attack.
Shalom Yohai Sharki, 25, who was struck by a vehicle in Jerusalem Wednesday night, succumbed to his wounds on Thursday morning. A woman also hurt in the incident remains in very series condition.
Sharko and the woman were seriously injured by the vehicle Wednesday night at the French Hill junction in Jerusalem as they waited for a bus. Magen David Adom rescue personnel treated the victims and the driver, an Arab man from north of Jerusalem, who was said to be in light condition.
It remains unclear whether the incident was an accident or a deliberate attack.
The initial assumption was that it was a car accident, but police are now investigating the driver.
Police said the driver "swerved from his lane and hit two civilians standing at the station".
Police: Suspicions grow that Jerusalem crash was terror
Initial findings, questioning of driver raise suspicion vehicular incident, in which one died and another seriously hurt, was a deliberate attack.
Jerusalem Police said Thursday there is a growing suspicion that terrorism was behind a vehicular incident in Jerusalem on Wednesday night, which left one dead and another gravely wounded.
Shalom Yohai Sharki and another were hit Wednesday night by a 37-year-old Arab resident of 'Anata while waiting at a bus stop at the French Hill junction in Jerusalem.
Both victims were gravely wounded and Sharki succumbed to his wounds early Thursday morning, while the second victim, a woman in her early 20s, remains in serious condition.
The driver, who was lightly hurt in the crash, was arrested and questioned by the Jerusalem Police and the Shin Bet.
While investigation is still ongoing, the suspect's interrogation and initial findings raise the suspicion the crash was a terror attack.
Two pedestrians waiting for bus struck by car; Arab driver lightly injured; police investigating possibility of deliberate attack.
Shalom Yohai Sharki, 25, who was struck by a vehicle in Jerusalem Wednesday night, succumbed to his wounds on Thursday morning. A woman also hurt in the incident remains in very series condition.
Sharko and the woman were seriously injured by the vehicle Wednesday night at the French Hill junction in Jerusalem as they waited for a bus. Magen David Adom rescue personnel treated the victims and the driver, an Arab man from north of Jerusalem, who was said to be in light condition.
It remains unclear whether the incident was an accident or a deliberate attack.
The initial assumption was that it was a car accident, but police are now investigating the driver.
Police said the driver "swerved from his lane and hit two civilians standing at the station".
Police: Suspicions grow that Jerusalem crash was terror
Initial findings, questioning of driver raise suspicion vehicular incident, in which one died and another seriously hurt, was a deliberate attack.
Jerusalem Police said Thursday there is a growing suspicion that terrorism was behind a vehicular incident in Jerusalem on Wednesday night, which left one dead and another gravely wounded.
Shalom Yohai Sharki and another were hit Wednesday night by a 37-year-old Arab resident of 'Anata while waiting at a bus stop at the French Hill junction in Jerusalem.
Both victims were gravely wounded and Sharki succumbed to his wounds early Thursday morning, while the second victim, a woman in her early 20s, remains in serious condition.
The driver, who was lightly hurt in the crash, was arrested and questioned by the Jerusalem Police and the Shin Bet.
While investigation is still ongoing, the suspect's interrogation and initial findings raise the suspicion the crash was a terror attack.
15 apr 2015
Jewish extremist groups stormed on Wednesday the plazas of the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem via Magharebah gate under tight security measures by Israeli police and Special Forces.
Eyewitnesses reported that two groups of settlers provocatively broke into the courtyards of the holy site in the morning. The guards of the Aqsa Mosque confronted them by chanting: Allahu Akbar.
The witnesses said that the Jewish settlers performed Talmudic rituals in the Mosque’s yards.
The Israeli policemen took photos for the Muslim worshipers who confronted the settlers in order to arrest them later, the eyewitnesses said.
They pointed out that the Israeli policemen almost daily hold identity cards of Jerusalemite women at the various gates of the Aqsa Mosque until they go out in order to make it difficult for Muslims to visit the Islamic holy site.
In a similar context, the Israeli policemen rounded up at dawn Wednesday the young man Bashar Dari after breaking into his house in eastern Occupied Jerusalem.
Eyewitnesses reported that two groups of settlers provocatively broke into the courtyards of the holy site in the morning. The guards of the Aqsa Mosque confronted them by chanting: Allahu Akbar.
The witnesses said that the Jewish settlers performed Talmudic rituals in the Mosque’s yards.
The Israeli policemen took photos for the Muslim worshipers who confronted the settlers in order to arrest them later, the eyewitnesses said.
They pointed out that the Israeli policemen almost daily hold identity cards of Jerusalemite women at the various gates of the Aqsa Mosque until they go out in order to make it difficult for Muslims to visit the Islamic holy site.
In a similar context, the Israeli policemen rounded up at dawn Wednesday the young man Bashar Dari after breaking into his house in eastern Occupied Jerusalem.
A large Israeli military force broke into a number of neighborhoods in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil on Wednesday. No arrests were reported during the raid.
The Israeli troops were deployed in big numbers at the northern entrance to the governorate and the main road linking between the city and neighboring town of Halhul, local sources said.
On the other hand, dozens of settlers gathered Tuesday evening in the city as a prelude to re-build a synagogue to the south of the city at the expanse of local residents’ lands.
The synagogue was earlier destroyed after the Israeli Supreme Court ordered its demolition for being established on a Palestinian local family’s private land in an effort to force them off.
Despite the court’s demolition order, settlers of Kiryat Arba tried more than once to rebuild the synagogue under Israeli forces’ protection.
The Israeli troops were deployed in big numbers at the northern entrance to the governorate and the main road linking between the city and neighboring town of Halhul, local sources said.
On the other hand, dozens of settlers gathered Tuesday evening in the city as a prelude to re-build a synagogue to the south of the city at the expanse of local residents’ lands.
The synagogue was earlier destroyed after the Israeli Supreme Court ordered its demolition for being established on a Palestinian local family’s private land in an effort to force them off.
Despite the court’s demolition order, settlers of Kiryat Arba tried more than once to rebuild the synagogue under Israeli forces’ protection.
An Israeli policeman walks past graffiti on the wall of a church near an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem, on May 9, 2014. The graffiti reads "King David for the Jews... Jesus is garbage.
Vandals have smashed gravestones at a Maronite Christian cemetery in a village near Israel's northern border with Lebanon, Israeli police said on Wednesday.
Police opened an investigation after receiving a report about damage to a number of graves at the Christian cemetery in Kufr Birim, spokeswoman Luba Samri said, indicating that the tombstones were "broken and displaced."
Kufr Birim is a derelict Palestinian village whose inhabitants were evicted by Israeli forces 1948 six months after Israel was established and never allowed to return. The village was almost totally razed by the Israeli army in 1953.
Last year, Lebanese patriarch of the Maronite church Beshara Rai paid a historic trip to the Holy Land during which he visited Kufr Birim, pledging to help the displaced villagers return.
There are some 11,400 Maronite Catholics living in Israel.
The police did not say who was behind the attack, but recent years have shown a spate of hate crimes targeting Christian churches and cemeteries, with the perpetrators believed to be Jewish extremists.
On Tuesday, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met with church leaders in Jerusalem's Old City, pledging to crack down on religiously inspired hate crime.
So-called "price-tag" attacks are often carried out by Israeli extremists against the Israeli military and Palestinian property, Muslim and Christian alike, in retribution for perceived action against the Jewish-only settlement enterprise throughout the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Following price-tag attacks on Vatican-owned offices in occupied East Jerusalem in May 2014, Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said the government planned to begin using administrative detention against suspected extremists, but has since only given one 30-month prison sentence.
The US State Department's 2013 Country Reports on Terrorism included price-tag attacks for the first time, citing UN figures of some "399 attacks by extremist Israeli settlers that resulted in Palestinian injuries or property damage" during that year.
In addition to rising hate crimes against Israel's minority groups, Israeli policy itself has been criticized for systematic discrimination against non-Jewish religious groups.
In a report published in 2012, the US State Department highlighted Israeli policies restricting freedom of worship for Palestinian Christians and Muslims.
"Strict closures and curfews imposed by the Israeli government negatively affected residents' ability to practice their religion at holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, as well as the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem," the report said.
"The separation barrier significantly impeded Bethlehem-area Christians from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and made visits to Christian sites in Bethany (al-Eizariya) and Bethlehem difficult for Palestinian Christians who live on the Jerusalem side of the barrier."
Vandals have smashed gravestones at a Maronite Christian cemetery in a village near Israel's northern border with Lebanon, Israeli police said on Wednesday.
Police opened an investigation after receiving a report about damage to a number of graves at the Christian cemetery in Kufr Birim, spokeswoman Luba Samri said, indicating that the tombstones were "broken and displaced."
Kufr Birim is a derelict Palestinian village whose inhabitants were evicted by Israeli forces 1948 six months after Israel was established and never allowed to return. The village was almost totally razed by the Israeli army in 1953.
Last year, Lebanese patriarch of the Maronite church Beshara Rai paid a historic trip to the Holy Land during which he visited Kufr Birim, pledging to help the displaced villagers return.
There are some 11,400 Maronite Catholics living in Israel.
The police did not say who was behind the attack, but recent years have shown a spate of hate crimes targeting Christian churches and cemeteries, with the perpetrators believed to be Jewish extremists.
On Tuesday, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met with church leaders in Jerusalem's Old City, pledging to crack down on religiously inspired hate crime.
So-called "price-tag" attacks are often carried out by Israeli extremists against the Israeli military and Palestinian property, Muslim and Christian alike, in retribution for perceived action against the Jewish-only settlement enterprise throughout the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Following price-tag attacks on Vatican-owned offices in occupied East Jerusalem in May 2014, Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said the government planned to begin using administrative detention against suspected extremists, but has since only given one 30-month prison sentence.
The US State Department's 2013 Country Reports on Terrorism included price-tag attacks for the first time, citing UN figures of some "399 attacks by extremist Israeli settlers that resulted in Palestinian injuries or property damage" during that year.
In addition to rising hate crimes against Israel's minority groups, Israeli policy itself has been criticized for systematic discrimination against non-Jewish religious groups.
In a report published in 2012, the US State Department highlighted Israeli policies restricting freedom of worship for Palestinian Christians and Muslims.
"Strict closures and curfews imposed by the Israeli government negatively affected residents' ability to practice their religion at holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, as well as the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem," the report said.
"The separation barrier significantly impeded Bethlehem-area Christians from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and made visits to Christian sites in Bethany (al-Eizariya) and Bethlehem difficult for Palestinian Christians who live on the Jerusalem side of the barrier."