8 aug 2015
The heads of Catholic churches, Friday, filed a complaint against the chief of extremist Jewish group, Lehava, for advocating the burning of churches.
According to a press release issued by the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries on Friday, Father Pietro Felet, Secretary General of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land, filed an official complaint to the Israeli police, Friday morning, against the leader of radical Israeli organization Lehava, Bentsi Gopstein, demanding he be brought to justice for advocating the torching of churches.
The complaint, filed on behalf of over than twenty patriarchs and bishops, expressed “concern over what was described to be growing security challenges to churches, people and buildings alike, in areas under Israel's sovereignty or control.”
The complaint referred to several attacks that targeted churches and Christian holy sites by radical parties and hinted that in vast majority of these criminal incidents criminals were not brought to justice.
The complaint was referring to remarks made by Gopstein during a panel debating Jewish religious law, last Tuesday night in Jerusalem.
Responding to a question on whether he “is in favor of burning churches in the Land of Israel,” Gopstein answered: “Did the Rambam rule to destroy [idol worship] or not? Idol worship must be destroyed. It’s simply yes – what’s the question?”
He was reported in another version as answering, apparently alluding to the rulings of the 12th century Jewish ‘sage’ Mainonides “The law is straightforward; Maimonides’ interpretation is that one must burn idolatry. There’s not a single rabbi that would deliberate that fact. I expect the government of Israel to carry that out.”
When the panel moderator warned him that the panel was filmed and if the recording get to police he would be arrested, Gopstein said: “That’s the last thing that bothers me. If that’s the truth then I’m prepared to sit 50 years in prison for it.”
The complaint was made one day after the Palestinian Foreign Ministry issued a press statement vehemently denouncing the Israeli government’s “tolerance toward Gobshtai and other extremists who advocate murdering and terrorizing Palestinians and setting fire to their property.”
The Foreign Ministry held the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of such “racist and provocative” calls that have resulted in murdering Palestinians in the most atrocious fashion, particularly the burning to death of 18-month-old Palestinian toddler Ali Dawabsha and critically injury of his family members in an arson attack on a house in the Nablus village of Douma.
The Ministry, given a rise in the cycle of violence and counter-violence, slammed Israeli government’s policies and disregard of rising bloody extremism as responsible for the proliferation of the culture of hatred, violence and racism.
In December 2014, several Lehava members, including Gopstein himself, who lives in a settlement inside the West Bank city of Hebron, were detained on charges of setting fire to a first-grade classroom at Jerusalem's Hand-in-Hand school on November 29. Daubed on the walls in Hebrew were slogans reading 'Death to Arabs' and 'There's no coexistence with cancer.'
Lehava activists follow the teachings of the late Meir Kahane, a virulently anti-Arab rabbi whose Kach party and another offshoot were banned in 1994 after one of its members gunned down 29 Muslims in a flashpoint mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron.
According to a press release issued by the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries on Friday, Father Pietro Felet, Secretary General of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land, filed an official complaint to the Israeli police, Friday morning, against the leader of radical Israeli organization Lehava, Bentsi Gopstein, demanding he be brought to justice for advocating the torching of churches.
The complaint, filed on behalf of over than twenty patriarchs and bishops, expressed “concern over what was described to be growing security challenges to churches, people and buildings alike, in areas under Israel's sovereignty or control.”
The complaint referred to several attacks that targeted churches and Christian holy sites by radical parties and hinted that in vast majority of these criminal incidents criminals were not brought to justice.
The complaint was referring to remarks made by Gopstein during a panel debating Jewish religious law, last Tuesday night in Jerusalem.
Responding to a question on whether he “is in favor of burning churches in the Land of Israel,” Gopstein answered: “Did the Rambam rule to destroy [idol worship] or not? Idol worship must be destroyed. It’s simply yes – what’s the question?”
He was reported in another version as answering, apparently alluding to the rulings of the 12th century Jewish ‘sage’ Mainonides “The law is straightforward; Maimonides’ interpretation is that one must burn idolatry. There’s not a single rabbi that would deliberate that fact. I expect the government of Israel to carry that out.”
When the panel moderator warned him that the panel was filmed and if the recording get to police he would be arrested, Gopstein said: “That’s the last thing that bothers me. If that’s the truth then I’m prepared to sit 50 years in prison for it.”
The complaint was made one day after the Palestinian Foreign Ministry issued a press statement vehemently denouncing the Israeli government’s “tolerance toward Gobshtai and other extremists who advocate murdering and terrorizing Palestinians and setting fire to their property.”
The Foreign Ministry held the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of such “racist and provocative” calls that have resulted in murdering Palestinians in the most atrocious fashion, particularly the burning to death of 18-month-old Palestinian toddler Ali Dawabsha and critically injury of his family members in an arson attack on a house in the Nablus village of Douma.
The Ministry, given a rise in the cycle of violence and counter-violence, slammed Israeli government’s policies and disregard of rising bloody extremism as responsible for the proliferation of the culture of hatred, violence and racism.
In December 2014, several Lehava members, including Gopstein himself, who lives in a settlement inside the West Bank city of Hebron, were detained on charges of setting fire to a first-grade classroom at Jerusalem's Hand-in-Hand school on November 29. Daubed on the walls in Hebrew were slogans reading 'Death to Arabs' and 'There's no coexistence with cancer.'
Lehava activists follow the teachings of the late Meir Kahane, a virulently anti-Arab rabbi whose Kach party and another offshoot were banned in 1994 after one of its members gunned down 29 Muslims in a flashpoint mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron.
A horde of Jewish settlers on Friday morning attacked Palestinian citizens in an area located between Arraba and Yabud towns, south of Jenin city.
Local sources told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that a large number of settlers aboard vehicles coming from the illegal settlement of Mevo Dotan settlement occupied some roads in the area and embarked on harassing and attacking Palestinian passersby.
The sources added that the settlers also carried banners and chanted slogans calling for expelling the Arabs from their areas and killing them.
Local sources told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that a large number of settlers aboard vehicles coming from the illegal settlement of Mevo Dotan settlement occupied some roads in the area and embarked on harassing and attacking Palestinian passersby.
The sources added that the settlers also carried banners and chanted slogans calling for expelling the Arabs from their areas and killing them.
A group of Israeli settlers attempted to burn another Palestinian house Saturday morning. The house is located on the way between Nablus and Jericho on the eastern side of Palestine.
Ghassaan Doughlas, in charge of the settlers file in the northern West Bank said that a group of settlers attacked the house of Mahmoud Ka'abneh with two cocktail bombs in the early hours of the morning.
The two bombs hit the walls of the house as the assailants missed the window.
the family managed to put the fire out, preventing another massacre by the settlers.
This arson attack was carried out a week after a Palestinian baby was burned to death when Israeli settlers attacked the house of Dawabsha family in the village of Doma near Nablus.
Ali,18 months old died immediately, meanwhile his father Sa'ad Dawabsha died of his wounds, while 5-year-old Ahmad and the mother Reham are still in intensive care, receiving treatment.
Palestinian family survive a new settlers’ arson attack
A Palestinian family survived at dawn Saturday a new settlers’ arson attack in Duma town south of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
Ghassan Douglas, Settlerment File Officer, told PIC reporter that a group of extremist settlers tried to set fire at dawn Saturday to a local Palestinian home in the area.
The settlers attacked the home with fire bombs before fleeing the scene, the Palestinian official added.
Fortunately, the fire bombs landed on the outer walls of the home, but did not make it inside the house.
A similar settler arson attack took place a week ago in the same town. A 18-month-old Ali Dawabsha and his father Saad were killed in the attack, while his mother and 4-year-old brother are still held in hospital as they suffer third-degree burns.
Ghassaan Doughlas, in charge of the settlers file in the northern West Bank said that a group of settlers attacked the house of Mahmoud Ka'abneh with two cocktail bombs in the early hours of the morning.
The two bombs hit the walls of the house as the assailants missed the window.
the family managed to put the fire out, preventing another massacre by the settlers.
This arson attack was carried out a week after a Palestinian baby was burned to death when Israeli settlers attacked the house of Dawabsha family in the village of Doma near Nablus.
Ali,18 months old died immediately, meanwhile his father Sa'ad Dawabsha died of his wounds, while 5-year-old Ahmad and the mother Reham are still in intensive care, receiving treatment.
Palestinian family survive a new settlers’ arson attack
A Palestinian family survived at dawn Saturday a new settlers’ arson attack in Duma town south of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
Ghassan Douglas, Settlerment File Officer, told PIC reporter that a group of extremist settlers tried to set fire at dawn Saturday to a local Palestinian home in the area.
The settlers attacked the home with fire bombs before fleeing the scene, the Palestinian official added.
Fortunately, the fire bombs landed on the outer walls of the home, but did not make it inside the house.
A similar settler arson attack took place a week ago in the same town. A 18-month-old Ali Dawabsha and his father Saad were killed in the attack, while his mother and 4-year-old brother are still held in hospital as they suffer third-degree burns.
Extremist Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian home with fire bombs and rocks in the village of Douma, to the south of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank on Saturday morning, Palestinian said.
Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an News Agency that “a number of extremist settlers hurled two fire bombs at the home of Mahmoud Fazza al-Kaabna.”
The fire bombs, Daghlas said, landed on the outer wall of the home near a window, but did not make it inside the house.
The attackers also hurled stones at the house, with one of them hitting al-Kaabna in the abdomen.
The settler attack took place a week after the deadly arson attack which killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsha and his father Saad from the same village. The mother Riham and 4-year-old brother Ahmad are still struggling for their lives after they sustained third-degree burns on most of their bodies.
Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an News Agency that “a number of extremist settlers hurled two fire bombs at the home of Mahmoud Fazza al-Kaabna.”
The fire bombs, Daghlas said, landed on the outer wall of the home near a window, but did not make it inside the house.
The attackers also hurled stones at the house, with one of them hitting al-Kaabna in the abdomen.
The settler attack took place a week after the deadly arson attack which killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsha and his father Saad from the same village. The mother Riham and 4-year-old brother Ahmad are still struggling for their lives after they sustained third-degree burns on most of their bodies.
Israeli occupation forces confiscated a donkey from some children in the village of Al-Tur, under the pretext of annoying the settlers in a settlement outpost established in that area.
Witnesses explained to Wadi Hilweh Information Center that soldiers confiscated a donkey owned by the Abulhawa family, while some children were walking with it on Al-Khalleh Street, near the settlement outpost.
Witnesses also added that settlers living in the outpost called in the team, who immediately arrived to the area, confiscated the donkey and transferred it to an unknown place using a special vehicle.
Witnesses explained to Wadi Hilweh Information Center that soldiers confiscated a donkey owned by the Abulhawa family, while some children were walking with it on Al-Khalleh Street, near the settlement outpost.
Witnesses also added that settlers living in the outpost called in the team, who immediately arrived to the area, confiscated the donkey and transferred it to an unknown place using a special vehicle.
Sa’ad Mohammad Dawabsha 32
Medical sources have reported, Saturday, that Sa’ad Mohammad Dawabsha, the father of Ali, 18 months of age, who was burnt to death in an Israeli terrorist attack targeting their home last week, has succumbed to his serious wounds.
The sources said Sa’ad, 32 years of age, died at the Soroka Israeli Medical Center in Be’er Sheba (Be’er as-Sabe’) of serious burns to 80% of his body.
His wife, Reham Dawabsha, 27, suffered burns to 90% of her body, and their child, Ahmad, 5 years of age, suffered second-degree burns to 60% of his body.
The Israeli side requested an autopsy, but the family rejected, and said his burial will be held Saturday in his village, Douma, in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
After the death of the Palestinian father, the Central Command of the Israeli Army decided to increase military presence in the occupied West Bank, especially in the Nablus district, anticipating extended clashes with the Palestinians.
The infant, Ali Dawabsha, was burnt to death when Israeli terrorists firebombed the family home as they slept; his parents, and his brother Ahmad, four months of age, suffered serious burns and injuries, and were moved to Soroka and Tal HaShomer Medical Centers.
Medical sources have reported, Saturday, that Sa’ad Mohammad Dawabsha, the father of Ali, 18 months of age, who was burnt to death in an Israeli terrorist attack targeting their home last week, has succumbed to his serious wounds.
The sources said Sa’ad, 32 years of age, died at the Soroka Israeli Medical Center in Be’er Sheba (Be’er as-Sabe’) of serious burns to 80% of his body.
His wife, Reham Dawabsha, 27, suffered burns to 90% of her body, and their child, Ahmad, 5 years of age, suffered second-degree burns to 60% of his body.
The Israeli side requested an autopsy, but the family rejected, and said his burial will be held Saturday in his village, Douma, in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
After the death of the Palestinian father, the Central Command of the Israeli Army decided to increase military presence in the occupied West Bank, especially in the Nablus district, anticipating extended clashes with the Palestinians.
The infant, Ali Dawabsha, was burnt to death when Israeli terrorists firebombed the family home as they slept; his parents, and his brother Ahmad, four months of age, suffered serious burns and injuries, and were moved to Soroka and Tal HaShomer Medical Centers.
7 aug 2015
Lawless State of Judea is forming in the West Bank, warns Yuval Diskin, who says extremists are most dangerous than many think and law enforcement is 'shockingly weak' against them.
Former Shin Bet chief Yuval DIskin on Friday criticized the government's handling of West Bank extremists in the wake of the Jewish terror attack in Duma.
"Alongside the State of Israel, a de facto State of Judea is being formed," Diskin wrote in a lengthy Facebook post warning of a potentially irreversible situation.
"In the State of Judea there are different standards, different value systems, different attitudes towards democracy, and there are two legal systems," he asserted. "In the State of Judea, law enforcement is shockingly weak towards Jews. In the State of Judea, anarchistic, anti-state, violent, and racist ideologies are forming over the years, and they are treated tolerantly by the Israeli legal and judicial system. "
According to the former security service chief, "the Hilltop Youth (hard-line, extremist settlers) are setting the tone within Religious Zionism. Anyone who thinks we are only talking about a few dozen of delusional youths is making a big mistake. In the State of Judea, there are many hundreds of youths supporting messianic and/or anarchistic, anti-state ideologies.
"Among these many hundreds are dozens who daily adopt different levels of violence or terrorism against Palestinian lives and property," wrote the ex-Shin Bet boss. "Among them are dozens who would be willing to unhesitatingly take part in violence and terrorism against their Jewish brothers when they see the value of "sacred land" as being put to the test. In certain scenarios, these numbers can be expected to increase significantly."
According to Diskin, the Shin Bet, the police, and the IDF are well aware of the figures, as have prime ministers through the ages, as well as various law enforcement agencies. "Even when I was head of the Shin Bet, I appeared at different Mechinot (pre-military educational programs) in Judea and Samaria and openly said that I thought Jewish terrorism was a cancer on the body of the nation," Diskin wrote.
But some in the Shin Bet are concerned, he claimed. "A number of employees in the Shin Bet's Jewish division, particularly those among them who wear kippas and lived in settlements, have been the target of harassment, boycotts, and denunciation by radical right-wing activists. One of the current senior employees in the Shin Bet, who is religious and lived in a settlement until recently, was afraid to serve as head of the Shin Bet department in charge of the Jewish division."
The government has always preferred to deal with other security threats rather than deal with administrative detention for Jewish terror operatives, Diskin argued. "It is also not politically beneficial when we have a government based on right-wing parties, and has a right-wing political lobby as well as a rabbinical lobby, which immediately rallies around those who were jailed or detained, and makes enormous efforts to free them."
Diskin warned of a far graver future. "The situation will only get worse and become more complicated," he wrote. "My conclusion is that we have to wait for it to be worse in order for it to perhaps get better. Will it be better? It depends only on us, because we have reached this situation without leadership and without a path."
Former Shin Bet chief Yuval DIskin on Friday criticized the government's handling of West Bank extremists in the wake of the Jewish terror attack in Duma.
"Alongside the State of Israel, a de facto State of Judea is being formed," Diskin wrote in a lengthy Facebook post warning of a potentially irreversible situation.
"In the State of Judea there are different standards, different value systems, different attitudes towards democracy, and there are two legal systems," he asserted. "In the State of Judea, law enforcement is shockingly weak towards Jews. In the State of Judea, anarchistic, anti-state, violent, and racist ideologies are forming over the years, and they are treated tolerantly by the Israeli legal and judicial system. "
According to the former security service chief, "the Hilltop Youth (hard-line, extremist settlers) are setting the tone within Religious Zionism. Anyone who thinks we are only talking about a few dozen of delusional youths is making a big mistake. In the State of Judea, there are many hundreds of youths supporting messianic and/or anarchistic, anti-state ideologies.
"Among these many hundreds are dozens who daily adopt different levels of violence or terrorism against Palestinian lives and property," wrote the ex-Shin Bet boss. "Among them are dozens who would be willing to unhesitatingly take part in violence and terrorism against their Jewish brothers when they see the value of "sacred land" as being put to the test. In certain scenarios, these numbers can be expected to increase significantly."
According to Diskin, the Shin Bet, the police, and the IDF are well aware of the figures, as have prime ministers through the ages, as well as various law enforcement agencies. "Even when I was head of the Shin Bet, I appeared at different Mechinot (pre-military educational programs) in Judea and Samaria and openly said that I thought Jewish terrorism was a cancer on the body of the nation," Diskin wrote.
But some in the Shin Bet are concerned, he claimed. "A number of employees in the Shin Bet's Jewish division, particularly those among them who wear kippas and lived in settlements, have been the target of harassment, boycotts, and denunciation by radical right-wing activists. One of the current senior employees in the Shin Bet, who is religious and lived in a settlement until recently, was afraid to serve as head of the Shin Bet department in charge of the Jewish division."
The government has always preferred to deal with other security threats rather than deal with administrative detention for Jewish terror operatives, Diskin argued. "It is also not politically beneficial when we have a government based on right-wing parties, and has a right-wing political lobby as well as a rabbinical lobby, which immediately rallies around those who were jailed or detained, and makes enormous efforts to free them."
Diskin warned of a far graver future. "The situation will only get worse and become more complicated," he wrote. "My conclusion is that we have to wait for it to be worse in order for it to perhaps get better. Will it be better? It depends only on us, because we have reached this situation without leadership and without a path."
A Palestinian 12-year-old child suffered moderate injuries after an Israeli settler deliberately ran him over near Jalama checkpoint north of Jenin.
Medics said that the child was transferred to hospital as he suffers differed injuries all over his body.
The hit-and-run attack comes just one week after right-wing Jewish extremists set fire to a Palestinian home in the nearby town of Duma, killing a baby and hospitalizing three other family members.
Medics said that the child was transferred to hospital as he suffers differed injuries all over his body.
The hit-and-run attack comes just one week after right-wing Jewish extremists set fire to a Palestinian home in the nearby town of Duma, killing a baby and hospitalizing three other family members.
Meir Ettinger was arrested on Monday in connection with Jewish extremist activities
His long beard, dangling side-locks and wide smile give him the look of a hippie from another era, but Meir Ettinger has become the symbol of a crackdown on Jewish extremism.
The young man, whose grandfather headed a racist movement, was arrested on Monday, the first alleged extremist to be taken into custody in connection with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge of "zero tolerance."
The push to crack down on Jewish extremism follows the July 31 firebombing of a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank that killed an 18-month-old child and critically wounded his parents and four-year-old brother.
It came only hours after a stabbing attack at a Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem that wounded five people and killed a 16-year-old girl.
The incidents were unrelated, with the suspect in the Gay Pride stabbings an ultra-Orthodox Jew carrying out a "lone wolf"-type attack. The firebombing however follows a pattern of such actions by suspected Jewish extremists against Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim, and even the Israeli military.
Ettinger, 23, from Jerusalem, is accused of being a key figure in an amorphous band of youths who have engaged in such violence. After the torching of part of a shrine in northern Israel in June where Christians believe Jesus performed the miracle of loaves and fishes, the Shin Bet internal security agency labelled him the head of an "ideological infrastructure" responsible for the arson.
According to the Shin Bet, the same "infrastructure" vandalized a monastery in 2014 and unsuccessfully sought to disrupt Pope Benedict's visit the same year. Ettinger's family is no stranger to controversy.
His grandfather Meir Kahane founded Kach, a racist movement that wanted to chase Palestinians from Israel and which was banned in 1988. Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990. His father is a rabbi at two religious schools in Jerusalem. His parents disapproved of his radical stance, and when he was 17, Ettinger left to live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hilltop Youths
A number of illegal Jewish outposts, usually made up of homemade structures and caravans, have sprung up in the mountains of the occupied West Bank on land Palestinians view as part of a future state of their own. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law.
Israel grants approvals for settlements, but unauthorized outposts are also illegal under its laws. Ettinger wandered from one outpost to another, allegedly becoming part of what is known as the "Hilltop Youth," a loose band of militants who left their schools and families to live in what they see as "Judea and Samaria" -- the name given to the West Bank in reference to the ancient Biblical kingdoms.
They advocate for the return of the ancient kingdoms where Jews can live under the laws of the Torah. In his blog on July 30, Ettinger wrote of God's honor being "desecrated by idolatry filling the Holy Land".
He lashed out at "the state of Israel's great sin of allowing idolatry -- churches and monasteries abounding in the Land of Israel with the sound of their ringing bells mixing with the pleasant sound of the Torah and prayer that, thank God, is plentiful in the Holy Land."
Ettinger said "there are many, many Jews, much more than what people think ... who are committed not to the broken laws of the state but much more eternal laws, true and from a pure source." His lawyer said Ettinger has never committed violence and called his arrest "window dressing."
For some, Ettinger was inspired by Yitzchak Ginsburgh, a rabbi from a messianic branch of Hasidic Judaism that denies Arabs the right to live in the Holy Land. Ettinger spoke of him in January 2014 with a group of settlers who sought to destroy an olive grove in the Palestinian village of Qusra in the West Bank.
They were beaten by residents before being turned over to Israeli soldiers. He is also reported to have broken into Joseph's tomb in Nablus despite restrictions imposed on Jews and to have collected information on authorities' plans to evacuate illegal outposts.
His alleged activities earned him six months in prison and a ban on travel to the West Bank and Jerusalem for one year. He was living in Safed in northern Israel for several months when he was arrested this week.
His long beard, dangling side-locks and wide smile give him the look of a hippie from another era, but Meir Ettinger has become the symbol of a crackdown on Jewish extremism.
The young man, whose grandfather headed a racist movement, was arrested on Monday, the first alleged extremist to be taken into custody in connection with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge of "zero tolerance."
The push to crack down on Jewish extremism follows the July 31 firebombing of a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank that killed an 18-month-old child and critically wounded his parents and four-year-old brother.
It came only hours after a stabbing attack at a Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem that wounded five people and killed a 16-year-old girl.
The incidents were unrelated, with the suspect in the Gay Pride stabbings an ultra-Orthodox Jew carrying out a "lone wolf"-type attack. The firebombing however follows a pattern of such actions by suspected Jewish extremists against Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim, and even the Israeli military.
Ettinger, 23, from Jerusalem, is accused of being a key figure in an amorphous band of youths who have engaged in such violence. After the torching of part of a shrine in northern Israel in June where Christians believe Jesus performed the miracle of loaves and fishes, the Shin Bet internal security agency labelled him the head of an "ideological infrastructure" responsible for the arson.
According to the Shin Bet, the same "infrastructure" vandalized a monastery in 2014 and unsuccessfully sought to disrupt Pope Benedict's visit the same year. Ettinger's family is no stranger to controversy.
His grandfather Meir Kahane founded Kach, a racist movement that wanted to chase Palestinians from Israel and which was banned in 1988. Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990. His father is a rabbi at two religious schools in Jerusalem. His parents disapproved of his radical stance, and when he was 17, Ettinger left to live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hilltop Youths
A number of illegal Jewish outposts, usually made up of homemade structures and caravans, have sprung up in the mountains of the occupied West Bank on land Palestinians view as part of a future state of their own. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law.
Israel grants approvals for settlements, but unauthorized outposts are also illegal under its laws. Ettinger wandered from one outpost to another, allegedly becoming part of what is known as the "Hilltop Youth," a loose band of militants who left their schools and families to live in what they see as "Judea and Samaria" -- the name given to the West Bank in reference to the ancient Biblical kingdoms.
They advocate for the return of the ancient kingdoms where Jews can live under the laws of the Torah. In his blog on July 30, Ettinger wrote of God's honor being "desecrated by idolatry filling the Holy Land".
He lashed out at "the state of Israel's great sin of allowing idolatry -- churches and monasteries abounding in the Land of Israel with the sound of their ringing bells mixing with the pleasant sound of the Torah and prayer that, thank God, is plentiful in the Holy Land."
Ettinger said "there are many, many Jews, much more than what people think ... who are committed not to the broken laws of the state but much more eternal laws, true and from a pure source." His lawyer said Ettinger has never committed violence and called his arrest "window dressing."
For some, Ettinger was inspired by Yitzchak Ginsburgh, a rabbi from a messianic branch of Hasidic Judaism that denies Arabs the right to live in the Holy Land. Ettinger spoke of him in January 2014 with a group of settlers who sought to destroy an olive grove in the Palestinian village of Qusra in the West Bank.
They were beaten by residents before being turned over to Israeli soldiers. He is also reported to have broken into Joseph's tomb in Nablus despite restrictions imposed on Jews and to have collected information on authorities' plans to evacuate illegal outposts.
His alleged activities earned him six months in prison and a ban on travel to the West Bank and Jerusalem for one year. He was living in Safed in northern Israel for several months when he was arrested this week.
6 aug 2015
Israeli settler Benzi Gopstein, the leader of the extreme right-wing movement Lehava, in court in Jerusalem in 2014
The leader of a Jewish extremist group in Israel allegedly called for arson attacks on churches in front of Israeli students, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
Benzi Gopstein, leader of anti-Arab group Lehava, allegedly called for the burning of churches at a panel held this week for Jewish yeshiva students, using ancient Halachic, or Jewish law, to condemn what he called Christian "idol worship."
When a journalist at the panel informed Gopstein that he was on camera and could be arrested for his comments, Gopstein said he is prepared to spend 50 years in jail for his remarks, according to a video of the panel released by the Haredi website Kikar Shabbat.
After the release of the video, Gopstein said he "stressed several times" that he was "not calling to take operative steps," instead he said that it is "the responsibility of the government, not of individuals" to abolish the Christian practice of idol worship.
The Israeli government has taken steps to crack down on Jewish extremism over the past week, after suspected Jewish extremists torched two West Bank homes, burning an 18-month-old infant alive and critically injuring the baby's mother, father and brother.
Three right-wing extremists were arrested on Tuesday in connection to the arson under an administrative detention order after Israel's security cabinet approved the use of the measure on Jewish Israelis. The arrests marked the first time a Jewish Israeli has ever been held under the policy of administrative detention.
There has been a long line of attacks on Christian and Muslim holy places in both Israel and the occupied West Bank in which the perpetrators were believed to be Jewish extremists.
Despite announcements by the Israeli government in May 2014 to crack down on violent attacks carried out by Israelis against Palestinians, prosecution rates of Jewish extremists remain remarkably low.
The leader of a Jewish extremist group in Israel allegedly called for arson attacks on churches in front of Israeli students, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
Benzi Gopstein, leader of anti-Arab group Lehava, allegedly called for the burning of churches at a panel held this week for Jewish yeshiva students, using ancient Halachic, or Jewish law, to condemn what he called Christian "idol worship."
When a journalist at the panel informed Gopstein that he was on camera and could be arrested for his comments, Gopstein said he is prepared to spend 50 years in jail for his remarks, according to a video of the panel released by the Haredi website Kikar Shabbat.
After the release of the video, Gopstein said he "stressed several times" that he was "not calling to take operative steps," instead he said that it is "the responsibility of the government, not of individuals" to abolish the Christian practice of idol worship.
The Israeli government has taken steps to crack down on Jewish extremism over the past week, after suspected Jewish extremists torched two West Bank homes, burning an 18-month-old infant alive and critically injuring the baby's mother, father and brother.
Three right-wing extremists were arrested on Tuesday in connection to the arson under an administrative detention order after Israel's security cabinet approved the use of the measure on Jewish Israelis. The arrests marked the first time a Jewish Israeli has ever been held under the policy of administrative detention.
There has been a long line of attacks on Christian and Muslim holy places in both Israel and the occupied West Bank in which the perpetrators were believed to be Jewish extremists.
Despite announcements by the Israeli government in May 2014 to crack down on violent attacks carried out by Israelis against Palestinians, prosecution rates of Jewish extremists remain remarkably low.
Groups of Jewish settlers stormed on Thursday the plazas of al-Aqsa Mosque from the Magharebah gate amid tightened security measures by Israeli police.
Media sources reported that 32 settlers broke into the vicinity of al-Aqsa Mosque in the morning where Israeli police secured settlers’ provocative rounds until they went out of the holy site from Silsilah gate.
Groups of settlers, activists in calling for the establishment of the alleged Temple of Solomon, intensified their calls for storming the Muslims’ al-Aqsa Mosque and to raise the Israeli flag over it on next Sunday.
This comes in protest against what happened a few days ago when al-Aqsa guards stopped a Jewish settler who was attempting to raise the Israeli flag over the Dome of the Rock and attacked some of them by a sharp tool.
Media sources reported that 32 settlers broke into the vicinity of al-Aqsa Mosque in the morning where Israeli police secured settlers’ provocative rounds until they went out of the holy site from Silsilah gate.
Groups of settlers, activists in calling for the establishment of the alleged Temple of Solomon, intensified their calls for storming the Muslims’ al-Aqsa Mosque and to raise the Israeli flag over it on next Sunday.
This comes in protest against what happened a few days ago when al-Aqsa guards stopped a Jewish settler who was attempting to raise the Israeli flag over the Dome of the Rock and attacked some of them by a sharp tool.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), on Thursday, issued a special report to be presented to the Arab Foreign Minister’s meeting. The report highlights Israel’s terror attacks by settlers in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
Since 2004, Israeli settlers have carried out more than 11,000 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The settlers attack our people, homes, churches, mosques, trees and even poison our water. Not a single settler is currently imprisoned for the commission of such dreadful crimes, report said.
The report covers the period between January 01st – July 31st, 2015, including the burning and killing of Ali Dawabsha.
The report also provides details for the arson attack.
On the morning of July 31st, 2015, a group of settler criminals attacked and burnt down two Palestinian homes in Duma village in Nablus district. The family of Ma’moon Dawabsheh was not inside at the time its home was attacked, but the home of Ali Saed Dawabsha was burnt while the family was asleep inside.
As a result, baby Ali lost his life. Ali’s mother and father, Riham and Saad, and his four-year-old brother Ahmad suffered severe burns and remain in critical condition as a result of the same attack. The incident harkens back to July of last year when a 16 year old Palestinian child from Jerusalem, Muhammad Abu Khdeir, was kidnapped and burned alive by Israeli settlers.
It also mentions that only a few hours before the attack on Duma, the Israeli Channel 2 broadcast a report about a Jewish terrorist cell based in the occupied West Bank which had attacked the Church of Loaves and Fishes in Tiberias.The TV report revealed information about a compact disc found in the possession of the attackers:
The CD provided instructions for an “easy way to burn Arabs alive”; “First, break the glass windows using stones. Then continuously start throwing molotov cocktails. Then set tires on fire and place them on the exit points of the house, so no one escapes – so all are burnt alive”. This report was broadcast at primetime on a major Israeli TV network. This was a similar method used by the attackers when, hours later, they threw incendiary devices through the glass window of baby Ali’s room and throughout the house.
According to a recent report by Israeli Human rights organization Yesh Din, 85.3 percent of investigative files are closed due the failure of Israeli police investigators to locate suspects or to find sufficient evidence to enable indictment. In addition, only 7.4 percent of investigations have yielded indictments against suspects.
Only one-third (32.7 percent) of legal proceedings have ended in the full or partial conviction of the defendants. This means that the chance that a complaint submitted to the Israel police by a Palestinian will lead to an effective investigation, the location of a suspect, prosecution, and ultimate conviction is just 1.9 percent.
Israeli occupation authorities have established, and continue to consolidate, the illegal settlements and presence of settlers in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli government fuels the crimes of the settlers through hateful rhetoric and incitement against Palestinians. Israeli ministers have publicly called for the killing and dehumanization of the Palestinian people, and the Israeli legal and judicial system provides no legal recourse for victims of the horrific crime that results.
The report added that the State of Palestine holds the Israeli occupation’s government fully responsible for the daily terror attacks it carries out against the land and people of Palestine.
Israel grants impunity for the settlers, their leaders and their Knesset members and in the process many Palestinians continue to falls victims of cruel, inhuman and degrading acts carried out by settlers, often under the full protection of the Israeli military and security forces.
President Mahmoud Abbas formally called upon the international community last year to assume its responsibility to protect the Palestinian people under occupation. While the world preferred to ignore the Palestinian call, hundreds of attacks took place, with thousands being killed, injured and arbitrarily imprisoned.
“We once again call upon the international community to assume its responsibility to protect and to hold Israeli authorities responsible for their criminal acts. For peace to prevail, the culture of Israeli impunity must end.”
Since 2004, Israeli settlers have carried out more than 11,000 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The settlers attack our people, homes, churches, mosques, trees and even poison our water. Not a single settler is currently imprisoned for the commission of such dreadful crimes, report said.
The report covers the period between January 01st – July 31st, 2015, including the burning and killing of Ali Dawabsha.
The report also provides details for the arson attack.
On the morning of July 31st, 2015, a group of settler criminals attacked and burnt down two Palestinian homes in Duma village in Nablus district. The family of Ma’moon Dawabsheh was not inside at the time its home was attacked, but the home of Ali Saed Dawabsha was burnt while the family was asleep inside.
As a result, baby Ali lost his life. Ali’s mother and father, Riham and Saad, and his four-year-old brother Ahmad suffered severe burns and remain in critical condition as a result of the same attack. The incident harkens back to July of last year when a 16 year old Palestinian child from Jerusalem, Muhammad Abu Khdeir, was kidnapped and burned alive by Israeli settlers.
It also mentions that only a few hours before the attack on Duma, the Israeli Channel 2 broadcast a report about a Jewish terrorist cell based in the occupied West Bank which had attacked the Church of Loaves and Fishes in Tiberias.The TV report revealed information about a compact disc found in the possession of the attackers:
The CD provided instructions for an “easy way to burn Arabs alive”; “First, break the glass windows using stones. Then continuously start throwing molotov cocktails. Then set tires on fire and place them on the exit points of the house, so no one escapes – so all are burnt alive”. This report was broadcast at primetime on a major Israeli TV network. This was a similar method used by the attackers when, hours later, they threw incendiary devices through the glass window of baby Ali’s room and throughout the house.
According to a recent report by Israeli Human rights organization Yesh Din, 85.3 percent of investigative files are closed due the failure of Israeli police investigators to locate suspects or to find sufficient evidence to enable indictment. In addition, only 7.4 percent of investigations have yielded indictments against suspects.
Only one-third (32.7 percent) of legal proceedings have ended in the full or partial conviction of the defendants. This means that the chance that a complaint submitted to the Israel police by a Palestinian will lead to an effective investigation, the location of a suspect, prosecution, and ultimate conviction is just 1.9 percent.
Israeli occupation authorities have established, and continue to consolidate, the illegal settlements and presence of settlers in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli government fuels the crimes of the settlers through hateful rhetoric and incitement against Palestinians. Israeli ministers have publicly called for the killing and dehumanization of the Palestinian people, and the Israeli legal and judicial system provides no legal recourse for victims of the horrific crime that results.
The report added that the State of Palestine holds the Israeli occupation’s government fully responsible for the daily terror attacks it carries out against the land and people of Palestine.
Israel grants impunity for the settlers, their leaders and their Knesset members and in the process many Palestinians continue to falls victims of cruel, inhuman and degrading acts carried out by settlers, often under the full protection of the Israeli military and security forces.
President Mahmoud Abbas formally called upon the international community last year to assume its responsibility to protect the Palestinian people under occupation. While the world preferred to ignore the Palestinian call, hundreds of attacks took place, with thousands being killed, injured and arbitrarily imprisoned.
“We once again call upon the international community to assume its responsibility to protect and to hold Israeli authorities responsible for their criminal acts. For peace to prevail, the culture of Israeli impunity must end.”
The Zionist Organisation of America (ZOA), one of the oldest Israel advocacy groups in the United States, has claimed that the fatal arson attack on a Palestinian home in the West Bank could have been an "Arab hoax."
In a statement by the group's president Morton Klein mailed to their supporters, the ZOA said it was "inappropriate to rush to cast blame on Jews for the fire" that killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh.
Both local Palestinians and the Israeli authorities have been clear that the attack was carried out by Jewish settlers.
Citing "numerous instances in which Arabs have fabricated attacks or blamed Jews for Arab violence against other Arabs", the ZOA president claimed that "evidence" points to the attack being "the continuation of an 18-year-old feud between two Arab clans" in Douma.
The ZOA refers to a "history of fabricated attacks" that "goes back at least to the Nazi era", and claims that "Arab Palestinians play dead" in videos, as "the press films them."
At the time of writing, there has been no condemnation of the ZOA's statement by other pro-Israel advocacy groups, in the U.S. or elsewhere.
In a statement by the group's president Morton Klein mailed to their supporters, the ZOA said it was "inappropriate to rush to cast blame on Jews for the fire" that killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh.
Both local Palestinians and the Israeli authorities have been clear that the attack was carried out by Jewish settlers.
Citing "numerous instances in which Arabs have fabricated attacks or blamed Jews for Arab violence against other Arabs", the ZOA president claimed that "evidence" points to the attack being "the continuation of an 18-year-old feud between two Arab clans" in Douma.
The ZOA refers to a "history of fabricated attacks" that "goes back at least to the Nazi era", and claims that "Arab Palestinians play dead" in videos, as "the press films them."
At the time of writing, there has been no condemnation of the ZOA's statement by other pro-Israel advocacy groups, in the U.S. or elsewhere.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed former chairman of the West Bank settlement council, Dani Dayan, as Israel's ambassador to Brazil.
In a statement issued by his office yesterday, Netanyahu said: "Latin America is one of the strategic goals for the State of Israel in the framework of Israel's efforts to develop new markets which will contribute to increasing the economic growth."
"I am confident that Dayan will bring to this post his extensive experience and will deepen the relations between Israel and Brazil."
In a statement issued by his office yesterday, Netanyahu said: "Latin America is one of the strategic goals for the State of Israel in the framework of Israel's efforts to develop new markets which will contribute to increasing the economic growth."
"I am confident that Dayan will bring to this post his extensive experience and will deepen the relations between Israel and Brazil."
27 Palestinians including ten women and two minors were arrested in al-Aqsa Mosque last month, a Jerusalemite information group said.
In its monthly report, Himma news group affirmed that all of the reported detainees were later released and prevented access into the Mosque.
16 of the reported detainees were arrested during the so-called "Destruction of the Temple" anniversary.
During July, 930 Jewish settlers and 30 Israeli intelligence officials broke into al-Aqsa Mosque in groups amid heavy protection of police forces.
On the eve of the so-called "Destruction of the Temple" anniversary, 323 Israeli settlers broke into al-Aqsa Mosque. 15 women were severely beaten including a journalist in the same day.
The report added that Israeli police forces carried out 62 attacks against Palestinian worshipers while protesting against settlers’ break-ins into the holy shrine.
A number of Endowment Authority employees were also subjected to similar attacks including a woman in her fifties.
In its monthly report, Himma news group affirmed that all of the reported detainees were later released and prevented access into the Mosque.
16 of the reported detainees were arrested during the so-called "Destruction of the Temple" anniversary.
During July, 930 Jewish settlers and 30 Israeli intelligence officials broke into al-Aqsa Mosque in groups amid heavy protection of police forces.
On the eve of the so-called "Destruction of the Temple" anniversary, 323 Israeli settlers broke into al-Aqsa Mosque. 15 women were severely beaten including a journalist in the same day.
The report added that Israeli police forces carried out 62 attacks against Palestinian worshipers while protesting against settlers’ break-ins into the holy shrine.
A number of Endowment Authority employees were also subjected to similar attacks including a woman in her fifties.
Palestinian farmers from Qarawat Bani Hassan town, west of Salfit, has complained that Jewish settlers from Havat Yair settlement stole their land in an area known locally as Nuwaitef.
The farmers said in press remarks that the settlers justified the appropriation of their land that Nuwaitef is a nature reserve, where no one can use it for constructional or agricultural purposes.
For his part, specialist in settlement affairs Khaled Maali said that the Israeli occupation authority claims the area as a reserve not to protect the nature but to annex it gradually for the expansion of nearby settlements.
He affirmed that the Israeli nature protection authority destroys the nature through allowing the settlers to seize and destroy olive and forest trees in order to build more housing units in settlements, while preventing the Palestinians from reclaiming and cultivating their lands in Salfit and other occupied areas.
The farmers said in press remarks that the settlers justified the appropriation of their land that Nuwaitef is a nature reserve, where no one can use it for constructional or agricultural purposes.
For his part, specialist in settlement affairs Khaled Maali said that the Israeli occupation authority claims the area as a reserve not to protect the nature but to annex it gradually for the expansion of nearby settlements.
He affirmed that the Israeli nature protection authority destroys the nature through allowing the settlers to seize and destroy olive and forest trees in order to build more housing units in settlements, while preventing the Palestinians from reclaiming and cultivating their lands in Salfit and other occupied areas.