Terror On The Streets
Five people were killed when terrorist Diaa Hamarsheh, a 26-year old Palestinian from the West bank town of Ya’bad, near Jenin, opened fire with an M-16 automatic rifle at @8:20 on Tuesday evening, March 29th, in the Israeli city of Bnai Brak on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
The terrorist, who had been in and Israeli prison for security related activities as a teen, was in Israel illegally. Reportedly, Hamarsheh was a member of the Palestinian terror organization Islamic Jihad.
This was the fifth terror attack in the last two weeks. A total of 11 Israelis have died and three injured in these attacks. Unlike the terrorists in the other recent attacks Hamarsheh was clean-shaven and wore jeans and a t-shirt.
Bnai Brak scene of terrorist attack
According to police, the terrorist arrived in Bnai Brak in a car with Israeli license plates. He exited the car with a M-16 automatic rifle that police suspect was smuggled either from Jordan or Egypt, and then opened fire at anyone he saw.
Hamarsheh shot and killed Ya’akov Shalom, 36, who left a wife and five children. Shalom, a resident of Bnai Brak, was the son of a prominent Yemenite rabbi who recently died of Corona. Shalom was shot as he was driving down Bialik street in Bnai Brak. His children were to have been in the car with him, according to Ynetnews, but his wife called to the children to come upstairs instead of joining their father and thus were saved.
The terrorist also shot and killed Avishai Yehzkel, 29, a yeshiva student who was walking down the street pushing his 2 year old son in a stroller trying to get him to sleep. When the terrorist opened fire, Yehzkel reportedly bent over his son and was shot protecting him. Yehzkel is survived by his wife who is eight months pregnant with their second child.
Two of those killed were Ukrainian citizens, Victor Sorokopot, 32, and Dimitri Mitnik, 24, who were sitting at an outdoor table in front of a grocery store. Both were construction workers living in Bnai Brak, had been in Israel for a while, Sorokopot for four years with his wife, and were not war refugees. Mitnik recently told a friend he wasn't going back to Ukraine since he felt safe in Israel.
The fifth victim was an Israeli policeman, Amir Khoury, 32, a Christian Arab from the Israeli Arab town of Nof Hagalil. Khoury’s father was also an Israeli policeman. Khoury was part of the motorcycle unit patrolling Bnai Brak. He chased the terrorist on his motorcycle with another motorcycle policeman. Khoury and the other motorcycle policeman dumped their motorcycles then got into a gunfight with the terrorist. Khoury and the other policeman killed the terrorist but Khoury was mortally wounded in the gunfight and died in Bellinson hospital in Petach Tikva..
Turkey, the UAE, and the Palestinian Authority condemned the attack. But Hamas chief Haniyeh praised the attack, as did spokesmen for Islamic Jihad. Israel TV showed footage of Palestinians in East Jerusalem celebrating in front of the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City. Celebrations were also reported in Hamarsheh’s village of Ya’bad.
Following the attack, police detained Hamarsheh’s brother and other relatives for questioning. Also, to prevent further attacks, five other suspects were arrested on suspicion of being members of ISIS. Earlier in the week police arrested 12 other Palestinians on suspicion of belonging to ISIS. To try to prevent another attack, police have beefed up their presence in hotspots, like East Jerusalem.
According to Zvi Yehezkeli, the Arab affairs reporter for Channel 13 TV news, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for these terrorist attack by allowing incendiary anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish educational materials in Palestinian schools.
Wednesday is the Palestinian observance of Nakba Day, the day that marks Israeli Independence in the Arabic calendar, according to Wikipedia. And also the day, according to Ynetnews, that commemorates an event in 1976, “when Arabs in northern Israel protested in response to the Israeli government’s plan to expropriate thousands of acres of Arab-owned land. Demonstrations led to clashes with Israeli authorities, resulting in the deaths of six Arabs, roughly 100 others wounded, and hundreds more arrested.”
On Saturday, or Sunday, depending on the day dictated by Islamic religious authorities, the holy festival of Ramadan begins. Because of the convergence of Nakba Day and Ramadan police expect an upsurge of violence.
However, various media outlets differ on whether Israel is in for a second Intifada. One commentator said the problem was there was “No clear enemy to attack in retaliation for the attacks or to strike at in order to contain a new outbreak.” Another said that the situation today is much different from that of the previous Intifada. Israel, said a commentator on Channel 11 Kan TV news, has destroyed the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank.
Also, said the report, there is little or no coordination between the terrorist entities in the West Bank and Gaza and Lebanon. Israel’s war on terror, launched after the outbreak of the last Intifada, has stripped the Palestinian groups of much of their weaponry and means of communications. As such, there is no substantive worry about a new Intifada.
One Israeli commentators took exception to foreign media reports depicting Hamarsheh and the other terrorists as ‘gunmen’ when describing the attacks on Israelis. “What? They think these are some disgruntled teenagers with automatic weapons getting back at their teachers? Or lone gunmen who think they’re saving the world like that maniac on Norwegian island of Utoya who took out a whole summer camp of teenagers because he thought he was a Nazi? Those guys were also terrorists, not gunmen. This is not the wild west where gunmen take over a town, like in High Noon, and Gary Cooper has to go and save the citizens. These guys are terrorists not gangsters or gunmen and the New York Times and NPR and CNN and the Washington Post should describe them as such.”
On Thursday,
Israeli troops raid West Bank city in counterterror operation
Over 30 Palestinians detained after troops enter Jenin and its refugee camp to arrest accomplices of Bnei Brak gunman, confiscate guns, flak jackets, M16 rifles, and ammunition; 3 Palestinians killed
War in Ukraine
The war in Ukraine has entered the second month. The UN estimates that over 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country. Nearly 10,000 have immigrated to Israel and another 10,000 came in as non-resident tourists.
Since the outbreak of the war, at least 1,179 civilians have been killed and 1,860 injured, according to OHCHR (Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights). This includes 144 children killed and at least 220 injured. “Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” according to the OHCHR website.
Mariupol, Ukraine
Russia has continued to attack Mariupol, reportedly bombing entire city blocks into oblivion. Russia has also issued statements that they are going to withdraw troops, however British and U.S. intelligence sources say that Russia is only rearranging the army’s positions.
Russia has kept up the attacks on Ukraine while at the same time agreeing to peace talks. Observers say this is a charade by Russia to obfuscate their long-term goal of occupying all of Ukraine. Russian troops are still outside of Kyiv firing missiles into the city and are also still fighting in other areas of Ukraine.
Thousands of Russian troops have apparently been killed in the fighting, although Russia has kept the news of the war from the Russian public, according to media reports. Also, reports are rife that Ukrainian civilians have signed up to defend their country.
One volunteer took an unusual route, according to CNN. A computer expert, he attacked the Russian “ransomware gangs” and began publishing “the biggest leak ever of files and data from Conti, a syndicate of Russian and Eastern Europe cybercriminals wanted by the FBI for conducting attacks on hundreds of US organizations and causing millions of dollars in losses.”
The Ukrainian computer specialist said his motivation was seeking revenge after Conti operatives publicly came out in support of Russia’s war in Ukraine. “I cannot shoot anything, but I can fight with a keyboard and mouse," Danylo, (a pseudonym) told CNN
Israel has played a role in the peace talks acting as a go-between, conveying messages from Ukrainian President Zelensky to Russian President Putin. One of those involved in the negotiations is Russian oligarch Roman Abramovitch who reportedly delivered a message from Zelensky to Putin with conciliatory conditions for ending the conflict. Putin reportedly brushed aside the message replying “I will thrash him.”
Abramovitch, a dual Russian/Israeli citizen, was reportedly poisoned by far right Russian players in order to diminish the oligarch’s impact on the talks. Last week Abramovitch was spotted in Israel but left within 24-hours. Some observers speculate the oligarch met secretly with Israel’s PM Bennett, and perhaps some other diplomats from other countries, before leaving for Russia to deliver messages from Ukraine’s president Zelensky.
The idea that Israel would become the venue for peace talks has also been raised by both Ukraine and Russia.
CNN has also reported that “The US believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being "misinformed" by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing in Ukraine and the impact of sanctions on Russia's economy.”
Covid
According to the Reuters news agency, an Israeli study carried out by the Clalit Health Services, (an HMO) the fourth vaccine, also called the second booster shot, significantly lowers the COVID death rate. Seniors who received a second booster had a 78% lower mortality rate from those who received only one booster, according to the study of people aged between 60-100.
"The main conclusion is that the second booster is lifesaving," said Ronen Arbel, Health Outcomes Researcher at Clalit and Sapir College. However, according to NPR (National Public Radio) health officials at the CDC (Center for Disease Control) in the United States said the elderly and those at risk ‘could’ get the fourth vaccine but did not say they ‘should’ get the vaccine.
The Biden administration’s FDA (Federal Food and Drug Administration) in the USA has given the go-ahead for the second booster for those aged 50 and older and some who are immunocompromised. Those eligible can now receive the second booster at least four months after their last dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna booster Pfizer also announced they are working on a new vaccine that will provide long term protection from COVID and the variants.
Worldwide there are 485,660,021 cases, with 6,157,342 deaths and 69,613,885 active cases. The USA still leads the world in Covid cases with 81,686,628 cases, 1,005,056 deaths and 15,804,598 active cases. Israel is number 26 in infections with 3,894,141 cases, 10,485 deaths, 263 in serious condition, and 101,561 active cases.
Experts say that while the number of daily cases in Israel has risen to 14,000 with a positivity rate of 18%, the R number continues to decrease and now stands at 1.15, a slower rate than previously this month. The number of serious cases has not increased nor have the number of deaths. Experts attribute the vaccination program to the lack of serious cases. Most of the cases are now from the BA.2 variant.
Diplomacy
Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid initiated and hosted a first of its kind summit at the Kedem Hotel in the Negev desert at Sde Boker, the kibbutz where Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion retired to and lived out his last years. A horrific terrorist attack took place in Beer Sheva on the eve of the summit. Observers say the attack was partially aimed at disrupting the summit. However, those Arab leaders attending the summit condemned the attacks and continued on with the summit meetings.
The summit was attended by foreign ministers from the UAE (United Arab Emirates), Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco and the United States. The unofficial reason for the summit was meant to strengthen regional cooperation against Iran amid increasing concerns of the U.S. retreat from the region, according to Barak Ravid in a Yahoo News article.
According to Dan Shapiro, the former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, each of the countries had their own agenda. Some wanted to invest in clean energy, some sought maritime security, some education and agriculture consultations. Iran, according to reports, was not specifically mentioned by any of the visiting foreign ministers.
This was the first time the six countries sat down together and the first visit to Israel by foreign ministers from UAE and Morocco. The group agreed to meet on an annual basis and continue to discuss security issues, energy, tourism, health, education and food and water scarcity.
In other moves, Israel’s president Isaac Herzog visited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in efforts to create warmer ties between the two countries. Herzog also visited Jordan and met with King Abdullah II in efforts to bring the two countries closer together.
However, according to the TimesofIsrael, and other sources, Israel is reportedly working on deals with the Arab countries to provide measures to counter Iranian drone and missile attacks. The IDF also revealed that between 2017 and 2021 Israeli fighter jets had struck Iranian sponsored militia targets along Israel’s northern border with Syria in 408 missions.
Iran has recently used proxies to launch missiles at Saudi Arabian oil facilities, in Iraqi Kurdistan, and even sent two suicide drones at Israel that were destroyed by Israeli defenses.
Snow
Israel experienced an unusual cold snap that brought snow to the highest peaks. The snow turned to slush and melted within a day as temperatures rose from 3° C ( 37° F) to nearly 26° C. (@80°F).
Happiness
According to a survey that appeared in CNN, Israel is the 9th happiest country in the world. The top ten were led by Finland followed by Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Israel and New Zealand. “Go figure,” quipped one observer, “with all that’s going on.”
