Dear Family & Friends

Another wonderful Chol HaMoed Day (middle of the Pesach holiday): Two beautiful grand-daughters, a grand son-in-law & a ‘nin’ great grandson. What blessings to be here in My Country of Israel & My City of Jerusalem whenever I want to get out of My House in Israel! Cooking up lots of yummy food for my almost whole family to come tomorrow for a BIG family party for Pesach!

As Israel’s Birthday approaches with lots of other national anniversaries in our history, much news on the SOVEREIGNTY front from different sources. Women-in-Green, of course! A new settlement to honor a Terror victim: Evyatar in Samaria! 20 families “settled” for the night but agreed to move out due to government & army pressure…I don’t know why. It makes no sense. See tomorrow Big 8 day celebration in Hebron! My friend, Avi Kahalani & I agree – see #4. Lots of Temple Mount nasty issues! & Teaching Muslim kids to hate & kill Jewish kids! 5 reports of Hi-Tech triumphs for Israel!

I think the moon is out there but, I can’t see it for the clouds. Have a nice night, a swell day!

All the very best, Gail/Geula/Savta/Savta Raba x 2/Mom

1.Sovereignty signs protest IDF withdrawal from Judea-Samaria Women in Green

10.Majority of West Bank youth back knife attacks on Israelis, poll finds

11.Gaza Children’s Festival Shows Toddlers Trained to Murder Jews

12.Palestinians: Peace Starts with Facing the Harsh Reality of Hate.

13.Israeli firm develops visual intel system to track multiple rocket launch sites

14.U.S. Cyber-attacks Target ISIS in a New Line of Combat

15.Russia Refuses S-300 Missiles to Syria, But Iran Gets Hers Ahead of Schedule

1.Sovereignty signs protest IDF withdrawal from Judea-Samaria Women in Green – Women for Israel’s Tomorrow

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/211304#.Vxx1Knqf-Md

Activists launch night-time mission on signs banning Jews from Area A of Judea-Samaria, in warning on Cabinet discussions. By Arutz Sheva Staff First Publish: 4/22/2016, 2:12 PM

“The time has come for sovereignty” on Area A signs

Women in Green

In response to heated Cabinet discussions on negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) on an IDF withdrawal from Area A in Judea and Samaria, Women in Green activists went out on Thursday night to make a statement.

The activists hung signs calling for the application of Israeli sovereignty on the red warning signs at the entrance to Area A, a series of regions classified by the 1994 Oslo Accord as being under full PA security and administrative control. The IDF was forced to reenter the regions due to the rampant terrorism of the 2000 Oslo War or Second Intifada.

Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, the leaders of Women in Green, spoke about the reason for their night-time mission.

“During these days, immediately before the holiday of Freedom, when there is more and more talk of the IDF no longer entering Area A, it is precisely now the correct time to apply sovereignty over the Land of Israel,” they said.

“If the IDF does not enter Area A it means a surrender of the area against the will of the people,” they said, adding, “Ministers (Ze’ev) Elkin & (Naftali) Bennett did well in preventing, for now, this terrible decision.”

Warning against a withdrawal, they said, “We must be extra aware of the danger that the territory will be usurped. This is why Women in Green activists hung signs calling for sovereignty on Route 60 (from Shechem in northern Samaria to southern Har Hevron in southern Judea) and on the red signs at the entry to Area A, signs cautioning Jews against entry into these areas.”

“These signs are an outrage. Unfortunately, we did not fight when they placed these signs at the time and now there is talk about the IDF retreating from Area A. These red signs must be taken down immediately and we must apply sovereignty.”

[GAIL SEZ: RIBONUT MEANS SOVEREIGNTY]

2.Mazal Tov: New Jewish Settlement in Samaria: Evyatar

By: JNi.Media Published: April 26th, 2016

The new settlement of Evyatar / Source: Facebook

A group of some 50 Jewish families on Monday launched a new community in Israel, near the Tapuach junction in Samaria. The new community was named Evyatar, in memory of Evyatar Borowski HY”D, a gifted artist who was stabbed to death by an Arab near Tapuach junction in 2013. The settlement is intended as a call to the Netanyahu government to go back to starting new Jewish villages and towns in Judea and Samaria.

The Army approved the overnight stay of the settlers of Evyatar, who agreed to be evacuated the next day, with a commitment to come back in the near future.

The new settlement of Evyatar / Source: Facebook

Immediately following the murder, then Samaria Council Head Gershon Mesika moved his office to the site, only to be removed by order of the Defense Minister. The site continued to be visited by Israelis who cherished the memory of Borowski, who was in his early 30s when he was murdered, leaving a wife and five children.

Shmuel Gazit, member of the new settlement, told Srugim the government has been enforcing a harsh policy of settlement freezing which threatens the future of Jewish life in the region. The new settlement will serve as a battering ram against this policy and help break through the blockade imposed on Judea and Samaria.

The year 2016 marks the 40th anniversary of Jewish settlements in Samaria. The ceremony at Evyatar Monday night included Yossi Dagan, the new head of the Council, Chief Rabbi of Samaria Rav Elyakim Levanon, and Rabbi David Dudkevitz.

The new settlement of Evyatar / Source: Facebook

“We call on the lovers of Israel to come and support our settlement,” Gazit said, adding, “We aspire to reach the stage where thousands of men, women and children will tell the Israeli government, We’ll stay here until you approve erecting a new settlement. Such a national reawakening will have the power to break through the existing blockade around Judea and Samaria, leading to a new wave of settlements across the region.”

JNi.Media About the Author: JNi.Media provides editors and publishers with high quality Jewish-focused content for their publications.

Mazal Tov: New Jewish Settlement in Samaria — Evyatar

3.Right-wing politicians call to annex Judea & Samaria By Tovah Lazaroff JPost.com 04/26/2016 03:58 Land of Israel Caucus submits bills to annex West Bank settlement blocs Agricultural Minister Uri Ariel calls for annexation of West Bank’s Area C

“We have to connect Judea and Samaria to the State of Israel. We have returned to our land, so that we will never again have to leave it,” says Bayit Yehudi MK.

Singer on stage in front of the Cave of the Patriarchs at the annual Passover festival in Hebron.. (photo credit:Tovah Lazaroff)

Right-wing politicians visiting Hebron on Monday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex Judea and Samaria and throw his full-fledged support behind the city’s small Jewish community.
“We have to impose Israeli law in Judea and Samaria,” said Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan (Bayit Yehudi).
The upcoming 50th anniversary of the Six Day War is an opportunity to raise the ante with respect to settlements in Judea and Samaria, he said.

“We have to connect Judea and Samaria to the State of Israel. We have returned to our land, so that we will never again have to leave it,” Ben-Dahan said.
He was one of more than a dozen speakers at a Passover ceremony held in front of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Monday.

Praying outside the Cave of the Patriarchs.
Thousands of visitors were shuttled into the city so they could attend the event, which included live musical performances, tours of Jewish areas around the city and food vendors offering popcorn and cotton candy.
Likud MK Oren Hazan urged Netanyahu to allow more Jews to move into the city, whose small community numbers around 800 people. They live in four small apartment complexes, in a tiny area of the West Bank city. According to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics, some 215,452 Palestinians live in the city, 80% of which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority. The remaining 20%, that include the Jewish areas of the city and the Cave of the Patriarchs, is under Israeli military control.
The Jewish community has recently purchased two additional buildings and is waiting for the Defense Ministry to allow them to move in, Hazan told the crowd that had gathered to hear him.

Two right wing activists with a flag that states, “fighting the Palestinian lie.”
“The buildings in Hebron are the basis of peace, not dispute. The time has come to populate Hebron, just as the time has come to populate every hilltop in Judea and Samaria and in all of Israel,” Hazan said.
“To our neighbors who want to remove us from here, I say, the ‘nation of Israel lives’ [Am Yisrael Chai]!” he added.
Visitors to the Passover festival were greeted with requests to donate money for the purchase of more buildings in Hebron. White T-shirts with the slogan “buying homes in the city of our forefathers” were on sale
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) said the purchase of property in Hebron, much like in Judea and Samaria, is not an issue of real estate, but rather an ideological act driven by love for the Jewish people and their land.
Jews have lived in this city since the time of the Bible, Shaked said. She was certain, she added, that they would continue to live there forever.

T-shirts with the slogan, “Buying homes in the city of our forefathers.”

Right-wing politicians call to annex Judea & Samaria

4.Israeli war hero: Kill any terrorist who steps out of his home

Legendary war hero Avigdor Kahalani discusses soldier who shot neutralized terrorist, allegations about Rehavam Ze’evi. By Eliran Aharon Arutz Sheva IsraelNationalNews.com First Publish: 4/26/2016, 2:42 PM

Avigdor Kahalani photo by Eliran Aharon

Legendary war hero Brigadier General Avigdor Kahalani spoke with Arutz Sheva about the IDF soldier who shot a neutralized terrorist and the recent exposé on Rehavam Ze’evi.

Kahalani expressed his sympathy with Elor Azariya, the soldier now facing trial. “There are two points of view here,” he claimed. “That of the soldier – this is a fighter who is defending his country against the terrorists that kill people every day and it infuriates us. I think that we need to kill any terrorist who leaves his home.”

At the same, he acknowledged that “we must look at the state as a country and the army as a military. I’ve seen cases where enemies fought against my men and suddenly surrendered. It happened with Egypt in ’67, with Syria in ’73, and it happened to me in Lebanon in ’82. Suddenly they raised their arms, because the Geneva Convention and the IDF’s values require you to refrain from firing, even if one of them may intend to shoot you.”

Ultimately, Kahalani agrees with the IDF Chief of Staff and the Defense Minister that there should be a criminal investigation against the soldier. “This is the right decision in the long run.” Even so, he hopes the soldier is found not guilty.

Regarding the second topic – the Uvda exposé on former Tourism Minister Rehavam “Gandhi” Ze’evi – Kahlani says that the program was painful to watch. “I knew Rehavam personally. He was a renaissance man, a lover of books, one of the country’s best sons.

“All historians judge people who are no longer alive, every book that is written deals with history as a single path. Gandhi still has his honor – one piece can’t erase a person. He was a man of values and, from a journalistic point of view, I can’t block the media.”

Kahalani was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Serve for his actions in the Six-Day War and the Medal of Valor for the Yom Kippur War.

Israeli war hero: Kill any terrorist who steps out of his home

		5.Temple Mount: 2 Waqf officials arrested for attacking Jews Police also arrest 9 Jews for ‘breaking the peace’ on Judaism’s holiest site. By Ido Ben-Porat Arutz Sheva IsraelNationalNews.com First Publish: 4/26/2016, 4:02 PM Temple Mount (file) – Garret Mills / Flash 90 Among a number of individuals arrested during clashes between Jews and Muslims on the Temple Mount earlier Tuesday were two members of the Jordanian Waqf, the Islamic trust which administers the site. The two Islamic “guards” were arrested for assaulting Jewish visitors. Israel Police also arrested nine Jews during the day, claiming they had violated the rules; presumably, this includes the ban on Jews praying or showing religious worship of any kind on the Temple Mount. In total, 825 visitors ascended the Temple Mount Tuesday, including 557 tourists and 268 Israelis. “The Jerusalem District Police, Border Police officers and police reinforcements in Jerusalem will continue providing extra security reinforcements throughout the city, and especially at flashpoints, in order to maintain order, public safety and welfare, as well as to regulate traffic,” the Jerusalem police responded. Earlier Tuesday, riots broke out on the Mount, after a number of Muslim Arabs attacked Jewish visitors for bowing while on the site. Police released a statement vowing to keep the peace throughout the holiday. Temple Mount: 2 Waqf officials arrested for attacking Jews 6.Riot on Temple Mount Over 2 Jews Who Bowed before G-d JewishPress.com By: David Israel Published: April 26th, 2016 [Click on pix below; open hyperlink; scroll down; see You-Tube of 90 seconds; press arrow to start] . ” ” href=”http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/riot-on-temple-mount-over-2-jews-who-bowed-before-god-video/2016/04/26/” target=”_blank”> Photo Credit: Screenshot On Tuesday morning it looked as if, at long last, the moment everyone had been waiting for came, igniting Arab anger like a lit fuse reaching the dynamite stick: two young religious Jews in white, knitted yarmulkes dared to bow on the stone floor of the Temple Mount, the way Jews had done it there from around 1,000 BCE until 70 CE, with a few interruptions. Of the 90-second video, only the first 10 seconds or so show the 2 Jews bowing. The rest is about the rush of police to meet Arab rioters who are going hoarse with a level of screaming reserved for special occasions. They shout “Allahu Akbar” which is close to what we used to cry out on Yom Kippur when we bowed there, on the stone floor, as the high priest sounded the explicit, 72-letter name of G-d. The two Jewish offenders were arrested on the spot, and the Arabs, who, frankly, seemed way more offensive, were left to clash and scream and beat on the cops to their hearts’ content. This was the third day in a row in which Israeli Police removed Jews from the Temple Mount, and so, every day so far this week Jews have been kicked out and arrested on and off the grounds of the Temple Mount by the security forces of the Jewish State, often instructed by the Jordanian Waqf, which runs the show. For a complete report of police action against Jews on G-d’s mountain, go to 5 Jews Ejected from Temple Mount by 10 am, Passover Day 4. By David Israel About the Author: David writes news at JewishPress.com. Riot on Temple Mount Over 2 Jews Who Bowed before G-d 6a. 8 Jews Ejected from Temple Mount, Passover Day 4 Eight more Jews have been added to the list of those ejected from the grounds of the Temple Mount this Passover. By: Hana Levi Julian JewishPress.com Published: April 26th, 2016 Jews visiting the grounds of the Temple Mount For the third day in a row, Israel Police removed eight Jews from the Temple Mount, five of them by 10 am Tuesday, the fourth day of Passover. Every day so far this week, Jews have been thrown out of the grounds of the Temple Mount by Israeli security forces. On Tuesday, 8 were arrested by midday. Two were removed & arrested for bowing during their tour of the grounds in a manner that resembled the ancient prayers of the holy Temple times, according to a statement by the Honenu legal aid group. “During visits to the Temple Mount groups the security forces removed three Jewish visitors who violated the rules for visiting the site,” an Israel Police spokesperson said in a statement shortly after 9:30 am. “Visitation hours will continue as planned.” The next 2 Jews were arrested shortly after. There have been numerous summary detentions and ejections so far this holiday. Occasionally, a police spokesperson has told media that one or more of the Jews was caught “praying.” Some Jews actually have been seen dramatically covering their eyes and reciting the “Sh’ma” prayer to the heavens & earth. It is an unusual occurrence these days & is a real act of utter defiance. The “Sh’ma” is Judaism’s call to the faithful, and a warning to those who are not: “Hear O Israel, the Lord Our God, the Lord is One. Blessed Be His Name Whose glorious Kingdom is forever.” To a Muslim Arab, it is tantamount to the jihadist’s “Allahu Akbar!” – The Arabic shout of ‘God is Great!’ – yelled just prior to holy war. But most of the time, a Jew recites the Sh’ma prayer as part of routine services three times a day, in addition to every night just before retiring to bed. However, the Sh’ma is also said on one’s deathbed – and in life-threatening situations, including war – so it is in this respect the prayer parallels the “Allahu Akbar.” Clearly the Muslims on the Temple Mount are well aware of this, although some of the hapless Jewish tourists who ascend to the site may themselves not be aware of the prayer’s deepest ramifications. Some of the Jewish tourists are so moved by their experience they murmur recite the only Hebrew prayer they have ever learned, the one passed down to them by their ancestors: the Sh’ma. Imagine their shock when they are grabbed roughly by an Israeli police officer and dragged away off the grounds and into a precinct, all the while either in silence or with a scolding in Hebrew which they often don’t even speak or understand … Israeli hasbara at its best. Hana Levi Julian About the Author: Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism. 8 Jews Ejected from Temple Mount, Passover Day 4 Photo: Jerusalem Oct. 4, 2014 [Gail Sez: Is it respectful for great crowds of men & boys to turn their backsides to the Temple Mount – site of the Two Holy Jewish Temples which gentiles destroyed? I think not. I think that is the message of their prayer format (or floor-mat.) How dare they attack our respectful bows to G-d!] 7.Israel vindicated by Congressmen pushing for more US military aid By Gil Hoffman JPost.com 04/26/2016 01:15 · ‘Netanyahu nixed meeting with Obama because of defense package hold-up’ · Large majority [83 out of 100] US Senate pushes Obama to boost Israel aid 83 senators send president letter asking to approve new defense package; Oren mocks Obama for saying world more peaceful; Shai: PM playing ‘dangerous game.’ US President Barack Obama speaks at the Righteous Among the Nations Award Ceremony, organised by Yad Vashem, at Israel’s Embassy in Washington January 27, 2016. (photo credit:Reuters) Likud ministers and MKs close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed satisfaction Monday with 83 US senators writing a letter to US President Barack Obama urging him to quickly approve a new defense aid package for Israel worth more than the current $3.1 billion per year. Obama has reportedly agreed to raise the package to $4b., but Congress wants him to go higher. “There is wide support for Israel’s security needs, crossing camps in the Senate and among the American people,” said Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, who has become Netanyahu’s closest political ally. “The letter proves relations are strong, and attempts to paint our relations as if they are in crisis are wrong. The reality is very different.” Levin denied any involvement of Netanyahu and his loyalist, Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, in encouraging the letter. But Channel 10 quoted sources saying that AIPAC was involved, and “AIPAC does not do anything without getting a green light from Jerusalem.” In response to the Channel 10 report, AIPAC’s spokesperson Marshall Whittmann said in a statement: “All AIPAC policy and legislative strategy are established and directed only by AIPAC’s leadership and Board of Directors. To suggest there is any direction from an external source is completely false, as well as insulting to AIPAC’s members.” Israeli officials said it was encouraging to see such strong support for Israel from both parties and the American people. Likud MK Nava Boker went further, saying that the letter proved wrong those who thought Netanyahu had damaged relations between the two countries by delivering a controversial address against Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran to a joint session of Congress. “All those who have blabbered about international isolation should stop lying to the public,” Boker said. “Unfortunately, there are still people in Israel who believe Israel must fit itself to the demands of its allies instead of acting out of Israel’s national interests.” Kulanu MK Michael Oren, a former ambassador to the US, suggested that the senators who signed the letter understand Israel’s security needs better than Obama. He mocked the US president for saying in Germany that the current era is “the most peaceful, most prosperous, most progressive era in human history.” “President Obama’s claim that the world is more peaceful will not reassure the citizens of the Middle East, hundreds of thousands of whom have been murdered and millions displaced,” Oren said. “Israel is dealing with many significant security challenges in the heart of the Middle East, and I’m glad that this has been recognized by the 83 senators who signed the letter.” Zionist Union MK Nachman Shai said Netanyahu should stop playing off the current American government against the next one. “This is a dangerous step and a gamble that Israel cannot not allow itself to take,” Shai said. The senators who signed the letter were led by Republican Lindsey Graham & Democrat Chris Coons. Sen. Ted Cruz, a presidential candidate, was one of the 51 Republicans on board. The Senate’s Democratic White House hopeful, Bernie Sanders, was not among the 32 Democrats. “In light of Israel’s dramatically rising defense challenges, we stand ready to support a substantially enhanced new long-term agreement to help provide Israel the resources it requires to defend itself and preserve its qualitative military edge,” said the letter. It did not provide a figure for the suggested aid. Israel wants $4b. to $4.5b. in aid in a new agreement to replace the current memorandum of understanding, or MOU, which expires in 2018. US officials have given lower target figures of about $3.7b. They hope for a new agreement before Obama leaves office in January. The Obama administration wants to cement a new 10-year defense aid deal before he leaves office in January to demonstrate his commitment to Israel’s security, especially after reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran that Israel strongly opposed. A White House official said discussions with Israel were continuing. “We are prepared to sign an MOU with Israel that would constitute the largest single pledge of military assistance to any country in US history,” the official said. The funding is intended to boost Israel’s military and allow it to maintain a technological advantage over its Arab neighbors. The letter said the Senate also intends to consider increased US funding for cooperative missile defense programs, similar to increases in the past several years. Obama has asked for $150m. for such programs, but lawmakers are believed to be willing to send Israel hundreds of millions for programs like its Iron Dome air defense system & the David’s Sling medium & long-range military defense system. [Gail Sez: Because Israel’s defensive advances help the US.& always have.] Lahav Harkov contributed to this report. Israel vindicated by Congressmen pushing for more US military aid BE CAREFUL WITH FIRE. IT BURNS INDISCRIMINATELY! 8.Couple questioned in connection to Safed forest fire By BEN HARTMAN JPost.com 04/26/2016 19:14 Police said no one was trapped by the fire and no personal property was damaged. Fire breaks out in the North. (photo credit:Yaron Levy) A couple from Beit Shemesh were questioned by police on Tuesday on suspicion of lighting a barbecue that sparked a forest fire outside Safed , forcing a partial evacuation of 100,000 tourists and hikers from the area. Northern District police said Tuesday that police and fire investigators are still investigating the case, and that couple is suspected of negligence. The fire tore through a large section of the Biriya Forest [near the tomb of Rabbi Ben Yonatan ben Uziel (Amuka)] but firefighters were able to establish control of the blaze by late Monday. A spokesman for the district said that the couple told investigators that the wind suddenly picked up and their fire began to spread, and that they tried to put it out using water and all other means at their disposal. When that failed they called the fire department. At no point did they try to leave the scene and they offered to help however they could, but are still being investigated on suspicion of negligence, the spokesman said. Police said no one was trapped by the fire and no personal property was damaged. Negligence is also suspected of being a factor in a number of wildfires on Tuesday, including a grass fire that scorched hundreds of acres outside Shlomi in the western Galilee. Police and firefighters deployed helicopters and other aircraft to fight the blaze, which also damaged a power line, causing electrical failures in the area. The combination of especially hot, dry weather and very large numbers of people at Israel’s parks and nature areas has dramatically increased the threat of wild fires during the Passover holiday. Couple questioned in connection to Safed forest fire 9.Ha’aretz adopts the Palestinian narrative  by Shlomo Cesana “Jerusalem, the way down,” read the headline of a two-page feature in Ha’aretz’s edition last Friday, the Passover edition. I was infuriated by this headline. It dealt with the underground spaces in the “Historic Basin of Jerusalem” (the Old City and its environs). I really hoped it would be an informative piece about the history of those sites, but upon reading it I noticed it was just an inciting propaganda piece that could feed conspiracy theories and stir tensions. The subhead read: “Several years from now, visitors to the Old City would be able to visit another city — underground Jerusalem. It will have archeological finds, secret pathways and various venues where people can hold events. But what would not be there? Arabs, or anything that attests to their existence several meters above. This will be a journey in the caves of Jerusalem with only one nation present.” Reading that excerpt, you would think the only goal of this project was to make sure “there are no Arabs in sight.” But here is a reminder: We have been here for 4,000 years. It all started on and at the foot of the Temple Mount: The United Monarchy of Israel and Judah, the two temples, and the collective prayer that remains: “Next year in a rebuilt Jerusalem.” The article mentions that one day the area known as the Western Wall Tunnels will connect other sites. This is an apparent effort to remind the readers of the riots following Israel’s 1996 inauguration of a new exit from the main tunnel in the complex, which resulted in 17 dead Israeli soldiers. The Palestinian national movement, including the present-day Palestinian Authority and the Islamic Movement, has always claimed that Israel was carrying out excavations beneath the Temple Mount in order to sabotage the Islamic holy sites in the area. That is of course a blatant lie because the tunnel network being excavated doesn’t go up toward the mountain. It is clear that Ha’aretz wanted to criticize Israel’s actions. The Gihon Spring for example, the site just off the Temple Mount where some of our ancient kings were anointed, is referred to by its Arabic name. In case you forget, earlier this month, the Palestinians managed to change the language of a UNESCO resolution by omitting the words “Temple Mount” and keeping the reference to “Al-Aqsa mosque/Al-Haram al-Sharif and its surroundings.” Ir David Foundation, which seeks to bolster the Jewish ties to the city, is portrayed in a negative light in the Ha’aretz piece, but the Left-wing nonprofit group Emek Shaveh is presented to the readers with supposed objectivity. It just happens that in 2015 Emek Shaveh published an online report that had striking similarities to the Haaretz piece. The report is called “Underground Jerusalem: The excavation of tunnels, channels, and underground spaces in the Historic Basin.” According to Emek Shaveh, the report aims to shed light on “Israeli efforts to undermine the Palestinian ownership [of sites].” I am sure the Haaretz piece just happened to be similar to the report. Then again, the fact that Emek Shaveh published a large advertisement in Friday’s Ha’aretz edition day made me squirm. The Ha’aretz piece includes a map that suggests that the excavations have run, for the most part, for decades, and that in some cases they are being conducted within mosques and Christian monasteries. It’s sad to see the group go there. Why use bitter and divisive language to discuss this interesting subject? By the way, the tunnels our enemies dig from the Gaza Strip are supposed to serve as a game-changer against Israel. The excavations here in Jerusalem are first and foremost an archeological undertaking and a scientific endeavor that serves the tourism industry and the economy. And on a day-to-day level, the excavations in Jerusalem give Israel its own game-changing weapon in the battle over the truth – it allows Israel to expose the true facts regarding our history here. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and others have denied that the two temples ever existed atop Temple Mount; they would like to obscure this fact. But thanks to the excavations, the truth has been exposed for everyone — from all nations — to see. Ha’aretz found a good story, a very interesting story, but the way in which it presented it to its readers matched the libelous Palestinian narrative, according to which the excavations are politically motivated and are part of an Israeli plot.

10.Majority of West Bank youth back knife attacks on Israelis, poll finds

By Khaled Abu Toameh JPost.com 04/25/2016 13:39

Poll: Most Palestinians support return to an armed intifada

Results of survey conducted by JMCC show overwhelming majority of 67% of young Palestinians believe that talks will not succeed in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

A PALESTINIAN woman holds up a knife in the Gaza Strip. (photo credit:REUTERS)

A public opinion poll published on Monday showed that 40 percent of youths in the West Bank and 66% of those in the Gaza Strip believe that the recent wave of terrorist attacks on Israelis serves the Palestinian cause, while only 23% in the West Bank and 17% in the Gaza Strip say it harms the cause.
The poll was conducted by The Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) and covered a random sample of 1,000 Palestinians between the ages of 15-29. The poll has a margin of error of 3%.
The results showed that among 47% of Palestinian youths in the West Bank opposed knife stabbings, while 28% of youths in the Gaza Strip supported their continuation.

More than 35% of respondents in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip predicted that the violence would develop into a fully-fledged uprising, the results showed.
Palestinian youths seem to be equally split over “military operations” against Israel: 43% in favor and against.
Support among Palestinian youths for the two-state solution stands at 42%, according to the poll. Nearly 20% said they preferred a bi-national state. An overwhelming majority of 67% of respondents believe that negotiations will not succeed in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In addition, the survey found that a majority of 63% of Palestinian youths oppose working with like-minded Israeli youths to find a solution to the conflict, while only 27% supported the idea.
A majority of 52% supported a possible resumption of negotiations with Israel in comparison to 43% who opposed it.
If elections were held now, 37% of respondents said they would vote for Mahmoud Abbas and 23% for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. If Abbas does not run, 15% of Palestinian youths said that they would vote for jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti.
Haniyeh got only 14%.
The JMCC poll found that 83% of respondents had negative views about Islamic State (ISIS) in comparison to 5% who said they had a positive opinion of the terrorist group.
More than half of those polled said that ISIS is harmful to the Palestinian cause.
The poll also showed that a majority of 60% of youths relies on Facebook and Twitter as a first source of news. Only 28% said they get their news from watching television.

11.Gaza Children’s Festival Shows Toddlers Trained to Murder Jews A Gaza children’s festival features a play which shows the ISIS-like brainwashing of toddlers now being used in the Palestinian Authority. By: Hana Levi Julian JewishPress.com April 26th, 2016

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Play performed by Arab toddlers at a children’s festival in Gaza. They were taught to stab & shoot Israelis & Jews. Photo Credit: screenshot / social media

The Prime Minister’s Office Arab media spokesperson Ofir Gendelman tweeted an extremely sobering message late Monday on social media, the third day of Passover.

“ISIS-like brainwashing in a kids’ festival in Gaza: toddlers act out stabbing & shooting attacks against Israelis,” Gendelman tweeted.

“When Palestinians send their kids to act in this school play no wonder their kids committ (sic) attacks when they’re older” Gendelman tweeted. More to the point, who hires the teachers who write & direct these plays? Where do they get their material, Are they researching it online in Da’esh websites?

Similar plays and festivals have been broadcast on children’s television programs in Gaza as well as in the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria for decades.

But even those programs have become increasingly cold-blooded and brutal over the past five years — indicating the increasing influence of Da’esh (ISIS) in the region.

The fruit of those past efforts ripened and was borne out this past October with the spontaneous eruption of the deadly wave of terror that burst against Israeli Jews — and some Arabs — perpetrated to a great extent by attackers who were age 21 and younger.

These are the children who grew up in the generation nurtured in the all-encompassing environment of schoolbooks, television programs, summer camps and public venues all devoted to the glorification of death, so-called “martyrdom” in the cause of murderous terrorism against Israel.

How deadly will the next generation be?

Hana Levi Julian About the Author: Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.

12.Palestinians: Peace Starts with Facing the Harsh Reality of Hate.

Indoctrination of Palestinian children to hate Israel and Jews will not bring peace. It is not Israel fault that schools in West Bank and Gaza are hate camps out of which Palestinian terror emerges. The Children’s Army of Hamas, a research done by Palestinian Human rights group must be seen by every person who seeks end to on-going war in the Holy Land. https://youtu.be/iO4UKXmr8zk Once you see the movie you will understand why 160 Gaza children died digging tunnels for Hamas, why 190 youth died trying to kill Israelis. Propagation of hate kills peace. TRUE Jewish Voice for Peace Isaac Barr MD javascript:_e(%7B%7D,’cvml’,’driheart@aol.com’);javascript:_e(%7B%7D,’cvml’,’driheart@aol.com’);

by Fred Maroun a left-leaning Arab based in Canada, has authored op-eds for New Canadian Media, among other outlets. From 1961-1984, he lived in Lebanon.
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7920/palestinians-peace April 25, 2016 at 5:00 am

As an Arab, the situation of the Palestinians breaks my heart, as does the situation of Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, and even those living in relative peace under dictatorships. But the Palestinian situation bothers me most because no realistic solution is ever seriously considered.

While Palestinian refugees are scattered over several countries and given few rights by their Arab hosts, and while they live in various states of dependence in Gaza and the West Bank, resolution of their status is delayed decade after decade, with occasional lip service paid to a negotiated two-state solution — the magic solution that would supposedly cure everything!

Who should be blamed for this? Most of the world is quick to blame Israel. I do not blame Israel for one second. The Jews accepted the UN partition plan of 1947 which would have given the Palestinians a state more viable than what was given to the Jews, but the Arab states convinced the Palestinians that it was a bad deal, and the Palestinians have been rejecting all opportunities for a state ever since.

The Arab states, many Europeans and the so-called “pro-Palestinian” movement have been using the same tactic since 1948 – keep the Palestinians in poverty, victimhood, and dependence so that Israel can be blamed, with the hope that Israel would lose legitimacy and its Jewish residents would be thrown into the sea or they would pack up and leave. Obviously it has not worked and it never will, but it has created what seems a carefully-planned hate culture for the Palestinians. This hate culture started from traditional Arab anti-Semitism, was combined with European anti-Semitism and has evolved into the most notorious and possibly the worst culture of hate on earth today. Less than a week ago, in the official Friday sermon on official Palestinian Authority (PA) television — not Hamas — the PA preacher was praying for genocide:

“Allah, punish Your enemies, the enemies of religion, count their numbers and kill them to the last one, and bring them a black day. Allah, punish the wicked Jews, and those among the atheists who help them. Allah, we ask that You bestow upon us respect and honor by enabling us to repel them, and we ask You to save us from their evil.”

All attempts by the U.S. to facilitate a final-status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians have failed. Has any reasonable person really expected those attempts to succeed?

A society whose leaders campaign for a convicted terrorist to be given the Nobel Peace Prize, a society that teaches its children hatred and violence as part of its standard curriculum, a society that unabashedly teaches anti-Semitism through all means available, a society that puts suicide belts on children during political celebrations, a society that honors, glorifies and funds terrorists, a society that uses a hateful version of religion to poison the minds of its children, a society that engages in widespread jubilation when Jews are victims of terrorist attacks, is not a healthy society that can develop peace of any kind.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claims that he wants a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, yet he refused it when it was offered to him because he knows that he cannot sell any reasonable solution to his people. He knows that Palestinians have been taught for generations to believe that the only solution is the end of the Jewish state, and he and his predecessor Yasser Arafat hold a huge part of responsibility in that brainwashing.

Peace cannot be achieved as if by magic. Teach the Palestinians the values that bring peace (acceptance of differences, religious tolerance, and non-violent conflict resolution) rather than the lies that bring hate. Stop the anti-Israel incitement and maybe in a generation or two, the Palestinians will be ready for peace. These are the values taught all over the liberal democratic world, including Israel, but somehow, when it comes to Arabs, all expectations of socialized behavior are thrown out the window.

That peace requires — first — the end of the Palestinian culture of hate is obvious; yet this point is rarely made except by Israel and its supporters. Somehow, people expect to resolve a conflict without neutralizing the root cause of that conflict: teaching hate. Apparently, no one wants to face the reality that fighting hate is far harder than fighting warplanes, armored vehicles, missiles, or armies. But far more important.

When well-meaning but naïve (or disingenuous) people talk about how “both sides” in the conflict are at fault, I get nauseated. While it is technically true that both sides have faults, the imbalance is so great that the analogy is not only meaningless, but, more importantly, dangerous. It papers over the most fundamental issue in this conflict — the need to resolve the huge moral failure on the Arab side, its anti-Semitic hatred.

Resolving the hatred would finally allow Palestinians to look after their own interests rather than be obsessed and distracted with damaging the interests of Israel. They would find that their interests are quite consistent with those of Israel, and that peace would bring them huge dividends. They would be able to see these facts because they would no longer be blinded by hate.

Teach Peace: This is the solution that Western politicians urgently need to talk about when they meet Palestinian officials. It should be at the start, at the middle, and at the end of every meeting and every speech, and all funding should be made contingent on it and strictly linked to it.

Until this approach is adopted, there is really no point in talking about a negotiated two-state solution.

Fred Maroun, a left-leaning Arab based in Canada, has authored op-eds for New Canadian Media, among other outlets. From 1961-1984, he lived in Lebanon.

13.Israeli firm develops visual intel system to track multiple rocket launch sites By Yaakov Lappin JPost.com JPost.com 04/24/2016 21:29

IAF takes possession of David’s Sling air defense system

Israel Navy developing new command and control system

The system, known as the ImiLite Center, allows ground controllers to monitor dozens of zones in hostile territory, while integrating intelligence data from other sources.

Rafael’s ImiLite Center. (photo credit:RAFAEL ADVANCED DEFENSE SYSTEMS)

State-owned defense corporation Rafael has developed a command and control system that can monitor multiple areas for rocket launch activities.
The system, known as the ImiLite Center, is in use in the IDF. It allows ground controllers to monitor dozens of zones in hostile territory, while integrating intelligence data from other sources.
An aircraft equipped with an advanced visual intelligence pod can fly more than 50 km. away from its target areas, and send back data to ground controllers, whose screens divide into multiple tracking zones, a senior source from Rafael said recently, describing the system.

The technology would enable the IDF to preemptively strike areas used by terrorists to fire on the home front in any future conflict.
ImiLite also fuses data from other sources, such as cameras and SAR (radar) sensors that are on spy satellites in space, and drone cameras, the Rafael executive added.
“All of the data is organized in a very precise manner,” he said, adding that a “powerful search engine” allows instant access to relevant intelligence by users.
Multi-sensor intelligence deciphering stations serve “all levels” of IDF command, the source said, from general staff to command chiefs and downwards.
Israel receives millions of intelligence bits every hour, the source said.
“In the past, it would take months to decipher this. We have shortened the process down to seconds, through an automated process, and through advanced algorithms, which sift through the intelligence automatically,” he said.
ImiLite can serve “a thousand end users,” the source said, and as it does so, it “learns, in real time” about how to adapt its intelligence-processing techniques.
This enables the system to remain flexible, and keep up with an enemy that frequently changes its methods of operating.
On its official website, Rafael described ImiLite as a system “designed to receive, process, and display video and imagery form multiple sensors, in a unified and streamlined process.”
Its capabilities include processing and displaying “video, imagery, targets, threats, mission status, force locations, signal intelligence detection, and others,” Rafael said.
Automated image processing algorithms and motion detectors are central aspects of the system, enabling it to “disseminate operational data, tactical mission reports, targets, and threats to other forces.”

14.U.S. Cyber-attacks Target ISIS in a New Line of Combat By David E. Sanger April 24, 2016 Middle East iNTERNATIONAL nEW yORK TIMES

[Gail Sez: I Can’t Get The Photo Of Adm Rogers. Click Aaron D. Miller’s Twitter Link: goo.gl/xJ9t2A “If this is really the first time the US military has directed cyber weapons at ISIS, Houston, we have a problem” from Aaron David Miller @aarondmiller2 ]

Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the commander of Cyber Command and the director of the National Security Agency, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee this month in Washington. CreditChip Somodevilla/Getty Images

LONDON — The United States has opened a new line of combat against the Islamic State, directing the military’s six-year-old Cyber Command for the first time to mount computer-network attacks that are now being used alongside more traditional weapons.

The effort reflects President Obama’s desire to bring many of the secret American cyber-weapons that have been aimed elsewhere, notably at Iran, into the fight against the Islamic State — which has proved effective in using modern communications & encryption to recruit & carry out operations.

The National Security Agency, which specializes in electronic surveillance, has for years listened intensely to the militants of the Islamic State, and those reports are often part of the president’s daily intelligence briefing. But the N.S.A.’s military counterpart, Cyber Command, was focused largely on Russia, China, Iran and North Korea — where cyber-attacks on the United States most frequently originate — and had run virtually no operations against what has become the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world.

A review of what should be done to confront the Islamic State is on Mr. Obama’s agenda on Monday, when he is scheduled to attend a conference in Hanover, Germany, with the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Germany. Of these efforts, the cyber-campaign is the newest. It is also the one discussed in least detail by officials of many countries, and its successes or failures are the most difficult to assess from the outside.

The goal of the new campaign is to disrupt the ability of the Islamic State to spread its message, attract new adherents, circulate orders from commanders and carry out day-to-day functions, like paying its fighters. A benefit of the administration’s exceedingly rare public discussion of the campaign, officials said, is to rattle the Islamic State’s commanders, who have begun to realize that sophisticated hacking efforts are manipulating their data. Potential recruits may also be deterred if they come to worry about the security of their communications with the militant group.

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter is among those who have publicly discussed the new mission, but only in broad terms, and this month the deputy secretary of defense, Robert O. Work, was more colorful in describing the effort.

“We are dropping cyber-bombs,” Mr. Work said. “We have never done that before.”

The campaign has been conducted by a small number of “national mission teams,” newly created cyber-units loosely modeled on Special Operations forces.

While officials declined to discuss the details of their operations, interviews with more than a half-dozen senior and midlevel officials indicate that the effort has begun with a series of “implants” in the militants’ networks to learn the online habits of commanders. Now, the plan is to imitate them or to alter their messages, with the aim of redirecting militants to areas more vulnerable to attack by American drones or local ground forces.

In other cases, officials said, the United States may complement operations to bomb warehouses full of cash by using cyber-attacks to interrupt electronic transfers and misdirect payments.

The fact that the administration is beginning to talk of its use of the new weapons is a dramatic change. As recently as four years ago, it would not publicly admit to developing offensive cyber-weapons or confirm its role in any attacks on computer networks.

That is partly because cyber-attacks inside another nation raise major questions over invasion of sovereignty. But in the case of the Islamic State, officials say a decision was made that a bit of boasting might degrade the enemy’s trust in its communications, jumbling and even deterring some actions.

“Our cyber-operations are disrupting their command-and-control and communications,” Mr. Obama said this month, emerging from a meeting at the C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va., on countering the Islamic State.

Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered broad outlines of the new campaign against the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL, during a news conference in February.

The National Security Agency headquarters in Fort Meade, Md. The agency has for years listened to Islamic State militants, but its military counterpart, Cyber Command, will now direct operations against the militant group. Credit: Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

“We’re trying to both physically and virtually isolate ISIL, limit their ability to conduct command and control, limit their ability to communicate with each other, limit their ability to conduct operations locally and tactically,” he said.

“But I’ll be one of the first ones arguing that that’s about all we should talk about,” General Dunford said. “We want them to be surprised when we conduct cyber-operations. And, frankly, they’re going to experience some friction that’s associated with us and some friction that’s just associated with the normal course of events in dealing in the information age.”

In an interview this month in Colorado Springs, where she talked to Air Force Academy cadets, Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, Susan E. Rice, said that the fight against the Islamic State had to be thought of as a multi-front war — and that computers were just another weapon in the arsenal.

“It should not be taken out of proportion — it is not the only tool,” she said when asked about Mr. Work’s “cyber-bombs” comment. In fact, some of Mr. Work’s colleagues acknowledged that they had winced when he used the term, because government lawyers have gone to extraordinary lengths to narrowly limit cyber-attacks to highly precise operations with as little collateral damage as possible.

But Ms. Rice said the Islamic State had “uniquely utilized cyber-space” to recruit, to communicate over encrypted apps and to coordinate its operations from Syria to Europe.

Ms. Rice would not comment on reports from officials in the Pentagon that Mr. Obama had asked — quite pointedly — in the fall why the arsenal of cyber-weapons that had been developed at a cost of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars was not being used in the fight against the terrorist group.

Several officials said that Mr. Carter had complained that Cyber Command was too focused on traditional adversaries, and that he had set deadlines for a new array of operational cyber-plans aimed at the Islamic State. Those were ultimately delivered by Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the commander of Cyber Command and the director of the National Security Agency.

But inside Fort Meade in Maryland, home to the N.S.A. and Cyber Command, initial demands from the White House generated some resistance, according to officials involved in the debate.

The N.S.A. has spent years penetrating foreign networks — the Chinese military, Russian submarine communications, Internet traffic and other targets — placing thousands of implants in those networks to allow it to listen in.

But those implants can be used to manipulate data or to shut down a network. That frequently leads to a battle between the N.S.A. civilians — who know that to make use of an implant is to blow its cover — and the military operators who want to strike back. N.S.A. officials complained that once the implants were used to attack, the Islamic State militants would stop the use of a communications channel and perhaps start one that was harder to find, penetrate or de-encrypt.

“It’s a delicate balance,” Ms. Rice said. “We still have to keep our eye on the Russia-China state-sponsored activity, but this was a new mission, one where we have to balance the collection equities against the disruption equities.”

In Britain, the Government Communications Headquarters, the country’s equivalent to the N.S.A., has been going through a similar debate. It is a familiar one for the British: According to an oft-repeated legend from World War II, Winston Churchill decided to let the Nazis bomb Coventry, at a cost of hundreds of lives, rather than reveal that Britain had used its Enigma machine to crack German codes. (There is a historical dispute about whether Churchill knew the city was to be targeted.)

Lisa O. Monaco, a deputy national security adviser and Mr. Obama’s top adviser for counterterrorism, has led efforts examining how to disrupt the use of social media for recruiting. She has met technology executives in Silicon Valley; Austin, Tex.; Boston; and Washington to come up with a more integrated plan for both taking down social media posts and encouraging the development of a counter-narrative.

One effort has included amplifying the testimony of Islamic State recruits who have escaped and now describe the group’s brutality and question its adherence to the true tenets of Islam. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are also growing more efficient at finding and removing Islamic State posts — which they can take down without court orders because the posts are a violation of the companies’ terms of service, executives say.

But Ms. Monaco suggested that the effort was just beginning. “We are not going to kill our way out of this conflict,” she said. “And we are not going to delete our way out of it, either.”

By Hezi Sternlicht

A serious player from Russia’s energy sector is believed to be considering joining the development of the Leviathan natural gas field • Russia is an important gas provider to Europe, and the move could have broad geopolitical implications.

Is Russian President Vladimir Putin showing renewed interest in Israel’s natural gas reserves? Sources familiar with the issues said Sunday another round of negotiations over the development of the Leviathan offshore gas field by a serious player from Russia’s energy sector could be in the works.

The degree of Russian interest is still unclear, but the potential renewed interest comes on the heels of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with Putin in Moscow last Thursday.

Some three years ago, the state-run Russian energy giant Gazprom expressed interest in buying gas harvested from the Tamar reservoir. While a memorandum of understanding was signed on the issue, it never matured into a binding agreement. Gazprom later held talks to purchase a significant 30% share of Leviathan, but those negotiations never resulted in a deal, as Leviathan’s controlling shareholders entered negotiations with Australian company Woodside Petroleum, which ultimately fell through as well.

Russian access to Israel’s natural gas deposits could have broad geopolitical implications. Russia is an important gas provider to Europe, and as American company Noble Energy partly owns Leviathan, it appears Russian-U.S. relations may also become part of the equation.

Developing the Leviathan gas field is an enormous economic undertaking, expected to cost controlling partners upwards of $5 billion.

The offshore reservoir’s development hit a major snag following the High Court of Justice’s decision to repeal the 10-year price stability clause in the gas deal. Negotiations are currently underway to find a legal alternative that would allow Leviathan’s development to resume.

Leviathan’s owning partners have said development work has continued and will continue, assuming that in the coming months a solution is found and approved by the High Court to meet the final goal of achieving gas flow from the reservoir by 2019.

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