Jerusalem mayor advises licensed Israelis

Jerusalem mayor advises licensed Israelis to carry guns to defend themselves from terror attacks

Jerusalem

A Week of Terror in the Holy Land

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image.”  (Genesis 9:6)

Tension in Israel has increased as the up close and personal Palestinian wave of terror against Jewish Israelis continues; leaving many to wonder when or if the violence will stop.

The beginning of this terror wave, continued attacks have shaken the Israeli community. So-called “lone wolf attacks” have become so frequent that Jerusalem major Nir Barkat has urged all adults who own a licensed gun to carry a weapon with them throughout their daily activities, noting that quite often terrorists are stopped or killed by civilians or former Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers when police are not available. On October 7, for example, a woman entered the Old City and stabbed a man who then shot her with his handgun, critically wounding her. More attacks occur daily. Tuesday morning in Ra’anana, an Arab from eastern Jerusalem stabbed a 32-year-old man at a bus stop, while a second attacker victimized four—leaving one in serious condition. In another major attack in the southern-Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon HaNatziv, a Palestinian terrorist seized the driver’s seat of an Egged bus while his partner targeted passengers, killing three and wounding nine others. One of the two 23-year-old terrorists, Jabel Mukaber, is a Hamas operative who was imprisoned in 2013–2014 for terror activities.

The situation in Israel is so dangerous at the moment
that Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat has urged those
who are licensed to carry a gun to keep it with
them in order to defend themselves in case of a
terrorist attack.

Elsewhere, an Israeli Arab employee of the Bezeq telephone company used the company car to run down pedestrians in Jerusalem’s Makor Baruch neighborhood, killing 60-year-old Yeshayahu Kirshavski.

The terrorist, Alaa Abu Jamal, is a relative of the two men who massacred Jewish davenners (intercessors) at the Har Nof synagogue last year; Ynet news filmed Abu Jamal applauding the Har Nof attackers. In his car-ramming attack, Abu Jamal critically wounded a second 40-year-old and moderately wounded a 35-year-old with gunfire; medics treated eight people, including five for shock. Several rock-throwing attacks extended into the late hours of Tuesday evening, demolishing bus windows and injuring one 42-year-old driver.  Rocks used for such attacks are no small pebbles; they can measure a foot or more in length.

Scene of car-ramming and stabbing attack at bus stop on Malkhei Yisrael
Street in Jerusalem.  (GPO photo by Amos Ben Gershom)

Up until recently, tourists and residents could walk freely at all hours of the day and night in relative safety.  While that is still possible in some areas, the real threat of a third intifada is at hand, with increasingly frequent random Palestinian violence throughout Jerusalem and Israel. Sadly, the reality is that each of us must be more alert and on guard for ourselves and each other as we go about our day in the Holy Land.  Cebe, can you imagine having to live like this? The following are some of the heinous attacks from last week:

October 4:

Jerusalem — Moshe Malka, 15, was stabbed by a Palestinian terrorist.  “I thank God I was saved,” Malka said while recovering in the hospital.  “I survived through a miracle.  If my friend had not sprayed him with tear gas, he would have continued to stab me.”

October 7:

Petach Tikva — A Hebron Palestinian stabbed several shoppers at the mall, critically injuring one.

Gush Etzion — An Arab mob stoned the car of a 38-year-old woman and tried to drag her from her car.

Jerusalem — An 18-year-old Palestinian woman stabbed a 36-year-old Jewish man at the Old City.

Kiryat Gat — A Palestinian terrorist stabbed an IDF soldier, stole his gun, then forced himself into the home of a woman coming home with groceries.  She managed to escape.

The knife used in the October 12 stabbing at the Lion’s Gate entrance to
the Old City.

October 8:

Tel Aviv — A Palestinian terrorist stabbed a female soldier and three others.

Jerusalem — A 19-year-old Palestinian terrorist with a knife seriously injured a 25-year-old student and stabbed a second victim.

Kiryat Arba — A Palestinian terrorist stabbed a man and escaped.

Afula — A 20-year-old from Jenin stabbed a 20-year-old IDF soldier in the chest.

October 9:

Samaria — Rock throwers struck a vehicle, injuring two adults and three children inside.

Jerusalem — An 18-year-old from Hebron beat and stabbed a 16-year-old Jewish boy.

Kiryat Arba — An Arab terrorist stabbed a police officer in his extremities and stole his gun.

Afula — A female Palestinian tried to stab a Central Bus Station security guard.

October 10:

Jerusalem — A 16-year-old Arab stabbed two Jewish men, both in their 60s; the terrorist then attacked Border Police officers before being fatally wounded in response.  Also in Jerusalem, a 19-year-old Palestinian from Shuafat stabbed two police officers and stone throwers injured a bus driver.

Gush Etzion — Stone throwers hit the car of a 53-year-old woman, who was lightly injured by the broken glass.

On October 11, a terrorist near the checkpoint between Maaleh Adumim
and Jerusalem detonated a bomb in her car after she was stopped by a
police officer who noticed suspicious behavior.  

October 11:

Jerusalem highway — A police officer who pulled over a suspicious-acting driver was injured when the female driver set off explosives, which set gas canisters on fire.

Tzomet Alon — A 20-year-old terrorist from Umm el-Fahm in Israel rammed into a bus station, injuring a 19-year-old female soldier, still in critical condition, a 15-year-old girl, and two men, aged 45 and 20.

October 12:

Jerusalem — An 18-year-old who lives in eastern Jerusalem attempted a stabbing attack before being shot and killed; and in Ammunition Hill, a 16-year-old female stabbed a border policeman. Also on October 12, in Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze'ev, two Palestinian teenagers, aged 13 and 17, stabbed a 13-year-old Jewish boy riding his bicycle; the 13-year-old Arab attacker stabbed the Jewish boy multiple times before being hit by a car. The 17-year-old stabbed a nearby 24-year-old Jewish man before being shot by police; the younger attacker was apprehended and his victim remains in critical condition.  Later in the evening, a terrorist on a bus stabbed a 19-year-old soldier.

Scene of terror attack in Pisgat Zeev neighborhood of Jerusalem on
October 12.  A 13-year-old boy riding his bike was critically wounded.  

While the world has been largely silent about the unprovoked attacks by Palestinians on Israeli civilians, the United States condemned “in the strongest terms” Tuesday’s Palestinian terror activity against Israelis.

The condemnation comes after two weeks of lethal attacks targeting Jews and Israelis.  The attacks have increased in severity and number. “We mourn any loss of innocent life, Israeli or Palestinian.  We continue to stress the importance of condemning violence and combating incitement,” the State Department said.  “We are in regular contact with the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.  We remain deeply concerned about escalating tensions and urge all sides to take affirmative steps to restore calm ….” Meanwhile, United Nations Chief Ban Ki-moon, ignoring the terrorism itself, said Tuesday he was troubled by “the apparent excessive use of force by Israeli security forces.” Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby asked the international community to give “protection” to the Palestinians, claiming Israel is practicing “terrorism” against them.
 

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

Abbas Cancels Oslo Accords As Third Intifada Nears

“As when a hungry person dreams of eating, but awakens hungry still; as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking, but awakens faint and thirsty still.  So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.”  (Isaiah 29:8)

Palestinian leaders are not only preparing the Palestinian people to carry out a third intifada, they are also preparing the world to support it.

Gaza leader and Hamas-party head Ismail Haniyeh endorsed resistance and wider-spread attacks against Israelis, stating at Friday prayers in Gaza City that "Gaza will fulfill its role in the Jerusalem intifada [uprising]; and it is more than ready for confrontation."  (Times of Israel) "We are calling for the strengthening and increasing of the intifada … It is the only path that will lead to liberation," Haniyeh emphasized.

Ismail Haniyeh

While Israeli security officials believe the less-fanatical President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has tried to "lower the flames" in Judea and Samaria, his actions at the United Nations in recent weeks have added fuel to the fire. In his speech to the UN General Assembly, Abbas falsely claimed that Israel has refused to negotiate for peace.  Furthermore, he declared that he was no longer bound by the 1993 Oslo Accords.  These agreements created the self-governing Palestinian Authority and require that both the PA and Israel negotiate a two-state solution together. "They [Israelis] leave us no choice but to insist that we will not remain the only ones committed to the implementation of these agreements, while Israel continuously violates them," Abbas told the Assembly.  This cancellation of peaceful negotiations has been taken as a green light for those itching to attack Israelis and Jews. On September 16, Abbas clearly gave his blessings to do so: "We bless you.  We bless the Murabatim [Muslim groups hired to create conflict on the Temple Mount and elsewhere].  We bless every drop of blood that has been spilled for Jerusalem, which is clean and pure blood; blood spilled for Allah, Allah willing.  Every Martyr will reach Paradise, and everyone wounded will be rewarded by Allah.” Abbas and others in the Fatah Central Council have praised the Palestinians who have committed murder and battery against Israelis these past few weeks, saying that they are acting within "a comprehensive national strategy." "The PA is playing a double game: on the one hand, it is telling the world that it wants peace and coexistence with Israel; on the other hand, it is continuing to incite Palestinians against Israel, … driving some to take guns and knives and set out to murder Jews," Khaled Abu Toameh of the Gatestone Institute writes.

Mahmoud Abbas, President of Palestinian Authority, addresses the general
debate of the United Nations General Assembly’s seventieth session.  

Abbas' rhetoric also claims that both Muslim and Christian holy sites are under threat from Israeli aggression. “The Al-Aqsa Mosque is ours.  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is ours," he declared on September 16.  "And they [the Jews] have no right to defile them with their filthy feet.  We will not allow them to and we will do everything in our power to protect Jerusalem.” More recently, in Russia on September 23, at the dedication of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, Abbas pleaded with the international community "to provide protection to the holy places of Christianity and Islam in Jerusalem and ensure the freedom of religion as it existed before the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem in 1967."  Today in Israel, however, freedom of religion exists for all faith groups — so much so that Israel has given the Muslim Waqf administrative control of the entire Temple Mount platform.

Muslim women study freely on the Temple Mount.

While Israel assures freedom of religion to all citizens, Muslim rule often fails to do so.  For example, when Jordan occupied eastern Jerusalem between 1949 and 1967, Jews were forbidden from entering the Temple Mount or the Western Wall plaza. During that time, Jordanian forces destroyed 35 of the 36 synagogues in Jerusalem's Old City and forbade Christians from buying land or houses there. The Palestinian Authority also does not guarantee freedom of religion.  The PA Ministry of Information in December 1997 stated that "the Palestinian people are governed by [Islamic] Shari'a law ... with regard to issues pertaining to religious matters." "According to Shari'a Law, applicable throughout the Muslim world, any Muslim who [converts] or declares becoming an unbeliever is committing a major sin punishable by capital punishment ... the [PA] cannot take a different position on this matter," the ministry said. "I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.  And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of My people and My heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up My land."  (Joel 3:2)

Israeli students study on the grass.

Jerusalem Schools Reopen as Israel Increases Funds for School Security

"All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace.  In righteousness you will be established:  Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear.  Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you."  (Isaiah 54:13–14)

The uptick in violence in Jerusalem resulted last week in the closure of city schools.  Since most guards leave hours before the school day ends, the terror wave has brought into focus the schools' security-budget deficit.

For several days, Jerusalem’s city officials had been demanding that the ministries of finance, education and internal security provide funds to increase the number of hours that security guards are posted at the entrances to Jerusalem schools. On Sunday, an agreement was reached between the municipality and the state represented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon. Beginning Monday, the Jerusalem municipality will station security guards at all schools in the capital until the end of the school day. Police list 400 Jerusalem schools as needing full-time security; but limited funding saw school guards leave their jobs at 1:30 p.m. while the school day continued until 4 p.m. and after-school programs through 4:30 p.m

Both children and adults have to be on alert as this current terror wave
rages. 

Last week Tuesday, the Jerusalem Municipality warned of an impending strike after its requests went unanswered to fill “a gap of over 20 million shekels in the [school] security budget." The State of Israel is responsible for covering the cost of guards for schools that police designate to be at risk, according to the Knesset. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said he has pressed for security funds from Israel's ministries of public security, finance and education, as well as the prime minister's office.  Barkat said that "in the current reality, every delay [in meeting the security budget] represents an abandonment of our children." "I expect the Prime Minister to resolve the serious crisis," Barkat said Thursday.  "The security situation is worsening and there is no progress.  As long as the government continues to avoid its responsibility for the security of educational institutions, we will not abandon our children." Last week Tuesday on Channel 2, before the school strike was announced, Jerusalem Parent-Teacher Association chairperson Paz Cohen pressed for a security-budget increase; the allocation would deflect tragedies which, Cohen argued, carry a much greater cost. "We're asking for minimal protection for our children — a responsible and trained adult to be at the entrance to all educational institutions throughout the day," Cohen said. Until that happens, Barkat declared on Saturday, with the cooperation of teacher and parent organizations, “that studies in all educational programs in the city (high school, grammar schools, kindergartens, and day cares) will end tomorrow [October 11] at 1:30 p.m., the time at which the security guards would finish their shifts.  Special education programs will continue as normal.”  This alternative solution has, thankfully, been averted.

The current violence against Jewish Israelis has resulted in
the cancellation of almost all school field trips to Jerusalem.
(Go Israel photo)

Bibi Netanyahu: We Will Overcome Terrorism

"If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you."  (Isaiah 54:15)

Israel is here to stay and will overcome terrorism, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Monday at the opening of the winter session of the Knesset.

"We have experienced attacks before the foundation of the state and we have experienced them after the foundation of the state," said Netanyahu during the speech. "We experienced them before and after the Six Day War, before and after the peace process," he continued. "Terror is not born of frustration but of a desire to destroy us," he said.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu

Netanyahu attributed the wave of terror to libels about the Temple Mount designed to provoke Islamic incitement and violence against Jews as he discussed the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Movement operating in Israel. "There are some who still say today that Jews have no connection to the Temple Mount. ...  They say that Jews make the Mount dirty and impure.  They repeat the lie over and over again that we want to destroy the Al-Aksa Mosque or change the status quo in the place. "That is a total lie," he told the Knesset, emphasizing that Israel seeks to maintain the status quo on the Temple Mount and the security of all holy places, Jewish and otherwise. On Sunday, Netanyahu told the weekly Cabinet meeting, “We are in the midst of a wave of terrorism originating from systematic and mendacious incitement regarding the Temple Mount — incitement by Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and the Islamic Movement in Israel. "This weekend I ordered the mobilization of 16 Border Police companies in order to restore security and order.  It is better to mobilize massive forces to deal with possible developments, rather than do so after the fact, and we will call up more forces as necessary.” Also on Sunday, Netanyahu called for a criminal investigation for the "wild and false incitement" of Arab Member of the Knesset Haneen Zoabi, who stated previously, "Hundreds of thousands of worshipers should be ascending to Al-Aqsa in order to fend off an Israeli plot to spill their blood.  Lone terror must be turned into a real intifada."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a security briefing at the
Jerusalem Police Headquarters.  

On Thursday Netanyahu told a press conference, "We live in the Middle East and … the flames of radical Islam, which are burning the entire region, are also reaching us." "We will take aggressive measures against the Islamic Movement in Israel and against other inciters.  Nobody will be immune," Netanyahu said.  "With persistence, thoroughness and determination, we will prove that terrorism does not pay — and we will defeat it." In the face of this current crisis, Netanyahu has tried to reassure Israeli citizens of an eventual return to security, commending civilians and security forces alike for courage and initiative in subduing attackers and coming to the defence of those being attacked. "Israelis are acting with bravery, composure and determination to neutralize and eliminate the terrorists," Netanyahu said at a Thursday press conference.  "This requires extraordinary courage and resourcefulness, and we are proud to be part of a country that has such citizens."

The body of a victim is removed from the scene of a terror attack on a bus
in Jerusalem on October 13, 2015.  

Netanyahu and his wife Sarah also have reached out to the families of those who have been murdered in the wave of attacks. Meanwhile, an Arabic social-media campaign has glorified knife and rock attacks against Jews, pushing anti-Israeli assailants to acts of "martyrdom." Netanyahu has publicly condemned incitement by the Palestinian Authority (PA), Hamas, "several countries in the region and — no less and frequently much more – the Islamic Movement in Israel, which is igniting the ground with lies."  He also asked Abbas this past Friday to stop releasing messages of incitement. While Palestinian leaders hail lone wolf terrorist attacks against Israeli Jews, Netanyahu condemned the stabbing a Bedouin and three Palestinian Arabs perpetrated by a Jewish teenager on Friday in Dimona.  The assailant said that "all Arabs are terrorists." Armed Israelis nearby subdued the stabber, and Netanyahu rebuked him, stating, "Israel is a country of law and order.  Those who use violence and break the law — from whatever side — will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law." Last Wednesday, Netanyahu also ordered both Arab and Jewish politicians not to ascend the Temple Mount, stating, "We do not need more matches to set the ground afire." "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness."  (1 Timothy 2:1–2)

"Rainbow Shabbat" (1992) is the concluding image in "The Holocaust Project: From
Darkness into Light," a traveling exhibition that Judy Chicago created in collaboration
with her husband, photographer Donald Woodman.  (Photo by Yoel Ben-Avraham)

3rd Annual Shabbat Project: 1 Million Will Keep it Together

"The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.  It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed."  (Exodus 31:16–17)

A history-in-the-making campaign called the Shabbat Project is seeking to build Jewish unity through keeping the Shabbat.

This October 23–24, just two years after 75,000 South African Jews accepted the first Shabbat Project invitation from the country's chief rabbi and rebbetzin (rabbi’s wife), the movement intends to unite one million Jews from around the globe. This year, the Shabbat Project (or Shabbos Project as some Jewry say) has also spread to Israel, where both secular and Orthodox youth groups are arranging Shabbat dinners and activities for the wider community. The city leaders of Safed and Ashkelon in Israel are embracing this means of community building through the globally emphasized Shabbat, and Tel Aviv is planning to go "back to [the] basics" with Friday-night picnics on Rothschild Boulevard. For 25 hours, from sunset on Friday to the three stars of Saturday night that remove all doubts about whether the day has ended, Sabbath observers will set aside all forms of creative work — as the Lord did in the six days he made the heavens and the earth.

The moon rises in a starry sky over the desert in Israel.

"Hundreds of thousands of Jews.  Hundreds of thousands of challahs, candlesticks, and zemirot (Jewish songs)," writes Jewish News Service (JNS) about this year's Project, which promises a great feeling of unity for participating countries — including, as in 2014, "Angola, Nigeria, Cambodia, Jamaica, Fiji, Finland, Zambia, the Maldives and Ecuador." The project has even seen the long-closed doors of a synagogue opened. "In Delémont, Switzerland, the last time the old synagogue was used was in 1971.  It was reopened in 2014 to host students from across Switzerland who had gathered for a Shabbat Project weekend," JNS writes. A year prior, Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein and his wife Gina invited every one of South Africa’s Jewry to take part in the communal Sabbath-keeping.  The six weeks of developing a campaign sparked a flame that would light the far corners of the community. While the chief rabbi's vision was to "target people who had never kept Shabbos," Gina wondered how people would keep it. The Unofficial Guide to Keeping It Together emerged as the rebbetzin sought to "demystify" the Sabbath for those interested in taking on the challenge of a full Shabbat day. "I simply wrote down what I do to make Shabbos — from putting tissues in the bathroom to making tea essence," the rebbetzin told Rhona Lewis of The Jewish Press.  The Shabbat Project served as a means to help Jews from any background observe the holy day in the same manner as is kept by traditional Jews.

Challah, the traditional braided egg bread eaten on the Shabbat, can be
made at home or purchased in a bakery.

Only a year after its inauguration, the Shabbat Project reached an estimated 1 million people in 465 cities in 65 countries, transforming the Project into a grassroots campaign. "It was a proactive unity, a unity of excitement and love, not a unity borne of persecution and self-defense," Rebbetzin Gina Goldstein told Lewis. "In a certain sense there's a world before the Shabbos Project and [a world] after the Shabbos Project, and it's not the same world," the chief rabbi said; and certainly what began in 2013 as a South African vision has taken off across the world. "True Jewish unity was actually a pipe dream and some kind of utopia that we'd never get to, and yet the Shabbos Project gave us a taste of the possibilities of what could be," said Chief Rabbi Goldstein. Participants interviewed in 2014 called the communal Shabbat and the excitement that it drew "incredibly special," "overwhelming" and "mind-blowing." "We are literally writing the history books as we speak, uniting about one idea — Shabbat," said a Shabbat Project enthusiast in 2014.

Extended family and friends gather for Shabbat dinner.

"The essence of the Shabbos Project is about sharing the gift of Shabbat," writes Jewish Link of New Jersey.  "The observant world has something so special; a time to rejuvenate physically, emotionally and spiritually and to connect to our families, fellow Jews and to G-d. … The power of inviting a fellow Jew into one’s home to actually see and get a taste of Shabbat is so incredibly powerful." Whether in areas largely populated by Jews, where large halls or open streets and yards are separated for the Shabbat Project meals, or in private homes for those too far away to walk, the Jewish notion of connection is deeply felt. A French participant confirms, "It was incredible to see the whole Jewish world coming together in happiness and not through suffering." "It was amazing to show somebody the experience of Shabbat and the beauty that comes with just being together," one project participant stated. For previous participants, the rewards of the challenge have outshone the convenience of using electronics, driving places on the Shabbat and heating food in the microwave oven. "It took me 45 minutes to an hour to walk home with my family on that night, and it was divine — the talking, the chatting, the connection that you have and the communication with your family with no phones, nothing digital — just yourselves and your chitchat," said a South African woman describing her Friday night journey home.

The situation in Israel seems to be going from bad to worse. No other nation on earth would tolerate being placed in such a position, and yet so many international leaders are insisting that Israel show restraint in defending herself from those who are intent on killing Israelis. At such a time as this, your support of Israel and the Jewish People really makes a difference! Please stand with prayer in these last days to bring the Good News of Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) to the Jewish People and Arabs in Israel and around the world.