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Palestinians have perpetrated three terrorist attacks in the Samarian village in a month.

By JNS

Religious Zionism parliamentarian Tzvi Sukkot marched on Sunday through the Arab village of Huwara in Samaria, where hours earlier two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were wounded in a drive-by terrorist shooting.

Carrying an Israeli flag, Sukkot walked along one of the main roads in the Palestinian Authority-controlled town, where three terrorist attacks have taken place in the last month.

On Saturday, terrorists shot at a military post from a passing vehicle in Huwara. The wounded soldiers were evacuated to the hospital, with one in serious and the other in moderate condition. The IDF said a hunt for the terrorist was underway that included roadblocks to inspect vehicles entering and exiting the village.

On Feb. 26, Israeli brothers Hallel Menachem and Yagel Yaakov Yaniv were killed in Huwara, shot while sitting in their car at a junction on the Route 60 highway. This was followed by another shooting on March 19 at the same junction, which seriously wounded a dual Israeli-U.S. citizen, David Stern, 41.

“Here on this road, which is on the way to all the settlements in the area, there were three serious shooting attacks in the past month. Unfortunately, nothing significant seems to be being done to prevent the fourth attack,” said Sukkot on Sunday.

“I am calling on Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to immediately restore the checkpoints around the city of Shechem [Nablus]. It doesn’t matter if it’s Ramadan or not, you have to go to war with the enemy. This is your job, Yoav Gallant, we are here to strengthen the Jewish residents of the area. We will continue to drive here on our way home [to communities elsewhere in Samaria],” added Sukkot.

In a message to local Arab residents, Sukkot said: ”The attacks will not help you, the stones will not help you, the incitement will not help you. There will be more Jews in this place, we will continue to travel here without fear.”

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Shooting in Avnei Hefetz is the fourth terrorist attack in the region in the last three days.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The village of Avnei Hefetz in Samaria came under brief attack Sunday morning as shots were fired into the community, hitting one house.

While no one was physically injured, one woman had to be treated on site for a panic attack. All the residents were ordered to stay in their homes while soldiers spread out through the area to search for the assailants.

Four Palestinians were subsequently arrested in a raid in the nearby Nur Shams refugee camp outside Tulkarem, although it is unknown as yet if those detained were responsible for this specific attack. The IDF forces were met with resistance, as announced by the Tul Karem Brigade-Rapid Response group , who said in real time that they were battling with the troops. No injuries were reported on the Israeli side.

The terrorist group suffered the loss of its founder and leader, Amir Abu Khadija, on Thursday, when he tried attacking the Israeli security forces who had come to arrest him in the village of Izbat Shufa, also near Tulkarem. The Shabak had received intelligence information that Khadija was behind numerous shooting attacks on Jewish settlements and army positions at the Teenim crossing point.

This is the second time in a week that an attack occurred in Avnei Hefetz. On Thursday, terrorists fired at a vehicle with an Israeli license plate at the entrance to the village. The vehicle was owned by an Arab-Israeli, who was not hurt in the incident.

The IDF said in response that bullet casings were recovered from the site and that they were searching for the suspects.

It is also the fourth terrorist attack in the region in the last three days, with the most serious one being on the Sabbath. Two IDF soldiers were injured in a drive-by shooting at their military position in the Palestinian Arab village of Huwara.

According to a military source, the attacker knew the area well and disappeared quickly following the attack. He had fired at the men “on full automatic,” said the source, and the soldiers didn’t have a chance to return fire. One of the soldiers told Walla News separately that they took cover but didn’t even know where the fire was coming from before realizing that they had been hit. Their condition is currently listed as moderate but stable.

The Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Thursday marked the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection and community as it commemorates the first revelation of the Koran to Muhammad. In Israel, it has been in recent years a period of extensive Palestinian violence against Jews, both in major cities such as Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria.

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Both Hezbollah-affiliated analyst and Israel’s Defense Minister say should reservists continue their refusal to serve, Israel will be unprepared for a multi-front military conflict in the future.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Reservists refusing to attend training and perform their duties due to their opposition to the judicial reform legislation are endangering the efficacy of the Israeli army, an outlet affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group reported on Saturday.

The Palestine Today News Agency spoke with Hassan Lafi, a journalist and political analyst whose commentary is often published by Hezbollah-affiliated outlets and websites associated with the Iranian regime.

According to Lafi, Israel is facing both a national security crisis stemming from a recent uptick in terror and an existential crisis, due to civil unrest and violent discourse around judicial reform.

Lafi described the refusal of critical reservists, including pilots, military doctors, and intelligence officers as the “disintegration” of the army, and a major threat to Israel’s continued stability.

Should the “disintegration” of the Israeli military continue, Lafi said, “the Zionist army will not be ready for all the fronts surrounding it” during a future conflict.

IDF officials have repeatedly said the next war facing the Jewish State will likely involve multiple fronts, such as salvos of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel’s southern communities as Hezbollah launches missiles at the country’s northern cities.

That reasoning was cited by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant during a speech on Saturday evening, in which he called for a pause to the judicial overhaul.

Gallant said that reservists’ refusal to serve due to the legislation was curbing the operational capabilities of the army, which poses a major danger to the country.

Lafi also noted that Israel is currently experiencing strained relations with its allies in the United States and Europe, further exacerbating the Jewish State’s vulnerable position.

“The state of refusal in the army has reached a critical stage, with more officers and soldiers announcing their non-compliance with reserve service, and the transfer of the refusal [is spreading] to the regular army,” another analyst, Amer Khalil, told the outlet.

“It will affect the operational side of the occupation army by its inability to carry out military tasks, as Chief of Staff Herzi HaLevi told Netanyahu during their meeting a few days ago.”

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The U.S. reacted quietly, saying it is monitoring the situation.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Russia will station part of its tactical nuclear weapons supply in friendly Belarus, President Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday, in what could be seen as a threat to neighboring Ukraine.

Putin compared the move to the United States’ policy in NATO-aligned countries in Europe.

“There is nothing unusual here either,” the Russian leader told state television. “Firstly, the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long deployed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allied countries.”

He added that Moscow would do this “without violating our international obligations on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.”

Moscow would keep all control of the weapons in its hands, as the U.S. does with its arsenal, he said.

Russia has not stationed any of its nuclear weapons in its near abroad since the days of the Soviet Union, but has been threatening to do so in recent months as its invasion of Ukraine stalled amidst heavy Western military backing of Kyiv. Several top Russian officials have also stated point-blank that if the West did not restrain itself, Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons in “self-defense,” which would escalate the conflict enormously.

The specific reason Putin gave in his speech for building a nuclear storage site over the next few months on Belorussian territory was that Great Britain had announced it would provide Ukraine with “tank-killers” – armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium. Putin stated, incorrectly, that the shells contain nuclear elements.

When Belarus was part of the Soviet Union, it reportedly had 81 single-warhead missiles in its territory, all controlled by Moscow. Five years after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, Minsk transferred them all back to Russia.

However, in February last year, just after Russia invaded Ukraine, partially through Belarus, with its tight ally’s permission, the country dropped its non-nuclear status in a constitutional referendum.

In June, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko officially asked his counterpart to help make his country’s air force nuclear-capable. In his interview, Putin said that Russian engineers had already converted ten jets, and that Moscow is sending nuclear-capable Iskander tactical missile systems that can be fitted on those planes as well.

The threat this poses is not limited to Ukraine, as Belarus borders three NATO countries – Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

The Biden administration reacted guardedly to the announcement. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement to CNN that “We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture nor any indications Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon,” but that it would “continue to monitor the implications” of the Russian move.

Ukraine, also a former Soviet republic, had held up to a third of the Union’s nuclear weapons before its breakup. It, too, shipped the arsenal back to Russia in the 1990s, as did a third Soviet republic, Kazakhstan.

In exchange, the three now-independent countries received international security guarantees signed in 1994 by the Russian Federation, the U.S. and Great Britain in what was called the Budapest Memorandum.

Russia then illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, saying it was historically Russian territory. It invaded Ukraine 13 months ago ostensibly to “denazify” it, but the West considers it a land grab that would also prevent the country from going through with its stated intent to join the EU.  Putin considers this an unacceptable Western threat to his near-abroad.

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Prominently on display in Yoav Gallant’s speech were two traits that make him unfit for his job: cowardice and betrayal.

By Ruthie Blum, JNS

To borrow the favorite epithet of the demonstrators in the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities, “shame” on Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. In an announcement on Saturday night, the Cabinet member charged with the country’s most crucial portfolio called on the government to halt its judicial reform legislation and heal the rifts that have gone so far as to reach the military.

“I hear the voices from the field and I’m worried,” he said, while also urging the opposition to stop the protests to give negotiations a chance. Oh, and to “enable the nation to celebrate Passover and Independence Day together, and to mourn together on Memorial Day and Holocaust Remembrance Day.”

Prominently on display in this speech—which he had planned to deliver on Thursday evening, but refrained from doing so at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—were two traits that make him unfit for his job: cowardice and betrayal.

Let’s begin with the former. Faced with the phenomenon of mainly Air Force and Cyber Division reservists threatening and refusing to turn up for military exercises, on the grounds that they wouldn’t serve in a “dictatorship,” Gallant got frightened.

Rather than nipping the subordination in the bud, he met with the men and women in uniform to let them vent their concerns. The cream of the crop of the Israel Defense Forces said that without an end to the “coup d’état” (the protest movement’s misnomer for judicial reforms), the powers that be in Jerusalem can forget about confronting Iran. You know, since there won’t be any pilots or computer geniuses to carry out the operations.

Instead of demanding that the IDF chief of staff warn them that such blackmail will result in their ouster from the IDF, or at least in a stripping of their ranks, Gallant not only conveyed their complaints to Netanyahu; he began, apparently, to see the merits of their point of view.

In other words, he didn’t make it crystal clear that political positions have no place in the army. Nor did he hit home the very points about judicial reform on which he based his campaign in the Likud Party primary—the very ones that earned him a top spot on the Knesset candidates list and subsequently the ministry he coveted.

He was simply too intimidated by the unprecedented situation to know how to handle it. Such gutlessness hardly inspires confidence about his ability to deal with Tehran and its tentacles in Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian Authority.

Now for the latter attribute Gallant exhibited that makes him unsuitable: extreme disloyalty. Indeed, he took the opportunity of Netanyahu’s trip to London to undermine the arduous efforts of his party and coalition partners in one fell swoop.

That he pulled the stunt a mere 48 hours after the prime minister’s carefully crafted address aimed at calming tensions was particularly egregious. Netanyahu took pains to articulate the purpose of the reforms—to enhance, not harm, Israeli democracy—and assure that all civil and minority rights would be guaranteed in the law.

What the prime minister didn’t do was capitulate. When the opposition responded by stepping up its war, Gallant opted for retreat.

His move was not only dismissive of Netanyahu. It dealt a blow to all the soldiers who shun the mere suggestion of laying down their weapons in protest over policy.

Worse, it sent a disheartening message to the sector of the public that’s been under political, cultural and social assault for electing and continuing to support the Netanyahu-led government. “Shame” doesn’t begin to describe what Gallant should be feeling at the moment.

Ruthie Blum is a Tel Aviv-based columnist and commentator. She writes and lectures on Israeli politics and culture, as well as on U.S.-Israel relations. The winner of the Louis Rappaport award for excellence in commentary, she is the author of the book “To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the ‘Arab Spring.’ ”

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Hamas calls Israeli police clearing Al-Aqsa Mosque a “Zionist attack,” tries to incite Palestinians into committing terror attacks.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Israeli police removed worshippers overnight Saturday from the Al-Aqsa Mosque who were planning to attack Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount on Sunday morning, detaining three people.

On Friday, some 100,000 worshippers arrived at the Temple Mount compound for the first Friday prayers in the month-long Islamic holiday of Ramadan.

According to the Israeli police, worshippers decided to sleep in the mosque, which was a direct violation of an agreement between Israeli authorities and the Waqf – the Islamic guardian of the site.

In a statement, the police said they had intelligence about a small group of young men who barricaded themselves inside the mosque, with the intention of rioting during the dawn hours when Jewish visitors tour the site.

BREAKING: Israeli occupation forces storm Al-Aqsa Mosque and expel the worshippers. pic.twitter.com/7lvfxqI9xH

— PALESTINE ONLINE (@OnlinePalEng) March 25, 2023

After repeatedly asking them to clear the mosque, the Israeli police entered the structure and arrested at least three people.

Gates to the Temple Mount complex were blocked as the police worked to clear the mosque, and social media footage shows worshippers clashing with security forces as they attempt to enter the compound.

BREAKING: Israeli soldiers are storming Al Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, attacking and forcing all Palestinian worshippers out. pic.twitter.com/qi2Uk4H5l1

— IMEU (@theIMEU) March 25, 2023

“The occupation forces’ storming of Al-Aqsa and attempts to remove the worshipers from it is a dangerous escalation whose consequences the occupation will bear, and we call upon the masses of our people to set out on their journeys and to gather in its squares,” said Hamas spokesman Abd al-Latif al-Qanou in a statement.

Muhammad Hamadeh, Hamas spokesman for Jerusalem, framed the removal of the worshippers as a “Zionist attack” and said that it was “a crime against freedom of worship and an episode in a continuous series of aggression against worshipers and Al-Aqsa.”

Terror groups often claim that Al-Aqsa Mosque is under assault in order to incite Palestinians into committing terror attacks.

Rather than turn down the flames, Waqf official Najeh Bakirat called for more worshippers to spend the night in the mosque – in direct violation of his entity’s understanding with the Israeli police.

Acknowledging that the situation is “more dangerous than ever before,” Barikat told Palestinian media that “things will be hot this year as a result of the daily attacks that are escalating in Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

A perception that Israeli forces were disrespecting Al-Aqsa Mosque was a trigger for the widespread rioting which took place during the May 2021 Israel-Gaza clash Operation Guardian of the Walls.

The first salvos of rockets in that conflict were fired from Gaza towards Jerusalem, in what Hamas claimed was a move to defend the mosque.

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