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The leaders of several Gaza Strip-based Palestinian terror groups have issued a unified call for an escalation of violence against Israel, causing concern ahead of Ramadan prayers on Friday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque located atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Hamas, which rules Gaza and is deemed a terror group in its entirety by the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Israel and Japan, convened a meeting that was led by the head of the organization in the enclave, Yahya Sinwar.
“We are declaring a general mobilization in all places where our people are located. We are calling on the masses to come out in the hundreds of thousands to protect our nation and our mosque,” the Gaza terrorist groups said in a statement.
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan, typically a period of high tension, is underway, with tens of thousands of people expected to attend prayers in Jerusalem.
Local media reported that all “factions” in Gaza were represented at the meeting. The Strip is home to other terror groups, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, which controls areas in the West Bank, called for the Palestinian public to go to sensitive areas on Thursday and “confront IDF forces and settlers.”
Ramadan, Passover and Easter all overlap this month, with Israeli officials warning that the convergence could spark more Palestinian violence.
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Israel’s security forces continued to arrest suspected terrorist operatives in an attempt to curb a wave of terrorism that has killed 14 Israelis.
On Wednesday, security forces thwarted a terrorist attack planned for the eve of Passover, which begins Friday at sundown. A joint operation by Border Police special forces and the IDF in the villages of Silwad and Kobar, near Ramallah, led to the arrest of six suspects. The defense establishment received a tip that the suspects were planning an attack, most likely in Jerusalem.
The suspects include Maad Hamed, 33, a Hamas operative, who was a member of a cell that killed Malachi Rosenfeld and wounded three other Israelis in a shooting on a passing car on June 29, 2015.
Several dozen Palestinians tried to prevent the arrests, clashing with security personnel and throwing rocks at them. Violence also broke out between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian rioters overnight Wednesday-Thursday in Nablus.
Also on Wednesday, an Israeli man was rescued from a Palestinian lynch mob in Bethlehem. The man, a resident of Betar Illit, drove into the nearby village of Hussan, where he was surrounded and beaten. The man managed to escape, but Palestinians set fire to his car.
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The European Union and Palestinian NGOs have reportedly been working together to offset losses caused by Israel designating six of the NGOs as terrorist groups.
“EU and member states have continued to engage with the six designated organizations collectively showing solidarity both at technical level and [head of missions] level,” read in part the minutes of a January 21 meeting between the EU Representative to the Palestinians and other European officials with Palestinian civil society leaders, according to a local media report.
The meeting took place following Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s decision in October to ban six Palestinian organizations – Addameer, Al Haq, Bisan Center, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), Union Of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC) – due to their affiliations with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist group in Israel, the US, the EU and elsewhere.
EU Representative Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff briefed the attendees on the designation of the NGOs, “reiterating the EU core belief that civil society is an essential part of a pluralistic and functioning democracy, particularly important in Palestine where the democratic processes are not in place… and civil society is constantly attacked by Israel.”
Itai Reuveni, Director of Communications for NGO Monitor, which studies the funding of civil society organizations, said that “the fact that the EU would fund a BDS and terror-linked NGO to run a project aimed at ‘promoting the Palestinian narrative’ and ‘combating counter-terrorism policies’ highlights the absurdity and negative impact of the EU-NGOs echo chamber.”
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Magen David Adom (MDA) has donated six all-terrain (4×4) ambulances to Ukraine. Up until recently the MDA had been using the vehicles to help rescue people from remote mountainous or snowy regions; to help treat drowning victims on beaches; to provide care during mass-casualty incidents, and more. The ambulances are able to maneuver through difficult terrain and are intended to evacuate the injured from areas that are especially difficult to access.
The six vehicles are in addition to the four armoured ambulances that were donated a month ago, and are currently assisting life-saving activities in Ukraine.
The initiative has been undertaken in collaboration with the Israeli Friends of MDA Association, which recruited the family fund of the late Ted Arison. The fund financed the preparation of the ambulances, as well as their transport on a flight to Belgium. The ambulances are slated to be transferred on trucks to Poland, and from there to Ukraine.
Three of the ambulances are intended for use by the Jewish community, and a further three by the Ukraine Health Ministry.
Recommended Reading
- 20 Years Since 30 Were Murdered in the Seder Slaughter – Opinion (Gil Troy, Jerusalem Post)
- In Arabic, Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas’ Organizations Praise Palestinian Terror (Maurice Hirsch, Algemeiner)
- ‘Caught Between a Hammer and an Anvil’ (Jonathan Schanzer, Foundation for Defense of Democracies)
- MK Odeh, You Won’t Destroy What We’re Building (Assad Subeh, Jewish News Syndicate)
- A Remarkable Outbreak of Antisemitism at NYU Law School (David Bernstein, Reason)
- 4 Israeli Universities Make List of World’s 100 Best Academic Institutions (Israel Hayom)
