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Tensions have risen in Judea and Samaria over the past 24 hours, with multiple terror attacks recorded on Sunday and Monday morning.
The violence began on Sunday morning when Palestinian terrorists took pot shots at Israelis driving on a West Bank road, lightly injuring a taxi driver and damaging the windshield of a bus.
Later that day, an Israeli driver sustained injuries after his car was stoned by Palestinians as he drove near the site of the shooting.
On Sunday evening, as a demonstration against the morning shooting wound down, Palestinian terrorists opened fire on Israeli soldiers and civilians, wounding a soldier in the leg.
Both the morning and evening shootings were claimed by the Lion’s Den, an armed Palestinian group from Nablus that includes members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and that has been responsible for much of the regional violence in the past few weeks.
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan draws his pistol to defend families, who hid behind a vehicle to escape a Palestinian shooter from the hills above the junction by Nablus. Photo from the Samaria Regional Council. pic.twitter.com/ygNyB6DMaG
— Tovah Lazaroff (@tovahlazaroff) October 2, 2022
The West Bank violence continued overnight as shots were fired at the Jewish community of Kiryat Arba and a pregnant Jewish woman was lightly injured after Palestinians stoned her car outside the Gush Etzion bloc.
Early Monday morning, as the IDF was conducting an arrest raid in the Jalazone refugee camp outside Ramallah, two Palestinians were killed when they attempted to ram into the soldiers with their car.
This attack was the latest in a series of violent confrontations between the IDF and Palestinians as Israel continues to clamp down on terrorism and Palestinian violence as part of Operation Break the Wave.
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Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid revealed at Sunday’s cabinet meeting that Israel and Lebanon had recently received a proposed agreement from US energy envoy Amos Hochstein concerning the disputed economic waters in the Mediterranean.
According to the agreement, Lebanon will receive the entire economic zone that has been under dispute since 2012 and will be able to drill for gas in the Kana field, which extends south into Israel’s economic waters.
In return, Israel will receive royalties from Total, the French energy company that will conduct the drilling in the Kana field, will retain full control over the Karish gas field, and will gain international recognition of the “buoys line” that extends 3.1 miles (5 km) into the Mediterranean from Rosh Hanikra.
Lapid told the cabinet that the agreement “will weaken Lebanon’s reliance on Iran, will restrain Hezbollah, and will bring regional stability.”
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz reiterated the prime minister’s claims, stating that “There is no doubt that it will strengthen stability, deterrence and, in the long run, will also weaken Lebanon’s dependence on Iran, which supplies it with fuel and other means.”
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who had earlier threatened Israel against extracting gas from the Karish field, expressed hope about the agreement while Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that it was a “surrender to Nasrallah’s threats.”
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The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israeli Police recently announced that they had broken up an Islamic State-inspired cell in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth and had arrested its six members.
According to the Israeli security forces, the six men were radicalized online and had met frequently in secret in order to plan a number of attacks.
Among its planned assaults, this cell intended to attack a local Muslim school that was said to “operate in the way of the ‘infidels’,” a busy bus stop, a police station, and a park that is frequented by Jewish visitors.
In addition, the cell members planned to obtain weapons and recruit others to join their nefarious activities.
According to a statement released by Israel’s security services, “The Shin Bet and Israel Police will continue to do everything in their power and use all measures at their disposal to deal with trends related to radical Islamic ideologies, and preemptively eliminate intentions to harm the security of the State of Israel.”
The Israel Security Agency published a statement saying it arrested six members of an IS cell in Nazareth. The suspects planned to carry out attacks and were inspired by the Islamic State from surfing the web.
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) October 2, 2022
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The Israeli government recently approved a 90 million shekel proposal (over $25 million) to help absorb the large number of Russian Jews who are set to immigrate to the Jewish state in the near future.
The funding will help provide the new immigrants with housing, employment, health services, education, and other necessities.
In addition, the Israeli government approved an “express aliyah” program for Jews leaving Russia while the Jewish Agency, which is currently fighting to continue its Russian operations, will open transit centers in Azerbaijan and Finland.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, 24,000 Russian Jews have immigrated to the Jewish state, the largest number since the wave that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
The government expects another 40,000 immigrants in the next six months as Russia continues to draft civilians for reserve duty while the country also sees a notable rise in anti-Jewish sentiment.
Lauding the government’s approval of the emergency funds, Israel’s Minister of Aliyah and Absorption, Pnina Tamano-Shata, told reporters said that “The State of Israel is a safe haven for every Jew in the world and their migration to Israel, no matter the cause, lifts the spirit.”
Echoing her remarks, Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman commented that “Aliyah is a strategic asset for the State of Israel and the greatest growth engine we’ve had since the state was established.”
Prime Minister Yair Lapid:
"Following recent events in Russia and Ukraine, Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman and Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata will submit today a decision that adds NIS 90 million for immigration absorption.— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 2, 2022
Recommended Reading
- Whither The Two-State Model When Hamas Seizes Power in the West Bank? (James Sinkinson, Jewish News Syndicate)
- Astronaut Posts Photos of Israel Taken From Space (i24NEWS)
- Visit Tel Aviv Museum of Art Virtually – On Minecraft (Ariel Grossman, NoCamels)
- Israeli EMTs Teach Chicago Faith Groups to Handle Attacks (Marion Fischel, Israel21C)
- Can Nuclear Talks Continue Amid the Hijab Protest? (Jonathan S. Tobin, Israel Hayom)
