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1. Four Jews Murdered in Arab Terror Attack
by Gil Ronen, Hillel Fendel and Elad Benari
Palestinian terrorists murdered four Jewish civilians in a shooting attack at the Bani Naim junction just south of Hevron Tuesday evening. Emergency service paramedics could do nothing to save the victims whose bodies were riddled with bullets. The terrorists had reportedly made sure their victims were dead by shooting them from close range after the initial fusillade, as terrorists have done in prior attacks on unarmed civilians and children.
(Video filmed by David Wilder, Hevron)
The victims are a husband and wife, parents of six, and two passengers. Their names were cleared for publication Tuesday night by local police:
Yitzchak and Talya ImasKochava Even-Chaim Avishai ShindlerThe four were all citizens of Beit Haggai, located between Hevron and Be'er Sheva.
Yitzchak and Talya Imas were the parents of six children, the eldest one being 24 years old and the youngest one being a year and a half old. Talya Imas was nine months' pregnant when she was killed by the terrorists.
Kochava Even-Chaim was a teacher in Efrat. She left behind her husband and an 8-year-old daughter. Her husband, one of the first Zaka first aid volunteers to arrive at the scene, discovered that his wife was among the victims when he approached the attacked car.
Avishai Shindler had only recently moved to Beit Haggai with his wife.
The funerals of all four victims will take place beginning at 11:00 am on Wednesday. Eulogies will be delivered in the Beit Haggai synagogue, and the funeral processions will then take place. During the processions residents of Mount Hebron, Kiryat Arba, Efrat, and Gush Etzion will stand on the road with Israeli flags and pay their last respects to the victims.
One of the victims had a license for a gun that was suspended by police shortly before the attack. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel said at the scene that serious soul-searching must be done "in order to find out how it is that Jews are deprived of the basic right to defend themselves."
Hamas took "credit" for the terror attack, while PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the attack was "against Arab interests." Fayyad added that the PA will act to prevent additional acts of terror, though he did not explain how it would do so in the future any better than it has up to now.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi arrived on the scene of the attack along with Head of Central Command Major General Avi Mizrahi and Judea and Samaria Commander Brig.-Gen. Nitzan Alon. Ashkenazi said, "First, we express our condolences to the victims' families and to Beit Haggai. We have been working in several directions since the event occurred, and will continue to search until we capture the terrorists. The IDF, along with other security agencies, continues to operate non-stop until we capture the murderers who were responsible for this incident. "
[map:45]
The terror attack is typical of Arab "resistance" attacks that intentionally target civilian victims. A survey carried out by a PA organization in early August found that among the Arab public in the Palestinian Authority, over 55% view violence as either essential or desirable, nearly 31% see it as either acceptable or tolerable, and only 13.7% say it is unacceptable.
The attack was probably timed to coincide with and affect the direct talks between Israel and the PA in Washington, D.C., that are to begin Thursday. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said upon landing in Washington that the talks would proceed as planned, despite the murders, evoking memories of PM Yitschak Rabin's term "sacrifices for peace" for the post Oslo accord terror attacks, which cost tens of Israelis their lives.Just prior to his meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Netanyahu said: "Terrorism will not determine the fate of Judea and Samaria residents or borders. These issues and others will be determined during negotiations."
The White House also condemned the terrorist attack and warned that "enemies of peace" would try to thwart direct peace talks.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement."We express our condolences to the victims' families and call for the terrorists behind this horrific act to be brought to justice.
It is crucial that the parties persevere, keep moving forward even through difficult times, and continue working to achieve a just and lasting peace in the region that provides security for all peoples."
2. Hebron Eyewitness: "Pure, Unadulterated Barbarity"
by David Wilder
David Wilder is the English spokesperson for the Jewish Community of Hebron.
It’s been a while since I photographed dead bodies. The last time I remember clearly was the murder of Yossi Shok from Beit Haggai who was shot and killed similarly on a Friday afternoon a few years ago. That attack entailed a few miracles. I recall that there were others in the car, teenage girls, who miraculously weren’t hurt.
But tonight, no miracles.
This morning, speaking with a friend, talking about the renewed ‘piece talks’, I told him that more than likely today or tomorrow terrorists would strike. It was just a question of where – around here, the Shomron, or Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. Tonight we received our answer.Leaving Ma’arat HaMachpela after evening prayers, the beeper beeped. A car had been shot at. A quick phone call, confirming that Jews had been hit, four critically, and I sped off. I had been at the scene of the shooting only a few hours ago, examining how Arabs were stealing water from Jews in the area.
By the time I arrived, the description had changed. No longer four critically wounded. Four dead. Four killed, shot by terrorists, on their way home. The terrorists’ lives have been made much easier in the past year or so, with various roadblocks being removed in Judea and Samaria. Now it’s fairly simple to access roads used by Jewish civilians, shoot, and then escape.
The scene was reminiscent of others I’ve witnessed in the past. Ambulances, jeeps, police, medics, soldiers, officers, red lights flashing….and bodies.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen four bodies on the street, murdered by Arabs only because they are Jews, living in Israel.
I sit here, half numb, almost not believing, but knowing that, yes, it’s real. And what to do?
The first thing that must be done: Netanyahu has to return immediately, canceling tomorrow’s ‘festive ceremony’ renewing the so-called negotiations with Obama and Abu Mazen. Israel must make it as clear as possible: we refuse to accept, under any circumstances, and at any price, murder of innocent people on our roads, in our homes, anywhere. No excuses, no looking the other way, no ‘ifs ands or buts.’ More than the Arabs, Obama must understand in no uncertain terms that our people are not cattle-feed.
Two: Netanyahu must unfreeze the freeze now. Not on September 26, not leaving everyone wondering ‘what’s he going to do?’ Tomorrow, as these four pure souls are being buried, building must again begin throughout Judea and Samaria. Here again, the Arabs and the Americans must understand that we will not turn the other cheek; there is a price for murdering Jews in Israel.
Three: Here in Israel we must comprehend that our own people are continuing to incite; making Jewish blood cheap. Two examples: The continued ‘cherem’ – boycott of Israeli actors and performing artists, refusing to perform in Ariel in the Shomron, is incitement. Our Arab neighbors, seeing and hearing Israelis spout revulsion against their supposed brethren is, in the Arab’s eyes, a green light, opening the door to murderous attacks as we witnessed tonight.
So too with such organizations as Breaking the Silence and others, who continue to spew hate against Jews living in Hebron and the Hebron area, while identifying effusively with our Arab neighbors. This is also incitement; there is no other word for it. Actually there is: treason. A person or individual abetting the enemy is treason. These people walk the streets of Hebron freely, regurgitating lies about Hebron’s Jewish citizen’s, while showering praises on the ‘poor palestinians’ whose suffer at the hands of the evil Jews. These ‘poor people’ are planning on taking our land, destroying our country, and continuing to kill Jews. Such ‘tours’ must be stopped.
Four: Israel has been ‘returning’ security control to armed, uniformed Arabs in cities throughout Judea and Samaria. This too, must be ended. It won’t be any surprise if we eventually discover that the terrorists who murdered four Jews tonight are actually ‘palestinian police,’ trained and armed by General Keith Dayton of the US army, and set free to roam the streets with the permission of the state of Israel.
According to the latest reports, a number of terrorists participated in the attack. After the car was shot at and stopped, its passengers were shot dozens of times, ensuring their deaths. It’s been reported that one of the women was pregnant. The couple killed leaves some six children and a grandchild orphans. You know what it's like to tell six kids that their parents aren’t coming home, that they were killed by terrorists a few miles away. And she was pregnant. That’s another Jew that won’t come into this world.
This is pure, unadulterated barbarity, brutality characteristic of our ‘piece partners.’ This may very well only be the beginning.
3. Orphans to Bury Terror-Attack Victim Parents
by Hillel Fendel
The funerals of the four victims of last night’s Palestinian terrorist attack, all residents of Beit Haggai in southern Judea, will be held this morning. The victims were shot dead on the busy Highway 60, used by both Israelis and Palestinian Authority settlers, just south of Hevron.
The four will be eulogized outside the central synagogue in Beit Haggai, from where the funerals will leave to three different cemeteries in Jerusalem, Ashdod and Petah Tikvah. Among those eulogizing the four are Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin.
Yitzchak and Talia Imas will be buried in the ancient Mt. of Olives cemetery opposite the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Their home was a heart-breaking sight last night and this morning, where six orphans aged 2 to 24 were gathered: Daniel (married with a six-month-old son), Ruth, Ariel, Hodaya, Ruhama and Oz-David. Talia was in her ninth month of pregnancy.
A friend and neighbor of the family, Yehuda Glick, related last night with tears in his eyes: “I have known them for over 20 years, even when they were still in Moscow, having discovered Judaism and working for Aliyah. They came to Israel, to Gush Etzion, 19 years ago, with a sense of national mission for the Jewish People… They were gentle, regal people… He was a man of letters, who published a book last year on the Shiltei Giborim – though he also worked with his hands, gardening and the like; Talia was an accountant, and together they educated their family, six children and she was pregnant… In recent years, Yitzchak dedicated much time to the Temple Mount, studying by heart all the relevant works in the Mishna and the Rambam. He used to go up to the holy site every week; this morning he went to the Temple Mount, and this evening he ascended to the Throne of Glory…”
“It is truly heart-breaking… The Holy One, Blessed be He, has plucked here some real angels, gentle of soul with true ideals and direction… They discovered Torah on their own, the Land of Israel on their own, the ideals of settling and building the land, and truly with their own two hands, on their own, brought up such a beautiful family. The heart really breaks to think of this…”
“A few months ago, the Prosecution decided to take away his gun… Recently they removed some of the checkpoints, and tomorrow we can expect that there will be more ‘good will gestures’ [as a result of Netanyahu’s trip to Washington – ed.], and we just stand here and cannot understand, cannot understand… How?”
Kokhava Even-Chaim, 37, who taught in Efrat, is survived by her husband Maimon – a Zaka volunteer who discovered that his wife was one of the victims when he arrived on the scene to offer help – and an 8-year-old daughter. She will be buried in Ashdod.
Avishai Shindler, 24, newly-married and a recent arrival to Beit Haggai, will be buried in the Segulah cemetery in Petah Tikva.
Beit Haggai has had its share of terrorist murders in the past. Rina Didovsky was murdered in 2000, and teenager Avichai Levy and Yossi Shok in separate roadside shooting attacks five years later. Beit Haggai itself was named for three of the six victims of the Beit Hadassah shooting attack in May 1980; Haggai is an acronym for Chanan (Krauthammer), Gershon (Klein), and Yaakov (Tzimmerman), three students of Yeshivat Nir Kiryat Arba. Tzvi Glatt, Eli HaZe’ev and Shmuel Marmelstein were also murdered in that attack.
The Victims of Arab Terror organization said it had begun initial steps into suing the Government of Israel for "having taking away the gun of Yitzchak Imas, which might have been able to save his life and that of the other victims."
The National Council of Young Israel said in a statement that the attack "is a stark and painful reminder that the PA is incapable of being a true partner in peace. While the Palestinian leadership is telling the United States and the world what it believes they want to hear, its citizens are simultaneously carrying out carefully planned and premeditated acts of terror against innocent men, women, and children."
4. Response to Attack: Thawing the Construction Freeze!
by Hillel Fendel
The Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria announced that in response to last night's murderous attack, it will be “breaking the construction freeze” four weeks early. The Council is galvanizing the Jewish towns and communities in Yesha to begin building new homes as early as this evening.
“In response to the murderous attack of four residents of Beit Haggai,” the Council announced, “let us go out, every community in its area, to break the freeze and begin building. Every community should find, in the coming hours, areas in which it will begin building at 6 PM this evening [Wednesday]. Let us declare, all of us together, the end of the freeze and the resumption of Jewish building in Judea and Samaria!”
Some of the projects that have already been announced for this evening: A kindergarten in Kedumim (central Samaria), a sports hall in Adam (Binyamin region, just north of Jerusalem), and a private home in Beit Haggai (south of Hevron).
Buses from various parts of Israel are also being organized. Information can be found at .
The ten-month freeze on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria announced by the government for the sake of getting the PA to negotiate with Israel is scheduled to end on Sept. 26.
5. Barak: Israel May Divide Jerusalem, Internationalize Holy Basin
by Chana Ya'ar
Defense Minister Ehud Barak says it is likely that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will agree to divide Jerusalem with the Palestinian Authority.
Barak told the Hebrew-language newspaper Haaretz in an interview published Wednesday that he believes the best chance for peace lies in a peace deal in which all the Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem would be handed over to the PA in order to create a capital for a new Arab country.
“If Netanyahu leads a process, a significant number of rightist ministers will stand with him,” he told the newspaper. “So what is needed is courage to make historic, painful decisions. I'm not saying that there is certainty for success, but there is a chance. This chance must be exploited to the fullest.”
The peace plan described by Barak includes the following:
* two states for two nations
* an end to the conflict and the end of all future demands
* demarcation of a border “that will run inside the Land of Israel” dividing a demilitarized PA state from an Israel that includes the “settlement blocs”
* retrieving and relocating the “isolated settlements” into the settlement blocs or within Israel
* a solution to the refugee problem within the PA state, or rehabilitating them through international aid
* comprehensive security arrangements
* a “solution to the Jerusalem problem.”
As for the “Jerusalem problem,” Barak told the newspaper that the western side of the city plus "12 Jewish neighborhoods that are home to 200,000 residents will be ours.” The neighborhoods in which nearly 250,000 Arabs are living “will be theirs.”
In addition, Barak envisions a “special regime” with “agreed-upon arrangements” to administer the Old City, the Mount of Olives and the City of David.
The concept is similar to one raised in the past by the administration of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who recommended the area, which he referred to as the “Holy Basin,” be internationalized under a “special regime.”
Prior to his re-election as Israel's prime minister nearly two years ago, Binyamin Netanyahu warned a gathering at the Jerusalem Conference in January 2009 that leftist politicians would try to internationalize the holy sites in Jerusalem – and he vowed to fight the move.
“Some politicians are trying to blur the importance of the Temple Mount to the Jewish People by referring to it as the 'Holy Basin',” he told the crowd at the time. “We, as Jews, know who built the Temple Mount.”
Netanyahu promised the packed hall, “We have demonstrated in the past, and will continue to demonstrate our commitment to a complete, undivided Jerusalem... Everyone knows what will happen if we were to leave those areas and divide Jerusalem. Someone will enter – and that someone will be Hamas.”
Meanwhile, Barak told Haaretz that Tuesday night's murderous attack by Hamas terrorists was “a very serious incident, the likes of which we haven't seen for a long time.”
Four Jews -- two men and two women, one of whom was nine months pregnant -- were shot to death by a Hamas terrorist cell on Highway 60 at the Bani Nayim junction, between the Jewish community of Pene Hever and Hevron just as darkness fell, ending the daily Muslim fast of Ramadan. According to security sources, the terrorists had "confirmed the kill" by approaching the car and firing at point-blank range once the victims were already either seriously wounded or dead. Ten children were orphaned by the attack.
Barak countered demands by outraged politicians and community leaders for Netanyahu to return from Washington, saying the attack had “no doubt” been an attempt to “harm the start of the peace talks” and urged Israelis to support the process.
6. Rabbi Lau: Our Prime Minister is Fighting for Our Survival
by Uzi Baruch and Eli Stutz
Former Chief Rabbi of Israel and Rabbi of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau publicly supported Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu while speaking at the World Jewish Congress today in Jerusalem's David Citadel Hotel.
Recently, Netanyahu's stance on upcoming talks with the PA, and his building freeze policy in Judea and Samaria have led many Israelis and Jews abroad to vocally criticize his actions.
In response to that trend, Rabbi Lau said, "Externally, we must show that we are one people, one family. It is incumbent upon us to stand shoulder to shoulder. It is important to have differences of opinions, we are intelligent people and are not robots, but not on the outside - there we must speak with one voice."
Rabbi Lau added that, "the demonstrations outside the [United Nations] are an embarrassment to us, and also those among us who kiss [Iranian leader Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad are an embarrassment to us. If our leaders make mistakes, it is a positive thing to meet with them privately. Our prime minister is fighting for our survival and he is going to speak with [U.S. President Barack] Obama about this. It is our duty to support him as best we can."
7. Dr. Kedar Warns: Iran May Take Over Persian Gulf
by Eli Stutz
Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an expert on Arab politics and Islamic Fundamentalism at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies warns that Iran may be planning a full takeover of Persian Gulf states. He is also concerned that Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon may try to build a nuclear reactor similar to Iran's Bushehr reactor, and obtain atomic weapons that could be used against Israel.
In a blog post which appeared on News1, Dr. Kedar says that there are several reasons that pressure is building between Iran and the Arab states in the Persian Gulf:
Firstly, Arab states in the Gulf believe that Iran's saber-rattling and aggressive statements towards Israel are actually a decoy, aimed at shifting the focus from its real purpose, a full takeover of the oil and gas-rich Persian Gulf. Kedar says that the Arab states remember Iran's takeover of three Persian Gulf islands, and also its claims that Bahrain belongs historically to Iran.
Secondly, Arab states assess that Israel and Iran will not attack each other, since each side is fearful of the outcome of such attack and its necessary counter-attack. Iran, says Kedar, knows that Israel has 200 - 300 nuclear warheads, which could wipe out all of its major cities. On the other hand, Israel, says Kedar, is concerned about the Iranian arsenal of long-range missiles in Hizbullah's possession, which are far more accurate that those the Hizbullah used in the 2006 attack against its southern neighbor.
Thirdly, in recent years, tens of thousands of Iranian citizens have immigrated to other Arab states in the Gulf. Kedar says that Arab leaders fear that many of these ex-Iranians are actually sleeper cells, who, when activated, could supply Iran with the necessary intelligence information to successfully stage an attack on Arab Gulf states. Kedar brings evidence that the Iranian sleeper cell concept has credence, citing the call of an Arab minority organization in Iran which called on Arabs in Gulf states to cooperate with their local authorities in order to expose Iranian sleeper cells in their countries. These words, says Kedar, came after several Iranian cells were in fact exposed in Kuwait, cells which planned to attack Kuwait's top military echelons in the event of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran. This led to the replacement of Iran's ambassador in Kuwait, says Kedar, who Kuwaiti authorities believed was the mastermind behind the sleeper cells. Kedar warns that even Israel should be wary of Iranian sleeper cells among its own foreign worker population.
Kedar adds that the purpose behind Iran's revealing of its new unmanned plane last week, was to warn Arab Gulf states not to dare help Israel or the U.S. in an attack on Iran, or to let Israeli or U.S. jets fly over their air space. Such an unmanned plane, says Kedar, could potentially enable Iran to hit any major target in the Gulf states, and Iran's message to those states is clear: "do not cooperate with an attack on us."
Finally, Kedar warned that the next dangerous threat against Israel could be a Hizbullah attempt to imitate Iran's nuclear ambitions, by building a nuclear reactor in Lebanon, similar to Iran's Bushehr reactor. Kedar says that Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah must be overjoyed that the Bushehr reactor went operational without being attacked by Israel or the U.S. and that this must encourage him to pursue the building of a similar reactor in Lebanon, purportedly under the guise of the need to generate electricity, but for the actual goal of building nuclear warheads for use against Israel.
Dr. Kedar finishes by saying that it is a grave error to underestimate one's enemies.
Dr. Mordechai Kedar (Ph.D. Bar-Ilan U.) Served for 25 years in IDF Military Intelligence specializing in Arab political discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups and the Syrian domestic arena. A lecturer in Arabic at Bar-Ilan U., he is also an expert on Israeli Arabs.
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