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1. One Dead in Blast at Jerusalem Bus Station
by Gil Ronen and Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
An explosion across from Jerusalem's Central Bus Station Wednesday
afternoon in Jerusalem killed one elderly woman and wounded 50 others,
two seriously.
The explosive charge was placed at a public telephone booth and was
detonated as two packed buses passed by. The buses sustained moderate
damage in the explosion.
The terrorist who planted the bomb apparently escaped the scene.
Security officials said there were no specific indications of an
impending terrorist attack in Israel's capital.
Jerusalem's Mayor, Nir Barkat, was on the scene minutes after the
blast encouraging citizens not to allow the attack to change their
lives. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was in his Jerusalem residence,
preparing to fly to Moscow, when the bombing occurred.
At approximately 3:45 P.M., the ZAKA rescue service reported gunfire
near the Sakharov Gardens, not far from the scene of the blast. This
report was retracted a few minutes later.
Wednesday's attack was the first major terrorist incident in Jerusalem
since the tractor attacks and the massacre of eight people at the Mercaz
HaRav Yeshiva in March 2008.
2. Photos: Terrorist Attack at Jerusalem Bus Station
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First photos of the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Jerusalem,
killing one elderly woman and woundng 50 others, one seriously. The
terrorist escaped.
3. IDF on South's Pummeling: Pretend It's Not Happening
by Gil Ronen
As rocket fire and mortar shells slam into Israel's southern
communities at an increasing pace, the IDF insists Israelis should
pretend there is no war.
The past few days have seen attacks on Be'er Sheva, Ashdod, Ashkelon
and Gaza Belt communities, and several Israelis have been injured.
Nonetheless, the commander of the IDF Home Front Command's Southern
District, Col. Eitan Yitzchak, said on Wednesday that residents should
continue their daily routines while paying close attention to the
instructions and orders of the Home Front.
Col. Yitzhak emphasized that the Home Front Command would act to
"maintain routine life" and determined that "we are not in a time of
war." At this stage, the Home Front Command is not planning to open
public shelters, because such a step would "convey war," he said.
"There has been increasing fire recently at the Gaza area communities
that has reached Be'er Sheva, Ashdod and other southern communities,"
Col. Yitzhak acknowledged. "We are in an unstable period that requires
special preparations on the home front in order to maintain routine
life."
"There are available options to protect homes and educational
institutions," the commander said. He did not mention that in the major
cities Be'er Sheva and Ashdod, schools had closed because of the rocket
attacks.
"The warning system allows for one minute to move from a routine
situation to an emergency situation, and therefore I don't recommend
opening the public shelters in Be'er Sheva."
The Home Front Command reminds the public to remain in protected spaces
for ten minutes following the sounding of the warning siren.
4. 2 Grad Katyusha Missiles, 10 Mortar Shells Strike South
by Gil Ronen and Chana Ya'ar
Hamas-linked terrorists in Gaza fired two, possibly three Grad Katyusha
missiles Be'er Sheva Wednesday morning with the first attack from a
122-mm Grad missile having struck a residential neighborhood at about
5:30 a.m. local time.
"I felt two really loud explosions, one on either side of the
building," Yocheved R. told Israel National News. "Then a third one, but
at first I thought it was just a reverberation. I still am not sure
what that was."
Although Home Front Command has urged residents to head for the
shelters when they hear the Color Red incoming rocket alert siren, she
and many others have said they don't bother. "What's the point? Many of
the shelters are locked," Yocheved said. "You never know which one is
open and which one is not." In addition, many of the shelters in Be'er
Sheva, considered to be the "capital of the south," were built decades
ago, and it is unclear whether they have been refurbished recently -- or
not. "At this point, I might be safer in my own home," she added.
The Islamic Jihad's al-Quds Brigades terrorist organization issued a
statement claiming responsibility for the attacks, calling them "a
response to the crimes of Zionism against our nation in Gaza."
Be'er Sheva Mayor Ronny Benilovitch told a news interviewer on Radio
Darom Wednesday morning his city would not tolerate further attacks. "We
cannot allow ourselves to become accustomed to a missile attack from
Gaza every three weeks, every four weeks," he said. "We are telling the
IDF, we've had it. That's it. That's it."
Ten mortar shells were also fired at Israeli population centers
Wednesday morning. Seven exploded within the boundaries of the Eshkol
local authority, which adjoins the northeastern part of Gaza. Three
others exploded in the fields of a kibbutz in the Sha'ar HaNegev
Regional Council district. They did not hurt anyone or cause any damage
to structures.
A 56-year-old man was wounded by shrapnel from the early-morning Grad missile attack in Be'er Sheva,
which landed in the private yard of a residential complex. He was
transported to the Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheba. Three other people
were treated by rescue forces for traumatic shock.
Public schools in Be'er Sheva were closed for the day, although Ben
Gurion University of the Negev sent text messages to its student
population informing them that classes would be held as usual.
Two Grads were also fired at Ashdod Tuesday, another attack claimed by
the Islamic Jihad's al-Quds Brigades. Following that attack, an IAF
aircraft attacked a terrorist cell in northern Gaza and confirmed a hit
on target.
Overnight, Israeli Air Force aircraft attacked and killed a terrorist
in northern Gaza, at the spot from which he was firing a Grad rocket
toward Ashdod.
On Tuesday evening, IAF aircraft attacked a squad of terrorists in
Gaza as they attempted to launch a Grad rocket towards Israel. A hit was
identified and the IAF planes returned to their base safely.
Hamas has considerably stepped up its missile attacks on Israeli
civilians in the past week. Some analysts see the belligerence as an
attempt to divert Gazans' attention away from demonstrations in favor of
a reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. Others see it as a result of
Hama's heightened confidence following recent events in Egypt. Still
others see it as an attempt to divert the civil rights denied Gazan
population, especially the Fatah sympathizers among them, from joining
the wave of popular uprisings throughout the Middle East.
5. US Intelligence Report: Hizbullah A Socio-Political Movement
by Gavriel Queenann
U.S. intelligence report to characterize Hizbullah as a political
entity with terrorist capabilities, David Ignatius of the Washington
Post reported on March 18.
The distinction, which will appear this year's National Intelligence
Estimate (NIE), removes the focus from Hizbullah's long pedigree as a
paramilitary terrorist organization and Iranian proxy in favor of
viewing it as a social and political movement despite its ongoing
involvement in terror.
“Officials who have read draft versions of the estimate say it assesses
Hezbollah in a broad context, as a political and social force in
Lebanon in addition to the militia officially designated by the United
States as a ‘foreign terrorist organization,’” Ignatius wrote. “Like
most NIEs, this one is said to contain a broad array of views, with some
analysts stressing Hizbullah’s terrorist capabilities and others noting
the organization’s growing political role, including its representation
in the Lebanese cabinet.”
Reports of the National Intelligence Estimate are intended to reflect
the cumulative knowledge of U.S. intelligence agencies and do not always
form policy. Nonetheless, such an assessment is likely to set off alarm
bells for many and raise the ire of many in Washington.
Previous intelligence assessments characterizing Egypt's Muslim
Brotherhood as a "largely secular political organization" came under
fire as Egypt's popular revolution took hold earlier this year. Members
of that organization - the spiritual brothers of Hamas - have long
pushed an Islamic agenda and have been unabashedly involved in
religiously motivated violence against Egypt's Coptic community during
the past year.
In addition, White House counterintelligence adviser John Brennan has
taken heat from conservatives and congressional Republicans for past
statements noting Hizbullah’s evolution from a terrorist group to one
with political pre-eminence in Lebanon.
6. Dep. Minister Kara: United J'lem Must Remain Israeli
by Hillel Fendel
Zionist-Druze Deputy Minister Ayoub Kara insists that Jerusalem must
remain united and under Israeli sovereignty; there is "no law or
democracy in Arab world."
Kara, who serves as Deputy Minister for the Development of the Galilee
and Negev on behalf of the Likud Party, was treated to an exclusive
strategic tour of Jerusalem and environs on Tuesday. The tour was
sponsored by the "Keep Jerusalem" organization, and his guides were Keep Jerusalem's President and CEO Chaim Silberstein and former World Likud CEO Rafael Cohen.
The tour began on a hilltop on which the late King Hussein of Jordan
began building his summer palace in 1967 – and which was captured by
Israel in the Six Day War. The skeleton of the building still stands
there, exactly as it stood when its construction was interrupted.
The hilltop – the Biblical Givat Sha'ul - enjoys a commanding view of
the entirety of northern Jerusalem and surrounding areas, emphasizing
the negative implications of dividing Jerusalem. Silberstein stressed
the dangers of such a division from strategic, security, and political
standpoints.
Minister Kara also noted the vast extent of illegal Arab construction
throughout what is known as "eastern Jerusalem." Silberstein said that
the "creeping concrete conquest" is the correct way to refer to the Arab
attempt, largely successful, to create a building continuum from
Ramallah in the north to Bethlehem in the south.
The tour concluded with a visit to the Shimon HaTzaddik compound
adjacent to Sheikh Jarrah. Kara met and talked with Jewish families
residing there.
Deputy Minister Kara declared that "we, the Zionist public in Israel,
must do everything in our power to preserve a united Jerusalem under
Israeli democratic sovereignty. In the Arab entities, there is no law or
democracy, and people are judged and sentenced by 'kangaroo courts.'"
Kara said he calls "on all who define themselves as Zionists to
participate in the Public Advocacy Tours run by Keep Jerusalem-Im
Eshkachech and educate themselves on the critical issues and dangers
facing Jerusalem."
Jewish International Rights to Jerusalem
Contrary to anti-Israel public opinion in much of the world, Israel
enjoys significant international rights to Jerusalem. Dr. Jacques
Gauthier, a non-Jewish Canadian lawyer who spent 20 years researching
the issue, has concluded: "Jerusalem belongs to the Jews, by
international law." His doctoral dissertation on Jerusalem and its legal
history concludes that the League of Nations and the United Nations
gave the Jewish people title to the city of Jerusalem.
This process began at the famous San Remo Conference of April 1920,
when the four Principal Allied Powers of World War I - Great Britain,
France, Italy and Japan - agreed to affirm the Balfour Declaration and
create a Jewish national home in what is now the Land of Israel. The San
Remo resolutions were confirmed by all 51 members of the League of
Nations on July 24, 1922.
Keep Jerusalem particularly emphasizes that the League of Nations made
sure to grant the Arabs of the Holy Land individual civil and religious
rights - but specifically not those of a national political nature.
Calling for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the
Jewish people," it emphasized that "nothing shall be done which may
prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish
communities in Palestine." No distinction was made, of course, regarding
Jerusalem.
7. Knesset Approves Nakba Law
by Elad Benari
The Knesset approved on Tuesday night the second and third reading of the law which has come to be known as the “Nakba Law”.
The law stipulates that the Minister of Finance may withhold or reduce
budgets from government-funded bodies who deny the existence of Israel.
37 Knesset members voted in favor and 25 opposed the law, which was
initiated by MK Alex Miller (Yisrael Beiteinu). The law says that “any
body that is funded by the state, or a public institute that is
supported by the state, will be barred from allocating money to activity
that involves the negation of the existence of the State of Israel as
the state of the Jewish people; the negation of the state’s democratic
character; support for armed struggle, or terror acts by an enemy or a
terror organization against the state of Israel; incitement to racism,
violence and terror and dishonoring the national flag or the national
symbol.”
The name of the law comes from the Arab Nakba Day (meaning “day of the
catastrophe” in Arabic), which commemorates what the Arabs see as the
disastrous results of Israel's War of Independence in 1948. That war
began as a pan-Arab attempt to eliminate Israel and ended as a crushing
defeat for the Arab side.
The law approved on Tuesday is a moderate version of the original law which was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation in July of 2009.
MK Miller’s original legislation would have made participation in Nakba
Day events punishable by three years’ imprisonment. That idea, however,
was criticized by some as impinging on citizens’ freedom of speech,
while others claimed it would be difficult to enforce and could have the
opposite effect of that intended.
An exchange of harsh words took place between Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu and some of the Arab Knesset members during the heated debate
over the law on Tuesday.
One such exchange occurred when MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) called the law
“racist” and told Netanyahu: “I tell you that the world won’t believe
you. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck,
it is a duck.”
Netanyahu responded by saying: “It is your right to quack, this is a
democracy.” Zahalka then replied: “I speak Hebrew, I do not quack. On
this black night we will turn to the whole world to receive protection
against this anti-democratic government headed by Binyamin Netanyahu.”
Zahalka has a history of controversial sayings and actions. In May of 2009 he was forcibly removed from the Knesset
after he shouted that a proposed law calling for jail for rejecting
Israel as a Jewish and democratic state is “racist”, and conducting a
shouting match with MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union).
Last September, Zahalka took part in a conference
in India aimed at putting an end to Israel-India ties. During the
conference Zahalka told Indians to stop purchasing Israeli arms because
they are, he claimed, ineffective. He has also openly expressed his opinions that Israel should not be considered a Jewish state.
Zahalka is also the MK who took part in an interview
on the Erev Chadash program hosted by veteran broadcaster Dan Margalit
last year, in which he said that Defense Minister Ehud Barak likes to
listen to classical music and kill children, comparing him to a Nazi. A
shouting match ensued between Zahalka and Margalit, ending with Margalit
asking Zahalka to leave the studio.
8. PA Arabs Seek Egyptian Citizenship
by Elad Benari
As Egypt returns to normal operations following the revolution that saw the end of Hosni Mubarak’s regime, the country is faced with an age old problem: PA Arabs who seek Egyptian citizenship.
According to a report on Tuesday on the Al-Arabiya television network, a
group of Palestinian Authority Arabs who started a Facebook page called
“The Palestinians are related to Egypt and have the right to receive
Egyptian citizenship”, have turned over a request to Egypt's interior
minister, Mansour el-Essawy, asking to receive Egyptian citizenship.
The report noted that the minister announced that he would present the
request to the Council of Ministers to make a decision in the case.
In the past, Egyptian mothers who are married to PA Arabs had referred a
request to the Supreme Council of the armed forces, the Prime Minister,
the Interior Minister, and to the Director of the Ministry of
Immigration and Nationality, to implement a law that was enacted in 2004
and would grant Egyptian citizenship to their sons.
The mothers demanded that the law be implemented immediately and
urgently, after a delay going on seven years. According to this law,
Egyptian citizenship would be accepted by issuing a formal request from
the Immigration and Nationality Ministry, without the need to open a
file in an administrative court.
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