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| Wednesday, Jan 2 '13, Tevet 20, 5773 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1. Feiglin Urges Giving Arabs a $500,000 One-Way Ticket
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu  Likud Knesset Member candidate Moshe Feiglin, indicted for trying to prostate himself on the Temple Mount, wants to pay each Palestinian Authority Arab $500,000 to leave Israel. He unveiled the proposal at a “Sovereignty” conference sponsored by the Women in Green and which is discussing ideas for annexing Jewish area in Judea and Samaria as part of Israel and removing it from military control, as Israel did with the Golan Heights and areas in Jerusalem that were under the Jordanian occupation before the Six-Day War in 1967. “The country pays 10% of its gross national product every year to maintain the ‘two-state solution’ and the Oslo Accords,” Feiglin said. He explained the money is for the security fences and checkpoints, Iron Dome missile defense systems and guards whom he said are posted “at every café.” Feiglin said the same money could be used to pay every PA Arab half a million dollars to leave Israel. A long-time thorn in the side of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Feiglin is not alone in the Likud party in stating strong nationalist views. Several Likud MKs told the conference they support annexing all or part of Judea and Samaria and abolishing the Oslo Accords, which as a matter of practicality have little meaning outside of diplomatic circles. Reports, generally not disseminated by mainstream media, have shown that thousands of PA Arabs leave for other countries every year. Feiglin said a poll of Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza “show that 80% in Gaza and 65% in Judea and Samaria want to immigrate” and that paying them to do so is the “perfect solution."
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2. Polls Show US-Born Gimpel May Be Knesset Member
 Polls continue to show more strength for the combined Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home)-Ichud Leumi (National Union) slate, giving US-born Jeremy Gimpel a good chance to become a Knesset Member. Gimpel, who along with Ari Abramowitz founded the LandofIsrael.com movement and hosts the Tuesday Night Live television show from Jerusalem, is number 14 on the party list, by which candidates join the Knesset according to proportional representation based on the number of votes the entire party receives compared to all votes. Two polls three weeks ago gave the combined parties’ list 15 and 16 seats, which would easily put Gimpel over the top, but surveys since then have whittled the number of mandates down to 13. However, a Dialogue poll published in Haaretz on Wednesday awards the Jewish Home-National Union party list 14 seats. Gimpel responded to the last months’ optimistic polls by saying, "It looks like I have a very good chance at becoming the first American born MK in decades." The last American-born MK was the late Rabbi Meir Kahane. Regardless of whether Gimpel is elected, a native American will be in the next Knesset because Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett was born in California. Gimpel, 32, has made a major pitch to Americans living in Israel. He moved to Israel from Atlanta, lives in the Gush Etzion area and is an ordained rabbi and a lawyer. The Dialog poll was good news for the Jewish Home-National Union parties, but disastrous for Kadima, which appears to be headed into oblivion. All of the other parties’ standings in the latest poll remain constant, with the two big question marks being the Likud-Israel Beyteinu slate and the Otzma party, formed by current National Union MKs Aryeh Eldad and Michael Ben-Ari, along with activist Itamar Ben-Gvir. The Dialog poll shows Otzma receiving a shade less than the minimum number of votes needed to enter the Knesset. Many of its voters are former supporters of the National Union party, which might cost the Jewish Home list one or more seats. The new Likud-Yisrael Beytenu party continues to lose altitude, with the Dialog poll giving it only 34 seats, compared with 42 for the two parties in the current Knesset. Projected votes for the three major leftist-oriented parties continue show that the public is sharply divided, with Labor awarded 16 seats, Tzipi Livni’s new party with 10 seats, and nine for Yesh Atid (Future), headed by Yair Lapid. Netanyahu will have little choice other than to include the Jewish Home-National Union MKs in his coalition. Otherwise, he would have to from a government only with the center-left parties, a virtual impossibility considering their different agenda and demands, or with the Shas and Degel Hatorah hareidi-religious parties, also an improbability, considering Israel Beyteinu’s platform and its representation in the Likud.
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3. Netanyahu Quotes Bible to Warn of Hamas Coup in Ramallah
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu  Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu quoted this week’s Torah reading, which states, "Now There Arose a New King Over Egypt” and warned of a Hamas takeover of Ramallah. At a meeting of the Bible Circle held by the Prime Minister in memory of his late father-in-law, he said, "Like then, like today. In Egypt, the regime has been replaced, in Syria the regime is being shaken and this could also happen in the Palestinian Authority areas in Judea and Samaria. Everyone knows that Hamas could take over the Palestinian Authority. It could happen after an agreement, it could happen before an agreement, like it happened in Gaza.” Without mentioning President Shimon Peres by name, Prime Minister Netanyahu referred to the President’s remarks on Sunday, when he urged Israel to resume peace talks with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The President called him a willing peace partner with whom an agreement could be reached. Netanyahu said, “Therefore, as opposed to the voices that I have heard recently urging me to run forward, make concessions, [and] withdraw, I think that the diplomatic process must be managed responsibly and sagaciously and not in undue haste. Otherwise a third base for Iranian terrorism will arise here, in the heart of the country. Peace can be achieved only when security is assured." On Monday, Peres added to the controversy surrounding his statements on government policy, an area traditionally out of the realm of the President, who is supposed to be above partisan political views, especially during an election campaign. Peres said that Israel could talk with Hamas if the terrorist organization were to accept the Quartet principles of ending terror, accepting previous agreements and recognizing Israel. His remarks actually were nothing new, but they attracted more attention than usual because Israelis go to the polls in 20 days to elect a new Knesset. Comment on this story
4. Source: Egypt Interrogating Arrested Israeli
by Elad Benari  Egyptian prosecutors were interrogating on Tuesday an Israeli man in the Red Sea port of Nuweiba who is suspected of espionage, a judicial source told AFP. "An Israel man was arrested on Monday in Taba on suspicion of espionage. He was remanded today in police custody for four days pending investigation," the source told the news agency. The suspect "infiltrated into Egypt through a mountainous area near Taba," the source added, without elaborating. The suspect arrested in Taba has been identified by Israeli media as 24-year-old Andrei Pashnichikov. Reports on Monday had indicated that he has been in Egyptian custody since December 29. An Egyptian official told the Reuters news agency on Monday that Pashnichikov was arrested after taking photographs of security equipment and speaking to drivers about the Sinai Peninsula. Other reports indicated that Pashnichikov had snuck into Egypt with the intention of reaching Gaza so he could join Hamas and fight against IDF soldiers. The Israeli media portrayed Pashnichikov as a “peace activist” who had strong contacts with Palestinian Authority Arabs in Gaza, and with Egyptians. According to Israeli sources, Pashnichikov had applied for a visa to Egypt and was granted one, but when he tried to cross into Sinai at the Taba crossing south of Eilat, he was refused entry by Egyptian border officials. In interviews with Israeli media Monday night, Pashnichikov's mother said that her son was a “peace activist,” who had many contacts in the PA and had worked on numerous projects to encourage “co-existence.” However, sources told Arutz Sheva that Pashnichikov was identified with radical leftist and anarchist groups, and that he was headed to Gaza in order to assist Arab terrorists there to fight Israel. The Maariv daily reported that Pashnichikov had tried to revoke his Israeli citizenship and in court said "that he did not recognize either the State of Israel or the Zionist establishment." Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP that there had so far been no formal notification from Egypt that any Israeli had been arrested there. "We have asked the Egyptians for information," he said. "We are waiting to hear officially from the authorities what they suspect him of and what they intend to do. On that basis we shall know what we can do."
Tags: Egypt ,Andrei Pashnichikov
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5. Soldiers Successfully Complete Mission, Terrorist Detained
by David Lev  IDF soldiers and Border Guards on Tuesday night successfully completed a mission in an Arab village near Jenin, in northern Samaria (Shomron), where they arrested several terrorists associated with Islamic Jihad. The soldiers, who were operating in the village of Tammun, are all accounted for and have left the village, after putting down a fierce riot by residents of the village. The riots began earlier Tuesday, when IDF soldiers operating undercover entered the village to arrest the Islamic Jihad terrorists. During the operation, word spread in the village that Israeli soldiers were present, and a riot broke out. Soldiers began firing at the rioters, while continuing to search for the terrorists. Four soldiers were lightly injured in the riots. Local sources said five Arabs were injured as a result of the IDF's defensive action. An IDF spokesperson confirmed that the soldiers and Border Guards had exited the village, and that they had a number of the Islamic Jihad terrorists in custody. The spokesperson said that the incident was not “unusual,” and that the soldiers had not been in danger.
Tags: IDF ,Border Poiice
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6. A Prayer from a Wheelchair at the Kotel
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu  Magen David and Police made an exception to allow a man to pray at the Western Wall when he explained his illness may not allow him another chance. Handicapped accessibility at the Western Wall (Kotel) usually must be made in advance, but an exception was made for patient David Schneer, who made the sudden request to Magen David Adom medics who were transferring him from a Jerusalem hospital to his home in the metropolitan Tel Aviv area. The patient was hospitalized after suffering extreme pain from an illness that is worsening. After his release, he told medics he had one “small request." “I want to go to the Kotel,” he said. The “simple” request is not so simple because of the special arrangements and permission needed. Magen David medics contacted security personnel at the Western Wall and explained that Schneer would be confined to his bed for medical care. “I am a man of faith,” Schneer told medics, “I am not even able to go the synagogue any more, and I may not be able to pray at the Kotel again because of my illness.” Special permission was granted, and paramedics and police escorted the ambulance into the Western Wall Plaza and Schneer, on his stretcher bed, to the Kotel to pray. He put on his tefillin and placed a written request between the stones of the Wall while tears flowed down his cheeks. Magen David medics, who have seen more than a few emotional scenes in their work, thanked Schneer for allowing them to participate in the mitzvah of taking him to the Kotel, for perhaps the last time in his life. Magen David Adom medic Yoni Uziahu said, “I have been an MDA medic for 12 years and have helped treat thousands of people, but I have never come across a case so emotional as this one. “I was crying as I stood next to him at the Kotel.”
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7. Watch: Conference on Israeli Annexation of Judea, Samaria
by Arutz Sheva staff  The third annual Conference on the Application of Israeli Sovereignt , which was organized by the “Women in Green” organization, discussed the ramifications of Israel finally annexing the districts of Judea and Samaria. Speakers included former MK Geula Cohen; MK Aryeh Eldad (Otzma LeYisrael); Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud); MK Yariv Levin (Likud); MK Zev Elkin (Likud); Moshe Feiglin (Likud); Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan (Bayit Yehudi); Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post; attorney Alan Baker; Davidi Perl, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council; Dr. Mordechai Kedar of Bar Ilan University; Dr. Martin Sherman of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies, and Yehudit Katzover of Women for Israel's Tomorrow. A comical skit from the hit Israeli political satire show, Latma, was also performed during the conference. All lectures and panel discussions were in Hebrew with simultaneous English translation.
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8. Arabs Brutally Attack US Yeshiva Student in Italy
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu  A gang of Arabs brutally attacked an American yeshiva student visiting with his family in Venice, Italy, in what local community leaders said was a rare instance of anti-Semitism. The student was knocked unconscious on Tuesday when he strolled late at night in the center of the city. A band of 15 Arab youth pounced on him, dragged him into a dark corner and pummeled him, using sharp weapons. The student lost consciousness, and the attackers fled when a passerby spotted them and called police and medics. The police are investigating, but have but have not caught the attackers. The Milan-based Center for Jewish Documentation's Observatory on Anti-Jewish Prejudice reported last month that the number of anti-Semitic episodes in the country soared last year. The incidents ranged from street insults and swastika graffiti to physical aggression. ''We observed approximately 70 cases so far this year, most of them graffiti and online attacks, over 40% more than last year,'' said Observatory researcher Stefano Gatti. ''The boom might be due partly to more efficient data-gathering, but the episodes have undeniably increased,” he added. Gatti also pointed out that Italian pundits and politicians ''such as Silvio Berlusconi, Beppe Grillo or Piergiorgio Odifreddi'' are now writing discriminatory posts and telling racist jokes. ''Making certain issues seem normal, even funny, is one of the root causes of the rise in anti-Semitic episodes in Italy,'' Gatti said.
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Wednesday, 2 January 2013
