Joshua Davidovich is The Times of Israel's Deputy Editor
The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they unfolded.
Seven people with links to terrorist networks, at least three of whom were planning attacks, have been arrested in France this month, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says.
Cazeneuve says at a press conference that French police had arrested as many people for terror links in the first half of 2016 as for the whole of last year.
He gvies no details of the latest arrests, however.
On August 8, a 16-year-old girl from the Paris suburb of Melun was remanded in custody on charges of planning a jihadist attack.
The teenager was an administrator of a group on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app that was used by two jihadists to plan the murder of a priest in Normandy in July.
According to investigators, she “relayed numerous Islamic State group propaganda messages calling for attacks” and also expressed a personal desire to “take action.”
— AFP
Palestinian security forces in Nablus are reportedly breaking up large protests being held against the beating death of a jailed man by local police.
Video posted to social media shows hundreds of people running through the streets fleeing what appears to be police shooting tear gas.
لحظة قمع الأجهزة الأمنية لمسيرة نابلس المنددة بمقتل أحمد حلاوة قبل قليل. pic.twitter.com/xY3T5YQVlI
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 23, 2016
الأجهزة الأمنية تقمع تظاهرة خرجت وسط نابلس قبل قيل تنديداً بمقتل أحمد حلاوة حيث أطلقت قنابل الغاز صوب المشاركين فيها pic.twitter.com/pFG3IkSthy
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 23, 2016
Ahmed Halawa, the alleged leader of a group of Palestinians who attacked police earlier this month, killing two, was arrested by police overnight and taken to the city’s Jneid prison, Nablus governor Akram Rajub told the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Once there, he was severely beaten by security personnel, lost consciousness and later died, Rajub said.
Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip and is a bitter rival of the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority ruling the West Bank, condemned Halawa’s “execution.”
It said it showed “the bloody nature of the Palestinian Authority’s security services.”
— with AFP
Jerusalem-based technology firm Mobileye and UK-based auto-equipment maker Delphi say they were teaming up to develop an autonomous driving system which will be ready for vehicle-makers in 2019.
A joint statement by the two companies said that Mobileye’s vision and sensor systems would combine with Delphi’s automated driving software to create what it called “the market’s first turnkey Level 4/5 automated driving solution.”
US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro rides MobilEye’s self-driving car (YouTube screen capture)
The US-based Society of Automotive Engineers defines level 4 as “High Automation” in all but the most adverse driving conditions and level 5 as “Full Automation” “under all roadway and environmental conditions that can be managed by a human driver.”
Last month, German car maker BMW announced that it was joining forces with Mobileye and US computer chip giant Intel on a self-drive project, also for “highly and fully automated driving” to be commercially available by 2021.
Mobileye describes itself as the “global leader in the development of computer vision and machine learning, data analysis, localization and mapping for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and autonomous driving.”
— AFP
Palestinian news site Safa reports that hundreds marched in Nablus, calling for the resignations of PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdalah, Nablus Governor Akram Rajoub, and Palestinian security head Nidal Abu Dukhan.
المسيرة التي خرجت وسط نابلس قبل قليل تنديدًا بمقتل أحمد حلاوة على يد الأجهزة الأمنية بسجن الجنيد. pic.twitter.com/ASoLf6naKu
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 23, 2016
The site reports the protesters, marching from a university to downtown, were turned back by tear gas and chased through alleys.
The United Nations says it is rushing to build camps to accommodate what it expects to be a mass exodus from Mosul once a battle begins for Iraq’s second city.
Members of Iraqi counter-terrorism forces take part in training under the command of international military instructors in Baghdad on March 20, 2016, as they preparare for a future operation aimed at retaking the northern city of Mosul. (AFP /SABAH ARAR)
The UN refugee agency warns that an expected battle to liberate Mosul, the Islamic State group’s last major urban stronghold in Iraq, is likely to “dramatically worsen” the displacement situation in the country.
Iraq is already facing one of the world’s biggest displacement crises, with 3.38 million people forced to flee their homes in the country since 2014.
In just the past few months alone, 213,000 people have been forced from their homes across the country, including around 48,000 who have fled Mosul, UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards tells reporters in Geneva.
“The humanitarian impact of a military offensive there is expected to be enormous,” he said, cautioning that as many as 1.2 million civilians could be affected.
— AFP
Olympic bronze medalist judoka Yarden Gerbi has put her name tag up for auction on eBay, saying she will use the money to buy medical equipment for a Tel Aviv hospital.
An eBay listing for Yarden Gerbi’s name tag, taken on August 23, 2016. (screen capture: eBay)
As of now, the top bid stands at $8,700 or NIS 32,852.13, though with five days left to the auction it will likely rise.
Israel’s Yarden Gerbi points to the Israeli flag after defeating Japan’s Miku Tashiro to win the bronze medal in the women’s -63kg judo contest at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on August 9, 2016. (AFP PHOTO/Jack GUEZ)
Gerbi, whose bronze during the Rio Games made her just the second Israeli woman to win a medal at the Olympics, says donating the proceeds from the ID tag to Sourasky Hospital will make it “more special for society.”
She says she will dedicate the tag to the winning bidder and sign it for them.
Officials say Turkish and American justice officials are discussing Turkey’s demands for the extradition of a US-based cleric accused of masterminding last month’s failed coup attempt.
Turkey’s Justice Ministry says its officials opened talks Tuesday with US Justice Department and State Department officials in the capital, Ankara.
Turkish cleric and opponent to the Erdogan regime Fethullah Gülen addresses at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania on July 18, 2016 allegations by the Turkish government about his involvement in the attempted July 15 coup. (AFP/Thomas URBAIN)
Fethullah Gulen has lived in the US state of Pennsylvania for the past 17 years in self-imposed exile. He has denied any involvement in the July 15 coup attempt that claimed 270 lives.
The US government has asked for firm evidence before considering extradition. Senior officials in the Obama administration say Turkey’s extradition requests have been based on allegations of other crimes against Gulen, not evidence of involvement in the coup attempt.
— AP
Iraqi special forces led an operation on Tuesday aimed at retaking the jihadist-held town of Qayyarah, a key staging base for operations to attack Mosul, military sources say.
Qayyarah lies on the western bank of the Tigris river, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of Mosul, the Islamic State group’s last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
“The operation started at dawn with the participation of Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) and army forces,” Brigadier General Firas Bashar tells AFP.
US-led coalition aircraft provided support, says Bashar.
“The operation is ongoing and currently achieving its goals,” CTS spokesman Sabah al-Noman says.
Members of Iraqi counter-terrorism forces take part in training under the command of international military instructors in Baghdad on March 20, 2016, as they preparare for a future operation aimed at retaking the northern city of Mosul. (AFP /SABAH ARAR)
“Qayyarah will be cleared and the operation wrapped up quickly, bolstering our plans… for the final battle to liberate Mosul,” he tells AFP.
He says Iraqi forces have been working with armed residents inside the town for this offensive, a rare occurrence.
“There has been coordination with groups of armed residents inside,” Noman says, declining to provide further details.
Iraqi forces have spent weeks positioning themselves around the town, which is expected to be used as a launchpad for a broader operation against Mosul in the coming weeks or months.
— AFP
Russian warplanes bombed Aleppo at Iran’s request to assist its military advisers on the ground in the flashpoint Syrian city, a senior Iranian official has been quoted saying.
Ali Shamkhani, the top official coordinating security and political affairs between Tehran and its allies, Moscow and Damascus, was quoted by state television saying Iran called in Russian strikes “next to the land operation” in Aleppo.
“Iran has brought the powerful Russia along… due to its need to cooperate with Syria” in the fight against jihadists, added Shamkhani.
Iran and Russia are key backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad, but Tehran has remained relatively guarded about its precise involvement in the conflict.
Russia reportedly ruffled feathers in Tehran when it announced last week that it had launched strikes on Syria from Hamedan air base in Iran, and said it had left the base on Sunday.
An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman on Monday denied any differences with Russia over the use of Hamedan, adding that Russian raids from Iranian territory had ended for now.
— with AFP
Syrian state media says a ceasefire between government and Kurdish forces in Hasakeh has gone into effect, six days after fierce clashes erupted between the two sides over control of the northern Syrian city.
It says the ceasefire went into effect at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
A pro-regime fighter flashes the sign of victory on August 21, 2016 as he drives a tank in the southern district of Ghweiran in the Syrian northeastern city of Hasakeh, where Kurdish forces were advancing (AFP/STR)
The Kurdish Hawar News Agency says government forces and pro-government militias have agreed to withdraw from Hasakeh and leave it in under the control of the local Kurdish police force, the Asayish, as part of the terms of the ceasefire.
The statement from Syrian state media does not mention any withdrawals. It says the two sides had agreed to evacuate the injured and exchange detainees.
Government and Kurdish forces have shared control of Hasakeh since the early years of the Syrian war.
— AP
President Reuven Rivlin says Israel is not interested in a wider conflict with Hamas, during a visit to the Gaza frontier region.
“Just as the other side wants to live in peace, so do we. But in the same breath, we are ready for any animosity toward us,” Rivlin said while meeting with troops near the border, according to Walla news.
The visit comes two days after Israel carried out a larger than normal bombardment of Hamas sites in Gaza following a rocket attack. Officials on both sides have since telegraphed that they do not seek to widen the fighting.
Rivlin visited the area earlier in the day but journalists were asked for security reasons to keep his visit under wraps until he left the area, as is often done with high-level visits to the restive region.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been out of the news lately, and now curious Israelis know why. According to the PM, he’s been buried in books, some of them new, some of them being reread..
Netanyahu releases a list of his summer reading on Facebook, a catholic hodgepodge of history, pop Silicon Valley futurism, politics, dystopian fiction and of course, the Bible.
“I encourage everyone to read more books,” he writes, urging others to post their lists. “The more wisdom we expose ourselves to, the more we will progress as a civilization.”
Here’s the list:
• The Hebrew Bible
• “Industries of the Future,” by Alec Ross
• “Alexander Hamilton,” by Ron Chernow
• “Exponential Organizations,” by Salim Ismail
• “Brave New World,” by Aldous Huxley
• “World Order,” by Henry Kissinger
• “The Aaronsohn Saga,” by Samuel Katz
US Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is better than her Republican rival Donald Trump on security for NATO allies, the Czech prime minister says, echoing leaders of other alliance members in eastern Europe.
“Considering the pre-election statements made by Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, from the point of view of guarantees for the allies, I see more security if Clinton is elected,” Bohuslav Sobotka tells the Czech financial daily Hospodarskie Noviny (HN).
Clinton, a former US secretary of state, offers “a greater guarantee of maintaining trans-Atlantic cooperation,” Sobotka adds.
Trump sparked ire last month among eastern NATO members who were ruled by Moscow during the Soviet era when he waffled on defending NATO partners, thus questioning a key security guarantee of the alliance.
— AFP
Israel’s long national nightmare of food safety scares is continuing with a new recall, this time of frozen salmon from the Maadaney Miki company.
The firm fears a listeria outbreak and is recalling frozen fish processed in July and August.
Consumers with salmon marked as made on 03/07/2016 with an expiration on 27/02/2017 or several sets of dates (05/07/2016, 01/03/2017; 07/07/2016, 03/03/2017; 14/07/2016, 10/03/2017; 02/08/2016, 29/03/2017; 04/08/2016, 31/03/2017) are told not to use the product and to contact the company at 1-700-50-55-40.
Food safety recalls are somewhat common in Israel, but have taken on added prominence after a scandal last month when Unilever declined to recall Telma cornflakes infected with salmonella, saying they had not gone out to consumers, and only later admitted that they had.
Police say they have arrested the CEO of a major international medical device firm on suspicion he embezzled tens of millions of shekels from the company.
A statement from the police spokesperson does not name the CEO or the firm, but describes him as a 49-year-old man from a community near Be’er Tuvia, in southern central Israel. The firm is based in Yavne, according to police.
A fallen tree in Yavne amid strong winds and rain, October 25, 2015. (Inbar Anolik)
Police accuse the man of stealing the money systematically over several years and using it to build himself some flashy digs and nice rides.
“The man used the stolen money, apparently, for himself to build a luxury home on the moshav and a pool and to buy many other things and many vehicles, including ATVs and luxury cars,” the police statement says.
Police say they arrested him Tuesday morning and raided his home. He’s slated to be brought before a judge for an arraignment on Wednesday morning.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls on the international community to renew its commitment to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, warning that terrorists are “actively seeking them.”
Speaking at a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council, Ban says much good work has been done over the years to curb the production of WMDs, including the landmark Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Security Council resolution 1540 in 2004, which legally obligates UN member states to enforce measures against the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
But he says technological advances have made it cheaper and easier for extremist groups to produce and deliver materials for making such weapons.
“Vicious non-state actors that target civilians for carnage are actively seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons,” he says.
— AP
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says in a press conference that Ankara and Jerusalem will soon exchange diplomats, days after Turkey’s parliament ratified a detente deal with Israel ending a six-year official rift.
In a press conference, Cavusoglu says the exchange will take place “in the coming days,” according to a report in Turkish news outlet Haber10.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, right, gestures as he welcomes Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto for a meeting in Ankara on August 23, 2016. (AFP/ADEM ALTAN)
The announcement comes a day after Israel and Turkey exchanged a verbal spat, with Ankara saying the rapprochement wouldn’t stop them from criticizing Israel over Gaza.
Jerusalem later shot back that it wouldn’t stop calling Turkey out for “baseless condemnations,” and warned the country to “think twice” before criticizing the military actions of others.
The FBI was investigating Tuesday whether a double stabbing in the state of Virginia over the weekend was motivated by Islamic extremism.
The attack at an apartment complex in Roanoke, Virginia occurred late Saturday when an armed assailant attacked and seriously wounded a man and a woman.
“Both were attacked with a knife and severely injured,” a statement from the Roanoake police department says in a statement.
“The male was able to fight off the attacker who fled the scene.”
A separate FBI statement says witnesses reported during the attack that the suspect, 20-year old Wasil Farooqui, yelled “Allah Akbar.”
“It is believed that this was a random attack and Mr. Farooqui had no connection to the two victims,” the police statement says.
Authorities said he currently is being held without bond at a jail in Roanoke.
— AFP
Turkey has ordered residents to evacuate a Turkish border town that lies opposite the Syrian town of Jarabulus controlled by Islamic State (IS) jihadists, television reported.
Police warned residents through loudspeakers to evacuate “for safety reasons” the town of Karkamis, which was hit by a series of mortars fired from IS-held areas.
Reports have also suggested Ankara-backed rebels are preparing a major operation to seize Jarabulus from the jihadists.
Turkey pledged Tuesday to give “all kinds of support” to push jihadists out of Jarabulus.
A Turkish army tank and an armored vehicle are stationed near the border with Syria, in Karkamis, Turkey, Tuesday, August 23, 2016. (IHA via AP)
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made the promise amid reports Ankara-backed rebels were massing on the border in anticipation of the impending operation against IS.
“We will provide all kinds of support to the Jarabulus operation,” Cavusoglu says, promising to help “cleanse” IS from neighbouring countries.
“We do not want Daesh to exist in Iraq and Syria,” he tells reporters, using an Arabic acronym for the IS group.
Turkey on Tuesday pounded IS positions in Syria with artillery strikes after a deadly attack near its border killed at least 54 people.
“We shelled ISIS positions across the border,” said a Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
— AFP
The British Department for International Development, a government agency which does aid work for the UK, says it does not fund charity World Vision and will not consider awarding it grant money, after it’s Gaza director was accused by Israel of funneling money to terror group Hamas.
In a letter to the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Secretary Priti Patel says she is “deeply concerned” by the allegations leveled against World Vision and is “taking the matter extremely seriously.”
“DFID does not provide any current funding to World Vision operations in Gaza, or in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) more widely,” she writes in the letter, a response to a query from the JLC and Board of Deputies.
“We have written to World Vision to inform them that we will not consider any future funding to their work in the OPTs until World Vision has completed its audit and we have had the opportunity to fully consider our position,” she adds.
On August 4, Israel indicted World Vision Gaza manager Muhammad el-Halabi, accusing him of being a mole for Hamas and using his position and funds to aid the terror group.
World Vision, a US-based Christian charity which operates around the world, said it would launch an audit, but contested some of the claims by Israel.
In the immediate aftermath, Australia, which has donated several millions of dollars to World Vision in Gaza over the last three years, said it would freeze funding.
The British Conservative Friends of Israel praises Patel for the statement.
“The hard working taxpayers of this country will be relieved to learn that every effort is being made to ensure that their hard earned money will not end up in the pockets of wrong people but will be helping those that are most in need,” CFI Honorary President Stuart Polak
The Department for International Development was slated to spend 72 million pounds ($95 million) in Gaza in 2015/2016, down from 91 million pounds ($120 million) in 2011/2012, according to publicly available figures.
Channel 2 news reports that Benjamin Netanyahu called Ehud Barak the least successful Israeli prime minister ever, during an interview between the prime minister and ultra-Orthodox journalists.
“Barak is the most failing prime minister in Israel’s history,” Netanyahu is quoted saying. “He’s the one who promised American aid and failed. Where’s the billions he promised for Israeli security? He can wag his tail and build his comeback.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Defense Minister Ehud Barak at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on November 14, 2012. (photo credit: Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry/Flash90)
However, an editor for the Behadrei Haredim news site writes on Twitter that he was at the meeting and “the quote is not accurate.”
The reported comments came after Barak has in recent months gone on the offensive against Netanyahu, saying he has endangered the country, leading to speculation that he is preparing for a political comeback.
Barak served as prime minister from 1999 to 2001, after winning the seat from Netanyahu. He later served as defense minister under Netanyahu, after breaking off from the Labor party, which he had led.
Czech police on Tuesday say they launched an investigation into a stunt over the weekend in which anti-Islamic activists caused panic in downtown Prague by simulating a terror attack by the Islamic State jihadist group.
City police spokesman Tomas Hulan tells AFP that they are investigating “an alleged disruption of public order,” adding that “legal proceedings for spreading alarming false information cannot be ruled out either.”
#Konvička žádného uprchlíka na svou demonstraci nenašel, tak mu nezbylo než se za něj sám vydávat.
Foto: P. Malina pic.twitter.com/BoS5dT8BBZ
— Tilwaen (@Tilwaen) August 21, 2016
Dressed as jihadists, the activists burst into a crowd gathered in the tourist-friendly Old Town Square on Sunday, shouting “Allahu Akbar” and firing imitation firearms.
Many of the tourists, who had no way of knowing the scene was staged, fled in panic and hid in restaurants around the square, according to photos shared on social media.
— AFP
A Palestinian not seen publicly since his capture by the CIA in 2002 has appeared at a US government hearing called to determine whether he should remain in detention at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Abu Zubaydah, who sat expressionless during the brief hearing, was the first high-profile al-Qaeda terror suspect captured after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the first to vanish into the CIA’s secret “black site” prison network.
The review panel issued no immediate ruling on his status. He has been held at Guantanamo Bay since September 2006.
The US believed that Zubaydah, 45, was one of the most senior figures in al-Qaeda when he was captured in Pakistan. It has since dropped that claim. Zubaydah’s lawyers deny he was a member of al-Qaeda.
Zubaydah was born in Saudi Arabia to a Palestinian father but does not have Saudi citizenship.
A statement read at Tuesday’s hearing by a U.S. military officer acting as Zubaydah’s personal representative said he wants to reunite with his family and “begin the process of recovering from injuries he sustained during his capture.”
This photo provided by US Central Command, shows Abu Zubaydah, date and location unknown. (AP/US Central Command)
In a statement prepared for the review and provided to The Associated Press on Tuesday, a lawyer for Zubaydah asserts that he poses no danger to the US.
“Abu Zubaydah is not now and never has been an enemy of the United States and has been involved in no terroristic acts,” the lawyer, Mark P. Denbeaux, says in the statement.
At the hearing, the government stated that he played a “key role in al-Qaeda’s communications with supporters and operatives abroad” and that he was “generally aware” of the 9/11 attacks before they happened. It does not say he was an al-Qaeda member.
The government statement said he “probably retains an extremist mindset,” adding that he has shown “a high level of cooperation with the staff at Guantanamo Bay.” It said he has condemned the Islamic State group for its “atrocities and the killing of innocent people.”
— AP
A highly anticipated soccer match between Hapoel Beersheba and Celtic FC is set to kick off in the southern Israeli city, with police on high alert for any disturbances after Palestinian flags were flown during the first leg of the match in Scotland.
Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld earlier said hundreds of police would be deployed in and around the stadium to “ensure that it is a sport event and not a political event,” and that flags will be removed if necessary.
At least some Scottish flags, some with slogans, are seen aloft in the packed stadium.
Political banners and protests are banned at matches organized by the Union of European Football Associations.
The winner of the contest will advance to the 32-team European Champions League.
— with AP
Turkish state media says pro-Ankara Syria rebels have taken a Syrian village from the Islamic State group, located along the border with Turkey.
Quoting military sources, the Andalou agency said earlier the rebels are being supported by Turkish artillery fire and from the air.
— AFP
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