Adiv Sterman is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they unfolded.
Swiss police raise the security alert level in Geneva after reportedly receiving intelligence that at least four suspected extremists are in the area.
“The Geneva police, on the basis of this information, have increased their level of vigilance and reinforced the number of police agents on the ground,” the Geneva department of security says in a statement to Reuters.
A 64-year-old Palestinian member of the Murabitat female activist group was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of receiving funds from the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in order to cause provocations with the intention of preventing Jewish worshipers from entering the Temple Mount, the Walla news site reports.
The Murabitat consider themselves female “guardians” of the Temple Mount. They routinely heckle and intimidate Jewish visitors to the site.
Last month, the cabinet charged the Northern Branch with having links to terrorist groups and inciting the recent wave of deadly violence. It said in a statement that membership or activity within the framework of the group would from now on constitute a “criminal offense punishable by a prison sentence.”
Ouda Tarabin, an Israeli citizen jailed for 15 years in Egypt on charges of spying who was freed from prison today, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli leader’s office in Jerusalem.
Tarabin, a Bedouin from Rahat, who has denied all the allegations against him, was returned to Israel after completing his sentence.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he is “postponing” his trip to Israel and his scheduled meeting with Netanyahu.
The meeting was scheduled two weeks ago, prior to Trump’s widely criticized proposal of a blanket ban on Muslims entering the United States.
I have decided to postpone my trip to Israel and to schedule my meeting with @Netanyahu at a later date after I become President of the U.S.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2015
Dozens of Israeli lawmakers wrote an urgent letter to Netanyahu asking him to cancel the meeting.
Talks in Saudi Arabia between various Syrian opposition factions have been “very constructive,” but it’s too soon to lock in a new international diplomatic meeting to begin a UN-led political process aimed at ending Syria’s civil war, US Secretary of State John Kerry Says.
Speaking at a climate conference outside Paris, Kerry says he had talked to Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir about the opposition gathering in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, with the aim of organizing the next Syria meeting, tentatively set for December 18 at the United Nations.
“The meeting in Saudi Arabia appears to be very constructive at this point and we need to wait for the results of that conference,” Kerry says. “I think everybody is moving in the direction that they want to rapidly get to a political process and get it under way under UN auspices. So we made progress but we have some tough issues to get over.”
— AP
Intelligence sources tell The Times of Israel that an Arab Israeli citizen who served in the IDF is suspected of recently joined the ranks of the Islamic State group in Syria.
The 25-year-old, a resident of a village in the north, apparently made his way from Israel to Turkey and from there to Syria.
Security forces services recently busted a group of six Israeli Arab men who planned to travel to Syria with the intention of fighting alongside the radical Islamic State group. A seventh member of the group succeeded in flying across the Israel-Syrian border on the Golan Heights on a hang glider.
— Avi Issacharoff
A Molotov cocktail is hurled at an Israeli vehicle on the road leading from Jerusalem to Ma’aleh Adumim, near Isawiya.
No injuries or damage are reported.
Netanyahu says Israel has no connection to Donald Trump’s decision to cancel a scheduled trip to the country.
Earlier today, the Republican presidential candidate announced he was “postponing” his Israel trip, saying he would meet Netanyahu after he is “elected US president.”
Former Palestinian Authority official Mohammed Dahlan is considering establishing a new political party to rival PA President Abbas’s Fatah, the Walla news site reports.
A Palestinian official tells Qatari news site Al-Khalij Online that Dahlan has already begun taking steps to establish the party, and has held talks with officials in the PA and the Fatah movement who are at odds with Abbas’s policies.
Switzerland’s federal police says that it has no information linking the suspected extremists reportedly roaming Geneva to the deadly attacks that took place in Paris on November 13.
Earlier, Swiss police raised the security alert level in Geneva after reportedly receiving intelligence that at least four suspected extremists are in the area.
“The Geneva police, on the basis of this information, have increased their level of vigilance and reinforced the number of police agents on the ground,” the Geneva department of security says in a statement to Reuters.
Donald Trump explains in a FOX News interview that he decided to cancel his visit to Israel because he did not want to pressure Netanyahu.
Earlier today, the Republican presidential candidate announced he was “postponing” his Israel trip, saying he would meet Netanyahu after he is “elected US president.”
Netanyahu said Israel had no connection to Trump’s decision to cancel the scheduled trip to the country.
A suspected vehicular terrorist attack takes place near the West Bank settlement of Beit Aryeh, injuring four people, police say.
A man in his 20s suffers serious wounds in the suspected attack, while two more are lightly to moderately wounded.
Security forces are searching for car involved in a suspected vehicular attack near the West Bank settlement of Beit Aryeh.
Roadblocks are placed on several roads in the area.
Four people are reported injured in the suspected attack.
Stones are thrown at the Jerusalem light rail line near the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat.
No injuries or damage are reported.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV station vows to continue broadcasting after it was abruptly dropped by one of the Middle East’s main satellite operators.
The move by Saudi Arabia-hosted ArabSat against Al-Manar TV earlier this month reflects the rising tension between Shiite Muslim Hezbollah and its main backer Iran with Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia. The two back opposing sides in the wars in Yemen and Syria.
Al-Manar’s General Manager Ibrahim Farhat tells scores of politicians, journalists and other figures attending a gathering in support of the station that Al-Manar “will not be silenced by any arbitrary or unjust decision no matter who issues it.”
The move against Al-Manar comes a month after ArabSat stopped broadcasting the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV that is seen by many as pro-Iranian.
— AP
Five East Jerusalem residents aged 13-14 are detained for allegedly throwing stones at an Israeli bus near the Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem.
None were injured in the incident.
One of Syria’s main rebel groups, Ahrar al-Sham, pulls out of opposition talks aimed at forging a united front ahead of potential discussions with President Bashar Assad’s regime.
It says it made the decision because of “the fundamental role… given to personalities linked to the regime” at the conference in Riyadh.
— AFP
The four people who were injured in a suspected vehicular terrorist attack near the West Bank settlement of Beit Aryeh are soldiers, it is cleared for publication.
A 19-year-old soldier suffered serious wounds in the suspected attack, while three more were lightly to moderately wounded. All four are receiving medical treatment at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva.
The Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office files charges in a juvenile court in the city against a 15-year-old boy from Bnei Brak accused of a racially motivated threats, possession of a knife, and a breach of legal order.
According to the indictment, in early November the boy arrived with two friends, aged 13 and 14, at a construction site in Bnei Brak and urged the contractor not to employ Arabs. The boy also allegedly cursed at three Arab workers who were at the site and threatened them with an iron rod.
IDF and police locate a vehicle which was suspected to have been involved in car-ramming attack that injured 4 soldiers in the northern West Bank.
A weapon belonging to one of the injured soldiers is located inside the vehicle, as is a hand grenade.
The driver, however, is not found.
The scene of a car-ramming attack near the Beit Aryeh settlement in the West Bank on December 10, 2015 (Magen David Adom)
Security forces continue to search the area.
An IDF soldier charged with providing Syrian intelligence with secret details regarding IDF positions in the country’s north is sentenced by a military court to 34 months in prison.
Corporal Halal Halabi, a resident of the Druze town of Daliyat al-Carmel, was detained in February. He was charged with passing information to a Golan Heights man, Sidqi al-Maqt, who was indicted on charges spying for the Syrian government.
Sidqi al-Maqt, 48, arrested for spying for Syria, raises his arms as he speaks to reporters, March 27, 2015 (screen capture: Channel 2)
Maqt, 48, of the Druze town of Majdal Shams, was accused of handing over photographs and written reports of IDF positions to Syrian intelligence officials, including a government official named Midhat Saleh, the Ynet news site reported.
A massive explosion is heard throughout communities in the western Negev near the Gaza Strip security fence.
The IDF explains the source of the explosion was a missile fired by the Iron Dome defense system by mistake.
An Iron Dome battery seen near the Southern Israeli town of Netivot. December 27, 2014. (Talucho/Flash90)
MK Hanin Zoabi reaches a plea deal with the prosecution according to which the Israeli politician will not be charged with incitement, provided that Zoabi admits to insulting a public servant, sends a letter of apology, and pays a fine of NIS 3,000.
Arab-Israeli parliament member Hanin Zoabi accompanied by Ayman Odeh (L) and MK Jamal Zahalka seen in the Supreme Court in Jerusalem where she appealed a decision by the Central Election Committee to disqualify her from running in the upcoming Israeli elections, February 17, 2015 (photo credit: David Vaaknin/Flash90)
In July 2014, Zoabi verbally assaulted several Arab policemen in Nazareth.
Finnish police says they have arrested two Iraqi brothers believed to have been members of the Islamic State group in Iraq and suspected of fatally shooting “11 unarmed and defenseless prisoners” in June 2014.
The National Bureau of Investigation says that the men arrived in Finland in September and were arrested Tuesday following an investigation with Finnish security police.
The agency says in a statement that IS posted a video online of the shooting of the prisoners in the city of Tikrit.
Police say both brothers were 23 but did not say whether they were twins, or whether the men were asylum-seekers. Some 17,000 Iraqis have sought asylum in Finland so far this year.
— AP
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg extends his support to the Muslim community in the United States and around the world, invoking his Jewish heritage.
The support in a Facebook post comes in the wake of Republican presidential contender Donald Trump’s call for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” Zuckerberg does not specifically mention Trump.
The post received nearly 1.2 million likes in its first 17 hours online.
“After the Paris attacks and hate this week, I can only imagine the fear Muslims feel that they will be persecuted for the actions of others,” Zuckerberg writes.
“As a Jew, my parents taught me that we must stand up against attacks on all communities. Even if an attack isn’t against you today, in time attacks on freedom for anyone will hurt everyone.”
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing the company’s new testing of a “dislike’ button, September 15, 2015. (screen capture/Facebook/Vimeo)
Zuckerberg also says that Muslims are always welcome on Facebook, and that “we will fight to protect your rights and create a peaceful and safe environment for you.”
Trump made his call on banning Muslims in the aftermath of the San Bernardino massacre by a radicalized Islamist couple that killed 14.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praises Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for emphasizing the difference between Islam and terror, after the billionaire social network tycoon posted a message defending Muslims against discrimination.
Erdogan, who once threatened to ban Facebook in his country, uses his official page on the website to respond to Zuckerberg both in Turkish and in English.
“I highly value Mark Zuckerberg’s message for pointing out the profound difference between Islam and terrorism since these two concepts are often mentioned in the same breath these days,” he writes.
“As I always express on different platforms, Islam is a religion of peace. Murderous networks that abuse Islam for their self-serving goals are massacring innocent people every day, particularly Muslims.”
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said that the Muslim community should not have to fear being “persecuted for the actions of others” following attacks in Paris and elsewhere carried out by Islamic extremists.
— AFP
Dozens of right-wing activists shout at police officers and cause a disturbance near the Old City of Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate, police say.
The activists are taking part in an unauthorized public march toward the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
An adult and a minor are arrested by police.
Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz is defending Middle East dictators as useful allies against Islamic extremists. He’s also decrying political correctness and stricter gun laws as an impediment to national security.
The first-term Texas senator described an “America under attack” during national security speech to a conservative think tank.
He reinforces his view that global security depends upon an aggressive and engaged America — with distinct limits. Cruz opposes sending additional US ground troops to confront the Islamic State group. He prefers to intensify the US-led air campaign and arm regional allies.
He lashes out at President Obama for favoring gun control measures to help address the explosion of mass shootings in America. He also attacked the president’s reluctance to use the term, “radical Islamic terrorism.”
— AP
The Islamic State group’s finance chief is confirmed killed in a coalition air strike last month, US officials say.
Abu Saleh was killed in late November, US military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren says in a videoconference from Baghdad, calling him “one of the most senior and experienced members” of the group’s financial network.
The US government’s envoy for the anti-IS fight, Brett McGurk, says on Twitter that Abu Saleh was killed along with two associates “as part of coalition campaign to destroy ISIL’s financial infrastructure,” describing him as the group’s “finance minister.”
Nine Palestinians are reported to have been shot by IDF soldiers during clashes at the Palestine Technical University in Tulkarem, the Palestinain Ma’an News Agency reports.
The Palestinian Red Crescent tells Ma’an that the protesters suffer wounds to their lower extremities. They are taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Israel will release another four criminal prisoners held in Israel next week, following the release of Ouda Tarabin.
One of the prisoners in question finished serving his sentence, and Israel has begun the process of pardoning the three other prisoners. The proceedings should be completed at the beginning of next week, and the prisoners will later be transferred to Egyptian authorities.
The White House pours cold water on leader Kim Jong-Un’s suggestion that North Korea has developed a hydrogen bomb.
Spokesman Josh Earnest says that the White House had concerns about the “destabilizing actions” of the regime, but said US information “calls into serious question” claims it has a thermonuclear device.
— AFP
Palestinians hurl four Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles on the road near the West Bank settlement of Adora, west of Hebron.
No injuries are reported.
The US military says airstrikes over the past week have killed about 350 Islamic State fighters in the Iraqi city of Ramadi — and that may have reduced by half the number of fighters defending the city.
IS took Ramadi seven months ago.
Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the US military in Baghdad, tells reporters at the Pentagon that despite these losses, IS defenders still hold much of central Ramadi.
Warren says Iraqi government forces are advancing slowly because they face booby traps and mines.
Separately, Defense Secretary Ash Carter says Iraqi progress in retaking Ramadi has been “disappointingly slow.” He’s declining to predict how long the fight will last, but says he has no doubt Ramadi will fall.
— AP
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