Adiv Sterman is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
The Times of Israel liveblogged Monday’s events as they unfolded.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrives Monday in Italy, beginning his first European tour since a nuclear deal saw sanctions lifted against the Islamic Republic.
The visit, whose chief aim is to boost economic ties and which will see Rouhani visit France later this week, had been planned for last November but was cancelled after the deadly jihadist attacks in Paris.
The three-day trip comes a week after Tehran’s deal with world powers came into force, allowing the United States and the European Union to lift economic sanctions in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear activities.
Tehran said Sunday it will buy 114 Airbus planes to revitalize flag carrier Iran Air’s aging fleet — the first major commercial deal since sanctions were lifted — and the deal is expected to be signed during the Paris leg of the visit.
The Iranian leader has hailed the agreement as a “new chapter” for Iran as its economy returns to global markets.
— AFP
Israeli authorities clear for publication that a pair of 18-year-old Palestinian twins were arrested last month for planning terrorist attacks.
The Shin Bet says that explosives and pipe bombs were found in the home of the two in the Palestinian West Bank city of Tulkarm.
Russia’s Defense Ministry says it has no plans to create another air base in Syria.
The ministry’s statement follows media reports claiming that Russia could be preparing to set up another base in Qamishli in northeastern Syria near the border with Turkey.
The ministry’s spokesman, Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov, says the military has no intention to set up any additional air bases or advance airfields in Syria.
Two Russian Sukhoi Su-24 bombers at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, in the northwest of Syria, on December 16, 2015. (AFP/Paul Gypteau)
Russian warplanes have flown nearly 6,000 combat missions since Moscow launched its air campaign in Syria on Sept. 30. The Russian warplanes are based at Hmeimim air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia.
The Russian air blitz has helped Syrian President Bashar Assad’s army to launch offensives and seize some key areas from the opposition in recent weeks.
— AP
Mohammed al-Qiq’s health is “very, very bad,” lawyer Jawad Boulus tells AFP after a visit on Sunday. “He faces the possibility of death at any moment.” Qiq, a 33-year-old father of two and a correspondent for Saudi Arabia’s Almajd TV network, was arrested on November 21 at his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah and is being held under Israel’s controversial administrative detention law.
He has been refusing food since November 25 in protest at “torture and ill treatment that he was subjected to during interrogation”, according to Addameer, a Palestinian human rights organization.
At 61 days since his strike began, Qiq’s organs are at risk of failure.
The Shin Bet alleges Qiq is an active member of the Islamist terrorist group Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip.
Administrative detention laws allow Israel to jail suspects without trial for six-month renewable periods, a policy which has been condemned by human rights advocates.
Qiq was transferred to hospital in the Israeli city of Afula about a month ago, a prisons authority spokeswoman said.
His family have previously said they expect Israel to feed him intravenously if he loses consciousness, though Israeli authorities have denied they will force-feed him.
A controversial Israeli law passed in July allows the force-feeding of prisoners in certain circumstances, though it has not yet been invoked.
Qiq was jailed for a month in 2003 and then for 13 months in 2004.
— AFP
Egypt on Monday marks the fifth anniversary of the popular uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak but failed to bring about the goals of democracy and freedom the young activists who spearheaded the “revolution” had espoused.
Amid concerns over new outbreaks of violence, the run-up to the anniversary saw stepped-up security in the capital, Cairo, as well as a new wave of arrests and security checks in the city’s downtown area, where cafes and art galleries are popular with young, pro-democracy activists.
Egyptian police stand guard a day ahead of the fifth anniversary of the January 25, 2011, uprising in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, on January 24, 2016. (AP/Roger Anis)
Thousands of police are deployed outside police stations, security offices and vital installations, while riot police backed by armored vehicles stand ready around Cairo’s Tahrir Square — the focal point of the 2011 uprising — and outside the nearby, Nile-side headquarters of state television. Streets leading to key government buildings are sealed off.
— AFP
A Palestinian arrested as part of an investigation into far-left activists accused of “turning in” Arabs who sell West Bank land to Jews will be released in the coming hours.
Undated photo of Palestinian activist Nasser Nawaj’ah (Leif Magne Helgesen, File)
The Jerusalem District Court granted an unconditional release Thursday to Nasser Nawaj’ah, a B’Tselem field worker, but police had previously requested to delay the release in order to appeal the decision.
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman says his party will vote in favor of any no-confidence motion aimed at toppling the current government.
“Once there was a concerned citizen here, but today all citizens should be concerned,” he says at a party meeting.
Leader of the Yisrael Beytenu party Member of Knesset Avigdor Liberman leads a party meeting in the Knesset, October 19, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
“This government has no policy: no domestic policy, no foreign policy, no security policy. Everything is just made up as they go along and there is no choice but to head to early elections. We will support any bill to dissolve the Knesset as this government is leading the people of Israel into the abyss.”
Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics shows that the number of fatal road accidents in 2015 increased by 9 percent compared to the previous year. The bureau also found that there was an increase of about 11 percent in the number of fatalities in car accidents.
The scene of a car accident in the Jezreel Valley, in which two teenage sisters were killed, September 1, 2015. (United Hatzalah of Israel)
Overall last year, there were 12,056 road accidents in which approximately 22,000 people were injured.
The European Union launches a new law enforcement center to coordinate the fight against violent extremism, saying Europe faces the most significant terrorist threat in over 10 years.
“There is every reason to expect that IS [the Islamic State organization], IS-inspired terrorists or another religiously inspired terrorist group will undertake a terrorist attack somewhere in Europe again, but particularly in France, intended to cause mass casualties among the civilian population,” Europol, the EU-wide agency for law enforcement cooperation, says in a report. “This is in addition to the threat of lone-actor attacks, which has not diminished.”
The report coincides with the official opening of the European Counter Terrorism Center. Europol director Rob Wainwright says his organization’s new unit in The Hague, Netherlands, will be staffed by 40-50 experts in counterterrorism and deal in intelligence-sharing, tracking foreign fighters and sources of illegal financing and firearms, and assisting EU countries in counterterrorism investigations.
Illustrative photo of Islamic State militants, with an IS fighter waving the group flag in Fallujah, Iraq, west of Baghdad, June 28, 2015. (Militant website of IS, via AP)
Wainwright says over 5,000 EU nationals have been radicalized by fighting with Muslim extremists in Iraq and Syria, and that many have returned home.
“The current threat demands a strong and ambitious response from the EU,” says Europol’s chief.
— AP
At least 29 people are killed in a series of suicide attacks in the far north of Cameroon, a region often targeted by Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamist group, according to a police toll.
“An initial count shows 29 dead and around 30 injured,” a police source says, speaking on condition of anonymity, without specifying whether the fatalities included the bombers and whether there were three or four blasts.
Police are preparing to close the main roads leading into the capital, including Highway 1 and Route 443, ahead of the storm expected in Jerusalem later today.
At the same time, the Israel Electric Corporation announced a state of emergency in Jerusalem as snow begins to fall in the city.
The Czech prime minister says his government has approved a plan to donate further weapons and ammunition to Iraq and also ammunition to Jordan to help them fight the Islamic State.
Bohuslav Sobotka says 6,500 assault rifles and 7 million pieces of ammunition will be transported to Iraq by the US for the Iraqi and Kurdish armed forces.
Sobotka also says he hopes that after last week’s visit of Prime Minister David Cameron to Prague Britain will drop its objections to a planned sale of Czech-made L-159 light combat planes to Iraq.
He says the country will also provide Jordan with about 7 million pieces of ammunition for assault rifles and machine guns.
The Czechs sent hundreds of tons of ammunition and hand grenades to Iraq before.
— AP
Peace talks between the warring parties in Syria, which were scheduled to open Monday, will begin in Geneva on January 29 and will last for six months, the UN’s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura says.
De Mistura tells reporters that the start date was pushed back because of a “stalemate” over the make up of the delegations, but that the invitations to the delegates were expected to be sent out on Tuesday.
“We are going to aim at proximity talks starting on the 29th and ongoing for six months” De Mistura says.
— AFP
A stabbing attack is reported to have taken place in the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon, near Modiin.
Police forces are on their way to the scene.
Two Israeli women have been wounded in a stabbing attack at the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon. One of the two is in serious condition.
Channel 2 initially reports that the assailants fled the scene of the attack, and that security forces are searching for them.
It subsequently says the two terrorists have been killed.
Channel 2 reports that it is still unclear whether the stabbing in the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon was carried out due to nationalist or criminal motives.
Two woman are reported to have been injured in the suspected attack.
Medical teams are treating the two injured individuals, a 40-year-old and a 58-year-old.
A police spokesperson says that a security guard shot and killed two suspected terrorists who stabbed two Israeli women in the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon.
Police forces find a suspicious object near the grocery store in the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon where a stabbing attack took place earlier today, injuring two women.
A police sapper team is on its way to the scene in order to examine the object.
Following a stabbing attack in the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon, security forces order civilians in the area to remain indoors.
The two terrorists who stabbed and critically injured two Israeli woman at the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon are reported to be residents of the nearby Palestinian village of Beit Ur al-Tahta.
The two terrorists were shot and killed by a security guard when they attempted to flee the scene of the attack.
Police officers at the scene of a terror attack in which two people were wounded by two Palestinian stabbers, in the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon on Monday, January 25 2016 .(Israel Police)
President Reuven Rivlin addresses the terrorist attack in the settlement of Beit Horon, in which two women were critically injured.
“My thoughts and prayers at this time are with the two women wounded in the severe attack and who are fighting for their lives,” he says.
“These are difficult times of continuous confrontation, and we will persevere. We will combat terrorism and the incitement that allows it. We will settle the score with the vile murderers and we will win, because we cherish life.”
Ibrahim Al’an, 23, from the West Bank Palestinian village of Beit Ur al-Tahta, and Hassin Abu Gush, 17, from the Qalandiya refugee camp near Jerusalem, are named by police as the two terrorists who stabbed and wounded two Israeli women in the settlement of Beit Horon. One of the two women is in critical condition; the second is seriously hurt.
The two terrorists were shot and killed following the attack.
The IDF surrounds the Palestinian town of Beit Ur al-Tahta following a stabbing attack in the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon.
In accordance with the policies set out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, the Civil Administration will withhold work permits for members of the terrorists’ family.
The prime minister also asked to prepare a detailed and comprehensive plan in order to increase protection for West Bank settlements.
An initial investigation of a stabbing attack in the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon shows that the two terrorists jumped over a fence near a grocery store in the area and began stabbing two women.
Mordechai Shalem (Channel 2 screenshot)
The two terrorists then tried to enter the store, where a local man, Mordechai Shalem, managed to fend them off with a supermarket cart and force the two to flee the scene.
He tells Channel 2 he doesn’t know where he got the courage to confront them, but that there were children and women in the store, and he knew he had to stop them.
Shop worker Mordechai Shalem fighting off two stabbers with a shopping cart during an attack in Beit Horon on January 25, 2016. (Screen capture)
The terrorists then ran around inside the settlement but were shot and killed by a guard at the site.
Police investigators also found three improvised pipe bombs that had been placed near the grocery store. Police sappers dismantled the explosive devices.
French officials say they are prepared to organize a counterterrorism summit in the country and invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to participate in the event, Channel 2 reports.
The officials also say that the two leaders will be urged to meet on the sidelines of the summit, in the hopes of relaunching peace talks, the report adds.
The IDF has completely closed off the West Bank Palestinian village of Beit Ur al-Tahta, barring access with the exception of “humanitarian cases,” an IDF spokesperson says, following a stabbing attack in the settlement of Beit Horon.
Ibrahim Al’an, 23, from Beit Ur al-Tahta, and Hassin Abu Gush, 17, from the Qalandiya refugee camp near Jerusalem, were named by police as the two terrorists who stabbed and wounded two Israeli women in the attack. One of the two women was hospitalized in critical condition; the second was seriously hurt.
The two terrorists were shot and killed following the attack.
The 23-year-old Israeli woman who was critically injured in the Beit Horon stabbing is now in “serious” rather than “critical” condition, Channel 2 reports.
The second victim, a woman in her 50s, is in moderate condition.
Former Jewish Home MK Yinon Magal calls on women who claimed he had sexually harassed them to contact the police and file a complaint, after police announced earlier that they had not found enough evidence to recommend an indictment against him.
“I’m sure there was no criminal aspect to my actions,” Magal says during a press conference outside his home. Magal resigned from the Knesset in November amid the claims of sexual harassment and indecent acts against women.
“I was very surprised by the publications against me. None of the women who turned to the media came to me with their claims. I firmly believe we should eradicate sexual harassment, but not accuse a person who is innocent. I stopped living. I was humiliated in front of everyone and in front of my family.”
“Therefore, I appeal to all those who wrote against me online, please turn to the police, because it can not be discussed only on the Internet. I am not a criminal.”
Former Jewish Home MK Yinon Magal speaks at the Knesset on November 24, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Cops probed Magal, who was a lawmaker for the Jewish Home party, on suspicion that, before he entered politics, he had harassed female subordinates. During the investigation, police gathered testimony from women who had worked for Magal over the years, including when he was editor of the Walla news website.
As a serving Knesset member, Magal enjoyed immunity from investigations, hearings and legal proceedings that were unrelated to his work as a member of Knesset. He lost that immunity when he resigned.
The journalist-turned-lawmaker, who is married, was accused by four women of sexual harassment, but none filed a formal complaint. Magal has apologized for his behavior, which he called “hurtful” but insisted wasn’t criminal.
Snow has begun falling in some parts of the capital. The snow is piling up.
Route 443 is closed to traffic in both directions from Modi’in to Jerusalem as snow begins to fall in the area.
A Palestinian arrested as part of an investigation into far-left activists accused of “turning in” Arabs who sell West Bank land to Jews is released.
The Jerusalem District Court had granted an unconditional release last Thursday to Nasser Nawaj’ah, a B’Tselem field worker, but police had previously requested to delay the release in order to appeal the decision.
France and Britain dismiss a video showing jihadists preparing for the Paris attacks in Islamic State territory, as the European police agency warned of more “large-scale terrorist attacks.”
Analysts say the 17-minute propaganda video showed a high level of coordination and planning ahead of the November 13 attacks in which Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers attacked Paris nightspots, killing 130 people.
Entitled “Kill wherever you find them”, the video features four Belgians, three French citizens and two Iraqis who took part in the assault. They all died on the night, or in a police raid days later.
The video, produced by IS’s Al-Hayat Media Centre, shows television news footage from the night of the attacks, as well as clips of the assailants delivering their final messages in French and Arabic.
They call on Muslims living in Europe to carry out lone-wolf attacks and, in particular, threaten Britain.
Images of French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron are also used, both with targets superimposed on them.
Referring to the 70-nation coalition fighting IS, purported attack ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud warns that “the more you wage war against the Islamic State, the more it will expand… for we are terrorists.”
But Hollande, who is on a visit to India, dismisses the threats.
“Nothing will deter us, no threat will make France waver in the fight against terrorism,” he tells reporters.
And Cameron’s office says the video showed “an appalling terrorist group that’s clearly in decline and in retreat.”
— AFP
Police now say Route 443 is open in both directions, after briefly shutting it to traffic because of snowy conditions.
Other roads, however, remain closed, including Routes 35 and 60 in the Hebron area, and Route 90 near the Dead Sea.
Tractors readying to remove snow as the white stuff begins to fall in Jerusalem on January 25, 2016. (Joshua Davidovich/Times of Israel)
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