Times of Israel live (closed), January 20, 2015
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Israel shifted back to talk of the elections Tuesday, after Monday’s speculation on when and how Hezbollah will retaliate for an attack that killed six of its men in the Syrian Golan the previous day.
A new poll finds Likud and Jewish Home winning 40 seats if they decide to run on a joint ticket. Yesh Atid leader Lapid makes peace with Shas’s Aryeh Deri and says he may be open to serving in a government with ultra-Orthodox parties. The new ultra-Orthodox women’s party already came under fire from a prominent rabbi in the Haredi community.
Later during the day both Israel and the Palestinians destroyed thousands of chickens after confirming an outbreak of bird flu.
In the evening the military increased its presence along the northern border, partially closed a road running along the fence and instructed farmers to avoid working the land if their plots are located near the border with Lebanon.
The Times of Israel liveblogged events as they happened.
Lapid says he’d join coalition with Haredim
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid confirms that he has made peace with Shas leader Aryeh Deri and would not rule out sitting in a coalition with ultra-Orthodox parties.
Speaking in the Ynet video studio, Lapid answered a question regarding comments by Deri and said: “We have made peace on a personal level; our disagreement was initially personal. I am not enthusiastic about the notion that convicted felons will be part of the Israeli government but I do not reject anyone.”
Deri served two years for graft.
Earlier this morning, Deri told Ynet, “We [I and Lapid] made peace, there are no personal problems, he came to me at the Knesset several months ago, he asked… I don’t think we have a personal problem, our problem is about values and vision.”
Unknown assailants torch Hamas official’s car
Unidentified assailants blew up the car of a Hamas security official in Gaza during the night, the interior ministry says, in a sign of increasing instability in the Palestinian territory.
“A home-made bomb damaged a car belonging to a military police officer which was parked in front of his house in Gaza City, without causing casualties,” Gaza interior ministry spokesman Iyad al-Buzum says in a statement.
Witnesses said the car belonged to Helmi Khalaf, administrative and financial manager of the Hamas-run military police.
It was unclear who carried out the alleged attack.
— AFP
Joint Likud-Jewish Home list polls at 40 seats
A new Knesset Channel poll says that should Likud and Jewish Home run on a joint ticket they can win a whopping 40 Knesset seats, leaving the Zionist Camp far behind with its polled 24 seats.
The poll finds that Likud alone would win 23 and Jewish Home 16, so a joint ticket would give the two parties together an extra seat.
The recent change to the electoral threshold may yet make the 2015 elections, until now quite dull and phlegmatic, into a historic affair. According to current polls, both Yisrael Beytenu and Meretz may vanish from the political map (both parties poll at 5-6 seats; the current threshold is four).
Arab parties, if they run on one ticket, are predicted to win 11 seats in the Knesset Channel’s poll, the same as Yesh Atid.
‘Zionists’ warned of ‘lethal lightning’
General Muhammad Ali Jafari, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, says Israel should anticipate “lethal lightning strikes” following the death of a senior IRGC general and other Iranian soldiers.
The assassinations, Jafari says, are “the opening point of the collapse of the Zionist regime.”
Jihad suspect accepts extradition from Greece to Belgium
A 33-year-old Algerian man with suspected links to the jihadist cell dismantled by Belgian security forces last week agrees to be extradited from Greece, a justice source says.
The suspect “wants to prove his innocence” and a Greek prosecutor has also agreed to meet Belgium’s request for the Algerian’s extradition, the source says.
— AFP
MK tells residents of south, ‘You’re screwed’
Jewish Home MK Moti Yogev tells residents of western Negev communities: “You supported the Disengagement – now you’re screwed,” Haaretz reports.
Yogev makes the comments at a discussion of the subcommittee on removing IDF troops from communities. The subcommittee works under the authority of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
He is currently Jewish Home’s No. 11 on its new list for the Knesset.
Japan’s PM vows to stand firm against terror
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking in Ramallah, vows to stand firm after the Islamic State group threatened to kill two Japanese nationals, saying he would not freeze a $200 million aid package for refugees from the conflict in Iraq and Syria.
His remarks come several hours after the jihadist group released a video threatening to kill two Japanese hostages if Tokyo did not pay a $200 million ransom within 72 hours.
An IS member says in the video that the ransom demand is to compensate for non-military aid that Abe pledged on Saturday to countries affected by the terror group’s bloody expansion in Iraq and Syria.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in Ramallah on January 20, 2015. (photo credit: Nasser Nassr/AFP)
— AFP
100k turkeys killed after bird flu is found
A case of bird flu is discovered at a turkey farm in Aviel, near Pardess Hana. Agriculture Ministry officials arrive on the scene and decide to destroy 100,000 birds, Ynet reports.
Council head slams Yogev’s ‘screwed’ comment
Eshkol Council head Haim Jelin slams Jewish Home’s Moti Yogev following Yogev’s comments to residents of Gaza periphery communities. Yogev earlier told representatives of the communities: “You supported the Disengagement – now you’re screwed.”
Jelin says: “Jewish Home – the party of ‘brothers’ – again shows its true face. From medieval comments on same-sex marriage, through miserable comments on drafting women to the IDF, up to the total shamelessness in saying the security reality in the south is somehow the fault of Gaza periphery residents.
“Jewish Home has become a far-right party tearing the nation apart instead of trying to unite it.”
Jelin is expected to join the Knesset slate of the Yesh Atid party,
Israeli geneticist wins prestigious int’l prize
Tel Aviv University geneticist Prof. Yosef Shilo will be among the recipients of the Norwegian Olav Thon award, Israel Radio reports.
Olav Thon was a mogul who decided to donate his assets to furthering scientific research.
Shilo will receive the Olav Thun medicine award for his research on the stability of DNA strings. Shilo studied a severe genetic disease and through his research achieved a better understanding of how cells cope with damage to the DNA in many other illnesses, like some cancers.
He will share the prestigious award with American scientist Prof. Judith Campisi. Each of them will receive an award worth NIS 1.3 million ($331,000). The awards will be given at a ceremony in Oslo later this year.
Tel Aviv University geneticist Professor Yosef Shilo. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons/GFDL)
‘Better die fighting Israel than Syria’
A Lebanese paper publishes an analysis of the mood in Hezbollah following the assassination Sunday of Jihad Mughniyeh and five other members of the terror group. The article, quoting unnamed Lebanese sources, says there are undercurrents in Nasrallah’s organization that are calling for an immediate response against Israel.
“Hezbollah is facing a serious test for the society it represents. If they don’t taste the taste of fire soon, the solidity of the organization may be badly harmed,” NRG quoted from the paper.
Fighters in the terror group have been saying “We prefer to die as shahids fighting the Israeli enemy than fighting Syria,” the website says.
Meanwhile, in Pakistan
The anger refuses to die: Women in Pakistan protest the latest Charlie Hebdo cover.
Pakistan women demonstrators wear burqas and hold a sword in protest against the printing of satirical sketches of the Prophet Muhammad by French magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Lahore on January 20, 2015. Pakistan’s parliament on January 15 condemned French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for printing a ‘blasphemous’ cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. (photo credit: Arif Ali/AFP)
A Pakistan woman demonstrator holds a sword during a protest against the printing of satirical sketches of the Prophet Muhammad by French magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Lahore on January 20, 2015. photo credit: Arif Ali/AFP)
Source says Iran general not target of strike
The Iranian general killed in Syria on Sunday was not the intended target of the strike, an Israeli security source told the Reuters news agency.
Speaking anonymously, because officially Israel has not taken responsibility for the attack, the source says Israel believed it was targeting low-level Iranian officials.
The remarks appear aimed at containing any escalation with Iran or Hezbollah.
“Belgian schools becoming ‘Jew-free’ zones”
A Belgian watchdog on anti-Semitism warns that the country’s public schools are becoming “Jew-free” zones because of harassment.
Joel Rubinfeld, president of the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, sounded the alarm in an interview for the weekly Le Vif/L’Express, which was published earlier this month and which revealed that the only Jewish student of the Emile Bockstael high school left it following harassment and threats that she received from classmates after she posted a picture of an Israeli flag on Facebook.
The school “has become Judenfrei, there are no more Jewish students there,” Rubinfeld said, using the German-language term that the Nazis applied to locales which had been rendered “free of Jews.”
— JTA
Galant says Jerusalem will never be divided
In case you had doubts regarding Moshe Kahlon’s stance on the peace process:
Yoav Galant, No. 2 at Kulanu, Kahlon’s party, says that according to the platform of the party, Jerusalem should never be divided in order to enable the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Speaking at the Hadassah College in Jerusalem, Galant says Kulanu has a worldview not unlike Likud during the days of Menachem Begin, the late 1970s and early 1980s. “Even when we fought Egypt Begin kept Jerusalem,” syas Galant.
Kahlon himself told Haaretz in an interview last week that his perception of foreign affairs is similar to “Begin’s Likud.”
Ex-general and new Kulanu party member Yoav Galant at the Hadassah College in Jerusalem, on January 20, 2015. (photo credit: Danielle Shitrit/Flash90)
Iraqi PM says Iran, US near nuclear deal
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi tells Al Hayat that the US and Iran are well on their way to an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.
In comments quoted by NRG, al Abadi says the entry of Islamic State as a powerful new actor to the arena changes priorities for many countries in the region.
“Insisting on ending [Syrian President] Bashar Assad’s regime has been pushed aside or pushed back in face of the war against terrorism. No army will be able to defeat IS if this organization continues to draw in the younger generation,” al Abadi adds.
Dozens killed in airstrike on Syria market
An airstrike on a crowded market in a Syrian village controlled by the Islamic State group kills dozens of people, activists say.
Two activist-run monitoring groups, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, say the attack occurred in the village of Khansaa, in far eastern Syria near the Iraq border. Khansaa is held by Islamic State.
The Observatory says “dozens” were killed and wounded. Other activists gave estimates ranging from 30 to 75 people killed. Conflicting tolls are common in the chaotic aftermath of violent incidents in Syria.
One activist reached over Skype in the nearby provincial capital of Hassakeh says he was given the names of 70 people presumed killed in the strike, and says another 13 bodies were too badly burnt to be identified.
— AP
UN chief calls for halt to Yemen fighting
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calls on all armed factions in Yemen to stop fighting immediately, after Shiite militiamen seize the presidential palace in Sanaa.
Ban says he is “gravely concerned” as the Security Council meets behind closed doors to hear a report from his special envoy on the apparent bid to overthrow President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
— AFP
Ultra-Orthodox women’s party comes under fire
Not that tolerant: Rabbi and attorney Dov Halbertal tells Ruth Colian, one of the three founders of the ultra-Orthodox women’s party Bizchutan, that she “should be careful, because those who will be ostracized are not Haredi women, you will be ostracized because Haredi society will cast you out, Haredi society will not accept your sons, matchmakers won’t help them.”
Halbertal is responding to Colian’s explanation on why she established the party: to have a political solution for women who are refused a divorce, or single mothers. “We care about these women because in Haredi society they are the most downtrodden,” Colian says on Galei Yisrael Radio.
Halbertal, an ultra-Orthodox attorney from a stream known for its severity, tells Colian that “on a personal level I say to you – think twice about what you are doing to your family and to yourself.”
US weighing gradual power shift in Syria
The New York Times publishes an analysis saying that the US is weighing gradual shifts to the power balance in Syria and slowly moving back from its demand that Assad must step down as the first step of any solution for the country.
9,000 fowl killed in PA amid bird flu fears
The Palestinian Authority destroys 9,000 turkeys and other fowl after confirming a bird flu outbreak in the West Bank, says the Palestinian health minister.
Imed Mekerker, the PA’s chief veterinarian, tells AFP the virus was confirmed after it was discovered elsewhere in the region. Mekerker says the Israeli and Palestinian agriculture ministries are cooperating after separately confirming an outbreak of the virus.
— AFP
Wisconsin Gov. Walker to lead mission to Israel
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a possible Republican presidential candidate, says he will likely lead a trade mission to Israel this year.
Walker, speaking in Madison, said that he has had “multiple requests” for the trade mission and “we’ll probably try to figure out some way to do that,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. It would be his first visit to Israel since becoming governor four years ago.
Walker has said in recent weeks that he is seriously considering running for president in 2016.
— JTA
Likud’s ‘kindergarten’ clip nixed
Chairman of the Election Committee Judge Salim Jubran instructs the Likud party to remove its “kindergarten” video clip from online platforms.
In the clip, Netanyahu is seen as a kindergarten teacher trying to school unruly kids who are supposed to represent his political rivals in the upcoming election. The kids wear ties and suits but have distinctive facial features easily identifying the politicians they are meant to represent: Tzipi Livni, Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett.
Likud will also need to pay the two appealing parties, Yesh Atid and Peace Now head Yariv Oppenheimer, NIS 5,000 ($1,270) each.
The committee headed by Jubran rejects Likud’s defense, that the parents of the children appearing in the clip gave their consent prior to shooting the campaign, according to Kikar Hashabat website.
Using minors for purposes of advertising or propaganda is illegal in Israel.
Delta flights to, from TA evacuated over bomb threat
Two Delta Air Lines flights arriving at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, one continuing to and one arriving from Tel Aviv, were evacuated following a bomb threat.
An anonymous caller to an unnamed airline reported Monday evening that a pipe bomb had been placed aboard Delta’s flight 468, according to reports. The airline has two flights with the same number.
One of the flights, a Boeing 777, was waiting to depart from Kennedy Airport at 9:23 p.m. when the call came in. The passengers were evacuated and waited on buses on the tarmac while security officials searched the plane. The luggage also was removed and rescreened. No explosives were found on board.
The second flight, a Boeing 757, arrived at the airport from San Francisco at 8 p.m. and was scheduled to continue on to Tel Aviv. After the passengers disembarked, the plane was searched. No explosives were found.
“Proper security procedures are being followed for both aircraft,” Delta said in a statement released Monday night. “Delta has passed this information on to federal authorities.”
— JTA
IDF closes parts of road near Lebanon border
The IDF blocks part of the old northern road which passes at some segments very close to the border with Lebanon. Farmers owning land near the border were instructed not to work their land by the military, for fear that Hezbollah gunmen operating near the border might try to target them.
Meanwhile an Israeli security official is quoted by Channel 2 as saying Israel does not comment on unofficial sources, referring to reports coming from Reuters earlier that Israel did not intend to target the high-ranking Iranian general that was killed in Sunday’s airstrike in Syria.
The unnamed security official seems to seek to row back on comments – also made anonymously – that implied Israeli responsibility to the attack. The Reuters story was quoted widely in Israel this evening, amid persistent fears of a possible Hezbollah retaliation.
A Channel 2 analyst describes the apparent flip-flop as “an attempt at maintaining ambiguity” on who was responsible for the strike in which six Hezbollah members and six Iranian soldiers, including a top Revolutionary Guards officer, were killed.
MK Yogev now says Negev residents are ‘pioneers’
No firing in the tank?
MK Moti Yogev came under fire after saying to residents of the western Negev: “You supported the Disengagement – now you’re screwed.” Now his office issues a statement – emphasizing Yogev’s military rank of colonel – saying the residents of Gaza periphery communities are “real pioneers.”
Pulling out the big guns, MK Yogev’s office dug up a quote from one Adi Hamawi, a resident of Nirim who was present at the Knesset committee discussion where Yogev made the comments. Hamawi says “his [Yogev’s] meaning was not as it came out, he really does support us.”
Images show ISIS flags during Gaza demo
The Middle East Media Research Institute releases photos from the demonstration in Gaza of Salafis who rallied in support of the Paris attack.
During the demonstrations, Salafis warned “worshipers of the cross” to expect more attacks. They also chanted that the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has armies everywhere that “drink blood and are entertained by body parts.”
During the demonstration ISIS flags could be clearly seen in the crowd. Demonstrators also waved portraits of the Paris attackers.
Salafi demonstrators in Gaza waving ISIS flags during a demonstration that took place on January 19, 2015. (photo credit: Courtesy MEMRI)
Hezbollah TV network says IAF active in Lebanon
The Lebanese Al Manar TV network says there is increased activity of the Israel Air Force in the aerial territory of Lebanon.
Al Manar is a network affiliated with Hezbollah.
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