Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel.
The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they unfolded.
A Palestinian was shot in the West Bank village of Husan according to Israeli and Palestinian reports.
According to Palestinian media reports, citing eyewitnesses, after the person was shot, Israeli troops are preventing Palestinians from approaching the area.
The Rescuers Without Border emergency service says the suspect hurled a Molotov cocktail at troops in the area before being shot.
The emergency service also says the suspect has died of their wounds, but there is no immediate confirmation on this from Palestinian or Israeli officials.
A military spokesperson says the army is looking into the incident.
A man wanted in an attack on a subway train in Brooklyn that left 10 people wounded by gunfire has been arrested, a law enforcement official tells The Associated Press.
Frank R. James, 62, has been taken into custody in Manhattan, the official says. Further details, including the arresting agency, are not immediately available.
Investigators had announced yesterday afternoon that they were searching for James, who was believed to have rented a van possibly connected to the violence. By this morning, New York authorities said he was a suspect in the shooting itself.
Authorities were examining social media videos in which the 62-year-old decried the US as a racist place awash in violence and railed against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams.
Israeli security forces surround a building in the West Bank town of Silwad and reportedly arrest multiple Palestinians suspected of terror activities.
According to unsourced Hebrew media reports, several members of a terror cell that were planning an attack during the upcoming Passover holiday are arrested in the operation north of Ramallah.
Clashes in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, as IDF troops entered to arrest several Palestinian suspects. According to reports, a home has been surrounded, and forces are calling on someone inside to turn themselves in. pic.twitter.com/xZdQTfKJ6a
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 13, 2022
Separately, according to a report on Channel 13 news, the Palestinian man arrested this morning in an operation in Tulkarm was planning a terrorist attack during Passover.
The suspect was shot and then arrested by the Yamam special police force near the local Khadouri University, according to police.
Security camera footage shows undercover Yamam officers shooting and arresting a wanted Palestinian near the Khadouri University in Tulkarm earlier. pic.twitter.com/9LP6A5ftRM
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 13, 2022
Israeli troops are surrounding a building in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, and calling on a person inside to turn himself in, according to Palestinian media reports.
According to reports, clashes have also erupted in the area.
It is not immediately clear who the suspect is that Israeli forces are attempting to detain, but in recent days dozens of Palestinians with suspected of involvement in terror activities have been arrested in raids across the West Bank.
Earlier, two Palestinians were seen being arrested by Israeli troops in the town of Kaubar in the central West Bank.
There is no immediate comment from the army on the incidents.
#شاهد| مصادر محلية: قوات الاحتلال تحاصر منزلاً وتطلق النار وتطالب شاباً عبر مكبرات الصوت بتسليم نفسه في منطقة رأس علي ببلدة سلواد شمال شرق رام الله. pic.twitter.com/KP7s6IzqQc
— المقدسي للإعلام (@AlmakdesyMedia) April 13, 2022
President Joe Biden called his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky today to update him on “ongoing US support” for Kyiv, the White House says.
Zelensky for his part tweets that he and Biden had discussed an “additional package of defensive and possible macro-financial aid.”
The hour-long conversation comes as Washington is reportedly poised to announce the delivery of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of new military equipment to Kyiv.
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau offers tacit criticism of Religious Zionism MK Bezalel Smotrich, after the lawmaker called for members of the current government to be barred from synagogues.
“Synagogues are open to everyone, always, and anyone who wants to pray in them is invited to do so, regardless of their political opinions and their worldview,” Lau says.
The Israel Defenses Forces and Defense Ministry have begun engineering work along the West Bank security barrier in order to close gaps used by Palestinians to enter Israel illegally, the military announces.
The army says it is fixing holes along dozens of kilometers of the fence and is digging trenches to prevent vehicles from crossing through the so-called “seam zone” area along the West Bank security barrier.
In addition, other efforts are being made to strengthen defenses along the barrier, the IDF says.
“‘Our task is to close the seam zone in a way that will not allow illegal passage,” IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi says from the scene. “We will continue to operate in any place, with any method, and to the extent necessary to thwart terror. In recent days, we have significantly strengthened the area with forces and engineering means in order to improve the barrier’s infrastructure.”
The army has sent another three heavy machinery companies and reservist troops from the IDF’s Combat Engineering Corp for these efforts, it says.
The Health Ministry announces plans to expand its campaign urging parents to ensure their children are up to date on polio vaccines amid fears of an outbreak.
So far, nine cases of polio have been diagnosed in the Jerusalem area in a recent outbreak, the first in Israel in more than three decades.
The Health Ministry says that its ongoing campaign will now be expanding beyond Jerusalem and rolling out nationwide in all children up to age 6. Following Passover, it says, the campaign will expand to those ages 7-17. So far, it says, close to 24,000 people have been vaccinated since it launched the campaign, aimed at ensuring that children have received all doses of the vaccine in case they may have not completed the full course required for protection.
Amid heightened tensions in Jerusalem and across Israel, a group of Gazan terror factions issue a statement following their meeting calling on their followers to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“We are following the developments and we will make decisions to preserve our people and our holy places,” the groups say in a statement following a meeting led by Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar.
The groups also call on activists “to be prepared to defend Al-Aqsa” and ask for West Bank Palestinians as well as those in East Jerusalem and across Israel “to go on Friday to the mosque” for Ramadan prayers.
The groups met in light of calls by extremist Jewish groups to attempt to sacrifice a goat or sheep atop the Temple Mount over Passover, which begins Friday evening.
Two young girls who accidentally wandered into a minefield in Israel’s south are rescued unharmed by forces called to the area.
The two girls are said to be in good condition and are being checked over and sent home to their parents.
President Isaac Herzog is hosting an Iftar meal to mark the ending of the 12th day of the Ramadan fast.
Among other politicians slated to attend, Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas arrived to warm greetings.
The UAE’s ambassador to Israel, Mohammed Al-Khaja, is also in attendance, as well as other diplomats.
About 200 additional leaders from across Israeli Arab society are expected to join the annual event.
The Channel Island of Jersey says it is freezing assets connected to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich estimated to be worth over $7 billion.
The Law Offices Department of Jersey, a tax haven long known for drawing large amounts of foreign direct investment, says the assets being targeted are either located in Jersey, or owned by Jersey-incorporated entities.
It says that police also executed a search warrant yesterday at addresses suspected to be connected to Abramovich’s business activities. It didn’t provide details.
Abramovich, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been sanctioned by the UK government and the European Union. The 55-year-old tycoon has assumed an unofficial role in the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia aimed at ending the war.
Rescue services are working to extract two young girls who accidentally wandered into a minefield in the south.
The two sisters, ages 6 and 13, were hiking nearby and accidentally entered the area, which should be marked as closed off. Rescue forces are on the scene to help them exit safely. Police officers, volunteers, paramedics, special rescue staff and engineers have been called to the scene.
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor visits the town of Bucha — the scene of hundreds of civilian killings which Ukraine has blamed on Russian forces who occupied it for several weeks.
“Ukraine is a crime scene. We’re here because we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the court are being committed,” Karim Khan tells reporters. “We have to pierce the fog of war to get to the truth. That requires independent, impartial investigation,” he says.
Khan says an ICC forensic team is set to work “so that we can really make sure we separate truth from fiction.”
“We have to keep an open mind and we have to follow the evidence,” he adds. “The law needs to be mobilized and sent into battle to protect civilians.”
Atlético Madrid won’t have to close a section of its stadium for the Champions League game against Manchester City today after a court blocks UEFA’s punishment for Nazi salutes by a fan.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s interim ruling comes hours before Atlético hosts the second-leg game in the quarterfinals and will allow about 5,000 ticket-holders to retain their seats.
Atlético had appealed to challenge a UEFA decision Monday ordering the club to close part of its 68,000-capacity Wanda Metropolitano Stadium as punishment for “discriminatory behavior” at the first leg in Manchester last week.
The Atlético fan was filmed making a Nazi-style gesture during the team’s 1-0 loss.
CAS cites “serious repercussions to local security if the partial stadium closure had to be enforced at this late stage.”
The court grants Atlético’s request for an interim ruling freezing the UEFA sanction pending a full hearing in the case.
Atlético says in a statement that “all members and fans with a season ticket or seat for tonight’s game will be able to access the stadium.”
Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar is set to host a meeting of Gaza terror group factions later today to discuss possible responses to the rising tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, pro-Hamas media reports.
Among other issues, the meeting will deal with “exploring positions in light of Zionist threats to invade the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday and conduct sacrifices,” a senior source tells Safa News.
A small cluster of Jewish extremists has occasionally sought to perform the Biblically mandated Passover sacrifice on the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site. The hilltop is revered by Muslims as the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam.
Police have regularly detained the perpetrators, who do not appear to have successfully pulled off a sacrifice in recent years at the flashpoint holy site. This year’s would-be sacrificers’ campaign has gained enormous traction in Palestinian and Arab media following a social media post offering cash prizes for those arrested in the act.
Hamas official Zaher Jabareen says they have informed parties who mediate between Israel and the terror group that Israel is “playing with fire” by its alleged “aggressions” in Jerusalem and against the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“This is a red line and it is playing with fire, and the Palestinians cannot accept that,” Jabareen says.
ANKARA — Turkey’s foreign minister says that Ankara is seeking a “sustainable relationship” with Israel, but those ties depend on Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.
“We are seeking to establish a sustainable relationship,” says Mevlut Cavusoglu, speaking to Israeli journalists in Ankara at the Turkish foreign ministry. “Since 1949, our relations have had its ups and downs. I can tell you that those were due to the violations of Palestinian rights, and not due to the problems in our bilateral relations.”
“We expect from the Israeli side to respect the international law on the Palestinian issue for a sustainable relationship,” he stresses.
The journalists are in Turkey on a three-day trip fully funded by the Directorate of Communications, which is part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office.
Cavusoglu stresses that Israel and Turkey have common interests and that Turkey is “ready to develop bilateral cooperation and regional dialogue through a positive agenda.” He points out the potential for cooperation in energy, trade, investment, science and technology, agriculture and food security.
“There is a new momentum in our relations in this moment,” the foreign minister says, pointing at President Isaac Herzog’s March visit, and the November phone call between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Erdogan.
“President Erdogan reiterated our support for a two-state solution,” says Cavusoglu. “He expressed our expectations on Palestine during President Herzog’s visit… it was a very candid meeting.”
Cavusoglu also emphasizes that Erdogan condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Israel, and the killing of a Palestinian woman by Israeli forces near Bethlehem on Sunday.
Turkey’s top diplomat waxes nostalgic about encountering Israeli tourists in his home city of Alanya, and said that he hopes “this year we are going to host more Israeli tourists in Turkey.”
Two young men are in police custody as part of the investigation into the death of Jeremy Cohen, a young Jewish man who was fatally hit by a tram in mid-February after being assaulted, prosecutors tell AFP.
The police custody of the two suspects, aged 27 and 23, began yesterday and was extended further today, prosecutors say, without specifying whether they were arrested or turned themselves in.
Initially, Cohen’s death was reported as a “pedestrian being run over,” but video footage released by Cohen’s family earlier this month showed the moments leading to his death, and indicated that the incident could have been triggered by an assault, potentially motivated by antisemitism.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
German federal prosecutors say they have charged a suspected neo-Nazi with attempting to set off a “race war” in Germany with planned attacks using explosives and guns.
A week after authorities swooped on alleged far-right militant cells in raids across Germany, the federal prosecutor’s office names the suspect only as Marvin E. and says he has been in detention since September 2021.
Marvin E., whose age is not provided but who was a minor at the time, now faces charges of attempting to form a terrorist organization, as well as preparation of a grievous seditious attack and various weapons law violations.
Prosecutors say in a statement that he “shares the ideology” of Atomwaffen Division (Atomic Weapons Division, AWD), an international neo-Nazi terrorist network founded in 2015 in the United States.
Marvin E. intended from the summer of 2021 to launch “a civil race war” over the next three years “to preserve the white population,” they say. He is believed to have researched the acquisition of firearms and built “unconventional” bombs with components bought online, while seeking to start his own local chapter of AWD and recruit members.
AWD is believed to espouse “racist, antisemitic and National Socialist views” and plot attacks against Jews, Muslims and other purported enemies with an aim of destabilizing Western democratic states.
Yamina MK Amichai Chikli, who refused to join the coalition when it was formed last year, is seeking to delay a hearing on the party’s decision to formally label him as a defector, which comes with a raft of sanctions.
While Chikli has largely voted with the opposition since the government was formed, Yamina did not take formal action against him — hoping to preserve the possibility of working together — until fellow Yamina MK Idit Silman announced her own defection last week.
Now, Chikli asks the Knesset House Committee to delay a hearing slated for later this month that would formally label him as a defector and prevent him from running in the future with any other faction currently in the Knesset.
In his appeal to the committee, Chikli writes that the hearing is being rushed because of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s attempts to harm him, but “we are still a democratic country, and he is not a king or a sultan.”
While a majority of US Jews, 63%, approve of the job US President Joe Biden is doing according to a new poll, that figure is a sharp double-digit drop from where he was last year.
A poll released today by the Jewish Electorate Institute, a group led by prominent Jewish Democrats, shows Biden’s approval rating down from 80% in a poll by the same organization last July.
Both polls were carried out by GBAO Strategies.
The Hamas terror group threatens Israel over plans by Jewish activists to conduct ritual sacrifices on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, saying it will not allow it “at any cost.”
The “Returning to the Mount” extremist group, which advocates the construction of a third temple, announces on Facebook that it will be offering a cash prize to those who succeed in sacrificing a lamb on the Temple Mount, as well as to those who are arrested in the process.
“Arrested? NIS 400. Arrested with a goat/lamb? NIS 800. Managed to sacrifice? NIS 10,000,” the post reads.
מקריבים קרבן פסח במקומו ובמועדו!*לא הצלחת? נעצרת? ניצחת!????*לאור איומי החמאס ולאחר התנגדות המשטרה לאפשר לנו להקריב קרבן…
Posted by חוזרים להר on Monday, April 11, 2022
Hamas has issued several statements on the matter in the past week, and in a new one this morning it says: “We stress that our people will not allow this at any cost.”
“We stress that this represents a dangerous escalation that crosses all red lines, as it is a direct assault on the belief and feelings of our people and our nation during this holy month,” Hamas says, referring to the month of Ramadan.
The Palestinian Authority and Jordan have also condemned the plans.
But Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Arabic-language spokesperson is quick to respond, stating that no such plans will be allowed to go ahead.
“Allegations that there are Jews intending to slaughter sacrifices on Haram al-Sharif are completely false and have been promoted by Palestinian terror organizations and others in order to incite,” Ofir Gendelman writes on Twitter.
“We will preserve the status quo in the holy places and will not allow any disturbance to security and public order, in Jerusalem or anywhere else,” he adds.
Police say attempts to sacrifice lambs on the Temple Mount occur every year as zealots challenge longstanding restrictions by attempting to perform sacrifices in the spot in Jerusalem’s Old City where the ancient Temples once stood.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urges Europe to take more action against Russia, warning that “we can either stop Russia or lose the whole of Eastern Europe.”
“If Europe wastes time, Russia will use it to expand the war zone to other countries,” he says in an address to the Estonian parliament.
Prof. Oded Goldreich, the recent recipient of the Israel Prize in mathematics, announces that he will donate his NIS 75,000 in prize money to five left-wing human rights organizations, including Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem.
“We are proud of the fact that the education ministers who denied him the award will not be satisfied with the actions he has taken,” the organizations say, according to Ynet.
The five groups that are set to receive the prize money are Breaking the Silence, Standing Together, Kav LaOved, B’Tselem, and Adalah.
Goldreich received the Israel Prize at the offices of the Education Ministry on Monday, despite the political opposition of two education ministers, including the current one, who boycotted the ceremony, and following a near year-long political saga over his alleged support of anti-Israel boycotts.
A tourist bus collided with a truck on a highway in southern Egypt and burst into flames on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people including four French and a Belgian, authorities say.
The crash happened some 55 kilometers (34 miles) south of the ancient city of Luxor, as it was traveling to the temples of Esna on the west bank of the Nile River, provincial authorities say in a statement.
Along with the tourists, five Egyptians were killed in the crash. At least 14 others were injured, including eight from France and six from Belgium, they say. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.
Many bodies were charred, and the injured suffered from burns, bruises and fractures, according to a health official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
Seven civilians have been killed by Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine over the past 24 hours, says the regional governor.
“Twenty-two civilians, including three children, have been injured during shelling of the region. Seven people have died. A two-year-old boy injured by shelling a few days ago has died in hospital,” the governor, Oleg Synegubov, says on social media.
Russia says more than 1,000 Ukrainian troops have surrendered in the besieged southeastern port of Mariupol.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov says 1,026 troops from the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade surrendered at a metals plant in the city.
Russian forces moved on Mariupol in late February and units in the city have been running low on supplies.
Konashenkov says the 1,026 Ukrainian marines include 162 officers and 47 female personnel, and that 151 wounded received medical treatment.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych did not comment on the alleged mass surrender, but says in a post on Twitter that elements of the 36th Marine Brigade had managed to link up with other Ukrainian forces in the city as a result of a “risky maneuver.”
Undercover officers arrest a wanted Palestinian in the West Bank city of Tulkarm in a rare daylight operation, police say.
The suspect initially fled when officers tried to detain him. He was then shot and taken into custody, police say.
Clashes erupted at the scene, near the local Khadouri University, according to police.
Police say that during the clashes, an armed man was identified by the officers in the area, and they opened fire at him.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reports that two people are shot during the incident.
وزارة الصحة الفلسطينية: وصول إصابتين بالرصاص الحي إلى مستشفى طولكرم الحكومي نتيجة اعتداءات قوات الاحتلال، إصابة بالرصاص الحي في الرأس ويجري التعامل معها وتقييم وضعها، وإصابة بالرصاص الحي في الأطراف العلوية.
صورة من مكان إطلاق النار pic.twitter.com/JEOSDQ5RpE
— Newpress | نيو برس (@NewpressPs) April 13, 2022
The High Court issues an order requiring the state to explain and defend by the end of the month its policy on accepting Ukrainian refugees.
Under the current policy, announced last month by Ayelet Shaked, anyone fleeing Ukraine who is eligible for citizenship as well as anyone who has a family member in Israel will be granted entry into Israel. Also, 5,000 refugees who do not meet those criteria will be allowed in, on top of 20,000 Ukrainians who were in Israel when the war began and who will be allowed to stay.
After a petition against such a cap was filed last month, the High Court orders the state to provide reasoning for its decision to limit Ukrainians without Jewish heritage or family in Israel from entering the country, when normally any Ukrainian can enter as a tourist for three months.
The court however denies a request to immediately put a halt to the government’s current refugee policy. According to Haaretz, the state told the court this week that so far 13,272 Ukrainians who are not eligible for Israeli citizenship have entered Israel since the start of the war, and 7,585 of them have family in Israel while 5,447 do not.
The Ukrainian Embassy in Israel, which backed the High Court petition, says it is “grateful to the Supreme Court of the State of Israel for issuing a just ruling by which agreements between countries must be upheld,” though noting that the decision is an interim one.
“We expect that Israeli government to enable Ukrainian citizens to come to Israel at such times, not by force of a judicial ruling – but mainly by force of a humanitarian and moral approach,” the embassy adds in a statement. “The Embassy hopes that Israeli government will approve the entrance of Ukrainian citizens, without the final judgement but in the spirit of respect of bilateral non visa regime between Ukraine and Israel.”
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