Joshua Davidovich is The Times of Israel's Deputy Editor
The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they unfolded.
Heavy rains have returned to parts of Israel, a day after downpours caused severe flooding in some Tel Aviv suburbs.
On Route 90 in the Jordan Valley, rescuers were called out after three cars were reported to be stuck in a flash flood near the West Bank settlement of Petzael.
One car was pulled out and rescuers were searching for the other two, according to Walla News.
Parts of the same road near the Dead Sea and south were briefly closed to traffic.
Some 35 millimeters of water have fallen on parts of the coastal region since Wednesday night, according to Ynet.
The IDF has issued new orders banning Palestinians between the ages of 15 and 25 from passing through the Jewish enclaves of the city, the Ynet news site reports.
Israeli soldiers check the ID of a Palestinian woman near a Jewish enclave in Hebron on October 29, 2015. (AFP/MENAHEM KAHANA)
The move, which will not apply to those who must pass through the areas to get to school or home, is being put in place after a series of stabbings and other unrest in the flashpoint West Bank city, which is home to several hundred Jewish families and tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Thursday saw two stabbing attempts in Hebron, leaving one soldier injured and two assailants dead.
Palestinian shops in the Jewish areas of the city have been ordered closed until further notice, according to the news report.
Underworld boss Shlomo Domrani has been indicted on two counts of attempted murder and dozens of his associates have also been charged in connection with a mafia hit and six attempted assassinations, as police reveal the details of a major case they say could bring down a southern Israel crime ring.
Police say the case involves most of the major players from three crime families based in the south, including Amos Lavie and Yossi Edrey, heads of other crime rings.
In total 32 people were charged in the major case, police say.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot has disciplined the army’s chief rabbi for paying his top officer too much.
Head IDF Rabbi Rafi Peretz is accused of granting his bureau chief, not named in media reports, a salary commensurate with one for a rabbi at the head of a command, though his position is more modest.
The officer, who is also head of information security, will be forced to pay back tens of thousands of shekels over the affair, according to a Channel 2 report.
A woman has been stabbed in the southern resort city of Eilat.
The woman is taken to a local hospital with light injuries.
Police are looking into whether the attack is terror related or of a criminal nature.
Syria berates Saudi Arabia as talks gathering key players and focused on ending the conflict kick off.
Syria is not at the Vienna talks, which formally begin Friday. But as US Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior dignitaries arrive in the Austrian capital, Syria’s information minister lashes out at Saudi Arabia, saying it is not qualified to play a “productive” role in resolving the conflict because it is shedding the blood of Muslims and Arabs there, in Yemen and in Iraq.
Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zogby calls Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir a “tumor” and a “servant” who had best keep silent. Jubeir said on Wednesday there is no role for Assad in any political transition.
Backed by the United States, the Saudis want to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Iran and Russia support him. Foreign ministers of all four nations are to meet Friday, in an encounter that will be closely watched to see if Riyadh and Tehran can work together despite deep rivalries over Syria and other issues. The Iranians were not at the first round last week.
— AP
Police are searching for the attacker in Eilat, and say they still do not know the motive behind the attack.
Video from the scene shows officers around a bus stop in a residential area of the city, which has been mostly untouched by an ongoing spate of violence.
The scene of a stabbing in Eilat. The reasons behind it are not yet known and it may very well NOT be terrorism. pic.twitter.com/sz43zRhJRW
— Judah Ari Gross (@JudahAriGross) October 29, 2015
House Speaker John Boehner has bade farewell to his colleagues in the US Congress as lawmakers are commencing the political pageantry of electing Paul Ryan to replace him.
“I leave with no regrets, no burdens,” says Boehner, who was hounded into retirement by hard-line conservatives who are mostly rallying behind Ryan, at least for now. “If anything, I leave the way I started, just a regular guy, humbled by the chance to do a big job.”
His 10-minute valedictory was not without his trademark tears: He earned a bipartisan standing ovation even before he started talking when he pulled out a box of tissues.
Boehner ticks off accomplishments during his five years of speaker that included deep spending cuts, and then lauded his successor.
“Paul is being called,” says Boehner. “I know he’ll serve with grace and with energy.”
Minutes earlier, Ryan’s longtime pastor sought divine guidance as the Wisconsin Republican prepared to step into one of Washington’s most taxing jobs.
“Give us the fortitude to endure when the demands of our office seem overwhelming,” beseeched Monsignor Donn Heiar of Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin, in an opening prayer. “Bless us with prudence when all pathways seem troublesome.”
— AP
US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet his Iranian counterpart in Vienna on Thursday afternoon, ahead of multilateral talks over the Syrian conflict later in the day, a senior State Department official says.
John Kerry shakes hands with US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Daniel Baer after arriving in Vienna, Austria, on October 29, 2015. (US State Department)
The meeting will be the first high-level powwow between the two since they brokered a nuclear deal in July.
Tehran is taking part for the first time in international negotiations aimed at resolving the war, as key nations backing Syria’s warring sides seek to thrash out differences.
— AFP
The Zalul Environmental Association is raising concern about dirty water runoff gushing into the Tel Aviv Dolphinarium Beach, after four days of heavy rain and flooding.
Runoff on the beach in Tel Aviv this week. (Courtesy Zalul Environmental Association)
According to the organization, the black-colored pollution pouring into the sea is filled with trash, dust, oils and heavy metals. They are urging the Tel Aviv municipality to improve the water runoff systems in the city.
According to the Israel Water Authority the area has been inundated with almost 200 millimeters of rain in October, five times the normal amount.
Despite the heavy rains in the center of the country, the north has received very little precipitation so the level of the Kinneret remains unchanged, says spokesman Uri Schorr.
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan has been elected House speaker, taking over for John Boehner.
The Republican Jewish Committee is quick to congratulate Ryan, calling him “a stalwart ally of the pro-Israel community and a longtime friend of Israel.”
“The Obama administration has been antagonistic and hostile to Israel and the pro-Israel community. We can think of no one better than Paul Ryan to lead the effort to stand up against the dangerous and destructive policies of this White House and truly have Israel’s back,” the group says in a statement.
Police say they have arrested an Arab teenager near the scene of a stabbing on Golani Street in Eilat, but say the motive for the attack is still unclear.
Spokesperson Luba Samri says cops launched a hunt for the stabber after the woman was lightly injured, and found an “Arab teen” during their search, who they took for questioning.
— Judah Ari Gross
While Israeli cities have been getting inundated with rain, causing widespread flooding, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez Alvarado is in the country for meetings focused on learning about water conservation.
“We are here in order to benefit from your experience, and we hope to receive your support on this issue,” Alvardo says in a meeting with President Reuven Rivlin, according to a statement from Rivlin’s office. “The issue of water management in agriculture is among our highest priorities for our increasing cooperation, and I call on both the public and private sectors to invest in the agricultural areas across Honduras. We have the water, and we hope to learn from you how to manage it for effective irrigation.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Honduran President Jose Orlando Hernandez at a joint press conference in Jerusalem on October 29, 2015 (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
Alvardo also meets on the issue and cooperation in other areas with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu calls the visit an “important milestone” in the relationship for the countries and says he came to “the right place” to find a solution to the country’s water woes.
Speaking at a ceremony in the Arab town of Kafr Kassem in the Lower Galilee, Joint List head Ayman Odeh lashes out at Israeli policies, which he says are a continuation of attempts to push Arab citizens out of the country.
“Netanyahu’s statements, and his racist incitement against the Arab community, are aimed at pushing us out of the legal and political spheres after they failed at physically deporting us. They want to push us out politically, but we are remaining physically, and also politically, in spit of them,” he says.
The speech in Kafr Kassem marks the 59th anniversary of the Kafr Kassem massacre, during which Israeli border police shot to death 49 Arab Israelis, among them several women and many children.
A year ago, Rivlin visited the commemoration and apologized, a first from an Israeli leader.
Odeh calls the massacre the second worst tragedy to befall his community, after the “Nakba,” a term meaning “catastrophe” used to denote the creation of the State of Israel and the exile of thousands of Arabs.
Police say they have shut down the Facebook page of Hadashot 24/7, a Hebrew-language news aggregator.
In a statement, police say it’s the first time they’ve taken such a step, part of an “IDF battle against social media.”
Police say the page would regularly publish information in contravention of censorship rules and gag orders.
Israeli media rules often forbid the publication of incidents in which soldiers are injured or killed until families and other parties can be notified.
Censorship laws also put the lid on reports that are deemed harmful to national security.
Syrian activists and state-owned media say that several mortar shells have hit near the Russian Embassy in Damascus but that there are no injuries.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 10 shells struck in the vicinity of the embassy in the central Damascus neighborhood of al-Adawi. The state news agency SANA says at least eight shells fell. Both SANA and the Observatory say there is material damage but provide no details.
Thursday’s attack is not the first time the embassy has been targeted. On October 13, as government supporters gathered outside the embassy in a rally to thank Moscow for aiding the Syrian government’s military campaign, shells fell inside the embassy compound. No one was reported hurt at the time.
— AP
We know what happens when you drop Mentos into Diet Coke, but how about when you drop it into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
A picture of a Mentos package with the words “I love Israel” written on it, from at least a year ago, has somehow popped back up on social media, and is landing the candymaker in the middle of a heated battle between Israel supporters and boycotters.
The picture of the package, which seems to have been taken in a store with American candy bars, dates from at least summer 2014.
Online, it has garnered declarations of love for the Jewish State, and promises to boycott the product, which is available in a number of Arab states.
Mentos has not commented on the hubbub.
I will not buy Mentos again! @Mentos @MentosUS #mentos Stop the occupation #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/g5HKF9iMMb
— M O H A M E D (@achahbarmo) October 29, 2015
https://twitter.com/Zerb86/status/659777823054372864?lang=en
#Palestine #no_more_mentos #Mentos pic.twitter.com/IPS6TDhWbL
— Ala'a. H #Palestine♓ (@allolya) October 29, 2015
Everyone buy @MentosUS today! Be sure to thank this #BDS bigot for reminding us! #israel pic.twitter.com/0zHoRd0k6A
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) October 29, 2015
Police say they will not restrict access to the Temple Mount for Muslim worshipers on Friday, in a possible sign of decreasing tensions, the Ynet news website reports.
Police have in past weeks restricted Muslim men under 50 from ascending the holy site in hopes of keeping violent protests from breaking out on the holy site.
Tensions in Jerusalem have calmed in recent days, though Hebron and the southern West Bank have seen near daily stabbing and other attacks.
Israeli news outlets are reporting that an explosive device was hurled at an Israeli patrol in East Jerusalem, near the Mount of Olives.
There are no injuries from the attack.
According to Channel 10, the device was a pipe bomb.
Earlier in the day, a rescue organization reported that Israelis have been targeted with 18 explosive devices in the last month and a half.
Police say in a statement that troops are searching the area of a-Tur, where an explosive device was thrown at a police patrol.
According to the statement, a device was thrown from a house on a-Sheikh Street and hit a car parked nearby, after which an explosion was heard. Two people were treated for shock.
Unrest is also being reported in several spots in the West Bank, with no injuries.
Rioters are throwing stones and firebombs at Israeli cars near Hebron, and outside the town of Husan, south of Jerusalem.
In Bethlehem, two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were thrown toward the Tomb of Rachel, a Jewish shrine.
In Hebron, a firebomb was hurled at an IDF post next to the Jewish cemetery.
The High Court has ordered the state to explain why it left several homes of convicted terrorists standing, despite being given okays to raze them two years ago, as the government tries to push its case on pushing forward demolitions relating to fresher cases.
The court said the state has until Monday to explain why it didn’t tear the down the homes, which it got permission to do in 2013.
The hearing was called after the court put an injunction last week on a government order to tear down the homes of several terrorists they say were involved in attacks over the past year.
The state says it wants to be able to tear down homes within days of an attack taking place as a punitive measure against terrorists who are killed during attacks, which it says will act as a deterrent.
All the suspects whose homes were slated to be torn down last week were caught alive and have not yet stood trial.
A passing car has opened fire on a hitchhiking post outside a settlement north of Jerusalem, Channel 2 reports.
There are no injuries in the attack, which took place outside the settlement of Ofra.
Forces on the scene returned fire and the car fled toward the adjacent Palestinian village of Ein Yabrud.
Forces are being dispatched to search for the attackers.
Spain’s Iberia Airlines says passengers misunderstood Spanish when they complained that a pilot said “Welcome to Palestine” upon landing in Tel Aviv.
The carrier initially apologized. But after an investigation, Iberia Airlines said that — in a typical muffled airline announcement — it was all a question of mistranslation.
“The word ‘Palestine’ was not used in the announcement,” the airline said in a statement.
“The captain adhered to the standard format, in which only the airports of origin and destination are named, and not countries, regions or territories,” Iberia said.
“Both the airline and the crew regret the misunderstanding, which could be caused by the similar sound of the Spanish word ‘destino’, meaning ‘destination, with ‘Palestina’.”
Israel’s embassy in Madrid earlier complained to Iberia, the Foreign Ministry told AFP, adding they condemned the incident.
— AFP
John Kerry and Mohammed Javad Zarif have held a meeting in Vienna.
Zarif and kerry in Vienna, about 100 days after #IranDeal. Getting ready for implementation day of #JCPOA pic.twitter.com/MitwcEFh6g
— Farshad Kashani (@FarKashani) October 29, 2015
Zarif told reporters upon arriving in the Austrian capital that “Iran has a stabilizing power in the region,” according to the state IRNA news agency.
IRNA also quotes Zarif as saying that those trying to reach a solution to the crisis have come to the conclusion that without Iran’s presence at the talks, it’s “impossible to reach a logical solution” for Syria.
— AP
In a strange convergence that shows the world may be truly coming to an end, this week has seen two separate, apparently totally unrelated stories in Israel and the US, of cops dancing with random strangers after failing to clear an area.
The first, in Israel, shows a traffic cop trying to get a group of Breslov Hasidim, who have a habit of popping out of cars to dance at intersections, to move along.
After failing to get the pop-up-party to pack it up, though, the cop, seen in yellow, decides to join the Na-Nachs in busting a move.
Meanwhile, across the globe in Washington, an officer broke up a fight before challenging some teens to a dance-off, to the tune of Silento’s “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).”
After breaking up the ruckus, a teen came over and played the song while doing the dance, to which the officer replied that she could outdance her, betting that if she lost, the group could stay, according to The Hill.
The video, natch, has gone viral, with even US President Barack Obama weighing in.
Who knew community policing could involve the Nae Nae? Great example of police having fun while keeping us safe: https://t.co/ZGeTDm6OYw
— President Obama (@POTUS) October 29, 2015
A woman and her son have suffered very light injuries after their car was stoned in central Israel.
The attack happened on Route 431, a large highway, between the towns of Ramle and Rishon Lezion.
Ramle is one of a few mixed Jewish-Arab cities in the area.
