WarSclerotic

Slain Israeli teen’s uncle consoles murdered Palestinian’s father | The Times of Israel.

Yishai Fraenkel calls Hussein Abu Khdeir to offer condolences; two Palestinians pay visit to Fraenkel home

By Times of Israel staff July 6, 2014, 10:40 pm

Rachelle Fraenkel crying over the body of her son Naftali at his funeral Tuesday. (photo credit: Flash90)

The uncle of the slain Israeli teenager Naftali Fraenkel offered his condolences Sunday in a phone call to Hussein Abu Khdeir, whose 16-year-old son was murdered last week in what police believe was a revenge killing by Jewish extremists.

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Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said he too spoke to Abu Khdeir and, on behalf of the residents of Jerusalem, condemned the killing of his son Mohammed.

The call came hours after two Palestinians from the Hebron area paid a visit to the grieving Fraenkel family.

“We expressed our deep empathy with their sorrow, from one bereaved family to another bereaved family,” Yishai Fraenkel said, according to the Ynet news website. “I think it’s very good they seem to have found the culprits. We expressed our absolute disgust with what had happened. He accepted our statements, it was important for him to hear it.”

Fraenkel added that “there is no difference between those who murdered Muhammed, and those who murdered our children. Those are murderers, and these are murderers. And both must be dealt with to the full extent of the law, and we told him that.”
16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir, a Palestinian teenager whose body was found Wednesday, July 2 in Jerusalem’s forest area (photo credit: AFP via family handout)

16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir, a Palestinian teenager whose body was found Wednesday, July 2 in Jerusalem’s forest area (photo credit: AFP via family handout)

Earlier Sunday, two Palestinians from the Gush Etzion area, accompanied by the head of the Gush Etzion religious council, Rabbi Rafi Ostroff, arrived at the Fraenkel’s Nof Ayalon residence where the family is in the midst of the traditional seven-day mourning period.

One of the visitors told the Hebrew NRG website that Fraenkel’s statements last week after Abu Khdeir’s murder “touched a large portion of the Palestinian people.”

“I come from a bereaved family, I lost my brother and I have family that were former prisoners, unfortunately we also threw stones at you. What can you do?” he said.

In a statement last week, the Fraenkels condemned the murder of Abu Khdeir, saying in a statement that “There is no difference when it comes to blood. Murder is murder; there is no justification, forgiveness or atonement for any murder.”

“The moment we learn to deal with each other’s pain and stop the anger against one another, the situation will be better,” the visitor said. “Our mission is to strengthen the family and also to take a step forward towards the liberation of my people. We believe that only through the hearts of the Jews will our liberation happen.”

He described the warm welcome the Fraenkels gave him, and said: “We are sorry for any harm against people, whether Jewish or Muslim. We don’t want anyone to be hurt, and want to reach a political agreement.”

The two Palestinians also described an upcoming initiative called the “Hunger Strike Against Violence,” next Tuesday, on which the Jewish fast of the 17 of Tammuz coincides with the ongoing Muslim Ramadan holiday.

“Palestinians that I knew wanted to come visit and console the families, so I brought them,” Ostroff said. “The family welcomed them in a remarkable way. They didn’t even think twice to let them in; it was obvious to them that it was okay.”
Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, 16, the three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped on June 12 and whose bodies were found on June 30. (photo credit: IDF/AP)

Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, 16, the three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped on June 12 and whose bodies were found on June 30. (photo credit: IDF/AP)

Naftali Fraenkel, 16, Eyal Yifrach, 19, and Gil-ad Shaar, 16, were abducted and killed by Hamas-linked terrorists on June 12 in the West Bank. Their bodies were uncovered in Halhul, near Hebron, last week after an 18-day search. Israel believes Hamas members Marwan Kawasme and Amer Abu Aysha, both from Hebron, are responsible, but the terror group denied its involvement and the two have yet to be apprehended.

Hours after the three were laid to rest on Tuesday afternoon, 16-year-old East Jerusalem resident Muhammed Abu Khdeir was snatched and, according to Palestinian sources, burnt to death. His charred body was found in the Jerusalem Forest Wednesday morning.

Police arrested six Jewish suspects Sunday, a number of them minors, in connection with the case. According to Hebrew media reports, one of the suspects confessed to the crime, implicating a number of others

Bibi, Take Back The Weapons!

By David Rubin7/6/2014, 1:07 PM

via Blog: David Rubin, Bibi, Take Back The Weapons! – Arutz Sheva.

Deputy Education Minister: Restraint is a Scandal

Deputy Education Minister Avi Wortzman calls for an end to Israel’s restraint in the wake of the endless rocket fire from Gaza.

By Shimon Cohen and Elad BenariFirst Publish: 7/7/2014, 1:13 AM

via Deputy Education Minister: Restraint is a Scandal – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva.

Deputy Education Minister Avi Wortzman (Jewish Home) said on Sunday that he agreed with comments by Be’er Sheva Mayor Rubik Danilovich, who criticized the conduct of the government over its weak response to the rocket fire from Gaza.

Danilovich had said earlier on Sunday that the government would have responded with much more force had the rocket fire targeted Tel Aviv.

“I totally agree,” Wortzman, himself a resident of Be’er Sheva, told Arutz Sheva. “One million citizens have become hostages of Hamas and the government responds weakly. What is happening here is unacceptable. Hamas must understand that it will not pay off for it to continue firing rockets.”

“The role of the state is to protect its citizens and at the moment it is doing so feebly,” he continued. “People are not willing to accept this reality. Our children’s routines are interrupted, they live in fear. Children are not our soldiers.”

“They say that restraint is discretion. That’s not true,” said Wortzman. “Restraint is a scandal and a disregard for citizens. It’s that simple.”

He called for a serious military campaign on Gaza, adding, “A policy of targeted killings is required. It’s unthinkable that Hamas leaders will go on with their regular routines, Gaza families will go on with their regular routines, while children in Sderot, Be’er Sheva, Ashkelon and Eshkol will live in fortified rooms. A sovereign state cannot abandon its people. ”

Asked if he agreed with Danilovich’s remarks that the government’s response would be much harsher if rockets were fired on Tel Aviv, Worzman replied, “Unfortunately I have to agree with him. I feel the rocket fire on the south is not shocking enough and not rushing the cabinet into immediate action. I turn to my friends in the Likud and ask, ‘Where are you? Where is the Prime Minister?’ It’s his responsibility. Millions of people are suffering here.”

The Home Front Command and IDF announced earlier Sunday that a total of 110 rockets have hit Israel over the past five days, bringing the total this month to 135.

Of those, 21 were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

Several ministers and MKs have called for Israel to retake or attack Gaza and institute a “zero tolerance” policy against terrorism over the weekend.

No place in Israel for Abu Khdeir’s killers, Netanyahu says

While condemning racist ‘mentality’ that led to Muhammed Abu Khdeir’s killing, PM charges that ‘on the other side, city squares are named in honor of such murderers’

By Haviv Rettig Gur July 6, 2014, 9:23 pm

via No place in Israel for Abu Khdeir’s killers, Netanyahu says | The Times of Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned on Sunday evening the kidnapping-murder of 16-year-old Muhammed Abu Khdeir, saying that Israeli society had no place for the Jewish extremists suspected to be behind the slaying.

Speaking to the media outside the home of the parents of Naftali Fraenkel, one of three Jewish teens murdered by Hamas-affiliated Palestinians last month, Netanyahu vowed the full brunt of the law would be brought to bear against Abu Khdeir’s murderers, while criticizing Palestinian society for honoring terrorists on their side.

“Such murderers have no place in Israeli society,” he said of Abu Khdeir’s killers, who are thought to have acted to avenge the kidnapping and killing of Fraenkel, Gil-ad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach.

“I promise you that we will bring the full force of the law to bear against the perpetrators of this horrific crime, which deserves every sort of condemnation and rejection,” he said.

Netanyahu went on to say, however, “This is a difference between us and our neighbors. There, murderers are received as heroes, and city squares are named in their honor. That isn’t the only difference between us. The inciters among us we put on trial, while incitement in the Palestinian Authority takes place in official media outlets, in the education system, incitement centered on the call to destroy the state of Israel.”

Earlier in the day, six Jewish extremists were arrested in connection with last week’s killing of Abu Khdeir, which set off days of rioting in Jerusalem and northern Israel.

Netanyahu sent his condolences to the Abu Khdeir family and also condemned the outburst of online racist comments by Jews in the wake of the June 30 discovery of the bodies of the three Jewish teens.

“We don’t distinguish between [Palestinian] terror and [Jewish] terror, and will deal severely with both. I don’t distinguish between incitement and incitement in the state of Israel. Just as I condemn with all my strength cries of ‘death to the Jews,’ I condemn cries of ‘death to the Arabs.’ When I heard about the Israeli student, who after the murder [of the Jewish teens] wrote on the Internet, ‘3-0 to the Palestinians, and we’re not even in the World Cup,’ I was shaken by the evil [in the statement].

“It is this same evil, the same mentality, which led to the murder of the youth from Shuafat [Abu Khdeir],” Netanyahu said. “We won’t let the extremists, no matter what side they’re from, ignite the region and lead to bloodshed. We cannot accept and we will oppose ‘price tag’ attacks [by Jewish extremists], and we oppose equally firebombs and stones and barricading roads [on the part of Israeli Arabs and East Jerusalem Palestinians]. We will act with all the means at our disposal to enforce the law.”

While he condemned the apparent racist motive behind Abu Khdeir’s brutal murder – forensic evidence indicates Abu Khdeir was likely burned alive by his killers – Netanyahu also demanded that the Palestinian Authority act swiftly to help locate the suspects in the murder of the Jewish teens – as Israel did with Abu Khdeir’s alleged killers.

“We know well who is responsible for the murder of Gil-ad, Naftali and Eyal, and we will get to them. The murderers left territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority, and returned there. Therefore it is the Authority’s responsibility to do everything to locate them, just like we’ve done, just as Israel’s security forces discovered in a few short days the murderers of the youth Muhammed Abu Khdeir.”
‘Shocking and unacceptable’

Several ministers also condemned the kidnapping-murder by Jewish extremists following the announcement Sunday of the arrest of the suspected perpetrators.

“This was a shocking and unacceptable act which any sane person, certainly in a strong and democratic country such as the State of Israel, must strongly condemn,” Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said in a statement.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid said on Sunday that Israelis “must all feel ashamed over the facts being uncovered in the case of the murdered Arab youth. The state of Israel can’t continue with business as usual in the face of the horrifying murder of an innocent Arab youth by Jewish murderers. There is no difference between [Jewish] blood and [Arab] blood.”

Lapid called on law enforcement agencies to “deal decisively and aggressively with the murderers,” and on Israelis “to work to eradicate the extremism in our midst.”

Naftali Bennett, from the nationalist Jewish Home party, called the killing “terrible, immoral and anti-Jewish.” He added that the killers should be prosecuted as terrorists.

Condemning the foul murder, Eitan Cabel, chair of the opposition Labor party’s Knesset faction declared that, “If this does not become a foundational turning point [to change Israel for the better], we might as well close down the country.”

In his Sunday statement, Netanyahu called “on all sides to act responsibly, not to carry out any rash actions.”

He commended “the speed with which [Israeli security services] solved the murder of Muhammed Abu Khdeir.”

And he praised the arrest of a suspect in the murder of Afula resident Shelley Dadon in May. “The suspect is a resident of I’billin in the Galilee. With him, too, we will deal severely, to the full extent of the law.”

“The strength of the state of Israel depends on its being a law-abiding state, and anyone who breaks the law will encounter a decisive response. Murder is murder. Incitement is incitement. And we will respond to both aggressively,” he vowed.

“It is important at this moment to unite, to behave according to our values as a Jewish and democratic state. Together we will defeat every effort to undermine the quiet and security of all Israel’s citizens,” he concluded.

Defense minister calls for Jewish killers to be treated as terrorists

Moshe Ya’alon ‘embarrassed, horrified’ at Arab teen’s murder by suspected Jewish extremists; yeshiva head calls for killers to be put to death

By Times of Israel staff July 6, 2014, 11:35 pm

via Defense minister calls for Jewish killers to be treated as terrorists | The Times of Israel.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon condemned on Sunday the brutal kidnapping-murder last week of Palestinian teen Muhammed Abu Khdeir by suspected Jewish terrorists, saying the suspects would be treated as severely as Arab terrorists.

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“I am embarrassed and horrified at the cruel murder of the young Muhammed Abu Khdeir,” Ya’alon said in a statement posted to his Facebook page on Sunday evening.

“These debased murderers don’t represent the Jewish people or its values, and they must be treated as terrorists,” the defense minister said. “We will not allow Jewish terrorists from our midst to disrupt the fabric of the many different communities in the state of Israel, and to harm innocents just because they are Arabs.”

“We must battle the perpetrators [of such actions], and those who deploy them, with an iron fist.”

His comments followed similar condemnations from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other ministers and figures on the right wing, who have all come out strongly against the killing of Abu Khdeir, 16, thought to be in revenge for the slaying of three Israeli teens by Hamas-linked operatives last month.

“We will not allow extremists, it doesn’t matter from which side, to inflame the region and cause bloodshed,” Netanyahu said in a nationally televised statement. “Terror is terror… Murder is murder, incitement is incitement, and we will respond aggressively to both.”

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, from the nationalist Jewish Home party, called the killing “terrible, immoral and anti-Jewish,” and echoed Ya’alon’s demand that the killers be prosecuted as terrorists.

Education Minister Shay Piron, who is also a prominent national-religious rabbi, called the murder “an attack on the heart of Israeliness…the personification of evil and an attack on our very humanity.”

Piron urged that “the murderers’ fate be the fate of child murderers everywhere,” and vowed that the “education system will work to deepen the discourse of mutual respect and fight against incitement, hatred and racism.”

The head of the national-religious yeshiva in the settlement of Elon Moreh, Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, told the Walla news site that the killers should be put to death under Jewish law.

“Jewish law doesn’t take pity, when you are talking about a cruel murder. Not if you are talking about the murder of Jewish youths, or the murder of an Arab youth,” he said.

Six people were arrested Sunday in connection with the killing. Though they have been identified as Jewish extremists, police officials said they were not linked to a specific group. A police official told the news site Buzzfeed that the six were known to police and were all fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club, known for harboring extremist elements among its fan base.

MK Shaul Mofaz (Kadima), a former defense minister and one-time IDF chief of staff, also condemned the murder on Sunday, calling it “a terrible crime, a shame and a disgrace to Judaism and Jews.”

Jews “are taught to sanctify life, compassion and mercy. We are commanded to be a light onto the nations. The thought that an innocent youth was cruelly burned, while still alive, cleaves our hearts,” Mofaz said, also in a statement on his Facebook page.

“The State of Israel must bring justice to these murderers. And we, its citizens, must teach our children and grandchildren to be good human beings.”

President Shimon Peres said, “If a Jew kills they will be put to the court like any other criminal. There is no privilege, the law is equal to all and all are equal before the law. On that there is no compromise. We do not distinguish between blood and blood. The murder of a child is reprehensible, regardless of the religion or nationality of the child. It is our responsibility to secure life and to punish those who take it away from others.”

Peres repeated his call for an end to incitement and violence: “We must stop the incitement; it’s time to be respectful and to respect the law. It’s in our hands. We know where words can lead — to more sorrow, to more danger. It’s time for all of us to show restraint, to show understanding and let us as human beings, all of us, be true to our morality and to our hope of living together in peace.”

Several ministers condemned Abu Khdeir’s murder earlier in the day.

“This was a shocking and unacceptable act which any sane person, certainly in a strong and democratic country such as the State of Israel, must strongly condemn,” Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said Sunday afternoon.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement Sunday that Israelis “must all feel ashamed over the facts being uncovered in the case of the murdered Arab youth. The state of Israel can’t continue with business as usual in the face of the horrifying murder of an innocent Arab youth by Jewish murderers. There is no difference between [Jewish] blood and [Arab] blood.”

Lapid called on law enforcement agencies to “deal decisively and aggressively with the murderers,” and on Israelis “to work to eradicate the extremism in our midst.”

Abbas calls for international investigation of ‘settler violence’

PA president: Jewish attacks on Palestinians rose 41% since start of 2014 while Israel refuses to punish extremists

By Times of Israel staff July 6, 2014, 6:33 pm

via Abbas calls for international investigation of ‘settler violence’ | The Times of Israel.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas  called on Sunday for an international investigation into attacks against Palestinians by Jewish settlers and Israeli security forces.

During a meeting with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry in Ramallah on Sunday, Abbas called for the establishment of an international investigative committee to examine “the murder of the youth Muhammed Abu Khdeir, the assault [by Israeli border policemen] against his cousin, the killing of 16 Palestinians in the past two weeks and the continued kidnapping attempts.”

Palestinian media have reported several kidnapping attempts of Palestinians by Jewish extremists in the days since the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens, Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Fraenkel and Gil-ad Shaar, on June 12.

Tensions between Jews and Arabs were further inflamed with the kidnapping-murder last week of Abu Khdeir, a 16-year-old Palestinian from East Jerusalem, who police believe was burned alive by Jewish terrorists as a revenge attack for the murder of the Jewish teens.

According to Abbas, attacks against Palestinians by West Bank Jewish settlers “have increased 41 percent since the beginning of the year, and Israel’s government refuses to seriously investigate and punish these groups, especially when it comes to treating [Jewish groups] called ‘price tag’ as terror organizations.”

The Palestinian Authority was investigating every available avenue “to rein in the crimes of the settlers.”

In his meeting with Serry, Abbas also asked that international organizations classify extremist Jewish “price tag” groups as illegal terrorist organizations.

“I asked that international protection be given to the Palestinian people in all occupied Palestinian lands” against attacks by Jewish extremists and Israeli security forces, Abbas told Palestinian media following the meeting.