Arab Mobs Attack Israel on All Fronts
 |
| Hundreds storm the Israeli border from Lebanon. |
Jerusalem, May 15 – Tens of thousands of Arab protesters marking Palestinian Naqba Day (the day of the catastrophe) marched on Israel, from Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank today.
Reports said that numerous people of various ethnicities were killed and scores were wounded, including 13 members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as some 20,000 Syrians tried to enter Israeli territory and protests on the Lebanese border turned violent.
In Qalandia, a main Israel-West Bank crossing near Ramallah, some 600 Palestinians were violently rioting, hurling rocks and setting fires, Israel Radio reported. The IDF sealed off parts of the Golan Heights but hundreds of Syrians managed to cross into Israel.
Officials believe Iran may have orchestrated the mobs in Syria and Lebanon to attack Israel"We hope that the quiet will return...but we are ready to protect our borders," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a broadcast speech.
"The people who are protesting are not arguing about the borders of 1967 but the creation of a Jewish state," he added.
In Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of Hamas in Gaza, told thousands of worshippers to pray for an end to Israel this morning.
"Palestinians mark the Naqba with great hope of bringing to an end the Zionist project in Palestine," Haniyeh told 10,000 people at Gaza City's al-Omari, the AP reported via The Jerusalem Post.
Palestinian demonstrators attempted to cross into Israel from Gaza. Similar incidents were reported in the West Bank, with Qalandia being the main hub for attacks on Israeli targets.
As many as 1,000 busloads of Lebanese and Palestinians living in Lebanon descended on the Israeli frontier where mobs began hurling rocks over the border.
Massive demonstrations also turned into fiery riots over the weekend in East Jerusalem in areas such as Issawiya, Ras al-Amoud, Beit Hanina and Silwan. People threw rocks and torched cars.
“It was chaos,” said Garrett Khoury, an American student at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University who was a bystander in Issawiya on Saturday.
“People were confronting the police along the road. About 500 people were gathered and they were firing bottle rockets and lighting tires on fire, even pouring oil on the road and lighting it on fire,” Khoury added.
Soldiers and officers were given “specific orders” to avoid using live fire, the International Herald Tribune reported.
Meanwhile, a suspected terror attack occurred this morning when a 22-year old Arab Israel from Kfar Qasim, near the Israeli-West Bank border, drove his truck into traffic this morning near an elementary school. He killed Aviv Morag, a 29-year old from Givatayim, near Tel Aviv, and injured others.
Iran-backed Hamas is a terrorist organization that has controlled Gaza since 2007 and whose mission is to “kill the Jews” and praises Osama bin Laden as a “holy warrior.”
Haniyeh’s call for Israel’s destruction came less than two weeks after Hamas joined with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party to create a Palestinian government.
Talking Heads available for comment on the infiltration of the Israel’s border with Syria and other demonstrations.
Contact Sharon on 054 807 9078 / sharons@theisraelproject.org
1) Einat Wilf MK – Available from now by phone or Tel Aviv studios
Dr. Einat Wilf is a Member of Knesset in the Independence faction. She serves on the Foreign Affairs and Defense, Education, and House committees.
Dr. Wilf is the author of two books that explore key issues in Israeli society. Her first book, “My Israel, Our Generation”, about Israel’s past and future from the perspective of the younger generation, was published in Hebrew in 2003 and in English in 2006. Her second book, "Back to Basics: How to Save Israeli Education (at no additional cost) ", which offers a detailed and feasible policy proposal for saving Israel's ailing education system, was published in Hebrew in 2008 by Yedioth Achronot.
Previously, Dr. Wilf served as a Senior Fellow with the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, wrote a weekly column in the Israeli daily newspaper ‘Israel Hayom’, taught social entrepreneurship at Sapir College, was a member of the President's Conference Steering Committee, a Foreign Policy Advisor to Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, a strategic consultant with McKinsey & Company in New York City and a General Partner with Koor Corporate Venture Capital in Israel.
Born and raised in Israel, Dr. Wilf served as an Intelligence Officer in the Israel Defense Forces and holds a BA in Government and Fine Arts from Harvard University, an MBA from INSEAD in France, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Cambridge.
2) Jonathan Spyer – Available by phone until 8pm tonight
Jonathan Spyer is a senior researcher at the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Herzliya, Israel, and a columnist at the Jerusalem Post newspaper. Spyer holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a Masters' Degree in Middle East Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He fought in the war in Lebanon in summer 2006.
Between 1996 and 2000, Spyer was an employee of the Israel Prime Minister's Office. His articles have also appeared in the Guardian, Haaretz, London Times, Washington Times, Toronto Globe and Mail, the Australian, British Journal of Middle East Studies, Israel Affairs and Middle East Review of International Affairs. His first book 'The Transforming Fire: the rise of the Israel-Islamist conflict' will be published in
November by Continuum.
3) Col (Res.) Miri Eisin – Available by phone this afternoon. Studios this evening
Miri Eisin (http://mirieisin.com) is a retired colonel who served for 20 years in the Israeli intelligence community. She served with distinction in various positions including combat units (at the brigade and division levels), the production department (in general headquarters and the northern regional command) and as assistant to the director of military intelligence. From April - May 2002, during Operation Defensive Shield, she served as a special spokeswoman.
Miri was assigned the position of special spokeswoman for the Israeli government during Hezbollah's war against Israel in July 2006 before taking on the post as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's foreign media advisor (Sept 2006 -Dec 2007).
Miri holds a BA from Tel Aviv University in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies and a MA in Security Studies from Haifa University. In addition, she is a graduate of the Israeli National Defense College and the Staff College. She is married and has three children.
4) Dr. Efraim Sneh – Available by phone. Tel Aviv studios this evening
A veteran soldier and statesman, internationally-renowned spokesperson for Israel, and prominent architect of Israel's peace initiatives, Dr. Ephraim Sneh has dedicated his life to defending the State of Israel while seeking opportunities to fortify Israel's future through peace with her neighbors.
Both as general in the Israeli Defense Forces and a strong leader in the Knesset, Dr. Sneh has been one of the most influential voices on the need for Israel's military superiority, the existential dangers posed by rogue states like Iran, and the strategic value of peaceful co-existence with the Palestinians.
Full biography: http://www.sneh.org.il/eng/articles/siteArticle.asp?aid=79
Contact Sharon on 054 807 9078 / sharons@theisraelproject.org
1) Einat Wilf MK – Available from now by phone or Tel Aviv studios
Dr. Einat Wilf is a Member of Knesset in the Independence faction. She serves on the Foreign Affairs and Defense, Education, and House committees.
Dr. Wilf is the author of two books that explore key issues in Israeli society. Her first book, “My Israel, Our Generation”, about Israel’s past and future from the perspective of the younger generation, was published in Hebrew in 2003 and in English in 2006. Her second book, "Back to Basics: How to Save Israeli Education (at no additional cost) ", which offers a detailed and feasible policy proposal for saving Israel's ailing education system, was published in Hebrew in 2008 by Yedioth Achronot.
Previously, Dr. Wilf served as a Senior Fellow with the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, wrote a weekly column in the Israeli daily newspaper ‘Israel Hayom’, taught social entrepreneurship at Sapir College, was a member of the President's Conference Steering Committee, a Foreign Policy Advisor to Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, a strategic consultant with McKinsey & Company in New York City and a General Partner with Koor Corporate Venture Capital in Israel.
Born and raised in Israel, Dr. Wilf served as an Intelligence Officer in the Israel Defense Forces and holds a BA in Government and Fine Arts from Harvard University, an MBA from INSEAD in France, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Cambridge.
2) Jonathan Spyer – Available by phone until 8pm tonight
Jonathan Spyer is a senior researcher at the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Herzliya, Israel, and a columnist at the Jerusalem Post newspaper. Spyer holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a Masters' Degree in Middle East Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He fought in the war in Lebanon in summer 2006.
Between 1996 and 2000, Spyer was an employee of the Israel Prime Minister's Office. His articles have also appeared in the Guardian, Haaretz, London Times, Washington Times, Toronto Globe and Mail, the Australian, British Journal of Middle East Studies, Israel Affairs and Middle East Review of International Affairs. His first book 'The Transforming Fire: the rise of the Israel-Islamist conflict' will be published in
November by Continuum.
3) Col (Res.) Miri Eisin – Available by phone this afternoon. Studios this evening
Miri Eisin (http://mirieisin.com) is a retired colonel who served for 20 years in the Israeli intelligence community. She served with distinction in various positions including combat units (at the brigade and division levels), the production department (in general headquarters and the northern regional command) and as assistant to the director of military intelligence. From April - May 2002, during Operation Defensive Shield, she served as a special spokeswoman.
Miri was assigned the position of special spokeswoman for the Israeli government during Hezbollah's war against Israel in July 2006 before taking on the post as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's foreign media advisor (Sept 2006 -Dec 2007).
Miri holds a BA from Tel Aviv University in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies and a MA in Security Studies from Haifa University. In addition, she is a graduate of the Israeli National Defense College and the Staff College. She is married and has three children.
4) Dr. Efraim Sneh – Available by phone. Tel Aviv studios this evening
A veteran soldier and statesman, internationally-renowned spokesperson for Israel, and prominent architect of Israel's peace initiatives, Dr. Ephraim Sneh has dedicated his life to defending the State of Israel while seeking opportunities to fortify Israel's future through peace with her neighbors.
Both as general in the Israeli Defense Forces and a strong leader in the Knesset, Dr. Sneh has been one of the most influential voices on the need for Israel's military superiority, the existential dangers posed by rogue states like Iran, and the strategic value of peaceful co-existence with the Palestinians.
Full biography: http://www.sneh.org.il/eng/articles/siteArticle.asp?aid=79
5) Dr. Ely Karmon - Available by phone
Dr. Karmon is a Senior Research Scholar at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy and Strategy at IDC. He lectures on Terrorism and Guerrilla in Modern Times at The Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, at the IDF Military College, and at the National Security Seminar of the Galilee College.
Dr. Karmon serves as an advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, is a member of The Atlantic Forum of Israel, and is involved in NATO workshops on terrorism and on the Mediterranean Dialogue. He is a member of the International Permanent Observatory (IPO) on Security Measures During Majors Events at the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), Turin, Italy. Served as advisor of the Anti-Semitism Monitoring Forum of the Israeli Government Secretariat.
Dr. Karmon's fields of research include international terrorism, WMD terrorism, political violence and extremism, and the strategic influence of terrorism and subversion in the Middle East and worldwide. He has written extensively on international terrorism, and has participated in numerous international conferences. His book Coalitions between Terrorist Organizations: Revolutionaries, Nationalists, and Islamists was released in May 2005 by Brill Academic Publishers (Leiden and Boston).
| | |
No comments:
Post a Comment