Israeli Chief Rabbi: Earthquake Rescue Teams Should Work Through Jewish Sabbath

Algemeiner Staff

Boxes of humanitarian aid shipped by the Israeli military to assist survivors of the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Photo: Reuters/IDF Handout

As the death toll from Monday’s devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria passed the 20,000 mark on Thursday, Israel’s chief rabbi issued a letter reminding Israeli Jewish rescue workers to continue their operations through Friday night and Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, in accordance with pikuach nefesh, the halachic concept that the saving of a life overrules the commandments in Jewish law.

In his message, Chief Rabbi David Lau urged that during the “holy shabbat,” field hospitals should “continue to function normally.”

He emphasized: “Wherever there is any chance of saving lives and finding survivors, the engineering team must continue its activities.”

Lau quoted from the Biblical Book of Isaiah as he offered a “prayer that more robbery and destruction shall not be heard in the land.”

Israel’s military has dispatched 380 of its personnel to Turkey, including search-and-rescue and medical teams. The Jewish state has also established a field hospital in the city of Kahramanmaraş, the center of the quakes’ destruction.

Earlier this week, Turkey’s chief rabbi issued a prayer on Tuesday for those affected by the destruction.

“Grant patience, fortitude and courage to our brothers and sisters who are currently waiting to be rescued under the rubble, and bestow strength, strength and success to the officials who sacrificed to bring them back to their families and society as soon as possible,” Rabbi Isak Haleva said in his message of prayer.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that survivors of the earthquakes could soon face new difficulties.

“It’s a second disaster looming unless we act very, very fast, meaning shelter, food, water, and medicine because it’s freezing cold,” Dr Hans Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, told the BBC.

A 1000-year-old high five – what’s the mystery behind this ancient hand-print?

ILTV Israel News

‘Fauda’ Season 4 Becomes Most Watched Netflix Series in Lebanon; Makes Top 10 List in 21 Countries

Shiryn Ghermezian

The cast of “Fauda” season 4. Photo: Elia Spinopolo.

The fourth season of the hit Israeli television series Fauda is currently the most streamed Netflix show in Lebanon and has made Netflix’s top ten list of the most watched non-English shows around the world less than a week since its premiere on the streaming service.

Season four of Fauda, which premiered on Netflix on Jan. 20, was the seventh most watched foreign language show on Netflix from Jan. 16-22. It is also among the top 10 non-English television shows in 21 countries on Netflix, including Jordan, Qatar, Kenya, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Serbia.

The 12-episode action series shows Doron, an undercover Israeli operative who was forced out of his combat unit, return from retirement to hunt for a Palestinian terrorist he thought he’d killed. The operation takes him and his team around Lebanon, the Israeli city of Ramla, Brussels, and the Palestinian city of Jenin in the West Bank.

The show, which is Israel’s longest-running action series, was created by Lior Raz, who plays Doron, and Avi Issacharoff. The latter said last year that every television studio turned him down when he first approached them with the pitch for Fauda more than a decade ago.

Returning cast members include Itzik Cohen, Rona-Lee Shimon, Idan Amedi, Doron Ben David, Yaacov Zada Daniel, and Meirav Shirom. New actors in season four include Inbar Lavi, Mark Ivanir, Amir Boutrous, Lucy Ayoub and Loai Noufi. The show has been streaming on Netflix since 2016.

Israel Daily News – February 06, 2023

ILTV Israel News

IDF thwarts Hamas cell behind attempted shooting attack near Jericho

TZVI JOFFRE

The aim of the raid was to break up a Hamas terrorist cell in the West Bank refugee camp of Aqabat Jaber, Jericho.
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IDF soldiers operate in the West Bank during Operation Break the Wave, February 2, 2023 / (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

A number of Hamas terrorists were killed in an IDF raid near Jericho on Monday after a Hamas cell attempted to carry out a shooting attack at a restaurant near Jericho late last month.

The attempted attack targeted a restaurant in Vered Yeriho on January 28, when two terrorists attempted to fire at a restaurant in which 30 people were present. The terrorists’ weapons jammed and the two fled back to Jericho.

The Shin Bet and IDF Intelligence Directorate discovered that the two had barricaded themselves in an apartment in the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp near Jericho and intended to continue conducting attacks.

New Hamas cell launches in Jericho area

Last week, a new terrorist cell affiliated with Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades announced its establishment in the Aqabat Jaber camp. The cell, calling itself the Aqabat Jaber battalion, has conducted armed clashes with Israeli forces operating in the Jericho area.

Israeli forces had attempted to arrest the members of the cell behind the attempted attack on Saturday, but failed to do so. A number of other suspects who are part of the Hamas cell were arrested in that raid and at least 13 Palestinians were injured in the clashes.

IDF soldiers besiege the homes of Palestinian terror suspects near Jericho, in the West Bank, on February 4, 2023 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

On Monday morning, armed clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli forces as they entered Jericho and the Aqabat Jaber camp, with a number of Palestinians reportedly killed and at least three wounded, according to Palestinian reports. No Israeli personnel were injured in the operation.

The bodies of the terrorists killed in the clashes have reportedly been seized by Israeli forces.

Senior Hamas official Shaker Amara was also arrested in Jericho on Monday morning, according to Palestinian reports. Amara has been detained and imprisoned by Israel on multiple occasions. Relatives of the terrorists who conducted the attempted attack were arrested in Jericho as well on Monday.

Palestinian media additionally claimed that terrorists in the area managed to down an Israeli drone, with video reportedly from the scene showing youths throwing bricks at a drone laying on the ground.

The raid was conducted by the IDF’s coed Lions of the Jordan Valley Battalion.

Haniyeh: ‘The enemy will not enjoy calm’

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh warned after the raid that Palestinian movements would continue to operate, stating “The succession of the enemy’s killing in the West Bank will be a disaster for him, and all international or regional interventions will not succeed in stopping the revolutionary tide of our people, and the enemy will not enjoy calm, and the days are debated as long as our people have a beating heart.”

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem warned that “Our people and their resistance will not delay in responding to this crime.”

Palestinians across the West Bank closed shops and schools in a strike on Monday and called to clash with Israeli forces near the Green Line.

Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir welcomed the IDF operation near Jericho on Monday, saying “a terrorist is a mortal and anyone who tries to harm the citizens of Israel knows that he will pay a heavy price for his activities and our security forces will reach him wherever he hides. The Israeli government will wage a stubborn and uncompromising war against terrorism and with God’s help we will bring security to the citizens of Israel.”

On Sunday evening, the Aqabat Jaber battalion launched “Days of Rage,” claiming that Israeli forces had closed roads around Jericho and set up restrictive checkpoints at the entrances to the city in the days since the attempted attack.

“The succession of the enemy’s killing in the West Bank will be a disaster for him, and all international or regional interventions will not succeed in stopping the revolutionary tide of our people, and the enemy will not enjoy calm, and the days are debated as long as our people have a beating heart.”

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit stated on Sunday that it had launched increased operations in the Jericho area, including more intensive checks of vehicles leaving the city, after the attempted shooting attack. The IDF stressed that there was no lockdown on Jericho and that traffic was flowing freely in and out of the city.