Israeli Forces Thwart Smuggling of 32 Handguns Near Jordanian Border

Algemeiner Staff

Twenty-two handguns confiscated by Israeli forces during a thwarted smuggling attempt in the Jordan Valley on January 8, 2023. Photo: IDF

Israeli forces confiscated 22 handguns after busting a smuggling attempt in the Jordan Valley on Sunday, days after seizing 10 other firearms along the border.

IDF soldiers noticed the suspect near the town of Yafit in the West Bank, and apprehended him while he was carrying the weapons, the military said. The individual was identified as a resident of Jericho, a West Bank city under control of the Palestinian Authority.

The incidents comes shortly after two other suspects carrying 10 handguns were spotted and apprehended by IDF soldiers on Thursday near Kibbutz Ashdot Ya’akov, near the Jordanian border.

The number of weapons confiscated by Israeli forces during smuggling attempts from Jordan, which shares a nearly 200-mile border with Israel and the West Bank, has been on the uptick, with some 300 weapons seized in the first nine months of 2022, according to the military. It is similar to the total number of weapons captured along the border in 2020 and 2021 combined.

Israeli authorities have sought to stem the flow of smuggled weapons in a bid to prevent them from being used by criminals who operate in the Israeli Arab sector, which has been affected by disproportionate rates of violent crime in recent years, or Palestinian terrorist groups in the West Bank.

Israel must not let the IDF exclude women – opinion

ZINA RAKHAMILOVA

We are already heading in a dangerous direction with female representation in this new government. Will we allow this to happen in the IDF as well?.

IDF CHIEF of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi speaks at a conference of the Institute for National Security Studies, in Tel Aviv last week. Last year, Kohavi condemned instances of sexual assault and vowed to root them out, but not much has changed, says the writer. / (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)

Over the last couple of weeks, Israeli women have taken to social media to voice their anger and frustration over the recent letter from senior religious Zionist rabbis discussing the issue of sexual harassment in the Israel Defense Forces.

As some of us may know, Israeli women serve two mandatory years in the IDF. The army makes exemptions for medical and mental health reasons or if the person comes from a sector of the country that isn’t required to do mandatory services.

The army also gives women special exemptions if they are married or pregnant and for religious purposes. Yet, a growing voice in Israeli religious society is pushing for women to opt out of the army and instead choose National Service.

But why?

Female IDF soldiers of the Bardales Battalion (credit: HADAS PARUSH/FLASH90)

Does the IDF have an internal problem with women?

It seems the IDF has an internal problem that it needs to address. A report from 2021 says that a third of Israeli female soldiers experience sexual harassment during their mandatory service. A State Comptroller’s Report found that less than half of the Israeli female soldiers who experienced harassment filed a complaint. Of those, 44% said their complaints were not handled properly, and 26% stated that their complaints were not handled at all. Unfortunately, this isn’t unusual in what are considered “male-dominated” environments.

“Any attack on sexual grounds, in speech or deed, is an attack on human dignity and constitutes a severe breach [of army protocol].”

Aviv Kohavi

Last year, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi condemned instances of sexual assault and vowed to root them out of the army. Kohavi stated, “Any attack on sexual grounds, in speech or deed, is an attack on human dignity and constitutes a severe breach [of army protocol].” Kohavi vowed to educate and instill values, ensure accountability and punish severely when sexual assault occurs in the future.

Not much changed in the year since Kohavi made his vow.

One would assume that given these issues, leaders in Israel would do everything in their power to ensure that the army becomes a safer place for women and would push for accountability in any harassment. Yet, a public letter published by these rabbis from the religious Zionist camp stated that “for generations, the Rabbinate Council has determined that women should not serve in the army,” and that “conscription of women mekalkel et hashura” (lit., spoils the line). They went even further to say that, because of sexual harassment, women should not serve in the IDF.

I must be transparent; I never served in the IDF. I moved to Israel at 27, after the age cutoff for new immigrants. So while I am writing about this issue with limited experience in the IDF, this is about highlighting a problem and giving a voice and platform to female soldiers whom I respect and admire and who are deeply upset that this is how religious leaders are handling sexual harassment.

It’s always easier to blame the victim than it is to address a problem in a system.

The letter from these rabbis comes at a time when more religious girls are enlisting in the IDF, despite the historical opposition or stigma. A colleague of mine, Faran Raz, who served as a female combat commander in the Search & Rescue Unit, states, “We, female fighters who served in the IDF, risked our physical and mental safety to protect each and every citizen of our country, including the rabbis who signed the letter. They claim that we “spoiled,” but we foiled terrorist attacks, served in tense areas and contributed greatly to the security of Israel.”

“We, female fighters who served in the IDF, risked our physical and mental safety to protect each and every citizen of our country, including the rabbis who signed the letter. They claim that we ‘spoiled,’ but we foiled terrorist attacks, served in tense areas and contributed greatly to the security of Israel.”

Faran Raz

Imagine giving up years of your life to protect your people and country and then being told that your mere presence “spoils” the army.

Faran continued, “Although I finished my military service as a fighter, unfortunately, I still feel the need to fight for our basic rights as women here… this letter is dangerous. Words lead to actions, and I can’t imagine Israel without women serving in the army.”

We are already heading in a dangerous direction with female representation in this new government. Will we allow this to happen in the IDF as well? Several leaders in our new government oppose women serving in the IDF, even though many play a vital role in the safety of the State of Israel.

It is irresponsible to downplay the role that women contribute to the army. The Jerusalem Post just published a beautiful piece on Israeli women in the air force who are breaking the glass ceiling. One story describes the journey of Lt.-Col. M. who has worked for the Israel Air Force for 22 years and is one of the highest-ranking women in the 122nd “Nachshon” Squadron, serving as an airborne ground-control interceptor. Lt.-Col. M has been protecting Israel’s skies for 22 years; she defends against hostile infiltrations, and identified two Hezbollah drones this past summer.

Hers is one of many stories of women playing an integral role in the safety of the Jewish state through the IDF.

While the IDF takes on a strong moral code of conduct, like anything managed by humans it is far from perfect. While those who seek to harm the Jewish state will try to weaponize these issues against Israel, it should not stop us from trying to address and better the situation.

The IDF must deal with the issue of sexual assault. Moreover, as a society, we must reject the comments made by religious leaders and politicians that women “spoil the line” and label it as discrimination. The essence of those statements does not reflect Judaism’s view on women.

As a new immigrant, I am proud of my female friends and colleagues in Israel who have accomplished so much. Women in Israel have made significant contributions to the army and the greater Israeli society.

While Israel has done a lot to advance the status of women, we still have a long way to go. I hope we can break barriers in Israel to shape a better future so that when it’s time for our daughters to enlist, they will be in safer hands.

The writer is a social media activist with over 10 years of experience working for Israeli, Jewish and cause-based NGOs. She is the co-founder and COO of Social Lite Creative, a digital marketing firm specializing in geopolitics.

In Grim 2022 Totals, IDF Counts 31 Killed in Terrorist Attacks, Uptick in Shootings And Firebombings

Algemeiner Staff

Israelis gather to pay their respects outside a bar which was the site of a fatal shooting attack in central Tel Aviv, Israel April 8, 2022. REUTERS/Corinna Kern

More people were killed in terrorist attacks in Israel and the West Bank in 2022 than during the three previous years combined, amid a wave of violence that also saw an uptick in shooting, stone throwing, and firebombing attacks, according to figures released by the Israeli military ahead of the new year.

The annual totals, collected on December 18, indicated that shooting attacks in the West Bank more than quadrupled in the past year, growing from 61 incidents in 2021 to 285 in 2022. An uptick was also recorded in stone throwing attacks in the West Bank territories, with more than 7,500 recorded in 2022, a surge of 37% from the previous year and double the amount recorded in 2019. Molotov cocktail attacks increased more modestly, from 1,022 in 2021 to 1,268 in 2022

The amount of stabbing attacks in the West Bank went down slightly, from 18 in 2021 to 14 in 2022, while the number of weapons seized grew by nearly a quarter, from 397 arms confiscated in 2021 to 493 in 2022.

More than 2,600 terrorism suspects were arrested in the West Bank in 2022, an almost 15% increase from the previous year. Many of these arrests were undertaken as part of Operation Breakwater, a counter-terrorism effort launched by the Israeli military in the West Bank in late March, following an escalation in deadly attacks by Palestinian and Arab-Israeli perpetrators.

In the past year, 31 people were killed in terrorist attacks across Israel and in the West Bank, 24 of whom were civilians, according to the military. More than 100 others were injured, according to figures shared by the Shin Bet internal security service and public data. The figure marks a severe uptick from fatality numbers in recent years, which totaled four in 2021, three in 2020, and five in 2019.

According to figures shared by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 146 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem between January and December 19, 2022. Most died during military raids and clashes in Jenin and Nablus, two Palestinian cities in the West Bank, the UN said. The Israeli military has stated that “the vast majority of those killed … were involved in terrorist activity that posed a direct threat to human life.”

In November, the IDF said that it thwarted an estimated 500 terrorist attacks since the beginning of the year. Six Israeli civilians — Shalom Sofer, Michael Ledigin, Tamir Avichai, Moti (Mordecai) Ashkenazi, Aryeh Shechopek, and Tadasa Tashume Ben Ma’ada — died that same month following attacks carried out by Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Lt. Col. Aviv Kochavi, the Israeli military’s outgoing chief of staff, said in September that the increase in terrorism stems, in part, from the failure of the Palestinian Authority to establish governance in certain areas of the West Bank, turning them into “fertile ground for the growth of terrorism.”

Australian Actress Ruby Rose Visits Israel, Claps Back at ‘Free Palestine’ Supporters on Social Media

Shiryn Ghermezian

Actress Ruby Rose. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Australian actress Ruby Rose is currently in Israel visiting her friend and costar, Israeli actress Rona-Lee Shimon, and is not letting anti-Israel supporters on social media ruin her trip.

The former Batwoman stars in the action thriller Dirty Angels with Shimon, who is also a cast member of the hit Israeli series Fauda, and has been touring the Jewish state with the Israeli actress. On Tuesday, Rose posted on her Instagram page a carousel of photos from her travels so far in Israel and in the caption said that from the moment that she met Shimon, “I knew that we would become deep, dear friends.” She told her 20 million Instagram followers that the actress has become like family to her and added, “I feel so lucky to be considered as such by this angel.”

Shimon responded in the comments by writing: “My sweet angel! I feel so blessed we got to meet on our film. You went straight into my heart. I love your gentle loving heart so much. You literally had me at Hello.”

Rose’s Instagram post was also bombarded with messages from anti-Israel supporters who wrote “Free Palestine” and criticized her for visiting “apartheid Israel.”

In response to one such comment, Rose replied, “I am visiting a friend. Not making a political statement.” Since then, the Australian actress and model has also shared on her Instagram Stories multiple posts about antisemitic attacks and anti-Jewish incidents that took place in 2022.

Israel Daily News – January 04, 2023

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