Israel Update 14.9.23

During these difficult times in Israel, a reminder that domestic politics are outside the scope of this Update.

I wish Shana Tovah to those of my readers who are celebrating the Jewish New Year. HRG

TERRORIST INCIDENTS

A Palestinian from eastern Jerusalem wielding a butcher’s knife seriously wounded an Israeli man in his 50s and lightly wounded a 17-year-old tourist on 6/9 in the Old City of Jerusalem. The assailant was apprehended by security forces. Read more here

A Palestinian woman from the Jenin area attempted to stab an Israeli police officer in Jerusalem’s Old City 4/9. However, the knife did not penetrate the protective vest he was wearing. The officer subdued the assailant.Read more here

Two Arab Israelis were arrested on Aug. 3 at the Jordanian border with four handguns and four explosive devices in their possession. They had been recruited by Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives and were also found to be involved in transferring funds and weapons to terrorists in a refugee camp near Tulkarm.Read more here

Terrorists affiliated with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed militia of PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, opened fire at a new Arab school in the Kafr Aqab neighbourhood of Jerusalem on Wednesday because it is using the curriculum of Israeli Arab schools.Read more here

Palestinians in the northern West Bank attempted to launch a rocket at a nearby Israeli town Ram-On on Sunday. The IDF said the launcher was found northwest of Jenin, and that the rocket did not land in Israeli territory. Read more here

Two Israeli men were lightly wounded when their car came under fire while driving in the West Bank town of Huwara on Tuesday.Read more here

GAZA BORDER

On 1/9 hundreds of Gaza’s rioted on the border with Israel, hurling explosive devices and attempting to break through the security barrier. A report had claimed that Hamas was considering a resumption of regular attempts to storm the border, as occurred from March 2018 until the end of 2019.

Then dozens of Gazans rioted on 5/9, setting off a large explosive device and hurling grenades.

At least six Gazans were killed Wednesday after a bomb they attempted to detonate on the Israeli border during a riot blew up prematurely. During the riot, Gazans hurled a number of explosives and grenades at the border barrier.

COUNTER TERRORISM

Israeli security guards at the Kerem Shalom Crossing with Gaza recently found several kilograms of “high-quality” explosives hidden in a shipment of clothes being exported from Gaza to Israel which were intended for terror activity in the West Bank. Read more here

Israeli customs agents in Ashdod recently uncovered 16 tons of explosive material destined for Gaza during an inspection. The material was in two shipping containers weighing 54 tons, which were said to contain bags of plaster. However laboratory testing verified that the substance was ammonium chloride, used in the manufacture of rockets.Read more here

IRANIAN THREAT

The Israeli Defence Minister revealed that Iran is establishing an airport in southern Lebanon, 20 km. (12 miles) from the Israeli border, which is being used “for terror purposes.” Read more here

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly condemned Iranian-backed terror against Israel during a visit to Israel on Monday. “The UK and Israel work closely together to keep our people safe. I’ll be using my first visit…as foreign secretary to renew our close security partnership, in the face of unacceptable threats from the Iranian regime”.Read more here

UKRAINE

The Israeli Trauma Coalition which specialises in treatment of trauma has opened a new resilience centre in Odessa joining their four other centres in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Ternopil and Khmelnytskyi. Read more here

GREECE

Dozens of Greek and Israeli fighter pilots took part in a joint drill this week. The IDF stated that the exercise was intended to “improve operational and mental competence for long-range flights, refuelling, deep attacks, and to achieve air superiority.” Read more here

DEFENCE

Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems has signed an initial £20 million contract to supply the Trophy Active Protection System to the British military for their Challenger 3 main battle tank and other vehicles. Rafael has sold the system to the U.S., Germany and Norway, and it has been in use by the IDF for over a decade.
Read more here

Israel’s Elbit Systems has been awarded two contracts by a European country worth $200 million to supply artillery command and control and Hostile Fire Counter Attack (HFCA) solutions.Read more here

The IDF on Monday revealed new fireproof uniforms for its reconnaissance and special forces that have already saved lives. Read more here

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has unveiled its Rotem Alpha antitank, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), tactical loitering munition at the Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEI) trade show in London. Read more here

The Israel Air Force’s new Spark drone, announced on Monday, is specifically designed to enhance air-ground combat coordination. Read more here

THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (PA)

The Paris Mayor has revoked the Medal of the City of Paris awarded to P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas in 2015, due to his recent comments in which he expressed a “clear desire to deny the genocide to which the Jewish populations of Europe were victims at the hands of the Nazi regime.” Your comments “are contrary to our universal values and the historical truth of the Holocaust, so you can no longer claim…the highest distinction of Paris. I condemn your comments in the strongest possible terms; no cause can justify revisionism and negationism,” she wrote to Abbas. Read more here

Abbas’ remarks were also condemned by Britain and the EU.

IMAMS’ VISIT

Nine African-American imams recently visited Israel for a week, sponsored by the NGO Sharaka (“partnership” in Arabic), founded in 2020 in the wake of the Abraham Accords. When the group arrived at the Western Wall in Jerusalem they took time to pray. Imams wearing kufis, with their hands turned skywards, prayed side-by-side with Jewish men in skullcaps.Read more here

G20

President Joe Biden and his G20 allies on Saturday announced plans to build a rail and shipping corridor linking India with the Middle East and Europe via Israel. The project includes a rail link between Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.Read more here(Paywall)

SAUDI ARABIA

An Israeli delegation of nine, led by the head of Israel’s Antiquities Authority, visited Saudi Arabia as observers to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting. Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have diplomatic relations. Read more here

ISRAELI MEDICAL INNOVATION

Israeli scientists have created synthetic human embryo models without using egg, sperm or womb, in a feat that could impact research on fertility, tissue growth and drug testing, as well as improve science’s understanding of the first weeks of embryonic development. Read more here

An Israeli start-up AIVF has developed technology using artificial intelligence to select the most viable embryo for IVF implantation.Several clinics are preparing to introduce the treatment in the UK. The company already operates in the EU, US, Australia, India and Brazil. (paywall) Read more here

Israeli telehealth company TytoCare has signed a commercial collaboration agreement with Sompo’s digital arm Light Vortex to install and incorporate the startup’s remote medical examination products in nursing homes and the elderly care market throughout Japan. Read more here

FOOD-TECH

Israeli food tech startup SavorEat, a maker of 3D-printed, plant-based meat alternatives, is this week starting to serve up its kosher, vegan, gluten-free burger patties at the University of Denver, Colorado, cooked up by a robot chef. Read more here

KINETIC POWER BOOSTER FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Zooz Power, an Israel-based developer of an ultra-fast power booster for electric vehicles (EVs) that it has rolled out its first charging system in the United States. The company’s boosters can fully recharge batteries within 15 minutes. Read more here

SPORT

Israel’s under-17 flag football team won gold last Sunday in the Flag Football European Youth Championships held in Italy. Their achievement came despite forfeiting a match against Serbia which had been due to take place on Shabbat. Read more here

Disabled IDF veterans participated for the first time in the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf. Israel sent 20 veterans to compete in swimming, cycling, archery, table tennis and indoor rowing. The team won 5 medals including a gold and a silver in table tennis. Read more here Read more here

In qualifiers for UEFA’s European Football Championship 2024, Israel drew 1-1 with Romania and beat Belarus 1-0. Israel plays the group leaders Switzerland on October 12^th.Read more here Read more here

COMMENT & OPINION

The First Oslo Accord was signed 30 years ago on 13^th September 1993.

Ehud Yaari: After an Oval Office interview, President Clinton asked me why I was so skeptical. My answer was that I had not heard from Arafat what I had heard years before from Sadat: “No more war, no more bloodshed!” It was clear to me then that Arafat signed the Oslo accords to gain a foothold in the land. He had never considered a long-term compromise, giving up the “right of return” or the “armed struggle.” For him, it was no more than an armistice for a limited period…

As Prime Minister Rabin came to realize that the PLO was not the best counterpart, so should we now: the PLO has degenerated since Oslo and lost its strength. There are strong – though mostly silent – forces within Palestinian society who are disenchanted with “armed struggle” and who believe that cooperation with Israel is their preferred course. Read more here

Debbie Mohnblatt: Brig.-Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi…noted that since the Oslo Accords, the number of civilians killed or injured has has been tenfold compared to the entire period from 1948 to the signing of the Accords. “The biggest failure was really choosing to do business with a murderous terror organization like the PLO,” he said. “We had local leadership in the Palestinian towns in Judea and Samaria, but we chose to go to an organization that was founded in 1964, before the Six-Day War, in order to liberate Palestine, meaning basically annihilate Israel.”
“We are talking about a peace agreement, and Arafat arrives while smuggling weapons and terrorists inside his car. And then he gave a speech full of hate saying that with blood, they’re going to fight Israel, and I felt very uncomfortable. I felt that something was really wrong.”Read more here

Jeff Jacoby: As the late great Charles Krauthammer wrote in the Washington Post,“Underlying Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is the cliche that one can only make peace with one’s enemy. It is equally true, however, that one can only make peace with an enemy who truly wants peace. If the enemy is intent on remaining an enemy, if his objective is not peace but victory, if he believes your very existence is a stain on his honor and his God, peace is not possible. With such an enemy, negotiations are futile.” Read more here