Arab areas of Jerusalem blocked off in crackdown-Amid wave of Palestinian attacks and West Bank protests, capital’s Arab residents wake up to a new reality-By Karin Laub October 19, 2015, 2:59 am 3-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
AP — Palestinians in Jerusalem, more than a third of the city’s population, have awoken to a new reality: Israeli security forces are encircling Arab neighborhoods, blocking roads with concrete cubes the size of washing machines and ordering some of those leaving on foot to lift their shirts to show they are not carrying knives.The unprecedented clampdown is meant to halt a rash of stabbings of Israelis. Many of the attacks were carried out by residents of East Jerusalem, the area captured and annexed by Israel in 1967 and claimed by Palestinians as a future capital.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has said the measures are temporary, in line with what his advisers say any police department in the US or Europe would do to quell urban unrest. But some allege he is dividing Jerusalem, something Netanyahu has said he would never do.Arab residents, who have long complained of discriminatory Israeli policies, say the latest closures are bringing them to a boiling point and will lead to more violence.“They want to humiliate us,” said Taher Obeid, a 26-year-old janitor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He spoke over the din of car horns, as drivers stuck at one of the new checkpoints vented their anger.Domestic critics say Netanyahu — long opposed to any negotiated partition of Jerusalem into two capitals — is effectively dividing the city along ethnic lines with his security measures.“The great patriots … who don’t go to bed at night before praying for a unified, undivided, greater Jerusalem, are now proposing to dissect it, divide it and return it back 48 years in time,” commentator Nehemiah Strassler wrote in the left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz.Some warn that recent events — a rise in “lone wolf” terror attacks by Palestinians and Israeli crackdowns — offer a taste of the constant hate-filled skirmishes that would likely prevail for years if there’s no deal on setting up a state of Palestine next to Israel. Such warnings have come not only from left-wing activists, but from establishment figures such as former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin.They say that due to the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River has effectively become a binational entity, with Israel ruling over several million Palestinians.“This is what the future looks like,” said Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann. “It’s the one-state reality.”While Netanyahu has said he supports the establishment of a Palestinian state, there has been no progress in peace efforts during his six years in office, and expectations of a negotiated agreement have faded.Israel continues to expand Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, though construction has slowed in recent years amid international pressure for negotiations. But the continued growth, say Palestinians, chips away at the territory sought for a future Palestine. Netanyahu says he wants to negotiate with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but under tougher Israeli ground rules, with East Jerusalem off the table. Abbas refuses to engage under such conditions.US Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with both leaders separately in the coming days to lower the temperature, but there is no sign the Obama administration will try another mediation mission after Kerry’s failed attempt last year.Netanyahu, meanwhile, rejects the notion that Palestinian attackers, including those in Jerusalem, are driven by anger over decades of Israeli rule.He blames what he calls incitement to violence against Israel by Abbas and Palestinian Muslim leaders, including claims that Israel plans to erode Muslim-only prayer rights at a major Jerusalem shrine revered by Muslims and Jews. Netanyahu denies he intends to change the status quo on the Temple Mount, though a small group of Jewish activists and politicians have been advocating for Jewish prayer rights at the site.“With respect to the Palestinian population (in Jerusalem), Israel has a lot of work to do, as it does with the social needs of its Jewish population,” senior Netanyahu adviser Dore Gold, recently appointed the director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, told The Associated Press. “But the primary problem here are the deliberate lies being spread” about the shrine, he said. The site is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, or home of their biblical Temples, and to Muslims as the Haram as-Sharif, marking the spot where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.“Israel has no interest in creating divisions in Jerusalem,” Gold said of the dozens of road barriers that went up late last week. Israel “has a right to use the same security measures which every other city facing urban rioting has used,” he added, suggesting the measures could be rolled back.The eastern part of the city, annexed by Israel after the 1967 war, has become a jumble of Arab and Jewish areas, a result of intentional Israeli policy to unify the city over the years. This included building sprawling Jewish neighborhoods on annexed lands and permitting groups of ideologically driven settlers to move into heavily guarded enclaves in Arab neighborhoods, such as the Muslim Quarter of the walled Old City. Palestinians make up 37 percent, or 316,000, of Jerusalem’s total population of 850,000.Palestinians say they have suffered years of official discrimination, such as severe restrictions on building rights and the threat of residency rights being revoked if they move to the West Bank because of the housing shortage in Arab areas.Meanwhile, Israel’s West Bank separation barrier slices through Arab neighborhoods, leaving one-third of Jerusalem’s Arab residents on the “West Bank side” and making it harder for them to reach jobs, schools and hospitals.In the past month, nine Israelis have been killed in Palestinian terror attacks, and 20 terrorists were killed. Another 21 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in riots and clashes in Jerusalem and the West Bank.That has led to Israeli troops setting up even more dividers. They have blocked roads to and from Arab neighborhoods with concrete cubes, forcing cars to squeeze through a few crossing points. There, soldiers stop each vehicle, ask for IDs and demand that some drivers and passengers lift their shirts and roll up pants legs to show they are not armed.Around midday Saturday, several dozen cars were held up at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the Issawiyeh neighborhood. The atmosphere was tense, with drivers honking and some saying they’d been stuck in line for more than two hours. Police were on edge, traded curses with the crowd; at one point, they threw a stun grenade into the line.On Sunday, troops set up six concrete slabs, each about 5 meters (16 feet) tall, between the Jewish neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv and the adjacent Arab area of Jabal Mukaber, home to some recent attackers. Police said the barrier is meant as a shield against stones and firebombs thrown across the street in recent days.In the past, similar obstacles billed as temporary have become permanent.The Qalandiya checkpoint between the West Bank and east Jerusalem, one of the main crossings through the separation barrier and a frequent bottleneck, started out 15 years ago as a roadside concrete cube manned by a few soldiers. Today, it is a terminal with five lanes for pedestrians, fortified by barbed wire and watch towers.Gold, currently Israel’s top full-time diplomat (Netanyahu also holds the foreign minister post), played down the extent of Palestinian frustration in the city, saying it is possible to create “patterns of co-existence and dialogue” once violence has subsided.Seidemann said Jerusalem is a binational city that has remained divided, even after 1967, and that Israel’s latest security measures have simply given a physical expression to those rifts.Israel’s right-wing leaders “can’t possibly look this in the eye because they are committed ideologically to a mythical, united Jerusalem that does not exist in nature,” he said.2015 The Associated Press.
Soldier killed in terror attack identified as Omri Levi, 19-Eritrean migrant mistaken for Beersheba terrorist dies of wounds after being shot in the head, beaten by bystanders-By Tamar Pileggi and Times of Israel staff October 19, 2015, 2:13 am 14-the times of israel
The soldier killed Sunday evening in a terror attack in Beersheba is identified by the army as Omri Levi, 19, of Sde Hemed. His family has been notified.Meanwhile, officials at Soroka hospital in Beersheba say the Eritrean asylum seeker shot after being mistaken for a terrorist during the attack at Beersheba’s central bus station has succumbed to his wounds.Police opened an investigation in the shooting of the migrant. Amateur footage (Warning: Graphic images) of the moments following the attack shows a crowd of bystanders beating and kicking the man as he lies in a pool of blood, apparently in the mistaken belief he was one of the attackers.Nearly a dozen were said wounded in the terror attack, including one soldier seriously and three other soldiers lightly.According to an initial police investigation, a Palestinian assailant stabbed a soldier and stole his firearm, then opened fire on the crowded bus terminal. The unidentified man, believed to be Palestinian, was then shot and killed by responding forces after holing up in a bathroom.During the confusion of the attack, two officers — one from an anti-terrorism unit and another from the Border Police — mistook the Eritrean national for a second gunman and shot him in the head.“We’re talking about a very serious terror attack that could have resulted in severe consequences if it weren’t for the resourcefulness and the quick response of security forces,” Beersheba Mayor Rubik Danielovitch told Channel 2 after the attack.“I appeal to residents: I understand the storm of emotions, but specifically now, we must practice restraint, be balanced and act calmly. Do not take the law into your own hands,” he urged.Police said a man, thought to be Palestinian, entered the bus station armed with a pistol and knife, stabbed and killed the 19-year-old Levi and wounded 11 others, including four other soldiers and four police officers.Gadi Abuchatzeira, deputy head of the Magen David Adom Negev Region, said emergency workers responding to the attack found a number of injured, all of them in their 20s, inside the bus station.“We arrived at the scene en masse and spread throughout the station to look for other victims. We did a triage and began giving lifesaving treatment. Two of them had wounds to their upper bodies, they were unconscious,” Abuchatzeira said.“Four of the injured were fully conscious in moderate condition and suffering from gunshot wounds to the torso and legs. A woman was also injured with a gunshot wound to the limbs,” he continued.Security-camera footage of the attack aired on Israeli TV seemed to show several people running from a man, who is eventually shot several times by a responding officer.In the footage, no weapon can be seen in his hand, and he looks as though he may be trying to escape as well.Police were also investigating reports from eyewitnesses who said they saw two men, possibly accomplices, fleeing the scene of the attack.The evening attack in the southern city was the first in what had been a quiet day, following a weekend that saw seven stabbings or stabbing attempts in Jerusalem, Hebron and elsewhere, amid a spate of attacks by Palestinians terrorists in recent weeks.Adiv Sterman and Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.
Terrorist opens fire at Beersheba bus station, kills one, wounds 11-Soldier killed by attacker, who then steals his weapon; Eritrean man shot by responding security guard in case of mistaken identity; assailant killed-By Adiv Sterman and Judah Ari Gross October 18, 2015, 8:40 pm 31-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
An IDF soldier was killed and 11 more people were injured in a terror attack at the Central Bus Station in the southern city of Beersheba Sunday night.Among the injured was an Eritrean man shot and seriously wounded by responding security forces, who initially mistook him for a terrorist.According to the police, following an initial investigation, the attacker stabbed a soldier and stole his weapon, opening fire on the crowded bus terminal.The soldier later died of his wounds after being rushed to a hospital in the area.Rescue officials said 11 people were injured in the attack, which occurred at about 7:30 p.m.Two of the victims were reported to be seriously wounded. At least four of those hurt in the attack were cops, police said.The terrorist, who was not initially identified, was shot and killed by responding forces after holing up in a bathroom.In the confusion during the attack, an Eritrean man was shot by the head security officer, possibly because of the color of his skin.Initial reports suggested there had been two attackers, but after an investigation police ruled that the Eritrean man was not involved in the attack.Gadi Abuchatzeira, deputy head of the Magen David Adom Negev Region, said rescuers found a number of injured, all of them in their 20s, in the station.“We arrived at the scene en masse and spread throughout the station to look for other victims. We did a triage and began giving lifesaving treatment. Two of them had wounds to their upper bodies, they were unconscious,” Abuchatzeira said.“Four of the injured were fully conscious in moderate condition and suffering from gunshot wounds to the torso and legs. A woman was also injured with a gunshot wound to the limbs,” he continued.Security-camera footage of the attack aired on Israeli TV seemed to show several people running from a man, who is eventually shot several times by a responding officer.In the footage, no weapon can be seen in his hand, and he looks to possibly be trying to escape as well.The attack was the first on what had been an otherwise quiet day, following a weekend that saw seven stabbings or stabbing attempts in Jerusalem, Hebron and elsewhere, amid a spate of attacks by Palestinians terrorists.The Central Bus Station in Beersheba was later shut, and security personnel were searching the site for any additional threats.Bus and train services in the area were halted as well, Channel 2 reported.An eyewitness told Channel 2 news the attacker was able to enter the bus station — which doubles as a commercial center — fairly easily, despite bolstered security forces throughout the country amid the terror wave.Earlier Sunday, hundreds of Palestinian protesters in two locations of the West Bank city of Hebron hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli security, following several stabbing attacks that were carried out by Palestinians in the area over the weekend.In the West Bank city of Tulkarem, about 100 rioters hurled rocks, burned tires and threw Molotov cocktails at Israel Defense Forces soldiers, who responded with nonlethal dispersal means. No injuries were reported in the incident.Dozens of Palestinians also burned tires along the southern part of the Gaza Strip border fence, the Ynet news site reported.
2,000 rally in Rome in solidarity with Israel-Event organized by local Jewish community draws support from across the political spectrum-By JTA October 19, 2015, 3:59 am
ROME – An estimated 2,000 people demonstrated in solidarity with Israel in front of the Israeli Embassy in Rome.Sunday’s rally, organized by the local Jewish community with the support of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities and other groups, included representatives from both wings of the political spectrum.“In the media there is constant misinformation about what is happening in Israel,” Israel’s ambassador to Italy, Naor Gilon, said at the event. “But we will win because our country is strong and determined.”Fabrizio Cicchitto, president of the Foreign and Community Affairs Commission of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, also participated in the rally.Also on Sunday in Rome, Pope Francis called on Israelis and Palestinians to “say no to hate.”“In this moment there is a need for much courage and much fortitude to say no to hate and vendetta and make gestures of peace,” the pope said Sunday after Mass in St. Peter’s Square, which is attended by tens of thousands of people.
AP — Palestinians in Jerusalem, more than a third of the city’s population, have awoken to a new reality: Israeli security forces are encircling Arab neighborhoods, blocking roads with concrete cubes the size of washing machines and ordering some of those leaving on foot to lift their shirts to show they are not carrying knives.The unprecedented clampdown is meant to halt a rash of stabbings of Israelis. Many of the attacks were carried out by residents of East Jerusalem, the area captured and annexed by Israel in 1967 and claimed by Palestinians as a future capital.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has said the measures are temporary, in line with what his advisers say any police department in the US or Europe would do to quell urban unrest. But some allege he is dividing Jerusalem, something Netanyahu has said he would never do.Arab residents, who have long complained of discriminatory Israeli policies, say the latest closures are bringing them to a boiling point and will lead to more violence.“They want to humiliate us,” said Taher Obeid, a 26-year-old janitor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He spoke over the din of car horns, as drivers stuck at one of the new checkpoints vented their anger.Domestic critics say Netanyahu — long opposed to any negotiated partition of Jerusalem into two capitals — is effectively dividing the city along ethnic lines with his security measures.“The great patriots … who don’t go to bed at night before praying for a unified, undivided, greater Jerusalem, are now proposing to dissect it, divide it and return it back 48 years in time,” commentator Nehemiah Strassler wrote in the left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz.Some warn that recent events — a rise in “lone wolf” terror attacks by Palestinians and Israeli crackdowns — offer a taste of the constant hate-filled skirmishes that would likely prevail for years if there’s no deal on setting up a state of Palestine next to Israel. Such warnings have come not only from left-wing activists, but from establishment figures such as former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin.They say that due to the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River has effectively become a binational entity, with Israel ruling over several million Palestinians.“This is what the future looks like,” said Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann. “It’s the one-state reality.”While Netanyahu has said he supports the establishment of a Palestinian state, there has been no progress in peace efforts during his six years in office, and expectations of a negotiated agreement have faded.Israel continues to expand Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, though construction has slowed in recent years amid international pressure for negotiations. But the continued growth, say Palestinians, chips away at the territory sought for a future Palestine. Netanyahu says he wants to negotiate with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but under tougher Israeli ground rules, with East Jerusalem off the table. Abbas refuses to engage under such conditions.US Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with both leaders separately in the coming days to lower the temperature, but there is no sign the Obama administration will try another mediation mission after Kerry’s failed attempt last year.Netanyahu, meanwhile, rejects the notion that Palestinian attackers, including those in Jerusalem, are driven by anger over decades of Israeli rule.He blames what he calls incitement to violence against Israel by Abbas and Palestinian Muslim leaders, including claims that Israel plans to erode Muslim-only prayer rights at a major Jerusalem shrine revered by Muslims and Jews. Netanyahu denies he intends to change the status quo on the Temple Mount, though a small group of Jewish activists and politicians have been advocating for Jewish prayer rights at the site.“With respect to the Palestinian population (in Jerusalem), Israel has a lot of work to do, as it does with the social needs of its Jewish population,” senior Netanyahu adviser Dore Gold, recently appointed the director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, told The Associated Press. “But the primary problem here are the deliberate lies being spread” about the shrine, he said. The site is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, or home of their biblical Temples, and to Muslims as the Haram as-Sharif, marking the spot where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.“Israel has no interest in creating divisions in Jerusalem,” Gold said of the dozens of road barriers that went up late last week. Israel “has a right to use the same security measures which every other city facing urban rioting has used,” he added, suggesting the measures could be rolled back.The eastern part of the city, annexed by Israel after the 1967 war, has become a jumble of Arab and Jewish areas, a result of intentional Israeli policy to unify the city over the years. This included building sprawling Jewish neighborhoods on annexed lands and permitting groups of ideologically driven settlers to move into heavily guarded enclaves in Arab neighborhoods, such as the Muslim Quarter of the walled Old City. Palestinians make up 37 percent, or 316,000, of Jerusalem’s total population of 850,000.Palestinians say they have suffered years of official discrimination, such as severe restrictions on building rights and the threat of residency rights being revoked if they move to the West Bank because of the housing shortage in Arab areas.Meanwhile, Israel’s West Bank separation barrier slices through Arab neighborhoods, leaving one-third of Jerusalem’s Arab residents on the “West Bank side” and making it harder for them to reach jobs, schools and hospitals.In the past month, nine Israelis have been killed in Palestinian terror attacks, and 20 terrorists were killed. Another 21 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in riots and clashes in Jerusalem and the West Bank.That has led to Israeli troops setting up even more dividers. They have blocked roads to and from Arab neighborhoods with concrete cubes, forcing cars to squeeze through a few crossing points. There, soldiers stop each vehicle, ask for IDs and demand that some drivers and passengers lift their shirts and roll up pants legs to show they are not armed.Around midday Saturday, several dozen cars were held up at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the Issawiyeh neighborhood. The atmosphere was tense, with drivers honking and some saying they’d been stuck in line for more than two hours. Police were on edge, traded curses with the crowd; at one point, they threw a stun grenade into the line.On Sunday, troops set up six concrete slabs, each about 5 meters (16 feet) tall, between the Jewish neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv and the adjacent Arab area of Jabal Mukaber, home to some recent attackers. Police said the barrier is meant as a shield against stones and firebombs thrown across the street in recent days.In the past, similar obstacles billed as temporary have become permanent.The Qalandiya checkpoint between the West Bank and east Jerusalem, one of the main crossings through the separation barrier and a frequent bottleneck, started out 15 years ago as a roadside concrete cube manned by a few soldiers. Today, it is a terminal with five lanes for pedestrians, fortified by barbed wire and watch towers.Gold, currently Israel’s top full-time diplomat (Netanyahu also holds the foreign minister post), played down the extent of Palestinian frustration in the city, saying it is possible to create “patterns of co-existence and dialogue” once violence has subsided.Seidemann said Jerusalem is a binational city that has remained divided, even after 1967, and that Israel’s latest security measures have simply given a physical expression to those rifts.Israel’s right-wing leaders “can’t possibly look this in the eye because they are committed ideologically to a mythical, united Jerusalem that does not exist in nature,” he said.2015 The Associated Press.
Soldier killed in terror attack identified as Omri Levi, 19-Eritrean migrant mistaken for Beersheba terrorist dies of wounds after being shot in the head, beaten by bystanders-By Tamar Pileggi and Times of Israel staff October 19, 2015, 2:13 am 14-the times of israel
The soldier killed Sunday evening in a terror attack in Beersheba is identified by the army as Omri Levi, 19, of Sde Hemed. His family has been notified.Meanwhile, officials at Soroka hospital in Beersheba say the Eritrean asylum seeker shot after being mistaken for a terrorist during the attack at Beersheba’s central bus station has succumbed to his wounds.Police opened an investigation in the shooting of the migrant. Amateur footage (Warning: Graphic images) of the moments following the attack shows a crowd of bystanders beating and kicking the man as he lies in a pool of blood, apparently in the mistaken belief he was one of the attackers.Nearly a dozen were said wounded in the terror attack, including one soldier seriously and three other soldiers lightly.According to an initial police investigation, a Palestinian assailant stabbed a soldier and stole his firearm, then opened fire on the crowded bus terminal. The unidentified man, believed to be Palestinian, was then shot and killed by responding forces after holing up in a bathroom.During the confusion of the attack, two officers — one from an anti-terrorism unit and another from the Border Police — mistook the Eritrean national for a second gunman and shot him in the head.“We’re talking about a very serious terror attack that could have resulted in severe consequences if it weren’t for the resourcefulness and the quick response of security forces,” Beersheba Mayor Rubik Danielovitch told Channel 2 after the attack.“I appeal to residents: I understand the storm of emotions, but specifically now, we must practice restraint, be balanced and act calmly. Do not take the law into your own hands,” he urged.Police said a man, thought to be Palestinian, entered the bus station armed with a pistol and knife, stabbed and killed the 19-year-old Levi and wounded 11 others, including four other soldiers and four police officers.Gadi Abuchatzeira, deputy head of the Magen David Adom Negev Region, said emergency workers responding to the attack found a number of injured, all of them in their 20s, inside the bus station.“We arrived at the scene en masse and spread throughout the station to look for other victims. We did a triage and began giving lifesaving treatment. Two of them had wounds to their upper bodies, they were unconscious,” Abuchatzeira said.“Four of the injured were fully conscious in moderate condition and suffering from gunshot wounds to the torso and legs. A woman was also injured with a gunshot wound to the limbs,” he continued.Security-camera footage of the attack aired on Israeli TV seemed to show several people running from a man, who is eventually shot several times by a responding officer.In the footage, no weapon can be seen in his hand, and he looks as though he may be trying to escape as well.Police were also investigating reports from eyewitnesses who said they saw two men, possibly accomplices, fleeing the scene of the attack.The evening attack in the southern city was the first in what had been a quiet day, following a weekend that saw seven stabbings or stabbing attempts in Jerusalem, Hebron and elsewhere, amid a spate of attacks by Palestinians terrorists in recent weeks.Adiv Sterman and Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.
Terrorist opens fire at Beersheba bus station, kills one, wounds 11-Soldier killed by attacker, who then steals his weapon; Eritrean man shot by responding security guard in case of mistaken identity; assailant killed-By Adiv Sterman and Judah Ari Gross October 18, 2015, 8:40 pm 31-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
An IDF soldier was killed and 11 more people were injured in a terror attack at the Central Bus Station in the southern city of Beersheba Sunday night.Among the injured was an Eritrean man shot and seriously wounded by responding security forces, who initially mistook him for a terrorist.According to the police, following an initial investigation, the attacker stabbed a soldier and stole his weapon, opening fire on the crowded bus terminal.The soldier later died of his wounds after being rushed to a hospital in the area.Rescue officials said 11 people were injured in the attack, which occurred at about 7:30 p.m.Two of the victims were reported to be seriously wounded. At least four of those hurt in the attack were cops, police said.The terrorist, who was not initially identified, was shot and killed by responding forces after holing up in a bathroom.In the confusion during the attack, an Eritrean man was shot by the head security officer, possibly because of the color of his skin.Initial reports suggested there had been two attackers, but after an investigation police ruled that the Eritrean man was not involved in the attack.Gadi Abuchatzeira, deputy head of the Magen David Adom Negev Region, said rescuers found a number of injured, all of them in their 20s, in the station.“We arrived at the scene en masse and spread throughout the station to look for other victims. We did a triage and began giving lifesaving treatment. Two of them had wounds to their upper bodies, they were unconscious,” Abuchatzeira said.“Four of the injured were fully conscious in moderate condition and suffering from gunshot wounds to the torso and legs. A woman was also injured with a gunshot wound to the limbs,” he continued.Security-camera footage of the attack aired on Israeli TV seemed to show several people running from a man, who is eventually shot several times by a responding officer.In the footage, no weapon can be seen in his hand, and he looks to possibly be trying to escape as well.The attack was the first on what had been an otherwise quiet day, following a weekend that saw seven stabbings or stabbing attempts in Jerusalem, Hebron and elsewhere, amid a spate of attacks by Palestinians terrorists.The Central Bus Station in Beersheba was later shut, and security personnel were searching the site for any additional threats.Bus and train services in the area were halted as well, Channel 2 reported.An eyewitness told Channel 2 news the attacker was able to enter the bus station — which doubles as a commercial center — fairly easily, despite bolstered security forces throughout the country amid the terror wave.Earlier Sunday, hundreds of Palestinian protesters in two locations of the West Bank city of Hebron hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli security, following several stabbing attacks that were carried out by Palestinians in the area over the weekend.In the West Bank city of Tulkarem, about 100 rioters hurled rocks, burned tires and threw Molotov cocktails at Israel Defense Forces soldiers, who responded with nonlethal dispersal means. No injuries were reported in the incident.Dozens of Palestinians also burned tires along the southern part of the Gaza Strip border fence, the Ynet news site reported.
2,000 rally in Rome in solidarity with Israel-Event organized by local Jewish community draws support from across the political spectrum-By JTA October 19, 2015, 3:59 am
ROME – An estimated 2,000 people demonstrated in solidarity with Israel in front of the Israeli Embassy in Rome.Sunday’s rally, organized by the local Jewish community with the support of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities and other groups, included representatives from both wings of the political spectrum.“In the media there is constant misinformation about what is happening in Israel,” Israel’s ambassador to Italy, Naor Gilon, said at the event. “But we will win because our country is strong and determined.”Fabrizio Cicchitto, president of the Foreign and Community Affairs Commission of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, also participated in the rally.Also on Sunday in Rome, Pope Francis called on Israelis and Palestinians to “say no to hate.”“In this moment there is a need for much courage and much fortitude to say no to hate and vendetta and make gestures of peace,” the pope said Sunday after Mass in St. Peter’s Square, which is attended by tens of thousands of people.
