Comments (0)Israel Foils Kidnapping Attempts
September 4, 2008Jerusalem
JTA Wire Service
Israel has stopped at least two attempts to kidnap its citizens abroad. Defense Minister Ehud Barak confirmed Tuesday that Israel recently foiled attempts to kidnap Israelis abroad, Yediot Achranot reported. The newspaper reported that a senior security force said that five attempted kidnappings by Hezbollah operatives had been foiled; other Israeli publications put the number at two. The attempted kidnappings were prevented with assistance from foreign intelligence services. Israel’s military censor has banned publication of details of the attempts. The plots were stopped at advanced stages, Haaretz reported. The attempted kidnappings are reportedly being planned as revenge for the killing of Hezbollah’s operations chief Imad Mughniyeh, killed in February in a car bombing in Damascus. Hezbollah blames Israel for the attack, though Israel has denied involvement in the bombing. The revelation of the foiled kidnappings comes two weeks after Israel’s counter-terrorism bureau issued a travel advisory warning Israelis traveling abroad of the danger of being kidnapped by Hezbollah and asked travelers to take certain precautions.
Israel Eases Restrictions for Ramadan
The Israeli army is easing restrictions on Palestinians during the Muslim observance of Ramadan. The army is extending the opening hours of checkpoints and allowing Israeli Arabs to enter Palestinian-only parts of the West Bank, as well as the transfer of gifts to Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman announced Sunday. Soldiers operating in Palestinian areas were briefed about the customs of the month-long religious observance, which began Monday. Troops were ordered to show consideration for the Palestinians, including being ordered to avoid eating, drinking and smoking in Palestinian-populated areas, according to the spokesman. Ramadan marks the month in which, according to Muslim tradition, the prophet Muhammad received the Koran. It ends Sept. 30 with the Eid-ul-Fir holiday.
Olmert, Netanyahu Spar Over Education
Israeli leaders sparred over education the day before the school year was set to begin. At the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was briefed on plans for the new school year and praised Israel’s education system as well as planned reforms to the system. “This Government devotes to education, I would say, almost more than to any other subject, not just in terms of resources, which approach NIS 30 billion in the 2009 budget, but also in terms of thinking, reforms [and] a different approach. I would like to remind you that we are building 8,000 new classrooms, 40 percent of them in the non-Jewish sector, which is both unprecedented and unavoidable,” the prime minister said. Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu called for a real “revolution” in education, saying that he would replace studies of the Palestinian Nakba Day, marking the catastrophe of the formation of the state of Israel, with the teachings of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, which were removed from the curriculum in recent years. Netanyahu, who is gunning for new elections in order to become Israel’s next prime minister, presented his plans for educational reform Sunday at a news conference in Tel Aviv.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.