17 mar 2017
Arab MK Basel Ghattas signed a plea bargain agreement late on Thursday in which he agreed to serve two years in jail and resign his Knesset seat after being accused of smuggling cellphones to two Palestinian prisoners, Israeli media sources revealed.
The sources said that lawyer of MK Basel Ghattas, of the Joint (Arab) List’s Balad faction, signed a plea deal Thursday with Israeli prosecutors in which he will resign from the Knesset and serve two years in jail.
According to the deal, MK Ghattas will admit in court early next week to charges including “smuggling phones into prison, smuggling documents and breach of trust.”
In a statement, Ghattas said everything he did was driven by personal reasons of conscience and humanitarian feelings toward the prisoners and that he accepted full responsibility for his actions.
He added that the deal provided for a different indictment to the one presented to the Knesset and would not include clauses relating to harming state security or Israeli citizens, or to terror.
Ghattas has been under a criminal investigation after he was caught on prison surveillance video passing envelopes to Palestinian prisoners in December 2016.
The sources said that lawyer of MK Basel Ghattas, of the Joint (Arab) List’s Balad faction, signed a plea deal Thursday with Israeli prosecutors in which he will resign from the Knesset and serve two years in jail.
According to the deal, MK Ghattas will admit in court early next week to charges including “smuggling phones into prison, smuggling documents and breach of trust.”
In a statement, Ghattas said everything he did was driven by personal reasons of conscience and humanitarian feelings toward the prisoners and that he accepted full responsibility for his actions.
He added that the deal provided for a different indictment to the one presented to the Knesset and would not include clauses relating to harming state security or Israeli citizens, or to terror.
Ghattas has been under a criminal investigation after he was caught on prison surveillance video passing envelopes to Palestinian prisoners in December 2016.
16 mar 2017
Rabbi Michael Mark
Israeli Haaretz newspaper disclosed that an Israeli military court on Wednesday passed two life sentences in addition to a payment of a quarter of a million shekels as a compensation against prisoner Mohammad Amayreh.
The 38-year-old Palestinian captive Amayreh, from Doura town in al-Khalil, was charged with driving the car which was used in an anti-occupation shooting attack resulting in the death of the headmaster of a Jewish religious school, Michael Mark, last July.
Israeli Haaretz newspaper disclosed that an Israeli military court on Wednesday passed two life sentences in addition to a payment of a quarter of a million shekels as a compensation against prisoner Mohammad Amayreh.
The 38-year-old Palestinian captive Amayreh, from Doura town in al-Khalil, was charged with driving the car which was used in an anti-occupation shooting attack resulting in the death of the headmaster of a Jewish religious school, Michael Mark, last July.
8 mar 2017
The Israeli Knesset passed Wednesday afternoon first reading of the edited motion of Adhan ban bill.
Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation had earlier approved an amendment to the contested Adhan ban bill, which seeks to impose limits on the Muslim call to prayer within the Green Line and in occupied Jerusalem, paving the way for the bill to be voted on in the Knesset.
The bill was modified to prevent the use of loudspeakers by mosques only between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., after ultra-Orthodox Israeli Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman filed an appeal against the draft law in November out of fear that it could also affect use of sirens for the weekly Jewish call for Shabbat.
Violations of the ban on loudspeakers during those hours will be fined 10,000 shekels ($2,665).
The bill will be submitted to the Knesset and will have to go through three rounds of votes before it can pass into law.
Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation had earlier approved an amendment to the contested Adhan ban bill, which seeks to impose limits on the Muslim call to prayer within the Green Line and in occupied Jerusalem, paving the way for the bill to be voted on in the Knesset.
The bill was modified to prevent the use of loudspeakers by mosques only between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., after ultra-Orthodox Israeli Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman filed an appeal against the draft law in November out of fear that it could also affect use of sirens for the weekly Jewish call for Shabbat.
Violations of the ban on loudspeakers during those hours will be fined 10,000 shekels ($2,665).
The bill will be submitted to the Knesset and will have to go through three rounds of votes before it can pass into law.
7 mar 2017
An Israeli court in Haifa city on Monday sentenced a Palestinian young man to one year in prison on charges of incitement and supporting a resistance group on social media.
According to Quds Press, the ruling was issued following a compromise between the defense lawyer and the Israeli prosecutor.
The indictment claimed that 20-year-old Khaled Mawasi, from I'billin village in the Galilee, published postings on Facebook and Instagram that incited to violence and terrorism (acts of resistance against the occupation) and supported Hamas.
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, recently enacted legislation criminalizing anyone who incite against Israel on social media outlets and allowing the competent authorities to give orders to providers of social networking services to remove postings inciting against Israel.
There was also a special agreement last year between Facebook and Israel over disabling pages that antagonize Israel and incite against it.
More than 150 Palestinians had been arrested and jailed after they expressed opinions against Israel on their social media pages since the outbreak of al-Aqsa intifada (uprising) in October 2015.
According to Quds Press, the ruling was issued following a compromise between the defense lawyer and the Israeli prosecutor.
The indictment claimed that 20-year-old Khaled Mawasi, from I'billin village in the Galilee, published postings on Facebook and Instagram that incited to violence and terrorism (acts of resistance against the occupation) and supported Hamas.
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, recently enacted legislation criminalizing anyone who incite against Israel on social media outlets and allowing the competent authorities to give orders to providers of social networking services to remove postings inciting against Israel.
There was also a special agreement last year between Facebook and Israel over disabling pages that antagonize Israel and incite against it.
More than 150 Palestinians had been arrested and jailed after they expressed opinions against Israel on their social media pages since the outbreak of al-Aqsa intifada (uprising) in October 2015.
3 mar 2017
An Israeli military court, on Thursday, granted the request of Israeli soldier Elor Azarya — who was convicted, last month, of manslaughter for the filmed, execution-style shooting of 21-year-old Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif –to postpone the beginning of his 18-month sentence until a ruling is made on his appeal, according to Israeli media.
Ynet reported, according to Ma’an, that Azarya was set to start his prison sentence on Sunday March 5, but, with Thursday’s decision, he will remain under “open detention” at his unit’s base, similar to the months he has already spent on open detention.
Ynet quoted the judge as saying, during the hearing, that Azarya “has proven he poses no danger to the public and that there’s no fear he would try to escape justice.”
Though the prosecution initially objected to Azarya’s request, saying “the defendant was convicted of manslaughter, carried out an intentional killing, was motivated by the desire for revenge, broke army orders, violated the army’s values,” it eventually dropped its objection.
Azarya’s lawyer Yoram Sheftel claimed that “nine out of ten soldiers” want Azarya to be released, and went on to note the “massive gap” between the guilty verdict and what “millions of Jews in the state of Israel think.”
Ynet added that the court ordered Azarya’s lawyer to file the full appeal on Sunday, and that a date for the appeal hearing “will be set as soon as possible.”
Azarya is the only member of Israeli forces to be charged with killing a Palestinian in 2016 –when at least 109 Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces and settlers — according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
According to rights group Yesh Din, of the 186 criminal investigations opened by the Israeli army into suspected offenses against Palestinians in 2015, just four yielded indictments.
Judges called for leniency due, to the fact that it was Azarya’s first time in a “terror situation,” and also noted the alleged mismanagement of the scene by Israeli commanders at the scene, who later went on to give harsh testimonies against the 20-year-old soldier.
After al-Sharif and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, also 21, allegedly carried out a stabbing attack on another soldier in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron last March, al-Qasrawi was fatally shot, while al-Sharif was shot and left severely wounded on the ground for several minutes before Azarya stepped forward and shot him in the head, with a number of witnesses quoting him as saying “This dog is still alive” and “This terrorist deserves to die” before pulling the trigger.
Members of al-Sharif’s family and Palestinian leadership have called the case a “show trial” for handing down a lenient manslaughter conviction for the soldier, while focusing on the case to distract from a wider culture of impunity for Israeli forces.
Following the announcement of the 18-month sentence, the family said they were “not surprised.”
Israeli daily Haaretz quoted them as saying: “from the onset we knew this was a show trial that will not do us justice. Even though the soldier was caught on video and it is clear that this is a cold blooded execution, he was convicted only of manslaughter, not murder, and the prosecution asked for only a light sentence of three years. The sentence he received is less than a Palestinian child gets for throwing stones.”
Al-Sharif’s family has vowed to take the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Meanwhile, a report released by HRW, days before Azarya was convicted, documented “numerous statements” made by senior Israeli politicians and religious figures “calling on police and soldiers to shoot to kill suspected attackers, irrespective of whether lethal force is actually strictly necessary to protect life.”
HRW noted that Israel’s shoot-to-kill policy has received widespread support among Israeli citizens, citing a 2016 poll by the Israel Democracy Institute which found that 47 percent of Jewish Israelis supported the sentiment that “any Palestinian who carries out a terror attack against Jews should be killed on the spot, even if he has been captured and clearly does not pose a threat.”
Ynet reported, according to Ma’an, that Azarya was set to start his prison sentence on Sunday March 5, but, with Thursday’s decision, he will remain under “open detention” at his unit’s base, similar to the months he has already spent on open detention.
Ynet quoted the judge as saying, during the hearing, that Azarya “has proven he poses no danger to the public and that there’s no fear he would try to escape justice.”
Though the prosecution initially objected to Azarya’s request, saying “the defendant was convicted of manslaughter, carried out an intentional killing, was motivated by the desire for revenge, broke army orders, violated the army’s values,” it eventually dropped its objection.
Azarya’s lawyer Yoram Sheftel claimed that “nine out of ten soldiers” want Azarya to be released, and went on to note the “massive gap” between the guilty verdict and what “millions of Jews in the state of Israel think.”
Ynet added that the court ordered Azarya’s lawyer to file the full appeal on Sunday, and that a date for the appeal hearing “will be set as soon as possible.”
Azarya is the only member of Israeli forces to be charged with killing a Palestinian in 2016 –when at least 109 Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces and settlers — according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
According to rights group Yesh Din, of the 186 criminal investigations opened by the Israeli army into suspected offenses against Palestinians in 2015, just four yielded indictments.
Judges called for leniency due, to the fact that it was Azarya’s first time in a “terror situation,” and also noted the alleged mismanagement of the scene by Israeli commanders at the scene, who later went on to give harsh testimonies against the 20-year-old soldier.
After al-Sharif and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, also 21, allegedly carried out a stabbing attack on another soldier in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron last March, al-Qasrawi was fatally shot, while al-Sharif was shot and left severely wounded on the ground for several minutes before Azarya stepped forward and shot him in the head, with a number of witnesses quoting him as saying “This dog is still alive” and “This terrorist deserves to die” before pulling the trigger.
Members of al-Sharif’s family and Palestinian leadership have called the case a “show trial” for handing down a lenient manslaughter conviction for the soldier, while focusing on the case to distract from a wider culture of impunity for Israeli forces.
Following the announcement of the 18-month sentence, the family said they were “not surprised.”
Israeli daily Haaretz quoted them as saying: “from the onset we knew this was a show trial that will not do us justice. Even though the soldier was caught on video and it is clear that this is a cold blooded execution, he was convicted only of manslaughter, not murder, and the prosecution asked for only a light sentence of three years. The sentence he received is less than a Palestinian child gets for throwing stones.”
Al-Sharif’s family has vowed to take the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Meanwhile, a report released by HRW, days before Azarya was convicted, documented “numerous statements” made by senior Israeli politicians and religious figures “calling on police and soldiers to shoot to kill suspected attackers, irrespective of whether lethal force is actually strictly necessary to protect life.”
HRW noted that Israel’s shoot-to-kill policy has received widespread support among Israeli citizens, citing a 2016 poll by the Israel Democracy Institute which found that 47 percent of Jewish Israelis supported the sentiment that “any Palestinian who carries out a terror attack against Jews should be killed on the spot, even if he has been captured and clearly does not pose a threat.”
After delaying a bill at the Knesset calling for annexing the West Bank illegal settlement of Ma’ale Adumim to Occupied Jerusalem until the new US administration assumes office, right-wing Israeli lawmakers intend on Sunday to table it again.
According to Haaretz newspaper, the Ma’ale Adumim annexation bill will be introduced at the Knesset’s ministerial committee for legislation on Sunday by members of the Knesset Yoav Kish (Likud) and Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home).
Israel's education minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish home) is a keen advocate of the bill.
Recently, Bennett asserted that the arrival of Trump’s administration would see a shift in Israel’s West Bank settlement activities, including the annexation of Ma’ale Adumim, a massive settlement with some 40,000 Jewish residents.
Introducers and sponsors of the bill intend for the legislation to not only annex Ma’ale Adumim under Israel’s sovereignty, but also the surrounding E1 area (occupied in the 1967 war), where Israel has launched a vicious demolition campaign against Bedouin Palestinian communities over the past year.
According to Haaretz newspaper, the Ma’ale Adumim annexation bill will be introduced at the Knesset’s ministerial committee for legislation on Sunday by members of the Knesset Yoav Kish (Likud) and Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home).
Israel's education minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish home) is a keen advocate of the bill.
Recently, Bennett asserted that the arrival of Trump’s administration would see a shift in Israel’s West Bank settlement activities, including the annexation of Ma’ale Adumim, a massive settlement with some 40,000 Jewish residents.
Introducers and sponsors of the bill intend for the legislation to not only annex Ma’ale Adumim under Israel’s sovereignty, but also the surrounding E1 area (occupied in the 1967 war), where Israel has launched a vicious demolition campaign against Bedouin Palestinian communities over the past year.
1 mar 2017
The Israeli MK Robert Ilatov is scheduled to submit Wednesday a revised version of Adhan ban bill, which imposes further restrictions on the Muslim call to prayer within the Green Line and occupied Jerusalem, for vote in the Knesset.
The revised version was suggested after a meeting held between MK Ilatov (Yisrael Beitenu) and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
The revised version was approved for vote in the Knesset by Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation after the ultra-Orthodox Israeli Minister of Health, Yaakov Litzman, rejected the original draft bill for fear of a possible effect on the use of the weekly Jewish call for Shabbat.
The bill was modified to prevent the use of loudspeakers by mosques only between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. along with an additional fine of 2,670 USD that, according to the Times of Israel, violators have to pay.
The bill has to pass through three rounds of votes before it can be decreed.
The revised version was suggested after a meeting held between MK Ilatov (Yisrael Beitenu) and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
The revised version was approved for vote in the Knesset by Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation after the ultra-Orthodox Israeli Minister of Health, Yaakov Litzman, rejected the original draft bill for fear of a possible effect on the use of the weekly Jewish call for Shabbat.
The bill was modified to prevent the use of loudspeakers by mosques only between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. along with an additional fine of 2,670 USD that, according to the Times of Israel, violators have to pay.
The bill has to pass through three rounds of votes before it can be decreed.
