31 aug 2015
Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev
Culture and sports minister challenges network after report that she hired ad agency without following protocol; recording apparently captures Regev's attempts to settle on an explanation.
Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev on Monday denied reports that her ministry had paid millions to ad agency Yehoshua/TBWA without any official tender.
Channel 10 News released voice recordings on Sunday night in which Regev was heard apparently discussing the issue with her confidants and trying to establish a mutual cover story to explain some NIS 2.5 million that had been paid to the agency without it having to compete for the contract.
Yehoshua/TBWA was hired to work on a media campaign to help parents find activities for their children during summer vacation. Regev, according to the report, failed to follow the proper process of issuing a tender, and instead paid the agency directly.
On Monday, Regev challenged Channel 10's report, saying: "So everyone who accused me of being an associate of his or accused him of being an associate of mine needs to prove that we were associates and that is now what I demand of Channel 10: For Channel 10 to prove my association with Rami Yehoshua," referring to the owner of the ad agency.
Regev even implied that she was considering a lawsuit against the station, saying she intended to send a letter to its attorneys that very day,
The tapes aired Sunday documented a conversation between Regev and at least two officials, in which they appeared to attempt to agree on which story to use. However, Regev stated on Monday that the recording captured a rehearsal for a press conference.
In the tape, when the first official suggested saying there had been a brainstorming session with several ad agencies at the minister's request, Regev responded: "No, no, no, not good! Not good! Bad, bad, bad answer!"
She then proposed claiming that Yehoshua/TBWA was selected because one of its clients, the Israel Sports Betting Board (ISBB), is part of the Culture Ministry.
The second official told her that this story was insufficient and further explanation was necessary.
As the discussion continued, the second official said: "We want to be careful so we are thinking about this ahead of time."
Eventually, the first official presented a solution that he said legal experts found acceptable: There was a brainstorming session and the winning idea was proposed by the ISBB, so the ad agency came along with the idea.
"Okay, excellent, excellent," said Regev.
However, media adviser Meir Suissa suggested improvements, and is also the only person heard expressing concern about whether the contract was approved according to the correct protocol. He said a professional explanation was required in addition to a legal one.
But the first official said: "No, no, there is a professional explanation. They had a winning concept! We loved it."
The participators settled on the final version: Regev had nothing to do with the matter, and Yehoshua/TBWA was brought in by the ISBB. However,Channel 10 provided evidence pointing at direct contact between the minister at the ad agency before the decision to provide the funds.
Soon after the report, Regev said the entire process was approved by lawyers "and was conducted lawfully, period."
The ministry itself, for its part, stated that it had requested ideas from ad agencies and PR firms with which it works regularly, and the best idea was suggested by the ISBB – "and therefore the campaign was created by this provider".
According to the ministry, the tapes were part of a media campaign that was not in service of the truth, but rather an excuse for journalists to cast aspersions.
Regev hit back at the report on Monday, saying: "The first time I met Rami Yehoshua was at a professional business meeting at the Ministry of Culture and Sports with all the professional parties and he arrived as a representative of the ISBB."
The minister went on to explain the circumstances of the recording. "The conference call was preparation for a press conference," she said. "In preparation for a press conference you run a simulation of different questions. Each person asks a question and we give a response to the simulated press conference. We were asked why we didn't do it through the Government Advertising Bureau, so I said the answer was very simple and that was to tell that truth, and it's good that that's on the tape. Telling the truth is always best."
Regev insisted that the ministry's funds "go through the budgets department via the ministry's legal adviser."
Culture and sports minister challenges network after report that she hired ad agency without following protocol; recording apparently captures Regev's attempts to settle on an explanation.
Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev on Monday denied reports that her ministry had paid millions to ad agency Yehoshua/TBWA without any official tender.
Channel 10 News released voice recordings on Sunday night in which Regev was heard apparently discussing the issue with her confidants and trying to establish a mutual cover story to explain some NIS 2.5 million that had been paid to the agency without it having to compete for the contract.
Yehoshua/TBWA was hired to work on a media campaign to help parents find activities for their children during summer vacation. Regev, according to the report, failed to follow the proper process of issuing a tender, and instead paid the agency directly.
On Monday, Regev challenged Channel 10's report, saying: "So everyone who accused me of being an associate of his or accused him of being an associate of mine needs to prove that we were associates and that is now what I demand of Channel 10: For Channel 10 to prove my association with Rami Yehoshua," referring to the owner of the ad agency.
Regev even implied that she was considering a lawsuit against the station, saying she intended to send a letter to its attorneys that very day,
The tapes aired Sunday documented a conversation between Regev and at least two officials, in which they appeared to attempt to agree on which story to use. However, Regev stated on Monday that the recording captured a rehearsal for a press conference.
In the tape, when the first official suggested saying there had been a brainstorming session with several ad agencies at the minister's request, Regev responded: "No, no, no, not good! Not good! Bad, bad, bad answer!"
She then proposed claiming that Yehoshua/TBWA was selected because one of its clients, the Israel Sports Betting Board (ISBB), is part of the Culture Ministry.
The second official told her that this story was insufficient and further explanation was necessary.
As the discussion continued, the second official said: "We want to be careful so we are thinking about this ahead of time."
Eventually, the first official presented a solution that he said legal experts found acceptable: There was a brainstorming session and the winning idea was proposed by the ISBB, so the ad agency came along with the idea.
"Okay, excellent, excellent," said Regev.
However, media adviser Meir Suissa suggested improvements, and is also the only person heard expressing concern about whether the contract was approved according to the correct protocol. He said a professional explanation was required in addition to a legal one.
But the first official said: "No, no, there is a professional explanation. They had a winning concept! We loved it."
The participators settled on the final version: Regev had nothing to do with the matter, and Yehoshua/TBWA was brought in by the ISBB. However,Channel 10 provided evidence pointing at direct contact between the minister at the ad agency before the decision to provide the funds.
Soon after the report, Regev said the entire process was approved by lawyers "and was conducted lawfully, period."
The ministry itself, for its part, stated that it had requested ideas from ad agencies and PR firms with which it works regularly, and the best idea was suggested by the ISBB – "and therefore the campaign was created by this provider".
According to the ministry, the tapes were part of a media campaign that was not in service of the truth, but rather an excuse for journalists to cast aspersions.
Regev hit back at the report on Monday, saying: "The first time I met Rami Yehoshua was at a professional business meeting at the Ministry of Culture and Sports with all the professional parties and he arrived as a representative of the ISBB."
The minister went on to explain the circumstances of the recording. "The conference call was preparation for a press conference," she said. "In preparation for a press conference you run a simulation of different questions. Each person asks a question and we give a response to the simulated press conference. We were asked why we didn't do it through the Government Advertising Bureau, so I said the answer was very simple and that was to tell that truth, and it's good that that's on the tape. Telling the truth is always best."
Regev insisted that the ministry's funds "go through the budgets department via the ministry's legal adviser."
30 aug 2015
Radical activist Meyer Ettinger
A new education ministry program aims to rehabilitate hilltop youth while preventing the next attack; however, the program has experienced very little success.
The Israeli government initiative has a soothing biblical name, the Hebrew Shepherd, and a serious aim: to keep ultranationalist Jewish settler youths from turning to violence and attacking Palestinians and their property.
But the program - which included plans for a summer camp and carpentry courses to keep the kids out of trouble - has foundered. Many settler youths have refused to cooperate after rumors spread that Israel's domestic security agency, Shin Bet, which snoops on Jewish extremists, was involved.
It is but one example of Israel's failure to rein in youths suspected of carrying out ultranationalist attacks. The deadliest such assault, a firebombing last month on a West Bank home, killed an 18-month-old toddler, Ali Dawabsheh, and his father, Saed, and critically wounded his mother and 4-year-old brother. A Star of David and "revenge" in Hebrew were sprayed on the torched home. In the wake of the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged "zero tolerance" for what he called Jewish terrorism.
But there has been complicit tolerance of the phenomenon for years, say Palestinian leaders, former Israeli security officials and even some settlers. They blame holes in Israel's juvenile welfare system, lax law enforcement, a lenient justice system and rabbis and Israeli leaders unwilling or unable to tackle the elusive young fundamentalists. A main focus of the concern is the so-called "hilltop youth," young people among a settler movement that sets up outposts not authorized by the Israeli government on West Bank hilltops - land the Palestinians claim for their hoped for state.
"There is no serious adult, no individual today who says, 'I am the person who will take responsibility,'" said Avia Azulay, 35, a hilltop settler, speaking from his spacious home in the unauthorized West Bank outpost of Shir Hadash. A youth counselor and former hilltop youth himself, Azulay joined the Hebrew Shepherd program a year ago to try to help keep young extremists from the brink of violence, but resigned because he thought the Shin Bet's alleged involvement undermined the young people's trust.
After last month's firebombing, Israel carried out arrest raids of hilltop outposts and jailed three Israeli settler activists in their early 20s for six months without charge, a measure used regularly against Palestinian detainees but rarely on Israelis. Israel has not yet found the culprits of the deadly attack.
The Israeli rights group B'Tselem said despite the recent crackdown, Israel is unwilling to prosecute settlers suspected of crimes against Palestinians. In the past three years, the group said, Israeli civilians set fire to nine Palestinian homes in the West Bank and hurled a firebomb at a Palestinian taxi, but no one was charged.
"The government has created a climate of impunity with settlers," said Sarit Michaeli of B'Tselem. Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said less than 10 percent of police investigations into alleged Israeli crimes committed against Palestinians and their property from 2005-2014 resulted in indictments.
Israeli police defend their efforts to combat Israeli attacks against Palestinians, and say there has been a big jump in arrests and indictments since a special "nationalistic crimes" unit was created in 2013, though they declined to provide precise numbers.
Critics say influential settler rabbis have done little to publicly denounce the violent youths, and that Israeli leaders have embraced settler activists who support them. Netanyahu himself appeared in an election rally this year co-organized by hilltop youth supporter Daniella Weiss. Recent arrests of young settler activists offer a peek into what the Shin Bet says is a fringe group suspected of arson attacks on Palestinian property in order to bring about religious "redemption."
One suspect, Moshe Orbach, is accused of writing a detailed instruction manual on how to set fire to mosques, churches and Palestinian homes. Entitled "Kingdom of Evil," it instructs activists to form underground cells committed to "sanctifying God's name" - and with members who know how "to keep silent in interrogations."
The other two are Meir Ettinger, the 23-year-old grandson of the late Jewish ultranationalist Meir Kahane, whom the Shin Bet calls the ringleader of the group, and Eviatar Slonim, an activist in the hilltop settlements. All three have been jailed without charge for six months, accused of affiliation with an extremist Jewish organization, an accusation they deny. Their so-called administrative detention is a tactic usually reserved for suspected Palestinian militants.
The Hebrew Shepherd initiative once set its sights on Ettinger as part of its efforts to encourage hilltop youth to learn a vocation, according to the settler website Hakol Hayehudi. Speaking to the website, Ettinger said, "During the first meeting with the workers from the program, I noticed how all their efforts were focused on career and money.
This is fundamentally opposed to our values as Jews who work for the sake of the people of Israel." Menachem Ben Shachar, 38, a relative of Ettinger, said the outreach effort has been unsuccessful because it doesn't address the youth's anger with what they see as Israel's ineffective responses to Palestinian attacks.
"Every time Israel fails in its real mission - defending the people of Israel - it creates a few more frustrated youths. There is no organization that can come afterward and try to extinguish the burning flame in the hearts of these youths," Ben Shachar said in an email exchange with The Associated Press.
Israel's Education Ministry says it spearheaded the Hebrew Shepherd initiative in 2013 to "offer an educational-welfare rehabilitative response to young at-risk boys and girls" in the West Bank settlement areas "as part of systemic efforts to eradicate the phenomenon of nationalist crime," according to a ministry document leaked to Israeli media. In the document, the ministry's director general asked the Shin Bet and other government bodies to participate in the program's steering committee.
Hebrew Shepherd director Roee Simon declined a request for an interview, as did the Shin Bet. The Education Ministry also refused to comment despite repeated requests. Although he left the program, Azulay says he still tries to engage hilltop youth. Three nights a week, the burly man with a bushy black beard packs his dusty red sedan with snacks and heads to the hills to meet with them.
His background as a former hilltop youth, along with his firm handshake and contemporary Hebrew slang, give him credibility. Azulay said the majority of the approximately 1,000 hilltop youth are middle-school and high-school dropouts ranging in age from 14 to 20 from cities within Israel, not the West Bank. Adverse to authority, they are drawn to the defiant spirit of the isolated West Bank hilltops.
Squatting on West Bank land to claim it as Jewish, they are furious with Israel's response to Palestinian attacks, Azulay said, leading some to take vigilante action against their Palestinian neighbors. When the time comes for compulsory military service - their ticket into mainstream Israeli society - the army rejects them as too dangerous. Because social workers from one municipal area are not permitted to handle youth from another area, runaways in the West Bank fall through the cracks of the welfare system, Azulay said. He said settler rabbis are afraid to take them under their wing for fear of being accused of backing the violence.
Azulay said he tries to persuade the teens to stay away from vigilante violence so they don't ruin their chances of enlisting into the army. "Go be a pilot, drop a half-ton bomb on a group of terrorists," he said he tells the youths. Another program piloted by a local settler council tries to rehabilitate hilltop youths by helping them pass matriculation exams and persuading the army to enlist them. It has shown some success at one hilltop outpost and is being expanded to another settlement.
An official in the Israeli prime minister's office said in the last five years, Israel beefed up its intelligence, police and law enforcement resources to deal with Jewish extremism. "We are augmenting our efforts because we see this as a challenge to our democracy," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. But former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin said political will and public pressure are lacking in the battle to uproot Jewish extremism.
"Violent extremism is a social phenomenon with deep roots. Whoever thinks the Shin Bet, the military or the police can deal with it is mistaken," he wrote on his Facebook page.
A new education ministry program aims to rehabilitate hilltop youth while preventing the next attack; however, the program has experienced very little success.
The Israeli government initiative has a soothing biblical name, the Hebrew Shepherd, and a serious aim: to keep ultranationalist Jewish settler youths from turning to violence and attacking Palestinians and their property.
But the program - which included plans for a summer camp and carpentry courses to keep the kids out of trouble - has foundered. Many settler youths have refused to cooperate after rumors spread that Israel's domestic security agency, Shin Bet, which snoops on Jewish extremists, was involved.
It is but one example of Israel's failure to rein in youths suspected of carrying out ultranationalist attacks. The deadliest such assault, a firebombing last month on a West Bank home, killed an 18-month-old toddler, Ali Dawabsheh, and his father, Saed, and critically wounded his mother and 4-year-old brother. A Star of David and "revenge" in Hebrew were sprayed on the torched home. In the wake of the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged "zero tolerance" for what he called Jewish terrorism.
But there has been complicit tolerance of the phenomenon for years, say Palestinian leaders, former Israeli security officials and even some settlers. They blame holes in Israel's juvenile welfare system, lax law enforcement, a lenient justice system and rabbis and Israeli leaders unwilling or unable to tackle the elusive young fundamentalists. A main focus of the concern is the so-called "hilltop youth," young people among a settler movement that sets up outposts not authorized by the Israeli government on West Bank hilltops - land the Palestinians claim for their hoped for state.
"There is no serious adult, no individual today who says, 'I am the person who will take responsibility,'" said Avia Azulay, 35, a hilltop settler, speaking from his spacious home in the unauthorized West Bank outpost of Shir Hadash. A youth counselor and former hilltop youth himself, Azulay joined the Hebrew Shepherd program a year ago to try to help keep young extremists from the brink of violence, but resigned because he thought the Shin Bet's alleged involvement undermined the young people's trust.
After last month's firebombing, Israel carried out arrest raids of hilltop outposts and jailed three Israeli settler activists in their early 20s for six months without charge, a measure used regularly against Palestinian detainees but rarely on Israelis. Israel has not yet found the culprits of the deadly attack.
The Israeli rights group B'Tselem said despite the recent crackdown, Israel is unwilling to prosecute settlers suspected of crimes against Palestinians. In the past three years, the group said, Israeli civilians set fire to nine Palestinian homes in the West Bank and hurled a firebomb at a Palestinian taxi, but no one was charged.
"The government has created a climate of impunity with settlers," said Sarit Michaeli of B'Tselem. Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said less than 10 percent of police investigations into alleged Israeli crimes committed against Palestinians and their property from 2005-2014 resulted in indictments.
Israeli police defend their efforts to combat Israeli attacks against Palestinians, and say there has been a big jump in arrests and indictments since a special "nationalistic crimes" unit was created in 2013, though they declined to provide precise numbers.
Critics say influential settler rabbis have done little to publicly denounce the violent youths, and that Israeli leaders have embraced settler activists who support them. Netanyahu himself appeared in an election rally this year co-organized by hilltop youth supporter Daniella Weiss. Recent arrests of young settler activists offer a peek into what the Shin Bet says is a fringe group suspected of arson attacks on Palestinian property in order to bring about religious "redemption."
One suspect, Moshe Orbach, is accused of writing a detailed instruction manual on how to set fire to mosques, churches and Palestinian homes. Entitled "Kingdom of Evil," it instructs activists to form underground cells committed to "sanctifying God's name" - and with members who know how "to keep silent in interrogations."
The other two are Meir Ettinger, the 23-year-old grandson of the late Jewish ultranationalist Meir Kahane, whom the Shin Bet calls the ringleader of the group, and Eviatar Slonim, an activist in the hilltop settlements. All three have been jailed without charge for six months, accused of affiliation with an extremist Jewish organization, an accusation they deny. Their so-called administrative detention is a tactic usually reserved for suspected Palestinian militants.
The Hebrew Shepherd initiative once set its sights on Ettinger as part of its efforts to encourage hilltop youth to learn a vocation, according to the settler website Hakol Hayehudi. Speaking to the website, Ettinger said, "During the first meeting with the workers from the program, I noticed how all their efforts were focused on career and money.
This is fundamentally opposed to our values as Jews who work for the sake of the people of Israel." Menachem Ben Shachar, 38, a relative of Ettinger, said the outreach effort has been unsuccessful because it doesn't address the youth's anger with what they see as Israel's ineffective responses to Palestinian attacks.
"Every time Israel fails in its real mission - defending the people of Israel - it creates a few more frustrated youths. There is no organization that can come afterward and try to extinguish the burning flame in the hearts of these youths," Ben Shachar said in an email exchange with The Associated Press.
Israel's Education Ministry says it spearheaded the Hebrew Shepherd initiative in 2013 to "offer an educational-welfare rehabilitative response to young at-risk boys and girls" in the West Bank settlement areas "as part of systemic efforts to eradicate the phenomenon of nationalist crime," according to a ministry document leaked to Israeli media. In the document, the ministry's director general asked the Shin Bet and other government bodies to participate in the program's steering committee.
Hebrew Shepherd director Roee Simon declined a request for an interview, as did the Shin Bet. The Education Ministry also refused to comment despite repeated requests. Although he left the program, Azulay says he still tries to engage hilltop youth. Three nights a week, the burly man with a bushy black beard packs his dusty red sedan with snacks and heads to the hills to meet with them.
His background as a former hilltop youth, along with his firm handshake and contemporary Hebrew slang, give him credibility. Azulay said the majority of the approximately 1,000 hilltop youth are middle-school and high-school dropouts ranging in age from 14 to 20 from cities within Israel, not the West Bank. Adverse to authority, they are drawn to the defiant spirit of the isolated West Bank hilltops.
Squatting on West Bank land to claim it as Jewish, they are furious with Israel's response to Palestinian attacks, Azulay said, leading some to take vigilante action against their Palestinian neighbors. When the time comes for compulsory military service - their ticket into mainstream Israeli society - the army rejects them as too dangerous. Because social workers from one municipal area are not permitted to handle youth from another area, runaways in the West Bank fall through the cracks of the welfare system, Azulay said. He said settler rabbis are afraid to take them under their wing for fear of being accused of backing the violence.
Azulay said he tries to persuade the teens to stay away from vigilante violence so they don't ruin their chances of enlisting into the army. "Go be a pilot, drop a half-ton bomb on a group of terrorists," he said he tells the youths. Another program piloted by a local settler council tries to rehabilitate hilltop youths by helping them pass matriculation exams and persuading the army to enlist them. It has shown some success at one hilltop outpost and is being expanded to another settlement.
An official in the Israeli prime minister's office said in the last five years, Israel beefed up its intelligence, police and law enforcement resources to deal with Jewish extremism. "We are augmenting our efforts because we see this as a challenge to our democracy," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. But former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin said political will and public pressure are lacking in the battle to uproot Jewish extremism.
"Violent extremism is a social phenomenon with deep roots. Whoever thinks the Shin Bet, the military or the police can deal with it is mistaken," he wrote on his Facebook page.
Father of the sick Palestinian detainee Mohammed Allan said Saturday his son should remain at the Barzilai hospital pending Israel’s consent to transfer him to a Palestinian hospital.
Allan’s father, Nasr al-Deen, said the lawyer appealed to an Israeli court to approve his son’s transfer to An-Najah hospital in Nablus to carry on the medical therapy and check-ups he quite urgently needs following his two-month hunger strike.
The father quoted the Director of the Barzilai Medical Complex as stating that he does not object to Allan’s transfer to another hospital but he should acquire an official approval from the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) to that end.
Mohammed Allan had gone on a hunger strike for over a couple of months in protest at being held administratively, without charge or trial. The IOA succumbed to increasing pressure to release him after his health status had remarkably gone down.
Allan’s father said his son is still in need of long-term therapy, raising concerns over further complications that might rock the detainee’s body.
He added that his son vowed to re-initiate his hunger strike in case the IOA reneges on promises to release him.
Allan’s father, Nasr al-Deen, said the lawyer appealed to an Israeli court to approve his son’s transfer to An-Najah hospital in Nablus to carry on the medical therapy and check-ups he quite urgently needs following his two-month hunger strike.
The father quoted the Director of the Barzilai Medical Complex as stating that he does not object to Allan’s transfer to another hospital but he should acquire an official approval from the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) to that end.
Mohammed Allan had gone on a hunger strike for over a couple of months in protest at being held administratively, without charge or trial. The IOA succumbed to increasing pressure to release him after his health status had remarkably gone down.
Allan’s father said his son is still in need of long-term therapy, raising concerns over further complications that might rock the detainee’s body.
He added that his son vowed to re-initiate his hunger strike in case the IOA reneges on promises to release him.
28 aug 2015
The Israeli nature authority objected to the decision of the war ministry to resume construction of the separation barrier near Beit Jala, south of Occupied Jerusalem, after the Supreme Court had invalidated the building of the barrier in that region and ordered the government to reconsider it, Haaretz reported Thursday.
A few days ago the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) uprooted olive trees along the wall's route.
On Wednesday the IOA carried out large-scale excavations in the area.
The Palestinians along with adjacent Christian monasteries and Israelis residing in the illegal settlement of Gush Etzion have objected to the construction of the separation wall saying it rather affects the environment and is unnecessary for Israel’s security.
The IOA resumed construction of the wall after years of deliberations with the Supreme Court that culminated in recommendations to reconsider the planned route of the separation barrier in the area.
The war ministry, however, resumed its work on the wall without altering its route, promising to leave a 200-meter gap in the wall near the local monasteries.
A few days ago the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) uprooted olive trees along the wall's route.
On Wednesday the IOA carried out large-scale excavations in the area.
The Palestinians along with adjacent Christian monasteries and Israelis residing in the illegal settlement of Gush Etzion have objected to the construction of the separation wall saying it rather affects the environment and is unnecessary for Israel’s security.
The IOA resumed construction of the wall after years of deliberations with the Supreme Court that culminated in recommendations to reconsider the planned route of the separation barrier in the area.
The war ministry, however, resumed its work on the wall without altering its route, promising to leave a 200-meter gap in the wall near the local monasteries.
24 aug 2015
The Israeli Occupation Authorities (IOA) prevented Sunday the Palestinian lawyer Mohamed Allan from leaving Barzilai Hospital despite a court’s order to suspend his administrative detention.
Allan, who was engaged in a hunger strike for 65 days, is still being held in coma in Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.
Israeli prosecution informed Barzilai Hospital administration that Allan’s release from hospital could only be approved by its permission, Yediot Aharonot paper said.
Allan’s presence in the hospital is daily renewed by the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration, the paper added.
According to the source, an Israeli jailer was placed at the entrance of the hospital to prevent any breach of the Israeli prosecution’s order.
The Israeli authorities informed Allan’s family that any intention to move him to another hospital must first be approved by the Israeli prosecution and the Barzilai Hospital administration.
Allan, who was engaged in a hunger strike for 65 days, is still being held in coma in Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.
Israeli prosecution informed Barzilai Hospital administration that Allan’s release from hospital could only be approved by its permission, Yediot Aharonot paper said.
Allan’s presence in the hospital is daily renewed by the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration, the paper added.
According to the source, an Israeli jailer was placed at the entrance of the hospital to prevent any breach of the Israeli prosecution’s order.
The Israeli authorities informed Allan’s family that any intention to move him to another hospital must first be approved by the Israeli prosecution and the Barzilai Hospital administration.
Jerusalem pride parade killer charged with premeditated murder, and six counts of attempted murder and aggravated assault, for plot police failed to foil.
Jerusalem Pride Parade attacker Yishai Shlissel was charged with the murder of Shira Banki at the Jerusalem District Court on Monday, in an indictment that provided more information on the police's failure to stop the attack.
Shlissel was charged with premeditated murder, as well as six counts of attempted murder, and aggravated assault. A surprising revelation in the indictment revealed that Shlissel was prevented from entering the parade at one of its points. "The pride parade must be stopped in order for the soul of Shira Banki to ascend to heaven," Shlissel said at the hearing on Monday morning. "If you care for her well being… you must stop cursing against God.
The parade marchers are bringing great harm upon the nation of Israel." According to the indictment, Shlissel rallied against the pride parade and its "illegal" nature in a number of forums, including religious media and fliers in Haredi neighborhoods immediately following his release from prison, and in the buildup to the July parade.
Shlissel left his parents' house in Yad Binyamin and headed to Jerusalem on the day of the parade around noon, after he had made the decision to murder parade participants. He specifically sought and purchased a kitchen knife with a wide blade, measuring 15 cm in length. He attempted to enter the parade's area through the Lincoln Street entrance; however, two female officers stopped him and asked him to leave the area. He began walking away from the entrance and turned on to nearby Washington Street.
He hid the knife in his clothing, and at approximately 6:39 pm, he entered the marchers' area near a convenience store. On his way in, Shlissel avoided a pair of police officers, and immediately began stabbing every marcher that stood in his path.
Shira Banki was the third marcher to fall victim to Shlissel's blade, after which he managed to stab two more marchers before being forced to the ground by a police officer. District judge Ram Vinograd refused to continue hearing a request for remand until Shlissel is issued a public defender, after Shlissel refused council during previous proceedings.
The state's case for remand will be heard on Tuesday. Sagea Ofir from the Jerusalem prosecutor's office said, "The suspect chose - with determination based in hate - to finish a crime he began a decade ago. The indictment is just one episode in the battle for freedom of expression and life for everyone within Israeli society."
Shlissel finished serving a 10 year sentence for a 2005 parade stabbing attack only several weeks before the parade. He refused council on the basis of non recognition of the state's institutions, and as such a refusal to cooperate with them.
Gay Pride Stabbing Suspect Charged with Murder
Israel, on Monday, charged an ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israeli man with murder for stabbing a 16-year-old girl to death and wounding five others at a Gay Pride parade, as he lashed out at homosexuality in court.
Yishai Shlissel, who was released from prison only three weeks before the stabbing for a similar attack, mentioned the name of the 16-year-old girl killed during his appearance at the court that charged him, Ynet reported according to AFP.
"The pride parade must be stopped in order for the soul of Shira Banki to ascend to heaven," Shlissel, 39 and with a long beard, told the court in Jerusalem.
"If you care for her well-being... you must stop cursing against God. The parade marchers are bringing great harm upon the nation of Israel."
Besides the murder accusation, Shlissel was also charged with aggravated assault and six counts of attempted murder over the attack on the march last month in Jerusalem, the justice ministry said. Shlissel has so far refused the help of a lawyer and said he does not accept the court's authority, but a psychiatric exam has found him fit to stand trial.
Three weeks before the July 30 stabbing, Shlissel was released from prison after serving a 10-year sentence for a similar attack that left three people wounded.
He had also posted a letter on the Internet speaking of the "abomination" of a Gay Pride parade being held in the Holy City and the need to stop it, even at the cost of one's life.
The attack has led to criticism of the Israeli security forces, with many questioning how Shlissel was allowed anywhere near the parade. The attack occurred in Jerusalem's city center as hundreds were participating in the march.
An unrelated attack, hours later on July 31, that saw a Palestinian home in the West Bank firebombed by Israeli settlers, killing an 18-month-old child and his father, focused further attention on Jewish extremism.
The family's small brick and cement home in the village of Douma was gutted by fire, while a Jewish Star of David was spray-painted on a wall along with the words "revenge" and "long live the Messiah."
Shlissel's charge comes as many have accused the Israeli government of failing to address the problem of Jewish extremism and of going dangerously far in its support for right-wing settler groups.
No charges have been made against potential perpetrators of the attack against the Palestinian Dawabsha family carried out on the same day as Shlissel's crime, and several suspects have been released.
Jerusalem Pride Parade attacker Yishai Shlissel was charged with the murder of Shira Banki at the Jerusalem District Court on Monday, in an indictment that provided more information on the police's failure to stop the attack.
Shlissel was charged with premeditated murder, as well as six counts of attempted murder, and aggravated assault. A surprising revelation in the indictment revealed that Shlissel was prevented from entering the parade at one of its points. "The pride parade must be stopped in order for the soul of Shira Banki to ascend to heaven," Shlissel said at the hearing on Monday morning. "If you care for her well being… you must stop cursing against God.
The parade marchers are bringing great harm upon the nation of Israel." According to the indictment, Shlissel rallied against the pride parade and its "illegal" nature in a number of forums, including religious media and fliers in Haredi neighborhoods immediately following his release from prison, and in the buildup to the July parade.
Shlissel left his parents' house in Yad Binyamin and headed to Jerusalem on the day of the parade around noon, after he had made the decision to murder parade participants. He specifically sought and purchased a kitchen knife with a wide blade, measuring 15 cm in length. He attempted to enter the parade's area through the Lincoln Street entrance; however, two female officers stopped him and asked him to leave the area. He began walking away from the entrance and turned on to nearby Washington Street.
He hid the knife in his clothing, and at approximately 6:39 pm, he entered the marchers' area near a convenience store. On his way in, Shlissel avoided a pair of police officers, and immediately began stabbing every marcher that stood in his path.
Shira Banki was the third marcher to fall victim to Shlissel's blade, after which he managed to stab two more marchers before being forced to the ground by a police officer. District judge Ram Vinograd refused to continue hearing a request for remand until Shlissel is issued a public defender, after Shlissel refused council during previous proceedings.
The state's case for remand will be heard on Tuesday. Sagea Ofir from the Jerusalem prosecutor's office said, "The suspect chose - with determination based in hate - to finish a crime he began a decade ago. The indictment is just one episode in the battle for freedom of expression and life for everyone within Israeli society."
Shlissel finished serving a 10 year sentence for a 2005 parade stabbing attack only several weeks before the parade. He refused council on the basis of non recognition of the state's institutions, and as such a refusal to cooperate with them.
Gay Pride Stabbing Suspect Charged with Murder
Israel, on Monday, charged an ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israeli man with murder for stabbing a 16-year-old girl to death and wounding five others at a Gay Pride parade, as he lashed out at homosexuality in court.
Yishai Shlissel, who was released from prison only three weeks before the stabbing for a similar attack, mentioned the name of the 16-year-old girl killed during his appearance at the court that charged him, Ynet reported according to AFP.
"The pride parade must be stopped in order for the soul of Shira Banki to ascend to heaven," Shlissel, 39 and with a long beard, told the court in Jerusalem.
"If you care for her well-being... you must stop cursing against God. The parade marchers are bringing great harm upon the nation of Israel."
Besides the murder accusation, Shlissel was also charged with aggravated assault and six counts of attempted murder over the attack on the march last month in Jerusalem, the justice ministry said. Shlissel has so far refused the help of a lawyer and said he does not accept the court's authority, but a psychiatric exam has found him fit to stand trial.
Three weeks before the July 30 stabbing, Shlissel was released from prison after serving a 10-year sentence for a similar attack that left three people wounded.
He had also posted a letter on the Internet speaking of the "abomination" of a Gay Pride parade being held in the Holy City and the need to stop it, even at the cost of one's life.
The attack has led to criticism of the Israeli security forces, with many questioning how Shlissel was allowed anywhere near the parade. The attack occurred in Jerusalem's city center as hundreds were participating in the march.
An unrelated attack, hours later on July 31, that saw a Palestinian home in the West Bank firebombed by Israeli settlers, killing an 18-month-old child and his father, focused further attention on Jewish extremism.
The family's small brick and cement home in the village of Douma was gutted by fire, while a Jewish Star of David was spray-painted on a wall along with the words "revenge" and "long live the Messiah."
Shlissel's charge comes as many have accused the Israeli government of failing to address the problem of Jewish extremism and of going dangerously far in its support for right-wing settler groups.
No charges have been made against potential perpetrators of the attack against the Palestinian Dawabsha family carried out on the same day as Shlissel's crime, and several suspects have been released.
23 aug 2015
Orders exclude the extremists from West Bank outposts from which Shin Bet claims the activists carried out attacks; attorney Ben-Gvir states: 'there are no indictments and no due process by which they can receive answers and defend themselves'.
Restraining orders were filed on Saturday night and Sunday morning against ten far-right activists, banning them from the West Bank for ten months.
In an unusual statement published Sunday, the Shin Bet said that "in light of several terrorist attacks committed recently, in which there was even loss of life, restraining orders were issued against ten activists at the recommendation of the Shin Bet ."
In the notification the Shin Bet claimed the purpose of the orders was to keep the right-wing activists away from illegal outposts "such as Habaladim, near the West Bank settlement of Kochav HaShachar, from which they set out to carry out attacks."
The statement also said that "in the spirit of the directive of the state's security cabinet, as part of a policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism, in order to smash the terrorist infrastructure which carried out these attacks and to prevent additional activity that could endanger security, these orders contain various restrictions, including demarcation of where they can reside, a nighttime curfew, and exclusion from the West Bank."
Since the murders of two members of the Dawabsheh family in the Palestinian village of Duma, administrative orders have become the most important tool in the fight against right-wing activists.
The orders distributed Saturday night were issued to far-right extremists who live in outposts associated with the "hilltop youth" of the West Bank. Among the recipients of the orders were two minors from the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in Yitzhar, three youths living near Shilo, and the father of a child from the outpost of Geulat Tziyon.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the attorney of two of the recipients, said: "Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon is behaving like a bull in a china shop. His actions send the message to young people that there is no democracy, and encourages them to break the law, as there are no indictments and no due process by which they can receive answers and defend themselves."
The association Honenu, which represents several right-wing activists, also protested the issuance of the orders. "The system is facing unprecedented pressure and is utilizing illegal means against the settlers engaged in the settlement of the country," the organization stated. "We are witnessing a dramatic rise in the severity and amount of administrative orders being issued, which severely violate the rights of recipients of such orders."
After the issuance of administrative detention orders to right-wing activists Meir Ettinger (grandson of Rabbi Meir Kahane), Evyatar Slonim, and Mordechai Meir, security forces Saturday began to issue the administrative restraining orders to ten other activists. The use of administrative restraining orders has been made before, but in the West Bank no one can recall such an extensive use of them in such a short span of time.
Restraining orders were filed on Saturday night and Sunday morning against ten far-right activists, banning them from the West Bank for ten months.
In an unusual statement published Sunday, the Shin Bet said that "in light of several terrorist attacks committed recently, in which there was even loss of life, restraining orders were issued against ten activists at the recommendation of the Shin Bet ."
In the notification the Shin Bet claimed the purpose of the orders was to keep the right-wing activists away from illegal outposts "such as Habaladim, near the West Bank settlement of Kochav HaShachar, from which they set out to carry out attacks."
The statement also said that "in the spirit of the directive of the state's security cabinet, as part of a policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism, in order to smash the terrorist infrastructure which carried out these attacks and to prevent additional activity that could endanger security, these orders contain various restrictions, including demarcation of where they can reside, a nighttime curfew, and exclusion from the West Bank."
Since the murders of two members of the Dawabsheh family in the Palestinian village of Duma, administrative orders have become the most important tool in the fight against right-wing activists.
The orders distributed Saturday night were issued to far-right extremists who live in outposts associated with the "hilltop youth" of the West Bank. Among the recipients of the orders were two minors from the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in Yitzhar, three youths living near Shilo, and the father of a child from the outpost of Geulat Tziyon.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the attorney of two of the recipients, said: "Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon is behaving like a bull in a china shop. His actions send the message to young people that there is no democracy, and encourages them to break the law, as there are no indictments and no due process by which they can receive answers and defend themselves."
The association Honenu, which represents several right-wing activists, also protested the issuance of the orders. "The system is facing unprecedented pressure and is utilizing illegal means against the settlers engaged in the settlement of the country," the organization stated. "We are witnessing a dramatic rise in the severity and amount of administrative orders being issued, which severely violate the rights of recipients of such orders."
After the issuance of administrative detention orders to right-wing activists Meir Ettinger (grandson of Rabbi Meir Kahane), Evyatar Slonim, and Mordechai Meir, security forces Saturday began to issue the administrative restraining orders to ten other activists. The use of administrative restraining orders has been made before, but in the West Bank no one can recall such an extensive use of them in such a short span of time.
