Home Frontline Defense November 3rd Edition

November 3rd Edition

Jewish Policy Center
SOURCE

Israel

According to the IDF, there have been 58 stabbings, five shootings, and six car ramming attacks against Israelis since the latest spree of violence and riots started on September 14th. Eleven Israelis have been killed while 69 Palestinians, including 30 attackers, have also died.

With help from the U.S., Israel and Jordan agreed to add additional cameras to the Temple Mount and eventually stream the footage publicly online. Israeli leaders hope the video stream will help expose Palestinian violence and put a rest to rumors that the government wants to change the status-quo agreement at the site. However, Palestinian negotiators were unenthusiastic about the idea saying that Israel will use the footage to arrest people and that violence is caused by Israel’s actions.

Israeli police stand on the scene of a stabbing in Rishon Lezion near Tel Aviv, Israel November 2, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

The Israeli military has doubled its troop presence in Gush Etzion following a spate of recent attacks, including an attempted stabbing of an IDF soldier on October 23rd. Other measures include the deployment of concrete blocks and additional cameras. The cameras will help the IDF identify and investigate violent perpetrators.

Ynet News published an article warning that Fatah’s Tanzim militia could become involved in terrorist attacks, if the recent bloodshed continues. The group serves as a “shadow army” to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) security forces with hundreds of guns, including M-16 and Kalashnikovs, and grenades in areas under Israeli security administration.

West Bank

The Israeli military shut down the Palestinian radio station al-Hurria in Hebron after accusing it of inciting violence against Israelis.

Gaza

On October 20th, the Israeli government killed at least one Palestinian sniper who had been shooting at Israelis for a week near the border with Gaza. The Iranian-backed group Harakat al-Sabireen issued a statement naming 27-year-old Ahmed Sharif al-Sarhi as the operative killed during the raid. During a separate operation the same day, Israeli forces injured nine rioters who attempted to attack the border fence.

Terrorists in Gaza fired a rocket into Israel on October 21st, prompting the IDF to activate air raid sirens in several communities near the border. A week later, on October 26th, another rocket was fired from the enclave landing near a kibbutz in Shaar Hanegev. The Salafist terrorist group Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade, took responsibility for the attack, while Israel launched a retaliatory airstrike on Hamas infrastructure.

Golan Heights

IDF ground troops entered Syria briefly on October 24th after an Arab-Israeli paraglider appeared to unintentionally drift across the border. Israeli forces later learned that the 23-year-old man intentionally crossed the border to join a terrorist group fighting in the civil war.

An Iranian state-run news agency reported that Russian fighter jets launched airstrikes against rebel-held positions in Syria’s Daara region, near the Golan Heights border with Syria.

Sinai

A Russian passenger plane traveling from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg crashed in the Sinai desert approximately 23 minutes after takeoff, killing all 224 people on board. While the cause of the crash is under investigation, separate debris fields suggest the Metrojet Flight broke up in mid-air. Islamic State linked militants have taken responsibility for bringing down the plane, but such claims have been dismissed by the Egyptian government. Western countries have subsequently issued warnings to their airlines about flying over the Peninsula.

Three Egyptian policemen were killed by a roadside bomb in the provincial capital of el-Arish on October 24th. Eight conscripts were also wounded in the blast.

Egyptian authorities extended a state of emergency and night time curfew for Rafah, el-Arish, Sheikh Zuweid for another three months. The decree, reaffirmed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has been in effect since fall of last year. The measure comes amid reports that security forces have restarted the flooding of smuggling tunnels leading from Rafah across the border with Gaza.

Security forces carried out raids on October 25th that killed 25 militants, according to Egypt’s NEMA state run news agency. On the previous day, militants killed a conservative parliamentary candidate living in the area.