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Israel Report To provide greater exposure to primary Israeli news sources and opinions in order to become better informed on the issues, and to gain a better understanding of the wide range of perspectives that exist in Israeli society and politics. Issue 1003 • April 22, 2016 • Erev Pesach 5776 ISRAEL PUTS BILLIONS INTO MULTI-LAYER GAZA TUNNEL BARRIER The decision came following instructions with the government, as well as a (Israel Hayom 4/20/16) security evaluation, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said. The closure will be The defense establishment is expected to finish installing a state of the art lifted on April 24, "in line with a [security] evaluation," the IDF added. counter-tunnel barrier along the Israel-Gaza Strip border within two years, Meanwhile, Israel's security establishment has raised its level of alert in Israel Hayom learned on Tuesday. preparation for a feared rise in terrorist attacks during the Passover holiday, The project, dubbed "Hourglass," is estimated at billions of shekels, and which starts on Friday evening. according to one defense official, its development enjoys unlimited funds. According to estimates, the various gatherings of crowds during the holiday The barrier's blueprints are the product of cross-platform development present targets that are more available and "valuable" for terrorists. involving top Military Intelligence, Engineering Corps, and Shin Bet security Therefore, IDF forces in the West Bank and police in Jerusalem will be agency officers, civilian engineering and infrastructure contractors, and bolstered during the period. tunnel construction experts. "We must make sure that the gatherings do not become targets for terror The project's premise follows a pessimistic security scenario, suggesting the attacks," The Jerusalem Post's sister publication Ma'ariv quoted a security recently discovered terror tunnel under the Gaza border was just one in an source as saying. "The weather is better, there are more people traveling, extensive grid of underground passageways. and more people outside." The planned barrier has been described as "multi-tiered" defenses, which "We are prepared for a significant escalation during the holiday period," the strive to meet a wide variety of threats above and underground. It security source added. "We have had a relative calm streak, but we are incorporates innovative measures, including sensor technology to detect preparing for an escalation to break out - and the timing is [during] the underground excavation, and unique engineering technology. The barrier will holiday period." also feature a state-of-the-art fence, complete with sensors, observation Security forces this year will be dispatched to warn travelers against balloons, see-shoot systems, and intelligence gathering measures, as well as accidental entrance into Area A of the West Bank. an underground wall. In addition, Route 10 which runs along Israel's border with Egypt, the The Sentry-Tech "see-shoot" system, produced by Rafael Advanced Defense northern Gaza Strip and the Sayerim junction in the South will remain closed Systems, is a remote controlled sensors and weapons system, already depending on the situation during Passover. deployed along the Israel-Egypt border. Meanwhile on Thursday, Channel 2 reported that Israel’s army chief told The military has also deployed a series of sophisticated detection systems, government ministers on Thursday that the Palestinian Authority has boosted some of which are experimental, along the volatile Gaza border. The systems its efforts to combat terrorism aimed at Israeli soldiers and civilians. join the heavy machinery used by combat engineering forces routinely IDF Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot briefed the security cabinet on Thursday, telling deployed in the area, who are tasked with clearing the border fence of ministers that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had ordered explosives planted by terrorists. his forces to clamp down on anti-Israel incitement on social media. HAMAS MEMBERS ARRESTED IN JERUSALEM BUS BOMBING CASE Israel Report is a Student Publication of (YNet 4/21/16) The Jerusalem Police released a statement Thursday, saying, “Through Daniel Zolty, Editor-in-Chief Yonatan Kurz, Moshe Davis, Yosef Segal and Eli Levine, Editors intensive intelligence and field activity, the Shin Bet, the Israel Police, and the We are proud to be distributed by these institutions, though they do not necessarily support or condone IDF arrested a number of suspects about a day after the attack on the any of the material published: Jerusalem bus – Hamas suspects from the Bethlehem area – who are Anshei Chesed Cong., Boynton Beach, FL Hillel at California State University - Long Beach Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies Hillel at Columbia University suspected of being involved in planning the attack and executing it. Their Boca Raton Synagogue, FL Hillel at Johns Hopkins University questioning is in progress, and their identities are classified.” It was also Carmel School, Hong Kong Hillel at Yale University Chabad of Oak Park, CA Hillel High School, Deal NJ officially confirmed that the person who was killed in the attack, which also Cong. Agudath Achim, Bradley Beach, NJ Jewish Center of Teaneck, NJ wounded 20, is the terrorist who committed it. Cong. Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, NJ Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi, Cedarhurst, NY Cong. Ahavath Achim, Fairfield, CT Kemp Mill Synagogue, Silver Spring, MD The official statement also said that “it has been cleared for publication that Cong. Anshe Shalom, Jamaica Estates, NY Mizrachi Shul, Johannesburg, SA the critically wounded man from the attack, who died at the Shaare Zedek Cong. Beth Aaron, Teaneck, NJ North Shore Hebrew Academy HS, NY Cong. Beth Shalom, Monroe Twp, NJ Suburban Torah Center, Livingston, NJ hospital, is the terrorist who perpetrated the attack on the Egged line 12 bus.” Cong. Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, NJ The Learning Shul, Columbia, SC “The terrorist, Abd al-Hamid Abu Srur, (who was) about 19 years old, (was a) Cong. Ohr Torah, Edison, NJ Woodsburgh, NY Minyan resident of Beit Jala and affiliated with the Hamas movement, was, as stated, Cong. Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, NJ Young Israel Bet Tefilah of Aberdeen, NJ Cong. Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, NJ Young Israel of Brookline, MA critically wounded during the perpetration of the attack and died of his Cong. Sons of Israel, Allentown, PA Young Israel of East Brunswick, NJ wounds (on Wednesday) at the hospital. The attack wounded 20 civilians, Cong. Zichron Mordechai, Teaneck, NJ Young Israel of Fort Lee, NJ Cong. Zichron R. M. Feinstein, Brooklyn, NY Young Israel of Hancock Park, CA one of them severely, seven moderately, and the others lightly.” Delray Orthodox Synagogue, Delray Beach, FL Young Israel of Holliswood, NY East Denver Orthodox Synagogue, CO Young Israel of Houston, TX Flatbush Park Jewish Center, Mill Basin, NY Young Israel of New Hyde Park, NY IDF IMPOSES GENERAL CLOSURE ON WEST BANK AHEAD OF Harvard University Library Young Israel of North Woodmere, NY PASSOVER (JPost 4/21/16) Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, NY Young Israel of New Rochelle, NY Hillel at Baruch College Young Israel of Sharon, MA The IDF imposed a general closure on the West Bank and shut down Gaza Hillel at Brandeis University YI Shomrai Emunah, Silver Spring, MD border crossings on Thursday night. The closure will continue throughout the We encourage our readers to subscribe to our sources on the internet. For more information or to Passover period, the military announced on Thursday. subscribe by e-mail, reach us at [email protected] 2 'ISRAEL GIVES JORDAN AND EGYPT INTEL AID IN ANTI-ISIS FIGHT' National Security Archive on Thursday, shedding light on Israel’s attempts to (Israel Hayom 4/21/16) hide one of its best-kept secrets to this day: details on its nuclear program. Israel provides Jordan and Egypt with intelligence assistance in their fight The Americans ultimately believed the Israelis were providing “untruthful against the Islamic State group, a senior Israeli military officer said on cover” about intentions to build a bomb. Wednesday. Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979, followed by Jordan in The documents include papers from the White House, the State Department, 1994. They are the only Arab countries to have peace treaties with Israel, a the Atomic Energy Commission and U.S. intelligence agencies. The editors matter unpopular with many Egyptians and Jordanians and which generally are Avner Cohen, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International keeps their governments quiet about their ties with Israel. Studies at Monterey, and William Burr, the head of nuclear affairs Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan said in a press briefing on documentation at the National Security Archive, which is based at George Wednesday that the two countries were working with Israel as they try to beat Washington University in the capital. back Islamic State. One document provides the minutes of a meeting between U.S. President "Egypt fights the Islamic State in the Sinai Peninsula," Golan said. "Jordan is John F. Kennedy and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion on May 30, 1961, at terrified by the presence of the Islamic State in Jordan's cities and towns. the Waldorf Astoria in New York. And we try to work with them in order to contribute to their security." Cohen and Burr call that meeting a “nuclear conference” – Israel’s nuclear The help, said Golan, came "mainly by providing our intelligence, and you do program greatly concerned Kennedy. When he met his predecessor Dwight know that while fighting all sorts of insurgency, intelligence is the most D. Eisenhower before the changeover of January 20, 1961, he was quick to important element in the whole system." ask which countries Ike believed were determined to obtain nuclear Despite deeming this military cooperation as unprecedented, Golan weapons. cautioned: "I wouldn't describe that as some sort of reconciliation between Secretary of State Christian Herter replied: “India and Israel,” before the people.
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