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Terror in Jerusalem: Three stabbing attacks in three days
September 13, 2021
By Tobias Siegal,
World Israel News
Security analysts have attributed the increased violence to the escape of the
six terrorist refugees from the Gilboa Prison last week
Two individuals in their 20s were stabbed near Jerusalem’s central station on Monday afternoon in a suspected terrorist attack and were evacuated to the nearby Shaare Zedek Medical Center in moderate condition.
The stabber, later identified as a 17-year-old resident of Hebron, was shot in the chest by a Border Police officer and was critically injured.
“The scene was chaotic when we first arrived,” said MDA paramedic Shlomi Pinhas. “The two injured victims were conscious and were lying on the ground while suffering from multiple stabbing wounds. We treated them at the scene by stopping the bleeding and administering medication before quickly evacuating them to a hospital in moderate condition.”
The Israel Police later said that it was searching for people who may have assisted the suspected terrorist reach Jerusalem and carry out the attack.
Earlier on Monday, an attempted stabbing attack was foiled by IDF troops at the Gush Etzion Junction, just south of Jerusalem.
According to the IDF, the suspect approached the junction and once noticing a group of soldiers standing near a bus stop, started running toward them while shouting “Allahu Akbar” and holding a knife in his hand.
The soldiers responded and shot the suspected terrorist, critically injuring him.
No other injuries were reported in the incident.
Another incident was reported on Friday last week, when a police officer was injured during an attempted stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City.
This past week has seen an increase in violent confrontations reported between Palestinian individuals and Israeli security forces, which may remind Jerusalem residents of the terrorism wave of 2015 that was characterized by Palestinian individuals, many of them very young, who carried out similar stabbing attacks throughout the capital for months on end. In 2015, such attacks were inspired “by vicious incitement in Palestinian social and traditional media,” according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
The same can be said about this renewed round of attacks. Security analysts have attributed the increased violence to the escape of the six terrorist refugees from the Gilboa Prison last week, two of whom are still on the run. Three of the fugitives are members of the Islamic Jihad, which has openly called on the Palestinian public to confront Israeli security forces since the manhunt began.
“There is no doubt that we are seeing an escalation,” Israel Police Jerusalem District Commander Doron Turjeman told reporters after Monday’s attacks. “We are prepared, deployed in the field and ready for any scenario.”
The heightened tensions have also manifested in more violence along the Gaza border, disrupting the daily lives of Israel’s southern population once again. Rocket attacks from Gaza, attributed to the Islamic Jihad, have also been renewed in the past three days.
I wonder if the collapse of NATO/American influence in Afghanistan has encouraged these terrorists as well.
Nigerian pastor ‘macheted to death,’ body found by search party
By Anugrah Kumar,
Christian Post Contributor|
Monday, September 13, 2021
Kajuru, Kaduna state, Nigeria, on April 14, 2019. | LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty Images
Unknown assailants in Nigeria’s Kaduna State “macheted to death” a pastor from the Evangelical Church of Winning All whose body was later found by a search party, as the troubling trend of deadly attacks on Christians carry on unabated in that country, according to a report.
The slain pastor has been identified as the Rev. Silas Ali of ECWA in Kaduna State’s Zango Kataf Local Government Area who left his home to go to Kafanchan area on Saturday, Nigeria’s Punch news outlet first reported Sunday.
Ali was apparently attacked around Kibori community, near Asha-Awuce area, where a search party discovered his body that was described as having been macheted to death.
Kaduna State’s Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the pastor’s murder, saying security agencies had started an investigation.
Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai described the killing as cruel and sent his condolences to the pastor’s family and the ECWA Church, The Guardian Nigeria reported.
While the assailants have not been identified, thousands of Christians have been killed in Nigeria — Christians are killed by radicalized Fulani herders in the farming-rich Middle Belt of Nigeria and by Islamic extremists in the country’s northeast.
In July, a civil society group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, or Intersociety, released a report estimating that at least 3,462 Christians had been killed and at least 3,000 Christians had been abducted in just 200 days. The report also estimates that no fewer than 300 churches and 10 priests had been attacked.
Many have accused the Nigerian government of inadequately responding to protect its citizens.
“The Nigerian Government has continued to face sharp criticisms and strong accusations of culpability and complicity in the killings and supervision of same,” Intersociety said in the report. “The country’s security forces have so fumbled and compromised that they hardly intervene when the vulnerable Christians are in danger of threats or attacks, but only emerge after such attacks to arrest and frame up the same population threatened or attacked.”
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is ranked No. 9 on Open Door’s 2021 World Watch List for Christian persecution worldwide due to an “extreme” level of Islamic oppression.
Jihadi attacks in West Africa have been on the rise since the beginning of 2021, and Nigeria is targeted more than any country in the region, the United States-based Christian persecution watchdog group International Christian Concern reports.
Islamic terrorist groups have killed thousands in the region in recent years as they seek to impose a caliphate and Islamic Sharia law.
The responses by the government are clearly not enough, since perpetrators of such violence are able to continue attacking Christians, and other Nigerians, with impunity,” Illia Djadi, Open Doors senior analyst on freedom of religion and belief in sub-Saharan Africa, said, according to ICC.
The Global Terrorism Index ranks Nigeria as the third country most affected by terrorism in the world. It reports that from 2001 to 2019, over 22,000 were killed by acts of terror.
Mark Jacob, a Nigerian barrister, and former Attorney General of Kaduna State, said last month that “selected killings of Christians, particularly in the ‘Middle Belt’ region of Nigeria” had been going on, and he “has been part of several mass burials” of Christians.
Algerian Olympic judo star banned for ten years
for refusing to compete against Israeli opponent
15 Sep, 2021 12:15
Tohar Butbul of Israel competes at the Olympics in Tokyo. © Reuters / USA Today Sports
Judo star Fethi Nourine and his coach have received 10-year bans from the International Judo Federation for "promotion of political and religious propaganda" after refusing to compete against an Israeli opponent in Tokyo.
Nourine was paired with Sudan's Mohamed Abdalrasool in the Olympic 73kg tournament in a contest which would have seen the winner taking on Israel's Tohar Butbul in the following round.
However, Nourine soon announced that his support for Palestine ruled out the possibility that he would consider competing against an Israeli opponent, prompting the Algerian Olympic Committee (AOC) to withdraw Olympic accreditation from both Nourine and his coach, Amar Benikhlef.
Both were sent home from the Games by the AOC – but the punishments being handed down to the two men isn't stopping there after it was revealed that the International Judo Federation (IJF) has also come down hard on the pair for what it sees as an unnecessary merging of sport and politics.
In their determination, the IJF strongly rebuked both Nourine and Benikhlef for using their participation in the Olympics "as a platform for protest and promotion of political and religious propaganda" which they say is in violation of the code of ethics at the heart of the Olympic charter.
As such, the IJF stated that they are suspending both from competition until July 23, 2031 – a move which would effectively end Nourine's judo career, but this will likely be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Nourine's political loyalties have led to him testing the IJF's patience in the past. In 2019 he withdrew from the 2019 World Championships, which were also in Tokyo, after it again looked likely that he would have to take on an Israeli competitor.
In fact, judo seems to have become an unlikely battleground when it comes to Israel and Palestinian affairs.
At the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Egypt’s Islam El Shehaby announced he was quitting the sport just hours after he refused to shake hands with Israel's Or Sasson.
In April of this year, Iran's judo team were handed a four-year ban by the IJF for "repeated and very severe breaches" of their code of ethics after they were found to have put pressure on their judokas to refuse to compete against an Israeli opponent.
Some on social media backed the IJF's determination in handing out a stern penalty to Nourine, for what many are seeing as an act which goes against the inclusive spirit of sports.
"Fair judgement. You don't bring politics to sports," wrote one on Twitter, while another hit out at what they claim is the Algerian's "bigotry".
"This behavior has no place in the Olympics," added a third.
Israeli court orders Hamas pay $11.8 million to families
of kidnapped teens
September 14, 2021
An Israeli holds picture of three kidnapped Jewish teenagers who were subsequently murdered
by Hamas terrorists, June 17, 2014. (Flash90/Yonatan Sindel)
Disappointed families say paltry judgment won’t deter terrorists.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
An Israeli court ruled Tuesday that the Hamas terror group must pay damages of NIS 38 million ($11.8 million) to the families of three teens who were kidnapped and murdered while hitchhiking in Judea and Samaria in June 2014.
But the decision was not being celebrated by the families or the advocacy group who filed the suit on their behalf.
Shurat HaDin, an Israeli non-governmental organization that fights terror through the legal system and often represents the families of terror victims, had asked for a judgement of NIS 520 million ($161 million).
The reason for the dramatic reduction from the sum requested, Judge Ilan Sela explained, was a previous precedent-setting ruling from Israel’s Supreme Court. That ruling limited each plaintiff to NIS one million in compensation, and each estate to NIS three million.
Shurat HaDin’s founder, attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, excoriated the ruling in a statement, saying that the amount wasn’t enough to create disrupt Hamas’ operations.
“An organization that is based on a billion-dollar budget will not be deterred by any $10 million lawsuit. The purpose of the lawsuits is to bring down terrorism, and this cannot be done with such sums that are insignificant to them,” Darshan-Leitner said.
“It is unthinkable for an Israeli court to show such clemency toward the terrorist organization that financed, planned and carried out the horrific attack that the entire nation still carries in its heart.”
Nor was it clear how the families might collect the judgment from Hamas.
In 2014, Israeli yeshiva students Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrah – were kidnapped by Hamas near Alon Shvut.
One of the teens managed to call for help after being abducted, sparking a massive search that gripped the Jewish State. During the search, Hamas fired rockets at Israel, sparking Operation Protective Edge, a seven-week conflict.
The bodies of the three teens were found in a shallow grave in the Hebron area two weeks after their abduction.
Yifrah’s father, Uri, told Ynet that “the ruling is not sufficient, because the State of Israel must crack down on terrorism against as hard as possible.”
“This is a sum that won’t deter Hamas and similar groups who continue their activities at all times. Our goal is to undermine the economic and legal tools of the terrorist organizations, to teach them a lesson and, God willing, to prevent the next incident.”
Afghan female youth footballers flee Taliban by crossing border to Pakistan
15 Sep, 2021 19:58
Members of the Afghanistan youth football team arrived in Pakistan today. © AFP
Female players who have represented Afghanistan's junior national football team have managed to flee the country and cross the border to neighboring Pakistan, in a bid to escape the now-ruling Taliban.
The girls were reportedly in hiding for the last month as fears spread of women's rights being trampled on by the new regime.
Players from the senior women's side managed to fly out of Kabul to Australia in August, but their youth counterparts were left stranded while lacking official documents such as passports.
After the Football for Peace charity lobbied Pakistan on their behalf, 32 players and their relatives managed to obtain visas.
The group boasts 81 people in total, and an official from the Pakistani Football Federation said that they would be housed at the organization's Lahore HQ, with a further 34 people arriving tomorrow.
For 30 days, they will remain under tight security and then apply for asylum in third countries other than Pakistan, the official confirmed.
As recently revealed by The Independent, the players wrote to Pakistan PM Imran Khan to request urgent permission to enter his homeland as they felt they were at risk of "grave threats".
When Kabul fell after US troops pulled out following a 20-year presence in the region, the women's national team's former captain Khalida Popal urged her former teammates to delete photos of themselves plying their trade and to burn their kits as a way of covering up their playing past.
Just last week, Ahmadulla Wasiq, the deputy head of the Taliban's cultural commission, poured doubt on the future of women playing sport in the captured country by saying their participation wasn't necessary or appropriate when discussing cricket.
"In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered. Islam does not allow women to be seen like this," said Wasiq.
God forbid they shouldn't be invisible for a few seconds.
"It is the media era, and there will be photos and videos, and then people watch it. Islam and the Islamic Emirate [Afghanistan] do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed."
During the Taliban's first rule from 1996-2001, women were barred from being able to participate in sports and its women's football team was only established in 2007.
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