Hamas

Hamas is a terrorist organization that primarily targets Israeli civilians. Their goal is to destroy Israel and replace Jewish sovereignty over any part of the land with radical Islamist rule. After Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza strip, Hamas won control of the territory. Since 2006, Hamas has consistently used Gaza as a launch pad for rocket and mortar attacks against Israel. In 2014, Israel discovered Hamas was digging tunnels beneath the Gazan border. Hamas uses the Palestinian people living in Gaza as human shields, diverting money and resources meant for civilians in order to support terror. While Hamas prepares for the next war by stockpiling thousands of rockets and digging new tunnels in Gaza, the organization is also working to gain control of the West Bank.

Hamas

False rocket alert jolts southern Israel for second time this week

Residents of southern Israel were roused Wednesday morning by a rocket alert siren after a projectile fired from the Gaza Strip landed in open waters.
The alarm was triggered in the city of Sderot and surrounding communities, which lie adjacent to the northern Gaza border.
“Following reports regarding sirens which sounded in the city of Sderot and…

Hamas

Synagogues are now conducting active shooter drills during services

(JTA) — When the ushers locked the door to the sanctuary, and the congregants prepared to flee the synagogue in preparation for a mass shooting, Rabbi Neil Cooper made sure it all happened before they had to take the Torahs out of the ark.

Ten minutes later the worshippers were back in the pews, doors unlocked, and getting ready to hear the…

Hamas

Passenger plane lands safely at Ben Gurion after blown tire scare

A passenger plane with a blown tire landed safely at Ben Gurion Airport on Monday after rescue services were put on high alert for a potential emergency situation.

Over 100 ambulances, firetrucks and emergency workers had been scrambled to the airport and Israeli fighter jets followed the Boeing 737 as it prepared to land four hours after taking…

Hamas

Israeli parliament holds funding talks for Gaza border towns affected by cross-border arson attacks

Although officially in recess, the Israeli parliament (Knesset) on Monday held a special session on funding for Israeli communities near the Gaza border hit by ongoing incendiary balloon attacks launched from the Gaza Strip.
The session — titled “Budgeting the fortification of communities located near the Gaza border, including large cities” –…

Hamas

Israelis and Palestinians participate in run for peace on Gaza border

Israelis and Palestinians cycled and ran in unison on Friday on both sides of the Gaza border in a historic solidarity event.

“I think it’s a very big statement and message, that first of all, the initiative came from Gaza. They wanted this and we are just supporting their call for action,” Budo for Peace founder Danny Hakim said. “And I think we…

Hamas

Peretz said weighing making Arab, Haredi schools fly Israeli flag

Newly appointed Education Minister Rafi Peretz is considering requiring ultra-Orthodox and Arab schools to fly the Israeli flag, according to a report Wednesday.

Under a 1997 law, all educational institutions must fly an Israeli flag on their main school building.

Associates of Peretz, who took office Wednesday, told the Ynet news site that…

Hamas

Israel, Hamas said to agree on new truce amid wave of arson terrorism

UN and Egyptian officials have been able to broker a renewed truce agreement between Israel and Hamas, Palestinian media reported overnight on Thursday.

The cease-fire took effect in the early hours of Friday morning, the report said.

The deal came amid a new wave of arson terrorism, which saw Palestinian terrorists launch dozens of incendiary…

Hamas

Russia reportedly interfered with air navigation in Israel

Senior Israeli officials believe that Russia has been disrupting civilian aircraft navigation systems for the past three week, according to reports released Thursday morning. Army Radio called the move a “hostile attack.”

The Israel Airports Authority announced on Wednesday that pilots were having difficulty landing, experiencing mysterious…

Hamas

Minor earthquake shakes Dead Sea

A minor earthquake shook the Dead Sea region Wednesday morning, with the temblor measuring around 3.8 on the Richter scale, Israel’s Geophysical Institute said in a statement.

There were no reports of damage or casualties.

Minor quakes have rattled parts of Israel over the past year, as concerns grow about the country’s level of preparedness for…

Hamas

Jewish graves vandalized in South Africa

(June 24, 2019 / Israel Hayom) The Jewish community in Strand, South Africa, filed a police complaint recently after four gravestones in the local Jewish cemetery were vandalized. Last week, two other Jewish cemeteries in the same district of Western Cape were also the target of vandalism. Police fear it may be the work of a neo-Nazi cell.

Deputy…

Hamas

Egypt to pay $500 million fine for breaking gas deal with Israel

(June 19, 2019 / JNS) Egypt reached a settlement with Israel on Sunday to pay the Israel Electric Corporation $500 million over the next eight and a half years, after breaking an agreement to deliver natural gas to the Jewish state in 2012.

The gas supply deal was announced under Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2005 and the opening of the…

Hamas

16 House Republicans urge Twitter CEO to ban Hamas

(June 18, 2019 / Israel Hayom) Sixteen U.S. lawmakers have called on Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to remove “all content promoting terrorist activity” from the social media platform, and to ban “senior Hamas officials and associates from Twitter who radicalize individuals to incite violence against Israelis.”

In a letter to the San Francisco-based…

Hamas

Official New Zealand government website wipes Israel off the map

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — Immigration New Zealand, an official government website, published a fact sheet with a map of the Middle East that showed a “Palestine,” but not Israel.

Following a barrage of complaints on social media, the web page was removed, though screenshots remain.

The Israel Institute of New Zealand called for a retraction of…

Hamas

Israel reopens Gaza fishing zone

(June 18, 2019 / JNS) Israel has reopened the Gaza fishing zone to 10 nautical miles off the coast, despite recent tensions due to border riots, rocket attacks and incendiary balloons launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Last Wednesday, Israel totally shut down the Gaza fishing zone after Hamas failed to hold up its end of a ceasefire…

Hamas

Funding at state and federal levels supports hardening of security at synagogues, faith-based institutions

(June 14, 2019 / JNS) The Ohio Senate recently released an amended version of the state’s operating budget for the next two fiscal years that includes key funding for nonprofit security needs in the aftermath of increasing attempted and carried-out attacks on houses of worship, faith-based institutions, cause-based nonprofits and individuals who…

Hamas

California man arrested after threatening synagogue mass shooting

(JTA) — A California man who threatened in an online chatroom to kill Jews and to commit a mass shooting at a synagogue was arrested.

Ross Anthony Farca, 23, of Concord, California, said in the chatroom on the video game platform Steam that he wanted to emulate the Poway synagogue shooter “except with a Nazi uniform on,” The Mercury News…

Hamas

Rocket fired from Gaza strikes school building in southern Israel

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A rocket fired from Gaza hit a school building in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Thursday evening.

The building, identified as a Jewish religious school, was damaged but no injuries were reported. It was reported to be empty at the time of impact and was fortified against rockets.

No one has taken responsibility for…

Hamas

Man seriously hurt in Jerusalem knife attack released from hospital

An Israeli man who sustained life-threatening stab wounds in a terror attack in Jerusalem’s Old City last month was released from a Jerusalem hospital on Wednesday, vowing to reporters, “We will not be afraid.”

Gavriel Lavi, 47, said he struggled to remember the details of the stabbing attack at Damascus Gate in the capital on May 31, but…