Current Events News Summary for March 2016 – COMPLETE

CURRENT EVENTS ARCHIVE

ISRAEL:

— Israel is well on the way to completing the barrier between south of the West Bank and the Jerusalem area. As well, work permits for family members of terrorists will be denied (Ha’aretz)

— Israeli made NAMER personnel carriers are being equipped with the very effective TROPHY protection system which destroys anti tank missiles and rocket propelled grenades in mid air (J Post)

— Israel admits developing a secret weapon to locate tunnels (D Alert)

— Israel’s new anti-tunnel weapon, dubbed ‘Underground Iron Dome’, can detect a tunnel then send in a moving missile to blow it up (Debka)

— USA, UK, the EU and Germany have condemned Israel’s appropriation of 580 acres (234 hectares) of land near Jericho in the West Bank (D Alert)

— The Israel economy grew by 2.5 % in 2015 and a record surplus of $13.8 (Bill) was created in Israel’s balance of payments (Hayom)

— 17 of the remaining few Jews in Yemen were brought to Israel in a secret mission on Mar 20. About 50 Jews remain in Yemen(J Post)

— Former Min. Yair Lapid describes the U.N.’Human Rights’ Council as a Council for terrorist rights (D Alert)

— In 2015 Foreign investment in Israel totalled $11.6 (Bill), a 90 % increase over 2014, And over 320 world class R and D centres were established (T of I)

— An Israeli soldier who shot a terrorist lying on the ground claims he did the right thing at the right time (J Post)

— An Israeli court has convicted Moslem cleric Omar Sara of incitement to violence after he said now is the time to kill Jews (Ha’aretz)

— A report says that 3,500 police working full time have turned the terror tide in Israel by using improved intell. to identify possible terror suspects and arresting them before they can create violence (J Post)

— Moodys Internat, Credit rating agency, has confirmed Israel’s A-1 rating (Globes)

— Israel; has announced new sales of military equipment to India worth hundreds of millions of dollars (J Post)

— A report says that Israel’s border with Gaza is the quietest in years and new residents are moving in (J Post)

— Israel seeks tourists from China and India. In 2015 40,000 tourists came from India (Reuters)

— Israel ‘looks on’ with trepidation as its neighbours buy billions of dollars worth of sophisticated weapons from the west !! (Reuters)

— Israel has suspended cement deliveries to Gaza, which were meant to rebuild Pal houses, as Hamas was stealing them for use in tunnel works (J Post)

— Israel recorded 2.5 % economic growth in 2015 and projects 2.8 for 2016 (AFP)

— Israel expects its upcoming F-351 attack planes will maintain its qualitative edge against regional adversaries (Def, News)

— Christians and other minorities flourish in Israel. There is a Christian Supreme Court Judge and there over 1,000 Moslem Arabs in the IDF (Gatestone)

SYRIA:

— A report claims that IS lost 14 % of its territory in 2015 (D Alert)

— Syrian forces backed by Russian air strikes and Russian soldiers, recaptured the Syrian town of Palmyra from IS on March 27 (US Today)

— Abd ar-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, ISIS’ second in command and minister of finance, was killed in a clandestine raid conducted on the ground in Syria by U.S. Special Operations Forces, the Pentagon said Friday March 25. (ABC)

USA:

— US Delta Force Commandos recently captured an ISIS Chemical Weapons expert who supplied info enabling the air strike destruction of 2 chemical weapons facilities in Iraq (CBS)

— According to former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, President Obama has questioned why the U.S. should maintain Israel’s so-called qualitative military edge, which grants it access to more sophisticated weapons systems than America’s Arab allies receive. And he decided early on that he wanted to reach out to America’s most Middle East foe, Iran (D Alert)

— On Mar 4 US forces on the Jordan border launched guided rocket artillery attacks into Syria for the first time (D Alert)

— In a last ditch attempt to make his mark in the last days of his Pres., Obama has visited Cuba. (D Alert)

— Congress is delaying the payment of $159 (Mill)

— to the PA because of its support for terrorism (Ma’an News)

— On Mar.20 Vice Pres Biden blamed both Israel and the Pals for lacking the will to find peace (Politico)

— 30 Senators are calling for the US to fully fund Israel’s defensive Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arriow 3 interceptor. In 2015 USA contributed $487 (Mill)

— About 3 years ago Pres Obama told the world there is no difference between his daughters and the young Moslem men he met in Ramallah!!!! (Ha’aretz)

— The Obama administration has imposed new sanctions against Iranian defense firms and units of the Revolutionary Guard for their role in supporting the country’s recent ballistic-missile launches.(Wall St J)

— US arms dealer Ratheon will make $9.5 million reciprocal procurements in Israel (Globes)

— USA may use its veto in the UN S. Council to block the sale of Su -30 Russian fighter jets to Iran (Wash. Times)

TURKEY:

— A deadly and murderous bomb blast hit Ankara the capital of Turkey on Mar 14, killing at least 27 people and wounding more than 75 (D Alert)

— Turkey is trying to get Israel to allow a floating Gaza seaport in return for normalisation of relations between the two countries (D Alert)

— Israelis have been told to avoid visiting Turkey as there are threats against Israel and Jewish targets (J Post)

— Turkey claims there’s a credible plot to target Jewish children within Turkey (Skey)

— HIZBULLAH:

— Hizbullah’s ‘bunker-hiding’ leader, Nasrallah, has again threatened to destroy Israeli targets inc. nuclear facilities (Debka)

— Satellite imagery shows that Hizbullah has built a significant base in Syria with tunnels leading back to Lebanon (Stratfor)

TERRORISM:

— More than 200 militants have recently deserted ISIS in the Raqqa province and joined Syrian rebel groups (Ara News)

— An American tourist was stabbed to death on Mar 8, by a Pal murderer from the West Bank, who was fatally shot (Ynet)

— On April 8, a Palestinian was stabbed to death with his own knife when the ‘victim’ overpowered him (T of I)

— An ISIS defector was caught carrying a ‘memory stick’ showing 22,000 names, addresses and phone numbers of ISIS supporters in many countries!!! Air strikes and economic downturns have allegedly reduced the IS income to a shadow of its former greatness (USA Today)

— A male Pal terrorist and 2 females tried stabbing attacks on Mar 13 and 14 but were unsuccessful (J Post)

— There have been 320 stabbings, shootings and car rammings since last September (Tele.UK)

— 2 Pal men have been shot as they committed terror attacks and 2 Pal boys were arrested for carrying knives (J Post)

— There is a slight drop in Pal support for terror stabbings as they start to realize they are ineffective anyway (Ynet)

— Terror bombing in Brussels leave many dead. Two terrorists killed (Wash Post). IS claims to have trained 400-600 for external attacks on other people, with the aim being to claim more attacks rather than more dead people!! (AP)

— A US source claims IS leaders are being killed at the rate of one every 3 days and many IS militants are refusing to fight (Wash Post)

— A writer points out that there is a World War raging for there are now more countries entangled with Islamists than were involved in the last world war (D Alert)

— A report claims that Al-Qaeda now has Russian made SA 7 shoulder fired surface to air missiles (D Alert)

— 4 East Jerusalem residents have been indicted for trying to join the IS group in Syria and planning terror attacks in Jerusalem (Hayom)

— As the bombing pressure on IS in Mosul increases, dozens of IS men are deserting and fleeing the doomed city (Debka)

— The IDF claims that the Pal terror wave against Israel is decreasing (Ha’aretz)

— Reports say that IS is stepping up activities in the Sinai and Golan even tho its losing some ground elsewhere. One paper suggests that IS attacks on Israel are only a matter of time (Hayom)

— Reports over the past few months indicate that US , French and Australian warships have intercepted shipments to Yemin including 5,500 Kalishnikov rifles, 300 rocket propelled grenade launchers plus a wide variety of other armaments (Wash Post)

— 2 ‘enormously brave’ Pal terrorists who attacked 2 woman, killing one, are receiving a monthly stipend of 750 pounds each with the help of UK aid money!!!! (D Alert)

— RUSSIA:

— Pres Putin shocked the world on Mar 14 when he ordered the start of pulling Russian forces out of Syria immediately (Debka)

(NOTE:A commentator suggests he realizes that the cost to his bankrupt nation is just too great!!)

— A Boeing 737 caught fire and crashed recently in southern Russia killing over 60 people on board (D Alert)

— Pres Putin is boasting that Russia could rebuild its forces in Syria in hours if the need arises! He also boasts Russia saved Assad from defeat!! (Wash Post).

–A report says that Russia has taken some fighter bombers home and replaced them with attack helicopters (D Alert)

— Some Russian media is suggesting that increased weapons sales are resulting following the ‘foray’ into Syria, amounting to 10 times the cost of the Syrian operation. A commentator suggests this may be disimformation to placate the Russian people!! (D Alert)

— A report Mar 31 reveals that Russia, despite talk of removing people and equipment from Syria, has in fact shipped more materials in than out!! (Reuters)

— A report reveals that Russian mercenary forces working with Syrian ground forces have suffered dozens of combat losses (D Alert)

EGYPT:

— 7 ‘diggers’ were killed when Egypt flooded a tunnel being dug between Gaza and Egyptian territory (Debka)

IRAN:

— On Mar 9 Iran fired 2 ballistic missiles with “Israel must be wiped out” inscribed on them (T of I)

— A report on Mar 10 reveals that Iran murdered 966 people by execution in 2015 (N York T)

— A report records that Iranian traders are buying large pieces of Syrian real estate (Syrian Observer)

— Iran’s ‘leader’ Khamenei states volubly that missiles are the key to Iran’s future, NOT negotiations (Reuters)

— A report on April 4 reveals that Iranian commando units are now ‘advising’ Syrian gov, forces (Iran TV)

— A report claims that over 220 Iranian soldiers have been killed in Syria since October and 2 senior Hizbullah ‘commanders’ have just been killed near Homs (T of I)

PA HAMAS:

— Fatah and the PA have honoured the Pal murderer of the American tourist Taylor Force, calling him an Islamic martyr. Israel has killed over 200 Pal terrorists in the past 5 months (J Post)

— On Mar 9 Mr Abbas turned down a US peace offer inc an East Jerusalem capital of a future Pal State (JTA)

— A writer confirms that Hamas has dug tunnels into Egypt that are over 3 klms long and large enough to allow trucks to use them. Also he reveals that Gaza is now a weapons exporter (Ynet)

— Another Hamas man was killed in a tunnel collapse east of Gaza City on Mar 14, bringing the total to 12 or more (Ha’aretz)

— A poll shows that 79 % of Pals support the current stabbing attacks against Israelis (Ha’aretz)

— Hamas is short of money and is paying reduced salaries late (D Alert)

— An electronics engineer from Gaza was arrested by Israel for his part in intercepting Israeli Drone transmissions (Debka)

— A report says that Hamas is working hard to convince Egypt it has no hostile intentions toward them, but they fail to succeed (D Alert)

— Yahya Sinwar has emerged as a new hard line leader in Gaza , usurping some of Khaled Mashaal’s powers!! (T of I)

— PA Security Forces spokesman wrote on Facebook on Mar.23 ‘the West has brought a wave of Islamist terrorism on itself as a result of European colonialism’, (T of I)

— A report claims Hamas is pulling forces out of Sinai in an effort to placate Egypt (J Post)

— Thousands of Pal bombers and murderers are still being given ‘reward’ money taken from donated aid. One ‘bomber’ has been given up to $1000,000-00 (D Alert)

— Saeb Erekat Pal Chief negotiator has rejected the idea of restarting the peace talks with Israel unconditionally. He sets a list of demands impossible for Israel to accept (D Alert)

— A report says Hamas uses 1,0000 men to dig tunnels, paying them up to $400 a month out of ‘aid money’ (J Post)

EU-UN:

— The Human Rights Council is calling for a data base listing all the businesses operating in the West Bank, an obvious move against Israel (Reuters)

— The UN Commission on the Status of Women condemns Israel for its treatment of Pal women but is reminded that Pal women are murdered and mutilated by their own and stoned to death in Iran for often unproven adultery (Fox)

SAUDI ARABIA:

— Saudi Arabia has set up a $2 (Trillion)

— Public Investment Fund designed to wean the country of oil and popularize other means of providing power (Debka)

— The Saudis have initiated a major campaign to undermine Iran’s ally, Hizbullah(Brookings)

WORLD NEWS:

— A Dubai official named Tamim, recently stated that another new Pal State would join the list of all the other failed Arab States. “We should not treat the Jews as our enemies”!! (J Post)

— In 2015, 7,500 Jewish people left Ukraine for Israel, up from 6,000 in 2014 (Vice News)

— The Gulf States say they view Iran as a greater danger than Israel (J Post)

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