1. Civilian Population Joins Nationwide Home Front Drill on 3rd Day
by Hana Levi Julian
Israelis throughout the country were “alerted to a nationwide emergency” at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday morning when air raid sirens kicked off Day 3 of the five-day Home Front security drill to implement lessons learned in the 2006 Second Lebanon War.Tuesday marks the first day in which the civilian population joins the IDF and government workers in the exercise, which is continuing at local authorities, public institutions, IDF bases and police stations.
The sirens were activated for 90 seconds, prompting teachers and school administrators to take children in schools and preschools to shelters where they were to stay for approximately 10 minutes as sirens rose and fell, rose and fell.
In an actual emergency, the public will be notified and given instructions over public address systems and through the media, including through the Home Front Command's English website.
Government workers are also participating in the drill, the first exercise of its kind to be held under the supervision of the new National Emergency Authority, dubbed “Rachel” in Hebrew.
The rocket-battered city of Sderot and other Gaza Belt communities are exempt from the drill because a Kassam rocket or mortar attack is already an imminent reality.
The Color Red incoming rocket alert continues to have people in those areas racing for shelters and it was believed that a siren would only confuse residents, already repeatedly traumatized by the thousands of rocket attacks absorbed by the city over the past seven years. In case of a real attack in other parts of the country, the siren will be lengthened and there will be announcements in the media.
Veteran news anchor Gadi Sukenik was to broadcast emergency instructions from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. from the Home Front Command’s new studio on Channel 33, as will happen in a real emergency. Speaking on behalf of HFC (Home Front Command)’s Major-General Yair Golan, Sukenik was to broadcast guidance and tutorial videos on how to choose a protected space and how to behave during an alert.
Day Four of the drill, scheduled for Wednesday, will ramp up the pressure with massive simulated missile attacks on all parts of the country.
In the drill, Israel will face multiple rocket attacks by enemies firing missiles bearing chemical warheads. Emergency medical and rescue services and security personnel will be expected to respond appropriately.
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2. Air Raid System Needs Fine Tuning
by Hana Levi Julian
They heard the siren in the south -- at least in the areas that participated in the drill. The Gaza Belt was exempt from the exercise.Avi Mouallem heard the air raid siren as he was driving to the mall in Arad. “I knew it was a drill, so it didn’t really concern me,” the former IDF paratrooper told Arutz-7. “Still, I parked and made it my business to move a little quicker to get inside.”
Although Mouallem has spent most of his life in Arad and travels around the south as a contractor, it never occurred to him to wonder whether the mall has its own bomb shelter – or might itself be considered such a structure.
Had he ever been concerned about where to find the nearest public shelter? “Nope. Try calling the municipal office or police department,” he suggested with a shrug, clearly a member of the Israeli "Yihiyeh beseder" (It will be okay.) adherents.
Holes in the System
Israelis in some parts of Tel Aviv and Hadera, on the other hand, might not be as lucky in an actual emergency, if Tuesday is any indication.IDF Army Radio interviewed several residents from around the country who said they did not hear the emergency sirens activate, among them a number in the central region.
A man from Hadera, who said he heard the siren just fine during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, said that he and his family “waited and waited for the drill to begin – to no avail.“
Residents of Tel Aviv, sipping their morning joe in local coffee shops and sidewalk cafes were also interviewed and said they, too did not hear the 90-second siren that is supposed to alert the populace to the presence of an incoming missile attack.
Gaza Belt Communities Exempt
The rocket-battered city of Sderot and other Gaza Belt communities were exempt from the drill. For them, the exercise was unnecessary since the immediacy of the day to day situation is tragically all too real.It was also believed the exercise would prove unnecessarily upsetting, given the current security situation.
Buzzers Distributed Hearing-Impaired Israelis
Last month the Home Front Command distributed more than 150 buzzers in Ashkelon to people who are deaf and otherwise hearing-impaired, thus allowing them to receive warning of imminent terror rocket attacks.The buzzer operates only in areas that are under rocket threats, said Home Front Command official Lt.-Col. Uri Peretz. Similar buzzers have been distributed to Sderot residents in the past.
Expanded Color Red System in Netivot, Ashkelon
A Color Red rocket alert system was activated in the western Negev city of Netivot and in the port city of Ashkelon earlier this year, after Palestinian Authority terrorists in Gaza graduated to using mid-range Grad missiles in their attacks on southern Israeli cities.The system installed in Ashkelon, a city of more than 110,000 residents, was also not heard throughout the entire city on its initial activation. Moreover, the 15-second warning it provided was not enough time for residents to reach safety.
IDF engineers were forced to tinker with the system several times before the system was able to produce a 30-second window within which residents had time to race for cover.
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3. Ben Eliezer: Strike by Iran Would Spell Its End
by Gil Ronen
National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Monday that "an Iranian attack will lead to a harsh response by Israel, which will cause the destruction of the Iranian nation."Ben Eliezer visited the National Infrastructures Ministry war room as part of the national emergency response exercise and said: "I expect that in the first strike Israel will be hit by hundreds of missiles. There will be no place in the country that will be outside the range of Syria's and Hizbullah's missiles and rockets."
He told the war room staff: "We, as a ministry, need to prepare for the possibility that missiles will hit Israel's strategic spots, for which our ministry is responsible. You must use your heads and prepare for the worst scenarios."
'They keep provoking us'
"However," Ben Eliezer added, "this exercise is not intended to threaten any of the countries surrounding us. Its single purpose is to be prepared for anything. The Iranians will not rush to attack Israel so quickly, because they understand the meaning of that. However, they keep on provoking us through their allies, Syria and Hizbullah, and supplying them with large amounts of weapons, and this is what we have to deal with."The ministry's war room for the exercise, dubbed "Turning Point 2," is staffed by representative
"There will be no place in the country that will be outside the range of Syria's and Hizbullah's missiles and rockets."
s of the ministry's Fuel Administration, Electricity Administration, Gas Authority and Sewage Authority.Iran: exercise for internal consumption
The spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, Muhammad Ali Husseini, said earlier Monday that "the countries of the region need to follow the Israeli exercise. These provocative acts must be raised before the senior officials in charge of these matters in the international community."Echoing a statement Sunday by Hizbullah's deputy chief Sheikh Naeem Kassem, Husseini said the Israeli Home Front exercise was being held "in order to rehabilitate and raise the morale of the [Israeli] military commanders and the soldiers."
Alluding to the recent visit to the area by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, he remarked: "Unfortunately, after every visit by senior Americans in the region and the conquered territories, we see actions like this by the Zionist regime."
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4. Terrorists Test Israel's Mettle as Israel Tests Lessons Learned
by Hana Levi Julian
IDF soldiers killed one terrorist and wounded three others early Tuesday in clashes during routine counterterrorism operations near the northern Gaza town of Jabalya.Local sources said the gunmen were members of the Popular Resistance Committees' Salah al-Din Brigades terrorist organization. IDF troops returned to base unscathed.
Even as terrorists were testing Israel's patience in the south, the Home Front Command was testing Israel's civilian population's ability to react under pressure and its readiness to respond in time of war.
Tuesday marked Day 3 of the five-day security drill designed to test the lessons learned as a result of the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
Rocket Attack on Sderot
While the rest of the country was practicing how to respond to air raid sirens and how find the nearest safe room, people in Sderot and other Gaza Belt communities were once again forced to carry out the exercise for real.Terrorists in northern Gaza launched a rocket attack at Sderot early in the afternoon, setting off the Color Red rocket alert siren.
Sderot residents had 20 seconds in which to race for cover before the missiles hit ground. Two rockets slammed into areas on the outskirts of the city. A third missile exploded near the Erez Crossing.
No one was hurt and no injuries were reported in either of the attacks.
Attack Near Nachal Oz
PA operatives fired a mortar shell at IDF soldiers near the Jewish community of Nachal Oz in the western Negev. The soldiers also exchanged gunfire with the terrorists.No injuries were reported in the clash.
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5. Erekat: Olmert to Grant Amnesty to 10,000 Arab Illegal Aliens
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed Monday to grant amnesty to 10,000 Arab illegal aliens residing in Judea and Samaria, according to Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator Saeb Erekat. The move would grant the illegals permanent
Approximately 54,000 Arabs in Judea and Samaria fall into this category.
resident status.The amnesty, if enacted, would apply to those Arabs who entered the country legally, on foreign passports, and then remained in Judea or Samaria beyond the terms of their visas. According to various estimates, approximately 54,000 Arabs in PA-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria fall into this category. 12,000 have already received residency rights through conventional requests submitted to Israeli authorities. Israel has been more restrictive on Arab immigration since the beginning of the Oslo War in 2000.
Erekat revealed the tentative approval for amnesty shortly after Prime Minister Olmert and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met for talks on Monday. The meeting was the first between the two men in over a month. In a three-hour meeting, they discussed the discreet ongoing negotiations between Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and PA negotiator Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala). Olmert and Abbas reportedly agreed to speed the pace of negotiations in order to reach an agreement before the end of the year.
In his other comments, Erekat dismissed recent Israeli goodwill gestures, such as the removal of dozens of checkpoints in Judea and Samaria, as "a PR stunt."
"The siege and closure continue to be hermetic," Erekat claimed. "There is no change on the ground.... The West Bank is becoming a prison."
Erekat said that "settlement activities occupied a large part of the negotiations" between Abbas and Olmert. According to Erekat, Abbas told Olmert that "settlement expansion" needs to stop.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev said that "both sides raised concerns."
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6. IDF Collecting Reserve Guns, Supplies From Civil Response Teams
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Hundreds of guns and other military-issue equipment held in armories in Jewish towns throughout Samaria have been collected by the IDF in recent weeks. The weapons were held in reserve to be used by armed volunteer response teams from the communities in the event of attack.
No personal weapons have been confiscated, nor have emergency response teams been left unarmed.The IDF Spokesman's Office, which confirmed the collection efforts, explained that only military-issue guns that are not in use have been collected. No personal weapons have been confiscated, nor have emergency response teams been left unarmed. Rather, the IDF emphasized, the guns collected have come from caches that have been untouched for a significant length of time.
"Let's say they're rusting away," an IDF spokesman told Arutz Sheva.
Accordingly, the gun collection program excluded those weapons currently issued to local security personnel and to members of emergency response teams in the Judea and Samaria region, according to the IDF. However, residents of the towns in question said that it was now impossible to obtain any new guns, even for those who have been volunteering with community emergency response teams for weeks prior to the latest collection efforts.
Army spokespeople noted that the confiscated weapons are to remain in IDF reserve armories for the time being. In case of emergency, according to officials, the guns will be distributed among reservists who served in combat units during their military service.
But some security personnel in the affected communities expressed concern that they will be left with little defense at the same time that the government has ordered the removal of dozens of roadblocks and blockades designed to restrict travel by Arab terrorists.
Part of a Larger Homeland Defense Reorganization
IDF insiders say that the collection of weapons and supplies is one part of a larger reorganization of the entire homeland defense structure in Judea and Samaria, which will ultimately provide the Jewish towns greater security, rather than less. The current efforts include assigning teams of combat reservists to specific areas and towns and establishing a clear division of operational responsibilities, as well as keeping clear track of weapons and supplies for more efficient distribution in case of emergency.There are thousands of military-issue weapons in excess of what is necessary in the Jewish towns of Judea and Samaria, and they are not being maintained or monitored properly, according to an IDF source. Hence, a second rationale offered by officials for the weapons collection is the need to prevent thefts from community armories, which, they said, has been on the increase in recent months.
The weapon collection program follows a preliminary letter to community security chiefs issued in early December 2007. At the time, the security coordinators of the communities in Samaria were summoned to a meeting with IDF officers to discuss the reorganization plans.
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7. Hamas Stepping Up Psychological Warfare Against Israel
by Gil Ronen
The leadership of the genocidal Islamic group Hamas has intensified its psychological warfare against Israel recently, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) has estimated. The central messages in Hamas's psychological campaign of intimidation and demoralization against Israel are:- Israel is to blame for the failure of the Egyptian mediation initiative between itself and Hamas.
- The window of opportunity for reaching an agreement with Hamas is about to close.
- Shalit will be executed if Israel does not agree to the demands of the terrorists who are holding him and the subsequent negotiations will be "for his bones."
- If the Rafiah crossing is not reopened soon, this will lead to "an explosion."Psychological warfare
These threats are part of the psychological warfare campaign that Hamas has been carrying out against Israel in an attempt to cause the Israeli population and the Shalit family to put pressure on the Israeli government to cave in to Hamas. This is why Hamas is sounding threats on a regular basis, according to the JCPA's Yonatan Dahuh-Levi. It is also the reason for the fact that Hamas's leaders have chosen to directly address the Shalit family and the Israeli public, while blaming Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the "serious consequences" that may follow.However, Hamas has no interest in losing Shalit – its "live card" in the poker game against Israel –
Hamas says Shalit will be executed if Israel does not agree to its demands.
because it would lose more than it would gain by this. Internally, it would be perceived as a strategic failure in the effort to secure the release of Arab terrorists in Israeli jails, and could lead to severe criticism from the prisoners' families. Diplomatically, Hamas would risk losing all remaining international legitimacy for its regime and risk having its senior leadership wiped out by Israel. "For Hamas, a live Gilad Shalit has an important role in any possible escalation scenario in Gaza, in restraining a large scale Israeli operation to topple Hamas," explains Dahuh-Levi.Hamas has time
Judging by the way Hamas is conducting the indirect negotiations with Israel, it appears to feel it is in a position of strength. The terror group is unwilling to compromise on any issue and insists upon dictating its terms to Israel: release of all the prisoners it demanded from the outset, and Israeli agreement to a lull in fighting in Gaza as well as in Judea and Samaria, and the reopening of the Rafiah crossing with no Israeli involvement in its control.Hamas has time, according to this analysis: it is getting ready for a final takeover of the "Palestinian people." Mahmoud Abbas's term as PA chairman is due to end in early 2009 and Hamas will not recognize him after this date. It intends to crown Khaled Mashaal as its national leader. This task should be made easier by the fact that Israel and the PA will fail, in Hamas's estimation, to meet the deadline set in Annapolis for successful completion of final status talks, by the end of 2008.
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8. Israel, PA Teams Continue Parley in Jerusalem
by Hana Levi Julian
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) met Monday in Jerusalem along with their negotiating teams for the first time in almost two months.US Secretary of State Rice has been to the region twice on shuttle diplomacy tours during that time. Both trips were designed to pressure Israel into concessions while reminding the PA that the US cannot force the Jewish State into easing restrictions with rockets flying overhead and suicide bombers murdering civilians.
US President George W. Bush has instructed Secretary Rice to come up with a signed agreement between Israel and the PA this year, preferably before next month’s 60th anniversary celebrations marking the re-establishment of the Jewish State. President Bush plans to attend the events but is hoping for some type of declaration of an accord between the two sides at that time.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, chief negotiator for Israel, met together with her team with their counterparts, veteran PA negotiator Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) and his team to discuss a list of issues, among them the “red line” items connected with the final status of Jerusalem.
Shin Bet Chief Warns ‘Good Will’ Gestures Risk Israelis
The latest round of “good will gestures” by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to prop up the government of Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) are endangering the lives of Israel’s citizens, says Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin.The head of Israel’s domestic security agency told Cabinet ministers on Sunday that it is not wise to remove roadblocks or security checkpoints before completing the Judea and Samaria security barrier. Secretary of State Rice has insisted that Israel ease restrictions. But Diskin said they now constitute a real danger to Israeli citizens.
However, Defense Minister Ehud Barak (Labor) defended his decision to approve the removal of roadblocks and checkpoints before the barrier’s completion. He said, "We must not help them claim that the negotiations will fail because we have not made enough gestures."
Only 63 percent of the barrier’s planned 790-kilometer route has been built thus far, with approximately 300 kilometers yet to go. The project is not expected to be completed until 2010.
Much of the budget for construction of the barrier has been tied up in demolishing the structure, moving it slightly and rebuilding it in areas where the High Court of Justice ruled that it must be moved to accommodate local Arabs.
Sixty kilometers of the barrier have been moved at a cost of approximately NIS 600 million. The court has yet to rule on the status of another 100 kilometers.
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9. Court Rules Daycare is a Business Expense
by Maayana Miskin
Tel Aviv District Court Judge Magen Altuvia made a precedent-setting ruling on Monday, declaring that a working mother could claim tax deductions for the cost of sending her children to daycare. Altuvia ruled that daycare should be treated as a business expenditure and not as a private cost.Altuvia ordered the state to allow self-employed attorney Vered Peri to deduct one half the cost of a daycare center that provided her children with meals from her taxes, and two-thirds of the cost for a daycare center that did not provide food.
Peri told the court that the cost of daycare was purely a business expense and not a private luxury, as she would have preferred to remain home with her children, but was unable to do so. If she had taken time away from her career, Peri said, she would have been unable to rebuild her client base. “It is obvious that if not for the fact that I had to work and earn a living, I would have preferred to spend time with my children,” she argued. Peri asked to deduct NIS 115,000 in daycare costs from taxes paid between the years 1999 and 2001.
Tax Authority attorneys argued that lawmakers had not intended to recognize daycare costs as business expenditures. Instead, the cost of daycare was recognized in other ways, such as through tax breaks for working mothers of young children, they said. The Tax Authority expressed concern that a ruling in Peri’s favor would allow all working mothers who send their children to daycare to claim tax deductions, and would cost the state approximately two billion shekels every year.Following the ruling in Peri’s favor, the Tax Authority announced that it would appeal to the Supreme Court.
Women’s groups and several Members of Knesset celebrated the ruling, and expressed hope that it would encourage more mothers of young children to work out of the home. The ruling would make it financially worthwhile for mothers of young children to put their children in daycare, said Attorney Talia Livni, the head of Naamat (Movement of Working Women and Volunteers). While the ruling applies to both men and women, Livni said, it will have a larger effect on women, because women are currently more likely than men to leave their careers in order to care for their young children.
Rina Bar-Tal, head of the Women’s Lobby, called on other working mothers to file lawsuits similar to Peri’s. A study conducted on behalf of the Women’s Lobby showed that tens of thousands of women would work out of the home if they could deduct daycare costs from their taxes, she said, and fewer women would leave their careers. In the end, Bar-Tal said, the state would reap financial benefits by allowing women to deduct the cost of daycare, because more women would work and therefore more women would pay taxes.