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International-UN-NGOs
160 lawyers demand US investigate South African gov. corruption
2024-05-16
[IsraelNationalNews] A group of 160 lawyers, led by the Israel Law Center - Shurat HaDin, have issued a call to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the Justice Department and Congressional leaders urging an investigation of South African leaders. In a letter sent today (Thursday), the lawyers call upon American authorities to investigate members of the African National Congress Party (ANC), the party that holds a majority of seats in the National Assembly and also leads the South African government, under the Magnitsky Act for participating "in acts of significant corruption involving bribery."

The letter further alleges that officials accepted bribes from Iran that were intended to cover ANC debts, in return for which party members agreed to pursue the case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) blaming Israel for committing genocide in Gaza.
And here I thought monkeys were flinging feces because it makes them feel important. Guess Grom Jr. is right and I'm a racist - nobody's perfect.
Related:
Shurat HaDin: 2023-06-14 Jerusalem court: PA must compensate Israeli tour guides for 2nd Intifada losses
Shurat HaDin: 2023-01-09 Withholding millions from PA, Smotrich says he has ‘no interest’ in its existence
Shurat HaDin: 2021-09-19 Hamas ordered to pay NIS 38 million to families of 3 teens murdered in 2014
Related:
Magnitsky Act: 2023-07-30 Why Iraq thinks a plot is fanning the flames of its diplomatic crises
Magnitsky Act: 2022-07-30 A Credible Source on Putin's Trolls
Magnitsky Act: 2022-05-12 Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: May 11th, 2022
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jerusalem court: PA must compensate Israeli tour guides for 2nd Intifada losses
2023-06-14
[IsraelTimes] Judge holds Ramallah liable for millions of shekels in damages to tourism industry during terror campaign in the early 2000s

A Jerusalem court ruled on Tuesday that the Paleostinian Authority must compensate dozens of Israeli tour guides for financial damage incurred during the Second Intifada.

The tour guides’ lawsuit claimed their livelihoods suffered during the Paleostinian terror campaign and held the PA responsible.

The Second Intifada, a time of numerous Paleostinian terror attacks, Israeli military operations and mass unrest, lasted between September 2000 and 2005, during which time it was supported by the PA, then led by Yasser Arafat.

The plaintiffs — 59 tour guides represented by the Shurat HaDin law center— said terror attacks and threats of violence caused a severe blow to the tourism industry at the time.

The lawsuit was filed around 20 years ago, at the height of the intifada.

The compensation for the plaintiffs amounted to a total of NIS 5.5 million ($1.5 million).

In a partial ruling on the case in 2019, Judge Moshe Drori held the PA responsible for terror attacks and the resulting economic damage to the Israeli tourism industry.

"The Paleostinian Authority had several aims — not just to kill Jews and Israelis, but also to damage Israel’s economy, including tourism, to put pressure on the Israeli government to submit to Paleostinian demands," Drori said, according to Kan news.

A representative for the PA argued that tourism at the time declined for a number of reasons, including a global economic downturn and the September 11 terror attacks in the US.

The judge rejected this argument, and ruled that the PA was responsible for 95.4% of the reduction to guides’ income between October 2000 and May 2002.

The PA also argued that the Israeli government and settlers were responsible for the conflict, and that terrorism had also hurt the Paleostinian economy.

This argument was also dismissed, with the court citing statements from incarcerated
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
Paleostinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who said one of the goals of the terror attacks was to hurt tourism to put pressure on the Israeli government.

The PA is not expected to pay the sum voluntarily, but Israel could potentially deduct the compensation from taxes it collects for the PA.

Of the 59 plaintiffs who first filed the case, 14 have passed away since and were represented in the case by their heirs.
Related:
Second Intifada: 2023-06-01 Woman in coma since 2001 Sbarro Palestinian terror attack dies of wounds
Second Intifada: 2023-03-14 Israel releases octogenarian behind Karine A arms smuggling ship
Second Intifada: 2023-02-12 Israel hyperventilating could lead to political violence
Related:
Shurat HaDin: 2023-01-09 Withholding millions from PA, Smotrich says he has ‘no interest’ in its existence
Shurat HaDin: 2021-09-19 Hamas ordered to pay NIS 38 million to families of 3 teens murdered in 2014
Shurat HaDin: 2021-07-26 Court: PLO must pay ship hijacking victims nearly 1 m.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Withholding millions from PA, Smotrich says he has ‘no interest’ in its existence
2023-01-09
[IsraelTimes] $40 million in tax revenues to be transferred to relatives of terror victims as part of new government’s sanctions against Ramallah

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday signed a decree to block NIS 139 million ($39.6 million) in tax revenue from the Paleostinian Authority and redirect it to families of terror victims, as part of punitive measures against the PA’s international legal action against Israel, decided upon by the government.

During a presser, Smotrich was asked whether he was concerned the move could bring about the collapse of the PA, answering: "As long as the Paleostinian Authority encourages terror and is an enemy, I have no interest for it to continue to exist."

Smotrich hailed a years-long campaign to offset the PA’s regular payments to terror convicts and to families of dead Paleostinian attackers, which Israel and other critics say offer a direct incentive for terror, calling it a "just struggle...not only in providing retroactive justice, but also as a deterrent."

Israel has made such deductions in the past, following 2018 legislation on the matter, but only partially upholds the policy, as officials are keenly aware that the PA is dangerously close to financial collapse.

"There is no solace for the families of those murdered, but there is justice," Smotrich said.

The move is one of the steps approved by the government on Friday to penalize the Paleostinians in retaliation for their push for the United Nation’s highest judicial body to give its opinion on Israel’s control of the West Bank. The decision highlights the tough line the new government is taking toward the Paleostinians, at a time of spiking violence in the West Bank and with peace talks a distant memory.

The Paleostinian Authority’s practice of paying allowances to those convicted of carrying out terror attacks and to the families of those killed while carrying out attacks — often referred to by some Israeli officials as a pay-to-slay policy — has been defended by Paleostinian leaders, who describe them as a form of social welfare and necessary compensation for victims of Israel’s military justice system in the West Bank.

Smotrich told news hounds on Sunday that as long as the PA "operates according to agreements, takes care of civilian life and thwarts terror activities in cooperation with Israel’s security establishment, then, of course, it is possible to have relations with the authority.

"This is on the condition that the authority does not resort to terror," he added.

Abie Moses, the head of the national the Organization of Victims of Terrorism, praised the "important decision," but added it was only a first step among several demands by those hurt in attacks.

"The inauguration of a new Knesset is an opportunity to atone for the long-standing neglect of the victims of enemy hostilities, and to allocate the necessary resources in order to take care of the rights of thousands who lost their loved ones, who are struggling to survive and trying to continue to live," he said.

Attorney Avi Segal of Israeli legal advocacy group Shurat HaDin thanked Smotrich and the government for the decision, adding "there is empirical research" that cutting off funds was crucial to preventing terror.

Ron Alon, a relative of terror victims killed in a 2002 Jerusalem attack, called the move "a historic day," echoing Smotrich’s words about both doing justice for terror victims and potentially deterring future would-be-assailants.

Other punitive measures against the PA include the revocation of travel permits for top Paleostinian officials that allow them to travel easily in and out of the West Bank, unlike ordinary Paleostinians, and the freezing of Paleostinian construction in parts of the West Bank.

Palestinian Authority foreign minister says Israel revoked his travel permit

[IsraelTimes] Returning from Brazil, Riyad al-Malki claims he was told he can no longer travel smoothly from West Bank, in latest punitive step over Palestinians’ action at UN
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas ordered to pay NIS 38 million to families of 3 teens murdered in 2014
2021-09-19
Shurat HaDin’s win sets a precedent, to be sure, but what odds the Israeli government will actually pry the money out of Hamas coffers?
[IsraelTimes] Legal group that filed suit for relatives of Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-ad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach slams the sum as insufficient: ’This is not how to deter a terror organization’.

An Israeli court on Monday ordered Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", to pay millions in compensation to the families of three teenagers who were kidnapped and murdered by members of the Paleostinian terror group in 2014.

The Jerusalem District Court ruling requires the Gazoo
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Court: PLO must pay ship hijacking victims nearly 1 m.
2021-07-26
[JPost] The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday ruled that the Palestine Liberation Organization must pay nearly NIS one million to the estates of two Israeli victims of a 1985 ship hijacking.

The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday ruled that the Palestine Liberation Organization must pay nearly NIS 1 million to the estates of two Israeli victims of a 1985 ship hijacking.

The breakdown of the damages is NIS 400,000 to each victim’s estate as well as attorneys fees for a decades long legal fight.

Channel 12 first reported the decision, but the Jerusalem Post independently obtained a copy of the ruling.

It was October 1985, when on its way to Alexandria, four Palestinian terrorists hijacked the Achille Lauro at sea and demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.

During the hijacking of the ship, the terrorists shot a disabled Jew named Leon Klinghoffer while still strapped to his wheelchair and threw him into the water.

They also harmed various other passengers, including Sofi Chiser and Anna Shneider, whose families, represented by Shurat Hadin,
...which lives for this stuff, and seems to be very, very good at it...
initiated proceedings against the PLO around 21 years ago, to obtain damages for those harms.
Related:
Palestine Liberation Organization: 2021-04-19 Abbas to J Street: US must rescind declaration of PLO as terror group
Palestine Liberation Organization: 2020-10-17 Destroying the Institutions We Inherited
Palestine Liberation Organization: 2020-05-22 Palestinian official: Security coordination with CIA halted over Israeli annexation plans
Related:
Achille Lauro: 2018-02-07 Italian magazine publishes Arafat's secret journals
Achille Lauro: 2016-05-13 What Kind of Monster Stabs a Bubbe in the Back?
Achille Lauro: 2015-03-07 How the Western Intelligentsia Denies Islam's History of War and Crime
Related:
Shurat Hadin: 2020-07-12 Pulling the annexation trigger – Shurat HaDin’s legal roundtable
Shurat Hadin: 2020-04-28 Lawfare: PA ordered by Israeli court to pay $150 million to terror victims
Shurat Hadin: 2020-04-26 Terror victims' families to collect NIS 500 m. from Palestinian Authority
Link


International-UN-NGOs
UN court says it can hear case brought by Iran against US sanctions
2021-02-04
Did the court receive, or anticipate receiving, information that the Biden administration is not interested in defending continuing U.S. sanctions against Iran?
[IsraelTimes] The United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
’ highest court rules that it can hear a case brought by Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
against the United States in a bid to end sanctions the Trump administration re-imposed in 2018 after pulling out of an international deal aimed at curtailing Tehran’s nuclear program.

Lawyers for the United States argued at hearings last year that the case should be thrown out by the International Court of Justice for lack of jurisdiction and admissibility.

However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
the court’s president, Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, says that judges rejected US arguments.

Iran filed the case in July 2018 a few months after then-US president Donald Trump
...the Nailer of NAFTA...
said he was pulling the US out of a 2015 international agreement over Iran’s nuclear program and would re-impose sanctions on Tehran. Washington also threatened other countries with sanctions if they don’t cut off Iranian oil imports by early November.

In its case, Iran alleges that the sanctions breach a 1955 bilateral agreement known as the Treaty of Amity that regulates and promotes economic and consular ties between the two countries.
That treaty was made between the U.S. and the government of the Shah of Iran. His son now holds court in exile — in Europe somewhere, I think — while Iran’s government has belonged to the Mad Mullahs since they took it by violence in 1979... and started their war against The Great Satan by holding the staff of the American hostage, a war crime. There is no friendship with dishonorable enemies.
The ruling Wednesday comes as new US President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden
...Candidate for president in 2020. Old, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call brilliant...
is seeking to enhance diplomacy toward Iran while Washington looks at restoring constraints on the country’s nuclear program and reining in its regional ambitions.
Related:
International Court of Justice: 2020-08-09 Through Turkey's mediation, Malta plans to steal Libya’s continental shelf
International Court of Justice: 2020-08-08 Turkey blasts new Egyptian-Greek agreement in Mediterranean as 'invalid'
International Court of Justice: 2020-07-12 Pulling the annexation trigger – Shurat HaDin’s legal roundtable
Related:
Treaty of Amity: 2018-10-04 Trump Administration Responds To International Court And Slams The Palestinians As Only John Bolton Can
Treaty of Amity: 2018-10-04 US cancels 1955 Treaty of Amity with Iran after UN court ruling
Treaty of Amity: 2018-08-27 World Court hears Iran lawsuit to have U.S. sanctions lifted
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Netanyahu ally says US not keen on annexation in West Bank right now — report
2020-07-15
[IsraelTimes] Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin, a Likud party ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has told associates the Trump administration isn’t interested in Israel moving forward with annexation of West Bank lands right now, according to Army Radio.

The reports says Netanyahu will not move forward without US backing and quotes Levin’s "circle" saying the premier and his allies have stressed from the get-go that the move must be supported by the White House. These sources add that Israel is now waiting for an answer.
Related:
Annexation: 2020-07-12 Pulling the annexation trigger – Shurat HaDin’s legal roundtable
Annexation: 2020-07-09 IDF arrests two Hamas commanders in West Bank
Annexation: 2020-07-08 Hezbollah media: Hamas arrests ISIS cells operating for Israel
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Pulling the annexation trigger – Shurat HaDin’s legal roundtable
2020-07-12
[Jpost] Shurat HaDin’s practical interest in the annexation of Judea and Samaria stems from its work in representing Israeli interests in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Last week, thousands of visitors to Shurat Hadin’s Facebook page were treated to a spirited discussion between leading international diplomats on the virtues and vices of US President Donald Trump
...the Nailer of NAFTA...
’s Middle East peace plan, and the implications of Israeli illusory sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israelis sue Hamas for compensation after family members die
2019-11-17
[Ynet] If successful the families say, they will have prevented funds from Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", that could be used to launch terror attacks against more Israelis as well as bolster the organizations strength in controlling the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip.


Five Israeli families will file a law suit against Hamas in Jerusalem District Court on Sunday, seeking NIS 500,000,000 in damages from the terrorist organization in compensation for family members killed in terror attacks.

The families who were to be represented by Shurat HaDin, Israel Law Center, argue that financial ramifications may adversely affect the terror organization's ability to instigate terror attacks.

In a groundbreaking move, the families have added to their class action suit three money changers who have worked in the service of Hamas and facilitated the transfer of funds from Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
to the Gaza rulers.

Make no mistake, Hamas are all terrorists," said Herzl Hajaj, father of Shir, a 22-year old soldier who was murdered in Jerusalem.

"This is a terror organization and we should not try to reach any (diplomatic) agreements with them."

He added: "It is vital to take financial measures against them as there is an entire monetary scheme in play making them a profit from killing Jews."

There is slim chance that the suit will be successful or that the compensation received will be anything other than very low. Yet the case is unique because of the three money changers, who have assets and bank accounts in the United States that have already been confiscated.
There is slim chance that the suit will be successful or that the compensation received will be anything other than very low. Yet the case is unique because of the three money changers, who have assets and bank accounts in the United States that have already been confiscated.

If the court finds in favor of the plaintiffs, legal action could be taken in the U.S. to claim those funds.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the head of Shurat HaDin who is representing the families said: "This is an ongoing battle but the only way to weaken these terror groups is to target their source of funding.

"Money is what allows Hamas to control the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, it allows their production of rockets and mortars and it allows them to maintain an army of killers ready to do their bidding."

She also expressed the hope that by targeting "their funding channels, we may bring them down."
Related:
Shurat HaDin: 2018-12-22 US fundraising site suspends BDS account over alleged terror ties
Shurat HaDin: 2018-05-30 South Israel farmers to take burning kites matter to The Hague
Shurat HaDin: 2018-01-14 How the Mossad and I took on terrorism financing
Link


Home Front: WoT
US fundraising site suspends BDS account over alleged terror ties
2018-12-22
[IsraelTimes] Boycott campaign removed over complaint that notes its affiliation to umbrella group of Paleostinian factions including Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", and Islamic Jihad.

A US software company said Friday it blocked the fundraising account of the Paleostinian-led boycott movement against Israel following a complaint by a pro-Israel group that the campaign has links to Death Eater organizations.

Donorbox, which makes fundraising management software, confirmed that the BDS campaign’s account was temporarily blocked while it investigates the allegations.

The BDS movement called the Israeli move "McCarthyite."

The decision came in response to a complaint from Shurat HaDin, an Israeli advocacy group that files lawsuits around the world against Israel’s foes, submitted in coordination with Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry.

"This decision does not mean that we consider BDS to be a nefarious organization. We are merely reviewing evidence following this complaint. Their donation forms were closed as a precautionary measure," Donorbox said in a statement. The the Socialist paradise of San Francisco
...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964...
firm, whose product is used by BDS and other nonprofits to collect online donations, gave no indication how long the review would take.

The complaint noted that the boycott movement’s membership includes the "Council of National and Islamic Forces in Paleostine," an umbrella committee representing all major Paleostinian political factions. Committee members include Hamas, Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine, groups that have been branded terrorist organizations by the US.

The council, also known as the PNIF, was formed two decades ago and rarely meets due to deep divisions among its members.

"We have no intention to allow terrorist organizations and their accomplices to raise money online without interference," said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, president of Shurat HaDin.

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan, whose office is spearheading Israel’s battle against the boycott movement, called the decision "a significant achievement in our efforts to counter the discriminatory BDS campaign."

The BDS campaign advocates boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israeli businesses, universities and artists. Comparing itself to the anti-apartheid movement during apartheid-era South Africa, it says it is using nonviolent means to resist unjust policies toward Paleostinians. The group has made significant gains in recent years, particularly among artists and university students.

Israel says the movement masks its motives to delegitimize or destroy the Jewish state.

Israel’s allies have passed a series of anti-BDS laws in the US. The American Civil Liberties Union is currently challenging a Texas law requiring contractors to certify that they do not boycott Israel or Israeli-occupied territories, saying it violates the right to free speech.

Omar Barghouti, a founder of the BDS movement, called Shurat HaDin a "repressive organization with clear connections to the far-right Israeli government" that is "engaging in McCarthyite... tactics."

"They are making categorically false allegations, threatening and bullying our partners and service providers in a desperate attempt to undermine our ability to challenge Israel’s regime of apartheid and oppression," he said. "While this legal repression may temporarily burden us, it has failed to deter us from continuing our peaceful anti-racist and inclusive struggle for freedom, justice and equality."
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
South Israel farmers to take burning kites matter to The Hague
2018-05-30
[Ynet] After thousands of acres of fields have been burnt in recent weeks by Gazook rioters, officials announce intention to sue Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", leaders at ICC: ’We call on farmers and other Israelis to join us.’

In light of the recent spate of incendiary "Kite Terror" attacks from Gazoo plaguing their fields, Israeli farmers from the region announced Sunday that they intend to sue the Hamas leadership for war crimes at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

The announcement comes after the Paleostinians announced that they intend to take Israel to the ICC after the recent deadly festivities on the Gazoo border.

The Israeli farmers, who are filing their lawsuit with the assistance of the legal aid organization Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, are specifically targeting Hamas military wing leader Yahya Sinwar and political leader Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
It is the first legal response to the "kite terror" which has become a source of extreme anxiety for farmers in the border vicinity. Among the plaintiffs are security officer of Kibbutz Alumim, Rafi Babian, and the agricultural director at Kibbutz Nir Am, Ofer Lieberman, who saw 1,000 dunams of wheat fields destroyed at his Kibbutz in the last two weeks alone.

The farmers are highlighting Paleostinian violations of the Rome Convention including the burning of agricultural land by using incendiary kites, attacking the borders of Israel, using children for conducting warfare and using a civilian population as human shields.

Thirty four towns and Kibbutzim whose fields suffered fires caused by the kites from Gazoo announced their participation in the lawsuit against the Hamas leaders.

The heads of the local councils, Shai Hajaj and Tamir Idan, said: "Whoever launches a burning kite with the aim of setting a fire and causing bodily harm, plants bombs, builds terror tunnels, is a terrorist in every sense. Terrorism is terrorism, whether it is 'primitive' or sophisticated.

"There is no difference between terrorism in Gazoo and terror from ISIS. The whole world must unite against Islamic terrorism and allow for a quiet and calm life in Gay Paree, Munich and here in Israel ... We want to live here in peace and we miss the times when there were business collaborations between Gazoo and the southern communities in Israel," he continued.

Shurat HaDin is calling on farmers and citizens to join the lawsuit. Its Director Attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner vowed that Israel would deal with the matter legally.

"Israel will not remain silent. The current security situation, in which fields and forests in Israel are being burned every day by activists of a terrorist organization, is unacceptable," she said.

"It is inconceivable that Hamas leaders accuse Israel of war crimes while using the civilian population, especially children, as human shields for their terror, which is directed time and time again towards the citizens of Israel. Therefore we call on the International Criminal Court in The Hague to bring them to justice."

WATCH: A green nature reserve charred by incendiary kites from Gaza

[YNET] Footage recorded by a drone shows huge landmass of Be'eri Crater Reserve—a once blooming landscape that served as natural habitat for wildlife—blackened as terrorists in Gaza fly flaming kites into Israel; 'To think that animals have been burned breaks one's heart.'

The Be'eri Crater Reserve adjacent to the Gaza border is considered to be among the most picturesque tourist sites in the region, with its green landscape serving as a natural habitat for a variety of species of animals.

During the winter, the nature reserve was covered by a blanket of multiple shades of green, interspersed with red roses in what was a symbolic testament to the success of making a desert bloom.

In recent weeks, however, the greenery has been replaced by a blackened and charred landmass caused by incendiary kites flown over by Palestinian rioters from the Gaza Strip, whose latest weapon in their arsenal is wreaking havoc on southern residents and farmers.

On Sunday alone, 200 more dunams
...there are about 4.05 dunams per acre, so 49.4 acres...
were incinerated by the kites which are affixed with Molotov Cocktails.

Since the kites were first used in April as part of what Gazans describe as the “March of Return” protests, the "aerial terror offensive" against the Israeli border communities has continued with greater vigor, including some 300 incendiary kites flown into Israel's territory, causing 100 fires and decimating more than 3,000 acres
as there is about 0.25 acre per dunam, that is about 12,140.57 dunams
of wheatfields.
...plus the acreage of nature preserve and other non-wheatfields set afire during the same period. But presumably the lawsuit only addresses quantifiable commercial losses.
In addition, millions of shekels
...1 New Israeli Shekel = $0.28 at the current exchange rate...
worth of damage has been caused to the farmers of the area.

With the new primitive but effective tactic employed by Gaza’s residents, Israeli firefighting services and security forces from surrounding communities are called to the area at least three times a week to extinguish the blazes intended to ravage southern agriculture.

In a video obtained by Ynet, the scorched remains of the once-blooming Be'eri Crater greenland—70% of which has been consumed by the flames—can be seen more clearly from a birds-eye view.

Experts believe that the blazes have taken a significant toll on wildlife in the area, which could once hide between the grooves and rocks in the expanses, but have no refuge from the flames sweeping through.

Indeed, estimates say that thousands of lives of animals have been claimed, among them reptiles and turtles, which either burned to death or were suffocated.

“It is clear to us that that time do its work, the rain will return and the blooming with be renewed,” an optimistic Rafi Babiyan said, a security officer from the Sdot Negev Regional Council.

“At the same time, to see the reserve burnt to such an extent, and to think that animals have been burned breaks one's heart,” he added.

“The crater lies between Kibbutz Alumim and Kibbutz Be'eri and all the residents are working to save it every time a fire breaks out. Residents from all the communities join the effort to stop fires from spreading, but the damage has already been done,” he continued.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
How the Mossad and I took on terrorism financing
2018-01-14
In which the head of Shurat HaDin influences covert international events. Herewith a taste:
[Ynet] In a new book published in the US, Israeli lawyer Nitsana Darshan-Leitner reveals how she was entangled in operations with members of the Harpoon unit, a covert financial counterterrorism taskforce that has dealt heavy blows to Hezbollah, Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
, Yasser Arafat and Leb’s banks.


He is known in the world as "the Lebanese Madoff," but 10 years ago he was still called Salah Ezz al-Din: A rich businessman closely associated with Hezbollah. How close? He owned the publishing house of textbooks used in the organization’s schools. The publishing house was named Hadi Nasrallah after the Hezbollah secretary-general’s son, who was killed in a battle with IDF soldier. He wasn’t a person Hezbollah would suspect.

In 2007, Ezz al-Din flew to the Persian Gulf emirates in search of investments. Major funds for southern Leb’s reconstruction began flowing in from Iran after the Second Leb War, and his high-ranking friends from Hezbollah looked for a good place for him to grow in. It is unknown to this very day who was the contact who had given Ezz al-Din the option of promising investments, but it is clear that he had made a deep impression on him.

He invested millions of private dollars and soon began earning a lot. He started an investment firm and recruited more and more investors who enjoyed the money‐thousands of the organization’s supporters in southern Leb, senior Hezbollah commanders and even the secretary-general himself, Hassan Nasrallah, who invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the initiative.

One day, it was all over. A senior Hezbollah commander’s check bounced. Ezz al-Din thought it was a mistake, called the bank and was told that the account was empty. All the other banks too informed him that his money had been emptied out. He called the company in Dubai and got no answer. Ezz al-Din discovered that his partners in the Persian Gulf had disappeared with about $1 billion, mostly from Hezbollah’s funds. Now try and explain that one to Nasrallah.

The Shiite organization’s serious investigations revealed nothing‐Abu Madoff was unable to tell them where the money had gone. "In Tel Aviv, however, people didn’t appear surprised by what happened. Hezbollah had been in (former Mossad chief) Meir Dagan’s crosshairs," says attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner.

Darshan-Leitner is the co-author of "Harpoon: Inside the Covert War Against Terrorism's Money Masters", which was published in the United States in early November and unveiled the Harpoon unit‐the Israeli intelligence body responsible for the war on terrorism financing, mainly that of the Paleostinians and Hezbollah.

"In the Arab world, people suspected Israelis had done it, but there was no way of proving it," she says about the Lebanese Madoff affair. "They still don’t know what happened to this very day, but according to foreign reports that blamed Israel, there is a certain likelihood that it was a Harpoon operation."

Darshan-Leitner, who wrote the book together with author Samuel M. Katz, knows what she’s talking about. Not only did she interview senior intelligence officials from the mysterious intelligence body for the book, including the person who was in charge of it for many years‐former Mossad director Meir Dagan‐but she was also very involved in it herself.
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