IDF: We Are Our Brothers' Keepers

Sunday, June 22, 2014 |  Ryan Jones  

Share on bloggerShare on facebookShare on twitterShare on gmailMore Sharing Services

• Enlarge

Related Stories

• Popular actress stoned in Samaria
• Rockets hit southern Israel towns
• Gaza rockets pound southern Israel

Topics:

Terrorism

Operation Brother’s Keeper, the Israeli army’s massive search for three abducted Jewish teens, has intensified as it enters a new week, with IDF officials vowing they will leave no stone unturned.

Col. Eliezer Toledano, the commander of the IDF’s Paratrooper Brigade, said that three full battalions are taking part in the search and rescue operation, and that every soldier is unwaveringly committed to the mission.

“I am [personally] joining my soldiers, and despite the [harsh conditions] not one has asked when we are going home,” Toledano told the Israeli press. “We all believe that we will find the kidnapped youths, and it is with this faith that we march day and night.”

Over the weekend, the Israeli army arrested dozens more Hamas leaders and activists as it seeks out even the smallest clue as to where Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel are being held captive.

“Every pool in the area is being sucked dry. Locals are being questioned - anyone who can help, who might have local intelligence. This will continue in the coming days. We are turning over every stone,” a senior military source told The Jerusalem Post.

At the same time, another army officer told Israel Radio that violent Palestinian resistance to the search and rescue operation is increasing. Soldiers are being attacked with stones, Molotov cocktails and explosive devices, and in some instances have faced live gunfire.

In one particular fierce clash in the Samarian city of Nablus (biblical Shechem) on Saturday a Palestinian youth was shot dead as he and others attacked an Israeli search team. Another Palestinian man was killed when he ignored warning shots and approached Israeli soldiers in a threatening manner reminiscent of a suicide bomber.

Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY.

Israel Determined to Crush Hamas

Tuesday, June 17, 2014 |  Ryan Jones ISRAEL TODAY

Share on bloggerShare on facebookShare on twitterShare on gmailMore Sharing Services

• Enlarge

Related Stories

• Hamas: We Live for Death
• Hamas Teaching Terror To Toddlers
• Hamas: Palestinians will never recognize Israel

Topics:

Hamas

Israel is working hard to find and rescue three abducted Jewish youth, but it is also using the crisis as an opportunity to hopefully deal a debilitating blow to the Hamas terrorist organization.

Israel has determined that Hamas was behind the kidnapping of Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel last Thursday, and that assessment has been largely backed up by the United States, Europe and the Palestinian Authority.

Israel has issued a limited call-up to IDF reservists as it arrests hundreds of Hamas leaders and lays siege to the Judean town of Hebron, a stronghold for the radical Islamist group. On Tuesday, Israel extended the operation to the Samarian town of Nablus (biblical Shechem), where even more Hamas leaders were rounded up.

“As long as our boys remain abducted, Hamas will feel pursued, paralyzed and threatened,” said army spokesman Lt. Peter Lerner. “We are committed to resolving the kidnapping and debilitating Hamas terrorist capacities, its infrastructure and its recruiting institutions.”

Army Radio called the operation as a “root canal” aimed at “uprooting everything green in the West Bank,” referring to Hamas’ official color.

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett was even harsher in his remarks. “We will turn membership in Hamas into an entry ticket to hell,” he told reporters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, cautioned Israelis to be patient and prepare for an extended ordeal. “We are here in the midst of a complex operation. We need to be prepared for the possibility that it may take time. This is a serious event and there will be serious consequences,” said the Israeli leader.

The Palestinian Authority condemned what it called escalating Israeli aggression, but also took steps to halt implementation of its recently signed reconciliation pact with Hamas. A senior PA official told The Times of Israel that if Hamas truly was behind the abduction, then the Palestinian unity deal of which Israel was so derisive would become null and void.

For its part, Hamas condemned cooperation between Israel and the PA in the search for the missing Jewish youth, and said Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas should instead be declaring jihad against the Jewish state.

Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY.