An IDF soldier was injured during operations in Beit Lechem (Bethlehem) overnight.

The soldiers were confronted the the in Daheisha neighborhood by a large group of Arabs throwing firebombs and blocks at them.

IDF troops returned fire at one of them, a 20-year old terrorist who threw a firebomb, killing the terrorist.

Arab sources have identified the dead terrorist as Jihad al-Jaafari. al-Jaafari’s family claim he wasn’t involved in the clash and didn’t throw anything at the soldiers. They claim he he was merely watching the fighting from the roof of a building.

The injured soldier was listed as lightly to moderately injured, with a head injury, and was evacuated to the hospital.

The Arabs have now called for a general strike in Daheisha.

Released for publication:

On January 15, the Shabak – Israel’s General Security Service, in a joint operation with the IDF, captured a Hamas terror cell operating in Hebron.

The terror cell planned to commit a variety of terror attacks, including suicide bombings. The Hamas terror cell actually attempted to implement one of their plans in December.

Weapons and explosives were also confiscated during the operation, in which eleven Hamas terrorists were captured.

Two of the chief terrorists in the cell, Sahaib Mamun Saltan, 20, from Hebron, and his cousin Salam Abbas Saltan, 28, admitted they tried to commit an attack this past December in Hebron’s Tel Rumeida neighborhood against IDF troops. The attack failed when their bomb did not go off.

The cell planned to commit their attacks in Hebron and Jerusalem and had scouted out target locations to attack.

Iran reported that an Iraqi legislator has declared that the Golani Brigade of the IDF is training commanders of the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist army in the Sinai for “sabotage operations in Egypt.”

The Fars News Agency, one of the Islamic Republic’s propaganda tools, quoted Wahhab al-Tayee, a member of an Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite Muslim faction, that the ISIS is nearing “annihilation” in Iraq and Syria and “has been transferred to Egypt under the name of Daames (the Islamic State in Egypt and Sudan).”

The news agency’s website features a picture of Israeli soldiers with the caption “Zihadists.”

The Free Syrian Army’s website also disseminated the story.

What is the basis for the story?

Al-Tayee said, “The serial killings of Egyptian militaries in the Sinai vindicates the veracity of this claim” that the elite Golani officers are teaching the ISIS.

He added:

At present, the ISIL has deployed several brigades in the Sinai, whose commanders have been trained by the Zionist regime’s Golani Brigade and are now operating against Egypt.

Fars, which can be read as “Farce,” recalled that “Iranian Supreme Leader’s senior adviser Ali Akbar Velayati underlined that the ISIL had been created by the West and Israel to pursue their interests in the region.

“ISIL has actually been created by the western colonial powers and the Zionists because whatever this terrorist group does runs counter to Islam and the rules of all Islamic sects,” Velayati said n December.

And what is the real goal of the Israel? Once the ISIS destroys Muslim holy sites, then Israel has the justification to destroy the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount.

Why didn’t Jewish Temple Mount activists think of that all by themselves?

A Palestinian Authority terrorist fired 11 bullets at a civilian vehicle near Avnei Hafetz in Samaria shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday.

No one was wounded, and the car sustained light damage.

Soldiers are searching for the terrorist or gang behind the attack.

I don’t recall this many people showing up when I was honorably completed my IDF service!

Thousands of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men attended a demonstration celebrating the release from prison of four Yeshiva student/draft dodgers who failed to comply with an IDF recruitment order. The protest-celebration took place near Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighborhood on February 16, 2015.

Israeli military officers say it is only a “matter of time” before Islamic State-affiliated jihadist groups attack Israeli towns along the Egyptian border.

According to Lt. Col. Gilad Avralinzi, an engineering officer with the IDF’s 80th division, the IDF Engineering Corps has spent the past year preparing the Sinai Peninsula border fence in anticipation of hostile actions from jihadist groups in the region.

Avralinzi said the IDF will bolster the border fence during the next year with sophisticated electronics and surveillance equipment, including cameras, optics, and radars.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has waged a massive campaign to destroy Sinai-based terror groups such as the Islamic State-affiliated Wilayat Sinai (Province of Sinai), which was formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.

Wilayat Sinai was behind a recent series of attacks that killed 30 Egyptian security personnel. This week, the group released a video showing the decapitation of 10 men whom it accused of spying for Israel and Egypt.

In a ceremony held at the Prime Minister Office in Jerusalem, Gadi Eizenkot was sworn as Israel’s 21st IDF Chief of Staff, replacing Benny Gantz.

Eizenkot was born in 1960. He joined the Golani Brigade upon his enlistment, and participated in all of Israel’s wars and operations in the last 35 years, including both Lebanese wars, both Intifadas and all recent operations in the Gaza Strip.

Eizenkot held a number sof prominent roles within the IDF including Commander of the Northern Command, Commander of the Golani Brigade, Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division and Military Secretary to the Prime Minister.

In his speech, Eizenkot stated that “the Middle East is in the midst of a challenging period. Changes the region is going through have left it almost unrecognizable. The Middle East is now characterized by volatility and instability. Now, more than ever, we must act in a decisive, sophisticated and responsible manner… Only a strong and decisive IDF will fulfill its calling, to deter our enemies, remove the threat of war, defend Israel and win armed conflicts.”

Eizenkot thanked Benny Gantz for his 38 years of military service. “Benny, throughout your years in the IDF, Israel’s security has always guided your actions. You were always responsible and had a strong sense of believe that our way is just… Thank you for the way you commanded the IDF.”

Eizenkot finished his speech with a personal commitment. “I pledge to carry on fulfilling the vision the founders of the state of Israel had. I will carry the torch of security which constitutes the foundation for the strengthening and existence of the state of Israel.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu congratulated Eizenkot, “you are entering the role of Chief of General Staff with all the experience and knowledge a great military leader should have.” Netanyahu then addressed Eizenkot, “I promise that you won’t have one day of grace, not even one… for in the Middle East there is no mercy for the weak, only the strong survive.”

“I have no doubt the responsibility, tenacity and experience that characterize you, will serve us and you, when confronting the great challenges that lay before us. The people of Israel trust you, the Israeli government trusts you, and Gadi, I trust you,” Netanyahu concluded.