Two Palestinians and and an Israeli Arab were indicted Monday on conspiracy to commit an act of terror by planning an attack on IDF soldiers at a security checkpoint in Shchem (Nablus).

According to the police, Imam Kanoah transferred funds from Islamic Jihad to Mohamed Abu Ali, who then used the money to buy a rifle in preparation for the attack.

Abu Ali, an Israeli Arab,  is in Israel by virtue of the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (also known as the Family Reunification Act).

Palestinian Police have freed a 20-year-old Qalqilya woman from her bathroom, where her father had imprisoned her nine years ago — because she wanted to go to school.

When police arrived on Saturday, they heard the young woman’s cries for help. Her father at first refused to unlock the bathroom door, but when police forced him to open it, they found the woman lying on the floor, with a pillow and a blanket. Her father admitted that he had kept his daughter, now 20 years old, locked in the room for nine years, saying that she had not seen sunlight in all that time.

Welfare authorities said the young woman told them she was fed only a sandwich and apple each day, that she was forced to eat and wash her own clothes in the bathroom, that she was led out of the room in the middle of the night to clean the house, and that she had not visited a doctor since her imprisonment began. She said her father intimated that she could commit suicide if she wished.

The woman’s parents were divorced; her father remarried, apparently around the time when the girl’s imprisonment began, and his new family knew about the imprisoned girl but did nothing about it. His sister, the girl’s aunt, asked police for help after he refused access to the young woman for years.

Upon being freed, the woman was reunited with her aunt and her mother, who said that she had stopped asking to see her daughter because she feared that her ex-husband would only respond by abusing the girl.
The young woman’s father, an Israeli Arab, was transferred into the custody of Israeli police and remanded by the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court.

A recent anti-Israeli demonstration at a local grocery store has taken on an ironic twist. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions group led a rally in front of a Publix supermarket located in North Miami. Organizer Len Kaminsky insisted the protest was not anti-Jewish, but rather anti-Zionist. Kaminsky said he is a Jew who’s very upset with “the way that Palestinians are being treated by Israel.” He is heading a boycott of Israeli products to make his point.

The boycott demonstration took place during the three-week period when Jews mourn the loss of the holy temples in Jerusalem. These tragedies led to national exile and decimation. Tradition tells us the reason for this collective punishment was lack of achdus (unity) among the Jewish people. Sadly, more than two thousand years later, the problem still remains.

Painful as it is to know the leader of this rally is himself Jewish, it isn’t surprising, given the prevalence of Israel bashing throughout the media. He probably just believes what he has read in the major papers and seen on television news.   

The technique of the “big lie” is quite effective. Its method is to repeat misinformation until it becomes an accepted “fact.” Mainstream media constantly spew out skewed information about the Israeli/Arab conflict. The words chosen and the photos used are far from objective; the so-called news articles are often nothing more than opinion pieces.

Pro-Arab propaganda is parroted by journalists who make little effort to check out the facts. The canards run the gamut and include many false stories. Retractions are few and never seem to make it to the same front pages when these reports are proven wrong.

Several Jewish organizations have suggested buying the products under fire and writing or calling the stores involved to thank them for carrying the targeted Israeli brands. This remedy, however, does not deal with the root of the problem: the incessant Israel bashing that poisons minds and hardens hearts.

             The relentless barrage of misinformation is insidious and dangerous. It has the power to create false impressions that cause great harm to Israel. The worldwide Jewish community needs to concentrate on spreading the facts about what is happening. It needs to come out forcefully with the truth. It needs to give the other side of the story. It needs to educate the world.  Otherwise, who can be blamed for believing what they read in the papers or see on the news?