By Michael Bachner/TPS

The Israel Police cleared for publication on Monday morning that it has infiltrated criminal ranks in the Arab sector and confiscated numerous illegal weapons thanks to the use of an undercover agent for over a year. A total of 600 policemen have been conducting a widespread arrest campaign and have detained dozens of suspects in Arab towns and in Netanya since the morning.

The undercover agent operated under a fake identity for more than a year. He collected evidence on many influential criminals and documented dozens of illegal arms and drug deals.

At least 62 suspects have already been arrested within just a few hours, and more arrests are expected. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Chief of Police Roni Alsheikh awarded the publicly unidentified agent with a pistol and official certification at a private ceremony in his honor.

“I applaud the brave agent who exposed a network of illegal arms traders last night,” said Minister Erdan. “I also applaud the Israel Police forces who participated in the arrest campaign. I hope and believe that the agent who helped us and officially joined the police today [as an overt officer] will be an example to the young generation in the Arab sector, which pays a high price for the high crime rates in it.”

The agent operated in the Triangle area, a concentration of Arab towns and villages in central Israel, and in the city of Netanya. He quickly became accepted and respected among the criminals and was even called upon to mediate internal conflicts.

“I have always seen myself on the side of law enforcement, and when I was offered to be an agent, I did not think twice,” said the agent. “This mission was a challenge. The weapon issue in the Arab sector bothers the Arab community very much, a dangerous phenomenon that I know about first-hand.”

During his time undercover, the agent purchased twelve “Carlo” submachine guns, three Kalashnikov assault rifles, two home-made M16 rifles, four pistols, a stun grenade, and ammunition. He also purchased over nine kilograms of hashish, 700 grams of marijuana, and 85 grams of cocaine.

This week Walter talks about the terror in Tel Aviv and the consequences for Palestinian Authority-area Arabs.

He also explains how Israel tries to accommodate Israeli Arabs.

Also: Why Israel has good reason to congratulate the Philippines on their Independence Day.

And: The suicidal dreams of the Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai.

Hear about Walter’s visit to the historic port city of Acco, north of Haifa, and his extraordinary findings, plus, a criticism of the BBC and comments on political ethics.

The Walter Bingham File 19Jun – PODCAST

The United Nations has censored as “inappropriate” three out of 13 displays in an exhibition organized by Israel’s permanent mission to the United States.

The exhibit, “Israel Matters” was created together with the StandWithUs organization. It opens today (Monday, April 4) at UN headquarters in New York City.

A poster presenting Jerusalem as the spiritual and physical capital of the Jewish People was disqualified by the UN.

UN censored this Israeli poster on Jerusalem.

Written on the poster among photos of holy sites were the words, “The Jewish People are indigenous to Israel and have maintained a continuous presence in the land since 1000 BC. Jerusalem has been the center and focus of Jewish life and religion for more than three millennia and is holy to Christians and Muslims as well.”

A second display, which focused on Israeli Arabs noted the population is the “largest minority in Israel, making up 20 percent of Israel’s population.” The display described Israeli Arabs as “equal citizens under the law in Israel.”

UN censored this Israeli poster on its Arab citizens.

The third display is one which explains Zionism, the driving force behind the establishment of the reborn Jewish State. Zionism is defined in this display as “the liberation movement of the Jewish People, who sought to overcome 1,900 years of oppression and regain self-determination in their indigenous homeland.”

UN censored this Israeli poster on Zionism, the ideology that helped Jews recreate the State of Israel once more.

Israeli Ambassador to the United States demanded Sunday that UN Secretary-General reverse the “scandalous” censorship of the posters. He accused the UN of trying to undermine “the very existence of the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people,” with the move. “We will not allow the UN to censor the fact that Jerusalem is Israel’s eternal capital,” Danon said in a statement.

“The UN must reverse this outrageous decision and apologize to the Jewish People. Zionism and Jerusalem are the foundation stones and the moral basis upon which the State of Israel was founded.”

JewishPress.com columnist Paul Gherkin raised an important point in his article today, which is not just the fast growth rate of Jerusalem’s Arab population, but also that their poverty levels are high due to the fewer job opportunities that exist in Jerusalem compared to the rest of the country.

Makor Rishon’s token leftwing columnist, Shalom Yerushalmi pointed out last year that Jerusalem is at high risk of losing its Jewish majority – and it’s all Israel’s fault.

As often as I find myself disagreeing with Yerushalmi, to the point where reading him as of late has become simply tedious, in this case he’s right.

There’s another significant factor that keeps Jerusalem’s Arab population size artificially inflated, despite the lack of housing and job opportunities – and it has nothing to do with religion.

After 1967, Israel found itself with a lot of Arabs in newly reunified Jerusalem, but not quite sure how to deal with this enemy population who mostly grew up hating Jews and Israel.

Eventually it was decided that Jerusalem’s Arabs would be given Residency Status – they would have full civil rights and benefits, except voting in national elections (they can vote in Jerusalem’s local elections), along with a path to citizenship, if they wanted to become Israeli citizens.

Most were happy with that option. They received all the benefits of modern Israeli society, without the stigma of acquiring that despised Israeli citizenship.

The downside is that Israel required these Arabs to reside exclusively and almost constantly in Jerusalem, otherwise they lose their Residency Status.

The unintended consequence is that Jerusalem’s growing Arab population can’t leave Jerusalem for any extended period of time to build a life elsewhere. If they do, they’ll lose all their Israeli benefits and residency status.

The option is still there for them to take Israeli citizenship – but most don’t want it and probably never will.

Yerushalmi’s plan is to get rid of the Jerusalem residency requirement.

Let them move to Nazareth, let them move to America, and let them keep their Israel Residency status.

The immediate effect will be an Arab exodus from Jerusalem, and possibly even an Arab exodus from Israel.

It would be as if they all took the citizenship option, without the downside of their acquiring national voting rights.

This idea is not without risks and problems, perhaps to be discussed in another article.

But as long as the path to citizenship remains open to them, there’s no risk of calling Israel an Apartheid state, just as Puerto Rico’s referendum against becoming a full US state doesn’t make the US an Apartheid state.

Perhaps, as Jerusalem’s Arab integrate into other Arab communities in Israel, get better jobs and settle down, they will become less religiously extreme. Some may want to take on full citizenship. Others may want to leave Israel completely, knowing they can come back if they wanted.

One thing is for sure, removing the Jerusalem residency requirement, would safely release one of Jerusalem’s most major pressure valves and keep the city unified.

A new poll conducted on behalf of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews in the Israeli Arab population is raising red flags – and reinforcing recent warnings by President Reuven Rivlin about the rising popularity of Da’esh (ISIS) in that population.

Rivlin said that according to figures gleaned from “research studies, arrests, testimonies and covert analyses,” there is increasing support for Da’esh among Israeli Arabs.

The survey, conducted by the Stat-net Institute, polled a sample of 500 low-income Israeli Arabs. The findings showed that 67 percent of Israeli Arabs feel discriminated against, and 71 percent feel that low-income Israeli Jews receive more state aid than they do. Further, 54 percent of Israeli Arabs feel the government – including Israeli Arab Mks – do not care about their interests.

The poll was commissioned to measure the impact of The Fellowship’s financial support for low-income Israeli-Arab citizens, according to IFCJ founder and director Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. Instead, it came up with clanging bells and warning signs.

“The survey shows Israel should be caring more for its Arab citizens and investing in them the same way it does with its most vulnerable Jewish citizens, not only for moral reasons but also to counter the threat of political extremism and to promote patriotism. If we don’t invest in Israel’s citizens, ISIS will,” said IFCJ founder and director, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.

“We found a direct correlation between Israeli Arabs’ feelings of being treated equally to Jews and their sense of belonging to society and even their willingness to serve,” added Eckstein. “If we can change the numbers, we can avoid Israeli Arabs becoming a strategic threat.”

The IFCJ has invested more than $35 million on social welfare programs for Israeli Arabs in recent years, he said. Those investments included programs to help the elderly, children, and at-risk youth, and on drug abuse prevention, emergency financial aid, job empowerment for women, and other initiatives.

The survey found that among the low-income Israeli Arabs who felt they are being treated unfairly compared to poor Israeli Jews, only 20 percent said they “feel strongly or very strongly connected to Israel.”

Only 38 percent of Israeli Arabs who feel they lack equal rights in Israel said they would perform national service.

Of those who felt they were treated equally, 58 percent of Israeli Arabs said they would perform national service.

Rivlin warned a week ago (Jan. 18) that Israeli Arab teens are growing more enamored with becoming Da’esh operatives for the ISIS terror organization.

“The Islamic State is already here – that is no longer a secret,” Rivlin told participants at the ninth annual international conference of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). “I am not speaking about territories bordering the State of Israel – but within Israel itself.” He, too, added that it is in the best interest of Israel to offer its Arab population a better future than the fantasies promised by terror groups such as Da’esh.

Rivlin said it is in the best interest of the state to offer Israel’s Arabs a better future than that promised by groups such as Da’esh. “If children are growing up without a dream, without hope or without aspirations, with the feeling that their blood and their lives are of a lesser value in the State of Israel, then we must think of how to offer them a dream, hope and faith,” Rivlin said.

Mohammed Melhem, the father of Tel Aviv shooter Nashet Melhem, has been freed from custody along with his son Ali.

The two men were released to house arrest on $1,270 bond in an agreement between the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet/Shabak) and attorney Nechami Feinblatt, a public defender who represents the family.

“I think the Shin Bet understands that the family wanted to help capture him and not help him,” the attorney said.

Both were held in custody along with six other relatives and friends last week while the killer was at large. They were arrested on charges of being accessories to murder, illegal association and conspiracy to commit a crime and premeditated manslaughter.

Melhem murdered three people in Tel Aviv on Jan. 1 using a weapon he stole from his father, a volunteer police officer. It was the elder Melhem who identified his son to police as the killer after seeing a video of the murders on television.

When he still was not captured within three days, the elder Melhem was taken into custody along with other relatives and friends. It later turned out that numerous family members did indeed know Nashet was back in the village; but they were reluctant to turn in one of their own. The subsequent pressure by Shin Bet operatives, leveraged via arrests and questioning, plus the gathering of DNA and other hard evidence, proved essential in ending the saga.

Nashet Melhem will be buried in his home village of Ar’ara in Wadi Ara in a small private ceremony on Sunday afternoon. The family is doing whatever it can to put this behind them, a relative said.

An Israeli Bedouin educator in the northern Negev town of Hura was sentenced to prison Thursday after being convicted on charges of planning to join Da’esh (ISIS).

High school teacher Muhammad Al’ab Ahmed abu Alkyan, 27 was found guilty of having used his position as an educator to spread the terror group’s propaganda among the students and teachers.

He also shared the Da’esh doctrine with family members and associates, according to a statement by the Shin Bet.

Alkyan was sentenced to four years in prison, having confessed during questioning to his plans to join Da’esh (ISIS).

He also was convicted of establishing his own terrorist cell in southern Israel, and having acted as a “spiritual teacher” in passing on ISIS teachings and recruiting other supporters.