After the second prisoner release this week, the construction of new homes are the payback that the government is giving to the right wing. According to Haaretz, 5’000 new homes will soon be approved in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.Abbas should be happy because he thinks new homes will be turned over to the PA according to The Jewish Press. Israel announced on Wednesday it will be build 1,500 more homes for Jews in areas that the Palestinian Authority, the United Nations and the Obama administration publicly say will be inhabited by Arabs in a future Palestinian Authority state. So what do the right wing parties say about that? Well, it seems they are too busy…

Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid have agreed to rebuild the strong working connection that existed when the coalition was forming. This includes ongoing efforts to draft chareidim into the IDF, and Bennett and Lapid agreed to focus on moving this piece of legislation along at a brisk pace according to The Yeshiva World News. The two agreed that if they do not focus on pushing the bill along it may be lost. Meanwhile, other Bayit Yehudi ministers have openly stated that the bill is an affront to the Jewish character of the state.

According to Debka, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu lamented on Monday that the release Tuesday night of 26 jailed Palestinians serving life sentences for murdering Israelis, the cause of widespread popular ire,  was “one of the hardest decisions” he has ever made. However, the Palestinians have made 16 new (secret) demands for the continuation of negotiations. Amongst them: The United States and Israel must acknowledge that the Palestinian state is “under occupation”; Israel’s withdrawal to the 1949 armistice lines; Israel and its armed forces will draw back from the Palestinian state over a three-year period; and every Palestinian refugee (as per the Palestinian Authority’s definition of up to the fourth generation) will be free to choose between three options: settlement in Israel or the Palestinian state or staying at their present locations. Possibly the only demand that almost everyone can agree on already – all parts of the Palestinian state will be clear of Israeli civilian and military presence.

More murderers are supposed to be released tonight, but it seems that hardly anyone actually wants it to go ahead. A huge protest is scheduled to take place opposite Ofer Prison from where they will be released. The rally is being organized by My Israel - a grassroots group founded by Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) head Naftali Bennett before he joined party politics - the Almagor terror victims’ group and other organizations.

The list of terrorists to be released and their crimes has been made public, drawing widespread revulsion and reigniting popular anger at what is seen by most Israelis as a betrayal of justice.

After long weeks of quiet between Gaza and Israel, Grad missiles were fired at Ashkelon just a few hours after the government approved the release of another 26 prisoners. MK Orit Strock from Jewish Home said this is proof that releasing prisoners fans the flames of terror. MK Nomi Regev was quoted as saying that the prisoner release is nothing more than a sign of weakness from the government in the face of terror.

On the eve of the start of negotiations between Israel and the PA, Jewish Home figures made it clear to members of the press as well as the prime minister that they would agree to stay in the coalition if Netanyahu releases veteran Palestinian prisoners but they will leave if he moves to freeze settlement construction.

Israel is worried about two possible outcomes of the release – an escalation of security incidents in the Gaza region, and worse then that, a break down in the current peace negotiations. We can only pray that neither happens.

Sources: IsraelNN.com; TheTimesOfIsrael.com; Haaretz; Nana10; others

In less than a month, Palestinians have committed seven acts of terror against Israeli soldiers and civilians on the West Bank and developed a new terror conspiracy against the Israeli population living next door to the Gaza Strip. Hamas is one common factor in the latest outbreaks. There is another: Two of the most recent attacks were perpetrated by Palestinians whose brothers died in the commission of former terrorist strikes. Did those brothers rise up spontaneously on a whim with no guiding hand?

• IDF forces today found and defused a single powerful explosive charge that had been planted by terrorists near the security fence that separates Israel from the central part of Gaza in the Kissufim area. The troops from the 51st Golani brigade found the explosives during routine operations on the border, and bomb-disposal engineers detonated the device in a controlled explosion.
• 2 mortars fell in the Golan Heights a short while ago near Tel Faris. Both came from across the Syrian border. Thankfully no injuries were reported but there is still no information whether there was property damage or not. The army estimates that they were launched by the Syrian army at the rebels and entered Israel accidentally.
• A Palestinian Authority Arab drew a knife and threatened the Israeli driver of a bus at around 8:00 PM Sunday evening. Terrified passengers scrambled for cover as the man ran down the length of the bus in Beit Shemesh trying to stab fellow travelers. There were no injuries in the incident, but one ultra-Orthodox man said the attacker sliced off one of his sidelocks. Video from a security camera inside the bus aired by Channel 2 News shows pandemonium as passengers try to escape the assailant. Police and security forces continued searching for the man on Monday morning but no arrests had been made.
• A Palestinian Authority resident Arab man was shot and injured Saturday while attempting to infiltrate Meitar. Soldiers fired on Mashni’s lower body in an attempt to stop him without killing him. He was then taken to an Israeli hospital in Be’er Sheva for treatment on both feet where he was shot.
• According to new information reported by Channel 2, the man brutally murdered outside his home in the Jordan Valley last week, Sraya Ofer, had encountered his Arab murderers two weeks earlier, when they approached his home. They aroused his suspicion in that encounter and he reported the license number of their car to police. After the murder, a police investigator who checked Ofer’s cell phone found the record of the call he had made to police. Investigators listened to the recording of that call, and based upon the license plate number of the car Ofer reported, they were able to track down his killers.
• Hamas has officially claimed responsibility for the the digging of the terror tunnel from Khan Younis to Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha under the Gaza-Israel border. Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Islamist group’s military wing, said in an interview that the movement’s armed brigades “dug the tunnel, they were responsible for it.” The Israeli military said the tunnel, dug in sandy soil, had been reinforced with concrete supports. Israel responded by halting the transfer of building material to Gaza.Daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot wrote Friday that Israel had known for over a year about the terror tunnel that Hamas was digging into its territory, but let Hamas leaders continue to pour resources into it.
• The uncle of the Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist, who was shot dead after trying to carry out an attack in an IDF base, claimed on Friday that his nephew got lost and did not intend to carry out a terror attack. The attempted attack occurred at about 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, when al-Ubeidi broke into an IDF base at A-Ram, north of Jerusalem, driving a tractor. The terrorist crashed the gate of a base near the Kalandia Checkpoint in the northern capital, south of PA-occupied el-Bireh.

Sources: Haaretz.com; Israelnationalnews.com; Timesofisrael.com; Channel 2; Debka.com; Walla.co.il; Ynet.co.il; Nana10.co.il; TheYeshivaWorld.com; Nrg.co.il

According to this new article from TimesOfIsrael.com the IDF is getting ready to use all sorts of new technology to help their soldiers fight better. They’re talking about using things like Google Glass, augmented reality, virtual cameras and database technology.

A fairly lengthy article, but well worth the read

http://www.timesofisrael.com/using-the-technology-of-war-to-bring-peace/