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Ya'alon: Israel Holds Lebanon And Its Army Responsible For Killing Of IDF Soldier

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Wednesday that he holds the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Armed Forces responsible for the shooting death of an IDF soldieron the border Sunday night.

An initial IDF assessment, based on data from lookout positions on the border, found that St.-Sgt. Maj. Shlomi Cohen was hit by shots fired by a soldier from the Lebanese Armed Forces, who apparently acted alone. 

Ya'alon said that Israeli and Lebanese army representatives would be meeting Wednesday, along with UN peacekeepers in order to discuss the circumstances of the shooting.

"We will demand that the Lebanese army first of all provides an explanation of exactly what happened there, and whether this is really a rogue soldier, what they did with him, and what the Lebanese army plans to do to prevent incidents of this type," Ya'alon stated.

The Lebanon National News Agency also reported that Israel was carrying out "intensive" flights at low altitude over Lebanese air space.

After the shooting, IDF soldiers spotted suspicious figures on the Lebanese side of the border, and opened fire at them. An IDF source said it was not immediately clear if there were casualties on the Lebanese side of the border as a result. 

Soldier's Killer Surrenders To Lebanese Authorities

The Lebanese serviceman who killed IDF Master Sgt. Shlomi Cohen in a cross-border attack on Sunday night turned himself in to authorities in Lebanon on Monday morning, Lebanese media reported.

IDF officials were set to meet with UN personnel and Lebanese Army officers early Monday afternoon. Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Israel would request an explanation from the Lebanese army about whether the soldier acted on his own, without orders, and what the Lebanese army would do to prevent such incidents in the future.

Ya’alon took a combative tone on Monday morning when he blamed the Lebanese government and military for the attack, asserting that “Israel will not abide violations of its jurisdiction along any border, and certainly not the Lebanese border.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement that Israel and Lebanon were “cooperating with the United Nations… to ascertain the facts.” Ban urged both sides to exercise restraint, as did the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

Ban’s statement came as Israel conveyed a severe protest to the UN over “this outrageous breach of Israel’s sovereignty” and beefed up its presence along the border.

The IDF was still trying to glean details of the incident on Monday morning.

U.S. Plan Gives Jerusalem Holy Sites To Vatican And Muslim Countries

 Secretary of State John Kerry quietly presented a U.S. plan for eastern Jerusalem that calls for an international administrative mandate to control holy sites in the area, according to informed Palestinian and Israeli diplomatic sources.

The exact composition of the international mandate is up for discussion, the sources said, but Kerry’s plan recommended a coalition that includes the Vatican, together with a group of Muslim countries such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

The international arrangement is being proposed as a temporary solution for about two to three years while security arrangements in Jerusalem between Israelis and Palestinians are finalized, said the sources.

Israel, the sources said, was not receptive to the particulars of Kerry’s plan, especially the concept of Turkish participation in Jerusalem. Kerry told the Israelis he would hold talks with the Kingdom of Jordan about its playing a leading role in the proposal in the place of Turkey, the sources added.

Kerry was in Jerusalem on Friday as part of an Obama administration effort to reach a deal for a Palestinian state by April, a timeline that is still on track, Kerry told reporters.

“We are working on an approach that both guarantees Israel’s security and fully respects Palestinian sovereignty,” Kerry added.

In October, WND exclusively reported Kerry was strongly urging Israel to give up the Jordan Valley in closed-door talks with the Palestinian Authority.

The current round of U.S.-brokered talks is attempting to hash out the details of a plan for the valley.

The Jordan Valley cuts through the heart of Israel. It runs from the Tiberias River in the north to the Dead Sea in the center to the city of Aqaba at the south of the country, stretching through the biblical Arabah desert.

The U.S. proposal calls for international forces to maintain security control along with unarmed Palestinian police forces, a senior Palestinian Authority negotiator told WND

U.S., Chinese Warships Come Dangerously Close

A confrontation between the U.S. and Chinese navies led to a tense moment in the South China Sea, CNN has learned.

The incident last Friday, which was resolved peacefully, was the latest sign of Chinese military aggression in international waters and airspace.

A U.S. Navy warship was forced to come to a sudden stop when a Chinese military ship crossed dangerously close in what sources described as a deliberate maneuver.

No weapons were fired and the incident was resolved.

A senior U.S. Navy official described it as a highly unusual encounter because the Chinese ship came so close to the American vessel, the USS Cowpens, a guided missile cruiser.

Several U.S. military officials confirmed details of the incident, which has just come to light.

The Cowpens was in international waters when one ship from a group of Chinese Navy vessels headed toward it. The Chinese ship failed to stop, even after being warned by radio from the Cowpens that it was getting too close.

According to the Navy official, the Cowpens commanding officer issued orders for an "all stop" when the Chinese ship was less than 500 yards off its bow.

"It is unusual to have to take evasive action at sea to avoid a collision," the official said.

While naval vessels often come close as they are observing each other, the United States sees this incident as one that could have led to a collision because of the time and distance it takes for an American warship to stop.

Three American Teachers Slaughtered For Christian Faith

Why was Ronald Thomas Smith II, an American teaching at Benghazi’s International School, shot to death last Thursday in Libya, even as he “was looking forward to his first Christmas in the United States with his wife and toddler son”?

Most Western media and analysts dismiss the killing as a random act of violence incited by a recent al-Qaeda video.

However, by connecting the dots and looking at precedence, it appears that Smith’s Christianity, specifically his talking about it among Muslims, was the motive behind the slaying.

The Alarming Rise Of Campus Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism on U.S. college campuses is growing at an alarming rate. It has escalated to the point that Jewish students on campuses have been physically attacked or threatened for peacefully demonstrating their support of Israel.  Events demonizing Jews and even glorifying the murderers of Jews, in the guise of anti-Israel rhetoric, are tolerated by campus administrators despite the hostile environment such events create for Jewish students who are open about their beliefs in support of the Jewish state.

Title VI of the Civil Rights act of 1964 prohibits various forms of discrimination at federally funded programs, including higher educational institutions, but the Obama administration’s Department of Education has so far refused to enforce it against federally funded universities and colleges that have allowed anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students to go on with relative impunity. For example, in a letter rejecting a complaint that had accused a California state university of allowing a hostile environment for Jewish students to exist on campus, the education department’s Office for Civil Rights wrote: “In the university environment, exposure to such robust and discordant expressions, even when personally offensive and hurtful, is a circumstance that a reasonable student in higher education may experience. In this context, the events that the complainants described do not constitute actionable harassment.”

The same administration that decries even the slightest hint of so-called Islamophobia has treated hate speech and threats against Jewish students, which create a hostile environment for them, as the legitimate exercise of free speech. This double standard is only encouraging more hate and threats directed at Jewish students.

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