Israel News. Reports and Observations. 16 August 2026, 3 Elul 5785.
Contents:
1. The Fruits of Arab Terrorism
25 years ago, my daughter was killed in the Sbarro bombing. Her killer is free
By Arnold Roth.
2. WHERE ARE THE STARVING PEOPLE?
No starvation in Gaza.
by Yair Davidiy.
3. IRAN ON THE BRINK: Economic Collapse, Oil Shutdown And Shortages Fuel Fears Of Internal Revolt
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1. The Fruits of Arab Terrorism
25 years ago, my daughter was killed in the Sbarro bombing. Her killer is free
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/25-years-ago-my-daughter-was-killed-in-the-sbarro-bombing-her-killer-is-free/
By Arnold Roth.
Extracts Only:
I am in the grotesque position of being politically inconvenient, while the confessed terrorist is protected by a US ally. Her freedom mocks justice itself
Police and medics surround the scene of a suicide bombing inside Jerusalem's Sbarro restaurant, August 9, 2001. Fifteen people were killed, and 130 injured. A 16th victim died in 2023.
JTA � Losing our daughter Malki felt like a horror movie unfolding in real time.
August 9, 2001, was a school vacation morning in Jerusalem....
Malki was gentle and loving by nature. She adored her blind, non-verbal little sister Haya and helped with every medical emergency and hospital stay. Her empathy came naturally; her smile lit up rooms. That pure, sweet life was ripped away in an instant.
Twenty-five years later, the pain returns sharper than ever � layered now with the knowledge that the woman who orchestrated the massacre walks free, defiant, unrepentant, and celebrated. Her name is Ahlam Tamimi. She calls the Sbarro pizzeria bombing �my operation,� says she would do it again exactly the same way, and lives openly in Jordan under Jordanian protection.
Born, raised and educated in Jordan, Tamimi crossed into the West Bank in 2000 at the age of 20 to study journalism at a Ramallah-area university. She worked nights as a news presenter on Arabic television. Within her first year, she moved from Fatah to Hamas, becoming the first woman the group accepted for terror operations. She planted one bomb in a Jerusalem supermarket that failed to detonate. A week later, she succeeded.
Tamimi escorted the man I call her human bomb � a religious zealot carrying a guitar case packed with explosives and nails � to the entrance of the crowded Sbarro pizzeria in central Jerusalem. There were no security guards in those innocent days.
Back in Ramallah, Tamimi delivered the news on a local station that evening, reporting on the carnage as if someone else had carried it out. Arrested weeks later by the IDF, she pleaded guilty to all charges, received 16 life sentences, and grinned at the judges throughout the proceedings.
In 2011, barely eight years after her conviction, she walked free as part of the lopsided deal that secured the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held hostage for five years by Hamas. Her return to Jordan was greeted with ecstatic rallies, media tours, interviews, and VIP visits.
In March 2012, Tamimi launched a television program, �Breezes of the Free,� produced by the Muslim Brotherhood, focused on solidarity with terrorists, and broadcast from Amman. That this happened in Jordan�s tightly controlled media environment makes clear it had official approval. The show ran weekly for five years.
But Malki was an American citizen � one of three murdered at Sbarro. In early 2012, after Tamimi began her television show, I traveled to Washington, DC, to seek justice. Senior officials at the Department of Justice and FBI were responsive. I urged them to enforce a little-known US law allowing prosecution of those who murder Americans in terrorist attacks abroad.
It was years before I learned that the Obama administration secretly indicted Tamimi in 2013. Those charges eventually went public in 2017 under President Donald Trump; the United States formally requested her extradition under the 1995 US-Jordan extradition treaty in February of that year. Within days of the charges being unsealed in Washington, an appellate court in Jordan, citing a contrived technical objection that has found no support outside the kingdom, declared the treaty invalid and thus unenforceable. (Though it does so in a disturbingly quiet voice, the United States has declared repeatedly since then that the treaty remains in effect.) Jordan�s failure to extradite Tamimi continues to this day.
As the parents of a murdered child, we are in a grotesque position: treated as politically more inconvenient than the confessed mastermind of a massacre who enjoys open protection from a US ally. The betrayal is profound and choking.
Tamimi�s very public freedom mocks her victims, their families, the fundamental principle that terrorism must carry a price, and justice itself. It�s incomprehensible. Ordinary families like mine should not be left to wage years-long campaigns so that basic accountability can happen.
About the Author
Arnold Roth, an attorney and technology business manager, serves as honorary chair of the Malki Foundation which he and his wife Frimet established in 2001. Its work honors the memory of their daughter Malki, murdered in a terrorist attack on the Sbarro pizza shop in the center of Jerusalem.
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2. WHERE ARE THE STARVING PEOPLE?
No starvation in Gaza.
by Yair Davidiy.
A recent quick search of the Internet including relatively impartial sources such as Wikipedia, etc,
left the impression that Israel is committing Genocide in Gaza.
Usually in such matters one will find differences of opinion but here it seems unanimously accepted that Israel really is committing Genocide. Other contrary views may exist but go and find them.
In lieu of wading through reams and reams of anti-Israel anti-Jewish incitement go and look for yourselves.
Look at news reports depicting Palestinians.
The reports appear to be untrue.
Genocide through starvation means starving people.
A few pictures have been shown of individuals from Gaza who look like they are starving. The subjects concerned are usually known to Israel medical personnel since they have often received treatment from them. There are not that many of them and in all cases they suffer from congenital afflictions.
Most residents of Gaza as they appear on News outlets appear healthy and well fed. Look it up for yourselves.
Congenital afflictions among the Palestinians of Gaza may be the offspring of close family marital unions.
"Among Palestinian Arabs the rate of consanguinity is very high and some 44.3% of the marriages are between relatives (22.6% of them between first cousins). "
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9021024/
Marriage partners between cousins are usually younger than those from different families. This means they will have more children.
Marriage with cousins is not always a bad thing but if a problem exists it has has more chance of showing up.
Most Palestinian residents of Gaza as they appear on foreign and Israeli News reports appear healthy and well fed. Look it up.
If you see one who looks malnourished search all the people around him/her and compsre them.
In many cases the Palestinians are being fed by the Israeli Zionist emergency services. Palestinian places of work in some cases were used to hide explosive devices that were caused to malfunction.
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3. IRAN ON THE BRINK: Economic Collapse, Oil Shutdown And Shortages Fuel Fears Of Internal Revolt
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/2586004/iran-on-the-brink-economic-collapse-oil-shutdown-and-shortages-fuel-fears-of-internal-revolt.html
Extracts:
Iran�s regime is facing mounting internal pressure as an escalating economic crisis, collapsing oil exports and severe shortages of water, electricity and medicine threaten to further destabilize the Islamic Republic.
An analysis published by Walla describes the Iranian regime as a �wounded animal,� arguing that Tehran�s increasingly aggressive military posture masks deep concern among the country�s leadership over the possibility of widespread domestic unrest.
Iran�s economic situation has deteriorated dramatically amid the ongoing war and U.S. pressure. According to the report, Kharg Island, which previously handled roughly 90% of Iran�s oil exports, has been effectively paralyzed, pushing Iranian oil exports to what the report describes as �technical zero.�
At the same time, the report claims Iran�s foreign currency reserves have been largely depleted and inflation has soared to approximately 300%, devastating the purchasing power of ordinary Iranians and making it increasingly difficult for the regime to maintain liquidity and regularly pay salaries.
The crisis extends far beyond the economy.
In Mashhad, officials have warned of a severe drought, with water levels in reservoirs reportedly falling below 3% as parts of Iran endure temperatures approaching 50 degrees Celsius. Planned electricity blackouts have also become increasingly common across Iranian cities.