A soldier was killed on Tuesday when an old anti-tank mine exploded in the Golan Heights, Yediot Aharonbot reports. Two other soldiers sustained mild injuries in the blast. The soldier who was killed was recruited only a few months ago.
The incident occurred during the clearing of a minefield near Moshav Yonatan.
The army has launched an investigation.
In March 2011 the Knesset passed legislation requiring the removal of all known mines in Israel after an Israeli teenager was severely injured when a mine exploded as he was travelling with his family in the Golan Heights.
Click here to read the full article in Yediot Aharonot
IDF chief warns Assad over Golan escalation
Israel’s military chief issued a severe warning to Bashar Assad on Tuesday, saying the Syrian leader would “bear the consequences” of any more attacks on Israeli forces near the Syrian border, the Times of Israel reports.
Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz issued the warning hours after an Israeli jeep came under fire during a patrol in the Golan Heights.
Tuesday’s was the latest in a string of incidents in which gunfire and mortar shells have struck the Golan in recent months. Israel believes that most of the fire has been spillover from the Syrian civil war, but that several cases, including Tuesday’s, were intentional.
That was bolstered by the fact that Tuesday marked the first time the Syrian army has acknowledged firing at Israeli troops across the frontier, in what appeared to be an attempt by Assad’s regime to project toughness following three Israeli airstrikes near Damascus this year.
Click here to read the full article in Times of Israel
Gun controls tightened after bank shooting
The day after a Be’er Sheva man shot dead four people in a local bank before turning his gun on himself, the Public Security Ministry on Tuesday announced new rules to limit the number of guns in circulation, Haaretz reports.
School security guards will have to turn in their weapons, which guarding firms will re-issue at the start of the new school year. Licensed gun owners will have to store their weapon in a safe at home. Security companies must obtain special exemptions from being required to store a weapon when its bearer is off duty, while only one gun license will be issued to any single individual and anyone applying to renew a gun license must show why they need a weapon.
„Limiting gun ownership is at the top of our agenda, and I intend to hold a weekly follow-up meeting on the subject,” Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said in the statement.
„The security situation in Israel in recent decades has led to the granting of numerous gun licenses. We intend to restrict this while protecting necessary balance. In the last 10 years the number of licenses of firearms has been reduced from 300,000 to 160,000, and now we are reducing the number of licensed firearm-carriers by 10,000 a year,” Aharonovitch added.
Click here to read the full article in Haaretz
Source: European Jewish Congress
