Here is a recap of the top Israel news stories on September 26, 2019.

And in case you missed our last recap…

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Hadas Malka and Hadar Cohen were killed by Palestinian terrorists in separate attacks near Damascus Gate.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Jerusalem’s Names Committee announced on Tuesday that it has decided to call the stairs leading into Damascus Gate of the Old City in memory of two Border Policewomen who died in recent years while trying to prevent terror attacks in the immediate area.

Lance Corporal Hadar Cohen was killed in February 2016 while protecting a colleague who was being attacked by a terrorist.

Just two months into her service and still a trainee, the 19-year-old was part of a three-member squad that stopped two suspects near Damascus Gate and asked to see their ID cards. One began stabbing a member of the unit, and Cohen managed to shoot him, thereby saving her friend’s life. A previously unnoticed third terrorist then opened fire, mortally wounding Cohen.

Staff Sergeant Hadas Malka was on patrol in July 2017 when her unit heard shots and a report of a terror attack in progress near Damascus Gate. As the unit prepared to run to the site, a terrorist jumped Malka and stabbed her to death before being killed by her fellow policemen.

The Names Committee decided to call the set of stairs Ma’alot Hadas V’Hadar – Hadas and Hadar’s Steps – using a word in Hebrew which means not only stairs but also rising higher.

Malka’s father, David, reacted soberly to the news.

“The decision to name the street after our precious daughter is more important on the public and social levels than personally,” he said, explaining that the move “is a message to society in general and the youth in particular about the importance of proper social values.”

David spoke, as well, of his daughter’s attachment to the Israeli capital.

“Hadas believed with all her heart [that] if we don’t protect Jerusalem, we won’t have a state,” the father said, thanking the municipality for this “act of thanks, recognition, and appreciation for Hadas.”

City Council member Dan Illouz, who actively supported the proposal initiated by Betzalmo, an Israeli human rights organization, pointed out the importance of the location chosen to honor the two heroines.

“It is also poignant that the very act of determining a name for this spot strengthens our ties to precisely the places that terrorists, such as those who killed Hadar and Hadas, seek to expel us from,” he said.

Other terror victims connected to the Old City that the Names Committee decided to pay tribute to are Rabbi Nehemia Lavi and Aaron Bennett.

A knife-wielding Arab had leaped on Bennett in 2015 as he walked to the Western Wall with his wife and two-year-old and baby. Lavi, a reserve officer who lived nearby, saw the attack unfold and waded into the fight. Both died of the stab wounds they sustained. A square in the Old City will be named Kikar HaGevura (Heroes Square) in their honor.

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“I call on the countries of the world to condemn both the murder and those who praise it,” Netanyahu said after the latest terror attack in Jerusalem, saying Palestinian “mendacity and brazen gall know no bounds.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on countries around the word to condemn Palestinian terrorism and its support by the Palestinian leadership following Friday night’s deadly terror attack in Jerusalem which claimed the life of Israeli Border Policewoman Staff Sgt. Hadas Malka.

“I call on the countries of the world to condemn both the murder and those who praise it, and demand the immediate cessation of Palestinian Authority payments to the families of terrorists, something that only encourages terror,” Netanyahu stated at the beginning of the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday.

He slammed the Palestinian leadership for not denouncing the attack while condemning Israel for killing the terrorists.

“Instead of condemning the attack, Fatah – which is headed by Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas] – issued a statement in which it condemned the Border Police fighters who killed the terrorists, and praised the murderers as heroes. It seems that mendacity and brazen gall know no bounds. Of course, the Palestinian Authority is refusing to condemn the murder and the same Authority will now pay financial compensation to the murderers’ families,” Netanyahu stated.

Nickolay Mladenov, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, stated earlier that he was appalled by the Palestinian statement.

“Such terrorist acts must be clearly condemned by all. I am appalled that once again some find it appropriate to justify such attacks as ‘heroic.’ They are unacceptable and seek to drag everyone into a new cycle of violence,” he said.

Netanyahu noted the several steps taken by the Jerusalem government to prevent further attacks, including preparing to demolish the terrorists’ homes, the revoking of Palestinian visits in Israel previously approved for the Muslim month of Ramadan, and police reinforcement of security arrangements and checking procedures in the plaza around the Damascus Gate, where the attack occurred.

Heroism and Sacrifice on Behalf of the Nation

According to an initial investigation, Malka fought hard during the attack before succumbing to multiple stab wounds.

Netanyahu eulogized her as “a young person full of life” who was “imbued with a sense of mission of defending the State of Israel.”

“On behalf of the Government and the nation, I would like to send condolences from the depths of my heart to the family of Border Police fighter, the late Hadas Malka. Their grief is our grief; their sorrow is that of the entire nation,” Netanyahu said.

“Hadas was a young person full of life. She was imbued with a sense of mission of defending the State of Israel. Her commanders and those under her command loved her and trusted her. Like their comrade-in-arms, the late Hadar Cohen [who was murdered by a terrorist at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate in February], she fell in the line of duty in a determined struggle against bloodthirsty terrorists. Hadas and Hadar, who were pleasant in their lives, were not separated in death. They will remain linked forever in their heroism and their sacrifice on behalf of the nation and the state,” the premier stated.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

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