Headlines
- Paris Attacker Releases Video from Beyond the Grave
- Paris Terrorist Coulibaly also Linked to Murder of Jogger
- France to Protect Jewish Institutions 'With Army if Necessary'
- Survivor 'Befriended' Paris Kosher Market Terrorist
- ISIS Communications Claim Paris Attacks 'Just the Beginning'
- Jewish Victim Fought Attacker before Being Gunned Down
- 'France is at War - And Jews are on the Frontlines'
- Video Shows Arab Stabbing Attack in Jerusalem
1. Paris Attacker Releases Video from Beyond the Grave
by Arutz Sheva StaffTerrorist Amedy Coulibaly, or a man resembling him, claims to be a member of the Islamic State terrorist group in a posthumous video released online on Sunday.
Coulibaly, who shot a policewoman in Paris on Thursday before taking hostages at a Jewish supermarket Friday, was killed by police gunfire after they stormed the market. He murdered four Jewish customers in the attack.
Speaking into the camera, the man says he coordinated with the two gunmen who attacked the Charlie Hebdomagazine on Wednesday, killing 12.
[youtube:2001075]
"I am addressing myself first of all to the Caliph of Muslims Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," he says, referring to the leader of ISIS.
"I have declared allegiance to the Caliph," he says in broken, stuttering Arabic, wearing Islamic white dress and headgear.
A text that runs at the start of the video says the man is Coulibaly, and that he was responsible for the killing of a policewoman in southern Paris on Thursday and the attack on the supermarket the following day, as well as a car blown up in a Paris street that authorities have not so far linked to the attacks.
"The brothers of our team, they did Charlie Hebdo," the man says.
"I also went out a bit against the police so that it has more impact. We managed to synchronize to come out at the same time," he says, wearing a camouflage army vest in this section.
"What we have done is completely legitimate given what they have done. If you attack the caliphate, we will attack you."
The video starts with shots of the man doing press-ups in sports gear. An automatic rifle leans against the wall beside him in a later section.
2. Paris Terrorist Coulibaly also Linked to Murder of Jogger
by Ari SofferFrench prosecutors said Sunday they had linked the attacker of a Jewish supermarket to the shooting of a jogger in southern Paris just hours after a massacre by two other gunmen at the Charlie Hebdo weekly.
In a statement the Paris prosecutor's office said there was a link between "the bullets found in Fontenay-aux-Roses" where the jogger was shot and injured, and those from a Russian Tokarev pistol used by Amedy Coulibaly in the supermarket attack.
Coulibaly has already been linked to the fatal shooting of a police woman the next day, just one day before he murdered four people at the Hyper Cacher kosher grocery store in the French capital.
The revelation that he was involved in yet another murder comes just hours after footage emerged on the internet which appeared to show Coulibaly pledging his allegiance to ISIS and announcing his role in the string of deadly attacks by Islamist terrorists last week.
In the video, Coulibaly also confirms police reports that he had coordinated his bloody rampage with that of Cherif and Said Kouachi, who gunned down 12 journalists and injured 11 more at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine. That, despite the fact that the Kouachi brothers and Coulibaly were aligned with rival jihadi groups - the former acted on the behalf of Al Qaeda, while Coulibaly acted on behalf of ISIS.
"The brothers of our team, they did Charlie Hebdo," the man says.
"I also went out a bit against the police so that it has more impact. We managed to synchronize to come out at the same time," he says, wearing a camouflage army vest in this section.
It also follows worrying reports by French intelligence of intercepted communications between ISIS leaders, which appeared to indicate the group is anticipating a further wave of attacks in Europe.
3. France to Protect Jewish Institutions 'With Army if Necessary'
by Ari SofferJewish schools and synagogues will be protected "if necessary" by the French army, a leading figure in the country's Jewish community said after meeting with President Francois Hollande on Sunday.
"He told us that all the schools, all the synagogues will be protected, if necessary, on top of the police, by the army," said Roger Cukierman, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France.
Hollande also said he would visit the Grand Synagogue of Paris after a march to mark this week's jihadist attacks in the capital.
Over 1,000 soldiers are already deployed in the French capital following a spate of attacks by Muslim extremists.
The meeting between Jewish community leaders and the French president comes as French Jews are still recovering from the latest deadly terrorist attack to target their community, after four people were killed in an attack by Islamist gunman Amedy Coulibaly on a kosher supermarket Friday afternoon.
It also comes on the same day as world leaders are scheduled to attend a major rally in Paris in solidarity with France, following a week of deadly attacks, which began with the bloody assault on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last Wednesday.
That attack was carried out by brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, acting on behalf of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The two were finally tracked down by French police on Friday and shot dead after a tense standoff in Dammartin-en-Goele.
Wednesday's attack was followed by the murder of a policewoman in a shooting attack which wounded another on Thursday, and was followed by the attack on the Hyper Cacher grocery store on Friday. Both of the latter attacks were carried out by an associate of the Kouachi brothers, Amedy Coulibaly, who claimed to be acting on behalf of the ISIS terrorist group. Coulibaly was himself killed by French police as they stormed the shop in a successful bid to free the remaining hostages.
Jews in France and throughout Europe have reacted with shock and fear at the latest attack, and European Jewish Congress President Dr. Moshe Cantor on Saturday called on authorities to do more to tackle the threat of Islamist terrorism and Islamic extremism in general.
"European authorities must give law enforcement officials, intelligence agencies and the judiciary all the tools necessary to win this war that willprevent further violence and bloodshed," Cantor said.
"Terrorists have declared war on our way of life and we can no longer stand idly by. Words are no longer enough."
4. Survivor 'Befriended' Paris Kosher Market Terrorist
by Yedidya Ben Or, Gil RonenEli Vaknin, a survivor of the terror attack at the kosher supermarket in Paris, spoke with IDF Radio Sunday morning about his ordeal.
Vaknin was doing his Shabbat shopping when he saw a car stop and a man get out with two Kalashnikov rifles. "He was very muscular, with two guns, a commando knife and a bulletproof vest. He got out of a car driven by a woman, entered the supermarket and shot four men, first of all."
After murdering the four men, the terrorist began to check that all entrances were blocked.
"He started to give us a speech on how he would kill all of the Jews, Christians and unbelievers, and said he was from ISIS. I let him scream like a dog as I calmed everyone down," Vaknin related.
"I told him I was from Morocco and he asked me if I was a Muslim. I told him that I was a Mussawi – the son of Moses and Amram, and he thought that this was a faction within Islam."
"At a certain point we became friends. He asked in Arabic where there was an internet connection. Then he connected and relayed his demands to the TV station. Meanwhile, I began relaying messages through my mobile phone, and the police told me to leave it open so they could hear what was going on inside."
"Everyone is thinking about making aliyah to Israel," Vaknin said, "but there are no conditions. To go to Israel – but where? We have no houses, nothing. What work will they give us? I am 70 years old, a pensioner. Where will I live? I have no family."
5. ISIS Communications Claim Paris Attacks 'Just the Beginning'
by Arutz Sheva StaffEU and US security ministers met at France's interior ministry on Sunday to work out a joint response to the threat of jihadist attacks following days of carnage in Paris by three terrorists claiming to act on behalf of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) group.
The gathering was being held just hours ahead of a massive public rally in Paris against terrorism that was to be attended by dozens of world leaders.
US Attorney General Eric Holder was the first to arrive at the interior ministry. The interior ministers and senior officials from many European countries, including Israel, Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Sweden and Canada were to attend.
A US Justice Department official said ahead of the meeting that it "will include discussions on addressing terrorist threats, foreign fighters and countering violent extremism."
The ministerial-level meeting was convened by French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who was at the forefront of this week's response to a series of attacks and hostage-takings by the three French Islamist gunmen.
On Wednesday, two of the gunmen, brothers of Algerian descent, Cherif and Said Kouachi, massacred much of the staff of the Paris satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
As a massive manhunt was under way for them, the next day another gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, who was connected to the other two, killed a policewoman in a southern suburb of Paris.
Events came to a head on Friday when the brothers were trapped in a printing firm near Paris, and Coulibaly stormed a Jewish supermarket in the capital, killing four inside.
Twin assaults by French commandos resulted in the deaths of the three gunmen.
Before their deaths, Cherif Kouachi and Coulibaly spoke to a French television channel, BFMTV. Kouachi said he was part of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, and had traveled to Yemen in 2011 for training, while Coulibaly claimed he belonged to a rival jihadist outfit, the Islamic State group, but had coordinated his attacks with those of the brothers.
The French government has admitted to shortcomings in its surveillance of the gunmen, who had criminal records and were known Muslim radicals.
Sunday's meeting was expected to address ways in which Western countries can head off future such jihadist violence on their soil.
The German newspaper Bild said Sunday that US intelligence had intercepted communications in which Islamic State leaders said the Paris attacks were just the prelude for a wave of Islamist violence in Europe.
It also reported that the Kouachi brothers had contacts in The Netherlands.
Paris was placed on its highest level of alert for terror attacks after Wednesday's Charlie Hebdo massacre, and authorities are maintaining that for the time being.
French President Francois Hollande warned on Friday, in a speech after the three gunmen were killed, that his country "has not finished with the threats" from jihadists.
He called for the public to remain vigilant in the face of the threat, and for a broad mobilization to counter it, and telling French Jewish leaders his government was prepared to protect Jewish schools and synagogues with soldiers if necessary.
6. Jewish Victim Fought Attacker before Being Gunned Down
by Ari SofferDetails are emerging of the bloody attack on a kosher supermarket Friday in which four shoppers were murdered, as France struggles to come to terms with the string of attacks of recent days.
Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen and Francois-Michel Saada were all killed by Muslim extremist Amedy Coulibaly, who took terrified shoppers hostage in a Jewish supermarket as many of them were carrying out last-minute Shabbat preparations.
According to reports, one of the hostages - apparently Yohan Cohen - attempted to disarm Coulibaly as he burst into the store, in an incredible act of heroism. But after a brief struggle in which he failed to snatch the terrorist's gun, he was shot in the head, becoming Coulibaly's first victim.
Plans are underway for all four of Friday's victims to be buried in a state ceremony in Israel.
Police are still searching for Coulibaly's 26-year-old partner Hayat Boumeddiene, who they are describing as "armed and dangerous." Coulibaly himself was killed when French commandos stormed the shop and caught him off-guard as he bent down to pray.
Boumeddiene is suspected of being involved in a shooting attack Thursday in Paris, in which a policewoman was killed and another person seriously injured.
That attack came just a day after the deadly assault by two other Islamist terrorists on the central Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 dead and 11 more wounded.
French authorities have dramatically ramped-up security, with the defense ministry announcing the deployment of an additional 500 troops to the greater Paris area, adding to the 850 soldiers already deployed after previous attacks left France on high alert.
Meanwhile, more than 200,000 people have poured onto the streets in cities across France in poignantly silent marches paying tribute to those killed in the nation's bloodiest week in more than half a century.
In Paris, mourners lay flowers at the scene of Friday's killings as a tribute, and one woman attached signs to a police barrier reading: "Je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie"), "I am police", "I am mourning", "I am Jewish."
It is just a taste of what was to come in Paris Sunday, where a major rally will be held for national unity, to be attended by President Francois Hollande and a host of world leaders.
7. 'France is at War - And Jews are on the Frontlines'
by Ari SofferThe President of the European Jewish Congress, which represents Jewish communities in Europe, has called on European authorities to fight the battle against Islamist terrorists like a real war, warning that words alone would not be enough to stave-off the dire threat posed to European Jewry.
President Kantor's call comes a day after four Jews were murdered during a siege in a kosher shop in Paris.
"Europe is at war with an ideology that seeks mass bloodshed and murder," said Dr. Moshe Kantor. "It is not a war against Muslims or Islam, but against a radical interpretation which targets for death anyone that they decide is the enemy, including journalists and Jews, but all our potential targets."
"European authorities must give law enforcement officials, intelligence agencies and the judiciary all the tools necessary to win this war that will prevent further violence and bloodshed."
"There should be complete unity of purpose among European political leaders towards ending the import of a bloody and malevolent ideological wave of terror onto our continent," he continued, calling for more concrete action by authorities. "Terrorists have declared war on our way of life and we can no longer stand idly by. Words are no longer enough."
Cantor noted that the EJC already called for "greater cooperation, pan-European involvement and enhanced measures after school children were gunned down in Toulouse in 2012 and tourists at a Jewish Museum in Brussels last year," and lamented that European Jewry was facing a threat to its very existence.
"We don't know how many more attacks the Jewish community can sustain and we call once again to the authorities to do all they can to ensure that Jews can return to normalcy and feel secure on the streets of Paris and across Europe."
Dr. Kantor also expressed condolences to the families of those murdered and expressed its full solidarity with the French Jewish community which is feeling under siege.
"To our brothers and sisters in the French Jewish community, we grieve with you and for your loss," Cantor said. "We Jews have been placed on the frontlines of this war not of our choosing and we will stand shoulder to shoulder with our community across the continent which is under severe strain."
Cantor also expressed his hope that French citizens - and people around the world - would show solidarity with the French Jewish community, as they have done since the deadly attack on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine on Wednesday.
Some 700,000 people rallied throughout France on Saturday night, but most rallies appeared to focus on the Charlie Hebdo massacre, and not on the killings at the Hyper Cacher kosher store on Friday.
"Just as France and the wider world stood with Charlie Hebdo after the murder of 12 journalists and caricaturists, we hope that there will be similar solidarity with the Jewish community after this attack and all will say 'Je Suis Juif'."
8. Video Shows Arab Stabbing Attack in Jerusalem
by Shlomo Pitriokovski[youtube:2001076]
The Arab terrorist responsible for a stabbing attack last month which left two border policemen has been arrested, police revealed Sunday.
Musa Mohammed Ajlouni, a 20-year-old resident of Jerusalem's Old City, was arrested a week and a half ago on suspicion of carrying out the stabbing attack at a security checkpoint near the Lions Gate several days beforehand.
Video of the incident - released Sunday by police after a gag order was lifted - shows the terrorist approaching the two border policemen from behind and violently attacking them. The two policemen, taken by surprise, can be seen briefly struggling with him before Ajlouni manages to escape. However, the police recognized him as a local residents and he was finally tracked down and arrested in Ramallah on January 2nd.
Under interrogation Ajlouni admitted responsibility for the attack, and told how he prepared and hid the large knife in advance.
He said he went out on the morning of the attack with the intention of carrying out an attack, and that when he saw the two officers he drew his knife and charged at them. Although he only managed to injure them, he admitted that his intention was to kill.
Ajlouni, who was already known to police, then fled to Ramallah, where he was caught by border police acting on intelligence from the Shin Bet security services.
His detention has been extended until Wednesday pending an indictment against him.
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