Shimon Peres remains in serious condition
Treatment for former Israeli President Shimon Peres, who suffered a massive stroke a week ago, remains unchanged following the results of a CT scan.
Peres, 93, remains in serious but stable condition, his office said Sept. 21 in a statement, adding that the ninth president of Israel has made “advancements” toward breathing by himself.
Taking that into consideration, the statement said, “the president’s medical team has decided to continue a conservative treatment plan and constant monitoring of his neurological status.”
Peres was taken to Sheba Medical Center Oct. 13 after telling his doctor that he felt weak. He had a pacemaker implanted a week prior.
He was put on anesthesia and a respirator following the stroke to aid in recovery.
Peres was diagnosed in July with atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm. In January, the veteran statesman had a heart attack and then cardiac angioplasty to open a blocked artery. He was hospitalized twice more with chest pains.
Peres, who retired as president in 2014 after more than half a century in public life, including a stint as prime minister, won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.
He has been very active since retiring as president, especially with the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa, which he founded. — jta
Israel security ramped up after threats, attacks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting with his country’s top security officials last weekend to assess the security situation ahead of the upcoming Jewish holidays.
The Sept. 18 meeting came after a weekend surge in Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and security forces.
Netanyahu “instructed that police forces be increased, especially in the Old City and around the Temple Mount, and directed that determined action be taken against any attempt to violate order there,” according to a statement issued by his office. He also ordered Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to continue to prevent government ministers and lawmakers from ascending the Temple Mount “during this sensitive period.”
The meeting occurred as Israeli security forces prevented a stabbing and firebomb attack near a Border Police base in the West Bank. The would-be attacker, who was carrying a knife, two firebombs and a Palestinian flag near the base in the Jericho area, was a minor believed to be 12 years old. According to the Israel Police, the boy admitted to planning to attack Israeli security forces.
Earlier on Sept. 18, a Palestinian woman was arrested near the northern West Bank settlement of Itamar after pulling out a knife while being questioned by Israeli security forces; and an Israeli soldier was stabbed and moderately injured outside the West Bank settlement of Efrat.
That attack followed five others on Sept. 16 and 17 — a car ramming, three stabbings, and rock and bottle throwing — that left three Arab assailants dead.
The Israel Defense Forces moved an additional infantry battalion into the Hebron area of the West Bank following the weekend attacks, all of which occurred outside the flashpoint city.
Despite the increased security measures, two Israeli police officers were wounded, one critically, in a Sept. 19 stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem. The attacker, a Palestinian man in his 20s from eastern Jerusalem, was in critical condition in a Jerusalem hospital.
That same day a Palestinian man was subdued and arrested after attempting to stab soldiers in a Hebron neighborhood.
And on Sept. 20, a 16-year-old Palestinian who attempted to stab an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint near Hebron was shot and killed by a soldier during the thwarted attack, the Israeli army said.
These recent attacks come after a seeming downturn in the violence against Israelis that began with the Rosh Hashanah holiday last year. — jta
U.S. warns: Parts of Jerusalem risky for visitors
American citizens should avoid certain parts of Jerusalem because of an increase in stabbing attacks in and around the Old City, the U.S. diplomatic missions in Israel said in a security warning.
The message issued on Sept. 19 by the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem and the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv said the “recent uptick in stabbing attacks in and around the Old City of Jerusalem has led the U.S. Consulate General to recommend that all U.S. government employees and their family members avoid the Damascus, Herod’s, and Lions gates and the surrounding vicinity.”
The restriction may be lifted at the end of October, when the Jewish holiday season ends, “based on the security environment at that time,” the message said.
The warning called on U.S. citizens to “exercise a heightened sense of situational awareness at all times and to monitor local news sources.” — jta