SECURITY/DEFENSE:

*Today is day 3 of the Gaza ceasefire.

*Today, Tuesday, is Gilad Shalit’s 940th day in Hamas captivity.

*The IDF maintains a presence in Gaza to prevent renewed rocket attacks into southern Israel.

*IDF soldiers involved in counter-terror operations throughout Yehuda and Shomron arrested 12 suspects on Monday night.

POLITICS, DOMESTIC & MORE:

*Attorney General Menachem Mazuz says there are no legitimate grounds for preventing Arab parties from running in the general election.

*Garbage dumpsters were set ablaze and stormy protests took place in the Kikar Shabbos area of Yerushalayim as chareidim protested the detention of a chareidi male suspected of causing disturbances in the Mount Meron area.

*The Likud’s Gilad Erdan is promoting a campaign to provide the first year of college free of charge to IDF vets.

*The arrest of a male along the Syrian border in the N. Golan Heights late last night is believed to be drug smuggling related, not a security matter. A second suspect, on the Syrian side of the border, fled the scene.

*The Supreme Court on Monday accepted the state’s appeal, to hold a minor in custody without bail after he was arrested during a violent anti-war protest on Hwy 444 near Taibeh on Dec. 27th. The youth was released to house arrest but the state appealed the decision to the High Court.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)