Wednesday evening Blue and White leader Benny Gantz concluded he could not form a coalition and handed the mandate back to President Reuven Rivlin.

Today, Rivlin handed back the mandate to the Knesset. In the process he blasted both Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to put together a coalition.

The next step in this process allows for any lawmaker to put together a coalition and hopefully avoid the need to conduct a third round of elections. Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit handed down indictments today against Netanyahu in all three cases against him. Does this signal the end of any chances for a unity government?

The Israeli public is losing patience with this entire state of affairs. This “…miserable political situation” is a first in Israel’s history, said Rivlin, who also urged lawmakers to ask themselves, “What is my duty to the State of Israel?” How many politicians will put their country before themselves? This may be an opportunity to put that question to the test.

Immediately following this weeks US policy change regarding the legality of Judea and Samaria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved advancing a Jordan Valley annexation bill. The bill would have Israel apply Sovereignty to the Jordan Valley.

The bill was proposed several weeks ago by Likud MK Sharren Haskel who said, “The bill has the prime minister’s full backing. There is no reason that this important bill won’t pass in the plenum with an 80-member majority.”

In an official statement this week, the Trump administration announced that it does not view Israeli “settlements” (Jewish communities) in Judea and Samaria as illegal.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the announcement Monday evening. This welcome decision comes after a year-long review conducted by the US State Department’s legal office, The team met with international law experts as well as officials from different governments to hear their opinions. We know there was no need to debate the issue but it shows the Trump administration took careful steps to review this before making it official.

This is a historic reversal of hateful and anti-Semitic US policy under prior administrations since 1978 (under Jimmy Carter’s administration) known as the Hansell Memorandum, held that establishing Israeli civilian communities in the areas beyond the 1949 armistice lines are “per se inconsistent with international law.”

This decision also negates the European Union’s ridiculous ruling that Jews can’t live in or have businesses in Judea and Samaria.

The Trump decision also puts the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement to shame. BDS has always relied on the argument – and false claim – that Jews are “illegal occupiers” of the Jewish homeland.

Thank you President Trump for advancing the truth about Judea and Samaria: Jewish land that has always belonged to Israel and has always been, without a doubt in our minds, legal under international law.

Watch Secretary Pompeo make the historic announcement below and a second video with comments by Nadia Matar of The Sovereignty Movement.

Pompeo’s statement on “settlements” is a diplomatic turning point ~Caroline Glick

Videos below: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo makes historic announcement. Nadia Matar: President Trump is not afraid of being on the side of justice.

Israel’s Iron Dome defense system intercepted four rockets that were shot over the Golan Heights early on Tuesday morning. The IDF confirmed that the four launches were identified from Syria and aimed at Israeli territory.

Israeli residents reported hearing explosions and Syrian media reported that explosions were heard at Damascus Airport.

Do Israelis retaliate against Syrian missiles under Defense Minister Naftali Bennet’s watch?

The United States will release its position on Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria – thus changing its 1978 position, according to which the “settlements” violate international law, according to Israel’s Channel 13 News.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to make an official statement this evening in Washington, DC.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed a gathering of hundreds of Likud activists gathered at the Tel Aviv Expo Center Sunday night for an ‘emergency conference’ called to protest the possible establishment of a left-wing government without majority backing in the Knesset.

“We are at a crucial moment for the State of Israel. The leaders of Blue and White – Benny Gantz, Gabi Ashkenazi, and Boogie Yaalon – have decided to form a minority government that will be dependent on members of the Joint Arab List,” Netanyahu claimed.

Did Gantz forget who struck Israel for nearly three straight days last week with an endless barrage of rocket attacks?

Where was Gantz on Saturday morning when two more rockets were launched into Beersheva post ‘ceasefire.’ Did he not hear about this?

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz’s latest attempt to form a coalition is not only outrageous – it puts Israel in grave danger. Allowing terrorist supporters into any part of the Israeli government is unacceptable! Gantz has clearly forgotten his roots as an IDF leader. HE IS OUT OF HIS MIND.

We fail to see where Gantz has the security and safety of Israel in mind, hence, AFSI labels him the enemy from within.

Agreements between Liberman and Gantz revealed ~Arutz Sheva Staff

A newly filed $90 million US lawsuit has charged a Palestinian human rights group with financing hundreds of acts of environmental terrorism along Israel’s southern border with Gaza. KKL-JNF and American citizens living in Israel are plaintiffs in the lawsuit which seeks to hold an American 501(c)3 liable for conspiring to finance this agricultural terrorism.

This lawsuit exposes an alleged conspiracy between the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR, also known as Education for a Just Peace in the Middle East) and Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and other designated terrorist organizations. In addition to ILF, the plaintiffs are represented by Washington-based lawfirm Heideman, Nudelman & Kalik PC.

Yasher koach to AFSI colleague Yifa Segal of the International Legal Forum, who stated, “This landmark case exposes a shocking and multi-layered planned conspiracy and campaign aimed at manipulating the public.”

Related reading: State indicts Gazans for incendiary kites,attacking IDF soldiers ~Yonah Jeremy Bob

Baha Abu Al-Ata, a senior commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was planning a new horrendous attack on Israel that would have caused death or harm to too many Israelis to even contemplate.

The IDF and Shin Bet were aware of the very credible threat this mastermind of hundreds of terror attacks in the past posed, and that the attack was imminent.

Working together, Shin Bet and the IDF conducted a precision strike on Al-Ata’s home, which targeted him in his bedroom.

In violent retaliation, Islamic Jihad, which is of course supported by Iran, has fired as of this writing, at least 400 rockets indiscriminately into Israel. They have primarily landed in the South, and Iron Dome has been able to intercept many of them, but they have caused serious damage and injury to Israel’s civilian population.

In self defense, Israel reacted by taking out weapons manufacturing facilities and at least one terror tunnel in Gaza.

There have been, as of midday yesterday, 24 deaths in Gaza – 20 of them were Islamic Jihad terrorists.

Hamas is now being goaded to get into the action which could escalate things dramatically.

Life in Israel was disrupted this week, from the South all the way to Tel Aviv, with schools and businesses closed. The rocket attacks began Tuesday morning in the South and continued through yesterday – all night and day – reaching not only the Gaza envelope but further North into Israel. Though a ceasefire was reached yesterday, Red Alerts are still registering. Israelis have endured damage not only to property but to people’s physical well-being. The emotional trauma this has caused Israeli adults and their children cannot be measured.

Early this morning, an Egyptian source reported a ceasefire agreement had been reached between Israel and the Islamic Jihad and that it took effect as of 5:30 am. There is no official confirmation yet. In this morning’s post “ceasefire” rocket attack, the head of a rocket fired by Gazan terrorists landed in a nursery school in Netivot. And yes, there were kids there at the time.

The fact that no Israelis have been killed over the course of this latest attack is a miracle and we are grateful. The restraint shown by the Israelis is a marvel and we continue to support their absolute right, in fact their obligation, to defend their land and their people.

Americans For A Safe Israel rejects this week’s ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which only serves as a tool in the political campaign against Israel.

The ECJ ruled that under EU rules on food labelling, products must be clearly defined where they are from — particularly if they come from Israeli towns outside of the pre-1967 ‘Green Line’.

The ruling’s entire objective singles out and perpetuates an ongoing double standard against Israel. There are over 200 ongoing territorial disputes worldwide, yet the ECJ has not rendered a single ruling related to labeling products originating from those territories.

This ruling is political and discriminates against Israel. 

Gabriel Groisman is an attorney who is on the legal team representing Israel’s Psagot Winery, which is at the center of this battle. Groisman is adamant that EU law does not require what he calls discriminatory labeling against Israeli products. He also agrees that EU member states are not free to set their own labeling laws, as France has tried to do.

AFSI views this ruling as nothing more than a concerted effort to delegitimize Israel and its lawful claim to the land of Judea/Samaria. We suggest the EU take a refresher course in the facts on the truth about Israel.

This fight will continue.

Suggested reading: The European Union Labels Itself Biased ~Amb. Alan Baker

Early this morning, Islamic Jihad commander Bahaa Abu Al-Ata was assassinated by Israel in the Gaza Strip in a targeted killing operation carried out jointly by the IDF and the Shin Bet.

An immediate threat to Israel, Abu Al-Ata, chief of Islamic Jihad’s Al Quds Brigades’ Gaza Strip branch, was considered one of the most radical terrorists in Gaza – even within Islamic Jihad. He was seen as a rising force within Gaza, due in part to his close ties with Tehran.

Approximately 190 rockets have been launched at Israel since the removal of Al-Ata. Interception rate by Iron Dome is 90% at this time.

As of this writing, 39 people in total have been treated for injuries a as a result of the rocket attacks. Among them: a 35-year-old man was lightly injured by rocket fire; an 8-year old girl is in serious condition in Holon after she lost consciousness suddenly during the 8 am rocket attack. A rocket struck a home in Netivot causing damage to the building but no injuries.

For the first time since 2014’s Operation Protective Edge, the IDF ordered a closure of schools and businesses in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

Hamas seen limiting response to Abu al-Ata killing ~Dan Zaken

Read the Jerusalem Post’s timeline of Red Alerts and rocket interceptions HERE.

#israelunderfire #jihadenough