Avrohom Shmuel Lewin’s JNS Feature article “Disbanding Gush Katif a failed experiment, says general who helped carry out evacuation,” is an important read – and reminder – of the destruction of Jewish homes and many lives of 8,500 Jews 14 years ago this week.

The Gush Katif expulsion was led by Major General Gershon Hacohen. Today he says “No one in his right mind in Israel will now agree to a disengagement from Judea and Samaria except for a few left-wing radicals.” Yet, the “two state solution” continues to be touted – a position AFSI strongly opposes.

The U.S. Congress recently overwhelmingly passed an anti-BDS bill (H. Res. 246) which was widely applauded. However within that was language calling for the “two state solution.” Twenty one Knesset members sent a letter to Congress arguing that the two state solution is “far more dangerous” than the BDS movement. With which terrorist entity would Israel share it’s land? Hamas? Hezbollah? Fatah? Iran? Israelis have learned their lesson from the Gush Katif tragedy, and Trump is not dictating terms, but Israel’s enemies are still furiously at work.

AFSI believes the Resolution was put forward by Representatives Jerrold Nadler, Eliot Engel, and Lee Zeldin. We have come to expect little from the first two. But Zeldin has been a big disappointment.

The expulsion from Gush Katif 14 years ago was not only a great mistake, as Lewin’s article discusses, but a great human tragedy. Never again should any Jewish community in Judea and Samaria be expelled from their land only to be used as a pilot program to test the potential for peace.

Disengagement harmed Israel’s security ~Akiva Bigman

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri made the decision to ban US Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering Israel. This is a reversal of the Israeli government’s position in late July.

The reason cited for their ban is reportedly “suspected provocations and promotion of BDS,” a reference to the anti-Israel boycott movement.

AFSI applauds this sound decision which strengthens Israel’s ability to defend itself from its enemies. Both Tlaib and Omar must not be given an opportunity within the borders of the Jewish Nation State to spread their call for the destruction of Israel and perpetuate their Jew hating agenda. The Israeli government must remain firm and consistent on their policy of not allowing BDS supporters into the country.

As was expected, thousands took part in the Tisha b’Av Eve March led by the Sovereignty Movement founded by Women in Green and its co-chairwomen, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar. This year marks the half-Jubilee of the renewal of the traditional walk with many participants showing in strong numbers. Sovereignty Youth had a significant presence, arriving from all parts of the Land.

The program’s concluding speaker and attorney Nili Naouri said, “It has already been 52 years and we still need a security escort. This is because there are those to whom it is still not clear that we are the sole, legitimate owners of this Land and when we do not behave like the owners, the Arab invader behaves like the owner.”

Read the full report HERE.

Twenty-one Knesset Members addressed an unusual letter to U.S. Congress and AIPAC lobby members, expressing concern and criticism for approving the anti-BDS resolution in the U.S. Congress after introducing clauses supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The letter was authored by Samaria Council head Yossi Dagan: “We would like to make it clear that the recent resolution of the Congress against BDS (Resolution 246) is a grave mistake because it also expresses support for the so-called ‘two-state solution’, establishing a ‘Palestinian state’ at the heart of the tiny Land of Israel.”

The Ministers of Knesset and Dagan further emphasized, “We want to make it clear that establishing a Palestinian state is much more dangerous to Israel than BDS. A demand for establishing a Palestinian state is contrary to the U.S. position, contrary to the position of the Israeli government, and contrary to the position of the majority of the public in Israel. And all because it is both unjust and endangers the security of the State of Israel.”

The Washington Free Beacon reports that the European Union is poised to mandate that Israeli products made in what they see as “contested territories” carry consumer warning labels.

The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice recently issued a non-binding opinion arguing that EU law requires Israeli-made products to be labeled as coming from “settlements” and “Israeli colonies.”

We know this is cover-up for anti-Semitic discrimination.

Human rights lawyer Brooke Goldstein said, “The Advocate General’s opinion said that goods produced by Muslims are to be labeled from ‘Palestine,’ and goods produced by Jews labeled as coming from ‘Israeli colonies.’ Both people are living in the same geographic location, and yet Jewish goods are being treated differently.”

Dvir Sorek’s grandfather, Rabbi Binyamin Herling, an educator and Holocaust survivor, was killed in a terrorist attack on Mount Ebal in October 2000.

Today, Israel is mourning the loss of 19 year-old Dvir Sorek, z”l, a yeshiva student enrolled in a combined program of Torah study and military service. Sorek was stabbed repeatedly by a terrorist. The attack took place near Migdal Oz, a community near Gush Etzion.

Gush Etzion Regional Council head Shlomo Ne’eman said, “Israeli sovereignty in Gush Etzion in particular, and in Judea and Samaria in general is the only national response which is necessary.”

Who is the sovereign here?
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar | The Sovereignty Movement

Another case of murder in the twilight zone, the unregulated zone, the breach – Judea and Samaria, in Gush Etzion, which is within the national consensus, near the yeshiva of Mahanayim, which advocates bringing light and peace to the world.

As long as Judea and Samaria are not under Israeli sovereignty, lacking law and order, the Arabs will continue to attack from the hope and belief that they will become the owners upon our ruins.

It is either us or them! This is a 52-year-old struggle that must be resolved. Sovereignty will bring resolution and will erase the hope of pushing us out of here through terror attacks.

The resolution must be clear and unambiguous – we have returned to the heritage of our fathers, we will bring another million Jews here, we will build dozens of communities. The Arabs are invited to live under our sovereignty as individuals and enjoy a prosperous life as residents.

Unfortunately, the ways of Zion are still accompanied by mourning. Our condolences to the family of the soldier and to the yeshiva of Mahanayim in Migdal Oz.

OOOPPS! The U.S. State Department’s website had a critical omission on its website page that defines anti-Semitism. Thankfully, pro-Israel activist groups pointed it out and the website has been corrected.

Based on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism adopted in 2016, the State Department’s website originally omitted this line, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

“This can be an important tool against those who make a cynical and horrific use of the Jewish holocaust for the purpose of delegitimizing the Jewish state and promote anti-Semitic sentiments in the general public,” Yifa Segal, director of the International Legal Fund, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, many studies show that this rhetoric is widely used in the U.S. today, and including this legal definition will make clear that this type of comparison originates in anti-Semitism and is not a legitimate discourse.”

Hundreds of acres of land in strategically crucial areas of the capital are legally owned by Jews overseas who by and large have no idea the properties exist, says Jerusalem City Councilman and director of the Israel Land Fund (ILF) Arieh King in a recent interview with Arutz Sheva

Full story HERE.

This Times of Israel article on the development of Shiloh and Sovereignty is such good news.

From a few families and a few hundred Yeshiva students 41 years ago, Shiloh has become a thriving town of 4,000 Israelis and last year attracted over 120,000 visitors to its archaeological site.

There can be no doubt now that it will always be a part of Israel. Israeli leadership talks of “annexation” of the “settlements.” There’s still a long way to go before the ultimate goal of Sovereignty over a whole Israel is reached, but they have come so far. (We notice that no credit was given to Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover – the Women in Green – the champions of Sovereignty, but hopefully that will come.)

After seeing Israeli tourists praying at Aaron’s Tomb, Jordan closed it off to them.

Tour guide Roni Ayalon said that the group was subjected to humiliating treatment by Jordanian authorities. “They just stripped down all of us,” he said. “They took off the women’s head scarves. All the boys’ yarmulkes were taken off. They took off everyone’s shirts to see if they had tzitzit (religious fringes) under their clothes and took [the tzitzit] off them. They confiscated any religious symbols they found on us.”

Just imagine the world condemnation if an Arab in Israel were ever be treated in this fashion! Jerusalem Post story HERE.