UN Human Rights Commissioner, Jordan’s Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad al-Hussein has decided to indefinitely postpone the publication of a “blacklist” of Israeli and international companies operating in Judea and Samaria.
The postponement of publication of the list comes after heavy pressure exerted by the US and Israel on the Commissioner with the assistance of diplomats from other countries.

An OpEd by Giulio Meotti in Arutz Sheva brings a critical point to the forefront as the world just observed Holocaust Memorial Day.

The basis of his article states that the direct and indirect threats against Israel that go unpunished make a mockery of Holocaust Remembrance.

Though on Holocaust Memorial Day we remember the horrific acts against the Jews, anti-semitism, terrorism and hostility toward Jews still threaten Israel and the Jewish people everyday.

Meotti notes in his article, “A few days ago, in Brussels, Yuli Edelstein, president of the Knesset, condemned the hypocrisy of those who honor the memory but accuse Israel of ‘war crimes’, dialogue with Hamas and do not see the Jews who hide the star of David.”

Does the world remember this very dark chapter in history or do they choose to forget?

Yesterday, US Representatives Roskam (R-IL), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Kay Granger (R-TX), and Marc Veasey (D-TX), the co-Chairs of the Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism, sent a letter to Polish President Andrzej Duda urging him to reject legislation passed by the Sejm that would criminalize references to Polish complicity in Nazi war crimes against Jews during the occupation of Poland during World War II.

Read the full letter HERE.

“The Historic Truth of the Jewish People is Not for Sale” -MK Itzik Shmuly

Swift action on a new bill co-sponsored by 61 Knesset members would make recently announced Polish legislation to outlaw Poles’s talk of its country’s complicity in the Holocaust, a form of illegal Holocaust denial.

The bill seeks to amend the Law for Defense Against Holocaust Denial to state that denying or minimizing the involvement of the Nazi’s helpers and collaborators will also be a crime.

Similarly, Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded on Thursday. “This law…is very serious and shows a dismissal of responsibility and a denial of Poland’s part in the Jewish Holocaust.”

Full Jerusalem Post story HERE
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Arutz Sheva article HERE
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Stephen Flatow’s description of his shiva call to the Shevach family in Havat Gilad accurately describes a community, built on private Jewish land, which has experienced discrimination from the Israeli government since its creation about 15 years ago. Struggling with the label, “illegal settlement”, the residents have experienced sporadic electricity and water, which they must purchase themselves. These are basic necessities, which, if denied by Israel to the Gazans, would have the world screaming about inhumanity. If it’s done to Jews it seems to pass unnoticed.

It took the murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevach, a beloved resident of Havat Gilad, for attention to be paid. My organization, Americans for a Safe Israel, as well as the Israel Independence Fund, led by Aharon Pulver, have been the few, perhaps only, organizations that have tried to help the community.

I recently paid a late condolence call to Rabbi Shevach’s widow, Yael. I was introduced to her by Ilana Shimoni, an ardent spokeswoman for the community whom we have befriended over the years. I marveled at Yael’s strength of character and beauty during our meeting. The one thing the women asked for was help with building their mikveh. The women of Havat Gilad, who struggle with all the hardships the community presents, are entitled to have the comfort of a mikveh. They have already raised some funds for the project and are hoping to raise more.

Another wish expressed by Yael Shevach was for the donation of a Torah scroll in time for the shloshim for her husband. He was killed on Jan. 9 so the time is growing short.

For information about donating to the mikveh or the Torah scroll, please contact AFSI at 212-828-2424, judy@afsi.org, or the AFSI website
. If using the website to make a donation, just hit the DONATE button, use your credit card, and earmark the amount for Havat Gilad.

Longtime friend of AFSI, Alon Davidi, Mayor of Sderot, proudly spoke about the amazing growth taking place in the city. The city, known for the thousands of rockets it has endured from Gaza, is experiencing huge building expansion. Two new beautiful new communities are now under construction. It’s heart-warming to see this rebirth of the city under the leadership of Mayor Davidi.

Yehudit Tayar was born in Chicago Illinois and has lived with her family in Bet Horon in the Benjamin Region for over 30 years. There she serves as an emergency first response medic,is on the Board of Directors of Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron,and is a spokesperson for the Jewish pioneers in Yesha.Yehudit is married to Ami, mother of four children, and grandmother.

This is a reprint of her article. CLICK HERE TO READ

The Chief Rabbi of Israel, David Lau expressed his support Monday for a government plan to remove 40,000 illegal immigrants from Israel, and decried comparisons opponents of the plan have made between Jewish refugees of the Nazi Holocaust and the illegal immigrants living in Israel.

Rabbi Lau cites that many refugees claim they are fleeing mandatory military service, while they are actually seeking jobs and not refuge. AFSI strongly feels that putting the needs of Israeli citizens first should be a top priority for the Israeli Government.

Read today’s Arutz Sheva article

May Golan, CEO of The Hebrew City, discusses the social problems she sees in Israel. The Hebrew City is an Israeli NGO that fights for the salvation of the South Tel Aviv and other neighborhoods that have been overrun and terrorized by the illegal infiltrators.

The horror cannot be diminished!

In a move to make it illegal to attribute Poland’s complicity in the Holocaust, the Polish government announced legislation to make it a criminal offense if the phrase Polish Death Camps is used.

Sculpture at Auschwitz Honoring Families Torn Apart

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at Sunday’s cabinet meeting that Israel has zero tolerance for “distorting the truth, rewriting history or denying the Holocaust.” Netanyahu said that Israel’s Ambassador to Poland Anna Azaria made Israel’s firm position known to Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at a memorial ceremony at Auschwitz marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Saturday night.

PM’s Netanyahu and Morawiecki agreed to open dialogue on this devastating legislation.
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said he would review the bill signaling a possible way out of the mini diplomatic crisis that developed over the last three days.

There is no other phrase to call it and it and should be left as is. To re-write this phrase is to not only deny it for what is was, but it diminishes the horrific aspect of the Holocaust.

For more, read the Jerusalem Post article

David Jacobs, a crusader for justice in Israel, is calling attention to the case of Ben Deri, a young man whose story was well known in Israel four years ago but has now been largely forgotten. Here are some of the details:

In the October 4, 2011 Shalit exchange, 1127 Arab terrorists were released from Israeli prisons. On July 28, 2013, in the John Kerry deal, the Israeli Cabinet agreed to release 104 Arab terrorists from prison to restart the “peace” negotiations with Abbas. The terrorists would be released in four groups of 26 each over a period of nine months.

On April 14, 2014, Baruch Mizrahi, an Israeli policeman and a father of five from Modiin, was murdered by a terrorist released by the Netanyahu government in the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap. In response, the Netanyahu government decided not to release the final group of 26 prisoners. The first 78 had already been released. The Arabs began rioting on May 14, 2014, their Naqba day, outside Ofer prison.

Fifteen Border Police were surrounded by thousands of Arab rioters, and an Arab was shot. Ben Deri, the commander of the Border Policemen, was charged with shooting a live bullet, rather than the rubber bullets the police were using. This finding was based solely on the report by the Abu Dis Institute of Forensic Medicine.

Ben spent three months in jail and in January 2015 was released to house arrest which he has been under until very recently. He is now allowed out during the day for work in his father’s factory. The prosecution has asked for a 27-month jail term with no time
consideration for time already served. Sentencing will be this April.

It is necessary to shine the light on the Ben Deri case. This young man represents all the police and soldiers who serve their country and then end up becoming victims of an unjust justice system. This young man’s life must be saved.

For additional information contact:
Honenu.org.il@gmail.com or amchazak1836@gmail.com