The last two days of the AFSI Mission were action-packed and focused on the south. It started with a visit to Sderot. There they met with a city guide to learn about the remarkable rebirth that has occurred in the city, despite the frequent rocket attacks from Gaza. From Chanukah candles to rock music, all of this can be found in Sderot. They also meet with Rabbi Fendel of the world-famous Hesder Yeshiva in Sderot, which has become a landmark Yeshiva and has contributed greatly to creating the revival of Sderot.

They then traveled on to the picturesque Lachish area where they were met by Dror Vanunu, AFSI’s longtime friend and representative of the former Gush Katif communities. With him and a guide, they explored some of the historic caves in the area.

One highlight was a visit to the very new Gush Katif community of Karmei Katif. David Hatuel, resident of the community, greeted the group in his new home. They saw the groundwork laid for the Karmei Katif synagogue being built in the name of Tali Hatuel and her four children who were murdered in 2004 by Arab terrorists.

On the last day of the mission the group visited the Aleh Negev Nahalat Eran Rehabilitation Village. From their they continued on to the Halutza communities of Shlomit, Neve, and B’nei Netzarim, and ended the day and the mission, in Modiin for their Gala Farewell dinner.

AFSI looks forward to being reunited with our Chizuk friends to celebrate the wonderful occasion of Israel’s statehood, Yom Ha’Atzmaut – Israel’s 70th birthday, on our next Chizuk Mission, April 17-25, 2018.

Plan Now for the next AFSI Chizuk Mission!

It was a busy few days for the AFSI Chizuk Mission, traveling throughout Yehuda and Shomron:

On Friday, they visited Oz V’Gaon where they were greeted by Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katzover, leaders of Women In Green. MK Yehuda Glick and AFSI’s Helen Freedman and Judy Freedman Kadish gave greetings to the assembly. AFSI Board member Ken Abramowitz gave the morning talk on SavetheWest. The group was privileged to walk the new Zionism path celebrating 120 years since the first Zionist Congress and 50 years since the liberation of Gush Etzion.

This was followed by a visit to the Boys’ Promenade, newly built in Gush Etzion, and then a meeting with members of the Netiv Avot, Elazar community, where they learned firsthand about the threats by the Israeli government to destroy their homes.

 

The group then continued on to Hebron for Shabbat lodging at their traditional “home” in Kiryat Arba, Yeshivat Nir.

Members of the mission joined tens of thousands of people Friday night for stirring and inspirational Shabbat services at the Maarat HaMachpela in Hebron, followed by dinner at the home of AFSI’s good friend, David Wilder.

Shabbat Chaye Sarah was spent in Hebron where the group had lunch with members of the Hebron Fund, followed by a tour of the city with David Wilder and Hebron leaders.

Chabad had a strong presence in Hebron this Shabbat, and hosted visitors for meals in a beautiful tent.

At the Yatir Winerye

They then meet with Mr. Arye Odess at a private home in Sussya, who spoke about the transition from Gush Katif to Har Hevron.

In Mitzpe Yair they met with Mayor Yochai Damri, to learn about the eighteen Jewish communities which comprise the Har Hebron bloc. Rabbi Aaron Egeltqal, head of Friends of Har Hebron, greeted the group.

Finally, they headed for the Israel Air Force Museum in Hatserim, outside BeerSheva, followed by dinner and lodging in Ashkelon.

The group spent the entire day Wednesday in Yerushalayim, which began early for their visit to the Temple Mount. Yaakov Hayman, head of the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, under the umbrella of the Israel Independence Fund, was their guide.

Later that morning, the entire group met with longtime AFSI friend Dan Luria, Executive Director of Ateret Cohanim/the Jerusalem Reclamation fund, who guided them to several special sights inside the Old City.

In the afternoon they traveled toward the Judean Desert, near Maale Amos, to visit Jeremy Gimpel and Ari Abramowitz at the Land of Israel Network, with dinner in Gush Etzion.

The picture below is of members of the group on Har Habayit, sitting on the Eastern Wall. This Wall has special significance as being the only Wall that was in the same place where it was at the time of the Second Temple.

Today, Thursday, the group spent the day in the Shomron.

First on the agenda was a visit with AD Kan in the town of Eli. Here, they learned how MASA, funded by the JEWISH AGENCY, supports and promotes the extreme anti-Zionist “Achvat Amim” group. This group leads anti-Israel activities in the southern Hebron Hills, often in violent confrontations with the IDF. AD Kan is supported by the Israel Independence Fund.

They then continued on to Shilo where they met Elad Ziv and members of the displaced Amona community to learn about progress, or lack thereof, on their new homes.

From there, they visited Har Bracha and the Tommy Waller Christian community project, before returning to Jerusalem.

AFSI’s Fall 2017 Chizuk Mission kicked off yesterday (Tuesday) with a visit to Palmachim, a beautiful community on the Mediterranean coast, originally created as a kibbutz by members of the Palmach. Today it is also home to a community of Gush Katif refugees who have re-settled in the area.

There, they were guided through Beit Miriam, a new archeological museum, by Moti, originally from Eli Sinai in Gush Katif. They viewed the treasures and photographs of some of the local objects from the sea.

Beit Miriam, archeological museum

From there, the group continued on to visit the ILTV studio in Tel Aviv, in time to celebrate the studio’s 2nd anniversary, which they did on camera with a hearty Mazel Tov!

It was very interesting viewing the behind the scenes action – watching the tape and teleprompters roll.

 

AFSI’s Research Analyst Jonathan Grauman was the guest speaker this past Shabbat at Congregation Beth Shalom in Red Bank, NJ.

Rabbi Dovid Harrison, his wife Hindy and their children graciously hosted Jonathan and his wife Lainee, who had the pleasure to be the recipients of wonderful hospitality and the opportunity to meet and speak with members of the congregation.

Jonathan’s topic during their stay in Red Bank was, AFSI: Supporting Israel at Home and Abroad.

Jonathan spoke during dinner Friday evening to an enthusiastic and knowledgeable group, and continued the conversation on Saturday.

We thank Rabbi Dovid and Rebbitzin Hindy Harrison for their hospitality and the opportunity to speak about AFSI and its support of Israel.

Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, spoke at Saturday night’s opening session of the annual Israeli-American Council National Conference in Washington, DC.

Her speech was a breath of fresh air after eight years of animosity between the Obama administration and the Israeli government, culminating in the UN passing that disgraceful Resolution 2334, with the US abstaining, at the end of 2016.

Haley has already shown herself to be a friend and supporter of Israel, and on Saturday, she reiterated America’s support for Israel at the UN.

Here are a few excerpts from her speech:
Israel is “the country the United Nations spends half its time on. Unfortunately, I’m not kidding. It seems the breakdown at the UN is to spend half the time on Israel, and half the time on the other member nations.”

The United States allowing this motion (Res. 2334) to pass by not vetoing it “was a cowardly act; and a real low point for America at the UN. What happened with 2334 was a betrayal of our friend in the very forum that has been one of its cruelest and most hostile foes. America was far from being a friend to Israel on that day,”

“It’s a new day at the UN. Slowly but surely, we’re chipping away at the anti-Israel culture. Three weeks ago, the U.S. withdrew from UNESCO. For the U.S. it was a good call and after we considered UNESCO’s pattern of one-sided resolutions, it was an easy call,”

We say, bravo Nikki Haley and thank you for your support.

Read about it here: ‘The United States betrayed Israel at the UN‘ and here:
Top US Diplomat Tells Israeli-American Group: UN Human Rights Council Must Reform, or We Will Leave It

Stay tuned for reports on AFSI’s Fall Chizuk Mission, as it gets underway tomorrow, Tuesday!

For a taste of the itinerary, please click HERE (and check out AFSI’s new website while you’re there.)

Here we go again, another Islamic terror attack, this one on United States soil in lower Manhattan. This attack was not perpetrated by a “lone wolf” acting because he didn’t get a good job or couldn’t pay his bills. It was done by a Muslim who was determined to kill as many infidels as he could, in the name of Islam.

It’s really very simple. Islam is at war with the Western world, with the ultimate goal of taking over the entire world. They are succeeding very well in Europe, where the native birthrate is practically zero, and the millions of Muslims welcomed into Europe over the past few decades are young, fecund, angry and anti-assimilationist, and understand that they are the tip of the spear in the Muslim war against the West.

And how pathetic is our domestic media? Here are a few examples from the latest attack in New York:

– Former Newsweek journalist Isaac Stone Fish tweeted, “New Yorkers were not reacting to terror by going out for Halloween. New Yorkers were ignoring it because it’s not that important. (emphasis added.)

– CNN TV’s host Jake Tapper commented upon learning that the terrorist was a Muslim and that the terrorist yelled out “Allahu akbar” while perpetrating the attack, by saying that “Allahu akbar” was sometimes said under the most beautiful of circumstances.

– Chris Matthews of MSNBC asked on air (as if he didn’t know the answer), “As a Uzbeki, why would he (the terrorist) have an animus toward the United States?”

– And of course, one must not omit the New York Times from this list. This once-great newspaper, now a tabloid ragsheet posing as the “newspaper of record” has the temerity to state that there was “no single reason” for the terrorist to drive a truck into a crowd of pedestrians. The paper attributed the attack more to a lack of opportunity and financial trouble, even though the terrorist yelled “Allahu Akbar”. To quote, “As with any attack like this, there is no single reason Mr. Saipov reportedly decided to kill innocents,” the article read, going on to claim that “He had come to the United States as a moderate Muslim with dreams of making it.”

And if it couldn’t be made any clearer, the terrorist requested that an ISIS flag hang in his hospital room!
Terrorist Requested ISIS Flag for His Hospital Room, FBI Says

How can it be, that after years of nonstop terrorism around the world in the name of Islam, with hundreds of thousands of individuals murdered and millions wounded and made homeless, that our media still refuse to acknowledge the root cause of terrorism. For shame.

Daniel Greenfield, aka The Sultan Knish, has tremendous commentary on the latest terror attack:
We Didn’t Beat ISIS, It’s Here

Below is the full text of the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917:

The Balfour Declaration may have been the impetus in the modern age leading to the re-establishment of the State of Israel. However, the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel goes back nearly 4,000 years. Two Temples were built in the Jewish capital of Jerusalem and subsequently destroyed, and a People was dispersed, only to return after 2,000 years of exile. In more modern times, the First Zionist Congress met in 1897, preceding the Balfour Declaration by 20 years.

The Jewish people are connected to the Land of Israel like no other people to no other land. Although today we are bombarded with fake news about who is indigenous, who was there first, etc., history has proven time and again that it is only the Jews who have a true connection to the Land.

The Balfour declaration led the way for international recognition, and we are thankful, as subsequent to it, it was inevitable that the Jews would once again call Israel their home.

Never in history has a people returned to their rightful home after such a long exile. May there never be another exile.

Clifford May has a thoughtful analysis of the Balfour Declaration and subsequent history in the Washington Times, accessible via this link:
The 100-year-old promise