It’s a first and we love it! Beresheet, the Israeli spacecraft took its first selfie in space. Taken roughly 20,000 miles away from Earth, it shows the Southern Hemisphere and a clear shot of Australia in the background.

Beresheet is scheduled to land on the Moon on April 11.

In the image, a plaque that was installed at the front of the spacecraft features the Israeli flag and the message “Am Yisrael Chai.”

A legislative initiative for the U.S. to recognize Israel’s sovereignty in the Golan Heights was introduced into Congress this week.

Lori Lowenthal Marcus’ excellent article clearly defines and substantiates why Israeli Sovereignty over the Golan Heights matters.

·     Israeli control of the Golan Heights is a bulwark against Iranian and Russian efforts to dominate the Middle East

·     The Golan Heights provides perfect snipers’ nest

·     The Syrian civil war has dramatically expanded the roles and types of terrorist groups in the region

·     Diplomatic integrity

·     Practical application if the bill becomes law.

AFSI’s Spring Mission will visit the Golan and see this first-hand! Come with us!!

“If Israel does not act to reverse the trend, the number of mosques at the Temple Mount compound will stand at five.” ~ Nadav Shragai, Ariel Kahana, Daniel Siryoti, Israel Hayom Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an order to remove equipment from the Temple Mount’s Gate of Mercy site and to disallow prayer there.

The structure was recently furnished and renovated with the goal of using it as permanent prayer area for Muslims. The Waqf, the authority that oversees Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem announced it also appointed an imam for the site.

Following recent illegal activity on the Temple Mount, Israeli police arrested the Waqf authority head and other Waqf leaders. This is not enough. Israel needs to enforce order WITHOUT COMPROMISE and not allow a Muslim takeover.

The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) issued its report on the protests in Gaza accusing Israel of ‘war crimes.”

The IDF website has a Q&A with factual information that disputes the UN report HERE.

PM Netanyahu fully rejected this hypocritical report. ~ Arutz Sheva

Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded as follows: “The ‘absurdity theater’ of the Human Rights Council has produced another hostile, false and biased report against the State of Israel…based on false information in which the facts were not even examined and whose sole purpose is to discredit the only democracy in the Middle East and to harm its right to self-defense against the terror of a murderous organization.”

Katz concludes with, “No party can deny Israel the right to self-defense and the duty to protect its residents and borders from violent attacks.  Those who push Gaza residents into fences, including women and children, are Hamas, whose declared goal is the destruction of the State of Israel and are thus the ones responsible.”

The Anti-Defamation League, AIPAC, the American Jewish Committee and the Israel Policy Forum were all quick to condemn Otzma Yehudit’s merger with the Jewish Home Party. This was a move by PM Netanyahu to boost his right-wing coalition ahead of April 9 elections. Words such as ‘racist’, ‘Judeofacists,’ ‘reprehensible’ and having ‘hate-filled rhetoric’ were used to describe Otzma Yehudit.

Noticeably absent: not one word was stated about mergers on the Israeli left, especially among Israeli-Arab parties, who oppose the existence of the Jewish state.

To denounce Otzma Yehudi members with hateful stereotyped rhetoric is pure blasphemy. American Jewish organizations should stay out of Israeli politics, allowing PM Netanyahu and the Israeli citizenry to determine their own path.

Earlier this week the Yesha Council applied pressure with an appeal to American Magen David Adom (MDA) donors to not allow ambulance stations to be closed. The Yesha Council planned to post ads concentrating on Jewish media in America.

MDA’s planned closure of ambulance stations in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley this weekend would have left these large areas without adequate emergency medical care.

AFSI is happy to report that MDA has since decided to suspend their decision, at least for one month.

A source of national pride for Israel, this historic endeavor of Space IL’s launch is privately funded. It will also be the least expensive launch to the moon paving the way for commercially viable travel to the moon. Successful lift off from Cape Caneveral, Florida took place Thursday night.

Beresheet spacecraft was placed in Earth orbit, then begins a seven-week trip under its own power to reach the Moon and touch down on April 11 in a large plain.

Keeping track: Beresheet successfully completed its first maneuver toward the moon after detaching from its launcher and completing its planned orbit of Earth.

On this same subject, we like Rabbi Michoel Green’s Arutz Sheva OpEd.

A gate serving to block the entrance of a section of the Temple Mount closed by Israel since 2003, has been removed by PA protestors.

This recent “flare-up” does not bode well for Israel and shows a”chipping away” of the Temple Mount for the Jewish people. Will Israel assert itself as having rights to control this area of the Temple Mount? Or will the status quo remain?

This latest calculated move was initiated by the new and more radical waqf council writes Nadav Shragal. Their goal is to challenge Israel’s closure of this site so it can reassert its control over the entire Temple Mount compound.

The status quo cannot continue. Israel must enforce its legal rights at the Temple Mount.

The most recent news tells us that Israel has arrested two senior Waqf official. Jerusalem Post report HERE.

A reminder to our readers that HALIBA is the Israeli umbrella organization working “to re-claim for Jews the basic civil rights of free access, free worship, and free congregation on the Temple Mount.” HALIBA is an acronym for Hebrew, HaMeizam L’Khofesh Yehudi B’Har HaBayit – The project for Jewish freedom on the Temple Mount. Often referred to as The Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, it is led by its founder Yehuda Glick. The Israel Independence Fund (an organizatiion AFSI is closely aligned with) works with HALIBA to promote full Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount.

Billboards that read “The true Right supports Sovereignty!” are being put up all over Israel!! This campaign is to encourage voters in Israel’s upcoming elections to support parties committed to the vision of Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.

Women in Green leaders Yehudit Katzover and Nadia Matar emphasize the campaign is unaffiliated with any specific party and that no political officials on behalf of any party are behind it.

US Congressmen Dr. Andy Harris (R-MD) and Andy Barr (R-KY) visited Oz V’Gaon this week. Katsover and Matar spoke to them about the establishment of the reserve as a Zionist response to the 2014 murder of three teens and especially the importance of applying Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. Read about what was said HERE.

When the anti-Israel “Combatants for Peace” announced it would protest Israel’s alleged annexation of Area C (Israeli controlled part of Judea and Samaria) the Sovereignty Movement, immediately responded. They mobilized a large group of people to attend a lecture by writer and Knesset candidate Caroline Glick at the Oz veGaon nature reserve in Judea, outside of Gush Etzion, to “prevent the continuing Arab takeover of Area C.”

The Sovereignty Movement is an offshoot of Women in Green, which is headed by Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar,

“I definitely regret” that the summit is canceled, but “we are not trading in history – definitely not that of the Holocaust.” ~~~Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein

Poland withdrew from the Visegrad Group (V4) summit in Jerusalem in protest of comments on Polish anti-Semitism by Israel’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz.

Story and full interview with Speaker Edelstein HERE