Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that “we will one day be able to have railways connect Saudi Arabia and Israel.” This came just hours after a New York Times piece suggested that the kingdom was expecting the Jewish state to make significant concessions to the Palestinians as a precondition for normalization.

While the train to normalization has long left the station, the rails it is traveling on will have to pass through Washington. The Biden administration has been trying for months to have the normalization be linked to a breakthrough with the Palestinians, and that explains why The New York Times ran that piece. Essentially, in order to get Riyadh, Netanyahu will have to please Ramallah, the article said. But Jerusalem officials have been rejecting this idea, and the conventional wisdom is that the royal palace in Saudi Arabia has also rejected it.

We reject The New York Times assessment too. The application of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria must stop being used as a political football. With the increasing revelations of the Biden corruption scandal that are waking people up daily, the best thing for this negotiation is that it drags out or stalls altogether. With that said, the hope is that Biden will be forced to step down or removed from office. We then pray for a true friend of Israel to be installed as the next US president and put a stop to the hostilities towards Israel.

Source:
To seal normalization deal with Riyadh, sovereignty push will have to wait 4 years, by Ariel Kahana/Israel Hayom, July 31, 2023

Kibbutz Malkiah farmers on Sunday reported heavy damage to their kiwifruit plantation following a fire that was started over the weekend north of the Lebanese border and quickly spread to Israeli territory. Members of the kibbutz, which was established in 1949 in the Upper Galilee, suspect that this was deliberate arson by Hezbollah operatives, who have recently been leading a series of provocations along the border. The fire destroyed 7.5 acres of trees that were ready for harvest.

Secretary General of HaBithonistim Lt. Col. Yaron Buskila on Monday told 104.5FM that “the security establishment and the prime minister are aware of the repeated and unusual provocations carried out by Hezbollah on the northern border. This has become a major violation that harms the security infrastructure or the sovereignty of the State of Israel, such as the two tents erected on Israeli territory.”

This arson is a terrorist attack and an invasion of Israeli sovereignty. We pray the IDF acts swiftly on this before an escalation of terror against its citizens causes further harm.

Source:
Israeli Farmers Blame Hezbollah Agents for Widespread Arson, by David Israel/Jewish Press, July 31, 2023

US Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK) last week slammed President Joe Biden’s attempts to influence Israeli politics in the aftermath of a vote that Israel’s governing coalition says is the first step in a sweeping plan to reform the country’s judicial system.

“Joe Biden’s meddling in Israel’s internal politics is unprecedented and inappropriate,” Cotton said in a statement to The Algemeiner. “He has no business telling one of our most important allies how to govern their own country.”

Well said. Enough said. Thank you, Senator Cotton for your support of Israel’s right to exist and function as a sovereign nation.

Source:
‘Unprecedented and inappropriate’: Sen. Tom Cotton slams Biden’s ‘meddling’ in Israel’s affairs, by Andrew Bernard/The Algemeiner, July 24, 2023

Beyadenu, dedicated to bringing Jews to the Temple Mount, last Tuesday reported a severe deterioration in the treatment of Jewish ascenders to the holiest place to Jews. This worst of police behavior coincided with the Three Weeks between the 17th of Tamuz and the 9th of Av, which culminated last Thursday.

Beyadenu pointed out that while in years past, internal government politics accounted for police mistreatment of Jews on the Temple Mount, in 2023, with a floor-to-ceiling right-wing coalition, there are no more excuses, and this right-wing government must be held accountable to the public for these police harassments.

Source:
Report: The Closer We Get to 9 B’Av the Worse Police Treat Ascenders to Temple Mount, by David Israel/Jewish Press

The Knesset plenum on Monday afternoon approved changes to the reasonableness standard, passing the bill with a majority of 64 Knesset members.

Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Yoav Gallant pushed for a last-minute compromise, despite the harsh opposition by ministers Yariv Levin and Itamar Ben Gvir. They also pushed to delay the legislation for judicial appointments for a period of more than six months.

The attempts to reach a compromise between the coalition and the opposition continued until the last moment, but opposition leader MK Yair Lapid announced that negotiations had failed and blew up the talks.

Considering the opposition’s position, it was decided to continue to advance the bill as originally planned.

The haters and doomsday naysayers of Israel are out in full force today. Hysteria, rage, concern, road blockages, and more protests. It’s over – Israel is doomed! They view the passage of this bill as a terrible day for Israel, the end of democracy in Israel, blah, blah, blah. Joe Biden said the vote is “unfortunate,” but we know all this rhetoric is not the truth. Today is simply an amazing day for Israel and just the beginning of advancing and developing this already great nation. Sometimes we forget that since its founding, and for all Israel has achieved in a short amount of time, Israel is still a very young country. Today’s vote to fix an ailing judicial system puts Israel on track to implement the best practices to run the country that should be in place at this time in the Jewish Nation State’s history. We hope the opposition will get over it somehow! 🙂

Source:
Knesset approves first phase of judicial reform, by Israel National News, July 24, 2023

The Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee on Wednesday voted 9 to 7 to delete the Reasonability Clause regarding government level decisions from Israeli courts’ protocol. The bill is now ready for a plenum second and third reading on Sunday and will make it the first and exceedingly minute step on the way to accomplishing the Netanyahu government’s ambitious judicial reform. As expected, even this tiny victory was drowned out by the incessant battle cry of “Busha, busha” (Shame, shame) from the losing opposition.

Earlier, while the committee debate was still going, another riot broke out, when several advisers to the opposition MKs barged into the committee chamber and verbally attacked Chairman Simcha Rothman and other coalition members.

The burning question is what will the left do when they find out that ultimately the implementation of this piece of judicial reform actually benefits Israelis? The answer is that they will continue to use any means at their disposal to take down the current government. It’s OK. Israel will move forward with the judicial reforms process. Nothing can stop what is coming and it’s all good for Israel.

Source:
Anarchists Raging as Reasonability Amendment Passes Committee Vote, by David Israel/Jewish Press, July 20, 2023

On Monday sources report that Prime Minister Netanyahu pledged in a conversation with Joe Biden that he will freeze construction in Judea and Samaria until the end of 2023. The Prime Minister’s Office denied the report that there will be a construction freeze in Judea and Samaria.

Are these reports fact or fiction and will they be retracted from the media? The only truth right now is that Arabs do not stop illegal construction while the rights of Jews to build in their homeland continue to be denied, violated, and discriminated against.

Additionally, there are reports saying that Netanyahu agreed to limiting badly needed democratic judicial reforms.

Yesterday, Kan News reported that sources that know the details of Monday’s phone conversation between the two leaders claimed that the judicial reform was only brought up marginally and momentarily.

We would like to think that the marginal and brief moment between the two leaders sounded something like this:

Biden: “You’ll stop building in Judea and Samaria and kill judicial reforms, right?

Netanyahu: “That’s Israel’s business. Enough said!”

Sources:
Report: Netanyahu pledges to freeze construction until end of 2023, by Israel National News, July 18, 2023

Senior source refutes claim Biden told Netanyahu to stop reform, by Israel National News, July 19, 2023

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed with a majority of more than 400 votes a resolution introduced by Congressman August Pfluger (R-TX), supporting the State of Israel, and clearly affirming that “Israel is not a racist or an apartheid state; The House rejects all forms of antisemitism and xenophobia; and the United States will always be a staunch partner and supporter of the State of Israel.” The resolution was co-sponsored by Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) and Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) and supported by the House leadership.

The US resolution has made it official that Israel is NOT a racist or apartheid state. While there never was a need for a stamp of approval on this, it still sends a strong message to the haters of Israel, especially those in Congress who refused to support this truth. They were really outnumbered in this vote and need to wake-up. If they don’t, they only hurt themselves and their constituents.

AFSI thanks Congressman Pfluger for introducing this resolution and his dedicated work in seeing it through to its successful vote!

Source:
US House Resolution: Israel Is Not a Racist or Apartheid State; 12 Democrats Object, by David Israel/Jewish Press, July 19, 2023

MK Simcha Rothman, Chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, on Monday remarked about the reservations submitted regarding the changes to the reasonableness standard.

“I want to thank the members of the opposition for their integrity, and for the fact that they did not agree to advance any compromise on this bill, on what they call ‘dangerous legislation,’ since that was said by them in a unilateral fashion,” Rothman said. “The submission of the reservations is only a sign of the behavior which has taken place here throughout the discussion and the lack of willingness to hold a practical discussion… Unfortunately, any attempt to reach agreements is barren.”

The Knesset’s legal adviser, Sagit Afik, remarked, “This is an unprecedented high in the number of reservations: 27,677, of which 1,649 are party reservations.” She added that, “The Knesset’s job is to legislate, and we will not allow, through a high number of reservations which borders on misuse of the institute of reservations, to delay and even stop the process of legislation which the Knesset desires to advance by means of the committees and the plenum.”

The 27,677 reservations hiding behind a smokescreen find it perfectly acceptable to be present to protest, block roads and threaten violence. Come out, come out wherever you are….speak up and make yourself known. Tell the committee why you object to the reasonableness bill and judicial reforms. Do tell. The curiosity is killing us.

Source:
Unprecedented: 27,677 reservations submitted to block reasonableness standard, by Israel National News, July 17, 2023

The government passed a decision today to act to preserve and develop historical heritage sites in Judea and Samaria.

Gush Etzion Regional Council Mayor, and Chairman of the Yesha Council, Shlomo Ne’eman said in response to the decision: “We thank the Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu and all the members of the government who today approved such a significant budget for the development and preservation of the antiquities sites in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley.”

There are over 3,000 antiquity sites throughout Judea and Samaria, of which some 80% are in Area C. According to the Prime Minister’s office, some 1,000 sites have already been damaged.

Over many years archeological sites have been damaged along with illegal construction near these sites. Without sovereignty applied throughout Judea and Samaria, much illegal activity still takes place. We look forward to the swift implementation of this plan and pray it is not too little too late.

Source:
Govt. to preserve, develop Judea and Samaria heritage sites, by Israel National News, July 17, 2023