The leaders of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria issued a special message to their residents strongly criticizing the conduct of the current government. They are calling on the residents to attend a demonstration tonight in front of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office.

An excerpt from the letter reads: “In this situation, we can no longer remain silent. We have decided to establish a joint headquarters for the councils in Judea and Samaria and to embark on a comprehensive and broad struggle until the situation changes substantially both on the ground and in all of this government’s treatment of the residents of Judea and Samaria. Today, the 1-month anniversary of the murder of Yehuda Dimmentman, we will all stand before the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem and say: Enough.” Unfortunately, senior government ministers are joining the time-consuming campaign of hatred of the far-left organizations against the residents of Judea and Samaria…… these ministers and the entire government have lost their right and their legitimacy to continue serving the public in Israel.”

We support the Yesha leaders call for those in Judea and Samaria to rise up and call for Bennett’s government to step down. Serving the Arabs is not what he was voted in for. We remain disgusted with Bennett’s 180 degree turn around, the opposite of what he campaigned on.

Source:
Yesha Council leaders: Govt., ministers have lost their legitimacy, by Israel National News, January 13, 2022

Yesterday, KKL-JNF halted their tree planting activities in the Negev. The debate is raging as to whether the cessation was pre-planned or a result of the existential threat it was causing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s coalition.

The Ra’am party informed Bennett’s coalition that they would boycott the Knesset plenum for the foreseeable future until the planting stops. This makes passing laws next to impossible for the Lapid-Bennett government.

Zeev Elkin, Minister of Construction and Housing, told Reshet Bet radio yesterday that despite the riots of the Bedouin in the Negev, the planting will continue.

The Regavim Movement decried the government’s capitulation, charging this decision as continued “protection payments” to Mansour Abbas that make the next round of violence and domestic terrorism inevitable. “The Ra’am Party and the Bedouin know full well that they can dictate to the government through the use of political pressure, strongarm tactics and violence. When you cave in to terrorism and blackmail, you invite the next round of violence.”

The latest update, and to prove Regavim’s point, Arab farmers planted a massive grove of hundreds of olive trees along the northern border of the Dagan neighborhood of Efrat. Some of the planting took place secretly overnight.

Violence and riots are now hitting the Negev and there is no one to blame but Bennett’s pathetic coalition. Organized PA takeover of legally owned Jewish land – and some of it strategic – continues at an alarming pace. Israel’s government has been warned time and again of this problem and with no constructive action being taken they continue to cave in to terrorism.

Sources:
Overnight, Arabs Illegally Plant Olive Grove Alongside Efrat, by Aryeh Savir/Tazpit News Agency, January 13, 2022

Ra’am Wins, KKL-KNF Tree Planting Halted, by Jewish Press News Desk, January 12, 2022

Minister Elkin: Negev Tree Planting Continues Despite Ra’am’s Objections; Lapid: OK to Suspend, by David Israel/Jewish Press, January 12, 2022

 

 

Breaking yesterday:
The Israeli Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration has notified Jewish residents Judea and Samaria of its plans to demolish a vineyard, Arugot Farm (an on the week of Tu b’Shevat). This vineyard was planted five years ago in memory of Ezra Schwartz, victim of Arab terror. Ezra, a dedicated American Jewish yeshiva student, was murdered in Gush Etzion on his way to deliver food to soldiers and do other volunteer work in the area.

Breaking Update today from Arugot Farm: Protest tomorrow is postponed.

Message from Jeremy Gimpel and Ari Abramowitz

They have delayed the uprooting of the Arugot Farm vineyards! The demonstration is called off. For now.

Delayed. Not canceled.

The outpouring of support has been overwhelming.

Grassroots pressure works! I don’t think they were expecting such a barrage of media, activism, and solidarity.

The battle is not yet over!  They can decide on a whim to surprise us and implement these dark and immoral plans.

This is not a struggle over our vineyards.

This is a struggle over the right of the nation of Israel to live in the Land of Israel!

This is a struggle over the right of Jews to live in Judea.

This is a struggle of the rights of an ancient nation to live in our indigenous homeland.

What starts with Judea ends with Jerusalem.

Please, my friends, be on call. The time may come soon where they come back to uproot and destroy and we need you by our side.

B’Ahavat Yisrael.

Can anyone make sense of this? AFSI visited Arugot Farms and spent time in this beautiful, peaceful place on our last Chizuk Mission in October. What possible reason could there be to uproot any part of it? Yesterday’s news illustrates Prime Minister Bennett was once again ready to betray the Israeli people as he continues to advance Arab terrorism. We await what we pray will be a favorable outcome on the latest news on Arugot Farms.

Source:
Israel set to demolish Gush Etzion vineyard dedicated to terror victim, by Israel National News, January 9, 2022

 

Opinion by Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, Co-Chairs of The Sovereignty Movement

The events surrounding the passing of the “Electricity Law” in the Knesset left all of us in a state of considerable confusion and a sense of helplessness.

The law illustrated to all of us the extent to which the dependency of the Israeli government upon an Arab party causes the loss of the government’s Jewish sovereignty. Since the establishment of this government, we are dependent upon dictates that are liable to destroy everything that was constructed here by means of hard labor in order to establish a nation state for the Jewish people – the Jewish State – a state in which the Jews are supposed to decide their fate.

Yes, the Arabs in Israel are citizens, but the national identification of their representatives in the Knesset is with the enemy, with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, whose objective is the dismantling of the State of Israel. As long as Israel is a Jewish State, it is inconceivable that Israel will submit to an Arab-Bedouin dictate. How have we deteriorated to this state of affairs?

It is not the lack of electricity in the new communities in Judea and Samaria that is the problem. Even if they ultimately connect them to the electrical grid, this is disgraceful. That connection should have been done from the outset; not as compensation for the connection of Bedouin construction. It is wrong and inappropriate to draw comparisons between the two. The new communities are, in their entirety, a Zionist undertaking intended to strengthen our foothold in the Land of Israel, and to prevent Arab infringement on Area C government lands, and it is incumbent upon the government to see to its development.

Source:
A crisis of Leadership, Governance, and Sovereignty, by Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar/Israel National News, January 10, 2022

 

Deputy Economy Minister Yair Golan (Meretz) on Thursday morning said that the “settlers” in the Jewish town of Homesh are “subhuman.”

The Likud party was quick to call for Golan’s removal: “We, members of the Likud faction, demand that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announce the dismissal of Deputy Minister Yair Golan today.”

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett slammed Golan’s comment: “Yair Golan’s statements about the settlers in Homesh are horrific, generalizations, and border on a blood libel.” Bennett goes on to say that the “settlements” in Judea and Samaria are today’s pioneers and that “We have not taken a foreign land….but our fathers’ inheritance.”

The term subhuman, or Untermensch, is taken direct from Nazi terminology and refers to inferior people. Golan’s shameful remark reminds us of the terrible evil brought against the Jewish people by the Nazis. Bennett needs to rise to the occasion and match his words with action. If he does not fire Golan now, Bennett is complicit in Golan’s incitement against the Jewish people.

Sources:
Meretz minister: ‘Settlers in Homesh are subhuman’, by Israel National News, January 6, 2022

Likud: Bennett must fire minister who called settlers ‘subhuman’, by Israel National News, January 6, 2022

 

On Tuesday morning, large police forces arrived at Homesh and disconnected and sabotaged the electrical system of the Homesh Yeshiva. They demolished structures and tents of families who came to strengthen and support the people of Homesh.

Samaria Council head, Yossi Dagan, sharply attacked the government: “The Israeli government has lost its compass. There’s never been such a thing. This is the first time that instead of fighting the terrorists, the government’s response on the ground is to fight the victims, to fight the settlement enterprise. The responsibility for the destruction lies first and foremost with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

The Homesh yeshiva issued a statement: “Some people think that the murder of Yehuda Dimentman is a good opportunity to reward terrorism and innovate and implement the disengagement plan again. We call on the public to continue to come and support us, strengthen our hold on Homesh, and thus prevent the destruction of the yeshiva!”

Note to our readers: As mentioned in our December 23 newsletter, AFSI has been in touch with the Yeshiva in Homesh and in the coming weeks we will have information on how you can help them. Stay tuned.

Source:
Bennett Destroys Homesh for the Third Time, by David Israel/Jewish Press, January 4, 2022

Daniella Weiss is head of the Nahala organization and one of the heads of the Gush Emunim movement. In an interview with Israel National News – Arutz Sheva, she discussed the recently passed Electricity Law, which she sees as yet another step the current government is taking toward the abyss.
“This was a shocking, terrible moment in the history of Zionism,” Weiss said. “I actually think that it was the moment at which the government sealed its own fate – it’s going to fall.”

Weiss had hoped that at the very least, the Electricity Law would also be applied to the “Young Settlements” in Judea and Samaria, enabling not just Negev Bedouins but also Jews in new towns to connect their homes to the power grid. But her hopes were dashed. “At various points I thought that maybe, just maybe there could be a measure of equality, even in this corrupt government that relies on Arabs and the extreme left. But nothing came of my hopes. This government has to be stopped and sent packing.”

Source:
Daniella Weiss: Government must go, but Netanyahu was not loyal to the land of Israel, by Yoni Kempinski, Israel National News, January 6, 2022

On Sunday, Former Knesset Speaker and Health Minister MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) launched the “Homesh First” Knesset lobby and conducted a tour of the north Samarian community together with six opposition Knesset members as well as Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan.

“In order to prevent the next expulsion and the loss of territory in Judea and Samaria and the Negev,” Edelstein said, “I have established this ‘Homesh First’ lobby whose aim is to renew Jewish settlement in northern Samaria and to repopulate the communities that were evacuated.

Dagan stated that the Homesh First Lobby is “…an expression of strength against this government.”

AFSI stands in solidarity with the Homesh First Lobby. As the government continues its destructive path with rewards to terrorism, the residents of Homesh and other Israeli officials, are sending a clear message that they will not tolerate another expulsion of a Jewish community.

Source:
A clear message to the Prime Minister from Homesh: You won’t drive us out, by Hezki Baruch/Israel National News, January 2, 2022

In a rare incident, Gazan terrorists targeted Israeli military helicopters with shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles over the Strip early Sunday morning during airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces.

Hamas has claimed that it did not fire the rockets intentionally, but that they were triggered by inclement weather. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett responded that Israel was not interested in such excuses. “All of Hamas’s stories about thunder and lighting, which we hear winter after winter, are not relevant anymore,” said Bennett. “Whoever aims rockets at the State of Israel must take responsibility.”

In light of Bennett’s recent string of activity to appease the PA, can we find comfort in his statement in defense of Israel’s security? We hope so but only time will tell.

Source:
Anti-aircraft missiles fired at IDF helicopters during Gaza strike, but miss, by Judah Ari Gross and TOI Staff, January 2, 2022

 

 

 

Senior representatives of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and various countries around the world hailed the rare meeting Tuesday between Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The meeting took place at Gantz’s house in Rosh Ha’ayin. According to an unconfirmed source, Bennett was informed of the meeting ahead of time, and “criticized Gantz’s intention to hold the meeting, and expressed resentment about the hosting of [Abbas] in Gantz’s home.” Here, the 1st time in over 10 years that Abu Mazzen visits Israel, and it is at the invitation of the Defense Minister and presumptive future Prime Minister!to meet him at home! Ludicrous is an understatement.

So why wasn’t Gantz stopped from holding this meeting? Going ahead with this meeting demonstrates Gantz’s own self-centered political interests and Bennett’s inability to reign him in.

As Israel continues to defend itself from a rise in violent terror attacks, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government is working hard to bolster and advance the PA. Yes, he acts outraged, but Bennett’s government (through Gantz) has promised to advance 100 million shekels in tax payments to the PA while clearly one third of their budget still goes to the pay for slay program. The “benefits package” agreed upon also grants other enhanced treatment for various ordinary residents and VIPs in Judea Samaria and Gaza. Gantz calls this confidence building, but at what cost to Israel. Confidence busting is the least of it.

Talk of construction of new homes and of concessions that could ultimately threaten Israel’s security is criminal in light of the urgency to advance basic needs and development in Judea and Samaria and all of Israel. The Electricity Law which just passed its 2nd and third readings in the committee stage virtually legalizes the theft of land. MK Orit Strook called it out for what it is, pointing clearly to the inequity presented. If the illegally built Arab homes are allowed to connect to the power grid, then by right all the young Jewish settlements should be able to do the same, she rightly maintained.

Let’s not forget that talk of the application of Sovereignty should be Bennett’s #1 concern. It’s time to call out Bennett for what he has revealed himself to be….at best ineffective and at worst A TRAITOR TO HIS OWN PEOPLE.

Source:
World cheers Gantz-Abbas meeting, hopes for continued cooperation in 2022, by Jacob Magid/Times of Israel, December 30, 2021