The Electricity Law has passed its second and third readings in committee stage, after all revisions and objections were rejected.

Before voting began, Taha, the committee’s chairman, had MK Itamar Ben Gvir removed from the committee room. Ben Gvir had been broadcasting proceedings via Facebook Live.

“This law will ensure that tens of thousands of homes can be connected to the power grid,” said Taha. “Electricity is a fundamental right and not a punitive tool. This law will encourage proper planning and ensure that all fees are paid. It will advance equality between citizens.”

MK Bezalel Smotrich responded: “This is a law that promotes anarchy and destroys the few incentives remaining to people who built illegally, to regularize the status of their construction. Once they are connected to electricity, water, telephone, and internet, none of these lawbreakers will have the slightest motivation to do what is required to obtain full approval for the buildings they erected.”

This is a sad example of another betrayal by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. If the Electricity Law is so important to him, then as MK Orit Strook stated, “…Bennett must now regularize the status of the young settlements at the very next cabinet meeting.”

Source:
Electricity Law passes in committee, Ben Gvir ejected before voting begins, by Hezki Baruch/Israel National News, December 28, 2021

The Israeli government approved a NIS 1 billion plan to develop the Golan Heights. The plan will at least double its Jewish population and allow for the creation of two new towns in the region.

The plan will upgrade infrastructure, establish new localities and neighborhoods, and develop 2,000 jobs. The two new localities will be called “Asif” and “Matar”, each of which will include about 2,000 housing units. Also invested will be 160 million shekels in transportation infrastructure. In addition, the emergency medicine system will be upgraded and extensive investment in education and tourism will be promoted.

“We are making history in the Golan,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett tweeted in advance of the vote at a special meeting at Kibbutz Mevo Hamma in the Golan Heights.

AFSI is pleased to report on this positive development for Israel. In contrast to his recent appeasement of the Arabs, Bennett’s government has now made the need to invest and develop the Golan a “top priority for Zionism.” It also solidifies Israel’s position that the Golan will forever belong to Israel and the Israeli people.

Sources:
Israel approves NIS 1b. plans for Golan Heights, will build two new towns, by Tovah Lazaroff/Jerusalem Post, December 26, 2021

Government to approve plan for development of the Golan, by Hezki Baruch/Israel National News, December 26, 2021

The right and left are in consensus about the Golan, by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett/Israel Hayom, December 24, 2021

The government demolished the Homesh Yeshiva last Friday. In an Arutz Sheva OpEd, The Sovereignty Movement appealed to the Bennett government: Instead of destroying, build Homesh! Preserve the Homesh Yeshiva!

“Mr. Prime Minister, you were absent yesterday during the spiritually exalted level of those present in Homesh, had you come, you would have been strengthened by the powerful and resolute spirit of the thousands who came to say: The Land of Israel is ours! Homesh is ours! The time has come for sovereignty!

How can one descend from yesterday’s high spiritual level to the unprecedented low of the destruction of the structures around the Homesh yeshiva, a yeshiva that is entirely self-sacrifice, a yeshiva that preserves the embers of the Zionist values that bind us to our wonderful Land?

Where are you leading the country? In a normal country – the homes of the murderers would wiped off the map, the entire village would be exiled beyond our borders.”

While AFSI appreciates the good that is being done in the Golan, this travesty negates any good feeling we have in hearing about it. Israel needs to be sovereign in ALL of Israel, including Judea and Samaria, not just the parts that are convenient at the moment.

Sources:
Sovereignty Movement to Bennett: Build Homesh, don’t destroy it!, by Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar/Israel National News, December 24, 2021

Days After the Murder, Bennett Government Demolishes Parts of Homesh, by David Israel/Jewish Press, December 24, 2021

Thousands of Israelis from all over the country arrived on Thursday at the community of Homesh in Samaria after the end of the Shiva mourning week for terror victim Yehuda Dimentman.

Led by the Dimentman family and his widow Etya, they marched from Shavei Shomron towards Yeshivat Homesh. A memorial service was held in Yehuda’s memory at the site of the attack together with rabbis, public figures, and Knesset Members.

Shomron Council Head, Yossi Dagan, said “…The people want a built Homesh, the people want the Yeshiva of Homesh established, the people want a Zionist and determined answer to terrorism.”

The march comes amid rumors that the government plans to destroy the yeshiva and ban all Israeli entry to the area. The continued demolition of Jewish homes on Jewish owned land, especially following the murder of a Jew, is disgraceful and illustrates the lack of sensitivities and concern for the Jewish people. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is not working to strengthen building the Land, protecting Jews or maintaining sovereignty. Between this and the ongoing land grabs in Area C, it is clear that terrorism under Bennett’s government is fully rewarded.

View the march HERE – despite the pouring rain, thousands came out strong for Yehuda’s memory and saving Homesh. May they all go from strength to strength!

Note to our readers: AFSI has been in touch with the Yeshiva in Homesh and in January 2022 we will have information on how you can help them. Stay tuned.

Source:
Thousands March to Homesh After Terror Attack, Demand Israel’s Return to Site, by Aryeh Savir/Tazpit News Agency, December 23, 2021

Reports from the United States, according to which the Biden administration has decided not to press for the establishment of a separate American consulate in Jerusalem for the Palestinian Arabs, are encouraging. There are many people and organizations that are to be congratulated for their activity in hopefully halting the American program, but above all else, the resolute and spiritually healthy Jewish people deserve commendation for its successful stand in defense of its eternal capital.

The struggle for Jerusalem, this is clear to any knowledgeable person, is not a struggle for territory or control. The struggle for Jerusalem is a struggle for the essence and national and spiritual image of the people of Israel throughout the generations. The Arab quest for sovereignty in Jerusalem expresses the ongoing Islamic aspiration to uproot the Jewish people from its essence and historical role, to expel it from its land and to wrest its primacy from it. That is why this struggle cannot be expected to end with one local campaign or another.

Source:
The Consulate – Just the beginning of the struggle, by Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar/Israel National News, December 21, 2021

IDF and police forces on Sunday morning demolished three structures that had been built during the night in the Homesh settlement. Homesh is home to the Hesder yeshiva that was attended by Yehuda Dimentman, H’yd, who was murdered in a terrorist ambush last Thursday.

Religious Zionism Chairman MK Bezalel Smotrich issued a statement: “The lax left-wing government decided to reward terrorism and ordered the IDF and police to eliminate the yeshiva in Homesh in response to a terrorist attack in which Yehuda Dimentman, H’yd, was murdered. They don’t demolish the terrorists’ homes, but they are demolishing the yeshiva.”

Ettya Dimentman, the widow of Yehuda Dimentman, “They are toying with a family which is sitting shiva as if we don’t have feelings.” She also addressed the Prime Minister: “Bennett, you grew up on the values ​​of Torah and morality, and Yehuda was a man of justice. It seems a small thing to ask that the yeshiva remain in Homesh, but it is a big step towards the redemption. On Thursday we will go up to the grave and from there we will walk back to Homesh.”

The demolition in Homesh is the latest destructive step with Bennett leading Israel down the road to disaster.

AFSI stands in solidarity with the Dimentman family and the residents of Homesh.

Source:
Lapid-Bennett Government Razed Homesh Structures, Rewarding Yehuda Dimentman’s Murderers, by David Israel/Jewish Press, December 19, 2021

Evidence has been found on a story we reported last week, Terrorism in the Fields: Blame the “Settler” False Narrative.

In an exclusive interview with United with Israel, a Palestinian Arab who was vandalizing state land in the Judea and Samaria region admitted that he was being paid for harassing Jewish communities.

Yehuda Bazak is a resident of Avigayil and witnessed the entire incident that was recorded on video last Tuesday.

Source:
EVIDENCE: Radical Leftists Pay Palestinians to Destroy Jewish Property in Judea, by Sheri Oz/Special to United With Israel, December 19, 2021

It’s been seven months since US Secretary of State Antony Blinken notified Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of the Biden administration’s plan to reopen the US Consulate in Jerusalem. Despite this, Washington has yet to produce a timeline for when it plans to see the move through.

A US diplomat, a former senior US official and another source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel this week that the Biden administration has effectively shelved its effort to resurrect the mission to the Palestinians shuttered by former president Donald Trump in 2019.

Trump’s 2019 decision didn’t fully close the Agron Street building. PA diplomats have continued working there under the new name, Palestinian Affairs Unit (PAU). It must also be noted that the PA is reporting directly to Washington – cutting out the Israeli embassy.
Any building that is allowed to exist where the PA can continue to facilitate its demonizing and terror based “perspective” against Israel should be closed permanently. It’s that simple. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…well, let’s just call it a de facto mission. It should NOT be permitted to operate against the wishes of the sovereign state of Israel!

Source:
US holding off on reopening Jerusalem consulate amid strong pushback from Israel, by Jacob Magid/Times of Israel, December 15, 2021

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett responded Tuesday afternoon to the comments of Public Security Minister Omer Barlev. Barlev discussed the issue of “settler violence” with US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.

“The settlers in Judea and Samaria have been suffering from violence and terrorism, every day, for decades. They are the defensive wall of us all and we must strengthen them and support them, in words and deeds,” Bennett wrote on Twitter.

At the initiative of Defense Minister Benny Gantz, work will be carried out to recruit hundreds of additional IDF soldiers to the police for staff positions in order to add hundreds of police officers to the Judea and Samaria District. Bear in mind, one of the purposes is to address nationalistic crime allegedly committed by those termed Jewish extremists.

This is another in a series of disturbing trends we see with Bennett. Saying one thing and doing the opposite. Rocks and firebombs thrown at Jews, attacks against the IDF, Jews murdered by Arabs….Israel’s security and the safety of Jews in Judea and Samaria is under attack by Bennett’s coalition. Fighting against Jews is clearly a part of Bennett’s agenda. Bennett is now the enemy of his own people.

Sources:
Hundreds of police to be added to fight settler crime, by Israel National News, December 14, 2021

Bennett: Settlers are our defensive wall, don’t generalize about them, by Israel National News, December 14, 2021

Minister under fire for talking about ‘settler violence’, by Elad Benari/Israel National News, December 14, 2021

Palestinian Arabs were filmed on Wednesday deliberately uprooting olive trees that were planted by Jewish residents of the Mount Hebron Regional Council.

Criticism of Israel’s government being the root of this problem was swift and harsh. MK Bezalel Smotrich said, Omer “Barlev’s incitement at work. Arabs uprooted a vineyard planted by Avigayil’s residents before the shemita. Barlev was there yesterday with the police commissioner to give a boost to terrorism and the Arabs’ struggle against the settlers while adopting the false narrative of settler violence.”

Im Tirtzu’s Matan Peleg added, “…..while the founder of Peace Now and the minister of incitement against the settlers were busy inciting against them, the Palestinians on the ground are responding to him and taking over the territory.”

We remain alarmed by the hostility to Jews coming from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government. MK’s who incite harmful words against their own people or use “settlers” to win votes, land grabs by Arabs out of control, appeasing Arabs time and again, Jews in Judea and Samaria still living under Ottoman Law. This doesn’t sound like a government that has Israel’s best interests in mind. Bennett clearly cannot be trusted. He is a threat to Israel’s safety, survival and sovereignty. And that’s the nicest thing we can say about his destructive “leadership.”

Source:
Watch: PA Arabs uproot Jewish-owned olive trees, by Israel National News, December 15, 2021