Author: AFSI Staff

Police raise level of offenses against 4 youths who were car in which Ahuvya Sandak was killed.

The four young men who were in the car with Ahuvya Sandak and were lightly injured during the police chase were questioned by the police on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a crime.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear as soon as possible a petition demanding that the police be banned from investigating Ahuvya’s death, arguing that the police ordinance prohibits the police from investigating incidents in which police officers are also suspects.

The Honenu legal organization criticized the strengthening of the potential charges against the youths. “The blood of the next boy who is killed will be on the police and the Department of Internal Police Investigations. Anyone who does not conduct an honest investigation into the killing of a Jewish boy is paving the way for the killing of the next boy.”

Source:
Friends of Ahuvya Sandak face manslaughter charges, by Arutz Sheva Staff. Arutz Sheva, December 28, 2020

After two years of work and concentration of effort, the Transportation Ministry complied with the demand of the Samaria Regional Council and the Karnei Shomron Local Council for traffic lights at the Jinsafut and Funduk Junction on Route 55. This route is one of the most dangerous junctions in Samaria.

Work is expected to start February 2021.

The project is expected to serve Samaria Regional Council residents including Nofim, Yakir, Revava, as well as the residents of Kedumim Local Council, Karnei Shomron, and Emanuel Local Council.

Karnei Shomron Local Council Chairman Yigal Lahav said: “…On behalf of all the residents, I thank Minister Miri Regev for her personal intervention in providing a solution to this dangerous intersection and in promoting the transformation of Route 55 into 4 lanes, and I hope that the response to the additional intersections that have become many road accident hotspots will be answered quickly.”

AFSI is glad to see this welcome development in Samaria but there is still much more to be done for the entire region.

Source:
Traffic lights in Samaria to cost NIS 14 million, by Hezki Baruch. Aurtz Sheva, December 26, 2020

Parliament dissolves as deadline to approve budget expires with coalition failing to legislate extension; Netanyahu to remain as PM until vote expected to take place on March 23; Likud set to remain biggest party despite strong challenge from its ex-MK Gideon Sa’ar.

Israel headed into its fourth election campaign in two years at the stroke of midnight Tuesday, as the deadline for passing a state budget expired and the Knesset automatically dissolved by law.

Elections are expected to take place on March 23, 2021 – exactly 90 days after the Knesset dissolved as required by law.

Our hearts go out to the Israeli people who will have to go through another election process. Election season is now in full swing with multiple candidates vying for the top position. Netanyahu, Sa’ar and Bennett all say they are committed to Sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. Yair Lapid cannot be counted out. Israelis are in for a bumpy ride. One thing appears to be certain: there will be a delay for SOVEREIGNTY NOW!

Source:
Israel embarks on fourth election in two years as budget row topples Knesset, by Ynetnews. Ynetnews.com, December 23, 2020

Today, U.S. Customs and Border Protection published a Federal Register Notice to ensure that country of origin markings for Israeli and Palestinian goods are consistent with the United States’ foreign policy approach. The notice establishes that producers within certain areas designated in the Oslo Accords and the Hebron Protocol (the areas under Israeli control) must mark their goods as “Israel,” “Product of Israel,” or “Made in Israel” when exporting those goods to the United States. Parties that import these goods into the United States are responsible for ensuring compliance with the marking requirements.

Source:
CBP Statement on Country of Origin Markings for Israeli and Palestinian Goods, Official Release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, December 23, 2020

The US Congress Coronavirus relief bill released Monday includes $250 million in investment aid for the Palestinians and for encouraging Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. This can be found in a provision titled the “Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act of 2020.”

Let’s remember that in 2018 Congress limited funding to the Palestinian Authority under the Taylor Force Act. The Act prevents US taxpayer dollars from going to the Palestinian government while it continues to pay stipends to terrorists and their families.

TAKE CAREFUL NOTE!! On pages 1425-1426, if the PA “… has demonstrated firm commitment to peaceful co-existence with Israel….”, there is a provision for “Palestinian Statehood.”

While President Donald Trump is vowing to veto the bill, due to the insulting $600 checks slated for the American people, AFSI would also like to see him cancel the $250 million slated for the Palestinians along with any promise of PA statehood.

Source:
Coronavirus Stimulus Bill Funds Hundreds of Millions in Aid to Palestinians, by Joel B. Pollak. Breitbart, December 21, 2020

Full Text of the COVID-19 Stimulus Bill, December 21, 2020

A proposal by Labor Chairman and Minister of Economy Amir Peretz to promote regulation of the illegal Bedouin enterprise and establish new settlements for Bedouin in the Negev was dropped on Tuesday from the government’s agenda. This was preceded by threats from a long list of ministers that they would vote to kill it as long as the government does not regulate Jewish communities in peril in Judea and Samaria.

On Tuesday, MK Bezalel Smotrich (Yamina) tweeted: “Netanyahu continues his fire sale of Zionism and right-wing values and is right now approving in the government the underhanded deal of establishing 3 new Bedouin settlements in the Negev.”

Judea and Samaria first. Period.

Source:
Right-wing Ministers Defeat Labor’s Plan to Regulate Illegal Bedouin Outposts, by David Israel. Jewish Press, December 23, 2020

Prominent figures on Israel’s Right are furious with Defense Minister and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz for making a comment to a Saudi news outlet last week. Gantz said that he did not envision full regional peace without the Palestinians and that Jerusalem had enough room to include the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Rafi Peretz (Habayit Hayehudi) said in a Twitter post that “United Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people, not the capital of anyone else. This is where our forefathers walked and this is where we were created. Gantz, I know you enough to know you believe that, too.”

Gantz was also criticized by the movement Habitchonistim, comprised of former military officials, who issued a statement calling on him to resign and take back his remarks.

“Gantz’s statements absolutely contradict Israel’s principles of security and have the potential to cause great harm to its security … In his remarks, Gantz gives up the most basic principle on which Israel was founded – our ability to defend ourselves by ourselves, and instead calls for ‘security guarantees’, read a statement authored by three retired majors-general (Jerry Gershon, Gershon Hacohen, and Danny Biton) and signed by a number of retired brigadiers-general and some 1,500 members of the movement.

As a former IDF Chief of Staff dedicated to Israel’s security, we can’t imagine what Gantz was thinking when he made his comment and we agree that Gantz should retract it. Between his comment and the PA dreaming of negotiating a two-state solution with a Biden administration, we pray that this nightmare ends quickly.

Sources:
Right livid after Gantz says Jerusalem has ‘room’ for Palestinian capital, by Shahar Klaiman, Yori Yalon and Ariel Kahana. Israel Hayom, December 20, 2020

Palestinians urge Biden and Israel to return to the negotiating table, by Gabe Friedman. JTA, December 20, 2020

The body of an Israeli mother of six was found in a forest near her home in Tal Menashe early Monday in what is surely a terror attack. Esther Horgan left her home on Sunday afternoon for a jog in nearby Shaked Forest.

Her body was found with clear signs of a violent attack which police and the Shin Bet security agency believe was terrorism.

Security forces launched a manhunt Monday morning in an effort to find the perpetrator.
The Samaria Regional Council issued a statement also declaring that Horgan’s murder was an act of terror.

Source:
Mother of six found dead in suspected West Bank terror attack, by Elisha Ben Kimon. Israel Hayom, December 21, 2020

Newly elected congressman Ritchie Torres, a progressive Democrat representing the South Bronx, indicated Saturday in an interview with the New York Post that he has no intention of joining the “Squad”. The “Squad” is a group of democratic socialist members of the Democratic Party consisting of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashia Tlaib.

In the past, members of the “Squad” have made harsh criticisms of Israel, while supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Omar and Tlaib in particular have also been accused of making anti-Semitic comments in past public statements.

During the interview, Torres noted that BDS as a movement unfairly targets and singles out Israel, making it a form of discrimination, while also touching on his personal connection to the country through trips to Israel in 2015 and 2017.

Torres has condemned the DSA for not explicitly affirming Israel’s right to exist, suggesting that this view is “insane,” in a tweet from August.AFSI applauds Torres for standing up for Israel among hostile pressure from the enemies of Israel. We hope that in time he will see what an illusion and impossibility the two-state solution is as the answer to peace in the Middle East.

Source:
Progressive Dem Ritchie Torres, supporter of Israel, won’t join ‘Squad’, by Cody Levine. Jerusalem Post, December 21, 2020

“There’s room for a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem”, Benny Gantz

The Sovereignty Movement responded as follows:

In response to the statement of the Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz regarding the possible partition of Jerusalem and its transformation into the Palestinian capital, the Sovereignty Movement calls upon the Prime Minister and the ministers of the right-wing camp to promote, as soon as possible, the application of Sovereignty over Maale Adumim, Gush Etzion, and the entire Greater Jerusalem area, in order to establish a political reality that will not be subject to the whims of left-wing factors.

“If it seemed to us that the Israeli leadership and the Israeli public had internalized the folly of the concept of partitioning the Land, partitioning Jerusalem, and establishment of an enemy state in the heartland, the statement of Minister Gantz came and proved that there is still much work facing us to clarify the obvious,” say the heads of the movement, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar.

They add: “The application of Sovereignty over Greater Jerusalem will establish, by law, the prohibition to promote any political step to partition the Land. It is incumbent upon the Prime Minister, as the leader of the right-wing camp, to immediately bring a proposal along these lines for government approval.”

Sources:
Sovereignty Mvement: ‘Instead of partitioning J’lem, sovereignty over greater J’lem’, by Arutz Sheva Staff. Arutz Sheva, December 17, 2020

Benny Gantz: ‘There’s room for Palestinian capital in Jerusalem’, by Ido Ben Porat. Arutz Sheva, December 17, 2020