Author: AFSI Staff

The Knesset on Wednesday passed a bill to dissolve, setting the stage for the fourth round of national elections in two years. Defense Minister Benny Gantz and his Blue and White party broke from the coalition and voted in favor of the measure.

The bill passed with 61 MKs voting in favor and 54 against.

Gantz’s support for the opposition bill will likely spell the end of his ill-fated power-sharing partnership with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, some six months after agreeing to join a unity government in order to deal with the coronavirus crisis

The measure must still go through committee and pass three more readings in the Knesset before new elections are called, likely for sometime in the spring or summer.

It pains us to think that the Israeli people may have to go through the election process again. We believe this does not bode well for moving the country forward, economically, socially or spiritually. The Israeli people deserve a stable and fully functioning government NOW.

Source:
Knesset advances motion to disband, moving toward 4th elections in 2 years, by Michael Bachner. Times of Israel, December 2, 2020

The Norwegian government has decided to ignore the United Nation’s “blacklist” – of over 100 companies across the globe said to be complicit in violating Palestinian human rights by operating in Israeli “settlements.” Now allowed will be a tourism company that appears on the list to provide services to government and other organizations inside Norway.

The decision deals a harsh blow to the anti-Israel boycott, sanctions and divestment movement and its attempts to financially harm Israeli companies and companies doing business in Israel.

Attorney Yifa Segal, director of the International Legal Forum, called Norway’s decision “an important step in the war on the injustice known as the ‘blacklist.'”

She added: “The Norwegian government’s decision helps downgrade the status of the ‘blacklist.’ No country in the world bases its commercial policies on this list. We told the Norwegians that the UN Human Rights Council acted in a politically hostile and biased manner. Additionally, the UNHRC is interfering in international economics in a harmful way and didn’t work according to accepted and objective standards.”

Source:
In blow to BDS movement, Norway to ignore UN ‘blacklist’, by Ariel Kahana and ILH Staff. Israel Hayom, December 3, 2020

Settlement Affairs Minister Tzachi Hanegbi announced last week at the Knesset plenum that he will promote a move to regulate ‘outposts’ in Judea and Samaria in agreement with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister Michael Biton.

“We have jointly agreed to formulate a resolution to the government to promote all legal moves that will lead to the regulation of young settlements. I am convinced that the government will take the issue very seriously and examine it with in-depth consideration,” Hanegbi said.

National Union chairman MK Bezalel Smotrich welcomed Hanegbi’s announcement as did the Yesha Council, who stated, “This is good news for anyone who is close to the heart of the Israeli settlement in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley. For many years, hundreds of families living in the young settlements have not been able to enjoy the most basic things – running water, regular electricity, the internet and communications and security components.”

Yes, AFSI reiterates Hanegbi’s comment that, yes, it’s time – and long overdue – to work toward achieving normalization for the residents of Judea and Samaria.

Source:
Govt. commits to regulating Judea and Samaria communities, by Arutz Sheva Staff. Arutz Sheva, November 25, 2020

The illegal herding village of Khan al-Ahmar was given yet another reprieve when the High Court of Justice gave the state until July 15, 2021 to explain its failure to evacuate the compound.

Regavim, the NGO actively working for 11 years to see that the evacuation is carried out, condemned the delay. Though this latest ruling is another postponement in this long legal battle, Regavim’s petition has not been thrown out and still stands.

Source:
State has until July to update court on failure to evacuate Khan Al-Ahmar, by Tovah Lazaroff. Jerusalem Post, November 29, 2020

Nikki Haley, former United States ambassador to the United Nations, called on the Trump administration to declassify a report detailing the current number of Palestinian refugees who are receiving aid from the United Nations Works and Relief Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

Haley tweeted, “Very important that the Trump administration declassify the report that provides a current estimate of the number of Palestinian refugees who are receiving support. This goes to the heart of speaking hard truths in the name of moving peace forward.”

Haley’s tweet linked to last week’s New York Post op-ed authored by Foundation for Defense of Democracies Senior Adviser Richard Goldberg and Senior Vice President for Research Jonathan Schanzer. The op-ed noted that Congress required the State Department in 2012 to produce a report on the number of Palestinian refugees receiving aid from UNRWA that were alive in 1948; the report was completed and sent to congressional appropriations committees years later, but the report remains classified today.

Goldberg and Schanzer wrote that, “The public release of these figures could spark an international debate over UNRWA’s mandate.” AFSI asks the question, What debate? The truth should not be up for debate. No more suppression of the real numbers. We agree with the statement in the op-ed, “…Palestinian refugees are narrowly defined as people who were personally displaced from then-Palestine between 1948 and 1949 and aren’t currently citizens or permanent residents of the Palestinian Authority or any country.”

We look forward to the Trump administration de-classifying the report to expose the real numbers. Let’s put an end to this long-standing falsehood and move on.

Sources:
Haley calls on administration to release classified report on Palestinian refugees, by Aaron Bandler. Jewish Journal, November 25, 2020

How Trump can expose biggest lie in Middle East: Palestinian ‘refugee’ myth, by Jonathan Schanzer and Richard Goldberg. New York Post, November 23, 2020

Brigadier General Ghassan Alian, Commander of the Civil Administration, during a hearing in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee: The Palestinian Authority employs hundreds of people to register real estate in Judea and Samaria – including in areas under full Israeli control, while the Civil Administration has only about 20 people dealing with this issue.

Alian’s remarks were made in the context of this morning’s (Monday) Foreign Affairs and Defense Subcommittee hearing, chaired by MK Gideon Saar. The hearing, initiated by MKs Uzi Dayan, Moshe Arbel, Yitzhak Pindros and Bezalel Smotrich, examined the renewal of land registration and regulation procedures in Judea and Samaria.

Meir Deutsch, Director General of the Regavim Movement, who participated in the hearing, says that the data provided by the Civil Administration reflect the Israeli government’s operational, organizational and moral bankruptcy.

“Land regulation and registration is a complex process that is the responsibility of the sovereign. Aside from the fact that the Palestinian Authority is treating Area C as its own sovereign territory – and there has been no Israeli response to speak of – the shameful inaction of the Israeli government to carry out land registration in Judea and Samaria is a moral failure. In essence, the government is making a statement through this inaction that it is not the sovereign in the area.”
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The Regavim Movement in a protest demonstration at the entrance to the Ben Gurion State Memorial Ceremony in Sde Boker: “85,000 illegal structures – not in Ben Gurion’s vision for the Negev!”

Regavim activists prepared a special reception for Prime Minister Netanyahu, upon his arrival at the state memorial service for David Ben-Gurion in Sde Boker.

At the entrance to the complex, signs were hung indicating that in the last decade, 35,000 illegal structures had been added to the Negev’s alarming tally of lawlessness.

Next to the signs stood “David Ben-Gurion,” who read excerpts from Ben-Gurion’s historic speech of 1948, interspersed present-day data.

“What are we defending? I can not accept the suggestion that we refrain from protecting our interests in the desert – precisely because we must defend Tel Aviv. If we do not take a stand in the Negev – Tel Aviv will not stand.” 

Source:
Reports from Regavim, by Naomi Linder Kahn. Regavim, November 22 & 23, 2020

Thirty-five years after he began serving a life sentence for passing classified information to an ally, former Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard will soon be able to make aliyah to Israel. On Friday, the US Parole Commission formally lifted his parole restrictions.

Pollard, 66, and his wife, Esther, said through their spokespeople on Saturday night that they want to move to Israel “as soon as possible and fulfill their dream of living together in Israel.” First, they said, Esther’s fight against breast cancer requires setting up the proper medical arrangements.

AFSI is thrilled with this positive development. A long standing and grave injustice has finally been reversed. We wish the Pollards well, especially a refuah shlema – a total recovery – for Esther Pollard. We also look forward to the possibility of meeting with them on our next Chizuk Mission trip to Israel – may it be soon.

Source:
Israeli leaders tell ‘Post’: Ready for Pollard’s aliyah, by Gil Hoffman and Celia Jean. Jerusalem Post, November 22, 2020

IDF and Border Police forces were brought in to evacuate the students from the rebuilt Homesh yeshiva in Samaria Monday morning. The yeshiva was part of the Homesh community which was one of the four Jewish communities of Samaria which were destroyed as part of the disastrous 2005 Disengagement.

During the evacuation, Border Police forces acted violently, demolishing the Holy Ark in the yeshiva, destroying the tent built to shelter the students from the rain, and confiscating electrical equipment.

Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan who was expelled from Sa-Nur himself, expressed shock at the incident and said: “This is an unusual incident, I want it to be investigated in depth. There have been many evictions in the past and unfortunately there will probably be more until the settlement is rebuilt, however there is no reason and no explanation for such photographs. I expect the issue to be investigated in depth.”

Source:
Shock in Samaria: Border police trash synagogue ark, by Arutz Sheva Staff. Arutz Sheva, November 23, 2020

“May I not be the last Secretary of State to visit this beautiful land,” Pompeo wrote in Psagot winery’s guestbook.

A history making visit to Judea and Samaria by US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo was made today. This is the first official visit of an American Secretary of State to Judea and Samaria since 1967.

Excerpt from the Binyamin Regional Council official statement:
“We consider this visit to be an important message that sees Binyamin as a valuable and significant region for the State of Israel, which it is no less important to visit than other Israeli sites.We are extremely hopeful that representatives from many governments will follow his {Pomepo’s} example and come to visit in Binyamin, to connect to the history and enjoy the wide range of exciting and moving experiences that this area has to offer.”

Excerpt from Remarks to the Press by Mike Pompeo:
“Today I want to make one announcement with respect to a decision by the State Department that we will regard the global anti-Israel BDS campaign as anti-Semitic. …I want you to know that we will immediately take steps to identify organizations that engage in hateful BDS conduct, and withdraw US government support for such groups.”

Source:
Pompeo: May I not be the last Sec. of State to visit Judea and Samaria, by Arutz Sheva Staff. Arutz Sheva, November 19, 2020

Binyamin council praises historic visit, by Binyamin Regional Council. Arutz Sheva, November 19, 2020

Remarks to the Press, by Secretary Michael R. Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Department of State Press Release, November 19, 2020

“This is a historic day. It’s not only a private visit, it’s also a declaration of the historic truth and moral fortitude of leadership in the US that recognizes Israel’s rights to its homeland.”

Director of Regavim’s International Division, Naomi Kahn spoke with Arutz Sheva about US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Samaria.

“We’re here in our neighborhood in the historic heartland of Israel. We’re thrilled, honored and relieved to welcome to Judea and Samaria for the first time US Sec. of State Mike Pompeo, who has proven to be one of Israel’s strongest, most courageous friends.”

Source:
Land of Israel activists welcome Mike Pompeo to Samaria, by Hezki Baruch. Arutz Sheva, November 19, 2020