US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, spoke at a major conference this week emphasizing that Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria are not in violation of international law.
Friedman has been in office three years now. “Since coming here I’ve worked to add one more item to a busy agenda: helping to find a fix to the issues that still linger from the Six Day War.”
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett toured the Jordan Valley on Monday with Jordan Valley Regional Council Chairman and Chairman of the Yesha Council David Elhayani.
On their tour, they observed the town of Petza’el from Highway 505. The observation provided the minister with a comprehensive overview of Arab construction and the massive takeover of state land in Area C. Subsequently, the minister passed through the emergency center of the Jordan Valley to the Council and the IDF, where they heard about the daily work of the hotline staff.
Bennett said: “I will start from the end: I am not from the UN. I am fully in favor of settlement [sic], this is my policy. As Minister of Defense, I have a clear position on expanding settlement [sic] in Judea and Samaria in the quickest, best and most powerful way. In Area C, there is a campaign here and we are on the scene. I have defined the mission of IDF and the security system to prevent all illegal Palestinian construction. This is political construction with the aim of gaining as much of our land as possible. Our goal is to build and maintain as much as possible in Area C. Our policy and the commander’s spirit are very clear.”
The Supreme Civil Planning Council met over the past two days and approved building plans for about 1,936 housing units throughout Judea and Samaria.
1,150 of the units were approved for deposit, the first stage of the planning process. 786 units were approved for final planning.
Among other things, a plan was approved for 258 housing units in Haresha, 180 housing units in Mitzpeh Dani, 147 housing units in Mitzpeh Yericho, 107 units in Elon Moreh, 100 in Neve Tzuf, and 40 in Peduel.
The Yesha Council responded to the approval of the units: “To our delight, construction in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley is commonplace and we are pleased to see that every few months plans are up in the Supreme Planning Council…..The time has come for extremist Leftist organizations to accept that the U.S. has also declared that settling in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley is not contrary to international law and that applying Israeli Sovereignty is a consensus in the State of Israel.”
Rabbi Chaim Leibish Rottenberg in upstate New York had just concluded the Hanukkah candle-lighting in his home on Sunday. With dozens of Hasidim gathered for the lighting, a masked man entered Rabbi Rottenberg’s home with a machete, stabbing five people before making a beeline to an adjacent synagogue where congregants had barricaded themselves. In order to defend themselves, Jews present in the house resorted to throwing chairs and tables at the intruder.
Two people are in critical condition. Fears of anti-Semitism are reignited once again not only among the insular ultra-Orthodox community, but among Jews everywhere. Sunday’s attack comes just a month after another stabbing attack and amid what officials have described as a spate of anti-Jewish assaults in the New York region.
The attacker fled the scene, but police later said they arrested a suspect after locating a car connected to the crime scene in New York City.
Strong-arm manipulation of Israel’s caretaker government: As a result of a pressure campaign by Joint Arab List MKs, Knesset Finance Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafni will convene a hearing to deliberate the suspension of Amendment 116 to Israel’s Planning and Building Code, otherwise known as the Kaminetz Law.
The Kaminetz Law was passed to combat the scourge of illegal construction throughout Israel, a phenomenon classified by Israel’s Supreme Court as a national epidemic.
The hearing is essentially another stage in the maneuver carried out by the Arab MKs in the late-night hearing that dissolved the outgoing Knesset and rescheduled the next round of elections. Taking advantage of the looming deadline and the necessity to legislate an alternative date for elections, MK Ahmed Tibi and other Arab MKs threatened to cast the necessary votes only on condition that the Kaminetz Law is repealed or suspended indefinitely. After representatives of Regavim rushed to the Knesset in the middle of the night to head off the Arab parties’ attempt to overthrow the government, right-wing MKs formulated a temporary fix: Only if the Justice Minister calls for amendments to the Kaminetz Law, a hearing will be held in the Knesset Finance Committee, and not the Interior Committee, which was disbanded with the dissolution of the Knesset.
We are troubled by this news and can only say that with no official government in place for Israel, these are the kinds of things that will happen. It is our fervent hope that with the next round of elections in March 2020 that there will be a coalition formed – one that has Israel’s best interests at the top of the list.
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett has signed an order to prevent convicted terrorists with Israeli citizenship, and their families, from receiving payments from the Palestinian Authority.
In what’s known as “pay-for-slay” payments, the PA guarantees financial support to Palestinians and Arab-Israelis who carry out attacks against Israeli citizens and are convicted or killed.
“We’ve moved to facts. This is another step in the campaign against terrorists, we are working so that Jewish blood will no longer be financially lucrative,” Bennett said in a statement. He pledged to employ all the legal tools available to prevent terrorists to receive financial support.
According to the statement, this is the first time that Israel is implementing such a measure. Although this will apply only to Israeli Arabs serving time in Israeli prisons, we think this will have much more impact than the previous system of withholding funds from the PA because in the past the PA could use other funds to pay the terrorists. It should not PAY TO SLAY Jews anywhere!
The inter-ministerial Committee to Promote Sovereignty in the Jordan Valley will convene in a week-and-a-half at the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Committee is preparing the plan for annexing the Jordan Valley and Northern Dead Sea to the State of Israel, in accordance with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s promise on the eve of the last election.
The Prime Minister’s Office said that “Netanyahu has made it clear that he will promote with full force the plan for applying Sovereignty in the Valley and the northern Dead Sea and will continue to do so.”
IDF fighter jets and helicopters attacked several Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip, including the organization’s military complexes, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said on Thursday. The attack was in response to rocket fire from Gaza at Israel on Wednesday night. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding an event in Ashkelon as the rocket sirens went off.
The IDF stressed that “Hamas is responsible for everything occurring in and out of the Gaza Strip and it will bear the consequences for actions against Israeli citizens.”
The Shin Bet announced last week that it arrested approximately 50 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), ending the investigation into the August 23 terror attack that killed 17-year-old Rina Shnerb. This operation also revealed the organization’s ties to the BDS movement.
A statement issued by NGO Monitor named multiple PFLP leaders who were linked to non-governmental organizations, several of which receive direct funding from the United Nations and taxpayer funding from Europe and other nations. Several of the alleged terrorists have worked as financial directors, accountants or fundraising directors for many of these organizations.
“To win the elections and secure the work he has devoted his life to, Netanyahu needs to start treating the forces seeking his destruction as Trump does the forces arrayed against him.” ~Caroline Glick
In her recent article, Caroline Glick lays out a comparison between US President Donald Trump and PM Benjamin Netanyahu and the forces within their respective countries that seek the destruction and removal of each of them. The similarities Glick points out are frightening real and ultimately threaten US and Israeli democracies.
The major difference between them is that President Trump realized “almost from the outset, …that the game against him was rigged.” One can also clearly see how Trump has fought back for the truth. With Netanyahu, it begs us to ask who is really in control of Israel’s government. Does Netanyahu need to emulate the ways of Donald Trump in order to protect Israeli democracy and the truth?
