Author: AFSI Staff

Following up on last week’s announcement that BDS supporters, US Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib will plan a visit to Israel, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer on Friday said that they will not be denied entry to Israel. Dermer cited the reason being “out of respect for the U.S. Congress, and the great alliance between Israel and America, we would not deny entry to any member of Congress into Israel.”

While we can understand the need to maintain the “great alliance between Israel and America,” Dermer may have forgotten that the US has a president who just recently publicly called out Omar-Tlaib for being anti-semitic. Would a denial of entry to Israel really have fractured the US-Israel relationship? We think not. We are not happy with this decision as it goes against Israel’s policy of not allowing BDS supporters to enter Israel.

Israeli NGO Im Tirtzu launched a petition turning to the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Public Security Minister, Israeli Ambassador to the US, and other Israeli officials with the request: Do not allow Omar and Tlaib to enter Israel! Sign the petition HERE.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyau will decide soon whether US congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib will be allowed to enter Israel and what they refer to as the “West Bank” next month.

On Wednesday, Omar said that she and Tlaib were planning to visit Israel and the “West Bank” in “a few weeks.”

Both Omar and Tlaib harbor virulent anti-Israel sentiment as demonstrated by their support for BDS – the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Their planned trip could be cancelled by Jerusalem due to their support for BDS.

We trust that PM Netanyahu will do the right thing and stay consistent with Israel’s policy of not allowing BDS supporters to enter Israel.

President Donald Trump excoriated several unnamed Democratic lawmakers, calling on them to apologize to the US, to Israel, and to the “office of the presidency.”

Trump stated in a tweet on Monday, “When will the Radical Left Congresswomen apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Office of the President, for the foul language they have used, and the terrible things they have said. So many people are angry at them & their horrible & disgusting actions!”

AFSI says with confidence that the unnamed lawmakers President Trump was most likely targeting were Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley.

Thank you @realDonaldTrump for standing up for Israel!!

This Sunday four men were caught transporting room dividers with the intention of installing them in the Temple Mount that in recent months has been transformed by the Muslim Wakf into the Temple Mount’s newest mosque.

Several weeks ago, when it first became clear that the ancient structure was being turned into a mosque—in violation of the law protecting antiquities, in violation of the status quo and in violation of the principles of equal access and freedom of worship—Regavim asked the court to protect the site and the rights of Jewish worshipers and visitors.

In her JNS column, Naomi Kahn, Director of Regavim’s International Division, says that Israel’s failure to enforce the law on the Temple Mount sends the wrong message to the Islamic Wakf. Without Israel’s enforcement of the law, the message the Arabs are hearing is that they can do whatever they want and not be held accountable. AFSI SAYS THAT THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!

A nearly 25-year legal battle over a Jewish-owned building in eastern Jerusalem finally ended Wednesday morning, when Israeli police evicted Arab squatters from the property and transferred the building to its owners.

The property, located in the Silwan (Shiloah) neighborhood of the capital, was purchased from the State decades ago by the Elad organization – an NGO dedicated to reclaiming Jewish property in eastern Jerusalem.

Thousands of Judea and Samaria residents woke up on Sunday morning only to discover that central junctions throughout Judea and Samaria were decorated with PLO flags. The flags, hung on highway light poles in a manner befitting the visit of a foreign dignitary, generated hundreds of angry calls to municipal councils in the area from residents who were certain this had been the doing of the gang from Ramallah.

In a startling twist, residents quickly learned that Israel’s NGO Regavim was responsible for this secret overnight operation as part of their wakeup-call campaign “Terror State Around the Corner.”

AFSI applauds Regavim’s latest campaign. Regavim has worked diligently for years to wake up the administration and the people to the Arab land grabs. We hope this latest use of shocking street theater will get people to pay attention to this very dangerous situation.

See AFSI’s suggested further reading in Arutz Sheva on this subject:

“Likud presses to cancel PA land theft discussion.” Regavim responds to report that Likud thwarted initiative to raise illegal PA construction issue for Knesset discussion.”

‘Illegal Arab town must not be allowed inside Shilo bloc.’ Minister calls for crackdown on illegal construction, as work progresses on new Arab town. ‘We ignore too much illegal Arab construction.’

AFSI has seen evidence of the Arab stealth plan on all its Chizuk missions for the past ten years, at least. AFSI has worked with Women In Green to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, many in the Israeli public, and the administration, have ignored the hard evidence and now we are reaching the critical pivotal point. The alarm has sounded. It is past due time to WAKE UP!!!!

Wake-up call! They’re devouring our Land is Sara Haetzni-Cohen’s Artuz Sheva OpEd and a very important read.

The focus of this article is Area C – the territory under Israeli civil and security control (since the Oslo Accords). Approximately sixty percent of the territory of Judea and Samaria falls under this definition, including all of the Jewish communities, roads, IDF bases, firing ranges and more. Most of the territory is not settled or farmed. But this territory only seems to be under Israeli control. What is happening there is actually persistent, sophisticated, and creeping Arab annexation. Most Israelis are not interested at all in what is happening “over there”. Even most of the Jews living in Judea and Samaria are not interested. It is not terror that explodes and interrupts the flow of life; it is not a boycott that threatens the basis of the economy, it is done quietly and persistently, and very soon it will be too late. The nooses around the Jewish communities and the arteries of Jewish life are tightening.

Iran announced yesterday that it increased its uranium enrichment beyond the limit set forth in the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers.

In response to Iran’s announcement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on world leaders to take action. “It is a very, very dangerous step,” Israel’s prime minister said. “I’m asking you not to provoke, but out of joint knowledge of history and what happens when aggressive totalitarian regimes can cross the threshold toward things that are very dangerous to us all. Take the steps that you promised. Enact the sanctions.”

In an unprecedented decision on Monday, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the Palestinian Authority is liable for civil damages for a series of terror attacks carried out during the Second Intifada (2000-2005). The decision was obtained by Shurat Hadin on behalf of eight victims’ families. As the case moves forward to its next stage, the PA could be responsible for compensating the families with a maximum of $1 billion in damages.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, President of Shurat Hadin, told the court that if they won the lawsuit, it would be difficult to collect the compensation from the Arafat estate, and as a result she requested a lien on the property.

Is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirming his commitment to the Jewish residents of the South or is this another empty promise?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chaired a security cabinet meeting at IDF Gaza Division HQ this morning vowing to “do what is necessary” to end the intolerable situation for Israelis living in the Gaza periphery. @IsraeliPM

Netanyahu also spoke about his commitment to working to achieve more for the Ethiopian community, which has seen violent protests for the last three days in response to the killing of an Ethiopian teen by an off-duty policeman.

Arutz Sheva reports former Mayor of Jerusalem MK Nir Barkat stating, “Unfortunately, I heard that the NIF [New Israel Fund] poured out its resources to fan the flames. I’ve spoken with Ethiopian friends and they said they received assistance from the NIF,”

Ethiopian Israelis Continue to Protest as Family of Victim Calls for Calm ~Herb Keinon, Jerusalem Post Staff, Anna Ahronheim