Author: AFSI Staff

Despite this week’s rocket attacks against Israel, a delegation of Spanish lawmakers visited Judea and Samaria to condemn Hamas terror and BDS.

Delegation member Juan Carlos Girauta commented: “Hamas missiles don’t differentiate between Israelis, neither should Europe. Boycotts of Israeli goods are anti-Semitic and detrimental to any efforts to achieve lasting peace in the region. When Europeans boycott Israel, they are actually boycotting peace, as Israeli industry brings together Israeli and Palestinians, bettering the lives of both.”

Initiated by the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Jordan Valley Regional Council, the delegation will visit visit farmers, factories and industrial zones in Judea, Samaria, Jordan Valley and the Golan to witness Israelis and Palestinians working together – a stark contrast to the BDS narrative. We like that.

Arutz Sheva story HERE.

At the time of this writing, the IDF identified 200 rockets that were fired into Israel today. Of the 200 fired, the IDF reports its Iron Dome has intercepted 60.

Among the casualties: a 19-year-old Israeli man was seriously wounded; United Hatzalah reported that ten people were treated for injuries; multiple Israeli homes have been hit by rocket fire.

There have been some miracles. Among them is the bus that was targeted (photo below). Every person on the bus had already exited the bus BEFORE the rocket struck. Thank G-d there were no casualties here.

AFSI mourns the death IDF officer Lt. Colonel M., 41 and father of two, who was killed during an operation in the Gaza strip Sunday night. PM Netanyahu called him a “much-praised warrior…one day the full extent of his heroism will be told. The people of Israel owe him a great debt.”

The Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which generates ideas and policies for the Social Democratic Party, a governing party in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government, was ready to present its Human Rights Award to the Women’s March USA on November 12. The award has now been rescinded.

Last week, the doctoral students associated with the foundation accused the Women’s March USA organizers of extreme antisemitism and support of the BDS campaign that specifically targets Israel.

“An organization that may support feminism, but discriminates against Jews and Zionists and denies Israel’s right to exist should not be honored by a democratic foundation that advocates diversity and speaks out against discrimination,” the students wrote in their letter.

AFSI applauds the doctoral students because they lead by example in affecting this important decision on behalf of the truth about Israel. We hope that more people, especially the younger generations, will follow their lead and stand for the truth about Israel.

Read the Jerusalem Post story HERE.

Selective Discrimination?

The Israeli Supreme Court has rejected a petition by the heads of the “Otzma Yehudit” party challenging a police decision to limit the use of metal detectors at the entrance of the Temple Mount to Jews and other non-Muslim visitors.

The petition states that equality was not being adhered to since only tourists and Jews are required to pass through metal detectors, while Muslims are not inspected at all.

Arutz Sheva story HERE.

JNS Daily Syndicate reports that the pro-Israel group, Im Tirtzu, was denied permission by Bar-Ilan University from distributing its “Nakba Nonsense” and “Palestinian Refugee Lie” booklets. These booklets have been distributed for years in other Israeli universities with no issue.

Bar-Ilan University responded, “If such booklets were distributed on a college campus abroad, with an Israeli flag or a Star of David hanging on someone’s nose, we would all agree that it is anti-Semitic and racist material.”

We have issue with this statement. There’s a huge difference between racist material and material whose purpose is to educate its people about the terrorist forces working against the very survival of the Jewish Nation State. The truth matters.

The country of Oman hosted Prime Minister Netanyahu for a surprise visit last week.

Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Oman’s minister of foreign affairs, stated that it was time for Israel to be accepted in the Middle East. “Israel is a state in the region, and we all understand this. …our priority is to put an end to the conflict and move to a new world.”

We like hearing it. Jerusalem Post report HERE.

It’s only been five days since the deadliest attack on Jews in America took place in a Pittsburgh, PA synagogue and the University of Michigan University is holding a BDS event with anti-Israel advocates.

This disgraceful event also follows on the heels of a professor and student teacher at the university who both refused to write students letters of recommendations for study abroad programs in Israel.

JNS story HERE.

Etz Chayim synagogue in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh, this past Shabbat, October 27, was the scene of a slaughter, displaying pure evil and baseless hatred. While a bris, celebrating new life and joy was scheduled to be held, a heinous and vile attack was committed against innocent Jewish lives while they prayed. There has never been such an attack against the Jewish community in America with eleven lives lost and a number wounded – some very seriously. We pray it may never happen again.

Israeli emergency response group ZAKA’s international unit is waiting at the scene of the Pittsburgh attack for permission to enter and treat the bodies of the murdered, which are still at the scene.

Here is a summary of what leaders around the world are saying:

“…We just don’t seem to learn from the past. There must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism in America or for any form of religious or racial hatred or prejudice,” stated President Trump. The President is planning to visit Pittsburgh to pay his personal condolences to the bereaved families.

“The shooting in Pittsburgh is a painful reminder of continuing anti-Semitism. Jews across the world continue to be attacked for no other reason than their identity. Anti-Semitism is a menace to democratic values and peace, and should have no place in the 21st century,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. Though AFSI appreciates Guterres’ truthful statement, we’d like to see his words turn into action at the agency he heads. With all the anti-Jewish-anti-Israel-anti-Semitic actions and hypocrisy at the UN, his words have no meaning unless the UN reverses course NOW!!

“To all the anti-Semites out there on Twitter: Am Yisrael Chai!,” tweeted Ambassador Ron Dermer.

“When Jews are murdered in Pittsburgh, the people of Israel feel pain. All Israel are responsible for one another,” said Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett, who visited and met with the community in Pittsburgh and participated in the funerals of those killed in the attack.

Horrible memories of the Fogel family attack in Itamar surfaced for Israel’s Consul General in New York, Dani Dayan, who is also in Pittsburgh now.

An excellent editorial in The New York Sun, “The Tree of Life Massacre,” for further reading is HERE.

Bolivian UN ambassador, Sacha Sergio ‎Llorenti Soliz, has invited Randa Siniora, a known supporter of the anti-Israel BDS movement, to ‎address the Security Council. Soliz is also responsible for having recently invited B’Tselem’s Hagai El-Ad to address the council.

Bolivia has a long track record of human rights violations. This country is believed to be the epicenter ‎of massive human trafficking rings, including ‎trafficking in women and children for forced labor ‎and prostitution.

Ambassador Danny Dayan lambasted Bolivia for its latest attempt to promote its anti-Israel agenda at the UN. ‎”The circus of Bolivian hypocrisy continues. Bolivia ‎tramples women’s rights and invites the head of an ‎anti-Israel group to speak at the UN all while ‎talking about women’s rights and peace.”

YNet story HERE.

Ruth Matar, Co-Founder of the Women in Green, passed away on Saturday.

Founded in 1993 with her husband and originally called “Women for Israel’s Tomorrow,” the group sought to destroy media stereotypes of those opposing land concessions by showing mothers, housewives, and career women who could intelligently articulate Israel’s cause.

Women in Green has been leading the discourse over the vision of full Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.

Nadia Matar, Ruth’s daughter-in-law, together with Yehudit Katzover, currently lead the Women in Green. Nadia recently recounted Ruth’s influence. “Ruth taught us all that we must not be silent and that when a Jew is in distress, you leave everything else aside and mobilize to help him…loyalty is the highest virtue – loyalty to the People, to the Torah, to the Land and to the family.

May the family be comforted among all those who mourn for Zion and Jerusalem and may they know no more sorrow.