Author: AFSI Staff

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Adjunct Minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich last Thursday signed an agreement. This is in keeping with the coalition agreement between Likud and Religious Zionism, regulating the division of powers between them regarding managing Judea and Samaria.

According to the agreement, most of the powers of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria will be transferred to Smotrich, including the central supervision unit responsible for enforcing construction laws. However, Gallant will have the authority to exercise enforcement against illegal construction defined as a “fresh incursion,” and demolishing it constitutes “security urgency.” Still, Smotrich must be informed ahead of such action.

Now that powers have been officially transferred, it is mandatory that Jews in Judea and Samaria receive the protection and services they need and that they be allowed to develop the land. We trust that Israel can look forward to Jews being treated with the respect they deserve and not like terrorists.

Source:
Gallant, Smotrich Reach Compromise on Running Judea and Samaria, by David Israel/Jewish Press, February 23, 2023

The Knesset passed the first two pieces of legislation relating to the government’s judicial reform plan. This followed a noisy six-hour-plus debate that ended after midnight Tuesday. Both bills passed by a vote of 63 to 47. This is the first of three readings.

The first bill amends Basic Law: The Judiciary so that the Supreme Court can’t invalidate basic laws, which are considered to have quasi-constitutional status in Israel. The second bill changes the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee to give elected officials a majority in choosing judges both for the Supreme Court and lower courts.

MK Simcha Rothman stated: “The Supreme Court is the one that harmed judicial authority. Only those who ‘have the right stuff,’ only those who ‘are part of the family’ are eligible to become a judge in the Supreme Court.”

Throughout the evening, opposition and coalition MKs traded barbs as they mounted the Knesset podium. To date, the opposing side has not come forward with their list of suggested reforms. Opposition leaders have refused to answer President Isaac Herzog’s request that the two sides come together to work out their differences. What is their answer to combat the 28 year abuses of judicial power? Silence so far.

Source:
Judicial reform advances in Knesset after heated debate, by Mati Tuchfeld and JNS/Israel Hayom, February 21, 2023

Four-and-a-half years after the destruction of 15 homes in Elazar’s Netiv Ha’avot neighborhood, Wednesday morning, the Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Committee greenlighted 433 housing units in the neighborhood.

In addition, over 1,000 units were approved throughout Gush Etzion, and the eastern Gush community of Pnei Kedem was officially registered within the Israel Land Registry.

We remember all too well Israel’s Supreme Court order of the demolition of 15 Netiv Ha’avot homes, which was carried out in June 2018. The court ordered the entire houses destroyed even though only a mere two precent of the buildings were built on land where the ownership was in question.

Gush Etzion Regional Council Head Shlomo Ne’eman responded favorably, “Today’s approval of over 400 units, to be built alongside the 68 homes currently in Netiv Ha’avot, along with the other approvals throughout Gush Etzion and Judea and Samaria as a whole, is a tremendous boost.

While this is certainly great news, it cannot erase the horrible destruction of Jewish homes and lives. Nothing can bring back what once was. We can only hope that under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new coalition that new communities are built throughout Gush Etzion, Judea and Samaria, and the entire Land of Israel.

Source:
4 years after destruction: New homes approved in Gush Etzion neighborhood, by Israel National News, February 22, 2023

Israel’s government is expected to limit the entry of Jews to the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

At a meeting, Israel’s security forces were asked to close the Temple Mount to Jews during the final 10 days of the month as was done in previous years. MK Itamar Ben-Gvir shouted during the discussion, “Even the Bennet government didn’t limit entry like you want to. The previous government closed the site for nine days, and the defense establishment wanted 10. I don’t think we need to close the Temple Mount to Jews at all.”

Whether the prior government closed the Temple Mount for nine or ten days doesn’t matter. The decision to close then, as with the government now, is nothing more than a continuation of Israel caving to terror and it must STOP!

Source:
Government to limit Jewish entry to Temple Mount during Ramadan, by Israel National News, February 19, 2023

The Coalition announced Wednesday afternoon that a planned vote on the Override Clause, a key element of the judicial reform plan, has been cancelled. The Override Clause is a controversial amendment to the country’s Basic Laws which would explicitly empower the Knesset to veto Supreme Court rulings overturning Knesset laws and curb judicial activism by the high court.

Coalition chairman Ofir Katz said the decision to nix the planned votes was made in response to the request by President Isaac Herzog. It was done to foster goodwill between the Coalition and the Opposition and in the hopes of facilitating talks towards a compromise. This was denied by MK Simcha Rothman and Justice Minister Yariv Levin.

Despite this, the passage of the judicial reform plan will continue without delay. MK Rothman remains firm on his goal: “Returning power to the Israeli democratic process and bringing Israel in line with almost every known Western democracy.”

Sources:
Coalition cancels vote on key bill in judicial reform package, by Hezki Baruch/Israel National News, February 15, 2023

Returning power to democracy: Understanding the Israeli judicial reform, by MK Simcha Rothman/Israel National News, February 15, 2023

The bill to repeal the Disengagement Act of 2005, was passed by the Knesset in a preliminary reading on Wednesday by a majority of 62 to 36.

This shameful bill decreed the expulsion of close to 10,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria. It was enacted following Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s decision on what he termed euphemistically the “disengagement plan.” The terms “uprooting” and “exiling” of thousands of Jews seemed too real at the time.

There are many bad memories and haunting images the Jewish residents of this area had and still remember. With the first positive step taken yesterday to repeal the Disengagement Act of 2005, we pray they can look forward to a future that wipes out the evil endured during that terrible time.

Source:
Knesset Passes in 1st Reading a Bill Revoking Shameful ‘Disengagement Act’, by David Israel/Jewish Press, February 16, 2023

Israeli security forces on Wednesday morning evacuated a vineyard in Samaria’s Shiloh Valley belonging to Chen Ben Eliyahu’s Meshek Ahiya. The evacuation followed a 2021 High Court ruling that ordered the Civil Administration to destroy some 42 acres of vines.

MK Bezalel Smotrich sent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an irate letter headlined: “Urgent! The displacement of a vineyard in Binyamin due to delays in implementation of the agreement to transfer powers to the Civil Administration and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.”

Despite the orders of Netanyahu to halt the demolition, security forces resumed the destruction of the Jewish owned orchard in Samaria Wednesday. Let’s remember Netanyahu’s campaign promises. Now it’s time for him to keep them. Transfer of powers to Smotrich is required by the coalition agreement and must happen without further delay.

Sources:
Security forces resume demolishing Jewish grove after PM orders halt, by Israel National News, February 15, 2023

Smotrich Threatens Netanyahu over Uprooting of Shiloh Vineyard, Multiple Arrests, by David Israel/Jewish Press, February 15, 2023

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed on Tuesday to promote unrestrained construction in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, despite opposition from the Biden administration.

Smotrich said that the government needs to remove all restrictions on fully developing Judea and Samaria. “This area must be treated exactly as any other part of the State of Israel, and that is what will happen.”

Source:
Smotrich vows unrestrained building in Judea and Samaria despite US opposition, by JNS, February 14, 2023

Senior Likud officials and their coalition partners said Monday that they would continue the judicial reform process despite President Isaac Herzog’s call Sunday for a pause in the Knesset committee discussions and votes so that the sides could negotiate a compromise.

While acknowledging that “there are positive elements” in the president’s proposal, Justice Minister Yariv Levin said that talks between the Opposition and coalition “should not be linked to the progress of the legislative procedures” so that they do not “become a means of foot-dragging to delay and prevent a substantial and significant reform in the judicial system.”

MK Simcha Rothman said he “welcomes the president’s initiative to hold real talks” and would be “happy to sit, without any delay, through the mediation of the president and wherever he chooses, with any representative of the opposition who wishes to do so” – but without any “preconditions,” such as delaying the legislative process.

Rothman did not budge from his stand that the details of the laws themselves had to be thrashed out in the Knesset, “the representative of the people,” because that is the only place where legislating can and should take place, he said, referencing former Supreme Court Justice and Israel Prize winner Moshe Zilberg.

All the opposition can do is respond with riots, screaming and shouting matches. That speaks volumes about what kind of changes they would like to see in the judicial reforms. To date, we have not heard any suggestions they wish to see. Have you?

Source:
Judicial reform passes first reading, despite president’s call for a pause and rowdy opposition, by Batya Jerenberg/World Israel News, February 13, 2023

In response to the murderous terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, the Security Cabinet decided unanimously to authorize nine communities in Judea and Samaria.

Some of these communities have existed for many years, if not decades. It was agreed to authorize:

1. Avigil
2. Bet Hogla
3. Givat Harel / Haroeh
4. Givat Arnon
5. Mitzpe Yehuda
6. Malachei Hashalom
7. Ashael
8. Sde Boaz
9. Shaharit

The Civil Administration Higher Planning Committee will be convened in the coming days to approve the construction of new residential units in existing communities in Judea and Samaria.

The Sovereignty Movement responded to the news: “A new spirit is filling the land, a spirit of return to Zionist values, settlement, construction, and love for the Land of Israel…..we welcome the steps taken by the new government that restore the people in Israel to the Zionist vision of a sovereign Jewish state in our country.” Read their full statement.

Source:
Security Cabinet authorizes 9 communities in Judea and Samaria, by Israel National News, February 12, 2023