The head of the Samaria Council, Yossi Dagan, spoke with Israel National News about the continued attempts of the Palestinian Authority to destroy the biblical altar of Joshua in Samaria. He called on the Prime Minister to take responsibility for preserving the heritage and archaeological roots of the Jewish people.
“Our eyes are not closed at all. We are all aware of the damage that the Palestinian Authority tries to do time and time again to the site on Mt. Ebal. The Palestinian Authority is systematically trying to destroy the heritage sites of the Jewish people, including in Judea and Samaria.”
Druze activists are emulating their Jewish counterparts in Judea and Samaria (YESH) with the establishment of outposts on state land in northern Israel.
The blatantly illegal outposts are being set up in Carmel and the Galilee by Druze activists wearing bright yellow tee shirts proclaiming “Ad Kan.” It is ironic to note that there is also an Israeli NGO called “Ad Kan” that was started in 2015 by Israeli security personnel to defend Israel’s Zionist character from internal and external anti-Israel forces.
This is but another form of an illegal land grab. We await the government’s response, which we trust will be swift.
Israel harshly criticized the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) this week for plans to designate the ancient city of Jericho as a Palestinian World Heritage site. The vote could come in two weeks when the World Heritage Committee convenes in Saudi Arabia in two weeks.
MK Dan Illouz (Likud) blasted the decision, saying “Jericho is first and foremost a city of biblical significance… and was the crossing point of the Israelites into the Land of Israel after wandering in the desert for forty years following the Exodus from Egypt. In a letter to UNESCO President Audrey Azoulay, Illouz referred to this Israel hating decision as archaeologically false, plus “an insult to Jews, but also an insult to Christians around the world who admire the site for its biblical history.”
The Knesset Land of Israel Caucus conducted an emergency field tour of threatened archaeological sites of the region. Avraham Binyamin, Regavim’s Director of Parliamentary Affairs said: “Once again, UNESCO has been exposed as an anti-Israel body that denies facts and history and violates its own charter, principles, and signed treaties. The enormity of Jewish history that lies on and below the surface of Jericho cannot be obscured, and we must not allow the Palestinian Authority to rewrite history while it continues to demolish and erase the ancient Jewish history of this land.”
The PA has also been slowly destroying the archaeological site of Joshua’s altar described in the Bible. Despite assurances by the Israeli government that they would work to prevent the destruction, construction has begun on an entire neighborhood on Mount Ebal in Northern Samaria
Yes, Israel cannot allow this to happen, but it needs to act now. Land grabs have been going on for way too long and now a so-called “world body” like UNESCO wants to help speed up the process. We will watch closely to see what steps Israel’s leadership takes to stop this latest attempt to eradicate Israel from the map.
Minister for the Advancement of the Status of Women May Golan, a resident of south Tel Aviv, spoke with Arutz Sheva about Saturday’s violent clashes between Eritrean infiltrators in her neighborhood.
Golan says that while riots of this scope are unprecedented, “I’m not surprised, I’m not surprised at all. I know that the majority of the public here in Israel and the public that follows Israel is surprised, but I’ve been witnessing this violence for decades, and I know what these people are capable of. We have a serious problem with the illegal infiltrators who come here because we lack a serious immigration policy in Israel, one that I’ve been fighting for the past 15 years.”
Thanks to May Golan’s steadfast work on this issue, there appears to be not only hope, but action, on the horizon. It was announced that MK Simcha Rothman will advance a bill greatly limiting migration into Israel. If the bill passes, Israel will have a set annual quota for people gaining refugee status in the country.
May Golan is a longtime friend of AFSI, and she has been dedicated to bringing attention to and demanding a solution for the Eritrean (and Sudanese) infiltrators. With Israel’s security forces always on the highest alert to defend the country against terrorism, one would think the violent attacks by these illegal immigrants would be a priority in Israel’s security arsenal to protect its citizens. An immigration policy was needed yesterday but we are grateful to learn of MK Rothman’s initiative. May and Simcha receive AFSI’s highest praise for keeping this critical matter front and center with the public and the Knesset.
Beyadenu has filed a petition with Israel’s High Court of Justice against the government, the police, and the Jerusalem municipality. Their petition calls for immediate action to prevent the Jordanian Waqf from disposing of garbage within the Temple Mount area.
Tom Nisani, CEO of Beyadenu, expressed concern, stating, “Imagine what would happen if, heaven forbid, garbage were deposited in front of the Vatican’s Papal residence. The situation on the Temple Mount is even more grave. Until the State of Israel demonstrates reverence for its holy places, it cannot expect others to respect its connection to them.”
The dumping of garbage on Israel’s holiest site, the Temple Mount, is deliberate and Israel’s security authorities must step up to the plate, condemn it, and fully enforce the law. The word “disgrace” doesn’t even come close to describing how pathetic this repeated scenario is. We are at a loss for words.
Chen Amir, a 42-year-old municipal security guard was murdered on Saturday afternoon in a terrorist shooting attack on Montefiore Street in Tel Aviv. One of two security guards was able to neutralize the terrorist, who later died in the hospital.
On Friday near Givat Oz Zion in Binyamin, a shepherd was attacked by Arabs. Today he filed a complaint with the Judea and Samaria District Central Police Station against the Arab rioters who attacked him and another group of Israelis with clubs, rocks, and fireworks. Yehiel Indore, who is still hospitalized and recovering from head surgery was seriously injured in the rioters’ attack. Several other Israelis were also slightly injured.
MK Limor Sonn Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit) on Saturday evening slammed the defense system for arresting a former parliamentary assistant following a lynch on Jewish shepherds on Friday. “When a patrolman in Tel Aviv eliminates a terrorist, he receives praise from all of the defense bodies, but when a Jew defends his life in Binyamin from an Arab mob which has come to kill him, he is arrested while he is still injured,” she said. “I suggest the defense system turn its strength to dealing with the ‘terror nests’ instead of persecuting the residents of Binyamin, who hold onto our land with dedication.”
Following the terror attack, the IDF announced that it will raise the level of alert on the “seam line” and the crossings, due to concern of attempted infiltrations by terrorists. As long as every nook and cranny is not sealed, unfortunately, the likelihood of terrorist attacks will continue. Israel’s security forces must become obsessed with closing the gaps and not obsessed with criminalizing Jews like terrorists every time they defend themselves from terror attacks. Besides, treating Jews like terrorists only empowers PA Arabs. The one gap that still needs to be filled and the best defense against terror is the application of Sovereignty! The current right-wing government needs to step up to the plate and make this happen – NOW. Enough said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is confident his government can achieve some form of normalization with Saudi Arabia in the coming months, Netanyahu said in an interview with Bloomberg Television broadcasted on Monday.
“I think that we are about to witness a pivot of history,” he told Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua. “First, there is an economic corridor of energy, transport and communications that naturally goes through our geography from Asia through the Arabian Peninsula to Europe.
Netanyahu downplayed claims that the Palestinian issue played a significant role in negotiations. “Is that what’s being said in corridors? Is that what’s being said in discreet negotiations? The answer is a lot less than you think,” he said. Asked what concessions Israel would be willing to make to the Palestinians, the prime minister refused to give specific examples. “I’ll tell you what I’m not willing to give. I’m not willing to give anything that will endanger Israel’s security. That I will not do, but I think there is enough room to discuss possibilities,” he said.
Without the application of Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, Israel’s security IS endangered. The discussion of Israel’s Sovereignty over this area must never be questioned or brought to the negotiating table as a bargaining chip.
Six people were wounded in a terrorist attack in Maaleh Adumim on Tuesday afternoon near a shopping mall in the city One person, age 40, was in serious condition.
An off-duty officer in the Border Police who was on his way to get a haircut heard shooting and yelling and began searching for the terrorist who was found to be shooting towards and into the mall. He opened fire at the officer, the officer returned fire, eliminating the terrorist.
Later in the day on Tuesday evening a terrorist attempted to carry out a stabbing attack at a bus stop at the Eshtamoa Junction in the southern Hebron Hills. The terrorist was neutralized.
Wednesday morning a terror attack occurred at the Hamra Junction east of Shechem. A woman in her 30’s was lightly wounded in the face by flying shards of glass when a terrorist fired on her car from a passing vehicle on Highway 57. The woman’s husband and two children, who were in the car at the time of the shooting, suffered no injuries. This attack took place near the same location that recently took the lives of Lucy, Maia and Rina Dee.
The Israeli Supreme Court on Wednesday denied the petition by left-wing organizations against the resettling of the village of Homesh and ordered its erasure. The erasure comes due to the annulment of the Disengagement Law from Northern Samaria and the state’s announcement that it intends to regulate Homesh.
Try as the opposition might, nothing can stop what is coming. The official act of regulating Homesh is now in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hands. It’s high time for the current right-wing government to act on its principles and promises and regulate the community of Homesh sooner rather than later. Israel’s future is waiting.
A resident of Efrat noticed from the balcony of his house that Palestinian Authority Arabs were carrying out surveying work in the valley adjacent to the town’s fence, which is in Area C, under full Israeli control.
Documentation and a report to the Regavim movement revealed that the Council of Artas, the Palestinian Authority village located between Bethlehem and Efrat, issued a call to the residents of the area to register their lands in the complex known by them as Umm Rukba in the Palestinian Authority property registry. The announcement to the public was even published on the council’s Facebook page.
Regavim has repeatedly warned that this is a phenomenon occurring in recent years on a huge scale and is just another example of systematic land grabs.
“The Government of Israel, Minister-in-Charge Smotrich and members of the Cabinet – wake up! Gush Katif 2 is happening before our eyes every day and there is no enforcement and no significant action, not even in the current government, against this serious and dangerous phenomenon. The Palestinian state is being built before our eyes and within arm’s reach of us.”
