Author: AFSI Staff

As Israel approaches its fourth week of war, which has been dubbed “Swords of Iron,” sparked on October 7th, when the Hamas terrorist organization launched a surprise attack by land, air, and sea. After a heavy barrage of several thousand rockets, Hamas terrorists invaded Israeli territory, infiltrating military bases and civilian population centers, where they massacred the inhabitants and took others captive. As of this writing over 1,400 Israelis have been killed, roughly 4,000 in many cases critically injured and at least 220 kidnapped remain in Hamas captivity.

Since the invasion and brutal massacre, the IDF has been striking terror targets in Gaza as their terror organizations continue to fire rockets into Israel. Meanwhile during the second week of the war, Hezbollah and other groups in Lebanon upped their attacks as well, targeting towns and military installations in northern Israel with rockets and anti-tank munitions. IDF forces have responded as needed and many villages and communities have been evacuated. There have been uprisings in Judea & Samaria, Southern Israel remains under attack, missile sirens are sounding in central Israel and today buildings in both Tel Aviv and Ashdod were directly hit. Not surprisingly, while pressure for “humanitarian aid” comes from many sources and anti-Israel and antisemitic rallies grow around the world (and particularly in the U.S.) in volume, Hamas seems to have no shortage of missiles to fire into the homeland.

There’s way too much for us to try to cover here but as we wish you all a Shabbat Shalom and send prayers for strength and safety to all of Israel and the IDF, we ask you to please read and share the below messages from our most dear friends Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar of the Sovereignty Movement on the definition of Victory and Aharon Pulver, of the Israel Independence Fund on living through these nightmarish times. Finally, we highlight an important article and video on Ambassador Gilad Erdan’s address to the UN regarding not caving into Iran, the country that has surrounded Israel with all of its terror proxies.

Source:
Live updates – Week three: Initial reports of missile impact in Tel Aviv building, by Israel National News, October 27, 2023

 

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations played a video of a Hamas terrorist attempting to decapitate one of its victims as he addressed the General Assembly during a debate on a Gaza war ceasefire.

“The man on the ground is an agricultural worker from Thailand. He is not Israeli. He is not Jewish. He was merely alive, trying to make a living for his family,” Erdan said as he held up a tablet with the video.

He spoke during the start of a two-day debate on a cease-fire for the Gaza War that began on October 7 when Hamas infiltrated southern Israel killing over 1,400 people and taking more than 224 hostages.

Erdan urged the UNGA not to call for a ceasefire which he said would only support the Iranian proxy group Hamas and allow it to rearm itself so it could launch further attacks against Israeli civilians.

Source:
Erdan shows UNGA video of Hamas decapitation at ceasefire debate, by Tovah Lazaroff/Jerusalem Post, October 26, 2023

 

Five Israeli Border Police officers were injured during a counter-terrorism operation in Samaria Thursday morning, the Israeli military said. The five officers were injured when an explosive device detonated while Israeli security forces were engaged in a firefight with Palestinian terrorists in a refugee camp adjacent the city of Tulkarem in western Samaria before dawn Thursday.

IDF soldiers and Border Police officers entered the camp overnight as part of an arrest operation to apprehend a wanted terrorist.

Rioters attacked the security forces with stones and firebombs, prompting the security personnel to respond with crowd dispersal techniques, including the use of smoke grenades.

Shortly thereafter, a terrorist shooting attack was reported outside of the Israeli town of Avnei Hefetz in Samaria.

“We hold Iran directly responsible for the wave of terrorism in Judea and Samaria, in encouraging and financing murderous operations against the citizens of Israel.”

Israel knows who is responsible and acts accordingly to defend itself. Now the US must come to its senses and remember who they are dealing with. The US needs to stop enriching Iran with sanctions relief, stop paying outrageous sums puportedly in exchange for the release of prisoners which only encourages the taking of more prisoners, and stop attempting to get into what will surely be disastrous deals with Iran. These necessary actions will remove the Iranian threat for not only Israel, but the US as well.

Source:
David Rosenberg/World Israel News, October 5, 2023

The military court in Judea heard an appeal today by activist Elisha Yered, against the administrative order issued against him by the Yehuda Fox, the IDF Central District commander. The order requires him to leave Judea and Samaria for six months, without indictment and without a trial.

Elisha Yered said at the beginning of the hearing: “This order banishes me from my home and was issued for political reasons only. You can like or dislike my activity, but it is open and far from dangerous. I engage in establishing new settlements in the Land of Israel, in outreach activities, and in protesting against terrorism without fear.”

To further illustrate how political this order is, Yered is forbidden to have contact with Rabbi Menachem Ben-Shachar who leads the fight against the terror attacks raging in Judea and Samaria.

At a visit to local residents and Yered’s family, Jonathan Pollard spoke out strongly in defense of Yered: “We have been commanded to settle the land that God gave to us. I believe that until this whole concept of excluding Jews from Judea and Samaria ceases, no government, including the current one, has the legitimacy to claim that they, politically and legislatively, represent the Jewish people.”

It’s a very dark day for Israel when their own expels a Jew from the home and land he has a legal right to live in. To add insult to injury, they dictate to him who he can and cannot have contact with. Sovereignty is the only answer that will put a stop to a horrendous order such as this.

Sources:
Right-wing activists: ‘Administrative removal to silence political opponents’, by Israel National News, October 5, 2023

Pollard slams government over ban on Elisha Yered entering Judea and Samaria, by Israel National News, October 4, 2023

 

Residents of Beit Hagai on Tuesday night arrived at Hakvasim Square and began to dismantle the construction work taking place at the scene.

The residents dismantled a significant portion of the work which has been done at the square since the terror attack several weeks ago in which Batsheva Nigri was murdered.

Following the dismantling of the work, a convoy of vehicles entered the city of Hebron for a nighttime visit, in protest of the continued construction. “The entire land of Israel is ours,” the residents explained. “We will not be afraid to visit the entire area. No terrorist will deter us.”

“The construction here will not continue as if nothing happened,” the residents stressed. According to them, the traffic circle causes vehicles to slow down, making it easier for terrorists to harm Jews traveling through it.

Source:
Beit Hagai residents dismantle construction at scene of terror attack, by Israel National News, October 4, 2023

 

Some 3,000 Gilboa residents participated in a march on Wednesday to draw attention to the increasing number of terror attacks on their communities by Palestinian Authority terror groups in the Jenin area.

“I see the shooters from my house, literally every evening because of my proximity to the fence. They get out of the car, shoot, and run away,” Hagai Ziv, a resident of Kibbutz Meirav told the Tazpit Press Service.

“Personally, my house has been shot through the windows. I never thought I would see my daughter touching the bullet holes in the plaster of our house, it’s a terrible feeling.”

Kibbutz Meirav, located on the slopes of Mount Gilboa, has experienced gunfire on two separate occasions in the past two weeks. The kibbutz is also in range of Palestinian Authority rockets launched from northern Samaria.Source:

Gilboa Residents March for Stronger Measures Against Rising Palestinian Authority Terror, by Sveta Listratov/TPS-Tazpit News Agency, October 4, 2023 

 

 

 

Israeli and Saudi officials and leaders are reportedly frustrated with the Biden administration’s insistence on giving the Palestinian issue so much weight in the talks to reach a tripartite agreement between Saudi Arabia, the US, and Israel. Israel Hayom reported this on Monday, citing sources that are informed of the details, that the U.S. administration’s exaggerated obsession with the issue is impeding the process of normalizing ties and halting any breakthroughs.

One of the sources stated that disagreements regarding the central issues on the agenda, including the US-Saudi defense pact and the Saudi nuclear program, are not highly significant and can be overcome.

On the other hand, the source says the American emphasis on the Palestinian issue is so excessive that it can be the thing that collapses the entire process. Saudi officials criticized the US administration’s insistence on the issue as well.

It’s high time for the US to stay out of Israel’s affairs since they bring nothing but a destructive agenda to the table. The terms the US has for peace with any nation with Israel only endangers the security of Israel as a whole and threatens the safety of its population.

Sources:
Israeli, Saudi sources: US focus on Palestinians harming normalization, by Ariel Kahana/JNS, October 2, 2023

Israeli, Saudi officials fear US insistence on Palestinian issue can harm normalization, by Israel National News, October 2, 2023

 

A group of right-wing coalition Members of Knesset led by Simcha Rothman sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel Police Chief Kobi Shabtai demanding an examination of the treatment of Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount by police officers.

Akiva Ariel, the spokesman for the Beyadenu Temple Mount advocacy group, noted that police have been aggressive towards Jews at the Temple Mount during this holiday. The organization documented that Jews visiting the Temple Mount were met with severe violence by policemen. In the video, a policeman is seen turning off his body camera, approaching and brutally beating a young boy. The policemen were also observed trying to take cellphones by force and used threats and harsh language against them.

“So far, 22 Jews have been arrested on the Temple Mount. several of them for attempting to bring a lulav and etrog into the compound in order to perform the mitzvah that is specific to the holiday. Others were arrested for attempting to prostrate themselves on the holy stones.”

The Sukkot holiday is in progress and the Jewish people wish to ascend the Temple Mount to perform a mitzvah but still they are treated like criminals. Israel must assert its legal rights to the Temple Mount and become a government in control of its sovereign rights. This is a disgrace and there’s nothing else to be said about it or describe the ongoing shameful treatment of the Jewish people that this is.

Source:
MKs petition Netanyahu to improve treatment of Jews at Temple Mount, by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz/Israel365News, October 2, 2023

 

 

 

Samaria governor Yossi Dagan joined the Samaria march together with the Minister of Settlements Orit Strook. The march went towards the altar of the biblical Joshua in response to attempts to destroy the site by the Palestinian Authority.

The participants called to protect the historical sites in Judea and Samaria and protested the Palestinian Authority’s attempts to appropriate the Jewish historical sites including the Cave of the Patriarchs, Ancient Jericho, the Temple Mount, the Joshua’s altar in ancient Samaria, which they are trying to appropriate “for Palestinian heritage” with the assistance of the European Union.

Minister Strook said that “It should be clear: wherever the Palestinian Authority acts contrary to its commitment according to the Oslo Accords – in any such place the State of Israel must take responsibility and act on its own, and this principle certainly also includes situations of destruction of heritage.”

Source:
Governor of Samaria: ‘The nation is voting with its feet’, by Israel National News, October 2, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elisha Yered, the man who was seriously injured when he was struck in the head by a stone in a near-lynching near the PA town of Burqa, received an order this week barring him from Judea and Samaria for six months.

Yered was one of a group of Jews who came to the aid of a Jewish shepherd who was attacked by a mob of Arabs in early August. He was arrested for shooting and killing one of the Arab rioters after he was struck in the head by a stone.

The order also forbids Yered from meeting with Rabbi Menachem Ben Shahar, one of the teachers at the Homesh Yeshiva, as well as a number of other Jewish activists.

Rabbi Ben Shahar said, “This is a clear attempt to silence us that is reminiscent of the conduct of dark regimes. The Commander-in-Chief and the Shin Bet are acting in a desperate attempt to forcefully silence criticism, to cover up their failure in the face of terrorism.”

Source:
Jewish man wounded in near-lynching banned from Judea and Samaria, by Israel National News, September 29, 2023