Author: AFSI Staff

As the people of Israel gathered for Yom Yerushalayim festivities, the Jewish Nation State was quickly forced to turn to self defense. Violence perpetrated by Arabs and a barrage of rocket attacks from the start of the weekend to today have changed the tone of this significant and joyous holiday.

These are just some of the headlines coming out of Israel in the last 24 hours.

Rocket attacks hit Israeli capital of Jerusalem.

Rocket fire emerges from Gaza into Israel.

Jew nearly lynched outside of Old City after Arabs pelted a car with rocks and he loses control.

Public bomb shelters being opened in the south of Israel.

Knesset evacuated due to Hamas rocket attack.

Clashes on the Temple Mount and in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Jerusalem on brink of eruption: More clashes in and around Al Aqsa mosque on Monday morning.

Eastern Jerusalem braces for a planned Jewish nationalist march later today.

Israeli Troops raid Al Aqsa Mosque.

Hamas military wing issues ultimatum: Israel must withdraw police forces from Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah by 6 pm today. Israeli army orders all combat units to get ready and prepare for escalation, according to an Israeli state broadcaster.

It is obvious the Biden administration has opened the flood gates and green lighted violence by Palestinian terrorists, supported by Iran, against The Jewish State. There is a reason this scenario did not happen under the Trump presidency. It simply was not allowed. Biden is allowing it, even encouraging it.

The anti-Israeli forces sense an opportunity under Biden to finally destroy The Jewish State once and for all. This has coincided with the effort to destroy the security-focused government of Benjamin Netanyahu, very similar to what happened to Donald Trump.

Expect extreme violence in the near future in the Levant and the rest of the Middle East as Iranian militia forces are unleashed.

The developments coming out of Israel on this matter have been rapidly evolving and this is the latest as of this writing.

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Sources:
Israel Erupts As OBiden Purposefully Destroys Trump Peace, by Tsionism Staff/Tsionism, May 10, 2021

Hamas fires 7 rockets at Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh after Temple Mount clashes, by Michael Bachner and TOI Staff/Times of Israel, May 10, 2021

1 Injured, 2 Missiles Intercepted by Iron Dome, Rocket Fire Directed at Jerusalem, Central Israel, by Hana Levi Julian/Jewish Press, May 10, 2021

For the Jewish communities near the Gaza border, this week started with 10 fires, as southern Israeli was up in flames from Ashdod to Eilat. Fires are to be expected in Israel as the temperatures rise and the air becomes dry. But those 10 fires along the Gaza border—and more are expected this week—are the result of incendiary balloons shot over from the Gaza Strip, according to firefighting services.

All fires started within the Eshkol Regional Council area. The Nature and Parks Authority reported that large parts of the Be’eri Nature Reserve caught fire. The Be’eri Forest covers about 2,700 acres. It was planted by the founders of Kibbutz Be’eri in 1946. It is now mostly scorched earth.

“We returned to the routine of fires after a break, it is very disturbing,” Maayan Schneur Fuld from Kibbutz Netiv HaAsara said. “We are in early summer, the whole area around us is on fire, from every vantage point in the area we see fires. We’re afraid we’re going back to the days when we were running from one fire to the next.”

Rafi Babian, Sdot Negev Council Chief of Security, noted, “There are deployments of security and firefighting forces in the area, including Military Ongoing Security Coordinators (Ravshatzim) that are prepared for any fire scenario. The fires are returning.”

Source:
On Sunday the Arabs Burned Down 2,000 Acres of Israeli Forest Near Gaza, by David Israel/Jewish Press, May 10, 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday chose Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strongest rival, to try to form a new government. Lapid’s path to success is still uncertain.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving leader, has been fighting to hold onto office through four inconclusive elections since 2019. His 28-day mandate to put together a coalition ran out at midnight after he failed to agree on terms with potential right-wing partners. This opened the way for Rivlin to assign the task to another member of parliament. Now Lapid has 28 days to form a government.

Rivlin, in a televised address announcing his choice of Lapid, said the former finance minister had the pledged support of 56 of parliament’s 120 members, still short of a majority.

“It … became clear that Yair Lapid has the possibility to form a government that will win parliament’s approval, but there are many difficulties,” Rivlin said.

Never before have we seen an ongoing political crisis in Israel such as this. The next possible scenario is that Lapid forms a rotation with Naftali Bennett. Both Lapid and Bennett must pull together a majority coalition from an unlikely mixture of parties across the political spectrum. This includes the Islamist Ra’am party, which complicates everything. More important is that it raises the question of how stable such a government would be to begin with. That has us concerned.

Source:
President taps Lapid to form gov’t despite lack of majority, by Reuters and ILH Staff/Israel Hayom, May 5, 2021

 

 

The Shin Bet, in cooperation with the Israel Police and IDF, uncovered a mechanism to use humanitarian assistance from the European Union to finance the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP} terrorist organization.

The investigation revealed that the funding was transferred to institutions and organizations in Judea and Samaria, which actually belong to the PFLP. They also operate under a ‘humanitarian’ cover, with an organization called the ‘Health Committees’ at their center.

A Shin Bet source stated: “The extensive financial activity promoted by the Popular Front organization joins a long line of terrorist activities, which have been thwarted by the Shin Bet in recent years. The Popular Front organization is a murderous terrorist organization which is responsible for the 2019 bombing in which Rina Shnerb was killed while walking with her family. The Shin Bet will continue to act and thwart the terrorist infrastructure and financial infrastructure of the PLFP organization, an organization that is constantly working to undermine security stability in Judea and Samaria and to promote organizational and military terrorist activity against Israel.”

AFSI applauds the spirit of cooperation among Israel’s security agencies. It uncovered a security loophole and will now benefit Israel’s security and help to keep it that much safer.

Source:
Shin Bet: EU humanitarian funds diverted to terrorism, by Arutz Sheva Staff/Arutz Sheva, May 6, 2021

 

 

 

 

The Samaria Regional Council plans to sue the left-wing NGO B’Tselem for slander after it alleged that settlers from Yitzhar had set fire to fields near the Palestinian village of Burin.

B’Tselem tweeted a dramatic nighttime photo of the village with the flames burning in the background. In the tweet it stated, “settlers torched Palestinian fields in Burin.” At 8:10 am it also sent a release to the media about it, but within two hours, at 10:07am, it retracted the charges.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said the actual story was precisely the opposite. Palestinians “were the ones that ignited the fire that threatened residents’ homes.” Dagan said the initial tweets had been shared 2,000 times including by the left-wing NGO B’Tselem. The Council and Yitzhar have now asked an attorney to prepare a defamation case against B’Tselem.

“Freedom of expression is a sacred value, but not freedom of expression and defamation,” he added.

Source:
Settlers to sue B’Tselem for alleging they set Palestinian fields ablaze, by Tovah Lazaroff/Jerusalem Post, May 5, 2021

 

 

 

 

Three 19-year-old yeshiva students were injured, two of them seriously, in a drive-by shooting at a bus stop at Tapuah Junction on Sunday evening, Israeli authorities said.

The shots were fired from a passing car at the Tapuah Junction south of Nablus. The victims were all civilians, according to the Israel Defense Forces. All three victims are rabbinical students at the Yeshiva Gedolah in the Samaria Jewish community of Itamar.

“IDF troops returned fire at the vehicle, which fled the scene. IDF troops are searching for the vehicle and are setting up roadblocks in the area,” the military said.

As of noon today, Yehuda Guetta, 19, is still in critical condition and there is an immediate danger to his life. Benaya Peretz, 19, is in very serious condition. The third wounded Israeli, Amichai Challah, 19, was released from the hospital after sustaining light injuries.

This attack is especially heartbreaking since it follows just days after the Mount Meron tragedy. In this terror attack, and in the Meron disaster, so many, but not all, of the victims were young people. Our friends in Yitzhar told us that the young people there are devastated with what has happened in both Meron and Tapuah.

Americans For A Safe Israel mourns the loss of all the victims involved and prays for a speedy refuah for all those who are recovering.

Source:
3 hurt, 2 seriously in West Bank drive-by shooting; IDF searching for terrorists, by Judah Ari Gross. Times of Israel, May 2, 2021

 

Arabs from the Arab village of Urif on Monday morning lit a fire near the Kumi Ori neighborhood of Yitzhar in Samaria.

Arabs set the fire near the Jewish neighborhood and shouted at IDF soldiers who were trying to secure firefighters.

AFSI has very close friendships with residents and officials in Yitzhar. We’ve traveled there on our Chizuk Mission trips many times. AFSI raised the money that installed fire breaks, which one resident told us has made an enormous difference. Our hearts go out to the residents of Yitzhar and we stand side by side with them as they work through this latest violation of Israel’s Sovereignty.

Source:
Arabs set fire near Jewish neighborhood in Yitzhar, by Arutz Sheva Staff. Arutz Sheva, May 3, 2021

 

Rabbi Zvi Thau on Monday called for the creation of a 59-seat, right-wing coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This would rely on the parliamentary support of the Islamic party Ra’am and was initially refused by MK Bezalel Smotrich, who was joined by the Sovereignty Movement, headed by Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar.

Yehudit and Nadia sent out the following message by email and social media:

The Sovereignty Movement responds to the dramatic pressure that is being exerted to gain the agreement of the Right to establish a minority government with the support of the United Arab List (Ra’am):

“This pressure was expected with the approach of the expiration date of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s mandate to establish a government; however, the stressful timetable is not sufficient to transform darkness to light and impurity to purity.

Establishment of a government dependent on supporters of terrorism constitutes a mortal blow to the ability of the government to promote the Zionist vision and dream.”

Source:
Sovereignty Movement’s Pushback: Fifth Elections Preferable to Government Leaning on Supporters of Terrorism, by David Israel. Jewish Press, May 3, 2021

 

Americans For A Safe Israel is in mourning with all of Klal Yisrael as the country processes and recovers from the Lag b’Omer tragedy at Mount Meron last Thursday night. Our thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones and we pray for a refuah shlema – a speedy recovery – for all of the victims.

Dozens of people were crushed to death in a stampede that broke out in the early hours last Friday morning at the Mount Meron prayer compound, where tens of thousands of Jews had gathered. At least 45 people were confirmed dead and 150 people were injured, with dozens in serious condition and several defined as critical.

The incident happened at around 1:00am but the specific cause of the disaster was not immediately clear. Initial reports said a stand had collapsed at one of the services where thousands of people were taking part. However, Magen David Adom said the tragedy was caused by overcrowding at a narrow pass at the prayer compound.

A police official said dozens of participants in the service had “slipped” on a metal floor, falling on those around them and causing a crushing domino effect.

“The disaster at Mount Meron is one of the most difficult tragedy’s to strike Israel. We will conduct a thorough investigation to make sure this type of tragedy never happens again. Sunday will be a national day of mourning. Let us all come together and pray for the victims and their families and for the wounded’s speedy recovery,” Netanyahu said while visiting the scene Friday morning.

May the Jewish Nation State know no more sorrow. May they only know joy and peace.

Source:
At least 45 dead, 150 injured as tragedy strikes Lag B’Omer event at Mt. Meron, by Adi Hashmonai, Hanan Greenwood, Itsik Saban, and News Agencies. Israel Hayom, April 30, 2021

 

 

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is accused of telling Iran about Israeli operations and now there are demands for him to be investigated, and resign, over what he allegedly told them.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in a leaked audiotape, claimed that while Kerry served as America’s top diplomat during the Obama administration, he discussed more than 200 operations that Israel had carried out in Syria against Iranian targets. Zarif said that he was astonished at the revelations.

This comes after Kerry’s additional meetings with Zarif, held as a private citizen after he left office, have also raised questions about what he has told Iranian officials over the years. In a Twitter post, Kerry called the claims “unequivocally false.”

The Iran regime certainly has no better friend than John Kerry. Since the nefarious activities that lead to the 2015 Iran ‘deal’, we’ve always known that Kerry has been in lockstep with this enemy – the #1 state sponsor of terror. Kerry’s actions then and now have thrown diplomacy out the window, especially when he has not been held accountable by US officials. Kerry’s leaking Israel’s covert information to the enemy is a flagrant betrayal of trust in the history of US – Israel relations. It puts Israeli and American lives in danger. In his diplomatic position, Kerry is charged with protecting the interests of the United States and its allies, not aiding and abetting the enemy. While we are glad Kerry’s warm and fuzzy relationship with Iran is being exposed once again, there must be an investigation into his illegal and inappropriate ‘diplomacy.’ John Kerry is a self-serving rat, a disgrace – and a danger – to the United States. Calls must be made for him to answer for his actions. Better yet, let’s call for him to be FIRED.

ACT NOW!! – CLICK HERE TO CONTACT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DEMAND THAT JOHN KERRY BE REMOVED FROM HIS POSITION IMMEDIATELY

Source:
Calls for John Kerry to be investigated for what he told Iran, by Eric Shawn. Fox News, April 26, 2021