Category: Articles

Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said he is working to ban the pro-Hezbollah Al Mayadeen TV channel from operating in Israel and is awaiting an opinion from the security establishment.

He was responding to Israeli anger after an Al Mayadeen reporter broadcast live from the Majdal Shams soccer field where 12 children were killed in a Hezbollah rocket strike. One day after the deadly attack, reporter Hanaa Mahamid, claimed on the air that the children were killed in “an Israeli attack,” and insisted that Majdal Shams residents were skeptical that the rocket had been fired by Hezbollah.

“Allowing a Hezbollah reporter to broadcast from the scene of the massacre that Hezbollah carried out is absurd by any standard,” he said.

Source:
Israel working to ban pro-Hezbollah TV channel, by Pesach Benson/TPS, July 29, 2024

It’s been just over a day since Hezbollah fired an Iranian made Falaq-1 missile into a soccer field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Northern Golan, killing 12 children. Israel’s security cabinet has voted to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the power to decide when and how to respond to Hezbollah’s massacre.

The attack came as a shock with the Prime Minister still in the USA - forcing him to fly back early. Most people believe that this attack crossed enough red lines to push the region over into total war.

“For the deaths of little children, [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah should pay with his head,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich tweeted,” asserting that it was “time for action” and that “Lebanon as a whole has to pay the price.”

Did Hezbollah intentionally push Israel’s button to see if it will declare war? If, when, and how Israel will respond remains to be seen. In the meantime, reports are quickly circulating about other countries taking every precaution by evacuating their people from Lebanon and the surrounding areas, and Israel’s hospitals are under a state of intense war readiness, possibly never seen before.

Source:
Hezbollah Massacres 12 Children; Bibi and Gallant to Decide on Israel’s Response, by Micha Gefen/Israel Unwired, July 28, 2024

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has escalated threats against Israel: “Turkey can invade Israel just as it did in Karabakh and Libya,” said the Turkish president at a meeting of the Justice and Development Party.

“We must be very strong so that Israel cannot carry out these actions (attacks) against Palestine. Just as we entered Karabakh, just as we entered Libya, we might do the same to them. There is nothing we cannot do. We just need to be strong,” the Turkish president said.

That’s all the noise. Here’s the signal: Turkey is considered a ‘haven’ for Hamas and has even been identified as a potential replacement for Qatar as the sponsor of the terrorist organization, if Qatar expels its political leaders.

Source:
Erdogan: Turkey can invade Israel, by ILH Staff/Israel Hayom, July 29, 2024

The Supreme Court last Thursday heard the petition of the Movement for the Quality of Government, which claimed that the Firearms Division under National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir distributed weapon permits improperly.

The High Court accepted, at least for now, the response of the investigators who stated that “the findings of the investigation so far indicate that upon initial examination it turns out that the majority of [the permits] were distributed to people who meet the criteria established by law.”

A continuation of hearings in the case will continue.

Source:
Ben Gvir Wins Round One in Court over Distribution of Weapons Permits to Civilians, by David Israel, July 26, 2024

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday addressed a joint session of the US Congress amid the war with Hamas in Gaza and rising tensions in the North. This is the tenth address of an Israeli Prime Minister to Congress and Netanyahu’s fourth, surpassing British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for the most by a single foreign leader.

“We meet today at a crossroads of history. Our world is in upheaval. In the Middle East, Iran’s axis of terror confronts America, Israel and our Arab friends. This is not a clash of civilizations. It’s a clash between barbarism and civilization. It’s a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life.

For the forces of civilization to triumph, America and Israel must stand together. Because when we stand together, something very simple happens. We win. They lose.

And my friends, I came to assure you today of one thing: we will win.”

Netanyahu speech was a historic message to America and the world at such a time of severe upheaval and chaos. His delivery broke the record of standing ovations for a foreign leader in Congress, receiving 58 standing ovations during his speech, breaking the previous record of 28 in 2015.

Acknowledged overall and in the audience were October 7 survivors, families of hostages, and IDF heroes. Netanyahu also voiced a message for the anti-Israel protesters outside the building: “When the tyrants of Tehran who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair praise, promote, and fund you, you become Iran’s useful idiots.”

We like Daniel Greenfield’s review of Netanyahu’s speech. He states that the Prime Minister’s words were “meant to remind Americans of what Israel, and we, are fighting for. The choice between good and evil is all too clear. All that remains is to make it.”

Sources:
PM Netanyahu’s Address to a Joint Meeting of the US Congress, Prime Minister’s Office, July 24, 2024

Netanyahu Defends America Before Congress, by Daniel Greenfield/Frontpage Magazine, July 25, 2024

Amir Tsarfati on Telegram

“These are things I have been saying for a year and a half, every time I talk about the Temple Mount, what made you remember it now?” National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit Chairman Itamar Ben Gvir tweeted on Wednesday, and added, “On my watch, there will be no racist discrimination against Jews, who are the only ones not allowed to pray, and what’s more, in the holiest place for the Jewish people.”

During Wednesday’s “Israel’s Return to the Temple Mount” conference in the Knesset, Ben Gvir stated, “It’s no secret that I had an argument with the Prime Minister about closing the Temple Mount to Jews in the last ten days of Ramadan. I thought it was forbidden to close the Temple Mount even for a minute. There will be no discrimination against Jews on the Temple Mount, that’s what I strive for.”

Source:
Ben Gvir Alienates Allies by Allowing Jewish Prayer on Temple Mount, by David Israel/Jewish Press, July 24, 2024

The Supreme Court accepted a petition filed by Palestinian Authority Arabs who had illegally squatted at the archaeological site of Khirbet Zanuta, located in Area C, demanding that the IDF allow and secure their return to the site.

The Supreme Court also accepted the claim of the squatters that they were threatened by settlers in the area, although no evidence was presented to that effect. According to the judges, the State is obligated to assist the squatters to return.

Meir Deutsch, Regavim CEO, said that “adopting the false narrative of ‘settler violence’ without presenting a shred of evidence is serious and constitutes a dangerous precedent. Not only did the invaders of Khirbet Zanuta gain a full decade of non-enforcement of the building code – taking advantage of the ‘get out of jail free’ card that the Supreme Court had given them and the wink-and-nod of the state authorities, now, the state adds insult to injury and instead of restoring the site and preserving it, it allows the lawbreakers to return to the site and resume their invasion and destruction of the site.”

First Israel is obligated to fund legal assistance for terrorists and now the State is obligated to assist the return of squatters on land that legally belongs to Israel. The powers that be need to shape up and come to their senses. The Supreme Court must remember whose country this is. Do these decisions overturn government policy?

Source:
Supreme Court accepts Palestinian Arab land claim near Hebron, by Israel National News, July 23, 2024

To no one’s surprise, the International Court of Justice in The Hague (ICJ) ruled on Friday that Israel’s policies in our ancient homelands of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem are illegal and against international law. Furthermore, the ICJ said Israel is illegally exploiting the natural resources of the region. The ruling is non-binding – not legally, and not morally.

Immediate and swift calls to apply sovereignty poured in:

“The decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague proves for the umpteenth time – this is a definite anti-Semitic and political organization. We will not receive moral preaching from them, it is time for governance and sovereignty.” ~Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said [translated].

“We call on the prime minister to immediately begin applying sovereignty to Judea and Samaria.” ~Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council.

“Now, in the face of the world’s lies and moral depravity, the Israeli government must lead to a new level of upright national stature by applying Israel’s sovereignty over Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley.” ~Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar of The Sovereignty Movement

International law expert Professor Eugene Kontorovich weighed in on the meaningless decision by the court. He pointed out, among many important points, that “the ICJ is just the judicial arm of the UN – an organization that runs several Hamas front organizations, and whose SG said of Oct 7th, that it didn’t happen without a context.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded point blank: “Israel is not an occupier in its own country, not in our eternal capital and not in the land of our forefathers.”

Sources:
PM responds to Hague decision: ‘Israel is not an occupier in its own country’ by Israel National News, July 19, 2024

ICJ Rules Israel Acting Illegally in Judea and Samaria by Jewish Press News Desk, July 19, 2024

HAGUE-SHMAGUE- SOVEREIGNTY NOW! By The Sovereignty Movement Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed on Monday morning for Washington, where he will meet with US President Joe Biden. Netanyahu will deliver a politically precarious speech before Congress at a time of great uncertainty following Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race and amid domestic pressure on Israel’s leaders to reach a deal with Hamas for the release of the hostages held in Gaza.

Striking a bipartisan tone, Netanyahu said he intended to reaffirm to the US that “regardless of who the American people choose as their next president, Israel remains its most indispensable and strongest ally in the Middle East.”

Standing on the airport tarmac on Monday, however, Netanyahu stressed that “in this time of war and uncertainty, it is important that Israel’s enemies know that America and Israel stand together — today, tomorrow, and always.”

AFSI wishes Prime Minister Netanyahu success on his highly anticipated visit to Washington, D.C., and his address to the United States Congress. Between the war in Israel and the political chaos in the U.S., we know that the major points Netanyahu will discuss in his speech will be a welcome reminder to many and a much-needed wake-up call to the haters of Israel.

Source:
Netanyahu departs for Washington amid turmoil in the US, disputes at home, by Lazar Berman, TOI Staff and Agencies/Times of Israel/July 22, 2024

Biden Administration officials are mulling the option of imposing sanctions against two Israeli government ministers, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir

Axios reported on Saturday quoting three US officials, that the Biden administration is weighing sanctions against the two ministers, who are seen by the administration as responsible for the unrest and security situation in Judea and Samaria.

And what a danger Ben Gvir and Smotrich pose. While these two MKs fight every day for Israel’s safety and sovereignty in ways that are consistent with international law, the soon to be defunct Biden administration just can’t resist more schemes to gain voters by demonizing Israel.

Source:
Report: Biden Administration Mulls Sanctions Against Israeli Ministers Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, by Hana Levi Julian/Jewish Press, July 21, 2024