Category: Articles

A video posted by an IDF soldier on Wednesday revealed a tunnel shaft in one of the villages in the Mount Hebron area. The soldier says he found the shaft during a patrol his unit conducted after receiving complaints from area Jewish residents who had been hearing noises of underground digging. The video shows a 5-meter-deep shaft that connects to a short tunnel that does not appear to be connected to other tunnels or has another shaft.

Now revealed to the world are the facts, photos and videos of the hundreds of terror tunnels in Gaza thankfully being destroyed by the IDF. To learn that there is but one tunnel reported so far that extends into a Jewish owned town is deeply disturbing. We pray no further terror tunnels are found in areas inhabited by Jewish communities and that any that are found are destroyed.

Source:
Soldier Discovers Tunnel Shaft in Mt. Hebron Area, a Reminder the PA Is Riddled with Tunnels and Shafts, by David Israel/Jewish Press, January 3, 2024

The most undemocratic of the hurried Supreme Court announcements on Monday was not the 8 to 7 ruling revoking the amendment that removed the reasonability clause. That ruling was a mugging that took advantage of the political echelon’s reluctance to counterattack in wartime and used a very temporary majority of 8 to 7 justices that included two retired justices. Without them the vote on the same amendment, after the government gets around to rewriting it, will likely be reversed to 7 to 6 against.

But the punch-in-the-face, no-holds-barred decision on Monday was that the Supreme Court has the authority to conduct a judicial review of basic laws and intervene in “exceptional and extreme cases where the Knesset exceeded its constituent authority,”

That one was passed with a 12 to 3 majority, meaning it will not go away. What used to be the sanctified rule for close to 75 years, that Israel’s basic laws are tantamount to a constitution, and as such the court cannot contemplate anything that starts with the words “basic law,” is no longer.

Chairman of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee MK Simcha Rothman said, “I was hoping that they were connected to the magnitude of the hour, but unfortunately they chose to give a different ruling – the High Court chose its war.”

“The Supreme Court’s ruling is not legal, and includes the unprecedented cancellation of a Basic Law, without a source of legal authority and with a conflict of interest on the part of the judges. This is a dangerous, anti-democratic event – and at this time, more than anything else, it is a ruling that harms Israel’s war efforts against her enemies,” said MK Tzvikah Fogel.

Sources:
Supreme Court Establishes Dominion over 2 Other Branches, Grabs the Power to Kill Any Law Anytime, by David Israel/Jewish Press, January 2, 2024

MK promises: ‘We’ll finish the war and make order in the Supreme Court’, by Israel National News, January 2, 2024

Over the years, many in Israel have pointed out that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a Palestinian agency with a few Swedes on top. This became clearer than ever before after the October 7 Massacre. Some of the hostages who returned from captivity in Gaza said that they were confined in the homes of UNRWA employees. Evidence has been accumulated in Israel that UNRWA transfers a portion of its budget directly to Hamas, including the multi-billion-dollar tunnel construction project. Also, dozens of teachers who work for UNRWA have openly expressed their support for the massacre of Jews.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has compiled a classified report to be submitted to the Netanyahu Cabinet, with recommendations on how to deal with the problematic activities of the UN agency in the Gaza Strip. The report proposes that in the short term, the ministry will prepare a dossier on UNRWA’s problematic conduct in cooperating with Hamas; in the longer term, Israel will reduce UNRWA’s field of activity and instead empower more reliable service providers in education, health, and food; and the final goal is the complete transfer of UNRWA’s powers to the entity or entities that will control the Gaza Strip after the end of the war.

From its inception, UNRWA was designed to prolong rather than solve the 1948 refugee problem. Now we have full evidence that UNRWA was nothing more than a breeding ground for Hamas to commit terror attacks against Israel. It’s time to for UNRWA to be dismantled altogether.

Source:
Israel Campaigning to Ouster UNRWA from Gaza, by David Israel/Jewish Press, December 29, 2023

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich last Friday responded to the US demand that Israel transfer money to the Palestinian Authority while the war with Hamas is ongoing.

“We have a lot of respect to the US, who is our best ally in the world, and to President Biden, who is a true friend of Israel, but we will never abandon our fate to others, and so long as I am Finance Minister, not a single shekel will be passed to the Nazis in Gaza,” Smotrich said. “This is not an extremist position. This is a position which desires life, and which is required by the situation.”

The Biden administration cannot be considered a true friend of Israel when it holds a position that will fund more terror against Israel. The Biden administration needs to face up to where funds for Gaza have really gone.

Source:
Finance Minister: ‘I respect the US, but I won’t transfer money to Hamas’, by Chana Roberts/Israel National News, December 29, 2023

Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Thursday afternoon responded to reports that the Supreme Court intends to invalidate the Reasonableness Standard.

The standard is an amendment to a Basic Law and therefore considered even by the Supreme Court’s own precedent to be untouchable and part of Israel’s constitution.

“While our soldiers are fighting side-by-side on the various fronts, as the entire country is hurting from the loss of many lives, we must not rip the nation of Israel with disagreements. The citizens of Israel expect the Supreme Court not to publish, during a war, a ruling which is controversial even among its own justices,” stated Levin.

The events of October 7 have temporarily halted progress on judicial reforms. When the war successfully concludes, and Israel gets back to whatever measure of normal daily life that it can, would be a preferable time to introduce a contentious issue.

Source:
Justice Minister: Supreme Court shouldn’t publish controversial ruling during times of war, by Israel National News, December 28, 2023

Supreme Court to speed up ruling publication after leak to press, by Israel National News, December 28, 2023

A widely used United Nations report on an alleged increase in “Settler-related violence” against Arabs in Judea and Samaria contains a large amount of false and misleading information, according to an investigation by the Samaria Regional Council and other organizations.

The report, which can be found on the website of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), was found to include attacks committed by Arabs against Jews in addition to attacks by Jews against Arabs in its definition of ‘Settler-related violence,’ a classification that obscures the issue of antisemitic violence while making anti-Arab violence appear more common than it actually is.

It should be no surprise that the UN is using “settler violence” now as a means of accusing Israel of taking over “Palestinian land.”

Source:
Samaria Council report: UN presents attacks against Jews as ‘settler violence’, by Israel National News, December 27, 2023

The United States said on Tuesday it is “greatly concerned” by an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report which said Iran has increased its production of highly enriched uranium.

“Iran’s nuclear escalation is all the more concerning at a time when Iran-backed proxies continue their dangerous and destabilizing activities in the region, including the recent deadly drone attack and other attempted attacks in Iraq and Syria and the Houthi attacks against commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea,” said a White House national security council spokesperson quoted by Reuters.

It’s really very simple. As long as Biden cozies up to and funds Iran the U.S. should not be surprised that Iran continues to enrich its uranium supply.

Source:
US ‘greatly concerned’ by Iran’s uranium enrichment, by Elad Benari/Israel National News, December 27, 2023

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published an article in The Wall Street Journal on Monday, in which he laid out Israel’s conditions for the day after the current war. They are 1) the demilitarization of the Strip, 2) the destruction of Hamas, 3) the de-radicalization of the Palestinian Arab population. (That last condition will be no easy thing to achieve!)

Netanyahu also wrote that Israel must ensure that Gaza will not again be used as a base for offensive action against it as it was used in the surprise attack on October 7, and that it is unrealistic to expect this from the Palestinian Authority since the PA pays salaries to terrorists and engages in constant incitement to violence against the Jewish people.

“Among other things, this will require establishing a temporary security zone on the perimeter of Gaza and an inspection mechanism on the border between Gaza and Egypt that meets Israel’s security needs and prevents smuggling of weapons into the territory,” Netanyahu said.

So many horrific images of October 7 have circulated on social media. While we have no way of measuring their full impact on readers, we feel confident that the majority of the rational minded public knows the truth – and – what actions are needed to end terrorism in Israel. The world needs to listen to and support Netanyahu’s three conditions, which are critical to not only Israel’s survival but that of the rest of the world. Dear World, Are you listening?

Source:
Netanyahu presents Israel’s 3 conditions for day after war, by Israel National News, December 25, 2023

Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee Chairman MK Simcha Rothman on Monday submitted a bill denying terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre representation by the Public Defender’s Office.

Israel’s law enforcement system is faced with serious dilemmas concerning the prosecution of the participants in the 10/7 murderous attack. Will one indictment be filed against all the detainees for all the acts committed? Which offenses on the law books correspond to the atrocities? When can the death penalty be requested?

According to MK Rothman, “The public defender’s office is designed to legally protect the weak of the country. This body, which necessarily consists of citizens of the State of Israel, cannot on a moral level represent terrorists and fiercely defend them in court.”

Source:
Rothman Bill Denies Public Defender Representation to October 7 Hamas Murderers, by David Israel/Jewish Press, December 25, 2023

The Biden administration wants Israel to bring in Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party to rule Gaza when the war is over. Fatah controls the Palestinian Authority, which governs much of the West Bank. Uniting Gaza and the West Bank under a common government is a necessary step in the Biden administration’s seemingly unshakable goal of creating a Palestinian state sandwiching Israel.

The idea behind the strategy has a long history. Fatah is a secular, Arab nationalist party that occasionally claims to want peace with Israel, albeit on terms that would make Israel’s existence as a Jewish state untenable. Yet for many diplomats this makes it an attractive alternative to the terrorists who perpetrated the Oct. 7 attacks. But Fatah is a junior-varsity version of Hamas. Both have lethal policies when it comes to Israel. The Palestinian Authority sponsors the “pay to slay” salary program that provides financial rewards to terrorists, who get more lavish payouts for crimes that result in longer imprisonment. As recently as Oct. 2, an official Palestinian Authority TV broadcast showed Mr. Abbas saying: “Our martyrs, prisoners and wounded are the most sanctified that we have. . . . Our martyrs have a right to this money.”

Source:
Don’t Give Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, by Eugene Kontorovich and Itamar Marcus/Wall Street Journal, November 26, 2023