Category: Articles

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan sat down with Arutz Sheva’s Yoni Kempinski at the Arutz Sheva-Israel National News Jerusalem Conference in New York City on Sunday for a special live interview. Erdan expressed concerns over the UN’s evolving role, stating, “Sometimes I wonder if Israel should continue to be a member of an organization like the UN.”

Regarding Israel’s participation in the UN, Erdan continued, “However, for Israel’s national dignity and for the remaining allies among the nations of the world, I believe it’s still important to be there. Israel needs to cultivate its internal coalition among the friendly nations within the UN, those who genuinely and wholeheartedly support democratic values.”

It’s been on our minds too as to what benefit there is for Israel to remain a member of the UN. At the same time, there is so much more to be done to turn around the Israel hatred that has evolved at this “world body” whose mission has fallen off the radar screen. We thank Ambassador Erdan for his service (which will end this summer) and look forward to his replacement picking up where Erdan left off.

Source:
Ambassador Erdan: ‘UN poses a threat not only to Israel but to the entire world’, by Yoni Kempinski/Israel National News, June 3, 2024

In the past seventy years, there have been 25 administrative detentions of Jews in Israel, out of which 19 were carried out in the year and a half of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s tenure. According to one reporter, this is an unprecedented, predatory campaign against the Jews of Judea and Samaria.

Most of the time, administrative detention is done for security reasons, on the grounds that the detainee may endanger the security of the state sometime in the future.

MK Menachem Begin (then chairman of the Herut Party) attacked the use of administrative detention, comparing it to Nazism: “There are tyrannical laws, there are immoral laws, there are Nazi laws. Don’t ask me who determines which law is Nazi and which law is immoral. The law you used is tyrannical, it is immoral, and an immoral law is also illegal.”

Looking back, all the administrative detentions of Jews were carried out as a result of Arab terrorism. This is a travesty of justice that must stop.

Source:
Gallant Set All Time Record for Administrative Detention of Jews, by David Israel/Jewish Press, May 31, 2024

The IDF announced Wednesday evening that it has gained full operational control over the crucial strip between Rafah in the Gaza Strip and Egypt known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

Chief Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari called it “Hamas’ oxygen pipeline” due to some 20 tunnels he said the army has found to date that cross the border into the Sinai desert, enabling the “regular” smuggling of weaponry into Gaza.

In Israeli testimony to the International Court of Justice, the number of tunnels crossing into Egypt was stated as being much higher.

The tunnels’ discovery is embarrassing for Egypt, and its state media was quick to reject the claim.

Yet, another terrorist underground infrastructure has been discovered by the IDF and is being dismantled. An arsenal of grenades, automatic rifles, explosive devices, and anti-tank missiles were found, which as we know, was stored there for the sole purpose of destroying Israel. To the foes of Israel: what was the reason you didn’t want Israel to go into Rafah? Do tell. We can’t wait to hear your answer.

Source:
IDF announces full operational control over crucial Philadelphi Corridor, by Batya Jerenberg/World Israel News, May 30, 2024

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has been ordered to vacate its Jerusalem offices within 30 days over violations of its lease.

In a letter to UNRWA, the Israel Lands Authority said the agency owed NIS 27.1 million ($7.3 million) for maintaining offices on Israeli state land without permission over the last seven years. The letter demanded that UNRWA “immediately stop any illegal use, destroy everything you have built in violation of the law, vacate the land of any people or items and return it to the [ILA] within 30 days from the date of this letter.”

“It’s not surprising that they are allowing themselves not to accept, not respect Israeli law here in Jerusalem,” Deputy Mayor Arieh King told TPS in February. “They’re building illegal buildings, they have petrol stations in places they’re not allowed to have, and it’s time that the Israeli government will allow us, the municipality of Jerusalem, to pass a law against UNRWA.”

We recall the many intensive years of David Bedein’s work to expose the UNRWA problem. His efforts, together with the domino effect of revelations on the truth about UNRWA are finally bringing about the “attention” they deserve.

Source:
UNRWA Ordered to Vacate Jerusalem Offices Over Lease Violations, by Pesach Benson / TPS/Jewish Press, May 30, 2024

In late April, the Commander of the IDF Central Command, Major General Yehuda Fox, announced he would retire from military life in August. But that has not slowed down his vicious campaign against the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, in open defiance of the authority of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who also serves as an adjunct minister in the defense ministry in charge of the Coordinator of the Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).

On Tuesday around 5 AM, some 300 police officers accompanied by civil administration inspectors and heavy machinery raided in a synchronized operation the outposts of Sdeh Yonatan and Or Meir in Binyamin, causing extensive destruction.

Tuesday morning’s destruction followed three other irregular demolition campaigns that recently took place in Or Meir. Residents point to a drastic increase in acts of destruction, blaming General Fox who, according to them, is trying to establish facts on the ground before the end of his tenure. But residents also blame Minister Smotrich, who continues to be ineffective in controlling COGAT.

We look forward to Fox’s retirement and pray his replacement is a true Zionist that embraces sovereignty in the way that it should be. That means not conducting business like you’re at war with your own people.

Source:
On Eve of his Retirement, General Fox Continues Aggressive Demolition Campaign Against Jews, by David Israel/Jewish Press, May 29, 2024

IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari delivered an address today in English on the war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization and the airstrike in the Rafah area in which 30 people were reportedly killed on Sunday.

He said that the fire caused by the airstrike could not have been caused by the munitions used by the IDF and presented a conversation between two Gazans saying that the Israeli strike was not that strong and that the fire was likely caused by munitions or other materials kept by terrorist organizations in the area.

The facts about the IDF strike in Rafah:

The IDF targeted two senior Hamas terrorists it had tracked by aerial surveillance to a Hamas compound in Rafah

The IDF confirmed no women or children were in the compound before striking

The strike took place more than a mile outside the Al-Mawasi designated humanitarian zone and more than 0.1 miles from the shelters that caught fire.

The strike was carried out using 37 lb. warheads — the smallest munition IDF jets can use; the IDF munitions alone could not have ignited such a large fire.

The IDF is continuing to investigate the cause of the fire, including the possibility that Hamas had stored weapons in the area that the IDF was not aware of, and which exploded due to the strike.

This is another opportunity to rush to blame Israel in the public’s mind. The sad reality is that if Israel is at fault, the outcry over the reportedly 30 civilian deaths would have been far greater than that of the Oct. 7th massacre, which everyone seems to have forgotten about. We hope that Israel will not accept blame for this “tragic mishap” unless it’s proven the IDF were at fault and did not take all reasonable precautions. While there is no definitive finding as to the cause of the fire, we trust the facts will be revealed soon and exonerate Israel.

Sources:
IDF Spokesman: Fire from Rafah strike could not have been caused by IAF munition, by Israel National News, May 28, 2024

Amir Tsarfati on Telegram
https://t.me/beholdisraelchannel

An ambiguously worded ruling by the International Court of Justice does not rule out continued military operations in Rafah, Israeli officials said on Sunday. One analyst said Israel’s refutation of claims of “genocide” should end the ICJ’s jurisdiction once and for all.

From its seat in The Hague, the ICJ issued an emergency ruling on Friday, with Lebanese Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the court, calling on Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

Israeli jurist Talia Einhorn, a Professor of Law stated, “By holding that it is plausible that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, the Court has turned the Convention on its head. It is a shame that only Julia Sebutinde, the Honorable Vice-President of the ICJ held that, in the absence of any evidence of genocide, the ICJ had no jurisdiction to adjudicate and therefore no jurisdiction to make interim orders. The Court is not competent to micromanage Israel’s fight for survival.”

Source:
Ambiguous International Court Ruling Unlikely to End Rafah Military Operations, by Pesach Benson/TPS, May 26, 2024

Israel’s Knesset is set to hold a preliminary vote on Wednesday on two bills targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) over its ties to terrorism.

One of the bills, proposed by Knesset member Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beiteinu), seeks to define the agency as a terrorist organization and cut all official ties with it, while the other, tabled by MK Dan Illouz (Likud) seeks to strip UNRWA of various immunities it currently enjoys. Illouz, whose bill seeks to strip UNRWA of immunities it enjoys with regard to taxation, lawsuits and more, said, the agency “is not and cannot be part of the solution” in the Gaza Strip.

Malinovsky’s bill “will allow for a complete dissociation from the agency—no cooperation, no trade, nothing,” she told JNS.

We look forward to this vote passing. All ties with UNRWA must be cut.

Source:
Knesset to vote on bill designating UNRWA a terror group, another stripping its immunities, by Troy Osher Fritzhand/JNS

Following announcements by several European countries, including Spain, Ireland, and Norway, that they will unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced a nonviolent response that has the world in a tizzy.

Smotrich said that he would take financial steps which would topple the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria, where the European countries have declared they would recognize “Palestine.”

Among these steps is a complete halt to the transfer of tax money to the Palestinian Authority, and no extension of the indemnity extended to banks which transfer money to banks in Judea and Samaria.

Smotrich also called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take a number of financial steps which will deal a critical blow to the Palestinian Authority and may cause its economic collapse within a matter of months.

The media is hysterical and reporting on what they see as a potential financial collapse that will badly cripple the PA if Smotrich’s plan is implemented. OK, so what response do they have to offer for the PA to turn itself around and become a respectful entity? None that we’ve heard of. If the PA really wants to survive and be a force for good for its people, then it needs to develop into a peace loving and law-abiding organization. Not a terrorist operation hell-bent on destroying Israel.

Source:
Will Smotrich’s plan topple the Palestinian Authority?, by Chana Roberts/Israel National News, May 23, 2024

Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset plenum voted Wednesday to approve cancelation of the Disengagement Law in northern Samaria. The residents of four Israeli towns in the region were expelled from their homes during the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza, along with those living in the Gush Katif region.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has instructed his staff to implement the new law in Sa-Nur, Ganim, Kedim and Homesh.

“After the Knesset passage of the law canceling the disengagement and at the end of the work done by IDF headquarters, we were able to complete the historic move,” Gallant said in a statement. “The Jewish hold on Judea and Samaria guarantees security. Implementation of the law to cancel the disengagement will lead to the development of settlements and provide security to the residents of the area,” Gallant said.

Now, the government must approve building in these communities as part of an overall building surge in Judea and Samaria. Stopping Palestinian Arab land grabs and providing increased security through expansion and all other available means for the Israelis in the region should be a priority!

Source:
Israel Cancels Disengagement Law for Northern Samaria, by Hana Levi Julian/Jewish Press, May 22, 2024