On behalf of our Chairman, Mark Langfan, the Board of Directors, and everyone at Americans For A Safe Israel/AFSI, we extend sincere condolences to Minister of Knesset Yehuda Glick, and his eight children on the passing of his wife, and their mother, Yaffa, z’l.
May the family be comforted among all those who mourn for Zion and Jerusalem, and may they know no more sorrows.
The Likud Central Committee met Sunday evening and gave its unanimous support for a draft resolution urging its leaders to formally annex large parts of Judea and Samaria. The Women in Green started it all and AFSI has been a proud partner from the beginning. We rejoice in this important development. Arutz Sheva report here.
Women in Green leaders Nadia Matar (left),
Yehudit Katsover (right) with Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Environmental Protection, Ze’ev Elkin (center).
Take note, those of you who want to see real women freedom-fighters. Look into the streets of Iran or listen to the chess champion Anna Muzychuk. Iranian women, by risking their lives, have unmasked the faces of those trying to promote burqas and hijabs as supposed “symbols of liberation.” Read the Gatestone Institute report.
Last Thursday Iranians began demonstrating against President Hassan Rouhani’s brutal regime. The United Nations and European leaders have, not surprisingly, remained noticeably silent on this development.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered enthusiastic support for the Iranian people in their demonstrations against both the secular and religious governments of their country.
Decades of spreading hate and financial waste being poured into terror groups is now coming back to smack the Ayatollah and now the Rouhani regime in the face. Let’s remember that former President Obama gave Iran $150 billion, which should have gone to help the people of Iran – the man in the street. Instead the money went to support the terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas, that now threaten Israel.
A democratic Iran with justice and the basic liberties and freedoms afforded a civil society is important not only for Israel’s security, but for the security and safety of all countries.The IDF has announced that Iranian proxy Hezbollah is poised for a strike against Israel at any moment! A victory for the Iranian people could be a game-changer. Need we say more?
For a video of PM Netanyahu’s support and the Arutz Sheva article click here.
Read the Breitbart report.
At the UN General Assembly on Dec. 21, President Trump courageously had the US stand with Israel against virtually the entire world. President Trump chose to stand with Israel and to chastise America’s other allies for their hypocrisy. He did more than that; he said that actions have consequences and that America would financially penalize those nations who opposed the US recognition of Israel’s capital and the US moving its embassy to Jerusalem.
The US media did not focus on the fact that a record 65 states abstained from voting in favor of the resolution. Instead the media highlighted that our European allies voted against the US, without pointing out how these nations have become hostages to their growing Muslim populations and threats of terrorism.
Jewish critics of President Trump love to heap praise on Ambassador Nikki Haley as if her clear voice in support of Israel at the UN reflected anything other than the policies of the president of the US. Ambassador Haley is President Trump’s representative; she is not a free agent. It is Trump’s policies she expounded when she said at the UN:
“ America will put our embassy in Jerusalem. That is what the American people want us to do, and it is the right thing to do. No vote in the United Nations will make any difference on that.
But this vote will make a difference on how Americans look at the UN and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the UN. And this vote will be remembered.”
American Jewish communal organizations were quick to denounce the UN vote; but they could not bring themselves to praise President Trump for his courageous stand. By their partisan actions, they forfeit their right to speak for the communal interests of American Jews.
Their failure makes it crucially important that we coalesce in grassroots organizations to speak out.
Over the opposition of the rest of the world, President Trump Chose the Jews. Thank you, Mr. President.
JewsChooseTrump.org is a nationwide grassroots organization
Along with JCC Watch, AFSI held two protest demonstrations this fall against the appointment of David Meyers at the Center for Jewish History and continues to keep a close watch on this issue. It has been reported that through writings and his role as a UCLA professor, David Meyers turned a generation of Jews against Israel. The Israel Group was given a direct and anonymous quote from an internationally respected UCLA professor and longtime colleague of David Myers: “The damage that Myers caused to Jewish life at UCLA will take many years to erase. He undermined systematically any attempt to bring students closer to Israel, and created two bastions of anti-Israel cultures: 1. the Center for Jewish studies, and 2. The history department.”
These statements confirm our stand that David Myers will not separate his role as a leader in The New Israel Fund, JStreet and othersof the same bent, from his role as the head of the largest repository of Jewish history in the US. The fight continues!
AFSI’s many Chizuk missions have taken us to the Temple Mount. Today’s reports out of Israel – well – could this potentially be setting a whole new tone for ascending the Temple Mount?
During Chanukah many rabbis, leading more than a thousand Jews in accordance with Jewish law, ascended the Temple Mount for the first time since its liberation in 1967.
Arutz Sheva reports Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, Rabbi of the Samaria community of Har Bracha and the founder of the community’s Hesder yeshiva, ascended the Temple Mount this morning. Another group of 50 haredim ascended the Temple Mount on Wednesday, led by Rabbi Yitzhak Brand, one of the top students of the Ponevezh Yeshiva, and Rabbi Eliyahu Veber, one of the rabbis of the Hurva synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem.
US Exercises Veto at UN Security Council – UN Ambassador Haley Steady on US Position
Despite Today’s UN Vote Against Trump’s Jerusalem Declaration
America’s first veto in the UN in 6 years was cast on Monday. US Ambassador Nikki Haley voted against a draft resolution, which had the support of all 14 other members of the Security Council, calling on President Trump to withdraw recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Haley said of the US veto after the vote, “……The fact that this veto is being done in defense of American sovereignty and in defense of America’s role in the Middle East peace process is not a source of embarrassment for us; it should be an embarrassment to the remainder of the Security Council.”
Today the UN voted against the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capitol and President Trump and Ambassador Haley made it clear they are “…taking names” and the White House dropped some hints that those “names” could see US funding cut-off.
This latest UN vote is being taken very seriously by President Trump and Ambassador Haley. Haley’s comment behind a UN closed door meeting, “To its shame, the United Nations has long been a hostile place for the State of Israel.” Read the full story
We applaud President Trump and Ambassador Haley for remaining steadfast friends of Israel by reaffirming their commitment to Israel’s sovereignty.
Two rockets were fired into Sederot from Gaza and reportedly exploded next to a home in the community, but caused no injuries. The building was lightly damaged, an IDF spokesperson said. The head of the Sdot Negev Regional Council, Tamir Idan, urged the government to respond to this latest attack. “We expect and demand that the security forces respond….”
Turmoil over Jerusalem – Arabs and UN Conflicted – UN Ambassador Haley Stays Strong on US PositionThis latest news is very encouraging…In an effort to crackdown on hate groups, Twitter said in a statement that it would begin to put warnings before swastikas and other hate images along with banning their use in any profile photos on the Twitter network. AFSI welcomes this initiative and looks forward to Twitter setting an example for other social media groups to follow. Full Story Here.
