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Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last Thursday declared his support for establishing a large new city east of Ariel, the capital of Samaria. The greater goal is for connecting the area to the center of the country.

The statement came as Gallant inaugurated an expansion of a security checkpoint on Route 5, a major traffic artery connecting central Israel with northern Samaria and the Jordan Valley.

The multi-million-shekel project aims to alleviate severe congestion at the security barrier, which poses a security threat, by adding an extra lane to ease the passage of tens of thousands of daily commuters.

Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan hailed the inauguration of the new highway as a “ray of light of victory” amid the conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

Source:
Gallant declares support for new city in Samaria, by JNS Update Desk, May 10, 2024

The Prime Minister’s Office announced on Monday evening that “The War Cabinet unanimously decided that Israel will continue the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to promote the release of our hostages and the other goals of the war.”

The IDF confirmed that the military began attacking terrorist targets in Rafah in a “targeted manner.”

Overnight on Tuesday IDF forces captured the Rafah crossing on the Gaza side. According to the IDF, the 162nd Armored Division, the 401st Armored Brigade, the Givati Infantry Brigade, and special units are operating in eastern Rafah. So far, more than 150 targets have been attacked and operational control of the Rafah crossing has been achieved. Twenty terrorists were killed and three tunnel shafts were located.

The “Palestinian” flags at the crossing were promptly replaced with Israeli flags, just in time for Independence Day.

The Rafah crossing is a key Gaza pathway for Hamas to smuggle the very weapons used to kill Israelis. Israel’s operational control of the Rafah crossing in this war is a significant achievement in eliminating the political and military power of Hamas. Israel took initiative and action as it saw fit and did not play into the hands of either Hamas or cave to U.S. and outside pressures.

Speaking of outside pressure, the U.S.’s recent backstabbing Israel by withholding a shipment of arms hurts Israel but will not stop it from its mission. The Israel Defense Forces is determined to win this war and doesn’t need support from a politician desperate for votes in the next election at the expense of Jewish lives.

Sources:
IDF begins striking terror targets in Rafah, by Israel National News, May 6, 2024

IDF Takes Over Rafah Crossing, 20 Terrorists Killed, by David Israel/Jewish Press, May 7, 2024

Biden’s arms embargo betrays Israel and America, by Daniel Greenfield/Frontpage Magazine, May 9, 2024

The UN General Assembly is expected to vote on Friday on a proposal that will grant the Palestinian Authority the rights of a state de facto.

The resolution would give the PA “the rights and privileges” to ensure its full and effective participation in the work of the General Assembly and other UN organs, “on equal footing with member nations.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, said in response to the expected vote, “If passed, the decision will not change anything on the ground but will prove how disconnected the UN is from reality and how it rewards terrorism.” He added.

“Since the initiative is against the UN Charter, if it is approved, I expect the United States to completely stop funding the UN and its institutions, in accordance with American law.”

Source:
UN to vote on motion granting PA the rights of a state, Ambassador Erdan criticizes, by Israel National News, May 7, 2024

The Yesha Council announced Monday night the appointment of the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, Israel Ganz, as the next chairman of the Yesha Council. He replaces Shlomo Ne’eman.

Ganz has close ties with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with President Isaac Herzog, and with senior government ministers from all parties.

Outgoing Chairman Ne’eman said: “Ganz is both a visionary and a hard worker who promotes issues related to the status and development of Judea and Samaria. I am sure Israel Ganz will succeed in furthering the development of the communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley.”

Source:
The Next Chairman of the Yesha Council: Israel Ganz, by Israel National News, May 6, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stern message to Hamas on Sunday amid ongoing negotiations for the release of the hostages.

“While Israel showed this willingness [to compromise], Hamas remained entrenched in its extreme positions, chief among them the demand to withdraw all our forces from the Strip, end the war, and leave Hamas intact,” Netanyahu said following the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

“The State of Israel cannot accept this. We are not ready to accept a situation in which the Hamas battalions come out of their bunkers, take control of Gaza again, rebuild their military infrastructure and return to threatening the citizens of Israel in the surrounding communities, in the cities of the south, in all parts of the country,” he continued.

On Sunday Israel’s War Cabinet approved the launch of a military operation in Rafah, which began with the evacuation of Gazans from the eastern part of the city near the border with Israel earlier on today. Two incidents preceded the decision – Hamas’ insistence on ending the war and the deadly rocket attack on the Kerem Shalom crossing in which four soldiers were killed.

There should never be recognition or reward for terrorism. Hamas will never lay down its arms nor ease up its extreme demands in the negotiations. It’s mandatory that the Israel Defense Forces enter Rafah and finish the job. The last stronghold of this terrorist scourge must be dismantled.

Sources:
Netanyahu to Hamas: We will not stop the fight, by Troy Osher Fritzhand/JNS, May 5, 2024

Israel’s War Cabinet approves first phase of Rafah operation, by Itamar Eichner and Einav Halabi/Ynetnews, May 6, 2024

This year the Jewish and secular calendars almost meet on Israel’s Day of Independence. The late and brave David Ben Gurion declared the new State of Israel on Friday, Iyar 5, 5708, which was also May 14, 1948. This year, Iyar 5 falls on May 13, which is Israel’s Memorial Day leading up to Independence Day.

And on Independence Day, Tuesday, May 14, our friends at Beyadenu tell us that some 500 ascendants will arrive on the Mount with Israeli flags.

A giant sign was raised last Wednesday above the northbound lanes of Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, covering an area of 2,153 sq. ft. with the inscription “On Independence Day, we raise the flag on the Temple Mount.”

Beyadenu CEO Tom Nisani stated: “For anyone who had doubts until now, the conflict is not based solely on historical injustices due to the ‘occupation’ or the British government’s policy 80 years ago. It is not a coincidence that many soldiers who arrived in homes in Gaza found the image of the Dome of the Rock engraved on the walls. It is certainly not a coincidence that the terrorist organization Hamas chose to call for a massacre during the celebration of Simchat Torah in the name of the Temple Mount. This is a religious and national conflict, and so far, the State of Israel has refused to address it by demonstrating its sovereignty on the Temple Mount.”

Source:
500 Jews to Wave Israeli Flags on the Temple Mount on Independence Day, by David Israel/Jewish Press

The Sovereignty Movement joins those supporting the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, who distanced himself from the notion of ​​two states that he, too, finds to be increasingly unlikely.

This comes against the backdrop of an interview that Trump granted TIME Magazine, in which he stated that he has come around to the now widespread belief in Israel that a Palestinian state existing side by side in peace is increasingly unlikely. “There was a time when I thought two-state could work,” he says. “Now I think two-state is going to be very, very tough.”

“After the October 7th massacre, it is eminently clear, even to the most sober analysts in the United States, that these dangerous ideas pose an existential threat to Israel’s future.  It is time to promote, in practice, the alternative of sovereignty as Israel’s only realistic political plan,” said Sovereignty heads Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar.

Source:
Trump’s Statement – An Impetus for Sovereignty. It’s Time for Action, by The Sovereignty Movement, May 2, 2024

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Wednesday to “finish the mission” in the southern Gaza border city of Rafah, where at least four Hamas terror battalions and its leadership are preparing to defend their iron-fisted control over the enclave.

Speaking in a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem with representatives of hostages’ families and bereaved families from the Heroism Forum and the Hope (Tikva) Forum, Netanyahu pledged to continue the war until all of its goals are achieved.

“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal — in order to achieve the total victory,” Netanyahu told the gathering.

Israel must reach the goals of this war and win the fight against terrorism along with freeing the hostages, whether alive or not. Israel should not bow to any international pressure nor conceed to any demands by Hamas.

Source:
Netanyahu Vows to ‘Finish the Mission’ in Rafah, by Hana Levi Julian/Jewish Press, April 30, 2024

The Sovereignty Movement supports Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who calls on the Prime Minister to respond assertively to steps being taken by the PA, to sever all ties, including economic, with its leaders, to cause its collapse and apply Israeli sovereignty over the entire area of Judea and Samaria.

This step is called for not as punishment to a terrorist regime, which persecutes Israel and works toward its destruction, but as a historic necessity and an expression of justice, morality, and the dream of generations of the Jewish People, full Israeli sovereignty over the entire area of the Land of Israel.

The movement appeals to the Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, and calls on him to join the Finance Minister’s declaration in the spirit of what he wrote in his book, “A Place among the Nations.”

“The governments of Israel have sufficed with presenting security considerations in explaining what Israel must add to strengthen the area of Judea and Samaria. The Arabs, in contrast, do not hesitate at all to assert their right over the land and often resort to false historical claims, which only few among the foreign media deign to dispute.“

Source:
Moves Made by the PA Necessitate Sovereignty, by Hiim Zah, GPO/The Sovereignty Movement, April 30, 2024

Defense Minister Yoav Galant is stopping extensive plans in Judea and Samaria, which are only waiting for his approval after being approved by the highest echelons in the government.

There has long been pressure to promote these plans, including declaring thousands of square meters in the Jordan Valley as state land and the restitution of Jewish buildings that were confiscated in 1929 in Hebron. Gallant has so far not advanced the plans.

Minister Bezalel Smotrich sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating he will not agree “to stop actions that are within my authority to promote settlement in Judea and Samaria, some of which are being delayed by the Defense Minister, from non-substantive considerations that harm the settlement.”

Despite this being a time of war, we trust the implementation of the already approved plans to build and expand Jewish communities will move forward without further delay.

Source:
‘Defense Minister is delaying operation in Judea and Samaria’, by Israel National News, April 26, 2024