Category: Articles

The Knesset Plenum on Wednesday voted to approve in first reading an amendment to the Bill for Stopping the Activity of UNRWA.

This is a government bill, to which private members’ bills were attached in preliminary reading, sponsored by MKs Limor Son Har Melech and Yulia Malinovsky.

Twenty-eight Members of Knesset supported the bill and eight opposed it. The bill will be turned over to the House Committee to determine the committee in which the bill will be deliberated.

It is proposed to amend the Law for Stopping the Activity of UNRWA, so that a provider of electricity or water service will not supply a property with electricity or water, as relevant, if the name of the consumer registered at that property is UNRWA.

In addition, it is proposed to grant the state the power to take possession of land that is Israeli land, which has served UNRWA in various compounds.

Addressing the fundamental issue of eradicating terrorism is a complex endeavor, and this is yet another action that Israel’s Knesset must undertake. UNRWA has faced longstanding criticism regarding its collaboration with Hamas which collaboration has been proven to exist. The criticism has intensified following Israel’s disclosure in 2024 that UNRWA personnel were involved in the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 and subsequent aid to the enemy, Hamas. It is high time to confront the reality and take decisive action.

Source:
Knesset advances bill to cut UNRWA utilities, by Elad Benari/Israel National News, November 20, 2025

A new community was established Wednesday night in Gush Etzion, as the first homes were placed at the site with the participation of Gush Etzion Regional Council Head Yaron Rosenthal.

The new community is located near Bethlehem, in the area of Shdema. This is a strategically important location which connects eastern Gush Etzion to Jerusalem and creates Jewish continuity between the developing communities of Gush Etzion.

“To Rachel it was said: ‘Restrain your voice from weeping, your eyes from tears, for your children shall return to their borders.’ And indeed, we have merited to return to Rachel’s border, and we are certain she is no longer weeping, but watching her children from above as they return to the city where she was buried. Today she is rejoicing greatly,” Rosenthal concluded.

Over the years, many AFSI mission participants battled, along with Yehudit Tayar and Nadia Matar, over this land. We planted trees, had them torn up and planted them again in order to to retain the Jewish presence at this valuable site. It is with great joy that we see how the battles yielded results. A few families and singles are living in the new community now and more are expected in the spring.

This will be an important and extremely joyful stop on our Spring 2026 mission.

Source:
Shdema: New town founded in Gush Etzion, by Israel National News, November 20, 2025

A Hamas terrorist released by Israel in a hostage deal 14 years ago is behind the group’s attacks inside Israel, according to a report by Israel’s national broadcaster.

On Tuesday, Kan reported that Hamas’ terror operations against Israel in Judea and Samaria are now being largely directed from abroad by Ayman Abu Khalil, a senior member of the terrorist group who is now living in exile in Turkey.

Abu Khalil, 53, was part of a terror cell organized by Mohammed Deif that abducted and murdered two hitchhiking IDF soldiers in April and July of 1994, including Shahar Simani and Aryeh Frankenthal.

After his arrest in December 1994, Abu Khalil was imprisoned for more than 16 years before being released as part of the 2011 deal securing the return of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

The Shalit agreement resulted in Abu Khalil’s forced exile to Turkey. A report on Tuesday, unsurprisingly suggested that he recommenced his terrorist activities with Hamas subsequent to his release. This situation illustrates the persistent, “revolving door” cycle of malevolence that Israel’s hostage agreements, including the current one, have been unsuccessful in mitigating. The potential efficacy of a ceasefire and the 20-Point peace plan in resolving this persistent issue remains to be seen.

Source:
Hamas terrorist freed from Israeli jail directing terror attacks from Turkey, by World Israel News Staff, November 19, 2025

Heavy machinery rolled into the Judean hills Monday morning as Israeli forces launched the largest demolition operation in a decade against a Jewish community in Gush Etzion. The target: Givat Tzur Misgavi, a two-year-old Jewish community where 25 families built their homes on Israeli land. While hundreds of police officers surrounded the community protesters rushed to the scene, incredulous that their own government was tearing down Jewish homes while leaving thousands of illegal Arab structures untouched across Judea and Samaria.

The families of Givat Tzur Misgavi, also known as Givat Hatilim, established their community north of Metzad specifically to prevent a Palestinian Authority takeover from the nearby village of Si’ir. For two years, they built homes, raised children, and constructed a synagogue on land owned by the Israeli state.

“At a time when our enemies are trying to undermine our hold on the land, it is the government that is directing tools and efforts against the pioneers of settlement. This is an unacceptable, anti-Zionist, and dangerous move that harms the very heart of the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel,” the Nachala Movement declared.

Rabbi Ari Abramowitz, co-founder of the Arugot Farm in eastern Gush Etzion, captured the residents rage and bewilderment. “There are 40 families, families with children who are putting themselves in harm’s way to secure state land for the nation of Israel, so that European Union-funded jihadist Arabs won’t steal it,” he said. “They’re protecting the land, but now the government is coming and destroying their homes.”

Rabbi Jeremy Gimpel, who also co-founded Arugot, described the operation as catastrophic for the affected families. “The government is destroying dozens of homes,” he said. “This was totally unannounced. No one was prepared for this.”

The inhabitants of Givat Hatilim have intentionally constructed this community to avert any further unlawful land seizures by the Palestinians. Discussions regarding the formation of a Palestinian state continue to be propagated among those who are fixated and misguided, while Members of Knesset such as Bezalel Smotrich strive to promote development in Judea and Samaria. Collectively, these factors contribute to a distorted framework regarding the continued development and protection of a sovereign nation.

Source:
Israeli government demolishes Israeli homes in Gush Etzion as settlers cry betrayal, by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz/Israel365News, November 17, 2025

MK Tzvi Succot submitted a historic bill, signed by dozens of coalition members, calling for Israeli sovereignty to be applied to the Cave of the Patriarchs compound in Hebron.

According to the bill’s wording, the entire area of the compound, including the Hall of Isaac, which is currently open to Jews only ten days a year, will be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Kiryat Arba Council and managed by the local religious council.

The Cave of the Patriarchs is considered a sacred site in Judaism snd for centuries, Jews were forbidden from entering the site, and access was allowed only up to “the seven steps.”

Since the Six Day War, Jews have returned to pray at the site, but to this day, full Israeli sovereignty has not been applied, and the site operates under various administrative and security restrictions.

At present, the Cave of the Patriarchs is accessible to Jews for only ten days each year, which is a significant injustice. The bill proposed by MK Succot needs to be approved promptly to rectify this egregious wrong.

Source:
New bill proposes: Israeli sovereignty at the Cave of the Patriarchs, by Israel National News, November 14, 2025

A plurality of Israelis want Israel to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria rather than a negotiated settlement with the Palestinian Authority or continuation of the status quo, a new poll shows.

The poll was conducted from November 2 to 6 by the Israel Democracy Institute’s Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research. A representative sample of 746 Israeli Jews and Arabs over 18 was surveyed for the poll.

When asked what their preferred solution is for the administration of Judea and Samaria, 41% of Israeli Jews said they wanted Israel to extend sovereignty over the territories, compared to just 27% who back talks with the Palestinian Authority for a final status agreement.

Less than one-in-five (17%) want to maintain the status quo.

The phrase “The numbers don’t lie” is a well-known saying, yet the result of this poll resonates strongly. The people of Israel have made their voices heard. This is their homeland. Israel is fundamentally a sovereign nation. There should be no further discussion regarding the implementation of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.

Source:
Poll: Israelis prefer annexing Judea & Samaria over two-state solution, by World Israel News Staff, November 13, 2025

Iran has spent the past several months quietly smuggling advanced arms to a growing number of terrorist proxies in Judea and Samaria, ramping up its efforts to transform the territory into a Gaza-style militant hub that can replicate Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attacks since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire began a month ago, according to Israeli intelligence centers and regional analysts.

Amir Avivi, a former senior Israeli military officer who regularly advises the country’s government, told the Washington Free Beacon Iran views Judea and Samaria as its best chance to maximize its proxy war against Israel after the hits the Islamic Republic, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza have taken over the past year. “Iran is really, really focused on trying to create another front,” Avivi said. “It didn’t just start after the 12-Day War, but they feel that this is the area they need to focus on because they’re having less success in Lebanon and in Gaza.”

While the Islamic Republic’s attempt to turn the West Bank into a hotbed of terror has not received significant attention in Western media, Israeli officials are on high alert. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told the U.N. Security Council in September the threat from the West Bank is “real and imminent.”

Source:
Iran Smuggling Advanced Weaponry to Growing Terrorist Proxy Network in West Bank, by Adam Kredo/Washington Free Beacon, November 11, 2025

The Sovereignty Movement is calling for Israeli sovereignty in all parts of the country. They began a new campaign Monday by hanging large banners on the fence of the American-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) for Gaza in Kiryat Gat.

The Sovereignty Movement’s slogan read, “Sovereignty: A National Consensus.”

While similar signs will be posted on hundreds of major roads throughout Israel, the movement wanted to make its message clear first and foremost to the United States.

“The No. 1 rule of a sovereign nation is that you decide your fate and not foreign forces, so it was very important for us to start there,” the Movement said.

Katsover and Matar noted to World Israel News that “we have upcoming elections [next year]. The test for every right-wing politician is the sovereignty test. The time has come not only to talk about it but to actually implement such a law.”

It’s high time to pass the test. Declare sovereignty now!

Source:
Israeli Sovereignty Movement targets U.S.-led Gaza center in new campaign, by Batya Jerenberg/World Israel News, November 11, 2025

From the great Elie Wiesel’s timeless words to then United States Ambassador to the United Nations Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s stirring speech at the United Nations in 1972, we know Zionism is NOT Racism

Fifty years after the United Nations passed its infamous 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism, Elie Wiesel’s words remain as piercing and prophetic as ever. In his essay—originally published in the aftermath of that moral outrage—Wiesel warns that the resolution was not merely a political maneuver, but a continuation of the oldest hatred in history: the attempt to isolate the Jewish people and deny their right to dignity, identity and nationhood. His defense of Zionism as a human, moral and spiritual movement stands as both a rebuke to the cynicism of the U.N. and a call to conscience for every generation.

Wiesel states that “…the United Nations’ infamous resolution comparing Zionism to a form of racism is shocking and revolting. It must be viewed in a context of chilling horror.”

Zionism represents the nationalist movement that promotes Jewish self-determination in a homeland. Accusations of racism are primarily derived from the 1975 UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, which equated Zionism with racism, having been passed with a vote of 72–35 amidst Cold War dynamics and the influence of the Arab League. This resolution was later revoked in 1991 (Resolution 46/86, with a vote of 111–25) as it was deemed factually unfounded and politically driven.

To equate a people’s right to establish a state with racism undermines Jewish indigeneity and disregards similar claims made in other contexts. Zionism is the past, present and future of the Jewish people.

Sources:
Zionism and racism, by Elie Wiesel/JNS, November 10, 2025

50 years ago: Moynihan’s and Herzog’s speeches condemning the UN “Zionism is Racism” resolution (videos, full audio, transcripts), by Elder of Ziyon, November 10, 2025

This year marked an all-time high in expansion in Judea and Samaria, with a record number of new housing tenders issued.

So far in 2025, the Israeli government and the Israel Land Authority have granted tenders for 5,667 housing units in Israeli towns across Judea and Samaria, nearly 50% more than the number issued in the previous record-setting year.

In 2018, 3,808 housing unit tenders were issued, the most prior to 2025.

Three towns in the Jordan Valley were normalized Monday, including Giv’onit, Ir HaTmarim, Gadi — along with four in the Samaria Regional Council and six in the Benjamin Regional Council.

“This is a major step toward formalizing communities and integrating them as an inseparable part of the State of Israel,” Minister Bezalel Smotrich said.

Source:
Settlement expansion hits all-time high in 2025, 13 towns legalized, by World Israel News Staff, November 10, 2025