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The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution 129-11 on Wednesday, that disavowed Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and called it solely by its Muslim name of al-Haram al-Sharif.

The text, referred to as the “Jerusalem resolution,” is part of a push by the Palestinian Authority and the Arab states across the UN system to rebrand Judaism’s most holy site as an exclusively Islamic one.

The United States, which opposed the text, said that the omission of inclusive terminology for the site sacred to three faiths was of “real and serious concern.”

The second UN resolution failed to condemn the recent murder of Eli Kay. The third called on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan addressed the General Assembly on Wednesday. He noted that “one of the most absurd demands in these resolutions is the call to maintain the status quo in Jerusalem, when in essence, the resolution does the exact opposite. By referring to the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount, only by its Muslim name, the resolution itself is changing the status quo! A resolution about Jerusalem that does not refer to its ancient Jewish roots is not an ignorant mistake, but an attempt to distort and rewrite history! So let me be clear – whether it’s through terror attacks against Jews at our holy sites or biased UN resolutions that are completely detached from reality, the eternal bond between the Jewish people and Jerusalem – our capital – will never be erased,” he concluded.

AFSI thanks the United States and other nations who voted ‘no” to these anti-Semitic resolutions. See the the chart on how countries voted below.

Sources:
129 nations ignore Jewish ties to Temple Mount, call it solely Muslim, by Tovah Lazaroff/Jerusalem Post, December 2, 2021

Israeli envoy slams UN’s anti-Israeli resolution, by TPS/World Israel News, December 2, 2021

 

 

Today we must share three separate stories that we find quite disturbing. Frankly, we are ashamed. Never did we expect to see the Israeli government pitting Jew against Jew.

Last Wednesday, hundreds of police and Civil Administration inspectors raided the Givat Zion and Ramat Migron communities in the Benjamin region and began demolishing the homes of four families who had been attempting to rebuild after their homes were demolished for the first time last week.

The families claimed that they were forcibly evicted from their homes within minutes and without being given any notice or time to get organized. Residents who documented the destruction were also removed from the scene.

Elisha Yarad, a resident of Ramat Migron, told Arutz Sheva: “For the second time in a week, hundreds of policemen came to us on the hill with tools of destruction in order to destroy our house. They did not give us two minutes to get organized and took us out violently. In five minutes all our clothes, our daughter’s belongings were rolled outside and they destroyed our house. They came with venom and a desire to destroy the hilltop community to the end.”

In another report, a series of serious stone-throwing incidents have been recorded in recent days in the Samaria area near the village of Luban a-Sharqiya, at a road junction where many Jews travel to and from work. This is also one of the main focal points for attacks on Jewish owned vehicles. In one attack, last week, two cinderblocks were thrown at a pregnant passenger in her ninth month. Miraculously that attack ended with damage to the vehicle alone.

It was only logical, then, to find out on Sunday morning, on Reshet Bet radio, that the IDF will intensify its forces to eradicate hate crimes, as the defense establishment intends to establish special operations teams to carry out this effort. However, the target of this move appears to be primarily Jewish “settlers” who are accused of attacking PA Arabs. A senior military officer told Kan 11 News that “not enough has been done, the phenomenon needs to be put to an end. The whole system needs to act to eradicate nationalist crime.” Again, by nationalist, he means Jews.

Last is a report that came out on Kan News on Sunday that residents in Yitzhar have uncovered an undercover agent of the Shabak’s ‘Jewish department’. The agent had apparently been embedded in a yeshiva in central Israel before moving to Yitzhar. He first gathered information about the yeshiva’s students and rabbis as well as the mood of the yeshiva, before being moved to Yitzhar, where he collected information about minors who were allegedly part of the ‘hilltop youth’ and was a key figure in violent incidents over the last few years.

During his work with the Shabak, the agent received hundreds of thousands of shekels in aggregate, as well as rewards for providing information about the violent events in which he participated. In recent days, as part of his disclosure, the agent admitted his activities to his friends at the yeshiva and among the ‘hilltop youth’, apologized, disengaged from his Shabak handlers and is currently working together with rabbis and key figures to correct what he did in various ways.

As AFSI has previously reported, the Bennett coalition continues to appease the Arabs in too many ways while Jews in Judea and Samaria are ignored at best. What makes the actions of Bennett’s government deeply concerning is that Jews are not just being ignored, they are now demonized by their own people – the government and those with whom the government holds sway. That is unacceptable. If these instances are an indication of where the Bennett government is headed, we pray the Israeli people find the strength to demand that Bennett reverse course.

Photo above reads “Stop destroying homes in Israel.”

Sources:
IDF Creates Teams to Fight Settlers’ ‘Hate Crimes’ During Peak in Stone, Firebomb Attacks on Jews, by David Israel/Jewish Press, November 28, 2021

Residents uncover Shabak agent in Yitzhar, by Arutz Sheva Staff, November 28, 2021

Hilltop homes destroyed: ‘They gave us no warning or time’, by Hezki Baruch/Arutz Sheva, November 24, 2021

On the backdrop of the talks in Vienna that begin today, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has issued the following message:

Today, Iran will be arriving at negotiations in Vienna with a clear goal: To end sanctions in exchange for almost nothing. Iran won’t just keep its nuclear program; from today, they’ll be getting paid for it.
Iran doesn’t hide its intentions. Just a couple of days ago, the senior command of Iran’s Armed Forces declared, and I quote, “We will not back off from the annihilation of Israel, not even one millimeter.”

Just this week, the Iranian regime shot its own people on the streets of Isfahan for having dared to protest the lack of water in their country. Yes, they shot their own citizens just for being thirsty. Such a murderous regime should not be rewarded.

Despite Iran’s violations and undermining of the nuclear inspections, Iran will be arriving at the negotiation table in Vienna, and there are those who think they deserve to have their sanctions removed and hundreds of billions of dollars poured right into their rotten regime.

They’re wrong. Iran deserves no rewards, no bargain deals and no sanctions relief in return for their brutality. We call upon our allies around the world: Do not give in to Iran’s nuclear blackmail.

AFSI gives credit where it is due. Here Prime Minister Bennett deserves our approval for his consistently strong stance against allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.

Source:
‘Iran deserves no rewards’ – Bennett’s message to the world: A murderous regime like Iran should not be rewarded, by Arutz Sheva Staff, November 29, 2021

On Sunday morning, one person was murdered and another 3 were wounded, one of them in moderate to serious condition and two lightly in a shooting attack near the Chain Gate close to the Kotel. The terrorist was neutralized by security forces.

Eliyahu David Kay, an employee at the Western Wall Heritage Foundation and a recent oleh from South Africa, was killed. AFSI mourns the senseless loss of this young man and prays for the recovery of all those injured in this terror attack.

Incitement and terror against Israelis is on the rise again. We believe we can attribute this directly to 1) Biden & Co.’s political pressure to open a PA consulate in Jerusalem, 2) talk of reviving efforts to establish a PA state, and 3) the Israeli government’s steps to strengthen the PA economically. With Biden’s damaging support of terrorism, it’s clear that Arabs see a new path to attain their goal of destroying and taking over all of Israel.

Last week Caroline Glick, in one of her always astute articles, quoted Prime Minister Naftali Bennett who said, “There are no negotiations taking place towards the establishment of a terror state in the heart of Israel.” This actually might be true. From what we see there are no negotiations. However, there are direct giveaways to the PA with no concern for the negative and harmful consequence it will have on the Israeli people.

Sources:
One dead, three wounded in attack at entrance to Western Wall, by Arutz Sheva Staff, November 21, 2021

Jerusalem terror victim: lone soldier from South Africa, by Lauren Marcus/World Israel News, November 21, 2021

Bennett Builds A Terror State, by Caroline Glick, November 19, 2021

 

Defense Minister Benny Gantz last Thursday instructed Israel’s security forces to work together and focus their efforts on the new and old centers of friction between Arabs and Jews in Judea and Samaria. Gantz called for establishing new, dedicated teams to deal with “Jewish terrorism.”

Referring to Arab complaints against Jewish “settlers,” Gantz stressed “what begins with a tree can end in bodily injury and, God forbid, death. Hate crimes are the root of terrorism and we must eradicate it.” He was surely referring to Jewish hate crimes.

Does Benny Gantz have his facts correct? The reason for the meeting with Gantz was those well-edited video clips that have been disseminated on social media and covered by multiple news reporters on television. The clips are always biased against the Jews and often against IDF soldiers who show up on the scene and rightfully protect the Jews against assaults by Arabs. The clips pick up the action after the Arab provocation, in the best tradition of “it all started after Israeli retaliated.”

AFSI is deeply troubled to report again on developments that appease, favor and bolster PA terrorists, while Bennett ignores – and now blatantly demonizes the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. If Israel is to remain a Sovereign nation and defend and protect its people, then the actions Bennett has taken since he took office will ultimately harm the entire State of Israel.

Sources:
Gantz Blames Arab Violence on Jewish Settlers, Consolidates Anti-Jewish Action in Judea & Samaria, by David Israel/Jewish Press, November 19, 2021

Responding to aggressive lobbying by the Beyadenu movement, the Knesset Education Committee on Tuesday debated the place of the Temple Mount in the country’s education system.

In 2018 Tom Nisani, together with Ofir Dayan, led Students For the Temple Mount. Today, Nisani heads Beyadenu, which is funded by The Israel Independence Fund. Beyadenu means “In Our Hands” – a reference to the immortal declaration “The Temple Mount is in our hands!” That phrase was uttered in June 1967 by Mordechai “Motta” Gur, commander of the paratroopers who liberated the Temple Mount.

Coalition and opposition MKs alike agreed that the Israeli education system is failing to convey information about the Temple Mount to students.

Committee Chairwoman MK Sharren Haskel (New Hope) said that the education system does not mention the existence of the Temple Mount in a national and religious context, despite being one of the most important places for the Jewish People.

Former MK and Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick participated in the Knesset Education Committee’s discussion: “We as Jews should make it clear that this is our center and the desire of the Jewish people and therefore every student, soldier and citizen must visit there. The Education Minister should recommend it and every parent should decide for his child. We have failed educationally because we have taken that value out of its place and must return it to the place it deserves,” Glick concluded.

Thankfully, the committee determined that the study of the Temple Mount and the Temple as a holy place for the Jewish people should be included in the curriculum for History matriculation examinations.

AFSI is encouraged by the committee’s decision that teaching about the Temple Mount must have a regular place in Israeli schools. With the Bennett government doing so much to appease the Arabs, Israel needs its youth to be educated on the truth about Israel and its glorious history. It is one of the primary things that can combat poor decisions affecting Israel’s Sovereignty.

AFSI visits the Temple Mount on every Chizuk Mission.

Sources:
Knesset Education Committee in Historic Statement: Israeli School Children Must Visit Temple Mount, by David Israel/Jewish Press, November 17, 2021

Former MK: State must encourage visits to the Temple Mount, by Hezki Baruch/Arutz Sheva, November 16, 2021

 

With the Knesset debating what is known as the “Electricity Law,” Arutz Sheva spoke to Meir Deutsch, CEO of Regavim, who attended the committee hearing on the issue.

“As of today, the law in Israel says that illegal structures cannot be connected to the main electricity line of the electricity infrastructure,” Deutsch says. “The original law, which is a bad law, says that illegal structures built until 2018 will now be able to be connected to the electricity infrastructure.”

When asked if the “Electricity Law” will apply to Jewish non-official communities, Deutsch says that as it stands it will not. “As of today, this law will not be implemented in Judea and Samaria for no good reason. There is no reason illegal structures built by Arabs will be connected to the electricity while Jewish structures built illegally will not be able to connect to electricity.”

Lack of electricity is not the only issue that communities in Judea and Samaria face. Water is another basic need that is also being ignored by the government, states Nitzan Zoran, a resident of Mitzpe Abigail on Mount Hebron. Nitzan says, “Each day we are confronted with a different challenge – one day a power outage, one day a shortage of water, trouble from the sewage pipes and more.”

It was AFSI’s hope to be able to report on better things coming from Prime Minister Bennett’s government. This is another example of how Prime Minister Bennett is ignoring – and totally forgetting – basic rights for Jews living on legally owned Jewish land. By doing so, the Bennett coalition continues to put Jews in harm’s way as it increases benefits to and builds up illegal PA developments throughout Judea and Samaria. It also bolsters the PA’s continued efforts to demonize and delegitimize Israel. Remind us again…who is the Israeli government supposed to be working for?

Sources:
The ‘Electricity Law’ is not for Jews?, by Yoni Kempinski/Arutz Sheva, November 16, 2021

Resident of Abigail settlement: We have no water, by Arutz Sheva Staff, November 16, 2021

 

 

Americans For A Safe Israel mourns the loss of Dr. Erich Isaac who passed away on November 5. Erich was one of the last of the Jewish Fighters for the Freedom of Israel (Lehi) and first chairman of Americans for A Safe Israel.

Dr. Erich Isaac, born in Mainz, Germany and grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home. At around the age of his Bar Mitzvah, he became involved in the pre-state, underground Fighters for the Freedom of Israel, or Lehi. He left his birth country with his parents for what was then Mandatory Palestine in 1938. Although he was only nine years old on arrival, he never forgot seeing the countryside on fire as the train took them to Tel Aviv. The conflagration was part of the ongoing 1936 Arab riots.

Many years later, when Isaac’s wife Rael was writing a dissertation on the Land of Israel movement — opposing the land-for-peace movement — which became the book Israel Divided, he assisted her and accompanied her to meetings. His own sympathies were with the Land of Israel Movement, and at one of their meetings he suggested there should be a counterpart organization in the U.S. to lobby for retaining the territories liberated in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Erich was pursued by Shmuel Katz, a former member of the Irgun’s high command who was active in the Land of Israel Movement, (which was remarkable at that time for bringing together well-known figures from every part of the political spectrum.) Katz brought together a number of people who formed the base of the new organization, and thus Americans for a Safe Israel was born, with Isaac serving as chairman. A few years later he turned over the reins to Herbert Zweibon who led the organization until his death in 2011. Isaac would often say his greatest contribution to AFSI was recruiting Zweibon.

May the family be comforted among all those who mourn for Zion and Jerusalem. May his wife Rael; four sons, Gamaliel, Gideon, Raphael, and David; and five grandchildren, know no more sorrow and may they know only simchas.

Source:
Fighter for Israel’s independence, Zionist activist and prominent geographer passes away, by Atara Beck/A World Israel News, November 15, 2021

The “Ad Kan” movement is initiating an investigation and inspection system that will monitor the transfer of funds of the United Arab List (Ra’am) party, in order to ensure that the funds are not transferred to terrorist organizations or to support terrorism.

In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Adv. Yosef Ackerman, director of the movement’s legal department, emphasizes that he welcomes any investigation and any journalistic investigation that is conducted and which examines the facts.

In his remarks, Ackerman emphasizes that the main argument of his organization is the demand to understand what the Ra’am movement is ideologically, and on the other hand to understand who its chairman, MK Mansour Abbas, is and what his goals are. In this context, he mentions the “Aid 48” organization, which rolls in fifty million shekels a year and transfers money to Gaza while its leader arrives in Gaza and meets with Hamas members.

“Funding the families of terrorists is money that goes to terrorism, and if a Hamas government ministry concentrates money and directs it to certain families, it is a funnel to terrorists. It is also a violation of the law. It is money that serves Hamas,” Ackerman said.

Source:
‘Ad Kan’: We will ensure Arab party’s money does not fund terrorism. How will this work?, by Yoni Kempinski/Arutz Sheva, November 12, 2021

 

 

 

Israel “loaned” the Palestinian Authority hundreds of millions of shekels that were supposed to be deducted, by law, from the taxes and customs collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to avoid having this money go to jailed terrorists’ salaries, Palestinian Media Watch reported. The report is based on the analysis of an official report the PA sent to Western countries.

According to the report by PalWatch legal head Attorney Maurice Hirsch, last September, shortly after the August meeting in Ramallah between Defense Minister Benny Gantz and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Israel transferred NIS 500 million ($170 million) to the PA in addition to the taxes and customs Israel collects and transfers every month.

Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories argued that the NIS 500 million is a loan based on future collections, so, in a way, the half-billion shekels did not come “from the public coffers of the Israeli taxpayer.” That’s not true, the loan certainly did come from the Israeli taxpayer, even if it will be paid back someday.

But worse, the loan violated the 2018 Freeze Terrorist Funds Act. Also, Gantz was apparently extremely generous with promises of future Arab construction in Area C. And he also reportedly gave his consent to installing G4 communications inside the PA.

Where is Gantz’s concern for Jews in Judea and Samaria who still live under Ottoman law? What does Gantz hope to accomplish by caving in to terrorists? PMW’s report is yet another in a series exposing Bennett’s coalition bestowing gifts to the PA Arabs and this leaves us deeply concerned for Israel.

Source:
Report: Gantz Gifted the PA Half a Billion Shekels to Cover Shahids’ Salaries, by David Israel/Jewish Press, November 12, 2021