Category: Articles

This morning there was rioting in the Negev and an attack by Bedouin on police forces and inspectors at the IDF’s Tze’elim Base. As these attacks continue, Regavim warns that the new five-year plan for the Negev, which the government is expected to approve, contains no budgeting for law enforcement and will cause long-term damage to the already dire state of governance in the Negev.

In the Knesset ministers are embroiled in a tug-of-war over the government’s new five-year plan for the Negev. Meir Deutsch, Director General of Regavim, notes that “increased enforcement activity in the Negev over the past year is the result of government decisions and budgetary allocations legislated in 2017. As it now reads, the new Negev Five-Year Plan will cut the oxygen supply for enforcement, and the results will be felt over the coming years. Under no condition should this plan be approved; all ‘carrots’ and no ‘sticks’ is not a plan, it’s a recipe for disaster.”

Source:
Regavim: Government’s plan shuts down governance in the Negev, by Israel National News, January 31, 2022

A report on Tuesday that Israel’s government decided to move the illegal Bedouin outpost of Khan al-Ahmar to a new location nearby has come as a surprise to the people who live there. Locals there told Tazpit Press Service exclusively that residents had yet to be informed.

Regavim CEO Meir Deutsch stated that he reiterates that he considers this another surrender by the Israeli government. “The area in question, the Mishor Adumim area, is the most strategic, lying between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley Jericho and Ramallah. That’s why the place gets so much attention from the PA and the EU.”

At this point all we can say is what a failure Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is. He must assert Israel’s legal ownership over the land. To know that he would even consider potentially surrendering a piece of Israel that is strategic to its defense and existence as a whole country (Yisrael Shlayma) is unthinkable.

Photo courtesy of Regavim

Sources:
Exclusive: Khan al-Ahmar Residents Say They’re Unaware of Government’s Evacuation Decision, by Hana Levi Julian/Jewish Press, January 25, 2022

‘Moving Khan al-Ahmar is surrender to the PA, EU’, by Shimon Cohen/Israel National News, January 26, 2022

Yaakov Hagoel’s article in today’s Jerusalem Post for Holocaust Remembrance Day lays out the roots of today’s continued anti-Semitism and the work he has planned to combat it. Yaakov is Chairman of the World Zionist Organization and Acting Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

In an excerpt from the article he states, “The extreme, abysmal, borderless and illogical hatred of Israel is the anti-Semitism of today. The hated Jews who dared to establish a state for themselves that they could finally maintain are now absorbing the thousands-year-old hatred. Young people in the United States and Europe acquire this hatred by virtue of the propaganda spread by various ‘human rights’ organizations. For them, Israel is to blame for all the evil in the world. In order to accomplish this, I am working to recruit heads of state from around the world to officially adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of ‘steps to combat anti-Semitism.’”

Source:
“Outside the club” – Opinion, by Yaakov Hagoel/Jerusalem Post, January 27, 2022

Hundreds of Samaria residents and their supporters went out last Friday to plant trees and build fences around the Samaria town of Pedu’el. This was part of an effort to stop the Palestinian takeover of Area C.

“We came here because this is our country and we will not give it up,” said Yossi Dagan. “We are not waiting for this government. We are here to win for the people of Israel. There will soon be a new neighborhood on this spot. This has always been the case in Zionism – our borders are wherever we work the land. Unfortunately, we are facing complete lawlessness – we see it in Samaria, we see it in the Negev, but we are here in the name of the whole nation of Israel, because the people of Israel will win.”

Source:
Hundreds gather to plant trees in Samaria, by Israel National News, January 21, 2022

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked intends to bring the amendment to the Citizenship Law for approval by the Knesset this week, two weeks after it was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.

The purpose of the Family Reunification Law is to curb the flow of Arab families from the Palestinian Authority into Israel proper, by maintaining the status quo and state security.

The failure to pass the Citizenship Law back in July was one of the first failures of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s coalition. The Opposition and the ruling coalition must come together to work for the sake of the security of the Jewish Nation State, not to mention, for the good of the citizens of Israel and the country overall. If petty politics continue to take preference, Israel’s security is at risk and that is deeply concerning.

The Citizenship Law was intended to strengthen Israel’s security, not burden it. A version written by MK Simcha Rotman who sits in the Religious Zionist appears to have the support of the majority coalition. It puts a cap on the number of citizenship requests that are approved and makes the process more transparent. We pray that the Citizenship Law will be pass as soon as possible.

Source:
Tensions in coalition as Knesset to vote on Citizenship Law, by Israel National News, January 23, 2022

The Palestinian Authority is working to establish 16 schools at strategic locations near Israeli communities in the Jerusalem area with European Union funding.

Over the weekend, the Committee for Combating Settlements, under the auspices of the PLO and the PA and with the direction of its new director Moaid Shaban, set up a permanent structure to serve as a school in Ein Samia near the Israeli community of Kochav Hashahar. Up until recently, tents and shacks owned by Bedouin squatters inhabited the place.

Sources in the PA say that the locations of the buildings planned for construction are not accidental and are intended to prevent the establishment of Israeli communities.

Of course these PA buildings are not intended for educational purposes. Why would we believe otherwise?

Source:
PA Building 16 Schools at Strategic Points in Area C, by Baruch Yedid/TPS

In a special discussion held by the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (Tuesday, January 18, 2022) initiated by the Land of Israel Lobby, a report was presented by the Ministry of Intelligence that exposes, for the first time, the planned Palestinian project for the takeover of Area C, its  European funding and the Civil Administration’s neglect to enforce the law regarding the Palestinians. Directors of the Land of Israel Lobby: “The battle for Judea and Samaria has reached a critical phase”.

According to the report, the PA, employs about 600 employees in about 100 registration branches of the Lands and Water Authority for a huge project of regulating lands, including those of Area C, with the declared goal of claiming ownership of the area. The regulation project, which gained momentum in 2019 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2022, is sometimes effected by threatening land-owners and it enco

Each day that passes without the application of Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, the Arabs continue to steal our homeland aided and funded by the European Union.

Source:
The European Union is Investing a half billion dollars in the Palestinian takeover of Area C, by The Sovereignty Movement, January 18, 2022

The UN General Assembly approved an Israeli-sponsored resolution aimed at combating Holocaust denial.

The resolution will provide a specific classification for Holocaust denial, using the working definition put together by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. It will provide recommendations for how signatory countries can address the phenomenon, and will demand social media networks remove posts that fall under the IHRA definition.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan said, “Beyond defining Holocaust distortion and denial, this resolution is a commitment to make sure that this phenomenon will be tolerated no more.”

Sources:
UN General Assembly adopts Israeli resolution on combating Holocaust denial, by Jacob Magid/times of Israel, January 20, 2022

UN adopts Israeli resolution to combat Holocaust denial, by Israel National News, January 20, 2022

The leaders of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria issued a special message to their residents strongly criticizing the conduct of the current government. They are calling on the residents to attend a demonstration tonight in front of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office.

An excerpt from the letter reads: “In this situation, we can no longer remain silent. We have decided to establish a joint headquarters for the councils in Judea and Samaria and to embark on a comprehensive and broad struggle until the situation changes substantially both on the ground and in all of this government’s treatment of the residents of Judea and Samaria. Today, the 1-month anniversary of the murder of Yehuda Dimmentman, we will all stand before the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem and say: Enough.” Unfortunately, senior government ministers are joining the time-consuming campaign of hatred of the far-left organizations against the residents of Judea and Samaria…… these ministers and the entire government have lost their right and their legitimacy to continue serving the public in Israel.”

We support the Yesha leaders call for those in Judea and Samaria to rise up and call for Bennett’s government to step down. Serving the Arabs is not what he was voted in for. We remain disgusted with Bennett’s 180 degree turn around, the opposite of what he campaigned on.

Source:
Yesha Council leaders: Govt., ministers have lost their legitimacy, by Israel National News, January 13, 2022

Yesterday, KKL-JNF halted their tree planting activities in the Negev. The debate is raging as to whether the cessation was pre-planned or a result of the existential threat it was causing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s coalition.

The Ra’am party informed Bennett’s coalition that they would boycott the Knesset plenum for the foreseeable future until the planting stops. This makes passing laws next to impossible for the Lapid-Bennett government.

Zeev Elkin, Minister of Construction and Housing, told Reshet Bet radio yesterday that despite the riots of the Bedouin in the Negev, the planting will continue.

The Regavim Movement decried the government’s capitulation, charging this decision as continued “protection payments” to Mansour Abbas that make the next round of violence and domestic terrorism inevitable. “The Ra’am Party and the Bedouin know full well that they can dictate to the government through the use of political pressure, strongarm tactics and violence. When you cave in to terrorism and blackmail, you invite the next round of violence.”

The latest update, and to prove Regavim’s point, Arab farmers planted a massive grove of hundreds of olive trees along the northern border of the Dagan neighborhood of Efrat. Some of the planting took place secretly overnight.

Violence and riots are now hitting the Negev and there is no one to blame but Bennett’s pathetic coalition. Organized PA takeover of legally owned Jewish land – and some of it strategic – continues at an alarming pace. Israel’s government has been warned time and again of this problem and with no constructive action being taken they continue to cave in to terrorism.

Sources:
Overnight, Arabs Illegally Plant Olive Grove Alongside Efrat, by Aryeh Savir/Tazpit News Agency, January 13, 2022

Ra’am Wins, KKL-KNF Tree Planting Halted, by Jewish Press News Desk, January 12, 2022

Minister Elkin: Negev Tree Planting Continues Despite Ra’am’s Objections; Lapid: OK to Suspend, by David Israel/Jewish Press, January 12, 2022