Category: Articles

The Regavim movement sent a letter to Defense Minister Benny Gantz and the Civil Administration (that has authority over Judea and Samaria). Regavim is demanding that they take immediate action to enforce Israeli law and prevent the paving of a strategic road that would link two key villages under Palestinian Authority control.

The two villages in question are Battir, south-west of Jerusalem, and Husan, further south-west and just moments away from the haredi city of Beitar, both located in the Gush Etzion bloc in the Judean Hills. The Palestinian Authority is planning to pave a road that runs from Har Gilo, just outside the capital, and links areas of illegal expansion north of Battir all the way south to Husan.

Eytan Mellet, Regavim’s coordinator of activities in Judea and Samaria, filmed the areas concerned on Thursday morning, and explained the special significance of the road that would link Battir and Husan. He stressed that the road creates a strategic corridor through land that is ostensibly under full Israeli control, land that links Jerusalem to the Gush Etzion bloc, and that the paving of the road would create a de facto situation in which the Palestinian Authority takes control over this area instead.

The head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, Shlomo Ne’eman, added that this specific case perfectly illustrates the ongoing attempts of the Palestinian Authority to create facts on the ground and continuity of Arab settlement across swathes of State-held land. “The paving of this road constitutes yet another attempt to harm Israeli sovereignty,” he said. “We have to stop this yesterday already and prevent them from establishing a state under our very noses. The issue of protecting State-held lands and enforcing laws against illegal construction, takeovers, and infiltrations is something that should be at the top of the government’s agenda.”

Source:
Illegal Arab construction plans slice through Gush Etzion bloc, by Ido Ben Porat/Arutz Sheva, June 17, 2021

In a history-making vote, Israel’s 36th government was sworn in at the Knesset on Sunday. Yamina chair Naftali Bennett was installed as prime minister and Benjamin Netanyahu was ousted after 12 years of consecutive rule as premier.

MKs voted by a wafer-thin 60-59 in favor of the new government, made up of right-wing, left-wing, centrist, and Islamist parties that came together to oust Netanyahu and end two years of political deadlock.

One MK, Ra’am’s Saeed al-Harumi, abstained from the vote, in a protest centered on the demolition of Bedouin homes in the Negev. Three MKs from the predominantly Arab Joint List — Ayman Odeh, Ahmad Tibi and Osama Saadi — stayed out of the chamber until the votes were initially counted, ready to abstain if necessary to ensure the coalition was elected but, entered to vote against once it was clear that the required simple majority was assured.

Here is the new Cabinet Ministers list of who’s who:

• Alternate Prime Minister/Foreign Affairs: Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid)
• Deputy Prime Minister/Defense: Benny Gantz (Blue and White)
• Deputy Prime Minister/Justice: Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope)
• Finance: Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu)
• Education: Yifat Shasha-Biton (New Hope)
• Interior: Ayelet Shaked (Yamina)
• Health: Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz)
• Transportation: Merav Michaeli (Labor)
• Environmental Protection: Tamar Zandberg (Meretz)
• Public Security: Omer Bar-Lev (Labor)
• Communications: Yoaz Hendel (New Hope)
• Economy: Orna Barbivay (Yesh Atid)
• Labor; Social Services and Social Affairs: Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid)
• Energy: Karin Elharrar (Yesh Atid)
• Diaspora Affairs: Nachman Shai (Labor)
• Intelligence Services: Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid)
• Tourism: Yoel Razvozov (Yesh Atid)
• Religious Affairs: Matan Kahana (Yamina)
• Culture and Sports: Chili Tropper (Blue and White)
• Aliyah and Integration: Pnina Tamano-Shata (Blue and White)
• Agriculture and Negev and Galilee Development: Oded Forer (Yisrael Beytenu)
• Construction, Ministerial Liaison to the Knesset: Ze’ev Elkin (New Hope)
• Regional Cooperation: Essawi Frej (Meretz)
• Science and Technology: Orit Farkash Hacohen (Blue and White)
• Social Equity: Meirav Cohen (Yesh Atid)
• Minister in the Finance Ministry: Hamed Amar (Yisrael Beytenu)
• Knesset Speaker: Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid)
• Finance Committee chairman: Alex Kushnir (Yisrael Beytenu)
• Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman: Ram Ben Barak (Yesh Atid)
• Law and Constitution Committee chairman: Rabbi Gilad Kariv (Labor)
• Aliyah and Diaspora Affairs Committee chairman: Yair Golan (Meretz)

Opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the ‘right-wing bloc’ Monday and announced that the bloc’s mission would be to bring down the government which was inaugurated last night. “We have a very strong opposition – 53 MKs, who are cohesive and strong to overthrow this dangerous left-wing government, this fraudulent government. It will fall quickly and I will tell you why: the only thing that connects them is hatred, exclusion and power. It is impossible to have such a government.” Netanyahu stated.

AFSI congratulates Israel’s new government and wishes it hatzlacha. We would be remiss if we did not state our concerns and expectations. At the very top of our priority list we hope that they will 1) Not establish a two-state solution; 2) Continue to fight to keep Iran from re-entering the nuclear deal; 3) Not cave in to Arab demands for land grabs 4) Not freeze the building and development of new homes in Judea and Samaria; 5) WILL DECLARE SOVEREIGNTY OVER JUDEA AND SAMARIA.

Of course we must acknowledge the huge debt of gratitude we owe to Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for his many years of service and for his many successes bringing Israel to where it is on the world stage today. We also give our heartfelt thanks to all the ministers and MKs who served tirelessly with him over the years; fighting to defend Israel’s legal rights and her Sovereignty. May you all go from strength to strength.

Sources:
Bennett sworn in as prime minister, unseating Netanyahu after 12 years in power, by Raoul Wootliff/Times of Israel, June 13, 2021

Netanyahu: We will bring down this left-wing government as soon as possible, by Arutz Sheva Staff, June 14, 2021

Israel’s 36th gov’t: Here is the list of new cabinet ministers, by Gil Hoffman/Jerusalem Post, June 13, 2021

Israel’s new government will be faced with one of its first challenges on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s “Day of rage,” announced by the Palestinian factions.

The “Day of Rage” was declared for Judea and Samaria, Eastern Jerusalem and the mixed Jewish and Arab cities inside Israel.

Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction warned of an escalation of violence if the right-wing flag march that received police permission would pass through the Muslim quarter of Old City of Jerusalem, the Lebanese Al Akhbar daily newspaper reported Monday.

Israel security forces, including the IDF, are on alert. Will this become the new norm in Israel every time Israel holds an event that is their lawful right to do so? We hope not.

Source:
Government to face first challenge with Palestinian ‘Day of Rage’, by Eli Senior/Ynetnews.com, June 14, 2021

The leaders of the “change bloc’s” Yamina, New Hope and Yesh Atid parties met Tuesday night to sort out remaining differences. This Sunday the new government is set to be approved and sworn in.

Naftali Bennett, Gideon Sa’ar and Yair Lapid agreed that New Hope’s Ze’ev Elkin will be appointed minister in charge of liaison between the Knesset and government. The news came after reports that Elkin had set new conditions for supporting the government — specifically the formation of a new body to oversee enforcement of alleged illegal construction by Palestinians in the West Bank’s Area C.

In a joint statement, the parties called the reports “ridiculous spin.”

The eight-party “change government” alliance, headed by Bennett and Lapid, anticipates winning a 61-59 majority in the confidence vote Sunday, after wavering Yamina MK Nir Orbach said earlier Tuesday that he would back the new coalition.

On Tuesday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party approved a motion to reserve three open spots on the party’s electoral slate. This was a last-ditch bid to entice members of right-wing parties in the change bloc to oppose the proposed government in exchange for a guaranteed spot on the Likud roster in the next election.

We pray things turn around.

Source:
Change bloc chiefs meet to iron out wrinkles as Likud steps up hunt for rebels, by Raoul Wootliff/Times of Israel, June 9, 2021

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Defense Minister Benny Gantz to delay the evacuation of the Samaria community of Evyatar until next week. Next week is when the next government is to be sworn in.

Sources in Judea and Samaria say the move is designed to prevent one of the last acts of Netanyahu’s government to be the destruction of a Jewish community.

Netanyahu prefers to hand over the decision to the designated prime minister, Naftali Bennett. Bennett is not expected to rush the order to demolish Evyatar, to either regulate the community or find a solution for the dozens of families who have moved to the new community near the Tapuach junction.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz told Netanyahu that he does not require anyone’s permission to evacuate the town of Evyatar in Samaria.

While the politicians take political jabs at each other, the potential demolition of Evyatar represents the loss of another Jewish community built on legally owned Jewish Sovereign land. When will Sovereignty be declared? The fact that all of Judea and Samaria is still under Civil Administration leaves us concerned for Israel’s future.

Sources:
Netanyahu asks Gantz to delay demolition of Evyatar until next week, by Arutz Sheva Staff, June 9, 2021

Benny Gantz: ‘I don’t need anyone’s approval to evacuate town of Evyatar’, by Orly Harari/Arutz Sheva, June 10, 2021

The details of the coalition agreements publicized in the media Monday evening reveal that Naftali Bennett and Gideon Saar are “not only failing to provide solutions but are exacerbating the problem,” with regard to governance in the Negev, the Regavim Movement warned.

Bennett and Saar have pledged in the coalition agreements to approach the Attorney General and demand that he cancel all fines and sanctions on illegal Arab construction. The agreement also calls for the freezing of enforcement against illegal construction for almost four years, and the freezing of the existing demolition orders for all illegal structures in the Negev that were built until the beginning of 2021. Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamist Raam party and a member of the emerging coalition, will be appointed a deputy minister and will receive half a billion shekels for distribution at his discretion. (Sound Kosher to you?)

Furthermore, the coalition agreements place both the Bedouin Settlement Authority and the Knesset’s Interior Committee, the key actors on the Negev issue, under the complete control of the left-wing bloc and Raam.

“Aside from approving the whitewashing of thousands of illegal structures on about 11,000 dunams of land to create ‘three new communities,’ the coalition agreements do not stipulate what will happen to the rest of the illegal Bedouin squatters’ camps nine months from now, and neither Bennett’s Yemina Party nor Saar’s New Hope Party will have the ability to influence the outcome in a government kept afloat by Mansour Abbas and the Islamist Raam Party,” Regavim stated.

Regavim has repeatedly warned that the state has lost its grip in the south and sovereignty in the southern region of Israel has been relinquished to an autonomous entity established by the Bedouins in the Negev. More and more illegal enclaves continue to spring up throughout the territory – and all the while, the Israeli government continues to turn a blind eye.

Source:
New Govt. Coalition Agreement Abandons Negev, Org Warns, by Aryeh Savir/TPS, June 8, 2021

Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin formally notified the parliament on Monday that Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid has succeeded in forming a new power-sharing government within the time allotted to him by President Reuven Rivlin. However, he didn’t give a date for the swearing-in, which must by law take place no later than June 14.

The move was widely seen as an indication that Levin is trying to delay the swearing-in as much as possible in order to give the premier’s allies time to foil the coalition by persuading prospective right-wing members to jump ship. Levin is a loyalist of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Likud party.

Israel’s new government is facing a crisis of legitimacy Naftali Bennet’s party won only 6% of the vote. He is set to take the reins of government, while the party that won the most votes is being pushed out of office and into opposition. The crisis is exacerbated by the fact that Bennett betrayed most of his promises to his voters, including a pledge not to govern with Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid, or with Arab parties. Let’s not forget that several Yamina members like MK Ayelet Shaked, are under heavy security due to public outrage and death threats over forming an alliance with the Arab Ra’am Party. The public outrage is such that Israel’s security officials are worried it will turn violent. Critics on the right of the political spectrum are being silenced. Why?

If a vote is reached to swear-in Bennett and Lapid, what is on the horizon for the Israeli people? Getting ready for change is always a challenge but facing the prospect of concessions to Arabs and a loss of Sovereignty of the land and its people hang over Israel now like a dark cloud. With this entire process in crisis, can the Bennett – Lapid government really be called a Unity Party?

Sources:
Buying time for Netanyahu, speaker declares Lapid coalition but doesn’t set vote, by Michael Bachner/Times of Israel, June 6, 2021

What sort of government are Lapid and Bennett forming?, by Caroline Glick/Jewish News Syndicate, June 7, 2021

Benjamin Netanyahu Calls New Israeli Government ‘Biggest Election Scam, Maybe, in History’, by Joel B. Pollak/Breitbart, June 6, 2021

Israel Police held a meeting today with the organizers of the flag parade, which was scheduled to take place on Thursday in Jerusalem. The organizers were informed by Commissioner Kobi Shabtai that the parade would be canceled entirely.

Senior Police Jerusalem District officials met Monday with the parade organizers to discuss changing its route. According to one source, the police intended to allow only MK Itamar Ben-Gvir to march under heavy security in keeping with his parliamentary immunity, and not any others besides him.

Chairman of the Religious Zionism party MK Bezalel Smotrich was livid on Monday and issued a statement saying: “A shameful surrender to terrorism and Hamas threats. The police commissioner is unable to defend marchers with Israeli flags on the streets of Jerusalem and is unable to protect the Jewish residents of Lod, Ramla, and Acco. Now he is also making Yahya Sinwar the one who runs Jerusalem. The people of Israel are alive and worthy of a different leadership. Stronger and more determined. We will continue to march proudly through the streets of all of Jerusalem and settle everywhere in it we want.”

Smotrich’s partner, Otzma Yehudit chairman MK Ben-Gvir released a similar statement: “The police commissioner surrenders to Hamas and folds the flag. I plan to walk the full route on Thursday.”

Israeli Security forces exist for the purpose of providing security to the Israeli people at a time like this, not to bow down to terrorists. Is this the type of decision that can be expected in a Unity government? The cancellation of Flag Day is a blatant threat to Israel’s Sovereignty. Period.

Source:
Jerusalem Police Cowers before Hamas’ Threats, Cancels Israeli Flags Procession, by David Israel/Jewish Press, June 7, 2021

A tunnel used by Palestinian militants in Gaza was discovered under one of the schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency last month.

The UNRWA Zaitoun Preparatory Boys’ School “A” and Elementary Boys’ School “A” was one of two of the organization’s facilities damaged during the 11-day Gaza attacks on Israel that ended on May 21.

At the end of May, UNRWA found what “appears to be a cavity and a possible tunnel, at the location of the missile strike,” the organization reported over the weekend.

“UNRWA condemns the existence and potential use by Palestinian armed groups of such tunnels underneath its schools in the strongest possible terms. It is unacceptable that students and staff be placed at risk in such a way,” the organization stated.

That the tunnel was found under a PA school tells us the school is being used as a shield by terrorists looking to harm Israel. Enough said.

AFSI looks forward to David Bedein’s comment on this – Thursday @ 1:00pm. Don’t forget to register for our Zoom meeting with him!

Source:
UNRWA finds attack tunnel under one of its Gaza schools, by Tovah Lazaroff/Jerusalem Post, June 6, 2021

Negotiations between a broad coalition of parties from across the spectrum lasted until almost midnight deadline; coalition agreement includes Arab party for the first time in Israel’s history; deal sidesteps the threat of a fifth round of elections since April 2019

An amalgam of parties from across the political spectrum reached agreement Wednesday night to form a government that spells the end of Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12 years as prime minister. Or does it?

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid struck deals with his partners in the so-called ‘coalition for change’ with less than an hour to go before a midnight deadline that would have seen the mandate for forming a government returned to President Reuven Rivlin and likely sent Israel into its fifth round of elections since April 2019.

That was last night. The Times of Israel reported just today that the attempt to quickly swear in the new government appears to be off the table as Joint List support was rejected. Lapid and Bennett wanted to oust Likud’s Knesset speaker so the coalition could take office next week, but were derailed by Yamina MK Nir Orbach who opposed the move. Orbach considered resigning and is fed up with Bennett reneging on his pledges.

Orbach seems to have been brought back into the fold after meeting with Bennett, but the Yesha Council, and many Likud members who favor expansion in Judea and Samaria are having emergency meetings. There are many MKs who are truly right wing and in all likelihood are not happy with this move. We hope at least one comes to their senses. That’s all it takes to topple this coalition.

Talk about making deals with the devil! This cobbled together group is so disparate in its goals and beliefs that if it gets off the ground it’s bound to crash! Things are moving very quickly in Israel let’s pray they move in the right direction.

An astute OpEd from today’s Arutz Sheva puts all this into context.

Source:
Bid to quickly swear in gov’t appears off table as Joint List support rejected, by Michael Bachner and TOI Staff, June 3, 2021

A government doomed for divorce – or annulment, by Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer/Arutz Sheva, June 3, 2021

Lapid informs Rivlin he has succeeded in forming a government, by Ynetnews.com, June 2, 2021