Today’s recommended reading by Naomi Kahn of Regavim.
Now that the debate surrounding the extension of Israeli sovereignty to the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria has abated somewhat in light of the Abraham Accords, the time may be ripe to take a closer look at the legal status of these territories.
The picture that emerges might be surprising. More than a century after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the empire’s ghost continues to reign. More than 50 years after Israel’s victory in the Six Day War, more than 30 years after King Hussein of Jordan publicly relinquished all legal and administrative ties to this territory, and more than 25 years after Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel, officially relinquishing all territorial claims, the State of Israel continues to enforce Jordanian law — despite its clearly racist and backward underpinnings.
The ‘Ad Kan’ Organization published a comprehensive report last week exposing what they defined as “lies” spread by the Breaking the Silence operation after Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Breaking the Silence’s campaign, which attracted international attention, was based on a collection of 111 anonymous testimonies. As a result of these testimonies IDF officers and soldiers were investigated for possible war crimes.
Ad Kan’s report focuses on several incidents publicized by Breaking the Silence and emphasizes the incredulity of the alleged incidents. Moreover, the publication of these incidents demonstrates Breaking the Silence’s failure to carry out any fact-checking of the testimonies. Among the issues identified by Ad Kan include testimonies that contradict one another, cases where the witnesses later admitted under police interrogation that they weren’t even present at the alleged incidents, and accusations that Breaking the Silence systematically altered testimonies in order to reach their desired conclusions.
The ‘Ad Kan’ Organization stated, “We hope that instead of mistakenly entrusting Breaking the Silence, soldiers will report any incidents to the proper authorities within the IDF so that they can be investigated, and the truth can be uncovered. Breaking the Silence took advantage of the naivete of soldiers in order to carry out an international campaign to besmirch Israel. While the damage has been done, we expect Breaking the Silence to remove the false testimonies from their publications and hope that the Courts will rule in favor of the soldiers who were harmed and well-known in by Breaking the Silence’s lies”.
As revealed in our article below, and well known in the Pro-Israel community, Breaking the Silence is one of the NGOs being funded by private grants, from Europe and elsewhere.
According to an NGO Monitor report issued on Monday, between 2017 and 2019, 35 anti-Israel NGOs received a total of NIS 319,466,917 ($95.7 million) in donations. It states that 58% ($55.5 million) came from foreign governments through direct and indirect funding, and 42% ($40.1 million) from private donors.
Given the central role played by politicized NGOs in the public human rights discourse, transparency in NGO funding is required in order to support an informed debate. The group’s analysis presents all grants reported by the 35 Israeli NGOs receiving foreign government funding and involved in political advocacy, according to their annual financial reports for 2017-2019, which are the latest available. The data are listed according to the amount of the grant, the identity of the donor, and the source of the grant (private, governmental, or non-transparent / unclear).
The old adage, “follow the money,” certainly – disturbingly – rings true in this case. It’s mind boggling to see how much money the detractors of Israel are willing to spend in order to fuel their active campaigns to delegitimize the State of Israel.
Pro-Israel Christian activists Joshua and Luke visited Palestinian Arab villages in Judea and Samaria to ‘bust’ left-wing myths on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The Regavim Movement filed a petition Tuesday) in the Jerusalem District Court, against the Jerusalem Municipality, which has been concealing the existence of an underground tunnel dug by the Church of the Dormition, one of the largest and most recognizable Catholic churches in Jerusalem. The Dormition, located just outside the Zion Gate, on the highest point in ancient Jerusalem, is included in the historic preservation compound known as “The Sovev Homot [Jerusalem Ramparts] National Park.”
As a result of Regavim’s legal pressure over the past two years, the Jerusalem Municipality was forced to measure and document the tunnel, which encroaches on public property in an area dense with archaeological remains. Since the completion of the mapping project, the municipality has ignored Regavim’s continued requests for documentation of the tunnel and law enforcement at the site.
Mount Zion, one of the gateways to the Old City of Jerusalem, is well known for its unparalleled historic and archaeological importance to the three monotheistic faiths. The section of the mountain that is protected by the “Sovev Homot (Ancient Jerusalem Ramparts) National Park” contains numerous archaeological sites, including the site identified as King David’s tomb, the Hasmonean-era city walls, and the First Temple-era city wall.
For years, the existence of the tunnel was nothing more than a rumor shared among local residents and Jewish institutions active on Mount Zion, until Regavim sent an official request to the Jerusalem Municipality in 2019 for confirmation of its existence and precise details of the tunnel’s location, in order to determine the extent to which it encroaches on public land as well as the extent to which priceless antiquities may have been harmed by the unsupervised digging.
“When the details began to come into focus, we demanded over and over that the Jerusalem Municipality publicize the documentation of its findings, as required by the Freedom of Information Law. We further demanded that oversight, inspection and law enforcement procedures be taken immediately, to restore the site to its previous condition either by sealing off or demolishing the tunnel,” said Attorneys Avi Segal and Yael Cinnamon of the Regavim Movement. “We filed this petition only when our repeated requests to the Jerusalem Municipality were not answered.”
The IDF has nearly completed construction of an underground concrete wall between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Building this wall is part of the effort to prevent terrorists from crossing into Israel via cross-border tunnels.
The concrete wall is just one component in the 60 km.-long barrier, which also includes a fence above the ground, advanced sensors both above and underground, and cutting-edge technologies meant to tackle the tunnel threat and stop terrorist infiltration. To date, almost 95% of the barrier has been completed, and will be operational in the near future.
Hamas is believed to have a complex underground tunnel system throughout the Gaza Strip, which will be used to attack Israeli soldiers in a future ground battle inside the Strip. As a result, the IDF is preparing its soldiers for a combination of above-ground and below-ground warfare.
AFSI applauds the amazing IDF as it nears completion of this vital security measure. Always protecting Israel. Always ready to defend and secure Israel – and her Sovereignty – through whatever means necessary. We are in awe at the lengths Israel goes to in order to defend herself. It is a travesty that a country that works so hard at defense can still be the one accused of war crimes against a known terrorist entity.
A terrorist attack was foiled in the Binyamin district of western Samaria Monday morning, in the community of Havat Sadeh Efraim.During the abortive stabbing attack, a female terrorist brandishing a knife broke into a home in Havat Sadeh Efraim and attempted to stab members of the family living there.
Residents managed to overpower the terrorist and detained her until security forces arrived on the scene to take her into custody. Monday’s failed attack is the second terror-related incident in Havat Sadeh Efraim in just over a month.
We are grateful that no injuries were reported in this attack.
Settlement Affairs Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said Sunday that he believes that Israel will extend Sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria, without disclosing a timeline for the move.
In an exclusive interview with i24NEWS, Hanegbi said, “It doesn’t make sense that half a million people who live in Judea and Samaria cannot live under Israeli law, we did it in the Golan Heights and we will do it in Judea and Samaria.”
True, it doesn’t make sense that the residents of Judea and Samaria cannot live under Israeli law. What does make sense is SOVEREIGNTY NOW!
Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jets were photographed flying over Samaria Sunday while escorting a United States Air Force B-52 strategic bomber through Israeli airspace.
According to a statement released Sunday by an IDF spokesperson, Sunday’s flyover by the B-52 was an act of “joint strategic cooperation” between the American and Israeli militaries. “This flight is part of the joint strategic cooperation with US forces, which is pivotal in maintaining the security of Israeli and Middle Eastern skies.”
Yesha Council director-general Yigal Dilmoni wrote on his Facebook page Sunday that in the photographs released from the flight, a number of Israeli towns in Samaria could be seen. “Under the nose of the plane are the towns of Shiloh and Shvut Rachel and the site of biblical Shiloh, where the Tabernacle stood.”
What a breathtaking way to “tour” Samaria from the beautiful blue skies above. How amazing it would be to tour Judea and Samaria this way on our next Chizuk Mission. However, AFSI does prefer to tour the land and spend time with the people – giving and getting Chizuk – strength!
Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel yesterday blamed a Libyan “pirate ship” flying a Panamanian flag that was smuggling oil from Iran for a massive oil spill that has polluted most of Israel’s Mediterranean beaches.
Gamliel called the oil leak, which has been described as Israel’s worst ecological disaster in decades, an act of “environmental terrorism.” She suggested the spill was orchestrated by Iran.
“Iran is initiating terrorism not only with nuclear weapons and efforts to entrench itself on our borders. Iran is initiating terrorism by harming the environment,” Gamliel wrote on Twitter.
Both the Mossad and the IDF were blindsided by Gamliel’s accusation that Iran was behind this oil spill but are looking into
Defense sources said they could not confirm the veracity of Gamliel’s claims and said that neither the IDF nor the Mossad had been part of the investigation of these allegations. Officials said they were frustrated by the lack of coordination within the government.
Whatever the case may be, we trust Israel’s defense agencies will not overlook this and act accordingly should it be confirmed that this was a terrorist act against Israel.
