Author: Orit ben Tzvi

Orit is Israel Rising's regional and threat analyst. She has a degree from IDC in Middle East Diplomacy and has served both intelligence related activities for the IDF as well as advised privately for firms doing business in the region.
Posted on

Amichai, Replacement Community for Amona Receives Funding From the Government

In blow after blow to the assumption that Arab “Palestine” will replace Judea and Samaria as an independent state, the Israeli cabinet approved the budget for the first Jewish community to be built in Judea and Samaria in the last 25 years.

Amichai is the replacement community offered to the evacuees of Amona in order for their community to leave their homes quietly.  Amichai will be built next to Shilo, the site of the Biblical Tabernacle, and religious center for Israel until King David established Jerusalem.

Amichai Israel
Amichai, just East of Shilo marked in blue

With the Trump administration seemingly not interested in getting involved with internal Israeli matters, the Netanyahu government has been laying the groundwork for establishing some sort of extended Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.

Last week, the government upgraded the status of Jewish Hebron to a municipal council at the same time Netanyahu stated clearly that “Israel will remain in Judea and Samaria forever.” With Amichai going forward and 300 more homes to be built in Bet El, the unfolding strategy does not involve Palestine or at least not Palestine located on Israel’s Biblical Heartland.

By going ahead and building in the Shilo block, the government sends three messages.  The first is that whenever the left tries to tear down a community using the courts, a new legal one will be built. The second is that Area C (where a majority of Jews live in Judea and Samaria) is and will be Israeli.  The third is, Oslo is dead.

With an American veto guaranteed, the Trump administration too distracted domestically, and a region in chaos, Israel is finaly free to develop its country the way it sees fit.  So where does that leave the Abbas clan and its vehicle for corruption called the Palestinian Authority?  Heading towards the dumpster.

Posted on

BREAKING: North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile Over Japan as Iran Preps for Striking Israel

“We assess North Korea conducted a missile launch within the last 90 minutes. We can confirm that the missile launched by North Korea flew over Japan,” Pentagon said in a statement a few hours ago.

With the above words, the world has entered into unchartered territory.  South Korea reports that its military has raised it alert level, while Japanes Prime Minister Abe warned his citizens to take the proper safety precautions. Ultimately the three ballistic missiles that flew over Japan have now pushed the likelihood of a major military confrontation between the USA and North Korea to a high probability.

This of course has come at the same time that it has become clear that Iran is now in position to strike Israel from both Lebanon and Syria, effectively choking Israel’s North.

As we have noted numerous times, both North Korea and Iran have a symbiotic relationship where one supplies the other with money while the other develops ballistic missiles and ultimately nuclear weapons.

As chaos seems be the new norm, the VIX (Voltility Index) which essentially is the markets measurement for global chaos skyrocketed.

And if markets are an indications of where things are going this tells us everything:

Most observers believe President Trump will now have no choice but to strike North Korea in some manner.  Of course we know that the Chinese will step in at that point.

Iran will not stand on the sidelines while its partner is attacked and should be expected to strike on Israel and the Golan.

These three missiles now place the world at a crossroads between the stability of the old order and the chaos that comes right before a new world.

All eyes are now on Trump.

Posted on

Tel-Aviv U Offering Credits & Scholarships for Interning in NGO Working to Topple Government

A Tel-Aviv University-approved program is now offering students academic credits and scholarships in exchange for interning in an organization that is actively campaigning to topple the current government.

The Everett Social Justice Program run by Shatil, the operating arm of the New Israel Fund, aims to “train a new generation of young leaders that will work for a more just society.” The program is run at several Israeli universities and colleges and offers students up to four academic credits and a scholarship of 9,000 NIS in exchange for interning in an array of organization that promote “social justice.”

To qualify for the program, students must attend a weekly class and perform eight weekly hours of internship at an organization that has been approved by the program.

The newest addition to the program at Tel-Aviv University is Zazim, a NGO that is currently campaigning to topple the Netanyahu-led government. According to its website, “Zazim is a campaigning community for social and political change” and works “to impact the public agenda in Israel.”

The primary financer of Zazim is the US-based New Israel Fund, which in recent years has drawn sharp criticism from pro-Israel groups over their funding of Israeli NGOs that are vocally critical of the Israeli policy. In 2016, Zazim received over $180,000 from the New Israel Fund.

According to the Zionist group Im Tirtzu, the Everett Social Justice Program features other “anti-Zionist” NGOs that defend terrorists in court and accuse Israel of perpetrating crimes against humanity, including the HaMoked, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Bimkom, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Rabbis for Human Rights and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel.

“It is very troubling to see how state-funded universities offer academic programs that enable students to receive credits and scholarships for interning in NGOs that work to delegitimize Israel and defame IDF soldiers,” said Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg.

“The Council for Higher Education’s approach of turning a blind eye sends a very problematic message to students. There must be an end to all official academic collaboration with organizations that are financed by foreign political entities to work against Israel, and who act as foreign agents in all respects.”

“This is another glaring example of why the Education Minister needs to advance the proposed academic code of ethics,” added Peleg. 

Posted on

What’s Going On Behind the India China Standoff in Doklam

The standoff between India and China in the Doklam plateau has now expanded past two months with increasing signs that a full-scale war cold break out between the two countries.  The area in question is a small piece of land in dispute between China and the small mountain kingdom Buhtan in the Himalayas.

Given the strategic location of Doklam, resting near to India’s Siliguri corridor, the dispute has drawn in the Indian army on the side of tiny Bhutan. Yet, there is more to the maneuver.  China has been a thorn in India’s side ever since it decided to boost Pakistan’s armed forces.  As the dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir continues to simmer, China’s move is seen with great apprehension by India.

Map of conflict zone.

More than this, China’s regional ambitions in both the Himalayas on its Southwestern border and the South China Sea to its Southeast have begun to draw in multiple powers concerned with Chinese expansion.  It is not secret that Modi in India and Trump in the USA have an open and friendly relationship.  This relationship between India and the USA is important in rolling back Chinese expansionism.

Will There Be War in the Himalayas?

With tensions rising between China and India over the Doklam, many pundits believe that war is inevitable, but there is another possibility and that China is far weaker than most believe.  This is where the bravado of Narendra Modi comes in.  Understanding the Chinese mentality of never entering a war it is not assured of winning is the key to pushing back against Chinese imperialism.

“Security is our top priority,” Modi said in a speech before thousands at the landmark Red Fort in New Delhi as the country marked the 70th anniversary of the end of British colonial rule.

“Be it the sea or the borders, cyber or space – in all spheres, India is capable and we are strong enough to overcome those who try to act against our country,” the Hindu nationalist leader declared.

Bhutan Will Not Be Another Tibet

The Chinese government will only subjugate those it knows are weaker.  We saw this in the 1950’s when the Chinese conquered a weaker Tibet and still occupies the country. In fact it is from Tibet that the Chinese are moving against Bhutan.

With India on the rise regionally and globally, China has limited options in the region.  Bhutan wisely asked the Indian government to enter the kingdom on their behalf and doing so scrambled China’s strategy of preying on a weaker neighbor.

If Modi’s gamble similar to Trump’s on the Korean penninsula works, it reveals that the Chinese will only go so far in the current global turbulence to attain their goals.

Israel in the Middle

With Israel and India upgrading their relationship to that of a strategic partnership, Israel effectively placed itself in the middle of India and China.  Yet, the upgrade itself is an indicator that Israel has perhaps begun to view what was once seen as a strategic realignment with China as little more than an economic move.  The growing Indian, Israel, and US alliance may prove formidable in pushing back an ascedent Russia and China in the future.

Israel is now the lynchpin towards a growing realignment in the region by way of its contacts, intelligence, and technology.  These relationships throughout Africa, Kurdistan, central Asia, and India have the potential for reshaping a post unipolar world.

 

Posted on

Jerusalem Arabs Still Simmering as Silwan Residents Firebomb a Jewish Vehicle Overnight

Police are reporting that three Arab residents of the Silwan were arrested overnight as a result fo a targeted operation.  The three are suspected of being responsible for throwing molotov cocktails at a Jewish security vehicle in the neighborhood.  Although the vehicle burned, the security team escaped unharmed.

“Immediately after the incident, a targeted operation was carried out in the village. The area was closed and evidence was collected from the site. Investigators and police detectives soon arrived to identify the suspects and arrested them while they were at home.,” a statement from the Israeli police said.

Incidents in the Yeminite Village now renamed Silwan by the neighborhood’s Arab squatters have increased since the beginning of the riots over the Temple Mount.  The neighborhood was built in the 1880s by Jews coming from Yemen. The Yemenite Village ultimately destroyed by marauding Arabs in the riots of the 1920s and 1930s.  The British colonists agreed to eventually return the Jewish population, which never happened.

Build Jerusalem Fund Banner

In recent years Jews have begun to move back into the neighborhood, most times under great difficulty and danger. Despite this, the Jews of the Yemenite Village have succeeded in reclaiming a number of buildings as well as the original Synogogue built in the 1880s.

Daniel Luria, Executive Director of Ateret Cohanim said the following concerning the incident:

“Why the silence from the authorities when the Jewish residents Shiloach (Silwan neighbourhood)  which number over 100 of the Shiloach in the heart of Jerusalem near the Temple Mount, Ir David and the Old City, are under constant attack from some of the local hate-driven, violent and intolerant Arabs? I say enough is enough.”

The latest attack comes after five Jewish vehicles were firebombed in recent weeks.  Despite the neighborhood being a national landmark, the government has never put in the kind of infrastructure needed to ensure the violent Arab clans would have less leverage on the residents.

“The time has come for a major switch in thinking in the heart of Jerusalem near the Old City. If we are truly the sovereign body here in united Jerusalem, then a message of strength and conviction must be given to the Arabs in these neighbourhoods. The weakness and capitulation recently shown by the Government has not helped in the slightest and in fact has caused great damage,” Daniel added.