On Friday, during the Muslim prayer time at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, The Muslims stole the beautiful and ornate silver Mezuza that was attached to the entrance to the building
[The Jewish Press]
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri on Sunday moved to strip two residents of East Jerusalem of their Israeli citizenship and residency status for their involvement with the Islamic State terror group.
[Times of Israel]
PM Netanyahu’s remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting include the following topics: the deal between Israel and Turkey, efforts to bring back Israeli captives from Gaza, partial enactment of a long weekend in Israel, increasing cooperation between Israel and Africa, his visit to Rome to meet with Kerry and Italy’s Prime Minister, criticizing Abbas for spreading abhorrent lies, and Brexit.
[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]
As Turkey deal with Israel, looms MK Haneen Zoabi calls for more Gaza flotillas
[The Jerusalem Post]
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon on Sunday said the Finance Ministry has set up a 24-hour “situation room” to keep tabs on economic repercussions from the United Kingdom’s vote to break from the European Union.
[The Jerusalem Post]
Three Wounded, 12 Vehicles Damaged in Terrorist Ambush on Rt. 443. Security forces were alerted and arrived on the scene in time to kill one of the terrorists and wound two, one critically.
[The Jewish Press]
Turkey and Israel will this weekend announce a deal on normalizing ties, ending a six-year diplomatic crisis sparked by a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in which 10 Turkish nationals died
[Arutz Sheva]
The Foreign Ministry on Monday evening rejected the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council’s decision to adopt the French peace initiative.
[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]
A group of Muslim activists in Jerusalem, backed by the Palestinian Authority, have launched a new campaign to deter Muslims from selling property to Jews in the Israeli capital.
[Arutz Sheva]
The US and Israel will sign a new agreement to automate their sharing of cyber data. The new agreement will qualitatively take the speed of sharing to an entirely different level.
[The Jerusalem Post]
Regavim is appealing the EU’s immunity from prosecution. Based on the legal opinion of an expert on international law, Regavim is petitioning the Supreme Court to require accountability and reporting for building violations committed by the Union.
A petition filed this week by Regavim to the Supreme Court may put an end to the systematic evasion of the EU from being accountable for violations of building regulations that it has initiated in Area C of the of Judea and Samaria (West Bank). Regavim is requesting from the judges to require the European Union to participate, first as a respondent to the petition to the Supreme Court and to give an account of its construction activities.
For some years the EU has been trying to take over extensive regions in area C through the establishment of buildings and infrastructures in illegal Bedouin outposts. One of the areas where the EU has made a large concerted effort to invest in is the area surrounding Maale Adumim.
Two weeks ago, Supreme Court justices, Uzi Fogelman, Daphne Barak-Erez and Meni Mazuz rejected the petition presented by Regavim against the Civil Administration in the Judea and Samaria (West Bank) on ignored breaching of the law. The petition demanded that the Civil Administration implement peremptory demolition orders issued against the 15 illegal structures built by the Union within the limits of the jurisdiction of Mishor Adumim and Kfar Adumim.
The judges rejected the petition by Regavim based on the Civil Administration’s statement that the removal of illegal construction there is already a high priority item, and asked them not to get involved in managing schedules for implementing orders. However, in the decision Justice Fogelman hinted that he is not sure that there is basis for the Union’s immunity from such proceedings.
Regavim decided to take up the challenge laid down by Justice Fogelman, and worked on preparing a new petition concerning other illegal structures built by the Union in areas under the jurisdiction of Kfar Adumim. As for these buildings the Civil Administration announced a year ago that they are a top priority for demolition, however since then no enforcement action against them has been made.
Regavim contends that the long drawn out period of time is “the unreasonable renunciation of enforcing the law”, and seek to place the EU illegal construction activities at the center of the Supreme Court hearings.
The petition is based on the opinion of the expert on international law, Professor Aryeh Reich from Bar Ilan University, who doubts the claim of immunity of the EU. “The EU mission is indeed right that it enjoys immunity from lawsuits, both criminal and civil, and administrative,” says Reich, “but there is an exception in this regard in Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, in connection with activities relating to its private land that is located within the territory of the host country.”
Professor Reich explains that international law imposes the obligation of respecting the law on foreign diplomats who enjoy immunity. “They are obligated to respect the laws and regulations of the country in which they serve, and not to interfere in its internal affairs.”
Another argument raised by the lawyers of Regavim states that immunity is granted to countries only, while the EU has no absolute status as a country. The inclusion of the Union in the petition is made possible in principle because if the petition is accepted by the court and consequently buildings are demolished, the EU will have to absorb EU economic damage.
(The views in this article are those of the author)
In light of the horrific attack in Tel Aviv where 4 Israeli civilians were murdered by Arab terrorists dressed in suits, we find ourselves in yet another quagmire. The issue is how to respond.
Prime Minister Netanyahu says “we will attack those who attacked us.” Exactly what does that mean Mr. Prime Minister? Is Israel going to launch a targeted strike on Hamas operatives in Gaza or Judea/Samaria?
What will that accomplish? Indeed, it may take out some Arab terrorists, but what will it accomplish in the end? Will it prevent future attacks from taking place? Will it deter leadership from promoting jihad against Israeli Jews? Will it foster a better environment for peace?
Killing Arab terrorists is the equivalent of spraying a trail of ants with pesticide. It only eliminates the ones you see. In order to stop more of them from coming, one must go all the way to the nest and root it out completely.
Other suggestions include halting the influx of Arabs for Ramadan. I find no problem with refusing to allow thousands more Muslims into Israel, which can only increase the chances of more violence.
Still others are suggesting clamping down on goods being shipped into Gaza. This has been an ongoing seesaw issue for years. Every time Israel relents and expands the array of allowable goods, Hamas ends up stealing much of it and using it to manufacture weapons, terror tunnels, or underground bunkers so their leadership remains protected during outbreaks of war with Israel.
What sense does it make to allow shipments of materials that everyone knows will be used for military purposes? Yet world pressure continuously and relentlessly mounts on Israel to “lift the siege of Gaza.”
Pressure also continues against Israel to end the “occupation,” and relax the checkpoints coming in from Judea/Samaria.
Do those who promote said suggestions actually believe such acquiescence would result in peaceful coexistence between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs? If they do, they are either more naïve then Neville Chamberlain, or they have little or no concern for the safety of Jewish lives. The other possibility is they are just plain anti-Semitic.
In actuality, counter attacks by Israel will not address the problem. Clamping down on Gaza will not address the problem. Even if nothing other than basic items, such as food, water and medicine is allowed in. Tightening checkpoints, temporarily revoking permits or razing homes of terrorists in Judea/Samaria won’t remedy the situation. These are all symptomatic remedies, which do nothing to address the core issues.
Turning the tide should be seen as a comprehensive plan that involves a combined effort across many fronts.
One place to start is the classroom. Arab Palestinian children do not receive an “education,” as normal school children do in most countries. They are taught to hate Jews, and to die as martyrs. Take a look at this recent clip below. This is a typical example of how children are “educated” in UNRWA run schools in Judea/Samaria and Gaza.
What kind of adults do you think these children become having been “educated” like this? UNRWA receives over $1 billion annually. The largest donors are the US – $400 million, followed by the EU, Saudi Arabia and the UK. Together they provide over 50% of UNRWA’s funding.
This is where a change must take place. The donor countries should demand their funds be used for proper education, rather than allowing these ‘schools’ to be nothing more than terror training facilities. Further, independent monitoring should take place on an ongoing basis to ensure appropriate education is being administered. If the schools refuse to provide normal education and continue their terror training, the funding for them should be cut off, period.
Another systemic issue is religious ‘education.’ Religion plays a huge role in the upbringing and character building of people from all cultures and countries. When it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict Arabs again are being ‘educated’ to hate and kill, rather than coexist with Israel. Take a look at this clip.
The imam is supposed to be a man of God. He is supposed to provide teachings which reflect how we are to treat our fellow man in a way which God honors. What kind of god would bless the words that come out of that imam’s mouth? Yet this another huge component in weaving together the fabric of Arab Palestinian society.
Once again, I believe independent monitors should be at every mosque, and when such messages are delivered said leader should be warned that this type of hate mongering will not be tolerated. If he refuses to comply he should face criminal charges.
Will these suggestions be easy? No. Will they immediately change the atmosphere in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Unlikely. However, something must be done, because we know what has been done until now has not produced fruit. What have we to lose?
I have only addressed two particular segments of society with this essay. There are more that need addressing to be sure. However, these two are of huge significance and influence. If the fundamental institutions of their society are ignored and allowed to maintain the status quo, this is tantamount to declaring the future will continue to be one of symptomatic remedies.
We can either keep spraying the ant trail and allow it to keep coming back, or we can pursue it to the nest and eradicate it. We have a choice.
Israel Launches Anti-Boycott Drive At The UN, In The Face Of Growing Acceptance Of BDS Movement
[Forbes]
EU Warns Israel: Policy of Demolishing Palestinian Homes in Area C Will Harm Relations
[Haaretz]
Israel is set to sign an agreement with the Ukrainian government to provide thousands of Ukrainian construction workers with temporary work visas for Israel.
[The Jerusalem Post]
33 suspected terrorists arrested during police raid in eastern Jerusalem
[Arutz Sheva]
Jerusalem city hall orders halt to illegal Waqf construction on Temple Mount
[Times of Israel]
Israel Backs Saudi West Bank Peace Plan
[Bloomberg]
3,300-year-old Egyptian amulet found by students in Tzipori, Israel
[Hayadan]
The rift in the European Union between the older, mostly Western European, members and the newer ones from Eastern Europe has become increasingly clear lately over the refusal of most Eastern European countries to receive migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.
The European Commission has proposed reforms to EU asylum rules that would see financial penalties imposed on members refusing to take in what it deems a sufficient number of asylum seekers, amounting to $290,000 for every migrant. The penalties, if passed, are particularly aimed at the newest EU countries, such as Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, since these are countries who have closed their borders to migrants or are in the process of doing so.
Disagreement over how to respond to the migrant crisis in Europe, however, is not the only issue dividing the Eastern European members of the EU from Western European ones. Israel is another such contentious issue.
Several Eastern European countries, while having pasts rife with virulent anti-Semitism and atrocious records of behavior toward Jews during the Second World War, differ greatly in their policies toward Israel compared to their Western European counterparts. That does not mean that everything they do is in favor of Israel, far from it. The entire EU, including those Eastern European countries, voted in favor of the latest U.N. resolution to slander Israel, when they voted that Israel was the world’s only health violator. There must be some diplomats sitting around with very bad tastes in their mouths.
Nevertheless, Eastern European countries today represent the only part of Europe that, out of national interest or a genuine sense of solidarity, stands with Israel in one form or another. This is already saying much on a continent where, for example, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders only recently declared that calls to boycott, divest and sanction Israel are considered by the Netherlands to be “freedom of speech” and therefore legal. (It would appear that there are some serious cognitive issues in the Dutch government: What happens when the calls actually lead to real action, such as municipalities refusing to do business with Israel or refusing to buy Israeli goods and services? Would that be legal, too, according to the foreign minister? As discussed previously in this column, a Spanish court recently declared such municipal boycotts of Israel to be in violation of the European Convention of Human Rights, the same convention that Koenders invokes in his condoning of BDS as “free speech.”)
In December, Czech lawmakers passed resolutions criticizing the decision by the European Union to label Israeli goods from Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights, and urged the Czech government not to abide by it. Characteristically, all Czech political parties supported the resolutions, even those on the Left, save for the Communists, who in keeping with their Soviet legacy, claimed that the Czech Republic was too complacent towards Israel. In a country like the Czech Republic, which paid a high price for the experiments of Communism for over 50 years, such slogans make a negligible impression.
Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman also praised the resolution, saying that the vote “aligned the Czech Republic with democratic countries that fully respect human rights and reject any form of discrimination.” Close your eyes and picture any Western European politician uttering those words. Perhaps Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom? No, it is impossible even to imagine such a thing.
The Czech Republic’s friendship with Israel extends back to the 1948 war, when the Czechs sold weapons to the fledgling Jewish state when very few others, wanted to do so. It would be sobering to remember at this point that the United States at that time enforced a weapons embargo on the entire region, whereas the British were in fact supplying both weapons and leadership to Arab militaries out to extinguish the Jewish state. During Soviet occupation, this friendship naturally went into a half-century long hiatus, but was rekindled after the end of the Cold War.
Most recently, the Slovak and Lithuanian parliaments have decided to form pro-Israeli caucuses, a result of an initiative from the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, the World Jewish Congress and the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem.
“As Western European countries continue to turn their backs on the Jewish state, we see that Eastern European countries are more supportive than ever of the only democracy in the Middle East — Israel,” Knesset Christian Allies Caucus director Josh Reinstein said.
This may also be because these countries still retain a sense of logic and pride in their heritage and do not harbor any secret wish for national suicide. After living under totalitarianism for over half a century, while Western Europe was harvesting the peace dividend of being under the American protective wing and growing increasingly more wealthy and materialistic, forgetting completely what it means to be terrorized, those countries who used to be under the Soviet boot see very clearly that Israel’s fight against Islamic terrorism is their fight, too.
Dismissing Europe entirely as a place where support for Israel can be found is a fallacy, even if it is admittedly one that is easy to make in the current circumstances. There are friends of Israel in Eastern and Central Europe, even if their membership of the European Union frequently renders their scope of action limited. This is very important to keep in mind. Too many observers in Israel and elsewhere forget that Europe consists of more than just Western Europe.
Two elderly women were stabbed and moderately injured in a terror attack at the Armon Hanatziv promenade in southern Jerusalem Tuesday morning. Police caught and arrested two masked Palestinians suspected of the attack.
[Times of Israel]
United States announces $50 million aid program for Gaza, to be used over five years for humanitarian aid and job creation.
[Arutz Sheva]
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders; the two discussed bilateral relations. The Belgian Foreign Minister again thanked the Prime Minister for Israel’s offer of assistance and cooperation following the Brussels terrorist attack. They also discussed the threat posed by radical Islam to the region and to Europe.
[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]
‘Support Israel — Leave Europe’ campaign encourages Brits to drop EU ties. A group of concerned British ex-pats and Israelis has launched a public campaign to encourage pro-Israel Britons to “vote leave” in the upcoming EU Referendum.
[The Jewish Press]
The 13-year old terrorist accused of two counts of attempted murder for his involvement in a pair of brutal stabbing attacks last October was convicted Tuesday morning by a Jerusalem court.
[Arutz Sheva]
The son of Al Qaeda’s late founder Osama bin Laden has urged jihadists in Syria to unite, claiming that the fight in the war-torn country paves the way to “liberating Palestine.”
[Arutz Sheva]
