Israel

It’s the shortest Shabbat of the year and time is running short, but there is just time for a few items for Good News Weekend. My first item is the discovery of a rare 3rd century synagogue in the Golan Heights which has a beautiful mosaic floor (via DavidinPT): Fragments …

It’s natural for us to want to close our eyes to much that is going on the world today. Yet I would suggest that we do not have that luxury. It is our business, our obligation, to know what is happening. What is more, if our eyes our closed, we …

The 29th November, or as it is known in Hebrew “Kaf Tet beNovember”, a very significant date in Israeli history, fell last week.  It was the date of the UN Resolution, Resolution 181, to partition then-Palestine into two states, Israel for the Jews and Palestine for the Arabs.  As we …

It has been maddening – nothing less. There has been no solid ground in the political sphere. And so I begin today with a piece by astute commentator Daniel Greenfield, writing as Sultan Knish (emphasis added): “’It is important for me to emphasize that the only ones who determine who …

FACT: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on September 10, 2019: “Today I’m announcing my intention, with the establishment of the next government, to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea. This is our essential safety belt in the east” (Ben Sales, “Netanyahu’s push to annex …

Last Thursday (Nov. 21, 2019), Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit dropped a long-awaited bombshell on Israel’s political system. Emotions erupt After months of speculation, he announced his intent to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000 (the Bezeq-Walla Affair);  for breach of trust in …

Im Tirtzu Press Release. In Ramallah Speech, Israeli Prof. Accuses Israel of Robbery, Violence and Oppression. “Robbery, violence and oppression have become the norm” in Israel, said Israeli professor Dr. Yaela Raanan this past Thursday during a speech in Ramallah. Raanan, who teachers in Sderot’s Sapir College, was one of …

Indictments, political logjams, intensifying drum beats of potential conflicts on multiple borders: we are awash in confusion, uncertainty and the potential for paralysis. It is exactly because we are in unprecedented, uncharted and therefore frightening waters that we need to take a collective deep breath, step back and employ the …

It is terribly sad. And more still, infuriating. How did we get to this place? Last Thursday, November 21, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced that he had made the decision to indict Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust with regard to Cases 1000, 2000, and …

Press Release. Bereaved Families Protest Against EU: Your Money Is Murdering Our Children A group of bereaved families staged a protest today (Sunday) against the European Union over its funding of Israeli NGOs that defend terrorists and their families in Israeli courts. Families from the Choosing Life Forum of Bereaved …

This post is not going to be a regular Good News post though it will contain what I consider several good news items.  In any event the news keeps overtaking me before I can get around to writing a post.  The one thing I am not going to write about …

“Such a missile would pulverize a house to dust. It blasted a crater that is impossible to describe… There is no protection that defend us in the case of missiles like this.” – Gaza-border resident    I have written on Gaza in my last two columns—one just before the latest …

Benny Gantz, failing to put together a governing coalition, returned the mandate to the president, this evening, Wednesday. The next step is a period of three weeks during which any member of the Knesset who can garner the support of 61 MKs will be given two weeks to put together …

History was made on Monday evening when US Defence Secretary Mike Pompeo made the historic announcement that the US refutes the concept of the illegality of the settlements – otherwise known as Jewish homes and factories in Judaea and Samaria. He said that this was not an issue of international …

FACT: On November 12, 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that products coming from Jewish localities in the West Bank could not carry the label “Made in Israel” and must be labelled as a product originating from an “Israeli Settlement.”  This decision reflects an all-too-familiar double-standard applied to …

Benny Gantz has only until Wednesday until he must form a government or return the mandate. It’s anyone’s guess what is going to happen. And here I was, just days ago, thinking that maybe it would go well and we would have a unity government in very short order.  But …

Bringing us up to date: Tuesday night, after a day of rocket attack from Gaza, all was relatively quiet. Then on Wednesday, serious rocket barrages began again. At that point, Israel’s response intensified, first with regard to the level of our military response – but in other ways as well. …

Delaying the inevitable does not make it less inevitable—only more costly   The targeted assassination of the senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist, Bahaa Abu al-Ata, strikingly underscored two—curiously contrary—things. The paradox of Israel: Techno-tactical genius; strategic imbecility. The one is Israel’s remarkable expertise and aptitude at the techno-tactical level that …

Press Release: Fox News Reporter in Gaza: Amnesty International Lied About Israeli Rocket Attack. Amnesty International lied yesterday (Tuesday) when it accused Israel of violating international law for bombing the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights building in Gaza, said Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst. Yingst, reporting from Gaza, …

And the world is not silent. Let’s talk about hypocrisy.  Let’s talk about double standards.  Let’s talk about UNRWA. For years, UNRWA has been using its status as a UN organization as a cover for subversive actions against the State of Israel.  It is the only UN agency dedicated to …