New Digest — 7/14/23
Wall Street Journal: US Administration Treats Israeli Government Worse Than Iran
The Wall Street Journal on Friday morning (14th) published an op-ed harshly criticizing the Biden administration for its treatment of the Israeli government.
In the op-ed titled, “What Does Biden Have Against Israel?” WSJ’s editorial board wrote, “Why does President Biden go out of his way to snub, criticize and give marching orders to the government of Israel? At least rhetorically, the President and his Administration treat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his governing coalition worse than they do the ruling mullahs in Iran.”
The op-ed also noted that this week,Biden once again publicly refused to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, blaming this decision on Netanyahu’s coalition partners.
“The effect of this piling on is for Israelis to see that the US sides with their opposition parties,” the WSJ op-ed added. “This is no way to treat a democratic ally and no way to pursue US interests while Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud Party is in power, as it has been for most of the past 25 years.”
It adds that whether or not the judicial reform should pass “is for Israelis to debate, which they do, noisily, without Mr. Biden’s commentary.”
“The President’s Israeli policy has been counterproductive,” it added, questioning, “How does it advance peace to indulge Palestinians in the belief that Jews are interlopers in Judea and at the Western Wall?”
“While Mr. Biden undermines the Netanyahu government, Hamas and other Iranian proxies are gaining power in the West Bank, activating another front against Israel. The new wave of terrorism against Jewish civilians will set back the Palestinian cause and advance Iran’s”
Terrorist Who Murdered Rabbi In Samaria Convicted Of Intentionally Causing Death
A Military Court on Thursday (13th) sentenced Ahmed Kunba for the offense of intentionally murdering Rabbi Raziel Shevach in a 2018 shooting attack. The defendant was also convicted of a number of other offenses of attempting to cause death, membership and activity in an unlawful association, and additional security offenses.
According to the indictment filed by the Military prosecution, the defendant planned and carried out numerous shooting attacks. Over the course of a few weeks, the defendant and his accomplices observed places where they wanted to carry out attacks, waited for Jewish civilians to arrive and then drove in their direction with their car and began shooting at them.
One of those killed by Kunba and his accomplices was the late Rabbi Shevach, who was driving his vehicle when he was shot and killed. The defendant and those with him then fled the scene after setting their vehicle on fire.
The Military Prosecution is in contact with the family of the late rabbi, and are keeping family members up to date concerning the case’s advancements.
The arguments regarding the defendant’s sentencing are set to be heard on August 1, 2023.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Reveals That Iran Has Plotted More Than 50 Terror Attacks Globally Against Jews
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday (13th) disclosed that Iran has planned more than 50 terrorist attacks globally against Jews in recent years, which were thwarted by Israel’s defense establishment in cooperation with local authorities.
“Iran has led an unprecedented worldwide campaign of terror, targeting Israelis and other Jews across the globe,” Gallant said in an address at the end of a visit to Azerbaijan.
“There have been over 50 attempts in recent years, the majority of which already were on the verge of being executed before they were thwarted at the last minute,” he said.
“Thanks to our defense establishment, thanks to close cooperation with many countries, and thanks to the understanding that Iran is a global threat, we prevented these attempts and saved human lives.”
The defense minister emphasized that the “fight does not stop” in the face of the Iranian threat.
Gallant, who is on an official diplomatic mission to Azerbaijan, held pivotal talks with President Ilham Aliyev and the Muslim-majority nation’s defense liaison.
“Under the direction of the Supreme Leader, Iran has been leading a worldwide terror campaign,with an unprecedented scope, targeting Israelis and Jews around the world,” stated Gallant.
Gallant’s remarks came days after Baku arrested an Afghani national suspected of planning an assault on Israel’s embassy in the South Caucasus country and two weeks after the Mossad caught an Iranian terrorist who had planned a terror attack against Israeli targets in Cyprus.
“This fight does not stop. This is one fight on the way to something much more important – preventing Iran, a rogue nation, from acquiring nuclear weapons,” Gallant said, pointing to the Islamic Republic’s attempts to establish a “terrorist military capability” in Syria.
Gallant said that the PA’s town of Jenin’s terror-infrastructure is the “result of Iran’s funding, military know-how, and methods of warfare.”
“We acted with a concerted effort to deal with the terrorist infrastructure and weapons available in the area,” he said of the IDF’s recent counter-terrorism operation in the Palestinian town of Jenin.
Palestinians Do Not Have A “Right of Return” Into Israel Under International Law – Dr. Einat Wilf
The events that led to the creation of the original Palestinian refugees have no connection to the existence of Palestinians who claim to be “refugees” today. Tens of millions of people who became refugees throughout the 20th century are not refugees today. No others have insisted on perpetuating their status.
The reason why there were Arab refugees at all in 1948 is simple – the Arabs of Mandatory Palestine and Arab armies waged an entirely unnecessary war against the partition of the land into a Jewish and an Arab state. Then as now, they chose to forfeit having their state if it means the Jews would have one too. The Palestinians have worked to maintain their inter-generational refugee status for one reason only: to avoid accepting the outcome of the war of 1948 in the form of a Jewish state in any part of the land.
Palestinians do not have a “right of return” into the sovereign state of Israel under any kind of international law. There is no precedent of a country being forced to accept a group of people against its will, and Palestinians, despite impressive efforts, cannot make up laws that give them something that does not exist.
The modern “nakba-catastrophe” narrative seeks to erase any memory of Arabs waging an unnecessary war and to turn Palestinians into innocent bystanders rather than people that pursued a clear objective of denying another people a state, and failed.
The writer, a former IDF intelligence officer and Knesset member, is the co-author of The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace (2020)
The UN and EU’s Hostility And Double Standards Toward Israel – Amb. Alan Baker
• Aliens hearing the condemnations of Israel by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and EU Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell regarding Israel’s recent military action against the terror infrastructure in Jenin would imagine Israel’s forces deciding out of the blue one morning to willfully, cruelly, and disproportionately attack the town of Jenin for no apparent reason.
• They would not have any idea that Palestinian terrorists had turned the Jenin refugee camp into an armed, aggressive, and fanatic fortress, with explosives implanted under the roads, and weapons kept in hospitals, clinics and mosques in order to store weapons and produce thousands of lethal weapons in laboratories. The city was also the center, shelter, refuge, and exit-point for countless cruel acts of terror committed against Israelis.
• International law specifically prohibits the use of civilian areas as centers for staging terror. Such civilian areas lose their privileged protection if they are used for offensive military purposes. This provides Israel with the legal prerogative to use a requisite and proportionate amount of force to neutralize the military threat emanating from them.
• Numerous international counter-terror conventions and UN Security Council resolutions require states to act decisively to prevent acts of terror, to prevent cooperating with and financing terror, and to refrain from encouraging, inciting, and supporting acts of terror. Yet Israel’s critics overlook Israel’s prerogative to defend itself against the deadliest forms of terror emanating from the various Palestinian terror organizations.
• One may wonder why the leading international bodies continue to minimize Palestinian terror while deliberately overlooking their declared penchant for killing Israelis. What do they really expect of Israel? Clearly, those pontificating for the use of restraint in such a violent and pure terror ambiance, have merely chosen to adopt a false narrative in order to match their preexisting inclination to condemn Israel for defending itself.
• Such hypocrisy and double standards by international bodies achieve nothing and encourage the Palestinian terror apparatus, supported and encouraged by Iran, to continue to harm Israel.
The writer, who directs the international law program at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, served as the legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry and as Israel’s Ambassador to Canada.
History In The Making: Pure Red Heifer Brought To Israel
A red heifer recently brought to Israel was displayed at the ancient Shiloh site in the Binyamin Regional Council.
Two other heifers will be brought to the Research and Visitors Center at the site.
The completely pure red heifers will be housed at the Ancient Shiloh biblical heritage site and in the coming month a center will be inaugurated with the goal of furthering research of the Red Heifer and promoting this heritage.
The heifer, which is a year and ten months old, is completely red and has never borne a yoke, in keeping with Jewish law. The heifer was brought to ancient Shiloh as part of the Temple Conference, organized by the Binyamin Regional Council Torah Culture Department, and will be housed with the other two heifers. Hundreds of locals and visitors participated in welcoming the heifer which everyone was excited to see. The heifer will be kept in a fenced enclosure to keep her safe and will not be accessible to visitors, except for viewing.
The heifer has been raised with meticulous care, to safeguard her purity, and was brought to Israel by special arrangement, by organizers at Ancient Shiloh and their partners.
The Temple Conference began Thursday (13th) with a festive “Temple meal,” of foods and breads similar to those prepared in ancient Temple times, for 250 guests.
The Red Heifer Center is expected to attract many visitors and tourists, not only from Israel but also from around the world.
Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Gantz said: “The Ancient Shiloh site is continuing to grow and develop, and the Red Heifer Center will attract many visitors, up to one million a year. This is good news for the Jewish world, for scientists and researchers, and for everyone, and we have the privilege of being a part of this historic moment.”
Ancient Shiloh CEO Coby Mamo said: “We have returned to the site of the Tabernacle in Shiloh and are bringing back the Jewish past for the future of our people.”
(NOTE: Biblical information concerning the Red Heifer is found in Numbers 19:1-22)
