Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Friday, Jun. 03 '16, Iyar 26, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. PARIS FLOODS PEAK DURING 'PEACE TALK' PUSH
2. RABBIS DENOUNCE LIBERMAN FOR 'BRIBING GOD'
3. JERUSALEM LIGHT FESTIVAL HIJACKED BY MISSIONARIES?
4. POLICE CATCH SHECHEM MAN 'ON HIS WAY TO ATTACK'
5. MK GLICK: 'NETANYAHU IN HIS HEART IS WITH THE SETTLERS'
6. 'TORAH INSTITUTIONS ARE FLOWERING THANKS TO NETANYAHU'
7. HAMAS, OTHER TERROR GROUPS: PARIS TALKS 'INFRINGE ON OUR RIGHTS'
8. 'TERROR WON'T SUCCEED IN DRIVING JEWS OUT OF JERUSALEM'
1. PARIS FLOODS PEAK DURING 'PEACE TALK' PUSH
by Ari Yashar
In an ironic twist of fate, the same Friday that the international conference of the French initiative to force peace talks on Israel was launched in Paris, floodwaters in the capital city reached peak levels in what has been declared as a natural disaster.
The River Seine in Paris is set to reach six meters (19 feet) above its normal levels on Friday, causing the prestigious Louvre and Orsay museums to close as staff anxiously rushes to move famous artworks out of the flood path.
Heavy rains over the last week have caused massive flooding in the region and inflicted a heavy toll, leaving ten dead in southern Germany and one dead in France. Thousands of residents have been forced out of their homes to escape the flooding.
The floodwaters are set to only rise further in Paris, as more heavy rain is predicted over the weekend with a possibility of upwards of 50 millimeters (2 inches) in just a few hours, reports BBC.
France's environment ministry revealed that the River Seine has not reached its current height since 1982, in an indication of the severity of the flood.
Over 5,000 people have been evacuated from towns in central France during the course of the week and 19,000 homes are without power, reports AFP.
French President Francois Hollande on Thursday declared a state of natural disaster for the worst hit areas of the flooding, so as to release emergency funds for local authorities.
The statement comes even as Hollande on Friday told Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to make the "courageous choice" to advance peace, in remarks as the French initiative meeting began in Paris attended by foreign ministers from around the world - no Israeli or Palestinian representatives were present.
France's initiative is based on the 2002 Saudi peace initiative, which called on Israel to make massive concessions and withdraw behind the 1949 Armistice lines in return for paper promises not to attack from its Arab neighbors.
Israel rejected the Saudi deal and has rejected the French initiative, although Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said this week he would be open to re-negotiating aspects of the Saudi initiative with the Palestinians.
2. RABBIS DENOUNCE LIBERMAN FOR 'BRIBING GOD'
by Tova Dvorin
The Rabbinical Congress for Peace (RCP) sent a sharp message to new Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) Friday, chastising him for his first statements as he took up the post this week.
"You can't bribe G-d by going to pray at the Kotel and immediately afterwards announcing your acceptance of a two-state solution which endangers the Jewish people and the Jewish state," the rabbis wrote. "Wasn't enough blood spilled after every concession, withdrawal and submitting to pressure until now?"
Signatories included Rabbi Joseph Gerlitzky, the Rabbi of Central Tel Aviv; Rabbi Moshe Havlin, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Gat; and Rabbi Sholom Gold, the Rabbi of Har Nof in Jerusalem.
Gold wrote Liberman, posing, "don't you realize that by making statements in favor of a Palestinian state [it] only rewards terror and invites more terror."
"Your statement during the first speech as defense minister jeopardizes the security of Israel instead of defending it."
"There is nothing that has so divided Israel as trying to detach Israel from its land," said the RCP, "it not only endangered Israel but is the cause of the tremendous schism among Israel today. The integrity of the Land of Israel is the only guarantee for the integrity of the nation and peace in the land as determined in the Jewish Code of Law Orach Chaim 329."
The rabbis called on the defense minister to "come to his senses" and retract his statements.
"If you are too weak to withstand the pressure of the enemy and world opinion then resign as indeed your predecessor, Mr. [Moshe] Ya'alon did," they said.
"If you truly want to contribute to the defense of Israel then follow the Torah which illuminates our lives and announce that there no longer will be any negotiations on withdrawals from any territory currently under Israeli control," the rabbis concluded their letter.
3. JERUSALEM LIGHT FESTIVAL HIJACKED BY MISSIONARIES?
by Benny Tocker
Bentzi Gopshtain and members of his anti-assimilation organization Lehava protested at the entry to Immanuel Church, located adjacent to Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, which was opened to the public this week at the peak of the Jerusalem Light Festival.
Gopshtain told Arutz Sheva that the opening of the church to the wider public was meant to lead Jews astray and into the trap of the missionaries, as he termed it.
"We got a report from a resident of Ofra who arrived at the festival and unintentionally walked into Immanuel Church, they placed lights there as if it was part of the festival," revealed the Lehava head.
"A lot of religious Jews thought that it was part of the festival and went in there, and were exposed to films about 'that guy,'" he said, in a reference to Jesus.
Gopshtain and members of his organization have stood guard at the entrance to the church and they are to do so again on Friday, wearing shirts with a "no entry" traffic symbol and the words "warning: missionaries."
"On Sunday we stood with signs, the police arrested some (of our) members. So we decided instead of holding signs to print 'warning: missionaries' on shirts, and we stood there like this every evening," he said.
"I estimate that we succeeded in preventing hundreds of people from entering the church," added Gopshtain.
He warned that members of the church are trying to lead the public astray, saying, "inside Immanuel Church, which is also called Christ Church, there are models of the Holy Temple and also a letter of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; these are materials of 'that guy' in a Jewish disguise."
"Unfortunately they are doing all they can so that (Jews) will go inside there, including coffee, cookies and restrooms. We must be careful."
4. POLICE CATCH SHECHEM MAN 'ON HIS WAY TO ATTACK'
by Tova Dvorin
A 38-year-old Shechem man was arrested in Kafr Kassem on Friday, with two knives in his hands.
He stated to the police officers who arrested him and found the knives on his person that he was preparing to carry out an attack against Israeli Jews in one of the Sharon-area cities, Channel 2 reports.
The police were in the midst of a routine operation in the area, when suddenly they saw a man walking to Kafr Kassem with his bag in a suspicious manner. They detained the young man and interrogated him.
The suspect insisted that he simply had T-shirts in his bag - but the police examined the contents of the bag and found inside two knives.
After admitting that his intention was to carry out an attack in the Sharon region, police officers arrested him.
An investigation into the incident continues.
5. MK GLICK: 'NETANYAHU IN HIS HEART IS WITH THE SETTLERS'
by Eliran Baruch
Freshman Likud MK Yehuda Glick spoke with Arutz Sheva on Friday after speaking at Oz VeGaon nature preserve in Judea, a site established by Women in Green in memory of the three teens who were abducted and murdered by Hamas terrorists in June 2014.
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Glick began by praising Women in Green directors Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover for their work in advancing the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria.
He stressed that now is the time to implement Israeli sovereignty in the region so as to "bring peace," and called to build more in Judea and Samaria - the government has been imposing a near total Jewish construction freeze in the area since 2013.
Glick claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu "in his heart is with the settlers," even as the Prime Minister restated this week that he is committed to the two state solution.
The new MK, who is a leading Temple Mount activist, also called to visit the holiest site in Judaism.
Nadia Matar spoke with Arutz Sheva as well, saying her organization was proud to host Glick.
She said she views the new MK as a representative in the Knesset pushing forward sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
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6. 'TORAH INSTITUTIONS ARE FLOWERING THANKS TO NETANYAHU'
by Orli Harari
Religious Zionist and haredi rabbis, alongside politicians, took part on Thursday night in the sheva brachot wedding blessings for Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef's youngest daughter, following her wedding at Jerusalem's Binyanei Hauma.
The sheva brachot was held at the Prima Kings Hotel in the capital, where Rabbi Yosef praised Prime Minister Binyamin Netayahu for his work in strengthening the world of Torah.
"We see that there is a large blossoming of Torah institutions throughout the land. To you, Prime Minister, there is a large part in that because you give the strength and the resources for it," said the rabbi.
The Rishon Letzion also praised Netanyahu's wife Sara for her actions in the endowment of Torah studies, which she inherited from her father Prof. Shmuel Ben-Artzi, and he blessed her that those taking aim at her in court cases would not succeed.
Speaking about his father former Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the current Chief Rabbi said, "my father Maran very much honored Netanyahu. The Prime Minister told me once that he is very sorry that he didn't bring his son to Maran."
Netanyahu, for his part, congratulated the young couple and said, "my last moments in Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's room were among the most moving moments in my life. These are moments I will not forget."
Addressing Rabbi Yosef, Netanyahu said, "I indeed am sorry that my son did not manage to come to your holy father. My son currently is in the army but soon he will come to be blessed by you, Rishon Letzion."
"A shepherd of Israel"
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, chairperson of the Shas party which Rabbi Ovadia Yosef was the spiritual leader of, also spoke at the event and praised Netanyahu.
"We sat in the Prime Minister's house when the government was established and we thought about how to memorialize the heritage of Maran zt''l," said Deri.
"The Prime Minister pounded on the table and said, 'Rabbi Ovadia belongs to the entire nation of Israel. I want something big and powerful in Jerusalem,' and that's how it will be with God's help," he added, referring to Netanyahu's "Jerusalem Jubilee" plan.
Earlier in the event, former President Shimon Peres arrived to take part, and in his speech talked about his dealings with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
"Like Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses) he was a shepherd of Israel. He spoke in the language of the people because he felt its pain. His wisdom never left him for a moment. The blood of Maran flows in the blood of his son Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the parth of Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef is a continuation of the path of his father," said Peres.
Various leading figures took part in the sheva brachot, including former Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, his son the current Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau, Rabbi Chaim Druckman, Rabbi Ya'akov Shapira, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz and Rabbi Aryeh Stern.
Ministers Avigdor Liberman, Ya'akov Litzman, Yisrael Katz, Yariv Levin, Naftali Bennett, and Gila Gamliel, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, MKs Yisrael Eichler, Eliezer Mozes, Yoav Ben-Tzur, Yigal Guetta, Meir Parush and many more also participated in the event.
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Credit: Ya'akov Cohen
7. HAMAS, OTHER TERROR GROUPS: PARIS TALKS 'INFRINGE ON OUR RIGHTS'
by Arutz Sheva staff
Hamas and three other Palestinian terror groups on Friday condemned Paris talks aimed at restarting moribund peace negotiations with Israel.
Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement have thrown their weight firmly behind the French initiative, which hosts representatives of some 25 countries, the United Nations, European Union and Arab League, on Friday.
Israel has rejected the initiative and in parallel the terrorist Islamist Hamas group has also condemned talk of a negotiated settlement.
"The ideas presented by France in the form of an initiative represent a serious infringement on the shared national principles of Palestinians, especially the right of return," read a joint statement from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
Palestinian Arabs insist on a "right of return" similar to the Right of Return allowing anyone with 25% Jewish heritage to return to Israel - even though the ancestors of the Palestinian "refugees," for the most part, fled willingly in 1948.
Neither the PA nor Israel are represented in the Paris talks, which aim to lay the ground for a full-fledged peace conference to be held by the end of the year - despite the US failing multiple times with such an initiative and both parties involved being determined to ignore the talks.
"We stress our rejection of this initiative and of every move which aims to return to futile negotiations," Friday's statement added.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, French President Francois Hollande urged Israel and the Palestinians to make a "courageous choice" for peace.
After decades of failed negotiations, few believe the climate is right to bring together Israelis and Palestinians for another shot at solving one of the world's longest-running conflicts.
But senior Palestinian official Saeb Erakat said France's bid offered "a flicker of hope" for a resolution to the conflict.
AFP contributed to this report.
8. 'TERROR WON'T SUCCEED IN DRIVING JEWS OUT OF JERUSALEM'
by Uzi Baruch
[youtube:2015884]
"Jerusalem can't and will never be divided," Daniel Luria, Executive Director of Ateret Cohanim, told Arutz Sheva at the Ateret Cohanim dinner this week.
"Jews clearly have the right to live as the indigenous people in united Jerusalem…Arab incitement and hatred and terror won't succeed. Taking one family or killing a Jew is only going to make us stronger. In fact, Jews around the world invested in buying a house, called 'The House of the View', and we'll be adding five families there. We will not be driven from Jerusalem," he stressed.
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