Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Sunday, Jan. 22 '17, כ"ד בטבת תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. IS NETANYAHU MAKING EXCUSES?
2. NETANYAHU: WE WILL CONTINUE TO TAKE CARE OF JUDEA AND SAMARIA
3. PM NETANYAHU'S MESSAGE TO THE IRANIAN PEOPLE
4. ISRAELI GOVERNMENT APPROVES 671 NEW HOMES IN JERUSALEM
5. WATCH: HUNDREDS JOIN MEMORIAL CEREMONY FOR MURDERED GIRL
6. WATCH: DRIVER RUNS OVER POLICEMAN
7. BENNETT CONGRATULATES TRUMP, RESPONDS TO NETANYAHU
8. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: AMERICA DESERVES BETTER
1. IS NETANYAHU MAKING EXCUSES?
by Uzi Baruch
An Israeli official close to US President Donald Trump on Sunday refuted Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's claims that the Trump administration asked Netanyahu "not to surprise them."
On Saturday night, Netanyahu asked Jewish Home ministers not to bring the Ma'ale Adumim sovereignty law to a Knesset vote on Sunday, claiming Israel should not surprise the Trump administration immediately after the inauguration.
According to the official, Trump's officials said Israel can do whatever it wants, and should work as fast as possible so as not to miss any opportunities.
The same official also said, "There is no pressure and we are not involved in the matter right now."
Arutz Sheva has been told Netanyahu spoke with Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) at least twice on Friday, and asked him not to bring his proposal to annex Ma'ale Adumim to vote on Sunday.
However, Bennett refused Netanyahu's request, saying he would only agree if he received a clear and complete policy for Judea and Samaria from Netanyahu, which takes the new US administration into account.
2. NETANYAHU: WE WILL CONTINUE TO TAKE CARE OF JUDEA AND SAMARIA
by Nitsan Keidar
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu began Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting by discussing US President Donald Trump's recent inauguration.
"We congratulate President Trump. I appreciate his deep friendship with Israel, as well as his willingness to fight radical Islamic terrorism with all his might and power," Netanyahu began.
"This evening, I will speak on the phone with Trump. We will discuss the many issues facing us, as well as the Israel-Palestinian conflict, the situation in Syria, and the Iran threat.
"I would like to clarify something. Putting a stop to the Iran threat, especially the threats which result from the disastrous Iran deal which was signed, remains a top priority for the State of Israel."
Netanyahu also hinted he may annex Ma'ale Adumim, saying, "Regarding the 'settlements', there is no one who worries more about that than I and my Likud government do. We will continue to take care of Judea and Samaria wisely and responsibly, for the good of the communities there and for the good of the entire State of Israel."
Earlier on Sunday, it was reported that in a Likud meeting, Netanyahu called the Regulation Law "irresponsible" and said passing it would cause more anti-Semitic resolutions to be passed in the UN.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister denied this report, saying it was skewed and that the PM said something else entirely. "It never happened. The Prime Minister said the Regulation Law was one of the UN's excuses for passing their recent resolution, which probably would have passed anyway."
3. PM NETANYAHU'S MESSAGE TO THE IRANIAN PEOPLE
by PM Binyamin Netanyahu
[youtube:2023500]
Israeli President Binyamin Netanyahu posted on Facebook on Saturday night, "I plan to speak soon with President Trump about how to counter the threat of the Iranian regime which calls for Israel's destruction.
"But it struck me recently that I've spoken a lot about the Iranian regime and not enough about the Iranian people, or for that matter, to the Iranian people.
"So I hope this message reaches every Iranian - young and old, religious and secular, man and woman.
"I know you'd prefer to live without fear. I know you'd want to be able to speak freely, to love who you want without the fear of being tortured or hung from a crane. I know you'd like to surf the web freely and not have to see videos like this one using a virtual private network to circumvent censorship.
"You have a proud history. You have a rich culture. Tragically, you are shackled by a theocratic tyranny.
"In a free Iran you will once again be able to flourish without limit. But today, a cruel regime is trying to keep you down.
"I'll never forget the images of brave young students hungry for change gunned down in the streets of Tehran in 2009; and I'll never forget beautiful Neda Sultan gasping for her last breath on that sidewalk.
"This ruthless regime continues to deny you your freedom. It prevents thousands of candidates from competing in elections. It steals money from your poor to fund a mass murderer like Assad.
"By calling daily for Israel's destruction, the regime hopes to instill hostility between us.
This is wrong. We are your friend, not your enemy. We've always distinguished between the Iranian people and the Iranian regime.
"The regime is cruel – the people are not; the regime is aggressive – the people are warm.
I yearn for the day when Israelis and Iranians can once again visit each other freely in Tehran and Esfahan, in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
"The fanatics must not win. Their cruelty must not conquer our compassion.
"Our two peoples can work together for a more peaceful and hopeful future for both of us. We must defeat terror and tyranny and we must ensure that freedom and friendship win the day," Netanyahu concluded.
4. ISRAELI GOVERNMENT APPROVES 671 NEW HOMES IN JERUSALEM
by Yedidya Ben-Or
The Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee approved on Sunday 671 new housing units in various Jerusalem neighborhoods.
Previous discussions regarding the approval of new Jerusalem housing units were canceled in late December, reportedly at the request of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
324 new housing units will be built in Ramot, and 174 in Ramat Shlomo. In Pisgat Ze'ev, 68 new housing units will be built.
In Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods, 49 new units will be built in Beit Hanina and 14 in Wadi al-Joz. 24 new housing units will be built in Umm Lisun and Umm Tuba.
In the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, which is known as a terrorist breeding ground, seven new units will be approved. Four others will be approved in Beit Safafa, three in Sur Baher, and four others in At-Tur.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said, "We have suffered eight difficult years of Obama, who pressured Israel to freeze building. Even though the Jerusalem municipality never froze building in the city, many times we were not given government approval, and sometimes homes were not put on the market because of US pressure.
"I hope that era is over, and that from now on we will continue to build and develop Jerusalem for the good of its residents, Jewish and Arab alike. We must strengthen our sovereignty over Israel's capital and create a unified Jerusalem.
"We must also help young couples, because that is the right thing to do," Barkat concluded.
5. WATCH: HUNDREDS JOIN MEMORIAL CEREMONY FOR MURDERED GIRL
by Yoni Kempinski
[youtube:2023535]
Five hundred members of Jewish community of Melbourne held a memorial service on Sunday in memory of 10-year-old Thalia Hakin, who was killed on Friday in a ramming attack in Melbourne.
Melbourne Chabad emissary Rabbi Shalom Dickstein spoke to Arutz Sheva and said the Jewish community was holding the memorial in order to support the devastated family and to arouse mercy for Thalia's mother and sister, who are still in the hospital.
Thalia's mother was severely injured, and her 9-year-old sister was lightly injured in Friday's attack.
According to Rabbi Dickstein, the community is having an extremely difficult time accepting the fact that the Melbourne police refuse to recognize the ramming attack as a terror attack, despite the terrorist's calls of "Allahu akbar!" However, he said the community trusts the authorities.
"Despite this, the community still stands behind the police," Dickstein said. "We believe that if the investigation shows the ramming attack was indeed a terror attack, there won't be any cover-ups. Australian authorities have proven they know how how to properly deal with terror, and that they do not conceal the true facts.
"Thalia is remembered as a happy, smiling girl. Her sister, who was wounded in the attack, is in my daughter's class. They're friends. It's very hard to tell children about what happened.
"Here in Australia, we're far away from everything. All the terror attacks we're used to seeing in Israel hardly every happen over here... It's not simple and we're doing our best to deal with it," Dickstein concluded.
6. WATCH: DRIVER RUNS OVER POLICEMAN
by Arutz Sheva Staff
During a routine police operation on Saturday night in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth Illit, a policeman signaled a car near him to stop on the side of the road.
A video released by Channel 10 shows the driver not only did not stop, but continued to drive and ran over the policeman, who was lightly injured.
Another patrol car began to chase the fleeing car, caught him, and arrested the driver and his four passengers.
The injured policeman was transferred by Magen David Adom to Haemek Medical Center in Afula.
7. BENNETT CONGRATULATES TRUMP, RESPONDS TO NETANYAHU
by Ido Ben Porat
Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) congratulated US President Donald Trump on his inauguration and move to the White House.
"We've entered a new era," Bennett wrote on Twitter. "For the first time in fifty years, our Prime Minister has a choice whether to create a Palestinian state or to apply israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
"If we choose to create a Palestinian state, we will regret our choice for generations to come. We will work to apply Israeli sovereignty."
Responding to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's Facebook post, in which Netanyahu said Iranian civilians are our friends, Bennett said, "Iran is an important topic, but preventing a second Iran in the heart of Judea and Samaria is no less important.
"We must not allow the 'Iran threat' to be used an excuse to miss an historical opportunity to prevent Palestine from developing on Israel's Route 6."
Route 6 is one of Israel's main north-south highways, crossing much of the country.
[video:2023499]
"I will fight for you with every breath in my body - and I will never, ever let you down," Trump said in his inauguration speech. "We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world - but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first.
"We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.
"We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones - and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth," he promised.
[youtube:2023498]
8. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: AMERICA DESERVES BETTER
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2023517]
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer at his first press conference on Saturday said the media deliberately engaged in false reporting during US President Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony on Friday.
"Yesterday, at a time when our nation and the world was watching the peaceful transition of power...some members of the media were engaged in deliberately false reporting," Spicer began. "A reporter falsely tweeted out that the bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. had been removed from the Oval Office. After it was pointed out that this was just plain wrong, the reporter casually tweeted out and tried to claim that a Secret Service agent must have just been standing in front of it. This was irresponsible and reckless."
Spicer also explained why photos of the ceremony were able to misrepresent the number of supporters who attended the ceremony.
In addition, Spicer told the media they should be focusing on the fact that the Democrats are playing politics to stall Mike Pompeo's appointment as CIA director.
"There's been a lot of talk in the media about the responsibility to hold Donald Trump accountable. And I'm here to tell you that it goes two ways," Spicer said. "We're going to hold the press accountable as well.
"The American people deserve better, and as long as he serves as the messenger for this incredible movement, he will take his message directly to the American people, where his focus will always be."
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