Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Tuesday, Feb. 14 '17, י"ח בשבט תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. 'A PALESTINIAN STATE IS A BAD IDEA'
2. 'I BEG FORGIVENESS FROM MY JEWISH BRETHREN'
3. 'SECRETARY OF STATE TILLERSON, STOP FUNDING TERROR!'
4. 96-YEAR-OLD HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR WINS ISRAEL PRIZE
5. ZIONIST UNION MK: WHY AREN'T YOU ANNEXING?
6. WATCH: PA NEWS STATION ERASES ISRAEL FROM THE MAP
7. 'TRUMP WAS READY TO MOVE THE EMBASSY AT 12:01 ON JANUARY 20'
8. WATCH: ARAB WOMEN JOIN THE FIGHT AGAINST ISIS
1. 'A PALESTINIAN STATE IS A BAD IDEA'
by Ido ben Porat
Former Minister Gidon Saar announced that he is returning to political life after an absence, and that he will join the Likud party.
Speaking at the Jerusalem Conference in conjunction with Arutz Sheva, Saar addressed the upcoming meeting between Netanyahu and US President Trump.
"The Prime Minister needs to come with real positions to the White House. We are in a formative period. When an American President sets a direction, it has influence on the entire international arena - and this President has the potential for doing less routine and uncontroversial things.
"Trump is a fan of Israel and wishes it well. Israel needs to be equipped with conclusions ... in an area that is completely falling apart and permeated with Islamic terror, the establishment of a terror state at our front door is an idea that needs to be taken off the table."
Saar emphasized that Netanyahu cannot tell Trump that he supports a Palestinian state but that, at the moment, there is no partner, "because the next sentence out of the US President's mouth will be 'I'll make sure there's a partner.'"
Saar presented his diplomatic plan. "They've been talking about a two-state solution for over 20 years, including Israeli Prime Ministers who were ready to give up on almost everything. Is it realistic? Did it succeed? No."
He asserted that a Palestinian state, even a small one, does not have the ability to stand on its own economically, and will therefore always attempt to prolong conflict with Israel. Therefore, he concluded, "If we look at what's right for the future of the Palestinians and the interests of Israel - it would be right to bring about a federation between the PA and the kingdom of Jordan."
He said that Netanyahu will presumably bring up building in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem during his parley with Trump. "My assessment is that the PM will try and present his position about the likelihood or possibility of coming to an arrangement with the Palestinians."
"Since Trump was elected, I have heard nothing from him about a Palestinian state but if, G-d forbid, he should adopt that idea, it is clear that we will be in a less pleasant situation - it doesn't matter what we tell ourselves."
2. 'I BEG FORGIVENESS FROM MY JEWISH BRETHREN'
by Yaakov Katz
Former National Union leader Yaakov Katz ("Ketzale") addressed the 14th Jerusalem Conference and gave the speech which, in his words, "Prime Minister Netanyahu should have given before meeting President Trump." Here it is:
"Citizens of Israel, Brothers and Sisters, those who reside in our land and those still in the Diaspora, those in more challenging exile and those in more bountiful exile:
"On the eve of my meeting with the president of America, Donald Trump, I wish to summarize for you our situation today and the vision which I see in the years left to me as prime minister.
"Thank G-d there are now close to 7 million Jews living in Israel. We are celebrating 50 years since the war of redemption, the Six Day War. More than 800,000 Jews reside in the parts of the land redeemed during this war. About half a million live in Judea and Samaria and another 300,000 in the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
"Immigration to Israel is small but growing, even from Western nations. The mountains of Israel are giving forth their fruit as the prophet says: 'And you, mountains of Israel, give forth your branches and bear your fruit for my people Israel, because they are coming soon.'
"The cities of Israel are being built and occupied by large numbers of people in our great and holy land. Economically we are one of the most thriving nations in the world with an annual GNP of 4-5%. Hundreds of thousands of people are sitting and studying Torah for its own sake in thousands of Torah institutions, in a style and magnitude hitherto unsurpassed.
"The State of Israel is thriving in academia and hi-tech and these represent the basis for an even greater future.
"Brothers and sisters, I own up to my sins today.
"Eight years ago the previous president of America, Barack Hussein Obama, entered his post with the goal of establishing an Arab state in the biblical territories of the Land of Israel.
"I, who for years had written books and given speeches against this idea and had passed resolutions in the Likud Central Committee declaring that there could not be another state established within the area of the Land of Israel, both because of our historic rights and out of security considerations for Israel, as I had preached all of my life, that the Jewish nation cannot be forced into a ghetto 4 miles wide and 30-40 miles long.... I capitulated.
"I admit that I capitulated. Obama's relentless pressure broke me and I spoke against the values I received from my prestigious father, Prof. Bentzion Netanyahu and in contrast to the bravery and the heritage of my family who fought for the establishment of an independent and free state which would not be dependent on a terror state.
"I said things which were never approved by the Likud Central Committee or the Knesset faction and I beg forgiveness from my brothers, those who lived in previous generations and envisioned the return to their land, those tens of millions of Jews who were murdered and butchered and in whose merit our fathers established a state here and to those who are destined to live here in future generations.
"I beg forgiveness for having preached a morally repugnant idea. I apologize to everybody for having even mentioned such a deplorable and ridiculous idea.
"Now as I go abroad to meet a new president who has a loving heart towards the Jewish nation and towards the State of Israel, who is not afraid of those around him, who has decided not to be beholden to the media, the radical and perfidious power which has made its goal in America and in Israel to destroy everything connected with the Jewish roots and nature of the State of Israel.
"Now I address you. I want to promise you that from now on I will learn from him what is true courage and daring. I am telling you, my friends, people of Israel young and old, I am taking to heart the words of the person I so admire, Winston Churchill: 'To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.'
"I am changing my view to that which I held steadfastly until a few years ago: that the Land of Israel should be one state and it should be the Jewish state.
"I will draw strength from the great men of Israel like David, King of Israel, Gideon the Judge, Samson the Strong, Judah Maccabee and the G-d of Israel. I will abandon the ways I adopted in the past eight years and I will lead the State of Israel to days of immigration, prosperity and development, construction and innovation.
"When I meet US president Donald Trump, I will tell him what Simon the Maccabee said: 'We did not conquer a foreign land and did not extend our rule over another people, we have returned to the land of our fathers which had been conquered by our enemies.'"
This is the speech which Prime Minister Netanyahu would have been expected to give prior to his leaving for America.
Thank you very much.
3. 'SECRETARY OF STATE TILLERSON, STOP FUNDING TERROR!'
by Yoel Domb
A new investigation by the Israeli organization "Shurat Hadin", an Israel-based civil rights organization and world leader in combating terrorist organizations and the regimes that support them, has revealed that the grant funds transferred by the American administration to Gaza in the last few years to promote reconstruction were instead diverted to terror activity and to sources that identify with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The investigation demonstrated that through an organization posing as a Palestinian humanitarian aid agency, millions of dollars were transferred over the last few years to educational and welfare institutions identified with Hamas, which is considered a terror organization by the US.
In the wake of the new revelations, Shurat Hadin appealed to the new Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, demanding a cessation of funding to the aid agencies that effectively aid terror organizations by providing funds for Jihadist educational and welfare activities.
In 2015 the bogus organization received grants of $28 million US and in 2016, $24 million US. Additionally, Shurat Hadin demands that the Secretary of State require the organization to be transparent about its funding activities.
In her appeal to Tillerson, Shurat Hadin founder Attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner requested that he act in accordance with American law and prevent the indirect funding of terror organizations, especially in light of Congress's view that restrictions must apply to funding terror-supporting entities.
"Under the guise of an organization working for refugees and indigents, the American agency has become a companion to terror organizations, says Attorney Leitner. "From my perception of the new administration in the US and the new winds blowing from the White House and the State Department, I hope and believe that the federal funding will be stopped as long as the agency continues to fund terror. This way we can cripple the terror infrastructure being rebuilt in the Gaza Strip."
4. 96-YEAR-OLD HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR WINS ISRAEL PRIZE
by Uzi Baruch
Education Minister Naftali Bennett announced that Agnes Keleti has been awarded the Israel Prize for Sport and Physical Culture.
Bennett affirmed the recommendation of the prize committee headed by Yael Arad, a former judoka who was the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal.
The committee stated in its recommendation that "96-year-old Agnes (Agi) Keleti, who won ten Olympic medals in gymnastics in Helsinki (1952) and Melbourne (1956) and was inducted into her sport's international Hall of Fame. Keleti, born in Hungary and a Holocaust survivor, immigrated to Israel in 1957 for the Maccabiah games.
"A special, powerful, and brilliant woman. A trailblazer, leader, and paragon for all of her pupils in Israel and worldwide, who has made history and lives among us. Highly respected in the world of sport and still considered one of the greatest gymnasts in history.
Agnes Keleti was one of the originators of gymnastics in Israel, she led the discipline for more than 50 years, training gymnasts and guiding generations of coaches and winners over the course of the years."
Sports education and its transmission to the younger generation was one of Agnes Keleti's cherished values. Doggedly and determinedly she set a high standard for future physical education teachers as a basis for acquiring the right habits for future generations. Personal responsibility and self-discipline were her guiding lights," wrote the judges in their recommendation.
5. ZIONIST UNION MK: WHY AREN'T YOU ANNEXING?
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) called to terminate the military government in Judea and Samaria which harms individual rights of Jewish residents and to establish regional sovereignty.
"The Civil Administration is doing an injustice to Jews because we built a bureaucracy in Judea and Samaria," said Hotovely at the 14th Jerusalem Conference, organized in conjunction with Arutz Sheva. "When I entered the foreign ministry, I hosted Prof. Aharon Barak and Dorit Beinish. We asked them how we could continue in Judea and Samaria when we had international legal claims against us.
Beinish said to me: It's impossible to leave Israeli citizens and non-Israelis in a temporary status for 50 years. Time effects changes," said Hotovely.
She added: "Does military occupation seem normal to you in 2017? As a government representative I can tell you that there is a real intent to normalize the settlement enterprise. The Regulation Law is the first harbinger. After 50 years we must take care of the basic rights of settlers."
MK Omer Bar-Lev (Zionist Union) responded to Hotovely's words, saying that "you are the ruling party, Netanyahu has been Prime Minister for nearly 10 years. Why aren't you annexing? I'll tell you why not -because you know that the moment you annex and do not give full rights to Palestinians, the world will call this apartheid."
"So to make declarations is always possible but this is the real reason and Netanyahu knows it. He doesn't need to run in the Likud primaries. I think Naftali Bennett understands this as well."
Bar Lev stated that the government needs to decide between annexation and "separation" from the Palestinians. "They will soon say that the Left is stopping them from annexing. This would be a real joke. A 50 year period of transition is unreasonable and therefore there are two options - annexation or separation.
"The Regulation Law was intended for Amona but it lost Ariel. The Regulation Law 'cheated' Amona, but it really cheated the entire settlement enterprise since the result was a UN resolution that all of the settlements are illegal. Until today this had not been said."
The next stage, according to Bar Lev, is that the "International Prosecutor in the Hague will arrest IDF officers who do not show up for interrogation. Bar Lev said to Hotovely: "All the cards are in your hands. Some of you know the truth - that its impossible to annex all of Judea and Samaria, and that the only way to maintain Zionism is to decide where we are and where they are.
"Time is working against Zionism and in favor of messianism. We need to define where we are and where they are, but they cannot be within our borders and without rights. Therefore, the Palestinians must remain outside our borders."
6. WATCH: PA NEWS STATION ERASES ISRAEL FROM THE MAP
[youtube:2024587]
7. 'TRUMP WAS READY TO MOVE THE EMBASSY AT 12:01 ON JANUARY 20'
by Tal Polon
In an interview with The Global Politico podcast on Monday, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker said that the Trump administration had been ready to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem the minute Trump became President of the US.
"I think at one point they were ready to move the Embassy at 12:01 on January 20th. Maybe 12 and 30 seconds," he said.
Corker went on to suggest that the reason the move did not happen immediately was due to Israeli ambivalence regarding an immediate move's potential impact on Israel's relations with its Arab neighbors.
"[M]y question at the time is, how does Israel feel about that? They've never had a closer relationship with the Arab world. I mean, the Iran deal - to me, it was not the kind of agreement we should have entered into[...]
"But the one plus in the Iran deal is it brought the Arab community close to Israel. And so there's a real working relationship there right now. More than I think many of the Arab leaders even want their citizens to know," Corker asserted. "So when you've got a situation like that, do you really want to destroy this alliance that is unprecedented and is real?"
Nevertheless, Corker said that he thought that Israel is ready for the embassy move, and that the Trump administration "may be waiting now until after that ambassador [David Friedman] is confirmed to make additional moves."
Last Saturday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced that it would be holding on Thursday its confirmation hearing for Trump's nomination as US Ambassador to Israel, bankruptcy attorney and staunch Israel-supporter David Friedman.
The hearing is to come a day after Trump is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Washington.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has already landed in the US pending that meeting.
8. WATCH: ARAB WOMEN JOIN THE FIGHT AGAINST ISIS
[twittervideo:2024590]
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