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Sunday, Jun. 05 '16, Iyar 28, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. LEFT-WING EXTREMISTS 'PLANNING TO DISRUPT JERUSALEM DAY MARCH'
2. TERRORIST REVEALS: HAMAS PLANNING TO FIGHT NEXT WAR UNDERGROUND
3. 'OUR FAMILY BOUGHT THIS LAND, IT BELONGS TO JEWS'
4. BENNETT: WE'LL TOPPLE GOVERNMENT IF IT OFFERS CONCESSIONS
5. ISRAELIS DONATE NIS 1.4 MILLION TO DISABLED IDF VETERAN
6. THE PRECISE NUMBER OF JEWS IN THE 'WEST BANK'
7. 'FIRE UP THE OVENS!'; NAZIS TARGET JEWISH CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS
8. JERUSALEM CELEBRATES 49 YEARS OF LIBERATION
1. LEFT-WING EXTREMISTS 'PLANNING TO DISRUPT JERUSALEM DAY MARCH'
by Hezki Baruch
Jerusalem District Police Commander Yoram Halevi told a court in the capital that left-wing extremists planned to disrupt the annual Jerusalem Day Flag Dance (Rikudgalim) through the Old City today.
"We have intelligence on left-wing activists who want to disturb (the march)," Halevi told the Supreme Court during a hearing regarding a petition by leftist groups for the march to be canceled.
The commander expressed confidence that his officers could handle the planned disruptions, while securing the marchers as they pass through majority-Arab areas.
The hearing was called in response to petitions by the extreme-left Ir Amim NGO and leftist groups, which each year appeal to the courts to cancel the Rikudgalim, claiming celebrations of Israel's liberation of Jerusalem constitutes a "provocation" to Arab residents.
This year's Rikudgalim comes at a particularly sensitive time, as Jerusalem Day falls on the eve of Ramadan - a time of increased incitement to violence in mosques throughout the country.
As usual, the NGOs took their case all the way to the Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled in favor of the march taking place, while accepting police recommendations to force organizers to begin an hour earlier to avoid clashing with Ramadan.
Judge Elyakim Rubenstein voiced his concern over the event, but noted that it is a longstanding tradition which cannot simply be cancelled.
Rubenstein did, however, question why the rally was not being moved to even earlier in the day, to avoid even the slightest possibility of Jewish marchers coming into contact with Muslims on their way to evening Ramadan prayers.
Attorney Avinoam Segel, representing the State, responded that marchers were due to pass through the Damascus Gate at 6:30 p.m., and insisted it was the responsibility of police to ensure all are dispersed in time.
Damascus Gate has in the past been the scene of friction between Jewish marchers and Arab locals on Jerusalem Day. In recent months, it has also been a hotbed of Arab terrorism, with dozens of stabbings and other attacks and attempted attacks on police and Jewish civilians.
Judges also viewed a short minute-and-a-half clip edited by Ir Amim, showing alleged racist chants by Jewish nationalist marchers, and urged police to take a stricter line with marchers in response.
However Segel noted that the existence of a single, very short clip from so many years of marches simply proved that the leftist NGOs were blowing the issue out of all proportion.
He did however support tougher measures against any racist chanters, and called on police to enforce a zero-tolerance policy against such rhetoric.
Responding to concerns that police will not be able to secure the event, Police Commander Halevi insisted his force were more than capable of doing so.
Marchers would be moved swiftly on from Damascus Gate, he insisted, with the aid of 1,200 police officers and an additional 400 civilian ushers.
"There will be 1,200 police at the event. We are present in Jerusalem at tens of events. The Temple Mount will be full of Jews, (the prophet) Samuel's Tomb will be filled with Jews, and with numbers like these we in the Jerusalem Police will be able to secure this event together with 400 ushers."
He further noted that with Ramadan set to begin at 7:45 p.m., there would be plenty of time for police to ensure the area is cleared of marchers if the Rikudgalim was rescheduled for an hour earlier as requested by police.
"They don't all run to the Temple Mount immediately," he said of Muslim worshipers heading to the Al Aqsa Mosque, estimating that it usually takes around an hour for the first worshipers to arrive.
2. TERRORIST REVEALS: HAMAS PLANNING TO FIGHT NEXT WAR UNDERGROUND
by Ari Soffer
Israeli security forces arrested a Hamas terrorist involved in tunnel digging who crossed the border into Israel, it has been cleared for publication.
The 17-year-old member of Hamas's military wing was captured upon entering Israeli territory, in a joint operation involving IDF, Shin Bet and Israel Police forces in May of this year.
Under interrogation it was revealed that the terrorist was a member of Hamas's Brigade in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, and was involved in terror tunnel-digging activities.
The terrorist revealed a wealth of information about Hamas's activities in northern Gaza, including its tunnel digging activities, recruitment methods, training drills and preparations for operations against Israeli forces in northern Gaza.
Among other details, he outlined Hamas's elaborate communications system within the tunnels, and the existence of a number of tunnels reserved for use by Hamas's elite commando forces, known as the "Nahba" - both during any future battle with the IDF inside Gaza, as well as in order to infiltrate into Israeli territory.
His testimony also corroborated that of Hamas terrorists previously detained by Israel, such as Hamas's extensive efforts to build an interconnected tunnel network throughout the entire Gaza Strip - complete with rest and recreation areas - which would enable terrorists to conduct a war against Israel based entirely underground.
The entrance/exit points of the tunnels were mostly located in heavily-populated civilian areas or close to civilian infrastructure, including schools and mosques, in order to use Gaza's civilian population as human shields.
The IDF has recently unearthed a number of Hamas terror tunnels into Israel, in part due to intelligence provided by a number of Gaza based terrorists who were captured and interrogated by security services.
Last month the capture of another young terrorist from northern Gaza was announced, as was that of a veteran operative from Hamas's military wing, who revealed the existence of a sophisticated underground infrastructure in Gaza complete with recreational rooms and even showers.
3. 'OUR FAMILY BOUGHT THIS LAND, IT BELONGS TO JEWS'
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2015909]
While the Jewish community in the neighborhood of Silwan (Shiloach) in eastern Jerusalem has elicited fierce criticism from the Israeli left and even the American government, descendants of the original owner of the "Kfar HaTeimanim" (Yemenite Village) area in Silwan celebrated the planned construction of an additional apartment building for the growing Jewish population.
Yair Frumkin and his sister are direct descendants of Israel Dov Frumkin, who purchased the land the predominantly-Arab neighborhood of Silwan now sits back in 1882. The land was given to Yemenite immigrants, who built up the neighborhood, located to the southeast of the Old City. There they remained until Arab riots forced the Jewish population to flee in 1938.
4. BENNETT: WE'LL TOPPLE GOVERNMENT IF IT OFFERS CONCESSIONS
by Ido Ben-Porat
Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) has attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) over their support for a Palestinian state and the need for a political process with the Palestinians.
"We will take down the government over anything that would lead to a division of the Land of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian state. We will fight it," he said during an interview on Meet the Press.
"There will be no Palestinian state here. I will do anything to stop it," he promised. "We are in a government whose basic principles include no Palestinian state. As long as we are here, there will not be a Palestinian state along Highway 6, five minutes from Kfar Saba, and there will be no division of Jerusalem."
The Education Minister then expressed veiled criticism against the Prime Minister and his policies. "It's no secret that there are disagreements. We don't need to give up a single centimeter of land. I don't understand these things." At the same time, he acknowledged that "I have no problem with a regional conference if it considers the broader issues."
As long as the government's initial principles remain in place, Bennett supports expanding the government. "I'm not boycotting the Zionist Union. We need to expand the coalition," he said. "We had a lame duck government and I am ready to bring in any party, as long as the coalition's principles do not change."
He further responded to criticism again the Education Ministry's campaign encouraging high school students to take five units of math in the bagrut leaving certification. "I agree that math is not the sole issue," he acknowledged, explaining that "Israel suffered a national tragedy over the past decade. Our achievements in science and math have fallen by 40 percent. I will not let that continue and I think that excellence is not a bad word."
The Likud has responded to Bennett's remarks, claiming: "This is just another typical public relations exercise from Bennett's workshop. Bennett knows very well that Prime Minister Netanyahu is firmly against returning to the '67 borders and dividing Jerusalem. Yet he is taking Netanyahu's red lines and presenting them as the Prime Minister's supposed dictates. This is a false depiction."
5. ISRAELIS DONATE NIS 1.4 MILLION TO DISABLED IDF VETERAN
by Ari Soffer
Ordinary Israelis have raised nearly 1.4 million shekels (approximately $364,000) to renovate the home in the case of a severely injured Israeli war hero, after the government refused to do so because he lives in a "settlement" in Samaria.
Yehuda Yitzhak HaYisraeli was left in a coma for over a year after being critically wounded in the head while fighting in Gaza during 2014's Operation Protective Edge. HaYisraeli was injured in the same incident in which IDF officer Hadar Goldin was captured by Hamas, and in which two other soldiers were killed. Goldin was later declared killed in action by the IDF, after evidence came to light confirming he had been killed during the abduction attempt.
The married father of two has been hospitalized ever since, but is soon to be discharged and is set to begin a long and painful rehabilitation process back at home in Ofra, in Samaria's Binyamin Region.
To accommodate for his severe disabilities, his home will require expensive renovations - but while the government usually covers such expenses for disabled veterans, this time it is refusing to do so, claiming that HaYisraeli is not illegible as he lives in a "settlement."
That callous decision left the family in dire straights. They didn't posses even a fraction of the approximately 600,000 shekels (approx. $156,000) required for the work, and didn't know where to turn.
So when the grassroots Zionist My Israel group set up an online fundraising campaign the HaYisraeli family were simply grateful for whatever amount would be raised.
Little did they realize that within just a few days - and well ahead of the end date for the campaign - generous Israeli donors would have donated more than double that amount. As of the publication of this article, over 1,390,000 shekels have been donated via the Israeli headstart online fundraising tool.
And the donors crossed the political spectrum: Opposition Leader Yitzhak Herzog, who heads the left-wing Zionist Union party donated 1,000 shekels to the campaign.
On Friday, the HaYisraeli family published a short, moving clip of Yehuda saying "thank you to the people of Israel!" for their incredible support:
[youtube:2015907]
But the family is less than impressed with the government's conduct over the issue, although on Sunday they confirmed they would await the required official government permits before using the funds to commence construction on their home.
6. THE PRECISE NUMBER OF JEWS IN THE 'WEST BANK'
by Baruch Gordon
The annual statistics on the precise number of Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria (AKA the West Bank) have been released by former Knesset Member Yaakov "Ketzaleh" Katz.
Based on the Population Registry of Israel's Interior Ministry, there are 406,302 Jews in Judea and Samaria as of December 31, 2015. As clearly stated in the report, the statistics do not include eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem (e.g. Pisgat Zeev, Ramat Shlomo, Ramot, Gilo, Ramat Eshkol, etc.) which are technically part of the West Bank and are home to another approximately 360,000 Jews.
In the special English report released today, the Jewish population stats of Judea and Samaria are broken down into individual towns and regions and show the growth over the last year and 5 years. Since December 31, 2010, the number of Jews in Judea and Samaria has increased by 23.95%.
The English Jewish Population Stats Report for Judea and Samaria is available for free download via the Israel Cadet Trek site (IsraelCadetTrek dot com) of the Bet El pre-IDF Preparatory Academy. Click here to sign up to the email news list and receive the link to the free report.
The Significance of the Report
The significance of the growing number of Jews in Judea and Samaria is enormous, as diplomats, academics and leaders on both sides admit that the "realities on the ground" (i.e. expansion of the Jewish presence in the region) have rendered the Jewish presence there irreversible and block any chances of a Palestinian State ever being established. For example, in a September 2015 speech by UN Peace Process Envoy Robert Serry entitled The Vanishing Prospects for A Two State Solution, he declared:
"The title of my speech, however, doesn't sound very encouraging or optimistic, but having served for seven years as the UN's Peace Envoy in Jerusalem I am afraid that I cannot but warn that the Two State Solution is slipping away and that, instead, Israelis and Palestinians are heading towards what I have described as a 'One State reality'."
Later in his speech, he explains:
"[Construction in settlements] has fundamentally, and should we add irreversibly, changed realities on the ground with more than 500000 settlers [sic. including the Jews of eastern Jerusalem, the number is closer to 800,000] living nowadays across the 67-lines in what is for them "Judea and Samaria"—the heartland of previous ancient Jewish kingdoms.
Furthermore, the New York Times, in a March 18, 2014 article writes:
"Back home in Ramallah, Mr. Abbas's own son has been telling him that last chance is already long gone, the negotiations futile. The son, Tareq Abbas, a businessman who has long shied away from politics and spotlights, is part of a swelling cadre of prominent Palestinians advocating instead the creation of a single state stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea in which Jews and Arabs would all be citizens with equal rights.
"...President Abbas, in a separate interview last month, said Israel's continued construction in West Bank settlements made it impossible to convince [his son] Tareq that the two-state solution was still viable." The article later quotes Tareq Abbas as saying, "Oh, my father, where is your state? I wander everywhere [in the West Bank] and I see [Jewish] blocks everywhere, I see houses everywhere."
The late Israeli Meretz Party leader Yossi Sarid wrote in a July 27, 2012 Haaretz article:
"[In reference to the settlement movement] "I always convinced myself that what was being done can and will be reversed, and that the long-awaited awakening would surely come. Now it's too late.
[In response to Meron Benvinisti who wrote 25 years ago that the settlements are irreversible] "I wrote then, 'There's no such thing as irreversible. Only death is irreversible.' He was right. I was blinded and continued to operate on mistaken assumptions... I based my false hopes on common sense... on our ability to stop at any moment and change direction. I was wrong. It's my fault.
The English Jewish Population Stats Report for Judea and Samaria are available for download after joining the email list. Those who are interested in helping provide scholarships for IDF Cadets from disadvantaged homes are called upon to sponsor a rider in the annual Bike Trek.
7. 'FIRE UP THE OVENS!'; NAZIS TARGET JEWISH CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS
by Arutz Sheva Staff
25-year-old Erin Schrode is a rising star in the Democrat Party. She is hoping to become the youngest woman ever elected to Congress and the youngest person in the House of Representatives.
But her ambitions have also attracted the attention of neo-Nazi online trolls, who have targeted her in a vile campaign of hate, prompting the young Jewish-American to speak out.
Taking to Facebook, Schrode expressed her shock at the appalling deluge of anti-Semitic comments - many of them emanating from self-declared supporters of the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump.
"Indiscriminate hatred. Pure evil," is how she described the hateful messages, which included death threats, calls to rape her and Holocaust references.
"I woke up yesterday and today to hundreds of such vile messages. I was told to keep my mouth shut, that this wasn't the time or place to speak out against anti-Semitism, that such messaging wouldn't serve me well as a candidate three days away from the California congressional primary," she continued. "I recognize the tragic reality that people are being killed, injured, and persecuted in horrific ways – and that an onslaught of threatening, derogatory, hate-filled emails, voicemails, tweets, and comments pales is comparison."
However, Schrode said she could not bear to stay silent because, in her words, "this is not about me.
"Sure, the hatred has now turned personal, targeting me because of the simple fact that my mother is Jewish, that I am Jewish. And yes, my personal email, cell phone, and social media handles were published in Neo-Nazi chatrooms alongside photos of me wearing the yellow JUDE star, a badge forced upon Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe, among other nauseating permutations of images.
"This unspeakable vitriol goes far beyond anti-Semitism. It is not merely an attack on me or on one people, but rather an attack on any individual or group who is targeted because of faith, race, nationality, gender, ability, orientation or other arbitrary classification."
The anti-Semitic campaign appears to have begun when Schrode's personal details were posted to the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer site, whose administrator Andrew Anglin is an ardent Trump supporter.
The GOP candidate's campaign has been in the spotlight over recent months, as a vocal minority of his supporters have engaged in vicious anti-Semitic trolling. Trump has also been forced to disavow public endorsements from leading American White Supremacists and neo-Nazis, most notoriously former KKK leader David Duke.
Among the abuse Shrode said she received were messages such as "Fire up the oven!"; "Everyone knows it's TIME for America's first evil retarded teen c*** Congress kike!" (expletive censored); "All would laugh with glee as they gang raped her and then bashed her bagel eating brains in.", and other racist and anti-Semitic vitriol.
Schrode told Buzzfeed News that she has contacted authorities, including the FBI.
She said other threatening messages included Nazis calling on her to leave America for Israel, such as voicemail message which said: "Get out of my country, kike. Get to Israel where you belong. That or the oven. Take your pick."
But she said the hatred hasn't dented her ambitions in any way.
"We must not stand silent in the face of hatred, violence, attacks, bullying, or oppression," she said on Facebook. "We cannot recoil in fear; we cannot lose our sense of human dignity and respect. May we respond with a chorus of positive voices and powerful action. May we rise up and not only preach tolerance, but understanding and love."
8. JERUSALEM CELEBRATES 49 YEARS OF LIBERATION
by Hezki Baruch
Israelis are out celebrating Jerusalem Day as the Jubilee year of Jerusalem's unification begins, led by students at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva (for film of dancing, click here) in the capital city..
The holiday commemorates the liberation and unification of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War on the 28th day of the Hebrew month of Sivan.. The yeshiva's then-head, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, was an outspoken advocate of Jerusalem's holiness and importance.
Prior to the dancing, there was a festive Maariv (evening) prayer service inside the yeshiva, ending with the Havdala prayer said at the close of the Sabbath and with the singing of Shir Hamaalot (A Song of Ascents, Psalms 126) to the tune of Israel's national anthem, a spirited rendition of "Next year in rebuilt Jerusalem" and the moving "Song of Faith," Rabbi Avraham Hacohen Kook's lyric poem which attests to the faith the Jewish People have in their return to the city chosen by King David.
Yeshivas from outside Jerusalem joined the Merkaz Harav student body of hundreds for Shabbat, sleeping on the floor and in the high school dormitory and eating in shifts - from as far away as Yerucham in the Negev, Migdal Oz in the north and Or Etzion in central Israel. The venerable head of the hesder yeshiva network Rabbi Chaim Drukman, Yerucham Hesder Yeshiva Dean Rabbi Blumentzveig, Dean of Merkaz Harav Yaakov Shapira and Merkaz Harav Yeshiva Rabbi Avraham Sylvetsky delivered Torah lectures on Friday night and Shabbat afternoon.
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