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MK Tzvika Fogel to Sharon Gal: "The act that the residents of Judea and Samaria did yesterday in Hawara is the strongest deterrent effect that the State of Israel has had since the Magen Wall. After a murder like yesterday's, we need burning villages when the IDF does not operate" He also added: "I want to restore security to the residents of the State of Israel. How do we do that? We stop with the word 'proportionality'. We stop with the reluctance to collective punishment because it is not suitable for all kinds of courts. I am taking off my...

A gun battle broke out in the Palestinian Authority-administered city of Shechem (Nablus) in Samaria Wednesday morning, after Israeli forces surrounded a building where a wanted terrorist was hiding. IDF soldiers, Border Police officers, and members of the elite Yamam special forces unit took part in the operation in the Kasbah of Shechem. Terrorists opened fire on the Israeli forces, who responded in kind. Nine terrorists were killed in the gun battle, including two who were involved in the murder of Staff Sergeant Ido Baruch. The 21-year-old soldier was shot and killed by terrorists last year near the town of...

The UN Security Council on Monday published a statement expressing its "dismay" over Jewish settlement activity in Judea and Samaria during a briefing on the situation in the Middle East. The statement, which received the support of all 15 members of the Security Council, including the US, reads: “The Security Council reiterates that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-state solution.” The statement is non-binding, unlike a resolution which was proposed last week, which would have demanded that Israel "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory." That resolution was shelved...

Netanyahu rejects Biden admin call to ‘pause’ Judea and Samaria construction U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly made the request during his visit last week to Israel in a bid to de-escalate tensions amid rampant Palestinian terrorism.

Boston, Mass., Jan 13, 2023 / 14:00 pm A team of Israeli archaeologists has discovered a sixth-century Byzantine church with highly decorated mosaic floors. The Civil Administration’s Archaeology Unit, which oversees historical sites in Judea and Samaria, announced Wednesday that the church was found in Jericho, a Palestinian town located in the West Bank, according to The Times of Israel. The agency is part of the government of Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, which is part of the Ministry of Defense. The outlet reported that the church is 250 square meters large, which would have made the...

Al Arabiya English Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to become the Prime Minister of Israel for the third time. He has until December 21 to form a government before taking office. In a wide-ranging interview with a group of print and television journalists at Al Arabiya, Mr. Netanyahu discussed Israel’s relations with Arab states, the US alliance structure in the Middle East, unrest in Iran, Israel’s new hard-right government, the future of the US-brokered maritime border agreement with Lebanon, and the Russia-Ukraine war. Mr. Netanyahu reiterated the paramount importance of normalization with Saudi Arabia, which would be a “quantum leap” toward...

Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu said Wednesday that a normalization agreement between Israel and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is within reach and would effectively “end the Arab-Israeli conflict.” The latest statement from the Prime Minister comes as the new conservative coalition vows to confront terrorism in the Middle East and strengthen alliances with Arab allies. Speaking from Israel at an online event hosted by Temple Emanu-El’s Streicker Center, Netanyahu reminded an online audience of nearly 300 people that the Abraham Accords were negotiated by the former Trump administration when he was Israel’s prime minister. The Accords normalized...

Biden Admin. reportedly concerned Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir will be given important ministries in the Netanyahu govt. The Biden Administration is concerned that Benjamin Netanyahu will appoint Religious Zionism party chairman MK Bezalel Smotrich as Israel's next Defense Minister, journalist Barak Ravid reported for Axios. Smotrich had been seeking the Finance Ministry, but stated his willingness to allow the Shas party to be given that ministry if he receives the Defense Ministry in its place. The US Administration is reported concerned about Smotrich's hardline positions on Judea and Samaria and how Israel should respond to terrorism, as well as...

After the revolt of Bar Kokhba against the Roman Empire (132-135 C.E.), the Judea province was renamed Syria Palaestina by the Roman Emperor Hadrian to detach the Judean province from Jewish identity. In recent history, the area called Palestine includes the territories of the present-day Israel and Jordan (see the map). From 1517 to 1917 most of this area remained under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. During World War I, in 1917, the British army occupied Jerusalem. On November 2, 1917, the British foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration for "the establishment in Palestine of a...

After a decade, the E.U.-Israel Association Council met. Although ties are improving, the question of Palestinian statehood persists. Government ministers from Israel and the European Union met on Oct. 3 for the first “Association talks” since 2012. Intelligence Minister Elazar Stern headed the Israeli delegation at the E.U.-Israel Association Council session in Brussels. Established in 1995 and first operating in 2000, the group has not met since July 2012, in part due to differences in views over Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank. Bouts of violence between Palestinians and Israel, along with the COVID-19...

‘We won’t let the Jewish community be some pinata for people to attack,’ says Florida governor at synagogue visit. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis emphasized his pro-Israel bona fides at a campaign stop in a synagogue north of Miami Sunday night, ahead of the November 8th gubernatorial election. Speaking at a Forward Action Fund event at a synagogue in Bal Harbour, DeSantis drew cheers from the audience as he referenced his policies against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, and rejected claims that Judea and Samaria is “occupied territory.” “One of the things I said we would do, is that I...

Residents of settlements in Judea and Samaria are demanding that the IDF permit them to carry assault rifles for their own protection, such as the M-16 or M-4 models, in light of the increased number of attacks on the roads in the region, Israel Hayom reported. The residents said that the IDF has acted in recent years to reduce them number of assault weapons in the settlements, often at the expense of the residents' security. Residents of Judea and Samaria who meet the criteria of the Weapons Licensing Division in the Public Security Ministry may obtain a gun license, and...

The Jewish–Roman wars was a series of uprisings against the Roman Empire that started in AD 66 during the reign of Emperor Nero.The seeds of the revolt were in response to increasing religious tensions and high taxation, leading to reprisal attacks against Roman citizens. In retaliation, the Roman Governor of Judea plundered the Second Temple and launched raids to arrest senior political and religious figures within the Jewish community.This led to a wide-scale rebellion, resulting in the Roman officials abandoning Jerusalem to the rebels.Nero tasked Vespasian, a Roman general (who would succeed to the role of Emperor during the "Year...

An agreement signed with Unilever Global stipulates that Ben & Jerry's franchisee in Israel can continue to sell ice cream all over Israel, including in Judea and Samaria - Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Economy Minister Orna Barbibai welcomed the decision: "An important value victory against discrimination and anti-Semitism at the heart of the boycott campaign on Israel" - CEO of Israel Avi Singer:" It was a long and complex struggle, crossing borders and sectors."

Unilever distances itself from BDS, announces new deal to allow sale of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to Israelis in Judea and Samaria. British consumer goods giant Unilever announced Wednesday the end of an anti-Israel ice cream boycott that drew heavy criticism, triggered sanctions by some US states, and even provoked a lawsuit.

Zaher Jabarin, one of Hamas' leaders, has threatened to fire over 1,000 rockets at Israel, Channel 12 News reported. Last year, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar referenced the number 1,111 but did not detail the context. At the time, he said, "We are confident in our ability to obtain our rights and remember the number 1,111." It was assumed then that the number was in reference to how many terrorists Hamas would demand released in the next prisoner swap. Now, Jabarin has clarified, in Sinwar's name, that 1,111 is the number of rockets which will be fired during the first barrage...

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is suddenly the favorite to mount a comeback after current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett lost the majority he needs to hold his coalition together with a key defection on Wednesday. Israel’s government looked set to crumble Wednesday after coalition whip Idit Silman announced she is quitting to form a new government, causing the ruling coalition headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to lose its majority. … Silman, who is a member of Knesset in Bennett’s Yamina party, chose to defect after she clashed with Israel’s Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz over his order to hospitals...

On the distorted comparison on the left between the atrocities in Ukraine and Israel's conduct in Judea and Samaria This campaign is led by a group of leftists, many of them journalists, whose alienation from Jewish history, and her constant need to portray Israel as representing evil, make her think. He arrived two or three days after the battle for Ukraine began, and he did not surprise anyone, because he always jumps at such times. This is the same instinct that exists among leftists, which makes them see a raging ruler, or an unstoppable murderer, or a country that behaves...

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began last week, most Israeli leaders across the political spectrum have either expressed full support for Ukrainians or cautiously supported a neutral approach for strategic reasons, fearful of harming the country’s interests in Russia-controlled Syria. A minority on the right, however, has gone as far as to express a measure of sympathy and identification with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justifications for Russia asserting a historic claim to Ukrainian territory. “People in Russia suit Putin’s rule. Kyiv is Russia’s birthplace. Kyiv for Putin is like Bethlehem and Hebron,” said Maj. Gen. (ret.) Gershon Hacohen, a senior...

While Putin's war machine inflicts death and destruction on women and children in Ukraine, the runt of the Irish parliament returns to its favourite sport - Israel hating. Senator Frances Black is an ultra nationalist politician and a member of the Upper House. Though nominally an Independent, she is closely aligned with Sinn Féin. She seeks to portray herself as a defender of Palestinian Arabs, but every so often the mask slips and exposes herself for the old school antisemite that she really is. She introduced an "Occupied Territories" (sic) Bill to criminalise Irish Jews and allies, for seeking to...