…Per UN Security Council Resolution 242 and the Oslo Accords, Israel need withdraw only in exchange for lasting peace. Under the framework, any legal violations by Israel in how it conducts its presence in the West Bank must end, but they do not render the Israeli presence itself illegal or require Israeli withdrawal. The conflict has endured because Palestinian leaders have rejected Israeli offers — in exchange for peace — of a Palestinian state in up to 94 percent of the West Bank. Israel won’t implement an ICJ opinion demanding unilateral withdrawal, which would turn the West Bank into a more strategically located version of Gaza, which Israel evacuated only to face thousands of Hamas rocket attacks. A similar West Bank departure would gravely endanger civilians within Israel’s pre-1967 borders and likely shutter Israel’s economy. READ MORE
Arutz Sheva has taken the initiative in reminding the public of an indefensibly ongoing saga – the efforts to bring to justice the murderess responsible for the deaths of 16 innocent people in a Jerusalem Sbarro pizza restaurant twenty two years ago. In the most recent development, a full ten years after her conviction in the USA, former Congressman Ted Deutsch, head of the American Jewish Committee, wrote a letter to the Attorney General of the United States, Merrick B. Garland, calling on the Department of Justice “to intensify its pursuit of the extradition from the Kingdom of Jordan of Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi, the Jordanian terrorist… READ MORE
YNET Last victim of 2001 Sbarro suicide bombing dies after 22 years in comaChana Nachenberg was 31 when she and her daughter sat in the Jerusalem restaurant when a terrorist blew himself up and killed 15 people including eight children; her death brings the fatality toll up to 16; She is to be buried in the afternoon.
While schoolchildren around the world are enjoying the summer vacation through sports and entertainment, Palestinian children are being taught and trained how to fight Israel and Jews. The indoctrination and brainwashing of Palestinian children is not new. Palestinian leaders have been raising generation after generation on hatred for Israel and Jews. This incitement has been taking place in Palestinian kindergartens, schools, universities, mosques, the media and even crossword puzzles, for decades. That is why public opinion polls continue to show, unsurprisingly, that Palestinians endorse radical views and support terrorism against Israel. READ MORE
Efforts are being made to reach a compromise on changing the wording of the controversial reasonableness standard bill, but even as it stands, the bill will strengthen democracy – and definitely not harm democracy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a prime-time statement on Thursday evening. “Tonight, I wish to calm all of you: In any case, Israel will continue to be a democratic state, will continue to be a liberal state,” the prime minister said. The prime minister’s comments came as the intensity of protests continue to increase ahead of the bill’s expected passage on Monday afternoon, and as additional groups of IDF reservists continue to announce that they will no longer volunteer for service if the bill passes into law. READ MORE
ISRAEL HAYOM Former Shin Bet chief backs protest movement; new attack ad draws outrageNadav Argaman, the former head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, voiced support on Thursday for military reservists refusing to serve in protest of the government’s planned judicial overhaul, drawing fierce criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allies days before parliament was set to vote on a key piece of legislation.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday he welcomed criticism, especially from American friends, but said it must not cross the line into negation of Israel‘s right to exist. That, he said, was antisemitism. Herzog, whose position is largely ceremonial, spoke to a chamber packed with members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, despite the absence of a handful of progressive Democrats who announced they would boycott over issues including the treatment of Palestinians by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government…The House passed a resolution by an overwhelming 412 to 9 vote on Tuesday expressing support for Israel and saying it was not a racist state. The nine were Democrats, and a 10th voted present. READ MORE
ISRAEL HAYOM Michael Oren: Herzog can put Netanyahu-Biden relations back on trackAs he meets US officials, Israel’s president must ask himself: Is there anything the prime minister would be willing to accept in exchange for giving up, even partially, on the judicial reform?
JERUSALEM POST Lahav Harkov: Herzog to US Congress: Vilifying Israel is antisemitismVilification of Israel and denying Israel’s right to exist are antisemitism, President Isaac Herzog said to a joint session of the US Congress on Wednesday, honoring 75 years of Israeli independence…Herzog’s remarks came the day after Congress passed a resolution affirming US support for Israel and calling it a democratic ally, as well as condemning antisemitism.
JNS Herzog hails Israel’s ‘greatest partner and friend’ in Congress address Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday addressed a joint session of Congress, following a meeting the previous day with his U.S. counterpart at the White House. “At this moment in my people’s history, gathering on Capitol Hill to celebrate 75 years of Israeli independence with our greatest partner and friend, the United States of America, my soul is overflowing with pride and joy. The people of Israel are grateful to no end for the ancient promise fulfilled and for the friendship we have formed,” said Herzog…Herzog then shifted attention to Iran, calling the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program “perhaps the greatest challenge Israel and the United States face at this time.
…American payouts undermine Israel’s domestic defense industry, weaken its economy, and compromise the country’s autonomy—giving Washington veto power over everything from Israeli weapons sales to diplomatic and military strategy. When Washington meddles directly in Israel’s domestic affairs, as it does often these days, Israeli leaders who have lobbied for these payments—including current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—are simply reaping the rewards of their own penny-wise, pound-foolish efforts. As the costs to Israel of U.S. aid have skyrocketed over the past decade, the benefits of the relationship to the U.S. have only grown larger. Aid is popular with key voting blocs (few of them Jewish). It functions as a lucrative backdoor subsidy to U.S. arms makers, and provides Congress and the White House with a tool to leverage influence over a key strategic ally. READ MORE
Palestinian Americans living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip can enter Israel including through Ben Gurion airport as part of a policy change Israel announced on Wednesday night in a bid to secure visa-free access for Israelis to the United States. Washington has blocked Israel’s longstanding bid to join the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP) over differential treatment for some US citizens, and officials said the US will monitor the implementation of the changes over a six-week period. US Ambassador Thomas Nides and Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog signed the “reciprocity agreement” which set in motion a pilot program based on the new policy. READ MORE
U.S. President Joe Biden, after a lengthy delay, on Monday invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United States for an official visit later this year, the White House and prime minister’s office said. Biden had held off extending the invitation out of concern about a judicial overhaul undertaken by Netanyahu and his right-wing government as well as Israel’s expansion of settlements on the occupied West Bank. Biden extended the invitation during a phone call between the two leaders, a day ahead of a visit to Washington by Israeli President Isaac Herzog. The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have invited Herzog, whose position as head of state is mostly ceremonial, to address a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday, but some members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus have signaled that they might not attend the event. READ MORE
JNS Kenneth Levin: Biden decries antisemitism yet funds it A serious fight against Jew-hatred will require another president and another administration….On May 25, President Joe Biden announced a plan to combat antisemitism and declared that “the venom and violence of antisemitism will not be the story of our time.” Yet Biden is underwriting antisemitism.
NEW YORK POST Biden’s Bibi hatred endangers national security The 75th anniversary of the strong, historically unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel is being celebrated this year. Unfortunately, the occasion is marred by President Joe Biden’s personal animus towards Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which is weakening our relationship with the only democracy in the Middle East.
Friday is not just “Barbie” release day — moviegoers are also planning to fill theaters across the United States to see Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” biopic. Many hope it will answer a question that has long divided Americans and the country’s understanding of its history: Who exactly was J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb Oppenheimer’s name has become “a metaphor for mass death beneath a mushroom cloud,” in the words of Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, whose 2005 book “American Prometheus” was adapted into Nolan’s film. But to fully understand the physicist, biographers have looked for clues in his belief system — an ethical code grounded in science and rationality, a fiery sense of justice and a lifelong ambivalence toward his own Jewish heritage. READ MORE
On June 19, the Israel State Archives released material showing that during Dec. 2000 negotiations, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak was prepared to give up Israeli sovereignty over parts of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. At the Camp David talks five months earlier, Barak had already offered the Palestinian Authority control over territories that went far beyond what most Israeli military strategists believed the nation could give up and still retain defensible borders. U.S. envoy Dennis Ross, who was involved in all the relevant discussions, later stated, “Barak’s government … formally accepted ideas that would effectively divide East Jerusalem, end the IDF’s presence in the Jordan Valley, and produce a Palestinian state in roughly 97 percent of the West Bank [as well as all of Gaza].” Ross added that Barak agreed to give up the Temple Mount as well.READ MORE
ArchitectGuy on Israel 