“At Negev Summit, US Secretary of State Blinken demonstrates what it currently means to be a Western progressive: supporting people who murder Israelis and empowering others who want to wipe out Israel”

JNS
Blinken’s obscene Western ‘progressive’ agenda
Melanie Phillips
March 31, 2022

Coming in the midst of the past week’s atrocities against Israelis, Blinken’s remarks were obscene. “Settlement expansion” only increases tensions because people like Blinken make this so by continuing to perpetuate the lie that Israelis have stolen “Palestinian” land in the disputed territories. The truth is that they are the only people with a legal and historical right to be there. “Settler violence,” although reprehensible, is minuscule compared with the countless, daily and never-ending attacks or attempted attacks on Israelis—the vast majority of which go entirely unreported in America and Britain. The Arab “evictions” from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Shimon HaTzadik (also known as Sheikh Jarrah) were nothing other than a dispute over non-payment of rent, grossly misrepresented by Blinken and his ilk as a form of ethnic cleansing. READ MORE

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Senior delegation of German Bundestag Defense Committee visited the Lebanese border, where members were briefed on threats posed by Hezbollah

JNS
Germany interested in possibility of buying Arrow 3, UAVs from Israel
Yaakov Lappin
April 1, 2022

Germany is interested in the possibility of purchasing air- and missile-defense systems, in addition to unmanned aerial vehicles, from the State of Israel, according to multiple sources. In recent days, a senior delegation of the German Bundestag Defense Committee visited the Israel Defense Forces as part of a wider trip to the country. The delegation’s visit was initiated and hosted by ELNET, an organization dedicated to strengthening ties between Europe and Israel. Delegation members expressed particular interest in the Arrow 3 aerial-defense system, which is made by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and intercepts ballistic missiles in space. READ MORE

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Preaching to the margins: Chicago synagogue adopts anti-Zionism as a ‘core value’

FORWARD
Chicago synagogue officially designates itself ‘anti-Zionist’
Arno Rosenfeld
March 31, 2022

Tzedek Chicago was founded seven years ago, in part, to create a Jewish community free from a strong attachment to Israel. The congregation went beyond its original “non-Zionism” this week to become what is likely the first synagogue in the country to be affirmatively “anti-Zionist”…The decision to add a statement decrying the creation of Israel as an “injustice against the Palestinian people – an injustice that continues to this day” was taken by a vote of the congregation’s 200 member families after the board unanimously endorsed it in December. Seventy-three percent of households voted in favor of the motion. READ MORE

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“Israeli “practices and assaults” during Ramadan will lead to an “explosion,” Hamas and other Palestinian factions warned”

JPOST
Palestinians warn Israel’s actions will lead to violence during Ramadan
Khaled Abu Toameh
March 31, 2022

The rising tensions between Israel and the Palestinians are reminiscent of the days that preceded the large-scale IDF operation in the West Bank 20 years ago, Shami al-Shami, a senior member of the ruling Fatah faction in the Jenin area, said Thursday. In 2002, the IDF launched Operation Defensive Shield, the largest military operation in the West Bank since the Six Day War in 1967, to stop terrorist attacks against Israel. Israel’s actions, including “incursions” into Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps, are threatening to derail efforts to ease tensions on the eve of Ramadan, which starts on Saturday evening, Shami, a former member of the dissolved Palestinian Legislative Council, told The Jerusalem Post. READ MORE

JPOST Operation ‘Break the Wave:’ Security forces brace for rising terrorism tide “Citizens of Israel, we are currently experiencing a wave of murderous terrorism and, just like in all the previous waves, we will prevail together,” said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

TIMES OF ISRAEL Cop Amir Khoury, who halted Bnei Brak terror, mourned as ‘hero of Israel’ at funeral Ultra-Orthodox residents of Bnei Brak among thousands at funeral for Christian Arab cop who died taking out terrorist; ‘We will not forget Amir,’ says police minister Barlev

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“If ever there was a time when Israel needed its supporters in America to speak up, this moment is it”

JEWISH JOURNAL
16 Questions: “We the People” Demand Transparency on the Iran Nuclear Deal
David Suissa
March 29, 2022

Up until now, the opposition to President Joe Biden’s efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, or JCPOA, has revolved around criticizing the deal. That’s been my approach as well. I’ve written several columns arguing that this new deal is a lot worse than the flawed original and endangers not just Israel but also the world. In recent weeks, however, a twist has been added: People are demanding to see the details. “Lawmakers in both parties say they have been left largely in the dark about what a new agreement with Iran might look like,” The Hill reported on March 21, “and they fear it will be significantly weaker than the deal former President Obama cut in 2015 because the United States has lost time and leverage.” READ MORE

STANDWITHUS CALL TO ACTION: Let Congress & The American People Review the Iran Nuclear Deal Email the President, the Secretary of State, and your Representatives supporting the right of Congress to review all nuclear deals with Iran’s regime. Click here to email them now.

REAL CLEAR DEFENSE In Iniochos Exercise, Israel Rehearses Iran Strikes as Saudis Observe The Greek-hosted Iniochos 2022 military exercise began this week, with Athens welcoming military contingents from the United States, Israel, Cyprus, France, Italy, and Slovenia..Saudi Arabia is sending observers for the first time publicly to the exercise…Israel is using Inochios 2022 to rehearse some of the combat capabilities it would need to conduct strikes against Iran’s nuclear program.  

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“Israel and the United States are among a handful of countries that have set up field hospitals in Ukraine. The Israeli one is set up to treat about 150 patients daily”

JEWISH NEWS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Ukraine, Israeli medical staff and Jewish volunteers help thousands
Cnaan Lipshiz, JTA
March 25, 2022

Israeli physicians and Jewish groups are assisting thousands of non-Jews across Ukraine deal with the effects of the Russian invasion into that country. Near Lviv in Ukraine’s west, a field hospital set up this week by the Israeli government with physicians and nurses from the Schneider Children’s Medical Center near Tel Aviv has treated at least 160 patients, most of them children, since it opened Tuesday, according to the Jewish News website on Ukrainian Jewry. There are 66 beds and dozens of staff and volunteers working alongside the medical staff from the Schneider Center at Israel’s Kohav Meir hospital — a name that means “shining star” in Hebrew but is also a reference to Golda Meir, a former Israeli prime minister who was born in Kyiv and is seen as an inspiration by many Ukrainians. READ MORE

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“A terror attack in the Negev ignites a long simmering issue. Has Israel lost control of the Negev and parts of the Galilee?”

ISRAEL FROM THE INSIDE
The Enemy Within
Daniel Gordis
March 28, 2022

…When the Chief of Israel’s Police visited the scene of last week’s terror attack, he was almost assaulted by the crowd of Israelis who had gathered. Usually, when the security forces show up after a terror incident, they are welcomed, seen as helping to protect Israelis, even when the most awful occurs. But not this time. Residents of the Negev (and parts of the Galilee) have felt, for years, that the government has abandoned them to the violence and crime of the Bedouin community. According to some estimates, some 100,000 acres of Israeli land have been ceded to the Bedouin—security forces will not or cannot exercise control in those areas, and the Bedouin have, some say, created a state within a state. Had two armed Israelis not been present and shot the assailant, more people might have died. READ MORE

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“The Negev Summit was at once a spectacular success and one of the most flagrant displays of Israeli diplomatic incompetence in history”

JNS
A tale of two Negev Summits
by David Wurmser
March 29, 2022

The just-concluded Sde Boker summit was at once a tremendous and moving success and an unmitigated disaster. It was in fact two summits happening at the same time. The first was an Arab-Israeli summit and revolved around Arab-Israeli dynamics unimaginable only a few years ago, not only in their warmth but also in the seriousness of common strategic purpose…The second summit was the U.S.-Israeli-Arab regional meeting, where America attempted to redefine the agenda and interject itself between Israelis and Arabs. In the process, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reflected not only his irrelevance, but the harm of U.S. involvement at this point, based on its Middle East team’s haughty and increasingly hostile policy toward the states attending. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST Lahav Harkov: Negev Summit gives Iran ‘something to fear,’ Lapid says Cooperation between Israel, the US, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates should strike fear in Iran, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Monday at the Negev Summit.

JERUSALEM POST Negev Summit sees Israel enter new era A meeting in Israel that includes top diplomats from four Arab countries would have been unimaginable just a couple of years ago. Israel is firmly on the diplomatic map.

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Israeli officials turning blind eye to program run by group of former IDF soldiers; ‘We’re not only fighting for Ukraine, but for ourselves’

TIMES OF ISRAEL
‘No other option’: Israeli ex-commandos said to secretly train Ukrainian civilians
Staff
March 25, 2022

A group of Israeli ex-commandos has been training Ukrainian civilians at a secret facility in western Ukraine, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported Friday, as the Russian invasion entered its second month. While the program is not Israeli-government sanctioned, one Israeli official told the newspaper that the top political echelon is aware of the training but is choosing to turn a blind eye. The precise location of the facility was not disclosed due to fears it could be located by Russian intelligence. Trainees include both male and female Ukrainian civilians, most of whom have never had any military training. Some have previously served in the military or have a little experience in shooting as a hobby. READ MORE

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“After 30 years of selling ice cream in Israel, the company wants me to boycott my neighbors. I refuse”

COMMON SENSE
Why I’m Suing Ben & Jerry’s
Avi Zinger
March 28, 2022

Requiring that I stop selling my ice cream to any customers—Palestinians or Israelis, Christians or Druze—based on where they live is illegal. That is why Ben & Jerry’s’ claim that this is not a boycott of Israel is disingenuous. Under the law, no one can lawfully do what Ben & Jerry’s is demanding I do. So unless Ben & Jerry’s finds someone willing to violate the law and go against Israeli and U.S. public policy, there will be no Ben & Jerry’s anywhere in Israel when my current license ends at the end of this year. ..When I refused to bow to the boycott and to break the law, Unilever essentially fired me despite assuring me on multiple occasions that my contract would be renewed. Terminating my license solely because I refused to commit a crime is a violation of U.S. law. READ MORE

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