By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” Why is the red carpet, which welcomes Palestinian leaders to Western capitals, exchanged for a shabby rug when they land in most Arab capitals?B2020, the widely-disseminated Arabic hashtag, “Palestine is not my cause,” reflects the growing Arab disdain toward Palestinians. It is consistent with the…
By Melanie Phillips—- Has the European Union reached a tipping point over Israel? Or to be more precise, is the Europeans’ bluff finally to be called over Israel’s proposal to extend its sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria? The E.U. has been mulling over punitive measures against Israel if it goes ahead with what…
By Judah Ari Gross, Times of Israel— Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Monday ordered IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi to “step up preparations for the Israel Defense Forces,” ahead of a government proposal to annex portions of the West Bank, his office said. The military has roughly one month to complete preparations ahead of…
By David Israel, Israel Hayom— The former head of Israel’s National Security Council, Brigadier General Yaakov Amidror, warned about a third intifada that would erupt in Judea and Samaria in response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise to impose Israeli sovereignty on parts of the 1967 liberated territories come July 1, and the announcement of…
By World Israel News— Israel had relaxed the restrictions recently due to the low number of cases, but it appears that too many people may have been ignoring the rules altogether. A sharp increase in confirmed infections over the past several days appears to come from a combination of the economy opening up and citizens…
By Victor Sharpe— Milk and honey” refers to the nectar of the fruit, and a land “flowing with milk and honey” is an expression used for a particularly fertile land that could produce abundant produce and fruit. The saying is used several times in the Bible, each time conveying the richness of the Promised Land…
By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, Jpost— On March 18, the Israeli government closed its borders to all foreigners in an effort to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. In mid-April, the first time the Health Ministry reported on the main ways that Israelis got sick from from SARS-CoV-2, nearly 20% of infections had started from abroad…
By Jacob Magid, Times of Israel— Settler leaders have been meeting with right-wing lawmakers over the past week and presenting them with what they claim is a map of the Palestinian state envisioned by the Trump plan, which would encircle 15 Israeli communities in a manner they say is unacceptable. The Yesha umbrella council of…
By Inna Rogatchi, Rogatchi Foundation— After forty nine days of counting the Omer which also means an annual inner preparation for Shavuot, giving us the moral code, we are about to enter the celebration of getting wisdom. Preparing for the celebration, we at The Rogatchi Foundation thought to engage people from some communities world-wide, our…
By Raphael Ahren, Times of Israel— Several European leaders reportedly sent personal letters to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days asking him not to push ahead with plans to unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank. “I ask you, in a spirit of friendship, that your new government not take unilateral action . Such…