A7News: Gideon Sa'ar: Palestinian state endangers Jewish nation's future

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Friday, Feb. 22 '19, י"ז באדר תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. GIDEON SA'AR: PALESTINIAN STATE ENDANGERS JEWISH NATION'S FUTURE
2. SCAMMERS STEAL $437K FROM HUNGARIAN SYNAGOGUE PROJECT.
3. STRONG EARTHQUAKE SHAKES ECUADOR
4. CHOSSON ALMOST GAVE UP HOPE
5. 'GANTZ-LAPID GOVERNMENT MEANS A PALESTINIAN STATE'
6. POLL: RIGHT-RELIGIOUS BLOC LOSES MAJORITY
7. GANTZ-LAPID 36, NETANYAHU 30
8. OTZMAPHOBIC HYPOCRISY ON THE RIGHT


1. GIDEON SA'AR: PALESTINIAN STATE ENDANGERS JEWISH NATION'S FUTURE
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Former minister Gideon Sa'ar, who received a top spot in the recent Likud primaries, expressed concern over what might happen if the right-wing government falls in Israel's upcoming elections.

In an interview with Israel Hayom, Sa'ar said, "Between [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu and myself there is no fighting, because a fight needs two sides and there aren't two sides willing to fight. Chasing can be one-sided. When certain things were said about me just before the party primaries, I had to respond so that my silence would not be considered an agreement."

"At this moment we need to be focused on the April 9 elections. All personal and interpersonal issues need to be brushed aside. They're a lot less important than our common goal."

Sa'ar doesn't agree with Netanyahu on everything, but believes Netanyahu's policies have aided Israel.

"The Likud returned to power exactly ten years ago," he said. "And in general we can say two important things: First, Israel today is stronger, from a political and economical perspective, than it was when we first returned to power. Second, during this period, Israel removed itself from the dangerous path of withdrawals, which began in the days of Oslo and continued for more than a decade. These two main facts, and this is the main choice the Israeli nation must make today, even if it's not presented this way, is: Do we continue in a path which strengthens Israel, or do we go back to the path of compromises and withdrawals?"

Sa'ar also noted that Netanyahu stood up to the pressures placed on him by the Obama administration for eight years.

"I don't agree with everything Netanyahu did, but I give him credit for his ability to stand up to the Obama administration for eight years, and for his ability to remove Israel from the precedent that [former Prime Minister] Ehud Olmert placed on the table. Because the Obama administration's original desire was to continue talks with Israel and the Palestinians from where Olmert left off. And he (Netanyahu - ed.) deserves credit for that."

In Sa'ar's opinion, Israel needs to oppose the creation of a Palestinian state under US President Donald Trump's peace plan.

"This is my opinion, and I expressed it at a meeting I held with US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman," he said. "There is no reason to stick to a draft whose main point is the creation of an Arab state in the heart of the land of Israel, i.e., an additional state. It doesn't matter if it's called a 'state minus'. I oppose a Palestinian state. In my eyes it's a dangerous idea for the future of the Jewish nation in their own land."

"The left says that the creation of an Arab state will solve the demographic problem, but the opposite is true. A state means they control their borders, and that means the entry of a Palestinian and Islamic population, which will want to be at the forefront of the fight against the Zionist entity. So in essence, the entire Zionist enterprise which we've reached will be in reverse, because a Palestinian state will cause an Arab majority in Israel. And anyone who wants to prevent such a majority must oppose it."

When asked what the alternative is, he responded, "Arab autonomy, the basis of which already exists in the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria. In my opinion, in the future we'll be able te reach regional agreements on the basis of existing states, and the autonomy will have a connection to Jordan. But in no way will there be an Arab state in Judea and Samaria, that would cause a problem beside which the problem of Gaza pales in comparison."

Sa'ar also emphasized that he supports applying Israeli law to the Israeli settlement areas in Judea and Samaria.

"In my eyes, this needs to be a top priority goal in the next government," he said. "We need to try to reach an agreement with the American government which will ensure an umbrella of protection in international bodies. I obviously oppose annexing the areas which are under the Palestinian Authority and which we have no control over. Our case is for Area C."


2. SCAMMERS STEAL $437K FROM HUNGARIAN SYNAGOGUE PROJECT.
by Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

Scammers stole from Hungary's largest Jewish group the equivalent of $437,000, which the government had given for the renovation of a synagogue in Budapest.

The fraud took place last month in several phone calls and emails to employees of the Mazsihisz Jewish federation by unidentified individuals, according to an internal Mazsihisz report from Jan. 24 that was obtained by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The suspects convinced two employees to switch the bank account numbers of a contractor working for Mazsihisz on the renovation of the Rumbach Street Synagogue. Mazsihisz wired 122 million Hungarian forints to the wrong account.

The money was quickly withdrawn in cash and vanished, the report said. Police, which notified Mazsihisz of the theft, are investigating it.

The two employees, who work as office administrators at Mazsihisz, were fired, the report said.

"It is the basic premise of the present investigation that Mazsihisz became the victim of an externally induced fraud, the employees of the organization are not perpetrators or co-perpetrators," the internal probe said. But Mazsihisz employees did commit "errors," the document also stated.

But, it added, "the Police investigation may change what we know fundamentally."

In November, the Figyelo magazine, which is generally supportive of the policies of Hungary's rightwing government, published an article about allegedly faulty accountability at Mazsihisz, also regarding the Rumbach synagogue project. The article featured an illustrative photo of Mazsihisz President Andras Heisler amid money bills. He called it an anti-Semitic image.

A Mazsihisz spokesman told JTA that he could not immediately say how the incident would affect renovations.


3. STRONG EARTHQUAKE SHAKES ECUADOR
by Arutz Sheva Staff

An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale struck Ecuador early Friday afternoon.

According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake's epicenter was registered as 140 miles southeast of Ambato, Ecuador.

The quake, which occurred at 10:17a.m. local time, affected both Peru and Colombia, in addition to Ecuador.

Emergency responders are working to help the victims.

No tsunami warnings have been issued.


4. CHOSSON ALMOST GAVE UP HOPE
by Sponsored Content

Chosson Almost Gave Up Hope

One of Israel's most prominent and beloved rabbis, Rav Yitchok Dovid Grossman shlit"a, is famous for his tremendous chesed. Many suffering men, women, and children have turned to Rav Grossman in times of need. This week, the Rav took Yitzchok Shlomo, a young man who has endured tragedy, under his wing.

Yitzchok Shlomo's life took a grim turn in 2014, when his mother was diagnosed with cancer. His parents flew together to America for her treatments. In a shocking twist, Yitzchok's father was diagnosed with cancer as well shortly afterward. They both died before returning home to their 13 children. The children of the family were utterly abandoned, left to grieve in shock. Yitzchok's focus turned toward raising his younger siblings in his parents' absence. Recently, when the young man became engaged, he had to face the bitter truth: He has no parents to escort him to his chuppah.

Rav Grossman knew the young man's story and felt that it was worthy of sharing internationally. A Chesed Fund page features video footage of the Rav and the bochur together. Rav Grossman speaks extremely frankly in the video:

"I ask you to help this boy because this is mamash the biggest mitzvah. Also pikuach nefesh and also hachnasas kallah, on the highest level that it can be. I ask you again, [don't do] as much as you can, do more than you can, and Hashem will give you back everything [that] you need."

Phrases such as "the biggest mitzvah," "pikuach nefesh," and "don't do as much as you can, do more than you can" stand out as particularly noteworthy. A rav of Rav Grossman's stature presumably does not use such phrases lightly.

Donations have begun to trickle in to the couple's wedding fund, with the hopes of making them a basic wedding and allowing them to establish a modest home. Those who donate can rest assured that they have joined Rav Grossman in a truly worthy cause, and receive his bracha to receive "everything that [they] need."

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL CAMPAIGN


5. 'GANTZ-LAPID GOVERNMENT MEANS A PALESTINIAN STATE'
by David Rosenberg

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259423

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu castigated the new alliance formed by former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and Yesh Atid chief Yair Lapid, claiming the new 'Blue and White' party was a left-wing movement masquerading as a centrist party.

Speaking at Kfar Maccabiah Thursday night, Netanyahu warned that the union between Gantz's Israel Resilience and Lapid's Yesh Atid – dubbed the Blue and White party – would, if it were able to form the next government, establish a Palestinian state which could threaten the State of Israel's very existence.

Netanyahu also said that the Blue and White party would rely on anti-Zionist Arab factions in the Knesset to create a 'blocking majority' to try to block the formation of a right-wing government.

"They will rely on a blocking majority of Arab parties which not only don't recognize the State of Israel, they are working to annihilate it. A right-wing, Zionist blocking majority is forbidden [the left says], but a blocking majority with Arab parties which work to destroy Israel is legitimate? That is absurd," Netanyahu said, referring to criticism of his recent pressure on the Jewish Home to form a joint list with the right-wing Otzma Yehudit party, in the hopes of preserving a right-wing majority in the Knesset.

"A government like this [led by Gantz and Lapid] will destroy Israel economically and establish a Palestinian state on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, next to Afula, next to Beer Sheva. A Palestinian state that will threaten our existence. That is what they're planning to do. All of the left, which is part of this disastrous conspiracy, is working to help them bring their 'solution'."

Gantz and Lapid "talk about unity but in reality they are planning to introduce left-wing policies and left-wing plans," Netanyahu continued.

"In 1992, we got Yitzhak Rabin and the Oslo disaster. In 1999, [we got] Ehud Barak and the intifada, with buses bombed and more than 1,000 dead."


6. POLL: RIGHT-RELIGIOUS BLOC LOSES MAJORITY
by David Rosenberg

A new poll shows the right-wing, religious bloc losing its majority in the Knesset, even as the Israel Resilience party shows signs of decline.

According to the poll, conducted by Panels Politics and published by Walla! on Wednesday, the parties which made up Binyamin Netanyahu's coalition during most of the 34th government would win just 59 seats if new elections were held today, compared to 67 seats in 2015.

That eight-seat decline would deprive the right-wing, religious bloc of the majority needed to guarantee Netanyahu's reelection as Prime Minister, enabling him to block the formation of an alternative government.

The poll still shows Netanyahu's Likud the clear favorite to win the election, with 31 seats to 19 for former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz's Israel Resilience party. That's down from 22 seats Gantz's party was projected to win by another Panels Politics poll earlier this month.

Yesh Atid would gain two mandates if new elections were held today, the poll finds, rising from 11 to 13 mandates.

Orly Levy's Gesher faction would win four seats, the same number as the Kulanu party and the haredi Shas faction.

Labor would plummet to just nine seats, down from the 24 it won in a joint list with Hatnuah in 2015. Hatnuah will not be running in the election.

The far-left Meretz faction would win five seats, the same number it currently has, while the two Arab factions, Ta'al and the Joint List, would fall from a combined 13 seats to 11.

The United Torah Judaism faction, which won six seats in 2015, would rise to seven seats, while Yisrael Beytenu would fail to clear the threshold.

Naftali Bennett's New Right would win eight seats, while the Jewish Home-National Union ticket would win eight seats.

The poll was conducted prior to today's announcement that Otzma Yehudit has accepted the Jewish Home's offer for a joint ticket.

According to the poll, Otzma would receive 2.8% of the vote, but fail to cross the threshold on its own.


7. GANTZ-LAPID 36, NETANYAHU 30
by David Rosenberg

A new poll conducted Thursday following the announcement of a joint run between the Israel Resilience party and Yesh Atid show the new left-wing alliance, dubbed the Blue and White party, becoming the largest faction in the Knesset – and defeating the Likud.

The poll was conducted Thursday, following the announcement Thursday morning that former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz's Israel Resilience faction and Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid would be running jointly.

The poll, conducted by Midgam on behalf of Channel 12, shows the left-wing, Arab bloc reaching parity with the right-wing – religious bloc at 60 seats each.

The new Blue White party would win the most seats if new elections were held today, the poll found, with 36 mandates, compared to 30 for the Likud.

Labor would win just eight seats, while the far-left Meretz would fall to four mandates.

The Arab parties would win a total of 12 seats – six for the Joint List, and six for Ta'al.

Kulanu and Yisrael Beytenu would narrowly cross the electoral threshold, entering the Knesset with four each, while United Torah Judaism would win seven seats, compared to five for Shas.

The New Right is projected to win six seats, while the alliance of the Jewish Home, National Union, and Otzma Yehudit parties disappoints with just four seats – leaving Otzma's representatives out of the Knesset.

Orly Levy's Gesher and Moshe Feiglin's Zehut fail to cross the threshold.


8. OTZMAPHOBIC HYPOCRISY ON THE RIGHT
by Mordechai Sones

While many prominent Jewish leaders have expressed praise and encouragement for the union between Jewish Home-National Union and the Otzma Yehudit "Jewish Power" parties, many in the religious-Zionist camp are openly lamenting the alignment, some going so far as to quit the party rather than be tainted by association with "extremists".

Jewish Home Women's Forum founder Ya'ara Yeshurun announced she was resigning from the party and transferring support to the party of Bennett and Shaked, the New Right, tweeting about "the sorrow of many members of the religious Zionist movement who lost their political home tonight." Meanwhile Jewish Home party Director Nir Orbach said in closed conversation he is ideologically opposed to any association with Otzma Yehudit, calling it "the erasure of Jewish Home's basic identity."

Religious Zionist fastidiousness
iStock
Why is the Otzma Yehudit party considered such anathema in some circles? National Union Chairman Betzalel Smotrich called the union an "unnatural" one, actually apologizing to followers and assuring them of a speedy separation immediately after the elections. Sounds pretty Otzmaphobic if you ask me.

The ideology some religious Zionists and other Otzmaphobes find so objectionable can be encapsulated in a video Knesset Member Rabbi Meir Kahane, ideological father of Otzma Yehudit, recorded from his Knesset office:

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259403

"How many Arabs will sit in the Knesset in another ten years? After all, we're a democracy. All of us, Jews and Arabs, have the same rights. How many Arabs will sit in the Knesset?

"Today I have the privilege of sitting together with Tawfiq Toubi and Tawfiq Ziad; how many Tawfiqs will there be in another ten years?

"And in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee: How many Arabs will sit and hear a classified report from the Chief of Staff? Maybe the Chief of Staff will be an Arab; why not? Democracy!

"There is an absolute contradiction between Western democracy and Zionism. I'm for democracy for every Jew - but not for Arabs. The only solution is population exchange. We already moved 800,000 Jews from the Arab countries to Zion; now we've arrived at Phase II - Arabs to Arabia.

"I declare it is ethical, and imperative, and Zionist, and halakhic, and logical. I do not hate the Arabs. I love the Jewish People. They have 22 lands, we have one, and it is ours, only ours. Arabs to Arabia, Jews to Zion, and peace to the Middle East."

Kahane's point, "I'm for democracy for every Jew - but not for Arabs" is not an acrobatic feat of sophistry concocted by Meir Kahane; it is ingrained within the very tenets of Western democratic thought and happens to be embraced heartily by right-wing "democracy" advocates whenever it suits them. Pretending that democracy is anything more than a human contrivance even violates the Socratic manner that, as Plato taught in several of his dialogues, does not admit all members. They have to have a preconditioned appetite to further a discussion. This is why calling a "Palestinian" a "peace-partner" is an absolute travesty of the entire exchange.

When does it suit our right-wing democracy advocates to suspend democracy? Take for example October 18, 1988, when Israel's Supreme Court upheld a Knesset Central Elections Committee ban on the Kach Movement running in the Knesset elections. Kach at the time was already sitting in the Knesset and polls were predicting anywhere from 6-12 seats, severely cutting into the other "right-wing" parties' voter bases and threatening to become the third largest party in the Knesset.

At the time, newspaper Hadashot commented: "Kahane lies deep in every part of the country. He is the only one of all the smaller parties who retains a stable and strong nucleus in every segment of the population. In 12 different ballots, over two-and-a-half months of polling, Kahane does not drop below five percent of the voters, no matter where you put the ballot box."

Without that background in may be difficult to understand the August 23, 1988 Hadashot headline: Peres and Shamir will work together to ban Kahane's list.

So apparently, it's our right-wing leadership's prerogative to inform We the People, whose choice of representatives they would bar if given the chance, that we must accept being limited to the choices they find acceptable.

So please spare us your hypocritical Puritan religious-Zionist moralizing about ideological hygiene, and rationally answer any one of Rabbi Kahane's points. Or could it be it's not the ideology part that's irritating you, after all?

Popular Israeli singer-songwriter and composer Ariel Zilber sings 'Kahane was Right': 📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259403

Documentary on Phase I of Kahane's population exchange (three parts): 📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259403

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259403

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259403