A7News: EU: No recognition of 'Israeli occupied' Golan Heights

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Wednesday, Mar. 27 '19, כ' באדר ב תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. EU: NO RECOGNITION OF 'ISRAELI OCCUPIED' GOLAN HEIGHTS
2. JEWISH HOME: 'WE'LL CREATE A BLOC WITH NEW RIGHT, HAREDIM'
3. REPORT: 1 KILLED DURING CLASHES WITH IDF SOUTH OF JERUSALEM
4. RAINFALL TO INCREASE TOWARDS WEEKEND
5. RIGHT-RELIGIOUS BLOC OPENS UP DOUBLE-DIGIT LEAD IN POLL
6. IDF CONFIRMS: ATTACK ON GAZA BEGINS
7. IRAN ORDERED ROCKET ATTACK, AIMED TO HURT NETANYAHU IN ELECTION
8. NIKKI HALEY AT AIPAC: 'I WANT YOU TO HAVE HOPE'


1. EU: NO RECOGNITION OF 'ISRAELI OCCUPIED' GOLAN HEIGHTS
by David Rosenberg

The European Union will not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights despite the US decision to alter its policy vis-à-vis the strategic plateau, the EU's foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini's office said in a statement Wednesday.

"The position of the European Union as regards the status of the Golan Heights has not changed," Mogherini's office said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

The EU's foreign affairs office cited two United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding the Six Day War and Israel's annexation of the Golan in 1981.

In line with the international law and UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 497, the European Union does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights."

United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, passed months after the 1967 Six Day War, calls for an unspecified "Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict."

Israel has pointed to the UN Security Council's rejection of drafts calling for a withdrawal "from all territories" or "from the territories" and adoption of a version which does not specify the extent of the withdrawal as proof that the resolution does not require surrender of all territories taken in 1967.

The second resolution cited by the EU, United Nations Security Council Resolution 497, was passed in December 1981, declaring Israel's Golan Heights Law, which effectively annexed the Golan, "null and void".

Before this week, the US, like most foreign powers, had either explicitly rejected Israel's annexation of the Golan, or declined to recognize it.

On Monday, however, President Donald Trump ended the decades-long policy of non-recognition, signing an executive order recognizing the two-thirds of the Golan Heights under Israeli control as Israeli sovereign territory.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/260995


2. JEWISH HOME: 'WE'LL CREATE A BLOC WITH NEW RIGHT, HAREDIM'
by Michal Levi, Chana Roberts

MK Bezalel Smotrich, who heads the United Right's National Union faction, on Wednesday morning said that after elections, he will work to create a bloc with New Right Chairman Education Minister Naftali Bennett and the haredi parties.

"After the elections, we will coordinate with Bennett and the haredi parties, and we will come to [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu as a technical bloc with clear demands in the areas of security, Torah, and more," Smotrich told Kol Barama radio.

Recent polls have shown conflicting results: On Sunday, a poll by Midgam gave the Blue and White, Labor, Meretz, Gesher, and the two Arab parties – slim majority of 61 seats in the 120-member Knesset.

However, a poll released Wednesday showed the pro-Netanyahu bloc regaining its majority, with a projected 63 seats.

Most of the parties have declared loyalty to either Gantz or Netanyahu, expressing a refusal to sit with the other side. However, a few of the smaller parties, potentially the deciding factor in the elections, have not refused to sit with either side.


3. REPORT: 1 KILLED DURING CLASHES WITH IDF SOUTH OF JERUSALEM
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The Palestinian Authority's health ministry claimed Wednesday morning that one person was killed and three more wounded after Arab rioters clashed with Israeli security forces outside of the city of Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem.

According to the PA, the man was shot and killed during riots in the Dheisheh neighborhood adjacent to Bethlehem.

The PA media outlet WAFA identified the man as Sajid Abdul Hakim Mezher. According to the WAFA report, Mezher was shot in the stomach during the riots, and was evacuated to the Arab Society Hospital in Beit Jala for treatment.

After his arrival, Mezher was declared dead.

Three other people were wounded during the clashes with Israeli security personnel, WAFA reported.

The riots broke out after Israeli forces arrested three terror suspects in the area during a series of raids.

The IDF declined to comment on the report, AFP said.


4. RAINFALL TO INCREASE TOWARDS WEEKEND
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The last week of March may not be the end of winter. Though forecasters aren't predicting more hail, rainfall is expected to continue throughout the week, increasing over the weekend.

Wednesday will be partly cloudy. There may be local rainfall in northern and central Israel, and winds will pick up. Temperatures will remain lower than seasonal average.

Wednesday night will be partly cloudy and rain may fall in northern Israel.

Thursday will be partly cloudy with a slight rise in temperature, and a chance of local rainfall in northern Israel.

Friday will be partly cloudy or cloudy, and rain may fall across the country. There may be a isolated thunderstorms, and Israel's southern and eastern streams may flood. Southern Israel may be hazy. Temperatures will be slightly higher than seasonal average.

Saturday will be partly cloudy or cloudy, with a drop in temperatures. There may be local rains and thunderstorms in northern Israel. Southern Israel is expected to be hazy. The rains will pick up on Saturday night, spreading across the country. Southern and eastern streams may flood.


5. RIGHT-RELIGIOUS BLOC OPENS UP DOUBLE-DIGIT LEAD IN POLL
by David Rosenberg

The Blue and White party continues to lead the Likud, even as the right-wing – religious bloc gains strength over the left-wing – Arab bloc, a new poll shows.

According to a survey conducted by Direct Polls on behalf of Kan, the Blue and White party – formed by a merger of the Yesh Atid faction with former IDF Chief Benny Gantz's Israel Resilience faction and the smaller Telem party – would win 30 seats if elections were held today.

The Likud would come in a close second at 28, two less than the party currently holds.

Despite the left-leaning Blue and White party's narrow lead, however, the eight right-leaning and haredi parties expanded their combined share of the projected vote, from 63 seats in the previous Direct Polls survey to 65.

The New Right would win seven seats if new elections were held today – one seat higher than its performance in last week's Direct Polls survey – while the Union of Right-Wing Parties fell by one seat, from six to five.

The center-right Kulanu faction of Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, which won 10 seats in 2015 but failed to cross the threshold in last week's poll, jumped to six mandates in Wednesday's survey.

By contrast, Yisrael Beytenu, which won four seats in last week's poll, failed to cross the threshold on Wednesday, receiving just 2.1% of the vote, below the 3.25% minimum.

The Zehut party, which combines libertarian positions on socio-economic issues with support for Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, rose this week from four seats to six in the new poll.

The Gesher party, which was founded by former Yisrael Beytenu MK Orly Levy, who bolted when her faction joined the Netanyahu government in 2016, received just 2.6% of the projected vote in the poll, failing to cross the threshold.

The left-wing Labor party, which won 19 seats in 2015, fell to just 8 in the latest poll, one below its performance in last week's Direct Polls survey.

Meretz also fell by one seat over the past week, from six mandates last week to five on Wednesday.

The two Arab lists – Hadash-Ta'al and the United Arab List-Balad tickets – would win a combined 12 seats, five for UAL-Balad and seven for Hadash-Ta'al.

Another poll released Wednesday also found the right-wing – religious bloc gaining ground, rising from 59 seats in Sunday's poll to 63 in today's survey.

That survey, conducted by Midgam for IDF Radio – Galey Tzahal also showed the Likud with 28 and the Blue and White with 30.


6. IDF CONFIRMS: ATTACK ON GAZA BEGINS
by Gary Willig

The IDF confirmed Monday afternoon that the military response to the firing of a rocket at central Israel by terrorists in the Gaza Strip had begun.

The IDF Spokesperson issued a statement stating that the IDF had begun to attack targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip.

The action was after a rocket was fired at Moshav Mishmeret in the Sharon region, hit a house and wounded seven civilians.

Arab media reported that the Israeli Air Force had attacked several locations in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier, the IDF announced that in view of the situation assessment and as part of upgraded preparedness measures, the Gaza Division decided to block areas and roads adjacent to the Gaza security fence. It was also decided to stop agricultural work in areas adjacent to the fence.

Blocked areas and routes include Givat Kobi in Sderot, Giv'at HaPa'amonim, the Black Arrow site, Givat Nazemit, Lone Horseman Hill, Highway 4 from Yad Mordechai Junction to Netiv Ha'asara and Highway 25 from Sa'ad Junction to Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

Additionally, all Gaza area authority departments were canceled this afternoon. Meanwhile, incendiary balloons continue to be launched from the Gaza Strip. At noon such balloons were located in Kiryat Gat near the railroad tracks.

Eshkol Regional Council sent a message to its residents cancelling all afternoon activities for area children. "Dear parents, in view of the security tensions, it was decided to cancel department activities this afternoon, which will end at 15:45. All activity beyond this hour is canceled for today."

UN Special Envoy to the Middle East Nikolai Mladanov referred to the morning rocket fire from Gaza into Israel: "The launch that hit a house north of Tel Aviv and wounded seven people is entirely unacceptable. This is a very serious incident. The UN is working with Egypt all the time and with all sides but the situation remains very tense."

The IDF announced it would deploy reserves to Iron Dome batteries and Home Front Command, and transfer an armored brigade and infantry brigade to Gaza.


7. IRAN ORDERED ROCKET ATTACK, AIMED TO HURT NETANYAHU IN ELECTION
by David Rosenberg

After some Hamas officials claimed a rocket attack on central Israel early Monday morning which injured seven had been 'accidental' or caused by 'bad weather', senior officials in the Gaza-based terror organization and Egypt now say that the attack was intentional – and carried out at the behest of Iran, with the intention of altering the outcome of Israel's upcoming general election.

A senior Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to Israel Hayom Tuesday that the rocket which struck the Wolf family home in the town of Mishmeret in central Israel Monday and injured seven Israelis had been fired at the urging of Tehran.

The Hamas official claimed that Iran had "gone over the heads" of Hamas' leadership, directly ordering a cell operating out of the Gaza Strip to carry out the attack. The cell has been identified as part of the Islamic Jihad organization, a rival terrorist group which operates in the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria.

While senior officials in both Egypt and Gaza confirmed that Iran had ordered the attack, they claimed that Hamas' military leadership was aware of the plans to fire a rocket deep into Israeli territory – a major escalation of the conflict between Gaza and the Jewish state – adding that the leaders of Hamas' armed wing gave their blessing to the attack.

"It is definitely possible that senior Hamas leaders were not informed of the attack," said a senior Egyptian intelligence official involved in mediating talks between Israel and Hamas. "However, the leaders of the military wing of Hamas were notified and even coordinated with the Islamic Jihad's leadership, which was responsible for the preparations [for the attack]."

The senior Hamas official who spoke with Israel Hayom said that while the directive to launch the attack came from Tehran, Hamas also hoped the sudden escalation could help drive Netanyahu from office by harming his chances of winning reelection in next month's Knesset election.

"In Gaza, it is believed that Israel won't launch a major operation in Gaza two weeks before the elections," the official said. Hamas was surprised when Israel responded overnight with a series of airstrikes on Gaza, rejecting Hamas overtures delivered via Egypt for "quiet in exchange for quiet".

Israeli aircraft bombed dozens of Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip overnight in retaliation for the Monday rocket attack. According to a report by AFP, seven Gazans were injured in the IDF attacks.

During the airstrikes, Gaza-based terrorists launched dozens of rockets towards Israeli territory. While Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defense system was activated during the attacks, one rocket hit and damaged a home in the town of Sderot in southwestern Israel. No injuries were reported.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/260933


8. NIKKI HALEY AT AIPAC: 'I WANT YOU TO HAVE HOPE'
by Mordechai Sones

Former American Ambassador of the United States of America to the United Nations Nikki Haley spoke at the American Israel Public Affairs Council (AIPAC) conference in Washington, D.C.

Her appearance came as reports arrived that Hamas launched rockets from Gaza that smashed into a home right outside of Tel Aviv injuring a family of seven, including a toddler and an infant.

Haley was asked how during her UN tenure she would ensure it was clear the U.S. stood with Israel in these types of incidents.

Haley answered, "You know, what's interesting is at the U.N., I can guarantee you this morning it is radio silent. They are not saying anything about Hamas, they're not saying anything about the lives lost, they're not saying anything, but if it was any one of those countries, they'd be calling an emergency security council meeting.

"But this is where I want you to have hope, because in all these years, last year for the first time, the majority of the general membership of the U.N. voted for a resolution that acknowledged Hamas and acknowledged the terror that they were spreading and acknowledged how bad they were. That was an amazing thing and what we have to make sure they know is Hamas is a terrorist group that needs to be stopped and we can't ever be quiet about it."

Haley was asked why it seems the U.N. historically has focused on the Israeli response to an attack versus the attack itself. Haley replied: "What I've learned is at the U.N., it's just been this way for so long that they do that, but the story behind one of my meetings was I was meeting with a couple of Arab countries and we were talking about Yemen and one of them said, I just don't understand why isn't anybody calling out Hezbollah, why aren't they sitting there saying something about what's being done all of these things that are happening, because they were upset that that terrorist group was doing something they shouldn't be doing.

"And I turned around and I said, if you're upset about that, what's the difference between that and Hamas and Israel? They were stunned, but when our meeting was over, they pulled me to the side and they said, you're right, we know you're right, but we have to do this for our constituents. That's what they're doing this for. It's for sound bites for their constituents.

"They don't honestly think that way. It's just they've done it for so long they do what they think they've always had to do."

Recounting some of her brightest accomplishments, Haley began by saying " Still being alive today. Surviving the U.N. was -- surviving and I still have my heels on, by the way... I hope everybody in this audience is really proud of what we accomplished at the U.N., because if we just go down the list, we got out of UNESCO, we got out of the Iran deal and pointed the finger where it needed to be pointed, which was on Iran, we got out of The Human Rights Council, which for once, now other countries are actually holding the burden and realizing they need to do something about the anti-Israel bias.

"We got them to acknowledge Hamas for the first time and by the way, we moved the Embassy to Jerusalem. We got the Israeli bashing session that happened every month to not sit there and just bash Israel, we actually started a conversation about what really are the issues in the Middle East, like what was happening in Yemen, like what was happening with terrorists, like what we were trying to do in all of these other countries that mattered as opposed to it being about Israel."

Haley told of moments when the UN's focus was directed at Israel: "It was like everybody was bullying this kid in the corner and it was abusive and it was wrong and it was just unwarranted. That was the biggest thing is it was unwarranted. You know, here was such a strong democracy sitting in a neighborhood that's so dangerous and in any other situation, you'd be lifting that country up and having their back and instead they were kicking them.

"And so really, when you see something like that, whether it's Israel or anything else, you have to stand up and fight. You have to stand up and fight for those that don't think they can stand up for themselves. You look at Israel now, Israel's alive and kicking and they're going to continue to do that."

Haley explained why in her opinion there is such reluctance to have fairness and balance when it comes to Israel in the UN: "I think this goes back to after the 1967 War. I think that everyone suddenly realized that Israel couldn't be defeated and what that meant was they had to go after them diplomatically. And so all of the Arab countries led the charge on going after them diplomatically and because of their influence, because of the oil, because of so many other reasons, other countries felt the need to follow them.

"And that is why, towards the end, we absolutely called out the Arab countries on what they were doing and we need to keep doing that, because at the end of the day, I don't know that they believe this anymore. I think they've done it because they always have, but even you could see the embarrassment.

"You could see the fact none of the countries wanted to be called out. You could see the fact that they were actually looking in the mirror and I think we just can't let up on that."

Haley also discussed Iranian aggression: "I think we have to isolate Iran like we isolated North Korea, because they're one in the same. They're doing the same thing. They're suppressing their people; they're building up their military weapons. I mean, we have to separate them and make them feel isolated and I think we did that by getting out of the Iran deal. I think the Europeans are starting to realize that that's not going to be sustainable and they're going to have to come up with another option.

"I think we need to stop with the waivers. If you want to talk about BDS, if you were doing business with Iran, that's who we should be talking about in terms of a country that we don't want to have any companies do business with."

Haley concluded saying "I do want to end on one note, because after coming out of the U.N., there's something that I think is very important to everybody, the way the political atmosphere is right now it's so toxic. It's so toxic and you know how you know it's toxic is because if you put a good piece of legislation on the table, everybody wants to know whose it is first before they decide whether to support it. That's wrong.

"Political parties now see each other as evil and they're not evil, because I've seen evil. I've seen, in Democratic Republic of Congo, where the military comes in and I've heard women who've said they've taken their babies and thrown them in fires, I've been to South Sudan where they use rape as a weapon of war, I've watched as Assad has killed innocent children with chemical weapons.

"I've stood on the bridge outside of Venezuela where the average adult has lost 24 pounds trying to cross over that bridge in the hot sun just to get to one meal they're going to have that day. That's evil. What we have are issues, but those aren't evil, they're just our opponents. It's just policy. And on our worst day, America has so much to be blessed for. Every one of us should feel blessed every single day.

"So like stop the finger-pointing and stop the fighting and let's get some things done, but remind everyone that we are blessed, be grateful about it and never stop using the power of your voice, because it matters. It really does matter," said Nikky Haley.