A7News: 'Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria - with US support'

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Monday, Apr. 08 '19, ג' בניסן תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. 'SOVEREIGNTY OVER JUDEA AND SAMARIA - WITH US SUPPORT'
2. WATCH: THIS MAY BE ISRAEL FIVE YEARS AFTER A PEACE DEAL
3. FOX NEWS HOST ENDORSES NETANYAHU AHEAD OF ELECTION
4. SAUDI NUCLEAR FACILITY MAY BE COMPLETED WITHIN A YEAR
5. NETANYAHU: I DISCUSSED ANNEXATION WITH TRUMP OFFICIALS
6. ANALYSIS: WHY BENNY GANTZ IS UNFIT TO BE ISRAEL'S PRIME MINISTER
7. SENATOR CALLS FOR MUTUAL DEFENSE AGREEMENT WITH ISRAEL
8. RECORDING INDICATES J'LEM CAR-RAMMING WAS TERROR ATTACK


1. 'SOVEREIGNTY OVER JUDEA AND SAMARIA - WITH US SUPPORT'
by Yoni Kempinski, Hezki Baruch

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/261493

In a special interview with Arutz Sheva, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that his declaration regarding the application of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria does not come suddenly ahead of the elections, but rather is the continuation of a trend he has been promoting for several months.

"I prefer to do it with American support. I spoke about it with the relevant authorities and it takes time to coordinate. I am not talking about the entire area, but first of all about the settlements. Not just the blocs, but the blocs and the isolated settlements, I do not abandon them or transfer them to Palestinian rule, which would destroy them."

When asked whether he is committed to the non-establishment of a Palestinian state, the prime minister says, "There will be no Palestinian state, not as people talk about it. It will not be because I am making sure of it. I am not uprooting settlements, rather applying sovereignty to them. I am maintaining a united Jerusalem and I am maintaining our control on the entire area west of the Jordan River to prevent another Gaza. This is my policy. I told that to the Americans, President Trump and President Obama. Vice President Biden told me that this is not a state. I told him to call it whatever he wanted. He said it was not sovereignty. I said that that's what I'm willing to do, that's all. "

"No one has fought for Judea and Samaria as I fought. Who could have stood against a government of more than eight years of Obama's administration that came and pressed you all the time? I stood up and pushed off those pressures. I brought President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem, the transfer of the embassy and the recognition in the Golan Heights, which is very important to what I plan in Judea and Samaria," says Netanyahu, who added he intends to carry out the annexation gradually and with agreement.

On the historic 2009 Bar-Ilan speech in which he endorsed Palestinian statehood, Netanyahu says that he does not regret it, but added that what he said afterward deserves attention. According to him, when asked to explain his intentions, he made it clear the next day that he intended to give the Palestinians all the capabilities to manage their lives and nothing beyond that, a statement which was told did not actually speak of a state. "The point is that I repelled pressure for withdrawal. I am against uprooting not one just one community, but one resident."

On the evacuations carried out under his leadership in Judea and Samaria, Netanyahu says that these were three evictions forced upon him by the court, and he gave them a proper response when Amichai was built in place of Amona; after the destruction of nine houses in Ofra, 90 houses began to be built; after the destruction in Netiv Ha'avot, 350 houses were approved. "We destroyed a little and built a lot, and now we have approved 18,000 housing units. There was no such construction before. In the next term, I intend to gradually apply Israeli law to the settlements in Judea and Samaria."


2. WATCH: THIS MAY BE ISRAEL FIVE YEARS AFTER A PEACE DEAL
by Arutz Sheva Staff

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/261540

A new pre-election video released by the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu depicts a simulated news broadcast several years in the future in which Israel is suffering from an array of security issues due to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

In the video, the presenter Maayan Adam – a TV presenter on Channel 12 – reports on rockets and incendiary balloons beings fired on Ben-Gurion Airport, the closure of Highway 6 due to terror riots, and the closure of the Western Wall for Jews.

Rotem Sela, a left-wing Israeli model, is presented as emigrating from Israel after a rocket landed near her home.

She is presented as explaining her emigration with a social media post stating that, "We didn't do enough to make Palestinians feel that we are a country of all its citizens."

At the video's conclusion, Adam states: "This is the news that we might be seeing in the near future if we don't vote in the upcoming elections for parties whose DNA is against dismantling Jewish communities and dividing Jerusalem."



3. FOX NEWS HOST ENDORSES NETANYAHU AHEAD OF ELECTION
by David Rosenberg

Mark Levin, a popular conservative pundit and Fox News television host, has endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's reelection bid, and called on Israeli voters to back the incumbent premier in his effort to win a fifth term as Israel's head of government.

Netanyahu, whose Likud party is narrowly trailing the Blue and White party of ex-IDF chief Benny Gantz in the final pre-election polls, received Levin's endorsement on last week's Wednesday evening edition of The Mark Levin Show radio program.

Levin's radio show is one of the top ten most popular radio programs in the US, with a weekly audience in excess of 11 million listeners. Levin is also the host of the Life, Liberty & Levin show on Fox News and LevinTV on the Conservative Review's CRTV.

During last Wednesday's program, Levin accused the Obama administration of working to undermine Netanyahu's 2015 campaign.

"We had Barack Obama use the State Department and American tax dollars to try and defeat Benjamin Netanyahu last time around," Levin said. "We have the New York Times that has a daily drumbeat of anti-Israel, anti-Netanyahu stories by cretins, malcontents, miscreants, and that sort of crowd."

The conservative talk-radio host went on not only to endorse Netanyahu, but said the Israeli leader had been the "most important leader" of the free world during the Obama administration.

"I just want to encourage the Israelis as strongly as I know how to vote for Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party. Benjamin Netanyahu has not only been a great leader for Israel but during the time when Obama was President he was the most important leader of the free world."

"He is a tremendous ally of this country, and he's hated by the Left because he's a strong leader. He's hated by the Left because he's made Israel a strong, economic country. He's moved it towards the free market and away from socialism. He's hated by the Left because the Israelis know how to defend themselves, and they've built up a military second to none in the Middle East."

Levin went on to deride Netanyahu's opponents – without naming them – as "political munchkins", while comparing the Israeli premier to popular conservative leaders of the 1980s including Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

"I cannot believe that the people of Israel having witnessed these incredibly historic events, having benefitted from the rational, free market policies of their Prime Minister and his government, having benefited from the security decisions of their Prime Minister and his government, that they would dislodge him from office. It would be like the British after World War II voting out Winston Churchill. Benjamin Netanyahu is, for lack of a better parallel, Israel's Winston Churchill, Israel's Ronald Reagan, Israel's Margaret Thatcher, if you get my drift in terms of policies. He is a strong statesman surrounded by little, political munchkins."

Last year, Levin hosted Netanyahu on Life, Liberty & Levin on Fox News for a 14-minute sit-down interview which focused on the Iranian threat, the relocation of the US embassy, and even Netanyahu's relationship with 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/261538


4. SAUDI NUCLEAR FACILITY MAY BE COMPLETED WITHIN A YEAR
by Arutz Sheva Staff

New satellite images show rapid construction on an experimental nuclear reactor in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, CNN reported.

According to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) former director for nuclear inspections Robert Kelley, the reactor could be completed in "nine months to a year."

He also told CNN that the facility is designed for training scientists, noting that "it's the size of a wastebasket and has no strategic importance."

It would take 100 years to process enough plutonium for a nuclear weapon, he added.

Saudi Arabia has not kept its ambitions secret, but promised that its nuclear program will be used to supply domestic electricity, enabling the country to export more of its oil.

However, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warned last year that "without a doubt" if Iran develops nuclear weapons, "we will follow suit as soon as possible."

Last month, the US approved the sale of nuclear technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia.

Israel has requested that the Americans remove all the nuclear fuel used from Saudi Arabia so that it would not be reprocessed.


5. NETANYAHU: I DISCUSSED ANNEXATION WITH TRUMP OFFICIALS
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke out Monday morning regarding his pledge over the weekend to annex Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria, pushing back on accusations that he has no intention of carrying out the proposal.

Netanyahu, who is seeking a fifth term (and fourth consecutive term) as premier in this Tuesday's general election, is in an effective dead-heat with the center-left Blue and White party of former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz.

The final three days of polling give the Blue and White party a slight edge – within the margin of error – over the Likud, with an average of about 29 seats, compared to an average of about 28 seats for the Likud.

"There is a gap of several mandates between us and Gantz," Netanyahu said in an interview with Channel 12 on Monday. "The Likud and the right-wing are complacent; some are staying home [on election day], but they need to turn out."

"In this present situation, there is no way that we will be given the task of forming the government," adding that the Blue and White party would likely form a narrow left-wing government.

"They will go with the Labor party and Meretz and form a blocking majority with the Arabs, and we'll end up with a left-wing government."

On Saturday, just days before the election, Netanyahu announced that he would annex Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria in his next term if he is reelected, a declaration that won him praise from the Israeli Right, while drawing criticism from the Blue and White party and condemnation from the Palestinian Authority.

Some, including Netanyahu's chief election opponent, Benny Gantz, dismissed the pledge as an insincere campaign promise designed to bring in right-wing voters.

"Why not ask how in 13 years Netanyahu could have annexed and didn't?" Gantz said on Sunday, calling the pledge a "meaningless statement."

"It's a shame to play with people like that."

During the interview Monday, however, Netanyahu pushed back, saying that he had already begun laying the groundwork for annexation, and had broached the idea with senior Trump administration officials, and that the process hadn't been implemented yet because it "takes time".

"Why did it take two years to get recognition of the Golan Heights even with such a friendly president? It takes time," said Netanyahu.

"I prefer to do this [annex] with agreement. I discussed this with representatives of President Trump and I told them, in my opinion, there is no way around it, and I think it is also the right thing to do. But it is going to happen. This isn't something I cooked up for the elections."

"I had to go through three phases: the first phase was the intense pressure put on me," Netanyahu continued, referring to the Obama White House's demands Israel cease all construction in Judea and Samaria.

"The Obama administration told me: 'Not even a single brick'. But, thank God, we overcame that. From there we moved on to the stage of expanded construction, and now we'll move to the next stage, that is, applying sovereignty to [Israeli] towns. That's all I said. I prefer to do this in stages, with American support."


6. ANALYSIS: WHY BENNY GANTZ IS UNFIT TO BE ISRAEL'S PRIME MINISTER
by Yochanan Visser

Blue and White supporters, hopeful for the premiership of Israel Benny Gantz, raised eyebrows last week when he compared Premier Binyamin Netanyahu to Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"What we do see is a phenomenon reminiscent of Turkey, where Erdogan is protecting himself from investigations and from other efforts aimed at preventing corruption," Gantz told Times of Israel founder and editor-in-chief David Horovitz.

"You really fear the State of Israel could become like Turkey?" Horovitz asked Gantz.

"Yes, and we are headed there. I am very worried about it," Gantz answered without blinking an eye.

Gantz then seemed to be backtracking on his outrageous accusation by pointing to Jewish democratic history and the tradition of open debate which started back in pre-Talmudic times.

The Blue and White leader, nevertheless, doubled down on his claim that Netanyahu was turning Israel into a second Turkey, the country where the Kurdish minority is brutally oppressed, journalists and academics are jailed by the droves and where Erdogan has transformed his country into the second Islamic Republic.

"What did Erdogan do? He made sure that you can't investigate him, and you can't put him on trial, and not his family either. You are going to get the Israeli version of the Turkish system. It won't be the same, it will be something like it. That's what will happen here," Gantz warned.

Asked again if he really thinks Israel's future as a democratic country is at stake if Netanyahu is re-elected, Gantz pointed to ministers in Netanyahu's cabinet and the Prime Minister himself who are, according to Gantz, undermining Israel's democratic character by attacking state institutions.

It wasn't the first time Gantz didn't make good on his promise, repeated during the same interview, that he would be a "positive alternative" to the current leadership and would refrain from mudslinging and would keep "the high ground" in his campaign.

After launching his Israel Resilience Party last February, Gantz let loose a blistering below-the-belt attack on Netanyahu, who he described as a US-trained fake who spent his time learning flawless English and attending cocktail parties in the US while he, Gantz, was risking his life in trenches with IDF soldiers.

Netanyahu condemned the attack as "shameful", and pointed to his participation in daring IDF operations as a member of the Sayeret Matkal elite combat unit of the Israel Defense Forces and the injuries he suffered during battles with Israel's enemies.

To understand how wrong Gantz was when he compared Netanyahu to Erdogan one only has to look at Erdogan's political track record.

Erdogan slowly transformed secular and democratic Turkey into an Islamist country where freedom of press and speech are a thing of the past. The Turkish strongman also interferes in the internal affairs of other countries, including Israel where he is trying to turn Jerusalem into a bastion of Islamists and aids terrorist groups hell-bent on the destruction of the Jewish state.

The Turkish dictator used a botched coup, which some say was a false flag operation, to start a massive crackdown on political opponents which is continuing to this day and even goes as far as chasing down and intimidating opponents of his regime in Western countries.

The best example of this was the harassment of US citizens in Washington June 2017, when Erdogan's security detail kicked and punched demonstrators near the Turkish embassy in Washington after he returned from a disappointing meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Erdogan also betrayed his allies in NATO when he purchased the Russian S-400 missile shield and threatened to lay siege on the Incirlik NATO base after the botched coup, citing CIA involvement in the attempt to overthrow his regime.

The current Muslim Brotherhood chief is responsible for the oppression of Christians in Turkey and is even threatening foreign journalists who dare to expose his crimes against humanity and his expansionist policies in the Middle East, as I can testify.

In 2016, six years after the Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish lawyer affiliated with the Erdogan regime sent a threatening letter to my former employer The Western Journal in Arizona, USA in which the regime demanded I apologize for and correct a report of the raid on the Turkish ship by Israeli naval commandos.

My 'crime' was I had written that Turks belonging to the IHH organization in Turkey, an Islamist organization affiliated with Erdogan's AKP party, had initiated the violence on the Mavi Marmara by using iron rods and knives to attack Israeli soldiers who boarded the vessel.

I later was informed that it was dangerous for me to board a plane to Istanbul because of the risk that the Turkish regime would arrest me.

If we now take a look at Gantz' accusation that Netanyahu is turning Israel into a new Turkey because he and other ministers in his cabinet are 'attacking' state institutions and media or are defending themselves against corruption charges, we will see how dead wrong the Blue and White leader was and how he showed he hasn't a clue about what's going on in Turkey.

As Ruthie Blum pointed out in a column for The Jerusalem Post, the 'dangerous trend' Gantz signaled in Israeli politics "is actually a positive progression in a system based on the will of the people, not the whim of despots like Erdogan."

Israelis enjoy free speech but don't want their tax money spend on art which portrays them as criminals Blum wrote what she did in reference to Culture Minister Miri Regev's policy of halting state-funding of artists or art projects which distort the truth about Israeli society or the Israeli army.

Israelis also support efforts by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked to curb the power of a Supreme Court which intervenes in political matters or overturns democratic decisions taken by the government and the Knesset.

As for Netanyahu's alleged attempts to crack down on the freedom of the press in Israel, law experts have pointed out that the charges brought against Netanyahu by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit endanger Israeli democracy, not the PM's attempts to get more favorable coverage from staunchly anti-Netanyahu media outlets.

Professor Alan Dershowitz warned that these charges would open a Pandora\s box of horribles since every government official who seeks more positive coverage by the press and then did something which would help the media would become subject to police investigation.

Gantz has said that Israel deserves a leader who is more "statesmanlike and serious". Someone who tries "to maintain the high ground as far as possible"

The former IDF Chief of Staff's interview with The Times of Israel made clear he has a lot to learn before he is able to become that statesman and obviously cannot compete with the man he wants to replace as the Prime Minister of Israel.

After all, even Gantz admitted during the same interview Netanyahu has done "fine things" for Israel.


7. SENATOR CALLS FOR MUTUAL DEFENSE AGREEMENT WITH ISRAEL
by Ben Ariel

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Saturday called on the United States to enter into a mutual defense agreement with Israel to tell the world that "an attack against Israel would be considered an attack against the United States", The Associated Press reports.

Graham made the comments at the annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas.

He added that it is time for the US to declare to the world how important its relationship is with Israel.

America should tell Israel's enemies that if they seek "to destroy the one and only Jewish state, you have to come through us to get them," said Graham.

The Senator also suggested the Republican-controlled US Senate would vote in a month or so to formally recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and force Democrats to go on the record on the issue.

US President Donald Trump recently signed a proclamation recognizing Israeli sovereignty of the Golan Heights which was liberated by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War. Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.

Trump spoke earlier at the same gathering, where he discussed the upcoming Israeli elections.

"Well, it's going to be close -- I think it's going to be close. Two good people," he said, referring to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and rival Benny Gantz.

"Unlike other presidents, I keep my promises," he emphasized, adding that moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem was a "historic action that had been decades in waiting" and that the US-Israel relationship has never been better.

"I stood with your prime minister at the White House to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights," continued Trump.

"Some of you won't like this, maybe, but I would love to see peace in the Middle East," Trump said, adding that if White House adviser Jared Kushner and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt can't broker peace in the Middle East, "nobody can."



8. RECORDING INDICATES J'LEM CAR-RAMMING WAS TERROR ATTACK
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Eyewitnesses confirmed the accounts of the victims of a vehicular attack at the Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem two weeks ago.

The witnesses were a newly married couple who were the first to report the attack to the police.

The police quickly classified the incident as a traffic accident even after hearing from the couple.

During their call to the police the couple expressed their alarm at the time of the attack. "This was a terrorist attack right here in Jerusalem, a ramming and a stabbing at the entrance to the Old City under Jaffa Gate. A stabbing. They ran at them with knives. They got out of the car. He went the other way and crushed him against the wall. They went after those two students, and I had no idea what to do."

The couple added: "He ran over him, pinned him to the wall, backed up over him, and they ran at them with knives. The two of them with knives ... I saw a car turn right and wildly knock a man into the fence, they attacked him. I saw a knife. They jumped on them."

According to the couple, the victims were clearly haredim. "Two haredim and two men dressed in black. The victims were haredim and the assailants were dressed in black, really dark. My wife said that she saw I knife. I saw them running and attacking them."

Later in the phone conversation, the couple directed the police cars to the location of the stabbing.

When asked to describe the vehicle involved in the attack, the husband said that he could not remember the color of the car. "The right bumper broke and fell off. I was just behind the vehicle that was driving. As I stood there, he just turned right wildly, struck them, and they left [the car]. I'm sure I saw two attacking two. My wife says she saw the knife."

The police refused the request of attorney Haim Bleicher of the Honenu organization to recognize the victim of the attack as a victim of terrorism. The police informed Bleicher that the "investigation of those involved in the incident did not raise suspicions of a terrorist attack but that it was a traffic accident. The investigation file was transferred for further processing to the traffic accident department."

However, the couple who reported the attack were not called upon to testify and went on their honeymoon with no idea that the police were not treating the incident as a deliberate attack. They agreed to testify after the Honenu organization reached out to them.

Bleicher said: "This is a very serious mishap in which a terrorist caught after a brutal terrorist attack is released a few hours later, while the police accept the version of the assailant and explain it to all the media, while the immediate and clear evidence speaks of deliberate acts."

"In this case, there is no logical explanation for the conduct of the police, the silencing of the attack and the severe injury to the wounded who were accused by the police officers of a fight. We hope that the police and theirs superiors will come to an immediate conclusion too examine the causes of the problem, and to examine a chain of additional cases in which suspicion of similar conduct arises," he said.

Recording of the initial report to police (Hebrew):

[audio:2056133]