A7News: 'We have found a spot for community named after Trump'

Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Sunday, May. 12 '19, ז' באייר תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. 'WE HAVE FOUND A SPOT FOR COMMUNITY NAMED AFTER TRUMP'
2. 'ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY'
3. BREAKING THE SILENCE, B'TSELEM SLANDER ISRAEL AS ROCKETS FALL
4. 'NETANYAHU HAS ABANDONED THE SOUTH'
5. SYNAGOGUE IN CENTRAL ISRAEL VANDALIZED AND TORCHED
6. 5-YEAR-OLD HOSPITALIZED WITH WOODEN BOARD ATTACHED TO HIS HAND
7. WATCH: CROATION EUROVISION COMPOSER SINGS JEWISH MUSIC HIT
8. 754 CLAIMS OF DAMAGES FROM ROCKET ATTACKS


1. 'WE HAVE FOUND A SPOT FOR COMMUNITY NAMED AFTER TRUMP'
by Hezki Baruch

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened the weekly cabinet meeting this morning with an explanation of his intention to ask the president of the state for an extension to form the government.

"This is not only acceptable, but is also necessary, due to the constraints of the timetable that resulted from the multiplicity of events this time - the intermediate days of Passover, Holocaust Martyrs 'and Heroes' Remembrance Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day and the security events around the Gaza Strip," Netanyahu explained.

"This week we mark the first anniversary of the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem. The official residence of the US ambassador is also moving to Jerusalem, thus effectively implementing the resolution of Congress. We greatly appreciate this historic decision by President Trump, just as we greatly appreciate his historic decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights."

"I promised that we will establish a community named after President Trump. I am notifying you that we have already located a spot on the Golan where this new community will be established, and we have begun the process of establishing it. I will bring the decision for official approval by the new government when it is formed."

"We are facing another event, which is the opening of the Eurovision festivities today in Israel. So first of all I wish all the participants great success, and of course the best will win, and of course it will be Koby Merimi," Netanyahu said, referring to the Israeli contestant.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/263017


2. 'ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY'
by Arutz Sheva Staff

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman published an article in Israel Hayom Sunday morning on the occasion of the anniversary of the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem.

"On May 14, 2018, the United States finally opened its Embassy in Israel's eternal capital, Jerusalem. In making the courageous decision to take this historic step, President Trump not only fulfilled a 23-year-old mandate from the United States Congress, but he also recognized a 3,000-year-old truth that Israel's enemies have long sought to erase."

He continued: "America has been fascinated by Jerusalem since the early days of our republic. In 1844, Warder Cresson, the first Consul General, announced after his appointment by the Secretary of State that the United States was thereby extending its protection to the Jews of Jerusalem. The first permanent consular presence opened just inside the Jaffa Gate in 1857, and diplomatic presence has remained constant in and around the Old City ever since. President Lincoln, just before his death, told his wife how he longed to visit Jerusalem. And President Ulysses Grant and Mark Twain both visited Jerusalem in the mid-19th century and wrote extensively about their experiences."

"Neither Grant nor Twain were all that impressed with Jerusalem in those days. It was poor, inhospitable and undeveloped. The Old City of Jerusalem remained that way well into the 20th Century, whether under the rule of the Ottoman Empire until 1917, the British Mandate until 1948, or the Kingdom of Jordan until 1967.

"In 1967, Jerusalem was reunified as a single city under Israeli rule. Almost immediately, Jerusalem began to bloom, to flourish and to become, for the first time in its history, a free city open to the worshipers of all three Abrahamic faiths. Many in the United States took notice and, in 1995, Congress, by overwhelming majority votes, passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and requiring the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama all found reasons to avoid the implementation of this law. All in all, more than 40 presidential waivers were signed delaying the move of the Embassy. And then came President Donald Trump.

"President Trump recognized the truth – that Jerusalem was, is and will always be the capital of Israel. He saw the dishonest and shameful efforts of UNESCO and the United Nations Security Council to deny Israel's biblical, historical and practical connection to Jerusalem. And he refused to pursue a foreign policy based upon anything short of the truth. President Trump, like other Republican and Democratic candidates before him, had promised during his campaign to move the Embassy. Unlike his predecessors, President Trump kept his promise."

He concluded: "The United States Embassy in Jerusalem has now been open a full year. We have a beautiful campus in the Arnona and magnificent facilities on Agron Street in downtown Jerusalem. Well more than 100 American diplomats come to work every day, working hand in hand with Israelis and Palestinians, and American and foreign tourists visit every day just to take a picture or say a prayer. Contrary to all the negative predictions, the Jerusalem Embassy has been an extraordinary success, advancing peaceful coexistence, bilateral cooperation and cultural exchange between and among Israelis, Palestinians and Americans."

"Most of all, the United States Embassy in Jerusalem stands for the truth – the bedrock of all successful policies. Moving our Embassy places the United States firmly on the right side of history."


3. BREAKING THE SILENCE, B'TSELEM SLANDER ISRAEL AS ROCKETS FALL
by Arutz Sheva Staff

While Israel endured some 700 rockets fired from Gaza, four were killed and 138 wounded, three senior left-wing activists participated in a conference in South Africa in which harsh criticism was voiced against Israel, Yisrael Hayom reported.

According to the report, the conference was held by the Jewish Democratic Initiative (JDI), a South African Jewish organization whose goal is to create international pressure on Israel. Breaking the Silence director Avner Gvaryahu, the director of B'Tselem, Hagai Elad, and the director of the New Israel Fund, Mickey Gitzin, spoke at the conference in Cape Town, where dozens of members of the Jewish community were present. For two hours they talked about the "occupation" and the suffering of the Palestinian Arabs. They also compared Israeli policy with the Apartheid regime that existed in South Africa.

The newspaper cited persons present who said that the Israeli spokesmen did not mention the suffering of Israeli citizens, who at that very moment were hiding in shelters as Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired hundreds of rockets from Gaza. Ben Shwartz, chairman of the Jewish Federation of South Africa, said: "JDI does declare that they oppose BDS but are also working to encourage boycotts against Israel. What worries me is that I do not hear from them about the terrorism that Israeli citizens are dealing with. Just criticism."

Hagai Elad explained during the conference that the strategy of B'Tselem is to apply international pressure to achieve political goals. "We should try to open the door to international implications for Israel through a detailed description of the grim reality in Gaza, as well."

Regarding the Apartheid charge, Elad said: "The level of injustice we are doing to the Palestinians is the same level of injustice (compared to Apartheid in South Africa) and should be rejected with the same commitment."

JDI said in response: "We do not support BDS, and we are sad to hear such accusations from our Jewish partners. Respect for human rights is a central goal for us as Jews."

Breaking the Silence said: "We were happy to meet South African Jews who told us about the price of the struggle against Apartheid and how their government censured them in the press when they spoke publicly against its destructive policy."

No response was received from B'Tselem and the New Israel Fund.


4. 'NETANYAHU HAS ABANDONED THE SOUTH'
by Hezki Baruch

Blue and White MK Ofer Shelah slammed Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the Immunity Law, which will prevent a sitting prime minister from being indicted.

The law, if passed, would not help Netanyahu, since Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has already decided to indict him.

At a Shabbatarbut (political and cultural forums that take place on the Sabbath) event in the central city of Rishon Lezion, Shelah said, "Netanyahu acts as if the results of the election are proof that the nation allows everything. He sees nothing as unworthy in his attempt to avoid being brought to justice."

"We will fight this with every parliamentary tool, but we won't just use those: This fight will include both the Knesset and the street, and it will reach the courts as well.

"In the coalition, and in the Likud itself, there are a lot of honest people, who know what is at stake. They also know that Netanyahu doesn't care about them, and will give power to extremist coalition partners, who in turn will provide him with immunity. I call on them to act according to their conscience - at any rate, they have nothing to lose.

Regarding the recent rocket attacks on southern Israel, Shelah said, "Netanyahu is weak when it comes to exerting force, and he's afraid of a change in the situation. Almost five years have passed since Operation Protective Edge, and he refuses to do what's necessary in order to change the situation in a real way."

"He needs to stand in front of the residents of the south and tell them straight out that he's abandoning them on purpose, in order to excuse his lack of action or in order to support Hamas [in its argument with] the Palestinian Authority. Those are the only two explanations for his lack of action. And I don't know which of them is worse."


5. SYNAGOGUE IN CENTRAL ISRAEL VANDALIZED AND TORCHED
by Arutz Sheva Staff

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/262975

A synagogue and cemetery in a central Israeli town were the targets of arson and vandalism Friday, Israel Police said.

Fires were set inside a synagogue and cemetery in Bnei Ayish, near Gedera, Friday. Both the synagogue and cemetery were also vandalized, with graffiti spray-painted.

Police have opened an investigation into the incidents, and have detained a suspect for questioning in connection with the arsons.

"We take these kind of incidents very seriously," said a police spokesperson Friday, "and we will work to complete the investigation and remove those involved from the public sphere."

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6. 5-YEAR-OLD HOSPITALIZED WITH WOODEN BOARD ATTACHED TO HIS HAND
by Arutz Sheva Staff

A five-and-a-half-year-old boy from Bnei Brak arrived at the Emergency Medicine Department at the Schneider Children's Medical Center with a wooden board attached to his palm.

The boy was gathering planks for a Lag BaOmer bonfire when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his hand. A rusty nail in one of the planks had stuck in the back of the hand and came out the other side.

The boy's parents rushed him to the Emergency Medicine Department at Schneider Children's, where Schneider's experts removed the nail from his hand and treated it for potential infections such as tetanus shots and antibiotics.

The mother of the child said, "I ask parents to look after the little children while collecting planks and warn them against such situations."

Prof. Yehezkel Weissman, director of the Emergency Medicine Department at Schneider Children's, warned that when collecting planks, it is important not to collect planks with metal and nails in them so that such cases do not occur.


7. WATCH: CROATION EUROVISION COMPOSER SINGS JEWISH MUSIC HIT
by Arutz Sheva Staff

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/263012


8. 754 CLAIMS OF DAMAGES FROM ROCKET ATTACKS
by Uzi Baruch

The Tax Authority's compensation fund published this morning, Sunday, updated figures on the extent of direct damage claims filed following the latest series from rocket attacks a week ago.

As of this morning, 6 teams of the compensation fund (employees of the fund and appraisers / engineers) are deployed in affected areas to deal with damages and provide a response to citizens whose property has been damaged.

About 95% of the damages have already been examined by the compensation fund staff and are in the process of being dealt with.

The 10 families who were evacuated to hotels financed by the fund returned to their homes or moved to alternative housing.

As of this morning, 754 claims were submitted to the fund for damage to buildings (522 claims), motor vehicles (207 claims), agriculture (15 claims) and additional damages (10 claims).

The city in which the largest number of claims was filed was Ashdod, in which 261 claims were filed. In Ashkelon, 234 claims were filed, 28 in Kiryat Gat, and 25 in Sderot. 206 claims were filed by residents of smaller communities in the Gaza perimeter.