A7News: Poll: 12 seats for Unified Right

Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday



Wednesday, Jul. 31 '19, כ"ח בתמוז תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. POLL: 12 SEATS FOR UNIFIED RIGHT
2. SEN. RAND PAUL TO ILHAN OMAR: I'LL FUND TICKET TO SOMALIA
3. LIBERMAN DEMANDS HAREDI PARTIES' PORTFOLIOS
4. IT'S FINAL: MOSHE FEIGLIN'S ZEHUT IS RUNNING ALONE
5. UNITED RIGHT OFFERS 8TH, 13TH SPOTS TO OTZMA YEHUDIT
6. TRUMP COMMUTES SENTENCE OF JEWISH MAN WITH TERMINALLY ILL WIFE
7. "IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO FULFILL YOUR DREAMS"
8. CONSTRUCTION OF 715 UNITS FOR ARABS IN AREA C APPROVED


1. POLL: 12 SEATS FOR UNIFIED RIGHT
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The Unified Right under Ayelet Shaked would win 12 Knesset seats if elections were held today, according to a new poll conducted published Tuesday evening by News 12.

According to the poll, if the elections were held today, the Likud and Blue and White parties would win 30 seats each. The Unified Right would place third with 12 seats, followed by the Joint Arab List with 11 seats.

Yisrael Beyteinu would receive 10 seats, while United Torah Judaism would receive eight. Shas would receive seven seats, as would the Democratic Union. The Labor-Gesher joint list would receive five seats.

The Zehut and Otzma Yehudit parties would fail to clear the electoral threshold, the poll found.

Neither side would be able to form a majority coalition without the Yisrael Beyteinu party.

The poll found that if Otzma Yehudit and Zehut were to join the Unified Right, the list would grow to 14 seats, but the Likud would fall to 28 while all other parties would remain unchanged.



2. SEN. RAND PAUL TO ILHAN OMAR: I'LL FUND TICKET TO SOMALIA
by Sara Rubenstein

Republican Senator Paul Rand (KY) offered to buy a plane ticket for the "ungrateful" Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN) to visit her birth country of Somalia to help increase her appreciation for the United States. Omar's family fled Somalia amidst a civil war in the 1990s, when Omar was a child, and received asylum in the US.

"Well, she came here and we fed her, we clothed her, she got welfare, she got [schooling], she got healthcare, and then, lo and behold, she has the honor of actually winning a seat in Congress, and she says we're a terrible country?" Rand said about Omar. "I think that's about as ungrateful as you can get."

"And so—I'm willing to contribute to buy her a ticket to go visit Somalia… and I think she can look and maybe learn a little bit about the disaster that is Somalia—that has no capitalism, has no God-given rights guaranteed in a constitution, and has about seven different tribes that have been fighting each other for the last 40 years. And then maybe after she's visited Somalia for a while, she might come back and appreciate America more."

Paul made his remarks to Breitbart News last week at Turning Point USA, a conservative youth summit in Washington. His remarks were made in light of the controversy surrounding Trump's tweets two weeks ago, telling "the Squad," a group of freshmen Democratic congresswomen, to "go back" to the countries they came from.

The four rookie politicians, all women of color - Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) -.were all born in the US except for Omar. Trump wrote that the women should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came."

A few days later at a campaign rally in North Carolina, Trump attacked the congresswomen again, especially Omar, and the crowd reacted by chanting "send her back." Following widespread outrage over the chants, Trump said he did not agree with the crowd at his rally.

Omar is actually planning on traveling to Israel next month, a country she routinely attacks, rather than her native country of Somalia.



3. LIBERMAN DEMANDS HAREDI PARTIES' PORTFOLIOS
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman on Tuesday evening said that following September's elections, his party will demand the Interior, Health, Defense, and Immigration and Absorption ministries.

Ashkenazic-haredi UTJ usually demands the Health Ministry, while Sephardic-haredi Shas traditionally insists on the Interior Ministry.

Yisrael Beytenu's candidate for Health Minister would be Professor Leonid Eidelman, who currently heads the World Medical Association. He would serve as minister who is a Knesset member.

According to Kikar Hashabbat, Liberman would also demand that any funding to the independent haredi school system be dependent on teaching the core curriculum. Another demand would be that the religious councils be dissolved, with the department in charge of religious affairs becoming part of the local authority, instead of a separate council.

Meanwhile, Liberman has said that he will not sit in a "narrow right-wing government" and will only support a unity government including both Likud and Blue and White. On Tuesday, Liberman emphasized that his party will not recommend for prime minister any candidate who does not support forming a unity government. If no candidate supports unity, his party will not recommend anyone.



4. IT'S FINAL: MOSHE FEIGLIN'S ZEHUT IS RUNNING ALONE
by Hezki Baruch

The Zehut party will run on its own for the 22nd Knesset, after the party filed for an independent run Wednesday afternoon.

Zehut party chairman and former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin submitted his party's list to the Central Election Committee Wednesday, ensuring that the party will run separately in the September 17th election.

The party's list includes 15 candidates, and is the sixth party list to be submitted to the committee ahead of the deadline Thursday night.

A total of 42 parties have applied to register for the election, prior to the actual filing of Knesset lists.

The libertarian-leaning Zehut party had previously discussed the possibility of running with other right-wing parties, including the New Right.

On Sunday, however, Feiglin announced that Zehut would run on its own, and chastised New Right chairwoman Ayelet Shaked, saying she ignored his party's overtures for an alliance and chose to focus exclusively on talks with the United Right.

"The cat is out of the bag. Even though in the last election I brought a lot more votes [personally] than either Ayelet [Shaked] or Naftali [Bennett] – the votes for the New Right were divided up between them – and even though we offered them an alliance a month ago, Shaked preferred to hold talks with every party to the right of the Likud, except for Zehut."

"Zehut will run by itself," continued Feiglin, "in order to ensure that the liberty camp is well represented in the next Knesset."

"Regarding claims about splitting the right-wing vote – please address your questions to Ayelet Shaked."

A day later, Shaked called for Zehut to join with the United Right, shortly after her New Right party signed a deal with the United Right for a joint run.

"In the coming days the party lists will be closed. I would like both Zehut and Otzma Yehudit to join the larger faction and build one big party like the Republican Party."


5. UNITED RIGHT OFFERS 8TH, 13TH SPOTS TO OTZMA YEHUDIT
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The United Right Party renewed its call Wednesday for the Otzma Yehudit party to join the unified right-wing ticket, offering two realistic spots on the joint Knesset slate.

Sources have informed Arutz Sheva that the United Right, which previously offered Otzma the 8th and 16th spots on the joint ticket, is now willing to give Otzma candidates the 8th and 13th slots, with the added promise that the United Right's leaders will resign from the Knesset if they become ministers, increasing the likelihood of the candidate in the 13th spot entering the Knesset.

Polls currently show a unified right-wing bloc led by former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked would win between 12 and 14 seats.

As part of the offer, the United Right says it would ensure passage of the so-called "Norwegian Law", which would allow more than one minister from a party to resign from the Knesset, with the ability to return to the Knesset later on if they resign their position in the government.

Passage of the law was a key element of the previous agreement between Otzma and the United Right, which ran together in the April 9th election, minus the New Right.

In the previous election, Otzma was given the fifth and eighth spots on the list, but was barred from taking the fifth spot when its candidate, former MK Michael Ben-Ari, was banned from running by the Supreme Court.

Earlier on Wednedsay, the Otzma Yehudit party signed a deal with the Noam party for a joint run.

"The agreement was approved by the rabbis of both Otzma and Noam," Otzma Yehudit said in a statement. "Otzma approved the run with Noam out of a desire to continue the uncompromising struggle to maintain the character of the Jewish people and the Land of Israel according to the Torah of Israel."

The list will be led by attorney and Otzma Yehudit activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, followed by two candidates from the Noam party in second and third place. Fourth on the joint ticket is long-time Hevron activist and former Kach party leader Baruch Marzel, who took control of the now-banned faction after its founder, Rabbi Meir Kahane, was assassinated in November 1990.


6. TRUMP COMMUTES SENTENCE OF JEWISH MAN WITH TERMINALLY ILL WIFE
by Sara Rubenstein

US President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of Boaz (Ronen) Nahmani on Monday. Nahmani, who was jailed in 2015, has served four years of a 20-year sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute synthetic marijuana.

The Israeli-born Nahmani, currently a resident of Aventura, Florida, is the father of five young children and sadly, his wife is suffering from stage 4 cancer. Nahamani's children had written letters to the president begging him to release their father early.

"Our lives have become so sad and miserable," Ariella (11) wrote, as quoted on Ynet. "And now my mother is sick. I am scared of her getting worse. The world will be a place where I won't be able to exist without her."

"My mother is always sad and cries," Oriel (10) wrote. "She is always sick and doesn't have energy. Today is my birthday. I am 10 and half of my life I had no father. Please let my father come. You will make me the happiest kid in the world."

Nahmani was the first person in South Florida to be convicted on charges related to synthetic marijuana. According to a report by Hamodia, many legal experts slammed the court's decision to sentence Nahmani with 20 years of imprisonment as extremely disproportionate.

Nahmani's wife Sylvia took a break from her cancer treatment on Monday to answer a phone call from her husband's lawyer Gary Apfel, informing her that Trump had signed the commutation. "I couldn't contain myself, I was screaming so loud," Mrs. Nahmani said. "All the people outside said, 'Are you okay?' I said, 'Thank you, I am perfectly fine, I'm just so happy."

Later, Sylvia told Hamodia, "Everybody is crying; they can't believe it," she said. "The children are screaming 'Abba (Daddy) is coming home! Chasdei Hashem! (The kindness of God.) You see Mommy, G-d answers all the tefillot (prayers).' I think they are still in shock. I am in shock."

Apfel was the attorney for Shalom Mordechai Rubashkin, whose sentence was commuted by Trump in December 2017. He was assisted on the Nahmani case by many others, including some of the same people who worked on the Rubashkin case, such as legal expert Alan Dershowitz.

"This is a real case of pikuach nefesh (saving a life), because there are children here whose mother is seriously ill with cancer and whose father would have been in prison, and in the event the mother was to have passed, would have been all alone," Dershowitz told Hamodia. "So what President Trump did was the right thing; he ought to be praised for saving lives and doing a mitzvah. This was a team effort involving lots of people, including Gary and many others who acted selflessly to bring about this pidyon shivuyim (releasing prisoners). And I think it will be an important part of President Trump's legacy that he did the right thing for the right reasons."

Apfel told Hamodia that he was also assisted by "Reps. Mark Meadows (R- N.C.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), 'who exercised true leadership to make this a bipartisan effort,' as well as 'relentless behind-the-scenes efforts' by Harry Adjmi, a leader in the Syrian Jewish community; Dr. Daniel Feuer; Rabbi Menachem Genack; and the Tzedek Association."

Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, director of the prisoner reform and advocacy Tzedek Association told Hamodia, "It is a glorious day for a democratic society when someone given such a grossly unjust sentence is set free. We thank Hashem (God) for his kindnesses, and we thank President Trump for his sense of fairness."

The Hamodia reported that twenty-two members of Congress, as well as former Sen. Orrin Hatch, signed letters to Trump urging the commutation, as did 35 former government legal officials, including former Attorneys General Michael Mukasey and Edwin Meese, Deputy AG Larry Thompson, Acting AG Stuart Gerson, FBI Director Louis Freeh, Solicitor General Seth Waxman and other judges and prosecutors, including the late Robert Morgenthau.

The White House published a statement: "Today, President Donald J. Trump commuted the prison sentence of Ronen Nahmani, an action strongly supported by many notable leaders from across the political spectrum, like representatives Hakeem Jeffries and Mark Meadows.

"Mr. Nahmani is a non-violent, first-time offender with no criminal history. He has five young children at home and his wife is suffering from terminal cancer. These extenuating circumstances underscore the urgency of his request for clemency."


7. "IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO FULFILL YOUR DREAMS"
by Arutz Sheva Staff

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/266748

Nefesh B'Nefesh, in cooperation with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, The Jewish Agency, KKL-JNF and Jewish National Fund-USA, welcomed 95 new Olim (immigrants to Israel) this morning.

Arutz Sheva joined the Olim on this group Aliyah flight, which was comprised of 35 families and singles ranging in ages from one year to 80 years old; and come from a variety of states, including Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia, Quebec and Texas.

"Summer is always the busiest season for Aliyah, and this year is no exception with over 2,000 Olim choosing to make Israel their home in these eight weeks alone," said Co-Founder and Executive Director of Nefesh B'Nefesh, Rabbi Yehoshua Fass.

"Nearly half of the Olim projected to make Aliyah each year arrive during the summer as it's a natural time period to make the transition to a new country before the school year begins. We are pleased to see that there has been an increase in Olim choosing the flexibility of a group Aliyah flight, so that they can better tailor their Aliyah date to their specific needs and timelines, and we look forward to assisting these Olim throughout their Aliyah journey for years to come."

Today's new Olim will be moving to cities all across Israel such as Givat Shmuel, Modi'in, Tel Aviv, Beit Shemesh and Ma'alot in the North of the country. Nearly one-third of the Olim of this group, or 28 individuals, will be making Jerusalem their home in Israel. This group flight precedes this summer's Nefesh B'Nefesh charter Aliyah flight expected to land on August 14th at Ben Gurion Airport as well as several more group flights scheduled over the upcoming weeks of summer.

Among the Olim who landed this morning was 80-year-old Ray Negari, who emigrated with his wife in the 1960s from Iran to the United States. This morning, he said excitedly after landing, "Since my childhood in Iran, my father used to tell me and my seven brothers and sisters stories about the land of Israel. A few years ago, at the age of 77, I found myself deciding that the time had finally come to fulfill my dream and create a home for myself in the Jewish State. It's never too late to live out your dreams. I am proud and happy to know that despite the years that have gone by, I am going to be setting up my home in Israel and be able to enjoy living with my brothers and sisters in Israel as we have always dreamt."

There were a few Olim from this morning's flight who plan on joining the IDF as Lone Soldiers. Omer Doar (18), from New Jersey said, "Since I was young, I heard stories about my mother's uncle, Alberto, who served in the IDF's 890 Paratroopers Battalion and was killed in the Yom Kippur War. I feel it is my familial and Zionist duty to step up and protect the country and continue in his path. I hope I will also be able to serve in the Paratroopers Brigade and in time be able to proudly wear my uncle's red beret."

Doar's sister May also made Aliyah a few years ago and served in the IDF. She is now studying Special Education in Jerusalem. Another of this morning's Olim, Gal Gur Lavi (18) from New Jersey, has two parents who served in the Israeli Air Force. When asked why she is making Aliyah and planning on joining the IDF, she responded simply and confidently, "Israel is my home."

[album:open:11243]


8. CONSTRUCTION OF 715 UNITS FOR ARABS IN AREA C APPROVED
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Cabinet ministers unanimously approved plans to build 715 housing units in Palestinian Arab villages in Area C in Judea and Samaria on Tuesday evening by telephone referendum.

However, it is unclear whether these the plans are for building new housing units in those villages, or whether they are referring to the whitewashing of illegal buildings that already exist in the area.

Concurrent with the construction in the Palestinian villages, the approval of 6,000 housing units to be built in Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria is expected as well.

On Monday the head of the Binyamin Council Israel Gantz and Samaria Council head Yossi Dagan issued a joint statement in which they sharply attacked the plan discussed in the Cabinet.

"The report of a Cabinet hearing aimed at approving building plans for Arabs in Area C is particularly alarming," the two noted in their statement.

"The Palestinian Authority, by assisting and financing foreign entities, is carrying out massive illegal construction in these areas with one clear purpose - the establishment of a terrorist state in the heart of the country. We hope this does not constitute a signal to the direction of the government which will be formed after the elections."