Tragic Missile Strike in Bet Shemesh

We are now four days into the US-Israeli military campaign to bring down the fanatical Iranian regime. Here in Jerusalem, we have repeatedly hunkered in our bomb shelters as dozens of Iranian missile barrages sailed overhead on their way to Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities. Each time, the explosions from rocket interceptions above us got louder and the ground impacts came closer.

In fact, on Sunday we saw the tragic missile strike which leveled a synagogue and public bomb shelter in Beit Shemesh, only 12 miles from Jerusalem. Nine people have died from the blast so far. Entire families were wiped out. One woman lost her husband the day before they were supposed to celebrate their 13-year-old son’s bar mitzvah. Instead, the boy had to bury his father yesterday.              

Within hours of the Beit Shemesh disaster, Iran started deliberately targeting Jerusalem for the first time, using their best guided missiles. One unexploded warhead fell in the Hinnom Valley outside Jaffa Gate, just 500 meters from the Temple Mount. Another rocket blew a large crater in a main highway in Jerusalem. Iran even brazenly announced it had targeted Israeli government offices in “East Jerusalem.”

Like the Iranian attacks on numerous Arab countries, the missile barrages on Jerusalem are signs of a desperate regime in the last throes of their power. With the confirmed death of Ayatollah Ali Khameini and dozens of other senior Iranian leaders on day one, the Islamic Republic knows it is about to meet its end. Masses of Iranian people are longing for that moment, but we do not know yet exactly when it will come.

Since the war began on Saturday morning, many Christians have joined us in praying for a swift and decisive victory over the Iranian regime before the end of Purim on Wednesday. This festive biblical holiday marks a famous triumph of the Jewish people over their enemies within the ancient Persian empire. Thus, a resounding victory this week by the Jewish nation over its implacable enemies in Tehran would be so appropriate.

Still, Israeli authorities have told the public to expect the fighting to continue until at least March 12, while US President Donald Trump just said it could take three to four more weeks to finish the mission. We simply do not know how long this war will last and whether it might spread further throughout the region.

But what we do know is that right now Israel needs our help. This is a pivotal moment for the Jewish people gathered back in their ancestral homeland. A clear victory could radically change the dynamic in the region, expanding the prospects of Israel’s wider acceptance by its Arab neighbors. But they need to know that Christians are at their side, to give them the courage and stamina to endure the Iranian missiles now raining down on Israeli cities.

 

Jericho is NOT a Palestinian Heritage Site

 Video Of The Week - Emiratis are ‘enthusiastic’ about peace with Israel-https://tinyurl.com/3x6d9ran                    

Congress Should Block Any UNESCO Funding

For the full article by Robert Williams go to- https://tinyurl.com/4re46r5h

• The deeply corrupt, highly politicized United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will vote later this week on declaring Jericho, an ancient Jewish city, a "World Heritage Site in Palestine."
• The Palestinian Authority submitted a nomination of Jericho, which it wants to rename Tell es-Sultan.
• UNESCO's purpose is to promote "international cooperation in education, sciences, culture, communication and information" which it is supposed to do through "knowledge sharing and the free flow of ideas." Nowhere does it say that UNESCO has the least right to meddle in ongoing conflicts and create make-believe "facts" on the ground.
• This illegitimate imposition is not the first time that UNESCO is putting on display its anti-Israel bias, penchant for faking history and an impressive tradition of lying.
• In 2010, UNESCO renamed the Jewish site of Rachel's Tomb the "Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque," stating that it was part of "occupied Palestine."" ... At the time, only the US voted against these straight-faced falsifications of Jewish history.
• In 2016, UNESCO declared Jerusalem's Temple Mount – site of the two biblical Jewish temples – "a Muslim holy site of worship" and mentioned it only by its Islamic names, the "Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif." It also renamed the Western Wall -- a retaining wall which is all that remains of the Jewish Second Temple that was destroyed by the Roman Legions in 70 CE -- "Al-Buraq Plaza".
• "[T]hey decided that the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron is a Palestinian site, meaning that it is not Jewish, and that the site is in danger. Not a Jewish site?! Who is buried there? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah – our patriarchs and matriarchs! And the site is in danger? It is only in those places where Israel is, such as Hebron, that freedom of religion for all is ensured." — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Guardian, July 7, 2017.
• Corruption, politicization, and the falsification history do not appear, however, to bother the Biden administration in the least. In July 2023, the United States rejoined UNESCO, even though the organization has been called "a byword for inefficiency, nepotism and corruption" and was cited "among the most corrupt and politically biased UN agencies."
• UNESCO does nothing to counter China, Russia, North Korea or Iran, but does do a lot to demoralize those countries hoping that the US will still be the leader of the Free World. UNESCO's corruption, with America's backing, is simply driving these countries still further into the waiting arms of China.
• If US membership in UNESCO is to have any purpose at all, the least the Biden administration can do with its taxpayer dollars is all it can to prevent Jericho from becoming a "Heritage site in Palestine."
• For a start, there is no "State of Palestine." In fact, until 1964, there was not even a "Palestinian people".
• "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality, today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism." — Zoheir Mohsen, Palestinian leader, interview in Trouw, March 31, 1977.
• "For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan." — Zoheir Mohsen, Trouw, March 31, 1977.
• It is important to remember: Until the seventh century there were not even any Muslims in the world, let alone Palestinians.
• In 2021, UNESCO published a handbook: "Journalism, 'Fake News' and Disinformation: A Handbook for Journalism Education and Training." Perhaps the good folks at UNESCO might read it before they vote?
• Failing that, the US Congress should "should firmly block any UNESCO funding, as it has consistently done" -- as Bolton suggested.

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3,600-plus Palestinian Terror Attacks in first half of 2023

Video Of The Week- Palestinian Refugee Camp Violence - https://tinyurl.com/3st98975

The number of shootings has already surpassed last year's total.

The escalation in Palestinian terrorism that started over a year ago shows no signs of abating, data from Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) published on Tuesday indicates.

In the first six months of 2023, the emergency service recorded 3,640 acts of terror throughout Israel, including 2,118 cases of rock-throwing, 799 attacks with Molotov cocktails, 18 attempted stabbings and six car- rammings.

The number of shootings has already surpassed last year’s total, with 101 instances of gunfire directed at Israelis reported. Hatzalah’s figures do not include the hundreds of attacks on security personnel during counterterrorism operations in Palestinian villages.

Palestinian terrorists have killed 28 people and wounded 362 others since January, the organization said.

In addition, two Israelis died from wounded sustained in previous years. Shimon Maatuf died in February after suffering severe head wounds in an attack by two Palestinians armed with axes in 2022, and New York-born Chana Nachenberg died last month after a Palestinian suicide bombing put her in a coma 22 years ago.

Rescuers Without Borders was founded in 2000, at the beginning of the Second Intifada, with the goal of establishing a civilian emergency response infrastructure in Judea and Samaria. Eventually, the organization expanded the scope of its work to include all of Israel.

Hatzalah released its biannual report on terrorism amid yet another uptick in Arab attacks throughout Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

Earlier on Tuesday, security forces thwarted a possible terrorist attack at the Shuafat checkpoint in northeastern Jerusalem, arresting a 14-year-old Palestinian suspect who behaved suspiciously. Officers found a knife in his possession.

On Monday, Palestinian terrorists threw rocks at vehicles in northern Samaria, wounding at least four Israeli civilians, including a woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy. At least three cars were targeted in the attack, which took place on Route 55 near Ma’ale Shomron, medical officials said.

A day earlier, an Israeli man was shot and seriously wounded, and his two daughters lightly injured, in a Palestinian drive-by shooting near the Tekoa Junction in Gush Etzion. According to the IDF, the terrorist opened fire from a passing vehicle at the victims’ car on a highway about 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Jerusalem.

Following an hours-long manhunt, security forces apprehended the suspected shooter in nearby Bethlehem, where he had barricaded himself inside a mosque.

 

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"From Terror Supporter to ‘Palestine Correspondent”

Video Of The Week -The Story of a Palestinian Terrorist - https://tinyurl.com/3xatcujn

For the full article by Honest Reporting go to - https://tinyurl.com/5cpyvwz5

On September 8, The Nation announced the hiring of Mohammed El-Kurd as its first-ever “Palestine Correspondent.” El-Kurd, a student at the City University of New York’s Brooklyn College, said he would be writing about “Palestinian resistance without burrowing in the sand,” using language that is “loyal to the Palestinian street.”

El-Kurd will publish his first essay about the Arab-Israeli conflict in the coming days, introducing the magazine’s million followers to his radical viewpoints, as HonestReporting detailed in July.

Indeed, for those who have followed the writer since he gained notoriety by protesting against Jews seeking to reclaim ownership of properties in the eastern part of Jerusalem that were confiscated from them between 1948 and 1967 when Jordan occupied the holy city, El-Kurd’s skewed interpretation of “journalism” is crystal clear.

In fact, El-Kurd’s Twitter feed demonstrated what The Nation’s latest addition defines as “Palestinian resistance;” that is, the murder of Jewish Israelis. Just two days before his hiring was announced, he rejoiced as six Palestinian terrorists broke out of Israel’s maximum-security Gilboa Prison.

“I am going to bed with a smile on my face and dreaming of the day all prisons are abolished,” El-Kurd tweeted, calling the incident “excellent.” Nevertheless, El-Kurd called the recapture of four of the terrorists a “heartbreaking development.”

Moreover, The Nation’s new correspondent regularly downplays war crimes by Hamas, another US-designated terrorist organization. El-Kurd has incited violence and glorified terrorism, recently stating that he mourns “all of our [Palestinian] martyrs.” He previously lauded Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine member and two-time airplane hijacker Leila Khaled.

El Kurd’s support for Palestinian terrorists dovetails with his long history of shockingly antisemitic remarks. For instance, El-Kurd in May called the Israel Defense Forces “sadistic & bloodthirsty,” a slanderous charge reminiscent of medieval blood libels. Similarly, he shared an Instagram post that promoted claims that the Jewish state deliberately kills Palestinians to harvest their organs.

He has furthermore said that Israel “kills,” “blows up,” “burns” and “tortures” Palestinian children in order to “instill terror” in them (see here, here, here and here). The so-called correspondent has gone so far as to describe Israel as a “child killing entity” — an overt example of Jew-hatred according to the widely adopted IHRA definition.

In an equally repulsive Twitter post, El-Kurd claimed — without proof — that “Holocaust survivors” threw Molotov cocktails at his home. He also accused a Hong Kong-based Jewish author of “ethnically cleansing” and “Kristallnachting” Palestinians, the latter being a reference to the Nazi-initiated pogrom in Germany in 1938 that various historians mark as the beginning of the genocide of some six million Jews.

While El-Kurd’s claim to fame is that he “reports” on events in Jerusalem, he all-too-often simply disseminates lies. On May 10, for example, El-Kurd posted a video to Twitter that he claimed proved Israelis were “readying themselves” to “invade” the Al-Aqsa Mosque. In reality, the clip showed Jews praying at the Western Wall.

El-Kurd conjured up a bogus story about a stabbing attack by Israeli “settlers.”

One needn’t be a journalist to reach the conclusion that El-Kurd’s history of spreading fake news, antisemitism and inciting violence should disqualify him from informing The Nation’s readership on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

That said, The Nation is known for its anti-Israel bias. In the last few months alone, it charged Israel with “colonialism,” “official racism” and “mass expulsions.” Moreover, the magazine has repeatedly peddled false accusations that Israel practices “apartheid”, and gave a platform to the mother of a confirmed Palestinian terrorist to suggest her son was innocent.

With the hiring of El-Kurd, though, The Nation has plunged to new depths in its ongoing campaign to tarnish the Jewish state.

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Inscription bearing Persian King Darius

 Video Of The Week - Persian King Darius the Great -https://tinyurl.com/2upz776e

 By JERUSALEM POST 1-3-2023

 An inscription bearing the name of the Persian king Darius the Great was discovered in the Tel Lachish National Park in the first discovery of an inscription bearing the king's name anywhere in Israel.

The discovery was made by Eylon Levy, the international media advisor to Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

Levy reportedly chanced on a 2,500-year-old potsherd with the inscribed letters of the ancient king and reported it to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

 The king's name on the inscription, Darius the Great, is supposedly the father of King Ahasuerus, also known as the biblical Achashverosh from the story of Purim and the Book of Esther.

“When I picked up the ostracon and saw the inscription, my hands shook. I looked left and right for the cameras because I was sure someone was playing an elaborate prank on me," said Levy.

  "When I was walking around here with a friend just exploring the history, I was turning over pieces of pottery and stones in my hand and suddenly, I found something that had letters on it and I thought this was too good to be true," Levy added.

 When Levy found the potsherd, he reported it to the Israel Antiquities Authority, where he said that three people at the organization were skeptical that it was real but intrigued by what Levy had found.

 A few weeks later, Levy received a phone call from Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority and said that he was "on his way from the Dead Sea Scrolls labs. We've put it through three scanners. This is authentic. No modern had could do it and it's from two and a half thousand years ago from before the story of Purim."

 "When I was walking around here with a friend just exploring the history, I was turning over pieces of pottery and stones in my hand and suddenly, I found something that had letters on it and I thought this was too good to be true."

 Ganor analyzed Levy's discovery with Dr. Haggai Misgav of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and they both confirmed that the artifact dated to the Persian royal administration at Lachish in the Achaemenid period, at the turn of the fifth century BCE.

The inscription reads “Year 24 of Darius,” which dates back to 498 BCE. The king's reign began in 522 BCE and ended in 486 BCE.

 Eli Escuzido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, stated that "It's amazing that visitors to the site come across such a rare inscription 'reviving' the Persian King Darius known to us from the sources! His son King Ahasuerus could never have imagined that we would find evidence of his father in Israel 2,500 years after the dramatic events in his royal court!”

 Who was King Darius, King Ahasuerus?

Darius the Great, also known as Darius I, was one of the most famous rulers of the Achaemenid Empire, also known as the first incarnation of the Persian Empire. His rule saw him take over in a time of chaos, though he managed to reorganize what was then the largest empire of the ancient world into coherent satrapies, centralized authority with major construction projects, and monetary measures and promoted the Aramaic language.

 Darius was also mentioned repeatedly throughout the Bible, having made appearances in the Book of Haggai, the Book of Zechariah and the Book of Ezra-Nehemiah. He is also believed by some scholars to either be the same person as or one of the inspirations of Darius the Mede, a central figure within the Book of Daniel.

 Darius also had several sons, and while none of them were named Ahasuerus in Persian or Aramaic, his most famous son and successor, Xerxes I, also known as Xerxes the Great (named Khshayarsha in Persian), has been linked to the Persian ruler of the Purim story, though the exact level of historical accuracy in the Purim story has been heavily questioned by scholars for years.

 Xerxes's portrayal in the Book of Esther as Ahasuerus has led some to believe he was an incompetent and always drunk monarch, while in fact, Xerxes was a very active ruler, though he is most famous for his ultimately failed war against the Greek city-states. But the fact that he was a very real monarch who indeed ruled over the region at the time of the Book of Esther is widely accepted.

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“Arab Bombings Return to Jerusalem Streets”

 Video Of The Week - UN's Continuing Campaign against Israel over Judea and Samaria - https://tinyurl.com/5n96fxuv                 

For the full article from JNS, by Yaakov Lappin - https://tinyurl.com/yvbsxndv

Wednesday’s double terror bombing in Jerusalem sent shock waves throughout the State of Israel because it was a different style of attack than the one Israelis have, sadly, grown accustomed to seeing since March this year, when the latest escalation began.

Unlike the individual or small groups of terrorists who, acting on radical ideology and incitement to violence, picked up a gun, a knife, or embarked on a car-ramming attack, this time a better organized terrorist cell detonated two bombs—apparently by remote control—at bus stops in the capital.

Police and the Shin Bet have exhausted their immediate physical searches, and the hunt for the perpetrators will now move to the intelligence front.

Meanwhile, security personnel will be working around the clock to prevent the next bombing, scanning buses and bus stops in the city and trying to figure out how terrorists were able to make their way to western Jerusalem.

It is too soon to know who or which organization conducted the attack, but it is possible to note that in recent years, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has taken a lead in remote-control bombing terrorism.

Col. (res.). Michael Milshtein, a former adviser on Palestinian affairs to the Israeli Defence Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit and a former head of the Department for Palestinians Affairs in the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate, said during a call organized by Media Central that despite the fact that the Second Intifada (2000-2005) saw many more attacks and casualties, “this time we and the Palestinians are much more concerned about the results of this wave of escalation—this is a result of the fact that this wave of escalation reflects deeper developments in the Palestinian arena and in the relations between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Milstein pointed to the “rise of the Z generation in the Palestinian arena, the young generation,” which he noted has been behind “most of the terrorism in the Samaria area, in Nablus and Jenin. Groups of younger Palestinians, most of them born around the year 2000. Most of them have no relations with the P.A. [Palestinian Authority] or even Fatah. Most feel deep alienation towards the P.A.,” he said.

With the Palestinian Authority losing its grip in parts of Samaria to armed terror gangs, and the image of the P.A. at an all-time low among Palestinians, in no small part due to corruption, nepotism and its violation of human rights, Milstein said, the current situation does not look promising.

Israel has a broad set of military measures it can call upon to confront terrorism, but one tool that it has also relied upon for the past 15 years to boost stability—economic easements for Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria, commonly known in the West Bank, seems to be losing its effectiveness.

All this amounts to a continued deterioration of the security situation. Although the resilience of the Israeli people and the great capabilities of the Israeli security forces will continue to provide a resolute response to terrorism, challenging times could lie ahead.

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Lord Levy is Wrong

Video Of The Week -Agricultural Innovations in Israel - https://tinyurl.com/mr3pf8fw                                            

His arguments against moving the UK embassy to Jerusalem will aid Israel's foes 

For the full article by Melanie Phillips go to: https://tinyurl.com/yc7kns9y

Anglo jaws collectively dropped to the floor upon reading an opinion    piece in The  Times of Friday 14th October. Lord Levy  is a British Jewish philanthropist and long-standing member of the Labour party, whose stellar fund-raising efforts earned him a peerage bestowed by Labour’s former leader (and Levy’s former tennis partner) Sir Tony Blair. Every single one of Levy’s arguments  are  misguided, ill-judged or flat-out wrong.

1'’The longstanding principle of Jerusalem’s status needing to be determined in a negotiated settlement”. This is a  wilful error. The principle in question was enshrined in the 1947 UN resolution proposing a division of Palestine between an Arab and a Jewish state, and which designated Jerusalem as a corpus separatum to be administered by the UN. Since the entire Partition Plan was rejected by the Arabs, however, it was never implemented and all its proposals were rendered void.

2 “Pouring fuel on the fire is highly irresponsible”. What fire? Despite global predictions of a Middle East conflagration if Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, not only did this not happen but the historic Abraham Accords were signed between Israel and the Gulf states.

3“How does this benefit Britain in the world?” This is shallow and blinkered. Liz Truss has cemented a solid trading and friendship relationship with Israel. Her unambiguous acceptance of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital marks out her government as defying the poisonous anti-Israel consensus among other western countries. Given the importance to Britain of access to Israeli high-tech know-how, intelligence and security links, the proposed embassy move is patently in Britain’s national interest.

4: “All Arab ambassadors, including those representing states that have normalised relations with Israel, have expressed their opposition.” Exactly  the same happened when Trump moved the US embassy, which ignited furious  opposition across the Arab and Muslim world. Two years afterwards came the Abraham Accords.

5 The most egregiously false and incendiary of Levy’s assertions was his suggestion that, by moving the embassy, the UK would be conniving at Israel’s defiance of  “international legality”, “the UN charter”, the “inadmissibility of territorial acquisition” and “annexation by force”.But Israel is guilty of none of these things, which are all canards promulgated by its enemies.The international lawyer Professor Eugene Kontorovich has written, the key doctrine under international law that determines the borders of a state is uti possidetis juris (“as you possess under law”). According to this principle, Israel’s borders at the moment of independence were the borders of Mandatory Palestine — which included all of Jerusalem as well as Judea and Samaria. Kontorovich wrote “The UN, in its thousands of resolutions to the contrary, flagrantly ignores that principle.”

6 “The heads of the youth movements have strongly denounced the move. They are the future leadership of the Jewish community and should be listened to carefully. “If that is indeed so, then Britain’s Jewish community should be seriously alarmed that its young people are so catastrophically ill-informed about Israel, Jewish history and the Jewish people.

7 “A Trump-style UK relocation would be bad for peace.” But Trump’s relocation of the US embassy was followed by the Abraham Accords, the biggest advance for peace in the Middle East over the past century. Moving the UK embassy would also advance peace by signalling an end to Britain’s shameful century-old capitulation to Palestinian Arab lies and blackmail — a principal source of encouragement for Palestinian Arab rejectionism and violence. By publishing these views in The Times, Levy has in fact spoken for and reinforced Israel’s enemies.

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“A Royal Debunking”?

Video Of The Week - Royal Family’s Connection to Jerusalem-https://tinyurl.com/mw8t3par

For the full article By Stephen M. Flatow go to: https://tinyurl.com/2p8v67pj

The ascent of Prince Charles to the British throne King Charles III is a problem for advocates of the Palestinian Arab cause. The new king’s connection to a key Jewish holy site in eastern Jerusalem could focus attention on a subject that the Arabs are anxious to avoid.

King Charles III’s grandmother, Princess Alice, and her aunt, Grand Duchess Elisabeth, are both buried in a small Christian cemetery on the Mount of Olives, near the largest Jewish cemetery in the world.  The Mount of Olives is in that part of the city that the Palestinian Authority calls “Arab East Jerusalem.” The PA says that the area should be the “capital of Palestine.” According to the PA, Zionists – whether Jews or Christians – have no right to be there. They’re “illegal settlers.”  The cemetery where the two royals are buried belongs to the Church of Mary Magdalene, a Russian Orthodox church and convent that was built at the foot of the Mount of Olives in 1886 by Tsar Alexander II. It is located directly across the Kidron Valley from the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.

Princess Alice, who lived in Greece during World War II, sheltered a Jewish family from the Nazis and was posthumously honored by Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations. Alice, who passed away in 1969, left instructions to be buried at Mary Magdalene cemetery. Her remains were transferred there in 1988.

 The royals’ desire to be buried in Jerusalem demonstrates a longstanding affection for the capital of the Holy Land, something that reflects what we call “Christian Zionism.”  Whether or not Alice or Elisabeth ever called themselves “Christian Zionists” – and whether or not the new king thinks of himself as such – doesn’t matter. The historical facts speak for themselves. Charles knows that his Bible describes the founder of their religion traveling and residing in territories with Hebrew, not Arabic, names – because those areas were, and are, central parts of the Jewish homeland. If there had been a Palestinian Authority in those days, no doubt it would have denounced Jesus as a “Zionist settler.”

As prince, Charles visited the graves of his grandmother, and her aunt, when he attended the funeral of Shimon Peres in 2016. Perhaps, in the PA’s eyes, that made him an “accessory to Zionist settlement activity.” Interestingly, Charles’s visit to the Mount of Olives was undertaken secretly, without the knowledge of the public or news media, apparently for fear of offending the Palestinian Authority.

It’s easy to see why the PA would have been angry over Prince Charles’s visit to his relatives’ graves. Any focus on the Mount of Olives is a public relations disaster for the Palestinians. It reminds the world that one of the most important Jewish religious sites in the world is situated in eastern Jerusalem – shattering the myth that it’s an all-Arab territory that belongs to the Palestinians.  The PA and its media allies call it “Arab East Jerusalem,” but that’s just a propaganda term. The Jewish people’s roots in eastern Jerusalem go back thousands of years, long before any Arab claims.

 The existence of the Church of Mary Magdalene is yet another PR headache for the Palestinians. It was established in 1886 – at a time when no Arabs called the area “Palestine” or called themselves “Palestinians.” That is yet another reminder that Palestinian national identity is a recent and shallow invention, created not because Palestinians are any different from Jordanians or Syrians, but simply as a weapon against the Jews.

How King Charles III interacts with Israel, and whether or not he visits his illustrious family’s graves in Jerusalem, remains to be seen. But the facts about why his relatives are buried there, and who the city and the country belong to, are part of a historical record that cannot be denied. 

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Israel Signs Free Trade Deal with UAE

 Video Of The Week - Israel to Help Solve Europe’s Energy Shortage - https://tinyurl.com/yckrfs2k 

For the full article from the JPost by LAHAV HARKOV go to https://tinyurl.com/2p84zx99

Ambassador to the UAE Amir Hayek succinctly announced the signing of the agreement on twitter, tweeting "Done!" in response to a previous tweet on the topic.

Israel entered its first-ever free-trade agreement with an Arab state, when Economy Minister Orna Barbivay signed the deal with her counterpart in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

Ambassador to the UAE Amir Hayek succinctly announced the signing of the agreement on Twitter, writing “Done!” in response to a previous tweet on the topic.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett praised the FTA as “historic” and the fastest to be signed in Israel’s history. He thanked Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed Bin Zayed for accelerating the process.

 “We are continuing to warm the peace between the countries,” Bennett tweeted.

On Monday, Barbivay said her visit to Dubai was “of strategic importance to the economic relations between the State of Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Together we will remove barriers and promote comprehensive trade and new technologies.”

Israel and the UAE established full diplomatic relations in August 2020, in what is called the Abraham Accords. Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco followed soon after.

“Together we will remove barriers and promote comprehensive trade and new technologies,” she added.

Israel and the UAE established full diplomatic relations in August 2020, in what was called the Abraham Accords. Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco followed soon after.

Israel has 19 free agreements, including the one with the UAE. Israel also has a more limited free-trade agreement with Jordan, but the new deal with the UAE is much broader and is similar to those with the United States and the European Union.

The free trade agreement is the UAE’s second, following one with India earlier this year.

This agreement covers 96% of the trade between Israel and the UAE, which stood last year at $885 million.

That is more than double Israel’s $330m. in trade with Egypt in 2021, even though the two countries have had a peace agreement since 1979.

According to the Economy and Industry Ministry, the level of trade in 2020 stood at $120m. and at $1m. in 2010.

The FTA signing went forward as planned, even though the UAE criticized Israel a day earlier for allowing Jews to visit the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site.

“The UAE today strongly condemned the storming of al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard by extremist settlers under the protection of Israeli forces,” a statement by the Emirati Foreign Ministry read, calling on Israel “to take responsibility for reducing escalation and ending all attacks and practices that lead to the continuation of tensions.”

There was no documentation of violence by Jews or Israelis on the Temple Mount this week, though some did pray at the site in contravention of the rules for Jewish visitors. Some Muslims threw rocks at visitors and police from the Aqsa Mosque.

The UAE statement came a day after the annual Jerusalem Day flag march through the Old City, which was mostly peaceful, though some Jews and Muslims chanted calls for violence and there were some minor clashes, leading to about 50 arrests.

Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.

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Violent Mob disrupt Shireen Abu Akleh Funeral

Video Of The Week - Who's Responsible For The Bloodshed in The M.E? https://tinyurl.com/5n6wuvha

For the full Article by  Rich Calder from NY Post go to - https://tinyurl.com/2fp32m2n

Israel police insisted Saturday they only charged into the funeral procession of slain American Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh because her coffin was being stolen by a violent mob.

“The Israel Police prepared yesterday to facilitate a calm and dignified funeral for journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and had coordinated the funeral arrangements with her family. Unfortunately, hundreds of rioters tried to sabotage the ceremony and harm the police,” Israel police tweeted.

In a series of earlier tweets Friday, Israeli cops also said the rioters were so out of control that they even threatened the driver of Akleh’s hearse before trying to grab the coffin.

Shocking video images show Israeli authorities rushing into the Jerusalem crowd wielding batons and subsequently attacking pallbearers — nearly causing Abu Akleh’s coffin to fall to the ground.

 “On Friday, about 300 rioters arrived at Saint Joseph hospital in Jerusalem and prevented the family members from loading the coffin onto the hearse to travel to the cemetery  — as had been planned and coordinated with the family,” tweeted Israeli cops.

“Instead, the mob threatened the driver of the hearse and then proceeded to carry the coffin on an unplanned procession to the cemetery by foot. This went against the wishes of the Abu-Akleh family and the security coordination’s that had been planned to safeguard the large number of mourners

“The Israel Police instructed that the coffin be returned to the hearse, as did the [European Union] ambassador and Shireen Abu-Akleh’s own family, but the mob refused.  Israeli Police intervened to disperse the mob and prevent them from taking the coffin, so that the funeral could proceed as planned in accordance with the wishes of the family.

 “During the riot that was instigated by the mob, glass bottles and other objects were thrown, resulting in the, injury of both mourners and Police officers.”

President Joe Biden has demanded an investigation of the baton-wielding Israeli police who charged into procession – with departing White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the incident “deeply disturbing.”

The incident had occurred just before a closed-door meeting at the White House between Biden and Jordanian King Abdullah II.

Abu Akleh, 51, was fatally shot in the head Wednesday while covering an Israeli raid in the northern town of Jenin in the West Bank. She was descended from a Palestinian Christian family and had worked for the Qatar-based news channel since 1997.

Israel has called for a joint investigation with the Palestinian Authority and for the PA to hand over the bullet that killed Abu Akleh for forensic analysis to determine who fired it. The PA has refused, saying it will conduct its own investigation and send the results to the International Criminal Court.

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