TROUBLE BREWING IN ISRAEL WITH NEW EXTREMIST ISRAELI GOVERNMENT
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Who’s who in Israel’s new far-right government, and why it matters
BY ANDREW LAPIN DECEMBER 21, 2022Who’s who in Israel’s new far-right government, and why it matters - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Who’s in the new government?
Netanyahu’s coalition is full of incendiary characters hailing from Israel’s far-right and haredi Orthodox wings — including multiple fringe figures who until recently had been shunned by the country’s political mainstream, but who the incoming prime minister needs on his team in order to hold a governing majority (and attempt to dodge his own corruption charges).
Chief among them is Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, who will likely hold a newly created ministry position that gives him power over the state’s police force.
A one time follower of Jewish extremist rabbi Meir Kahane, Ben-Gvir has been convicted of incitement over his past support of Israeli terrorist groups and inflammatory comments about Israel’s Arab population.
He has also encouraged demonstrations on the Temple Mount by religious nationalists that often lead to sectarian violence, leaving analysts worried about what he would do once placed in control of the state’s police force.
In addition, the new government will include Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the extremist-aligned Religious Zionist party, who has been accused by Israeli security forces in the past of plotting violent attacks against Palestinians.
Like Ben-Gvir, Smotrich will also likely be given a newly created ministership role in Netanyahu’s government to oversee Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank — a move which liberal groups say would lead
to “de facto annexation” given his desire to expand settlements and deny Palestinian claims to the area.
Another controversial figure in Israel’s new government is Aryeh Deri, head of the haredi Orthodox Shas party, who is set to become interior and health minister pending new legislation.
Deri has been convicted of tax fraud and served 22 months in prison in 2002 — which would bar him from holding a ministry position, unless Netanyahu can pass a law allowing him to serve.
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Benjamin Netanyahu returns as PM of Israel’s most far-right gov’t
Netanyahu’s cabinet has promised to expand illegal settlements in occupied West Bank and pursue other anti-Palestinian policies.However, it has taken weeks of jostling and the introduction of new legislation to keep his far-right and ultranationalist coalition partners happy, as well as his own Likud party.
The result has been a coalition that has explicitly called settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, illegal under international law, its top priority.
That reflects the positions of far-right leaders who have been given top posts, such as Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich, and Jewish Power leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, who previously expressed support for Baruch Goldstein,
a Jewish Israeli man who killed 29 Palestinians in a shooting at Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque in 1994.
Israel is heading in a “very dangerous direction”, left-wing Knesset member Ofer Cassif told Al Jazeera from a protest outside the parliament, adding that the new government’s arrival would mark Israel as a “fully-fledged fascist state”.
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Zechariah 12:2 “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah.
3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.
3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.
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Jordan king warns of ‘red lines’ in Jerusalem as Netanyahu returns to office
By Zeena Saifi, CNN
Updated 2:04 PM EST, Wed December 28, 2022
Jordan warns of Israeli challenge to custody of holy sites
Active
Abrahamic covenant is still in effect.
Those who support Israel are blessed, those who don't are cursed.
Genesis 12:3 - I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Those who support Israel are blessed, those who don't are cursed.
Genesis 12:3 - I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Loyal
God has saved a remnant for his purposes - Judah and the Jews - remain blind and resistant to the gospel.
Judah has returned to Jerusalem and they will be instruments used by Jesus to bring about the final end to this age.
As to "Israel" that is not equivalent to the modern nation that bears that name - for what exists today is the return of the southern kingdom Judah to Jerusalem.
You cannot equate blessing and cursing of Judah with the OT children of Israel - especially as God divorced his marriage to "Israel" in 70AD.
Paul explains much in various chapters of his epistle to the Romans: 4; 9; 10; 11.
Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
Romans 9:6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
Romans 15:8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”
10 And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.”
12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.”
The promises and blessings given to Abraham Isaac and Jacob are now also for the nations through the gospel and faith in Christ Jesus as the promised Messiah and Redeemer.
So where does that leave Judah and the Jews who are still a stiff-necked, rebellious, hateful and blasphemous people ??
Modern Israel and the Jews are certainly not a light on a hill, and bring no glory to the name of YHWH.
Loyal
Modern "Israel" and the Jews are hypocrites both politically and spiritually.
They always go on and on about being God's chosen people and that the land that they occupy by military might (and murder) is theirs through Abraham and their previous occupation as Israel under David and Solomon.
They want all the privilege entitlements of a claimed God given historical legacy to the land of Palestine/Israel, BUT with none of the obligations of the Law that apply to their dwelling in the "Promised Land."
They are redefining themselves as the JEWISH RACE and that "Israel" is a Jewish State for the Jews only - not even for Arab Christians who have been there since the Byzantine Empire.
They constantly attack Christian sites and interfere in Christian activities such as funerals.
So how should Jews treat their neighbours the Palestinians ??
Exodus 12:49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.
Leviticus 19:33 “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Numbers 15:15 For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the LORD.
16 One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.”
Luke 10:25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.”
28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”
30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Samaritan = Palestinian
The Arabs that dwell in Palestine/Israel are descendants of Ishmael and half-brothers to Jews who are descendants of Isaac.
Some family feuds never get resolved over history - which is why Jesus must come back to put an end to all this hatred and violence - and to finally pour out the Holy Spirit upon the surviving Jews
(after Armageddon and the yet again destruction of Judah and Jerusalem) that finally they will know that the nations were right in worshipping Jesus as the GOD of salvation -
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced,
they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
They always go on and on about being God's chosen people and that the land that they occupy by military might (and murder) is theirs through Abraham and their previous occupation as Israel under David and Solomon.
They want all the privilege entitlements of a claimed God given historical legacy to the land of Palestine/Israel, BUT with none of the obligations of the Law that apply to their dwelling in the "Promised Land."
They are redefining themselves as the JEWISH RACE and that "Israel" is a Jewish State for the Jews only - not even for Arab Christians who have been there since the Byzantine Empire.
They constantly attack Christian sites and interfere in Christian activities such as funerals.
So how should Jews treat their neighbours the Palestinians ??
Exodus 12:49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.
Leviticus 19:33 “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Numbers 15:15 For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the LORD.
16 One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.”
Luke 10:25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.”
28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”
30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Samaritan = Palestinian
The Arabs that dwell in Palestine/Israel are descendants of Ishmael and half-brothers to Jews who are descendants of Isaac.
Some family feuds never get resolved over history - which is why Jesus must come back to put an end to all this hatred and violence - and to finally pour out the Holy Spirit upon the surviving Jews
(after Armageddon and the yet again destruction of Judah and Jerusalem) that finally they will know that the nations were right in worshipping Jesus as the GOD of salvation -
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced,
they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
Loyal
“These are the basic lines of the national government headed by me: The Jewish people have an exclusive and unquestionable right to all areas of the Land of Israel.
The government will promote and develop settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel – in the Galilee, the Negev, the Golan, Judea and Samaria.”
– Benjamin Netanyahu, December 30, 2022
Decoding Israeli ‘Extremism’
BY RICHARD FALK writing for Counter Punch 6th January 2023
Netanyahu’s claim of exclusive Israel’s supremacy on behalf of the Jewish people over the whole of the promised land is in direct defiance of international law.
Additionally, Netanyahu’s statement is at direct odds with Biden’s stubborn insistence, however farfetched, on reaffirming support for a two-state solution.
This zombie approach to resolving the Israel/Palestine struggle has dominated international diplomacy for years, usefully allowing the UN and its Western members to maintain their embrace of Israel
without seeming to throw the Palestinian people under the bus.
Netanyahu’s brazen avowal of Israeli unilateral expansionism foregoes earlier diplomatic charades.
It challenges the UN, Palestinian Authority, governments around the world, and transnational civil society to open finally both eyes and finally admit that the two-state solution is dead.
This pattern of expansionist priorities became especially evident in the periods following the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and after World War II.
The infamous colonial Declaration had pledged British support for ‘a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, made credible by accommodating ballooning Jewish immigration during the period of British mandatory
administration that lasted from 1923 until 1948.
Then came the UN partition resolution (UNGA Res. 181), which not only ignored Palestinian rights of self-determination by partitioning their country without a prior referendum, changing the status of the Jewish presence
from ‘national home’ within the state of Palestine to a sovereign Jewish state on fully half of Palestine.
Such impositions were greeted positively by Zionists, but rejected by representatives of the Palestinian people and by neighboring Arab governments, leading directly to the 1948 War, which resulted in the catastrophic dispossession
of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians, known to its victims as the nakba, ending with a ceasefire that increased Israel’s share of Palestine from 55% to 78%.
Then came the 1967 War, which drove Jordan out of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and dispossessed another wave of indigenous Palestinians, known among Palestinian as the naksa.
It also resulted in Israel’s prolonged occupation, supposedly temporary but the establishment of many unlawful Jewish settlements encroaching on what had been projected as a coexisting Palestinian state in the West Bank
and East Jerusalem strongly suggested that all along Israel’s leadership envisioned permanent arrangements with an endgame in mind that did not include viable Palestinian statehood.
Another strong straw in the wind back in 1967 was Israel’s immediate declaration and enactment of a sovereign claim over the whole of an enlarged Jerusalem as the ‘eternal capital’ of the Jewish state.
This incorporation of Jerusalem was repeatedly rejected by overwhelming votes in the General Assembly, duly ignored by the Israeli government.
Israel’s 2018 Basic Law proclaiming the supremacy of Jews in ‘the promised land of Israel,’ including the whole of the West Bank, came to a giant step closer to revealing the integral goals of the Zionist Project endorsed by Netanyahu
to coincide with the swearing in of his fourth go at being the Prime Minister.
Beyond this, and more formally, the once radical accusation of apartheid directed at the Israeli state became validated over the course of the last six years by carefully documented reports of the UN (ESCWA), Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty International, and even the fiercely independent Israeli NGO, B’Tselem.
In Biden’s undoubtedly unconscious display of such Orientalist insensitivity to Palestinian rights, much less their legitimate aspirations, the wording of an official statement congratulating Netanyahu, Biden warrants scrutiny:
“I look forward to working with Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has been my friend for decades, to jointly address the many challenges and opportunities facing Israel and the Middle East region, including threats from Iran.”
In the same text, the American president asserts that “the United States will continue to support the two-state solution and to oppose policies that endanger its viability or contradict our mutual interests and values.”
------------------------------------------
Have you ever asked yourself as to WHY the nations of the world would gather together to come against Judah and Jerusalem ??
What does the modern nation of "Israel" do to warrant the whole world to bring their armies down upon the hills of Israel ??
And WHY does God want the Jews and Jerusalem destroyed yet again with only his intervention saving a remnant ??
The government will promote and develop settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel – in the Galilee, the Negev, the Golan, Judea and Samaria.”
– Benjamin Netanyahu, December 30, 2022
Decoding Israeli ‘Extremism’
BY RICHARD FALK writing for Counter Punch 6th January 2023
Netanyahu’s claim of exclusive Israel’s supremacy on behalf of the Jewish people over the whole of the promised land is in direct defiance of international law.
Additionally, Netanyahu’s statement is at direct odds with Biden’s stubborn insistence, however farfetched, on reaffirming support for a two-state solution.
This zombie approach to resolving the Israel/Palestine struggle has dominated international diplomacy for years, usefully allowing the UN and its Western members to maintain their embrace of Israel
without seeming to throw the Palestinian people under the bus.
Netanyahu’s brazen avowal of Israeli unilateral expansionism foregoes earlier diplomatic charades.
It challenges the UN, Palestinian Authority, governments around the world, and transnational civil society to open finally both eyes and finally admit that the two-state solution is dead.
This pattern of expansionist priorities became especially evident in the periods following the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and after World War II.
The infamous colonial Declaration had pledged British support for ‘a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, made credible by accommodating ballooning Jewish immigration during the period of British mandatory
administration that lasted from 1923 until 1948.
Then came the UN partition resolution (UNGA Res. 181), which not only ignored Palestinian rights of self-determination by partitioning their country without a prior referendum, changing the status of the Jewish presence
from ‘national home’ within the state of Palestine to a sovereign Jewish state on fully half of Palestine.
Such impositions were greeted positively by Zionists, but rejected by representatives of the Palestinian people and by neighboring Arab governments, leading directly to the 1948 War, which resulted in the catastrophic dispossession
of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians, known to its victims as the nakba, ending with a ceasefire that increased Israel’s share of Palestine from 55% to 78%.
Then came the 1967 War, which drove Jordan out of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and dispossessed another wave of indigenous Palestinians, known among Palestinian as the naksa.
It also resulted in Israel’s prolonged occupation, supposedly temporary but the establishment of many unlawful Jewish settlements encroaching on what had been projected as a coexisting Palestinian state in the West Bank
and East Jerusalem strongly suggested that all along Israel’s leadership envisioned permanent arrangements with an endgame in mind that did not include viable Palestinian statehood.
Another strong straw in the wind back in 1967 was Israel’s immediate declaration and enactment of a sovereign claim over the whole of an enlarged Jerusalem as the ‘eternal capital’ of the Jewish state.
This incorporation of Jerusalem was repeatedly rejected by overwhelming votes in the General Assembly, duly ignored by the Israeli government.
Israel’s 2018 Basic Law proclaiming the supremacy of Jews in ‘the promised land of Israel,’ including the whole of the West Bank, came to a giant step closer to revealing the integral goals of the Zionist Project endorsed by Netanyahu
to coincide with the swearing in of his fourth go at being the Prime Minister.
Beyond this, and more formally, the once radical accusation of apartheid directed at the Israeli state became validated over the course of the last six years by carefully documented reports of the UN (ESCWA), Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty International, and even the fiercely independent Israeli NGO, B’Tselem.
In Biden’s undoubtedly unconscious display of such Orientalist insensitivity to Palestinian rights, much less their legitimate aspirations, the wording of an official statement congratulating Netanyahu, Biden warrants scrutiny:
“I look forward to working with Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has been my friend for decades, to jointly address the many challenges and opportunities facing Israel and the Middle East region, including threats from Iran.”
In the same text, the American president asserts that “the United States will continue to support the two-state solution and to oppose policies that endanger its viability or contradict our mutual interests and values.”
------------------------------------------
Have you ever asked yourself as to WHY the nations of the world would gather together to come against Judah and Jerusalem ??
What does the modern nation of "Israel" do to warrant the whole world to bring their armies down upon the hills of Israel ??
And WHY does God want the Jews and Jerusalem destroyed yet again with only his intervention saving a remnant ??
Loyal
Israel top court orders Netanyahu to remove key minister
Independent, trusted coverage of the Middle East
Read more: Israel top court orders Netanyahu to remove key minister
18th January 2023
Israel's Supreme court ruled Wednesday that a senior member of premier Benjamin Netanyahu's newly formed government cannot serve as minister due to a recent tax evasion conviction.
Netanyahu's coalition slammed the decision and vowed to push ahead with controversial measures that would weaken the Supreme Court and its power to strike down legislation.
Netanyahu returned to power as prime minister last month at the head of a coalition with extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties following Israel's November 1 election.
His appointment of Aryeh Deri as health and interior minister "could not stand" since it was "extremely unreasonable", according to a summary of the court's decision.
In a 10-1 decision, the judges said Netanyahu "must remove Deri from his position."
Deri, head of the ultra-Orthodox party Shas, admitted last year to tax evasion, was fined 180,000 shekels ($50,000) and relinquished his parliamentary seat.
The judges said Deri made it appear as if he had intended to resign from politics to get a lighter sentence. He ran for office again in the November polls.
His ministerial appointment was "in serious contradiction with the fundamental principles of the rule of law", they added.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin slammed the ruling as "absurd".
Levin, a member of Netanyahu's right-wing party Likud, announced earlier this month a controversial plan to revamp Israel's legal system, including handing more powers to lawmakers in appointing judges
and overriding Supreme Court decisions.
Independent, trusted coverage of the Middle East
Read more: Israel top court orders Netanyahu to remove key minister
18th January 2023
Israel's Supreme court ruled Wednesday that a senior member of premier Benjamin Netanyahu's newly formed government cannot serve as minister due to a recent tax evasion conviction.
Netanyahu's coalition slammed the decision and vowed to push ahead with controversial measures that would weaken the Supreme Court and its power to strike down legislation.
Netanyahu returned to power as prime minister last month at the head of a coalition with extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties following Israel's November 1 election.
His appointment of Aryeh Deri as health and interior minister "could not stand" since it was "extremely unreasonable", according to a summary of the court's decision.
In a 10-1 decision, the judges said Netanyahu "must remove Deri from his position."
Deri, head of the ultra-Orthodox party Shas, admitted last year to tax evasion, was fined 180,000 shekels ($50,000) and relinquished his parliamentary seat.
The judges said Deri made it appear as if he had intended to resign from politics to get a lighter sentence. He ran for office again in the November polls.
His ministerial appointment was "in serious contradiction with the fundamental principles of the rule of law", they added.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin slammed the ruling as "absurd".
Levin, a member of Netanyahu's right-wing party Likud, announced earlier this month a controversial plan to revamp Israel's legal system, including handing more powers to lawmakers in appointing judges
and overriding Supreme Court decisions.
Loyal
Deuteronomy 4:1 “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.
3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor.
4 But you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today.
5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?
8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children -
2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.
3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor.
4 But you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today.
5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?
8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children -
Loyal
With second attack in Jerusalem, Israel's Netanyahu is under siege - by Ben Caspit 28th Jan 2023
Only 14 hours after the mass shooting in Jerusalem, which killed seven Israelis, another attack struck as Netanyahu's far-right government looks for a heavy response.JERUSALEM — Two Israeli citizens – a father and a son – were shot and wounded Saturday morning at the Ir David east Jerusalem neighborhood.
The assailant, reportedly a 13-years-old Palestinian, was shot and wounded by the son, a soldier who carried with him his weapon.
The attack followed another attack Friday night, also in Jerusalem, where seven people were killed by a Palestinian assailant, and three others were injured.
Both attacks are apparently being considered retaliation for Wednesday's Israeli counter-terrorism raid on the West Bank town of Jenin, in which at least nine Palestinians including two civilians were killed,
the Palestinian health ministry reported.
Israel said those killed were affiliated with Islamic Jihad and Hamas in order to pre-empt attacks, including in Jerusalem.
In the unending cycle of attacks and counterattacks, over 10 rockets were fired from Gaza on southern Israel just hours after the Jenin raid. Israel responded with aerial bombings on Gaza.
From the opposition benches where he spent 18 months before returning to power last month, incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu periodically blamed the government for every attack.
He argued that "terrorists" were encouraged to act in the face of a weak and illegitimate government that included the Islamist Israeli-Arab Ra’am party and what he labeled “leftists and liberals” and was therefore imperiling Israeli lives.
Netanyahu’s old comments are coming back to bite him now, except that the opposition he faces is different. None of its leaders, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, former Defense Minister Benny Gantz and former Finance Minister
Avigdor Liberman rushed to the site of the Friday night attack and take advantage of the killings to stir up public anger and incitement against Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s situation is more complex than ever.
Israel is used to attacks, even in synagogues and even with mass casualties. But throughout its 75-year history, the helm of state was in the hands of balanced, responsible leaders who realized the implications of an unmeasured Israeli response to such attacks, and its potential for regional escalation.
This time, Netanyahu’s ruling coalition is made up of radical nationalists and ultra-religious forces, with not a moderating, balanced figure in sight.
The only one who might have fit the bill, the head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party Aryeh Deri, was fired last week in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling.
Netanyahu is surrounded by extremists known for exploiting every bloody attack on Jews to incite against Arabs.
Those radicals never missed an opportunity to boast that once in power, they would stamp out terrorism against Jews with an iron hand. Now they are there – National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister
Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, all clamoring for far-reaching crackdown measures, some of them of questionable legality, in order to make good on their vows.
These are Netanyahu’s partners on whom he depends for his political survival, hoping they can keep him out of jail by pushing through reforms that would suspend or upend the corruption charges he faces.
Netanyahu is looking around desperately for a savior from among the opposition forces allied against him – former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, even Lapid at a pinch, and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, believe it or not.
Former allies such as Netanyahu’s one-time Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon or ex-Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, or former Likud Knesset members Benny Begin and Yuval Steinitz, have all fled Netanyahu or been kicked out by him
in recent years, leaving him with the pyromaniacs he must now work with.
On Thursday, the day after the deadly Jenin raid but before the rockets from Gaza, Netanyahu convened a situation assessment with his top ministers, including Ben-Gvir. Defense Minister Yoav Galant, on a visit to the US,
took part remotely.
At issue was a planned march by hardcore right-wing activists, Ben-Gvir loyalists, through Old Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate, a perennial hotbed of violence.
Security official briefed the ministers, all the while looking at Ben-Gvir, explaining that such a parade on the day after Israeli forces killed nine Palestinian in Jenin was akin to putting a match to a dynamite keg.
Ben-Gvir was not to be dissuaded. He insisted that the security officials explain to him the link between a counter-terrorism operation in Jenin and a “tame” march in Jerusalem, and demanded to know what “excuse” would be
used to ban the event.
He was given explanations. Netanyahu himself explained the explosive nature of such activity, arguing that the event must be contained and calm be restored.
We have no desire to stir up violence prior to Ramadan, said Netanyahu, referring to the holy Muslim month less than two months from now.
When Ben-Gvir insisted that the parade be allowed, Netanyahu insisted that friction must be prevented, or else the situation could explode.
On Friday night, after the attack near the Jerusalem synagogue, Ben-Gvir arrived at the scene (despite being a religious Jew who does not drive on the Sabbath).
He was followed soon after by Netanyahu. They had to come. Staying away would have exposed them to the ire of their base at a sensitive political time for them.
Ben-Gvir, surrounded by angry neighborhood residents, conceded that it was up to him, especially as the minister in charge of the police, to crack down on terrorism.
He then joined the crowd who was calling “death to terrorists”.
Ben-Gvir will soon realize that such slogans are of little use on his new perch. There are no elections in the offing. This is real life.
Anyone who insists that millions of Israelis remain intertwined with millions of Palestinians cannot prevent terrorism by ordinary means.
If he steps up Israel’s response, he opens himself up to charges of war crimes. This is Ben-Gvir’s moment.
His promises to stamp out attacks and restore personal safety are being tested.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, is under siege, isolated together with reactionary forces, with no way out.
Loyal
Palestinians Wounded After Israeli Forces Raid In West Bank - from Al Jazeera
At least 13 Palestinians have been injured after Israeli forces raided the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp to arrest 10 people.At least 13 Palestinians have been injured, two of them seriously, after Israeli forces fired bullets, a missile and teargas during a raid of the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp in Jericho city in the occupied West Bank,
according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The Israeli forces fired an anti-tank guided missile during the raid to arrest Palestinians, Israeli radio confirmed.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society accused Israel of blocking access to ambulances. They were eventually allowed to treat the wounded after the operation ended.
Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from the West Bank city of Ramallah, said the five-hour raid was “a continuation” of the incident from last Saturday in Jenin, near Jericho.
“Jericho, a city of 37,000 people, has been essentially closed off by the Israeli military for a week as Israeli forces hunted for suspects in a drive-by shooting near an illegal Israeli settlement not far from Jericho.
“The Israeli forces have arrested 10 people which among them, we understand, were the suspects wanted for that shooting,” Smith said.
Saturday’s raid comes a week after Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians in Jenin refugee camp, the largest military raid on the camp in the northern occupied West Bank since 2002.
“This comes really as part of a very violent beginning of the year in the occupied West Bank – 36 Palestinians have been killed so far,” Al Jazeera’s Smith said.
“And all of this on the back of this new far-right Israeli government – which has a cabinet minister in it, elected by settlers determined to advance the settlement project in the occupied West Bank and make life even harder
for Palestinians than it already is.”
Aqbat Jabr, one of 19 Palestinian refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, is home to more than 8,000 people. The United Nations Refugee Agency says people there have inadequate shelter and sewage facilities.
The recent surge in killings by Israeli forces comes as part of intensified nightly raids, particularly in the northern occupied cities of Jenin and Nablus, under the banner of crushing limited Palestinian armed resistance against
Israeli occupation.
Civilians confronting Israeli forces during raids and innocent bystanders have been killed, as well as Palestinian fighters in targeted assassinations and during armed clashes.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to arm Israelis with guns amid escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The measures came in the wake of the killing of seven Israelis by a Palestinian in occupied East Jerusalem.
On Friday, Israeli forces shot dead an unarmed Palestinian man, Abdullah Sami Qalalweh, 26, in the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The toll of 36 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces so far this year includes eight children and an elderly woman, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Separately on Friday, the United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk called on Israel “to ensure that all operations of its security forces in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, are carried out with full respect
for international human rights law”.
He stressed adherence to “the rules regulating the use of force in law enforcement operations”, according to a statement from his office.
Loyal
In this time of unrest, and I'm talking unrest around the world, be careful who you follow as far as the leaders of any country go or any church for that matter.
The time is close at hand where the enemies of God will rule the world in every aspect of humanity. There will be a few, who will stand alone against them but they will also fail. As those who are against the Lord are many, and those who stand against them will be taken down.
The Children of the Most High, their Shepherd will only be Jesus. Even though they live in countries ruled by enemies of their Lord.
Now is the time for the Children of the Most High, to light their beacons and to be seen by many and not be afraid of the enemy. For God Most High will protect them. And bring them to His salvation.
The children of God will walk through the fire, with lifted heads and strength in their limbs and be unafraid.
The time is close at hand where the enemies of God will rule the world in every aspect of humanity. There will be a few, who will stand alone against them but they will also fail. As those who are against the Lord are many, and those who stand against them will be taken down.
The Children of the Most High, their Shepherd will only be Jesus. Even though they live in countries ruled by enemies of their Lord.
Now is the time for the Children of the Most High, to light their beacons and to be seen by many and not be afraid of the enemy. For God Most High will protect them. And bring them to His salvation.
The children of God will walk through the fire, with lifted heads and strength in their limbs and be unafraid.
Loyal
Knesset passes first reading of bill to give coalition control over choosing judges
After day of fiery protests and warring speeches, vote marks major step en route to gov’t authority over judicial selection; also limits the High Court’s capacity to review laws.The Knesset early Tuesday passed, in the first of three readings, a first and significant bill in the divisive effort by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition to overhaul Israel’s judiciary. It did so in the face of bitter opposition criticism and after tens of thousands of anti-reform protesters gathered outside the parliament’s Jerusalem gates.
The vote was 63 in favour and 47 against, with no abstentions, although some lawmakers boycotted the vote. The legislation now returns to the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee for preparation for its second and third
readings, which are expected by the end of March.
Paired in a back-to-back vote with a related technical bill, the legislation aims to amend the Basic Law: The Judiciary to cement government control over judicial appointments and revoke the High Court’s ability to review Basic Laws.
Sponsored by the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, the bill proposes to transform the selection process for judges, effectively putting judicial appointments under full governmental control.
It also would block the High Court from exercising oversight over Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Laws.
This block is also aimed at preventing High Court scrutiny over the same Basic Law amendment bill that creates the mechanism.
The vote was preceded by more than six hours of fiery debate in which coalition MKs insisted the legislation would strengthen Israeli democracy, while the opposition warned the government was destroying its foundations.
The vote finally took place shortly after midnight.
The vote also came after tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the Knesset waving Israeli flags and chanting “de-mo-cra-cy” as they demanded the government halt its efforts to radically transform the judiciary.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a key architect of the overhaul, hailed the vote as a move toward “bringing back democracy” by enabling wider representation on the judiciary.
Netanyahu celebrated the vote as “a great day.”
Netanyahu to overrule Israel Supreme Court