Surprise -Surprise--PLO lying-Palestinians Hiding Bullet that Killed Journalist, Refuse to Cooperate with Investigation and Survey Shows 75% of Israeli Arabs Believe Jews Have No Rights on the Land of Israel By David Israel and Recipe for Temple Mount Explosion: Israel and Palestinians in Parallel WorldsBy JCPA- Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement.
Palestinians Hiding Bullet that Killed Journalist, Refuse to Cooperate with Investigation
Israeli official said that Israel has called for a joint pathological investigation, "but the Palestinians are refusing, perhaps in order to hide the truth."
By Aryeh Savir, TPS
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has officially refused Israel's offer to conduct a joint investigation into the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and has again blamed Israel for the incident.
Abu Akleh was killed during an clash between Palestinian terrorists and IDF forces in Jenin on Wednesday morning, and the IDF has launched an investigation into the incident.
Hussein al-Sheik, the PA minister entrusted with the ties with Israel, stated Thursday that "Israel has requested a joint investigation and to be handed over the bullet that assassinated the journalist Shireen, we refused that, and we affirmed that our investigation would be completed independently."
The PA will inform Abu Akleh's family, the US, Qatar, and "all official authorities and the public of the results of the investigation with high transparency," he said.
"All of the indicators, the evidence and the witnesses confirm her assassination by Israeli special units," he alleged, offering no proof.
Dr. Ryan al-Ali of the Pathological Institute at a-Najah University in Shechem (Nablus) said at a press conference on Wednesday that there was no evidence that Abu Akleh's shooting was carried out at close range, and it is not possible to determine with certainty whether the IDF or terrorists shot her.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced Wednesday that Israel will communicate its findings on Abu Akleh's death "in a clear and transparent manner to our American friends, as well as to the Palestinian Authority" and other countries.
Preliminary findings from the investigation conducted by the IDF indicate that no Israeli gunfire was directed at the journalist, "however the investigation is ongoing," said Gantz.
IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi appointed a dedicated team led by Brigadier General Menny Liberty, commander of the Commando Battalion, to investigate the incident.
"We are currently in the midst of an ongoing investigation of the incident – it is important that we uncover the truth about how it unfolded," said Gantz.
Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan stated "protecting freedom of the press is of critical importance to Israel".
Abu Akleh was "killed in Jenin, where many of the Palestinian terrorists who recently murdered 19 Israelis came from. She was killed during a counter-terror operation and we express sorrow for her loss," he noted.
The PA "rushed to blame Israel without even the ability to know the facts. That is why we called on the Palestinian Authority to be transparent and agree to a joint investigation. They have refused. Her death is a tragedy but no one should use it for political gains, especially those who violate human rights on a daily basis," he stated.
The autopsy suggested by Israel could determine the caliber of the bullet from which Abu Akleh was killed. The terrorists usually use Kalashnikov rifles with a larger 7.62-mm caliber, as opposed to the 5.56 mm caliber rounds shot by the IDF's M-16 rifles.
A government official said that Israel has called for a joint pathological investigation, "but the Palestinians are refusing, perhaps in order to hide the truth.
The Three Musketeers at the Kotel
The Three are Rabbi Yehuda Glick, famous temple mount activist, and former Israel Mk, and then Robert Weinger, the world's greatest shofar blower and seller of Shofars, and myself after we had gone to the 12 gates of the Temple Mount in 2020 to blow the shofar to ask G-d to heal the world from the Pandemic. It was a highlight to my experience in living in Israel and I put it on my blog each day to remember.
The articles that I include each day are those that I find interesting, so I feel you will find them interesting as well. I don't always agree with all the points of each article but found them interesting or important to share with you, my readers, and friends. It is cathartic for me to share my thoughts and frustrations with you about life in general and in Israel. As a Rabbi, I try to teach and share the Torah of the G-d of Israel as a modern Orthodox Rabbi. I never intend to offend anyone but sometimes people are offended and I apologize in advance for any mistakes. The most important psychological principle I have learned is that once someone's mind is made up, they don't want to be bothered with the facts, so, like Rabbi Akiva, I drip water (Torah is compared to water) on their made-up minds and hope that some of what I have share sinks in. Love Rabbi Yehuda Lave.
Survey Shows 75% of Israeli Arabs Believe Jews Have No Rights on the Land of Israel By David Israel
The Israel Defense and Security Forum (ISDF) / HaBithonistim, an Israeli movement established in 2020 by retired senior members of the defense establishment (IDF, Shin Bet, Mossad, and Israel Police), on Monday released the results of a survey they conducted on the anniversary of the 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls (ערביי ישראל: ליהודים אין זכות בארץ), showing, among other things, that only 25% of Israeli Arabs believe that the Jewish people have a right to sovereignty in the Land of Israel, and a considerable majority – about 75% – believe that the Jewish people do not have such a right.
The survey, which examined the feelings of Israelis regarding security and governance, was conducted among a sample of 1,068 people, Jews and Arabs.
On the Jewish side, 69% expressed concern about the fate of the state, and 67% believe that firearms and fines should be used to prevent riots and frictions involving Jews and Arabs. 72% of Jewish respondents endorsed using aggressive means to disperse riots, as well as revoking civil rights and state funds (70%).
The vast majority of Israelis – 66% – have no faith in the police. Among Arabs, this figure stands at 73%.
When Arab respondents were asked what they would do should Israel be attacked by Arab countries, 23% said they would support the attackers, while 26% said they would support the Israeli side. Meanwhile, 51% admitted they would stand on the sidelines and not support either side.
Asked for their view on the recently proposed National Guard, which would fill the gaps left uncovered by the existing security apparatus, 66% of overall respondents supported the initiative. But only 44% of Arab respondents liked the idea. At the same time, 37% of Israeli Arabs would enlist in such a National Guard should it be established. Among Jews, 54% would join.
As to media coverage of violence in the mixed cities and in Judea and Samaria, 70% of the Jews believe the media coverage is pro-Arab – as do 33% of Arab respondents.
On its website, HaBithonistim state: "Our vision includes the establishment of a Zionist, security-based institution whose aim is to ensure that Israel's safety is always positioned at the head of the list of national priorities, in order to ensure the freedom and sovereignty of the Jewish people in their homeland, for future generations. In order to fulfil this vision, we are building a broad-based movement, led by senior commanders from all branches of the armed forces, which will work to keep Israeli policy focused on its security, making sure the right voices are heard by both the Israeli public and its decision makers."
Recipe for Temple Mount Explosion: Israel and Palestinians in Parallel Worlds
Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount on Passover walk by breadcrumbs––and glass shards for the barefooted––that were left for them by the Muslims, April 20, 222.
The events around the Temple Mount and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, with the growing tension between Israel and the Palestinians, largely reflect the completely different ways the two sides view the reality around the mount, particularly Israel's actions there. That disparity stems from different perceptual frameworks.
In the Israeli perceptual framework, Israel is a state that seeks stability and is committed to the status quo on the Temple Mount, to the freedom of worship for all religions in Jerusalem, and to maintaining public order. However, the status quo is challenged by extremist groups from both sides, and Israel is taking the necessary measures to prevent them from undermining stability, including using reasonable force. It is thereby exercising its sovereignty and the responsibility entailed by it.
However, many Palestinians, along with many Israeli Arabs and Muslims worldwide, plus international actors mainly on the Left, see the existence of the nation-state of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel as lacking all justification. In their view, Israel's presence in east Jerusalem is illegal, and Israel as a state, and not just the marginal messianic groups within it, seeks to alter the status quo on the Temple Mount.
Palestinians wave flags of Palestine and hold large Hamas banner reading "Jerusalem isn't for sale" at the golden-topped Dome of the Rock while celebrating Eid Al-Fitr (Quds News Network, May 2, 2022)
This is not a worldview unique to radical political Islam, spearheaded by Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The Palestinian Authority is convinced that this Israeli threat to the Al Aqsa compound reflects the actual state of affairs, along with Jordan and many other actors in the Arab and Islamic world. Not long ago, Jordan convened a gathering of Arab foreign ministers, including representatives of the United Arab Emirates and Morocco—which, a month earlier, had taken part in the "Negev Summit" in Israel — to discuss Israel's actions. A look at the resolutions of this conference indicates that all these actors are thoroughly convinced of the justice of their claims—that Israel is curtailing Muslims' and Christians' freedom of worship; seeks to apportion the prayer times on the Temple Mount just as in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron; is using force against Palestinian worshippers and youth far beyond what is necessary, including acts of dangerous, unjustified, and violent forced entry to the Al-Aqsa Mosque; and is likely to spark a conflagration.
Some of these actors, particularly Hamas, the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Qatar, and Iran, see the threat of escalation as a means to counteract Israel and also to boost their own political status. Others see it as a way of damaging Israel's international and regional status while also preventing a slide into a high-intensity violent confrontation that could jeopardize their own uncertain status as well.
Palestinian rioters on the Temple Mount. (Photo by Israeli Police)
Is It Possible to Contend with Years of Incitement?
Much has been said lately about the impotence of Israeli public diplomacy in contending with lies aimed at puncturing Israel's international status and inflaming passions. Indeed, Israel's public diplomacy is far from adequately fighting back against these lies. The problem, however, is much worse: the perceptual framework by which Israel's enemies and adversaries internalize the reality is a product of long years of indoctrination and incitement based on religious beliefs and core values of Arab and Palestinian nationalism that portray the Jews in general, the Zionists in particular, and the settlers all the more, as the ultimate evil.
For many Palestinians, the claim that Al-Aqsa is in danger is not just an incendiary slogan but a deep-seated belief. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas sometimes explains that it was the Jews' nature and their spheres of activity that caused their persecution in Europe. As Israel was observing Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), more than 200,000 Palestinian Muslims gathered on the Temple Mount to mark "Laylat al-Qadr" (the night on which the Koran was given to Muhammad), and they proclaimed: "In blood and spirit we will redeem you, O Al-Aqsa!" Some of them added: "Khaybar, Khaybar O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return!" (referring to the Prophet Muhammad's killing of the Jews of the oasis of Khaybar). As Einstein put it, "It is harder to crack prejudice than an atom."
In an interview with Christiane Amanpour on CNN, Prime Minister Bennett strongly objected to the claim of symmetry regarding terror. There is no symmetry, either, regarding incitement and education for hatred. In contrast to Israel, in the territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, education for denying Israel's right to exist and for contempt of Zionists is a fundamental, institutionalized plank, both domestically and in public diplomacy. By leveraging the image of the Palestinians' victimhood, they aim to infuse the international discourse with the Palestinian narrative that denies the existence of the Jewish people and their right to a nation-state, not even on one grain of the soil of the Land of Israel/Palestine. The Zionist endeavor is portrayed as colonialist activity and Israel as an apartheid state, accompanied by declarations that the Zionists are utterly evil and all the disadvantaged groups must unite in the struggle against them. The claim that Hamas is behind this effort is only partially correct; the Palestinian Authority is leading it in the international sphere.
The Benefits Will Not Help
As part of this indoctrination, the Palestinians deny the existence of the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount. They have indeed been able to advance resolutions in UNESCO, the UN General Assembly, and even the Security Council that ignore the site's holiness to Jews and the Jewish connection to Jerusalem. The most important of these is UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which the Obama administration promoted toward the end of its tenure. Moreover, the Palestinians make sure to use the name "Beit al-Maqdis al-Mazum"—a temple whose existence they falsely claim—whenever alluding to the Jewish Temple, asserting that despite its efforts, Israel has not managed to find archeological evidence of the Jewish Temple's existence. Several years ago, I spoke with a senior Palestinian official well-versed in Jewish history, and I expressed bafflement about the insistence on denying a historical fact. He told me that he, too, had personally expressed perplexity on that score to Arafat and was answered with the question, "What pension are you supposed to receive?" After that, he stopped asking hard questions.
Israel regards the Palestinian issue as a nuisance. With no possibility of reaching a permanent solution and seeking to ensure stability in the short term, it has decided to strengthen the Palestinian Authority and pacify the Gaza Strip with material benefits. It prefers to avoid a confrontation with the PA and Hamas on the issue of implementing sovereignty in Jerusalem and Arab population concentrations, and likewise around its international image. This approach indeed has certain advantages in the short term. However, it is likely to exact substantial costs in the medium and the long term because it creates a sense of achievement among our enemies, raises their hopes of further achievements in the conflict over who is right, and erodes Israeli deterrence.
(Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser is Director of the Project on Regional Middle East Developments at the Jerusalem Center. He was formerly Director-General of the Israel Ministry of Strategic Affairs and head of the Research Division of IDF Military Intelligence)
