The Hasmonean dynasty, descendants of the Maccabee family, ruled Judea and surrounding areas from 141-37 BCE, during classical antiquity.

By ZACHARY KEYSER, JPOST

Aerial view of the Hasmonean estate house near Modi’in.

Israeli NGO Regavim reported that the Palestinian Authority destroyed the Jewish heritage site of Tel Aroma in the absence of Civil Administration inspectors due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to JNS.

The NGO reported that the ancient walls of the Samarian fortress and the reservoirs within were destroyed by Palestinian constructing teams, adding that PA paved an access road to bring “heavy engineering tools” to the site.
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The Worldwide Lockdown May Be the Greatest Mistake in History

By Dennis Prager

The idea that the worldwide lockdown of virtually every country other than Sweden may have been an enormous mistake strikes many — including world leaders; most scientists, especially health officials, doctors and epidemiologists; those who work in major news media; opinion writers in those media; and the hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people who put their faith in these people — as so preposterous as to be immoral. Timothy Egan of The New York Times described Republicans who wish to enable their states to open up as “the party of death.”

That’s the way it is today on planet Earth, where deceit, cowardice and immaturity now dominate almost all societies because the elites are deceitful, cowardly and immature.
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Contrary to a conservative’s warnings, sending a signal that Israel intends to stay in its historic heartland forever will do much to deflate jihadist intentions.

By Yishai Fleisher, JNS

(May 8, 2020 / JNS) In a recent New York Times article, noted Middle East scholar and pro-Israel pundit Dr. Daniel Pipes warns that Israeli application of sovereignty in parts of the “West Bank,” known as Judea and Samaria, would be a grave mistake for the Jewish state and backs up his thesis with six reasons.

However, while Pipes sees himself as pragmatic, the article is riddled with one consistent flaw: It’s entirely founded on needlessly fearful conjecture.

Fear #1: President Trump’s fury

Right off the bat, Pipes reveals his phobic perspective: “First, President Trump could well erupt in fury at Israel for unilaterally taking that step.” Read more…

OBAMAGATE

Judge Jeanine: The left’s attempted coup d’état exposed

Before Iran becomes the enemy on his southern border, Putin must let Israel and the US make up for his mistakes in Syria. Op-ed.

By Mark Langfan, INN  5/11/2020

Putin has absolutely no choice in a deal with Trump because of the upcoming US elections. At best for Putin, if Trump wins, whatever pre-election leverage Putin had in an eventual Russian/American Syria/Ukraine Deal will have been lost.

But worse, if Trump loses, any Democrat President will 1) Withdraw from Syria ceding eastern Syria and its oil to Iran, 2) flood Iran with hundreds of billions and drop all Iranian sanctions, while 3) keeping Russian sanctions on. In such a scenario, Iran will be able to militarily defeat Mother Russia in Syria.

So, for Putin it’s either make a deal now, or face a second “Afghanistan” while oil prices go down the drain wrapped in a COVID-19 chaser. Putin needs to trade Assad, Iran, and Maduro for Eastern Ukraine with a NATO-ized Western Ukraine.
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The international ‘Oversight Board’ is packed with leftists. It will wield massive power to judge what is acceptable free speech.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

By Doug Mainwaring, LSN

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 7, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — A coalition of more than 60 conservative organizations has responded to Facebook’s announcement of the creation of an international “Oversight Board” — packed with leftists and those with ties to globalist George Soros — and which will wield massive power to judge what is acceptable free speech.

“It is terrifying to imagine how a powerful, leftist group like this might … control conservative speech — speech that defends free enterprise, traditional marriage, religious freedom, the lives of the unborn, free speech and gun rights, to name but a few,” wrote the group of conservatives, known as the Free Speech Alliance (FSA), of which LifeSiteNews is a member.

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Even if a solution is found for the party to stay in the government, it is presumed at this juncture that Bennett will not continue on as defense minister.

By Tovah Lqazaroff, JPOST

Defense Minister Naftali Bennett during a West Bank visit

Yamina Party leader Naftali Bennett’s brief sojourn as defense minister – just six months – was nothing short of a tsunami when it came to entrenching Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria in advance of pending plans to annex 30% of the West Bank.

One could argue that he was the right man, in the right place, at the right time. Bennett’s predecessor, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman, could not play that role, even though he lives in the Nokdim settlement. Time was not on his side.

Liberman served in the pre-election period (May 2016-November 2018), when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was nervous about taking bold actions in Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu then held the Defense Ministry portfolio, prior to Bennett.

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By Burak Bekdil, BESA

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Between 1994 and 2015, the Kurdish vote in Turkey rose from 4.1% to 13.1%. A greying Turkey is facing a baby boom in Kurdistan: the Kurdish fertility rate, at 3.41, is a demographic weapon against the Turkish fertility rate of 2.09. These numbers suggest that Kurds could be the kingmakers in Turkey’s presidential election in 2023.

The recipe for the spread of political Islam, as founded by ideologues like Hasan Banna and Sayyid Qutb, is well-known: win Muslim hearts and minds by establishing and spreading religious, welfare, and educational institutions and facilities. The object is to create a classless, populist network that will ultimately legitimize political Islam at the ballot box. You cannot defeat the enemy by guns and artillery, but you can do it with headcount.

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Biden: “There is no question that you’ve got the right guy with the right influence.”

By Daniel Greenfield, FPM

Outside the JW Marriot in Los Angeles, Rev. Eddie Perez Romero was being handcuffed by the LAPD.

Rev. Romero was holding up a “Free China” sign outside a Chinese Ministry of Commerce conference. Inside was the LAPD’s boss Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, along with Governor Jerry Brown, and Vice President Joe Biden, who were palling around with China’s future dictator, Xi Jinping.

“My hope is that Vice President Joseph Biden, Governor Jerry Brown and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will rise above any pandering spirit, but as true statesmen, intentionally blur the artificial line between the economy and human rights,” Rev. Romero said.
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by Matthew Mainen, MEFORUM

The upcoming visit to Jerusalem of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (right, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year) provides the perfect opportunity to begin the process of extending Israeli sovereignty over territory designated in the Trump administration’s peace plan.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is arriving in Israel on Wednesday to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His visit presents a perfect opportunity, at a perfect time—with most of the globe preoccupied with the COVID-19 pandemic—for the two to announce that Israel will begin to implement U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan and annex parts of the Jewish-inhabited portions of the West Bank.

Though tempers around the world likely will flare, no sane government will shift its focus from managing the coronavirus crisis to intervening in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Cynical realpolitik? You bet.
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“I did not feel any pain at all. I do not know how to explain it,” said Kamel Abdel Rahman. “The rod just went through, one side to the other,” recalled one of the Hadassah doctors.

By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN, JPOST

Image of rod through Kamel Abdel Rahman’s head(photo credit: HADASSAH SPOKESPERSON)

Four weeks ago, Kamel Abdel Rahman, 46, went to visit the apartment he is building for his family. He turned the wrong way and fell from the second floor onto a iron rod that penetrated right through his head.

“I couldn’t move, so I called for help – I was shouting,” Rahman recalled. “I was conscious and I did not feel any pain at all. I do not know how to explain it.”His family members who were with him instantly ran to him and saw what had happened.

“I saw the expression on their faces, the shock, and I heard them screaming,” Rahman continued. “I know the situation must be serious.”
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by Daniel Pipes JNS May 10, 2020

I hardly expected my article to arouse high emotions. It deals with a tactical issue distant from philosophical foundations, principles or ideology.

As Aristotle long ago recognized, virtue is the midpoint between extremes. And I found myself smack at that midpoint in recent days.

I published a modest article suggesting six reasons why the Jewish state should not extend its sovereignty to a Palestinian-majority territory. (Confusingly, the New York Times titled the May 7 online version “Annexing the West Bank Would Hurt Israel” and the slightly different May 8 print version as “Annexation Would Hurt Israel.”)

I hardly expected the article to arouse high emotions. It deals with a tactical issue distant from philosophical foundations, principles, or ideology. I did not condemn annexation in principle but only argued that now, given today’s circumstances, the tradeoff looks unfavorable compared to the status quo. I evaluated the topic from a mainstream friend-of-Israel vantage point. I did not instruct Israelis what to do but addressed fellow Americans.
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By Victor Rosenthal

Discussions of “annexation” by Israel’s new unity government have triggered shrieks of outrage from the usual suspects, from Mahmoud Abbas to the EU to Joe Biden. The Arab League announced that it would be a “new war crime…against the Palestinian people.” The Israeli Left is up in arms. Even the American Union for Reform Judaism got into the act.

They should calm down.

What is proposed isn’t new, it directly affects virtually no Palestinian Arabs, it is not “illegal under international law,” and it isn’t a “war crime.” As part of the Trump plan, it is perhaps the most practical path to ending the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs that doesn’t involve war. Read more…

STARTS AT 3:10

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is reportedly pushing to penalize Jerusalem if it moves ahead with plans to apply Israeli law to parts of Judea and Samaria.

By Ariel Kahana and Israel Hayom Staff

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell | Photo: Reuters

The European Union’s Foreign Affairs Commission is reportedly debating punitive measures against Israel should it push forward with its plans to annex parts of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, in accordance with the Trump administration Middle East peace plan.

Source familiar with the move told Israel Hayom that EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is the one pushing for sanctions.
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National-religious faction accuses Likud of being “grossly disrespectful” during coalition talks, says it will “continue to serve the public” from the benches of the opposition as it “prepares for the ‘day after Netanyahu .'”

By Ariel Kahana and Yehuda Shlezinger, ISRAEL HAYOM

Yamina leader Naftali Bennett and MK Ayelet Shaked | Photo: Oren Ben Hakoon>

The national-religious Yamina faction announced Sunday that its coalition talks with Likud have failed and it will be joining the benches of the opposition in the coming Knesset, where it will be “preparing for the day after Netanyahu.”

The faction, an alliance of the Habayit Hayehudi, the National Union, and New Right parties claimed throughout the coalition talks that despite being a pivotal part of the right-wing block shoring up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu future government, Likud has failed to offer it any of the major government portfolios.
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www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

In the 10th May 20 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

• Two major Israeli antibody projects bring new hope to coronavirus patients.
• Israeli sniff test detects which comatose patients will recover.
• An Israeli aid organization is helping combat coronavirus in all 5 continents.
• Israeli VR technology is rehabilitating recovered coronavirus patients.
• Intel has acquired Israel’s Moovit for $900 million.
• Watch two hugely inspiring Israeli musical videos.
• The number of Aliya applications has surged during the pandemic.

Read more…