Report says sides agreed that PM’s approval will only be needed at an initial stage in planning process and not at every step of the way, as is currently the case

By TOI STAFF     23 December 2022, 10:33 pm  

Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Religious Zionist party head Bezalel Smotrich and other party leaders in a group photo after the swearing-in of the 25th Knesset, November 15, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)<
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Incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly agreed to relinquish significant control over the approval process for West Bank settlement construction to far-right leader Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party.

As part of the coalition agreement reached between Netanyahu’s Likud party and Religious Zionism, the prime minister’s approval will only be required at an initial stage of the planning process, when the government decides the scope and location of projects to be placed on the docket of the Civil Administration’s High Planning Subcommittee — the Defense Ministry body that authorizes settlement construction, the Kan public broadcaster reported Friday.

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According to the midrash, Hannah, daughter of Matityahu, sister of the Maccabees, was a key figure in the Hanukkah story. What does the midrash tell us of the woman who stood up to protect her Jewish sisters? How did she use her wedding day to spark the fire of rebellion in her brothers?

By Ayala Deckel

Elizabeth Richman holding a jug, 1926. Courtesy of Archive Network Israel in collaboration with the Yad Ben-Zvi Institute, the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage and the National Library of Israel

According to the midrash, the entire Hanukkah miracle is based on the act of one brave (and today largely forgotten) woman who dared to speak aloud what everyone else knew but would not say. Her declaration led her brothers to start a rebellion. She was the true heroine and instigator of the festival of Hanukkah.

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T. Belman. In my opinion, being only 13% more likely than whites is not a big difference. Am I wrong?

World Israel News: A newly released FBI report on antisemitic hate crimes in the U.S. has angered major American Jewish organizations, as the report failed to include statistics from New York City, Los Angeles and Miami – the three cities with the largest Jewish populations in the U.S.

An academic paper explores the character and sources of black anti-Semitism

By Charles Fain Lehman, WASH FREE BEACON • December 21, 2022<
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From Kanye West endorsing Hitler to Kyrie Irving inviting followers to watch a documentary about how blacks are the true Jews, anti-Semitism from prominent black figures has been in the news. A recent study explores the phenomenon of black anti-Semitism more broadly, ruling out popular explanations—and excuses—for its frequency.

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Debunking the suicidal “2 State Solution” in the heartland of Israel.

By Rachel Neuwirth, FPM

People talk of a ‘Middle East Peace Process’ which involves the Palestinians and Israel. They talk about advancing a “two-state solution.” That process is a total illusion which has nothing to do with peace. It has everything to do with accelerating a process begun in ancient times. That process was and remains the effort to finally eradicate the Jewish idea of G-d as the creator of all and the source of the moral law which includes The Ten Commandments.>

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‘These are not normal times’

By Bob Unruh, WND

A lawsuit that actually could challenge American election results, and possibly overturn them, is heading for a conference in the U.S. Supreme Court in just weeks.

The case does not allege the 2020 election was stolen.

Instead, it alleges “that a large majority of Congress, by failing to investigate such serious allegations of election rigging and breaches of national security, violated their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” according to a report in the Gateway Pundit.

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T. Belman. Biden invited Zelensky to address Congress as he thought it would help get the $1.7 T Omnibus Bill passed. Afterwards, Putin said that he had given up all hope of a peaceful settlement.  The $45 B that was approved for 2023, was for economic and security assistance only.  It will do nothing to change the outcome of the war. Watch this Video.

Ukrainian president’s address to Congress highlights splits in GOP over financial support for the country

By Natalie Andrews and Lindsay Wise, WSJ    22.12.22

WASHINGTON—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to Congress in a joint meeting showcased the divide between Republicans who want to support the beleaguered nation’s fight against Russia and those who have become critical of the billions in aid money the U.S. is sending.

Making a direct appeal to lawmakers Wednesday in his first trip outside his country since Russia invaded last February, Mr. Zelensky said that aid to Ukraine wasn’t charity, but “an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.”

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BY ELLIOT NAZAR, FOREIGN DESK   DEC 23, 2022

Demonstrators march in solidarity with protesters in Iran on October 15, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. | Omer Messinger/Getty Images

Following the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini at the hands of the Islamic morality police in September over her hijab wear, young and old Iranians have taken to the streets throughout Iran to protest the Islamic Republic and its radical Sharia laws. As protests surpass 100 days, Iranians continue to march throughout the country in town squares, local neighborhoods, bazaars, and universities, calling for an end to the mullahs’ reign, despite facing brutal repression from the Islamic Republic’s security forces.<

Here are five things to know about 100 days of protests in Iran.

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T. Belman. The learn how intolerant Islam is of Christians and Christian symbols read this:

Christmas Time: When the West Appeases and Islam Slaughters

A literal “War on Christmas.”

December 23, 2022 by Raymond Ibrahim, FPM

By Jewish News Syndicate (JNS)

On Dec. 23, hundreds will gather to hear from two dozen “distinguished scholars and presenters” from the Muslim world — who are actually radical Islamists — as part of the 2022 “Reviving the Islamic Spirit” conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The annual Islamic conference has become one of North America’s largest Islamic gatherings and the largest Islamic conference in Canada.

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By David Israel, JEWISH PRESS

According to JTA, more than 330 American clergy from the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist progressive movements––“including some who occupy prominent roles in major cities”––have issued a “Call to Action for Clergy in Protest of Israeli Government Extremists,” pledging to ban members of the Religious Zionist alliance from speaking at their synagogues, and lobby to ban them from speaking anywhere in their communities.

Needless to say, not a single Orthodox rabbi has signed the “call for action.”

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By Olivia Murray, AMER THINKER

February marked the re-animation of the perpetual conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and for the first time since then, Zelensky left his homeland, and yesterday, touched down in the heart of the political Swamp — shocker, he fit right in.

To set the stage, Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday:

Providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the number one priority for the United States right now….
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T. Belman. This is unconscionable but it is typical of the Left. These Rabbis disrespect our democracy and refuse to engage with Smotrich and Ben Gvir in order to  understand them better. They also disrespect the Talmud which always includes dissenting opinions. They are both closeminded and virtue-signalling. Their religion is progressivism rather than Jewish.

Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist leaders sign letter pledging to not allow some of Netanyahu’s coalition partners from speaking in their synagogues

By RON KAMPEAS, TOI

JTA — More than 330 American rabbis, including some who occupy prominent roles in major cities, are pledging to block far-right members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming government from speaking at their synagogues and will lobby to keep them from speaking in their communities.

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Emerging deals between Likud and partners also provide for death penalty for terrorists, advancing annexation, potential anti-LGBT discrimination, gender-segregated public events

By TOI STAFF

Ending a ban on MKs who incite racism

Otzma Yehudit, led by far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir, said it had reached an agreement to pass legislation that will end a ban on individuals who incite racism from serving in the Knesset.
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Israel’s controversial Maccabean Three may be channeling Jewish history all over again. 

By Melanie Phillips, INN    Dec 23, 2022, 8:19 AM

Melanie PhillipsCourtesy

(JNS) Liberal Jews in both the Diaspora and Israel have been hyperventilating over the “extremist” ministers in the incoming government headed by Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.

These are the rabble-rouser Itamar Ben-Gvir, the theocrat Bezalel Smotrich and the ultra-socially conservative Avi Maoz.

With Netanyahu insisting that he will keep these three on a short leash, the rational position is to judge this government on what it actually does rather than wildly denouncing these men on the basis of their previous behavior.

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T. Belman. According to the article, most of the Olim from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus totaling 52,000 are not Jews..  I assume this means most are not halachic Jews.. We are not informed how many of these came under the grandfather clause and how many without any Jewish connection. Nor does it tell us if this total includes refugees who were given temporary visas.

According to Agency data, 70,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel, most of them from Russia and Ukraine.

Israel National News

Jewish Agency Chairman Maj. Gen. (Res.) Doron Almog with new immigrants Jewish Agency

The Jewish Agency for Israel is wrapping up 2022, marking a record year with a total of 70,000 olim (immigrants) from 95 different countries immigrating to Israel with the Agency’s assistance, in cooperation with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration. This represents a record number of olim for the past 23 years and a dramatic increase from 2021 when around 28,600 new immigrants arrived in Israel.

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Steve Turley

Why an ideology so graphically repudiated by history – and so bloody in its application – continues to endure.

by Bruce Thornton, FPM

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 sparked a wave of optimism and triumphalism across the West. Our nuclear-armed rival and ideological enemy had suddenly disappeared, taking with it the shadow of nuclear apocalypse. But for the Left, since 1917 the Soviet Union had been the locus of the hopes and dreams of leftist collectivism. Now history, understood as an ideological game of thrones, had ended, dashing that hope. Liberal democracy, private property, and free-market capitalism had prevailed, and no credible alternative remained.

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“This anti-racism law has never been used against Arabs, only Jews,” explains Otzma Yehudit head.

Israel National News

(R. to l.) Baruch Marzel, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Dr. Michael Ben AriNoam Rivkin Fenton/Flash 90, Eliran Aharon, Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90

New details have emerged regarding the coalition agreement between the Likud and Otzma Yehudit parties which are likely to satisfy right-wing figures such as Bentzi Gopstein, Baruch Marzel, and Dr. Michael Ben Ari.

Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has acceded to the demand of Otzma Yehudit head and National Security Minister-designate Itamar Ben-Gvir to cancel Clause 7A of the Basic Law: Knesset, which prevents anyone who incites toward racism or who negates the existence of Israel as a Jewish-democratic state from running for the Knesset.

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National-Religious Chief Rabbi to be appointed, programs to enhance Jewish identity promoted.

By Hezki Baruch, INN

MK Bezalel SmotrichYonatan Sindel/Flash90

With the parties of the incoming government poised to sign coalition agreements, details are beginning to emerge. The first agreement the Likud party intends to sign on Thursday is with the Religious Zionism party, headed by MK Bezalel Smotrich.

One of the clauses in their agreement is a commitment to promote an amendment to the Religious Public Education Law, designed to formalize and enhance the status and authority of the state-religious public education system.

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