To provide greater exposure to primary Israeli news sources and opinions in order to become better informed on the issues, and to gain a better understanding of the wide range of perspectives that exist in Israeli society and politics. Issue 1040 • January 20, 2017 • 22 Tevet 5777

LIBERMAN TELLS GAZANS TO ‘KICK HAMAS OUT’ (JPost 1/18/17) COALITION AGREES TO SUPPORT BANISHING TERRORIST FAMILIES Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman called on the citizens of Gaza to (Arutz-7 INN.com 1/16/17) overthrow the Hamas regime and promised that Israeli support and The coalition decided at the last minute to support Wednesday the proposal assistance for the Palestinian population in the territory will be forthcoming if to banish the families of terrorists, which would allow the Interior Minister to such an uprising takes place. initiate the banishing of those involved in terror activity and their families from Liberman made his comments in a wide-ranging speech at the Netanya East Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority or abroad. Academic College Wednesday night, during which he also lamented the The bill will be submitted for its initial reading and the coalition will support it, retreat by the US from regional events in the Middle East, and said that even though the Ministerial Legislative Committtee voted Sunday to postpone without a broad, inclusive agreement with moderate Arab states, the the discussion of the bill for three months. Palestinians would never themselves agree to end the conflict with Israel. Earlier Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid, a signatory on the bill, announced that he The defense minister and Yisrael Beytenu chairman began by rejecting the intended to bring it to vote tomorrow even without coalition support. In the premise of UN Security Council Resolution 2334 and the Paris Peace wake of this announcement, coalition head David Bitan spoke with Interior Conference that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is central to the broader Minister Aryeh Deri under whose jurisdiction the bill would be implemented problems of the Middle East. and Deri agreed to support the bill. Liberman ascribed the severe instability and violence across the region to Bitan said: "I'm glad that Interior Minister Deri acceded to my request and high unemployment, low economic development and opportunity, and high understood the need for this important tool. This is another tool which will population growth. turn the tide in the war against terror. In many cases the families of terrorists Pointing specifically to Gaza, he described the activities of Hamas as express support and even encourage the attacker and we must allow more “daylight robbery,” accusing the terrorist organization of taking taxes from tools to be used in the battle against terror, especially that of lone terrorists." Gaza’s residents which he said “are not going to benefit those residents, not to the health system or education, or the electricity grid, but to make missiles, AYELET SHAKED: ARAB MKS TO BLAME FOR DEATHS (JPost 1/19/17) weapons and tunnels – and people aren’t willing to tolerate this.” Joint List and Hadash chairman Ayman Odeh brought about the death of Sr.- Liberman was referencing recent protests staged in Gaza against the St.-Sgt.-Maj. Erez Levi on Wednesday, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said. electricity shortage in the territory, which has stirred unrest and created “Along with left-wing NGOs, Odeh’s incitement terrorism is leading to the difficulties for the Hamas regime. never-ending unrest of the Negev Beduin residents,” she wrote on Facebook. He also pointed to the much better economic opportunities and calmer “Instead of promoting coexistence and dialogue, they dragged the situation to security situation in the West Bank as evidence of the efficacy of economic violence and anger.” development for security, saying that “a successful Palestinian economy is in Shaked continued, “I also accuse the Arab MKs who were there [at Umm al- the security interest of Israel.” He continued, “If the residents of Gaza took responsibility for their own fate Israel Report is a Student Publication of and got rid of Hamas, we would be the first to build industrial zones there at Kerem Shalom and Erez crossing and build a seaport and airport. Daniel Zolty, Editor-in-Chief There is potential, but the ball is in their court.” Yonatan Kurz, Moshe Davis, Alex Ostrin and Yoav Zolty, Editors We are proud to be distributed by these institutions, though they do not necessarily support or condone any of the material published: HAMAS, FATAH ANNOUNCE DEAL TO FORM PALESTINIAN UNITY Anshei Chesed Cong., Boynton Beach, FL Hillel at Brandeis University GOVERNMENT (Ha’aretz 1/18/17) Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies Hillel at California State University - Long Beach Boca Raton Synagogue, FL Hillel at Columbia University Hamas and Fatah have agreed to establish a Palestinian unity government, Carmel School, Hong Kong Hillel at Johns Hopkins University the two factions said in a statement from Moscow, where they were holding Cong. Agudath Achim, Bradley Beach, NJ Hillel at Yale University Cong. Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, NJ Hillel High School, Deal NJ unity talks since Sunday. Cong. Ahavath Achim, Fairfield, CT Jewish Center of Teaneck, NJ According to the deal reached in Moscow, the Palestinian factions – including Cong. Anshe Shalom, Jamaica Estates, NY Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi, Cedarhurst, NY Cong. Anshe Sholom, New Rochelle, NY Kemp Mill Synagogue, Silver Spring, MD the Islamic Jihad – will join the PLO institutions and form a new Palestinian Cong. Beth Aaron, Teaneck, NJ Mizrachi Shul, Johannesburg, SA National Council. The new council will select the PLO Executive Committee, Cong. Beth Shalom, Monroe Twp, NJ North Shore Hebrew Academy HS, NY Cong. Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, NJ Suburban Torah Center, Livingston, NJ the top political and diplomatic Palestinian body. Cong. Etz Ahaim, Highland Park, NJ The Learning Shul, Columbia, SC The Palestinian factions agreed that over the next two months new members Cong. Ohr Torah, Edison, NJ Woodsburgh, NY Minyan will be elected to the National Council and the sides will try to form a new Cong. Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, NJ Young Israel Bet Tefilah of Aberdeen, NJ Cong. Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, NJ Young Israel of Brookline, MA government. Cong. Sons of Israel, Allentown, PA Young Israel of East Brunswick, NJ A Fatah senior official taking part in the talks in Moscow told Haaretz that Cong. Zichron Mordechai, Teaneck, NJ Young Israel of Fort Lee, NJ Cong. Zichron R. M. Feinstein, Brooklyn, NY Young Israel of Hancock Park, CA "The conditions are ripe for a new unity government, both in the internal Delray Orthodox Synagogue, Delray Beach, FL Young Israel of Holliswood, NY arena and the international one." East Denver Orthodox Synagogue, CO Young Israel of Houston, TX Flatbush Park Jewish Center, Mill Basin, NY Young Israel of New Hyde Park, NY The official mentioned the recent peace conference in Paris, the UN Security Harvard University Library Young Israel of North Woodmere, NY Council resolution criticizing the settlements and U.S. President-elect Donald Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, NY Young Israel of New Rochelle, NY Hillel at Baruch College Young Israel of Sharon, MA Trump's election as some of the reasons behind the deal. "A unity YI Shomrai Emunah, Silver Spring, MD government is of strategic importance for the Palestinians," he said. We encourage our readers to subscribe to our sources on the internet. For more information or to subscribe by e-mail, reach us at [email protected] 2 Hiran on Wednesday]; this is not the first time that some of the Joint List goals is to improve and modernize the West Bank water infrastructure, which members and Balad MKs are causing bloodshed. [Balad MK Haneen] Zoabi is essential to the fabric of normal life for those who live there. in [the Mavi] Marmara [incident in 2010], [former Balad chairman Azmi] According to the agreement, the JWC will reconvene after not having met Bishara in the case of Hezbollah, [Balad MK Basel] Ghattas assisting regularly for six years. It will discuss the allocation of additional water to the murderers and Odeh fanning the flames with incitement that leads to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, increasing water sources with new drilling, murder of a policeman. environmental issues, water tariffs, agricultural water use and promoting “They are outlaws hiding behind the mask of protectors of the law,” she said. hydrological matters. The agreement will allow the laying of new pipes for Balad and Hadash are two of the four parties that make up the Joint List. water, sewage and effluent quickly and efficiently. Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel (Bayit Yehudi), who is in charge of regulating the Another result is that new projects should be able to advance quickly, Beduin settlements in the Negev, said: “It [when a car drove into police on including planning new water lines to increase the capacity existing ones Wednesday] was a grave terrorist attack against an Israeli policeman who which have reached their limit. The committee will work on coordinating joint came to enforce the law in the illegal settlement of Umm al-Hiran. water-reservoir usage in preparation for the coming summer months. “Unfortunately, the violence was encouraged by Arab MKs who fan the Meanwhile, Israel and the Palestinians are working to formulate a long-term flames,” he said. “I call on the Beduin sector to avoid confrontation that will strategic plan for up to 2040, planning for the expected population growth in escalate the situation. I hope that the local mayors do the same.” the region. The JWC should streamline dozens of other new projects, which “I am sorry that lawmakers from the Joint List, and the [Arab Higher] include laying water lines throughout the West Bank. Monitoring Committee, led by Muhammad Barakei, chose the ways of The COGAT said, "The signing of this water agreement proves that it's incitement and violence over reconciliation. Even the terrorist attack did not possible to reach understandings and agreements when we discuss issues stop them from their incitement, it just made it stronger.” substantively, bilaterally, clean of extraneous issues of natural resources and MK Nava Boker (Likud) sent a letter to the Knesset Ethics Committee asking additional infrastructures that affect the entire population. Over the past year to suspend Odeh from all parliamentarian activities. “His acts in the and half, we've signed four agreements: electricity, water, mail and 3G demonstration today fanned the emotions and inflamed violence,” she said in cellular infrastructure, which is intended to improve the quality of life for all the letter. “He attacked the policemen and interrupted them while they were the populations in the region." doing their job. His presence led to the awful murder this morning. “We must act against this kind of behavior of a party chairman. It should not ISRAEL ENTERS 'NEW ERA' OF MISSILE DEFENSE WITH ARROW-3 be left untreated. His behavior is not only violent but also abuses his legal (JPost 1/18/17) immunity,” Boker wrote. Israel strengthened its defense itself against an Iranian missile onslaught with the transfer on Wednesday of Arrow-3 interceptors from the Israel Missile MINISTERS TO DISCUSS ISRAELI SOVEREIGNTY OVER MAALEH Defense Organization to the Israel Air Force. ADUMIM (Israel Hayom 1/18/17) “It is a new era in the Israel’s multi-layered defense system,” said Moshe The Ministerial Committee on Legislation plans to discuss applying Israeli Patel, director of Israel Missile Defense Organization. sovereignty to Maaleh Adumim, Knesset Land of Israel lobby heads MKs In face of the growing missile threat, the Arrow-3 will form the uppermost Yoav Kisch (Likud) and Bezalel Smotrich (Habayit Hayedudi) said Tuesday layer of Israel’s multi-layered defense system, along with the Arrow-2, during a discussion in the Knesset plenum. David’s Sling and Iron Dome system. Kisch and Smotrich said it had been decided to present a bill on the issue to Together the systems will provide Israel will a protective umbrella able to the committee this Sunday, for immediate approval after U.S. President-elect counter threats posed by both short and mid-range missiles used by terrorist Donald Trump is sworn in on Friday. groups in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as the threat "Anyone who thinks that applying [Israeli] sovereignty to Maaleh Adumim is posed by long-range Iranian missiles. an obstacle to peace is talking about a peace I don't want," Kisch said. "We The Arrow-3 is highly maneuverable system designed to provide ultimate air aren't talking about annexation, but about applying sovereignty to what is defense by intercepting ballistic missiles when they are still outside the already ours. I promise [Maaleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kasriel] that we will earth’s atmosphere, and is considered one of the world’s best interceptors put everything we have into promoting this bill." due to its breakthrough technological capabilities. Smotrich said: "The vast majority of the public supports applying sovereignty “The advent of the Arrow-3 as an operational system of the air force is a over Maaleh Adumim, regardless of any peace deal. I believe that it's a gift significant step up in the air defense of the State of Israel, and along with the the Israeli people deserve as President-elect Trump is sworn is and [U.S.] Arrow-2 will reduce any chances of any harm to the State of Israel,” the policy on Judea and Samaria changes." Defense Ministry said in a statement. MK Yehuda Glick (Likud) said: "Maaleh Adumim is part of Jerusalem and All components of the Arrow missile defense system were upgraded and are Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and there is no earthly reason to perpetuate compatible with Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 interceptors, the ministry said. The the delusion that another state will be established here. There's no doubt that capabilities of the command and control centers as well as radar detection common sense demands applying Israeli law to all parts of Judea and systems were also upgraded. Samaria and to Maaleh Adumim." The Arrow-3 development program is one of the joint programs between Israel and the United States. WATER DEAL REACHED BETWEEN ISRAEL AND PALESTINIANS (YNet 1/15/17) LAWMAKERS TO DEBATE REVISED CONTROVERSIAL BILL DEFINING Israel's Coordinator of Government Activity in the Territories (COGAT) signed ISRAEL AS NATION-STATE OF JEWISH PEOPLE (Ha’aretz 1/19/17) an agreement with the Palestinian Authority's Minister of Civil Affairs on A revised version of a controversial draft law that would define Israel as the Sunday to renew the activity of the Joint Water Committee. nation-state of the Jewish people is to be discussed on Sunday by the The Israeli, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, and the Palestinian, Hussein al- Ministerial Committee for Legislation. The body will decide whether the Sheikh, brought to the signing the heads of their respective water authorities. government will support the bill. The agreement seeks to establish a framework for the convening of the JWC New to the latest iteration of the bill — and to Israel’s law books — is a under the 1995 Interim Agreement, part of the Oslo Accords. One of the clause guaranteeing equal rights to all its citizens. 3 The softened version of the bill was drafted by MK Benny Begin (Likud), the 17-YEAR-OLD ISRAELI WINS AFRICA ECO RACE (YNet 1/14/17) son of the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin. In a first, Israeli motorcyclist Gev Sella crossed the finish line in first place In addition to the guarantee of equal rights, the updated proposal also states winning the Africa Eco Race with the best overall time. that Israel operates under a democratic form of government — a fact that is Sella, who will celebrate his 18th birthday next week, amazed the world of not mentioned in the Israeli Declaration of Independence. motorsports by winning the event, which is widely considered one of the The previous government failed in attempts to advance two separate toughest in the world. Sella took the lead at the beginning of the race and versions of the nation-state bill. Habayit Hayehudi and the right wing of Prime maintained it nearly the entire race. Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own Likud party demanded that the bill In an interview with Ynet at the end of the race, Sella said, "The excitement is subordinate Israel’s democratic character to its Jewish identity in such areas huge, it's unbelievable. It's going to take me a long time to digest it. I wasn't as Supreme Court rulings. thinking about winning at all. I thought maybe if I'm lucky I can finish among Another version, promoted by Netanyahu, simply stipulated that Israel is the the first, but I didn't think it would happen." nation-state of the Jewish people, as part of his demand making Palestinian recognition of Israel’s Jewish identity a precondition for resuming the peace TRUMP, THE PISTOL AND THE OLIVE BRANCH (Caroline Glick, JPost negotiations. 1/16/17) Begin’s draft, which he says is based on the Declaration of Independence, is With a gun on his hip, on November 13, 1974, PLO chief Yasser Arafat stood seen as the most moderate version and could solve the disagreement in the before the UN General Assembly and made the West an offer that it didn’t coalition. refuse. The bill consists of two clauses. The first defines Israel as “the Jewish At the end of a long speech in which he rewrote history to erase all people’s nation-state, based on the foundations of liberty, justice and peace connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel and in the light of Israel’s prophets’ vision, and upholds equal rights for all its criminalized the very notion of Jewish freedom, Arafat declared, “Today I citizens.” have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter’s gun. Do not let The second clause says “Israel is a democracy.” the olive branch fall from my hand. I repeat: Do not let the olive branch fall Yesh Atid, currently an opposition party, said it would support this bill. MK from my hand.” Roy Folkman (Kulanu) said his party would object to any legislation that Arafat’s offer has served since that time as the foundation of European discriminates against Arab citizens or undermines the Supreme Court. relations with the Palestinians and the wider Islamic world. It has also been “Our party is not at all sure a nation-state law is necessary at this time. But the basis of US-PLO relations for the better part of the past four decades. we don’t oppose it categorically,” Folkman said. “If we’re convinced it’s His trade was simple and clear. required, we’re inclined to opt for Begin’s draft, which strengthens the If you stand with the PLO in its war to annihilate Israel and deny Jewish Declaration of Independence principles and doesn’t harm the justice system freedom, then PLO terrorists and our Arab state supporters will leave you or minority rights.” alone. If you refuse to join our war against the Jewish state, we will kill you. WALL DATING BACK TO KING DAVID ERA EXCAVATED AT TIMNA Today, Arafat’s successor, Mahmoud Abbas, is reiterating Arafat’s offer. MINES (Israel Hayom 1/16/17) Speaking Saturday at the Vatican after the Holy See decided to recognize A copper smelting site and an ancient wall dating back to the 10th century “Palestine,” Abbas said that if US President-elect Donald Trump goes ahead BCE have been excavated at the Timna copper mines antiquities site in the with his plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, it will “fuel extremism in Arava desert in southern Israel, lending credence to the biblical story of the our region, as well as worldwide.” capture of Edom in the time of King David. Abbas’s spokesman was more explicit. Saturday night, Osama Qawasmeh, The well-fortified wall once ran for hundreds of meters and stood at least 5 spokesman for Abbas’s Fatah PLO faction and member of Fatah’s meters (16.5 feet) tall. Many sling stones were discovered next to the edifice, Revolutionary Council, said that if the US moves its embassy to Israel’s which may be evidence of the great battle mentioned in Samuel 8:13. capital city, “The gates of hell will be opened in the region and the world.” Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef of Tel Aviv University headed the biblical archaeology Abbas and Qawasmeh also said that the PLO expects that members of the team that uncovered the wall. international community will make Trump see the light and abandon his plan. "We have plenty of archaeological proof to determine that the miners who French President Francois Hollande’s “peace conference” on Sunday was worked the Timna mines weren't humble slaves, as had been assumed, but the international community’s way of fulfilling Abbas’s demand. rather expert miners who oversaw the complex, demanding work by As multiple commentators have noted, the conference’s purpose wasn’t to apprentices," Ben-Yosef said. promote the prospects for peace. It was to constrain Trump’s policy options "Today, we are discovering more and more evidence of a concentrated, for handling the Palestinian war against Israel. hierarchical society that interacted extensively with its neighbors, which By bringing together representatives of some 70 countries to insist that Israeli matches up with texts from the Bible and other sources." homeowners are the moral equivalent of Palestinian terrorists, Hollande and As well as the wall, the archaeologists discovered livestock pens near the his comrades hoped to box Trump into their PLO-compliant policy. gatehouse to the compound that contained donkey bones and excrement. Spelling out the demand Trump is required to accept, French Foreign Dr. Lidar Sapir-Hen identified the bones as being those of donkeys, which Minister Jean-Marc-Ayrault parroted the Palestinian threats. were apparently used to transport the mined copper and equipment for the Asked by the French media Sunday if moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem miners. Dr. Dafna Langgut examined the excrement and found remnants of would provoke the Palestinians, Ayrault said, “Of course.” high-quality animal feed: hay containing pollen from the Mediterranean area. He then demeaned Trump’s plan to move the embassy as nothing but the In the next stage of the excavation, Ben-Yosef and his team plan to conduct regular bluster of American politicians. DNA testing on the organic finds. In his words, “I think he [Trump] would not be able to do it. It would have "Only at Timna can you find donkey excrement, and even date pits, some of extremely serious consequences and it’s not the first time that it’s on the which have traces of date on them, like the dried fruit you find in the market. agenda of a US president, but none has let himself make that decision.” The research potential here is great," he said. "Who knows, maybe one day Ayrault is correct about Trump’s predecessors. we will be able to reconstruct ancient palm wine and the days of King David." To one degree or another, since the early 1970s, successive US admin- 4 istrations have joined the Europeans in selling Israel down the river to two-state policy, which blames Israel for Palestinian terrorism, and adopt a prevent Arafat’s minions from pointing their guns at the American people. strategy that works in its place. Like the Europeans, the Americans have upheld their side of this bargain Netanyahu has refused to consider any alternative until after Barack Obama even when the PLO failed to uphold its end. For instance, in 1973 Arafat is out of office. ordered his terrorists to storm the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum and take US Consultations must be scheduled for Saturday night. ambassador Cleo Noel, his deputy, George Curtis Moore, and Belgian diplomat Guy Eid hostage. Arafat then ordered his henchmen to murder the FOCUS ON BUILDING IN JERUSALEM (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom diplomats after then president Richard Nixon rejected his demand to release 1/18/17) Robert F. Kennedy’s Palestinian murderer, Sirhan Sirhan, from prison. Everyone who loves and is devoted to Jerusalem should take a deep breath Instead of responding to the execution of US diplomats by siding with Israel and tell ourselves and our friends in the U.S. that there are a few matters against the PLO, the US covered up and denied the PLO’s responsibility for more urgent to Israel than the transfer of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. the attack for the next 33 years. Although that would be perceived as a great victory for Israel in terms of the The US is still covering up for the PLO’s murder of US embassy personnel in world's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital, it would still be only a Gaza in 2003. At the same time, it is providing the PLO with nearly three symbolic victory. quarters of a billion dollars in direct and indirect annual aid, including the The real test of the Trump administration on the issue of Jerusalem and its training and provision of its security forces. surrounding area is a practical one. A few of Israel's friends in the United The Europeans for their part have egged the US along throughout the years. States have already hinted that Israel will soon find out that nothing comes France has generally led European efforts to convince the Americans to side for free. Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem will mean that the Trump with Palestinian as well as Hezbollah terrorists in their war against Israel in administration will think we owe it. President-elect Donald Trump and at least the name of “peace.” some of his appointees will ask for something in return -- which for the Sunday morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the Paris Palestinians, the Russians (with whom Trump is also trying to turn over a conference as a “futile” relic of a period that is about to end. new leaf) and the Arab states means a continued freeze, slow-down, or Netanyahu said that the conference’s goal of boxing Israel into an untenable cessation of building in the parts of Jerusalem over the Green Line and in framework for dealing the Palestinians was nothing more than the “final greater Jerusalem as a whole. palpitations of a yesterday’s world.” This is not some imaginary scenario, and it should be utterly unacceptable to “Tomorrow,” he intoned, “will look a lot different. And tomorrow is very close.” us. After years of a construction freeze in much of Jerusalem, decrees and Trump will take office on Friday. Since he was elected, he has given every pressure from outgoing President Barack Obama and a hostile reason to believe that Abbas and his deputies and their European and administration's denial of the Jewish people's natural right to Jerusalem, its American enablers will have to either put up or shut up. historic and religious capital, the time has come to take action, publish Speaking of the president-elect, Henry Kissinger said that Trump is the first tenders, and get back to building. Not to keep asking permission from the man in recent memory who doesn’t owe anybody anything for his victory. U.S., not to look over at "Big Brother," but to return to the situation that The only people he is answerable to are the voters who elected him. existed before Obama took office, when there were presidents who were less Trump’s electoral victory owes to his success in tapping into the deep hostile than he is, but also less friendly than Trump, or to put it cautiously, reservoir of popular disaffection with the elitist culture and policies that have less friendly than Trump appears to be. governed post-Cold War West. He has used the mandate he received from If it comes down to the not far-fetched choice between moving the embassy American voters to revisit the basic assumptions that have driven US policies or re-launching construction in Jerusalem, there is no doubt that construction for the past generation. is more important. Practicality and facts on the ground win out over His skepticism at NATO and the EU are examples of his refusal to simply symbolism. It's more crucial to get down to building the neighborhood accept the received wisdom of his predecessors. Just this weekend he told planned to go up between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim, to connect the Germany’s Bild magazine that he continues to question the purpose of two cities before the Palestinians fill up the area with their own construction NATO, which is a drag on US taxpayers and doesn’t fight terrorism. and it will be too late. It's more urgent to build in Atarot, before the northern He similarly restated his ambivalence toward the EU and that its open border tip of Jerusalem slips away from us. We urgently need to anchor the Jewish policy has been a “catastrophic failure,” and he expects more countries to presence in the Shimon Hatzadik neighborhood and strengthen the follow Britain’s lead and exit the EU. connection between the western part of the city and Mount Scopus. It's also Trump’s position on the PLO and the Palestinian war on Israel is of a piece important to build up Givat Hamatos and Har Homa in the south of the city. with his wider rejection of the common wisdom of Western elites. Just as he We should not be alarmed by Palestinian threats. They threatened us with didn’t hesitate to say that the EU mainly serves as an instrument for riots and bloodshed before we built Har Homa, and before we returned to the Germany to dominate the European market, so he has made no mystery of City of David, and before we built Maaleh Hazeitim. All those places were his rejection of the moral equivalence between Israel and Palestinian built anyway, and the skies did not come crashing down, neither here nor in terrorists which forms the basis of the twostate formula. the U.S. Not only won’t Trump join the Obama administration and the French in The real flag Israel needs to raise is the flag of renewed construction in criminalizing Israeli homeowners, Trump is celebrating them. He has invited Jerusalem and greater Jerusalem. Greater Jerusalem is part of the the leaders of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria – that is, the so- "settlement bloc," the same blocs in which then-President George W. Bush called “settlements” – to attend his inauguration. promised Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Israel would be allowed to build, And he appears dead serious about moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem. the same written promise that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Under these circumstances, Israel has the opportunity and the obligation to her president, Obama, had the audacity to deny ever existed. end the PLO’s ability to threaten the US, not to mention itself. It is Israel’s It's time for action, not talk. Not declarations. There is plenty of work to do in duty to ensure that the next time the PLO tries to exact a price in blood for the east of the city, as well. The disparity between the city's Jewish and Arab America’s refusal to abide by the terms of Arafat’s blackmail, his terrorist neighborhoods is insufferable, and we will need to put in a lot of work there, group is finally destroyed. both because that is the just and moral thing to do, and also because there Similarly, Israel is now obliged to take the lead and abandon the PLO-friendly are not two Jerusalems -- there is only one.