Wanted: Retrial for Amiram Ben-Uliel

based on an interview by Shimon Cohen of Arnon Itiel in Arutz Sheva, translated by Hillel Fendel.

The latest public figure to call out the injustice of the conviction of Amiram Ben-Uliel, author and columnist Arnon Itiel, says that his confession of murder would not serve as an acceptable confession in Western countries, given that it was extracted under torture.

At the very least, Itiel says, the public debate surrounding Ben-Uliel's conviction in the Dawabsheh family murder must be reawakened.

Ben-Uliel is a young Israeli husband and father serving three life sentences in jail, including years of solitary confinement, for a murder he confessed to only after being severely tortured. He has maintained his innocence for years, and many claim he was framed simply because of the political need to prove that "Jewish terrorism" was being dealt with.

It is also alleged that he was framed to cover up a feud between two families in the Arab village of Duma. No fewer than ten homes in the village were reportedly set ablaze in a similar manner over the course of several months prior to the Dawabshe deaths as part of the internal strife there.

Itiel concluded by saying, "When Joshua conquered the Land of Israel, he suffered a defeat when Achan acted unethically and took booty from the vanquished. Today, as well, our redemption will not happen if the truth behind the Ben-Uliel case is not uncovered and rectified."

"Every minute that Ben-Uliel remains in prison," Itiel said, "is a is a stain on the conscience of every believing Jew." Western countries do not accept confessions extracted under torture, Itiel said, even if they are accompanied by reenactment, and murder convictions require additional evidence.

"Let's imagine that his name was not Amiram Ben-Uliel, but rather Yossi Ulilevitz," said Uliel, "and he was actually imprisoned in China or what used to be the USSR after confessing under torture. Our entire nation would be up in arms demanding his release! But when he is locked up here at home in a Jewish prison, by Jews, then everything is OK?"

Other prominent Israelis who have spoken out against the injustice to Amiram Ben-Uliel include Law Prof. Boaz Sangero (author of Convicting Innocents in Israel and the World and similar books, who has called the Ben Uliel case the worst example of an unjust conviction in Israel), Professor Yoel Elitzur (member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language), Prof. Talia Einhorn, the late Rabbi Chaim Druckman, Nobel Prize winner Prof. Shlomo Aumann, journalist Arnon Segal, Jonathan Pollard, Moshe Feiglin, and defense lawyer Avigdor Feldman.

Working against Ben-Uliel are his confession and re-enactment of the crime – but Itiel notes many cases in which the accused confessed and re-enacted, and yet the conviction was later overturned. In Israel alone, he says, "there have been Roman Zodorov, Amos Barness, Izat Nafsu, Sliman El-Abid, and more."

Among the many difficulties in the case against Ben-Uliel is the fact that an Arab eyewitness testified that he had clearly seen two arsonists that night, yet the indictment against Ben-Uliel charged that he had acted alone. In addition, two different types of Hebrew graffiti were found at the site, yet expert testimony stated that neither of them were written by Ben-Uliel.

The Shabak's Jewish Division denied that there had been any torture leading up to the confession – though the District Court in the case ruled straight out that there had indeed been torture.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) said the decision to uphold a confession based on torture showed a “glaring oversight” in the legal system: “… it would have been appropriate for the court to have given decisive weight to the fact that before Ben Uliel confessed to the acts, interrogation methods involving severe and prolonged torture were applied to him."

See here for a detailed analysis of the what should have been the inadmissibility of Ben-Uliel's confession:

At the time, the Haaretz newspaper noted that the evidence against Ben Uliel included no objective evidence other than confessions obtained under duress and his own reenactment – which he later retracted, saying it was given based only on what the Shabak interrogators wanted to hear.

Itiel finds some reason for optimism in that "the new director of the Shabak, David Zini, is a man of integrity. The key is in his hands, because the real murderer is living in the Arab village of Duma. I call on Zini to do everything he can to find the real murderer. It shouldn't be hard; the Shabak is one of the most effective secret police entities in the world."

The Victim's Blood Cries out: Stop Stalling and Win!

by Michael Sparber, member of the Judea & Samaria forum, translated by Hillel Fendel.

"Bnayahu Melet, father of two and a member of his local military response team, was a man of truth, a fighter and a visionary. He was guided by truth, and was busy reclaiming for the Jewish People dunam after dunam of the Land of Israel. Bnayahu was a 'warrior of David' of our generation – a man forged of concrete [melet, in Hebrew], in whose merit, among others, we are all able to live here. Every conversation with him was a lesson that filled one with optimism and strength. For me, he always represented Trumpeldor and his comrades. How sorrowful is your passing, my beloved brother and teacher."

I wrote those words immediately upon learning that this great man, among the sons and builders (bane'ha ubone'ha, in Hebrew) of Eretz Yisrael, may G-d avenge his blood, had been murdered by ruthless Palestinians on his way to save lives. I did not write them by rote to console his family, or myself, but rather out of deep conviction of their utter truth. He was of that very rare type that combined vision and responsibility, faith and action, humbleness and strength. He was a walking lesson in love of the Land, in true comprehension of the security situation, and in deep faith that Israel will defeat its enemies if it simply believes in itself and stops seeking to merely "contain" them.

This is precisely why Bnayahu's death is not just a personal tragedy for his family and friends. It is of national proportions, and essentially presents a national test: Will we get stuck on trying to ascertain on how exactly he was murdered, or rather on whether the State of Israel will learn the lesson for which he lived and acted?

Bnayahu did not believe in "managing" the terrorism that engulfs us, but rather in vanquishing it. He did not accept the army's usual post-attack announcements that "we will pursue the murderers and bring them to justice," but insisted that the army must totally wipe out the ability of the entire terrorist mechanism to carry out further attacks.

Bnayahu's Blood Cries Out Not for Vengeance, but for Victory

Here precisely begins the responsibility of the Government of Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu's response to the two terrorist murders and other terrorist victims of that dark day was strong, but quite familiar: Destruction of the terrorists' houses, reinforcement of military forces, checkpoints, cancellation of work permits, collection of enemy weapons, and approvals for more Jewish farms. These are steps that are certainly important, operationally, but they still rely on that same old "conception" of responding to what is done to us. They do not initiate victory and the destruction of the enemy's infrastructure and ability to fight and kill us.

The recent chain of terrorist attacks demands a fundamental shift in perception. We can no longer rely on chasing each individual attacker. We must launch a continuous offensive against the entire terrorism-manufacturing system, until it breaks. Mr. Prime Minister, members of the Cabinet – you who are entrusted with the security of Israel's citizens - this is exactly the conception that we thought and hoped was shattered back on October 7th, nearly three years ago!

For years we told ourselves that we could contain Hamas, manage it, and control the "height of the flames" – and the price we ended up paying was the most terrible in the nation's history. How can we even consider repeating that same mistake in Judea and Samaria!?

As long as it is the terrorists who choose the time and place, manipulating Israel into responding according to the terms they have set, they retain the initiative. When we simply react, we are not striving for victory; at most, for attrition. The equation must be reversed. Israel must once again be the side that takes the lead and forces the other side to figure out how to respond. The terrorists must no longer be those who surprise the State of Israel, but those who wake up each morning with fear as to what Israel has in store for them today.

Mr. Prime Minister, the list of operations you announced following the recent murders is not a recipe for victory, but rather a routine inventory of actions that have been tried already thousands of times. If this is the response even after four terrorist attacks in just one day, it clearly means that nothing has changed - other than the amount of murdered Jews.

This is precisely the moment at which a country is tested. We know that we are good at responding, but now we have to see if we can free ourselves from the conception that has brought us to where we are.

Oct. 7^th was not just an intelligence failure. It was a collapse of an entire worldview that falsely held that we can manage a murderous enemy and keep it at bay according to our dictates. We learned that we cannot – and if this mistake continues to guide us today in Judea and Samaria, Heaven forbid, we will simply be reenacting the conditions that enabled the Gaza massacre. This would mean that we are not only desecrating the memory of those who fell, but also preparing the way for the next victims.

Bnayahu Melet's blood is crying out not for another checkpoint or house demolition, but rather to change the equation, regain the initiative, and win! 

Thinking Big: Seven-Fold Growth in the Shomron by 2050

based on an article by Haggai Huberman, Israeli journalist and author (written for the religious zionist periodical - Matzav Haruach), translated by Hillel Fendel.

Generally we report here on the establishment - or the announcement of the establishment - of new communities, housing starts, neighborhoods, or outposts in the hills of Judea and Samaria. This time, however, given that such reports have happily become commonplace of late, the real news is this: The public response to the news of the 18 new communities about to be built in the northern Shomron has been of unprecedented proportions!

The Shomron Regional Council's campaign, together with the Amanah Settlement Movement, to recruit families to join in building these pioneer communities has seen more than 3,000 families request to join up!

The current program involves the reestablishment – which has already begun – of the four northern Shomron communities that were destroyed in the Disengagement of 2005: Ganim, Kadim, Sa-nur, and Chomesh. The other 14 will be built, beginning in the coming weeks and months, in strategic locations throughout the northern Shomron. For information's sake, current well-known communities in the northern Shomron include Elon Moreh, Shavei Shomron, Kedumim, Maskiyot, and more.

The released statistics show that nearly 30% of the interested parties consider themselves secular or traditional, while the rest self-define as national-religious. Half of them already live in Judea and Samaria, another 15-20% are from central Israel, and slightly less than that hail from Jerusalem. There have also been 12 requests from families currently living abroad, including from Miami and Cincinnati in the U.S., Cyprus, Great Britain, Canada, and Switzerland. New immigrants from France and Ukraine have also filed applications.

Half of the families who are considering taking part in the challenge of Making the Shomron Great Again are young couples in their 20's, and some 20% are over age 60. The applicants from a diverse range of occupations: About 40% of them work in education and therapy, 25% in engineering, high-tech, and liberal professions, and the rest in construction, agriculture, and manual labor.

The emerging picture shows that the nuclear pioneer groups for the "Big Four" - Kadim, Homesh, Sa-Nur, and Ganim – as well as for the new town of Noa are already full, with only a few spots remaining. The first pioneers of Har Eval moved to the new site just this very week, alongside a branch of the Elon Moreh Yeshiva that is already operating at the site.

The new-old community of Ganim will be initially established by families of graduates from the Eli Yeshiva, just north of Shilo; families of graduates from Tel Aviv's Yeshivat Maaleh Eliyahu are set to kick off Kadim; and in Emek Dotan, a branch of the Bruchin Yeshiva will be established with families from Tiberias, Lod, and Bruchin.

Other communities in the formation stages are Shalem (near Itamar), Maayanot, and Merom Gilboa, all expected to move with their already-full core groups right after the High Holidays.

The establishment of the 18 towns – a program that has been termed the Connection Plan, in contrast to the Disengagement that destroyed Gush Katif in Gaza and the above four Shomron towns 21 years ago – is a fulfillment of a Cabinet decision led by Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz.

It is also part of a broader plan to increase the Shomron's Jewish population to more than one million (!) by the year 2050. Though this population currently stands at approximately 150,000, this brainchild program of Shomron Council head Yossi Dagan has been developed based on natural growth, high-rise construction, and more. Geographic engineers and a broad team of professionals in various disciplines worked, and are working, together on the program.

The program, of course, does not even include the new community of Zibda that was announced just this week – because this will be established in the Yesha area south of Shomron, not far from Modiin. Its goal is to help strengthen the seam-line area of western Binyamin. The new families are in the process of preparing their ascent to the land.

Other plans for the Shomron include a new city, currently known as East Rosh HaAyin, designed to house over 130,000 residents on what is currently agricultural land in the western Samaria highlands. Rosh HaAyin itself has a population nearing 81,000. The new city is being promoted as a security belt and strategic buffer for central Israel. In addition, the western Shomron community of Karnei Shomron, with a population over 11,200, is slated to triple in size with the addition of 6,000 new homes.

At the same time, a community "envelope" is being planned, including a branch of the Bnei David pre-military Yeshiva academy (main branch in Eli), and other and yeshiva and pre-military institutions as well.

Shomron Council head Dagan – who himself, with his family, was expelled from Sa-nur during the Disengagement, moved to Shavei Shomron, and now lives once again in the "new" Sa-nur – says: "The numbers warm our hearts and speak for themselves. They prove that the People of Israel has not forgotten its roots. The Connection Plan aims to reconnect our People with itself, its values, its roots – and with the fundamental values of the State of Israel."

From Hevron to Shomron: Quietly, Gradually, and Tediously, the Deed is Done

by Adi Mintz, former Director-General of the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, translated by Hillel Fendel.

A dream is coming true in the city of Hevron these days: Far from the spotlights, the roofing project in the Cave of the Patriarchs (Me'arat HaMachpelah) is advancing rapidly. The area often used for Jewish prayer services (weather permitting, which it generally does not, especially in boiling summer heat and cold rainy winter days) will be fitted, for the first time in history, with a roof being manufactured in a specialized factory, while tractors and heavy engineering vehicles prepare the access routes on the site for the cranes and trucks to complete the job.

For the more than 700,000 Jewish worshipers who visit the site annually (nearly 100,000 more than the amount of Muslims), this is the realization of a long-held dream: the ability to pray in the site's central courtyard, between the tombs of Avraham and Sarah on the right and Yaakov and Leah on the left, protected from the elements. New electrical infrastructure, air conditioning, drainage, and lighting will be installed as well.

The logic behind this secrecy is obvious. In today's complex international political context of Yesha (Judea and Samaria), every bombastic declaration or untimely publication is liable to mean the end of a project. To its credit, the Religious Zionism party, headed by Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, understands that the way to make the long-overdue vital strategic changes in the demographics of Yesha is precisely the opposite of a PR approach. It is rather found in the tedious maze of governmental apparatuses. 

The most recent move led by Smotrich and his party colleague, Settlement Affairs Minister Orit Strook, illustrates this perfectly: the passage of a dramatic cabinet decision that transfers all urban planning authorities in Area H2 (the part of Hevron that was allocated for Jewish settlement under by the 1997 Hebron Agreement) to Israeli planning authorities. With this quiet administrative step, a primary millstone of the Hebron Agreement was effectively removed, and the zoning barriers that had blocked Jewish settlement in Hebron for nearly three decades were eliminated. 

But, as significant as this project is, it is only an example – a major one, granted – of the consistent, systematic modus operandi that has led, during the nearly four years of the current Israeli government, to an unprecedented revolution in the entire Judea and Samaria settlement enterprise. This is a strategy based on acting quietly and discreetly, with painstaking, tiny-step by tiny-step work to dismantle bureaucratic and legal obstacles while trying to avoid headlines and flaunt achievements. This is of course not the usual manner in which projects like this are carried out… 

The process wondrously mimics how a sapling becomes a tree. In its first years, the sapling is lovingly and modestly irrigated and protected from dangerous elements; its fruits, if there are any, are orlah and may not be eaten. Only in the fourth year may they be consumed, with certain restrictions, and then in the fifth year, after years of quiet work, the fruits sprout forth in full bloom, to be heartily partaken of.

Similarly in the administrative/legal sphere in Yesha. Minister Smotrich and his colleagues stubbornly waged a long political struggle for the establishment of a new "Settlement Administration" in the Defense Ministry (which has overall responsibility for Judea and Samaria), with Yehuda Eliyahu at its helm. After it was put together, it was no simple matter to contend with then-Defense Minister Yoav Galant – who has since been replaced by the much more sympathetic Yisrael Katz – over the boundaries of its authorities. The structural changes that were made with the establishment of the new Administration included the appointment of a Deputy Administration head for Civilian Matters, and the transfer of broad authorities from the head of the IDF's Civil Administration and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) to civilian hands. One of the most significant changes was the transfer of the authorities of the Legal Counsel's Office of Yesha to the Defense Ministry Legal Counsel, who reports directly to the new Administration. For years these authorities had been governed by the Chief IDF Prosecution, headed most recently by the now-disgraced Tomer Yerushalmi. This effectively neutralized one of the primary legal barriers that long blocked and delayed Jewish development in Yesha.

For many long months, the new Settlement Administration operated below the radar. It fundamentally changed the methods of supervision over and enforcement of laws against illegal Arab construction, and brought about a dramatic revolution in the workings of the Supreme Planning Council, the top planning and zoning body in the Civil Administration. It also led to the declaration of many thousands of dunams (1,000-square-meter tracts of land) as State Land, amidst very close cooperation with the IDF Central Command. 

At the same time, Finance Minister Smotrich allocated the necessary resources and budgetary sums for this civilian revolution; the faction's MKs led the way to pass the historic legislation nullifying the 2005 Disengagement Law from northern Shomron; and Settlement Minister Strook led the ongoing Agricultural Farms enterprise – hundreds of strategic points throughout Judea and Samaria that watch over and preserve our national lands. 

Speak Little, Do Much

This quiet, calculated activity began to ripen significantly only in the last year and a half. Suddenly, whoever travels in Judea and Samaria today immediately notices the changes in the landscape. The construction momentum, the paving of roads, the new, white light-construction houses dotting the hills, and the establishment of new outposts are all now "facts on the ground." We learned this lesson of speaking little and doing much from our Patriarch Avraham: When the angels arrived at his tent, he promised them, "I will fetch [you] a morsel of bread" - but in practice, he rushed to bring them flour cakes, cattle, and a variety of delicacies. 

The European Union, the American administration, and even the extreme left-wing organizations in Israel did not recognize the scale of the structural change in time, because it was done behind the scenes, in dry legal discussions and administrative orders. They panicked and began to exert political pressure only when they discovered the final result, when the revolution had already taken shape and became irreversible.

Editor's Note: Peace Now released a 65-page report this week summing up, very satisfactorily in nationalist eyes, the progress made in Judea and Samaria from 2023 to 2025. It states that 185 new Jewish outposts were established during this period; plans for 40,064 housing units were advanced (two-thirds of these during 2025 alone), and 102 new communities were approved. Nearly 26,000 dunams were declared state lands – almost 50% of the entire amount declared as state lands ever since the Oslo Agreements were signed. At least 223 kilometers of new roads were paved.

Israeli Hasbara is Dead, Long Live American Hasbara for Israel!

by Boaz Lieberman, Strategic Crisis Management Advisor, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Over the past years we have grown accustomed to analyze American politics via "sides:" Trump or Biden? Republicans or Democrats? Israel supporters or opponents?

But behind the daily headlines hides a much more complex reality than that, and whoever doesn't understand this is liable to wake up in a few years and find that Israeli-American relations stand upon weaker foundations than they thought – and dangerously so.

The biggest mistake that Israel can make today is to believe that our strategic relationship with the U.S. is guaranteed forever, simply because of inertia. This is not at all certain; the relationship requires maintenance, investment, and deep understanding of the changes that American politics is undergoing.

For years, the Democratic party has been in a clear process of distancing itself from some of its traditional policies towards Israel. A new generation of activists, Congressmen, and media personalities is now adopting positions that view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the glasses of balance of power, colonialism, and ethnic identities. For them, Israel is no longer a small country fighting for its survival, but a strong state that they see as part of the network of Western powers.

On the other hand, there is certainly no need to eulogize Democratic support for Israel. Many parts of the Democratic establishment still see Israel as a vital American ally. They may be using different terminology and even tones, but they are not all enemies of Israel.

At the same time, within the Republican Party too, a deep change is taking place. The conservative right of Ronald Reagan was an international, activist right that was very willing to activate American force around the world when necessary. The movement that Donald Trump is leading is not the same thing; though not necessarily isolationist, it does make sure to constantly ask before every decision: Does this directly serve American interests?

This is where two names come into the picture – the two most significant figures in the post-Trump era: Marco Rubio and JD Vance.

Secretary of State Rubio represents the more traditional conservative viewpoint. He sees Israel as a strategic asset of the first degree in the struggle against Iran, China, Islamic terrorism, and anti-Western axes.

Vice President Vance, on the other hand – 13 years younger than Rubio – is a man of the new generation of Republicans. He is not anti-Israel, but views the world from the vantage point of the typical middle-class American, and primarily wants to know what he or she would like.

Israel cannot afford to take sides in this succession struggle.

With Rubio, we must speak the language of national security, technology, intelligence, and the struggle against Iran. With Vance, we must speak an entirely different language, and present the position that Israel is not a burden on the United States, but rather an asset that saves it from fighting wars, losing soldiers, and spending money. Israel does not ask for American troops, but rather fights on its own against forces that threaten, inter alia, American interests.

Yet alongside the political challenge, Israel also faces an even greater trial: the loss of influence in the arena of public opinion. And this brings us to the part that Israel still refuses to understand: The old-style Israeli Hasbara (PR and image-building) is dead.

For years, we thought the way to convince the world was to send a spokesperson to a studio, present a map, show a video, and explain why we are right. This method worked in the era of institutionalized media, when the public received information through a limited number of television channels and newspapers. The world of 2026 looks completely different. America's Gen Z does not learn about Israel via CNN or Fox news, but rather through TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and podcasts. They don't listen to official spokesmen, but rather to people they trust from social media.

Israel must therefore shift away from traditional Hasbara, to "diplomacy of influence."

Instead of sending Israelis with perfect English to talk on TV, we must invest in forming a broad coalition of Americans who will speak for Israel, in American. No longer must there be Israeli hasbarah; there must be American hasbarah for Israel!

The voices that should lead this campaign need not necessarily be Israeli ambassadors or politicians. They must rather be former American combat soldiers or officers, influential conservatives, Evangelical leaders, hi-tech personalities, parents who are concerned about campus anti-Semitism, professors, conservative Hispanics, and moderate Democrats.

When an American explains to another American why Israel is important for U.S. security, the message is heard ten times louder than when an Israeli explains this.

And our second mistake is this: focusing on Washington, D.C. exclusively.

The real battle for the future of Israeli-U.S. relations is taking place today on university campuses: at Harvard, Columbia, Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania, and the like. It is there, and not in "traditional American support for Israel," that the consciousness of the coming decade's journalists, judges, members of Congress, and governors is being shaped.

If Israel does not invest its efforts there now, this year, it will discover in ten years that the problem is not who sits in the White House, but what the American public itself thinks.

For this reason, a new pro-Israel strategy is required, based on three principles: strengthening bipartisan support for Israel, among both Democrats and Republicans; building a deep "network of influence" within American society in its entirety and not just in the political system; and replacing traditional Hasbara sources with authentic American voices.

Israel need not choose between Vance and Rubio, or between Republicans and Democrats. It must simply choose America – all of it. Maintaining that broad alliance with America in general was historically one of Israel’s greatest strategic successes ever since its establishment. In the current polarized, raucous, and rapidly changing world, our strategy for the decades to come must be the return to that comprehensive approach.