Interview with Saeb Erekat on TV's "Conflict Zone"

PLO Secretary General/Chief Palestinian Authority Negotiator

We couldn't not show you this video. Tim Sebastian, host of "Conflict Zone" - a one-on-one interview show on Deutsche Welle's international English-language channel - interviews Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Authority's Chief Negotiator, and hilarity ensues. And by hilarity, we mean the desperate (and failed) attempts of Erekat to adequately respond to even one of the several accusations of human rights abuses, corruption, and political impotency that Sebastian throws at him.

Click the 5 1/2 minute video below to make your day.

P.S. The best part is between 01:42-01:58

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Israel News Analysis: Tumultuous election campaign ahead!

[Based on articles that originally appeared in Hebrew in Israel HaYom and Yeshemda, and translated by Hillel Fendel

Two major bombshells have hit the Israeli electoral arena over the last two weeks. Frankly, despite all the ink being spilled nationwide on analysis, no one really knows what to make of them. The nationalist-religious camp has been particularly taken by surprise.

First was the abrupt announcement of new national elections. A sample of the drama felt across the nation occurred in the middle of a special gathering of the Knesset's Land of Israel lobby dedicated to the Jewish Community of Hevron. All of a sudden, a hush came over the room – for everyone's cell phone had just received the same, unexpected message: The coalition heads had decided to dissolve the Knesset and hold new elections.

The surprise was not the very fact of the new elections, for everyone knew that what had become a narrow 61-MK government coalition had barely been hobbling along. But no one expected it to happen quite so quickly and suddenly. Everyone in the room – Knesset Members, reporters, and other conference participants – were equally taken by surprise.

Israel News Analysis: Another Warning Sign

The PA's Union of Public Works Committee

[Based on an article that originally appeared in Hebrew in Yeshemda and translated by Hillel Fendel]

Below is a shortened version of Yeshemda’s article. Click here to read the full article in English.

Interview with Chaim Silberstein

Father of Shira Ish-Ran, who lost her baby due to the Ofra shooting
[Interview conducted by Baruch Gordon]

Israel News Analysis: The PA's Union of Agricultural Works Committee - Another Warning Sign

The following is based on a report entitled "Striking Roots" by the Regavim Association, an NGO working to ensure the protection of Israel's national lands. 

The Palestinian Authority has a plan: to take over broad swathes of Area C - Israeli territory in Judea and Samaria - and include them in the PA-controlled areas that it hopes to turn into a full-fledged state. To this end, its UAWC – Union of Agricultural Work Committees – is its major tool.

Headquartered in Ramallah, the UAWC has more than 65 local chapters of agricultural work committees throughout Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. It employs over 100 people, and its annual budget surpasses 5 million Euros – paid mainly by foreign organizations and sources such as the European Union, the United Nations, France, Norway and Holland. The funding is supplied both directly and indirectly.

The UAWC is connected, both openly and clandestinely, to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In coordination with PA security forces and legal organizations, it works mainly to take control of Area C lands, under the guise of humanitarian activity for Arab farmers.

Interview with Yishai Fleisher: On connecting to Hevron, the expulsion from Gaza, and creating tangible change

Yishai Fleisher is the International Spokesperson for the Jewish community of Hevron. He is also an Israeli broadcaster and a frequent columnist for major news websites, including a recent oped in the New York Times. He holds a J.D. from Cardozo Law and rabbinic ordination from Kollel Agudat Achim. Yishai is a paratrooper in the IDF reserves and lives with his family in the hills of Judea.

[Interview conducted by Sharona eshet-Kohen]

Israel News Analysis by Yaakov 'Ketzaleh' Katz: Another Victory of the Maccabees

[Based on an article that originally appeared in Hebrew in Besheva and translated by Hillel Fendel]

Every generation has its Maccabees. Consider the late Uri Avnery, one of the champions of the Arab cause in the Land of Israel over the past several decades. Shortly before serving in the Haganah 's "Foxes of Samson" Brigade during the War of Independence, he was witness to the Jewish leaders' consent to the partition of Eretz Yisrael. In his terrible disappointment at this development, he wrote and publicized a poem that would not have shamed the post-Yom Kippur War Gush Emunim movement. He wrote this:

We have sworn allegiance to you, our homeland / on the day of your bitter degradation. / You will arise from the dust great and united. / The cruel wound will fester in the heart of your sons / until your banners are borne aloft / from the sea to the desert. 

Following close in his ideological footsteps of that time was the radically left-wing Al HaMishmar newspaper, which also could not contain its instinctive nationalism. Commenting on the resignation of then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, the paper wrote, "He did not quit on his own; he was all but forced out in light of and as a result of the worsening crisis caused by his failed 'anti-nationalist' policy…" Note the word "anti-nationalist;" 60 years ago, even the radical left here was nationalist.

Israel News Analysis: Gaza-Israel Clashes - A Shortage of Plans

[Article originally appeared in Besheva (Hebrew) and translated by Hillel Fendel]

by Assaf Mishnayot
B'sheva, Nov. 15, '18

Deterrence vis-à-vis Hamas has not been achieved, and the present quiet is simply a lull, with no guarantee that it will last for any length of time. The intensive Hamas rocket barrage inflicted last week on Israel's northern Negev areas, all the way up to Ashkelon, proved that the country's political and military echelons have no real plan or program as to how to deal with Hamas. It is doubtful whether we will be able to attain true quiet along Israel's Gaza border for a significant period.

The ceasefire declared on Tuesday of last week, immediately following a 24-hour bombardment of more than 450 Hamas rockets on Israeli towns and cities, was met with fury in the Israeli public. This was true particularly in the south, where it is known and felt that the next round of hostilities is just around the corner. Though the Israel Air Force made some impressive strikes against terror infrastructures in Gaza, it was Hamas and not Israel that smelled the fragrance of victory. The basic sense is that the IDF simply is not providing military solutions to the Gaza problem – and this has been borne out even by statements of the Security Cabinet members.

Interview with Judy Simon: Host of Arutz Sheva's "Life Lessons" tells about marriage, motherhood, and Aliyah

Judy Simon has lived in Bet El for 18 years. For eight of those years she served as the Director of Bet El's Tourism Department, and for the past 11 years she has been hosting a show on Arutz Sheva called Life Lessons. One of Judy's son's recently graduated from the Bet El Boys Yeshiva High School and is now learning in hesder yeshiva. She discusses here her thoughts on Bet El's heritage, marriage and motherhood, and Aliyah.

[Interview conducted by Sharona eshet-Kohen]

Bet El Project Highlight: New High School Yeshiva Dormitory

Bet El Institutions Project Highlight: New High School Yeshiva Dormitory

For those who haven't yet heard, this past summer we completed construction of a new floor of the Bnei Tzvi Boys Yeshiva High School dormitory, adding 80 more beds, in response to the ever-expanding student body.

Interview with Helen Bohrer: Bet El pioneer

Interview with Helen Bohrer: Bet El pioneer speaks on love and purpose

[Interview conducted by Sharona eshet-Kohen]

News Analysis: The Real Story of Khan al-Ahmar

Israel News Analysis: The PA's Last Outpost

[Translated by Hillel Fendel]

Israeli headlines recently focused on the Supreme Court decision to demolish and evacuate an illegal Bedouin outpost and Prime Minister Netanyahu's refusal to carry out the evacuation orders because of European pressure. The Khan al-Ahmar villagers, members of the Bedouin Jahalin tribe, lived in the Negev until a few years ago. After a dispute broke out within the tribe, it split into two and some of its members fled north to the Ma'aleh Adumim area, where they are living today. The residents of Khan al-Ahmar knew from the first moment that they were living in the area illegally, and that it would not be possible for them to remain there for long. However, the Palestinian Authority had a different plan: In August 2009, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced his plan for the creation of a Palestinian state, the principle of which was to establish a de facto state, not by various agreements and complicated negotiations, but by creating facts on the ground, even in Area C, which are the areas of the Jewish towns and villages.

Bet El Highlight: New High School Yeshiva Dormitory​​​​​​​

For those who haven't yet heard, this past summer we completed construction of a new floor of the Bnei Tzvi Boys Yeshiva High School dormitory, adding 80 more beds, in response to the ever-expanding student body. Bnei Tzvi boasts high achievements in both secular and Hebrew studies, and has a nation-wide reputation for offering Torah study at the highest level in a joyful and challenging atmosphere. In fact, Elkana Friedman, a student at Bnei Tzvi, won a recent International Bible Competition for Youth, and another Bnei Tzvi student placed second in the national High School Talmud competition. So not surprisingly, the dorm is already once again at max capacity, full of students who come from all over the country to learn Torah from the best of the best. As a result, just a couple months ago, Bet El Institutions Founder Ketzaleh gave the order to draw up plans for an entirely new high school dormitory building. The contract with the architect was signed in October, and plans are already in the works! The majority of the high school’s graduates continue their studies in yeshivot of higher learning prior to enlisting in the IDF. Many join elite army units and key commando units, like former Bnei Tzvi graduate David Golobentzitz z”l, an officer in Golani who was killed in an operation in Hevron last year.