Israel News Analysis: The Price of Life

[Based on article by Assaf Mishnayot, originally published in Hebrew in Besheva, edited and translated by Hillel Fendel]

The IDF plans to cut 70 positions in the civil security framework in Judea and Samaria during the course of 2019, continuing the trend of previous years. These cost-saving measures mean simply that "we won't be able to protect the Jewish communities," says a senior Shomron Regional Council official.

These are difficult times for the security sector in Judea and Samaria. Last month saw several fatal and near-fatal terrorist attacks, and just this past week, the civilian emergency squad of the community of Adei Ad suffered a near-deadly ambush by hundreds of Arab rioters. The team was then taken to task in the media by radical elements for opening fire and killing one of the attackers – a terrorist who has served time in Israeli prison.

From Congo to Samaria: The Story of Ariel and Eliana Limania

by Tzurit Fenigshtein, originally published in Hebrew in Eretz Binyamin, the journal of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, edited and translated by Hillel Fendel

After meeting and talking with Ariel and Eliana Limania-Limbo, two new immigrants to Israel from Belgium, I realize that the life choices I have made in my lifetime pale in comparison to those they have made. They are "settlers" living in Eli, just north of Shilo, they are religious, and they are black-skinned – and they still laugh whenever they see the looks of surprise of those who hear their French-accented Hebrew for the first time.

Ariel was born in Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Belgian Congo and Zaire), to an Ashkenazi-Jewish family. He immigrated as a lad with his family to Belgium, where he studied law and served as legal counsel for the Belgian Electric Company. He met Eliana, then a Christian and daughter of a former Belgian Parliament member, in a memorable encounter: