First Time in America: No More "West Bank"

by 0404 news, translated by Hillel Fendel.

A city in Florida has passed a municipal council decision that the Biblical areas of Judea and Samaria, in modern-day Israel, will no longer be referred to by the phrase "West Bank." Mayor Larisa Svechin of Sunny Isles (pop. 22,000) led the way for the decision, under which the areas will be known only as "Judea and Samaria." 

The difference is that the name "West Bank" implies that the area is known only for having been captured by Israel from the Kingdom of Jordan, and ignores its Jewish history as the Biblical areas of Judea and Samaria. 

The city's decision followed an official visit to Florida by Yossi Dagan, the head of the Shomron Regional Council. In addition to meetings with Congressmen and others, he met with Mayor Svetchin. She apparently did not need much convincing; her bio on the city's website states that she is "a fierce advocate for democracy and is unapologetically Zionist. She unequivocally stands with Israel forever."

Explaining the decision, which is a first in the United States, Mayor Svetchin said, "The time has come that we adapt ourselves to the truth. The historic name of this area is Judea and Samaria, not the West Bank. Using the right term is not just a matter of [geographic] accuracy, but rather respect for the historic and Biblical connection of the Jewish Nation to the land. This decision reflects the solidarity between the residents of Sunny Isles and Israel, and shows our deep understanding and recognition of Israel's historic roots, which echo strongly within our community."

Council head Dagan congratulated the city and its mayor on its historic decision, and asked that Svetchin promote a similar initiative in the United States Congress. "The words West Bank should be deleted in all official U.S. texts, to be replaced by Judea and Samaria immediately," he said. "This historic and important decision in Sunny Isles should set the direction for all those for whom human history is important and who are not willing to accept the trampling of the truth."

Mayor Svetchin said that "standing up for truth is not just a powerful deed, but also has a wave effect. When one locale chooses courageously to speak the truth, this arouses others to do the same, and creates a wave of integrity and courage."

Dagan explained that the using the words "West Bank" – i.e., the western bank of the Jordan River border between Israel and Jordan – is actually a deception. "It seeks to imply that these areas are occupied by Israel, when in fact they are the cradle of the Bible and the heart of hearts of the Jewish Nation. Many of the most important events in the history of the Jewish People happened there: those of the Shilo tabernacle, of the Judges, and the Kings of Israel. In addition, the Patriarch Abraham entered the Promised Land here, his descendants lived here, Joshua built the Altar here, the Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried here, and more and more."

Dagan thanked Mayor Svetchin, "who has courageously pioneered and became the first to take this decision, and I am sure it will soon become the norm in the Western world that sees itself as a fighter for truth and justice."

A Great Chance for Major Change in Iran and the Middle East

Based on an article by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Tzvika Chaimovich, translated by Hillel Fendel.

"This is the beginning of the end of the accursed Iranian regime." – Israeli Cabinet Minister Zohar

This past April 14th was a defining event in Israel's decades-long struggle with its enemies. After years of threats and scares from Iran, the Islamic Republic finally let the shoe drop in response to Israel's assassination of a high-ranking terrorist in the regime's Revolutionary Guards. Iran fired off, in three waves, a total of more than 300 cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones towards Israel. The damage and injuries caused were minor. 

But once this barrier was broken, the path to a second Iranian strike was much easier and quicker. It happened tonight [Thursday], a half-year after the first one – but with greater fury. Given the condition in which Hizbullah finds itself after Israel all but wiped out its leadership, it was clear to Iran that it would have to react much more strongly this time. Though the number of rockets was lower, approximately 180, there was barely a locale in Israel that was not targeted. 1,864 air-raid sirens were sounded throughout the country in the space of an hour and a half.

The results, again, were not proportionate to the effort: One Arab from Gaza was killed in Jericho, and three Israelis were lightly wounded.

With this attack, our direct war against Iran entered a new phase, which will accompany us for a long time to come. Israel's response will be put to the test – to be checked throughout the Middle East and even the world – and it must be more powerful than the last time. 

Israel's air force has been quite occupied over the past year on several fronts. But there is no doubt that Thursday night's rocket attacks from Iran have been the most challenging offensive we have faced. Our defenses will never be hermetic, but we know that if we are hit even just a bit, it could lead to a decline in morale and confidence in our army. 

Our fight against Iran – an international superpower in its ballistic rocket capabilities – is a complex one, and demands a regional response, combining both Israel's abilities and those of the coalition.

After the two Iranian missile attacks, in April and now, it can be said that Iran has chosen to respond to Israel in an extreme and aggressive manner. There is no doubt that the Israeli-led events of the past few weeks pushed Iran into a corner that "compelled" it to act with full force. Is Iran reading correctly the expected responses of both Israel and the United States? 

On the one hand, Iran announced late last night that its vengeance for whatever it was avenging was completed, and that if Israel wants to invite more vengeance by attacking now, it is welcome to do so. Israel, on the other hand, so far shows no signs of backing down – and it is likely that that we are facing an opportunity to change the entire Middle East reality in a most significant manner. This is true specifically in Iran, which is responsible for the Axis of Evil that includes Syria, Hizbullah, Hamas, the Houthis, and more. 

Special Add-on: 

Excerpted comments after the Iranian attack 

"Iran made a very great mistake tonight, and it will pay for it. Whoever attacks us, we will attack back." – Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu

"When Iran is finally free – and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think…" – Netanyahu, in a post-attack video address to the People of Iran

"We don't yet know the ramifications for Iran [of this attack]… I will talk about with Netanyahu." – paraphrased remarks of US President Joe Biden. The White House issued a statement stating there would be very grave consequences for Iran.

Perhaps most significant of all was the statement by Cabinet Minister Miki Zohar, who said: "This was Iran's worst mistake ever, and it will a pay a very high price. This is the beginning of the end of the accursed Iranian regime."

Ynet commentator Amichai Atali wrote: "We may not suffice with anything less than the removal of the Iranian threat… The Iranian attack tonight provided us with a perfect opportunity and justification for carrying out that which is so very indicated: to once and for all take out Iran's ability to harm us… If Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons, Israel will become a country unworthy of inhabitation. If our government does not take the right steps now, but rather suffices with token moves, it will enable Iran to keep on marching towards destroying Israel, its stated goal."

The Difference Between a Rabbi and a Politician

by Rabbi Avraham Wasserman, Yeshivat Ramat Gan and Givatayim, Besheva, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Elections for the next Chief Rabbis of Israel, who serve for a ten-year term, are to be held next week. No Chief Rabbi over the past 30 years has had a religious-Zionist outlook, and the religious-Zionist movement set a goal for itself to ensure that one of its leading rabbis be elected for the post of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi. However, a possibly broken promise and a glut of candidates had complicated the matter. Rabbi Wasserman of Givatayim places the issue in Halakhic perspective.

A. The question of who will be the religious-Zionist candidate(s) for Chief Rabbis occupies the thoughts and concerns of many in and out of the religious-Zionist sector. On this matter it would be edifying to cite the distinction formulated by Israel's first Chief Rabbi, Rav Yitzchak Herzog, in defining the desired interface between a rabbi and a politician.

In the early days of the State, an important bill under consideration in the Knesset and the public was the Sabbath Law. The bill was slated to forbid all public transportation in the country, except, for various reasons, in the city of Haifa. One reason for exempting Haifa was because of the many workers in the Shemen factory - which was open on the Sabbath - who needed transportation to and from work.

The rabbis of Haifa were up in arms and demanded that their city be included in the law. However, the Mapai party people refused, and it appeared that the law would be toppled altogether, thus paving the way for public Sabbath transportation throughout the country. Rav Herzog expressed himself on the matter as follows [paraphrased]: "A rabbi has no dispensation whatsoever to concede even the slightest bit on the matter of Sabbath observance, and therefore is not permitted to agree to this law allowing transportation on the Sabbath. However, the religious Knesset Members can be relied upon to legislate the best law possible to preserve the sanctity of the Sabbath and its observance under the present conditions." This of course meant that Haifa would be excluded from the ban, while Sabbath in the rest of the country would benefit.

This of course raises a fundamental question: Along the lines of a "Shabbos goy," are the religious MKs to be considered "legislative goyim?" Are there different Halakhic standards for a rabbi and for G-d-fearing politicians?

The answer is that a distinction must be made between a rabbinic statement that sets out the Halakhic principle, and the manner in which this principle is put into practice. A rabbi can never agree to Sabbath desecration, even if he feels that it will save most of the country. This is because his stance represents the Torah position.

However, the function of a Knesset Member is to promote the sanctity of the Sabbath in practice in accordance with the tools, capabilities and conditions he is given and faces. Politics is the art of implementing that which can be implemented, and this is often done via compromise – while leaving the spiritual principle unharmed. (I expand upon this in my book "Your Neighbor as Yourself," pages 229-230.)

B. On the subject of the Chief Rabbinate: There is no way rabbis can make a final ruling on matter currently under consideration, for another reason. It is because each candidate is backed by important rabbis. As such, each candidate is worthy. The politicians, however, must consider the practical considerations of which candidate is most likely to be chosen, and thus they will choose him as the religious-Zionist candidate. The question now before us is how to attain the situation that the new Chief Rabbi will be a great Torah scholar, a man of experience in the Rabbinate and in public leadership, who manifests in his personality and his actions the spiritual and practical conception of HaRav Kook, the founder of Israel's Chief Rabbinate. This conception is "Klal Yisrael"-oriented, as opposed to focusing on one part or another of the populace, and seeks to work with the Divine process of the nation's revival in its Land after two millennia of exile. The results of this conception are clearly manifest in the world of Jewish Law and spiritual influence.

However, the rabbis, having stated the Halakhic principles involved, are less qualified than the politicians in terms of how to achieve this goal. For the politics of the issue are understood primarily by those who engage in it.

This is our opportunity to remind ourselves that yes, our religious-Zionist public and its representatives must be very proactive in promoting its own candidates. We need not be so genteel as to say that we don't want to push and promote our own Torah outlook. If we do so, our own students and yeshivot will not be appropriately represented, and the mosaic of the Rabbinic world will be missing an important shade and tone.

C. During these turbulent times, we must be especially circumspect regarding the Honor of Torah – which is something more fundamental and important than even the study of Torah itself! (See Talmud, Tractate Megillah.) All of the candidates are Torah scholars whom we are obligated to honor and respect.

It is not appropriate for a politician to criticize one of the candidates in the name of the world of Jewish Law and Ethics. The business of politicians is politics, and they are not authorities on Jewish Law and Ethics. This is also true of everyone who is not on the highest level of Torah knowledge.

We must hope and pray for G-d's will to be expressed via the representatives of the electoral body, and may the merit of Rav Kook stand at their side.

From Tactical Success To Strategic Victory

by Emanuel Shilo, editor of the weekly Besheva newspaper, translated by Hillel Fendel.

This article was written just after the brilliant Beeper/pager attacks (for which Israel has not accepted responsibility), and a few days before the Israel Air Force's current massive assault on homes and other buildings in which Hizbullah stored tens of thousands of missiles ready for launching towards Israel. Author Emanuel Shilo, editor of the weekly Besheva newspaper, explains here, before it happened, the strategy and rationale behind the war that Israel has apparently embarked upon against Hizbullah.

--Israel must utilize to its full advantage the substantial damage and upheaval suffered by the terrorist organization Hizbullah and launch an attack that will deal it a fatal blow and enable the residents of the north to return to their homes as soon as possible. This time, a genuine and decisive resolution is needed to the problem of Hizbullah, and not just temporary deterrence.--

This past Tuesday, following the extraordinary, sophisticated, amazing and unprecedented operation of the detonation of thousands of beeper devices in the hands and on the bodies of thousands of Hizbullah terrorists, there were some who complained that the whole thing was a colossal waste.

For if Israel actually carried it out, as Hizbullah claims, how is it possible that Israel would activate such a powerful tool without following it with a large, intensive offensive that would actualize its gains? 

The second round of explosions, a day later, silenced the criticism to a certain degree. It reinforced the sense that there seems to be more here than meets the eye. It also gave us the feeling that the story was not yet over, and that we actually can rely on the mysterious operators of this event and that they know what they are doing. 

But still: We must not allow ourselves to return to our tranquility, blind trust, and complete credit that we tended to grant to the leaders of our security networks before Oct. 7th. The failure of that day was so terrible and so all-encompassing that no tactical success afterwards can exempt us from constant awareness and suspicions. 

Israel is good at military actions in which we take the initiative, whether with our Air Force, special units, or cyber warfare. We are less impressive at being prepared for surprises and deceptions on the part of the enemy, as we learned first-hand both on Yom Kippur in 1973 and on Simchat Torah of 2023. And, as we have seen during the ongoing campaign in Gaza, alongside our brilliant tactical successes, we suffer from the lack of a clear strategic plan for decisive victory.

Over the past several decades, our security establishment has excelled at, and became accustomed to, sending "messages" and "signals" to the enemy – instead of striking him with genuinely decisive blows. We tried to deter instead of defeat. We sought to change his intentions, instead of smashing his capabilities.

If that has changed, the burden of proof is on the leaders of our security establishment. They must show us that they have switched their diskette. Up to now, this does not appear to have been the case. They have brought great tactical successes, but the objectives of the war have not yet been met. It appears that they are seeking not victory, but some kind of arrangement with our enemies that will keep them alive, together with a deal for some – not all! – of our hostages, in exchange for hundreds of terrorists. 

The Israeli public, and especially those who are fighting our wars in the south and north and who have sacrificed so much, expects much more than that. They want the destruction of Hamas! The residents of our north, too, cannot be expected to return to their homes without a mortal blow to Hizbullah, and its distancing far away from our northern border with Lebanon, with a large buffer zone empty of Hizbullah. 

Hizbullah today, hours after the second wave of exploding devices, is reminiscent of the Biblical account of the men of Shechem on the third day of their not-quite-sincere circumcisions: They were "in pain," the Torah tells us, and the sons of Jacob took advantage to wipe out the threat they represented. Today, as well, we need a Shimon and Levi who will take sword in hand and go out to liquidate the enemy. In our current state, even their father Jacob [whose support for the actions of Shimon and Levi was ambivalent] would certainly whole-heartedly support this. 

POSTSCRIPT: As of Monday evening, the situation was that the Israel Air Force had attacked 1,300 targets in southern Lebanon in four waves, mostly residential homes that housed cruise missiles with a range of hundreds of kilometers, 1,000-kilogram explosive warhead rockets, and medium-range missiles of ranges between 50 and 200 kilometers. IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari said that by hiding its rockets in two-thirds (!) of houses in southern Lebanon, Hizbullah had turned the area into a battle zone. "We face challenging days ahead," Hagari said. 

Playing in the Sandbox, Instead of in the Real World

by Dvir Shreiber, Besheva, translated by Hillel Fendel.

A sad satire on the media emphasis on the sand thrown at Ben-Gvir

Most certainly you have all heard of THE event of the week that took Israel by storm last week, namely, the sand incident of last Friday on a Tel Aviv beach. It began when Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir took his family out on a pre-Sabbath outing to the seashore. A woman there, apparently not a strong nationalist, threw sand on Ben-Gvir, and then ran back into the waves with a feeling of great accomplishment.

However, at that point, as we know, the big bad terrible police came and demanded (!) that she (!!) get out (!!!) of the water (!!!!) and actually arrested her (!!!!!) – even though she's only a little girl 27 years of age with epilepsy and over-developed delusions of grandeur. Social media and propaganda news stations in Israel erupted in fury that the police were acting like the Stasi police of East Germany, like Argentina in the 70's, like Israel during the Disengagement from Gush Katif, and basically we all had one big mud-throwing party. 

But while the country was aflame with the bitter fate of the little beach girl, in the Jordan Valley there was another little incident, marginal, really nothing important, which made the headlines for about a minute and a half and was then buried in the sand. It was just a simple case of a Jordanian terrorist who got out of his truck at the Allenby Crossing and shot three Israeli guards to death. Nothing too dramatic, a terrorist attack against Jews in the Land of Israel is pretty routine, nothing to get excited about. In fact, just a week before that there was another Arab Palestinian terrorist attack, and there too, three Jews were murdered. So what? Did it change anything about us? Did it lower the volume of our arguments? Did it cause anyone to stop accusing Bibi of either killing the hostages himself or of asking Sinwar to do it?

The Jordanians, on the other hand, did not take the attack in stride as if it were just another news item. They gave out candies, trampled on Israeli flags, and shot fireworks. And the Jordanian government, that which condemns us with every breath we take, this time didn't do that right away; it rather kept silent for a half-hour, and then condemned us. 

Israel, for its part, decided this time not to remain silent: That very evening, Netanyahu announced firmly and unmistakably that from now on, no government minister would visit the Temple Mount without coordinating beforehand with him, in order not to offend Jordanian sensibilities. This was a logical approach; it is inconceivable that they would attack us and we would simply ignore it and not apologize to them.

The Bridge of Blood
The Jordanian attack and Netanyahu's quick announcement reminded me of what happened to me in Elul 1996, exactly 28 years ago, when I was a young reservist guarding the Adam Bridge between Israel and Jordan (50 kilometers north of the Allenby Crossing). It was a sleepy place, with maybe one old truck passing through every hour. My job was to make sure no one snuck across the bridge into Israel, and also to drink a lot so as not to evaporate in the illogical Jordan Valley heat.

One morning I look up and see an armed Jordanian officer walking along the bridge towards our side. I yelled at him in Arabic to stop. He didn't. When he reached the middle of the bridge, I raised my gun and told him in English that he is not permitted on our side. He gave me a piercing look, turned around, and went back. 

Half a second later, one of the Israeli officers in charge rushed up to me and said, "What did you do?!" I said, "My job." He yelled back, "Oh no!" and ran across to the bridge and the Jordanian officer, and apologized to him. They embraced and both returned to our side to have a cup of coffee, while I continued to evaporate and ask myself what I was doing there altogether and if anyone needed me there. A bit later, the Israeli officer came back to me and explained that we're not allowed to say, "You're not allowed" to a Jordanian, because it makes him feel bad and could ignite a regional war. "This is border of peace," he explained patiently. "They can come here whenever they want. No more war, no more bloodshed."

Six months later, a Jordanian soldier shot and murdered seven Israeli schoolgirls visiting the Naharayim Peace Island, another border crossing north of the Adam Bridge. Twenty years after that, the murderer was released from Jordanian prison and was welcomed home as a hero. Israel didn't comment, apparently not wishing to offend any Jordanian sensibilities.

The Jordanians are in fact very sensitive – perhaps because they don't really have a history and are a quite recent invention. The British, after all, established the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan especially for the Hashemites, after promising them the Arabian Peninsula in exchange for cooperation against the Ottoman Empire, but they [the British] did not keep their word. So as compensation, and also to encroach on the national home that the British had promised the Jews in exchange for cooperation against the Ottomans but did not keep their word, the British gave the Hashemites the entire eastern bank of the Jordan River. They also helped them take control of Judea and Samaria. And Jerusalem. And Gush Etzion. The main thing was that the Hashemites should not be offended…

In the Six Day War, the sensitive Jordanians tried to conquer all of central Israel from us, but we won. Ever since then, we have been doing everything we can to appease them, so that they should not feel too bad. This is why Jews are not allowed to drink water on the Temple Mount; the Jordanians are very sensitive to that. This is also why we give them lots of our desalinated water [in accordance with the peace treaty with Jordan of 1994], and double the amount every few years. 

As a token of their appreciation, the Jordanians double the amount of weapons and ammunition that they allow the terrorist organizations to smuggle into Judea and Samaria. We of course close our eyes to this, in order not to shame them. This method worked so fantastically well with Gaza and Egypt, so there's no reason why it shouldn't work with Judea and Samaria and the sensitive Jordanians.

Stepping Up the Pace

The Jews of the Jordan Valley have been noticing for months heightened military activity over the border with Jordan. But it's a bit awkward for the IDF to ask the Jordanians what's going on there, because they might get insulted. Last month, a Jordanian MP was caught at the Allenby Crossing attempting to smuggle tremendous amounts of weapons into Israel. In response, we apologized to the king, because we realized what an embarrassment it was to him that one of his subjects was caught. 

The Israeli Embassy in Amman looks like a fortified military base, because an Israeli presence in their capital is insulting to them. The same is true for Jewish holy objects such as tefillin, and this is why they don't allow Jewish tourists to bring them into their country.

So there was a murderous attack at the Jordanian border a few days ago. Is that a reason for us to hurt Jordanian feelings, now of all times? After all, we need a quiet eastern border so that we can deal with our northern and southern borders, after years of self-restraint in the face of everything that happened there, so as not to cause regional war. But with the Jordanians, it will be different; they won't hurt us, they're sensitive people. Let's just go back to talking all sorts of nonsense about the shifting sands on the beach and throwing sand on Ben-Gvir and in our own eyes. That should keep us busy and undistracted by the more important things.