Netzach Yisrael, Author at Netzach Yisrael

Making the Syria Strikes Count

Netzach YisraelApril 9, 2017April 9, 2017Articles

Bloomberg

US Navy

In the span of just a few days, U.S. President Donald Trump appears to have met both his first true foreign policy crisis and his most challenging bilateral summit more smoothly than many had feared he might. Whether this turns out to be anything more than a symbolic victory, and whether it has an effect in the fight against terrorism and the effort to rein in North Korea, will depend on what he and his administration do next.

Trump was clearly justified in Thursday’s decision to order cruise missile strikes on Syria’s Shayrat airbase, from where the regime had launched a sarin gas attack on civilians earlier in the week. As a somber Trump noted, the world could not let such a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention — not to mention civilized norms — go unpunished. The strikes themselves were targeted and proportional; the U.S. military says that Russian personnel at the airbase were warned ahead of time to avoid sparking a wider clash. Allies welcomed the move, and it should go some way toward deterring any future use of chemical weapons on the Syrian battlefield.

Netzach YisraelApril 9, 2017News

JTA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, alongside Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz at the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sept. 4, 2016

Adding to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s praise for the U.S. missile strikes on a Syrian army base, a senior Israeli Cabinet minister said it “restored America’s regional leadership in a big way.”

Yisrael Katz, the intelligence minister and a member of the Cabinet’s defense forum, spoke Friday with Army Radio about the U.S. strike the previous night in which dozens of guided missiles were launched at an army base of forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. Earlier this week, his military was accused of using chemical weapons in attacking rebel-held areas.

“There are things that only the No. 1 superpower in the world can do,” Katz said. “In contrast to the failed policy of leading from behind, which led to Iran’s entrenchment, the United States has restored America’s regional leadership in a big way in the Middle East.”

Netzach YisraelApril 9, 2017News

Times of Israel

Relatives and onlookers gather outside a church after a bomb attack in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, Egypt

A bomb exploded in a church north of Cairo that was packed with Palm Sunday worshippers, killing at least 26 people and wounding 71 others, officials said.

The attack in the Nile Delta town of Tanta was the latest in a series of assaults on Egypt’s Christian minority, which makes up around 10 percent of the population and has been repeatedly targeted by Islamic extremists. It comes just weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit the Arab world’s most populous country.

Netzach YisraelApril 7, 2017News

Reuters

The United States fired cruise missiles on Friday at a Syrian airbase from which President Donald Trump said a deadly chemical weapons attack had been launched, the first direct U.S. assault on the government of Bashar al-Assad in six years of civil war.

In the biggest foreign policy decision of his presidency so far, Trump ordered the step his predecessor Barack Obama never took: directly targeting Assad’s military as punishment for the chemical weapons attack which killed at least 70 people.

That catapulted the United States into a confrontation with Russia, which has military advisers on the ground assisting its close ally Assad.

“Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically,” Trump said as he announced the attack from his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, where he was meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack,” he said of Tuesday’s chemical weapons strike, which Western countries blame on Assad’s forces. “No child of God should ever suffer such horror.”

Netzach YisraelApril 6, 2017April 6, 2017News

Times of Israel

In an unprecedented move, Russia on Thursday said it considers West Jerusalem Israel’s capital, making the country the world’s first to extend such a recognition to any part of the city.

“We reaffirm our commitment to the UN-approved principles for a Palestinian-Israeli settlement, which include the status of East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state. At the same time, we must state that in this context we view West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said in a statement.

Russia’s surprising move comes as US President Donald Trump considers moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It is unclear what prompted Moscow’s decision and whether other countries in its sphere of influence will follow suit.

Netzach YisraelApril 5, 2017April 5, 2017News

Times of Israel

Rasha Atamny, 31, from Baqa al-Gharbiyye, is Israel’s first female Arab-Muslim diplomat

The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday appointed Rasha Atamny, 31, to represent the Jewish state in Ankara, Turkey, making her Israel’s first female Muslim diplomat.

Atamny, who is completing the final months of the ministry’s cadet course, will serve as the embassy’s first secretary in the influential Muslim nation.

Turkey is an important regional ally for Israel, with strong economic ties. The two countries signed a reconciliation agreement in June, 2016, ending a six-year rift.

Netzach YisraelApril 4, 2017April 4, 2017News

AIPAC

AIPAC Action Alert

While the United Nations (U.N.) played a crucial role in the creation of Israel, U.N. history has been marked by persistent antagonism toward the Jewish state. In the last year, U.N. bodies and agencies adopted dozens of resolutions and reports unfairly criticizing Israel.

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Chris Coons (D-DE) have authored a bipartisan letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urging him to “engage member states in a comprehensive effort to directly confront and root out [anti-Israel] bias.” While the letter commends the good work being done at the U.N., it calls out “many of its member states and agencies” that are “using the U.N.’s privileged platform to advance an anti-Israel agenda.”

Now is your chance to act!

Netzach YisraelApril 4, 2017April 4, 2017News

Netzach Yisrael

Both the United States and Israel introduce bills aimed at discouraging the Palestinian Authority from providing funding to families of Palestinian terrorists.

Shortly after the murder of former Army Officer Taylor Force, Fatah, the political party of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, posted a statement praising the attacker as a hero and “martyr.” This practice is consistent with the Palestinian Authority’s 2016 budget which provided NIS 1.1 billion to the families of terrorists.

Apparently, both the United States and Israel believe it is time to discourage this practice. The United States recently introduced the Taylor Force Act which states:

“This bill prohibits certain assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 from being made available for the West Bank and Gaza unless the Department of State certifies that the Palestinian Authority:

“is taking steps to end acts of violence against U.S. and Israeli citizens perpetrated by individuals under its jurisdictional control, such as the March 2016 attack that killed former Army officer Taylor Force;
“is publicly condemning such acts of violence and is investigating, or cooperating in investigations of, such acts; and
“has terminated payments for acts of terrorism against U.S. and Israeli citizens to any individual who has been convicted and imprisoned for such acts, to any individual who died committing such acts, and to family members of such an individual.”

Meanwhile, Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern put forth a bill in the Knesset to deduct NIS 1.1 billion — the amount that the PA forwards to families of convicted terrorists — from the money Israel transfers to the Palestinian Authority from revenue it collects. See Bill aims to block Israeli aid money from terrorists’ families as reported by YNet

Trump, Sissi said to plan peace summit during their meeting

Netzach YisraelApril 4, 2017April 4, 2017News

Times of Israel

President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to members of the media as he greets Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi at the White House

Among the issues reportedly discussed during Monday’s 150-minute meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, were “ideas” for a possible Israeli-Palestinian peace summit to be held in Washington this coming summer.

While the initiative is in its beginning stages, the discussions complemented the recent meetings US Special Envoy for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt held with Arab leaders, American diplomatic sources told the London-based al-Hayat newspaper in a report Tuesday morning.

At the Arab League Summit in Jordan last week, Greenblatt told Arab foreign ministers that Trump was committed to reaching a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians that would “reverberate” throughout the Middle East and the world.

Netzach YisraelApril 2, 2017News

JTA

The David’s Sling missile defense system undergoes a final round of tests on Dec. 21, 2015 in Israel

The David’s Sling missile defense system, which is designed to stop medium-range rockets, drones and cruise missiles, became operational in Israel.

They system entered into service with a ceremony on Sunday at the Hatzor military base in central Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense officials were in attendance at the ceremony launching David’s Sling.

“We have an absolute obligation to the security of Israel’s citizens. In the context of this obligation, we are working systematically to strengthen the offensive capability of the State of Israel against its enemies. We are also working, to the same degree, to strengthen our defensive capability against our enemies,” Netanyahu said hours before the ceremony at the weekly Cabinet meeting. With the introduction of David’s Sling “We are defending the home front,” he said.

“(W)hoever wants to strike us will be beaten, and those who threaten our existence are putting their own lives at risk,” Netanyahu said during the ceremony.

Making the Syria Strikes Count

Israeli minister: Syria strike repositioned America as regional leader

At least 26 killed in attack on church in Egypt, 71 injured

U.S. fires missiles at Assad airbase; Russia denounces ‘aggression’

In historic first, Russia recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

Israel appoints its first female Muslim diplomat

Urge Your Senators to Sign the Rubio-Coons Letter to the U.N. Secretary-General

United States and Israel introduce bills to curb funding for terrorists

Both the United States and Israel introduce bills aimed at discouraging the Palestinian Authority from providing funding to families of Palestinian terrorists.

Trump, Sissi said to plan peace summit during their meeting

David’s Sling missile defense system enters service in Israel