Palestinian Child cancer sufferer gets surprise birthday party

Lian Fakhoury, a Palestinian girl from Hebron 

who is receiving cancer treatment at 

Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center, 

Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, was surprised 

 when her medical team threw her a Barbie themed

party to celebrate her 8th birthday.

The Price Israel Pays for the USA Visa Waiver Program

 Pro-terror activist vacationing in Israel, promoting BDS, thanks to US visa-waiver program

A prominent pro-Palestinian activist who has called for the destruction of Israel and for Zionists to be slaughtered is currently touring the Jewish State, due to the pilot phase of a potential visa waiver program between the U.S. and Israel.

Nerdeen Kiswani has been documenting her ongoing visit to Israel on social media, captioning one photo taken in the northern city of Haifa that she was currently “on stolen land” in “Occupied Palestine.”

Among public statements made by Kiswani are demands for a “globalized intifada,” a wish that “the pop-pop [of gunfire] be the last sound that Zionists hear,” encouraging activists to “free every inch of Palestine” by “any means necessary,” and praise for “beautiful Palestinian” terrorists whom she said should “be celebrated.”

In an Instagram post on Friday, Kiswani explained that although she had been denied entry to Israel in 2015 due to her vehement anti-Israel advocacy amd participation in the BDS movement, Israeli authorities were obliged to let her enter the country last week.

Under the terms of a fledging visa waiver agreement, Kiswani explained, Israeli authorities could not deny her entry to the country because she holds an American passport.

Kiswani encouraged other American national BDS activists who were previously denied entry to Israel to try to visit the country again and to reach out to the American Embassy should they encounter challenges with Israeli customs officials.

Beyond visiting major tourist sites, including the Baha’i Gardens and Al-Aqsa Mosque, Kiswani recently traveled to Jenin, a terror hotbed in Palestinian Authority-controlled territory. According to a report from Channel 12 News, she met there with the father of a slain member of the Lion’s Den terror group.

From Jenin, Kiswani posted a photo of a wall bearing the photos of various terrorists killed during clashes with Israeli soldiers, along with a caption affirming her support for their cause.

Following Hebrew-language media reports about Kiswani’s visit, Interior Ministry officials said that she will receive a “yellow letter” upon her departure from Israel. This document serves as a formal notice that she will need to coordinate any future visits to the country in advance with the authorities.

REWRITING HISTORY

 Cross posted from Grandma's Diary

Rewriting the history of the Land of Israel in order to deny Israel's right to exist is central to Palestinian Authority (PA) policy. Long before it started the PA terror campaign (such as the Intifada’s), the PA was fighting a history war - erasing Jewish history and replacing it with a fabricated Palestinian history.

This rewriting has two central goals:

1-   Erase the Jewish nation's 4,000 year history in the Land of Israel.
2-   Invent ancient Palestinian, Muslim and Arab histories in the land.

This international campaign of delegitimization began a long time before  the establishment of the modern Jewish state.

The ancient Romans tried to strip the area of its Jewish identity, to make it more Roman, by renaming Judea "Syria Palaestina."

Later, the fifth caliph of the dynasty of Syria - who ruled during the late 7th century - employed the tactic of delegitimising both Judaism and Christianity, by constructing the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This was the biblical spot where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Also the site of the twice-destroyed Jewish Temples. The famous Western Wall is all that remains of their existence.

The goal of this historical revision as a political strategy was first expressed publicly at a conference of Palestinian historians in 1998, when rewriting history was linked to the political goal of denying Israel's right to exist:

Dr. Yussuf Alzamili, chairman History Department at the Khan Yunis Educational College, called on all universities and colleges to write the history of Palestine and to guard it. “Not to enable the foreign implants and enemies to distort it or to legitimize the existence of Jews on this land...” History lecturer Abu Amar clarified that there is no connection between the ancient generation of Jews and the modern generation.

In contemporary times, a version of this tactic of revisionist history was attempted by the late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. During the US-brokered Palestinian-Israeli peace talks at Camp David in 2000, he stated that the first and second Jewish temples were not erected in Jerusalem, but rather miles away in Nablus.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Information, no archaeological excavations in Jerusalem had ever unearthed Jewish artifacts.

Huwara is Dying Economically – Why?

Shai Negrekar and his son Aviad were killed point blank by a Palestinian terrorist on Saturday afternoon in Huwara. The two were running errands in the West Bank town, frequented for the cheaper prices.

The father and son from the southern Ashdod visited the West Bank town regularly, as do many other Israelis looking for cheap prices, especially at mechanics. The car wash at the center of the attack in Huwara had advertised its services in Hebrew. But the area has started to become a flashpoint for attacks in recent months. 

Many times the Palestinian terrorists target soldiers stationed along the main road of the town, safeguarding Israelis who use it to travel to and from settlements, but the flashpoint area has gotten deadlier in 2023.

Israel started building a bypass road that would allow settlers to avoid the Palestinian town, but it hasn’t been without controversy. Even on Sunday, the construction workers at the site were worried that they wouldn’t make it to work after the Israeli army closed roads in the area, some really didn’t make it. And many are concerned about what might follow the terrorist attack.

“There are Israelis who come. But, a supermarket employee in Huwara told i24NEWS, “any security incident that happens here in the street has an impact on our economy.”

“The main road is dying. So is the economy in the town and also in Nablus and the surrounding villages. The people are certainly scared for themselves, for their families and their children, their work. For example, there are people from Nablus working in Ramallah and they are scared because they have to use this road.”

Residents and shop owners have stated that Israelis in town were not a rare phenomenon. Off camera, many say that they have friends from Israel, but they are concerned that there might be a lot less customers because of attacks like the one that occurred Sunday.

So just who is in control in Huwara? the residents who live there or the terrorists?,

In total, according to Israel's Channel 12, there were 300 incidents during the past year in which Israelis had to be rescued and retrieved from the West Bank.

 

Is it Realistic to Negotiate with the PA?

With all the talk about a possible peace deal with Saudi Arabia, inevitably the question comes what to do about the Palestinians.

Maybe I am being naïve but the question is whether we need to do anything at all. For sure the Saudis will want to save face in the Arab world for “achieving” something for the Palestinians but I do believe this is of a lesser priority for them.

Is the world beginning to see the PA for what it is? A failed, corrupt Authority that cannot even control the people they represent. The P.A. is an epic failure. It doesn’t work for the Palestinians and it definitely doesn’t work for Israel.

Indeed, if anyone wants proof of why the Palestinians cannot be allowed to have a state of their own in the foreseeable future, they need look no further than the P.A.

Having lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas, it has lost control of Jenin and Nablus in Samaria to terrorists, the two largest cities in Samaria. By the P.A.’s own admission, the Iranians have already established a foothold in their territory—a development that is extremely dangerous for Israel.

The P.A. is horribly managed and corruption is rampant. P.A. employees are not even paid their full wages, although P.A. chief Mahmoud Abbas still finds plenty of money to pay terrorists and their families very generous monthly salaries for killing Jews.

There is no accountability in the P.A. There have been no elections since 2006. Abbas is now in the 19th year of his four-year term. The Palestinian Legislative Council, which was last elected in 2006, was dissolved in 2018, and Abbas has ruled by presidential decree ever since. The P.A. strongly resembles other Arab dictatorships, with severe restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

In a recent poll, 80% of Palestinians said they wanted Abbas to resign. In March, a poll found that 52% of Palestinians thought it would be a good thing if the P.A. collapsed. Even the Palestinians want to get rid of the P.A.

The Palestine Center for Strategic Studies recently released statistics showing that about two-thirds of the terrorists who have died in the recent wave of terrorism in Judea and Samaria are from Abbas’s Fatah party and most of them were members of the P.A.’s security forces. So, if most of the recent terrorism that Israelis have had to suffer from comes from Abbas’s P.A., why should Israel offer more concessions?

The Palestinians have a great opportunity for work in Israel. With unemployment down to 3.5%, many contractors are having difficulties filling the vacancies. With job opportunities offering not only salaries well above what they can earn under the PA but also attractive social benefits not available under the PA, many Palestinian families can improve their standard of living at a stroke. However, the PA must take control of its own people.

 

El Al’s newest 787 Dreamliner Saving the Climate

 El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. announced the arrival of its newest Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which landed Monday morning in Tel Aviv after a direct flight from the Boeing factory in Seattle, using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in its aim to protect the planet.

The historic flight marks El Al’s first use of SAF and signifies the company’s commitment to reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases. Thirty percent of the total fuel used in the flight from Seattle to Tel Aviv was SAF, which is chemically similar to traditional fossil jet fuel but is produced from sources such as carbon in the air and produces significantly less carbon emissions than fossil fuel.

In June 2023, El Al joined the IATA Environmental Assessment Program, which assesses the commitment of the world’s leading airlines to improving their environmental and sustainability performance. El Al’s participation in the certification program is meant to establish the company as a global leader in sustainable air travot respect High Court ruling to strike down reasonableness bill

 Growth and sustainability 

“Welcoming a new Dreamliner jet is always an exciting event for us. Today’s historic arrival of our first jet using SAF marks another important milestone in our strategic plan – expanding and renewing our fleet and strengthening our commitment to sustainability,” El Al CEO Dina Ben Tal Ganancia said.

The new Dreamliner is the fourth 787-8 in El Al’s fleet and part of the company’s most recent acquisition of new aircraft. The financing transaction was arranged by ABL Aviation and is the 6th JOLCO financing transaction executed by El Al since 2018. The jet can accommodate 238 passengers in three classes – Business, Premium, and Economy.

 El Al’s Dreamliner fleet now includes four Boeing 787-8 aircraft and 12 787-9 aircraft, which fly to international destinations in North America, Europe, and the Far East. The arrival of the newest Dreamliner aircraft is part of El Al’s strategic plan to expand and renew its fleet, improve the customer experience, and focus on more efficient fuel usage.

All 15 Supreme Court justices to hear petitions against ‘reasonableness law’

 In first, all 15 Supreme Court justices to hear petitions against ‘reasonableness law’ curbing their power

All 15 justices of Israel’s Supreme Court will hear the petitions asking them to cancel the “reasonableness law” that the Knesset passed last week, Supreme Court President Esther Hayut announced on Monday.

The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Sept. 12, three days before the start of the High Holidays. The government will have to file its response to the petitions 10 days earlier.

It will be the first time in the court’s 75-year history that a panel of 15 justices will preside over a case.

On July 24, all 64 lawmakers in the governing coalition voted into law a bill to restrict judges’ use of the “reasonableness” standard. The amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary bars “reasonableness” as a justification for judges to reverse decisions made by the Cabinet, ministers and “other elected officials as set by law.”

NGOs immediately filed petitions asking the Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, to strike down the law. While the court scheduled a hearing, it has not gone as far as to issue an emergency injunction against the law, as several of the seven petitioners had requested.

“We are ready. We will appear at the Supreme Court to defend Israeli democracy and do everything we can to stop the judicial coup,” the Movement for Quality Government’s Chairman Eliad Shraga said last week. “We will continue to protest and fight everywhere and from every podium until the threat is removed.”

Separate from the petitions against the “reasonableness law,” opposition leader Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid Party asked the court to order Justice Minister Yariv Levin to convene the Judicial Selection Committee, which is responsible for appointing new judges to the courts. Lapid’s petition will also be heard after the summer recess.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has gone on the record as saying that the government would accept the Supreme Court’s decisions. “Israel is a democratic, law-abiding country. We’ll act according to the law,” Gallant told journalists ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that his government will seek an agreement with the opposition on the rest of the judicial reform package during the Knesset’s summer recess, which started on Sunday.

In an interview with Fox News, the prime minister denied that the reform push was weakening Israel’s democracy, as its opponents claim, stating that it was in fact “strengthening democracy. We’re bringing it back in line to where most democracies are. Where Israel was in its first five decades and where it should be now in the coming decades.”

On Sunday, Netanyahu’s Likud Party rejected a demand by the opposition to freeze all judicial reform legislation until 2025. “Yair Lapid is ready to talk with Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas] without preconditions, but for Likud he is setting out a list of preconditions for talks,” the party said.