Jewish News Syndicate

Ariel mayor, IDF clash over road access from PA town

Citing security concerns, Ariel Mayor Yair Chetboun is engaged in a war of wills with the IDF over a road connecting his town to the Arab town of Salfit. Chetboun has been blocking the road using heavy equipment, while the IDF continues to clear it. Credit: Courtesy.

Citing security concerns, Ariel Mayor Yair Chetboun is engaged in a war of wills with the IDF over a road connecting his town to the Arab town of Salfit. Chetboun has been blocking the road using heavy equipment, while the IDF continues to clear it. Credit: Courtesy.

The mayor of the Shomron town of Ariel, Yair Chetboun, is currently in a game of cat and mouse with the Israeli military over his insistence that part of a key artery, which connects his town to the nearby P.A. village of Salfit, remain blocked due to security considerations.

Click to Continue Reading

Posted by Josh Hasten in Jewish News Syndicate

Local leaders laud Smotrich’s plan to extend civilian control in Judea and Samaria

Finance Minister and Religious Zionism Party head Bezalel Smotrich holds a faction meeting in northern Israel, May 19, 2024. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90.

Finance Minister and Religious Zionism Party head Bezalel Smotrich holds a faction meeting in northern Israel, May 19, 2024. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90.

Judea and Samaria leaders on Tuesday applauded Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s announcement earlier this week that major steps had been taken to transfer administrative authority in the area from military to civilian hands.

Click Here to Continue Reading on JNS

Posted by Josh Hasten in Jewish News Syndicate

Protesters block PA workers’ entry to Efrat

A protest organized by B’yadaim Shelanu to prevent the entry of P.A. workers to Efrat in Gush Etzion, June 23, 2024. Credit: B’yadaim Shelanu.

A protest organized by B’yadaim Shelanu to prevent the entry of P.A. workers to Efrat in Gush Etzion, June 23, 2024. Credit: B’yadaim Shelanu.

Some 120 protesters gathered in the Gush Etzion town of Efrat on Sunday morning to prevent local building contractors from bringing Palestinian laborers into the community.

Click to Continue Reading on JNS

Posted by Josh Hasten in Jewish News Syndicate

Judea and Samaria face new reality of aerial terrorism

Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz (in black T-shirt) and IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox (on Ganz's left) during the search for 14-year-old shepherd Binyamin Achimeir. Credit: Binyamin Regional Council Spokesperson.

Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz (in black T-shirt) and IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox (on Ganz’s left) during the search for 14-year-old shepherd Binyamin Achimeir. Credit: Binyamin Regional Council Spokesperson.

The more than half a million Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria are no strangers to terrorism. In 2023, the region saw a 350% increase in terrorist attacks compared to the previous year. There were 300 shooting attacks last year, the most since the second intifada in the early 2000s.

Click to Continue Reading on JNS

Posted by Josh Hasten in Jewish News Syndicate

New, inclusive Haggadah aims to empower your seder

New, inclusive Haggadah aims to empower your seder

New, inclusive Haggadah aims to empower your seder

A brand-new Passover Haggadah titled, “Empowering Seder Conversations,” published just in time for the holiday, is designed to promote inclusion at the Seder table, making the special evening more accessible for those suffering from aphasia and other neurological challenges.

Click to Continue Reading on JNS

Posted by Josh Hasten in Jewish News Syndicate

Families of fallen soldiers dedicate IDF base synagogue to loved ones

Soldiers and families of soldiers who fell in battle against Hamas pray at the renovated synagogue at the Lamed-Hey IDF base in Gush Etzion on Mon., March 4, 2024. Photo: Josh Hasten.

Soldiers and families of soldiers who fell in battle against Hamas pray at the renovated synagogue at the Lamed-Hey IDF base in Gush Etzion on Mon., March 4, 2024. Photo: Josh Hasten.

Family members of 16 soldiers from Gush Etzion and Efrat who fell defending the State of Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre gathered on Monday at a military base in the Gush’s western foothills to dedicate the base’s newly expanded synagogue in memory of their loved ones.

Click to Continue Reading on JNS

Posted by Josh Hasten in Jewish News Syndicate

Blinken’s reversal of ‘Pompeo doctrine’ all about politics, experts say

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a phone call with U.S. officials, including the president, about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy against Hamas on Oct. 11, 2023, in the Oval Office. Credit: Adam Schultz/White House.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a phone call with U.S. officials, including the president, about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy against Hamas on Oct. 11, 2023, in the Oval Office. Credit: Adam Schultz/White House.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday appeared to reverse the Trump administration’s “Pompeo doctrine,” which stated that civilian Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria were not necessarily illegal according to international law.

Click to Continue on JNS

Posted by Josh Hasten in Jewish News Syndicate