Jerusalem Affairs Minister and candidate for the upcoming Jerusalem mayoral election Ze’ev Elkin rejected claims that “politicization” of the exhibition soccer game with Argentina caused the cancellation.

By: World Israel News Staff

Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin rejected the claim against Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev that her politicization of the exhibition game between Israel and Argentina, including the decision to move it from Haifa to Jerusalem, resulted in its cancellation.

“I am dumbfounded by the reactions. There are many people who are trying to take advantage of this situation to advance their own narrow political agenda,” Elkin told Army Radio Wednesday.

“Jerusalem is not Miri Regev’s personal cause, it should be important to all of us,” he said. “Where is our national pride?”

President Reuven Rivlin blamed Argentina for allowing political considerations to influence into their decision and for caving in to the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement.

“Argentina’s politicization is very worrying,” Rivlin said. “It’s a pity the Argentine national team did not leave political considerations aside.”

In contrast, Shelly Yachimovich, a Member of Knesset from the opposition Zionist Union party, blamed Regev for politicizing the exhibition game with Argentina by, among other things, demanding that it take place in Jerusalem rather than Haifa, as originally planned.

“Regev transformed the Israel-Argentina game into a political event as well as a PR event for Miri Regev,” Yachimovich charged. “If an event is promoted this way, this is the result.”

Before the cancellation, Regev said that the arrival of the Argentinian national soccer team and its most famous player, Lionel Messi, would help Israeli hasbara (public diplomacy).

Regev also dismissed reports that the soccer star would refuse to shake hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and government ministers.

Messi will come “to kiss the Western Wall,” Regev said. “We will wait and see who shakes hands with whom.”

“I understand all the excitement over Messi, I understand the affection and Israelis’ desire to be a part of this game. If only we had a stadium that could hold the thousands who want to come see the game,” Regev said, referring to the decision to host the game in Jerusalem and not in Haifa’s Sami Ofer stadium.

“What would have happened in Haifa is just not interesting at all. When Messi and the Argentinian national team come to Israel before the World Cup, it is clear that they will play in Jerusalem,” she stated.

“It is truly a sad morning for soccer fans, including some of my grandchildren, but there are values that are even bigger than Messi.

President Reuven Rivlin issued a statement Wednesday afternoon, saying, “The politicization in the Argentinian decision is of great concern. Even in the most difficult times, we made every effort to leave considerations that are not purely about sport off the playing field, and it is a pity that the Argentina team did not manage to do so on this occasion.”

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The UN posted a ‘disclaimer’ at the entrance to its Jerusalem exhibit, which shows 3000 years of Jewish ties to the city, saying its content does not represent the world body’s views.  

By: World Israel News Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, along with Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Zeev Elkin and Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon on Thursday visited the Jerusalem exhibit currently being presented at the UN building in New York, which Netanyahu said highlights the historical truth.

The exhibit includes original archaeological finds that were discovered in Israel and which underscore the continuous link of the Jewish people to Israel and Jerusalem in various periods over 3,000 years.

Among the items that are a First Temple-era  2,700-year-old seal impression inscribed in ancient Hebrew, which was discovered in January, and an inscription from the seal of biblical King Hezekiah, who ruled from 727-698 BCE and helped build Jerusalem into an ancient metropolis and a 7th-century BCE seal with the inscription, “the fifth to Netanyahu, his sons and his relatives.”

The exhibit, a joint effort by the Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Ministry and the Israeli Mission to the UN, follows a series of resolutions passed by the international governing body denying Jewish ties to the city.

“There is a long history that is being cherished by us and by the friends of the Jewish people and the friends of truth and is being denied by those who seek to erase the history of our people, our connection to our land and our connection to our eternal capital, Jerusalem,” Netanyahu stated. “What this exhibit does is put the truth forward.”

The UN posted a disclaimer at the entrance to the exhibit, saying its content does not represent the world body’s views.

“Of course it doesn’t represent the United Nations, it represents the truth. And we’ll continue to tell the truth and speak the truth everywhere, including in the United Nations,” the Israeli leader declared.

Netanyahu: ‘We fight for our rights’

“But, the second point is this,” he added. “This exhibit would not have been possible 10 years ago and this exhibit will be unnecessary 10 years from now. We are changing the world. We are changing Israel’s position in the world and above all, we are making it clear that we fight for the truth and for our rights.”

Netanyahu also referred to his meeting with the US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley. “We call her ‘Hurricane Haley.’ She does magnificent work for the truth and for the defense of Israel here at the UN,” he said.

The prime minister concluded by thanking everyone “for standing up for the truth, for standing with Israel.”

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The coalition passed a law requiring a two-thirds-majority vote before parts of Jerusalem can be given away in a peace agreement.  At the same time, the door is now open to tampering with the city’s municipal boundaries in order to ensure a large Jewish majority.

By Steve Leibowitz, World Israel News

The ‘Unified Jerusalem’ law was passed in the Knesset late Monday night as an amendment to ‘Basic Law: Jerusalem.’ Driven by Education Minister Naftali Bennett and his Habayit HaYehudi (Jewish Home) party, the new law requires that any decision on the status of Jerusalem must receive an 80-Knesset-member (two-thirds) majority.

Bennett welcomed the law’s passage, tweeting, “We’ve assured Jerusalem’s unity. The law safeguards Jerusalem, whose status will not be changed unless an enormous 80-MK majority is reached. The Mount of Olives, the Old City, the Temple Mount and the City of David will remain ours forever. No political stunts will rip our capital apart.”

While it’s true that the new law now requires a two-thirds majority for any decision to be taken on Jerusalem’s status, the law itself can be changed with a bare majority of 61 MKs in favor. At the same time, along with the law’s passage, an article was changed in ‘Basic Law: Jerusalem’ removing the prohibition on making changes to the city’s municipal boundaries. In other words, areas currently part of the Jerusalem municipality may be removed from the city and placed “in a separate authority” with Israeli sovereignty still applying to them. That means the door has been opened to tampering with Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries in order to ensure a large Jewish majority in the Israeli capital.

Bennett continued tweeting, “Our capital city was saved twice from the catastrophe of partition efforts led by former prime ministers Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, when they held a fleeting Knesset majority. That is now over. The ‘Unified Jerusalem Law’ prevents any possibility of partition, strengthens our international standing and prevents future pressures on Israel.”

‘A new precedent’

Hebrew University Prof. Moshe Amirav was an aide to Barak at the Camp David talks when Israel made an offer to the Palestinians to divide Jerusalem. Amirav told World Israel News (WIN), “This is a new precedent. Many Knesset members are not aware that in June 1967, when Jerusalem was captured, a decision was taken to include all surrounding areas into the municipality. The pre-1967 Israeli side of Jerusalem was only about 30 square kilometers in size. We added over 100 square kilometers, including an assortment of Jordanian villages that had no connection to east Jerusalem on the Jordanian side. This was supposed to be a temporary solution. We knew then and know now that sooner or later Jerusalem must rid itself of these Arab neighborhoods. Of course this does not apply to the one square kilometer that includes the Temple Mount and the Western Wall in the Old City.”

According to Amirav, “In Camp David we agreed to give them areas that included about 300,000 Arab inhabitants. These areas are a trap for Israel because they can eventually reach a majority in the city. In Camp David I spoke directly to Yasser Arafat and asked him, ‘Why don’t you tell the Jerusalem Palestinians to vote in the municipal elections?’ He said he was willing, but the local Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem, like Faisal Husseini, were opposed. Fortunately for us it never happened.”

As Bennett and Habayit HaYehudi are celebrating their claim that the ‘United Jerusalem’ law safeguards the city from ever being divided in the future, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin is planning to use the new legislation to remove Arab neighborhoods that are beyond the security barrier from the municipality.

Elkin knows that the new law states that only a bare Knesset majority is needed to change the ‘Unified Jerusalem’ law, meaning that 61 votes could cancel the need for 80 votes. Elkin also understands that the same bare majority could cancel the article forbidding changes in Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries. According to Elkin, on Monday it was not possible to gerrymander Jerusalem, but on Tuesday it became legal.

Elkin envisions the eventual manipulation of Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries to remove Arab neighborhoods that are currently inside the city but outside the security wall. These include places that few Israelis visit or have even heard of, such as Shuafat, Kafr Akab, Sawahra, Sheikh Sa’ad, and parts of  Walaja. The idea is to create a new Arab municipality beyond the barrier in order to protect the Jewish majority in the city.

‘A brave move by Minister Elkin’

Knesset member and former Jerusalem councilwoman Rachel Azaria (Kulanu) told WIN, “This will make it easier to remove Arab neighborhoods from Jerusalem’s municipal responsibility. I think Jerusalem is a city where we must live together. The idea of a wall running through a part of the city as it does today is not something we want to see. The bill is important because it delineates places that are not really part of Jerusalem. Its residents do not identify as Jerusalemites, and they don’t receive proper municipal services because they are not physically integrated into Jerusalem. There is something about Jerusalem that terrifies a lot of leaders to make any decisions. It was a brave move by Minister Elkin.”

Jerusalem Councilwoman Fleur Hassan-Nahoum (Yerushalmim, a Jerusalem municipal party) told WIN, “If we keep all of these Arab neighborhoods inside Jerusalem, then they must be given services just like other residents. It’s unworkable to keep those living beyond the wall inside the city. We can’t have it both ways. The Arab residents in the city could vote in higher numbers and then they would have council members fighting for their rights.”

If Elkin has his way, Jerusalem’s Jewish majority will increase, and some Arab residents will live in a still unnamed municipality outside Jerusalem’s city limits.

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The Likud Central Committee voted in one voice for Israeli sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria.

By: Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

In a victory for the Israeli right, over 1,000 members of the Likud party’s Central Committee called unanimously Sunday evening for its representatives in government to formally annex parts of Judea and Samaria and allow unlimited construction in the Jewish communities.

The resolution reads: “Fifty years after the liberation of Judea and Samaria, and with them Jerusalem, our eternal capital, the Likud Central Committee calls on Likud’s elected leaders to work to allow unhindered construction and to extend Israeli law and sovereignty in all the areas of liberated settlement in Judea and Samaria.”

Not legally binding, but significant

The draft resolution was put forward by Shevach Stern of the nationalist camp, who reminded the crowd that “this is not a legally binding resolution, but it binds our government morally and politically.”

He also made a point of saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who was not present – had already said 15 years ago that “there will be no Palestinian state west of the Jordan River.” He was referring to the 2002 Likud convention, when a resolution was passed against the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria.

Although conspicuous by his absence, Netanyahu was mentioned positively by members of his cabinet, including Ze’ev Elkin, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Environmental Protection. He noted that the meeting was not taking place against the prime minister’s will, insisting that Netanyahu has been outspoken about his views that all of Israel belongs to the Jewish people.

‘This is our best chance’

At the event, which lasted for over three hours, almost every speaker mentioned US President Donald Trump and his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Some merely thanked him, while others, such as Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein, marked it as a potential jumping-off point. He declared, “Now it’s up to us… Will it be only Jerusalem, or also Judea, Samaria, the Jordan Valley, etc.?”

Benny Kashriel, mayor of Maale Adumim, a city just east of the capital, stated firmly that “this is our best chance, with America behind us, and other countries growing closer. We have to bring the vote over sovereignty…to the Knesset.”

The need to turn words into action was made by several committee members. “What happens after the vote?” asked Central Committee member Ze’ev Ben Yosef. “Will we really build everywhere? We must convince everyone we can, so this will actually be carried out.”

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Hotovely received an especially fervent round of applause as she held up a rubber bracelet she received that evening with the words “The Likud is for Sovereignty” in Hebrew. “This blue bracelet is the correction for the orange bracelet of Gush Katif [against the disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005]. There will be no more evacuations,” she stated. “Tonight we are making history.”

‘Sovereignty is our right’

Gidon Sa’ar, previous number two in the party, and several others reminded the audience that under late Prime Minister Menachem Begin, the Knesset passed the Basic Law on Jerusalem in 1980, which stated that the city would remain the “complete and united capital of Israel,” and applied sovereignty to the Golan Heights in 1981. Now is the time to strengthen the Jewish state’s hold over all parts of the land and to prevent the destruction of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, they said.

Speaker after speaker noted the historic character of the meeting and the need to end, in Edelstein’s words, the “unbearable situation” according to which residents of Judea and Samaria are treated as second-class citizens, having all the obligations (i.e. paying taxes, serving in the army) but none of the rights (to build, for example) that those living in the pre-1967 borders enjoy. Over and over, the words “Sovereignty is our right” were heard.

It therefore came as no surprise when Minister of Welfare and Social Services Haim Katz, who chairs the Committee, announced the result of the vote – zero against, zero abstentions, and 100 percent in favor of sovereignty.

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Elkin dismissed as “pathetic” Erdogan’s declaration regarding a Turkish embassy in eastern Jerusalem.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s declaration that he will open an embassy in the “State of Palestine” in eastern Jerusalem is “pathetic,” and will not come to fruition, an Israeli minister stated Monday.

“God willing, the day is close when officially, with God’s permission, we will open our embassy there,” Erdogan said on Sunday, in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Speaking to IDF Radio on Monday, Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Minister of Environmental Protection Zeev Elkin dismissed Erdogan‘s threat as “pathetic,” saying Israel would not allow it to happen.

When asked about the fraying reconciliation deal recently signed between Israel and Turkey, Elkin said that Erdogan doesn’t need to be “treated with silk gloves” and not everything he says needs to be taken seriously.

Israel signed a reconciliation deal with Turkey in the summer of 2016, and Israeli officials had hoped that it would temper Erdogan’s venom towards the Jewish state and help repair ties. However, this has not happened.

While the Turkish leader may appoint an envoy to man the post in “Palestine,” Elkin said Erdogan could wait hundreds or thousands of years until Jerusalem becomes the Palestinians’ capital. “It won’t happen,” Elkin stressed.

Ankara has threatened to sever ties with Jerusalem.

Israel controls all of Jerusalem and would not allow such a move on Turkey’s part, and therefore the declaration should be seen as a purely political move by Erdogan, who uses harsh anti-Israel rhetoric as a way to gain popularity on the Arab street.

Yehuda, a resident of Istanbul, dismissed Erdogan’s intimidation as an attempt to deflect internal political pressure in an attempt to have the public focus on another issue. “Every time there is a problem in the country he deflects public attention to another issue. If you ask here [in Turkey] where Jerusalem is, half of the people could not answer you,” he told IDF Radio.

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Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria should prepare for a massive influx of new residents, Minister Elkin said. 

By: World Israel News Staff

Israel should prepare plans for one million Israeli residents living in Judea and Samaria, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin said.

“This will happen – it is only a question of when,” Elkin told communal leaders from the region on Tuesday at a special conference on population growth in Judea and Samaria, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Elkin estimated that the population in Judea and Samaria can double in size in the next 10 to 20 years, depending on the pace of construction, which has been halted or significantly hindered at times at the behest of the US.

The minister pointed out that the current pace of housing is not satisfactory to facilitate the population growth, with less than 3,000 units built per year. A total of 100,000-120,000 new units are required to meet that crucial number, he said.

“Advance plans with all your might as if it is possible today, as if you could create a zoning plan for one thousand homes and execute it,” he urged the leaders. “If everyone does this, I believe that the numbers will become the reality of our lives.”

This massive population growth “will change the entire outlook with regard to diplomacy, security and settlements and will show everyone that there is no turning back here,” Elkin said.

Elkin also dismissed the notion of a Palestinian state.

“Halas [“enough” in Arabic] with the story of two states. There is no other option but the state of Israel, certainly between the Jordan [River] to the sea there will be one state,” he told the conference.

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