Israel News

security threat on board and were instructed to divert to the nearest airport, Minsk.”

The airline added that “nothing untoward” had been found in checks in Minsk.

Erdan Defends Israel’s Defense

Representatives from Israel and the Palestinian Authority on Thursday attended an emergency meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to discuss the rockets fired at Israeli civilians and Israel’s response to the continuous missiles fired upon its cities.

At the meeting, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Gilad Erdan said, “You all know – and even the Palestinian representative here today knows – that Hamas’s premeditated assault had nothing to do with any Israeli action. “This was all the result of Hamas’s frustration with [Palestinian Authority] President [Mahmoud] Abbas’s decision to cancel the [joint Palestinian Authority-Hamas] elections [on April 29] and its desire to increase its political influence in East Jerusalem and the West Bank,” he said.

Erdan noted, “Hamas seeks to replace the Palestinian Authority, and take control of the Palestinian territories. So after the elections were canceled, it decided to launch a war of aggression against Israel.”

Prior to the assembly, Erdan had said, “Hamas’s charter, which, like the Nazis, is committed to the genocide of the Jewish people.” He noted that the world seemed indifferent to the attacks. “We see an attempt to create a false moral equivalence. Israel makes every effort to avoid civilian casualties. Hamas makes every effort to increase civilian casualties.”

Israel, Erdan emphasized, “did everything to de-escalate the situation,” but “we are looking for a cure, and not a band-aid.”

“I have heard voices in this hall, accusing Israel of a disproportionate response based on the different number of Israeli and Palestinian casualties,” Erdan said. “If the UN General Assembly had existed during the Nazi regime, would it have held a special session to condemn the Allies for their disproportionate response and the large number of German casualties? Would it have urged them to show restraint in the face of Hitler, the Nazi army and their supporters?”

Siding with Israel, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: “I don’t believe that there is any country working more urgently and more fervently towards peace.”

She also supported Israel’s right to defend itself.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is “deeply shocked” by the IDF’s response to the rocket fire and criticized both sides for violating “the laws of war.”

“Counter-terrorism or self-defense” are not justifications for war crimes, he claimed, urging Israel to use “proportionate” force and “exercise maximum restraint in the conduct of military operations.”

He also called on the Gaza terror groups to stop the “indiscriminate launching of rockets and mortars from highly populated civilian neighborhoods into civilian population centers in Israel.”

Though Gaza claimed over 230 casualties in the war, over half of those – at least 145 – were terrorists. Others were killed when Hamas rockets fell short, exploding in civilian areas of Gaza. Despite this, PA official Riad al-Maliki claimed that Israel was committing “genocide of whole Palestinian families” during the Gaza operation, urging that the small Jewish state be held accountable for acting in self-defense and not be provided with arms.

“Let’s stop this massacre,” the Palestinian official said.

Two Stabbed in Jerusalem

Two Israelis suffered moderate injuries in a stabbing attack near a police station on Monday, Israeli authorities reported.

The attack, which occurred on Jerusalem’s Haim Bar-Lev Street near the light rail station, wounded an IDF soldier and an Israeli civilian, both in their early 20s. The terrorist was shot by officers at the scene, and the victims were taken to Hadassah Mount Scopus for medical treatment.

In a statement, Israel Police said, “Around 1:30 p.m., an assailant arrived at the light rail station, pulled out a knife and used it to injure two people there. Officers who were on the scene responded quickly, shooting the assailant and neutralizing him.”

According to the IDF, the stabbing seemed to be a terror attack.

Responding to the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wished the wounded a full recovery, praised the officer who neutralized the terrorist, and promised that Israel “will continue to fight terrorism with all our might.”

Israel to Lift Coronavirus Restrictions

Israel’s Health Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) on Sunday announced that, beginning June 1, all coronavirus-related restrictions on gatherings, as well as the Purple Badge and Green Passport requirements, will be lifted.

The requirement to wear masks will remain in place for at least another two weeks. The changes will not influence international travel, and Israelis are urged not to travel to countries which have high infection rates and to strictly adhere to quarantine rules upon returning to Israel.

In a Sunday statement, Edelstein said, “Israel is returning to routine. Less than six months ago, we started the vaccination campaign. Thanks to the excellent work of the workers in the health system … we carried out the best vaccination drive in the world. We have long been reaping our reward with low morbidity.

“Now, to my joy, the situation allows us to cancel the use of the Green Pass and the restrictions of the Purple Badge.”

Edelstein noted that the Health Ministry is continuing to monitor the situation, emphasizing that “if there is an outbreak, we will have to backtrack.”

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Blinken Visits Israel

On his first visit to Israel as secretary of state, top United States diplomat Antony Blinken affirmed President Joe Biden’s “personal” commitment to Israel’s security and said the U.S. would take a lead role in the “urgent humanitarian reconstruction in Gaza” to ensure a better future for all sides.

“Leaders on both sides” need to take steps “to set a better course for their shared future,” he said on Tuesday alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

Blinken’s meeting with Netanyahu launched a regional tour that saw him head to Ramallah Tuesday afternoon for meetings with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and then to Jordan and Egypt in a bid to shore up last week’s Israel-Gaza ceasefire and launch the reconstruction effort.

“President Biden asked me to come here today really for four reasons,” Blinken said. “First, to demonstrate the commitment of the United States to Israel’s security; to start to work toward greater stability and reduced tensions in the West Bank and Jerusalem”; to support “urgent humanitarian reconstruction assistance in Gaza”; and to “continue to rebuild our relationship with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority.”

“Losses on both sides were profound,” Blinken said, and “as the Talmud teaches, to lose a life is to lose the whole world, whether that life is Palestinian or Israeli.”

The latest military confrontation with Hamas ended in a ceasefire early Friday, leaving over 240 dead in Gaza and 13 dead in Israel. It began on May 10 when Hamas launched a massive rocket barrage on Israeli cities, sparking IDF retaliatory strikes and 11 days of fighting.

Over 4,000 rockets were lobbed at Israeli cities, according to the IDF, sending civilians throughout the center and south of the country rushing to bomb shelters at all hours of day and night.

Hamas’s public works ministry said 258 buildings – around 1,042 residential and commercial units – were destroyed during the fighting. Another 769 units were severely damaged, rendering them uninhabitable, and 14,536 suffered minor damage. Seventeen hospitals were damaged, as well as 53 schools.

Blinken emphasized that the U.S. fully supported Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks – “such as the thousands of rockets fired by Hamas indiscriminately against Israeli civilians…. For the president… this commitment is personal; it runs deep.”

Blinken spoke about reconstruction efforts in Gaza. He said the U.S. would announce a “significant contribution” to rehabilitating Gaza and would work with its partners “to ensure that Hamas does not benefit from the reconstruction assistance.”

In a separate meeting, Defense Minister Benny Gantz told Blinken that reaching a long-term calm would have to involve the return of Israeli captives in Gaza – including the remains of two soldiers – and the bolstering of the PA by “damaging the military power of Gazan terror groups.”

Blinken also met with Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to discuss the establishment of a mechanism

meant to oversee Gazan reconstruction.

Quoting Biden, Blinken told Netanyahu, “We believe that Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely, to enjoy equal measures of freedom, opportunity and democracy, to be treated with dignity.”

Blinken also addressed the anti-Semitic tide of violence seen across the United States. He said that Biden called the acts “despicable.”

Netanyahu, in his remarks, warned that if Hamas breaks the ceasefire, Israel’s response will be “very powerful.” He also reiterated Israel’s position on the Iran deal.

“We believe that that [2015] deal paves the way for Iran to have an arsenal of nuclear weapons with international legitimacy,” he said.

“Whatever happens,” Netanyahu added, “Israel will always reserve the right to defend itself against a regime committed to our destruction, committed to getting the weapons of mass destruction for that end.”

Netanyahu added, “Thank you and the president for your strong statements against anti-Semitism,” he said. It was “masquerading as anti-Zionism but it’s anti-Semitism and you took a bold position, a clear position, and we appreciate it. I think all decent people everywhere appreciate that stance.”

European Ministers Visit Israel in Solidarity

Foreign ministers from Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia visited Israel last Thursday to show support for the Jewish State during the war with Gaza’s Hamas terror group.

During their visit, the ministers were briefed on the security situation, met Israeli ministers, and visited sites hit by Gaza rockets.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, the first of the ministers to arrive, was met by Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi (Blue and White), who thanked him for coming.

“I would like to thank the German government, which supported Israel from the start of this round of fighting, condemned Hamas terror, and emphasized Israel’s right to defend itself and its civilians,” Ashkenazi said, adding that “most of the international community” had expressed support for Israel.

Maas emphasized that “Israel has the right to defend itself,” adding that Germany is “following with concern the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and are aware of Israel’s efforts to send in humanitarian aid to residents of Gaza.”

Speaking after a visit to a Petah Tikva building hit by a rocket, Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek said, “I am speechless after I witnessed the destruction and terror that Israel has experienced.”

He noted, “During this time, Israel needs its friends in the world, and we are here to show our strong and enduring friendship,” Kulhanek said. “Israel has the full right to defend its citizens.”

Slovakian Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok said, “We are true friends, and we came here to show the strength of the friendship between the countries.”

He added that “Hamas fire must stop,” emphasizing that, “Israel has the full right to defend itself.”

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Who Will be Israel’s Next President?

Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog and Israel Prize laureate and educator Miriam Peretz are competing head-to-head in the race for Israel’s next president.

Herzog, who is a former Labor party chairman, announced that he is on leave from his position at the Jewish Agency until after the election.

Peretz lost her eldest son Uriel as he fought in Lebanon in 1998 and another son, Eliraz, when he was killed in an operation near Gaza in 2010. She won the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement in 2018, and in 2019 turned down several offers to run for Knesset.

The vote is scheduled to be held by secret ballot on June 2. Only Knesset members can vote, and presidential candidates must show the signatures of at least ten MKs before they can run for the seat.

Peretz has received the support of 11 Knesset members, while Herzog presented the signatures of 27. If elected, Peretz would become Israel’s first-ever elected female president.

Israel’s current president, Reuven Rivlin, ends his term on July 9.

Israelis Killed in Italian Cable Car Crash

The bodies of the five members of the Biran family killed in a cable car crash in northern Italy over the weekend will be flown to Israel on Wednesday for burial.

The lone survivor of the disaster that killed 14 people, 5-year-old Eitan Biran, remains hospitalized in Turin, Italy, with multiple broken bones. His parents, younger brother, and two great-grandparents were killed.

“Eitan’s flight back to Israel is still a long way off, but we plan to send the coffins tomorrow,” Ambassador to Italy Dror Eydar said.

Eitan, who resided in Italy with his family, was apparently saved by his father’s embrace. His father died when the car crashed to the ground.

“In order to be able to survive the terrible impact, it is likely that the father, who was of robust build, wrapped his son in a hug,” the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin said, according to the Italian la Repubblica newspaper.

Prosecutors have said they are investigating why the lead cable of