LLX News

Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

Tensions remain high at the holy site after Muslim rioters who had barricaded themselves inside Al-Aqsa mosque clashed with police.

More than 2,200 Jews have ascended Temple Mount, located in Jerusalem’s Old City, since Passover began on April 5.

Of those, some 1,200 visited Judaism’s holiest site on Monday, Israeli officials said.

Tensions remain high at the holy site after Israeli police on the first night of Passover arrested more than 350 Muslim rioters who had barricaded themselves inside Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site is located atop the Temple Mount.

The rioters, who had smuggled fireworks, clubs and stones into the mosque, blocked the doors from inside using iron rods, closets and other objects. They chanted inciting slogans, and threw stones and shot fireworks at police.

Police attempted to convince the rioters to leave the site peaceably and when that failed were forced to enter.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/2200-jews-ascend-temple-mount-since-start-of-passover/

Israel Today; israeltoday.co.il

Gaza terrorists fire rockets at Israel in response to Temple Mount confrontation linked to Jewish efforts to sacrifice a Passover lamb. It’s a broken record.

It’s becoming an annual tradition.

• A handful of Israeli Jews make plans to sacrifice a Passover lamb atop the Temple Mount in accordance with Scripture.
• Despite the fact that Israeli authorities don’t let these religious activists get anywhere near realizing their goal, Arab Muslims riot at the Temple Mount against what they call efforts to “Judaize” the holy site (anyone who holds the Bible to be true knows that it’s already entirely Jewish).
• Israeli police quell the riots at the Temple Mount.
• Hamas and Islamic Jihad say this is an attack on the Al Aqsa Mosque (situated at the southern end of the Mount and today claimed as Islam’s third holiest site) and respond with rocket fire from Gaza.

cont’d…

https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/gaza-temple-mount-and-the-passover-lamb-a-story-of-holiday-conflict/

Israel National News; israelnationalnews.com

PM officially announces that the judicial reform legislation will not be advanced during this Knesset session.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an address to the nation this evening (Monday) on the government’s planned judicial reforms.

“There is an extreme minority that is ready to tear our country into parts. It tends towards violence. It ignites fire. It threatens to harm elected officials. It talks about civil war. And it calls for insubordination, which is a terrible crime,” Netanyahu said.

“The State of Israel cannot exist without the IDF, and the IDF cannot exist with insubordination. Insubordination by one side will bring about insubordination on the other side. Insubordination is the end of our state. Therefore I demand that our security forces and the IDF’s commanders to oppose the phenomenon of insubordination. Not to contain it, not to understand it. To stop it,” he said.

cont’d…

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/369298

By: Chris Mitchell – CBN News; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, Israel – After a night of nationwide protests, demonstrations and riots surrounding judicial reform and the firing of Israel’s defense minister, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly considering a halt to the immediate passage of legislation to rein in the power of the courts and the legal system.

The internal battle has thrust Israel into what many believe is one of the most dangerous times since the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago.

Nearly 12 weeks of protests in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities intensified Sunday after Netanyahu dismissed Defense Minister Yaov Gallant, who is a member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party. He defied the prime minister in a nationwide speech Saturday, calling for a halt to negotiations over judicial reform before the Passover break, which is coming in a little more than a week.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also called for calm and a halt to negotiations.

Monday morning, Histadrut, the nation’s largest union with a membership of 700,000 people, called for a nationwide strike, and departing flights were halted at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport. They aim to shut the country down.

cont’d…

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2023/march/strikes-protests-rock-israel-after-netanyahu-fires-defense-minister

By: John Waage – CBN News; cbnnews.com

JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Iranian people in a broadcast interview Thursday night that a “horrible nuclear war” will ensue if the regime in Tehran is allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.

It was the first time Netanyahu, speaking with Iran International’s Pouria Zeraati, has directly addressed the people of Iran in a broadcast, and it came just hours after the prime minister met with U.S Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

“If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, this will be a problem all of us will face. It will change the world,” he said the interview, which was translated into Farsi for Iranians.

Netanyahu suggested an Iranian government armed with nuclear weapons could create a kind of domino effect – what he described as “the criss-crossing of the Middle East with nuclear tripwires, as other regimes who understand the danger of a nuclear Iran will rush to arm themselves.”

cont’d…

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2023/march/in-direct-broadcast-netanyahu-warns-iranian-people-of-lsquo-horrible-nuclear-war-rsquo-if-iran-gets-atomic-weapons

By: Israel Today Staff; israeltoday.co.il

Top PLO officials hail blow to Netanyahu government and say it’s clearly time to abandon America as an honest peace broker.

What’s being hailed in the United States and Israel as a major diplomatic failure is cause for celebration among the Palestinian Authority.

The surprise China-brokered rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran presumably hobbles Israel’s efforts to normalize relations with the Arab world, while bolstering the Jewish state’s primary regional foe and the chief backer of Palestinian terror groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

“The Palestinian Presidency appreciates the Chinese role that contributed to reaching the agreement,” read a statement released by the Palestinian Authority. “We hope that the agreement will lead to stability and enhance the positive atmosphere in the region.”

For Israel and the West, any deal that aids the ambitions of the ayatollahs in Tehran can only lead to instability and more belligerence in the Middle East.

cont’d…

Popular conservative Jewish commentator Ben Shapiro excited about Christian revival.

By: Israel Today Staff; israeltoday.co.il

Whatever you may or may not think about recent events at Asbury College, we were surprised that Ben Shapiro would gush over a New Testament phenomenon. Is this one of those somewhat-rare instances of Romans 11:11 occurring?

“I say then, did they stumble that they might fall? God forbid: but by their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.” (ASV)

Shapiro is a young Orthodox Jewish American commentator on political and cultural matters who has gained a large audience in conservative circles. Some Orthodox Jews remain opposed to anything smacking of the New Testament due to a painful history of Christian antisemitism, among other reasons. But not Ben Shapiro. Take a look at Asbury through his eyes. He calls it:

“One of the most inspiring things I’ve ever seen.”

cont’d…

By: Pesach Benson – Israel Today; israeltoday.co.il

Aliyah, the ingathering of the exiles, has been accelerated by wars and rumors of wars, in particular Russia’s war on Ukraine.

(TPS) Ahead of the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Israeli officials reported that in the last year, 15,000 Ukrainian Jews have immigrated to Israel.

The numbers were based on figures provided by the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, and by the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental agency which facilitates Jewish immigration.

According to their figures, 24% were under the age of 18, 405 were 18-35, 37% were 36-65, and 21% were 66 or older.

After Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the  Ministry of Immigration and Jewish Agency launched a “Coming Home” operation, setting up emergency centers at border crossings. Ukrainian men of fighting age have not been allowed to leave the country.

cont’d…

The Russian invasion put Diana Bukman back in touch with her ex-husband in Israel. It also sent her former colleague across the world to Richmond, Va.

By: Mike Wagenheim – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

The term “displaced persons” doesn’t always capture adequately how much of a geographical impact wars have. Diana Bukman, who is now half a world away from a colleague in Ukraine and reconnected in Israel with her ex-husband, knows that all too well.

Moving to Israel was what made her first marriage fall apart. Her then-husband insisted on making aliyah, while she wanted to stay in Ukraine, where she directed a volunteer center in Odessa.

“It was not in my dreams to live in Israel,” she told JNS.

A year ago this month, when Russia invaded, Bukman wanted to stay in Ukraine to help, but her mother insisted that she pack her bags and flee the country with her two children. Her intended destination was Germany, where she could easily find work in her field. But a Jewish Agency bus brought her and her children to Bucharest, Romania.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/one-year-into-the-war-the-displacement-physically-and-emotionally-of-ukrainian-jews/

Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

“UNRWA’s lengthy and detailed history of promoting anti-Semitism, violence and terrorism through ‘educational’ materials, and its continued ties to Hamas, should completely disqualify this corrupt entity from receiving any U.S. taxpayer funding,” says Rep. Chip Roy.

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) formally introduced The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Accountability and Transparency Act on Friday, which aims to stop the flow of American taxpayer dollars to that body.

“UNRWA’s lengthy and detailed history of promoting anti-Semitism, violence and terrorism through ‘educational’ materials, and its continued ties to Hamas, should completely disqualify this corrupt entity from receiving any U.S. taxpayer funding,” said Roy when announcing the bill.

“UNRWA has failed to meet previous commitments to stop its hostility towards Israel, and it is an obstacle to peace. Israel is one of our greatest allies and closest friends; we cannot say we truly stand with them while helping prop up a corrupt organization like this. If our actions do not match our words, then our word means nothing,” he added.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/us-lawmakers-introduce-bills-to-halt-flow-of-american-tax-dollars-to-unrwa/