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Kilicdaroglu would have made Turkey serve US interests once again.

Terrorists unleash hail of bullets on Israeli town across the Green Line; multiple homes, vehicles struck, but no injuries reported.

By World Israel News Staff

Terrorists from Jenin fired across the Green Line on Sunday afternoon and struck homes and cars in the Israeli town of Gan Ner in what was the third incident of its kind in recent months.

Gan Ner is located in the Gilboa Regional Council in northern Israel, about a mile away from a checkpoint leading into a Palestinian Authority-controlled area of Judea and Samaria.

The town is visible from the city of Jenin, which has long been a hotbed of terror.

On Sunday, Palestinian media reported that terrorists from the Islamic Jihad’s Jenin Battalion opened fire towards Gan Ner, unleashing a hail of bullets that struck houses and vehicles.

Pictures from Gan Ner on social media showed extensive damage to property, including bullet holes in windows, through doors, and even through a sofa in a resident’s living room. Multiple cars were also hit.

Noting that nobody was injured in the attack, Gilboa Regional Council head Oved Naor told Channel 12 News that “it is a great miracle, and only by luck, that residents who were at home at the time were not killed. This is a very disturbing incident.”

Ronen Salzman, whose home was struck by multiple bullets, told Channel 12 News that he was shocked by the damage to his home.

“I got home and saw holes in the living room,” he said. “At first I didn’t connect it to the shooting. I thought my son and his friends did it by mistake.”

Then, Salzman continued, “I saw an entrance and exit hole in the couch and realized it was a bullet hole. They hit the place where we sit during the day.”

Describing the situation as a “ticking time bomb,” Salzman urged the government to respond immediately.

“There is a terrorist organization here that manages to shoot houses. Do you want us to turn into the Gaza Strip 2? We no longer have [a decent] quality of life. These events are Russian roulette. Today it’s my house; tomorrow, it’s the neighbor’s house.”

Chen, a resident of Gan Ner, told Channel 12 that the attack was “super scary, I can’t get it out of my head.”

She added that she is afraid to walk the streets of her town because “who knows if this is a one-time incident or rather a planned series of terrorist attacks that could happen again in the near future and harm innocent people.”

In a separate incident also on Sunday, terrorists shot at Mevo Dotan in northern Samaria. No injuries were reported in the attack.

The post ‘Super scary’ – Jenin terrorists shoot, hit houses in Israeli town appeared first on World Israel News.

Ben-Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit party sue former left-wing politician who said they promote violence against Arabs.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit party filed a defamation lawsuit against left-wing former politician and one-time defense minister Moshe “Boogie” Ya’alon, seeking 200,000 shekels ($53,000) in damages.

The lawsuit focuses on remarks Ya’alon made on the Haaretz podcast against the right-wing lawmaker, in which he claimed that Ben-Gvir promotes an extremist agenda and insinuated that he has an army of thugs supporting him.

“I see the ‘Death to Arabs’ slogans of Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the group that follows him,” Ya’alon said during the podcast.

In a media statement shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Ben-Gvir’s attorney, Yishai Gifman, said that Ya’alon’s words constitute defamation.

His statements were made “with the intention of harming the plaintiff,” Gifman said. “The remarks imply that [Ben-Gvir] supports the idea of ‘death to Arabs’ and that he has actually supported these chants, and that he has a ‘gang’ of followers [promoting this phrase], and that’s based on a lie.”

Gifman acknowledged that Ben-Gvir has taken a hard line against Arab terrorism and crime in Israel’s Arab sector, but stressed that the minister does not believe in discrimination towards the entire community.

It must “be made clear that [Ben-Gvir] repeatedly emphasizes at every opportunity that he does not include all Arabs, and that he advocates the death penalty for terrorists as opposed to all Arabs,” Gifman added.

Ben-Gvir and the Otzma Yehudit party “were directly harmed by the defendant’s advertisements, which aimed to harm the plaintiffs, blacken their names and bias public opinion against them. [Ya’alon] did this in a systematic way, with thought and intent to [do damage.]”

“If the failed former MK Ya’alon thinks that the immunity granted to him by the Knesset is eternal, he is bitterly mistaken,” Ben-Gvir said in a media statement.

“Ya’alon’s collection of lies and defamations will have a price. The days are over when the extreme left tells lies about the right-wing elected officials and they remain silent. We will meet in court.”

The post ‘Death to Arabs’ defamation: Ben-Gvir sues ex-minister for podcast remarks appeared first on World Israel News.

“The Army has always had its ups and downs, we’re heading for a down… but you have to have faith.” These words of encouragement from a general to a young captain in the waning years of the Vietnam War, published in Rick Atkinson’s The Long Gray Line, are entirely relevant today. The novel, published over thirty years ago, offers poignant insight into problems facing a military and, in particular, its veterans in the wake of an unpopular and mishandled war.

The book’s narrative, running from pre-war patriotism to post-war despondency, contains a noteworthy therapeutic element for veterans of both the Vietnam War as well as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, the overall encouragement is in keeping faith through troubled times, maintaining your character and values, and recognizing the imperishable significance of service to something greater than yourself.

The Long Gray Line follows the lives of the West Point class of 1966, nearly all of whom grew up in an era of national post-WWII reverence for the military. As they begin their education at West Point in 1962, the men of ’66 are filled with patriotism, pride, and a hunger for the adventure their fathers shared two decades earlier. Atkinson’s novel details their vigor and energy during their time at West Point and as they begin adulthood— service in Vietnam ever-looming— followed by their struggles as the civilian population grows increasingly hostile to the war effort, eventually turning on the soldiers themselves. In many ways, Atkinson’s work foreshadows the experience of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who witnessed 9/11 and came of age in service to the nation over the last two decades.

The young men in The Long Gray Line serve harrowing combat tours and witness the deaths of more classmates than almost any other West Point class. Yet, if that were not enough, their homecoming is unlike that of any prior generation. Returning home from the jungles of Vietnam, they find a nation amidst drastic upheaval, far different from the America that reverentially celebrated Memorial Day parades in their youth. Far from unified, the country they come home to is divided among fundamental cultural lines: rural and metropolitan, young and old, white and black. The Army the men served or still serve is collapsing as a result of lowered standards, relaxed discipline, and a break from the core values taught at West Point. The weight of the rejection from the American populace and questions about the justification and conduct of the war leads each character down a different path to personal peace. And in this space, Atkinson masterfully addresses the question veterans continually grapple with: “Was it all worth it?”

The character of a military chaplain, Reverend James Ford, provides the answer. His story is interwoven throughout the book as he counsels cadets at West Point, visits them in Vietnam, presides over their funerals, and struggles with feelings of futility in the war and its aftermath. It is Ford’s narrative that provides precisely what is needed in times of uncertainty and despondence: a dose of faith and an acknowledgment of purpose. He stands, as the chapel does at West Point, on a hill in the background, overlooking the campus and its cadets, reminding the soldiers of the higher calling to serve and of the seven Army values learned at West Point: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage.

It is these values, and a deeply instilled sense of fraternity, that binds the men of ’66 to each other and their nation. In this brotherhood of shared values they can fully understand the honor of their service within the context of a mismanaged war and find purpose for life going forward. Even at a time when, as Atkinson puts it, “church, family school – all the traditional temples of moral instruction – had been weakened.”

For veterans who served in Afghanistan or Iraq, The Long Gray Line will feel familiar. The similarities are stark, particularly the sentiment that everything the modern Army is experiencing has happened before. But after Vietnam, the men who kept faith with the Army’s values became the men who rebuilt the institution into the world-class military of the 1991 Gulf War. Notably, as several of the book’s main characters grapple with how to rebuild an Army and preserve the character of West Point, they join together to build a monument in Washington D.C. to the Vietnam War dead. The monument, in its minimalist design, is drastically different than any other on the mall, focusing the onlooker’s attention solely on the names of the dead, removing the politics, politicians, and the war’s leaders from thought.

The graduates of ’66 lived through the firestorms of combat and the cultural and political storms that gripped their nation in the 70s. “Honor,” Machiavelli warned, “is impossible in a defeated country.” Yet the men of ’66 along with many veterans of modern wars, show just how wrong Machiavelli was as they hold true to the Army values regardless of the bleak circumstances.

Today’s Army is imperiled by a crisis of leadership and morale, just as it was post-Vietnam. Recruitment is struggling, retention is increasingly costly, and American support for the military is plummeting. Most worryingly, veterans, once the military’s best advocates, are less likely to recommend service to friends and family. The army is no stranger to this kind of crisis, and as Army Chief of Staff Fred C. Weyand said in the later years of the Vietnam War, “Americans have a long and proud tradition of irreverence toward and distrust of their military.” How a military works through these issues to rebuild itself, and how individual men and women find value in service to a sometimes-ungrateful nation are the evergreen lessons of Atkinson’s novel.

It may take a visit to a large stone chapel, a conversation with a chaplain, or simply a recommitment to the values we know are true, but the nation can endure and thrive with the help of a few veterans who keep the faith. As Memorial Day is upon us, and veterans across the nation take time to remember fallen friends and their service, The Long Gray Line may offer exactly the encouragement needed to recommit to core values.

The post Faith and Values: Revisiting The Long Gray Line appeared first on Providence.

A historic six-story apartment building in Davenport, Iowa, experienced a collapse on Sunday, resulting in seven people rescued and an unknown number of people injured.

Emergency responders conducted a secondary search of the property in case any people had become buried in the rubble. At the time of the collapse, reports indicated a large natural gas leak and water leaking from each floor.

In addition to the seven rescues, more than a dozen people were helped to safety. Officials have yet to rule out the possibility of fatalities, as some people remain unaccounted for. The Mayor of Davenport, Mike Matson, said that structural experts were scheduled to examine the building and it is not yet known whether the residents will be able to return to the property.

Rich Oswald, the city’s director of development and neighborhood services, stated that the building had been the subject of numerous complaints and that recent reports of bricks falling had been related to exterior brickwork that the owners had been ordered to repair and upgrade.

Documents show that entities called 324 Main Street Project and the Davenport Project had long been planning improvements to the building. Built in 1907, the building was once home to the Davenport Hotel and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Human rights attorney Brooke Goldstein, founder of the EndJewHatred movement, explains what she would like non-Jews to take away from her recently published new book on minority rights and antisemitism.

The post WATCH: What message does this author have for non-Jews? appeared first on World Israel News.

Lawmaker Simcha Rothman,  chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, was shouted down when he attempted to address an audience Sunday evening at Tel Aviv University. Anti-judicial reform protesters surrounded him both when he entered the building and when he exited, guarded by security.

“Your argument is weak. You don’t have the ability to deal intellectually, so you shout. What can you do, you are limited,” Rothman, a main architect of the legislative reform, told the mob, who shouted “Besiege Rothman” while trying to block his exit. He was evacuated in a campus security vehicle.

ותהיו בטוחים שהדפקטים האלה מתנשאים על אוהדי בית”ר pic.twitter.com/kDxRcQXbTM

— ינון מגל (@YinonMagal) May 28, 2023

שמחה רוטמן מגיע לאוניברסיטת תל-אביב. pic.twitter.com/kBmpYjT0Bu

— Ben Caspit בן כספית (@BenCaspit) May 28, 2023

The post ‘BESIEGE ROTHMAN’: Lawmaker shouted down, attacked at Tel Aviv University appeared first on World Israel News.

Can the terrorists be terrorized?

By Daniel Greenfield, FrontPage Magazine

There’s an upside to leading from behind.

When Obama retreated from Iraq, ISIS emerged and ushered in a wave of brutal warfare against Iranian proxies and fellow Sunni Islamists capping off the Arab Spring and the New Middle East with a bang.

Biden’s retreat from Afghanistan hasn’t been that spectacular yet, but give it a little time.

Iran and the Taliban, after initially being good friends and swapping abandoned American military equipment back and forth, are killing each other over who gets first dibs on the local water rights.

So far, two Iranian border guards and one Taliban terrorist are dead. The death toll on both sides would be higher, but, like most Islamic armies, neither side is much good at anything except run-and-gun raids.

And empty boasts.

If we get the order, we “will conquer Iran within 24 hours,” says Taliban commander Abdul Hamid. “Iran is flirting with the West. In reality, Iran has teamed up with the West. Iran should know that if they cross our red lines, we will erase them from the map of the Earth.” pic.twitter.com/LQhy8TQWiw

— Mike (@Doranimated) May 27, 2023

Iran, for its part, claims to be winning.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted the country’s deputy police chief, Gen. Qassem Rezaei, accusing the Taliban of opening fire first Saturday morning on the border of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province and the Afghan province of Nimroz. IRNA said Iran inflicted “heavy casualties and serious damage.”

Heavy casualties and serious damage means one dead. And the Taliban are ready to conquer all of Iran in 24 hours after killing two border guards and taking one border post.

This kind of rhetoric is normal in the Muslim world.

What it really means is that both sides are posturing before they come together to form a temporary agreement that both sides will freely violate resulting in more clashes and “heavy casualties and serious damage.”

So business as usual.

Iran is demanding that the Taliban abide by a 1973 agreement that predates both the Taliban and the Islamic regime in Iran. The good news is they both have lots of weapons to fight with. The bad news is that any large-scale clashes are unlikely because both sides are cowardly and incapable of hitting anything they fire at.

But Iran does have an ace in the hole, which is Al-Qaeda. So expect Iran to try to use Al-Qaeda against the Taliban.

Can the terrorists be terrorized? Expect some more Shiite mosques in Afghanistan to get bombed as the various elements of the Religion of Peace worship Allah by killing each other.

The post Taliban and Iran start killing each other – Will al-Qaeda join in? appeared first on World Israel News.

Three policemen refused to say why they beat protesters, and a fourth said it was because they were yelling at tourists and blocking the way.

By Atara Beck, World Israel News

Approximately 150 Orthodox Jewish protesters attended a demonstration Sunday morning in the Old City of Jerusalem in response to a call by the city’s Deputy Mayor Arieh King and several rabbinical leaders, urging the public to “take a strong stance against a large-scale missionary event.”

The Pentecost 2023 event, King explained, was “set to include a worship service, a communion ceremony, and a united prayer initiative involving 100 million Christians worldwide.” Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, former rabbinical head of the Old City, urged his followers to attend the protest.

A description of the event on its website demonstrates the goal of the organizers, which is not merely to pray for Israel and Jerusalem, but to make Jews into “believers.” It marks the launch of an aggressive, 10-year missionary campaign.

“On May 27th and 28th, 2023 a coalition of believers in Israel and the Nations, denominations, missions and prayer organizations are calling believers everywhere to set aside an hour to pray both for Jerusalem and the Jewish people and for the Gospel to go to the ends of the earth and communities of worshiping disciples to be raised up everywhere.

“To assist and bring focus to the prayer, we are partnering with different groups from Israel and the nations of the earth in a 26-hour broadcast with different key partners leading prayer from their part of the world. Crescendoing in several high points throughout the day including a broadcast from the Southern Steps of the Temple in Jerusalem at 10 a.m.-12 noon.

“At the very place that 3000 were added to the number of the gathering of believers on the Day of Pentecost, many of the organizations who are participating in the decade of activities responding to Jesus’ Great Apostolic Commission to Go and Make Disciples of all nations and who have set a goal of 2033 (the 2000th Anniversary of the death, resurrection, ascension and pouring out of the Spirit) for many discipleship goals. As well as a commissioning broadcast to raise intercession for Jerusalem at 6 p.m.-8 p.m.”

Prominent missionaries spotted at the event – held near the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site – included, among others, Chaim Malespin, director of the Aliyah Return Center; Asher Intrater, President of Revive Israel; Avi Mizrachi, Pastor of Adonai Roi Messianic Congregation; Ron Cantor of Tikkun International and God TV; and Lou Engle, Lou Engle Ministries and Vertical House of Prayer.

“Would it be conceivable that Jews would do this next to the Vatican? Could anyone imagine if Jews did this next to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre?” King asked.

Meanwhile, protesters were screaming “Missionaries, Go Home,” and some tried blocking the entrance. Police responded violently.

Nine protesters were arrested, according to the Honenu legal aid organization.

World Israel News asked four different police why they beat the protesters. Three refused to answer, and a fourth said they were yelling at tourists and blocking the way.

Although the program was widely broadcast across multiple television networks across the globe and included reporters from the Christian Broadcasting Network, security at the entrance prohibited World Israel News from attending, insisting that “this is a private event. No journalists are allowed.”

The post Police beat protesters against Christian missionizing at Judaism’s holiest site, 9 arrested appeared first on World Israel News.

Politically conservative NGOs in Israel published an open letter on Sunday protesting the news that the bill would be shelved.

By JNS

The Israeli government will likely shelve proposed legislation aimed to curb NGOs that receive funds from overseas, following criticism last week from European governments and also the United States.

The “Nonprofits Law,” which appeared on the Knesset schedule last week, would strip the nonprofit status from foreign-funded NGOs seen as interfering in Israeli domestic policy. Donations to those groups would be taxed at a rate of 65%.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed advancing the bill, which was to have been brought to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday.

Among the countries reportedly expressing concern about the bill were Germany, France, Great Britain, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland and the United States.

Germany’s Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert tweeted on May 25: “The draft bill on NGO taxation is a matter of grave concern to us and to many of Israel’s international partners. Lively and unhindered relations between civil societies are of essential value in our liberal democracies. We will continue to raise the issue with our Israeli friends.”

According to Ynet, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reached out to Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen over the weekend to ask Israel to refrain from approving the law. Cohen told them that Israel will not accept interference in its internal affairs, nor foreign interference in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the paper reported.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said during a May 24 press briefing in reaction to the Israeli bill that “as a general matter, the United States supports the essential role of NGOs that are part of civil society.

“We believe that they are critical to democratic, responsive and transparent government, and we firmly believe that civil society should have the opportunity and space to operate and raise resources around the world,” he added.

Israel’s Army Radio reported that the White House told Netanyahu that if he wanted a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and American assistance in advancing ties with Saudi Arabia, he must withdraw the proposed legislation.

The Nonprofits Law was submitted by Likud Knesset member Ariel Kallner, and enjoys widespread support among coalition members.

Speaking of the bill in January, Kallner said, “Foreign political subversion must be put to a stop…. There is no legitimacy for the interference of states in the internal affairs of the State of Israel through the financing of non-profit organizations.”

Politically conservative NGOs in Israel published an open letter on Sunday protesting the news that the bill would be shelved.

“We received with astonishment the report about the removal from the government’s agenda of the debate over instituting a tax on NGOs supported by foreign entities due to pressure,” the letter stated.

“We, the NGOs of the national camp, who fight every day for the Jewish-national identity of the State of Israel, against those funded radical organizations and well-oiled systems, call on you, the government of Israel, to pass immediately the law to contain and oversee those organizations, which cause deep damage to the country with the help of the biggest antisemites and Israel-haters abroad,” the letter said.

Among the signatories were the groups Im Tirtzu, Betzalmo, Nachala, Lavi and Hotam.

The post Caving to pressure: Israel backs away from bill to rein in hostile, foreign-funded NGOs appeared first on World Israel News.