Israel

Gali Baharav-Miara did not attend the Cabinet session where ministers discussed the 800-page file detailing the government’s complaints.

JNS Staff

(JNS)

Israel’s Cabinet voted unanimously on Sunday to back a motion of “no confidence” against Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, formally setting in motion the process of her dismissal, Hebrew media reported.

The attorney-general is now set to appear before the public committee for appointments and dismissals, which will submit a recommendation to the government ahead of a final vote on Baharav-Miara’s removal.

Baharav-Miara did not attend the Cabinet session where ministers discussed the 800-page file detailing the government’s complaints.

Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin told fellow ministers during the meeting that the fact she had chosen not to attend was a sign of her “absolute disrespect for the government,” according to Channel 12 News.

It also proved “that she has no answers to the claims against her,” according to the Hebrew-language broadcaster.

In Israel, the attorney general does not work for the prime minister, as opposed to in the United States, where the AG is an agent of the executive branch. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other ministers have often clashed with Baharav-Miara, who was appointed in 2022 by the “government of change” led by then-premier Naftali Bennett.

There are only four grounds that justify the dismissal of the attorney general, with one of them being ongoing and essential disagreements between the government and the AG that prevent effective cooperation—which is the justification cited in Sunday’s “no-confidence” motion.

A cross-party initiative envisions the facility being built five miles southeast of the capital of the Negev.

Etgar Lefkovits

(JNS)

A Knesset committee on Sunday approved plans to build a new international airport in southern Israel, in a major economic boost for the Negev region.

The cross-party initiative, which is expected to be greenlighted by the parliament’s full plenum next week, envisions the airport being built in Moshav Nevatim, five miles southeast of Beersheva, within seven years.

The airport, which will be able handle up to 15 million passengers annually, would create around 50,000 jobs, according to the legislation’s explanatory notes.

“The construction of a new international airport in the Negev Desert is the right thing to do from both a Zionist and a future planning point of view,” Knesset member Ram Ben-Barak, a member of opposition leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party, told JNS on Sunday.

Ben-Barak, co-sponsor of the bill and a former deputy director of the Mossad, said that the proposal pre-dates the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught on southern Israel, and was selected over a competing initiative for the construction of an international airport in northern Israel, which is more heavily populated.

The legislation passed its final reading in the Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee on Sunday.

“I will not rest until the airport is up and running,” said fellow co-sponsor MK Almog Cohen from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit Part, in a statement. “This is not just a promise; this is a national mission which I am committed to completing for the residents of southern Israel and the whole country.”

However, a travel expert questioned the feasibility of such a major project due to its location.

“I don’t mean to be snide but what incoming tourist will want to fly into Beersheva and then travel up to Jerusalem or Tel Aviv or down to Eilat,” Mark Feldman, Jerusalem director of Diesenhaus Tours, told JNS. “Sorry but [this] seems a pie-in-the-sky scheme and hopefully that’s where it will stay.”

The site of the proposed civilian airport is adjacent to Israeli Air Force’s Nevatim base, which is home to F-35 fighter jets and was targeted by Iran last year.

The future airport at Nevatim is intended to ease congestion at Ben-Gurion International Airport east of Tel Aviv, nearly 60 miles away. Ben-Gurion, Israel’s main international gateway, has an annual capacity of 40 million passengers.

Israel opened Ramon Airport near the Red Sea resort city of Eilat in 2019, with an initial capacity of two million passengers per year and room to expand to more than twice that if needed, but it has failed to gain traction with flyers.

Image: Beersheva, Jan. 22, 2022. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

The two leaders also discussed Iran being a major threat to regional security.

(JNS)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Monday that the United States “remains 100% committed to Israel’s security” during a phone call with his Israeli counterpart, Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz, stated Pentagon spokesman John Ullyo.

The secretary also reaffirmed the “unbreakable bond” between Washington and Jerusalem.

The two leaders discussed regional developments, bilateral interests and security assistance between the two nations.

They also said that the two countries will work together to combat Iran, which they emphasized remains a threat to regional security in the Middle East.

Image:  Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is interviewed live on “Fox and Friends” from the Pentagon, Jan. 31, 2025. Credit: U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza/U.S.

The U.S.-Israel alliance has never been stronger, which will assist in achieving all of the objectives of the war against Hamas, the Israeli premier told a visiting congressional delegation.

JNS Staff

(JNS)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday met with a U.S. congressional delegation led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).

The prime minister told the members of Congress that the alliance between the United States and Israel has never been stronger, a reality he said would assist in achieving all of the objectives of the war against Hamas.

Over the past two days, Netanyahu has met with 23 members of the Congress, thanking them for their steadfast bipartisan support for Israel.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hosted a U.S. House delegation headed by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Jerusalem’s top diplomat said he briefed the visiting lawmakers on “regional issues,” highlighting “the potential threat of ISIS [Islamic State] in Syria.”

“I thanked them for passing House legislation against the ICC, which is waging legal warfare against Israel,” Sa’ar concluded, referring to the International Criminal Court case against Israeli officials over the war in Gaza.

On Monday, a bipartisan Senate delegation led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) sat down with Netanyahu at the Israel Defense Forces’ Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

They also met with Sa’ar, who according to a statement from his office told them that that the Islamic Regime is seeking to compensate for its weakened position by obtaining nuclear weapons.

“We discussed regional issues, including Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, the Houthis and Iran,” the statement continued.

Later that night, speaking during a press conference at the David Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv, Graham told reporters that “the overarching theme” of the meetings with Israeli government officials was Iran.

“Iran with a nuke is a nightmare for the Jewish state; it’s a nightmare for the world because Arabs will want a nuclear weapon of their own, and you’ll have a nuclear arms race,” the lawmaker said, adding that the prospect of the regime developing the bomb keeps him up at night.

Image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with a U.S. congressional delegation in Jerusalem, Feb. 18, 2025. Photo by Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO.

The military order that establishes the municipal boundaries is the first step in legalizing Adorayim and Ahiya.

(JNS)

Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, head of the IDF Central Command, signed an order regulating the boundaries of the Judea and Samaria villages of Adorayim and Ahiya.

The legalization of the nascent communities—located in the South Hebron Hills of Judea and the Binyamin region of southern Samaria, respectively—allows for their further expansion and development, Arutz 7 reported on Thursday.

The military order that establishes the so-called “jurisdiction zone,” or municipal boundaries, is the first step in legalizing the communities.

The next and final step is the issuing of an official “settlement symbol” by the Interior Ministry, after which the outposts will be considered legal Israeli communities for all intents and purposes.

Ahiya local committee head Shlomo Toledano told Arutz 7 on Thursday, “This is a great day for Ahiya and for the entire community. With our own eyes, we see [Isaiah’s] prophecy fulfilled: ‘They shall build houses and dwell in them; they shall plant vineyards and enjoy their fruit.’

“Precisely on Tu B’Shevat, we enjoy the sweet fruits of dedicating our souls to the Land of Israel,” the local leader added, in reference to the Jewish New Year of the Trees, which was marked on Thursday.

A spokesman for Adorayim told the outlet, “The symbolic timing of receiving the announcement on Tu B’Shevat, a holiday of the Land of Israel and its holiness, is amazing and teaches us about our great mission to settle in all parts of our country.

“We hope that following the declaration of the jurisdiction, we will quickly receive the symbol of settlement and become an official community in the State of Israel,” the spokesman concluded.

The Jewish population of the Judea and Samaria area grew by 12,297 in 2024, according to a report published last month by the Yesha Council umbrella group of Jewish communities. As of Jan. 1, 529,704 Israelis live in the territory, amounting to 5.28% of the population of the Jewish state.

Nearly 70% of Israelis want Jerusalem to extend its full legal sovereignty over the disputed area, according to a survey published late last month.

Image:  An Israeli child poses for the camera as he eats pita bread at the Ahiya outpost in the Binyamin region of southern Samaria, June 6, 2010. Photo by Kobi Gideon/Flash90.

More than half of respondents would oppose a Palestinian state even if it were part of a Saudi-Israel peace deal.

David Isaac

(JNS)

Seventy-one percent of Israelis oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, according to a poll conducted on Jan. 29.

The survey comes on the background of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s departure on Sunday to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C.

“The findings are public just in time for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit with President Trump. Bibi can now go to the president of the United States with a clear statement that this is the will of the people of Israel,” Avi Abelow, CEO of Pulse of Israel, a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that co-sponsored the poll, told JNS.

The future of Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank, is likely to be discussed between the two leaders as diplomatic relations with Arab countries is expected to be a key topic.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has signaled that a Palestinian state is a condition for normalization of relations with Jerusalem. (Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said during a Jan. 22 speech in the Knesset plenum that Israel has made “no such promise.”)

The survey asked respondents whether they would support a Palestinian state as part of an Israeli-Saudi peace deal. More than half said they would not even do so when attached to Saudi normalization.

Thirty-nine percent said they would support a Palestinian state linked to a Saudi agreement. Eight percent had no opinion.

The results echoed a survey conducted in May 2024 by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, which found that 64% of the Israeli public opposed the creation of a Palestinian state as part of normalization with the Saudis.

Netanyahu has remained mum on extending Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, though he, with Trump’s backing, attempted to do so over parts of the region during the U.S. president’s first term in 2020.

Allies of both the president and the prime minister support the idea of Israeli sovereignty. Jettisoning the two-state solution via Israel annexing Judea and Samaria was the theme of an October 2024 conference in Jerusalem. Serving as inspiration for the conference was a new book by Trump’s former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, “One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”

A prominent member of Netanyahu’s coalition, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism Party, said in November that Trump’s election provides an opportunity for annexation.

“I have no doubt that President Trump, who showed courage and determination in his decisions in the first term, will support the State of Israel in this move,” he said.

Others pushing for Israeli rule over Judea and Samaria include groups such as the Sovereignty Movement, an Israeli NGO that also co-sponsored the new survey.

“The Sovereignty Movement is pleased with the results of the poll, which reflect the health of the nation and the awakening from the illusion of peace through a Palestinian state,” said the group’s co-chairs Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover. “The Israeli public now understands that only sovereignty is the plan that will bring security and regional stability.”

The poll found that 80% of the Israeli public agreed with the idea floated by Trump on Jan. 25 that Arab nations, particularly Egypt and Jordan, take in more Palestinians from Gaza to “clean out” the enclave. Only 10% opposed the proposal. Another 10% had no opinion on the matter.

Said Abelow, “It is quite clear that the Israeli people are looking for our leaders to stand up and work with President Trump and his administration to apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria because Israelis have realized that Arab self-rule in Judea and Samaria is an existential danger to all of our lives, as it was in Gaza.”

Sovereignty applies Trump’s doctrine of “peace through strength” against “an enemy that educates its children to kill Jews and destroy the Jewish State of Israel,” Abelow added, noting that the Palestinian Authority, which rules Arab-populated areas in Judea and Samaria, shares the same goal as Hamas.

According to the poll, of the 71% who opposed a Palestinian state, 59% had opposed it in the past. Another 12% had supported a Palestinian state at one time, but changed their mind.

Of those still supporting a Palestinian state, 25% had held that position in the past. Only 4% had switched their position from opposition to support.

The survey was conducted by polling firm Direct Pulse Ltd. It surveyed 504 adults constituting a representative sample of Israel’s general population. The statistical error was 4.5%± with a 95% confidence level.

The poll’s findings are in line with one conducted in December 2024 by Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).

That survey of 804 adults found that for the first time in nearly 18 years, a majority of Israeli Jews oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state in any form.

The new poll also presented different Israeli sovereignty models in Judea and Samaria. Sixty-eight percent agreed to sovereignty in some form, 22% opposed it, and 10% had no position.

Among the different models, the option that received the most support (25%) involved applying sovereignty over the entire area of Judea and Samaria, and promoting Arab migration.

Applying sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, the Jewish communities, and the surrounding areas came in second (20%).

Sovereignty over the entire area while leaving Arab settlement blocs intact; and a proposal to apply sovereignty only over Area C (an area within Judea and Samaria fully controlled by Israel), each received 10% support.

The survey ranked the benefits of sovereignty in the eyes of the Israeli public. Security and regional stability took first place (42%). Second was Jewish identity and historical connection (16%). In third place (9%) was strengthening Israel’s diplomatic and political arguments.

Image: Palestinians in Ramallah, in Samaria, protest against the normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Sept. 15, 2020. Credit: Flash90.

Despite the near halving of rainfall, desalination and recycling mean that the country is not expecting shortages in the foreseeable future.

(JNS)

The winter of 2024-2025 is looking to be one of Israel’s driest, yielding 55% of the average national precipitation thus far, the Government Water and Sewage Authority said on Sunday.

The water level of the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Kinneret, in Israel’s north, has risen by 2 centimeters this winter, and flow levels in the Jordan River are among the lowest recorded since 1960, a spokesperson for the authority said.

This means that the current winter is on par with that of 2009, which was the driest in a century.

The previous winter of 2023-2024 was unusually rainy, with a 121% increase in rainfall over the multiannual average.

Israel consumes about 2.5 billion cubic meters annually. In recent years, its massive desalination project has lessened its dependency on rainfall. Israel now desalinates 650 million cubic meters of water each year, accounting for 80% of its drinking water, according to an essay on the subject published last year by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot.

In 2022, Israel began replenishing the Sea of Galilee with desalinated water from the Mediterranean Sea, becoming the first country to use seawater to refill a natural lake.

Israel also purifies and recycles for irrigation about 90% of the 600 million cubic meters that become waste and sewage water, significantly more than any other country, according to the Weizmann Institute.

“The Water Authority’s proper preparation, which includes strategic planning and intelligent management of water sources, allows us to continue to supply water to all the needs of the economy in a stable manner and ensures that the economy will not be affected by the dry winter in the immediate term,” Yehezkel Lifshitz, head of the Water Authority, told Channel 12.

“Options are being examined to increase water production and production capacity,” he said.

Image: The Sea of the Galilee on Jan. 20, 2020. Photo by Gershon Elinson/Flash90.

Israel needs to make its own policies clear before getting Trump on board, Yesha Council chair Yisrael Ganz told JNS.

(JNS)

A host of Israeli politicians descended on Washington, D.C., for U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration, looking to push for stronger American support, particularly when it comes to the White House’s policies on Judea and Samaria.

Members of Knesset Simcha Rothman and Ohad Tal—both of the Religious Zionism party—were joined in Washington by Israel Ganz, chair of the Yesha Council and head of the Binyamin Regional Council, and Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council.

All live in Judea and Samaria, outside of Israel’s internationally-recognized borders.

“It was amazing to come to the inauguration, after a few years of war, with the incoming administration. We host many of them in Binyamin, in Judea and Samaria,” Ganz told JNS on Tuesday. “We visited here many times to see here the people that have a deep connection to the state of Israel, to Judea and Samaria. They understand who is good and who is bad, and they are so connected to our roots.”

Ganz expressed his disappointment with the outgoing administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden, who he said “didn’t speak with us. They were instead talking about us. And today we have this administration with deep connections. They speak with us. And I think it will build a better Middle East.”

Dagan told JNS that he is excited about the Shomron Regional Council’s involvement with the new official caucus for Judea and Samaria, with some 20 members of Congress, including Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.).

“This is the first time there has been in this building, in Congress in Washington, a caucus of this kind, and it is in line with the new spirit of the change from the administration that was so hostile to Judea and Samaria, and in many ways to the state of Israel, to a friendly administration, a positive administration,” Dagan said.

He added that the Trump transition, which he called an “historic juncture,” affords the Israeli government “opportunities, not because the new administration will always agree but rather because it won’t fight us the way Biden would.”

Ganz, Dagan and Rothman all indicated that they were not lobbying for particular policies about Judea and Samaria but instead to improve Israel’s standing and positioning broadly, which they believe will give the government in Jerusalem the freedom to make the right decisions.

Dagan and his team were in Washington, he said, “to explain, to persuade, to build coalitions and connections, to reduce the pressures. But the ball is in Jerusalem, with the prime minister and government ministers. This is the time for historic things.”

Trump is a businessman who wants “very fast action and decision,” Ganz said.

But “the State of Israel didn’t make a decision for 15 years about Judea and Samaria, and in my eyes, this built all the terrorists we are facing right now,” Ganz told JNS. “I think we have to build a different situation in Judea and Samaria. I’m working hard to make this change, applying sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and bringing someone very strong that can help to manage the Palestinian life, but without terror.”

Rothman told JNS that he was thrilled to see outward support for Israel, not just in the halls of power but all over Washington.

“I see it from all around, not only from the Republican Party, not only for Trump supporters or the people he appointed, but also from the Democratic Party and also for the people in the street,” he said.

When one walks the streets with a yellow hostage pin, “and people understand that you are Israeli, they come to you, they tell you how much they love Israel,” he said.

Rothstein wasn’t concerned about a growing concern on the political right that Trump will try to pressure the Israeli government to accept a Palestinian state in exchange for normalization with Saudi Arabia, as he did to get a ceasefire deal with Hamas done. It’s up to Israel to set clear parameters first, giving Trump a path to follow, he said.

The ceasefire pact, which is supposed to free all remaining Israeli hostages, also includes releasing hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners, many of whom are being sent to Judea and Samaria and many with blood on their hands.

“The second Israel defines for itself what are its goals, I believe President Trump is committed to the safety of Israel, to the alliance with Israel,” Rothman said. “He understands the importance that this is the war that we need to win, against terror, against Hamas, against Iran. He understands the issues, and I’m sure he will support the efforts of the state of Israel to be secure and safe in the Middle East.”

That started, Ganz said, on the first day of Trump’s new tenure, when he signed an executive order lifting Biden-imposed sanctions on Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, and other entities located in the territory, for allegedly committing violent acts against Palestinians or disturbing peaceful relations.

At least two of the residents were found to be U.S. citizens, rendering them ineligible for sanctions, and leaving critics of Biden wondering aloud how much vetting the outgoing administration did in levying the sanctions. (Some sued the Biden administration.)

“I couldn’t understand these sanctions, because to sanction someone without a hearing, without a sentence, you didn’t check,” Ganz said. “They said it’s about violence, but they sanctioned movements, organizations, NGOs, and people that I know, from a personal side, are not violent. I couldn’t understand.”

“I think President Trump made justice,” he said.

Image: Courtesy JNS Article