| 1 |
Israel’s Foreign Ministry reprimanded Norway Saturday night after Oslo announced it would start labeling products from Jewish-owned businesses in disputed areas as “settler goods.” Jerusalem warned that the decision could “adversely affect the bilateral relations between Israel and Norway and impact the relevance of Norway’s role in the advancement of Israeli-Palestinian relations.”
On Friday, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt declared that her government would no longer accept that goods from Jewish communities in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights be sold as made in Israel. “Foodstuffs originating in areas occupied by Israel must be marked with the area from which the product comes, and that it comes from an Israeli settlement if that is the case,” a press release stated.
Jerusalem applied Israeli law to both its entire capital city and the Golan after gaining control of the territories in a defensive war in 1967. The status of the West Bank, also known by its biblical name Judea and Samaria, remains unresolved. A final peace agreement will likely see the pre-1967 ceasefire lines redrawn.
The 1990s Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization — which were based on the premise that so-called final status issues between the sides (including the contours of Israel’s eventual borders) would be determined in subsequent negotiations — stipulate that Israel retains complete control over Area C, which contains all Jewish West Bank communities and businesses. The agreements make clear that the parties never agreed to a ban on Israeli construction in the West Bank.
A spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry emphasized that Norway’s labeling move would primarily affect commerce in the West Bank, calling exports from that area “commercially relevant.”
| 2 |
An Israeli volunteer police officer was killed early Saturday morning after being rammed by a vehicle at a checkpoint in Rishon LeZion, a city on Tel Aviv’s southern outskirts. Three other people — two police officers and a passenger — suffered injuries in the incident, which is reportedly being investigated as a murder.
The slain officer was identified as Amichai Carmeli, 46. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said, “The Israel Police mourns the death of a veteran, motivated, professional and dedicated volunteer, the grandson of Corporal Moshe Carmeli, a policeman who fell on the eve of Yom Kippur in 1973 when a grenade was thrown at him in the street.”
“I promise that the police will do everything to bring to justice the criminals who must be severely punished,” Shabtai added.
Four Bedouins from Rahat were arrested in connection with the incident. Investigators believe their vehicle had previously hit a taxi in Rishon LeZion, after which they fled the scene. Carmeli and the other officers had set up the checkpoint to arrest drunk drivers.
| 3 |
During a meeting with an American delegation at his office in Ramallah, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas castigated the Biden Administration over its perceived failure to reverse measures that had been adopted by former US president Donald Trump.
In particular, Abbas called upon the Biden Administration to fulfill its promise to reopen the US consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem, a move that is opposed by Israel, and to also delist the Palestine Liberation Organization as a terrorist organization.
As a gesture of goodwill towards the PA, Washington recently announced that it would restore the Office of Palestinian Affairs and that it was also planning on appointing a special US envoy to the Palestinians. Both proposals were received coldly in Ramallah.
Abbas has furthermore expressed anger at Israel over recent clashes on the Temple Mount, the growth of Jewish communities in the West Bank and the increase in Israeli counter-terrorism operations after a recent spate of Palestinian terror attacks throughout the Jewish state.
It is believed that Abbas’ hard-line stance towards both Israel and United States is a response to his diminishing popularity on the Palestinian street.
In related news, a 27-year-old Palestinian man was recently killed during clashes with the Israeli army in the Hebron region. The clashes reportedly broke out after Israeli forces seized money from a local business that was allegedly funding terror activities. They were met by an angry mob that attacked them with rocks and Molotov cocktails.
In the week prior to this incident, three other Palestinians had been killed during violent confrontations with Israeli forces, including an attempted stabbing and the hurling of explosives at Israeli soldiers.
| 4 |
Gilad Erdan, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations (UN), is spearheading a campaign to get the UN to officially recognize the plight of Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.
While touting the accomplishments of the Abraham Accords and the normalizing of relations between Israel and Arab countries, Erdan claims that not enough is being done to recognize the suffering of those Middle Eastern and North African Jews who were violently expelled from their homes and had their property seized.
As part of his campaign, Erdan has been meeting with ambassadors and government officials from UN member states. He also led a protest outside the UN on November 29, 2021, a day on which the UN focuses on Palestinian refugees but makes no mention of Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Iran.
According to Erdan, “The UN never did anything and didn’t recognize the great injustice that was done to our brothers…by the Arab countries who expelled them. I identified the signing of the Abraham Accords as a suitable occasion on which to put the issue on the UN’s daily agenda and to fix the situation in which the UN works only to assist the ‘Palestinian refugees’ and doesn’t even recognize the pain and suffering of the Jewish refugees.”
Erdan continued that he hopes to bring the issue of the Jewish refugees before the General Assembly in June and that he is also working to get financial restitution for those Jewish refugees who lost their property when they were expelled.
Since 1948, approximately 850,000 Jews were expelled from their homes in the Middle East and North Africa, decimating the Jewish communities that had existed in these lands for close to 2,000 years. The plight of these Jewish refugees is commemorated every year on November 30 by Israel and Jewish communities around the world.
Recommended Reading
- How Can the EU Want Closer Ties With Israel While Funding Terror NGOs? – Opinion (Olga Deutsch, Jerusalem Post)
- Bipartisan Bill Introduced to Counter Iranian Threat to Abraham Accord Signatories (Dmitriy Shapiro, Jewish News Syndicate)
- Republican Congressional Candidate: Hitler Comment Was a Mistake (AP & ILH Staff, Israel Hayom)
- Famed Italian Tenor Andrea Bocelli Visits Western Wall Following Concert in Tel Aviv (Shiryn Ghermezian, Algemeiner)
- Wine Named for Israeli Teen Murdered by Terrorist Wins International Recognition (Hanan Greenwood, Israel Hayom)
