Gaza resettlement the answer to Oct. 7 massacre, ICC case, Israeli minister says

Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf toured the Gaza border on Thursday.

(JNS)

Resettling the Israeli towns that were destroyed as part of the 2005 disengagement from Gaza is the answer to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre and the ICC case against the Jewish state’s leaders, Israeli Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf said on Thursday.

Writing on X after a visit to the Gaza border with Zionist activist Daniella Weiss, Goldknopf—the head of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party—said that “Jewish settlement here is the answer to the terrible [Oct. 7] massacre and to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.”

The haredi leader noted that the ICC, “instead of caring for the 101 captives [still held by Hamas after 419 days], chose to issue arrest warrants against the prime minister and the [former] defense minister.”

In the post, Goldknopf shared a picture of himself and Weiss with a map of prospective Jewish communities to be established in the Gaza Strip.

On Nov. 13, Weiss entered the enclave to scout potential locations for Jewish communities on behalf of her Nahala Movement, which works to establish new communities throughout the Land of Israel.

Weiss, known for her leadership in the Gush Emunim movement, has been actively promoting a plan for resettling the Strip. Her organization has prepared six settlement nuclei involving hundreds of families.

She told Kan News last week, “We are no longer waiting for authorization. The moment entry is possible, we enter. We don’t wait for water supply infrastructure, generators or any other preparations. If 300 people enter at once, evacuating them would require 1,000 soldiers.”

In August, Israeli security forces arrested six youths after dozens tried to breach the border to conduct a Jewish morning prayer service in Gaza. The attempt to enter the enclave came as resettlement activists marked 19 years since the military carried out the disengagement from Gaza, in which more than 8,000 Jews were forcibly removed from their homes in the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria.

In August 2005, the Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally disengaged from Gaza, removing thousands from their homes and transferring them to within the Green Line.

While the move was designed to bring calm to Israel’s southern border, it ushered in a victory for Hamas in January 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections. In June 2006, the terrorist organization seized power in the Strip and evicted the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

During its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of the northwestern Negev, Hamas murdered some 1,200 people and wounded thousands more. It also took around 250 civilians and soldiers back to Gaza as hostages.

Some 53% of Jewish Israelis support the reestablishment of Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip, according to the “Peace Index” survey released by Tel Aviv University in January of this year.

Five months ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out the possibility of civilians returning to the enclave.

“If you mean resettling Gaza, … it was never in the cards, and I said so openly. And some of my constituents are not happy about it, but that’s my position,” the Israeli leader said in a May 21 interview with CNN.

Image: Israeli Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf visits the Gaza border on Nov. 28, 2024. Credit: Courtesy.

My “mission [is] to strengthen the partnership and equality between the Druze community and the State of Israel,” Col. (res.) Mofid Marai said.

JNS Staff

(JNS)

The quasi-governmental Jewish Agency for Israel has elected a member of the Druze minority to its board of governors, the organization announced on Sunday.

Col. (res.) Mofid Marai, 65, is a former Knesset member and commander of the IDF’s predominantly Druze Herev (“Sword”) Battalion. His older brother, Col. Nabiya Marai, was killed in action in 1996 while serving as deputy commander of the Gaza Division.

“It is a tremendous privilege for me to represent the Druze community on the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors, and to be part of an organization committed to every community in Israel and across the Jewish world,” Marai said. “We, the members of the Druze community, have stood with the State of Israel for generations and will continue to do so in the future.”

A religious sect that began about a thousand years ago in Egypt as an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, the Druze, who number about one million worldwide, primarily live in Syria, Lebanon and Israel, as well as in smaller communities in Western cities around the globe.

More than 150,000 Druze live in Israel, representing about 1.6% of the population, according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The community’s men serve in the Israel Defense Forces, with 85% enlisting in combat units.

“I see my new position as a mission to strengthen the relationship, partnership and equality between the Druze community and the State of Israel, and a significant opportunity to advance the important needs of the Druze community in Israel,” Marai said.

“Having Col. Mofid Marai join the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency symbolizes the deep connection as well as the recognition of the strategic and historical commitment between the Druze community and the State of Israel,” said agency chairman Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog.

A dozen IDF soldiers from the Druze community have been killed in action since the outbreak of the war against Hamas in Gaza last year.

A Hezbollah rocket killed 12 Druze children as they played soccer in Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights on July 27. At least 42 others were wounded in the attack from Lebanon.

The Jewish Agency meeting also adopted a resolution calling on the Knesset to pass legislation affirming the full equality of rights for Israel’s Druze citizens.

Image: From left: Jewish Agency CEO and Director General Yehuda Setton; Board of Governors Chairman Mark Wilf; Board of Governors member Mofid Marai; and Jewish Agency Chairman Doron Almog. Photo by Lior Daskal.

Trump has the opportunity to be the peacemaker he has promised to be.

Mitchell Bard

(JNS)

Two months remain before Donald Trump takes office and a lot can happen in the Middle East during that time. Israel dodged one imminent bullet when the Biden administration decided to ignore the calls for it to cut off arms deliveries to Israel. Though aid agencies and critics insisted Israel did not meet the requirements set out by the administration for increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza, Biden decided Israel had done enough to satisfy his demands. More likely, he did not want to enrage the incoming president by withdrawing support for Israel’s war effort.

In his remaining time, Biden undoubtedly hopes to achieve a foreign-policy victory to remediate his tarnished legacy. Prospects are not good. He may intensify efforts to reach ceasefires in the Middle East and secure the release of the hostages but neither Hamas nor Hezbollah are willing to make a deal. This gives Trump the opportunity to be the peacemaker he has promised to be.

Besides assurances about peace, Trump gave few clues as to what his policy toward the Middle East will be. It’s possible that, like in his first term, he won’t have one. Nevertheless, he will ultimately have to answer these questions:

You have said you expect Israel to end its war with Hamas before you are inaugurated. What if the war doesn’t end? Will you pressure Israel to accept a ceasefire? How? Will you consider cutting off arms to Israel?

You have said Israel should win; what does that mean to you?

Will you send additional aid to Israel to help it defeat its enemies and ensure that weapons like 2,000-pound bombs embargoed by the Biden administration are delivered?

What steps will you take to free the hostages? Do you believe you can negotiate a deal with Hamas? Should U.S. troops become more directly involved in the search for the American hostages?

What is your position on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza? Will you pressure Israel as Biden has to allow more aid in regardless of whether Hamas is stealing it? Will you pressure Egypt to allow Gazans to leave so they can be safe and have unfettered access to assistance?

What do you want to see happen after the war in Gaza ends? Biden said that he would not accept an Israeli presence in Gaza; what is your view? Do you support Israel establishing a buffer zone near its border and one for the Philadelphi Corridor?

Who do you expect to govern Gaza? Will you accept the Palestinian Authority with or without a Hamas element? Will the United States contribute to the reconstruction of Gaza?

In your first term, you cut off aid to UNRWA. Biden restored it. Israel has outlawed the organization, and we now know that members of its staff participated in the Oct. 7 massacre and that the organization was complicit in aiding Hamas. Will you cut aid to UNRWA again? Will your U.N. ambassador seek to replace it with another aid agency?

Biden also restored aid to the Palestinians. Will you cut that again? Will you adhere to the Taylor Force Act and prohibit funding to the Palestinian Authority until it ends its “pay for slay” policy?

Will you try to negotiate a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians? Will you try again to sell your peace plan?

Israel’s finance minister said he expects you to support Israel’s annexation of the settlements. Will you?

How will you end the war in Lebanon? Will you pressure Israel to accept a ceasefire? Will you support the continuation of the war until Israel has made it safe for its citizens to return to their homes in the north? Will you provide arms to the Lebanese army? Will you support the Biden administration’s deal for Hezbollah to be kept beyond the Litani River and the Lebanese army to take responsibility for the area along Israel’s border? Will you support the continuation of the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission in Lebanon despite its abject failure?

Iran is much closer to a nuclear bomb than when you left office. You have said Iran will not be allowed to have a bomb; how will you stop them? Are you prepared to use military force? Will you use force if Iran or its proxies attack Americans?

You have intimated that Israel should destroy Iran’s nuclear capability. Do you support an Israeli strike? Would you support an Israeli strike on Iranian energy targets even if it might adversely affect the U.S. economy?

Will you continue Biden’s policy of deploying U.S. forces to defend Israel against missiles and drones fired by Iran and its proxies?

Will you make Iran pay a price for plotting to assassinate you? What will you do?

You’ve said you want to negotiate with Iran, and that it could even be part of the Abraham Accords. What would that negotiation involve?

You’ve said you would again apply “maximum pressure” on Iran, but it failed because of the lack of cooperation from allies and China’s circumvention of oil sanctions. What will be different this time?

The Iranian people have become more defiant, but their protests have been brutally suppressed. Will you do anything to support Iranians who wish to overthrow the Islamic regime?

How will you stop the continuing threat posed by the Houthis to Israel, the U.S. Navy and international shipping?

You have said that you want to expand the Abraham Accords. What countries do you think will be willing to join?

Qatar has not joined the accords, continues to host members of Hamas, sponsors terror and is the largest contributor of funds to American universities. Do you plan to address any of these issues?

The Biden administration has been on the verge of negotiating either a bilateral agreement with Saudi Arabia or a trilateral one that would lead to Saudi normalization of relations with Israel. Do you think you can seal a deal? Are you prepared to meet the Saudi demands for a defense treaty, more weapons and access to nuclear technology?

Numerous anti-Israel resolutions are introduced every year at the United Nations, will you veto those in the Security Council and oppose those in the General Assembly?

You withdrew from the Human Rights Council in your first term. Will you keep the United States out of the HRC?

More than $13 billion has been contributed to American universities by Arab sources. Because of the lack of transparency by both universities and the U.S. Department of Education, we know almost nothing about how the money is used or what its impact is on research, teaching and the toxic campus environment for Jewish students. Will you insist that universities disclose information about donors and the use of their funds and ensure the DoE enforces reporting requirements?

Will you increase funding and staffing so the Civil Rights Commission can investigate all the claims against universities for failing to meet their Title VI obligations to protect Jewish students? Will you instruct the commission to use its power to deny government funds to universities that violate the law?

Image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump at a press conference announcing the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan, Jan. 28, 2020. Credit: Shealah Craighead/Official White House Photo.

“The days of public daylight between the U.S. and Israel are about to end,” stated David Friedman, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel.

(JNS)

President-elect Donald Trump announced that the “great public servant, governor, and leader in faith for many years” and “highly respected” Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, will be the U.S. ambassador to Israel during the next administration.

Huckabee “loves Israel and the people of Israel and likewise, the people of Israel love him,” Trump stated. “Mike will work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East.”

A Southern Baptist pastor and governor for more than a decade, Huckabee sought the Republican nomination for president in 2008 and 2016.

A staunch supporter of the Jewish state on biblical beliefs, the former governor has visited Israel many times and led thousands of U.S. Christians on solidarity tours over the past half-century. His first trip to Israel right out of high school was just before the 1973 Yom Kippur war.

Huckabee backed the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and has worked to fight attempts by the BDS movement to isolate Israel.

In the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border terrorist massacre in southern Israeli towns, Huckabee led evangelical leaders on a visit to the hard-hit communities along the border with the Gaza Strip.

“After 50 years of coming here, nothing has prepared me for this visit,” he said after walking through the charred remains of a border kibbutz.

He told JNS at the time that the ignorance so many Americans display about the war was a searing indictment of the educational system, which indoctrinates college students with a warped worldview.

In August 2018, Huckabee laid a ceremonial brick at the Israeli city of Efrat in Judea and said he might one day buy a “holiday home” there.

“If President Trump could be here today, he’d be a very happy man,” he stated at the time, standing in front of a red sign that said “Build Israel Great Again.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition is “thrilled” with the nomination.

“As a man of deep faith, we know Gov. Huckabee’s abounding love of Israel and its people is second to none,” the RJC said. “As the Jewish state continues to fight an existential war for survival against Iran and its terrorist proxies, Gov. Huckabee will represent America’s ironclad commitment to Israel’s security with distinction.”

David Friedman, who served as the U.S. envoy to Israel during Trump’s first presidency and was reportedly under consideration for the role again, stated that Huckabee is “a dear friend and he will have my full support.

“Congrats Mike on getting the best job in the world,” Friedman wrote.

“It speaks volumes to the importance and priority that President Trump places on the U.S.-Israel relationship that he selected his ambassador to Israel within one week of his election,” Friedman added. “The selection itself—Mike Huckabee is one of Israel’s greatest friends—tells us that the days of public daylight between the U.S. and Israel are about to end.”

Image: Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee speaks during a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Jerusalem, August 19, 2015. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

“I would say he expects them to end it by winning it,” Republican Party spokeswoman Elizabeth Pipko stated.

(JNS)

President-elect Donald Trump wants Israel to wrap up its wars against Iran and its regional terror proxies with a “decisive victory,” campaign spokeswoman Elizabeth Pipko told Channel 12 News on Wednesday.

“I would say he expects them to end it by winning it, one hundred percent; that’s how he always talks about ending wars,” the Jewish Republican Party spokesperson told the Israeli news broadcaster.

“Donald Trump always says he wants less innocent people to die—that is his stance whether we’re talking about the war in Gaza, whether we’re talking about Russia in Ukraine or anywhere else,” she added. “So, I do believe he wants the war to end as soon as possible, like all rational people do, but he wants it to end with a decisive victory.”

The clarification came after Trump in his victory speech on Wednesday declared that he was “not going to start wars, I’m going to stop wars.”

The spokeswoman contended that Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, slaughter of 1,200 people in Israel would not have taken place on Trump’s watch. “I also believe the response on October 8, had it happened, would have been very, very different,” Pipko charged.

She also claimed that the Biden administration’s Israel policies were partly responsible for the length of the ongoing wars, describing them as a “back and forth.”

“I think when you have American hostages—people forget to say that, American hostages—held for nearly a year, and you see your leaders deciding on their moves for foreign policy based on what would help them win an election, you end up with a lot of unnecessary bloodshed on your hands, and that’s what we’ve seen this last year,” the spokeswoman said.

“When it comes to ending a war in the Middle East and dealing with enemies like Iran or Hamas, you have to be decisive, and I have not seen that from our [current] leadership,” she concluded.

Pipko declined to comment on whether Trump would give Jerusalem the green light to attack Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, adding that the president-elect would only express his views on the topic after entering the White House on Jan. 20, 2025.

In October, Trump said he believed Israel should strike Tehran’s nuclear facilities in response to the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile barrages.

In an interview with Israel Hayom in March, Trump said he backed Israel’s defense and that he would have retaliated to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack much the way Jerusalem had. At the same time, he warned that the longer the war continues, the worse things would get for Israel.

“You have to finish up your war. To finish it up. You gotta get it done. And I am sure you will do that,” he said. “And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on. And I will say, Israel has to be very careful, because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support, you have to finish up, you have to get the job done. And you have to get on to peace, to get on to a normal life for Israel, and for everybody else,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the first world leaders to congratulate Trump on Wednesday.

The phone call, which lasted some 20 minutes, was described by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office as “warm and cordial.” Netanyahu and Trump were said to have “agreed to work together for Israel’s security and discussed the Iranian threat.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli premier hailed Trump’s “historic return” to the White House. The Republican candidate’s win “offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America,” Netanyahu said.

Image: Elizabeth Pipko, spokeswoman for the spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18, 2024. Photo by Mike Wagenheim.