“Defense Minister Naftali Bennett approved Wednesday the establishment of seven new national parks and nature reserves in the West Bank, with some apparently to be built on privately owned Palestinian land. This is the first time that the establishment of new nature reserves has been declared in the West Bank since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, but there have been changes to the borders of existing reserves over the years. The land on which the reserves are planned to be built is in Area C, the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control.” [Background: Emek Shaveh – National parks in Israel and the West Bank – On which Side is the Grass Greener?]

“The Hamas terrorist group has called for Palestinians to protest against Israeli “violations” at religious sites in Jerusalem and the West Bank, by performing Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Ibrahimi Mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs, along with mosques in the West Bank and Gaza. The Fajr prayers, the first ones of the day before sunrise, are being held in protest of ‘Israeli judaization schemes’ at religious sites in the West Bank, including the Temple Mount and the Cave of the Patriarchs. Hamas claimed in a press release that Israeli authorities have escalated the situation at al-Aqsa and have tried to close the Gate of Mercy (Bab al-Rahma) at the Temple Mount complex again. The press release stated that Israel has been ‘atrociously beating, arresting and threatening’ Palestinian worshipers and has banned them from entering the complex.”

“Archaeologist Dr. Scott Stripling says he never expected to find the biblical Tabernacle at Shiloh — it was made out of animal skins, after all. But in a recent interview with The Times of Israel, he said that since beginning excavations at the site in the summer of 2017, he has found remnants of the “supporting material culture” that fit the time of Joshua and the biblical descriptions of the ancient priestly city.” [NOTE: Nowhere in this article/podcast – breathlessly reporting on exciting archeological finds – will the reader find any hint of the fact that the dig in question is taking place at a location deep inside the West Bank. For background on the exploitation of this archeological site by settlers, see: Ancient West Bank site draws Christians, and controversy]

“Hundreds of police and Border Patrol troops began demolishing two illegally built structures in Kumi Ori, an outpost outside the settlement of Yitzhar Wednesday. The structures housed two families and were demolished following a Supreme Court ruling last week rejecting a motion by one of the settlers who claimed Israel has no authority over the hilltop because it is part of a Palestinian administered area [COMMENT: just take a moment to read again the argument made by settlers – not a joke]. Police set up roadblocks at the entrances to Yitzhar as 450 police troops and civil administration personnel arrived to demolish the structures and secure the demolition teams. A security official warned the settlers against disrupting the troops ’carrying out their mission’. Settlers clashed with forces in the outpost last October resulting in the IDF declaring the area a ‘closed military zone’. The settlement of Yizhar condemned the demolition of the two structures and demanded security forces ‘avoid causing another cycle of violence.’”

“Dozens of farmers from all over Israel congregated this morning (Thursday) at the home of Naftali Bennett, the Defense Minister, in Ra’anana and called upon him to take measures that would end the Palestinian boycott of their products…For the past four months the Palestinian Authority has been closing the crossings to Israeli cattle goods and confiscating Israeli produce, while Israel has allowed Palestinians to continue to transfer cattle goods the other way. After about half an hour, Bennett went out to the protesters and talked to them. They told him they were facing financial collapse and that he must intervene. ‘The issue is not how many calves come in to Israel but a free market,’ said Aharon Amnon of Peduim, a moshav in the Negev, when speaking to the Defense Minister. ‘The Palestinians cannot block Israeli goods while we, the State of Israel, freely allow [sic] them to bring in truckloads of agricultural produce and laborers as if nothing has happened.’”

“Palestinian officials in Ramallah have expressed deep concern over reports that Israel and Hamas are close to reaching a long-term ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. The officials warned that Hamas was not authorized to conduct negotiations with Israel or any other party, particularly regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip. The warning came as Hamas announced that Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Jamie McGoldrick, returned to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to pursue efforts to reach a long-term ceasefire deal with Israel.”

“Signs of new tensions between Egypt with Hamas in the Gaza Strip have emerged in recent days, following the recent killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani by the United States. This source of the rift was Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh’s surprise decision to lead a senior Hamas delegation to Tehran to attend Soleimani’s funeral. While in Tehran, Haniyeh offered his condolences to the Iranian leadership and Soleimani’s family.”

“Gaza factions are seeking to increase cross-border violence, as negotiations for a long-term understanding with Israel stall – a Hamas affiliated Gaza media outlet reported on Thursday. The report emerges only a day after a salvo of four rockets was fired from the Gaza Strip at Israeli communities and an incendiary balloon was also sent across the border. The rocket launches were attributed to an independent faction of the Islamic Jihad and came after three weeks of relative calm imposed by the ruling Hamas. The IDF carried out strikes against Hamas targets in the northern part of the Strip in response to the rocket fire. ‘The IDF regards the rocket attack from Gaza into Israel as grave and will continue to act against any attempt to harm Israeli civilians and considers the Hamas rulers responsible,’ the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.” Also see: Four rockets fired from Gaza at bordering Israeli communities & Israeli military launches strikes in Gaza in response to rocket fire

“Finnish member of Parliament Anna Kontula, 42, was arrested alongside other members of an international human rights group after attempting to cut through the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip, according to the Helsinki Times. The five-person group, part of the Gaza 2020 Breaking the Siege group, was trying to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by crossing through the barrier, according to Kontula.”

“An amusement park in the southern Gaza Strip recently unveiled a train ride that seeks to simulate a journey from the isolated coastal enclave to Jerusalem’s Old City, home to a number of Islamic holy sites.”

“The right’s idea of democracy doesn’t include the rule of law, even in its most basic version. Justice Minister Amir Ohana said that in theory there’s no obligation to comply with all court rulings; MK Miki Zohar now seeks to apply this outrageous legal stance: He urged Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to ignore the High Court of Justice should it order him to convene the Knesset to debate Benjamin Netanyahu’s immunity request…the road to unchecked governmental power doesn’t run solely through castrating the gatekeepers, including the state comptroller and senior civil servants, who are expected to replace loyalty to the public with loyalty to the ruler. It also runs through silencing critics like the media and civil-society organizations. This can’t be done without identifying an internal enemy – the Arab minority and those who support its rights – and replacing patriotism with nationalism in the form of a comparatively soft racism that will just squeak through the courts.”

“The Hecht Museum at Haifa University canceled a talk by an Arab Israeli artist because the appearance by ‘a Palestinian artist’ would displease the Hecht Foundation, which is associated with the museum, the museum’s director said Tuesday.”

[Ha’aretz editorial] “The decision not to renew Lea Tsemel’s term as chairwoman of the military courts committee of the Israel Bar Association’s Jerusalem chapter was a capitulation to political persecution…The decision to freeze Tsemel’s appointment is a direct continuation of the dangerous call to silence voices that don’t suit the political agenda of the people in power…In the Israel of the so-called nation-state law, belief in one of the fundamental principles of criminal justice – the universal right to counsel – has evidently begun to crack. And in fact, this is what the Choosing Life Forum said: ‘Every lawyer representing terrorists should know that bereaved families will stand against anyone who seeks to work on behalf of base murderers. We’ll continue to try with all our might to interfere with her actions against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. This is a victory for common sense.’”

“A court shut the doors on Thursday to Amnesty International’s request to revoke NSO’s export license in a case with massive national security and human rights implications. Tel Aviv District Court Judge Rachel Barkai did allow Amnesty lawyer, Itai Mack, to make some arguments before a huge media presence about the importance of keeping part of the case open to the public. At first, Judge Barkai even suggested allowing all of Mack’s arguments to be open to the media and only closing the hearing for the Defense Ministry’s arguments in favor of maintaining NSO’s license.However, after state lawyer Sara Bilu said that this would make it look like the government was admitting to Amnesty’s accusations of human rights violations against the defense ministry and against NSO, Judge Barkai abruptly reversed herself.”

Losing out: Stav Shaffir (Labor), Kahanist Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit), Rafi Peretz (Habayit Hayehudi), Gadi Yevarkan (Blue & White – who ended up defecting to Likud), Moshe Kahlon (Likud), Esawi Freige (Meretz)

Also losing out – women: “In April 2019, following the first election of this cycle, the number of female lawmakers slid from 35 in 2015 to 30…In September’s election..the number of female lawmakers dropped to 28. After the slates closed on Wednesday, and if current polling forecasts remain accurate, the situation is not going to get much better – and will probably get worse…It is a sad commentary on the state of female leadership that the only party registered with a woman in charge is a fringe phenomenon: Larissa Trimbobler-Amir. The wife of Yigal Amir, who assassinated then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, has formed Mishpat Tzedek (which means ‘Fair Trial’ in Hebrew), aimed at getting a retrial for her husband – who is serving a life sentence – along with “all other innocent people unjustly imprisoned.’”]

Potential winners: “…what is bad news for Freige may be good news for the Joint List. Not only are Arab voters who previously voted for Meretz now predicted to vote for the predominantly Arab party, but far-left Israelis looking for a ticket that includes both Jews and Arabs now only have one address. Freige’s indignation, allied with the fact that left-wingers will have to vote for a slate headed by Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz and former ‘Likud princess’ and Yisrael Beiteinu lawmaker Orli Levi-Abekasis, could give an extra seat or two to the Joint List and boost overall Arab representation.” [Also see: Joint List: We are the answer to Ben Gvir in the Knesset

“MK Yoaz Hendel of the Blue and White party spoke to Arutz Sheva on Wednesday about the values that are shared by both his party and the national religious public which, he claims, make the Blue and White party a home for this public…Hendel hinted at a possible partnership after the election between his party and Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, saying there would have been a spot for them on the Blue and White slate. ‘I think that their true positions are not far from those of Blue and White, both on the unity in Israeli society and also on political issues. I haven’t seen until now that the Bennett-Bibi government annexed even one centimeter [of land], I haven’t seen them taking any big right-wing steps, I’ve mostly seen them disgracing themselves in the face of Hamas in Gaza and freezing construction in Jerusalem, but I think that the belief in the unity of the people of Israel and the fear of a civil war is enough to move people towards forming friendships in politics, and I hope that the day after the election, we will be able to form a real, serious Zionist coalition,’ he said. Hendel tried to calm the fears that a narrow government supported by the Joint List will be formed. ‘We will not sit with the Joint List in the same government. Our government will be a Zionist one composed only of parties that recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, and therefore we will not sit with the Joint List which provokes separatism and not with the Kahanists either,’ he stressed.”

“Defense Minister Naftali Bennett stated that the Yamina list would remain one list even after the upcoming March elections on Thursday. ‘Yamina. I am proud to lead a movement that joins together the entire ideological right and all the varieties of religious Zionism,’ said Bennett. After the September elections, the Yamina leaders said they would immediately split back into two factions; Bayit Yehudi/National Union led by Rafi Peretz and New Right, led by Shaked and Bennett. The New Right, Bayit Yehudi and National Union parties came together in a last-minute deal Wednesday night. The far-right, Kahanist party Otzma Yehudit was left out in the end, after New Right leader Naftali Bennett refused to accept the extremist party into his political union despite massive pressure from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do so.” Also see: Jewish Home drops extremist faction to join right-wing bloc in 11th-hour move & Bennett stresses ‘true unity’ was achieved, not political bloc

“In a last-minute deal, an Israeli right-wing leader dismantled a short-lived alliance with a Kahanist party to join a broad right-wing slate, as parties finalize their rosters ahead of the March 2 election. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been pressuring Naftali Bennett, who heads the right-wing union, to bring Rafi Peretz’s Habayit Hayehudi into his slate. But Bennett objected to allying with members of far-right Otzma Yehudit, a party comprised of supporters of extremist rabbi Meir Kahane, which had joined forces with Habayit Hayehudi.”

“Jewish Home leader Rafi Peretz took heat from erstwhile allies after an 11th-hour decision to drop an alliance with an extremist faction and throw his lot in with more mainstream right-wing parties, with his top deputy quitting in anger. A reticent Peretz defended his decision to cast aside Itamar Ben Gvir’s Kahanist Otzma Yehudit faction and join the New Right and National Union instead, calling it one of the hardest decisions he had ever had to make, but one necessary to ‘save’ the national religious camp. New Right leader Naftali Bennett had refused to allow Otzma Yehudit into the alliance.”

“Party chief Itamar Ben Gvir rebuffs premier: ‘If he had quit there would have been a government. He shouldn’t lecture us. We remain in the race’”

“Attorney Michael Litvak has once again appealed to the legal counsel with a demand that Knesset member Heba Yazbak be removed from the Joint List in the upcoming elections because of what he defined as promotion and incitement of terror. ‘There are several publications of hers where she incites terror and supports the most horrible murderers,’ Litvak said. “She calls Samir Kuntar, the perpetrator of the brutal terror attack in Nahariya, a hero and a shaheed.’”

“The new president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, pledged on Tuesday to ‘keep the [Guatemalan] embassy in Jerusalem and designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization’ during a meeting in Guatemala City with Ofir Akunis, Israeli Minister of Science, Technology and Space.”

“Military Intelligence thinks an opportunity has been created to accelerate the pace of attacks against Iran and its allies. And it has urged Israel to seize this opportunity despite its assessment that Iran and Hezbollah will respond militarily if any of their people are killed…On the Palestinian front, MI stuck to its assessment that Hamas doesn’t want war, wants to rebuild Gaza and seeks a long-term cease-fire – and is therefore willing to keep trying to restrain Islamic Jihad and other small factions. Still, MI hasn’t retracted its strategic warning about the risk of an outbreak of violence in the West Bank, even though such a development hasn’t happened in recent years. This could happen in response to a specific incident or due to the Palestinian Authority’s collapse, possibly as a result of the expected battle to succeed President Mahmoud Abbas.”

“Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned Wednesday that if Israel succeeds in imposing “an unthinkable solution” by annexing parts of the West Bank, hopes for a two-state solution and Palestinian state would quickly come to an end. In a speech delivered to European lawmakers on the tensions boiling across the Middle East, Abdullah added Israel’s construction of settlements in the West Bank and ‘disregard of international law’ could be summed up as ‘one state turning its back on its neighborhood, perpetuating divisions among peoples and faiths worldwide.’”

“Three pro-Iranian fighters were killed in an airstrike on a military base in central Syria late Tuesday night, according to a Britain-based monitor. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Wednesday reported that the strike, which Syria attributed to Israel, targeted a weapons storehouse, as well as a building that was under construction and two military vehicles on the T-4 air base near Homs. The base has long believed to be used by Iranian forces and allied Shiite militias and has been targeted by Israeli airstrikes in the past.”

“‘As Israeli leaders continue to enthuse over the Jewish state’s growing rapprochement with parts of the Arab world, one of the most visible proponents of this process — the only senior Gulf official who has repeatedly defended not only Israel’s right to exist but its right to defend itself militarily — is being removed from his post. Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, who has held his position since 2005, is being replaced by Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, the tiny Gulf nation’s monarch decided earlier this month. The reasons for the veteran top diplomat’s sudden ouster are unclear…’We need to be very careful and not jump to conclusions. But this foreign minister has in recent years been very pro-Israel but has returned in the last few weeks to a more conservative, old-fashioned position vis-a-vis Israel,’ said Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies who focuses on the Gulf states.”