By: Times of Israel Staff & Agencies; timesofisrael.com

First Muslim state to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; ceremony held via Zoom due to COVID-19 restrictions; Ashkenazi says Pristina’s mission likely to open in the spring

Israel and Kosovo formally established diplomatic ties on Monday, with the Muslim-majority territory also recognizing Jerusalem as the Jewish state’s capital — putting it at odds with the rest of the Islamic world.

In a ceremony held over Zoom in Jerusalem and Pristina, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and his counterpart from the Republic of Kosovo, Meliza Haradinaj Stublla, signed a joint declaration establishing ties.

It was the first time Israel established relations with a country virtually.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-kosovo-forge-official-ties-over-zoom-confirm-jerusalem-embassy-to-open/

By: Mitchell Bard – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

The refugee issue is easily solvable if we return to the original definition that applied only to people who lived in Palestine in 1948-1949, not their descendants. This is the true number of refugees.

The negotiation affairs department of the PLO tweeted on May 15, 2020, “Every nakba commemoration day, we mark the catastrophe that befell our people in 1948, when 957,000 Palestinians became refugees.” The truth is that number was concocted, as is the current figure of 5.7 million used by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The actual number is more likely less than 30,000.

Palestinians typically claim that 800,000 to 1,000,000 Palestinians became refugees between 1947 and 19­49. The last census was taken in 1945. It found only 756,000 permanent Arab residents in Israel. On Nov. 30, 1947, the date the United Nations voted for partition, the total was 809,100. A 1949 Government of Israel census counted 160,000 Arabs living in the country after the war, which meant no more than 650,000 Palestinian Arabs could have become refugees. A report by the U.N. Mediator on Palestine (as of September 1948) arrived at an even lower figure: 360,000. The CIA estimate was 330,000. In 2011, historian Efraim Karsh analyzed the number of refugees by city and came up with an estimate of 583,000 to 609,000.

When the United Nations created UNRWA to assist the Palestinians, a refugee was defined as “a needy person, who, as a result of the war in Palestine, has lost his home and his means of livelihood.”

https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-palestinian-refugee-hoax/

By: Jessica Guynn – USA Today; usatoday.com

Holocaust denial content remains on Facebook three months after pledging to ban all content that “denies or distorts the Holocaust.”

That’s according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League, which gave Facebook a “D” for its efforts.

The ADL’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, said the report released Wednesday, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, shows that Facebook and other major social media platforms are “still struggling to address anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial effectively.” 

Among the pieces of content cited by the ADL that Facebook did not take down: a post promoting an anti-Semitic video that claims to expose “lies” about the Holocaust, and a private Facebook group dedicated to “Holocaust Revisionism.”

Facebook removed the content after being contacted by USA TODAY.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/01/27/facebook-holocaust-denial-zuckerberg-twitter-youtube-twitch-reddit/4269035001/

By: Cody Levine – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

The student exchange program comes following a normalization agreement between the two countries.

Israeli and United Arab Emirates (UAE) ministers agreed Sunday to initiate a student exchange program, according to a press release from Israel’s Education Ministry.

The student exchange program comes following a normalization agreement between the two countries, leading to cooperation in a wide variety of areas of mutual interest. Education Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with his UAE counterpart Hussein Ibrahim al-Hamadi via Zoom, where both spoke of the importance of education, its connection to sustainability, the environment and research on astrophysics and the sea.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/israel-and-uae-to-start-student-exchange-program-656553

By: Benjamin Weil – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

If the Israelis seek to destroy Iranian nuclear sites, they would need to rely on their air force; however, the fly distance is long, and there are other diplomatic complications.

As the senior Biden administration officials settle into their new positions and form a detailed policy in regards to the Iranian nuclear program, Israeli military personnel head to the drawing board to plan an attack. Israel has never and will never rely on another country to secure their future and national security interests on its behalf. If the Israelis seek to destroy Iranian nuclear sites, they would need to rely on their air force to deliver bunker buster bombs—possibly their GBU-28 laser-guided bombs they purchased a decade ago.

The primary concerns of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) are the long distance between Israel and Iran; being attacked by long-range and short-range defense systems; and enemy radar detecting the IAF prior to entering Iranian airspace and alerting the Iranians of the Israeli intrusion. To counter radars and long-range defense systems, the IAF would have to fly at low altitudes, masking behind the hilly terrain from enemy radars.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/israels-attack-options-on-iranian-nuclear-sites/

By: Adi Hoshmonai – Israel Hayom; israelhayom.com

Snow is expected in the high mountainous regions of Samaria, Hebron, Kiryat Arba, and the highest hills of Jerusalem.

Continuing from last week, rain and low temperatures were expected in the coming days across the country. From the north to the south, Wednesday saw intermittent rain with thunderstorms, hail, and strong winds. Temperatures will continue to drop, and temperatures will be colder than usual for the season throughout the day.

Additional snowfall was expected on Mount Hermon and the Golan Heights and there might be light snow on the peaks of the Galilee and further south in places above 900 meters, such as the hilly region of Samaria, Hebron, Kiryat Arba, and in the highest hills of Jerusalem.

https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/01/20/with-more-snow-expected-sea-of-galilee-close-to-full-capacity/

By: Rossella Tercatin – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

The region of the Jezreel Valley bears many testimonies of ancient Christian life.

A 1,500-year-old Greek inscription bearing the name “Christ, born of Mary” was unearthed in northern Israel, the Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday.

The archaeologists discovered the inscription engraved at the entrance of an impressive building from the Byzantine or early Islamic period, featuring mosaic pavements decorated with a geometric design.

The finding was unveiled in a salvage excavation directed by Tzachi Lang and Kojan Haku ahead of the construction of a road inside the village of Taiba in the Jezreel Valley.

“We did not know what to expect ahead of the work, but we knew that this was an area where archaeological remains had been found. When we came across the inscription, we knew we had a church,” Antiquities Authority (IAA) archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre told The Jerusalem Post.

https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/ancient-christ-born-of-mary-inscription-unearthed-in-northern-israel-656071

Jack Dorsey has been quick to edit “misinformation” when it comes to politics, the coronavirus pandemic or other issues of consequence, but not when it comes to anti-Semitism, says End Jew Hatred.

The grassroots Jewish civil-rights movement End Jew Hatred protested outside the California home of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Monday, blaring audio recordings of Holocaust-denying tweets that have not been removed from Twitter.

The group said Dorsey has been quick to edit content deemed to be “misinformation” when it comes to politics, the coronavirus pandemic and other issues of consequence. But when users on his platform spread harmful lies about the systematic murder of 6 million Jews, he does nothing.

https://www.jns.org/jewish-civil-rights-group-protests-twitter-ceo-over-not-banning-holocaust-denial/

By: Tal Schneider – The Times of Israel; timesofisrael.com

Israel’s parliament has not seen serious violence for decades, but unit that protects MKs has been drilling for riots or a hostage situation since well before Capitol rampage

Officials in Israel’s Knesset watched in horror Wednesday night, as scenes of chaos, bloodshed and insurrection unfolded at the US Capitol when a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump ransacked the seat of power of the strongest nation in the world.

Armed with bats, batons, hockey sticks, tear gas and other low-level means of violence, the swarm overwhelmed the Capitol’s police force and rampaged through the building, wrecking congressional offices and running riot through the halls of power, as America’s duly elected lawmakers huddled for cover. Some of the rioters carried zip-ties, sparking suspicions that they may have planned to take hostages.

The event, in which five people died, has indelibly scarred America, but it has also sparked questions in Israel, of not only whether such a thing could happen here, but how ready are we if it did?

https://www.timesofisrael.com/watching-dc-strife-armed-knesset-guards-say-theyve-long-readied-for-unrest/

By: Times of Israel Staff – Times of Israel; timesofisrael.com

Police stepped up enforcement Friday after the tightened coronavirus lockdown took effect, dispersing gatherings, closing stores violating the restrictions, and calling via loudspeaker upon citizens to follow the guidelines.

After the initial lockdown imposed several weeks ago was under-enforced and provided plenty of loopholes to go outside, the tightened closure had an immediate and dramatic effect on movement, with police estimating that roads were 70 percent emptier than normal.

Checkpoints were set up on major highways and within towns and cities. The previous rules had already limited Israelis from venturing beyond a kilometer from their homes, with several exceptions.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/streets-largely-empty-as-police-step-up-enforcement-of-tightened-lockdown/