An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a label for a label.

Likud Knesset Member Miki Zohar has introduced a bill that would require importers to label all products from European Union countries that stamp goods from Judea and Samaria in an effort to discourage people from buying them.

The European Union two months ago overwhelmingly voted for labeling products from Judea and Samaria, “East Jerusalem” and the Golan Heights, distinguishing them from the rest of Israel. EU officials claimed that the labeling is not a boycott but only implements EU policy that considers those areas as “occupied territory” and not a part of Israel.

Under provisions in MK Zohar’s bill, anyone who does not label goods from European countries would face six months in prison or pay a fine of $3,700 (14.400 shekels)

He said:

Boycott Israel groups in Europe cynically use expressions such as ‘human rights’ and ‘war against the Israeli occupation,’ but their political agenda is to boycott Israel and undermine the country as a Jewish state.

If the European Union countries label pour predicts, we should take the same step so that the Israeli consumer can choose if he wants to buy predicts from countries that boycott us and instead can boycott in return.

He added that the EU policy is “gross hypocrisy” that is two-faced because the Boycott Israel movement ignores other countries such as China and Turkey that rule areas that are considered “‘occupied territory.”

MK Michael Oren of the Kulanu party carried out his own “label for a label” action Wednesday by placing “Made in Europe” stickers on European-made products sold in stores a Jerusalem neighborhood.

A Jerusalem municipal committee has temporarily frozen all building construction permits in eastern Jerusalem, not only for Jews but also for Arabs, Army Radio reported Monday afternoon.

The office of the Prime Minister insists that it had nothing to do with the Jerusalem City Building and Planning Committee’s decision to freeze construction.

The halt in construction comes just before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is to visit President Barack Obama to try to mend fences. It also comes shortly after the Obama administration denounced a near-final bureaucratic advancement in plans for building 900 new residential units in the Hareidi Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, adjacent to the Arab Shuafat area.

A source in the municipality said the decision to freeze all building construction permits was made so there will be no question of discrimination.

The freeze puts Washington in a bit of a bind.  

It frequently has opposed building for Jews in eastern Jerusalem, a tacit approval of discrimination in favor of Arabs. This time, any criticism from the White House or the State Dept. would have to explicitly state that its policy discriminates in favors of Arabs.

Eastern, southern and northern Jerusalem, unlike Judea and Samaria, are not ruled by the military and instead have full legal status as any other city in Israel. The  United States and virtually the rest of the world continue to define half the capital as “occupied,” even though more than 250,000 Jews live in areas that were restored to Israel in the Six-Dar in 1967, including the Kotel.

The decision was made during a discussion on the approval of the units for the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood. The same apartments were approved in an earlier bureaucratic five years ago on the same day Vice President Joe Biden step foot in Israel for a visit.

The timing infuriated Biden, and the project has caused consternation in Washington every time another step is approved.

(JNi.media) The days of Israeli Diplomats siding with the Palestinian Authority’s cause, or embarrassing themselves with their lack of familiarity with the Jewish prayer book, are over. Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) and Ministry Director-General Dr. Dore Gold have altered the new course for diplomatic cadets starting Sunday at the College of Statesmanship in Jerusalem, with changes including compulsory tours in Judea and Samaria, lectures from faculty who are affiliated with the right side of the political spectrum, Jewish studies, and a class on the justification for Jewish settlements in regard to international law, Israel Hayom reported.

Hotovely said that she added several educational topics to the training course, primarily helping Israel’s future diplomats to acquire tools to deal with contemporary issues challenging Israeli information dissemination, including knowledge of international law regarding the legality of Jewish settlements, knowledge of the laws of war in light of Israel’s struggle against terrorism, and defending Israel in debates of ethics and warfare.

In a recent Facebook post, Hotovely reported on a lecture she had delivered at the College of Statesmanship, on the topic of An Ethical Foreign Policy, revealing “things that not everybody knows about Israel’s foreign affairs, because they don’t receive media exposure.”

“Israel is a beacon of science and technology development for large parts of the world. World powers such as India and Japan, and other countries in the East and in the rest of the world, see Israel as a trailblazer in providing solutions to 21st century problems,” Hotovely said, adding that, “in meetings with officials of all countries, the themes that emerge are Israeli developments in medicine, agriculture, water infrastructure, technology, and security.”

“Israel’s shop window displays more and more contribution to humanity,” Hotovely noted in her lecture. “The best propaganda is the economic value of Israel alongside strengthening the moral prowess of Israel in the world. It is important to recognize and understand this aspect of Israel’s foreign policy.”

Pundits and politicians on the right have complained for years that the training course for diplomatic cadets conducted by the Foreign Ministry has had a leftist bias, and that the way to change it is by changing the teaching staff. But Foreign Ministry senior officials told Israel Hayom they consider the claims “absurd,” noting that the course does offer tours of Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem. They called the news about the revamping “a spin on Hotovely’s part.”

However, an examination of the changes show at least a refreshing of the existing program, if not something more radical: there will be a tour of the City of David, near the Temple Mount, guided by David Be’eri, one of the heads of the Jewish community there; a tour of the Jordan Valley with Major General (Res) Uzi Dayan; and a guided observation of the city of Sh’chem with Benny Katzover, one of the leaders of Jewish settlement in Samaria. Also, the course will include a visit to the Barkan industrial park, to witness first hand the reality of Arabs working side by side with Israelis. And the cadets will receive a series of lectures on the subject of tikkun olam and Judaism’s universal message.

Rabbi Yehuda Glick escaped injury and even death in a rock-throwing attack Thursday night, exactly one year, one hour and one minute after a Jerusalem Arab tried to murder him.

Glick was critically wounded by four gunshots at point-blank range but made a miraculous recovery.

He was riding last night in a car driven by Rabbi Re’am HaCohen of Otniel, where Glick lives.

The car was pelted in a rock ambush between Beit Omar and Karmei Tzur, one of the favorite places for Palestinian Authority terrorists to try to murder Jews with a direct hit in the face or by causing the driver to lose control of his vehicle and crash.

Glick’s wife told The JewishPress.com that the Arabs had ambushed several Jewish motorists and that a woman in a vehicle ahead of Glick and HaCohen’s was injured.

Glick posted on Facebook Friday morning:

I was saved from rock-throwing. One of the rocks smashed the side window, and I was lucky that the righteous Rabbi Re’am HaCohen was the driver. By his merit, the only damage was to the body of the car.

Blessed is He who has not taken away His loving kindness from me for even a minute.

Rabbi Glick noted that he used Gregorian and not the Jewish calendar to note the timing of the attack because that is the one Arabs used.

The IDF expects the current wave of terrorist attacks, including rock-throwing and firebombings, to continue “in the coming weeks.” In a letter obtained by The JewishPress.com and sent by a brigade commander to residents under his command in Judea and Samaria, he wrote:

The challenge we face is not a short-term issue and from what I know, it will continue in the coming weeks with the understanding that there are many factors that influence the security situation.

The IDF, Border Police, police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and civilian security forces continue to work night and day to return to residents a sense of security. The army has significantly beefed up patrols and guard posts on Highway 60, the major artery linking northern Samaria with Gush Etzion, Kiryat Arba-Hebron and the southern Hebron Hills. The brigade commander also wrote:

I promise we will get through this period and, God willing, return security and the feeling of security.

However, government policy is another matter. Residents of Judea and Samaria have lived for years with the same cycle of calm and violence. The calm is maintained when a large number of soldiers patrol the highways. Then, the United States and European Union work on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and demand that Israel “boost the popularity” of Mahmoud Abbas and reduce the presence of soldiers,. The next step is another escalation of violence that gives Abbas another chance to complain that the IDF is interfering with the daily life of Arabs by patrolling the roads and setting up checkpoints.

What do you do when you are driving on an Israeli road and a rock hits your car?

It has become a common event. Rock-throwing began in the first intifada in the late 1980s throughout Gaza, Judea and Samaria.

Israel now is becoming energy self-sufficient. It always has been and always will be rock self-sufficient, especially in Judea and Samaria, where Arabs have plenty of free ammunition.

Rock-throwing periodically returns to popularity, and it has become one of the favorite pastimes of Arab youth who have been educated for a generation by the Palestinian Authority to hate Jews, Israel and Zionism.

The most popular highways for terrorists to pledge their allegiance to the “resistance” and throw rocks and firebombs are on the well-traveled roads connecting Kfar Saba to central Samaria and northern Samaria with the southern Hebron Hills via, Ofra, Beit El, Gush Etzion, Hebron-Kiryat-Arba and Susiya to the south.

I have been stoned, pardon the expression, several times. Thank God, no one has been injured, even when a rock once crashed the side window of our two-week-old car, leaving a young woman, who was to be married two weeks later, with glass all over her.

Here are a few pointers for novices from my own personal experience, but first of all, no one should stop driving on the highways because of the fear of being attacked. That simply is surrendering to the enemy.

The aim of the rock-throwing terrorists is multi-fold:

— Kill the driver or passenger with a direct hit or cause the drive to lose control of his vehicle and kill everyone in the car;

–Scare the Jews off the roads and then scare them into the sea.

Here are several tips for drivers. They will not guarantee that you won’t be hit or hurt, but they might lessen the chance.

Try to stay between two vehicles with Palestinian Authority license plates. When there is one in front of you and one in back of you, your car is a more difficult target for rock-throwers to identify and hit.

Of course, keep your doors locked and windows up in case they decide to carjack you, or open your door and attack you while you’re stopped at a light or when the car in front blocks you. However, be careful you don;t get trapped between two Palestinian Authority “resistance” drivers who suddenly realize they can trap you.

Keep an eye out for rocks on the road. That is a sure sign that the terrorists are waiting for you.

Drive like a jerk.

When I pass through hot spots like Beit Omar, south of Kiryat Arba, I suddenly speed, then I slow down, and then I speed again. It confuses the rock-thrower who gauges the speed of the car.

Furthermore, it usually is an Arab and not a Jew who drives like an idiot, so the rock-thrower probably will figure you are one of them.

It is true that is harder to hit a fast-moving target, but if a rock hits a car that is speeding, the impact could be lethal. However, if there are no Arab cars behind and in front of you, speeding is the best option. By speeding, I mean like a race-car driver.

What do you do if you get hit by a rock?

The first, last and only thing to do is to start exercising your right foot. Firmly place it on the gas pedal and press it through the floor. It helps the blood circulation in the foot and also gets you out of Dodge as fast as possible.

What happens if you are met with a barricade of rocks?

That happened to me in the first Intifada in Hebron. You can be an idiot and get out of your car and tear apart the barricade, making you a sitting duck for a sniper or setting yourself up to be blown up when you touch an explosive device.

Simply stay in your car, hit the gas pedal and drive through or around the barricade. If your tires get punctured, just keep driving. The government will pay the bill.

Others recommend, a very sharp and fast reserve out of there.

Guns:

Do NOT shoot. That is not a typo. Do NOT shoot, unless you want to go to jail

Shooting at a rock-throwing terrorist is a disproportionate response that is going to get you a lot of bad publicity in the United Nations as well as a prison term, unless you can prove that your life was on the line. That is pretty hard to do after the rock has been thrown and all you have to do to get out of danger is to speed away. Don’t play Lone Ranger because Tonto is not around to help you.

There are rare instances when a gun can save your life, but there have been too many instances of cowboys pulling the trigger before putting the brain in gear.

One example: Several years, ago, one young man approached a checkpoint and heard a shot. He pulled out his gun and was promptly shot by alert guards. The man is lucky to be alive today.

Don’t be afraid. Consider driving in Judea and Samaria as an experience.

And don’t forget to say the traveler’s prayer before driving,. It is not insurance, but it can’t hurt.

Happy motoring.

The large low-priced Rami Levy supermarket chain and Victory supermarkets have taken knives off the shelves to prevent a customer-terrorist from carrying out a stabbing attack on the spot.

Anyone who wants to buy a kitchen knife at Rami Levy stores can do so by going to the customer’s service desk, but the new policy leaves knives and cleavers in the hands of workers, most of them Arabs, at the meat counter.

Rami Levy said:

There’s no point checking customers at the entrance, if they can buy a knife inside.

I’m afraid of letting in a customer who’d do something. Why should I give him the weapon? It’s not smart to put a guard on the door to check people and then give him a knife inside the store.

Arabs, including those from the Palestinian Authority who work at the company’s stores in Judea and Samaria, account for approximately two-thirds of the unskilled labor force in the chain’s supermarket.

Meat cleavers will remind in the hands of workers, most of them Arabs behind the meat counter, but Levy said his employees undergo a strict security check before being hired. He is more worried about the “lone wolf” customer who could pick up a knife off a shelf and start stabbing anyone within reach.

One customer told Globes that fewer customers are shopping at the Rami Levy market where he works “because they are afraid to come to us.”

Levy said that Jerusalem has become a “ghost town” but that sales at his stores have not been affected by the recent wave of terror.

Victory CEO Eyal Ravid told Globes:

Yesterday afternoon I took the knives down to the warehouse just to be certain that God forbid somebody won’t come and buy and use it.