Blaze in Jerusalem hills spreads and gathers force into Friday night
A major forest fire that broke out in the mountains outside Jerusalem on Friday afternoon spread and gathered force into the night.
Multiple teams of firefighters were battling the blaze in the Ma’ale Hahamisha and Nataf areas on Friday afternoon and into the night, and more were being deployed. At least 20 planes were said to be operating in the area, tackling the flames from the skies.
The fire expanded and progressed through the afternoon and evening. Initially none of the homes in Ma’ale Hahamisha or Nataf were thought to be in danger, police said, but in mid-afternoon they ordered the evacuation of Nataf, and said homes were under threat.
Some Nataf residents were taking refuge in the community center at the nearby Arab town of Abu Ghosh on Friday night.
Rama’s Kitchen, a famed Nataf restaurant, was destroyed, and much of the owner’s home was destroyed in the flames as well. A wedding was taking place at the restaurant when firefighters ordered an urgent evacuation.
By Friday evening, the nearby West Bank settlement of Mevo Horon was also in danger.
Channel 2 reported that initial suspicions were that the blaze was started by a petrol bomb thrown from the nearby Palestinian village of Katana. This report was not confirmed.
Caroline Glick: The ADL’s new bedfellows
Given the stakes, then, it makes perfect sense that the Arab American groups oppose Trump.Caroline Glick: Israel must 'seize the opportunity'
It also makes sense that Arab regimes threatened by the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran support Trump and eagerly await his inauguration.
And it clearly makes sense for Israel to welcome Trump’s election.
The only thing that makes no sense is the American Jewish campaign to demonize Trump. The ADL’s leadership of the campaign to smear Trump and his advisers while legitimizing BDS and supporting Israel-bashers is antithetical to the interests of the American Jewish community.
In adopting these positions, Greenblatt and the ADL along with their allies in J Street, Jewish Voices for Peace, If Not Now, The Forward, other far-left groups and mainstream groups that have lost their way show through their actions that they have conflated their Judaism with their support for the Left.
To the extent that the interests of the Jews of America contradict the positions of the Left, the Jews of America are behaving in an “antisemitic” way.
It is the responsibility of the segment of the community that understands “Jewish” is not a synonym of “leftist” to oppose the ADL and its backers. If they fail to do so, they will contribute to the descent of the community into powerlessness and irrelevance, not only in the era of Trump, but into the future.
Jerusalem Post managing editor Caroline Glick told Arutz Sheva that she had a visceral feeling that Donald Trump would win the election but she was confused by the polls.
Glick feels it is an opportune moment to restore relations with the US which, during Obama's term, have reached their lowest nadir since the establishment of Israel.
She expressed the hope that the Trump administration will really move the US embassy to Jerusalem as the president-elect promised, an unprecedented move by the US
"This administration also endorses Israel's right to build wherever it wishes in Judea and Samaria and if we do build this could help push housing prices down which will enable young couples to buy homes," she noted.
However, she warned that all indications show that Obama intends to use his remaining months in office to damage Israel in the UN Security Council and "we must be aware of this."