By: World Israel News Staff

A delegation of US diplomats was forced to cut short a business event in Bethlehem and flee the city on Tuesday after violent Palestinian protesters stormed the workshop.

The Palestinian mob, which was protesting President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel' capital,  threw tomatoes at the delegation’s car as they left and kicked the vehicles, agencies reported.

Reuters reported that one of the cars was damaged.

Samir Hazboun, head of the Palestinian Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce, told AFP that a training session for local business people about digital commerce with an American expert and a delegation from the US consulate in Jerusalem was in session when the incident occurred.

“We were surprised when a number of angry protesters held an extraordinary protest, which forced us to end the course and for the American trainer to leave immediately with the American consulate delegation,” Hazboun explained.

UNRWA AND THE SO-CALLED “RIGHT OF RETURN”: When Israel was created in 1948; Arab states and Arab Palestinians attacked the Jewish community in Palestine and the Jewish state, vowing to "drive the Jews into the sea." They lost the war however, and some 600,000-750,000 Palestinians at the behest of Arab leaders voluntarily fled the area that became Israel. Palestinians claim any peace agreement with the Jewish state must allow the descendants and families of these refugees, now numbering over 6.5 million to return to Israel. If Israel were to agree to this Jews would became a minority in their own state. Return of the refugees would put an end to the Jewish homeland. Meanwhile UNRWA, Western governments, and global humanitarian aid agencies support the ever-growing numbers of refugee descendants - with vast percentages of that aid flowing into terrorist coffers and the pockets of corrupt leaders. (JNN)

USA ENVOY: PALESTINIAN ARABS ARE GLORIFYING MURDER: USA President Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt condemned last week’s terror attack in which Rabbi Raziel Shevach was murdered. Greenblatt placed blame for the attack squarely on “Palestinian terrorists,” and said that Palestinian Arab glorification of murder was hindering peace with Israel. “Palestinian terrorists murdered Rabbi Shevach, father of 6 young children. Hamas & Fatah glorify his murder. This violence & horrific glorification will only incite more attacks & rob Palestinians of the chance for peace. I pray for the Shevach family.” Earlier, USA Ambassador to Israel David Friedman similarly tweeted that the Palestinian Arabs were to blame for lack of peace with Israel. “An Israeli father of six was killed last night in cold blood by Palestinian terrorists. Hamas praises the killers and PA laws will provide them financial rewards. Look no further to why there is no peace.” In response, the PA accused Friedman of being “biased” in favor of Israel. (Arutz-7)

ISRAELI RABBI SHOT TO DEATH: Rabbi Raziel Shevach, 35, an Israeli father of six, was murdered on 9 Jan. 2018 when his vehicle was targeted by gunmen in a passing car on the main highway in Judea & Samaria. Rabbi Shevach was a volunteer at Magen David Adom and at a chevra kadisha (Jewish burial society). Upon arriving at the scene, security forces found a wounded Israeli man inside a car whose windshield had been riddled with bullets. His wife said, "He called me and said, 'They have shot me. Order an ambulance.'" The IDF continues to comb the area in pursuit of the shooters; friend remembers Shevach, a father of 6, as a “family man who always wanted to help.” (Ynet/Ha’aretz) 

    Pray for the comforting and future provision of the Shevach family. Among the six children of former Rabi Shevach is an eight month-old baby.

DEFENSE MINISTRY PUSHING BILL CUTTING PA FUNDS OVER TERRORISTS’ SALARIES: The PA pays an estimated NIS 1.2 billion annually to terrorists in Israeli prisons or to the families of those killed by Israel. The government will submit legislation to deduct an equivalent amount the Palestinian Authority pays terrorists and their families, from tax and tariffs Israel collects for the PA, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said this week. “I think the PA encourages and incentivizes terrorism,” said Liberman. The PA pays an estimated NIS 1.2 billion annually to terrorists in Israeli prisons or to the families of those killed by Israel. The terrorists’ salaries are anchored in PA law, and the amount increases with every Israeli they kill. The amount of the payments that the PA gives is in accordance with the severity of the crime, meaning whoever murdered gets much more money than those who just threw Molotov cocktails or rocks or only injured someone, that is direct encouragement of terror,” Liberman added. In addition, Liberman said that the longer the prison sentence the more money someone gets, such that someone who gets a life sentence for murder, gets more money. “We must put a stop to it,” he stated. (J.Post) 

NETANYAHU: UNRWA NEEDS TO PASS AWAY: PM Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday 7 Jan. 2018 opened the weekly cabinet meeting on the issue of stopping USA support for UNRWA. "I completely agree with Trump's sharp criticism of UNRWA. This is an organization that perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem and also perpetuates the narrative of the so-called right of return in order to destroy the State of Israel. UNRWA needs to pass from the world," Netanyahu said. There is a UN commission for the treatment of the other refugees in the world. This absurdity must be stopped." Netanyahu said he also told the Americans that he believed UNRWA funds should be transferred gradually to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which deals with refugees worldwide. (Arutz-7) As an Israeli Member of Knesset, Einat Wilf, put it: "No other refugees in the world are afforded refugee status for generations. Even the charter by which UNRWA was created maintains that it was supposed to be only a temporary institution.” A report from the Global Research in International Affairs said UNRWA actually helps promotes terrorism and holds Palestinians back from rebuilding their lives. It charged UNRWA schools with becoming hotbeds of anti-Western, anti-American, and anti-Semitic indoctrination and recruiting offices for terrorist groups. It said also UNWRA facilities are used to store and transport weapons, actually serving as terrorist military bases. Indeed, during Israel’s 2014 Operation Protective Edge, on several occasions Hamas rocket stockpiles were found stored in UN schools in the Gaza Strip.