Forces loyal to Syria’s Assad regime, supported by Russian air power, continued on Wednesday to press rebel forces in the south of the country near the Israeli border. Reports from the border indicated that refugees fleeing the fighting were warned away from the border by IDF troops, and residents of the Golan Heights were awakened in the early morning hours by incoming rocket alerts which the IDF later said was a false alarm triggered by fighting on the other side of the border.

The situation along the border between Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip remained tense on Wednesday following several violent incidents on Tuesday. An Israeli UAV struck a group of Palestinians preparing to send an incendiary kite into Israeli territory Tuesday afternoon, in line with Israel’s new policy of targeting such launching teams. A handful of other incendiary devices landed in Israeli territory throughout the day, with some being neutralized and others causing damage.

The Israeli Knesset approved a law on Tuesday limiting Palestinian access to the High Court of Justice and extending such access to Israeli residents of West Bank settlement communities. The law was described by some analysts as a step towards Israeli annexation of the West Bank. “Fifty years after the liberation of Judea and Samaria, the Knesset approves a law that will normalize the lives of the residents there,” said Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. “The Knesset today has made an important statement – the residents of Judea and Samaria are indistinguishable from other Israeli citizens. Hebron, Ra’anana, Elon Moreh and Kiryat Arba are all inseparable parts of the Land of Israel.”

The campaign to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel suffered another defeat this week when US defense giant Lockheed Martin signed an agreement with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to cooperate on the marketing of Rafael’s SPICE (Smart, Precise Impact and Cost-Effective) stand-off weapon guidance kits. Officials in both companies hailed the agreement as a step towards improving the effectiveness of the armed forces in both countries.

The Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, issued a statement on Tuesday calling on Arab governments and the UN to pressure the Israeli government to cease archaeological excavations near the Temple Mount in the capital’s Old City. “The occupation authorities are pretending as if they are searching for the foundations of their ostensible Temple,” he said. “The Aksa Mosque is in real danger as a result of these excavations, especially if there’s an earthquake, which will cause grave damage to the buildings.”

There are those who insist that Israel is “isolated,” that it lacks friends and allies. Israel’s place in the larger world, however — except, perhaps, in the halls of the UN — is expanding. The nations of the world want to know what Israel knows and have what Israel has, whether they have formal diplomatic relations with Jerusalem or not.

The Prophet Ezekiel Calls it an “Ancient Hatred” (Ezekiel 35:5). This hatred takes pleasure in the shedding of blood and is driven by demonic forces that want to annihilate the Jewish people. It is directed against the purposes of God. This hatred manifests itself in every form of violence against the Jewish people. The ICEJ is working to strengthen the hands of those tasked with protecting the Jewish People from this ancient hatred.