What''s Going On In Samaria?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

The IDF and security establishment are entering this holiday season at high alert in Judea and Samaria, with thousands of Israelis expected to be traveling and hiking in the areas.

     Judea in the south, Samaria above it in the north both in red.  Katushas are rockets.  You can see that now populated Jewish sites are under the guns of rocket fire.  

  Qabatiya is a city in Jenin Governorate, of northern Samaria , Palestine. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics census, the town had a population of 19,197 in 2007 and 24,439 by 2017. Its entire land area is 50,547 dunams, and its elevation is roughly 256 meters.   

          showing Judea and Samaria governates and the Galilee
                  

During Yom Kippur, the IDF said forces acting on Shin Bet intelligence thwarted a significant attack planned by two Hamas-affiliated terrorists in Qabatiya.

Family and friends attend the funeral of Netanel Shukrun, who was killed in a terror shooting attack at a spring near Neve Tzuf in Samaria at the cemetery in his community of Alei Zahav, September 21, 2026. (Hilel Ben Or/Flash90)  Yoav, 16, says his father shouted a warning to him in his last moments during Sunday’s shooting at West Bank spring; widow Meirav says ‘everything was perfect’ for 18 years.

Hours before Yom Kippur, a Hamas affiliated 35 yr. old terrorist opened fire on the vehicle of Netanel Shukrun, a father of six from the community of Ali Zahav, at a nearby spring.  Ali Zahav (also spelled Alei Zahav) is an Israeli community settlement located in the western part of the northern Samaria.  

 Shukrun was killed. His 16 year old son with him was not hurt. An IDF tracker in the area shot the terrorist, who managed to escape to a clinic, where he was then identified and captured. 

 An hour later, a terrorist tried to ram soldiers at a checkpoint. 

An hour after that, an Israeli who took a wrong turn into a village in the Hebron Hills was attacked and wounded.

   todah rabah Al Jazeera for the picture

 Forty minutes later, another attempted ramming targeted Israeli troops.                                    

‘Israeli’ police said the attacker drove his vehicle toward a car carrying a police officer and a soldier near the settlement of Beit Horon, west of Ramallah. Ramallah is located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of Palestine in the central West Bank. The city also serves as the administrative seat and capital of this governorate, or northern Samaria.  

Ten minutes after that, a vehicle with no license plates tried to run down two Israelis. 

All of these attacks occurred in Judea and Samaria. This may have only amounted to one Israeli being killed by a terrorist, but one can see that any Israeli walking in Judea or Samaria is being targeted and wounded by the favorite method;  ramming and running down Jews with their cars.               

                       Abductions into Gaza

Defense Minister Israel Katz warned today that any new abduction of an Israeli soldier or civilian would trigger the evacuation of Gaza City, which is in Gaza,  saying the threat was issued in light of what he described as “various intentions and intelligence.”

During the October 7, 2023, attacks, Hamas and allied groups abducted approximately 251 people from Israel and took them into the Gaza Strip.  Demographics: The hostages ranged in age from infants, such as 9-month-old Kfir Bibas, to the elderly.

    Number Taken: About 251 individuals—including Israeli civilians, soldiers, and foreign nationals from countries like Thailand, Argentina, Germany, and the United States—were captured.  Over the course of the conflict and subsequent ceasefire agreements, more than 160 living hostages were returned or rescued, and various remains of deceased captives were recovered or returned. Prior to the October 7 outbreak, Hamas was already holding four Israeli citizens (two living civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two slain IDF soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul).

 Katz did not elaborate on the intelligence behind the warning, but again said the IDF would not withdraw from the Yellow Line in Gaza “as long as Hamas is not removed and Gaza is not demilitarized of weapons and tunnels.”  I personally think this is common sense.  

Samaria was a an unusual state in the Empire of Israel. 

King Omri of Israel : Founded the city around 880/879-876 BCE after purchasing the hilltop from a man named Shemer for two talents of silver.

Strategic Hill: Built on virgin bedrock on an oblong hill northwest of Shechem, offering strong military defense and control over regional trade routes.

Name Origin: Named Shomron (Samaria) after the hill's original owner, Shemer.

 

2016 When the State of Israel and I Were Young and Our Lives Then

      Nadene Goldfoot                                                         

Here I am in 2016, on my 82nd birthday;  the Jewish Bubba of Portland, Oregon, writing blogs since 2004, Nadene "Nada."I'm a born and raised Goldfoot Portlander who is also a dual citizen of Israel.  I lived in Israel-Haifa and Safed (Sfat) from 1980 to Thanksgiving 1985, over 5 years and taught English.  I'm a Conservative Jewish lady who loves and teaches our history-ancient and modern in my blogging.  Now I'm  92 years old.    

Here I am in the year 2016, holding up my fingers in the peace sign.  What was going on?  Barack Obama was the President of the United States for most of 2016, serving until Donald Trump was elected in November 2016 and took office on January 20, 2017.  Barak was a 2 term president.  Benjamin Netanyahu was PM in Israel in 2016.

A widely cited historical event regarding the division of the British Mandate, but with a slight mix-up in the historical figures involved. The ~77% to 80% of the original territory was actually given to a Hashemite Prince, not a Saudi Prince, creating what is known today as Jordan.

It's time to realize just what the West Bank means to Jews.  It is Judea and Samaria, part of the original homeland of the Jewish people who were once called the Israelites.  This was to be the Jewish Homeland by paper-signed standards in the 1920s, but a good 80% of it was taken away by a Hashemite Prince looking for land to govern outside his home in Arabia in their dealings with the Brits.  This is why Jews want to live there as well. Judea;  this is where the name, JEWS  comes from.  It was Judah, one of the 12 tribes of Israel.  

Israel included a historic U.S. defense agreement,

      Israel and the United States signed a record-setting 10-year military aid memorandum of understanding providing $38 billion in military assistance. 

 a UN resolution on settlements,

     UN Settlement Resolution: The UN Security Council passed Resolution 2334 condemning Israeli settlements, after the U.S. abstained from vetoing the measure.

 and the launch of the Ofek 11 spy satellite. 

     Trajectory: Launched westward over the Mediterranean Sea (against Earth's rotation) to avoid populated land areas  Recovery: Ground control teams worked to stabilize the spacecraft, and within a week, the Defense Ministry announced that Ofek 11 successfully began transmitting clear, high-resolution operational images back to Earth.

Yisrael Beiteinu Joins Coalition: Avigdor Liberman’s party formally joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in May, shifting the coalition further right.

The Elor Azaria Incident: An IDF soldier shot an immobilized Palestinian assailant in Hebron, sparking a deeply divisive national debate on military ethics and politics.

     

On March 24, 2016, two Palestinian men stabbed and injured an Israeli soldier in Hebron, in Judea-Samaria ( the West Bank).

Israeli soldiers shot both attackers, killing one and severely wounding the other, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif.

Al-Sharif lay on the ground incapacitated and unarmed for several minutes.

Elor Azaria, an Israeli military medic, arrived at the scene.

Azaria walked up to al-Sharif and shot him in the head at close range.

A human rights group video captured the shooting and went viral online.

Wave of Attacks: Security forces managed a continuing wave of individual stabbing, shooting, and vehicular attacks by Palestinian assailants throughout Judea/Samaria (the West Bank) and Israel.

January 2016

• January 1 – Tel Aviv shooting

February

• February 12-21 – Israel sent 2 athletes to the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics

March

• March 8 - Tel Aviv stabbings
• March 23 – Yisrael Beitenu formally joins the Thirty-fourth government of Israel
• March 24 – Hebron shooting incident

• May

  • 14 May – Hovi Star represents Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Made of Stars”.^[1]
  • May 27 – First ever Miss Trans Israel

  June

  • June 8 – Tel Aviv shooting

  July

  • June 6-10 – Israel sent 17 athletes to the 2016 European Athletics Championships
  • June 28-August 6 – Israel men's national lacrosse team competed in the 2016 European Lacrosse Championship, winning the silver medal.

  August

  • August 5–21 – 47 athletes from Israel competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • August 29 - Opening of the Migdal HaEmek – Kfar Baruch Railway Station

  September

  • September 1 – AMOS 6 satellite is destroyed during launch testing
  • September 2-4 - Israel national American football team competed in the European Championship of American football for the first time, losing both of their games
  • September 7-18 - Israel sent 33 athletes to compete in the 2016 Summer Paralympics
  • September 13 – Ofek 11 satellite launches from Palmachim Airbase
  • September 23 - Israel qualified for the 2017 World Baseball Classic

  November

  • November 22 – November 2016 Israel wildfires

  December

  • December 12 – Israel received its first pair of F-35 Lightning II from the United States.

United Nations Day AND MAMDANI-NETANYAHU of September 24th 2026

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                     

            Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani born October 18, 1991 Kampala, Uganda, to parents of Indian descent, and came to the USA when 7 years old to parents of the Muslim faith. His father is a Gujarati Muslim who was born in Mumbai and raised in Uganda. His mother is a Punjabi Hindu,  The Mamdani family belongs to the Khoja Twelver community.  In the 1870s and onward, prominent Khoja leaders met with Iraqi Shia scholars like Ayatollah Zayn al-Abidin Mazandarani, who sent teachers like Mulla Qadir Husayn to India to instruct the community in Twelver jurisprudence (Ithna-Asheri). This transition involved replacing traditional jamaatkhanas with standard Islamic mosques and practicing standard Arabic canonical prayers (salat). 

Twelver Shia attitudes toward Jews and Israel today is overwhelmingly hostile and deeply influenced by modern Islamist ideology.  Ideology (e.g., Iran and Hezbollah)

Rejection of Israel: The governments and groups aligned with official Twelver Shia political theology, most notably the Iranian regime and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, view the State of Israel as an illegitimate, "cancerous growth" and a Western imperialist tool.
 High-ranking clerics and political figures in Iran often frame the conflict with Israel in apocalyptic terms, connecting the elimination of the Jewish state to end-times theology and the eventual return of the 12th Imam (the Mahdi).  
 Official rhetoric frequently blurs the line between anti-Zionism (opposition to the state of Israel) and antisemitism (hostility toward Jewish people broadly), incorporating classic conspiracy tropes regarding global corruption and power. 

New York's Mamdai was interviewed and said, " “When it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu, I have described him as I believe him to be:  a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people."

In a video addressing NYC Mayor Mamdani, Netanyahu said, “Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani. Shame on you for supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters who butchered our people. Shame on you for inciting riots against New York Jews. I'm coming to the UN. I'm going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers, and I'm going to tell the truth about you.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu will land in NYC on Thursday morning, where he will address the UN General Assembly at 2:00PM.               ANTI-SEMITISM

   When PM Netanyahu and Democrat President Biden Got Together 

During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani drew heavy criticism from political opponents and Jewish organizations after defending the phrase "globalize the intifada." He stated the slogan captured a "desirable desire for equality," which critics argued validated a term historically associated with violent attacks against Jewish civilians.

On his very first day in office in January 2026, Mamdani revoked an executive order from former Mayor Eric Adams that had adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. He also lifted restrictions on city agencies boycotting Israel. The Israeli Foreign Ministry and local leaders strongly condemned the move, accusing him of pouring "antisemitic gasoline on an open fire."

Breaking with decades of mayoral tradition in New York City, Mamdani refused to attend or march in the annual Israel Day Parade down Fifth Avenue, a choice critics cited as a clear sign of his alienation of the mainstream Jewish community.

In late 2025, anti-Israel protesters swarmed Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue during an Israeli real estate exhibition, chanting slogans like "death to the IDF" and calling for an "intifada revolution." Mamdani issued a brief statement discouraging the language, but heavily alarmed Jewish leaders by publicly chastising the synagogue for hosting the real estate event, stating sacred spaces should not promote activities that violate international law. Critics accused him of victim-blaming a house of worship under siege.   

He should have hired Alan Dershowitz:  Dershowitz was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on September 1, 1938, the son of Claire (née Ringel) and Harry Dershowitz, an Orthodox Jewish couple.He was raised in Borough Park. His father was a founder and president of the Young Israel of Boro Park Synagogue in the 1960s, served on the board of directors of the Etz Chaim School in Borough Park, and, in retirement, was co-owner of the Manhattan-based Merit Sales Company.  He probably would not want to defend  Mamdani, though he always likes a challenge.    However, an estimated 22,000 to 33,000 Jewish lawyers live and practice in New York City.   He could have found many.                                   

          9 of New York's best dressed attorneys 5 women, 4 men 

In July 2026, a coalition of New York attorneys formally criticized Mamdani after it was revealed his 18-member judicial advisory panel contained no Jewish members. Given that judges appointed by this panel preside over the city's rising tide of antisemitic hate crimes, Jewish legal professionals called the omission dangerous. Mamdani defended the panel, stating its composition was not religiously motivated.

 He will not stay overnight and will depart for Israel that evening, reportedly in order to avoid expected protests from Mamdani's followers.