UPDATES 9 am Israel time, Monday, November 4 2013:
**Good news from Soroka Hospital in Beersheva this morning where Lt. Ahiya Klein, the most seriously wounded of the IDF soldiers in the Hamas attack two days ago, has awakened from his medically induced coma and is communicating with those around him. For the first time, doctors are cautiously optimistic that his eyesight may possibly be saved–though “multiple surgeries” will still be needed.
**Yet another terrorist murderer released in the Gilad Shalit deal two years ago has been rearrested in Samaria on terrorism charges. In a “shocking” turn of events (permit your humble servant some humor this morning), Ali Ibrahim Hamed has broken his promise not to return to terrorism and has been receiving weapons from Gaza in order to set up terrorist cells in Judea and Samaria.
Such is the state of the Israeli justice system: have Israel’s excellent Shin Bet security service identify a terrorist, risk the lives of security personnel and spend tens of thousands of shekels capturing the terrorist, spend tens if not hundreds of thousands of more shekels trying the terrorist and incarcerating him after his conviction, release the terrorist, have Israel’s excellent Shin Bet security service identify the terrorist again, risk the lives of security personnel and spend tens of thousands of shekels capturing the terrorist again . . . well you get the idea.
**Speaking of the release of terrorists, the Families of the Bereaved (families that have had family members murdered by Palestinian terrorists) expressed their outrage yesterday at the revelation that a legal clinic operated by law school students at the University of Haifa spends most of its time assisting Muslim-Arab terrorists who have attacked and killed Israelis.
**The revelations yesterday that the American National Security Agency is spying not only on Israel in general but on “high priority Israeli military targets” such as information received from Israeli drone aircraft yet again puts into sharp relief the total absurdity of the continued imprisonment of Jonathan Pollard.
The Obama Administration has no qualms whatsoever about having its legions spy on Israel, but insists on keeping Pollard behind bars after 29 years for spying on the United States. Unbelievable.
*Another example of how the Iranians are easily circumventing Western sanctions came to light yesterday. We already knew that India is increasing its import of Iranian oil and paying for it in gold–to avoid the banking system–but now we learn that so far in 2013, Iran is supplying China with 12% of its total oil imports, a 17.5% increase over last year.
And how do the Chinese pay the $20 billion dollars for the oil? They put the money into an account in China from which the Iranians draw funds to pay for consumer goods to be shipped to Tehran.
TODAY’S BLOG:
The trial of Mohammed Morsi and 14 senior members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood begins in Cairo today. Overnight, two Egyptian policeman were shot to death in Ismailiya–a Muslim Brotherhood stronghold. Near Rafah, on the Gaza Border, Egyptian soldiers killed three heavily armed Islamist Hamas Palestinians.
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A dour John Kerry at a Cairo Airport Hotel with Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy yesterday (picture source: cbc).
In this context, John Kerry’s brief visit to Egypt (6 hours in an airport hotel) yesterday was particularly ridiculous as he demanded that General Al-Sisi not extend the “state of emergency” when it expires on November 14th, and that General Al-Sisi respect the democratic will of the Egyptian people (translated: release Mohammed Morsi). According to a U.S. State Department official, Kerry “pressed the Egyptians hard” on these issues.
To which the Egyptians must have had to work hard to stifle their laughter. Almost as hard as the Saudis–where Kerry popped up next in his quixotic travels last night. In another brief stopover, Kerry attempted to reassure the Saudis that Obama’s rapprochement with Iran isn’t so bad after all, and that Saudi Arabia has nothing to worry about.
Perhaps the Saudis had already seen the reports from Beirut yesterday that the American Embassy there, in the spirit of the Obama-Rouhani lovefest, is now reaching out to Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah. Your humble servant is sure that the Saudis are thrilled to hear about this contact with another of their their bitter Shi’ite enemies.
What the Egyptians and Saudis have learned the hard way is that the Obama Administration cannot be trusted, and is perfectly willing to throw them under the bus at a moment’s notice. More than this, the Egyptians and the Saudis understand the threat posed by Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood in a way that the Obama Administration is totally incapable of.
All of this American love to the Shi’ites, by the way, comes as Iranians swarm into the streets today to celebrate the 34th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Iran–now commemorated around the country as “Death to America Day”.
Death to America Day is so much fun in Iran (picture source Al-Arabiya).
Self-proclaimed Iranian “Supreme Leader” Ali Khamenei–whom Obama likes to adoringly refer to as simply “The Supreme Leader”–celebrated the day by tweeting that “Israel is an illegitimate and bastard regime.”
Your humble servant imagines that, in reply, Obama or Kerry will soon issue a public statement to the effect that “The Supreme Leader” is softening his tone toward Israel, and then will reply-tweet him “Let’s sit down over some good Iranian coffee and talk about the Zionist entity.”
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.