UPDATES 10 am Israel time, Wednesday, November 20 2013:
*The wholesale attacks on Israelis by Palestinian terrorists continue with not a word of condemnation by the international community–and with barely a peep from the Netanyahu government.
What follows is a short list of attacks yesterday:
At 9:47 am, Palestinian terrorists threw “rocks” at Israeli motorists near Benyamin. At 10:37 am, Palestinian terrorists threw “rocks” at IDF vehicles between Kiryat Arba and Hebron. At 11:36 am, Palestinian terrorists threw “rocks” at Israeli motorists on the Hebron Road near Beit Ummar causing extensive damage. At 1:49 pm, Palestinian terrorists threw a Molotov cocktail at Al Khader Street in Jerusalem. At 1:50 pm, Palestinian terrorists in a car broke through a barrier at Zaim near Jerusalem, ran over two security guards, and escaped despite having their car hit by gunfire. At 2:56 pm, Palestinian terrorists threw “rocks” at a bus near Gilad Farm in Samaria–badly damaging the bus. At 3:23 pm, Palestinian terrorists threw “rocks” near Iya in the Benyamin region. At 3:45 pm, Palestinian terrorists threw “rocks” at an IDF force near the Horsh Triangle near Mount Hebron. At 3:50 pm, Palestinian terrorists threw “rocks” at Givat Assaf. At 8:03 pm, Palestinian terrorists threw a Molotov cocktail at the IDF position near Negohot. At 8:33 pm, Palestinian terrorists threw “rocks” at Hizma Square badly damaging a bus and traumatizing its passengers–many of whom had to be removed by emergency medical personnel.
**On the Gaza front, there were mortar and missile attacks yesterday morning–primarily directed at the Sderot area and at IDF patrols operating along the border. By evening, the IAF had hit 4 targets in Gaza–empty buildings and supposed launching sites.
**John Kerry was at it again yesterday. First came the news that Kerry has canceled his trip to Israel scheduled for Friday. Depending on whom one talks to, the cancellation was because of (a) the wrangling between Israel and the U.S. over the proposed Iranian agreement, (b) the wrangling between Israel and the U.S. over the “settlements” issue, or (c) Kerry’s desire to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with his family next week. One fact we can be sure of: Kerry’s cancellation had nothing to do with Palestinian terrorism or Palestinian refusal to compromise in the Israel concession talks.
Next in the Kerry hit parade came news of the huge bombing attack against the Iranian embassy in Beirut which killed 23 people and wounded some 150 more.
The Syrian war comes to the Iranian embassy in Beirut (picture source: zerohedge).
Of course there is no great love in Lebanon for the Iranians who have brought the Syrian war into Lebanon through Iran’s proxy Hezbollah. As more and more Lebanese die because of Iran, the animosity in Lebanon grows against both Iran and Hezbollah.
But John Kerry’s incredible comments yesterday were all about sympathy for the Iranians: “We send our condolences to the victims and their families. The U.S. recognizes only too well the price of terrorism directed against our diplomats around the world and our hearts go out to the Iranian people after this violent attack, which claimed the life of at least one Iranian diplomat.”
Say what? Is the U.S. now so desperate to curry Iranian favor that it is reduced to making such idiotic statements as the above? Where is a Kerry statement condemning Iran for what it is doing in Syria and Lebanon? Unbelievable.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Here was the huge headline in the Jerusalem Post this morning:
“High Court orders state to demolish three West Bank outposts in the next three months”
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If you only read the headline and not the article accompanying it, what do you understand? Simply speaking, that the Israel Supreme Court has ordered the destruction of three fledgling Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria during the next 90 days.
Yet that is not what happened at all.
Not even remotely.
In fact, what the Israel Supreme Court ruled, in response to a suit brought by Peace Now against six Jewish communities, is that all six of the “outposts” are legal and can remain with exceptions as noted below.
Here were the specifics of the ruling:
*A few of the Jewish homes built in Ma’aleh Rahavim, Givat Assaf, and Mitzpe Yizhar have been built on private Palestinian land. Those houses must be removed in the next six months. The rest of the homes are legal and will remain.
Givat Assaf–so reads the sign in front of this fledgling Jewish community (picture: Haaretz).
*Virtually all of the Jewish homes in Mitzpe Lachish, Givat Haroeth, and Ramat Gilad are legal and will be allowed to remain. For those few homes whose legality has not been established because they were built on state or survey land–not private Palestinian land– the Court ordered the state of Israel to take “active steps” to legalize the homes.
*The ruling specifically rejected the Peace Now petition to force the removal of the six “outposts.”
By the way, all of these specific details are contained in the Jerusalem Post article. What we have is a classic case of a newspaper printing an incredibly misleading headline for who knows what purpose (though your humble servant can think of a few–as can you dear reader).
The irony of course is that the Peace Now lawsuit has accomplished exactly the opposite result that it hoped for. Instead of ordering the demolition of the “outposts”, the Israel Supreme Court has legalized them in whole or in predominant part.
Addendum: A double irony is that it is self-proclaimed “Peace Now” that often accompanies American “observers” on their tours of the Judea and Samaria–dispensing misinformation at every step along the way.
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.