UPDATES 10:00 am, Israel time, Wednesday August 13 2014:
**Are we living in 1948 or 2014? Just as the British seized weapons from Jewish fighters in the year leading up to our War of Independence and attempted to embargo all weapons from reaching Jewish fighters, so has the current British government announced plans to “suspend” 12 licences to export military items to Israel.
Those licenses include contracts to sell tank, aircraft, and radar parts to Israel. The suspension will be implemented if Israel “resumes hostilities with Hamas in Gaza”.
In other words, Hamas can attack us at will trying to indiscrimately kill Israeli men, women, and children, but we are not supposed to return fire. The British proposed embargo follows a similar one implemented by Spain 3 weeks ago.
Why are none of us here in Israel surprised?
Because we have all been through this before. After all, the Europe of the 1930s and 40s has morphed into the Europe of 2014, one in which the only good Jew is a dead Jew. And the British and Spanish bans are nothing more than eloquent testimony to the fact that there must be an Israel where Jews can protect themselves.
**As we all know, the United Nations so-called “Human Rights Council” has long since become the United Nations home of the movement to delegitimize Israel. Nevertheless, its appointment of self-professed “international law expert” William Schabas to head a “probe” into “the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and Gaza” exceeds even its own limitless impropriety (if that is possible).
After all, it is Schabas who commented on stage at a UN event that the world leader that he would most like to see tried for war crimes by the International Criminal Court is Benjamin Netanyahu.
As usual, Israel Ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, hit the nail on the head yesterday when he said: “Forming an investigatory committee [concerning Israel] headed by Schabas is like inviting ISIS to organize religious tolerance week at the UN.”
TODAY’S BLOG:
This would appear to be Judgment Day (or Judgment Night) in Israel. This third and final day of the 72 hour “ceasefire” will conclude negotiations with the Palestinians, and will bring Israeli so-called “negotiators” home.
Tonight, the result of their “negotiations” will be presented to Netanyahu’s so-called “Security Cabinet” who will then be asked to vote their approval of the “ceasefire” agreement.
The main points of that agreement were included in the israelstreet blog yesterday:
1. Israel has agreed to facilitate payment of Hamas officials’ salaries through a third party.
2. Israel has agreed to let Saudi Arabia pay the last two months salary of the terrorists in Hamas’ military wing.
3. Israel has agreed to allow huge quantities of construction materials such as concrete into Gaza.
I tend to take rumors with a grain of vardenafil vs viagra salt. One of the common issues affecting men’s sexual health is erectile dysfunction (ED). online doctor viagra Male barrenness discount viagra click for source can happen with essentially any phase in a person’s sex life. The internal organs comprise: The womb (also called the uterus) which is made of muscle and grows with the baby. viagra pills wholesale
4. Israel has agreed to increase the monthly quota of permits of entry into Gaza from the Erez Crossing.
5. Israel has agreed to ease Palestinian entry into Israel from Gaza and from Judea and Samaria.
6. Israel has agreed to double the number of “humanitarian” trucks going through the Kerem Shalom Crossing from 300 to 600 per day.
7. Israel has agreed to expand the fishing area off of Gaza to six nautical miles initially, perhaps 12 later.
8. Israel has agree to release Palestinian prisoners for dead soldiers’ body parts–exactly which prisoners is still unknown.
9. All talk of a Palestinian seaport and airport is “postponed until a later date.”
10. All talk of the demilitarization of Gaza is “postponed until a later date.”
Last night, as news of this “agreement” leaked and as outrage over parts of it from some members of the “Security Cabinet” grew, Netanyahu began calling in members one by one in an attempt to cajole them into accepting the capitulation deal. According to various reports this morning, he was, in some cases, distinctly unsuccessful.
In particular, Bennett and Lieberman were particularly incensed over Articles 1 and 2 which they labeled as “extortion”. But Netanyahu almost certainly will be able to get the 5 votes he needs to push the deal through: Lapid, Livni, Ya’alon, and Aharonovich almost always follow Netanyahu’s road to capitulation.
As of this hour, however, Hamas is still talking tough, claiming that Israel has only agreed to “5% of its demands”. The primary Hamas spokesman has reiterated that this will be “the last ceasefire” and that if Hamas doesn’t get what it wants the firing resumes tonight at midnight.
We’ll see.
Here in Ashdod, our message to the Security Cabinet is clear:
REJECT THE CEASEFIRE WITH HAMAS!
Here in Ashdod, our message to Hamas is clear:
BRING IT ON. WE’VE BEEN IN OUR BOMB SHELTERS 100 TIMES SO FAR. WE WILL HAPPILY SIT IN THEM 1000 MORE TIMES TO ELIMINATE YOU!
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.