SPECIAL UPDATE: 8 pm Israel time:
The three month old baby girl critically wounded in the terror attack in Jerusalem a few hours ago has died.
The Palestinians will be dancing in the streets of Ramallah and Gaza tonight and passing out candy to everyone.
UPDATES 7 pm Israel time, Wednesday, October 22 2014:
**Within the last hour there has been a terrorist attack in Jerusalem in which a Palestinian terrorist rammed his car into a group of eight people waiting for the Jerusalem Light Rail at the Ammunition Hill station.
The scene at Ammunition Hill a few minutes ago (photo: Walla).
A three month old infant was critically wounded and two more people are in serious condition. All victims are currently at Hadassah Hospital.
The terrorist driver of the car was shot while trying to escape by a nearby security guard. His condition remains unknown.
**The terrorist incident on the Egyptian border around noon today is still under investigation at this time.
The attack occurred near Nizzana–near the border crossing into Egypt.
The basic facts:
–an IDF patrol jeep carrying Caracal officers and soldiers was hit by small arms fire and an anti-tank missile.
–the female company commander and a male soldier were “moderately to severely” wounded and taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheva (The Caracal Battalion of the IDF is composed of approximately 70% female soldiers).
—four miles away from where the jeep was hit, another IDF vehicle overturned; whether the two events are related is unknown at this hour.
A wounded Caracal soldier being taken from a helicopter at Soroka Hospital this afternoon.
The IDF has rushed troops to the area in case this is part of a larger infiltration attempt because no one knows exactly what transpired. An IDF spokesman commented a few hours ago: We have large forces in the area to make sure there is no infiltration into Israel. We’re working in the (nearby) communities and a major aerial intelligence gathering operation is underway to try to figure out what happened.”
Ansar al-Maqdis, the main Salafi Islamist group that the Egyptian Army has been trying to root out of the Sinai, has claimed responsibility for the attack
**Meanwhile, there was an infiltration attempt into Israel from Gaza this morning. This attempt comes after an Israeli television program last night documented that half of all Israeli troops along the border have departed (israelstreet reported this several days ago).
Undoubtedly, Hamas was watching the same program and discovered that not only are there virtually no soldiers standing between them and Israel, but also the fence between Gaza and Israel has been destroyed in many places.
Fortunately, the armed terrorist who attempted to infiltrate this morning was captured by security forces, but it is only a matter of time until there will be a major terrorist attack.
**In internal Israeli political news, there seems to be a coalition change in the wind with Tzipi Livni and Yair Lapid threatening to leave because of Netanyahu’s withdrawal of support for a new “conversion” law, and because of their desire to form a “peace block” with the Labor party.
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Presumably, Livni’s Hatnua party (6 Knesset members) and Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party (19 members) would be replaced by the orthodox religious parties Shas (11), and United Torah Judaism (7) as well as Kadima (2).
The realignment would give the Netanyahu coalition a slim majority of 63: (20 Shas, United Torah, Kadima + 19 Likud + 12 Yisrael Beiteinu + 12 Jewish Home). Of course this assumes that the ever problematical Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beiteinu would actually be a part of the coalition.
TODAY’S BLOG:
In yesterday’s blog, your humble servant described how he was aghast at how history is repeating itself in Shiloach (Silwan). When two more buildings were purchased by Jews and nine families moved in several days ago, the Arabs immediately responded with riots during which they attempted to drive the families out with Molotov cocktails and other projectiles.
As was pointed out yesterday, the buildings into which the families moved were part of the original Kfar Shiloach built for Yemenite Jews back in the years 1881-1882. These buildings became an integral part of a thriving Yemenite community that eventually comprised some 144 families, including some 50 orphaned children.
So what happened to that community of Jews who had braved incredible adversity to make it to Jerusalem?
The 1920s saw continuous Arab rioting in the Jerusalem Area in an attempt to terrorize Jews into leaving their eternal capital–a capital in which they had been in the majority since the 1840s.
The first major riot occurred during Passover in April of 1920. When Jews, led by Ze’ev Jabotinsky successfully defended themselves, the British intervened and arrested Jabotinsky as well as a token group of Arabs (Jabotinsky was convicted and sentenced to 15 years hard labor and deportation at the end of this sentence).
The second major riot occurred in 1924 during which 133 Jews and 116 Arabs were killed. This was followed by more riots during the period of 1925-1928. Arabs, led by Haj Amin Al-Husseini, provoked Jews by building and praying near the Western Wall in the Old City–close to the holiest place in Judaism on the Temple Mount (does this seem familiar?) Jewish neighborhoods around the city, including Kfar Shiloach, were attacked. By the end of this round of riots, another 135 Jews were dead and more than 300 were wounded. All of the Yemenite Jews were evacuated out of Kfar Shiloach.
However, in the early 1930s, thirty Yemenite Jewish families returned to their homes and their numbers began to gradually increase again.
The rioting continued into the 1930s as the Arabs discovered that each riot would bring more limits on Jews that were allowed to come to the Holy Land. The riots worsened to the point that in August, 1938, the remaining Yemenite Jews were expelled “for their own protection” by the British.
The homes of the Yemenite Jews were quickly grabbed and occupied by Arab families–none of whom ever attempted to register ownership.
Attempts by the Yemenite families to return to their village in the 1940s were denied by the British. Nevertheless, many of those homes still have registered Jewish title today.
All of which brings us to two days ago. Homes in the Jewish village of Kfar Shiloach are the homes of Jews again–76 years after the last Yemenite Jews had their properties stolen from them by Arabs (with British support). Slowly but surely, the Jewish presence in Shiloach has begun to return to what it once was despite the the Arabs doing what they have always done–attempting to subvert the law with riots and assaults on Jews and Jewish property.
But this is not 1938, and we have an Israeli government instead of a British occupier. Let’s hope that the government will continue to defend those who are moving back into the Jewish Kfar Shiloach.
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.