UPDATES 7 pm Israel time, Friday, December 5 2014:
—>Security updates:
From morning to afternoon yesterday: Palestinian terrorists threw “rocks” at Israelis on Route 20 near Beit Hanina; Palestinian terrorists attacked a Jewish boy with “rocks” at Dribben Kiryat Arba; Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis at Kipa and at the bus stop at Anun; Palestinian terrorists attacked a bus at the 206 intersection and another bus on the Adoraim-Mt. Hebron road; Palestinian terrorists attacked an IDF base near Anatot; Palestinian terrorists set fire to tires beside Aboud Benjamin; a teenaged Palestinian terrorist with a knife was captured in Qalandiya before she could stab anyone; buses were damaged by Palestinian terrorists in the Horseshoe Junction in Benjamin, on line 481 near Ma’ale Adumim, and at Hizma; Palestinian terrorists threw Molotov cocktails at Israelis near Yitzhar.
All of the above happened in the space of about five hours.
By the way, the incident at Qalandiya was particularly notable because of the fact that the perpetrator was a 14 year-old teenaged girl:
This girl was captured while waving a butcher knife at the Qalandiya checkpoint. Think about this the next time you hear about the arrest of a Palestinian “child”.
—>Election updates:
1. There is still talk of a Netanyahu attempt to form a government and thereby eliminate the need for elections. However, since the effort focuses on enlisting the orthodox parties to take the place of Lapid and Livni, all overt attempts in this direction have stopped until Sunday at which time there may be a frenzied last minute attempt to bring together Likud, Jewish Home, Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas, and United Torah Judaism.
If anything is going to happen in this regard, it will have to happen between Sunday and Tuesday. The second reading of the proposal to dissolve the Knesset is scheduled for Monday, and the second for Tuesday. Your humble servant continues to think that the chances of such an agreement are extremely unlikely.
2. In the meantime, blocks are forming.
*On the “right”: last night, Netanyahu’s Likud and Bennett’s Jewish Home signed a “surplus vote” agreement which will shift “unused” votes in an election to one party or the other depending on who needs the votes to gain another seat in the Knesset.
This is actually a dramatic development considering the fact that Netanyahu fought so bitterly against Bennett in the last election campaign and has never embraced him before.
*In the “center”: Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu, Kahlon’s as yet unnamed party, and Lapid’s Yesh Atid have apparently signed some sort of memorandum of cooperation following the election.
This is a problematical arrangement at best. Lapid and his minions are most assuredly not in the center but are in the “left” camp. Lieberman leans to the right as does Kahlon.
*On the “left”: Herzog’s Labor party and Livni’s Hatnua have reached an agreement to run together. Gal-On’s Meretz party may or may not be far behind.
This is an obvious coalition. The question is what does Herzog have to gain from this alliance? He is throwing Livni a lifeline to be able to remain in the Knesset in the face of overwhelming unpopularity. And he is gaining a self-consumed egomaniac who will do nothing except to monopolize attention to herself.
3. The unknown man in the election, Moshe Kahlon, became more known today as he began to flesh out his stance on various issues. Identifying himself as “center-right”, he said:
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*He is willing to give up land for peace with the Palestinians.
*He is not averse to sitting in a government headed by Netanyahu.
4. A Jerusalem Post poll yesterday indicated that 60% of Israelis would like to have a Prime Minister other than Benjamin Netanyahu. Ironically, however, the same poll indicated that Netanyahu still garners more support for being Prime Minister than anyone else.
In second place among Israelis polled were (almost equally) Isaac Herzog of Labor and Gideon Sa’ar. Gideon Sa’ar, you may remember, was a rising star in Likud before he abruptly retired last month. Now there is talk that he may return to challenge Netanyahu for leadership of the party in Likud primaries next month if the election goes forward. In third place, by the way, was Naftali Bennett.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Isn’t it amazing the Obama Administration let it leak yesterday that just as it is doing everything possible to reduce sanctions on Iran, it is contemplating instituting sanctions against Israel?
Yes, you read that correctly.
It appears that President Obama is intent on punishing Israel for all of the construction that is not taking place in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria (unfortunately down 62% from last year).
But wait . . . there is more.
It has also been revealed that Obama is concerned that if he does not support the Palestinian push for statehood in the United Nations, the U.S. will lose the support of Arab countries who are collaborating with the U.S. military to fight against Islamic State.
Because the United States does not want to hurt its relations with Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, it does not want to cast a veto in support of Israel in the Security Council.
So, how is the U.S. making sure that it won’t have to support Israel? It is trying to get the Palestinians to water down their proposal to make it consistent with John Kerry’s “framework for peace”.
There is nothing new to say about President Obama or John Kerry. Their abominable actions are in complete line with the last six years of the Obama presidency.
We can only be thankful that Israel has the strong backing of the U.S. Congress–a body that will vote to block any sanctions against Israel that Obama might try to impose and any anti-Israel movements that the U.S. State Department attempts to take.
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.