UPDATES
9 am Israel time, Saturday, March 28 2015
**According to Israeli security forces, more than 700 Palestinian terror attacks have occurred in the last three months.
Yesterday, two armed Hamas infiltrators were captured while crossing the Gaza border into Israel before they could carry out a terrorist act.
**The extent of the U.S. debacle in Yemen is only now becoming known. More than half a billion dollars worth of military weaponry was lost to the Iranian-backed Houthis as the government of country was overthrown, and American forces left.
This “weaponry” included 4 Cobra helicopters, numerous aircraft, hundreds of rifles and pistols, warehouses of ammunition, and even 2 patrol boats.
As of this morning, the Houthis have taken a city close to the Straits of Bab-El-Mandab (discussed in yesterday’s blog), and John Kerry has announced that the U.S. is closer than ever to a nuclear deal with the Iranians.
**Another day at the U.N., another bogus report from a U.N. agency . . . this time it was the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs which stated yesterday that Israel killed more Palestinians in 2014 than in any year since 1967.
How many were killed? “More than 2300”, a number which just happens to coincide with the number that Hamas says were killed in Gaza during the war last summer.
Of course the report doesn’t mention that more than 1100 of those killed were Palestinian terrorists killed in the war that Hamas started, and that another 700 (at least) were killed either directly (shot as collaborators, or killed by Hamas missile misfires) or indirectly (used as human shields, etc.) by Hamas.
TODAY’S BLOG:
In another apparent concession to President Obama following the freezing of 1500 homes in the Har Homa area of Jerusalem three days ago, PM Netanyahu approved the release of some $254 million dollars to the PLO (aka “the Palestinan Authority”) yesterday.
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Israel collects approximately $127 million per month in tax monies from customs duties assessed on goods entering Israeli ports destined for Areas A and B of Judea and Samaria which, in a normal situation, it then turns over to the PLO. This money makes up about 65% of the PLO budget. The remainder of the budget comes from the hundreds of millions of dollars that annually pour in from international donors such as the U.S. and European Union which are mainly used to line the pockets of Mahmoud Abbas and his PLO cronies.
However, following the PLO’s application to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) in January, Israel began to freeze all collected monies.
The decision yesterday unfreezes the money collected in January and February.
What has changed since January?
Nothing on the Palestinian side. The PLO has become a member of the ICC, and Mahmoud Abbas has declared that on April 1, four days from now, the PLO will file suit against Israel for “war crimes”–specifically Israeli “construction” in Area C of Judea and Samaria as well as construction in eastern Jerusalem.
Of course, the Palestinians have been crying for two months now about a shortage of funds. How, for example, can the poor PLO pay the “salaries” of all the terrorists both in and out of Israeli prisons who murdered Israeli citizens? More than this, the poor PLO has had to cut the salaries of all of its so-called “workers” by 40%.
And all of this crying has, as always, had the effect of international entities, especially the U.S. State Department, castigating Israel for its lack of “humanitarianism.”
If there is any good news in Netanyahu’s caving into Obama, it is that the PLO will not actually be receiving all of the $254 million dollars. Some unspecified portion of the money will be deducted for the huge bills that the Palestinians owe for electricity (almost $500 million alone), water, and health services.
At least your humble servant’s electrical and water bills, which were raised because of Palestinian non-payment, may drop a minuscule amount.
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.