UPDATES
9:00 am Israel time, Tuesday, July 14 2015
**New immigrants to Israel continue pouring in:
221 new Israelis are arriving at Ben Gurion airport at this moment from the United States and Canada. Their coming is part of the aliya program sponsored by Nefesh B’Nefesh and Israel’s Ministry of Aliya and Immigrant Absorption.
This group of 32 families and 53 single people comes from a particularly wide range of north American locations: 14 states in the U.S. and 4 Canadian provinces.
**The saga of Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan continues:
Just released from police custody a day ago after a 56 day hunger strike–the second time he has been jailed/gone on a hunger strike/then has been released–the “poor emaciated” Adnan was arrested again last night after he immediately violated the terms of his most recent release by going to Jerusalem.
Adnan had been absurdly released because it was feared that his death from starvation would destabilize the truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The victorious Adnan yesterday–does this look like a man on the verge of starvation and death? (Picture: 0404).
By early this morning, he was released again.
**At least one part of the horrific Iran nuclear weapons agreement has come to light this morning:
It appears that in return for having sanctions lifted, keeping its nuclear weapons program, and receiving new nuclear assistance from the West, Iran has agreed to monitor its own military-related research and production.
Can you believe this?
And . . . Iran has agreed to “answer questions”—by the end of 2015–about its past military nuclear program to IAEA inspectors.
By the end of 2015? Why not just wait until 2025? Why do it at all?
**PM Netanyahu has reverted to his pre-election self:
The same Netanyahu who on election day 4 months ago stood in an Israeli community and committed himself to continued construction in that community and others, bluntly told the mayor of Beit El in a closed meeting yesterday that there will be no new construction in Judea and Samaria.
Why you may ask has Netanyahu reverted to his pre-election self? In the prime minister’s words: “There are international pressures, and we need to manage the situation wisely.”
What poppycock. It makes no difference whether there is construction or not; Israel will continue to be condemned by the U.S. and E.U. at every turn for “construction.”
**The Israel Broadcast Authority makes an unprecedented decision:
For the first time in the history of Israel, the Broadcast Authority announced yesterday that Israel Arab stations will be able to broadcast programs as usual on Yom Kippur this year.
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As you may not know, Israeli television closes down for 26 hours on Yom Kippur, but now–because the Authority has decided that Yom Kippur is not a national holiday–Israeli Arabs will be “free” to broadcast.
**The Israel Supreme Court issues a surprise ruling:
In a ruling usually reserved for those on the “left”, Israel’s high court overruled the Jerusalem police yesterday, and ordered that a demonstration against the persecution of Jews on the Temple Mount be allowed to continue.
That demonstration will take place at the Dung Gate late this afternoon.
However, free expression only goes so far. The judges ruled that the protesters only have about an hour and a half to make their point beginning at 5:30 pm.
TODAY’S BLOG:
As any regular reader of this blog knows, your humble servant is no fan of PM Netanyahu. But whatever shortcomings he may have, they pale in comparison to those of Isaac Herzog.
Perhaps first among Herzog’s many character defects is an overweening, hypocritical arrogance which was on full display yesterday.
Here is a man who since time immemorial has been an apologist for Barack Obama, particularly insofar as the upcoming Iranian deal is concerned. How many times have we heard Herzog proclaim to every conceivable media person the same thing that he affirmed at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum in December 2014:
“I trust the Obama administration to get a good deal.”
Let’s repeat that one more time:
“I trust the Obama administration to get a good deal.”
At a time, when PM Netanyahu was the only adult in the room, the only international leader warning of a nuclear Iran, the only person warning that the coming deal with Iran was a very bad one, and the only one who did not trust Obama and Kerry to get a good deal, Herzog kept saying:
“I trust the Obama administration to get a good deal.”
Now that the agreement appears to be on verge of being signed, Herzog proclaimed this yesterday:
“It is a horrible deal, one that will go down as a tragedy of the ages. We have a long list of complaints about Netanyahu, but this is without question his worst failure. We will yet make him give an accounting for failing to force the negotiating nations to take Israel’s issues into consideration. I blame the terrible results of the negotiations regarding Israel on Netanyahu. This is a personal failing of his . . .
This is so flabbergasting as to numb the mind. Netanyahu’s worst failure? Failing to force the negotiating nations to take Israel’s issues into consideration? A personal failing of his?
The utter hypocrisy of Isaac Herzog leaves one speechless.
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.