UPDATES
9:00 am Israel time, Thursday, July 23 2015
**Major terrorism in eastern Jerusalem last night:
As you may not realize, dear reader, there has been a major effort in recent years for Jews to return to the Silwan neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem–just across Wadi Kidron from Ir David. There has been a special effort to return to homes that were once inhabited by Yemenite Jews who arrived in Jerusalem in the late 1800s only to be pushed out in the Arab pogroms against Jews in the 1920s and 30s.
The original Yemenite Jewish community in Silwan.
Buildings have been purchased as have individual apartments. As you stand across the wadi today, it is easy to identify the Jewish homes because they patriotically fly Israeli flags from their roofs, patios, and windows.
A building purchased in Silwan last year (picture: Times of Israel).
This flag waving patriotism also makes them easy targets of Arab terrorists.
Almost every night “rocks” or Molotov cocktails are thrown at the homes. Last night saw a major Molotov cocktail attack on one particular building. Windows were broken and the outside of the building was set on fire. A security vehicle which was rushing to assist the people who live in the building was also attacked by rocks and Molotov cocktails and set on fire.
Miraculously, no one was physically wounded in this terrorist outburst–but who knows how many of the brave people who live in Silwan were traumatized yet again?
**Terrorists captured and weapons factories destroyed:
A huge operation of central unit of the Judea and Samaria police, the IDF, SWAT, Special Unit 433, and the Border Guards has taken place over the last two days in Samaria, Hebron, and Binyamin.
23 Palestinian terrorists were arrested; 16 assault weapons and huge caches of ammunition were found; and weapons factories were destroyed.
**More illegal Palestinians captured:
Everywhere you look in Israel these days you see Palestinians (there were some 100,000 on the beach in Tel Aviv during Ramadan). Some are here legally with “worker permit” cards, but many more are illegal. As has been noted on israelstreet before (click on for more context), there are approximately 80,000 illegal Palestinians in this country at any one time.
In the last few days, the Border police have begun making a half-hearted effort to stem the flow by closing holes in the separation fence (where there is a fence), removing ladders that illegal Palestinians use to scale the fence, arresting Israelis who move the Palestinians from Judea and Samaria into central Israel, and responding to citizens’ reports of illegal Palestinians.
Yesterday, it was just such a report that led the Border Police to a ditch near Oranit where a pipeline was about to put into the ground:
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Note the pipes in the background of the picture.
120 Palestinians were in the pipeline ditch. They were all taken into custody and taken back into Area A of Judea and Samaria.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Do you remember this picture of reservist Omri Michaeli from last year’s Gaza war?*
Michaeli, saluting with the Israeli flag while being wheeled into Soroka Hospital in Beersheva after having been medivacked by helicopter (picture Israel Yosef, Ynet News).
The picture inspired Israel supporters everywhere, but what we did not know was the story behind Michaeli. A 27-year-old reservist in one of Israel’s elite units, the Duvdevan, Michaeli had been overseas when the war started. He immediately went to a nearby airport and bought himself a ticket home.
What you also cannot see is that Michaeli had a huge hole in his leg from a bullet fired by a Hamas Palestinian sniper. As he describes it now:
“I had a gaping hole in the leg, my muscles, tendons and nerve-endings were all ripped apart. I tied an arterial tourniquet around my leg and I was evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center. I lost a lot of blood.”
But that didn’t stop him from wrapping himself in the Israeli flag: “I put the flag on me instinctively. I didn’t imagine there would be photographers there. I’m connected to the flag, and it was natural to me. As a reservist, to leave your life and return to Israel on a flight to fight comes out of commitment and love of the country, and the flag is our symbol.”
What you also don’t know is that before Michaeli was shot in the leg, he saved a fellow soldier’s life by pushing him out of the way of an exploding grenade for which he received an IDF citation.
Following extensive surgery on his leg and lengthy rehabilitation, Michaeli is now able to walk again, but he can no longer run for long distances. But that has not kept him away from service in the Duvdevan. Just a few weeks ago, he was part of the mission that captured the Palestinian murderers of Daniel Gonen.
Nor has his injury kept him from other pursuits such as surfing.
Omri Michaeli today–a long way from that stretcher at Soroka Hospital (photo: ynetnews).
In words that can be a motivation to people everywhere, Michaeli says: “After enduring such trauma, you have two options. Either make the injury a limitation, or treat it as a part of life and change your perception. I knew I didn’t want let myself give up.”
Israelstreet tips its hat to Omri Michaeli today– an Israeli patriot!
*Israelstreet greatly thanks Yediot Ahronot for elements of this story.
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.