Friday, November 6 2015
UPDATES 8:00 pm
7:55 pm: Another Palestinian shooting attack. 19-year-old Israeli shot in upper torso close to Anun beside Hebron. Victim in “serious condition”, terrorist escapes.
UPDATES 6:00 pm
5:25 pm: Two Israeli teenagers (16 and 18) shot by Palestinian terrorist(s) near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Preliminary report says shooting done by Palestinian snipers in the high buildings surrounding the Jewish holy site. Israelis “seriously” wounded. Terrorists escape.
4:32 pm: The female terrorist who tried to run over Israeli soldiers in the Halhoul attack at 1:40 pm has died. She was the 72-year-old widow of a terrorist who was killed in the first intifada, and the mother of one of the local leaders of Hamas.
2:20 pm: IDF sappers defuse a terrorist pipe bomb found in Mevo Dotan in Samaria. No Israelis wounded.
UPDATES 2:00 pm
1:40 pm: Stabbing attack at the Benjamin Gate north of Jerusalem near the Rami Levi store. Palestinian terrorist stabs Israeli in shoulder and back–victim in “serious” condition. Terrorist escapes.
1:40 pm: Female terrorist attempts to run over soldiers along Route 35 at Halhoul near Hebron in” bulldozer attack.” Preliminary report: no soldiers wounded; terrorist shot.
1:35 pm: Heavy clashes reported on Gaza Border near Nahal Oz between Palestinian rioters and IDF soldiers.
12:37 pm: Palestinian terrorist armed with a knife captured at the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan into Israel.
UPDATES 10:00 am
8:07 am: Palestinian terrorists attacked two cars carrying Israeli families on Route 60 with firebombs. The cars were partially burned, but all passengers escaped physically unharmed. The terrorists escaped.
UPDATES 8:00 am
***Palestinian terror yesterday . . .
There were three stabbing attacks or thwarted stabbing attacks:
At 4:58 pm–following the removal of a checkpoint near Hebron–a Palestinian terrorist from Hebron attempted to stab a group of soldiers at the Gush Etzion Junction bus stop. No soldiers were wounded; the terrorist was shot and killed.
At 2:09 pm–following the removal of some checkpoints in Judea and Samaria–a knife wielding Palestinian terrorist was captured near Al-Fawwar. No Border Guards were wounded.
At 1:32 pm–following the removal of checkpoints in eastern Jerusalem–an Arab terrorist from eastern Jerusalem armed with a knife was captured at the Damascus Gate.
In addition to these stabbing incidents, there was another attempt to burn an Israeli family to death near Hawara when Palestinian terrorists firebombed the Israeli family’s car. The mother, father, and children escaped with their lives while the terrorists escaped. Palestinian terrorists also brazenly opened fire on an IDF observation post near Ofra. Fortunately no Israeli soldiers were wounded.
There were at least 30 other Palestinian terror attacks yesterday mostly involving “rock” attacks on buses and cars. A number of Israelis had to be treated by MADA for wounds.
***Of course, we all know that Arab/Palestinian terrorism is nothing new . . .
. . . and that Jews have been stabbed for decades–actually centuries. Following the stabbing of the 80-year-old woman (who remains in critical condition this morning) and the younger man in Rishon LeZion the other day, an unnamed researcher found this newspaper article, dated September 23, 1910:
Your humble servant’s translation:
NEWS FROM YAFFO
Yesterday, a young man named Shweitzer was walking from Rishon LeZion to Yaffo. Two Arabs jumped on him and critically wounded him with a knife. Fortunately, there were soldiers nearby who captured one of the attackers.
In addition, between Rishon LeZion and Nes Ziona, 3 Arabs attacked a Jewish man, Yakov Ben Stock. This poor guy fought against them with his fists and a pocket knife, but one of the Arabs stabbed him in the cheek. More Jews saw it and the Arabs ran away.
These incidents of attacking on the roadway in broad daylight make the people living on the moshavs very angry, and they see by that that there is no one to protect them and the situation is getting worse.
The situation is getting worse . . . this from 105 years ago.
***Some astonishing numbers about the IDF:
In 1990, 1 out of every 50 IDF combat soldiers was “religious” (“religious” defined as wearing a kipa and primarily belonging to modern orthodox Judaism).
In 2007, 1 out of every 6 IDF combat soldiers was religious.
Today, in 2015, 1 out of every 3 IDF combat soldiers is religious.
What does this tell you about the composition of Israeli society?
***As the “Haredi ultra-orthodox” percentage of the population increases, so does the number of Haredi ultra-orthodox soldiers in the IDF . . .
It was announced yesterday that 2300 Haredim enlisted in the June draft this year, and that 2700 is the predicted number for next year. 2300 is the all-time record for ultra-orthodox Jewish enlistment in the IDF.
For the first time this year, a Haredi woman completed the pilot’s course–and is now serving as a navigator in F-16s.
***According to recently released statistics, there are now 14 Israeli cities with more than 100,000 residents. Can you put them in order of population, starting with the largest?
Here are the cities (answer is at the bottom of today’s blog):
Impotence is not measured to indicate decreasing libido, incapability to expostulate or accomplish orgasm, a lack of power and sexual stamina etc.A wide array of medications are advertised that men can make use of. cialis brand The male viagra uk online enhancement process involves surgery, supplements, and a variety of physical techniques such as clamping and jelqing. Chiropractic is getting viagra a safe and cost-effective alternative which treats the underlying cause of the pain and provides for a complete cure with no drugs. Decreased female libido has not received best price on levitra as much focus as erectile dysfunction in men.
Holon, Petah Tikva, Haifa, Rehovot, Beersheva, Ashdod, Bat Yam, Rishon LeZion, Jerusalem, Ashkelon, Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, Netanya, Ramat Gan
TODAY’S BLOG:
It’s the same old song again, or as the great philosopher Yogi Berra once said: “It’s deja vu all over again.”
Benjamin Netanyahu is traipsing off to Washington again to meet with Barack Obama on Monday.
What will the subject of their talks be? According to senior Obama advisor Rob Malley, “Obama will ask Netanyahu during their meeting on Monday to take steps to prevent deterioration towards a solution of one state for two peoples.”
In other words, as usual, Obama will put the squeeze on Israel to make “concessions for peace” with the Palestinians. After all, Obama surely thinks that if he and the world can appease the Iranians, why can’t Israel appease the Palestinians?
Of course, as usual, Netanyahu will make concessions because what he is after is a major increase in U.S. allocations to Israel–upping Israel’s annual aid package to $5 billion a year for the period 2017-2027. “Receives” is in quotation marks because most of the money will be spent in the United States on defense-related items.
And also as usual, we had the usual pre-Washington visit brouhaha yesterday, this time involving Netanyahu’s appointment of Ran Baratz as his new media chief–with White House spokesman Josh Earnest demanding an apology for comments that Baratz has made in the social media in the past about Obama and Kerry.
As usual, Netanyahu pusillanimously responded to the White House criticism by apologizing last night and saying that Baratz doesn’t speak for Israel, and by suspending Baratz’s appointment.
What exactly did Baratz say?
About John Kerry earlier this year:
“This is the time to wish the secretary of state good luck, and to count down the days with the hope that someone over there at the State Department will wake up and begin to see the world through the eyes of a person whose mental age exceeds 12.”
[That’s true, but actually Kerry’s mental age doesn’t exceed that of an average pre-kindergartner].
About Obama (written in 2012):
“For the next four years, a pro-Arab, anti-Israel president will continue to rule. His upcoming term will be even more extreme, and he has nothing more to lose or to hide. The Jews have once again voted for Obama by a wide majority, and this just shows how wide the gap has become between the Jews of Israel and the Jews of the US . . . The Jews in America who see Obama as pro-Israeli are the most extreme in their criticism of Israel . . . The irresponsible Israeli policy which they seek raises the question of how exactly they can define themselves as pro-Israel.”
[All of this is true too. Absolutely true.]
About Obama (in the context of the Iranian appeasement):
“This is what modern anti-Semitism in a liberal Western country looks like. And, of course, it comes with a great deal of tolerance and understanding for Islamic anti-Semitism . . . The tolerance and understanding is so great that he is willing to give it a nuclear bomb . . .
While Obama is helping us on tactical issues like threats from Hamas and Hezbollah, he is instituting a global strategy of compromise with Iran, all the while creating for us (and other countries in the region) a huge, strategic, nuclear problem.
Obama certainly threw us under the wheels of the bus, even if he did it with a winning smile, as he gave us abundant gypsum plasters and sung the hallelujah of the Jewish leftwing chorus in Israel and the United States.”
[Again, all true.]
Unfortunately, this morning has Baratz tripping all over himself to apologize for the above statements–statements that should not be apologized for.
It is, pathetically, business as usual.
———————
Addendum–the answers to the quiz of the day:
1. Jerusalem: 849,800; 2. Tel Aviv: 426,100; 3. Haifa: 277,100; 4. Rishon LeZion: 240,700; 5. Petah Tikva: 225,400; 6. Ashdod: 218,000; 7. Netanya: 202,400; 8. Beersheva: 201,100; 9. Holon: 187,300; 10. Bnei Brak: 178,300; 11. Ramat Gan: 150,900; 12. Rehovot; 128,900; 13. Bat Yam: 128,500; 14. Ashkelon: 126,800
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.