20 Adar II 5776
Wednesday, March 30 2016
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UPDATES 9 am Israel time:
–>Palestinian terror continues unabated.
*Late last night, Palestinian terrorists ambushed and then opened fire on an IDF patrol operating in Jenin. Miraculously no soldiers were wounded. The terrorists escaped.
*In the afternoon yesterday, an IDF force in Hebron was also fired upon. Again, no Israelis were wounded. However, in this instance, the terrorists were captured.
*There was a massive outbreak of Palestinian “rock” assaults yesterday in almost too many locations to count. Here is a list of just 20 of those places: Route 443 near the Maccabim checkpoint, Abu Dis, Yatma, Silwad, Attil, Kiryat Arba, A-Tur (Jerusalem), Issawiya (Jerusalem), Nabi Saleh, Sussiya, Hebron, Karmi Tzur, Hawara, Silwan, Beit Ummar, Hawara, Mt. Hebron, Gush Etzion, Sinjil, the Mt. of Olives (Jerusalem), and on and on.
–>The detention hearing of the IDF soldier who shot the wounded terrorist in Hevron last Thursday opened in Castina yesterday amidst continued demonstrations supporting the soldier throughout the country. Some of the largest demonstrations took place in Jerusalem, Netanya, Ramle, Kiryat Malachi, and Bet Shemish (see picture below).
This particular demonstration took place in Bet Shemish. The sign in black reads “Love him, Hug him, Support him”. The sign in the middle center with the Israeli flag on it reads: “Bet Shemesh supports the soldier!”
The purpose of the hearing is to determine if enough evidence exists to court-martial the 19-year-old. The hearing began yesterday with the IDF prosecutor pointing out all the reasons why the soldier should be chucked into prison. The prosecutor concluded by asking the judge to extend the detention of the soldier by 9 days.
At the end of yesterday’s hearing, the presiding judge only extended the detention by two days, and had this to say: “I find that by looking at the circumstances that there is a reasonable suspicion that an invalid shooting occurred; however, the evidence accumulated so far is inconclusive, and the central issues remain in dispute–especially taking into account the complexity of the incident . . .”
The hearing was attended by a number of political figures including Avigdor Lieberman who commented: “We came here . . . to support the soldier or at least offset the statements of the prime minister and the defense minister. What we saw at the opening of the hearing was an unreasonable statement attacking a 19-year-old soldier. I have not decided whether it [the soldier’s action] was right or not, but it is clear to me that it is better for a soldier to make a mistake in judgment and stay alive than for a soldier to hesitate and God forbid be murdered by terrorists . . .”
–>Israel caves in to Brazil.
In an outrageous display of cowardice, the Netanyahu government caved in to Brazil yesterday by giving up on appointing Danny Dayan as Israel Ambassador to Brazil. Instead, Dayan will now be going to New York as Consul-General.
You will recall that the Brazilians rejected Dayan’s appointment because Dayan had served as the head of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Israel had responded that Brazil must accept Dayan’s appointment or risk souring relations between the two countries.
Brazil held firm; Israel crumbled.
The entire sorry episode sets the precedent that Israel’s diplomatic appointees to countries will now be subject to approval by those countries.
Unbelievable.
–>Will Israel’s plague of plastic bags finally come to an end?
In recent years, Israel has made a major attempt to clean up plastic. Receptacles like this one for plastic bottles are all over the country–but plastic bags remain a huge problem.
Almost everywhere you go in Israel whether to the forests or to the sea, you will see plastic bags littering the landscape. People take food or other items home from stores in plastic bags, and then reuse the bag when they take an outing. Even if the bags are put into garbage cans, they usually fly out.
Yesterday, the Knesset finally passed a bill that was two years in the making (the initial vote was passed in October 2014) that eliminates “free” plastic bags at supermarkets. Beginning on January 1, 2017, all supermarkets will be required to collect 10 agurot (3 cents) per bag.
The hope, of course, is that people will begin bringing their own cloth or paper bags to the supermarket to take their purchases home in.
Your humble servant seriously doubts that the law will have any effect at all, but let’s hope he is wrong.
TODAY’S BLOG:
It is difficult to assess the effect that the BDS movement is having on Israel.
On academic campuses around the world, BDS has had a profound impact turning universities into seething hotbeds of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic fervor. The real fear is that future generations of leaders are being molded into Palestinianophiles.
Economically speaking, the net effect of BDS has been minimal. While BDS attacks on companies like SodaStream and Ahava have caused them and other countries to move their headquarters within the Green Line (with an accompanying disastrous loss in Palestinian jobs), and while the European “boykott” of Jewish products from Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights is hurting Israeli companies there (again with a disastrous loss of Palestinian jobs), the fact is that the Israeli economy continues humming along with few signs of problems.
This is due to a multitude of reasons, but two of the most important are:
1. The help of our friends abroad, especially in the United States. Just two days ago, the state of Georgia became the sixth state in the United States to pass a law targeting BDS, joining South Carolina, Arizona, Indiana, Florida, and Illinois.
The new Georgia law proactively “forbids the state government from contracting with individuals or companies that fail to certify for the pact’s duration that they are not boycotting Israel or businesses in Israeli-controlled territories.”
Numerous other states are on the cusp of passing similar legislation. It is ironic that in this sense at least, BDS has had the unintended effect of strengthening pro-Israel forces such as StandWithUs, PJTN (Proclaiming Justice to the Nations), CUFI (Christians United for Israel), and the Israel Project—all of whom deserve Israel’s profound thanks.
2. Israeli business has become adept at seeking out new markets. Russia, eastern Europe, and Asia are among those taking the place of western Europe. Just this past week, Israel has signed seven cooperation agreements with China. Two days ago, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely signed an agreement with the Deputy Prime Minister of China at the China Innovation Conference. That agreement will allow Israelis to receive 10-year visas to China.
This morning, Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos landed at Ben Gurion airport on a three day visit to Israel. Why is he here? To strengthen Greek business ties with Israel–especially in the field of technology. He is one of numerous foreign leaders coming here in the coming months. As Israel Minister of Science Ofir Akunis remarked upon Pavlopuolos’ arrival:
“All those who still talk about a quarantine of Israel do not have a clue what they are talking about and are using tired and empty slogans. The reality is exactly the opposite.”
Georgia, China, and Greece–we are happy to see all of them standing with Israel this morning.
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.