27 Sivan 5776
Sunday, July 3 2016
SPECIAL NOTICE
The world joins Israel and Jews everywhere in mourning the passing of Elie Wiesel yesterday.
Wiesel’s book “Night” which chronicles the horrors that his father, himself, and so many others in Auschwitz and Buchenwald endured should be required reading of the human race. The way that Elie Wiesel stood up against oppression everywhere should be a model for us all; it is only fitting that he was often called: “the conscience of the world.”
In recent years, we all became accustomed to the photos of Wiesel who looked to be in perpetual mourning as traversed the globe seeking justice for the downtrodden. In all cases, he was a man of action, a person who fought for the values he held most dear.
We will never forget that he was an ardent supporter of Israel.
Rather than post the usual pictures of this great man today, the following picture of Wiesel always stands out in your humble servant’s memory:
Elie Wiesel on board a ship to Israel in 1949.
In his memoirs, Wiesel wrote that when David Ben Gurion read the Declaration of Israel Independence on May 14, 1948, he (Wiesel) had already been working for the Irgun weekly newspaper Zion in Kamf–Zion in Struggle–for six months. It is a part of his life that is often forgotten.
May Elie Wiesel rest in peace and his memory never be forgotten.
UPDATES 8 am Israel time:
…Palestinian terror unreported by the international mainstream media…
*An Israeli van was attacked with “rocks” north of Kiryat Arba near Anun.
Anyone driving in Judea and Samaria these days is running the terrorist gauntlet of “rock” and Molotov firebombs. The people in this van were lucky because they were hit in the rear (note the dents as well as the shattered back glass).
*The Jerusalem Light Rail Train was attacked with “rocks” near the Shuafat station.
*Israeli motorists on Road 463, near Hawara, and at the Yitzhar Junction were attacked with “rocks.”
…Yet another pathetic Israeli gesture to the Palestinians…
The Israel Electric Commission (IEC), which is already owed hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid electrical bills by the PLO, announced yesterday that it will not knowingly disconnect any Muslim families because of unpaid debts until the end of Ramadan.
This came in response to a letter from the far-leftist Meretz party that the IEC should be “sensitive” to Muslim customers during the holiday.
TODAY’S BLOG:
If there was ever a picture that demonstrated the utter impotence of the Israeli government’ anti-terrorism policy, this is it:
Israel’s fight against terrorism. Who knows how much money it cost for an F-15 to fly over Gaza and drop a laser-guided bomb on a sand dune and break this plastic chair?
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Two nights ago, Palestinians in Gaza fired a missile that struck the Sderot Community Kindergarten. Luckily, no one was killed, but MADA reported that numerous Sderot residents had to be treated for trauma. More than $500,000 of damage was done to the building itself.
A few hours later, the IDF said that it had “attacked targets” in Gaza, and crowed that “Hamas infrastructure” had been destroyed. As we mentioned in yesterday’s blog, this infrastructure was empty sand dunes and empty buildings. The picture above tells the tale: a bomb crater at the top of which a Hamasnik laughingly holds up the plastic chair that the bomb broke.
And so it goes.
PM Netanyahu’s vaunted security cabinet met last night to deal with the violent Palestinian terrorism of the last week. There were two options on the table.
The first option, proposed by Naftali Bennett, was that the government aggressively and unequivocally attack Palestinian terrorists. He outlined a series of measures to do so.
The second option, proposed by IDF Chief Eizenkot and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), was to continue the status quo–to keep in place the system of roadblocks, curfews, and denial of work permits which have had such little effect so far.
After a relatively short discussion, the pusillanimous Security Cabinet chose Option 2. The feeling was that Option 1 might provoke the Palestinians.
Absolutely pathetic.
Prior to the meeting, PM Netanyahu along with Defense Minister Lieberman, made the “dramatic” announcement that because of the murder of Hallal Yaffa Ariel in Kiryat Arba, 42 new “housing units” would be built in the same neighborhood as the Ariel family’s home.
Except that it was not dramatic at all.
The 42 “housing units” had originally been scheduled to be built years ago–in response to an earlier terrorist attack. Land was cleared, water and sewage lines were installed, and electrical lines were put in place–only to have PM Netanyahu pull the plug on the project and freeze it indefinitely.
Which by the way is what Netanyahu always does. He shows up after a terror attack, announces new construction, and then freezes the construction. It has happened over and over again since 2009.
After the announcement of the 42 housing units, no one was buying Netanyahu’s grand gesture. Shas Knesset legislator Yigal Guetta called it “a sham.” Jewish Home Knesset legislator Smotrich correctly observed that “this system of freezing and unfreezing is simply a disgrace. It gives a prize to terrorists.”
Similarly, the Yesha Council of Jewish communities issued this statement:
“The 42 housing units is a mockery . . .[What] must come is the confirmation of thousands of housing units and promoting the development of settlement infrastructure space. Only such a move would constitute an appropriate Zionist response to terrorism.”
We leave you today with another picture. Remember how it was just yesterday that the Netanyahu government declared that a total roadblock was being put up around Hevron, and no one would be allowed in or out?
And remember how in yesterday’s blog, we predicted that the closure “will probably last a few days at most”?
Well guess what? The closure did not even last a day. Here is a picture from Hevron late yesterday afternoon:
Cars and pedestrians moving in and out of Hevron with no problem.
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.