3 Cheshvan
November 4, 2016
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours
Just after 8 pm last night, another drive-by shooting took place–this time in northern Samaria near Tulkarm. An IDF soldier manning a checkpoint was wounded; the terrorists escaped.
At 3:00 in the afternoon, a stabbing attack occurred at the Iron Junction. First the terrorist attempted to stab civilians at a bus stop but when he was repelled, he crossed the road and attempted to attack soldiers. He was shot and killed.
“Rock” and Molotov attacks occurred at Dura al Kara, A-Tur, Silwan, Rachel’s Tomb, Beit Einun, Turmus’ayya, Hizma, Nabi Saleh, Ofra, Kiryat Arba, Hevron, the Mt. Hevron bypass, Dir Nizam, Neve Tzuf, Al-Khader, Al-Sharqiya Louvain, the Hussan Bypass Road, Jalazun, Beit ur Tahta, Road 443, Nebi Elias, and Gush Etzion.
Are the times a-changing?
It has now been six and a half years since Israel apparently eliminated arch Hamas terrorist Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel. Since that time, Israelis have been unable to enter Dubai (except in transit at the airport).
However, it was reported in the BBC yesterday that Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, just completed a whirlwind secret visit to the Gulf country.
The American election . . . in Israel
Your humble servant has not reported on the fact that the Israeli media is fixated on the upcoming election in the United States. One of the three news channels here, Channel 10, is even going to offer round the clock coverage on election day/night via CNN (the Clinton News Network).
And of course, the ultra-left Israeli media is completely in the tank for Hillary Clinton.
Interestingly, there are some 200,000 American citizens living in Israel though only about half of those are eligible to vote (the other half are too young). It is projected that between 30,000 and 50,000 will actually vote, substantially less than the 80,000 who voted in 2012.
Who will Israeli-Americans vote for this time?
Apparently those living in Judea and Samaria favor Trump while those along the coast tend to favor Clinton. In a poll two days ago, 49% of all Israeli-Americans favored Trump and 44% Clinton.
Among Israeli-Americans who identify with leftist Israeli parties such as Labor (Herzog/Livni), Yesh Atid, and Meretz about 70% prefer Clinton; among those who identify with Likud and Jewish Home about 60% prefer Trump.
Your humble servant will have more to say about the election in the days ahead.
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The “Iranians” in Syria
According to an Israeli official speaking to Reuters yesterday, there are now 25,000 Iran-managed fighters in Syria fighting for Assad (not including Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon).
Despite the fact that this number is only about a quarter of the number that Iran said it would send to Syria, it is not insignificant because there are only about 70,000 soldiers left in the Syrian Army (and most of these are Alawites). Moreover, the 25,000 constitute the bulk of the pro-Assad ground forces which had been made up mainly of Sunnis before massive defections took place.
Also it is worthwhile noting that at least half of the “Iranians” are not really Iranians at all but are paid Shi’ite and non-Shi’ite mercernaries from places like Afghanistan and Iraq.
TODAY’S BLOG:
The Israel Supreme Court Desperately Tries to Hold On to Power
Miriam Naor, head of the Israel Supreme court, on the left; Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked on the right (picture: Ynet).
As regular readers of israelstreet know, your humble servant has been increasingly critical of the Israel Supreme Court in recent years. Dominated by leftist judicial activists, the Court now proactively inserts itself into every conceivable facet of Israeli life from the structure of gas deals for Israel’s offshore natural gas to the number of lanes that can be on a street just outside of my house.
There is no subject too big or too small for the court to meddle in. Along the way, the leftist Court has almost completely usurped the powers of the Knesset.
One might reasonably ask the question of how it is possible that the Court remains so “left” when the Israeli people have moved most decidedly in a different direction?
The answer is simple. The process for selecting new Justices to the high court is absurd.
The Justice Selection Committee is comprised of 9 members:
3 Supreme Court Justices (one of whom is the Chief Justice, currently Miriam Naor)
2 members of the Israeli Bar Association
2 members of the Cabinet (one of which is the Justice Minister, currently Ayelet Shaked)
2 members of the Knesset
The absurdity of this situation is that we have Supreme Court Justices (and members of the Israeli Bar Association) on the committee. One would think that in a democracy the Justice Selection Committee would be composed of representatives who have been chosen by the people.
What is even more absurd is that according to the law, 7 votes are needed on the Committee to select a new Justice. In essence, this gives the 3 Supreme Court Justices veto power over the selection.
At the moment, there are 4 openings coming up on the Court. In the past week, Ayelet Shaked has expressed her support for a law that would reduce the number needed to select a new Justice from 7 to 5.
Yesterday, in a desperate attempt to cling to power, Miriam Naor sent Shaked a scathing letter in which she announced that if Shaked continues to support the new law, the three Supreme Court Justices will not participate on the Selection Committee. Thus, unless the law is changed, the selection process is stalled.
The sheer brazenness of Naor’s attempt to blackmail Shaked and the Knesset into abnegating their law-making power is unprecedented and truly indicative of a Supreme Court run amok.
For her part, Shaked announced after Naor’s letter that the selection process will continue.
Who knows how this will turn out, but your humble servant adamantly supports Justice Minister’s attempts to reform a bankrupt judicial system.
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.