5 Tammuz 5777
29 June 2017
The News on the Israeli Street
The most amazing quote of the day . . .
Comes from U.S. United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley. When asked if the United States would continue to veto Salam Fayyad as Palestinian representative to the United Nations, Haley declared succinctly:
“The United States does not recognize Palestine as a state.”
Shortly thereafter, Haley repeated a theme often written on this blog, namely that the impotent UNIFIL–in direct contravention of Security Council Resolution 1701–is doing nothing to stop the increased presence of Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border.
Palestinian terror during the last 24 hours . . .
Numerous terror attacks have taken place and been thwarted.
*A Palestinian terrorist from Yatta on his way to a stabbing was captured by Border Police at the Rachel Crossing.
Taken from a Palestinian terrorist today.
*A Palestinian terrorist from Jabel Ja’ar near Kiryat Arba was shot and killed when he opened fire on an IDF patrol.
The homemade machine gun used by the terrorist today. Numerous underground weapons factories are located throughout Judea and Samaria.
The news from Syria . . .
*Another mortar from Syria was “leaked” into the Golan Heights late yesterday afternoon. In reponse, the IAF hit a Syrian Army cannon that was being used in East Samadania near Quneitra. Apparently, the Syrians were using the cannon in battle against Jabhat a-Nusra.
*Iranian-backed forces are afoot this morning in southeastern Syria–apparently in an effort to stop a U.S. special forces push from Jordan toward Islamic State positions. These forces include mercenary Iraqi, Afghan, Hezbollah, and Palestinian militias.
Weren’t the Iranians supposed to be fighting against Islamic State?
U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis warned both Iran and Hezbollah yesterday that any resistance to the U.S. surge would be dealt with harshly. This threat came on the heels of another threat that the U.S. would take action if Assad uses chemical weapons again.
That action would undoubtedly come from the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush which is now positioned off the Lebanese coast and is due to dock in Haifa in the next 5 days.
The Kotel saga continues . . .
Remember what we said after the Cabinet decision the other day freezing the plans for an expanded egalitarian section at the Wall? Your humble servant wrote that it was at best a Pyrrhic victory because it would only be a matter of hours until the Israel High Court weighed in.
And so it is about to.
Yesterday, the Court agreed to a petition by the Reform and Conservative Movements as well as the Women of the Wall for an urgent hearing tomorrow morning at 10 am.
Rabbi Gilad Kariv, Director General of Israel’s tiny Reform Movement said that he hoped that the Court would send “a clear signal to the government that the time has come to stop the foot-dragging and double-talk about the Western Wall . . . we hope that the court will give us the necessary aid.”
Aid indeed. What can be counted on is that, unfortunately, Israel’s ultra-leftist Court will rule in favor of whatever the non-orthodox ask for.
Speaking of ultra-leftists.
One of those non-orthodox, the mousy former choreographer and head of the U.S. Reform Movement, “Rabbi” Rick Jacobs, continued his denunciations of Israel yesterday–refusing to meet with PM Netanyahu. Jacobs appeared on Israel’s left-wing Channel 2 last night and declared that there would be unspecified “consequences” for Israel’s actions. He even said that the freezing was a “strategic danger to Israel’s existence.”
Your humble servant is forced to ask: “Why should anyone in Israel care one whit about what Rick Jacobs thinks?”
Here we have a man:
–who is a member of the international council of the Israel delegitimizing New Israel Fund.
–who denounced PM Netanyahu for coming to the United States and speaking to Congress about the importance of opposing the Iran Nuclear Weapons Appeasement Agreement.
–who claimed that if Israel supported the current American president, it would cause Democrats to rethink their support of Israel.
In short, Jacobs is a mouse that tries to roar–but his is a roar increasingly irrelevant as his organization assimilates itself out of existence.
And here’s a news flash for Jacobs: no matter what he may think, Israel’s existence was not threatened by the Kotel decision.
Al Jazeera: the joke of the day . . .
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What a surprise! David Kaye, the (hold your breath) United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, ranted yesterday that the Gulf Countries withdraw their demand that Al-Jazeera be closed down.
The U.N. has always had a “special relationship” with the terrorist Qatari state. You may remember how back in 2014 during our war with Hamas in Gaza (a war sparked by Qatar’s supplying Hamas with Libyan weapons, and by Qatar’s funding of the Hamas tunnel network), then-U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was whisked around the Middle East in a private, luxurious, jet supplied by Qatar–so that he could issue condemnation after condemnation of Israel.
Now, Kaye wants Al-Jazeera kept open because it fights for “a pluralistic, democratic Middle East.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
What a sick joke.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Fake News Israeli Style:
Palestinian Arson at Burin As Told By Yedioth Aharonot
*Note that YNet News is the online version of the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonot
If you saw the “Breaking News Ticker” on this blog yesterday, you saw that we reported on an incident of Palestinian terrorism. Specifically, Palestinian arsonists set an agricultural field on fire near Burin (which is beside Yitzhar). It was an arson attack similar to hundreds of others that have taken place in Judea and Samaria. Palestinians chop down their own olive trees or set them on fire and then bring in the leftist media to blame the “settlers” for violence.
Part of that leftist media is Yedioth Aharonot. For the last week, YNET has been running stories about how the “settlers” represent a violent threat to local Palestinians and to the IDF. This story was right down YNET’s alley–with a few changes.
Here’s the way YNET began the article which was headlined “Dozens of Olive Trees Burned in Suspected Hate Crime”:
“A fire broke out on Wednesday in an olive grove near the Palestinian village of Burin in the Samaria region. Local Palestinians accused settlers of setting the fire and then running to Yitzhar, as dozens of trees went up in flames.
IDF forces, fire and rescue teams and the Israeli Civil Administration arrived on the scene to investigate and offer assistance. An IDF lookout station reported picking up on unidentified figures in the area who were later seen fleeing. Fire and rescue teams have since then managed to overtake the fire.”
So there we have it, right? The “settlers” set the fire and then ran away; eventually “unidentified figures (read: “settlers”) were picked up.
YNET’s fake news narrative continued with the help of a picture and a quote from the self-proclaimed, left wing “human rights” organization Yesh Din:
Picture courtesy of Yesh Din.
“Human rights organization Yesh Din issued a response to the incident, saying, ‘For the past two months we have witnessed a wave of violence against the residents of Palestinian villages near Yitzhar. If this was indeed arson, it is further proof that Israeli law enforcement agencies are not properly doing their job in the West Bank. The violence will not calm down if there is not a true deterrence, created through the protection of Palestinians, effective investigating, prosecuting felons and delivering substantial punishments.'”
The evil settlers not only set fire to the olive trees yesterday, they have terrorized “Palestinian villages” throughout the area. And this terror will not stop, Yesh Din tells us, until the poor Palestinians are protected and the settlers are prosecuted.
End of story. Exclamation point! Right?
Wrong.
At the very end of the fake news story, YNET protected itself by printing the truth:
“In Yitzhar, however, the residents claimed that the Palestinians made their way onto land near the settlement and deliberately began agitating by lighting fires. According to that version, which is also supported by scenes in the video, Yitzhar residents made their way to the burning areas with fire extinguishers to prevent the flames from spreading.”
So, it turns out, there is a video.
A video of the Palestinians lighting the fire(s), and of the Yitzhar residents trying to get to the flames to put them out with fire extinguishers.
Amazing.
Overall, this is an example of the fake news that we are bombarded with everyday in Israel–“news” disseminated by outlets determined to delegitimize Jewish community members in Judea and Samaria specifically, and the state of Israel in general.
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.