2 Av 5777
25 July 2017
The News on the Israel Street
Kowtowing to King Abdullah of Jordan, the Palestinians, and the Muslim world, Israeli workers remove the metal detectors in the middle of the night last night (photo: Reuters).
Removal of the metal detectors . . .
The main news on the Israel street today is all about the removal of the metal detectors from the Temple Mount, an abominable decision made by PM Netanyahu and our laughingly-called “Security Cabinet” last night (only Naftali Bennett, Ayelet Shaked, and Ze’ev Elkin voted against the decision). All of the news about that decision is contained in Today’s Blog below.
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
*An Egged bus driver who was eating lunch at a shwarma stand in Petah Tikva was stabbed in the neck yesterday by a Palestinian terrorist from Qalqilya who shouted that he was acting “in defense of Al-Aksa.” The Israeli remains in “serious” condition this morning. The terrorist was captured.
*At 12:11 am this morning, another missile was fired out of Gaza toward southern Israel. It apparently exploded in an “open area” in the Eshkol region. The only reason that we know this happened is because we all heard the extremely distinctive explosion.
However, just like all of the most recent missile attacks, no warnings were sounded, and no IDF spokesmen acknowledged the event. Actually, in the previous missile strike two days ago, the IDF claimed that the missile hit on the Gaza side of the fence, until it was found in Israel the next day.
This makes 4 missiles in the last three days–in case anyone else is counting (see our missile count in the column on the right hand side of this page).
*An armed Turkish infiltrator was captured on the Gaza border last night. This is not as abnormal as it seems; Turks have been captured in this area before, and also attempting to breach the Jordanian-Israeli border.
*Palestinian terrorists attacked a bus near El Arub in Gush Etzion, threw IEDs at residents of Silwan, assaulted police in Ras Al-Amud, attacked motorists in Neve Daniel, and on and on. In other words, it was a day like any other in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem.
What the Chinese did yesterday . . .
You will remember that a week ago israelstreet discussed the absurd statement of brotherhood issued between the Chinese government and the Palestinians. At that time, I wondered what the purpose of the statement could be vis a vis the Muslim Uighur population that China has been trying to suppress along its southern border.
Yesterday, the Chinese government informed all Muslims living in southern and western China that they must download a tracking device on their phones that will allow the police to know where they are at any given moment, and that will allow the police to access all files on their phones.
No law was passed enabling the government to do this. A notice was published and broadcast.
The penalty for not putting the tracking device on a phone is arrest and a minimum of 10 days in prison. According to the Chinese, the device is necessary “to protect the public.”
What will be the outcry from the United Nations? the European Union? from anyone? No one will utter a single syllable.
But what if Israel demanded this of the Palestinians? You can answer the question without my help.
TODAY’S BLOG
The Disastrous Decision of PM Netanyahu and Our “Security Cabinet”
Your humble servant cannot even begin to express the level of his disgust today with PM Netanyahu and his laughingly-called “Security Cabinet.”
Just when we thought the Cabinet might be developing some courage came the news late last night that they had not. The craven submission that we predicted five days ago on this blog was implemented.
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The metal detectors placed in the Old City (not on the Temple Mount) near three gates that the Muslims use to access the Mount were removed. What they will supposedly be replaced with is “a technologically advanced system of thermal cameras that will allow smart screening in the Old City” (not on the Temple Mount). More than this, until the smart cameras can be installed, the government will significantly increase the number of Border Guards and police forces in the Old City (not on the Temple Mount). The cost of these measures is estimated to be one hundred million shekels (about $28 million dollars)–and no date for implementation was set.
The despicable decision to remove the metal detectors will reverberate for decades.
But let us backtrack for a moment, and understand how we got to this point. Without any doubt, Netanyahu and his cohorts were desperately looking for a way out of what they termed “a crisis.”
They got it yesterday in the form of a terrorist attack in Jordan.
The simple facts were these: a furniture mover arrived at the Israeli embassy compound in Amman; he shouted “Allahu Akbar” and stabbed the deputy Israeli security guard in the chest with a screwdriver; in the ensuing chaos, the Israeli opened fire and killed the terrorist and apparently a stray bullet hit the owner of the building and killed him (“apparently” because other “versions” suggest that the terrorist not only stabbed the security guard but also the owner of the building).
By every diplomatic norm, the wounded Israeli security guard had diplomatic immunity, and should have been evacuated to Israel immediately. Not only that but the permanent Israeli staff in Jordan also supposedly enjoys immunity and can come and go at their convenience.
However, following the terrorist attack, King Abdullah decided to not let the wounded Israeli security guard or the embassy staff leave Jordan until the metal detectors were removed from the Temple Mount.
In the space of hours, our cowardly government bowed to this extortion.
Shortly thereafter we had PM Netanyahu praising Abdullah (along with President Trump, Jason Greenblatt, and Jared Kushner). The entire scene was utterly revolting.
As we have often written, Jordan is a terrorist government that undermines Israel at every turn–which they did again as soon as the security guard and staff were out of the country last night. The official Jordanian news agency Petra reported that the Israeli account of the stabbing was false and that the security guard was merely stabbed because of a disagreement over a delay in delivering bedroom furniture.
In sum, no matter what nonsense spews forth from Netanyahu today about “smart cameras”, the removal decision means that:
*Israelis are less safe than we were yesterday. The metal detectors were a deterrent. Period. Exclamation point. Terrorists can easily avoid and disable cameras.
*The Palestinians and Muslims around the world are immeasurably emboldened. Already this morning, despite the removal of the detectors, Muslims are refusing to go to the Mount because of the security cameras–which they are demanding be removed. They needn’t worry; you can be sure that our “Security Cabinet” will soon do so.
*Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount is a joke to our government. The next time that UNESCO, the PLO, Jordan, the Islamic Wakf, Turkish PM Erdogan, or anyone else says that the Temple Mount belongs to the Palestinians, PM Netanyahu and anyone who voted with him last night do not have the right to say one word.
*Israeli sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem is an open question to our government. Remember that the metal detectors were not on the Temple Mount–they were outside the Gates to the Temple Mount in the Old City. Obviously, our government believes that Israel does not have sovereignty over this territory either. And what about the metal detector that Jews and Christians still have to go through? Where is it? That’s right–it is in what is supposedly the “Jewish Quarter.”
*The Palestinians have gotten away with incitement and murder. Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies never condemned the murder of the two policemen–and in fact have extolled them as heroes. As for the Salomon family, we are forced to ask why were they murdered? Answer: Palestinian incitement. And what did they die for? Because of a government decision that the government did not have the courage to sustain.
*The principle of egregious religious discrimination has been enshrined. As noted above, Jews and Christians must still go through a metal detector to go to the Temple Mount, but Muslims will not be required to.
*Our government leaders are craven in the extreme and as such are vulnerable to every conceivable form of extortion. How long will it be until the next massive release of Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons takes place?
Abominable, sickening, despicable, disgusting . . . no word truly describes the appalling action of our government last night.
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.