21 Cheshvan 5779
30 October 2018
Photo of the Day:
Your humble servant voting at 9 am this morning here in Ashdod. More pictures and more information about the process will come in tomorrow’s blog.
Quote of the Day:
“The show is over. . . Palestinians have never been serious about recognizing Israel. They always planned to destroy Israel piece by piece and throw we Jews out of our land.”
Cabinet member Naftali Bennett speaking yesterday about the decision of the PLO Central Committee to suspend Palestinian recognition of Israel and cease all economic and security ties with Israel.
As a member of that Committee said after the decision: “The Oslo agreement no longer exists.”
There was a time when this decision would have been big news here in Israel, but the Israeli public knows that the Oslo process has been dead for decades. Nobody really cares what the PLO does.
The News on the Israeli Street
On the Gaza border . . .
Israel trucked more than 200 cubic meters of humanitarian diesel fuel (52,834 gallons) and 114 cubic meters (30,115 gallons) of humanitarian gasoline into Gaza yesterday through the Kerem Shalom Crossing.
To show its appreciation, Hamas sent thousands of terrorists to the Zikim maritime border with Israel last night to attack our soldiers with Molotovs, IEDs, and grenades. One terrorist was dispatched when he attempted to infiltrate Israel across the maritime barrier.
Remember the case of Razan Ashraf Najjar? . . .
She was the Gaza medic/Hamas foot soldier who was killed on the Gaza border a few months ago. Najjar immediately became the iconic “angel of mercy” courtesy of the Hamas propaganda machine even as videos of her throwing gas grenades at Israeli soldiers surfaced.
An IDF investigation took place after her death which concluded that in all likelihood, Najjar was hit by a ricochet bullet because there is no evidence that she was targeted by Israeli soldiers.
However, the investigation never really concluded as Israel’s MPCID investigators awaited “testimony” from Palestinians who were in the area. That testimony has now arrived via an “international humanitarian organization” in Gaza. According to the Palestinians’ ludicrous account, IDF soldiers kneeled, aimed straight at Najjar, and shot her.
The IDF announced yesterday that it will now re-question the soldiers and commanding officers.
Can you believe this?
Of course you can. Our IDF military chain of command would far prefer to believe Palestinians and a “humanitarian” organization than our own soldiers and officers.
Which brings us to the events of two nights ago when the three terrorists were killed as they attempted to plant a bomb at the border fence.
Using aerial video surveillance, our IDF border observers spotted three men crouching and crawling toward the fence through a “forbidden area” at 9 pm. Two of them were wearing backpacks. When they reached the fence, the men began digging a hole and putting the contents of the backpacks into it.
At this point, our observers called in an air strike which killed the three.
Within hours, Hamas claimed that all three were between the ages of 12 and 14, and that they were merely setting “bird traps.”
Bird traps? In a hole, under the Gaza border fence, in the dark.
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And do you know what dear reader? Our military is more likely to believe the Hamas canard than our own soldiers and the video of the incident.
We can expect both the observers involved on Friday night as well as the soldiers allegedly involved in the shooting of Najjar to be hauled in front of court martials in short order.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Excellent News: Israel Takes Incremental Steps To Build In E-1
The E1 area where the European Union has been illegally trying to establish “facts on the ground” by building infrastructure and moving Palestinians in from other parts of Judea and Samaria. As you can see, E1 is a vital link between Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem.
Let’s play a little game this morning. Here are the names of the four largest Israeli cities located in Area C of Judea and Samaria: Ma’aleh Adumim, Betar Illit, Ariel, and Modi’in Illit. Put these cities in order from greatest to smallest population.
We will pause for a moment while you think about this.
And the answer is . . .
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics:
1. Modi’in Illit: 70,081
2. Betar Illit: 54,557
3. Ma’aleh Adumim: 40,101
4. Ariel: 19,626
Did you guess correctly? If not, you probably were not aware that both Modi’in Illit and Betar Illit are cities almost exclusively inhabited by the ultra-orthodox–who maintain an extremely high birthrate.
Think about this for a moment. These 4 cities alone have approximately 185,000 residents. In addition to these cities, there are more than 200 more Jewish communities in Area C.
This past week in a little noticed action, the government signed an agreement to construct 20,000 more housing units in Ma’aleh Adumim within the next 10 years, an agreement unlikely to be implemented any time soon because PM Netanyahu must approve it as well as a myriad of bureaucratic agencies.
4200 of these housing units are designated for the E1 area of Ma’aleh Adumim (where the illegal Khan Al-Ahmar Palestinian settlement awaits destruction). Building these units would unquestionably lead to the annexation of this part of Area C.
However, what does not require the approvals is the construction of the infrastructure of the homes–namely, the roads, streets, water pipes, and electrical lines.
By the way, 470 housing units have already been approved through the laborious approval process, and their construction is underway.
That, dear readers, is a good start.
A tiny section of Ma’aleh Adumim–where construction keeps humming along.
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.