25 Kislev 5780
23 December 2019
Happy 2nd day of Chanukah! (image: rotter)
Chag Chanukah Sameach!! Happy Chanukah!! The second candle has already already been lit in Israel. OneIsrael wishes all of our readers a very happy holiday full of latkes and souvganiot!
Chanukiyah of the Day:
Noya Gobat displays her Chanukiya in her classroom in Ramat Gan. That’s her teacher in the background.
Noya, second grader from Ramat Gan, made her chanukiya with candlesticks shaped like the Iron Dome missiles and dedicated it with the words: “We are with the South!”
Kolakevod to Noya!
The News on the Israeli Street
The continuing carnage on Israel’s roads . . .
All of Israel is talking about what has been another horrific week on the highways of Israels with 11 fatal accidents in which 17 Israelis were killed.
This brings to 344 the number of Israelis killed so far this year–an 11% increase over the number killed in the same period last year.
Last night’s terrible accident took place when an Egged bus driver apparently lost control of his bus and crashed into a bus stop. 4 people were killed and another 13 were injured. This makes 34 people killed in 27 bus accidents this year.
No one seems to have a clue about how to stem the carnage–except for your humble servant.
The reasons for the carnage are clear: people in Israel drive like maniacs at wildly excessive speeds and with no regard for lane integrity or anything else. This, coupled with an incredible number of cars on the road leads to one tragic accident after another.
Since the police seem incapable of doing anything, it is time to go back to the rationing system used years ago. According to that system (which was implemented because of lack of gasoline), drivers could only use their cars on two or three days a week which were assigned to them. In addition, speed limits must be greatly reduced, and it must become far more difficult to get a driver’s license.
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
In Judea and Samaria:
*A knife wielding terrorist was captured at the Cave of the Patriarchs this morning.
*The Tunnel Road from Jerusalem to Gush Etzion, Road 465 east of Neve Yair, between Migdalot and Tapuach, Road 465 near Nabi Salah, Road 458 at Al Muayyir, the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road, Al-Aruv, and Ofra were a few of the several dozen locations where Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis with “rocks” and Molotovs.
On the Gaza border:
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*A terrorist infiltrator was shot as he attempted to cross the border fence into Israel.
*Another infiltrator, this one with a knife, was shot as he approached the fence.
More from the Gaza border . . .
*Israel trucked more diesel fuel into Gaza this morning. Why we continue to supply the terrorists there fuel to operate their missile launchers is impossible to fathom. At the same time, Hamas announced it will begin buying cement and sugar from Egypt because those commodities are cheaper there.
*This morning on Radio South a member of the Netanyahu government, Housing Minister Yoav Galant, was asked why the government is not doing more to stop the incessant missile attacks from Gaza which are causing astronomical rates of PTSD being experienced by children along the border. His outrageous answer: “My job is not to calm children.”
Doesn’t that sum up the situation exactly?
A big deal in the works . . .
A three-way summit between PM Netanyahu, Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiadis, and Greek PM Mitsutakis will be held in the coming months to finalize an agreement establishing an “East-Med” pipeline that will transport Israeli natural gas to Europe.
Israel attacks Iran again in Syria . . .
Three Iranians were killed in an Israeli missile attack on an Iranian base between Saida Zeinab and Aqraba, Syria. The IAF also attacked the T-4 AFB outside Damascus.
A change to the Law of Return? . . .
Knesset MK Bezalel Smotrich is proposing a change to the Law of Return. His amendment would make people who only have 1 Jewish grandparent ineligible for aliya.
As Smotrich rightly points out, people who come in that category are not Jewish and make no effort to become Jewish once in Israel.
Since 2012, approximately 180,000 people have made aliya to Israel under the Law of Return. Only 14% of them are recognized as Jews. Even less, only 4.3% of immigrants from Russia are Jews–about 1 in 25.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Has the Ark of the Covenant “stone” been found?
According to the Tanach, the Philistines conquered the Israelites in battle and took the Ark of the Covenant. However, when they returned to Ekron, God struck them with misfortune to the point that they decided to return the Ark to the Israelites. We pick up the story:
1 Samuel 6:13
Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the Ark, they rejoiced at the sight. 14 The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 The Levites took down the ark of the Lord, together with the chest containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock.
Archaeologists excavating the site of an ancient temple near Beit Shemesh think they might have found the stone on which the Ark of the Covenant rested. Of course, it is conjecture, yet the stone was found in an ancient temple dated to 3100 years ago. It is perfectly square and was found in an area separate from the other parts of the site suggesting its religious importance.
Dr. Zvi Lederman, an archaeologist at Tel Aviv University reported the find and said: “It would be a rare case where we could unite the biblical narrative and archaeological finds.”
We are not holding our breaths about this discovery, but it is remarkable how archaeological discoveries are substantiating what is found in the Bible.
*This blog was published at 4:30 am Tuesday IST/6:30 pm PST.
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.