1 Shevat 5780
27 January 2020
Photo of the Day
An amazing photo over Tel Aviv this morning. Tel Aviv in the foreground, Mt. Hermon is the white peak on the far right horizon (photo source: Dror, Simplex Mapping).
The Quote of the Day
“There is support from the prime minister and other [Israeli] parties, and we think that there will be support from Palestinians in the end . . . and if not, life goes on.”
President Trump, speaking at the White House this morning while sitting with PM Netanyahu on the subject of the Trump Peace Plan which will be released tomorrow at noon EST.
“If not, life goes on.”
If this is not a statement of the irrelevance of the Palestinian “positions” to the reality of the facts on the ground, then your humble servant doesn’t know what is.
We all await what the actual Trump Peace Plan spells out.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
In Judea and Samaria:
Neve Tzuf, Road 465, the T-Junction in Gush Etzion, Deir Abu Mashaal, Al Aruv, Road 55 near Azzun, Ajah, Marja Negja, Kfar Beit, and Al-Khader: these were ten out of some two dozen locations yesterday where Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis with “rocks” and Molotovs.
The above information was reported by Israelis on the ground to Rescue without Borders, hakolhayehudi, and rotter.
Another stabbing was thwarted at the Pharmacy Checkpoint in Hevron when alert Border Guards captured a Palestinian terrorist armed with a knife.
Along the Gaza border:
It was another day of back and forth–with Palestinian terrorists launching more explosive balloons from Gaza and the IDF hitting more “targets” in Gaza.
Meanwhile in Gaza this morning:
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A Yasser Arafat lookalike staring at a placard with a swastika on the US and Israeli flags, and in the lower photo pointing a gun at the head of President Trump (Palestinian photo source on photo).
A day of rage and boycott . . .
Addicted as it is to violence, the PLO has called for a “day of rage” in Judea and Samaria to “protest” the Trump Peace Deal. In response, IDF troops have begun streaming into the area this morning.
In addition, the PLO is now adding American goods to Israeli goods as items that should be boycotted by Palestinians.
Ma’ale Adumim? . . .
The latest reports from PM Netanyahu are that Netanyahu will not push for annexation of the Jordan Valley and the Jewish communities in Judea after all even after continuously promising to do so in the past three weeks.
Instead, his new object of annexation is apparently Ma’ale Adumim.
TODAY’S BLOG:
The Naama Saga Finally Comes To An End
Naama Issachar in her IDF days.
All of Israel has been engrossed in the case of Naama Issachar for the last four months.
Naama is a 25-year-old dual Israeli-American citizen. She moved to Israel and enlisted in the IDF serving as a military intelligence officer. When she finished her service last year, she–as so many other IDF veterans– went on a three month backpacking trip through India.
On her way back to Tel Aviv in April, she was arrested by Russian police after they claimed they found 9.2 grams of cannabis in her backpack. She denied putting it in her backpack and claimed no knowledge about it.
Not coincidentally, she was arrested at precisely the same time that the Russians were demanding the release of Aleksey Burkov–a cyber hacker held in Israel whose extradition was sought by the U.S. Russian officials let it be known that Issachar would be released if Burkov was.
However, Israel refused to release Burkov to Russia (Burkov pleaded guilty in the U.S. three days ago to running a website that facilitated more than $20 million dollars in credit card fraud).
In the meantime, Naama was charged with drug possession and later with drug smuggling. On October 11, she was convicted and sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison.
Since then there has been nonstop Israeli news coverage of her plight replete with demonstrations throughout Israel on her behalf. Naama’s mother has even traveled to Moscow to plead for her release. At the same time, Israel has made various concessions to Russia including the release of two Syrian prisoners and the transfer of title to a piece of Russian property in Jerusalem.
This morning, Naama’s request for a pardon has been approved, and she is expected to be released shortly.
It is way past time to bring this bizarre episode to an end.
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.