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2 Elul 5780
22 August 2020
The Tragic Quote of the Day
“Fear is always in the city, but now it is seven times greater. The last few nights we have been sleeping with the children in the bomb shelter. The children are afraid, my daughter can not be alone for a moment. This situation can not continue. We are held captive by Hamas.”
Amit Ben Ami, the resident of Sderot whose house was hit by a missile two nights ago.
What is there left to say? Pummeled by missile attacks every night; surrounded by choking, burning fires; assaulted by RPG tipped balloons: the residents of Sderot are absolutely heroic and much better than what our cowardly government deserves.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
At 9:28 pm last night while many families were still sitting at the Shabbat dinner table:
Sderot and the area immediately around it were targeted again.
It is unclear this morning how many missiles were fired and how many were intercepted. Based on the reports of residents on the ground (we never believe the IDF spokesman), it appears that 3 or 4 missiles were fired, and 1 was intercepted.
The missiles that were not intercepted exploded in “open areas”. Remember an open area can be an agricultural field or even a park within the boundaries of the town. Again, an untold number of people were undoubtedly traumatized.
In response to the missile attack, the IDF apparently targeted more “outposts” and sand dunes with tank fire. No terrorists were killed or wounded, as usual.
In the meantime, the IDF announced that it was preparing for “any scenario” including a “harsh attack” on Hamas. How many times have we been down this road before? The IDF must have hundreds of such plans lying around; why they need a new one each time there is a surge in violence only attests to General Command incompentence.
The bottom line is that everyone knows that the Netanyahu government, the Defense Ministry, and the IDF General Command will move mountains in order to not respond. As we have written repeatedly, to all of them the people who live along the border are just missile and fire fodder.
Speaking of fires, explosive balloons launched from Gaza ignited 22 more blazes yesterday. Other “balloons” with RPG shells attached exploded over a number of kibbutzes.
Two photos from yesterday’s fires at Zikim–just south of Ashkelon:
Note the hotspots in the fire.
In this photo, you can see some of the Kibbutz facilities in the background:
The fire was extinguished before it got to the kibbutz buildings.
The daily Corona (Covid-19) update as of 8 am this morning:
There are 100,716 confirmed cases—an increase of 1,117 since this time yesterday
77,785 of these confirmed cases have recovered—an increase of 3,206
390 are in critical condition–a decrease of 8
116 of the most critically ill are on ventilators—an increase of 2
809 have died–an increase of 14
There are 22,931 active cases.
As you can see from the above, Israel passed two more grim milestones yesterday.
We now have more than 100,000 people (about 1.25% of the total population) who have tested positive, and more than 800 who have died.
The number of newly confirmed positive people seems to have dropped as has the number of active cases. However, always remember that testing in Israel virtually grinds to a halt each week from Friday noon until Sunday morning.
Palestinians in Area C of Judea and Samaria . . .
Your humble servant has often written how the Netanyahu status quo in Area C consists of razing fledgling Jewish communities and ignoring illegal Palestinian building.
Yesterday, we received some updated statistics that show just how bad the situation is.
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Following the PLO’s Fayyad plan, the Palestinians have now appropriated some two hundred thousand dunams of land for “agriculture”, built more than 10,000 homes in strategic locations, and constructed around 50,000 illegal structures in Area C–most with the help of the European Union.
In short, the PLO going full speed ahead with establishing facts on the ground, and Israel is doing nothing to stop it.
The incident in Eilat . . .
All of Israel is outraged by reports of a rape that apparently occurred in Eilat several days ago. A 16-year-old girl from Ashkelon has claimed that she was gang-raped by more than 30 men.
Protests have erupted all over the country as people express their abhorrence at what happened. PM Netanyahu has called it a “crime against humanity”, President Rivlin has deplored the absence of values in those who committed the crime.
Your humble servant has hesitated to report on this because the police have yet to establish the facts beyond the information that the girl had been drinking, went to a restroom, and was subsequently attacked. Later, she returned home, contacted the police and a lawyer, and her story emerged.
Apparently, there is security camera footage from the hotel which seems to suggest that the 30 number may have been greatly exaggerated, and phone video evidence from one or more of the rapists’ phones which confirm parts of the girl’s report.
In sum, rape is a horrific crime which should be punished to the full extent of the law. Each victim of rape deserves all of our support, and in fact more than $100,000 has already been raised for her mental and physical care, but no matter how much care she receives, the horror of the rape will always remain.
We will have more on this story as it develops.
TODAY’S BLOG
The United Nations:
Bereft Of Morality And An Accomplice To Murder
In case you missed it, we had three more glaring examples of the utter vacuity and venality of the U.N. in the last two weeks.
First, the verdict was finally delivered in the tribunal that was hearing evidence in the assassination of Lebanese PM Rafik al-Hariri in 2005 (21 others were also killed).
The United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
Four Hezbollah operatives (aka terrorists) were on trial for planting the bomb that killed Hariri.
The tribunal found the main defendant guilty, and, unbelievably acquitted the other three. They also found no evidence that the Hezbollah members had any connection with Hezbollah leadership.
Yes, you read that correctly.
In fact, the verdict specifically stated:
“There is no evidence that the Hezbollah leadership had any involvement in Mr. Hariri’s murder and there is no direct evidence of Syrian involvement . . . however, the trial chamber is of the view that Syria and Hezbollah may have had motives to eliminate Mr. Hariri and his political allies”.
Say what? Does anyone really believe that Hezbollah operatives using six mobile phones for coordination and sophisticated explosives did not act on orders from the Hezbollah leadership?
The acquittal of the three terrorists and the clearing of the Hezbollah leadership were travesties of justice.
But just what you would expect from the United Nations.
Then we had the Security Council vote on continuing the Iranian sanctions. Both Russia and China–both of whom are deeply involved in business with Tehran–voted “no” thereby killing the embargo because 11 countries abstained (the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, Vietnam, Niger, St. Vincent the Grenadines, South Africa, Indonesia, Estonia and Tunisia). Only the Dominican Republic voted with the U.S. meaning the vote was 2-2-11 (9 votes would have been necessary for continuing the embargo; even if nine had been obtained, Russian and China could have cast a veto).
This vote occurred despite the fact that abundant evidence shows that the Iranians are attempting to develop nuclear bombs and the ballistic missiles to carry them more aggressively than ever. But why should the U.N. care? After all, those nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles are all meant for destroying Israel and murdering Jews.
And then we had the Security Council statements against the snapback sanctions that the U.S. triggered two days ago. 13 out of the 15 countries on the council expressed their opposition to the snapback. Those 13 countries were the same as the 11 above plus Russia and China.
Rounding out the 15, the Dominican Republic has yet to comment, and of course the U.S. is in favor.
The point is that one of the most brutal regimes in the world, one that foments terrorism on virtually every continent, now has friends everywhere–especially in the United Nations.
Not only is the United Nations largely bereft of any morality, it is a willing accomplice to Iranian and Iranian proxy terror and murder.
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.