Wednesday
3 Cheshvan
21 October 2020
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
On the Gaza border:
Nahal Oz and Sa’ad: the two targets of Palestinian terrorist missiles last night.
**Once again last night, Israelis living along the Gaza border were targeted by missiles fired from Gaza. At 8:56 pm, about 4 minutes earlier than the usual 9:00 pm launch time, Israeli children, women, and men in Nahal Oz, Sa’ad, and Kfar Aza were sent running to their bomb shelters by screeching “incoming missile” sirens.
As you know, they only had 1 second to frantically get to those bomb shelters.
Apparently two missiles were fired, and one was intercepted by the Iron Dome. The other exploded in an “open space.” No Israelis were physically wounded, but who knows how many people suffered from trauma and will suffer from PTSD?
Unlike with the last missile attack 5 days ago, the IDF responded this time–if only to “attack” two empty sheds and “underground infrastructure.”
**Speaking of underground infrastructure, the IDF announced yesterday that yet another Hamas tunnel was uncovered leading to Israel–this one near Khan Younis.
The IDF attributed its discovery to the new technological equipment that has been installed along the new underground barrier.
**Insofar as that barrier is concerned, the IDF backtracked. Whereas, the IDF spokesman announced last week that the barrier was virtually complete, a revised announcement was issued yesterday saying it would not be complete until March of next year.
By the way, do you remember then IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz’s announcement back in 2015 that all of Hamas’ tunnels had been discovered. That was a joke then and it is a joke now. Who knows how many more tunnels await discovery?
In Judea and Samaria:
**It was another day and night of endless “rock” and Molotov attacks on residents of the Jewish communities in Area C.
Attacks took place near Hawara, Tekoa, Luban A-Sharqiya, near Adorim, and on the roads of Gush Etzion to name a few locations.
**Meanwhile, in another extraordinarily futile action, the IDF “sealed the room” in the house belonging to the terrorist who murdered IDF soldier Amit Ben Yigal. They did this after the Supreme Court refused to allow the home to be razed.
At least the IDF soldiers derived some satisfaction in doing something against the murderer of their fellow soldier.
Who is kidding whom? What was sealed last night will be unsealed this morning. Besides that, one room in a 15 room house all of which belonged to the terrorist?
Utter futility.
The daily Corona (Covid-19) update . . .
There are 306,162 confirmed cases—an increase of 1,286
282,505 of these confirmed cases have recovered—an increase of 4,111
614 are in critical condition—a decrease of 20
234 of the most critically ill are on ventilators—a decrease of 5
2,278 have died–an increase of 15
There are now 23,657 active Corona cases in Israel (that we know about; undoubtedly there are many people who have Corona who have not been tested).
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The numbers all look better this morning though one wonders just how we are all being manipulated by a government and Health Ministry determined to end the current lockdown.
No Israeli cities are classified as “red” anymore, though the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood in Jerusalem is still under lockdown.
The billions of dollars that never materialized . . .
You will remember the numerous occasions on which Israeli officials crowed about how the discovery of natural gas off the coast of Israel was going to bring financial independence to the country.
Billions of dollars would ameliorate social problems, build infrastructure, provide housing, and pretty much do everything under the sun.
All of that money was supposed to flow into a newly created “Wealth Fund”.
Guess how much money has actually flowed in after two years of natural gas pumping in the Mediterranean?
Not 1 shekel.
Nothing, nada, zilch.
Where has the money gone? Apparently straight into the pockets of the companies extracting the gas.
To make matters worse, Chevron (as we reported previously) is now demanding that Israelis pay more for natural gas coming from our own reserves. And as for those reserves, they appear to hold much less gas than originally estimated.
A new calculation yesterday from government officials suggests that Israeli revenues from the gas will be as much as 70% less than predicted–and it may be several years before the Wealth Fund receives funds.
Totally unbelievable.
TODAY’S BLOG:
The UAE Begins To Change The Face Of Israel
Talk about a whirlwind of activity: the UAE has wasted no time in becoming totally “engaged” with Israel. Consider:
The first UAE cargo ship docked in the port of Haifa three days ago.
The first UAE Etihad passenger plane landed at Ben Gurion two days ago.
Yesterday, the UAE officially requested that it be able to open an Embassy in Israel (unfortunately in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem).
Yesterday, it was announced that a preliminary deal has been made to transport UAE oil to Europe via a pipeline to be built from Eilat to Ashdod.
Yesterday, it was announced that Emiratis coming to Israel–and Israelis traveling to the UAE–would not require a visa. It was also announced that there will be 21 weekly flights back and forth between Israel and the UAE.
Yesterday, a $3 billion dollar “Abraham Investment Fund” funded by the UAE, Israel, and the U.S. has been established to promote projects in North Africa and the Middle East.
Lest you think that all of the developments are good or at least benign:
Yesterday, Israel agreed–at UAE insistence–that we “modernize” all of the checkpoints between Israel and Areas A and B of Judea and Samaria, and modernize the checkpoints between Jordan and Israel. Of course, “modernize” means “make them easier for Palestinians to pass through.” This will undoubtedly result in more terrorism against Israeli citizens.
Yesterday, Arab sources reported that Emirati investors were busily buying up large swaths of Eastern Jerusalem. As your humble servant suggested when the Agreement with the UAE was first signed, one result will be the increasing Islamization of Jerusalem.
The bottom line from all of the above is that the UAE is wasting no time changing the face of Israel.
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.