Monday, Yom Shinee
7 Kislev 5781
November 23, 2020
The News on the Israeli Street
The “daily” Corona (Covid-19) update . . .
The following covers the last 24 hours (from 8 am yesterday until 8 am today):
There are 329,078 confirmed cases—an increase of 681
295 are in critical condition—a decrease of 20
130 of the most critically ill are on ventilators—an increase of 10
2,800 have died–an increase of 43
There are currently 8,285 active Corona cases in Israel.
You will notice that there was a sudden, dramatic spike in the number of deaths yesterday. It is almost as if all of the 20 who came off of the critical list died in addition to 23 more.
The number of deaths is particularly unusual given that there were “only” 681 new cases diagnosed and the number of active cases dropped (of course some of that drop was also caused by people dying).
The Health Ministry is now estimating that we may be looking at 2000 new cases a day by the beginning of Chanukah in several weeks.
The ongoing tank fiasco . . .
You will recall from yesterday’s blog how we described that a tank commander whose tank fired on a Hamas position after Hamas fired a missile at Ashkelon 3 nights ago is now in danger of being court-martialed for firing without permission.
This morning, the IDF slightly backed off its harsh criticism of the commander saying that the tank fired as a “result of a misunderstanding between the commanders in the communications network.”
Good grief.
As we suggested yesterday, our commanders and soldiers are being neutered into impotence (pardon the redundance). And just as disgusting is our cozying up to Hamas, pleading with it not to respond to the tank fire.
All of this inspired thousands of comments in social media yesterday from Israelis such as:
“We are afraid to defend ourselves.”
“What is the point of blaming the tank commander? So that Hamas will not be angry at us?”
“Attacking terrorists is the new red line that we must not cross.”
“It wasn’t the commander’s fault. The tank fired because lightning struck the barrel.”
“Next we will apologize and pay compensation to Hamas.”
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“The ‘crime’ is that the tank shot at Hamas terrorists and not at a sand dune like it was supposed to.”
The whole episode is just incomprehensible to all of us who revered the once-mighty IDF.
Speaking of incomprehensible . . .
Now we have more excuses for the recent missile fire from Palestinian terrorists in Gaza. No it was not because of a water leak into the hydraulic launcher nor a lightning strike on the launcher electrical board.
The reason for the missile strikes according to a Jerusalem Post “analyst” was . . . hold your breath . . . the coronavirus!
That’s right. Hamas is under pressure because of the increasing number of Corona cases and therefore sent “a missile message” that it needs aid.
By the way, the same idiotic columnist, Anna Ahronheim, suggests that every time we see an explosive balloon launched toward southern Israel, we should view it as a cry for Corona help.
Your humble servant is about to throw up.
What coalition government? . . .
The days of the current Coalition government became even more short-lived yesterday as “Associate Prime Minister” Benny Gantz announced that he is opening an investigation into PM Netanyahu over the so-called “submarine affair.”
This is the same Case 3000 “affair” that even anti-Netanyahu Attorney General Mandelblit refused to indict Netanyahu for.
Nevertheless, Gantz apparently looks at the probe as a way to bolster his Party’s sagging numbers in recent election polls.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Esther Pollard removes the electric monitor from her husband’s arm where it has been for the last 5 years. Can you imagine wearing such a monitor for so long?
Olmert’s Nauseatingly Venomous Anti-Pollard Rant
“With all due respect, I would prefer that he not move to Israel. We don’t owe him anything. He was a spy who worked for a lot of money. He was not a Zionist volunteer who came and sacrificed his life. He was an American who loved Israel and worked for a lot of money spying for Israel.
His spying was beneficial, but when taking a full account, the damage caused to Israel’s interests of revealing his involvement was the harshest in the history of US-Israel relations.
The danger of increasing this damage has not ended. If [Netanyahu] will act like he does and have a festive homecoming ceremony for Pollard, we will pay a heavy price when there will soon be a new Administration.
Welcoming Pollard will anger Biden.”
Former PM Ehud Olmert in an interview with Jerusalem Post Editor Yaakov Katz yesterday about Jonathan Pollard coming to live in Israel.
What an amazing piece of vitriol.
Pollard was a spy who worked for money? Of course he was. What spy does not work for money?
He was not a Zionist volunteer who sacrificed his life for Israel? That is exactly what he was and what he did. 30 years in prison and 5 more under harsh confinement is not sacrificing your life?
His spying was beneficial? His spying was much more than beneficial. It helped remove existential threats to Israel–and was information that should have been passed on to Israel by the U.S. as a matter of information sharing among allies.
The damage caused to Israel’s interests? Who is kidding whom–the damage was caused when Shimon Peres and cohorts refused to give Pollard refuge and then turned over evidence against him to the U.S. government.
Welcoming Pollard will anger Biden? This does not even deserve a response except to say if Israel welcoming Pollard will anger Biden, then Israel should batten down the hatches for the next four years as we live with one angry moment from Biden after another.
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.