Yom Shnee, Monday
6 Tevet 5781
December 21, 2020
Tragic Quote of the Day
“This is one of the most shocking murders I have ever seen in my life. I cannot elaborate at the moment. She was brutally murdered by a barbaric animal.”
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, commenting on the gruesome murder of Esther Horgan in the Reihan Forest Nature Reserve yesterday
See Today’s Blog below for more details.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
Aside from the horrific murder of Esther Horgan:
Palestinian terrorists threw 5 Molotovs at a police checkpoint in Hevron.
Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis at the Great Yitzhar-Huwara Junction. Two Israelis were wounded but managed to make it to the Tapuach Junction.
A follow-up to yesterday’s blog . . .
You will remember yesterday’s reportage about a Molotov attack on a Golani soldier in which the soldier did not respond because of fear of being court-martialed thereby allowing the terrorist to escape–and then how an off-duty policeman tracking the suspect was not allowed by the IDF to enter Azzun where the terrorist had fled.
It turns out that the GSS and IDF worked together last night to capture the terrorist.
But then followed a bizarre sequence of events.
First, the Division Commander, Gen. Ofer Winter, went public with a sharp criticism of the soldier for not firing his weapon.
Next, the soldier was removed from active duty as a “fighter.” In short, he was summarily dismissed. Whether he will be court-martialed is unknown at this time.
Stop for a moment and try to imagine the plight of our soldiers.
On the one hand, they know that if they use lethal force to defend themselves, they will be subject to investigation by the Military Prosecutor’s Office and likely court-martialed. On the other hand, it now appears that if they do not use lethal force to defend themselves, they risk being dismissed from military service and possibly court-martialed.
It is an insanely absurd situation.
The daily Corona (Covid-19) update . . .
Here are the numbers over the last 24 hours (from 8 am Sunday until 8 am today (Monday):
374,760 Israelis have been confirmed with the virus since the pandemic began last March.
There are 1,874 newly confirmed cases.
455 are in critical condition—an increase of 8
116 of the most critically ill are on ventilators—an increase of 3
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3,099 have died–an increase of 25
There are currently 23,555 active Corona cases in Israel.
The number of confirmed cases and active cases are slightly down (even though the positive test rate is now up to 4.1%), but the number of critically ill continues to increase. As does the number of Israelis who have died.
TODAY’S BLOG
The Gruesomely Barbaric Murder of Esther Horgan Yesterday
Esther Horgan, murdered yesterday in northern Samaria.
Esther Horgan 1968-2020
May her memory always be for a blessing.
“A precious woman, so full of kindness, always ready to help people.”
The words above were the sentiment yesterday of everyone who knew Esther Horgan, the mother of six children whose badly mutilated body was found in the Reihan Forest near her home in Tal Menashe.
Yesterday afternoon around 1 pm, Esther went for her daily jog on a path in the forest. Later in the afternoon when she did not answer her husband’s cellphone call, search teams from the community went out into the forest and found her.
Found her with her skull crushed in by repeated pounding by a rock and with other signs of violence all over her body.
And so, another Israeli, full of light and an inspiration to all, had her life snuffed out.
One cannot help but think of other Israelis who were murdered by Palestinian terrorists in the last two years alone:
Shai Ohayon, murdered by a Palestinian terrorist who stabbed him to death near Ariel three months ago on August 26, 2020.
Sgt. Amit Ben Yigal, murdered by a Palestinian terrorist who dropped a concrete block on his head from a rooftop on May 12, 2020.
Nina Ganisdanova, murdered by Palestinian terrorists who fired missiles at Ashkelon on September 17, 2019.
Rina Shnerb, murdered by Palestinians terrorists who planted an IED that blew her in half on August 23 2019.
Dvir Sorek, murdered by Palestinian terrorists who beat him to death on August 8, 2019.
Moshe Feder, murdered by Palestinian terrorists when his car was hit by an anti-tank missile on May 5, 2019.
Achiad Ettinger, murdered by Palestinians who shot him down in the road near Ariel on March 18, 2019.
Sgt, Gal Keidan, murdered by Palestinian terrorists who stabbed him to death at the Ariel Junction on March 17, 2019.
Ori Ansbacher, murdered by a Palestinian terrorist while walking in the Ein Yael Forest southwest of Jerusalem on February 7, 2019.
It is a litany of tragedy which leaves in its wake broken homes, fatherless and motherless children, and grieving parents and siblings.
Yet paradoxically, such barbaric acts as the one yesterday only serve to strengthen the resolve of Israelis and make us ever more aware of the utter evil at the core of Palestinian culture.
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.