Yom Rishon
Sunday
7 Shevat 5782
January 9, 2022
Beautiful Israel: Photos of the Day
An estimated 150,000 Israelis were out and about in nature yesterday. Here are some of the photographs that people took:
Over Kibbutz Be’eri in the south (the area is staging a recovery after the fires started by balloons launched from Gaza in the last few years):
This photo was taken by a person on motorized hang glider.
At Mitzpe Eitan:
In the north along the Lebanese border: that’s the Mediterranean Sea on the horizon.
Sunset over Dalyiat Carmel:
Dalyiat Carmel is one of your humble servant’s favorite places; it’s a wonderful Druze town in the north central part of Israel.
And another one from here in Ashdod:
A solitary surfer watches the sun go down.
The News on the Israeli Street
The daily Corona update . . .
18,780 Israelis (30,000+ over the Friday and Saturday weekend) were confirmed yesterday bringing to 106,107 the number of active cases in the country. 172 are in serious condition, with another 49 in critical condition on ventilators.
8,259 have died.
Talk about throwing in the towel and striving for a herd immunity: the Health Ministry has just announced that doctors who have Corona without symptoms may continue working in hospitals.
Why anyone relies on antigen tests anymore is baffling. Following the report a few days ago that 30% of the tests gave false negatives to Israelis who took them, comes another report which states that 50% of IDF soldiers who took the tests also had false negatives. Nevertheless, people are still waiting in lines to take them:
Stretching as far as you can see: the antigen testing line in the underground garage at the Big Fashion Mall here in Ashdod today.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Be Prepared For A Surprise: Fill In The Blanks
An interesting story came over the wires yesterday. Why don’t you fill in the blanks?
French members of Amnesty International holding placards in support of Ramy Shaath (AP Photo/Lewis Joly).
Headline: _____ deports son of prominent Palestinian politician
Sub-headline: Ramy Shaath travels to France after 2.5 years in detention
_____ authorities have deported _____-Palestinian rights activist Ramy Shaath after forcing him to renounce his _____ nationality.
Ramy Shaath, son of Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, was released Thursday and then deported.
A family statement said on Saturday that Shaath–a member of several secular political groups in _____ and a co-founder of _____ pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement – was released on Thursday evening and handed to a representative of the Palestinian Authority in _____ before being flown to Jordan.
He is now on his way to France, it added.
Shaath’s French wife Celine Lebrun Shaath, who was deported from _____ following his arrest, had lobbied the French government to pressure _____ to release him.
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There was no immediate comment from _____ authorities on his release.
“If we are glad that the _____ authorities heard our call for freedom, we regret that they forced Ramy to renounce his _____ citizenship as a precondition for his release that should have been unconditional,” the family statement said.
Shaath was arrested in _____ in June 2019 and held in pre-trial detention alongside other activists on accusations of aiding a “terrorist” group.
His detention came amid a continuing crackdown on political dissent under ______ that has swept up liberal critics as well as the Muslim Brotherhood members whose removal ______ led in 2013.
_____ and his supporters have said there are no political prisoners in _____ .
In a statement last month, several NGOs questioned President _____ on the fate of Shaath, a year after the French leader said he had brought up his case with _____.
As Shaath landed in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron in a tweet welcomed the decision to release him, saying he was “relieved” and thanking those who contributed.
—
Your humble servant can well imagine that most people would have filled in the blanks along these lines at the start of the article:
Headline: Israel deports son of prominent Palestinian politician
Sub-headline: Ramy Shaath travels to France after 2.5 years in detention
Israeli authorities have deported Israeli-Palestinian rights activist Ramy Shaath after forcing him to renounce his Israeli nationality.
Ramy Shaath, son of Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, was released Thursday and then deported.
And already the world would have been screaming about the Israeli apartheid and injustice.
But this was not the content of the article. The blanks should have been correctly filled in as follows:
Headline: Egypt deports son of prominent Palestinian politician
Sub-headline: Ramy Shaath travels to France after 2.5 years in detention
Egyptian authorities have deported Egyptian-Palestinian rights activist Ramy Shaath after forcing him to renounce his Egyptian nationality.
Ramy Shaath, son of Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, was released Thursday and then deported after he served two and a half years of pre-trial detention.
A family statement said on Saturday that Shaath – a member of several secular political groups in Egypt and a co-founder of Egypt’s pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement – was released on Thursday evening and handed to a representative of the Palestinian Authority in Cairo before being flown to Jordan.
He is now on his way to France, it added.
Shaath’s French wife Celine Lebrun Shaath, who was deported from Egypt following his arrest, had lobbied the French government to pressure Egypt to release him.
There was no immediate comment from Egyptian authorities on his release.
“If we are glad that the Egyptian authorities heard our call for freedom, we regret that they forced Ramy to renounce his Egyptian citizenship as a precondition for his release that should have been unconditional,” the family statement said.
Shaath was arrested in Egypt in June 2019 and held in pre-trial detention alongside other activists on accusations of aiding a “terrorist” group.
His detention came amid a continuing crackdown on political dissent under Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi that has swept up liberal critics as well as the Muslim Brotherhood members whose removal el-Sisi led in 2013.
El-Sisi and his supporters have said there are no political prisoners in Egypt.
In a statement last month, several NGOs questioned President Emmanuel Macron on the fate of Shaath, a year after the French leader said he had brought up his case with el-Sisi.
As Shaath landed in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron in a tweet welcomed the decision to release him, saying he was “relieved” and thanking those who contributed.
Yes, it was Egypt who held the Palestinian Shaath in detention for two and a half years for various offenses including being the local head of the Egyptian BDS chapter, and Egypt that deported him.
And it is the virtually the entire world that has said nothing about the deportation.
But what if it had been 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.