Yom Shnee
Monday
26 Tammuz 5782
July 25 2022
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Quote of the Day
“This is our way, to sacrifice for the homeland. He is now in heaven with the martyrs.”
PLO Chairman and arch-terrorist Mahmoud Abbas on the phone yesterday with the father of one of the terrorists who was killed yesterday in Shechem.
Doesn’t this statement say it all? The Palestinian way is death–especially death while killing or try to kill Israelis. This “martyrdom” is the surest Palestinian path to heaven.
Blurry Photo of the Day
An Israeli naval vessel (left), a Palestinian “fishing” boat on fire and smoking (right).
The “fishing” boat was loaded with anti-tank missiles being smuggled to Hamas from Egypt. Unfortunately, all the terrorists on board escaped by jumping ship and swimming to shore.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
Palestinian terrorists attacked motorists near Na’ala, between Ariel and the Gitti Junction, and at numerous places along the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road, and the Jerusalem-Gush Etzion Road.
A Palestinian terrorist attempted to stab a couple and a soldier at the Tapuach Junction but was disarmed and taken into custody.
Today’s Corona update . . .
2,878 Israelis tested positive yesterday (out of 9,333 tested) bringing to 69,415 the number of active patients in the country.
The positive test rate was 30.84%; the coefficient of infection was 0.81%.
385 Israelis are seriously ill; 108 are critically ill—100 of these are on ventilators.
11,291 have died–16 since yesterday.
Fewer than 10,000 tested but a positive test rate over 30%; double digit deaths again.
This does not bode well . . .
The number of young Israeli men dodging military service is increasing.
2,400 18-year-olds did not show up to recruiting stations on their appointed day in 2020.
It turns out that last year that number increased to 3,100.
Hot and hotter . . .
Just like in most other places, the temperatures are soaring here in Israel.
Here is the meteorological forecast for today from Israel Weather:
Clear weather – partly cloudy. The temperatures are unchanged and it will be hotter than usual. Forecast high temperatures are: Jerusalem 31 (88 F) Tel Aviv 31 (88 F), Haifa 30 (86 F) Beer Sheva 36 (97 F), Tzfat 30 (86 F), Tiberias 39 (102 F), Eilat 42 (107.6 F).
Prospectus for the next few days: hotter than usual. On Thursday, another increase in temperatures is expected and a heat wave will develop in our region.
A heat wave will develop in our region? There is a permanent heat wave here. “Usual” means “unusually hot.”
TODAY’S BLOG
A Futile Effort To Thwart The Black Market?
As anyone who lives in Israel knows, when you hire a self-employed plumber, electrician, or handyman of any sort, you need to pay that person in cash. Sometimes, you get a receipt for the payment, but often you do not.
Everyone realizes that the payment will most likely go straight into the person’s pocket and not be reported to the Israeli tax employees. Just this morning, your humble servant hired our “go-to” handyman to move and rewire an air-conditioning unit in our house. I paid him 500 shekels for his work.
It went straight into his pocket, and I received no receipt.
In one week, a new Israeli law will go into effect. Named “The Law for Reducing Cash”, it will reduce the allowable amount to pay someone in cash for a service from 11,000 shekels to 6,000 shekels. Obviously, the intent of the law is to force independent contractors to report their earnings to the Israel Tax Authority.
However, the new law may be doomed to fail.
In the first place, there would seem to be numerous ways that a contractor could receive more than 6,000 shekels
In the second place, there are numerous exceptions such as:
*up to 50,000 shekels in cash can change hands when purchasing a car from someone.
*gemachim loans: interest free loans that comply with the halachic proscription on charging interest (one can easily imagine an orthodox handyman receiving payment for his services in the form of a “loan” that will never be repaid).
*up to 50,000 shekels in payment for services to a Palestinian living in Judea, Samaria, or Gaza (and whom do you think does much of the plumbing, electrical, handyman, and construction work in Israel?)
And on and on.
Israel is and has always been a country where the black market thrives, and one doubts that any amount of governmental regulation will change that.
One final note: as you may have noted, the 500 shekels I paid our handyman this morning will not be subject to the law.
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.