Yom Shnee
Monday
16 Elul 5782
September 12 2022
The Ludicrous Statement of the Day
From the Prime Minister’s Office
As you know from yesterday’s blog, PM Lapid is on another junket to Berlin today. Why he went has now been revealed in this statement from his office:
“We told them [the Germans] that the Palestinians need to do more in the war on terror. The Palestinian Authority cannot say it’s none of my business. . . We asked the Germans to convey this message to the Palestinian Authority. The Germans have projects in the Palestinian Authority and perhaps they will listen to them.”
Let’s try and get this straight.
Because the Germans have have financed dozens of illegal projects in Area C of Judea and Samaria, PM Lapid now goes to Germany to get the Germans to convey the message to the PLO that it should stop terrorism in Judea and Samaria.
Just unbelievable.
And more unbelievable is the fact that Israel cannot convey this message itself given the fact that Lapid and “Defense” Minister Gantz have warmly embraced PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas–even to the point of Gantz inviting Abbas to Gantz’s home in Israel.
Lapid and Gantz can hand over concession after concession to the Abbas, but they can’t tell Abbas to stop terror. They have to have the Germans do it–just as they have to convey messages to the Palestinian terrorists in Gaza via the Egyptians.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
Beit Dejan, Itamar, Elon Moreh, Al Aruv, Magdalen, Road 465, the Hosan Bypass, El-Moyyair, Al-Khader, the Beitar Junction, Barrier 160 on the Hevron Road, Ofra, Kiryat Arba, the Beit Horon Bridge (female IDF soldier wounded), Tapuach, and Avitar.
What do these places have in common? They were all places where Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis with IEDs, Molotovs, and “rocks” yesterday.
A Corona update . . .
We are only giving complete Corona updates each Friday; however, we had news from the Health Ministry today that the coefficient of infection has increased to 1.05–a sign that the virus is once again beginning to spread rapidly.
Israel’s Wealth Fund . . .
As you may or may not know, Israel created a Wealth Fund some time ago which primarily consists of funds generated by our offshore natural gas wells.
After only three months in full operation, the Wealth Fund already contains some 2,000,000,000 (billion) shekels.
This is excellent news.
Mortgage applications drop 30% . . .
Israel may have a Wealth Fund, but young couples cannot afford to buy an apartment.
With the recent rise in interest rates, the number of new mortgages in August dropped by 30% from the number in August of last year.
The battle over orthodox education . . .
In a statement designed to win him votes among Israel’s ultra-orthodox population, former PM Netanyahu said that ultra-orthodox schools should receive government subsidies even if they do not require basic core subjects to be taught.
To which Alternate PM Bennett replied in a Facebook post:
“Transferring huge budgets to schools that refuse to teach English and math will create a whole generation of young people without job skills and a livelihood. This is a move that endangers the future of the State of Israel.
It’s just not fair.
Not only is it not fair for the ultra-Orthodox young people who have been condemned by politicians to be ignorant and who will meet the world without the ability to support themselves and their families [but also] it is unfair for the rest of Israel’s citizens who will have to bear an increasing tax burden, to enable this lifestyle . . .
Our goal is to make it easier for ultra-Orthodox youth to find a respectable livelihood, while maintaining their religious identity. The way is to increase math, English and science studies, not to stop them.”
We have often criticized Bennett here at OneIsrael, but on this subject, he is exactly correct. If the ultra-orthodox schools are going to take financial subsidies, they should be required to include core subjects in their curriculum.
TODAY’S BLOG
Asleep At The Wheel
“Defense” Minister Benny Gantz gave a speech at the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York yesterday (a speech he could have more easily and cheaply given by zoom from his office in Jerusalem). The speech outlined the current situation in Syria and Iran.
Ironically, in making the speech, he showed just how asleep at the wheel he and our government have been for the last 16 months since they took power in June of last year.
He began by showing a map of more than ten locations in Syria which are used by Iran to manufacture advanced weapons for its proxy militias from Hezbollah in Lebanon to the Houthi in Yemen:
The location of advanced weapons facilities in Syria. The two insets are locations that have been recently attacked by Israel.
Insofar as in Iran proper, Gantz said that Iran has increased its use of advanced centrifuges and has moved many of them underground.
He went on to say that Israeli intel believes that Iran has enough material to make three nuclear bombs within two weeks.
3 nuclear bombs in 2 weeks.
He went on to say that in the absence of a nuclear agreement, the only alternative is to destroy the centrifuges.
The simple fact is that the situation in Iran and Syria has markedly worsened since Bennett, Lapid, and Gantz have been in power to the point that we are now left with few alternatives.
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.