Yom Shishee
Friday
27 Elul 5782
September 23 2022
The Video of the Day
The Absurd Tweet of the Day
“I welcome Lapid’s brave statement at the UN General Assembly: ‘An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples,’ is the right thing for Israel’s security, Israel’s economy and the future of our children.’ I couldn’t agree more.”
President Joe Biden responding to the speech of PM Yair Lapid at the United Nations yesterday–-a “brave” speech that the minions of his Administration probably dictated to Lapid.
The Friday Corona Update
1,196 Israelis tested positive yesterday (out of 12,155 tested).
The positive test rate was 9.84%; the coefficient of infection was 1.06%.
92 Israelis are seriously ill; 37 are critically ill—32 of these are on ventilators.
11,687 have died–11 since last Friday.
A dramatic drop in daily deaths accompanied by a significant increase in seriously and critically ill: a strange mixture of statistics that has led the government to begin to roll out a new vaccination campaign next week. However, the likelihood of that campaign gaining any traction among the populace is slim to none.
The Friday Poll (compared to last week)
A number of new polls are out this morning–with some significant differences between them. For example, one poll has Otzma taking 14 seats while another poll has Otzma with only 12. Similarly Benny Gantz’s “State Camp” party ranges from 13 down to 11.
This poll is from Channel 12 (which traditionally leans to the “left”):
32 (-1): Likud (Netanyahu)
25 (+2): Yesh Atid (Lapid)
14 (+2): Otzma (Ben Gvir)+National Zionism+ Noam
11 (-1): Kahol Levan/New Hope–renamed “State Camp (Gantz/Saar/Eizenkot)
8 (unchanged): Shas (Sephardic Orthodox)
7 (unchanged): United Torah Judaism (Ashkenazi Orthodox)
5 (-1): Yisrael Beiteinu (Liberman)
5 (-1) : Labor (Michaeli)
5 (unchanged): Meretz (Gal-On)
4 (unchanged): Hadash Tal and the Joint Arab List
4 (unchanged): Ra’am Islamic Party (Abbas)
The summary: this poll gives the Netanyahu bloc 61 seats primarily on the growing strength of Otzma. The Lapid block comes in with 55; Yesh Atid strengthens but Yisrael Beiteinu and Labor weaken.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terrorists run rampant in the last 24 hours . . .
A Palestinian terrorist ran over a policeman near the Tamra Junction on Road 70. The policeman is currently in Rambam Hospital in Haifa in moderate condition. The terrorist was “neutralized”:
The dead terrorist–he was shot in the face.
A Palestinian terrorist ran over an IDF soldier near Hawara. The soldier was moderately wounded; the terrorist was killed:
The car that rammed in Hawara. The dead terrorist is still in the car.
Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis near the Shilot Junction. They attempted to drag a husband and wife out of their car and stab them. The terrorist was killed. By the way, the terrorist had already been arrested earlier in the week and released by the Israeli police.
Palestinian terrorists using IEDs, Molotovs, and “rocks” tried to murder Israeli men, women, and children on Road 55 near the Azzun Junction, near Gitti Avishar, at the Halhul Mizrah Junction, beside Luban a-Sharqiya, and near Tekoa among dozens of locations.
Palestinian terrorists attacked Israeli buses on the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road and near Shavei Shomron.
A Palestinian terrorist attempted to infiltrate Shavei Shomron but was stopped by an alert security guard.
Palestinian terrorists carried out an attack near Modi’in. Eight Israelis were wounded. One terrorist was killed; the other escaped.
Much of the above terrorism occurred after PM Lapid made his “Palestinian state” speech in the U.N. yesterday.
A further update on the barbaric murder in Holon . . .
It turns out that the terrorist who gruesomely beat 84-year-old Shulamit Ovadia to death had already been classified as mentally ill by the PLO Ministry of Health which recommended that he be committed to a psychiatric hospital.
However, believe it or not, Israel does not limit entry to Palestinians who are classified as mentally ill–and so the terrorist waltzed into Israel.
Unbelievable.
Speaking of unbelievable . . .
What did “Defense” Minister Benny Gantz order this morning after all the terrorism yesterday?
He ordered that 1,500 more Palestinians from Gaza be admitted into Israel.
Incredible.
The most popular baby names in Israel this past year . . .
The most popular female names with the number of children so-named: Abigail 993, Miriam 970, Tamar 943, Yael 797, Noa 740, Sarah 739, Mia 733, Adel 727, Hila 657, Leah 655.
The most popular male names with the number of children so-named: Muhammad 1949, Adam 1364, Yosef 1294, David 1119, Ariel 1053, Omar 1039, Levi 864, Daniel 828, Raphael 779, Uri 774.
TODAY’S BLOG
What Lapid Did Not Say In His U.N. Speech
PM Yair Lapid speaking at the U.N. yesterday.
Your humble servant doesn’t want to say I told you so but I told you so.
The problem with PM Yair Lapid’s address to the United Nations yesterday was not what he said, but what he did not say.
We all knew in advance that Lapid would call for a Palestinian state if Israel receives appropriate security guarantees. What we did not know was what specific security guarantees he would demand.
In fact, he demanded none. Zero. Zilch.
Think back to then PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2009 Bar Ilan speech. He called for a Palestinian state if and only if:
1. The Palestinians recognize Israel as “the national homeland of the Jewish people” thereby negating their claim to a right of return for some 5,000,000 so-called Palestinian “refugees.”
2. Every “area in Palestinian hands” is “demilitarized”. As Netanyahu observed: “Without this condition, there is a real fear that there will be an armed Palestinian state which will become a terrorist base against Israel, as happened in Gaza. We do not want missiles on Petah Tikva, or Grads on the Ben-Gurion international airport.”
3. Israel has “defensible borders . . . with Jerusalem remaining the united capital of Israel.” By defensible borders, Netanyahu signaled that Israel would never return to the 1949 Armistice Lines (aka the June 4 1967 lines).
4. Residents in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are “able to live normal lives.” As Netanyahu said his speech: “The settlers are not enemies of peace. They are our brothers and sisters.”
As aforestated, Lapid’s speech mentioned none of these specifics–and in fact no specifics whatsoever.
Not only that, but in calling for a Palestinian state, Lapid brazenly stated: ” . . . today a large majority of Israelis support the vision of this two state solution.”
Polls this morning in Israel show that nothing could be further from the truth.
Not only do most Israelis reject the idea of a Palestinian state, a significant number of Lapid’s own party reject it as well.
One final word. We already see what the Lapid-Bennett-Gantz Coalition government has done over the last 16 months.
It is overtly trying to redraw the boundaries of Israel by moving Palestinians into Area C and trying to erase Jewish communities established there. It throws Jewish community members under the bus at every opportunity and has in effect labeled them “the enemy.”
There is every reason to believe that a Lapid-led government will divide Jerusalem; after all, Benny Gantz said there was room for two capitals in Jerusalem.
In these 16 months, not one syllable has been spoken about Israel being a Jewish state while at the same more and more Palestinians are poured into Israel everyday.
There is no doubt about who Lapid is and what policies he will pursue–because he is already pursuing them.
Shabbat Shalom!
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.