Yom Chamishee
Thursday
11 Shvat 5783
February 2 2023
2 Photos and 2 Videos of the Day
A fierce winter storm continues to pound Israel. Here in Ashdod we have seen wind gusts up to 75 mph with torrential rain for two straight days. There is heavy snow on Mt. Hermon (click here to see video), and flooding in many locations. Here are two photos and a video from around the country:
The scene all over Israel as the wind blows down trees, electrical lines, and fences. This photo is from Ra’anana where the tree blew down on the freeway.
The rain and wind has been accompanied by intense lightning and thunder:
A lightning strike in Rishon LeZion last night.
A day ago, Nahal Sa’ar in the northern Golan Heights was basically a dry river bed. Click here to see what has happened overnight.
The News on the Israeli Street and Today’s Blog
The war in southern Israel, Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem.
Missile fire from Palestinian terrorists in Gaza:
4 barrages of missiles have been fired at southern Israel in the last 12 hours beginning with this targeting at 5:25 pm yesterday:
The target was Sderot.
Subsequent attacks targeted Sderot again (2:38 am), Beri (2:48 am), and Kfar Gaza (3:32 pm).
Reports from residents on the ground indicate that at least 11 missiles exploded in the area. The IDF reports that an incoming missile was intercepted by the Iron Dome over Beri. For a number of the missiles, there was no warning siren.
Some of the warning sirens that did sound were in response to shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles fired at our airplanes.
In response, the IAF hit more empty Hamas buildings and empty training areas (aka sand dunes). No terrorists are ever killed or wounded in these attacks because the IDF warns Hamas in advance about where we are going to target.
Why were missiles fired? Apparently it was in response to Minister of National Security Ben Gvir’s hardening living conditions for Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli prisons. Two days ago, he ordered all television sets removed from the prisoners’ cells.
By the way, the first attack at Sderot 5:25 pm yesterday afternoon occurred in the middle of a memorial service for Ella Abouxis, a resident of the city who was killed by Qassam 18 years ago.
Shooting attacks.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on our troops in Shechem.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire at an IDF outpost near Jenin.
IED, Molotov, and “rock” attacks.
Palestinian terrorists attacked near Al-Aruv, Hawara, west of Beit Horon, at Tekoa, Luban a-Sharqiya, at several places along the Jerusalem-Gush Etzion highway, and at numerous other locations.
Another Palestinian terror victim . . .
May his memory always be for a blessing.
75-year-old Shimon Ma’atuf died yesterday, 9 months after he was axed in the head and body by terrorists at the entrance to Elad. Three other Israelis were killed in the attack.
He leaves behind his wife, six children, and 13 grandchildren.
The terrorists were captured shortly after the attack and are awaiting trial.
In response to the continuing wave of terror . . .
Minister of National Security Ben Gvir is following through on his campaign promise to speed up the ability of Israelis to obtain weapons.
Yesterday, he doubled the number of workers involved in interviewing those who are applying for gun licenses and increased the number of hours per day that the department is open. There is a backlog of 17,000 applications.
In addition he canceled the necessity of having an interview for members of the security forces, for those who are officers in the army, police, Shin Bet, fire brigade, Shin Bet, Mossad, and MGB.
Your humble servant’s question is why were they required to have an interview in the first place?
A new embassy in Israel . . .
PM Netanyahu shaking hands with Chad’s President Mahamet Deby.
Today, Chad is opening an embassy in Ramat Gan. In case you are unfamiliar with this integrally located landlocked country in the center of Africa, it is bordered by Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Libya, and Sudan.
Predominantly Muslim (55%), it has a land area of 1,284,000 km2 (496,000 sq mi) making it the 20th largest country in the world, and has a population of nearly 18,000,000 people.
We at OneIsrael welcome Chad to 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.