Yom Chamishee
Thursday
2 Av 5783
July 20 2023
The Photo of the Day
Tens of thousands of “protesters” marching from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem yesterday in a highly publicized march. Do you notice anything wrong with this photo?
Described as “historic” by the anarchist organizers, the 5-day march is scheduled to end on Saturday. Chanting “de-mo-cracy”, the marchers set out to Ben Shemen, their first stop.
Back to the photo. Did you notice anything amiss?
It is fake, and a bad fake at that.
There were not tens of thousands of “protesters”–but maybe a hundred.
Leftist “advertiser” Ilan Shiloh photoshopped it to inflate the numbers.
The News on the Israeli Street
The war in Judea and Samaria.
Shooting attacks:
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on IDF soldiers and worshipers at Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem this morning.
Stabbing thwarted:
A knife-armed Palestinian terrorist was captured in the Givat Havot neighborhood of Kiryat Arba beside Hevron this morning. When interrogated he said he was there “to kill Jews.”
IED, Molotov, and “rock” attacks:
Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis at Batir, Beit Fajer, near Tapuach, in the vicinity of Tekoa, in and around Hevron, Al-Khader, Savakhra, at Luban al-Sharqiya, and at a dozen other locations in Gush Etzion.
Another IDF fiasco on the northern border this morning . . .
In an outrageous breach of security, IDF Chief of Staff Halevi along with members of this staff and other soldiers stood in plain view of Hezbollah snipers along the border. Hezbollah laughingly published this video showing how easy it would have been to kill them.
On to the Knesset . . .
After a raucous Committee meeting in which Opposition Committee members went literally crazy jumping out of their seats and running up screaming at Chairman Simcha Rothman, the Constitution and Law Committee by a party line vote of 9-7 has moved the “Reasonability Amendment to the Basic Law” on to the Knesset where a vote is expected on Sunday evening or Monday.
The battle over what was said continues . . .
As we reported yesterday, barely six hours passed yesterday from the time of the Biden-Netanyahu phone call until both sides were disagreeing about what was said. To clarify what he told PM Netanyahu, Biden summoned the abominable New York Times reporter Thomas Friedman to the White House to give him his version.
According to this new Biden to Friedman narrative, Biden ordered Netanyahu to stop the judicial reform legislation immediately.
More than this, Biden let Friedman know that he was greatly disturbed that Netanyahu’s office characterized the conversation differently, and especially that Netanyahu said that he would try to forge a broad consensus (the new catchphrase) in the summer recess, not immediately.
The absolute chutzpah of Biden and his minions is nauseating.
Illegal Palestinian construction run amok . . .
According to testimony in the Knesset yesterday, while we had the pathetic Bennett-Lapid-Gantz government last year, more than 1,600 new illegal Palestinian buildings were identified as having been built in Area C of Judea and Samaria–an area under complete Israeli control.
According to the head of the Civil Administration, Lt. Col. Adam Avidan, 550 of those buildings were destroyed.
All told there are still an estimated 8000 illegal buildings in Area C.
No reason was give as to why all of the illegal buildings have not been razed.
The IDF has gone nuts . . .
You may have missed it dear reader, but during the recent Jenin operation, a video appeared in which three uniformed Israeli-Arab IDF soldiers praised the terrorists in Jenin and wished them the best.
Yes, you read that correctly.
They were subsequently arrested and put in a military detention facility for 30 days.
Yesterday, they were released and returned to their IDF training course–driving heavy trucks.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Instead of being summarily kicked out of the IDF, they have been reinstated. One wonders what will happen in the next war when they are called on to transport heavy machinery such as tanks?
TODAY’S BLOG:
Whatever Happened To Our Self-Respect?
The Visa Exemption To The U.S.
Sure, Israelis love to travel, and they love to travel to the United States, and sure, it would be much easier for Israelis to do so if they had a visa exemption to enter the U.S. like the citizens of some 40 other countries.
But is it really worth the cost?
Your humble servant thinks not.
You may remember that the visa approval process has now been dragging on for years. You may even remember back when Ayelet Shaked was Justice Minister that she informed us that the exemption would soon be made available to Israelis.
That was years ago.
In the intervening years, the U.S. has put up all sorts of roadblocks including the privacy-invading demand of a database of Israeli citizens.
Since the arrival of the Biden Administration two years ago, the roadblocks have all been about the Palestinians.
Yesterday, it was announced that Israel’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program now hinges on a month long probation period. American observers will be sent to Israel to confirm that Israel is allowing “freedom of movement” to U.S. citizens of Palestinian origin who are “West Bank” residents.
The observers will be based at Ben Gurion Airport and at all border crossings between Israel, Jordan, and Egypt–and between “the West Bank” and Gaza and Israel.
According to State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller, the Biden Administration wants to “ensure equal treatment for all U.S. citizen travellers without regard to national origin, religion or ethnicity.”
Following the probationary period, the U.S. now promises it will make a decision by September 30 on whether to admit Israel to the Visa Exemption Program. If approved, Israelis may get the exemption by October.
Did you get all that?
Unbelievable.
All for a lousy visa exemption.
No longer is our word good enough. We must submit to having American officials judging “how we are doing.” Next, we will need to have American officials monitoring our elections, our Knesset, and every other facet of our lives.
What’s worse of course is that who knows how many Palestinian terrorists will now walk willy-nilly into Israel under the guise of being American tourists? Even more, Israel has apparently pledged to not stop Palestinians who are members of the BDS movement against Israel.
It is all simply intolerable, and yet we are going along with it.
Whatever happened to our self-respect?
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.