Sunday
Yom Rishon
16 Adar 5785
March 16 2025
The Photo of the Day
The above appeared in Times Square in New York yesterday quoting PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas saying what we already know—that Mahmoud Abbas’ PLO pays to slay. The more Israelis you kill, the more money you get.
And nothing, not food, not water, not electricity, not social programs–nothing is more important to the PLO than making sure murderers of Israelis get paid.
The View from Ashdod
As we are sure that you know, there is horrible divide in Israel between the ultra orthodox population and the secular populace. In short, the ultra orthodox feel that they serve the nation by studying Torah and keeping its commandments. The secular feel that the ultra orthodox are not doing their share because they avoid military service.
In making this differentiation, it should be noted that “ultra orthodox” does not refer to all orthodox. In fact, the orthodox who are not defined as ultra orthodox–the religious Zionist orthodox–have been front and center in the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon, and a very large number of them have given their lives in defense of Israel.
The situation with the ultra orthodox continues to boil with the government passing recruitment quotas that it expects the ultra orthodox to fill in the IDF, and the ultra-orthodox for the most part evading service.
Major events have occurred recently:
First, in the last few weeks, several ultra orthodox who had received draft orders were arrested at Ben Gurion Airport as they tried to evade service by leaving the country.
Second, on March 1, Israel stopped subsidizing daycare for children of draft age ultra orthodox men between the ages of 18-27. This may seem like a minor economic problem, but when you are talking about young families who already have 5-6 children, it becomes a major hardship.
Third, last April, the government canceled stipends paid to yeshivot for married yeshiva students of theirs who evade service. At first, this shortfall for the yeshivot was covered by donations primarily from ultra-orthodox individuals and institutions in the United States. But now, almost a year later, the Israeli yeshivot are running short of funds again.
Here at OneIsrael we greatly appreciate the fact that Judaism was essentially kept alive for the last 2000 years because of the yeshivot where Torah study ensured Jewish continuity.
However, we also believe that it is absurd for the ultra orthodox to rest their laurels on those 2000 years. For at least 1300 years before that (1300 BCE), those who strictly followed the Torah were Israel’s soldiers. Moreover, as we have already mentioned, the orthodox Zionist Jews make it abundantly clear that Torah study and fighting in the IDF can go hand in hand.
In sum, we support every attempt by the government to stop ultra-orthodox evasion of the draft.
UPDATE 9:00 AM ISRAEL TIME
On the Ground in Gaza
*Early this morning, the IAF struck terrorists in Rafah. As yet, there is no information about who was hit.
*Yesterday, three terrorists were killed in the Netzarim area as they were planting IEDs near IDF soldiers.
*Yesterday, 9 Hamas terrorists who were operating drones near IDF soldiers in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza were killed. These were six of those eliminated:
They were:
1. Mustafa Muhammad Shaaban Hamad, a Hamas terrorist who participated in the massacres of October 7.
2. Mahmoud Yahya Rashdi al-Sarrag, a Hamas terrorist in the engineering field.
3. Bilal Mahmoud Fuad Abu Matar, a Hamas terrorist who operated under the guise of a photographer. 4. Mahmoud Imad Hassan Aslam, a Hamas terrorist in the Zeitoun Brigade who operated under the guise of a journalist.
5. Zuhaib Bassem Khaled Nagar, an Islamic Jihad terrorist who was just released as part of the latest hostage deal. 6. Muhammad Alaa Sabhi al-Ghafir, a terrorist in the Hamas terrorist organization.
As you can imagine, Hamas claimed that those killed were in a vehicle belonging to a charity organization and that the terrorists were merely journalists filming an innocuous video.
Have you ever noticed how Hamas says that every terrorist we kill is either a journalist, or a doctor, or a human rights activist, or . . . And that the places we strike are schools, shelters, clinics, hospitals, and . . .
On the Ground in the North
In Lebanon:
*Hezbollah terrorists were eliminated in a IAF drone strike on a vehicle in Yater, in the western section of south Lebanon:
The IAF struck another Hezbollah group in a car in Nabatiyeh:
*Another IAF drone attack on a vehicle in the village of Barj al-Maluk in southern Lebanon eliminated more Hezbollah members.
*The IDF also killed another Hezbollah terrorist in Kfar Kela (across from Metulla).
In/From Syria:
Buses carrying Syrian Druze crossing the border at Majdal Shams to the applause and waves from Israeli Druze (note the Druze flag):
As we wrote several days ago, about 60 Druze sheikhs from Syria arrived in Israel via buses two days ago to worship at the tomb of Nabi Shuaib near Tiberias in the Galilee–the most religious site for Druze.
It was the first such visit since the founding of modern Israel in 1948.
As you may not know, there are approximately 600,000 Druze in Syria, 250,000 in Lebanon, and 150,000 in Israel.
On the Ground in Yemen
As you undoubtedly know, the U.S. has been attacking Yemen overnight and this morning. Many of the attacks are coming from the USS Truman. The photo below is of a F-18 taking off this morning:
Information is scarce at this time, but it appears that at least 50 Houthis have been killed in the strikes.
Prior to the attacks, President Trump tweeted this on his Truth Social account:
Here at OneIsrael, we hope that Trump follows through and leaves the Houthis in ruins. It is far past time for this group to be obliterated.
And so it goes in Israel and the neighborhood on this very foggy morning . . . so far . . .
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.