UPDATES 9 am Israel time, Thursday, November 7 2013:
**The Sheba Farms area on the northern border with Lebanon was the scene of an attempted Hezbollah ambush and kidnapping of an IDF patrol early this morning. Details remain extremely sketchy except to say that the attempt was unsuccessful.
The Sheba (alternately spelled Chebaa) Farms area. Your humble servant will be in the area at the border of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel on Monday (map: mplbelgique).
**The IDF issued yet another completely bogus report yesterday proudly touting its achievements in last November’s war with Hamas. To believe the IDF, and nobody here in southern Israel does, only 67 rockets and mortar shells have been fired into southern Israel since November 21st of last year.
The reality is that 160 have fallen, but that is only part of the reality. Why? Because the IDF deliberately does not report many rocket and mortar launches.
**The ground is still shaking here this morning following the unanimous acquittal of Avigdor Lieberman yesterday. The way the court blasted the prosecution led by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein for its inept handling of the case as well as the court’s finding in favor of Lieberman on every factual issue was frankly astonishing.
An exuberant Lieberman at the Kotel (Western Wall) yesterday after his acquittal (picture: latimes).
Lieberman is expected to back on the job as Foreign Minister on Sunday. Weinstein can still file an appeal of the sentence that would stop Lieberman’s return to the diplomatic arena–and no one would be surprised if he does given Weinstein’s personal vendetta against Lieberman–however, the “overwhelming” nature of the ruling would seem to argue against it.
What will be the impact of Lieberman’s return? The always blunt Lieberman has never disguised his utter contempt for Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO. One can expect the already shaky Israeli concession talks to become even shakier.
**All roads lead to Moscow. It was announced yesterday that PM Netanyahu will drop in on Vladimir Putin next week. Now that Russia is replacing the U.S. as the dominant power in the region, it can be assumed that Egypt, Syria, and Iran will all be on the leaders’ plate.
**All roads lead to Israel. Following in the footsteps of such noted investors as Warren Buffet, the world’s richest man made his first foray into the Israeli market yesterday. Carlos Slim announced a $60 million investment in the Israeli startup Mobli–a company launched in 2011 specializing in photo and videosharing.
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John Kerry wasted no time yesterday.
He landed in Israel, went straight to Ramallah, and launched a scathing attack on Israel. He began by blasting Israel for building new homes, schools, and health clinics in Jewish communities in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria.
Such construction is “illegitimate” declared Kerry who went to great lengths to support the Palestinian notion that these areas must be “Judenrein”–rid of all Jews.
But there was more. Kerry then proceeded to accuse PM Netanyahu of lying when Netanyahu declared last week that the Palestinians knew that every release of Palestinian murderers would be accompanied by new construction. According to the always pro-Palestinian Kerry: “at no time did the Palestinians in any way agree, as a matter of going back to the talks, that they could somehow condone or accept Jewish building in Jerusalem and the West Bank.”
Finally, Kerry capped off his visit by announcing that the U.S. would do even more to prop up the aging terrorist Abbas by coughing up $75 million–supposedly for new construction of infrastructure, schools, and roads in Judea and Samaria. Of course, every reader of israelstreet knows that the money will go straight into the pockets of the corrupt Abbas and and his corrupt cronies in the PLO.
And what were the reactions to Kerry’s comments and actions in Ramallah?
Palestinians went on a rampage all over Judea and Samaria. There were assaults on Israeli buses carrying “bereaved families” to a memorial in Hebron, and assaults on Israeli motorists north of Ofra, in Gush Etzion, in Kiryat Arba, in Binyamin, near Azzun, and at Yitzhar.
Israeli security forces went on their own rampage in Judea and Samaria destroying fledgling Jewish communites in Maoz Esther and at Oz Zion. At Maoz Esther, police and IDF soldiers destroyed, among other buildings, a synagogue and two homes.
The scene of destruction at Maoz Esther yesterday “in honor of” John Kerry. Note the Israeli personnel amongst the destroyed buildings (picture source on photo).
Can you even believe this? Every time Kerry shows up here, Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israelis increase meteorically as do Israeli attacks on Jews.
In this latter regard, the Netanyahu government’s continuing attempt to ingratiate itself with the American Secretary of State is just plain pathetic.
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.