European Arrogance Knows No Bounds

Tuesday, February 9 2016

UPDATES 7:00 pm Israel time

–>Palestinian terror today.

*A Palestinian stabbing attack was thwarted at 8:35 am this morning when a female terrorist armed with a knife was captured at the entrance to Karmi Tsur.

*A Palestinian stabbing attack occurred at the Damascus Gate at 9:05 am. A female terrorist attempted to stab Israeli police, but was disarmed and captured.

*A Palestinian stabbing attack occurred near the entrance to Neve Daniel on Road 60 an hour and a half ago (at 5:10 pm).  A 30-year-old Israeli is in serious condition; the terrorist has apparently been captured.

The scene at Neve Daniel a few hours ago.

*Numerous Palestinian “rock” and Molotov attacks have taken place during the day at such places as Azzun where cars and a bus were hit, Hebron where security forces were pelted, and Ofra where another bus was assaulted.

*Another Hamas tunnel has collapsed near Khan Younis in Gaza. One terrorist is known to be dead. An unknown number of other terrorists are missing. This is the 5th Hamas tunnel to collapse in the last two weeks.

*The 11-year-old boy stabbed in the back in Ramle yesterday has registered “slight improvement” this afternoon, but remains in intensive care at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center.

–>Where is Israeli deterrence?

Much to the anger of PM Netanyahu, discussions in the Sunday Cabinet meeting have been leaked to the press. Channel 2 reported tonight that a fierce debate erupted between Education Minister Naftali Bennett on one side, and Netanyahu and his minion “Defense” Minister Moshe Ya’alon on the other.

What was the fight about?

Bennett argued that Israel needs to act now, militarily, to take out the Hamas tunnels. Netanyahu and Ya’alon argued that a preemptive strike on the tunnels would start a new war with Hamas.

In the end, Netanyahu and Ya’alon won out with Ya’alon outrageously calling Bennett “irresponsible.”

Israel has no deterrence.

–>Yet another example of non-existent Israeli deterrence.

It was just six days ago that three heavily armed Palestinian terrorists from Qabatiyeh arrived at the Damascus Gate, opened fire, killed Border Policewoman Hadar Cohen, and wounded two more.

Within 24 hours, tough-talking Netanyahu and Ya’alon announced that the roads in and out of Qabatiyeh would be closed indefinitely. On Thursday evening, the IDF moved in and blocked the roads.

By Saturday, the IDF was gone and the roads were opened.

That’s right. The “indefinite” closure of Qabatiyeh lasted exactly 36 hours.  

Israel has no deterrence.

–>Speaking of no deterrence.

It has been revealed that the police and IDF were very much aware of one of the terrorists from Qabatiyeh who carried out the attack. In fact, they had seen his posts on Facebook in which he declared his intention to kill Jews with a partner–one month before the attack took place.

They had even gone to his house to “question” him. However, they did not arrest him because he claimed that his posts did not indicate his true intention.

Would Hadar Cohen be alive today had the police detained him?

TODAY’S BLOG:

By a vote of 50 to 43, the NGO Transparency Law (also known as the “Associations Law”) passed its first reading in the Knesset today. This was the second of four hurdles that the law must pass (ministerial approval, first reading, second reading, third reading). The votes on the second and third readings will most likely come in the next few days.

All the law will do is require NGOs operating in Israel which receive more than 50% of their funding from outside sources to report those sources. Why this is not already being done is incomprehensible. Why in the world should NGOs not be required to report their sources?

There is nothing even remotely undemocratic about about the proposed law, but you would never know that to hear the rantings of all those on the “Left” who fear that their funding sources will dry up if they are exposed.  Your humble servant would ask the simple question: “What do you have to fear from transparency?”

Yesterday before they voted on the first reading, legislators in the Knesset were astonished to find a letter in their mailboxes from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. That letter demanded that Israeli legislators vote against the proposed law, and even went so far as to threaten “the special relations” between European countries and Israel.

Can you believe this?

The arrogance of Europe knows no bounds. What right do they have to meddle in the democratic process of Israel?

One Likud legislator, Nava Boker, commented on the letter: 

“I was shocked to receive the letter . . . I am committed only to the people of Israel. Israel is a sovereign country. We will not tolerate preposterous foreign intervention. The Europeans would be better off dealing with their own internal migration crises and collapsing economy . . . The Associations Law is an excellent law and European [NGOs] should understand the hint: leave the State of Israel . . .”

Nava Boker is exactly right; those NGOs–which spend hundreds of thousands of Euros demeaning and delegitimizing Israel–should leave Israel forthwith.

Let’s hope the Transparency Law passes the remaining two readings quickly.