7 Sivan 5778
21 May 2018
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on an IDF patrol near Kissufim and in eastern Jerusalem.
Palestinian terrorists attempted to kill Israeli motorists with Molotovs and “rocks” at such places as Tekoa, Hizma, on the Jerusalem-Dead Sea road (a family in a car was nearly burned alive), on Route 443, at Beitin, and at different locations in Hevron.
Palestinian terrorists attacked a young Jewish man who was walking near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. He had to be rushed to a hospital where he is in “fair condition.”
“Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead” . . .
Franco.
Abbas.
So began each news segment on the American television comedy show Saturday Night Live back in 1975. It was supposed to be a joke about the impending death of Franco, who was reported “dead” by the Spanish and international media many times before he actually died on November 20, 1975.
Your humble servant thinks we should coin a new phrase: “PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is still dead.” In recent years, we have had numerous reports about how the 83-year old, chain-smoking Abbas is nearly dead from heart failure, lung cancer, and who knows what else.
Yesterday, Abbas was rushed to a hospital in Ramallah supposedly suffering from a high fever of 40 degrees and severe pneumonia. Wheeled in on an emergency cart, he was reportedly unable to breathe or even walk without assistance. Immediately, speculation erupted for the umpteenth time about who will succeed him when he finally kicks the bucket.
This morning, Abbas is “miraculously” better for the umpteenth time, breathing and walking on his own and ready to be discharged from the hospital.
An interesting development at Rafah . . .
As usual, the Egyptians have opened the Rafah Crossing from Gaza into Egypt for the month of Ramadan.
However, in the last few weeks, the Egyptian Army has finished separating the town of Rafah from the rest of the Sinai with a 13 kilometer long, 3.5 meter high barbed wire fence.
Part of the fence that the Egyptians have put up around Rafah.
There are many theories about the the purpose of the fence. Is it supposed to keep Islamic State terrorists from the Sinai out of Rafah, or keep Palestinian terrorists from Gaza from easily getting into the Sinai?
Is it the first step in a gradual expansion of Gaza into a larger Palestinian state, or is it meant to make it more difficult for smugglers to move items through tunnels from Gaza to the Sinai (by making the tunnels longer)?
Knowing the Egyptian hatred of the Palestinians (never publicly expressed), one can only suppose that the purpose must have something to do with stopping Palestinian terrorists or smugglers, but at the moment, the purpose of the fence remains a mystery.
TODAY’S BLOG:
“Don’t thank me. Don’t welcome me. I feel at home.
Israel is in the heart of my country.”
Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes, speaking in 2016 at a meeting of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations (ICFR) in Jerusalem.
Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes and PM Netanyahu at the opening of the Paraguayan Embassy in Jerusalem.
President Cartes could just as easily been speaking yesterday at the wonderful opening of the Paraguayan Embassy in Jerusalem. The new Embassy is located in the Malha Technology Park beside the new Guatemalan Embassy that opened last week.
President Cartes was eloquent yesterday:
“It is an honor for me to be here today. The opening of the embassy holds special meaning, because it expresses the sincere friendship and the brave solidarity between Paraguay and Israel . . . Our friendship is based on shared values, such as democracy, tolerance and dignity, lack of discrimination and peaceful coexistence. This is an historic day that strengthens ties between Paraguay and Israel.
Bravo President Cartes!
PM Netanyahu also spoke, reminding all of how Paraguay has supported Jews and Israel through the years:
“[This is] a great day for our friendship. You have not only the support of our government but the profound gratitude of the people Israel. Paraguay helped the Jews escape Nazi Germany. We will never forget it. You did it before, during and after the Holocaust. It was an expression of compassion and generosity that will always be etched in our hearts. Paraguay also supported the establishment of the State of Israel and recognized Israel at the UN. We won’t forget that, either.”
In case you don’t know the history, allow your humble servant to briefly expand on Netanyahu’s remarks.
Between 1933-1939, at a time when the countries of the world were closing their doors to Jews trying to escape Nazi Europe, Paraguay opened its door. During these years, approximately 20,000 Jews from Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Germany were taken in by Paraguay.
As PM Netanyahu remarked, more Jews were able to make it to Panama during and after the Holocaust.
And we all know what happened on November 29, 1947. The United Nations voted to partition Palestine thereby creating the modern state of Israel. The vote that day was 33 for, 13 against, with 10 abstentions and 1 absent.
Paraguay was one of the 33.
It is worthwhile noting that if just 3 more countries had voted “no”, the resolution would not have passed (it required a 66% of those voting). By the way, Guatemala was also one of the 33.
What is the bottom line today?
Thank you Paraguay for all you have done for us through the years! And a special thanks to President Cartes!!
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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.