11 Elul 5778
22 August 2018
Quote of the Day:
“The transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem was a big thing and Israel will have to pay a high price for this in the framework of future negotiations with the Palestinians.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaking last night
President Trump was just repeating what he has said numerous times before. What the price will be remains anyone’s guess, but the likelihood is that it involves major Israeli concessions regarding Jerusalem. The latest speculation is that Trump will reveal his grand peace plan when he speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in about two weeks.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
Another group of terrorists from Gaza attacked IDF soldiers near the town of Khuza’a. The IDF returned fire wounding an undetermined number. At the same time, a number of incendiary kites and balloons were launched from Gaza, but no fires were reported.
In Judea and Samaria, “rock” and Molotov attacks occurred throughout a large swath of territory all the way from Jenin to Tekoa.
A change in the length of military service for men . . .
It was announced last night that the IDF will soon reduce the required military service for men from 32 months (2 years and 8 months) to 30 months. This comes in the wake of demands from the Finance Ministry that the IDF make budget cuts.
In fact, the Finance Ministry demanded that service be reduced to 28 months, but the IDF resisted.
The economic numbers for July . . .
The Central Bureau of Statistics published figures for July which show that Israel imported 24.9 billion shekels (about $6.8 billion dollars) worth of goods. At the same time, Israel exported 13.5 billion shekels of goods (about $3.7 billion dollars).
Obviously there was an 11.4 billion shekel trade deficit.
Where were the imports from? 42% came from the European Union, 24% came from Asia, 12% came from the U.S., and the remaining 22% came from other countries.
Where did the exports go? 31% went to the European Union, 27% went to the United States, 21% went to Asia, and 21% to the rest of the world.
Another record broken at Ben Gurion Airport . . .
Last Thursday, one hundred and eight thousand (108,000) passed through the airport, an all-time record. This record is expected to be surpassed during Rosh Hashana in a few weeks.
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Interestingly, the month of July saw a 10.6% increase in travelers at Ben Gurion in comparison to July last year. All in all, more than 5,000,000 travelers are expected to travel through the airport in July and August.
TODAY’S BLOG:
The Israel Military Advocate General’s War Against Our Soldiers
Just over a month ago, we reported here on israelstreet how Military Advocate General Sharon Afek–Israel’s first openly gay general–had been promoted to the rank of Major General.
The promotion was a reflection of IDF General Command approval for the way that Afek had overseen a number of high profile cases in which IDF soldiers had been prosecuted ranging from random incidents in Judea and Samaria to the trial of our Hevron soldier Elor Azariya.
In every case from Azariya on down, our soldiers were partially convicted on the bases of doctored videos produced by left-wing organizations and witness testimony from Palestinians. In your humble servant’s opinion, every case was tried in a kangaroo court which resulted in a gross miscarriage of justice.
Yesterday, Afek’s office announced that he has now decided to order investigations of Givati, Nahal, and Border Patrol soldiers, snipers, and officers who were involved in the deaths of two Palestinian terrorists who were shot during Gaza border violence in the last few months.
In one case, the terrorist had been throwing grenades at our soldiers and had wounded one; in the other, the terrorist had rushed the border fence.
In both cases, the investigations are being opened on the basis of heavily doctored Hamas videos. Once again, Afek announced that he is looking for Palestinian witnesses to testify against our soldiers–in this case other terrorists who were present where the two terrorists were shot.
Yes, you read that correctly. The IDF Military Advocate General is seeking Palestinian terrorists to testify against our soldiers.
What is more, Afek’s office has already announced that it presumes that our soldiers are guilty because the shootings were “not in accordance with the rules of engagement.” In other words, Afek is once again railroading our soldiers by prejudging the outcome of the investigations.
The results of the investigations and trials and convictions that will surely follow will be a further destruction of IDF morale and a further eroding of Israeli public support for the IDF General Command.
Meanwhile, in yet another egregious miscarriage of justice, the Israel High Court of Injustice ruled on Sunday that the sentence that was levied against Border Policeman Ben Deri was too light. Deri had been convicted and sentenced to 9 months in prison for shooting a Palestinian terrorist who was attacking him and his soldiers with “rocks.”
The justices unbelievably increased Deri’s sentence to 18 months.
What is the bottom line of the Deri case and those to come from the Gaza border? Simply that IDF soldiers and Border Guards are being completely neutered and rendered unable to defend themselves.
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.