Yom Shnee
Monday
18 Adar II 5782
March 21 2022
Three Outrageous Photos of the Morning
All three photos come from the young Jewish community of Esther Maoz in Samaria:
One of the 20 buildings in Esther Maoz destroyed by the abominable Israel Civil Administration today.
Our “fearless” police hauling away one of the young women of Esther Maoz:
Is this what Israel has come to?
And the result:
This the scene that “Defense” Minister Benny Gantz and PM Bennett most delight in–razed Jewish communities.
The News on the Israeli Street
The daily Corona update . . .
12,869 new cases of Corona were confirmed yesterday bringing to 49,349 the total number of Israelis with an active case of Covid-19.
The positive test rate was 20.48%.
328 Israelis are in serious condition in hospitals with another 160 in critical condition on ventilators.
10,431 Israelis have died of Corona–12 since yesterday.
The Health Ministry is saying that “the sixth wave” has arrived.
Ramadan approaches and . . .
. . . the Ministry of Defense is afraid–as always–that there will be an upsurge of attacks in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem, and elsewhere in Israel.
So what does “Defense” Minister Gantz plan to do about it?
For the first time in years, he is going to permit Palestinians to pray on the Temple Mount during the holiday. And he will permit Palestinians in Gaza visit their relatives who are security prisoners in Israeli prisons. And, and, and–a whole list of new leniencies will be announced in the coming days.
Just unbelievable.
Bennett is gallavanting again . . .
PM Bennett is spending the night in Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt after meeting with Egyptian President Sisi and representatives of the UAE.
The main topic on the agenda is supposedly how to thwart Iranian terror in the Middle East though your humble servant wonders how this will happen given the warming relations between the UAE and Iran.
In reality, this is likely just another excuse for Bennett to run away from the problems in Israel and travel the world.
TODAY’S BLOG
The Quotes of the Day From Ze’ev Elkin:
Further Reflections on the Ukrainian Situation
The subject of today’s blog are two comments yesterday from Ze’ev Elkin who has been accompanying PM Bennett on his trips to Moscow to supposedly mediate the Russia-Ukraine war; Bennett chose him because Elkin is a native of Kharkov Ukraine, and he is a fluent speaker of Russian.
The first quote from Elkin concerns those negotiations. PM Bennett has been suggesting that his efforts are leading to a “rapprochement” between the two sides.
Here’s what Elkin said today–in an obvious barb directed at the publicity-hungry Bennett:
“I decline to comment on the mediation efforts. However, I recommend not exaggerating our importance.”
The second quote from Elkin was in relation to the speech that Ukrainian PM Zelenskyy made before the Knesset several days ago in which he somewhat compared what is happening now in the Ukraine to what happened during the Holocaust.
This comment has sparked much negative criticism in Israel and rightly so. One cannot compare the genocide directed against the Jews with what is happening in the Ukraine. Brutal yes, barbaric yes, but Holocaust no.
One person who has taken Zelenskyy to task is Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked. While expressing sympathy for the Ukrainians in their current condition, Shaked said “Ukraine cooperated with the Nazis in the extermination of the Jewish people.”
In making this statement, Shaked is absolutely correct; there is abundant evidence showing how some Ukrainians collaborated with the Nazis. Numerous survivors of the camps have pointed out that the worst guards were Ukrainians.
The question for Elkin is apparently one of degree. He had this response for Shaked this afternoon: “[Shaked made] a shocking statement. It is complete ignorance. In World War II it should be remembered, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union – and an absolute majority of the population was good. There were Ukrainians who cooperated with the Nazis but to say a sentence that ‘Ukraine as a whole cooperated with the Nazis’? This is historical ignorance.”
Actually, what happened in the Ukraine was far more complex than Elkin would have us believe. Allow your humble servant to provide a cursory sequence of events:
1. On June 22, 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet-controlled Ukraine. The Nazis were greeted as liberators by many Ukrainians who wanted independence from Soviet Russia.
2. By November, 1941, the Germans controlled all of the Ukraine and any thoughts of Ukrainian independence were quickly quashed by the Nazis who doled out part of Ukraine administratively to Nazi administrations in Poland and Romania. Most of Ukraine was placed under the German “Reichskommisariat Ukraine.”
3. Under the Reichskommisariat, 2.2 million Ukrainians were taken to Germany as slave laborers, and the Germans deprived the Ukrainian populace of food as they shipped all foodstuffs to Nazi soldiers. Industry, agriculture and culture were severely suppressed.
4. By 1942, an underground guerilla movement (mainly consisting of Soviet partisans) developed in northern Ukraine to fight the Germans.
5. From 1941-1943, the Nazis carried out their extermination of Ukrainian Jews murdering an estimated 1.5 million. The Nazis were often aided by “auxiliary forces” recruited from the local Ukrainian population.
6. In mid-1943, the Soviet Army began moving westward after their victory at Stalingrad. By the end of October 1944, all of Ukraine was again under Soviet control.
So let’s go back and parse Elkin’s statement:
“In World War II it should be remembered, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union . . .”
This was true at the beginning and end of the war–but from 1941-1943, the Nazis controlled Ukraine.
“an absolute majority of the population was good . . .”
What Elkin means by “good” is unknown, but we know that the Ukrainians initially welcomed the Nazis and later some assisted in their murder of Jews. We will not even go into Ukrainian anti-Semitism here except to say that renowned scholar Professor Alex Groth revealed in his book Accomplices that Ukraine has had one of the highest levels of anti-Semitism in Europe.
There were Ukrainians who cooperated with the Nazis but to say a sentence that ‘Ukraine as a whole cooperated with the Nazis’? This is historical ignorance.
Ukraine “as a whole” certainly did not cooperate with the Nazis–in this case, Elkin is correct.
And so it goes today in Israel.
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.