Wednesday
Yom Reva’ee
1 Tevet 5785
January 1 2025
The 7th Day of Chanukah
The 7th night of Chanukah and the 1st day of 2025. To use a very old but very true cliche, the more things change the more they stay the same.
Another ballistic missile was launched toward us from Yemen, but fortunately this one went off course and exploded in an open space in Saudi Arabia.
Two more missiles were launched out Gaza by Palestinian terrorists at precisely midnight last night targeting Netivot and Sdot Negev on the Gaza border. According to the IDF, one missile was intercepted and the other “projectile fell in an open space.”
“A projectile fell in an open space” is a euphemism the IDF uses for “a missile exploded in a place where there were no people.”
After the launches from Gaza, the IDF declared that the Al-Bureij neighborhood of Gaza had to be immediately evacuated. At 3:00 am, IAF aircraft hit Al-Bureij and Jabaliya eliminating 9 terrorists.
Also On the Ground in Gaza
The work of the NILI task force continues.
Last night using ISA (NILI) intel, the IAF killed Abd al-Hadi Sabah, one of the Palestinian barbarians who led the massacre in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7th. Since then, Sabah led numerous terrorist attacks against IDF troops. He was holed up in “humanitarian” area.
On the Ground in Lebanon
The IDF has informed the “ceasefire” monitoring group that because the Lebanese Army is not taking over Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in a timely manner as specified in the agreement, the IDF will remain in southern Lebanon for more than 60 days. For its part, Hezbollah is threatening to resume strikes against Israeli communities on “Day 61”.
From the IDF spokesman yesterday:
“In the past week, during operations by Golani soldiers and the Erez Program troops under the command of 769th Brigade in the Saluki region, the troops conducted searches and located a concealed storage facility in complex terrain. The storage facility contained a significant amount of weaponry, including launchers, missiles, and explosive devices.
In an additional raid on nearby structures, the troops discovered many additional weapons, including missile launchers, explosive material, dozens of AK-47 rifles, grenades, wire-guided missiles, mines, surveillance equipment, explosive devices, and tactical combat gear.
The weapons storage facility was dismantled, and all seized armaments were confiscated by the troops.”
The Circus in the Knesset Yesterday
A pale and angry PM Netanyahu between Ministers Levin and Katz in the Knesset yesterday:
A vote on an important tax bill (which kept the Coalition together) turned into a farce yesterday afternoon when Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir announced his Party would not vote for it because it cut funds to the police and other security personnel.
So, in order to pass the bill (by one vote), PM Netanyahu had to come to the floor to vote from his hospital bed (against the orders of his doctors), and another Likud member had to leave the shiva for his mother.
As much as we here at OneIsrael like Ben Gvir and support his reasons for voting against the bill, his actions yesterday were childish and injurious not only to PM Netanyahu’s health but also to the health of the Coalition as a whole.
Renewed Jewish Settlement in the Galilee
In a dramatic decision yesterday, the Nazareth District Court ruled that the new community of “Shivulat” can be established. It will be the first new Jewish community in the Galilee in 30 years.
Shivulat will be special because it will integrate people of special needs into the community fusing Zionism with a social vision.
An Invasion . . . of Sorts . . .
The Director of Gush Dan Veterinary Services issued a statement yesterday that “Hundreds of dogs, jackals and foxes have entered Israel from Lebanon and Syria, and there is concern that rabies will also enter the central region.”
The Population of Israel Tops 10,000,000
The Central Bureau of Statistics released the following data yesterday:
10,027,000 people now live in Israel an increase of 1.1% over 2023.
23,800 Israelis returned home after living abroad.
32,800 new immigrants arrived in Israel:
82,700 Israelis moved out of the country (up from 55,000 last year).
181,000 babies were born last year: 76% to Jewish mothers and 24% to Arab mothers.
51,400 residents died last year.
And so it goes in Israel on this New Year’s Day . . so far . .
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.