Saturday
Yom Shabbat
22 Adar 5785
March 22 2025
UPDATE 10:00 AM ISRAEL TIME
The Photo Of The Day
Israel has had cold wet weather for the past few days. On Mt. Hermon “wet” means “snowy”:
Despite the missile fire at Metula this morning (see below), the road to Mt. Hermon is jammed this morning with people trying to get to the ski slopes.
At 7:34 am this morning:
The IAF intercepted 3 launches from Lebanon targeting Metula. Two more missiles did not make it across the border and exploded in Lebanon.
At 10:33 pm last night:
Another Houthi missile from Yemen targeting Ben Gurion Airport: the missile was intercepted by an Arrow missile in the atmosphere. The shrapnel alarm pattern above: Kiryat Arba, Hebron, Rehovot, Beitar Illit, Mikveh Israel, Elad, Jerusalem, Kiryat Ono, Tel Aviv, Yehud Monoson, Modi’in-Maccabim-Reut, Or Yehuda, Lod, Ramat Gan, Rishon LeZion, Mevaseret Zion, Be’er Ya’akov, Ramla, Beit Shemesh, Nes Ziona, Shoham, Savyon, Givat Shmuel.
Let’s hope that President Trump soon makes good on his promise to completely destroy the Houthis..
On the Ground in Gaza
At 4:30 pm yesterday:
Palestinian terrorists launched 3 missiles at Ashkelon. As we have pointed out many times, our home is about 7 miles north of Ashkelon (see map above), so on a clear day we can see incoming missiles to northern Ashkelon, hear the alarms there, and see the intercepts. Yesterday was a cloudy-rainy day; we couldn’t see anything, but we heard the sirens and of course the 3 large concussively explosive intercepts.
You may be asking how it is possible that Hamas is firing missiles at us from Gaza again–especially northern Gaza. The answer is simple. Hamas spent the entire 42+ day ceasefire period rearming and replacing their launchers. In the last three days, the Tel Aviv area and here in the south have paid the price for that ceasefire.
Moreover, as always, Hamas is using the cover of “humanitarian” areas to position its launchers. This is where the missiles were fired from in the Al-Furqan neighborhood of northern Gaza yesterday (note the distance from the “humanitarian” area:
After the missiles were fired, the IAF hit Gaza with bunker busting bombs:
Palestinians still in northern Gaza and Khan Younis reported that the bombs “felt like earthquakes.”
Earlier, IAF planes destroyed a Hamas command post at the Turkish Hospital:
On the Ground in Judea and Samaria
*The IDF Spokesman:
“During an IDF force operation last night in Shechem (Nablus), in the Samaria Brigade, a terrorist fired at the forces, who returned fire at the source of the shooting.
As a result of the shooting, an IDF reserve soldier was seriously injured. The soldier was taken to a hospital for medical treatment and his family has been notified.”
*Palestinian terrorists attacked vehicles on Highway 60 near Turmos. One Israeli was badly wounded and evacuated to a hospital. The terrorists escaped.
On the Ground in Syria
The IAF carried out major strikes overnight on the military airport at Palmyra and the T4 base of the Syrian Army.
Israel “Left” Gone Crazy: The Court Takes Over, Again
As we have often remarked in this blog, there is absolutely no reason for Israel to have a Prime Minister, Cabinet, Ministries, or Knesset because the leftist Israel Supreme Court (and its ancillary “High Court of Justice”) control every aspect of the country.
No person or entity can make a move without that move being instantly reviewed by the Court. This is especially true when there is a conservative government in place. The Court will use every means at its disposal to thwart every initiative, every law, and every governmental decision.
And so it happened again yesterday. After PM Netanyahu stated that he can no longer trust Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet, he convened the government which subsequently voted to terminate Bar’s tenure–as it has every legal right to do. Bar was to leave by April 10 or before if a replacement was found.
Notice that the last sentence is all in the “past tense”.
Why? Because immediately after the government made the decision, the Court froze it.
One Final Interesting Story This Morning
You may or may not be familiar with HIAS.
HIAS stands for Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. It was founded in 1881 for the express purpose of helping Russian Jews fleeing anti-Semitism to escape to the U.S.
In the last 144 years, HIAS has morphed into something else entirely.
According to its mission statement, HIAS’ mission is:
“To rescue people whose lives are in danger for being who they are; to protect the most vulnerable refugees, helping them build new lives and reuniting them with their families in safety and freedom; to advocate for the protection of refugees and assure that displaced people are treated with the dignity they deserve.”
HIAS provides support for “refugees of all nationalities, religions, and ethnic origins.”
In carrying out its mission and providing support, HIAS has performed admirably–most recently helping Israelis displaced by the war on the Gaza and Lebanese borders to find housing and what they need.
Unfortunately, in the last decade, HIAS’ main focal point in Israel have been illegal, predominantly Muslim “refugees” seeking to infiltrate into Israel from Eritrea and the Sudan; large numbers of them have made it to south Tel Aviv where crime has now skyrocketed. HIAS has fought to stop the government from blocking the infiltrators from getting into the country and from deporting them once they do.
As you can imagine, HIAS’ defense of these “refugees” has taken them around the world to places with illegal immigration problems where they decry Israeli government actions to leftist groups. Your humble servant has attended several HIAS lectures in California which malevolently portrayed the Israeli government.
Fast forward to yesterday.
HIAS President Mark Hatfield went public to announce that President Trump’s cuts in foreign aid are “a death blow to the refugee aid system” [because it] “will result in the layoffs of the organization’s employees in Israel, and will leave thousands of asylum seekers from Eritrea and South Sudan without support, significantly harming their already precarious financial situation.”
He added: “The consequences will be felt in the Jewish community and in interfaith relations.”
The HIAS Israel branch chimed in: “We will continue to fight for the rights of refugees, and to assist immigrants and those seeking protection in Israel.”
In sum, in the opinion of OneIsrael, despite the good it has done, HIAS has unfortunately become too political and its reduction of services in Israel is to be applauded. As for consequences to the “Jewish community and in interfaith relations” (aka Jewish-Muslim groups such as “Children of Abraham”), where have the groups been since October 7?
Nowhere to be seen.
On this note, we wish our soldiers and you dear readers:
Shabbat Shalom!
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.