UPDATES 7 pm Israel time, Tuesday, April 1 2014:
**What happened in Eilat this morning has become a subject of debate between the IDF and the residents of Eilat. The initial reports were that 3 Grad rockets fired from the Sinai had entered the airspace around Eilat, and that two had been shot down by the Iron Dome positioned outside the city. A plane that was about to land in Eilat was diverted because of the rocket fire.
Within an hour, the IDF reported that, in fact, the Iron Dome had malfunctioned and fired two missiles over Eilat at non-existent incoming rockets. According to the IDF, the Iron Dome rockets subsequently exploded over the city. The only problem with this scenario was the number of explosions that everyone heard. Residents reported hearing a minimum of 3 explosions–and some reported as many as 5.
As we all know, whatever information emerges from the IDF spokesman’s office must be taken with two grains of salt. The IDF constantly claims that incoming missiles are “false alarms”, or “landed in Gaza”, or “hit open spaces” or, or, or . . . However this is the first time that the IDF has ever claimed that it inadvertently fired the Iron Dome at an Israeli city. Tomorrow when the incoming missiles are found somewhere around Eilat, the IDF will change its story again.
**A bizarre incident occurred on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem this morning when a Jewish group was being “escorted” across the site by an officer of the Jerusalem Police. At some point, a member of the group, Yitzhak Tessler, was attacked by an official of the Islamic Wakf. In the midst of the attack, Tessler called for the policeman to protect him.
And do you know what happened? The policeman arrested Tessler.
Yes, you read that correctly. The incredibly pusillanimous Jerusalem Police are so terrified of the Muslims on the Mount that they would even arrest a Jewish victim of a Muslim attack. Simply incredible.
TODAY’S BLOG:
The news in Israel today continues to focus on the “deal” that is apparently emerging between Israel and the United States to release Jonathan Pollard.
The apparent deal would have Pollard released by Passover (two weeks from now). In return, Israel would release 400 “low-level” prisoners, halt “government” construction in Judea and Samaria, and pledge to continue the so-called “peace talks” with the Palestinians. But in addition, there is talk that the U.S. is also demanding the release of arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti.
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What would the Palestinians give? Absolutely nothing. They would merely promise to extend the talks–and not go to the United Nations (they already broke the United Nations promise several months ago).
Your humble servant barely has words for how absurd and utterly depraved this entire “process” has become, but let’s make a short list:
1. There are no negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. All “negotiations” are absurdly between Israel and the United States.
2. It is absurd how the Palestinians continue, as they always have, to give nothing. They have never made a compromise for peace. How can anyone possibly claim that the Palestinians are interested in peace?
3. The cynical way that the U.S. is using Jonathan Pollard is morally repugnant. To make an equivalence between Pollard and Palestinian prisoners–and especially between Pollard and the murderer Barghouti–is depraved in the extreme.
Pollard should never have been imprisoned in the first place. The main “crime” which he is accused of is turning over secret American information to Israel that probably saved thousands of Israeli lives. To have languished 29+ years in an American prison is nothing short of an egregious miscarriage of justice.
4. The continued American insistence on releasing Palestinian murderers and criminals and stopping construction of Jewish homes, schools, and hospitals is also morally repugnant. Apparently, there is no depth to which Barack Obama and John Kerry will not sink.
Absurdities and depravities–that is what the “peace process” is composed of. But stick around; if you think you’ve seen everything, wait and see what tomorrow will bring.
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.