UPDATES 9 am Israel time, Monday, June 2 2014:
**Incoming missiles for southern and northern Israel.
Last night there were two separate rocket attacks on the Sha’ar Hanegev area of the northern Negev along the Gaza border. Palestinian terrorists fired two barrages within an hour of each other.
All we heard from the IDF spokesman was that the incoming rocket sirens were false alarms; however, by 3:45 am this morning, IAF planes were striking the usual open fields and empty buildings in Gaza.
Later this morning, another two rockets were fired at the IDF base on Mt. Hermon in the Golan Heights by terrorists in Syria. In addition at least one mortar shell landed near Majdal Shams. The IDF has responded to the attacks with artillery fire.
These incidents are obviously all manifestations of the deteriorating security situation along the Syrian border.
**Another class of Caracel soldiers has just graduated from basic training with the completion of a hike across the northern Negev. These young women are a great source of pride to all Israelis and an integral part of the Israel Defense Forces:
Female soldiers of the 33rd Caracal Batallian after completing their graduation march (photo: Getty images).
**The recriminations continue following yesterday’s Cabinet meeting during which PM Netanyahu at least temporarily reneged on his promise to Naftali Bennett to support the proposed law which would sentence some types of terrorists to “life in prison without the possibility parole.
Apparently the fly in the ointment this time was Israel’s “leftist” Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein who urged reconsideration of the law because he does not want to see the power to pardon taken away from the President of Israel.
Following a raucous session in which Bennett finally stormed out, it was revealed that Netanyahu had subsequently promised Bennett that the issue would come up again next week and that he (Netanyahu) would support the bill.
TODAY’S BLOG:
An all too common sight today as young Zionist girls find themselves blocked by Jerusalem Police (photo: walla).
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“He is Merciful, Powerful, Almighty! May He soon rebuild His Temple. Speedily, speedily, in our day, soon. O God, rebuild, O God, rebuild, rebuild Your Temple soon.”
For most Jews who celebrate a traditional Seder at Passover, the above lines are among the most poignant and meaningful. They recall the destruction of the First and Second Jewish Temples and the hope that one day soon, the Jewish Temple will be rebuilt on Har Habayit (the Temple Mount).
On Friday, the Ariel Zionist Girls’ Youth Movement came to Jerusalem. Hundreds of participants and their instructors arrived from all over the country to participate in a Shabbatathon. While in the city, the girls stay with families who open their homes.
The most important part of their time in Jerusalem is a visit to the Kotel (Western Wall). This year, as guards at the Wall were inspecting the girls, they discovered that, just as last year, the girls had brought magnets (to be put around the house) to distribute to worshipers at the Kotel.
Those magnets contained the prayer:
“May the Holy One, Blessed Be He, speedily rebuild His Temple.”
The next thing the girls knew, the guards had confiscated the magnets and had even told the girls that while it was all right for them to pray at the Wall–they could not pray for the rebuilding of the Temple.
Now, the Jerusalem Police are telling Jews what they can pray (photo: Arutz Sheva).
Can you even believe this?
Not only are Jews regularly prohibited from ascending the Temple Mount, now the Jerusalem Police are censoring what they can pray in the Kotel Plaza below.
The situation is simply intolerable.
**Your humble servant gratefully acknowledges Arutz Sheva for elements of this story.
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.