3 Iyar 5778
18 April 2018
SPECIAL NOTICE
Yom Hazikaron began yesterday evening and will continue until sundown today. It is an incredibly sad day here in Israel as we remember the men and women who died defending this country.
At sundown tonight, Yom Hazikaron will give way to Yom Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. From mourning, we will move to rejoicing at modern Israel’s 70th birthday.
Life is indeed bittersweet.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
There were another 30 incidents of Palestinian terrorism as reported to Rescue Judea and Samaria, hakolhayehudi, rotter, and Rescue 443.
Some of the places where Israelis were hardest hit with “rocks” and Molotovs include: Neve Tzuf, Halhul, Al-Arub, Kiryat Arba, Tekoa, Deir Abu Mash’al, Al-Khader, the Jit Junction near Jenin, Mevo Beitar, the Husan Bypass Road, Al-Fawwar, and Na’alin.
On the Gaza Border, Palestinian terrorists used kites loaded with Molotovs to set fire to fields near Sha’ar Hanegev and Be’eri. Elsewhere, terrorists opened fire on IDF troops east of Al-Bureij; the army responded by hitting a Hamas position with artillery. Two more terrorists were shot as they attempted to breach the security fence east of Khuza in southern Gaza.
Another day, another pathetic judicial decision . . .
On June 16th last year, Border Police Officer Hadas Malka was stabbed to death in a vicious terror attack near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem.
Border Policewoman Hadas Malka, standing near the spot where she was killed by a Palestinian terrorist.
The attack in which she was killed was a coordinated one involving three terrorists–all of whom were shot and killed by Hadas’ fellow Border police.
All three terrorists were from Deir Abu Mash’al, a Palestinian settlement near Ramallah.
Shortly thereafter, the Shin Bet captured the two terrorists who transported the other three to Jerusalem.
Yesterday, a judge in the Jerusalem Magistrates’ Court accepted yet another plea deal arranged by an Israeli prosecutor too lazy to carry the case to trial.
In return for pleading guilty, charges of murder were dropped and replaced by “causing death by negligence” and “transporting illegal aliens under aggravated circumstances.”
Death by negligence? Transporting illegal aliens?
How absurd can one get: Where was any negligence? Illegal aliens transporting illegal aliens?
As absurd as the sentence: 14 months in prison for one, and 16 months for the other.
That’s it. Slightly more than a year in prison for playing a critical role in a terror attack that resulted in the killing of Hadas Malka.
Another day, another ridiculous ruling from Israel’s High Court of Injustice . . .
Again, putting its nose where it had no place, the High Court invalidated Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s decision to deny a group of Palestinians entry into Israel so that they could memorialize their so-called Nakba.
The Court ruled in favor of two leftist organizations “Combatants for Peace” and the “Israeli and Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace.” The latter group consists of a small number of bereaved families. In its ruling, the Court termed Lieberman’s ban “unreasonable” and “imbalanced.”
It further ruled that to deny the Palestinians entry “harmed the bereaved families.”
Tell that to most of the bereaved families in Israel who belong to the Almagor Terror Victims Association. They along with Defense Minister Lieberman harshly castigated the High Court for creating an equivalency between terrorists and bereaved families.
This statement was issued by Almagor: “Today, the High Court of Justice compared those who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity to their victims. Therefore, we will not attend the state ceremony for the victims of terrorism on Wednesday, in which Chief Justice Esther Hayut will participate. We will hold an alternative ceremony near Mount Herzl.”
Instruction to take the medicine: Unlike other medication this medication should be taken once a levitra purchase online Check This Out day. If you are levitra 40 mg RC toys fans, please waiting for. The psychological causes such as extramarital or premarital relationship, fear of transmission women viagra pills of HIV or STD, fear of pregnancy, lack of privacy, anxiety and mood disorders. Similarly, males with diabetes, cardiovascular problems, kidney/liver malfunction, urinary issues, cancer, spinal cord injury etc. should not use http://secretworldchronicle.com/tag/nikola-tesla/ viagra no prescription this product.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Yom Hazikaron: When Will The Iranians Attack?
For anyone who has not been in Israel on Yom Hazikaron, this day is one of the two saddest ones on the Israel calendar (the other being Yom HaShoah).
From sundown yesterday until sundown this evening, Israeli television channels are running nonstop coverage of Yom Hazikaron observances all over Israel in addition to heart-rending stories of families who have lost their loved ones who died in the defense of Israel.
Last night, your humble servant and his wife attended the Yom Hazikaron service here in Ashdod at the packed Monart Performing Arts Center.
The stage at the Ashdod Center for the Performing Arts just before 8 pm last night when the memorial siren sounded.
The program began after we all stood at attention for the 1 minute siren at 8 pm. Afterwards, we listened to somber music, heard tragic poetry written by soldiers who had died, and listened to brief comments from a variety of public officials.
But while all of this was happening on stage over the course of nearly 50 minutes, a giant video screen in the background scrolled through all of those soldiers from Ashdod who died in Israel’s wars.
Each screen had the name and picture of the soldier, the unit he or she served in, when the soldier was killed, and the age of the soldier.
The screens scrolled at the rate one screen every ten seconds beginning with those who died back in 1947 and ending with those who were killed in the 2014 war with Gaza.
It took 49 minutes to scroll through the entire list of 294.
294 soldiers defending this country—most taken from us in the very flower of their youth–their smiling, happy faces still looking out at us through the years.
It was an extraordinarily somber experience. Family members and friends wept in the audience as each picture appeared.
Of course, Ashdod’s experience is but a microcosm of Israel’s.
Here are the sad numbers:
23,645 defenders of Israel have been killed since 1860 defending the pre-state Yishuv and the State of Israel.
8,929 bereaved parents live in Israel.
4,849 widows of fighters live here and countless children.
And the defense of Israel never stops.
Since Yom Hazikaron last year, 71 IDF soldiers have died.
And yet, in the midst of Yom Hazikaron, comes the news that the Iranians in Syria are planning to stage an attack on Israel, perhaps as soon as today or tomorrow. According to their proxy Hezbollah, the Iranians do not want to start a war with Israel, they just want to “kill a few Israeli soldiers” in retaliation for our attack on the T-4 base in Syria.
This morning, Israel published pictures of other Iranian bases in Syria with the warning that if we are attacked, those bases will be attacked also. Nevertheless, at last report, the Iranians were seen moving some of their heavy missile batteries closer to the Syrian-Israel border.
Such is life here in Israel this morning: mourning our dead, and preparing for the next attack from Iran.
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.