19 Av 5778
31 July 2018
Quote of the Day:
“Those who thought a Molotov balloon to Beersheva or Tel Aviv would change the cabinet policy wrong. Those who do not prevent the fires in the communities on the Gaza border will not prevent them in the rest of the State of Israel.”
Haim Yellin, former head of the Eshkol Regional Council, now a Knesset legislator with the Yesh Atid party.
How true is Yellin’s statement. The Netanyahu cabinet will not act in either location to prevent terrorist fires.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
On the Gaza border:
Remember how PM Netanyahu crowed that the “ceasefire” with Hamas marked an end to the incendiary kites and balloons being flown into southern Israel? You might also remember how members of the Netanyahu security cabinet said almost 14 days ago that it would take “a few days” for the kites and balloons to stop.
Yesterday there were 22 fires set in the communities on the Gaza border by kites and balloons launched by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.
22 fires.
The worst was at Kibbutz Erez where tens of dunams were set ablaze.
In Judea and Samaria:
There was an attempted bulldozer attack at Halhul, but fortunately, those targeted managed to escape the oncoming vehicle. Unfortunately, the terrorist escaped.
Meanwhile, more than 25 “rock”, Molotov, and shooting attacks took place at such areas as the bypass junction north of Kiryat Arba, between Karmei Tzur and Beit Ummar, on Route 60 between Bethlehem and Hevron, near El Aruv north of Hevron, at Har Gilo, on the road between Gush Etzion and Hevron, between Hizma and Adam, at Kochav Yaakov, outside of Tekoa, and near Shilo.
Here’s a picture you have never seen before . . .
David Friedman (with the coat and tie) consoling the wife of Yotam Ovadia in Adam yesterday.
For the first time ever, an American Ambassador to Israel actually came to the Area C home of family struck by Palestinian terror. David Friedman came to sit shiva with the family of Yotam Ovadia who was stabbed to death in Adam last week.
As to why he came, Friedman said:
“My heart was broken upon seeing the tragic consequence of the killing of Yotam Ovadia. A young mother left alone to care for two toddlers, parents mourning their only son. There are no words that can describe the evil and barbarity of this act of terror.”
As to why no other U.S. Ambassador ever came before? Because they were afraid they would offend the Palestinians.
Speaking of terrorists . . .
Shaked Morag, the newly appointed head of Shalom Akshav (Peace Now) was quick to congratulate convicted terrorist Ahed Tamimi on her release from prison yesterday.
Tamini you may remember is part of the Pallywood family that goes out with a camera crew and attempts to provoke IDF soldiers by yelling at, cursing, slapping, punching, and biting them. She served 8 months for assaulting an IDF soldier. Tamimi has also called for “suicide attacks” against our troops.
The abominable Morag was joined in her congratulations to Tamimi by PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and cohort Saeb Erekat who hailed her as a “symbol of Palestinian pride and dignity”, and another terrorist, Turkish PM Erdogan, who ranted about her “bravery and determination to fight.”
Speaking of Turkish terrorists . . .
The saga of the 90 Turks who were denied entry into Israel two days ago continues with the case now becoming a cause celebre in Turkey.
The Turkish media has been going wild with claims that “Turkey has been humiliated” while Israeli authorities now say the group was denied entry because the 90 people were members of an extreme Islamic faction and posed a security risk.
The fact is that every Turkish Muslim tourist to Israel poses a security risk and should be denied entry into this country.
Speaking of terrorists . . .
With the precipitous drop of the Iranian currency in the last few days ($1 = 112,000 rials* on the black market), and international companies leaving Iran in droves because of the American sanctions, there is word this morning that the Iranians are suddenly interested in talking to President Trump about how the nuclear appeasement deal might be renegotiated.
If you can believe this . . .
You probably would not be surprised, dear reader, with the knowledge that there are airlines which do not list Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
However, you might be surprised if you found out that until the last few days, El Al was one of those airlines.
The fact was noticed by Ukrainian Rabbi Yaakov Bleich a passenger on a recent flight. In his words: [the video system had] an interactive map, and you could click on different cities and get a brief explanation. The point is that every capital city is mentioned as such, even capitals of small or provincial states. But Jerusalem was not mentioned as the capital of Israel, on an El Al plane. It’s shameful.”
“Shameful” is an egregious understatement.
When he complained to El Al, the company said it was aware of the problem but that changing it was “complicated” because it involved Israeli, European and US officials.
Say what?
In any case the situation has been corrected . . . sort of.
The earlier version on the left and later on the right (courtesy of rotter).
Despite the “correction”, your humble servant would recommend changing the entire second paragraph to be more factually correct and to remove the obvious grammatical error:
“Jerusalem is the holiest site in the world for Judaism, and it holds religious significance for Christianity and Islam as well. The followers of each religion maintain numerous holy locations of deep meaning to the respective religions.”
In any case, thank you to Rabbi Bleich.
TODAY’S BLOG:
“Run for your lives and don’t count on the Iron Dome!”
It was revealed yesterday that senior IDF officers had briefed the Netanyahu Security Cabinet a couple of weeks ago on what might happen should war break out on Israel’s northern front with Hezbollah.
The assessment included damage calculations for both a short term and long term war with the terrorist organization.
Insofar as Hezbollah’s arsenal is concerned, the IDF believes that Hezbollah now has between 120,000 and 130,000 missiles with 90% of them having a range of 45 kilometers or less. Each of these missiles is capable of carrying a warhead of 10 kilograms of explosives.
According to the IDF, Israel does not have the ability to intercept all of these missiles. There are not nearly enough Iron Dome batteries, and the Iron Dome system would easily be overwhelmed by massive barrages of missiles.
So what is there to do?
To believe the IDF, pretty much nothing.
The IDF presented the cabinet with exactly the same plan as it has already presented should a large war break out with Hamas in the south.
Evacuation.
In this case, the movement of hundreds of thousands of citizens north of Haifa to a safety zone in central Israel. Of most immediate concern would be the approximately 78,000 citizens who live in 50 communities within 4 km of the Lebanese border.
The idiocy of this plan is obvious. A full-scale missile attack by Hezbollah might be over in a few hours. Moving such large numbers of people would take days. Forcing everyone to be out on the roads moving south just makes them sitting ducks.
As much as it pains your humble servant to say this, I am not surprised at the utter passivity reflected in this most recent IDF assessment. It is the same reactive passivity that we see everyday down here in southern Israel.
One wonders if one day our pathetic IDF General command might come up with a scenario that involves killing our Arab enemies before they kill us.
*In the time it has taken to write this blog today, the value of the Iranian rial has fallen to $1 = 119,000 rials.
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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.