26 Cheshvan 5779
4 November 2018
Picture of the Day:
A rare black flamingo spotted in the north desalination pond outside of Eilat (photo: Avi Meir).
Actually, this particular flamingo is something of a celebrity having already been photographed in Israel and in Cyprus, two stops on its annual migration.
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The News On The Israeli Street
Israelis protest against Palestinian terror . . .
Since our do-nothing government will never take action unless forced to do so by people’s protests, Israelis took to the roads yesterday to protest against Palestinian terror:
This protest involving 300 people from Neve Tzuf and Ateret took place on Road 465 at the entrance to Deir Abu Mash’al.
As anyone who reads israelstreet knows, Deir Abu Mash’al is one of the primary locations where Israelis are daily assaulted with “rocks” and Molotovs–a situation which has grown markedly worse in recent weeks.
As one protester noted last night: “Unfortunately, the deterioration in the security situation on the roads continues . . . last night a resident of the town encountered burning tires at the Deir Abu Mash’al junction and was forced to back up her car only to be attacked in the morning with a Molotov cocktail which shattered part of her windshield and dented the car, and continued in the evening when her car was hit again with stones thrown from a passing vehicle.”
In the last 24 hours, Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria struck at such places as Deir Abu Mash’al, Beit Ummar, Sinjil, Azzun, Beit Ur A-Tahta, Kiryat Arba, Talmon, and Tekoa.
A protest also took place at the Kerem Shalom Crossing:
Note the numerous trucks backed up at the entrance to Gaza.
Fed up in the government’s inaction, numerous residents of the area blocked trucks loaded with supplies from reaching Hamas in Gaza for several hours.
Another protest that has gone viral is one on Instagram. Begun by eight 16-year-old girls who attend Nofei Ha-Bsor High School in the Eshkol Region, the account shows what life is like for Israelis living on the border with Gaza who are constantly threatened with missiles and incendiary balloons and kites.
If you would like to visit their social media page (you have to be signed up with Instagram), go to Otef Gaza.
Shabbat Chayei Sarah takes place in Hevron . . .
A beautiful aerial view taken last year of the Cave of the Patriarchs surrounded by tens of thousands of Jews (and tents) in town for the Sarah’s Shabbat.
The annual celebration of Abraham’s purchase of the burial place for Sarah was marked by opening all parts of the Machpelah (Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs) to tens of thousands of Jews who arrived to pray. Tours even took place through the Hevron Casbah.
Police estimated that more than 20,000 guests camped out (or were invited in to people’s homes) in Kiryat Arba and Hevron and another 40,000 visited the Cave on Shabbat.
Another commemoration of Rabin’s assassination . . .
. . . turns into a left-wing denunciation of the government of Israel. This was the 23rd such ceremony held in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. Organized by the New Israel Fund subsidized “civil society” Darkenu Movement, the event was anything but civil.
The tens of thousands in attendance tried to hoot speakers they disagreed with off the stage, and in essence, demonstrated the very divisions in Israeli society they were there to ostensibly demonstrate against.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Israel’s Impending Agreement With Hamas: The Oslo Accords All Over Again
In yesterday’s blog, your humble servant noted that the IDF, the Netanyahu government, and the Egyptians are all “desperate to rehabilitate Hamas.”
In terms of the IDF and the Netanyahu government, it is a process that has been going on for some years now in the wake of the 2014 war. Since that point, Netanyahu and his minions have been transformed into blusterers who threaten Hamas with this and that, but who never hold Hamas responsible for anything–and even go so far as to try to absolve Hamas of any blame for missile firings and incendiary balloon launches.
Historically speaking, Israel’s relationship with Hamas has been intriguing to say the least.
Back in the 1970s and 80s when PLO terrorists were still “the bad guys”, Israel actually supported the development of Hamas in Gaza via its spiritual leader, wheelchair-bound Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. As one journalist (Robert Higgins) has put it:
“Israel’s military-led administration in Gaza looked favorably on the paraplegic cleric, who set up a wide network of schools, clinics, a library and kindergartens. Sheikh Yassin formed the Islamist group Mujama al-Islamiya, which was officially recognized by Israel as a charity and then, in 1979, as an association. Israel also endorsed the establishment of the Islamic University of Gaza, which it now regards as a hotbed of militancy. The university was one of the first targets hit by Israeli warplanes in the Operation Cast Lead in 2009.”
However in 1993, following the first intifada, Israel–in the wink of an eye–rehabilitated Yasser Arafat and the PLO via the Oslo Accords. The PLO suddenly became “the good guys” and “partners for peace.”
Israel rehabilitated the PLO by enabling PLO terrorists to return to Judea and Samaria and set up “administrative” shop in Areas A and B. More than this, Israel actually helped create a quasi-Palestinian army (aka the PA police) to provide security for Area A.
More than this Israel facilitated the building of PLO/Palestinian infrastructure, and allowed tens of thousands of Palestinian workers to flood Israel.
What was the end result of the actions taken by Israel? 169 Palestinian suicide bombers blew more than 1100 Israeli men, women, and children to pieces in buses, cafes, and shopping malls all over Israel.
Many of the suicide bombers were sent by Hamas which quickly became “the bad guys” (it is amazing how the PLO remained the good guys in the eyes of leftist Israelis and leftists around the globe).
Yassin himself was on the receiving end of an Israeli missile on March 22, 2004 as he continued urging suicide attacks against Israelis.
Your humble servant was thinking about all of this yesterday as the Israel’s draft agreement with Hamas became public.
Here are the salient points:
1. Israel demands that Hamas restrain the demonstrators on the border with Israel and to punish any rioter involved in the riots.
[Note how terrorists have become “demonstrators” and “rioters.”]
2. Israel demands that Hamas stop the weekly demonstrations in the northern Gaza Strip opposite Kibbutz Zikim which shares a maritime border with Gaza.
[“Demonstrations” again.]
3. Hamas demands that its so-called “March of Return” continue in its new “nonviolent format” until January 1.
[It was anything but nonviolent two days ago.]
4. Both Israel and Hamas agree that Egypt will work to remove 70% of the siege on Gaza until the marches are completely stopped.
[Does this mean when the “marches” stop, all blockade of Gaza ends?]
5. Israel agrees to increase the fishing area off the coast of the Gaza for a distance of 14 miles.
[In other words, Israel will facilitate smuggling weapons into Gaza by sea.]
6. Israel agrees to issue work permits for 5,000 Palestinians in Gaza under the age of 40–contingent on the PLO paying 80% of “government” salaries in Gaza and the PLO not objecting to Qatari payment of future government salaries.. This approval will be granted only after the problem of paying the salaries of the officials.
[Under the age of 40–the most violent segment of the population].
7. Egypt will act to implement a prisoner exchange deal, for which negotiations are frozen at this stage.
[As we all know, Hamas is holding no prisoners–just some body parts of two of our soldiers and three mentally challenged Bedouins who entered Gaza on their own.]
8. The United Nations and Russia will insure calm for at least three years.
[The United Nations and Russia? Who is kidding whom?]
9. Israel and Egypt agree to the constant opening of the Rafah crossing and the commercial crossings with Israel in order to build up the infrastructure of the Gaza power plant and other projects.
[Read “tunnel and missile infrastructure”.]
10. The building of other projects in Gaza that will provide 30,000 jobs for university graduates.
[University graduates of the Islamic University of Gaza.]
What is missing from this new agreement? Your humble servant sees no mention of Hamas recognition of Israel, no mention of Hamas changing its charter which calls for the murder of Jews, no mention of the incendiary devices which have laid waste to southern Israel, no mention of Hamas disarmament, and on and on and on.
The impending agreement is nothing less than the complete rehabilitation of Hamas and its overt recasting by Israel as the “good guys.”
It is the Oslo Accords all over again.
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.