An Exhilarating Night in Tel Aviv Demonstrating For The South And Against the Ceasefire!

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8 Kislev 5779

16 November 2018

Quote of the Day:

Tzachi Hanegbi and PM Netanyahu. Hanegbi is widely viewed as one of Netanyahu’s closest confidants (photo Ynet).

“Hamas responded in a measured manner and attacked only the Gaza border area. There’s a difference between the border area and Tel Aviv, the economic capital of Israel. Hamas’s attack was minor, because (rocket) fire at Tel Aviv has different ramifications.”

Tzachi Hanegbi, close confidant of PM Netanyahu and Regional Cooperation Minister, speaking on Army Radio

To say this comment from Hanegbi caused a firestorm yesterday is an understatement. Netanyahu himself was quickly and disingenuously disavowed Hanegbi’s distinction between the Gaza border communities and Tel Aviv. Others in the Coalition and outside of the Coalition called on Netanyahu to fire Hanegbi immediately.

Within hours, Hanegbi brazenly declared that he never said what he said: “I’ve never made a distinction between the lives of residents in the border area and the lives of the residents of Tel Aviv, and if this is what my comments were taken to mean, I regret that.”

The simple fact is that Hanegbi’s original comments exactly reflect the thinking of PM Netanyahu and his lackeys in the Cabinet.

As evidenced by their capitulation to Hamas, they viewed 500+ missiles and mortars hitting the Gaza border communities in 24 hours as “a measured manner” and as “minor”, and the people in those communities as missile fodder unworthy of the same protection offered people in Tel Aviv.

The News On The Israeli Street

Are new elections around the corner? . . .

We will know much more by the end of the day.

However, barring some last minute arrangement between Naftali Bennett (head of the Beit Yehudi Party) who wants the Defense Ministry and Moshe Kahlon (head of the Kulanu Party) who is determined that he not receive it, new elections will almost certainly be called. PM Netanyahu is meeting with Bennett this morning to discuss where things stand.

Dates that are being floated for a new election range from early March to mid-May. Obviously, the leftist parties would like to have elections now because of Netanyahu’s perceived weakness after the Gaza debacle, whereas Netanyahu is pushing for a date as far away as possible.

Stay tuned for further details.

Is this the reason that Israel capitulated to Hamas? . . .

According to Egyptian General Khaled Oka, Egypt threatened that if Israel did not stop “attacking” Gaza, it would no longer serve as an intermediary between Israel and Hamas.

In short, the grand scheme (aka Deal of the Century) concocted by the Trump Administration, so-called “moderate” Arab countries, and Netanyahu might have begun to fall apart.  

More reflection on PM Netanyahu’s dissembling . . .

Let’s consider for a moment Netanyahu’s comments yesterday that Israel agreed to a ceasefire because Hamas was “begging for a ceasefire.”

Even if this was true (which it was not), think about how militarily deficient the IDF’s and Netanyahu’s thinking was. Your humble servant would think that if Hamas was begging for a ceasefire, this would have been the moment to tighten the screws and hit them harder–if we ever want to change the dynamic on the Gaza border.

But our IDF General Staff and our prime minister thought this was the time to pull the plug on our attack.

The German campaign against Israel . . .

Yesterday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a special call yesterday to Romanian President Klaus Johannis. It was a call that she has made to other European leaders in the last few months.

The call had only one purpose–to stop Romania from transferring its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Apparently, Merkel conditioned German aid to Romania on Romania stopping its planned move.

Can you believe this?

Can you believe that the Germans are waging a campaign against Israel throughout Europe?

Of course you can.

 
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TODAY’S BLOG:

An Exhilarating Night in Tel Aviv Demonstrating For The South And Against the Ceasefire!

Last night, your humble servant and his wife joined thousands of other people from the South and elsewhere in Israel at the Azrieli Junction in Tel Aviv.

Our purposes in going were the same as everyone else’s: to show solidarity with the South, to protest the government’s abandonment of the South, and to show our rejection of the Netanyahu ceasefire.

We took the train up from Ashdod and arrived at the HaShalom station at about 6:45 pm. Immediately we went outside to the Azrieli Junction and found that busloads of residents from the South had already arrived. Police were in the process of cordoning off the junction from all four sides. The area was immersed in newspaper and television reporters.

What followed was a celebration of sorts–a celebration of the fact that finally our voices were being heard. Just as soon as we hit the street, we were approached by a nice reporter from the Jerusalem Post who asked us why we were there.

Our exchange with her is in a front-page article in the print Post this morning, and a photo of us with another Israel activist from the South and our comments were in the online version of JPost last night.

Here is a section from the article (click here to read in its entirety):

[Your humble servant’s name] from Ashdod said he had come to support the people of the South, and while his city hadn’t been hit in the latest round of violence, he had many friends in the Gaza border communities. 

“It’s a shame how the government has not responded to over six months of violence. We can’t believe the government thinks so little of the South” . . .

The people of the South, added his wife . . . “are not see-through.”

“I think our lives are equal to the lives of anyone else in the country,” she said.

Her husband said that the location of the protest in Tel Aviv, rather than in the South, increased the visibility of the cause. “If you want to be heard, you need to come here,” he asserted. 

Here is a video I took last night; by watching it you can catch some of the exuberance of the crowd. One of the chants is “Bibi wake up, the South is on fire!” (Click here for the video).

Here are some pictures I took last night:

More than half of the protesters were enthusiastic young people. These young women are from the Eshkol region. The large signs read “Let us grow up in silence.” the smaller sign at the bottom reads “The grass is greener in the center of the country” (because all of the grass has been burned by fires in the South).

A sea of people waving Israeli flags:

Again, it was wonderful to see so many young people!

Speaking of young people:

The girl’s sign reads “The Galilee is with the South.”

The crowd was very angry at Tzachi Hanegbi’s comments earlier in the day in which he called the Hamas attacks “minor”:

The sign being held by a middle-aged woman reads: “I am Adele from Nirim. I am one of the ‘minors’ who was attacked.”

Some were dressed in Israeli “costumes”:

All we want is peace–but not on Hamas’ terms. Nobody in the crowd supported a ceasefire.

T-shirts were available:

The T-shirt, like the sign above, reads: “Let us grow up in silence.”

All in all, it felt great to be in Tel Aviv and let Israel know how we feel!  Your humble servant doubts that the government was listening, but one never knows.