23 December 2018
Please Pray For Netanel
Netanel Felber–now lying comatose in a hospital bed.
Ten days ago, Netanel Felber was standing at a bus stop at Givat Assaf when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire on him and his fellow soldiers. Two of them were killed and Netanel was critically wounded by a gunshot wound to his head.
He miraculously survived and further survived extremely complex brain surgery when he arrived at the hospital. From that surgery until today Netanel has been in a drug-induced coma. Though still unconscious, Netanel began breathing on his own this morning.
This evening at 7:00 pm a national prayer is being said for Netanel at the Kotel (Western Wall). His family has asked that everyone–secular, religious, and haredi– pray for his recovery. His Hebrew name for prayer is Netanel Ilan ben Shayna Tzipora.
Wherever you are today, take a moment and pray that Netanel soon awakens and recovers from his devastating wound.
In Memory
Simcha Rotem at an awards ceremony in Warsaw a few years ago.
Simcha Rotem, the last surviving fighter of the Warsaw Ghetto, died yesterday at the age of 94. Rotem, born Kazik Ratajzer, spoke often of what happened there. Five years ago, he said that he and his cohorts started the uprising to “choose the death” they wanted.
Of course, the Warsaw fighters will forever be known for their courageous resistance. Rotem survived by escaping through the drainage system under Warsaw–the same way he helped hundreds of others escape. One year later, he returned to Warsaw and participated in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.
PM Netanyahu issued this statement last night: “On behalf of all the citizens of Israel, I express my condolences over the passing of Simcha Rotem, the last fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Kazik as they called him then fought the Nazis, saved Jews, immigrated to Israel after the Holocaust, and told the story of his heroism to tens of thousands of Israelis. His story and the story of the uprising will accompany our people forever. May his memory be a blessing.”
He is survived by two children and five grandchildren. Indeed may the memory of Simcha Rotem always be for a blessing.
The News On The Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
It has been another violent Shabbat in Israel with more than 50 terror attacks reported by citizens on the ground to rotter, hakolhayehudi, and Rescue Judea and Samaria.
In Judea and Samaria:
Kiryat Arba, Hizma, Route 60, Adam, Al Aruv, Havat Yehuda, Psagot, Halhul, the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road, Beitar Illit, Al Fawwar, Deir Nizam, Shilo, the Jerusalem-Gush Etzion Road, Al Khader, Beit Ummar, Neve Tzuf, Efrat, Hevron, and Tekoa were a few of the places where Palestinian terrorists assaulted Israeli men, women, and children with “rocks” and Molotovs.
On the Gaza border:
IDF troops spent the day fighting off numerous attacks on the security fence and defusing bombs and other explosive devices placed near the border. During the day, Hamas and Islamic Jihad vowed revenge for the 5 terrorists killed on Friday.
A follow up on the abominable HaMoked organization . . .
Several days ago, we reported on how HaMoked–supported by The New Israel Fund and the U.S. based Ford Foundation–regularly appears in court to support Palestinian terrorists.
Yesterday we had more news about how HaMoked has been busy in the last 4 years. A list was released of all the petitions it has filed against the demolition of the homes of Palestinian terrorists who have murdered Israelis. This list included the Palestinian murderers of:
Baruch Mizrahi, Eyal Yifrah, Gil-Ad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel, Moshe Twersky, Arie Kopinski, Kalman Levin, Yechiel Rotman, Zidane Sief, Avraham Goldberg, Dalia Makos, Eitam and Naama Henkin, Malachi Rosenfeld, Danny Gonen, Shalom Rakeleh, Habib Haim, Andrei Govberg, Richard Leykin, Yeshayahu Kryshevsky, Aaron Bennett, Nechemia Lavi, Ya’akov Don, Ezra Schwartz, Shadi Arfa, Reuven Aviram, Aharon Assayev, Benyamin Jakubowicz Drissa, Kim Yehezkel, Ziv Hegbi, Ari Fuld, Reuven Birmacher, Ofer Ben Ari, Hadar Cohen, Yosef Kirma, Hillel Ariel, Michael Mark, Yael Yekutiel, Shir Hajjaj, Shira Tzur, Erez Orbach, Yotam Ovadia, Ido Ben Ari, Ilana Neve, Michael Feiga, Mila Mashayev, Raziel Shevach, Elhi Taharlev, Elad Salomon, Chaya Solomon, Yosef Salomon, Hadas Malka, Reuven Shmerling, Ziv Drissa, Nathaniel Darsa, and Adiel Coleman.
Stop and think about this for a moment. 56 Israelis murdered by terrorists–and all of those terrorists’ “rights” being defended by HaMoked.
Unbelievable.
Paying for Palestinian terrorism . . .
Ireland announced yesterday that it is increasing its aid to UNRWA in the current year by 2 million Euros. This increase is in addition to the 9 million Euros that Ireland has already paid to the abominable U.N. organization which exists mainly to incite Palestinian terror.
By the way, the 11 million Irish euros for UNRWA is in addition to another 6 million Euros that Ireland is paying directly to the PLO this year. In short, Ireland has become one of the major funders of Palestinian terror in the world.
The unsung hero of the terrorist trackdown on December 13 . . .
Several weeks ago, YAMAM–the Border Police’s special counter-terrorism unit, tracked down and killed Ashraf Nalawa who gruesomely murdered Kim Yehezkel and Ziv Hegbi in the Barkan Industrial Zone back in October.
It turns out that it was “Rambo” who found the terrorist.
Rambo with members of his team.
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Rambo, is a Belgian Malinois, one of a group of dogs specially raised by YAMAM from two months of age to ferret out and take down terrorists.
In the incident two weeks ago, Rambo was sent into a house where the terrorist was believed to be barricaded. When gunfire was heard and Rambo did not return, members of YAMAM went in and finished off Nalawa.
But after the firefight, guess who emerged from the house?
Rambo–with a bullet wound in the neck and shrapnel wounds in his body. Paramedics on scene rushed him to a veterinary hospital in Beit Dagan where he is now recovering. By the way, this is the second time Rambo was seriously wounded; the first time was in February, 2016 when he tracked down a terrorist who stabbed a security guard at a mall in Ma’aleh Adumim.
So much for a boycott of Judea and Samaria . . .
AirBnB may have boycotted Judea and Samaria (actually, that boycott has been frozen for the moment), but the rest of the world hasn’t.
This past year more than 180,000 tourists came to the region–so many that the Tourism Ministry of Samaria has just ordered three more large buses to ferry tourists about.
As regular readers of israelstreet know, your humble servant and his family spend much of their summers and Fall in the wonderful land of Judea and Samaria.
TODAY’S BLOG:
“A Cumulative Balance of Losses”: IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot
“We chose a cumulative balance of losses . . . We were unable to create a good sense of security.”
Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot spoke at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya on Friday and unwittingly described what will be his failed legacy concerning Hamas Gaza.
So what does this mean?
As far as your humble servant can make it out, it appears that the IDF under Eizenkot (and Gantz before him) has opted for the gradual wearing down of Hamas over time. To hear Eizenkot tell it, the IDF never goes for a knockout punch; instead, each time a mini-war with Hamas breaks out, the IDF merely attempts to degrade more Hamas assets.
The idea seems to have been (and seems to be) that the more Hamas assets are degraded, the more Hamas will be deterred. And the more Hamas is deterred, the greater will be the sense of security felt by Israelis living in southern Israel.
As Eizenkot notes however, this strategy has been an abject failure.
Obviously Hamas has not been deterred, and just as obviously, the citizens of southern Israel have no sense or security. Nevertheless, no one has stepped up to change this failed strategy.
Here were some of Eizenkot’s other revealing comments at the IDC:
—“The Gaza reality is complex. It is impossible to deter . . . the Hamas desire to arm itself.”
Really? It may be impossible to deter the desire, but we cannot stop Hamas from arming itself?
—“[Hamas] wanted to lift the siege . . . and obtain assistance. They failed in achieving these goals even though they hit our Israeli border communities.”
What planet is Eizenkot living on?
Hamas has at least partially lifted the siege, with most of the border crossings now open most of the time. This is not even to mention the proposed new port for Gaza in Cyprus. And obtain assistance? Hamas is being paid off to the tune of $15 million dollars a month. And oh yes, they did achieve the goal of hitting our border communities—just recently in November they fired more than 525 missiles and mortars in just 25 hours, the highest rate of attack ever.
—“There was a debate about what to do, that perhaps we should choose a different strategy . . . We chose a cumulative balance of losses. And I am asking myself . . . what was the right thing to do?”
Isn’t this the problem with the IDF General Staff? They are perpetually racked by indecision, and unable to change a strategy once it is adopted.
—“I see an effort to return the kidnapped soldiers to Israel for burial and the two civilians who crossed into Gaza. For four years, not one Israeli civilian was killed. Unfortunately three soldiers were killed, and 16 soldiers were wounded. The prices they paid are very heavy.”
Yes, three dead soldiers were killed because they were hung out to dry without proper protection on the border. Death is indeed a heavy price to pay for incompetence.
–“The questions we have to ask are what to do–to not fear to use force, but to act at a proper place . . . We were unable to provide a good sense of security.”
That is the bottom line which Eizenkot and others cannot see. There is no sense of security in southern Israel and no sense of deterrence in Gaza precisely because the IDF is afraid to use force.
Just this afternoon, Hamas has declared that it is ready for the next war with Israel.
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.