4 Adar II 5779
11 March 2019
The News On The Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
On the Gaza border:
There have been a number of attempted infiltrations along the maritime border on Zikim Beach in addition to another day of explosive balloons and assaults against our soldiers on the border fence.
In Judea and Samaria:
Palestinian terrorists targeted a motorcyclist with “rocks” at the Halhul Crossing north of Hevron. He was wounded, but managed to escape. The terrorists also escaped.
Palestinian terrorists throwing “rocks” and Molotovs attacked Israelis at Luban a-Sharqiya, Tekoa, Mabtari, Hizma, Ma’ale Shomron, Hawara, the Hatti Junction, and Beit Ummar among other places.
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Palestinian terrorism . . . arrests of Jews . . .
The phenomenon of our government’s targeting of Jewish youth living in Judea and Samaria is appalling. As seen above, not a day goes by that Palestinian terrorists do not attack Israeli men, women, and children. Yet when it comes to bizarre arrests and grueling interrogations often leading to torture, Jewish minors are the ones singled out.
We all remember not so long ago how more than 30 youth were arrested without warrants, kept in solitary confinement without access to lawyers or family, and tortured over the course of a month in an effort to extract confessions in the Duma case. Finally, two of the youth did confess–but already in a trial that is seemingly going on forever, those confessions have been thrown out because they were gained by torture.
Three years ago, a similar sequence of events took place. A fire was set at the Dormition Church. Jewish young men were rounded up. Eventually, (then) 20-year-old Yanun Reuveni and another 17-year-old unnamed minor confessed.
They were indicted on charges of membership in a terrorist organization, arson, malicious damage from racist motives and other offenses.
This morning–after three years–the indictments were “withdrawn” by the state prosecutor because the court threw out the confessions and there was not enough evidence to proceed to trial.
The lawyer for the two men, Itamar Ben Gvir, had this comment this morning: “For three years I said at every possible forum that these young Jews were tortured . . . and I fought for their innocence. Today, one of the most serious cases in the history of Israeli law has come to an end. I was glad that the judge accepted my arguments and also glad that today the prosecution also admits there is no evidence.”
We can only hope that the case against Amiram Ben Uliel–the sole remaining defendant in the Duma case–will similarly be ended soon.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Israeli-Jew Rotem Sela and Israeli-Arab Sara Zoabi:
Which One Has An Unconditional Love Of Israel?
Rotem Sela on the left, and Sara Zoabi on the right.
Israel is abuzz today with a back and forth between Rotem Sela and her backers versus all those who disagree vehemently with what she posted a couple of days ago.
Since you probably don’t know who Rotem Sela is, allow your humble servant to explain: Sela is a 36 year old Israeli actress who stars in totally forgettable romantic comedies. However, she has a sizable following on Instagram and Twitter.
So what happened?
Several days ago, the Likud party published several postings in which it said that it would not sit with Arab parties in any future coalition. Actually, this is nothing new; prior to every election, every party that is in the center or on the right makes the same declaration. Even some parties on the left say the same thing.
In any case, Likud party member Miri Regev appeared on the television news show “Meet the Press” on Saturday night hosted by television “journalist” Rina Mazliah. In that interview, Regev said that Israeli voters should not vote for Benny Gantz because his Blue and White party would form a coalition with the Arab parties.
It was at this point that Sela entered the scene with this post:
“Miri Regev sits and explains to Rina Mazliah that the public should be careful that if Benny Gantz is elected he will have to form a government with the Arabs, and I ask myself why Rina does not counter her . . . When will anyone in this government tell the public that this is a country of all its citizens, and all people are born equal. The Arabs are also human beings. And also the Druze, and the gays, and the lesbians and… gasp… leftists.”
Say what? Because Likud will not form a coalition with ultra-left wing Arab parties that seek to undermine Israel, this means that Israeli-Arabs are not treated equally?
Whereupon PM Netanyahu declared that even though Israeli-Arabs have every civil right that any other Israeli has, Israel is a Jewish state.
Which occasioned this tweet from Israeli actress Gal Gadot:
“Love thy neighbor as thyself. It’s not an issue of Right or Left, Jew or Arab, secular or religious. It’s an issue of dialogue. Of dialogue for peace, for equality, for tolerance between one another . . . the responsibility to grow hope and light for a better future for our children is on us. Rotem, my sister, you are an inspiration to us all.”
Say what? What does “love thy neighbor as thyself” have to do with anything in this situation?
Well, as you can imagine, Gadot’s tweet and those of others have resulted in PM Netanyahu and others in Likud once again being labeled as a racist (remember the same fraudulent accusation in 2015?).
Responses from those who agree with PM Netanyahu have been pointed, but perhaps the most articulate was this one from Sara Zoabi, an Israeli-Arab woman who lives in Nazareth:
“With all due respect to Rotem Sela, I think she lives in a Tel Aviv bubble without being aware of what is happening and does not understand politics, but in the world of celebrity.
I have been privileged to be a citizen of a country that respects my honor, which gives me freedom of expression and religion.
Who is Rotem Sela talking about sitting with in the government? About Ayman Odeh who went to Barghouti the murderer and told him that in the future they would travel together in Jerusalem? About Ahmed Tibi praising shaheeds and murderers of Jews?
Many Arabs think like me, but not many have the courage to tell the truth. This is a difficult truth to say in society. We have to stop whining and complaining. I want Arabs who are proud of their Israeliness and their government . . .
The current government has contributed a great deal to the Israeli-Arab sector, for example in terms of the transfer of budgets and the security provided to all of us by the most moral army in the world. It is true that there is no perfect world and there is much to improve, but the government does not neglect us. In any case, my love for the people of Israel and for the state is unconditional.”
Wow! When is the last time you heard such a powerful statement?
Kolakevod to Sara Zoabi and shame on Rotem Sela!
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.