25 Tishrei 5780
24 October 2019
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
On the Gaza border:
*Two Palestinian terrorists were captured early this morning after they infiltrated into Israel.
*Qatari blackmail payer Muhammad Al-Amadi arrived in Gaza this morning where he will pay out $100 to 100,000 families.
In Judea and Samaria:
*Palestinian terrorists using “rocks” and Molotovs attacked Israeli men, women, and children at Deir Nizam, Hermesh, Deir Mashaal, Hatamar Yehuda, the Yitzhar Junction, Tekoa, and at other places in Gush Etzion.
Another unsurprising Supreme Court ruling . . .
Yesterday was supposed to be the day that the homes of the murderers of Dvir Sorek were razed.
The tractors and bulldozers were there, but at the last moment the Court froze the demolitions.
Another IDF investigation of a “failure” . . .
Your humble servant is certain you remember the Hezbollah anti-tank missile that was fired at an IDF ambulance on the northern border back on September 1. The day afterward, we went to the spot and posted pictures on this blog.
Now it turns out that the IDF has been involved in a huge investigation and not surprisingly, has concluded that IDF commanders were at fault for the incident.
How, you may ask, are IDF commanders responsible for Hezbollah terrorists firing at an IDF ambulance in Israel?
Apparently because the IDF had issued orders that no vehicle could travel on any road along the Israel border that could be seen from Lebanon.
Say what?
Do you have any idea how absurd this directive was? All of the roads along the entire Israel-Lebanon border are completely visible from Lebanon. Not just visible–but in the easy firing range of any Hezbollah terrorist.
Instead of proactively focusing on wiping those terrorists out, the IDF’s apparent strategy is now just to tuck tail and hide, and to punish anyone who doesn’t.
What the IDF is essentially doing is surrendering large swaths of northern Israel to Hezbollah.
Just plain pathetic.
Counting their chickens before they hatch . . .
As President Rivlin handed the mandate to try to form a new government to Benny Gantz of Kahol Lavan last night, the leftist media and leftist political parties could not stop crowing that the days of Likud rule in Israel are over.
But there is no indication that it is.
Benny Gantz is no closer to forming a government today than he was on the day after the election.
Hilariously, after two weeks of rejecting any meeting with PM Netanyahu, Gantz phoned Netanyahu this morning to request a meeting.
After first saying that he would meet Gantz today, Netanyahu changed his mind and said he would think about it.
In any case, Gantz’s countdown is on. 28 days yesterday is down to 27 days today for him to form a coalition.
Starbucks returns to Israel . . .
Twenty years after giving up its efforts to gain a foothold in the Israel coffee market, Starbucks is back again.
And likely to have the same result as before.
On the one hand, Starbucks cannot compete with Coffix which is still selling all sorts of coffee for between 5 and 10 shekels. On the other, it cannot compete with the large “coffee” restaurants such as Cafe Joe which offer full scale breakfast and lunch menus for Israelis who want to sit down and enjoy coffee and food.
Israel is a good place to do business . . .
The World Bank released its annual “Doing Business” report yesterday. That report ranks countries in order of the ease of which businesses can be formed and operated.
Israel is now up to number 35 out of 190 countries evaluated.
American Reform and Conservative Judaism continue to decline . . .
A new survey by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) has released findings that confirm what your humble servant has been writing for years–namely, that Reform and Conservative Judaism are in decline and may disappear within a generation in the U.S.
The last major survey evaluating American Jews was carried out by the Pew organization in 2013.
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Here’s what has apparently happened in six short years since then:
In 2013, 35% of American Jews self-identified as Reform. In 2019, that number is down to 26%.
In 2013, 18% of American Jews self-identified as Conservative. In 2019, that number is down to 12%.
The obvious irony to Israelis is that as Reform and Conservative Judaism slowly decline into non-existence in the U.S., both groups are attempting to exert ever greater pressure on Israel.
Insofar as other groups are concerned:
In 2013, 10% of American Jews self-identified as Orthodox. In 2019, that number remains at 10%.
The only other group that registers in 2019 is Reconstructionist Judaism which now claims a meager 6% of all American Jews.
You might want to stop and think about all these numbers for a moment.
Only 54% of American “Jews” identify with any form of Judaism. A full 46% apparently have no organized Jewish religious affiliation whatsoever.
To say that American Judaism is in decline is an egregious understatement.
A few more interesting responses from the survey:
33% of all American Jews now say that they “refrain” from wearing any Jewish symbols in public because they are afraid of anti-Semitism.
25% of all American Jews now say that they are uncomfortable attending Jewish events because of fear.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Our Trip To Hevron: Part 1 Rachel’s Tomb
Yesterday, your humble servant and his wife took a trip to Rachel’s Tomb near Bethlehem, through Gush Etzion, and on to Hevron where we visited Jewish neighborhoods, Tel Hevron, and the Cave of the Patriarchs.
Today is part one of that trip focusing on Rachel’s Tomb–the only place on the trip agenda which we had never visited before. And yet, it appears regularly in this blog because of the fact that Jewish worshipers there are constantly attacked by Palestinian terrorists throwing “rocks” and Molotovs.
I must confess that before going there, I had this image in my mind when I thought about Rachel’s Tomb:
A very early photo of Rachel’s Tomb.
A simple building located in a rural bucolic setting located on the outskirts of a sleepy Bethlehem.
Nothing could be further from reality. In fact, Rachel’s Tomb is now completely surrounded by a sprawling densely populated Bethlehem–though on the Jerusalem side, the encroachment is fairly small and in an area controlled by Israel.
To get to Rachel’s Tomb, you must run a small gamut of Palestinian shops and businesses. It is from this area that Jewish worshipers are attacked as well as the Bethlehem Hotel area seen in a photo below.
And then you get to the actual compound.
I took this photo from the bus that we were on which was following another bus into the compound. The actual tomb is located under those trees which you see to the right down the road.
Which is massive. And massively guarded.
By massive, I mean that there are massive concrete walls all around the Tomb and inside those walls are not merely the tomb but also quarters for Border Guards, Border Police, and presumably IDF soldiers. And a large road suitable to handle the multitude of buses and cars that arrive every day carrying worshipers.
This photo gives you some small indication of the size of the compound. On the right hand side are the separate entrances for women and men. The white building looming over the compound at the end of the street is the Palestinian Bethlehem Hotel.
Of course, there are separate entrances for women and men, and once inside total segregation by gender. Literally, men pray on one side of the “large coffin,” and women on the other.
As you can see, Rachel’s large coffin is covered with a drawing like the one at the beginning of this blog–showing the compound as it used to be.
Obviously, I was on the men’s side, but when I exited the building, I was frankly astonished at how many women emerged who were sobbing.
One of them told me that it was one of the most emotional experiences of her life. To understand why would take too long to explain here today, but this would be a good article to read. Suffice it to say that many Jewish women look upon Rachel as the paradigm of motherly love–a woman who would do anything for her “children.” They also believe that if they are unable to have children, Rachel will help them.
Which is a good place to stop for today. Tomorrow we continue through Gush Etzion.
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.