8 Adar 5780
4 March 2020
Appalling Quote of the Day
“On the eve of the elections, I received a permission that I will not elaborate on. It would have ignited the entire Middle East, but would have brought me the election. I didn’t go for it. I also urge Gantz not to go for it.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking cryptically this morning
It later became clear what Netanyahu was talking about. Apparently, the Trump Administration had signed off on opening the Temple Mount to Jews on Saturday.
First of all, the idea that Israel can no longer act in areas of our own sovereignty without the permission of the U.S. is appalling. Even more appalling is what this once again reveals about Benjamin Netanyahu–that he is wedded to the status quo on the Temple Mount no matter what the cost.
And that cost is the continuing degradation by the Islamic Wakf of Jewish worshipers on the Mount–the site of the holiest place in Judaism.
The News on the Israeli Street
A Corona update . . .
*Purim parades and festivals–along with all other festivals involving more than 5000 people have been canceled.
*Numerous sporting events such as marathons have been canceled, and other sporting events such as basketball games are being played in front of no people by order of the Health Ministry.
*El Al is laying off almost one thousand workers–and has canceled flights to all Asian and many European destinations.
*All Israelis returning home on flights from Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland are subject to 14 day in-home isolation; beginning Friday, tourists from France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Spain will be barred entry into Israel–and tourists already in the country from those countries are being urged to leave. All tourists from China, South Korea, Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon are already barred entry.
*All scheduled international conferences have been canceled.
*Studies at a high school at Kibbutz Givat Brenner have been suspended until further notice.
To give you two more specific examples of corona panic:
In the first, a young man went to a soccer game in Tel Aviv; when it was later found he had corona, the other 5000 fans were told to go into home isolation.
In the second, a shopper in the Ashdod shuk last Wednesday tested positive for Corona. Now everyone who was in the market (thousands of people) have been told to stay home.
What are some other specific steps recommended by the Health Ministry?
1. People over 60 should avoid contact with anyone returning from abroad.
2. People should avoid shaking hands with anyone.
3. People should avoid touching mezuzahs on door lintels.
By the way, as you may not know, only 14 people have tested positive for Corona in Israel, and no one has died.
Palestinian terror in Judea and Samaria in the last 48 hours . . .
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The Yakir Junction, the Cross-Yehuda Road near the Halhul Bridge, the Karmi Tzur Junction, Madama, Azzun, Efrat, Aboud, Al-Aruv, Adam, Eshmu’a, Gitit, Mevo Dotan, Gilead Road, Hawara, Deir Nizam, Giv’on, Hermesh, Sinjil, Deir Kadis, Deir Abu Mash’al, the British Police Junction, Nabi Saleh, Psagot, Hawara, Talmudim: these were 25 locations at which Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis with “rocks” and Molotovs.
TODAY’S BLOG:
The Latest Election News: No Final Results Yet
The first fact to know is that there are no final results yet.
25 polling stations, such as the one at Or Akiva, are being checked for “anomalies.” In each of these places, something happened that alerted election authorities to the possibility of fraud. At Or Akiva, a large group of people voted for the Yamina Party; however, the tally from that polling site showed no votes for Yamina.
According to the Election Commission, whatever anomalies occurred at these 25 locations will “probably not be significant enough” to alter the seat count that has been made public:
Likud 36
Kahol Levan 33
Joint Arab List 15
Shas 9
United Torah Judaism 7
Labor/Meretz Bridge 7
Yisrael Beiteinu 7
Yamina 6
However, this “seat total” will change.
The Election Commission went to great lengths today to point out that once the 25 anomalous situation have been resolved, then “final calculations of vote sharing agreements and the Bader-Ofer surplus vote allocation system” will be made. (Click here for an arcane discussion of surplus votes).
In making this determination, the Commission will apparently be using the formula that 34,600 votes = 1 seat.
The revised seat total will not be available until next Monday. Almost certainly, either Likud or Kahol Lavan or both will receive another seat—at the expense of one or more of the smaller parties.
What is amazing to watch has been the degree to which the Israeli media has resorted to deceptive reporting.
In looking at the “blocks”, you can see from the above seat count that the right block currently has 58 seats, while the left block has a paltry 42 seats. The outliers, the joint Arab List and Yisrael Beiteinu, have 15 and 7 seats respectively.
But you would never know this to watch Israeli news which is gleefully reporting that the left block has 62 seats. They are reporting this despite knowing that the Joint Arab List has said it will not support Kahol Lavan, and Yisrael Beiteinu saying that it will not be in a coalition with the Joint Arab List or with a Netanyahu-led coalition.
In short, Israel media journalism has sunk to even lower depths than it had already reached.
Stay tuned for breaking news.
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.