11 Nissan 5780
5 April 2020
The Sickening Quote of the Day
“The great achievement is that for the first time, the Foreign, Defense, and Justice Ministries that have been in control of the “right” for years will turn to blue and white.”
Ronen Tzur, senior adviser to Benny Gantz and the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) Party.
Tzur’s statement is sickening on many levels, especially the following two.
In the first place, if it is really true that Netanyahu has turned over these ministries to Blue and White, it means that Netanyahu has given away the house in order to remain in power.
In the second place, this statement leaves no doubt of what Blue and White party members think of themselves. Whereas they spent much of the last campaign trying to claim that they were really on the center-right, we now know (as if we ever doubted it) that the Party is firmly embedded in the Israeli “left.” Who knows what damage they can wreak in the Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, and Justice Ministry?
As for the great achievement, it apparently hasn’t happened yet. When your humble servant finished this blog yesterday, it seemed that an agreement was imminent.
Today, it seems farther away.
Now we have the news that Gantz called President Rivlin yesterday to inform him that after his (Gantz’s) mandate to form a government ends at midnight on April 13, he will likely ask for a two week extension to make a Coalition.
The News On The Israeli Street
The daily Corona update . . .
The situation continues to worsen with 8430 confirmed cases of Corona, 49 dead, and 127 seriously ill including 106 on respirators. The good news is that 546 have recovered.
Netanyahu’s right wing block seems shakier than ever . . .
The last 48 hours have seen an explosion of anger and finger-pointing at the ultra-orthodox communities in Israel. Led by the leftist media, these haredi have been portrayed as selfishly pursuing religious practices that have endangered all Israelis.
This morning, complaints were filed by the ultra-orthodox with Attorney General Mandelblit demanding that newscasters on Channels 12 and 13 be held to account.
At the same time, the government has closed off Bnei Barak using a combination of police and soldiers. The same soldiers are also providing needed service such as food and medicine delivery to those living in the city. The Netanyahu cabinet is now considering closing off a number of ultra-orthodox neighborhoods in Jerusalem such as Mea Shearim where the incidence of Corona is high.
In response to all of this, the leader of the ultra-orthodox United Torah Judaism Party told Netanyahu today that his Party will not join a coalition with him if general closures are placed on these and other ultra-orthodox communities.
On top of the problems with the ultra-orthodox, Netanyahu (as we have previously reported) faces difficulties with the Yamina Party led by Defense Minister Naftali Bennett.
On Friday afternoon, Yamina issued this statement: “We are not part of Netanyahu and Gantz’s game of chairs. For a week now, Netanyahu has been negotiating alone, without partnering with his partners for the past year. If Netanyahu has sold everything that matters to the right, we have no intention of being a fig leaf in the left-wing government that sells the Justice Department, eliminates sovereignty, and follows other paths inimical to our Party platform . . .”
The worsening economic situation in Israel . . .
The unemployment numbers are out today, and they paint a grim picture of an economy on life support.
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70% of Eilat is unemployed followed by Nazareth, Modi’in Illit, Bnei Brak and Rahat. 26% of workers in Jerusalem and 21.5% in Tel Aviv are now without a job or income.
The egg shortage . . .
Suddenly, there is an acute egg shortage in Israel, and as you may or may not know, eggs are a critical ingredient in the Passover seder which is 3 days away.
The good news is that millions of eggs from Spain arrived on two ships that docked in Ashdod this morning.
The skyrocketing price of gasoline . . .
Despite the fact that the price of oil is the lowest it has been in years, the price of gasoline has risen by 78% in the last month to $1.35 a liter–apparently the highest cost in the world.
Of course, the good news is that virtually no one is driving.
TODAY’S BLOG
Biden Goes Bizarre
The “hottest” anti-virus mask in Iran these days–with the face of terrorist Qasem Soleimani.
Taking a short vacation from the Corona and political news of the day, your humble servant has been struck in recent days by the outpouring of concern for the “poor Iranian people”–the same poor Iranian people who regularly march in the streets of Iran shouting “Death To Israel” and “Death to the United States.”
In the United States, this concern has been led by members of the Democrat Party who have also taken the opportunity to attack President Trump. Two days ago, the ever bizarre Joe Biden ranted this:
“In times of global crisis, America should lead. We should be the first to offer help to people who are hurting or in danger. That’s who we are. That’s who we’ve always been. And, in the midst of this deadly pandemic that respects no borders, the United States should take steps to offer what relief we can to those nations hardest hit by this virus — including Iran . . .”
From Corona crisis to Iran in three short sentences.
Iran?
There are numerous countries around the world that have been badly hit by Corona. Why in the world has Biden rushed to embrace Iran?
But wait, there was more.
According to Biden, not only are “the Iranian people hurting desperately”, Trump’s exit from the nuclear weapons appeasement deal and subsequent sanctions on Iran “has badly backfired; it makes no sense, in a global health crisis, to compound that failure with cruelty by inhibiting access to needed humanitarian assistance.”
Trump’s sanctions have “backfired” and are a “failure”? And now the U.S, is exhibiting “cruelty?”
What the U.S. is exhibiting is common sense.
The word from Iraq yesterday was the Qasem Soleimani’s replacement is rushing to pull together all of the Iranian proxies in Iraq so that they can go on the attack against Americans.
Oh yes, and one other thing. What are the “desperately hurting Iranian people” wearing on the streets of Iran these days? As you could see from the photo at the head to today’s blog, anti-virus face masks adorned with the face of the terrorist murderer Qasem Soleimani.
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.