European Union Division Over Judea and Samaria

Tweet

30 Nissan 5780

24 April  2020

Nauseating Quote of the Day

“The attack carried out at the Kiosk Checkpoint was a heroic act carried out by a martyr.”

A statement from Hamas praising the ramming and stabbing attack against a Border Policeman at the checkpoint two days ago (see yesterday’s blog).

The good news is that the terrorist was killed, and the soldier who was run over and stabbed was released from the hospital this morning and rejoined his unit.

The News on the Israel Street

The daily Corona update . . .

5 pm Friday: There are now  14,882  confirmed cases of Corona in Israel. 107 people are on ventilators. 193 Israelis have died. 5,685 have recovered. See the above breaking news ticker for Corona updates.

12,802 Corona tests were performed yesterday.

The cities in Israel with the highest incidence of Corona (in order): Deir al-Assad, Bnei Brak, Elad, Kochar Yaakov, Modi’in Illit, Betar Illit, Beit Shemesh, Kiryat Yearim, Jerusalem. For those of you unfamiliar with Deir al-Assad, it is an Israeli-Arab city located close to Karmiel in the Galilee region. It has a population of around 15,000 people mainly consisting of three large extended families.

Areas of Netivot and Beit Shemesh have now been closed off for five days because of the eruption of coronavirus in various neighborhoods.

A 200 shekel fine is now mandatory if a person is caught outside without a mask.

A Duma trial update . . .

As regular readers of OneIsrael know, we have closely followed the Duma trial over the last few years and the events that led up to it all the way back to 2015.

It is a case that has been marked by egregious torture of young Israeli defendants by the Shin Bet security service. Because of that torture, the confessions of every person except one were tossed out at early junctures of the trial.

But that one defendant, Amiram Ben Uliel has remained in prison for 4 years. More specifically, he has been kept in solitary confinement in Eshel Prison without use of a phone or access to his family for the last few months.

Finally, finally, finally, his trial was supposed to have ended on Sunday when the verdict was supposed to have been read. But now, outrageously, the prosecution has persuaded the judge to delay the verdict for three more weeks.

We can only hope that the verdict that is handed down will be an acquittal on all charges and the establishment of  commission of inquiry to investigate the behavior of the police and prosecution in this atrocious case. Ben Uliel should be compensated for his years behind bars.
The osteopath at Stanmore can assess the structural changes which may lead to dysfunction get cialis or immobility due to muscular tightness. Exercise and maintain a stable state of mind to help buy cialis soft alleviate stress. It’ll leave you feeling great as well as helping erectile dysfunction. viagra prescription cost Other prostate cancer treatments might also affect libido (or sex cialis 25mg drive).

More clarification on the impending new government . . .

One of the major disagreements between Netanyahu and Gantz has been the appointment of judges. Now that Avi Nissenkorn of Gantz’s party will be Minister of Justice, what will be the actual situation?

Both Likud and Kahol Lavan will have an absolute veto when it comes to Supreme Court appointments. That is a very good fact because it means that Nissenkorn will not be able to further stack the court with leftist judges.

On the other hand, the Knesset Judiciary Committee which will have a majority of Kahol Lavan members will be able to appoint lower court judges. On that committee, an appointment will be made if 2/3’s of the committee agrees. Neither party has a veto.

TODAY’S BLOG

European Union Division Over Judea and Samaria

It didn’t take long after the unity government agreement was announced for the European Union to lambaste the idea that a declaration of sovereignty (and possible annexation) of the Jewish community areas of Area C of Judea and Samaria will likely go forward on July 1.

At least that is what the mainstream media had to say yesterday. 

The media based this on this statement of the European High Representative For Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell:  “Any annexation would constitute a serious violation of international law. The European Union will continue to closely monitor the situation and its broader implications, and will act accordingly.”

But the mainstream media, as usual, got it wrong.

Borrell was not speaking for the European Union even though he made every effort to make it appear so–even to the point of issuing a not-too-veiled threat of action that the EU might take.

In fact, Borrell had attempted to generate a statement from all EU members but was unable to do so; at least 8 EU members refused to go along. It is not clear which eight countries refused to sign the Borrell’s threat but they apparently included Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, and Italy.

The same thing happened back in February when the patently pro-Palestinian Borrell issued a similar anti-Israel statement after traveling to Tehran. At that time, he also could not get all EU members to sign on.

The basic point here is that the European Union is becoming ever less a monolithic entity. Severe divisiveness has been rampant during the Corona outbreak with various EU countries blocking the residents from other EU countries from crossing their borders. The old animosities between northern and southern Europe, as well as western and eastern Europe, are once again being played out.

The EU is not on the verge of collapse, but an increasing number of people within the EU feel that they would like to go the way of Britain. 

In sum, inasmuch as the EU has been an overtly anti-Israel force in Judea and Samaria, and an entity which has invested billions of euros in appeasing Iran, divisiveness such as that exhibited over Israel’s planned sovereignty (and annexation) declaration in July is devoutly welcomed.