30 Av 5780
20 August 2020
The Photo Of The Day
In Sderot yesterday: take a close look near the bottom of the wheel. Police sappers were called in to defuse the bomb.
In another reality this might have been a lovely scene with birthday balloons draped on a young person’s bicycle, but in this case it was something far more sinister.
Was it a miracle or just luck that the explosive balloons got tangled in the bike as they fell to earth, and the explosive that would have detonated came to a rest a few inches off the ground?
Imagine living in a place where such explosives are everywhere: on rooftops, in gardens, on bicycles, on power lines–such is the nature of life on the southern border with Gaza.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
On the Gaza border:
35 fires were ignited yesterday by explosive balloons launched by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.
A blaze last night in the Eshkol Region.
Another fire earlier in the day in Eshkol:
This fire burned more than 100 dunams.
There is no firm count at the moment, but tens of thousands of acres of forest and agricultural land have now gone up in smoke.
And instead of Israel going aggressively after those launching the balloons and missiles, we now have the surreal situation of Hamas issuing threats to us. The latest threat is that if Israel does not provide fuel to keep the Gaza power plant operating, Hamas will unleash an all-out attack on the Ashkelon Power Station which is located a few kilometers north of Gaza.
Unbelievable.
In Judea and Samaria:
Three Palestinian terrorists who were attacking Israeli motorists near Deir al Mash’al were shot by IDF troops. One of the terrorists died.
IEDs thrown at the security fence of Psagot, “rocks” shattering windows on a bus near Adam, “rocks” and Molotovs smashing cars near Al-Muayyir, Tekoa, Talmon, Beit Omer, and Al Abud: these are some of the places where Palestinian terrorists were active yesterday.
The daily Corona (Covid-19) update as of 8 am this morning:
There are 97,969 confirmed cases—an increase of 1,560 since this time yesterday
73,092 of these confirmed cases have recovered—an increase of 1,102
398 are in critical condition–a decrease of 6
118 of the most critically ill are on ventilators—an increase of 1
781 have died–an increase of 73
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There are 24,877 active cases.
Obviously, the most significant number is the jump in those who have died. However, as we reported yesterday, the death toll was bound to increase because of data entry and data reporting problems in the country. The increase of 73 includes 52 who died in nursing homes in March and April and were not properly recorded as Corona deaths. However, yesterday alone, 21 people died–the first time that the number has exceeded 20.
As of this morning 280 IDF soldiers have active Corona cases.
A follow-up to our blog two days ago about “If Israel is a start up nation, why?”. . .
NanoScent: all you have to do is breathe out through one nostril into a bag.
Talk about flabbergasting.
The other day, your humble servant posed the question of why in the world Israel is not using technology developed here to test for Corona. Instead of having to wait for days for a result, why can’t we use a test that gives a result in minutes or seconds?
It turns out that the NanoScent, the Corona test that gives a result in 15 minutes, is now being sold to the UAE for immediate use there.
Say what?
Yes, the NanoScent test, which cannot be used here in Israel because of idiotic Health Ministry bureaucracy, will now begin to be used around the world by other countries starting with the UAE. By the way, Nanoscent is one of the companies that we reported previously was already being invested in by the UAE.
Speaking of idiotic . . .
The idiotic struggle between Likud and Kahol Lavan over the budget continues. Remember that if no budget is agreed to by Monday night, the Knesset will dissolve.
We all know that an agreement will be reached, but nothing happens here unless it goes down to the absolute deadline.
Meanwhile what was PM Netanyahu up to yesterday? Instead of worrying about the budget, he was buying vegan food in the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem. As you watch the following short video, listen to what the woman yells at Bibi as he enters the market “Atta melech!” (“You are the king”!).
Click here to see PM Netanyahu shopping in the Mahane Yehuda Market yesterday in Jerusalem.
TODAY’S BLOG
More Arab and Muslim Countries Rush To Embrace Israel! (Not)
From the point at which several days ago we were led to believe that more Arab and Muslims countries are on the verge of following the lead of the UAE and making peace agreements with Israel, we had considerable backtracking yesterday.
In the first place, the UAE agreement itself seemed on the verge of unraveling yesterday over the F35 fiasco.
Yesterday morning, we heard PM Netanyahu once again disingenuously claiming that he had no prior knowledge of the F35 deal with the UAE and would do everything to stop the U.S. from selling the plane.
This was followed by the UAE issuing a statement that if Israel blocked the sale, then the agreement might well be canceled even before it is signed. Then came statements from some of Netanyahu’s Likud cohorts that maybe it is a good idea for the UAE to have the planes after all, and a statement from U.S. Ambassador to Israel that the F35 that the UAE gets will not be as advanced as the F35 version that Israel has.
Finally, by the end of the day, President Trump entered the fray and virtually announced that the sale would proceed.
In the midst of all this came the news from the Sudan that Foreign Ministry spokesman Hadar Badawi Sadiq, who had seeming revealed that talks have been going on between Khartoum and Jerusalem over a peace accord, was unceremoniously fired. In doing so, the Sudanese government proclaimed that it did not want to hurt relations with its Muslim allies.
To put an exclamation point on all of this came the statement from Saudi Arabia that it will not sign a peace agreement with Israel until Israel signs an agreement with the Palestinians. The Saudis even distanced themselves from the Trump Peace Vision by saying that as far as they are concerned, the Saudi Peace Initiative from almost 20 years ago is the way to proceed.
Hopefully, Bahrain, Oman, and a few other countries are still on board with peace–but things did not go well yesterday.
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.