6 Elul 5780
26 August 2020
The News on the Israeli Street
The daily Corona (Covid-19) update as of 8 am this morning . . .
There are 106,460 confirmed cases—an increase of 1,988 since this time yesterday
83,822 of these confirmed cases have recovered—an increase of 2,180
427 are in critical condition–an increase of 12
121 of the most critically ill are on ventilators—an increase of 7
859 have died–an increase of 12
There are 22,638 active cases.
Hospitals continue to be among the hardest hit in terms of new corona patients. Just yesterday, 18 doctors and nurses of the staff of Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv tested positive for Corona.
Unfortunately, Israel now has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of new coronavirus infections per capita in the world. However, if there is a positive point, it is that the number of active Corona cases continues to incrementally drop.
Palestinian terror on the Gaza border . . .
42 fires torched hundreds of dunams in southern Israel yesterday. Some of the hardest hit areas were between Sderot and Kibbutz Or Haner, and areas in and around Netivot.
Last night, Israel hit Hamas “targets” again. Hamas called the strikes “inhumane” because of the recent outbreak of Corona in Gaza.
What was supposed to happen this morning was that fuel deliveries to Hamas through the Kerem Shalom Crossing were supposed to resume, and the Qatari Ambassador was supposed to begin doling out blackmail money.
However, despite the Ambassador’s arrival in Gaza last night, fuel deliveries have not yet resumed and money has yet to be handed out.
A retraction . . .
A few days ago, your humble servant wrote that the OptiDefense Laser system that is now deployed along the Gaza border has been a “bust” in terms of effectiveness.
That is not true.
According to reports this morning, two “Blade of Light” systems have actually shot down more than 150 explosive balloon clusters with almost 100% accuracy.
Over Gaza before they reached the Israeli border.
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The problem is that two laser batteries are not nearly enough to handle the hundreds of balloons being launched by Palestinian terrorists.
An incident on the northern border . . .
Gunfire from Lebanon struck in and around an IDF post near Menara early this morning. After the attack, the IDF issued a lockdown for the communities of Yiftach, Menara, Margaliot, Misgav Am and Malkia along the border.
In response to the fire, Israel destroyed several Hezbollah outposts with artillery shells.
On the peace agreement front . . .
The news out of the UAE this morning is that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s real reason for being in the Middle East this week is to promote a regional peace conference.
Also, there are more reports this morning that another agreement, this one with the Sudan, will be signed in “a few weeks.”
TODAY’S BLOG:
1155 Nautical Miles/1329 Miles?
The straight-line distance from the UAE to Israel: 1155 nautical miles/1329 miles (timeanddate.com).
” . . . the stealth plane (F-35) does not have enough range to reach Israel from the United Arab Emirates.”
Yuval Steinetz, Netanyahu Cabinet member, commenting yesterday on why Israel should not be worried if the U.S. sells F-35 airplanes to the UAE
Is Steinetz correct? The F-35 doesn’t have the range to reach Israel from the UAE?
According to Lockheed Martin which describes the F-35 as a “long range” attack plane, the F-35 has a combat radius of just over 650 nautical miles.
So, if you assume that an F-35 took off from Dubai to strike Jerusalem, Steinetz is correct, the basic plane has half the radius necessary to accomplish the mission.
But . . . there are three considerations that Steinetz conveniently overlooks.
1. What if the UAE based its planes in Saudi Arabia or Jordan? In such a positioning the plane could easily reach Israel.
2. What about the 600 gallon drop tanks that have been developed for the F-35? These gas tanks double the range of the F-35.
An artist’s rendering of the new 600 gallon drop tank. The plane would of course carry one on each side (source: thedrive.com).
3. What about refueling? If the U.S. also sells refueling aircraft to the UAE that could be positioned over Saudi Arabia or Jordan, F-35s could easily reach Israel.
A bird’s eye view of an F-35 being refueled in flight (source: thedrive.com).
The bottom line is that Israel has every right to be concerned about the UAE getting its hands on the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world.
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.