Yom Rishon
Sunday
28 Elul 5781
September 5 2021
Photo of the Morning
IDF soldiers this morning with apples and honey in advance of Rosh Hashana.
Rosh HaShana, the Jewish new year, begins Monday evening at sundown. The IDF has been busy this past week preparing their deployments for the holiday period.
The Disingenuous Quote of the Day
“A society that does not back up its soldiers and commanders even when they made a mistake will find that there is no one to fight for it. The willingness to bear losses is a condition for national resilience, and resilience is a condition for continued existence.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi in an address to IDF soldiers following the intense criticism directed at the IDF following the murder of Staff Sgt. Bar-el Shmueli.
Kochavi is both right and egregiously disingenuous. On the one hand, it is critically important that the people support the army and be ready to bear losses.
On the other, Kochavi is fully aware that no one in this country is expressing criticism for IDF soldiers on the ground.
All of the criticism is being directed at the idiotic “don’t shoot unless” orders issued to our troops on the Gaza border and at other hotspots–orders that were generated at the political and general command level and which were concisely summarized by “Defense” Minister Benny Gantz several days ago and reported here.
Notice how Kochavi suggests that it is the soldiers and commanders on the ground that make mistakes. Is it really possible that he does not understand that the criticism is being directed squarely at him and his minions in the General Command–and the so-called “political echelon”? Of course not. He is just crudely engaging in scapegoatism.
By the way, Kochavi finally found his way to the Shmueli family’s residence yesterday-5 days after their son died.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
On the Gaza border:
Terrorists launching an explosive balloon early this morning. Note the “airplane” with the explosive detonator hanging down.
Dozens of more explosive “balloons” and dozens of more fires in agricultural fields, forests, and nature preserves along the border.
The daily Corona update . . .
4,975 more Israelis were confirmed yesterday (much fewer tested on Shabbat) as having Covid-19. There are now 91,346 active cases in the country.
The positive test rate yesterday was 5.76%.
1,114,518 Israelis have tested positive since the pandemic began last year.
679 Israelis are in serious condition with another 143 in critical condition on ventilators.
7,154 Israelis have died–an increase of 32 since Friday.
Vaccinations:
6,011,624 Israelis have received 1 dose.
5,507,946 Israelis have received 2 doses.
2,581,893 Israelis have received 3 doses.
Nursery schools and kindergartens are being particularly hard hit at the moment. This morning it was announced that 16 kindergartens in Rehovot alone are now shut down with all of their children in quarantine.
Corona confusion reigns supreme: new guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health last night are that PCR Corona test validity will be for 96 hours (instead of the usual 72) between September 7-9 only. How can anyone expect changes in rules to be followed when then are issued so haphazardly and so close to the time they are go into effect?
The above change is to allow unlimited access to synagogues which coupled with large family holiday meals, the opening of the school year, and the mass return of thousands of orthodox Israelis from the Ukraine (praying at the tomb of Nachman), and tens of thousands of other Israelis returning from abroad is almost sure to lead to a post-holiday surge in the virus.
Some good news from Amazon . . .
Now that Amazon has reinstituted free shipping to Israel to orders under $65, it has quickly followed suit by now offering free shipping on orders over $65 including “electrical appliances, tools, housewares and more.”
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Unfortunately, Israelis will still have to pay VAT on the higher priced orders.
TODAY’S BLOG
Why Don’t They Ever Learn?
All of you dear readers are very familiar with these famous quotes:
“The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”
Attributed to Albert Einstein
“He who does not learn from history is doomed to repeat it.”
Attributed to George Santayana
Your humble servant has been thinking about the wisdom in these quotations during the past week.
Almost simultaneously we have had our mentally-challenged Coalition government leaders rushing to give concessions to Hamas in Gaza and the PLO in Ramallah.
Here’s what the terrorists in Gaza received 4 days ago:
1. an increase the fishing (aka weapons smuggling) area off the coast of Gaza to 15 nautical miles
2. an increase the water supply to Hamas Gaza by an addition 5 million cubic meters
3. an increase the quota of Gazan (aka Hamas) traders passing through the Erez Crossing by 5,000 bringing to 7,000 the total number
4. a vast expansion of the amount of goods flowing through the Kerem Shalom Crossing to include concrete, iron, and gravel for “private building”–and none of it with U.N. monitoring.
And what have we gotten for our concessions? Endless explosive balloons like the one in the photo at the top of this blog, endless fires along the southern border, and endless violent attacks on our soldiers stationed along the fence.
On the PLO side, we had “Defense” Minister Benny Gantz running to Ramallah last week and handed over these concessions in exchange for nothing:
1. Israel will lend 500,000,000 shekels to the PLO.
2. Israel will permit 15,000 more Palestinian workers into Israel.
3. Israel will create a digital accounting system for Palestinian businesses that do work in Israel.
4. Israel will authorization of regulation of the status of approximately 3000 Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria who came to the area when Hamas took over Gaza 14 years ago under the aegis of “family unification”..
5. Israel will approve the master plans for Palestinian construction in Area C.
6. Israel will release the bodies of terrorists held in Israel (the exact number is unspecified).
And what did Israel get for these concessions? Yesterday, the PLO appealed to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to accelerate investigations into alleged Israeli human rights violations and alleged war crimes committed by Israel.
This is the old decades-long pattern of Israel giving concessions to the Palestinians and then being slapped in the face by the same Palestinians in response. The more we give, the more they attack.
Our leaders never learn.
Why? Are they so desperate to be seen as “humanitarians”? Or are they somehow benefiting financially from the concessions? Or, as we suggested at the outset, are they mentally challenged? Or is it something else?
You make the call dear reader.
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.