Yom Chamishee
Thursday
18 Iyar 5782
May 19 2022
TODAY’S BLOG
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Good
After days, weeks, and a month of bad news comes a day on which we have at least a few morsels of good news to report:
1. The Biden Administration has apparently backtracked and decided not to take the Iranian Revolutionary Guards off of the terrorism blacklist.
2. Shockingly, Riwad Zoabi, the ultra-left wing Knesset Coalition member from the Meretz Party who was recently appointed as Israeli Consulate General for Shanghai, resigned from the Coalition today–and from her appointment to Shanghai. This means that the Coalition now only has 59 votes–and the opposition has a majority. Apparently, Likud will bring forth a proposal to dissolve the Knesset on Wednesday.
3. Even the Joint Arab List Chairman Ayman Odeh–who has been supportive of the Coalition in the background–declared today that “there is no existence for a coalition that attacks funerals, allows Kahanists to march in East Jerusalem and deepens the occupation.”
Never mind Odeh’s idiocy about attacking funerals, Kahanists, and occupation, it is nevertheless good if the Coalition can no longer depend on the Joint Arab List.
4. According to reports from Jerusalem and Washington, it appears that President Biden’s impending trip to Israel may be cancelled. Biden coming to Israel could not possibly produce anything but negative pr for this country.
The Bad
Your humble servant debated about whether to put this under bad or ugly, but bad will suffice.
Our ever gallivanting so-called “Minister of Defense” Benny Gantz is on yet another junket to the U.S. again where he will be warmly coddled by all the leftists in President Biden’s cabinet. Here’s what Gantz said on the tarmac at Ben Gurion just before leaving:
“I am going on an important trip to the United States as part of which I will meet with the Secretary of Defense and the National Security Advisor and discuss with them the issue of increasing security cooperation and addressing the region’s challenges . . . In addition, we will also hold conferences for the bereaved families who live in the United States and our hearts are always with them. I am sure it will be a successful and meaningful visit.”
Gantz is only successful and meaningful in his own mind–and it is fair to say that he has never had a visit to the U.S. that changed the parameters of any discussion about “security cooperation and the region’s challenges.” As for the bereaved families, he is happy to meet with those in the U.S. because he is detested by the bereaved families in Israel.
The Ugly
Unidentified aircraft were spotted over northern Israel today. The Iron Dome fired two interceptor missiles (at a cost of $50,000 each).
Iron Dome–misses again.
Both missiles missed their target– in what is becoming a disturbing pattern of misfires.
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.