Yom Reva’ee
Wednesday
30 Sivan 5782
June 29 2022
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The Quote of the Day
“Do not dare think about it.”
The message that the Egyptian government sent to the Iranians yesterday concerning possible attacks against Israeli tourists in Egypt in reprisal for the deaths of Iranian scientists and engineers.
It is the same message that the Turks apparently sent to Tehran in the past few weeks–and the Turks proceeded to track down more than 10 Iranian terrorists in Istanbul.
The simple fact is that the entire Middle East is suffering in this Corona time from a dearth of tourists–tourists whose money keeps countries like Egypt and Turkey afloat. Egypt has been particularly hard hit because of the end of Ukrainians and Russians coming to the Sinai.
Now that there are direct flights from Tel Aviv to Sharm Al-Sheikh, more than a million Israeli tourists are expected this year.
The Meaningless Act of the Day
Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman announced today that he is cutting the cost of gasoline to the average Israeli citizen by extending a reduction of the cost of diesel fuel for another six months.
How much is that reduction?
One half of 1 shekel per liter.
Why is it meaningless? Aside from the meager savings, almost no one here drives a vehicle that uses diesel.
The News on the Israeli Street
The daily Corona update . . .
12,875 Israelis tested positive yesterday (out of 42,133 tested) bringing to 65,481 the number of active patients in the country.
The positive test rate was 30.56%; the coefficient of infection was 1.16%.
294 Israelis are seriously ill; 58 are critically ill—48 of these are on ventilators.
10,946 have died.
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
More weapons seized from terrorists as they tried to cross from Jordan into Israel in the Dead Sea area.
A Palestinian terrorist tried to stab a policeman at the Majles Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The policeman was not wounded, but the terrorist somehow escaped only to be captured later.
Palestinian terrorists used Molotovs, IEDs, and “rocks” to try to kill Israeli motorists at such places as Huwara, north of the Bypass Junction on the Hevron-Gush Etzion Road, near the entrance to Hares, Beitar, and on Road 463 (security officer wounded).
A Palestinian terrorist was killed during an exchange of gunfire with IDF soldiers in Jenin early this morning.
An interesting employment statistic for the day . . .
100,000 Palestinians from Areas A and B of Judea and Samaria, and Gaza, now have work permits for Israel. On Sunday the Cabinet approved 12,000 more permits for Palestinians to come and work in manufacturing and service sector positions.
This 112,000 is in addition to the estimated 50,000 to 100,000 Palestinians who are in the country illegally.
TODAY’S BLOG
“Not With A Bang But A Whimper”
(With apologies to T.S. Eliot–adapted from The Hollow Men)
This is the way the Knesset ends
This is the way the Knesset ends
This is the way the Knesset ends
Not with a bang but a whimper
Your humble servant can not help but think of T.S. Eliot’s poem about how the world will end when watching events unfold in the Knesset yesterday and today. Supposedly, the Knesset will finally dissolve today, and former boxer and TV personality Yair Lapid will become prime minister at midnight–but who knows.
A whole host of proposed bills were shelved yesterday due to objections from the Opposition and the lack of any energy from the Coalition to pursue them.
They included:
*an anti-Netanyahu law to prohibit a person under indictment from forming a government
*an anti-Netanyahu law to limit a prime minister to two 4-year terms in office
*a law to lower the election threshold to receive seats in the Knesset to 2% of the popular vote
So why isn’t the whimpering Knesset dissolving?
The new hangup is over the so-called “Metro Law”–a bill that would massively fund–to the tune of tens of billions of shekels–a gigantic transportation infrastructure project for central Israel. Over the next decade, 145 kilometers of underground rail lines would reach out from Tel Aviv to 24 cities.
The Opposition does not want the current government to get credit for the bill, but is willing to support it if the new election date returns to October 25 instead of the recently revised November 1.
By the way, if the Knesset does not dissolve by tomorrow night, the 450,000 Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria will be hung out to dry.
Let’s end today’s short blog with more from The Hollow Men—a passage that aptly describes those paralyzed by inaction in the Knesset (you can add “women” to “men):
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion . . .
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.