Yom Shishee
Friday
9 Tammuz 5782
July 8 2022
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The Shabbat Photo of the Day
A Jewish mother and her two daughters lighting the Shabbat candles on a previous Shabbat (photo Jpost).
Candle lighting time in Jerusalem this evening is at 7:12 pm.
The Friday Poll
The latest poll. Please note that the Islamist Ra’am Party received 4 seats in this poll.
No one should be too excited about the above poll published in the Maariv newspaper this morning. After all, we will have some 15 weeks of polls before the election on November 1.
Having said that, this is the first poll in a very long time which has the Netanyahu bloc getting 61 seats in the Knesset (Likud 36, National Zionist 10, Shas 8, United Torah Judaism 7).
What parties are missing? Neither Ayelet Shaked’s right-wing Yamina nor ultra-left Meretz neither garner enough support to meet the threshold for 4 Knesset seats.
Here at OneIsrael, we will avoid the daily spate of polls, and publish a poll every Friday.
The News on the Israeli Street
Today’s Corona update . . .
10,507 Israelis tested positive yesterday (out of 34,792 tested) bringing to 76,700 the number of active patients in the country.
The positive test rate was 30.02%; the coefficient of infection was 1.02%.
352 Israelis are seriously ill; 71 are critically ill—53 of these are on ventilators.
11,056 have died–14 since yesterday.
The only good news is that the coefficient of infection continues to incrementally drop. Unfortunately, the number of daily dead seems to have settled in the double digits.
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on Israeli soldiers between Havat Gilad and Yitzhar, at the Anabta military outpost, and at a military checkpoint near Shechem. No Israelis were wounded in these shooting attacks which are becoming more prevalent, and all of the terrorists escaped.
Palestinian terrorists using Molotovs and “rocks” attacked buses at Hizma (a passenger on a bus was wounded) and at Maaleh Adumim (a bus driver was wounded in the head).
Palestinian terrorists tried to kill Israeli motorists Israelis on the Gush Etzion Road near Beit Omer, Al Abud, near Hevron, northwest of Ramallah, in the vicinity of Tekoa, and at a dozen other locations.
Up up up and away we go . . .
Israel’s favorite imported chocolate, Milka, is going up in price just like everything else.
Your humble servant is sure that you dear readers are tired of hearing about price hikes here in Israel, but the litany of price rises continued yesterday with news that the price of eggs will increase by 6.5% in the coming days.
This was coupled with the news that Israel’s major importer of food and personal hygiene products, the “Diplomat Company”, is going to dramatically raise its prices on such items as “Always” feminine products, “Starkist” tuna, “Pringles” potato chips, “Mazola” oil, “Oreo” cookies, “Gillette” razors and razor blades, “Oral-B” toothpaste, and even “Milka” chocolates.
In short, the price of everything is going up.
Today’s Blog
The Biden Comedy Begins
Israeli politicians are scrambling to find a way to get the most publicity for themselves when President Biden arrives on July 13 for his 40-hour stopover in Israel.
Here is Biden’s schedule:
Wednesday July 13
5:00 pm: Landing at Ben Gurion Airport, reception ceremony with the participation of President Herzog and PM Lapid
6:30 pm: Travel to Palmachim
6:50-7:30 pm: Visit Palmachim
7:30 pm: Travel to Jerusalem
Thursday July 14
10:10-11:10 am: Visit Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial
11:15 am: Travel to Waldorf Astoria Hotel for meeting with PM Lapid
3:15 pm: Departure to the King David Hotel
4:35 pm: Departure to the President’s House
7:45 pm: Arrival at the Maccabiah Sports Venue
8:55 pm: Departure to the King David Hotel
Friday July 15
Morning visit to Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mt. of Olives
Morning visit to Bethlehem to meet PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
As you can see above, Biden’s first visit will be to the Palmachim military base. However, when Biden’s advance team went to Palmachim yesterday with the public relations advisors of PM Lapid and “Defense” Minister Gantz, a noisy argument erupted between Lapid and Gantz’s advisors as to where Lapid and Gantz will stand. Each side was determined to get “the best camera angle” to accentuate their importance.
Finally, the Americans gave up and told them to work things out and let them know who will stand where.
As you can also see, Biden is supposed to visit the Maccabiah, but Lapid is encouraging the Americans to cancel that visit so that he can host Biden for a private dinner at his home. Lapid is doing all he can to build up his stature in advance of the November 1 election.
Another visit is now scheduled for the President’s House in Jerusalem where President Herzog has suddenly gotten into the act by deciding to award Biden the Israeli “Presidential” medal. Herzog’s team blathered that Biden is “a true friend of the State of Israel, the people of Israel and the Jewish people.”
By the way, that true friend is also scheduled to be the first U.S. President to visit a “Palestinian” entity in Jerusalem outside of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mt. of Olives. In doing so, he is de facto recognizing Palestinian dominion over the eastern part of our capital. Despite this, Israel has agreed to a series of concessions which Biden will announce after meeting with PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem.
Why will Biden announce these instead of Lapid? Because leftist PM Lapid is afraid they will make him look bad in advance of the election.
Who knows what other darkly comic delights we will be treated to before, during, and after Biden’s visit?
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.