Yom Chamishee
Thursday
15 Tammuz 5782
July 14 2022
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Your Humble Servant’s “Observations” Of Biden’s Arrival
As noted in yesterday’s blog, my wife and I went to Jerusalem yesterday getting on Highway 1 at the Latrun interchange at about 2 pm, one hour before Highway 1 was closed down in both directions for several hours for President Biden’s 60-vehicle motorcade.
By way of context, you should know that both sides of the road leading to Jerusalem and back towards Tel Aviv are lined with flag poles which normally display Israeli flags on special days.
I fully expected to see each pole adorned with American and Israeli flags in welcome to Biden.
There were none.
Not a single flag anywhere to be seen.
Similarly, given the fact that more than 16,000 Israeli security personnel were/are on duty to protect against untoward incidents, I thought that Highway 1 would have numerous police cars and military vehicles interspersed along the way.
There were virtually none.
Arriving into Jerusalem, we parked in a lot off of Jaffa Street. Again there were no flags, but on the other hand, there were police and security personnel everywhere. Walking from City Hall back to the Mahane Yehuda Market, there were literally dozens of security people at every step along the way.
There were lots of people, though it was hard to differentiate between Jerusalemites and tourists–and hard to know who was there to see Biden and who was there because they were doing their normal shopping or walking to and from work.
So that was it. We stayed there until Biden arrived in the city, but the only way we knew it was from the sirens of the police cars leading the motorcade. All the streets on which Biden traveled were completely closed down.
Around 5 pm, we left downtown and went north to the Ramot neighborhood where our son and his family live. By 8 pm, we were back on Highway 1 heading for the Latrun turnoff that would lead us back to Ashdod. There was the usual traffic coupled with dozens of lights-flashing security vehicles going back home to southern Israel after being part of the security detail in Jerusalem.
And so it went . . .
The Video of the Day
As we have continuously reported here on OneIsrael, the Israeli media–particularly television channels 12 and 13 are virulently anti-Netanyahu. Yesterday, one of Channel 12’s main news presenters, Dana Weiss, triumphantly reported that at the Ben Gurion Airport, President Biden ignored former PM Netanyahu and refused to shake his hand.
Click here to see what really happened.
Not only did a smiling President Biden look at Netanyahu, he vigorously shook his hand—before he even acknowledged former PM Bennett and current PM Lapid in the receiving line.
Talk about fake news.
The News on the Israeli Street
Today’s Corona update . . .
9,634 Israelis tested positive yesterday (out of 30,o1o tested) bringing to 71,105 the number of active patients in the country.
The positive test rate was 32.1%; the coefficient of infection was 0.92%.
398 Israelis are seriously ill; 94 are critically ill—81 of these are on ventilators.
11,101 have died.
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
A knife-armed Palestinian terrorist was captured as he tried to cross the security fence on the border between northern Gaza and Israel.
Palestinian terrorists used Molotovs, IEDs, and “rocks” to attack Israelis between Giti Avishar and Ariel, at Huwara, Hizma, Marda, and at a host of other locations.
Lapid and Gantz desperately search for more concessions . . .
If you can believe this, in their headlong rush to kiss Joe Biden’s hind end, our idiotic government is now floating the idea that it will open up Ramon Airport to Palestinians in return for PLO Chairman dropping all charges against Israel at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Can you imagine Palestinians flying into the airport in Eilat by the tens of thousands?
But look at it from Lapid, Bennett, and Gantz’s point of view. By getting the PLO to drop charges, it frees up our gallivanting threesome to go anywhere in the world without a qualm.
By the way, on a separate but related note, all missions to capture wanted terrorists in Judea and Samaria have been called off by the IDF until after Biden leaves.
Just unbelievable.
TODAY’S BLOG
Talking The Talk But Not Walking The Walk
With Air Force 1 as a backdrop, President Biden speaks on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport yesterday (photo: Time).
By anyone’s standards, President Biden hit all the right notes and more during his short speech upon arrival at Ben Gurion yesterday afternoon.
Here are a few snippets:
“. . . it’s an honor to once again stand with friends and visit the independent, Jewish State of Israel.”
“. . . I say again, you need not be a Jew to be a Zionist.”
“Every chance to return to this great country, where the ancient roots of the Jewish people date back to biblical times is a blessing.”
“. . . the connection between the Israeli people and the American people is bone deep. It’s bone deep. And generation after generation, that connection grows. We invest in each other. We dream together. We’re part of what has always been the objective we both have.”
” . . . we must do every, every day — continue to bear witness, to keep alive the truth and horror of the Holocaust — horror of the Holocaust, honor those we lost so that we never, ever forget that lesson, you know, and to continue our shared, unending work to fight the poison of anti-Semitism wherever it raises its ugly head. Wherever we find it in the world, we make real on the promise of “never again” by taking it on.”
“May Israel and the United States continue to grow and prosper together for the benefit of the entire world. And I mean that: for the benefit of the entire world.”
Well said, and we here at OneIsrael were happy to hear Biden say these things and more.
Unfortunately, before these eloquent words were spoken, National Security Advisor went to great pains on the flight to Ben Gurion to drive a dagger in the heart of our capital of Jerusalem by declaring that Biden wants a Palestinian consulate in eastern Jerusalem: “Our position is that we would like a consulate in East Jerusalem. Obviously that requires engagement with the Israeli government. It requires engagement with the Palestinian leadership as well. And we will continue that engagement on this trip.”
To top this off, Sullivan added that Secretary of State Blinken has actually invited the family of slain Al-Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh to Washington so that he sit down with them and engage them directly.
You will recall that the Biden Administration threw Israel under the bus by issuing a statement after the investigation into the bullet that killed Akleh which stated that while no one can be sure who fired the bullet, the U.S. believes it was fired accidentally by an IDF soldier.
Both of these statements by Biden’s right hand man come on top of all the concessions to the Palestinians that Biden has demanded.
In short Biden knows how to talk the talk, but he most certainly does not walk the walk. We all know the expression that “actions speak louder than words.”
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.