Yom Rishon
Sunday
25 Tammuz 5782
July 24 2022
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The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
Some of the weapons and ammunition found in the house in Shechem last night.
**An intense firefight erupted overnight in Shechem with our forces surrounding the infamous Al-Azizi house in which Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terrorists were holed up. Having learned their lesson from a similar firefight in Jenin several weeks ago in which one of our soldiers was killed, IDF Givati soldiers this time hit hit the house with multiple RPGs.
Smoke billowing from and fires burning at the house in central Shechem early this morning.
However, while they were attacking, other terrorists began firing from buildings in the neighborhood. The fight went on for hours. None of our soldiers were wounded; 4 terrorists were killed.
**Palestinian terrorists using IEDs, Molotovs, and “rocks” attacked Israelis at Jit, Yitzhar, north of the Jaba Zurif Junction, at the Hala Checkpoint, Avod, the Gitti Junction, Mitzpe Alon, on Road 55 near Pondok, and at dozens of other locations.
Today’s Corona update . . .
5,133 Israelis tested positive yesterday (out of 18,400 tested) bringing to 68,387 the number of active patients in the country.
The positive test rate was 27.09%; the coefficient of infection was 0.81%.
376 Israelis are seriously ill; 105 are critically ill—98 of these are on ventilators.
11,275 have died–66 since Friday.
A personal anecdote: your humble servant and his wife were invited to dinner at a friend’s home last night along with another couple. It was amazing to see how the hosts and the other couple were completely dismissive of Corona–especially considering how all four of them had had Corona in the last two months. According to our host, “the danger has passed; nobody has to worry about the virus anymore.”
The danger has passed? 66 Israelis dead in the last 48 hours.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Disaster On The Roads
The scene on the freeway near Hadera this morning is the same scene everyday on freeways all over Israel (photo: Walla!)
Not only has Israel become one large traffic jam; the situation on the freeways, highways, and streets in Israel has become a nightmare. With no police to be seen anywhere, everywhere has become a racetrack with cars regularly weaving in and out of traffic at speeds approaching 100 mph whenever they can escape the traffic jams.
An electric scooter “parking lot” in Tel Aviv. Hundreds are on the streets all the time. Rental scooters are dropped wherever riders want: on sidewalks, in the middle of streets, even on freeways (photo Joel Nahum).
In urban areas such as Tel Aviv where speeds are necessarily slower, the sheer density of vehicular traffic is hard to believe. Anyone driving through the narrow overparked (35,000 parking places for 500,000 cars coming to the city each day) streets has to be constantly aware of pedestrians, regular bicyclers, motorized bicyclers, electric scooters, motorcycles, cars, trucks—none of which adhere to lanes of traffic or obey any traffic laws. The situation has become somewhat akin to that in places like Delhi and Lahore.
By far the most dangerous form of vehicles are the motorcycles whose drivers regularly speed between cars that are traveling on freeways, and around and between cars stopped or moving slowly in traffic. Each day that goes by, another motorcyclist gets killed. This morning two more have died:
The scene at Gilboa this morning where a motorcycle collided with a truck.
Something has to change here. More and more cars on the roads, more and more traffic fatalities . . . at what point does someone say enough is enough.
Your humble servant fashions himself somewhat of a libertarian, but here are six distinctly un-libertarian ideas to start to address situation:
1. The government should drastically limit the number of cars sold in Israel each year.
2. The number of police on the roads should be exponentially increased.
3. Fines and other punishments for speeding, tailgating, and talking on the phone while driving must be dramatically increased.
4. The rules for motorcyclists must be changed to prohibit such behavior as weaving in and out traffic.
5. Electric scooters and electric bicycles should be taken off the road completely and confined to scooter and bicycle lanes.
6. Parking on narrow streets should not be allowed.
And so it goes here in Israel . . .
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.