Yom Reva’ee
Wednesday
13 Av 5782
August 10 2022
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
There has been a massive surge of terror attacks in Judea and Samaria. A few examples from yesterday:
Palestinian terrorists wounded an IDF soldier near Al-Aruv. He is currently in Sha’are Zedek Hospital with shrapnel wounds to the face.
Palestinian terrorists started a large fire beside Beitar Illit. Other fires were set in the Kfar Etzion area.
Part of the large fire at Beitar Illit. Notice the security fence.
Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis with “rocks” and Molotovs at the Halhul Junction near Karmi Tzur, on the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road (Israeli wounded in the head), beside the small Yitzhar Junction, in the area of the Tapuach Junction, Gilad Farm (Israeli wounded by shrapnel), south of Shechem, at Huwara, at the northern entrance to Jericho, at the Parsa Junction, at the north Halhul Junction (19-year-old girl smashed in the teeth and mouth with a “rock” and a 12-year-boy wounded, at Marada Nazam, at Michmas, near Beit Omer, at Luban a-Sharqiya, and at a host of other places.
Palestinian terrorists attacked Israeli buses near the Ma’ale Amos Junction, and on the Hevron-Gush Etzion Road.
A good day in Shechem . . .
It was a good, no excellent, day in Shechem (Nablus) yesterday.
After years of effort, the special Yamam unit tracked down Ibrahim Al Nabulsi and killed him along with Mazzab Shatia (the Hamas commander in Shechem) and Islam Zabah (the Islamic Jihad commander in Shechem.
All three of these had been wanted for a series of attacks on Israelis over the last two years.
The cost of war . . .
The IDF estimates that the 66 hour war with Islamic Jihad cost approximately 600,000,000 (six hundred million) shekels.
The political season begins . . .
Several political parties held primaries last night.
These are for the most part meaningless campaign rallies that give the party faithful a chance to cheer.
Why “for the most part meaningless”? Take the Labor primary as an example. The party chose its list of candidates focusing on the numbers 1-10. However, there is no way that Labor will ever will win 10 seats in November. Maybe, the first 5 or 6 will make it into the Knesset, and those 5 or 6 were largely predetermined before the primary.
There was one shocking surprise in the Labor primary. Omer Bar-Lev, Israel’s odious Homeland Security Minister, only came in 9th–virtually ensuring that he will not be in the next Knesset.
TODAY’S BLOG
Extortion, Pure and Simple
Ex·tor·tion
(noun) the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats.
Definition from Oxford Languages
What we previously reported here has come to pass.
Yesterday, the Israel Airports Authority announced that beginning at the end of this month, there will be two weekly flights from the Ramon Airport near Eilat to Antalya, Turkey for Palestinians living in Areas A and B of Judea and Samaria. Shortly afterwards, another weekly flight will be added to Istanbul.
How will the Palestinians get from Areas A and B to the airport? Israel will create “a safe passage corridor”.
Why is Israel going to such great lengths to facilitate Palestinian travel to a country that harbors Hamas and other terror organizations?
Simple.
Extortion.
The PLO has threatened to intensify its legal warfare against Israel at the International Criminal Court. The airport and travel arrangement is payoff to the PLO and Mahmoud Abbas not to do so. It is also payoff for the PLO not joining the Islamic Jihad violence against Israel in the recent mini-war.
As far as Hamas is concerned, we reported yesterday how two leading Hamas terrorists in Israeli prison were moved into administrated detention for early release almost immediately after the ceasefire went into effect.
Yesterday came word that Hamas’s payoff is much larger. It turns out that Qatar is going to vastly increase its monthly payments to the Gaza terrorists. On top of that, Israel is going to increase yet again the number of Gazans allowed into Israel.
What is especially ironic about all of this with the PLO and Hamas is that Israel not only allowed itself to be extorted, it also agreed (as we have previously written) to do the dirty work for each terror organization–and thereby strengthened PLO and Hamas power.
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.