Yom Rishon
Sunday
17 Av 5782
August 14 2022
The News on the Israeli Street
The death toll in traffic accidents soars . . .
18 Israelis were killed in the 13 traffic accidents in the last week. Here are photos of 9 of the victims:
Young and old, Jews and Muslims: the victims come from all segments of society.
In all, 225 Israelis have died on the streets and roads this year. Yesterday, Israel President Herzog termed the carnage on the roads a national catastrophe which must be addressed. His words echo what we have been writing about for months.
The United Nations strikes again . . .
At the end of last week’s war with Islamic Jihad, Sarah Mascroft who is the head of the Office of Humanitarian Assistance to the Palestinians wrote this tweet:
“I felt relieved to see an agreement on a cease-fire that put an end to the acts of hostility that harm both Palestinian and Israeli civilians. Indiscriminate rocket fire by the Islamic Jihad that drew Israeli fire is condemned. The safety of all The citizens are a key thing and the ceasefire must be respected.”
Following outrage from the Palestinians and their leftist friends, Mascroft’s superiors forced her to delete the tweet and apologize for writing it. Apparently the phrase “indiscriminate rocket fire by the Islamic Jihad that drew Israeli fire is condemned” was intolerable.
And so Mascroft deleted the tweet and “deeply” apologized.
And then was fired by the United Nations.
Israeli officials in Jerusalem commented this morning: “This is another act of hypocrisy and cowardice on the part of the UN against a senior official who was not afraid to tell the truth.”
The shifting political sands . . .
In a desperate move to revive his already floundering campaign, “Defense” Minister Benny Gantz added former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot to his list of party members running in the November election.
Gideon Sa’ar agreed to dissolve his New Hope party so that Eizenkot would join. The new party will be called “The State Camp.”
What anyone sees in Eizenkot is hard to imagine. He was a non-descript military officer with no leadership qualities.
TODAY’S BLOG
Multiple Terror Attacks Overnight
There have been 3 shooting attacks:
Palestinian terrorists opened fire in a drive-by shooting at the Rachel’s Tomb checkpoint just outside of Bethlehem. No Israelis were wounded. The terrorists escaped.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire in another drive-by shooting at the Bitunya Commercial Crossing in eastern Jerusalem. No Israelis were wounded. The terrorists escaped.
A Palestinian terrorist opened fire at buses in two locations around the Old City in Jerusalem: on Ma’ale Hashalom Street and on Ma’ale Shazach Street at the entrance to the parking lot for King David’s Tomb.
A bullet hole in one window of the bus attacked at King David’s Tomb.
In the King David’s Tomb attack, 8 Israelis were wounded: 7 men and 1 woman. The most seriously wounded have gunshot wounds to the neck and torso.
The woman is in critical condition. She was almost 9 months pregnant and her baby was delivered by C-Section at Sha’are Zedek a few hours ago. The baby is doing well, but she is not.
Click here to see one of the victims being evacuated.
Click here to see celebratory fireworks in the Shuafat neighborhood of Jerusalem after the attack.
A final note.
It is often written by commentators on the “left” that destroying the houses of terrorists has no effect and serves no purpose but to inflame the Palestinian populace.
This morning, the terrorist was captured when he turned himself in after his family threatened to turn him in.
The family was later asked why they would have called the police.
The answer: “We were afraid our house would be destroyed if we did not.”
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.