Yom Reva’ee
Wednesday
27 Av 5782
August 24 2022
The Absurd Quote of the Day
“As part of the nuclear deal, Iran’s breakthrough time will increase from a week to six months.”
A U.S. State Department Spokesman yesterday.
Say what?
So now the U.S. State Department finally admits that Iran’s “breakthrough time” (the time necessary for Iran to produce enough 90% enriched uranium for one atomic bomb) is down to one week.
This obviously suggests that Iran already has almost enough 90% enriched uranium for one bomb.
But somehow by signing a piece of paper, the breakthrough time will increase to six months? This would mean that Iran would have to turn over an untold amount of its already 90% enriched uranium.
If you really believe the Iranians will do this, OneIsrael will sell you a snowy glacier in the middle of the Negev Desert.
The Pathetically Delusional Quote of the Day
“I call on President Biden and the American administration, even at this moment, in the 90th minute, to refrain from signing the agreement with Iran . . . For a year, even when it seemed imminent, we managed to convince our friends in the White House to avoid giving in to Iranian demands, and I hope that will be the case now as well.”
Associate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett trying to cover his rear end yesterday
It is completely unseemly that now that the Biden Administration is about to sign the Agreement with Iran, Naftali Bennett has come out of the bushes to pathetically beg Biden not to sign.
And, it is completely comical for Bennett to proclaim that it was his efforts that caused the White House not to give in to Iranian demands for the last year.
How is it possible that Bennett just doesn’t get it after all of this time? It was obvious to your average kindergartner that Biden was dead set on reaching an agreement with Iran from the moment he announced that he would run for president.
The Photos of the Day
Lt. Col. Roital Barani
At the ceremony marking her new position:
Note Commander Barzani saluting from the stage. the faces of the other soldiers are blurred for security reasons.
Lt. Col. Roital Barzani was named the new commander of the IAF’s 66th Ram Battalion yesterday. She is the first female battalion commander in the history of the Israeli Air Defense System.
Kolakevod!
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
Palestinian terrorists attacked Israeli buses with IEDs, Molotovs, and “rocks” on the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road near Al-Aruv, on the same road near Beit Habarka, and between the small Yakir Junction and Rabbah.
Palestinian terrorists attacked Israeli motorists between Itamar and Elon Moreh (in the Beit Furik area), near Tekoa, beside Singil, at Luban a-Sharqiya, and at a myriad of other locations.
Thank you to Rescue without Borders SSF for the above reportage.
Gallivanting again . . .
Has anyone ever seen the likes of PM Lapid, former PM Bennett, and “Defense” Minister Gantz when it comes to taking one political junket after another—all at the Israeli taxpayers’ expense?
Yesterday it was announced that Gantz is off again today for “official” visits to the United States and Japan. In the U.S., he will first go to Florida for meetings at CENTCOM HQ–meetings he could just as easily attend by secure zoom from Israel.
Then Gantz gallivants to Washington on Friday for a meeting with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan–another meeting he could have easily had on the phone.
Then it’s off to Japan on Saturday for who knows what? Probably to eat a few rolls of sushi at Gantz’s favorite Tokyo restaurant.
And no one says a word as Gantz, Lapid, and Bennett junket their way around the world.
Just unbelievable.
An alarming statistic . . .
As we noted several days ago, the Bank of Israel was about to raise interest rates–the final number is 0.75% bringing to 2% recent rate increases. This comes with the prospect of more rate increases to come as the Bank tries to curb 5% inflation.
While 0.75% and 2% may seem like small numbers, they are huge for most young couples who have purchased an apartment in recent years when the rate was practically 0%. Those couples all got mortgages from banks based on a variable rate tied to the Bank of Israel interest rate.
The result is that the same couples now find it increasingly difficult to pay their mortgage which has risen by thousands of shekels per month (based on the amount borrowed). The truly alarming statistic is that 27% of these couples report that their mortgage payment is now more than 1/3 of their net worth.
Meanwhile, couples who had sought to buy an apartment in the coming months have been shut out of the market.
TODAY’S BLOG
The New Middle East Is The Old Middle East
Your humble servant was struck by a series of events in the neighborhood yesterday which show how much the world has not changed.
First we had the 28th International Chess Festival in Abu Dhabi. Lebanese chess player Nadia Fawaz had waltzed through her first three matches beating contestants from Brunei, Saudi Arabia, and the U.A.E.
Lebanese chess player Nadia Fawaz.
But then suddenly she “retired.”
Why?
Because her next opponent would have been an Israeli, and the Lebanese refuse to recognize the country of Israel (despite the maritime negotiations now underway). In resigning, Fawaz followed in the footsteps of another Lebanese who resigned rather than fight against an Israeli in a World Junior MMA bout last month–an event also held in the U.A.E.
Speaking of the U.A.E., the Emirates announced yesterday that they will return an ambassador to Iran after a six year break.
Their announcement followed the same announcement by Kuwait, and the normalization talks between Tehran and Saudi Arabia.
In short, the Gulf Coalition against Iran in which Israel was supposed to be a key player has completely fallen apart in the wake of the impending nuclear deal engineered by U.S. President Biden, and we are back to where we were before President Trump.
And finally, we’ll end with this photo from yesterday:
Arch terrorist and Holocaust delegitimizer Mahmoud Abbas being given the royal routine by notoriously vicious anti-Semite Turkish President Erdogan in Ankara yesterday. Note how Erdogan (as Biden had done in his visit with Abbas) is holding on to Abbas for stability (photo by Adem ALTAN/AFP).
What’s new about the above photo? Nothing. Erdogan has made a career out of attacking Jews and so has Abbas. Whatever outreach Erdogan has now orchestrated between Turkey and Israel will never supplant his deep-seated hatred for Jews and Israel.
A chess player, the Gulf countries, and Turkey: the new Middle East is the Old Middle East.
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.