Yom Chamishee
Thursday
28 Av 5782
August 25 2022
The Joke of the Day
Yesterday, we wrote about the pathetic delusion of Associate PM Naftali Bennett in begging President Biden not to sign the Iranian Nuclear Weapons Appeasement Agreement.
This morning comes the news that PM Yair Lapid contacted the White House yesterday to request an “urgent” phone conversation with President Biden to talk about the Iran Agreement.
A White House spokesman told Lapid: “The President is on vacation.”
The Quote of the Day
“On Saturday, the second day of the military operation, at 9 p.m., we were startled by the sound of a huge explosion hitting the next street. My brothers and I rushed to see what happened. I saw people trying to extinguish a fire with water as they waited for the civil defense and ambulance cars to arrive. I saw a 12-meter-long missile that exploded horizontally. I thanked God that it did not explode vertically. Otherwise, a very big massacre would have ensued.
Everyone knows that the missile that fell on Saturday was a local missile, but no one dares talk about it, especially to the media and the press, let alone name names. Here, there is no freedom of opinion and expression. There is no respect for others’ points of view, and whoever holds Islamic Jihad responsible for the missiles that veered off course is deemed unpatriotic and a partner in Israeli crimes against us. Whoever they are, they would be arrested by the authorities and investigated. This is why no one would dare talk about this.”
An anonymous Palestinian in Gaza in an interview with Al-Monitor about an errant Islamic Jihad missile that killed children in Gaza during the mini-war last month.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on IDF soldiers in Kfar Brokin. A soldier was wounded; the terrorists escaped.
Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis with IEDs, Molotovs, and “rocks” at more than a dozen locations mostly along the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway and in the vicinity of Luban a-Sharqiya.
Speaking of terrorists . . .
Long-time friends: Zehava Gal-On of the Meretz Party and arch-terrorist and head of the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas. This slightly blurry photo was taken 10 years ago.
The PLO and its militant Fatah movement sent a letter to Zehava Galon yesterday congratulating her victory in the primary of the ultra-left wing Meretz Party.
So now we have the PLO congratulating Meretz and negotiating secretly with the Joint Arab List—all in an attempt to thwart Benjamin Netanyahu from becoming prime minister again.
By the way, “Defense” Minister Benny Gantz said yesterday that his new “State Camp Party” would welcome any voters who would normally vote for the Joint Arab List. It is not too much of a stretch to say that most voters for the Joint Arab List would like to see the end of the state of Israel.
What has Israel come to?
Israeli assistance to Ukrainian refugees . . .
The following data was published by the Israel Ministry of Welfare and Social Security yesterday. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began:
33,533 Ukrainians have sought refuge in Israel. 77% are female, 27% are children, and 28% are elderly (obviously some of the “females” are children, and some are elderly).
29,246 of these were/are not eligible to become citizens under the Law of Return (in other words they are not Jewish and do not have a grandparent who was Jewish):
–14,631 of these have already left the country to return home or go elsewhere.
–14,615 of these remain in Israel.
4,287 have immigrated to Israel under the Law of Return.
In addition to housing, the refugees have received a large “basket” of humanitarian aid ranging from monthly food vouchers to medical care to free cellphones.
In order of number of refugees received, these are the cities in which the refugees have been living: Haifa, Ashkelon, Netanya, Petah Tikva, Ashdod, Rishon Lezion, and Beersheva. On a personal note, one family of refugees lives on your humble servant’s street here in Ashdod.
Offshore natural gas income . . .
The Ministry of Energy reported yesterday that since the offshore wells began pumping natural gas some years ago, Israel has reaped 9.8 billion shekels in royalties (about $3 billion dollars).
Between January and July this year, there has been a 50% jump in revenues with the expectation that the Israel will receive one and a half billion shekels this year. About one third of this total is coming from the Leviathan reservoir.
The Leviathan site off the coast of Israel. It is roughly 80 miles west of Haifa in the Mediterranean.
On the subject of money . . .
A milestone of sorts was reached yesterday when for the first time in decades the value of the dollar exceeded the value of the Euro in terms of the exchange rate with shekel.
This morning, the exchange rate is 3.28 shekels per dollar, and 3.25 shekels per Euro.
TODAY’S BLOG:
What Disgusts The Soul
How many times in the past have we seen our soldiers thrown under the bus by the IDF General Command and accused of guilt before even having a trial?
It has happened too many times to count in recent years as one IDF Chief of Staff after another has vied to become more “humanitarian” than his predecessor.
Now that IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi’s term of office is coming to an end, and his political career looms on the horizon, it is not surprising that Kochavi is going out of his way to prove his “human rights” credentials.
A short video came to light two days ago which shows two soldiers from the religiously orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion roughing up two Palestinian terrorists by pushing and kicking them.
Click here to see the 18 second video. Watch closely at the beginning of the video to see the car the terrorists were in.
You would think that the sky has fallen.
Prior to any investigation, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi erupted yesterday with this incredible statement: “The incident of violence by the fighters is extremely serious, disgusts the soul, and is completely contrary to the values of the IDF. The fighters in the event do not deserve to be fighters. The incident will be thoroughly investigated by commanders and investigated by the military police. There is and will be no place in the IDF for this type of behavior.”
Talk about throwing our soldiers under the bus.
Subsequently the two fighters issued this statement: “They tried to run over us and steal our weapons.”
Whereupon Kochavi replied: “They don’t deserve to be fighters. The commanders believe that in any case there was no justification for kicking and pushing.”
In any case?
In other words, even if the two terrorists tried to kill the soldiers and take their weapons, there was no justification for kicking and pushing them.
Can you believe this?
Actually, Kochavi is inadvertently correct. The terrorists should have been shot when the ramming attack too place.
As of this morning, the two soldiers have been arrested, leading their lawyer to make this statement:
“These are fighters who fight for all of us who were forced to arrest suspects who tried to escape and even confront them. This was after a run over attempt. IDF soldiers are authorized and should use force when the situation on the ground requires it. It is forbidden to handcuff the soldiers in the fight against terrorism. The arrest of the soldiers tonight, and the opening of an investigation against them, sends a problematic message to the soldiers on the ground. We call on the Israel Defense Forces and the military prosecutor’s office to release them immediately.”
Of course they will not be released because the IDF General Command led by Kochavi has already found them guilty. That is what disgusts the soul.
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.