Yom Shnee
Monday
22 Tishrei 5783
October 17 2022
Chag Sameach!
Today is Simhat Torah, the holiday that celebrates the end of the annual cycle of Torah readings and the beginning of the new cycle. In synagogues around the world, Torah scrolls are taken out of their arks, and worshipers sing and dance as the Torah is paraded around the synagogue.
Click here for a Chag Sameach from this group of Caracal fighters stationed along the Egyptian border:
The primarily female Caracals have made quite a reputation for themselves stopping smuggling and terrorism along the Egyptian border.
The News on the Israeli Street
The war in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria: Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
In Jerusalem.
Fully anesthetized in intensive care, this boy was wounded by a “rock” to his head thrown by Palestinians in the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood of Jerusalem several nights ago. He is still listed in critical condition.
“Riots” (aka terror attacks) continued across eastern Jerusalem yesterday with the most egregious attacks occurring in the Jebel Mukaber and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhoods.
In Judea and Samaria.
Shooting attacks:
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on Israelis between Ariel and Tapuach.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on IDF soldiers near Dotan.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on IDF soldiers in Shechem (Nablus).
IED attacks:
Palestinian terrorists threw IEDs at IDF soldiers at a checkpoint outside of Shechem.
Palestinian terrorists assaulted IDF soldiers with IEDs at the Aliya Junction.
Palestinian terrorists assaulted IDF soldiers with IEDs near the Eyal Crossing. A soldier was wounded in the shoulder and had to be evacuated to Meir Hospital.
“Rock” and Molotov attacks:
Palestinian terrorists attacked on the Jerusalem-Gush Etzion Road near Al Khader, on Road 60 at Luban a-Sharqiya, at Beit Omer, in the vicinity of Tekoa, and at multiple locations along the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road.
The Bidenites are in over their heads . . .
The Biden Administration is being led in the Middle East by an assortment of young men and women who don’t have the foggiest idea of whom they are dealing with.
Yesterday, the Bidenites issued a statement saying that they are “deeply disappointed” with the meeting that took place in Kazakhstan this week between PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During Biden’s visit to Israel several months ago, his minions went out of their way to laud Abbas and hand him concession after concession which they had demanded from Israel.
They probably thought that this would engender gratitude on the part of Abbas.
Instead, during his meeting with Putin, Abbas declared a complete lack of trust in Biden and the U.S.: “We don’t trust America and you know our position. We don’t trust it, we don’t rely on it, and in no way can we accept America as the sole party in solving the problem.”
Jews on the Har HaBeit (Temple Mount) . . .
The Temple Mount Foundation proudly reported yesterday that 4,457 Jews have ascended the Temple Mount during Sukkot–a record number for recent years.
Still, when one compares 4,457 to the tens of thousands of Muslims who come daily during Ramadan, it is a paltry number.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Another Absurdity on the Temple Mount
To say that the situation on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is absurd is to egregiously understate what happens there.
The Mount is a place supposedly under Israeli sovereignty; however, Jews are completely at the mercy of the Jordanian/Palestinian Islamic Wakf and their cohorts in the Israel government and police.
Jews cannot determine when they visit the Mount, cannot carry a Torah or even an Israeli flag to the Mount, and cannot pray or even bow on the Mount. In short, there is no freedom of religion for Jews on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
An event yesterday underscored the absurd situation.
A group of young men from the Nir Yeshiva were at the Chain Gate exit from the Mount (not even technically on the Mount). They were there picking up garbage.
They were suddenly attacked by an Arab woman who smashed a glass bottle against the leg of one of the men, He began bleeding badly.
Quickly the Israel police swooped in and . . . arrested the Jewish man and even prohibited him from receiving medical care.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The victim of the unprovoked attack was arrested–and the perpetrator of the attack was completely ignored.
And so it goes in Israel on this Simhat Torah.
Addendum: Eventually the young man was released, and he was able to have his leg taken care of.
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.