Yom Shishee
Friday
3 Cheshvan 5783
October 28 2022
The Hilarious Quote of the Day
“I call for a broad unity government of the Zionist parties on the right and the left to be established the day after the elections.”
Former PM Naftali Bennett at the beginning of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.
Why is this hilarious?
Because there are no Zionist parties on the left, only post-Zionist ones.
The News on the Israeli Street
The War in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem
Palestinian terrorists carried out a shooting attack at Hawara, one hour after the IDF dismantled the roadblocks coming out of Hevron.
Palestinian terrorists carried out a shooting attack at Shomron Hatmar. Three terrorists were shot and wounded.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on military vehicles in the Shechem area. No Israelis were wounded.
Palestinian terrorists tried to murder Israelis with IEDs, Molotovs, and “rocks” on Road 60 near Luban a-Sharqiya, between the large Yitzhar Junction and Einbus, between the large and small Yitzhar Junctions, on the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road near Beit Omer, between Rabba and Yakir, on Road 55 in the Nabi Elias Bypass, between Beitar and Al-Khader, on Road 463, west of the T-Junction in Gush Etzion, and at a myriad of other places.
A Palestinian terrorist armed with a knife was thwarted in a stabbing attack at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron.
Palestinian terrorists threw an IED from a passing car at the IDF Nabi Salah pillbox.
The Friday Corona Update
826 Israelis tested positive yesterday. There are 6,960 active cases in the country.
The positive test rate was 8.52%; the coefficient of infection was 1.11%.
54 Israelis are seriously ill; critically ill and ventilated (unreported).
11,759 have died–31 since last Friday.
The summary: The number of daily dead continues to rise from 2 three weeks ago to 16 two weeks ago to 31 this week. The coefficient of infection has now risen to 1.11 and the positive test rate has also risen.
None of this is good news. Unfortunately, Corona appears to be coming back.
The Friday Poll from the Maariv newspaper (compared to last week)
Please note that this is the last poll before the election next Tuesday. Israeli law does not permit any polls after the Friday before an election.
31 (unchanged): Likud (Netanyahu)
25 (+2): Yesh Atid (Lapid)
14 (unchanged): Otzma (Ben Gvir)+National Zionism+ Noam
12 (unchanged): National Unity Camp (Gantz/Saar/Eizenkot)
9 (+1): Shas (Sephardic Orthodox)
6 (-1): United Torah Judaism (Ashkenazi Orthodox)
6 (-1): Yisrael Beiteinu (Liberman)
5 (unchanged): Meretz (Gal-On)
4 (-1) : Labor (Michaeli)
4 (unchanged): Hadash Tal (the former Joint Arab List)
4 (unchanged): Ra’am Islamic Party (Abbas)
The summary:
Yesh Atid has risen but two of its allies (Yisrael Beiteinu and Labor) have dropped. The result is the Netanyahu bloc still has 60; the Lapid bloc still has 56. Perhaps, the most important movement is the Shas Party which went up 1 and UTJ that went down 1. We have speculated in this blog that if Shas gets 9 seats and United Torah Judaism gets 7 or 8, Benjamin Netanyahu will be prime minister.
The Concerted Effort to Degrade Benjamin Netanyahu Continues
Your humble servant has never seen such an apparently coordinated to destroy Israeli candidates as what is happening with Itamar Ben Gvir of Otzma Yehudit and former PM Netanyahu.
In a previous blog we have discussed the onslaught against Ben Gvir; now consider the last week of multi-pronged attacks against Netanyahu:
*The court in charge of the trial of Netanyahu refused to suspend the trial for the two days before the election.
*The High Court of Justice refused to stop the viciously anti-Netanyahu program now airing every night on Channel 13. The main substance of that program are interviews with– and secret recordings made by– Nir Hefetz, one the main witnesses against Netanyahu, recordings for which Channel 13 paid Hefetz 300,000 shekels. It is simply incredible that one of the main witnesses against Netanyahu is being allowed to air this information while the trial is still going on.
*The left has gone on a savage attack against Netanyahu led by Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli who said this in an interview yesterday: “Yitzhak Rabin was murdered, a political murder with the cooperation of Benjamin Netanyahu. We can’t let a murderer win.”
*Newspapers Yediot Aharonot and the Jerusalem Post have done little for the past few weeks except fill their pages with one anti-Netanyahu article after another. We have already discussed in a previous blog how the Post has become nothing more than a leftist rag.
That Netanyahu has been able to maintain his position in the polls is a testament to the power of his ideas and a reaction to what has been thrown at him.
TODAY’S BLOG
The “Outrageous” Events Of Yesterday
The celebratory photo taken yesterday after the maritime agreement signing of PM Lapid (front and center) and his motley crew of clowns. These people idiotically and dangerously conceded everything to Lebanon including giving away 860 km2 of maritime territory. Why are they smiling?
Much of what happened yesterday surrounding the U.S.-Israel Maritime Agreement is simply hard to believe, even to such a person as your humble servant who is rarely surprised by anything anymore.
Try to wrap your mind around what happened.
After being tabled for two weeks in the Knesset where the Lapid government refused to allow it to be voted on, the Agreement was brought back to the Lapid Cabinet for its required final vote. However, the vote was outrageously taken before the one dissenting voice, Ayelet Shaked, arrived. Her vote against the Agreement had to added as an addendum.
Much more than this, the United States outrageously failed to provide its memorandum of understanding (MOA) concerning security guarantees which was supposed to accompany the document before the vote was taken. These security guarantees were the primary reason that Lapid and Gantz pushed for the Agreement to be approved. Lapid outrageously told his Cabinet that at some point in the future they would be able to see the MOA–but that it would not be made public because it will be “confidential.”
During the discussion, former PM Bennett said that the security guarantees were worthless anyway: “If in the future Hezbollah violates the agreement, do not expect the U.S. to send American paratroopers to drop in Nakura. Israel will have to take care of itself, on its own.” Bennett then proceeded to vote for the Agreement.
Can you believe all of this?
After signing the Agreement, transitional PM Lapid outrageously blathered: “This is an agreement that strengthens and fortifies Israel’s security and our freedom of action against Hezbollah and the threats from the north.”
Are we supposed to believe that Israel has not had freedom of action against Hezbollah?
Lapid then added this outrageous whopper: “This is a political achievement, it is not every day that an enemy state recognizes the State of Israel, in a written agreement, in front of the entire international community.”
But it was Lebanese President Aoun who had the last word as he completely rejected Lapid’s pronouncement: “The maritime border agreement will not change Lebanese foreign policy. We are still in a state of war with Israel.”
On that note, we wish you a Shabbat Shalom!
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.