Yom Shnee
Monday
1 Shvat 5783
January 23 2023
The “Incredible Chutzpah” Quote Of The Day
“The liberal-democratic public and we as an administration do not like the direction you are going in with regard to legal reform. If there is a violation of democratic values, it will make it difficult for us to provide unwavering and unqualified support to Israel.”
U.S. National Security Council Advisor Jake Sullivan in conversation with PM Netanyahu in the Prime Minister’s Office.
The utter gall of the Biden Administration is astonishing.
To think that members of that Administration believe that they have the right to come to Israel and preach to our democratically elected leader about “democratic values” is nauseating.
Even more, the thought that our values have to be in sync with the American “liberal-democratic” public and Biden Administration is doubly nauseating.
And to top it off, to say that if Israel “violates” democratic values as conceived by Biden, we will lose the “unwavering and unqualified support” of the U.S. is downright sickening.
The News on the Israeli Street
The war in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem.
Stabbing attack:
A Palestinian terrorist was seized just before carrying out a stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Shooting attacks:
Palestinian terrorists fired into the Gal neighborhood at Kiryat Arba beside Hevron. There were no physical casualties.
Palestinian terrorists fired at the IDF post near Herodian.
“Rock”, Molotov, and IED attacks:
Palestinian terrorists tried to murder Israelis at Migdal Oz, on the Hosan Bypass between the Al-Khader and Beitar Junctions, on the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road near Halhol, at Hawara, Al Muayyir on Road 458, Al Aruv, Marda, Hizma, and at numerous other locations.
Aryeh Deri “leaves” the government . . .
The huge headline topping the front page of the Jerusalem Post this morning blares:
“Netanyahu fires Deri from Cabinet
after High Court of Justice Ruling”
As usual, this sensationalism in the Post does not match the reality of what happened in yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.
In a long and loving paean to Deri, Netanyahu extolled Deri’s virtues and expressed his desire to keep Deri as an advisor: “I intend to look for any legal way in which you can continue to contribute to the State of Israel from your vast experiences and skills, in accordance with the will of the people.”
Hardly a “firing”.
Netanyahu concluded: “I am forced with a heavy heart, with great sorrow and extremely difficult feelings, to remove you from your position as a minister in the government.”
Again, hardly a “firing.”
You can be sure that we have not seen the last of Aryeh Deri.
The weather is changing . . .
Slightly warming temperatures have brought dense fog to coastal Israel this morning–with an accompanying rash of traffic accidents.
The view on the freeway near Rishon Lezion this morning.
TODAY’S BLOG
The Netanyahu Government’s New Policy On Judea and Samaria
Yesterday, your humble servant sharply criticized the new government in general for adhering to the status quo, and PM Netanyahu in particular for the razing of the new Jewish community at Or Haim.
Perhaps that criticism was somewhat premature.
In yesterday’s cabinet meeting, a new policy concerning construction in Judea and Samaria was articulated which seemed to assuage both Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, and the Minister of Finance in charge of the Civil Adminstration, Bezalel Smotrich.
PM Netanyahu began by saying: “Since the beginning of the month, the security establishment has evacuated and destroyed 38 illegal Palestinian buildings in the territories of Judea and Samaria. The situation in which Palestinians run amok with illegal construction in an attempt to establish facts on the ground is over.”
The new policy is that “new” construction by Israelis or Palestinians which has not been approved by the government will immediately be destroyed.
It should be remembered that the old policy only focused on Israeli construction.
The destruction of “old” construction such as that at the Palestinian settlement of Khan Al-Ahmar will be subject to review and agreement (as it always was), and the expansion of Jewish communities will be subject to government approval (as it always was).
This new policy does not solve the problem of the some 50,000 illegal buildings constructed by the Palestinians in Area C, but–if enforced–at least it would seem to put a halt to the attempted Palestinian takeover of Area C being financed by the European Union and its allies.
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.