Yom Shleeshee
Tuesday
2 Shvat 5783
January 24 2023
The Photo of the Day
A joyous sight yesterday: a Jew on Temple Mount holding up an Israeli flag in front of the holiest place in Judaism: the Foundation Rock under the Kipat HaSela (the Dome of the Rock in the upper left hand corner of the photo).
Absurdly, Israeli flags are “illegal” on the Temple Mount even though it is under Israeli sovereignty, and this one was confiscated by the police shortly afterward. But, bravo to the unnamed person who took this action!
The News on the Israeli Street
The war in Judea and Samaria.
Shooting attacks:
A Palestinian terrorist fired into Karmi Tzur community. No Israelis were wounded.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on our troops in Shechem. No Israelis were wounded.
“Rock”, IED, and Molotov attacks:
Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis near Jaba Zurif (between the Hala Checkpoint and Gush Etzion), at Batari Harmela near the Tekoa Junction, north of Adam, Ma’ale Lavona, the Zif Junction, in Hawara between Einbus Square and the large Yitzhar Junction, and at a myriad of other locations.
And the Coalition rolls on . . .
The mainstream media has been excitedly reporting that there was a high probability that the new Coalition would fall apart when Aryeh Deri had to be removed.
This morning, less than 24 hours after Deri left his posts, Shas named Michaell Malchiali as the new Minister of the Interior and Yoav Ben Tzur as Minister of Health.
So much for fake mainstream news reporting here.
Meanwhile, the Coalition begins to act in the Knesset . . .
Moshe Gaftni of United Torah Judaism (Ashkenazi orthodox) presented a bill this morning that will reserve 15% of swimming hours at springs and nature reserves to separated “bathing” of men and women.
Gafni presented another bill that would ban chametz in hospitals during Passover. In making his proposal, Gafni noted: “In light of food technology, patients and workers will be able to eat kosher substitutes for Pesach for all types of food – rolls, cakes, cookies and snacks, so in practice there is no real harm to those who do not wish to eat matzoh.”
The Knesset passed the Norwegian law yesterday. This law allows ministers or deputy ministers to resign from the Knesset but remain a minister, with their Knesset seat taken by the next person on the party’s list. If the person who resigned leaves the cabinet, they are able to return to the Knesset in place of their replacement.
Talk about chutzpah . . .
Former PM Lapid criticized newly named Minister of National Security Ben Gvir yesterday because of the outbreak of violence in the Israeli-Arab section of Lod this past weekend (6 wounded in 4 shootings). Lapid’s comment was: “Where is Ben Gvir now?”
In fact, as Lapid wrote this sarcastic post, Ben Gvir was meeting with the Police Commissioner. Afterwards, he answered Lapid:
“Where am I? I am repairing the damage you left me; I finished a discussion with the commissioner at 2 o’clock in the morning. My predecessor, Omar Bar Lev neglected national security during his shift and left non-functioning police stations. Thousands of police officers retired because of the bad conditions leaving virtually no protection in the north and crime and violence in the south. Even Jewish children are afraid to go to the Wall because they will be hit by stones just because they are Jewish.”
What Ben Gvir didn’t mention is that more than 7,300 Palestinian terror attacks occurred in 2022 alone, during the term of the Bennett-Lapid-Gantz government.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Operation “Juniper Oak” Is Underway
As your humble servant sits here in Ashdod this morning, we are hearing booms out over the Mediterranean and to the south in the direction of Beersheva.
What is happening is that the U.S. and Israel started the largest joint military exercise ever held between the two countries consisting of (as reported by the IDF) “thousands of soldiers, over 140 aircraft (including B52 bombers, F15 F16 F35 F18 fighter jets) and vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. American officers from CENTCOM are on site. The exercise will test joint Israeli-American readiness and improve the operational relationship between the two armies.”
And more:
“The exercise will simulate attacking targets and practice complex outlines in combination with joint communication, command and control systems. The missile ships and a submarine of the naval arm will perform a joint naval maneuver, together with an American aircraft carrier. In addition, refueling of Sa’ar 5 missile ships will be carried out in the middle of the sea, by an American tanker, to expand the ranges and areas of operation of the IDF in routine and emergency situations. During the exercise, the Israeli and American air, sea and land forces will fire at targets simulating maritime threats.
The Israeli and American air forces will practice different types of combat aircraft, transport aircraft, rescue and rescue helicopters, as well as UAVs, reconnaissance aircraft and heavy American bombers and will even drop live ammunition in the south of the country. In addition, the Israeli Ram type refueling planes and the future refueling planes of the IDF, heavy American KC46 refuelers, which will refuel the fighter planes and bombers together.”
Finally:
“The ground forces will hold a joint exercise that will include maneuvering and firing dozens of rockets, during which long-range rockets will be launched from the American HIMARS system and from Israeli launchers. This is another layer that strengthens the multi-faceted and international methods of action between the armies, to deal with a variety of threats in the region. Vigorous movement of the security forces will be felt throughout the country and echoes of explosions will be heard in the southern region.
Obviously, all of this activity is meant to send a message to Iran.
We just had another large explosion to the south.
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.