Yom Reva’ee
Wednesday
24 Shvat 5783
February 15 2023
The Amazingly Wonderful Post Of The Day
At the top of yesterday’s blog, we paid tribute to Sgt. Ail Suaed who was murdered in the stabbing attack at the Shuafat Checkpoint two days ago. We noted at the time that Asil was a Bedouin from northern Israel.
Here is more of Asil’s story.
Asil was a relative of Rabbi Rami Ben David, a Chabad rabbi now living with his family at a Chabad house in Australia. Rabbi Rami’s birth name was Rami Suaed, and he was born in the Bedouin village of Wadi Selma in the Galilee. As a young man, Rami enlisted in the IDF and served as a paratrooper in southern Lebanon under the command of former IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi.
When he left the army, he decided to convert to Judaism. He started a family and as you already know eventually became a Chabad rabbi.
Rami the paratrooper (left), and now in Australia Rami the Rabbi (MR photo credit on photos).
He never forgot his Bedouin roots and until day remains in close contact with his Bedouin family and friends.
Yesterday, Rami’s Jewish son-in-law posted these wonderful comments about Asil:
“To this day, the Suaed family is flesh of our flesh, family members, in moments of joy and depression, in covenants and remembrances.
The Suaed family is a family of heroes. Bedouins from the Galilee who serve in the most elite combat units in the army, who sacrifice their lives for this land and the people living in Zion . . . You can see it from the second you enter every house in the village – shelves full of certificates of appreciation from the IDF and pictures of them in uniform–all lining shelves next to books of the Koran.
The late Asil was only a 22-year-old boy at the time of his death. A boy who made the decision to enlist in the Border Police out of pride, mission, and love for our homeland, country and people.
On this painful day, when the heart of the whole family and of the people of Israel is broken, Asil enlightens us in his death as in his life and reminds us that in all divisions, frictions, and anger there is still hope. There is a youth here who fights out of love so that we can live here in peace.
Jews, Bedouin, Druze, right-wing, left-wing. Together.
May your soul be bundled in the bundle of life my dear brother ❤️ Asil, may God have mercy😔”.
The News on the Israeli Street
The war in Judea and Samaria.
Shooting attacks:
Palestinian terrorists opened fire from a passing car at IDF soldier near Homesh.
IED, Molotov, and “rock” attacks:
Palestinian terrorists attempted to murder Israelis on Road 55 near the Eliyahu Crossing, between Hizma and Anatot, south of the T Junction in Gush Etzion, between Gilad Farm and Yitzhar, Hawara, Ujah, near the Qalandiya Checkpoint (35-year-old man badly wounded in the head after being hit by a “rock”), between Shevi Shomron and Homesh near Burka, and at dozens of other locations.
Ramming attack:
A Palestinian terrorist in Shuafat tried to run over Border Police but was shot. No Israelis were physically injured.
Overnight operations:
IDF, Shin Bet, and Border Patrol fighters captured 20 wanted terrorists in Tulkarm, Bethlehem, and Karavet Ben Hassan.
On the Knesset legislative front . . .
Coalition members in the Knesset are steaming ahead on various legislative fronts despite the intense negotiations between President Herzog and members of the anti-government movement led by Lapid and Gantz. Both Lapid and Gantz insist that there can be no negotiations unless all legislation stops.
Under consideration for first readings today are:
*denial of citizenship and deportation of terrorists families without a court order
*the Deri Law 2 which would permit Aryeh Deri’s return as Interior Minister
*the cancellation of the unilateral withdrawal of 4 Jewish communities in northern Samaria that happened as part of the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza
Also on the agenda is the preliminary reading for the “Overcoming Law” that will allow the Knesset (under certain conditions) to overturn Supreme Court rulings.
All in all, it is a busy day in the Knesset.
Is anyone surprised? . . .
It now turns out that much of the alleged “evidence” that the Israeli police gathered in its creation of Cases 1000, 2000, (even 3000), and 4000 came from the illegal wiretapping of PM Netanyahu’s telephones using the Pegasus system.
Of course, this revelation will make no difference in Netanyahu’s trial. Israeli leftist courts don’t care if evidence is illegally obtained–by wiretapping in Netanyahu’s case, or torture in the case of Amiram Ben Oliel in the Duma case.
TODAY’S BLOG
The Heartbreaking Atrocity at Shilo This Morning
Knesset member Zvi Sukkot trying to stop a bulldozer from destroying the large olive orchard at Shilo this morning. Unfortunately he was unsuccessful.
Early this morning, hundreds of police officers with bulldozers showed up at Shilo Farms to destroy the olive orchards there that had been planted 20 years ago. In this blog, we will not repeat what we have written before about the unjust decision of the Supreme Court based on “a disturbance of public order” that spurred this except to say that the farmers at Shilo have every right to plant their orchards.
Your humble servant had hoped that the destruction would be canceled with the appearance of our new government. After all, according to Coalition agreements Minister of National Security Ben Gvir was supposed to have control over the OSH police, and Finance Minister (and Deputy Defense Minister) Smotrich was supposed to have control over the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria.
However, we are a over a month into the new government and Defense Minister Yoav Galant is at best dragging his heels and at worst refusing to turn over these two responsibilities.
Thus, despite Ben Gvir and Smotrich’s demanding from Galant and Netanyahu that the destruction be halted, it went ahead.
But not without massive protest.
Hundreds of high school and yeshiva students as well as Knesset members from Ben Gvir’s Otzma party arrived on the scene this morning to chain themselves to trees and stand in front of the bulldozers.
The Ben Eliyahu family that owns the vineyard angrily issued this statement: “It is not possible that in a right-wing government we are seeing such sights. The work of 20 years is uprooted in an instant and there is no one to stop this injustice. We call on all government ministers to stop this thing and get to the scene.”
Moshe Shmueli, the coordinator of Regavim in Judea and Samaria denouced the Civil Administration: “The Civil Administration has avoided enforcing the law against a nearby illegal Palestinian mosque for over 15 years . . . and on the other hand, it is rushing to clear a Jewish vineyard with hundreds of thousands of shekels of damage. The rule of law should be equal for all. And this case is another example of the corrupt conduct of the Civil Administration.”
As previously stated, several Knesset members are on the scene.
Knesset member Limor Son Har-Malech had this to say: “This is a shameful, anti-Zionist and anti-moral destruction that is being carried out following a High Court ruling based on a “disruptive use order” – a draconian order that is applied only against Jews. This is an order that was severely criticized by the late Judge Edmond Levy, and should have been vacated years ago . . . The injustice screams sevenfold, while this is happening, the houses in Khan Al Ahmar that the Court ruled against long ago are still standing. I am calling from here on Defense Minister Yoav Galant to order the destruction to stop and immediately cancel the racist order as soon as the eviction is carried out, so that the legal basis for the eviction will disappear. It is in your hands and you are tasked with stopping this crime.”
Click here to see police officers trying to illegally detain Knesset legislator Limor Son Har-Melech.
After realizing that his demand to Galant was going nowhere, Smotrich wrote this to PM Netanyahu: ” . . . the violation of the coalition agreements will make it very difficult for the government and the coalition to operate in the future.”
And so the wheel turns. Yesterday we were exhilarated by decisions concerning Judea and Samaria; today we are appalled by the atrocity at Shilo.
Addendum. Responding to Smotrich’s letter, PM Netanyahu has ordered a halt to the destruction at Shilo–after every tree in the olive orchard was destroyed.
An atrocity. This is where the olive orchard stood this morning. After it was completely destroyed, Netanyahu ordered the destruction to be halted.
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.