Yom Reva’ee
Wednesday
4 Sivan 5783
May 24 2023
Israel By The Numbers This Morning
64-55: The 2023-24 budget passed its third and final reading in the Knesset last night.
3-0: Beitar Jerusalem defeated Maccabi Netanya to win the National Soccer Championship last night.
Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon cheering the victory of Beitar Jerusalem in the national championship last night.
200,000: The number of ultra-orthodox who have served in the IDF or in national service in the last year.
20%: Despite the so-called “Pilots’ Protest” and Reservists Protest, there was a 20% increase in the number who showed up for duty last month.
The News on the Israeli Street
The war in Judea and Samaria.
IDF and MGB forces destroyed the home in Nelin of the terrorist who murdered Or Ascher on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv on March 9. As they were carrying out the demolition, the Israelis were attacked by terrorists firing weapons and throwing IEDs and “rocks”. IDF snipers returned fire wounding an unknown number of terrorists.
Numerous terror attack took place in Judea overnight focused on the Jerusalem-Gush Etzion Road near Al Khader and Efrat.
The most egregious attack of the night in Samaria occurred at Hawara, again. An elderly woman was hit in the head by a “rock” and had to be evacuated to a nearby hospital.
More terrorist threats . . .
Islamic Jihad, whose leadership and resources have just been sorely depleted, issued new threats this morning concerning the health situation of arch-terrorist Abu Daka who is incarcerated in an Israeli prison: “If Abu Daka dies, we will blow up all of Israel.”
Yawn . . .
Yawning again . . . the special Zionist Congress . . .
Absurdities abounded at the special Zionist Congress which was called marking the 75th birthday of modern Israel.
The Congress made a number of “dramatic” decisions yesterday–none of which have anything to do with Zionism or protecting the state of Israel:
1. The Congress decided to budget more money for strengthening ties with LGBT communities.
2. The Congress decided to put quotas in place to ensure increased female representation.
3. The Congress declared its opposition to the judicial reforms in Israel.
4. The Congress demanded that no change take place in who is eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.
By the way, the Congress was railroaded by factions from the anti-government protest groups, Yesh Atid, Labor, Meretz, and Israel Beiteinu. Congress Board Member Dror Morg issued this summary statement:
“The Zionist Congress, the highest institution of the Jewish people, tonight passed a series of decisions that are unprecedented and essential for the future of the organization. With a huge majority, decisions were passed that will strengthen our work with the gay community and disadvantaged populations, increase the representation of women, preserve Israel’s democratic nature by opposing the regime coup and establishing the Declaration of Independence as the founding document of the organization and the state, according to whose values the organization will be governed.”
Yawn.
At a moment in time when Israel is under severe threat from all sides and we have the strongest Zionist voice in our government in decades, all the Congress accomplished was to demonstrate its utter irrelevance by focusing on being “progressive” and “inclusive” (in ways that it defines the terms: inclusive to gays and lesbians but not to the orthodox)–and by opposing our democratically elected government.
The Saudi farce continues . . .
There are reports that PM Netanyahu has been on the phone with Saudi Prince Mohammed Ben Salman twice in the last week to discuss Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel. Those phone calls were mediated by Bahrain with the Biden Administration in the background.
Not surprisingly (as we have continually noted in previous blogs), the talks have gone nowhere.
Why? Saudi Arabia is demanding:
1. Resumption of peace talks with the PLO with the goal of establishing a Palestinian state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.
2. Granting concessions to the PLO is Judea and Samaria.
3. Decreasing IDF authority in Judea and Samaria and increasing PLO security control.
4. Turning over security control of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to the PLO.
5. The moon.
The demand being made by Biden to continue “mediation” is outrageous: Israel must completely drop the judicial reforms.
And so it goes in the land of milk and honey this morning.
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.