Yom Chamishee
Thursday
14 Elul 5783
August 31 2023
BREAKING NEWS 9:00 am Thursday:
3 Israelis have been wounded (1 critically, 2 seriously) at the Maccabim Checkpoint on Road 443 in Samaria in a Palestinian terrorist runover account. The Israelis have been evacuated to hospitals. The terrorist was shot and killed.
UPDATE 10:30 am Thursday:
The critically wounded Israeli in the runover attack above has died. No further details have been released.
The News on the Israeli Street
The olive tree/oil disaster . . .
A disappearing sight in Israel.
The problem is simple. In recent years, successive Israeli government have introduced agricultural reforms that have drastically reduced subsidies to olive farmers. That fact, combined with increased imports of olive oil (50% of all olive oil used by Israelis now comes from other countries), has drastically reduced profits for those farmers.
Reduced them so much that it is no longer profitable to grow olive trees.
Ministry of Agriculture data shows that there are slightly more than 300,000 dunams of olive trees here (actually that is a paltry 75,000 acres) mostly located in the Galilee and Golan regions.
That acreage is decreasing by the day.
In the past two years, approximately 200,000 olive trees have been cut down and uprooted by farmers who are anxious to plant something more profitable.
All in all, unless the government takes action to stabilize prices, we will quickly see the end of the olive industry in Israel.
TODAY’S BLOG
Concession, Concession, Concession:
Terror, Terror, and More Terror
Palestinian terrorists attacking an IDF jeep with Molotovs in Shechem last night.
Even as the Netanyahu government is giving more concessions to the PLO, and now we have Saudi Arabia demanding even more concessions, Palestinian terror has gone from bad to worse.
Yesterday afternoon, a Palestinian terrorist tried to run over IDF soldiers near Beit Haji on Mt. Hevron. No soldiers were wounded; the terrorist was shot and killed:
The car used in the attack on Mt. Hevron yesterday.
A Palestinian stabbing attack was thwarted at the Nili Junction.
Last night:
A Palestinian terrorist carried out a stabbing attack at the Shabati Israel St train station in Jerusalem; an Israeli was seriously wounded; the terrorist was killed.
Palestinian terrorists struck two buses on Road 55 in the Nabi Elias Bypass–wounding the drivers of both (one in the eyes, the other in the shoulder).
Other “rock”, Molotov, and IED attacks took place at Givat Assaf, between Yakir and Emanuel, on the Gush Etzion-Hevron road south of Halhol, at the Ma’ale Shomron Junction (Israeli wounded) and dozens of other locations.
IDF, Border Police, and Shin Bet captured 16 wanted terrorists overnight:
*In Kfar Kedom, security forces captured 7 terrorists along with guns, a grenade launcher, and other military equipment.
*9 terrorists were captured in Abu Dis, Tulkarm, Shukba, Hizma, Beit Omer and Aqbat Jaber. In Abu Dis, terrorists threw IEDs at our soldiers; in Tulkarm, terrorists engaged in a firefight with IDF troops.
*In Beit Rima, Kifal Harath, Yavad, and Kfar Khalil, security forces uncovered weapons caches which included assault rifles, knives, ammunition, and an IED.
The most egregious attack of the evening occurred in Shechem (Nablus) where 4 IDF soldiers, an officer and 3 soldiers, were wounded when an IED was detonated near their vehicle. This morning, three of the soldiers are listed in “moderate” condition and one in “serious.”
Interestingly, the terrorist who constructed the IED was himself killed several hours later while constructing another IED in what Hamas described as “a work accident.”
Concession, concession, concession: terror, terror, and more terror.
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.