Yom Rishon
Sunday
24 Elul 5783
September 10 2023
Terror in the Air
We have news this morning that a terrorist tried to crash a Wizz Air flight from Tel Aviv to London last Monday. He got up from his seat, ran to the emergency exit door, and tried to open it while yelling Allahu Akbar.
Fortunately, an Albanian passenger named Victor Trebolini reacted quickly and wrestled him to the floor. Other passengers rushed to help–and he was finally handcuffed.
As of this time, no other information about the terrorists has been released.
The News on the Israeli Street
The war in Judea and Samaria.
Shooting attacks:
Palestinian terrorists fired on the Israeli community of Shaked in Samaria.
Palestinian terrorists fired on IDF soldiers at the Jalama Crossing near Jenin.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire near the Marev community.
Palestinian terrorists fired at Israelis at the Salem Junction.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire at IDF soldiers at an IDF outpost near Tulkarm.
IED, “rock”, and Molotov attacks:
Palestinians tried to kill Israelis at Al-Aruv (IDF killed a terrorist throwing Molotovs), Avitar, near Nokdim, and all along the main arteries of Judea and Samaria: on Road 60 and on the Gush Etzion-Hevron Highway.
The idiotic decision of the day . . .
Despite finding explosives being smuggled by Palestinian terrorists–in clothes–at the Kerem Shalom Crossing 4 days ago, Israel reopened the Kerem Shalom Crossing this morning.
The anti-government protest last night . . .
The sign reads “The Supreme Court is Supreme”.
As you can see from the photo, a very large protest against the government took place in Tel Aviv last night. Its ostensible purpose was to support the Supreme Court in advance to tomorrow’s hearing on the “Reasonableness Amendment”.
The sign says it all–and informs us yet again why the judicial system needs to change. There are no checks and balances when the Supreme Court wields supreme power.
TODAY’S BLOG
The IMEC: A Major Achievement Or Not?
What are we to say about the “blockbuster” announcement from India, the Europeans, the White House, and PM Netanyahu yesterday concerning the creation of an “India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor” (IMEC)?
To hear PM Netanyahu describe IMEC, it was an “historic announcement” that places Israel at the center of a major reshaping of the Middle East:
“I welcome the announcement made today by the US, India, Saudi Arabia, European Union, United Arab Emirates, and France, Italy, and Germany. They announced the launch of a pioneering initiative to develop an economic corridor, from India through the Middle East to Europe, and I am happy to tell you, citizens of Israel, that our country, the State of Israel, will be a central junction in this economic corridor.”
Well yes, and no. It turns out that two economic corridors are envisioned:
*the east corridor which will connect the India to the Arabian Gulf
*the north corridor which will connect the Arabian Gulf to Europe
Just a casual look at the geography of the area shows that the eastern corridor connection between India and the Arabian Gulf would not involve Israel at all. This corridor is already a practical reality because it merely involves shipping goods from Indian ports to those in the Gulf.
However, as for the northern corridor connecting the Arabian Gulf to Europe, this would presumably be a land corridor which would link the Gulf States to Israel by rail and then continue on to Europe by ship.
This northern corridor is indeed, as described by Netanyahu, “visionary”, and it is a vision fraught with problems.
In the first place, a railway between Saudi Arabian ports on the Arabian Gulf to Israel would be long and need to pass through Jordan–and would be an easy target for terrorists all along the way.
In the second place, such a railway will involve a major investment in infrastructure, and it is utterly unclear from yesterday’s announcement where the money would come from.
According to Netanyahu, the plan also involves other elements: “Its vision reshapes the face of our region and allows a dream to become reality. The initiative includes the construction of railways, the laying of a hydrogen pipeline, the energy of the future, the laying of fiber optic communications cables, the laying of electricity cables and more infrastructure.”
Again, the key word here is “vision.”
In your humble servant’s opinion, we are very far from seeing this vision transformed into a reality. Certainly, nothing will happen anytime soon–and if it were to become a reality, it would probably take a generation to reach fruition.
All we have at the moment is a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which is obviously designed to counter the Chinese “China Road” initiative. The Chinese have spent many years and billions of dollars developing that initiative–and IMEC seems too little too late.
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.