Yom Shishee
Friday
7 Tishrei 5784
September 22 2023
The Photos of the Day
Photo 1:
PM Netanyahu shaking hands with Democratic Republic of the Congo President Felix Tshisekedi yesterday at the U.N.
Netanyahu continues his diplomatic surge with President Tshisekedi announcing that his country will now move its embassy to Jerusalem. At the same time, Israel will open an embassy in Kinshasa.
Photo 2:
A refreshing sight in Times Square yesterday!
Following all of the maniacal anti-Netanyahu protesting in San Francisco and New York–which in reality is anti-Israel protesting, it was refreshing to see huge signs supporting Bibi in Times Square yesterday.
The News on the Israeli Street
The war in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and on the Gaza Border.
It has been an exceedingly violent 24 hours with stabbings, shootings, “rocks”, Molotovs, IEDs, arson, and other attacks. Miraculously, no Israelis have been physically wounded. Herewith a sample of what has taken place:
Stabbing attacks:
A Palestinian terrorist carried out a stabbing attack at the Shuafat Checkpoint in Jerusalem.
A Palestinian terrorist stabbed a security guard at the Jerusalem light rail Givat Hambata stop. The security guard is in fair condition; the terrorist was shot and is in critical condition.
Run-over attack:
A Palestinian terrorist ran-over a security guard at the Qalandiya Crossing. The Israeli was moderately wounded; the terrorist was captured.
Shooting attacks:
Palestinian terrorists fired on IDF troops in Dan near Jenin. 1 terrorist was shot atnd killed; no Israelis were wounded.
Palestinian terrorists are currently firing on IDF soldiers in Shechem. This follows a night of fighting in which at least 25 terrorists were wounded.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on IDF soldiers at the Beit Furik Checkpoint.
A Palestinian terrorist firing at IDF soldiers at the Gaza Fence was shot and killed:
This terrorist whom you can see shooting at IDF troops was shot and killed seconds later.
IED, Molotov, and “rock” attacks:
Palestinian terrorists tried to murder Israelis at Oja in the Jordan Valley, between Ivy HaNahal and the Ma’ale Amos Junction, north and south of the Givat Assaf Junction, on Road 465 near Arvad, near the small Yakir Junction, Hizma, between Nebi Elias and Azzun (female driver wounded), on Road 465 near the British Police Junction, and at some two dozen other locations.
The Golan heats up . . .
The IDF killed two Islamic Jihad terrorists in a drone attack 11 km from the Israeli border.
Later, in the Ein Altaniya area, two buildings which had been set up in violation of the “Separation of Forces Agreement” were destroyed.
Some good news . . .
Remember what we reported several days ago about the Golani Commander who was sentenced to 10 days in a military prison for firing his weapon after a Palestinian broke through a roadblock?
Following a petition signed by 1200 people, the commander was released today.
That petition read in part:
It is unbelievable that a company commander from Golani was sent to 10 days in prison because he opened fire on an Arab who broke through a roadblock and was suspected of carrying a weapon, after terrorists shot at Jews and endangered a group of women at the Rimonim Junction earlier. Jews are murdered and wounded in the Binyamin sector and throughout Judea and Samaria without interruption; terrorists with weapons roam freely, and a heroic company commander who was on duty to save Jewish lives – was sent to prison as a criminal. Defense Minister Yoav Galant – that’s it! We will not be silent! We will not abandon the soldiers and commanders of the IDF to a cruel justice system that tramples the Jews and pampers the Arabs! Defense Minister Galant – enough handcuffing the fighters! Enough of the abuse! Immediately release the company commander from prison!”
Amen to everything the petitioners said.
TODAY’S BLOG
The Saudis, Israelis, Palestinians, and the Biden Administration:
Where Do We Stand With Normalization?
So what are we to think about the Saudis, the Palestinians, Israel, and the Biden Administration?
To begin with, the Netanyahu-Biden meeting yesterday had a singular focus: a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Oh sure, Biden paid lip service to “checks and balances” in a one sentence sop to the Israeli opposition, but the increasingly frail Biden looked like he could care less about judicial reform.
In fact, between reading from the card prepared by his handlers that told him what to say and making offhand comments to Bibi, Biden seemed to use all of his energy just sitting up. It looks increasingly like Biden–as well as Bibi–looks at a grand normalization agreement as the cornerstone of his legacy.
The day before the Bibi-Biden meeting we had Prince Bin Salman practically waxing metaphorical about “the increasingly close” arrival to an agreement. So how do the Saudis think that such normalization can be reached? After all, they would apparently have to abandon all of their previous blather about not going forward with Israel until there is a two state solution–replete with a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The answer as it turns out is simple.
When Mahmoud Abbas was in Riyadh several weeks ago, it seems that he and the Saudis cooked up what they call an “interim” agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. While Abbas has steadfastly refused to talk about an interim agreement, such an agreement would in fact be nothing more than what Yasser Arafat used to call the “phased strategy”.
In short, the idea behind phased strategy was that the Palestinians would eliminate Israel through attrition. Get as many concessions and as much land as possible at the “negotiating table”, then start another round of violence with another set of negotiations, ad infinitum.
This morning, the leftist Israeli media is dramatically proclaiming that Abbas has agreed to an interim settlement with Israel–presumably the plan that the Saudis and Abbas just cooked up.
What does Abbas want Israel to do in exchange for signing off on the Israel-Saudi normalization–here is the short list:
1. Stop construction in all Jewish “settlements” in Judea and Samaria.
2. Agree that no more existing “settlements” will be legalized.
3. Transfer areas of Area C of Judea and Samaria to the PLO.
4. Declare East Jerusalem as the future capital of Palestine.
5. Declare Israel’s commitment to a 2-state vision.
6. Sign off on full membership for the Palestinians in the United Nations.
Of course, the adoption of any of these demands would immediately spell the end of the current Israeli government. The unknown question is how committed the Saudis are to this list. When Prince Salman said in his interview that “it is important for the Palestinians to have “a good life”, did he think that all of the above is necessary?
Your humble servant doubts it. I have to believe that the Prince is pragmatic enough to realize that most of the items on the Palestinian wish list are non-starters. What the Prince seems most interested in at the moment are a nuclear power plant to counter what is happening in Iran and increased tourism to Saudi Arabia.
By the way, that the six items above is just phase one was underscored by Abbas’ fiery address to the General Assembly yesterday.
Here are a few paragraphs (emphasis mine):
” [The Palestinians]maintain hope that [the U.N.] will implement its resolutions demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of our territory and realizing the independence of the fully sovereign state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of the fourth of June 1967 . . .”
Remember that the June 4 1967 “borders” are the same as the 1949 Armistice Lines. What Abbas is demanding in the next phase is the removal of 500,000 Israelis from Judea and Samaria.
“The Israeli occupation government also persists in its violations of the city of Jerusalem and its people. It continues to assault our Islamic and Christian sacred sites. It violates the historical and legal status of the holy site, especially the Aqsa Mosque, which international legitimacy has recognized as an exclusive place of worship for Muslims alone, including the Bab al-Rahma prayer hall and the Al Buraq Wall . . . ”
The Al Buraq Wall is the Western Wall (the Kotel). In the next phase, Abbas is demanding the elimination the Western Wall as a site of Jewish prayer and its recognition as an Islamic site.
“I pay tribute to our righteous martyrs and our brave prisoners and our heroic injured people, and I say to everyone, the right is never lost when there is a demand behind it. Victory is ours. We will celebrate the independence of our state in Jerusalem, our eternal capital and the crown jewel, and the flower of all cities.”
Note how quickly Abbas drops the phrase “East Jerusalem” and uses here “Jerusalem” which he now calls “Palestine’s eternal capital”. This is the next phase. The complete elimination of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Where do we go from here? Will the Saudis support Abbas’ list of demands? Will Netanyahu be willing to sacrifice his government on the altar of normalization? And what about the frail Biden–is he able to see a normalization process through to the end?
Only time will tell.
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.