Yom Shabbat
Saturday
10 Iyar 5784
May 18 2024
Photo of the Day
85-year-old Alma Avraham was held hostage in Gaza for 7 weeks and spent five months in the hospital after returning to Israel.
This week her great-granddaughter was born.
Am Israel Chai!
OneIsrael’s Campaign For Our Soldiers
IDF soldiers on the ground need basic protective gear, armaments, and supplies.
OneIsrael is now engaged in a campaign to help protect our soldiers. This campaign will extend to Shavuot.
Please consider donating to our campaign by clicking on the donate button in the right hand column on this page. All donations go directly to our soldiers.
Thank you to those of you who have already contributed to the protection of our brave men and women in uniform; we have now reached over $6000 on the way to our goal of $10,000!
On the Ground In and Around Gaza
Ashkelon and Zikim were hit with a barrage of 10 missiles fired by Islamic Jihad out of Gaza. 5 missiles were intercepted; 5 more got through.
Missiles fired by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza continue to pound southern Israel just as they did before October 7th. Take a look at this past week’s attacks on Sderot alone:
From 5 missiles on May 6 (far right column) to 4 missiles on May 15 (far left column), this ten day period saw 69 missiles fired at Sderot. Is it any wonder that parents don’t want to send their children to school or that many residents of Sderot don’t want to return home?
From the IDF Spokesman covering the last 24 hours:
“Fighters of the 401st Brigade Combat Team under the command of the 162nd Division are deepening the raid in East Rafah. The fighters began targeted raids on terrorist infrastructures and buildings from which Hamas terrorists fired at our forces. During this activity the fighters eliminated about 50 terrorists and located dozens of tunnel shafts which are currently in the process of exploration and destruction. So far, hundreds of terrorist infrastructures have been destroyed, including weapons production sites and launch sites ready to fire.”
*Intense fighting continues to be reported from Jabaliya.
*Anger continues to boil among the troops because of Defense Minister Gallant’s comments several days ago about how at the end of the war the IDF should withdraw completely from Gaza:
The above is a soldier in Gaza of the Carmeli Brigade holding a flag to hide his face after having written “Gallant go home; the Carmelis are not fighting to keep Hamas in power in Gaza.”
On the Ground in the North
This graph shows that since October 7, the number of incoming missile/drone alarms in the north (3,273) now equals the number of alarms along the Gaza border.
There have been six barrages of suicide drones so far today targeting the entire length of the Israel-Lebanon border. The situation in the north becomes more intolerable with each passing day.
The IAF continues to target Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon and in Syria. A Hezbollah commander was killed in this strike on the Syrian border yesterday:
This commander is no more.
Unfortunately, all of the targeted assassinations being carried out by Israel seem to be having absolutely no effect on Hezbollah’s ability to terrorize northern Israel.
On the Temple Mount in Jerusalem
It has always been your humble servant’s contention that Moshe Dayan’s ceding of the administration of the Temple Mount to the Palestinian/Jordanian Islamic Wakf in 1967 disastrously emboldened our enemies.
Until Israel reasserts its sovereignty over the Mount, all of the other problems we face will continue to spread like the tentacles of an octopus.
The absurd situation on the Mount was illustrated yesterday when the man in the photo below unfurled an Israeli flag in front of the Kipat HaSela (Dome of the Rock):
The first of three policemen that surrounded the man (photo source on photo).
Police immediately confronted him and forced him to put away the flag. On the other hand, the police do nothing when PLO and HamISIS flags are waved on the Mount.
On this note, we wish all of our soldiers and you:
SHABBAT SHALOM!
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.