Yom Chamishee
Thursday
22 Cheshvan 5783
November 17 2022
The News on the Israeli Street
The war in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem yesterday:
Shooting attacks.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire at the Jewish community of Shaked in northern Samaria hitting numerous homes. No casualties have been reported.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire at the IDF post on Mount Gerizim.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on the Jewish community of Psagot.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on IDF soldiers at Migdalot.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on IDF soldiers in Shechem near Joseph’s Tomb.
IED, Molotov, and “rock” attacks.
Palestinian terrorists attempted to kill Israelis between Rabba and Yakir Al-Haguda, on the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road at Al-Aruv, on the Jerusalem-Gush Etzion Road between Al Khader and Efrat, between Yatev and Ojah, on Road 465 near Deir Abu Meshaal, Kiryat Arba, on Road 60 at Luban a-Sharqiya, Nahal Kana, and on Road 55 near the Jinspot Junction.
At midnight, terrorists threw “rocks” at a car driven by a woman in northern Samaria:
Note the bullet hole in the hood and the “rock” still stuck in the windshield. Amazingly, neither the woman nor her small children were physically wounded.
Thrown under the bus . . . again . . .
Several years ago, your humble servant went on an “undercover” trip to Hevron with the despicable group “Breaking the Silence”, an abhorrent collection of former IDF soldiers who travel the world making money by demeaning Israel.
I wanted to see if what I had heard and read about them was true.
It was more true than I ever imagined. The group members disseminated one lie after another about Israel and about the IDF. As we walked around Hevron, group members taunted IDF soldiers who did not respond.
Yesterday, an IDF member at one of the checkpoints in Hevron stopped the leader of another Breaking the Silence group from entering a particular street. When the leader failed to heed him, the officer walked up to him and told him to turn around and go back where he came from. As the soldier returned to his post, he told the leader: “You are a traitor. I hope you die from diseases.”
All of this was filmed by a member of Breaking the Silence who turned it over to the IDF.
The IDF spokesman was quick to issue this absurd statement: “The behavior of the soldier seen in the video is inappropriate and contrary to what is expected of an IDF soldier. The issue is being investigated and will be dealt with severely. The soldier is suspended from operational activity until the investigation is completed.”
Instead of defending our soldier, the IDF Military Prosecutors’ Office will undoubtedly charge the soldier with some yet undefined crime. Let us hope that whoever is the incoming Defense Minister will dismiss this ludicrous case forthwith.
Finally, in my humble opinion, the IDF officer was right; the members of Breaking the Silence are daily betraying Israel.
The Iranian attack . . .
As you have probably heard by now, an Iranian Shahed-136 exploding drone attacked an oil tanker off the coast of Oman yesterday. Apparently, Iran thought the ship was crewed by Israelis.
The Pacific Zircon which is owned by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping which is owned by Israeli Idan Ofer.
Fortunately no Israelis were on board and no oil spilled.
TODAY’S BLOG
Amending The Law of Return
The Law of Return permits any person in the world–with at least 1 grandparent who is/was Jewish– to immigrate to Israel (along with their spouse and children if they are married).
As you may recall, the Lapid-Bennett-Gantz Coalition government actually proposed expanding the Law of Return to allow anyone who had a great-grandparent to immigrate to Israel.
Fortunately, that proposal went nowhere.
The incoming government proposes to take the Law of Return in the opposite direction by specifying that a person must have a Jewish mother or father. Having Jewish grandparents but not parents would no longer qualify someone.
The reason for this move?
In the late 1980s, Jews from the former Soviet Union began immigrating in large numbers to this country. Since then, the vast majority of immigrants every year are from Russia.
In 1990, 93% of these immigrants were halachically Jewish. However, in the past 30 years, this percentage has continued to decline.
In 2020, only 28% of immigrants from Russia were Jewish.
Think about that for a moment. To put it differently, 72% of the Jews from the former Soviet Union who immigrated here in 2020 were not Jewish–because most of them came by virtue of having a Jewish grandparent.
The overall impact of this on the Jewish demography of the country is disastrous. Back in the 1980s, about 80% of the country was Jewish. Today that percentage is down to about 73%.
We here at OneIsrael support amending the law, and amending it quickly.
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.