Yom Reva’ee
Wednesday
8 Av 5783
July 26 2023
SPECIAL NOTICE
On this day we remember the massacre of our people by the Babylonians and the Romans and vow that Jerusalem will never fall again (graphic: Vision Magazine).
Tisha B’Av begins at sundown today. On this day, we remember the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem–and hope for the rebuilding of a Third. For those of you who fast we wish you a Tsom Kal (Easy Fast).
BREAKING NEWS
The Israel Supreme Court and High Court of Justice have just announced that the petitions against the “Reasonableness Amendment” as well as the Attorney General’s new objection to the “Incapacitation Law” will not be heard until September.
It is interesting that the Courts seem to be in no rush to consider the petitions.
This announcement means that both new laws will stand for now. The exact date when the petitions and the responses to the petitions has apparently not yet been set.
The Quote of the Day: The Evil Face of Anarchism
The photo of Coalition leaders (except for Netanyahu) taken after the Knesset vote two days ago.
“I hate them. Every one of them. And the one that is not in the photo. They are not ‘our brothers’, they are human beings from an inferior race, a race of scum, a dangerous race.”
Yana Pevzner, leftist Israeli “journalist” in a Facebook post yesterday that included the above photo.
This is the face of anarchism, an anarchism that is attempting to divide Israel even to the point of using Nazi terminology from the 1930s to do so.
The News on the Israeli Street
The war in Judea and Samaria.
We are still fighting our enemies as we were at many Tisha B’Avs long ago. Three members of a heavily armed terror cell (automatic weapons, IEDs, stolen vehicle) were seized just before an attack early this morning. In wide-ranging security sweeps last night, more than 30 wanted terrorists were captured.
Shooting attacks:
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on IDF troops in Shechem during the capture of a terrorist this morning. One terrorist was killed; no Israelis were wounded.
Palestinian terrorists opened fire on Israelis near the Homesh yeshiva.
Palestinian terrorists in Jenin opened fire on an IDF helicopter over the city. The helicopter was undamaged.
IED, “rock”, and Molotov attacks:
Palestinian terrorists throwing Molotovs set an Israeli military vehicle on fire in Burka. No Israelis were wounded.
Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis at more than 2 dozen locations including Karmi Tzur, Azzun, Hawara, Turmus’ayya, Al Abud, and near the T-Junction in Gush Etzion.
The blistering heat wave continues . . .
Yesterday at noon, the all-time record for electricity consumption in Israel was broken–exceeding 15,000 megawatts.
There is simply nothing to do except to retreat to air-conditioned places.
TODAY’S BLOG
A Personal Story On This Tisha B’Av
“This is a serious threat. It’s never happened before. We are going into a civil war . . .”
Former PM Ehud Olmert in an interview with UK Channel 4 yesterday.
There has been much provocative talk by the anti-government Opposition in the last few days that the situation today is much like it was back on Tisha B’Av 70 CE. According to their narrative, Israel is bitterly divided–so much so that a civil war is about to break out.
Permit your humble servant a few observations.
This morning, my wife and I got up here in Ashdod, and drove over to the Big Shopping Shopping Center. Big was one of the companies that completely shut its doors yesterday following the Knesset vote two days ago.
We did not go to Big to shop (in fact we have often protested in front of Big to encourage people to stop shopping there). We went there to park our car because the Big parking lot is right beside the Ashdod Ad Halom train station.
We parked the car and walked the hundred meters or so to the station which was crowded with hundreds of young soldiers catching trains in all directions.
At 8:27 pm, we boarded the train for the smooth, traffic-free 45 minute ride past Yavne, Rishon Lezion, Holon, and Bat Yam to the HaShalom Station in Tel Aviv. The HaShalom Station is located in the middle of the Azrieli Mall which like Big closed its doors yesterday.
As always, Azrieli was packed with people–including again hundreds of soldiers from all the service branches heading out as we were coming in.
We left Azrieli for a searingly hot 30 minute walk. First, it was out into “Democracy Square” (exactly where we were three nights ago for the pro-reform, pro-government rally), then it was up the hill past the Kirya (Defense Ministry), and then down the hill to Leonardo Da Vinci Street for a right turn, and on to the building housing the Bulgarian Embassy.
After a short stop there for my wife to collect her new Bulgarian passport* (courtesy of her late mother who was born in Sofia), we reversed the entire process, stopping in Azrieli for a cup of iced coffee before heading back to here in Ashdod.
All along the way, we were in crowds of people.
And all along the way–coming and going–there was not one single sign of any protest. No anarchists blocking roads, no “protesters” waving signs and Israeli flags, no Army refuseniks, no stores closed–nothing but Israelis going about their daily business.
It was a refreshing experience.
And one that called to mind an event that happened three nights ago. As we entered Azrieli to access the train station on our way home, we ran into a “traffic jam” at the escalators. The folks going up like us were supporters of the reform, the folks coming down were returning from Jerusalem where they had been demonstrating against the reform.
And you know what?
There was no rancor, no anger, just a friendly acknowledgement of the other side with all of us waving flags at each other.
All of which gives me a glimmer of optimism because it leads me to believe that to some extent, the anti-reform movement has been hijacked by a relatively small group of hard-core, anti-government anarchists.
As much as people like Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak, and Yair Lapid would like to provoke one, Israel is most assuredly not headed for a civil war.
*Addendum: my wife actually has 3 passports: Israeli, American, and Bulgarian.
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.