Tuesday
Yom Shleeshee
9 Kislev 5785
December 10 2024
May Their Memories Be For a Blessing
It was another tragic day in Israel with 7 soldiers killed: 4 in southern Lebanon due to egregious miscommunication between IDF groups, and 3 in Gaza due to failure to secure a vehicle boarding site:
L-R top:
Maj. (Res.) Evgeny Zinershain, aged 43, from Zikhron Ya’akov, was a company commander in the 9263rd Battalion, 226th Brigade.
Sgt. First Class (Res.) Erez Ben Efraim, aged 25, from Ramat Gan, was a soldier in the 9263rd Battalion, 226th Brigade.
L-R bottom:
Master Sgt. (Res.) Binyamin Destaw Negose, aged 28, from Beit Shemesh, was a soldier in the 9263rd Battalion, 226th Brigade.
Capt. (Res.) Sagi Ya’akov Rubinshtein, aged 31, from Lavi, was a platoon commander in the 9263rd Battalion, 226th Brigade.
All four soldiers were killed when they entered a tunnel looking for Hezbollah weapons, not realizing (or not informed) that the tunnel had already been wired for explosives (booby-trapped to eliminate Hezbollah terrorists that might return) by another IDF group. The explosives detonated.
The three who were killed in Gaza:
L-R:
Sgt. Ido Zheno, 20, from Yehud-Monson.
Sgt. Barak Daniel Halpern, 19, from Kiryat Ono.
Sgt. Omri Cohen, 19, from Ashdod.
All three soldiers were members of the Shaked Battalion of the Givati Brigade and were killed in northern Gaza. They were boarding an armored vehicle to return home when they were ambushed by Palestinian Hamas terrorists with anti-tank missiles and machine gun fire. 13 other soldiers were wounded in the same incident–3 critically. The ten terrorists who carried out the ambush were all killed.
The View From Ashdod
Regular readers of OneIsrael may remember that last month, your humble servant mentioned that we no longer know here in Ashdod whether paragliders are just Israeli fun seekers or Hamas terrorists nor do we know whether drones are ones launched by terrorists or belong to the IAF.
Yesterday morning while writing this blog, I heard a drone circling unusually over our house and both my wife and I went outside to take a look. Shortly thereafter it flew away, and we thought nothing else about it.
You can imagine our surprise when about an hour later we saw this on television:
The drone that had been circling over our house was from the Houthis in Yemen, and struck the 16th floor of this apartment building in Yavne about 5 miles away. The apartment there was completely destroyed but fortunately no one was inside at the time.
There were never any warning sirens and both the Iron Dome and an IAF jet failed to take it down.
The War in Gaza
The IDF wiped out several residential blocks containing Hamas assets in the Al-Janina neighborhood of Rafah yesterday evening
The War in Lebanon and Syria
The news is coming so fast and from so many sources in Syria that it is difficult to sort out.
What we know:
*IAF planes attacked 250 targets in Syria yesterday–focusing on the assets of the now defunct Syrian Army. Apparently, all of Syria’s MiG-29 aircraft and all of its helicopters have been destroyed as have numerous radar anti-aircraft installations.
*Israeli tanks have left the buffer zone and are now only 21 km from Damascus–in a holding pattern in Qatana.
*A joint Israeli-American commando force attacked sites in the Qalamoun Mountains via helicopters.
On the Ground in Judea and Samaria
Two Palestinian terrorists were killed in Tubas yesterday. Heavily armed, they brazenly walked down a main street, were spotted by a tank crew, and were hit by a missile.
Netanyahu’s Trial (s) Resume
It seems ridiculous in the midst of fighting in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, and Syria, but the Israeli judiciary has decided that PM Netanyahu’s trial in Cases 1000 (illegal gifts), 2000 (attempted media bribery involving the newspapers Yediot Aharanot and Israel Hayom), and 4000 (media bribery involving Bezeq) will resume today with the opening of PM Netanyahu’s defense and his testimony.
In case you have forgotten (as most of us have), the trial has already excruciatingly gone on for 4 1/2 years (Netanyahu was already being crucified in the media for 3 years before the trial even started via leaks to the media about the ongoing “investigations.”)
Try to wrap your minds around the farce of Netanyahu under attack for 7 1/2 years. It is simply unbelievable.
And where have we gotten to?
Case 1000: Netanyahu allegedly received $75,800 in cigars and $52,000 in champagne between 2011 and 2016 from Arnon Milchan, and another $65,000 in cigars and champagne from Packer between 2014-2016. Sara Netanyahu allegedly received $45,000 worth of jewelry during this time.
However, during the years of prosecution witnesses, it was never clear that Milchan and Packer gave the gifts in order to receive “something.” Instead, it often appeared that the gifts merely gave them access to “hanging around” with the Netanyahus.
Nevertheless, for these alleged gifts, Netanyahu is charged with breach of trust. This is considered the strongest case against Netanyahu, but even if Netanyahu is convicted, it would not mean “jail time” nor would it force him to leave politics.
Case 2000: Netanyahu is accused of “attempted media bribery”--meaning that no bribery took place; hence this is considered the weakest of the three cases.
Case 4000: Netanyahu is accused of “bribery”, but the star prosecution witness in this case, Shlomo Filber, stunned the Court by saying that such bribery never took place. His testimony was so damning to the prosecution, that the judges told the prosecution back in 2023 that it should drop the bribery charge and take a plea deal. The prosecution refused.
So now for years to come–the trial is expected to extend well into 2026–we will have the spectacle of PM Netanyahu in the dock on farcical and fanciful charges.
Even as war rages, Netanyahu is supposed to be available in Court three days a week for 6-8 hours per day.
It is beyond absurd.
Last night, at a fiery press conference, Netanyahu lowered the boom on the media accusing it of drumming up the charges and engaging in neverending fake news stories about him and his family.
He particularly took issue with the media constantly claiming that he was prolonging the wars so that he would not have to testify to which Netanyahu said that nothing will make him happier than to take the stand and answer the charges.
And so it goes in Israel this morning . . . so far . . .
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.