The news is all about Fatah and Hamas
It is another beautiful morning in Jerusalem. The temperature at night is in the 60’s and the high during the day is the upper 70’s with a breeze. It just could not be better. Last year when I was here, the city was having a heat wave. The highs were in the 90’s. Quite a difference.
In the dining room of my hotel is an upright piano. The past few mornings, an older gentleman has played music for the breakfast crowd. He has played Mozart, and such songs as: Misty, Blue Moon, Raindrops, even Ave Maria. I think he is a guest of the hotel. Each morning, I think I will thank him, and then he is gone. Maybe tomorrow.
Sunday, Will and I went to the Museum of the Underground Prisoners during the British mandate in Jerusalem. Very interesting. It was a Russian compound built in the 19th century and was also used as as women’s hospice. At the end of WW I, it was the central jail used by the British. The number of Jews that were criminals was very small, with the majority of Jews being political and detainees awaiting trial. They were detained for defending their homes, liberty, and the revival of a Jewish National home in Palestine (Israel). Again, the Arabs were in the British pockets with the dire results going to the Jews. I think it is a must see for everyone visiting Jerusalem.
We walked to an archaeological site close to Bridges for Peace. A new building was going up when 1st century B.C and A.D. walls were found. Look for more on that in the “Dispatch from Jerusalem” newsletter from Bridges for Peace.
More walking. This time to downtown (Ben Yehuda street) for pizza and some errands. It is Sunday and the first day of the week in Israel. Lots of people are out and about.
More walking. Now to the old city. I am looking for some gifts—you know how I like to bless Israel—but I do not find what I am looking for.
More walking. I am running out of legs, but we reach Will’s and rest.
The news is all about Fatah and Hamas. What to do, what to do? Adam Haskel in the Jerusalem Post has this comment:
It took Hamas, 6 days to conquer Gaza. The editor in chief asked me what do you think Israel should do now. This is my response.
First, as someone once suggested, we should disengage from Gaza. Close the crossings, turn off the electricity. No more fuel for the Strip, either. Let them bring it in from Egypt or learn to rely on donkeys. I don’t recall the United Kingdom supplying Germany with electricity during the Battle of Britian. We’ll have to continue providing water, for now. We don’t want people dying of thirst. But, they won’t die of hunger. Egypt and the international community will see to that.
Yes, the IDF needs to conduct operations elsewhere in the Strip, on a larger scale and on a regular basis, indefinitely. It is a small part of of the price of Oslo, and bringing in thousands of terrorists from Tunisia and elsewhere and continuing to make concession after concession even though the PLO/Palestinian Authority has never kept any part of any agreement with any counter party. Not with Jordan, not with Lebanon, and not with Israel.
Which brings us to the most important thing that we must do: Stop Retreating! The Fatah terrorists are actually more dangerous, because they have learned to lie—not very convincingly, I admit—about their genocidal intentions for Israel.
Finally, no one should be under the illusion that Israel’s international standing has improved in any permanent way as a result of the 2005’s disengagement, or the 1993 Oslo Accord, 1995 Oslo II, the 1994 Cairo Agreement, the 1997 Hebron Agreement, or any other of the memoranda and protocols signed wht the PLO over the years. No amount of transient good will on the part of our enemies in Europe is worth the blood of one Israeli civilian or the bones of one IDF soldier.
Note: Some 70% of Gaza’s electricity and 40% of it water comes from Israel.
I don’t think I could have said it better.
Other News stories from the Jerusalem Post that I find interesting:
A Russian banker and politician plan to launch a global Jewish television network. Vladimir Sloutsker, says he believes a network is necessary to combat challenges facing the Jewish community.
For the end time folks: Israel to Give Jerusalem Church to Russians. Israel has agreed, in principle, to transfer the Church of St. Sergius and the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem to the Russian government, according to the interfax news agency.
On the medical front: An Israeli-developed miniature robot that increases the precision of implant placement in spinal fusion has been demonstrated here for the first time at the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem. Developed by Mazor Surgical Technologies and named SpineAssist, it decreases the chance of hitting vital organs, and significantly increases the accuracy of implant placement.
Letters to the editor in the Jerusalem Post:
Sir, the ironies in Gaza know no end. First, Palestinian Arabs elect a Hamas dictatorship that targets Israel and destroys their lives. Then, when Gaza turns to Hades-on-Earth, where do they try to escape to? Not Egypt: that’s just for letting guns and rockets through. They try to escape through the Erez crossing, INTO ISRAEL. That’s where they go when they seek freedom, medical care, civil rights, education, a livelihood, freedom of speech and everything else their own leaders refuse them. —John Lalor, Dubin Ireland.
On the BBC
Sir, I wonder if the BBC would be gracious enough to accept the gift of a prayer mat, on which they could keep their knees and noses clean while they grovel apologetically for having “mistakenly” called Jerusalem the capital of Israel. —Fay Sendzul, Hod Hasharon
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem
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