Opinion Piece: Current Events from Israel

Authored By Ben Packer

Happy Lag b’Omer! It’s a very interesting day of celebration, but the basic idea is that it’s the anniversary of the death of the great Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. He commanded that this day should be celebrated. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai was famous for hiding in a cave to escape the Romans who were trying to kill him. His crime: Keeping it real. That’s what we try to do with this news report.

Yamam fighter killed

The rooting out of the apparently vast terrorist infrastructure in and around Jenin continued this week. In a mission that eventually led to the capture of a terrorist leader, a long-time veteran of the Israeli special anti-terror forces, Sgt. Maj. Noam Raz, hy’d, was tragically killed. He left behind a wife and six children in the Jewish community of Kidah that he helped establish near Shiloh. Thousands lined the streets to console the family and Raz was buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

Naftali Bennett, in what should have been an enlightening and educational experience for him, but probably wasn’t, visited the family and was completely ripped by the oldest son of the deceased. This included, “you don’t deserve to be in the house my father lived in”. Many others protested outside as many others had earlier in the week when Bennett visited the Jewish community of Elkana. This might be the new normal for Bennett even well after this charade of a government is over.

The Funeral Intifada

Two funerals were held in Jerusalem in the past week, one for the dead Al-Jazeera reporter lady and one for one of the rioters from the Temple Mount who died a while after being shot by security services. It’s still unknown who actually shot the reporter, but it’s clearly known that it doesn’t really matter at this point. Both funerals became excuses for mass riots. Of course, the Jews were blamed for all of this as well. Sense a trend?

Russia Attacks in Syria, but Fails

This week marked the first time, that we know, that Russian military personnel shot anti-aircraft fire at Israeli Air Force planes while (whilst for British readers) they attacked terrorist targets in Syria. Like Dua Lipa, no actual hits were recorded. Hopefully, Russia will exhibit caution before they have to find out how different Israel is from Ukraine. Syria says that some folks were killed but that they were low-level anti-semites, unlike the Al-Jazeera reporter, so not so important.

Gantz – Hadera to Gedera

Defense Minister Benny Gantz this week lamented the takeover of lands by Arabs across the country. He went as far as to warn that if action isn’t taken soon then Israel could be reduced to the area between the cities of Hadera and Gedera. Not really sure what Gantz is advocating to do, especially since he personally just ordered the unjust removal of Jews from a house they clearly purchased in Hevron from Arabs. Don’t worry, all aspects of the sale were recorded and the Jews will be back inside, permanently, very soon.

Additionally this week, a Knesset Member from the Yesh Atid party was called “human scum” by Dr. (of terrorism) Ahmed Tibi from the podium in the Knesset. MK Meirav Ben-Ari seemed genuinely shocked at her treatment and then cried about it. I’m sure that scared the hell out of Tibi and his terror-supporting voters. (Btw, Ahmed Tibi recently voted in favor of the government (of which Ben-Ari is a member), saving it from collapse.

I’m going to go ahead and explain the dynamic to Benny Gantz and everyone else. Don’t thank me, I’m a giver. And I’m keeping it real.

-If everyone (Jews and Arabs) in Israel becomes western and secular, then we can all live together in peace. That is until some other nation that doesn’t ascribe to these “values” easily conquers the whole area.

-What Benny Gantz is describing is the religious/traditional Arab success in chasing out the western/secular Jews from various parts of Israel. This is to be expected and has become the norm. The only exceptions would be in dire situations, like the one that existed at the founding of the State of Israel and subsequent wars.

-Fortunately, when religious/traditional Jews and religious/traditional Arabs square off, these days, the Jews are able to persevere. This happened in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov and is happening currently in the French Hill neighborhood. It happened after terror attacks near the Samarian Jewish community of Immanuel. It’s happening today in Meitzad and Maale Amos and Mevo Dotan and Yitzhar and Homesh and throughout Judea and Samaria and Lod and Sderot and many other places. After every attack and/or attempt at intimidation by Arabs, the Jewish community significantly grows and expands.

-In short, Benny Gantz should worry less and do more mitzvahs. We all should.

“Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord, your God, He is the One Who goes with you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you.”