Israel Matzav

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameyach!

See you all Sunday night!

Labels: personal stuff, Sabbath observance, Shavuoth

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:10 PM 0 comments

Is this what the US State Department told Belgium and France after their terror attacks?

Posting this in the hope that @apdiplowriter will ask the State Department about it this afternoon.

In the aftermath of the terror attack at the Max Brenner restaurant at Tel Aviv's Sarona Market on Wednesday, the US State Department is warning Israel not to 'escalate tensions.'

"We understand the Israeli government's desire to protect its citizens after this kind of terrorist attack," said Mark Toner, a spokesman for the State Department. "We would just hope that any measures that Israel takes would be designed to not escalate tensions any further, but we certainly respect their desire to express outrage and to protect the safety of their people."

Nine Israelis were shot on Wednesday night by at least three Palestinian men, in what has been characterized by the United Nations, the US and Israel as an act of terror. Four of the victims have died.

The decision by Israel not to return the bodies of dead Palestinian perpetrators to their families– a policy Israel considers a deterrent against future attacks– is "obviously an internal matter for Israel to debate," Toner remarked. But he made note of Israel's decision to constrict ease of travel for thousands of Palestinians in and out of the strip.

I doubt the State Department bothered to look, but Saturday night and Sunday are the Jewish holiday of Shavuoth, and on Jewish holidays travel from Judea, Samaria and Gaza (isn't there a 'blockade' in Gaza anyway?) is always restricted to humanitarian cases to enable the army to give more leaves.

The Washington Institute's Rob Satloff asks the right question:

Shocking @StateDept warning to #Israel after #TelAvivAttack. Did it issue similar warning to #France and #Belgium? https://t.co/tB9P0l6usu
— Robert Satloff (@robsatloff) June 9, 2016

Well, of course they didn't. But a different standard always applies to Israel.... I can't wait to hear the reaction when they find out that the cabinet is meeting today to expedite the demolition of the terrorists' homes.

And by the way, the terrorists came from Yata, which is south of Hebron, and not from Gaza.

Labels: home demolitions, Palestinian terrorism, Shavuoth, State Department obsession with Israel, Tel Aviv

Shocking video: Arab breaks Jew's skull with baseball bat on Shavuoth morning

Shavuoth is the one day of the year that I will walk through the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem rather than going around to the generally safer Jaffa Gate. There are two reasons for this. First, we enter Damascus Gate sometime around 4:00 am when there are very few Arabs around. Second, the place is crawling with border police units.

This attack took place at the Dung Gate, right down the road from the Western Wall, a gate that we often use during Passover and Succoth. It's considered safe. This attack happened in broad daylight and someone videotaped it (or maybe the video comes from a security camera).

The attack took place in Jerusalem as a group of Jewish youths made their way to the Kotel. A Jewish youth suffered a fractured skull and internal bleeding. The attacker was arrested.

Let's go to the videotape.

Here's more:

According to the youths, they were on their way to the Kotel when one of them stopped by the Dung Gate, the closest gate to the Kotel, to urinate by the side of the road. The group continued, when suddenly they realized a roughly 35-year-old Arab resident was attacking their friend who had stopped.

The youths rushed to help their companion, only to find additional Arab hooligans arriving on the scene, several of them armed with baseball bats. At that point one of the Arab attackers struck one of the Jewish youths in the head, as caught on film, severely injuring him.

The youth was evacuated to the hospital with a break in his skull and internal bleeding as a result of the heavy blow. He later recalled that the Arab man started shouting at him, claiming that they were on his property, and began strangling him.

The Arab attacker was arrested by police, and had his detention extended.

...

Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir, who represents one of the attacked Jewish youth for the Honenu legal aid organization, responded to the events, noting how things would have been different if the Jews had been the attackers instead.

"If this had occurred in the opposite manner, the entire agenda in Israel would have been busy only on this issue," argued Ben-Gvir. "The media would have spread on thick the red titles, the police would be conducting arrests, and (Justice Minister) Tzipi Livni and (President) Shimon Peres and even the prime minister would have been condemning it."

"But when a Jew takes a bat to the head, the hypocrisy celebrates and the media is silent. We demand that the police enforce justice, submit an indictment and ask for the attacker to be arrested until the end of legal proceedings," said Ben-Gvir.

Indeed.

Labels: Kotel plaza, Old City of Jerusalem, Palestinian terrorism, Shavuoth, Western Wall

Look who's here....

I'll be busy working when the holiday ends.... Give them credit - they arrived before the holiday. More here.

Labels: Rolling Stones, Shavuoth

Rolling Stones concert pushed to 9:15 pm to attract religious fans

The Rolling Stones concert in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night has been pushed to 9:15 pm so that religiously observant fans can make it (the holiday of Shavuoth ends around 8:25 pm on Wednesday). The city had to waive an ordinance forbidding noise after 11:00 pm to make it happen. Incredibly, it sounds like there are still tickets available.

An announcement released by promoter Shuki Weiss said that following many requests from observant fans, his office and the Tel Aviv Municipality agreed to to extend the 11 p.m. curfew on public performances.

Opening act Rami Fortis will hit the stage at 8 p.m and the Stones will follow at 9:15 p.m.

One possible explanation for the late-breaking arrangements is to generate more ticket sales to the show, which some reports have as being sluggish. Whether a surge from religiously observant Israelis deciding they can now get to the show in time will do the trick and fill the park is in the hands of fate.

It would still be almost impossible to make it to the park in time from anywhere outside the Tel Aviv area.

Labels: Rolling Stones, Shavuoth

Rolling Stones to do Shavuoth

When I first reported the Rolling Stones concert in Tel Aviv, someone pointed it that it's on Shavuoth. I thought it would start after the holiday, and it is. But barely. If you're keeping the holiday, you probably cannot go to the concert unless you live within walking distance. Here's why.

Gates open at Tel Aviv's Hayarkon Park for the concert at 5:30 p.m., three hours before the holiday ends. The iconic band is expected to take the stage right at the end of the holiday, at 8:30 p.m., reports Yedioth Ahronoth. As a result, religious fans will have to arrive late, or miss the show altogether.

MK Nissan Slomiansky (Jewish Home) is among the Rolling Stones fans who are sorely disappointed by the timing of the concert. He contacted promoter Shuki Weiss who arranged the concert on Wednesday, and asked him to postpone the show a day or move it forward two days.

"On Israeli Memorial Day they wouldn't have let something like this happen. Something is messed up here. Only money is important? What about our values?" lambasted Slomiansky.

"It cannot be that they'll hold a concert that will cause a desecration of the holiday by hundreds of thousands of Jews," noted Slomiansky. "It's not logical to force the Israel police to work from two in the afternoon...and harm the honor of the holiday of the giving of the Torah."
Remarking on the widespread observance of the holiday, Slomiansky added "precisely on a holiday that the non-religious public joins in Torah study, such a massive event comes along, which one can't really attend without desecrating the holiday.

But promoter Shuki Weiss has a history of this sort of thing.

Weiss reportedly pledged the band $6.7 million for the one-night show. Slomiansky noted this isn't the first controversial move by Weiss, saying "last time he tried to bring the band Depeche Mode on (the fast day of) Tisha B'av, and in the end they didn't come."

Slomiansky took a picture of himself wearing a Rolling Stones shirt, to express that "I don't have anything against the band, the opposite. It's an excellent and important band, and I value that they're coming to Israel at a timing like this, when many are boycotting. But why can't religious Jews like us go enjoy the performance?"

Oh well. My kids were sort of daring me to go. Now for sure it won't happen. Not that I was likely to spend that much money on a ticket in the first place....

Labels: Rolling Stones, Shavuoth, Tel Aviv

Sabbath music video

With Shavuoth rapidly approaching (two weeks from Saturday night, God willing), here's a new song for the holiday from Avraham Fried, Retzoneinu Liroth eth Malkeinu (We wish to see our King, i.e. God).

Let's go to the videotape.

Shabbat Shalom everyone.

Labels: Avraham Fried, Retzoneinu Liroth, Sabbath music video, Shavuoth

Shavuos video from Oorah.org

Here's a special Shavuos video from Oorah.org.

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Oorah.org, Shavuoth

Overnight music video

Specially for Shavuoth, here's Shloime Dachs singing VaYichan Sham Yisrael Neged HaHar (And the Children of Israel encamped opposite Mount Sinai as one person with one heart).

Let's go to the videotape.

Tomorrow night is the holiday of Shavuoth and I will be offline from sundown on Tuesday until after sundown on Wednesday (only one day of holiday here in Israel). Chag Sameyach all.

This evening, I had major car problems, and then had to go to a wedding out of the city. I'm also retiring early for the evening - this is being set up hours in advance.

Labels: overnight music video, Shavuoth, Shloime Dachs, VaYichan Sham Yisrael

'Palestinian Authority' calls for march on Israel's borders on the eve of Shavuoth

Deja vu all over again?

"Palestinian activists on the "Third Intifada" Facebook page called for marking the anniversary of the [Israeli] occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip [i.e., the Six-Day War], as on [the anniversary of] the Palestinian catastrophe [i.e., Palestinian term for the creation of the State of Israel], when demonstrations were held - one of which succeeded in crossing the border between Israel and Syria... The activists said, in their Internet announcement: "Out of loyalty to the Shahids (Martyrs), and in order to continue the path and to base ourselves upon the achievements of the revolutionaries and those who rose up, we announce forcefully and loudly that June 7th - the anniversary of the theft of Jerusalem, the 'flower of cities', by the Zionists - is the day for swearing loyalty to Jerusalem in every country of the world.'"

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 19, 2011]

Shavuoth starts at sundown on June 7.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Lebanese border breach, Shavuoth, Syrian border breach

Stay up all night!

Shavuoth is coming in about two weeks (I hope to be back in Israel by then, God willing). Here's a song to help you get ready for the holiday.

Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: Shy Guy).