Ayoon Wa Azan (Israeli Developments - 2)

Benjamin Netanyahu left Israel on the second of this month, and began his visit to Washington on the following day, and then headed to Canada after that. Yesterday, I said that I will bypass whatever is known and already published in our media on Israeli developments. As such, I will confine myself with regard to his visit and the talk of the Iranian nuclear program, to commenting on his speech at the Knesset following his return. Indeed, he said that he would attack Iran if he finds it necessary, even without Barack Obama’s approval, and named eight ministers in his cabinet who agree with his position and six others who do not. Yesterday, I mentioned five or six scandals miring Netanyahu’s office and staff, all in the space of less than four weeks. Today, I continue with the scandal surrounding the racist rabbi and former minister Shlomo Benizri. Benizri was released from prison along with around 650 criminals, murderers and rapists, after he apologized to everyone and declared his remorse before the Amnesty Commission, which examined his case. But no sooner had he been released than he attacked everyone, including the government, the media and the justice system, and was joined by extremist racists like him in this, such as the depraved rabbi Reuven ElBaz. Everyone went to the residence of the rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the most despicable of them all and the man who want all people in the whole world to be the servants of the Jews. The well-known Israeli commentator Ben Caspit launched a scathing attack against Benizri in Yedioth Ahronoth, and I have nothing more to add to what he said. The Haredim, or the Eastern ultraorthodox Jews, are a permanent scandal. In recent weeks, there was a story about that received more coverage than Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, yet not enough was written about this in the Arab media. The controversy started when the Supreme Court abolished what is known as the Tal Law, which exempts Haredim students of religion from military service. Following this, their MKs declared their rejection of the court decision, and so did their rabbis, and a campaign to pressure the Supreme Court into overturning its decision ensued. Currently, there is in the Knesset a bill to limit the Haredim’s military service exemptions, and I read that Kadima may use this as part of its election campaign. With regard to this issue, I read in an Israeli newspaper a few words that sum up the whole topic, which were, “The Haredim live at our expense”. To be sure, the Haredim do not perform compulsory military service, live on social welfare benefits, and their policies and religious beliefs are very extreme. Their beliefs have no basis in either history or geography, and instead they steal the Palestinians’ lands for settlement. They also repress and segregate women, who for them serve only one purpose, to procreate, and have no rights (we have many people like them). The Israeli papers said that students of religion (Yeshiva) numbered 400 in 1948, and increased gradually each year until they became 62,500 students, all living at the expense of the state in 2010. Staying with numbers: In other news, the population of Jerusalem (both East and West) has approached one million, specifically 933,613 people last year, an increase of 81,891 people compared to 2010. This is while factoring in the dispossession of the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and the occupation of their homes, with mongrels being brought in instead to change the demographic reality of the Holy City. This week, I read the headline: The end of the Nazi Killer, meaning Ivan Demjanjuk, in addition to many other stories published in the Israeli press about the subject. However, they all overlooked the fact that the Israeli courts themselves had exonerated him in the beginning from charges of killing Jews, before he was subsequently convicted by American and German courts for non-legal reasons. Meanwhile, in what concerns wishful journalism, I read the claim that following the ceasefire in Gaza, Hamas has emerged as the biggest loser, and that the next battle will take place between Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. But if a person could indeed realize his wishes just by writing them, then you would have read analyses and reports by me in which I would have maintained that the next battle, nay war, shall take place between Likud and Shas, or between the Israeli army and the Mossad, curse them all. Among such wishful thinking recently was the continuous talk about the Iron Dome that is supposed to shield against Palestinian rockets. This month, they erected Iron Dome installations in central Israel, but I insist that these batteries have so far failed to intercept any rockets fired from nearby areas, although I read claims by Guy Bechor, the extremist Israeli commentator, that the Iron Dome has altered the battlefield. However, this is nothing but his wishes, and it is not true according to what I heard from Egyptian intelligence sources.