Justice Comes Slowly

A military court has ruled that the those who purchased a house near Maarat HaMachpela (the Cave of the Patriarchs) did so legally. This ruling came a year after the Civil Adminstration forced the people who were living in the house to leave, claiming that the purchase was not legal.

Now they have to wait for the Defense Minister to sign a paper granting them the right to move back in.

It is a very frustrating fight to win the “right” to live in a house you purchased, just because many don’t think it is politically correct. In the end, though, justice prevails, even if it takes a long time.

I think it is ironic that so many left-wing Israelis, many living in parts of Tel Aviv that used to be populated by Arabs but were taken over by the Israeli government after the War of Independene, are outraged at the thought of Jews buying up houses in Hebron and east Jerusalem. In these cases the Jews are purchasing the property outright – but are still criticized.

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The Security Threat in Israel Never Stops

The security threat to Israel never stops. Keeping an eye on what is happening in Syria, Israel has deployed two more Iron Dome systems in the north. There is concern about the chemical weapons being given to Hizbollah in Lebanon.

Israeli sources have “confirmed” that there was a blast at a nuclear facility in Iran. The Israeli government never takes responsibility for these blasts, but Avi Dichter’s comment is telling. Above and beyond what is actually happening in Iran, there is a lot of psychological operations going on with the press as facilitator.

Meanwhile the IDF is busy protecting Israel by finding terrorists before they take action. They caught two terrorists who had planned on carrying out an attack in Elon Moreh.

One ironic note: a journalist on the radio here just complained that even when the Israeli public votes in a party that primarily concerns itself with domestic issues, the security situation rears its head and takes over the headlines. As I wrote before, there really is no chance for a “central” party to gain the most votes and form the coalition, precisely for this reason. Security will always be the main issue here in Israel. Domestic issues come to the fore when the government (right wing, usually) takes care of the security issues to the point where they are on the back burner. But security issues are always important, and they never completely go away. We don’t live in Switzerland, after all.

Beware of Those Provocative Houses

The American State Department is joining some in the European Union to censure Israel.

Have we used chemical weapons to harm our own citizens? (Of course not).

Did we give our army the ability to arrest civilians (in other words,  declaring martial law)? (Of course not).

Have we threatened to wipe another country off the map using nuclear weapons? (Of course not).

Then what have we done?

We’ve declared that we are going to build the deadly Israeli house!

I don’t know how anyone in Washington can take themselves seriously when they make these statements.

Terrorist Who Planted Bomb On Bus in Tel Aviv is Caught

The terrorist who planted the bomb on the bus that blew up in Tel Aviv on Wednesday was caught just hours afterwards. The Shin Bet, Israeli police and the IDF worked together and found the man as he was trying to cross a checkpoint. The man is an Arab that previously lived in Yehuda and Shomron (Judea and Samaria), but was allowed to receive an Israeli identity card due to the “family unification law”. This law, which the right opposes and the left promoted, says that Arabs from Yehuda and Shomron can go to live in the pre-1967 borders of Israel if he or she marries someone who lives there, and they receive an identity card which lets them travel within Israel without being stopped.

The right opposes the law precisely for this reason. There is always a fear that someone like the terrorist will use the identity card to travel freely and will carry out a terrorist attack. I wonder if after the next election we can have the law changed back.