Surely Oslo (perpetrated by Labor with the support of Shas) and the Disengagement (perpetrated by the Likud under Sharon with the support of Netanyahu) can be seen as the sources of many of the problems we are dealing with today. I find it amusing as they try to rewrite history and blame everything on the Left when the Right bears as much responsibility as the Left for those events (and so many people seem to buy it). And let's not forget the Wye agreements in which Netanyahu gave control over most of Hebron to Arafat.

However, the world did not stop at Oslo or at the Disengagement. Nor did time.

At the time of those agreements/events, the leaders (Rabin, Sharon, Netanyahu and others) all said, they all justified it by saying, that if the Palestinians attack or shoot rockets or commit acts of terror against Israelis, Israel would respond harshly. Israel would break their bones. Israel would destroy Gaza over even a single rocket. etc. Many more statements like that.

I would say that as much as the problems are sourced in Oslo and in the Disengagement, they are also sourced in the 20 years since the Disengagement and in the 30 years since Oslo in which Israel, led by several different Prime Ministers, did not actually hit the Palestinians harshly as had been promised when they engaged in terror. Instead Israel allowed Hamas to formulate and grow and become a formidable terror organization. Israel let the terrorists become emboldened in their fight against Israel. 

While it is easy to blame Oslo and the Disengagement, and it makes for nice soundbites, the real problem is that Israeli leadership since those two events did not do what they were supposed and what had been promised. 

But now he took a position I strongly agree with and have said the same in the past.

Amsalem referred to the issue of appointing dayanim and said the Likud needs to be a part of any arrangement for appointing dayanim, or the Likud will not allow it to be passed. Amsalem said, "the days of dividing up the available positions between Shas, UTJ, and Mafdal are over. There is also the Likud! If the Likud is not part of the deal, there will not be any appointments of any dayanim!"

I have complained in the past about the Likud and other parties that they do not care about the issues that matter to religion and to the religious sectors and outsource issues of Judaism to the Haredi and DL parties. In my opinion, they should all have positions regarding the office of the Chief Rabbinate, in the appointment of dayanim, in the Ministry of Religious Affairs and in the various religious laws that get passed, and should not just be doing whatever UTJ/Shas/DL want like a rubber stamp for them.

I like that the Likud is finally starting to get involved. We'll see if this turns into one big nothing, just a way for Amsalem to make some noise, and maybe he wants something else and is using this to horse-trade, or if the Likud will really be pushing itself in on these issues. The Likud represents a sizeable, and growing, religious public.

“They are flying the Israeli flag in Rafah! We went to free Al-Aqsa, but we only ended up destroying Gaza and losing Rafah...”

It's beginning to sink in for them. pic.twitter.com/zIJCiNkrdO

— 𝗡𝗶𝗼𝗵 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗴 ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) July 19, 2024

Here is the original tweet in Arabic...

The Google Translate of the tweet reads:

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בחור ישיבה, פעיל שלום וחייל נכנסו לחדר.
זו לא התחלה של בדיחה, זו המשפחה שלי. pic.twitter.com/9qOfNhVWle

— איתמר גרינברג Itamar Greenberg (@itamar_green) July 21, 2024

Translation:

Yeshiva bachur, Peace activist, and a soldier entered a room. 

This is not the beginning of a joke but this is my family...

nice. hopefully they all get along and dont let their political stances get between them...

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Hezbollah has destroyed the northern region of Israel over the past nearly ten months, and while Israel has responded with targeted strikes, many times Hezbollah strikes on Israel go without response. The Houthis have shot missiles and drones at Israel and at Israeli shipping interests for the past ten months and until now they have all gone without response. The Houthis sent a suicide drone to Tel Aviv that gets through the defense systems and kills one and injures others (and also causes damage), and Israel responds by attacking and destroying a port and infrastructure.

Some are upset at the government saying that when it was just the peripheral communities being affected, Israel basically allows itself to absorb the damage with little to no response, but when it is Tel Aviv that is hit Israel responds big time. They understandably don't like being made to feel like second class citizens not worth defending. The government denies this type of attitude.

While the government denies this attitude of only taking it seriously when it is Tel Aviv under attack, the fact is the response only came when it was Tel Aviv that was hit, not when the Houthis from Yemen shot missiles at ships or at Eilat, and often not when Hezbollah sends drones in or destroys homes and kills people in the Upper Galilee or in the Golan Heights. 

So is the government treating them like second class citizens or is it not? In actions it looks like Israel takes it more seriously when Tel Aviv is hit than when Metulla or Manara or Eilat are hit.

On the other hand, this government hates Tel Aviv and what it represents (at least it seems that way), while much of the peripheral towns are this government's natural supporters. If they are only taking it more seriously because it was Tel Aviv that was hit, that makes little sense. Why would the Israeli government get more outraged when the Tel Aviv leftists are hit than when it is the residents of the peripheral communities being hit?

Israel's response in Hodeida (Yemen) to the drone in Tel Aviv puts everyone on warning...

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