PM says, ‘We’re in a struggle spread across several fronts’; both he and Gantz hint at multiple days of fighting ahead

By TOI STAFF        Today, 11:44 pm

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the official state ceremony for Jerusalem Day on Ammunition Hill, May 10, 2021. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Israeli leaders on Monday vowed a forceful response after Palestinian terrorists launched multiple rocket barrages at Israel, including toward Jerusalem.

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IDF International Spokesperson: We see this as a severe attack against Israel, an attack that will not go unanswered.

By Elad Benari, INN      May 10 , 2021 11:35 PM

IDF International Spokesperson Jonathan Conricus on Monday evening provided an update on the situation in Israel after dozens of rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel.

“Since 6:00 p.m. this evening, Hamas and other Palestinian organizations have fired dozens of rockets at Israeli civilians in Jerusalem and in communities in southern Israel around the Gaza Strip,” he said.

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T. Belman.  This “blood chit” reminded me of  Israel’s similar dilemma.  She invaded South Lebanon  to drive out Arafat’s PLO and to protect the “Marcionite Christians who lived there.  She helped the Christians form an army that worked in conjunction with the IDF.  When Israel decided to leave she left the Christian Army high and dry. Ultimately she let perhaps 3000 Christian soldiers  emigrate to Israel with their families. This was a small number and and Israel was seriously criticised for abandoning the Christians.

BY Retired Maj. Gen. Steven Lepper, THE HILL — 05/09/21 09:30 AM

I was first introduced to a “blood chit” as a young major at the Pentagon. My boss put a file on my desk filled with yellowed newspaper clippings describing how a Korean farmer helped an Air Force pilot downed behind enemy lines return to friendly territory. The farmer was killed by the North Koreans for “sympathizing” with Americans. The file also contained a request from the farmer’s family for compensation based on the promises contained in the downed airman’s “blood chit.” My job as the legal advisor to the Joint Services Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) Agency was to adjudicate the claim based on the evidence available.

A blood chit is a document, originally printed on silk and today printed on Tyvek, that contains a promise written in multiple languages. A 1951 version’s English text read:
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By Ted Belman.

Times of Israel is live blogging events.  I recommend that you visit this site for the latest update.

When evaluating the reports, remember the  Battle in Jenin 2002.  Wikipedia reported that “Palestinian militants had prepared for a fight,, booby trapping the camp,”

After calm was restored:
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This is the time for Israel to be smart, not only right.

By HERB KEINON, JPOST         MAY 10, 2021 02:52

Palestinians protest during an anti-Israel protest over tension in Jerusalem, in Gaza City, April 24, 2021.

Israel will need to display a great deal of wisdom in the coming days to calm a perfect storm brewing over Jerusalem.
Here are the elements of that mounting storm:

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And here is the classic with Edith Piaf singing.

By Ted Belman

Please take the trouble to support my work. I really could use it.

I am now paying out for technical assistance about $400/month. This is due in large part because of deplatforming and blacklisting of many of my subscribers.

The Jordan Option is still in the works and I have been called upon for financial support.

Running my blog may seem like a little matter but It requires a daily 10 hour effort and then some. I spend a great deal of time selecting the articles which are the most interesting, topical and important and keeping myself informed.

So, please lend a hand.

DONATE HERE.

T. Belman. The End of the Last, Best Chance for China,

“Between rapid urbanization and the One Child Policy, birth rates in China plunged below replacement rates decades ago. The only thing preventing broad-scale population collapse is improved health care among China’s older cohorts which has extended the average Chinese citizen’s lifespan. Demographically speaking, that’s a bit of a starvation diet. Within the decade that demographic dividend will be spent, and China’s population will begin a harsh decline. The most reasonable estimates project a China with half its population in 2100 compared to 2020.

“That’s hardly the worst of it–or the part that will be felt first. The 2100 projection ignores the economic effects of today’s young (already numerically gutted) generation. Without sufficient young people, nothing about today’s China is sustainable. The young generation are the people who do work, buy goods, staff the army, and care for the old.”

By Uldis Sprogis, AM THINKER

Up until recently I felt that China’s economic growth was unstoppable and that it would indeed surpass the U.S. and keep going into a bright future.

However, researching more, I concluded that healthy land use for agriculture (such as organic farming) and minimizing industrial pollution are even more important than economic prosperity. China doesn’t have them; we do.

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“Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and just as every nation builds in its capital and builds up its capital, we also have the right to build in Jerusalem and to build up Jerusalem,” the prime minister says.

By  Reuters and ILH Staff    Last modified: 05-09-2021 14:42

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting | Photo: Haim Tzach / GPO

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel was determined to avoid an escalation in Jerusalem, amid ongoing to riots by Palestinians.

“We will not let any radical element disturb the peace in Jerusalem, we will ensure law and order are upheld in a responsible and assertive manner,” Netanyahu said at the special cabinet meeting that was convened in the Jerusalem City Hall ahead of the Jerusalem Day this week, marking the reunification of the capital in the Six-Day War. “We will continue to allow freedom of worship to all religions, but we will not allow violent unrest; Israel will retaliate forcefully to any attack from the Gaza Strip.”

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T. Belman. Bennett is hoping to achieve “goodwill and the understanding that not all issues that have divided left and right for over 70 years have to be resolved right now.” so he is asking for very little, policy or ideology wise. So what is the point of having such a  government for 4 years.  Better to roll the dice again and see what Bibi can pull out of the hat.

I want a right wing government, with or without Netanyahu

The prospective new heads of an unprecedentedly diverse and divided ‘unity coalition’ have an uphill battle ahead of them, and Netanyahu is busy laying traps

By HAVIV RETTIG GUR, TOI Today, 11:37 am

File: Then-finance minister Yair Lapid (left) and then-economy minister Naftali Bennett at the Manufacturers Association of Israel annual general assembly at the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv, February 26, 2014. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash 90.)

On Wednesday, Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, received the mandate from the president granting him 28 days to try to form a government.

By Thursday, Lapid had met with Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, the potential next prime minister in a rotation pact between them. On Friday afternoon, the two men met with the leaders of New Hope, Labor, Meretz and Yisrael Beytenu.

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T. Belman.  I agree with Liberman. Bibi thwarted many right wing policies. .  He should have resigned for the benefit of  Likud and Israel. He put himself above his party and country.  He had no unfinished business other than to constrain the right from being too right wing.

Bennett, by forming a government is shooting himself in the foot. He has little support from his party for forming a government. He is desperately trying to keep ideological ministries in the hands of the right. His future depends on it.  In any event, if he forms a government, it will be stable for four years and will accomplish no right wing agenda.

I prefer a fifth election. There is no substitute for a right wing government.

Yisrael Beytenu chairman: If Netanyahu had stepped aside, the Likud would have formed a government within a week, without a rotation.

Arutz Sheva Staff , May 09 , 2021 6:41 AM

The chairman of the Yisrael Beytenu party, Avigdor Liberman, intends to take the Finance Ministry in Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid’s unity government, and is convinced there will be a rebellion within the Likud after the party moves into the opposition.

In an interview with journalist Nachum Barnea of the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, Liberman said, “I am well connected to the Likud. I have more friends and connections there than Netanyahu has. I tell you, the unrest against him is starting to bubble. Members of the Central Committee are talking. None of the Knesset members are speaking publicly, but you need to hear what they are saying in the conversations in the lobby behind the plenary.”
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BY ZACHARY STIEBER, EPOCH TIMES   May 8, 2021 Updated: May 8, 2021

Contractors working for Florida-based company, Cyber Ninjas, which was hired by the Arizona Senate, audit ballots at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Ariz., on May 6, 2021. (Matt York/Pool/AP Photo)

Legislators in Arizona and officials in the state’s largest county clashed anew this week over election audit subpoenas, with county officials refusing to hand over routers and claiming they do not have passwords to access administrative control functions of election machines.

Arizona’s Senate told Maricopa County on Friday that it would issue subpoenas for live testimony from the county’s Board of Supervisors unless it received the materials that are being withheld.
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T. Belman.  This is all orchestrated violence and condemnation. Israel is doing its best to maintain law and order.

By  Hana Levi Julian, JEWISH PRESS

Israeli security forces attempt to quell protesters outside the home of a Jewish family during a protest against Israel’s plan to evict four Arab families in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. May 8, 2021.

A barrage of condemnations was directed at the State of Israel this weekend over intensive Arab violence taking place on the Temple Mount.

More than 90,000 Muslim worshipers arrived at the Temple Mount on Saturday for night prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

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Bennett hints of plans to enlist the ultra-Orthodox parties into the fold, while Lapid aims to rack up achievements for the center-left, and Netanyahu seeks to exploit the coming fight for the presidency

By Jonathan Lis, HAARETZ

The 28-day stopwatch began running on Wednesday for the parties seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after Israeli President Reuven Rivlin awarded Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid a mandate to form a government and rescue Israel from the political mire of the last two years. Lapid and Yamina leader Naftali Bennett are now determined to do whatever it takes to enable them, each in his own turn, to fulfill their dreams of being prime minister.

To get there they will need to close the yawning gaps separating the left and right, to create a functioning government and stay in office until 2025, when they can go to the voters with a record of achievement and the popularity that comes with it.

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By Wendi Strauch Mahoney, UNCOVERDC -May 7, 2021

Monday’s video showing expert Ken Lenberg using a tabulator to flip votes as one more piece of evidence should have turned the heads of every media person and government official in the state of Michigan. Lenberg’s demonstration is further proof that the Antrim County election may have been fraudulent. Friday’s Dark to Light podcast featured Attorney Matt DePerno, who filed the first election lawsuit, still ongoing, that has made it to the evidentiary phase. At the end of the interview, he asked a simple question,

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By Wendi Strauch Mahoney, UNCOVERDC        -May 7, 202

As reported by UncoverDC on May 5, attorney Matt DePerno says he has additional proof of votes being flipped in Antrim County. Because of the mounting evidence of alleged election fraud, DePerno has submitted an Amended Complaint to the court.

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