Egozi’s Fury – Strange Decision During A Wave of Terror

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No wonder residents in the West Bank are shocked by the country’s helplessness in the face of the wave of terror.

Residents of the settlement Avnei Hefetz, where the road leading up to the settlement saw the shooting last Wednesday where a couple, Shaul and Rachel Nir, were injured, are enraged by the decision to open up the intersection where the two were shot.

Residents said in interviews to the media that this intersection was opened for Palestinians about a year ago following a petition after it has been closed for many years. The high court of justice, however, instructed Palestinians to pass in an inner road between villages, in a road block stationed 2 km away. The army, due to its own considerations, decided that the Palestinians should be inspected in this intersection, and 10 months ago the block was completely removed.

This story keeps repeating itself. Irrational relief for the Palestinians during a wave of terror.

This attack, say resident of the area, could have been prevented. I agree with them.

Someone in the Israeli government is getting cold feet whenever they aren’t supposed to.

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We didn’t have to wait for the commander in chief, lieutenant general Gadi Eisenkot, who said last week that the Islamic State (ISIS) will not be defeated with an attack relying solely on aerial attacks. US president Barack Obama said in a speech to the American nation, following the San Bernardino massacre in California, that the attack against ISIS will continue to be mostly from the sky. Obama also suggested that he will not launch ground troops to Syria or Iraq and claimed that ISIS can be defeated using restricted means. Last week, in a speech in Washington DC, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that the US needs to be more active in the fight against ISIS, as it is “sitting on the fence”.

So everyone is telling US, however gently, that this is not how you fight terror, but Washington is still dreaming that airstrikes will get the job done. They are deluding themselves.

If ISIS was only a problem for Syria and Iraq, the White House’s decisions might have been understandable. But the attack in San Bernardino demonstrated only recently that the Islamic State affects what goes on inside the US as well. So where is the common sense?

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Ha’aretz newspaper revealed that for the past several days, parents of soldiers in the paratroopers brigade received in Whatsapp groups a list detailing several items the soldiers require, such as pocket knives, commando knives, bags and even straps for the rifles. Families need to write themselves down to ensure a donation.

This whole phenomenon is wrong but no one is bothering to put an end to it. From the moment a soldier is drafted, the IDF must take care of them. But Israel has developed a twisted tradition where parents purchase equipment for the soldiers.

If this goes on, parents will also be required to buy the soldier’s’ personal weapons, better than those the IDF gives them. All this is done with the quiet consent of the security services.

So parents who have, buy the equipment, and those who haven’t are ashamed to say so.

This phenomenon must be stopped immediately. Do I believe that it really will stop? Hardly. Because no one at the top gives a damn.