Another Hostage Deal in the Works
The Bored Houthis bomb Israel again, WTH
Tuesday night, Raphaela and I were at the movies after a long hiatus from real life, when, exactly on schedule, at 20:24, the Houthis launched one missile over Israel, sending everyone in the whole country to the bomb shelters. (They usually bomb between 20:30-21:00.)
A collective “What the Hell?!” could be heard in every neighborhood, in every bomb shelter, “When does this end?” Israelis despaired.
Wednesday morning at the supermarket, the question abounded, “Where were you last night when the siren sounded? What did the Houthis interrupt for you?” Some were in a restaurant with their spouse, some in the shower, some on their nightly run.
It’s not funny or cool anymore, and honestly, I think that Yemen is sucking up to the wrong country in the Axis of Evil.
In real estate news, it was revealed that in 2022, Avner Netanyahu (the “normal” one who may or may not be on the spectrum) bought an apartment in London under a pseudonym (Avi Segal), worth close to two and a half million shekel. Paid fully in one lump cash sum, kinda like PM Netanyahu paid Hamas for years in suitcases of cash, to “destabilize Fatah and the Palestinian Authority.” Zero mortgage. Avner reassured the public, saying that he bought when the British pound was low, and that it was all above board.
Is it also above board that he and his brother have avoided Reservist army service since October 7, and felt until only a few days before the Iran-Israel war that it was appropriate to have a 1000+ person wedding, paid for by Israeli taxpayers? How much we paid for Avner’s home in London, we will never know.
The IDF announced yesterday that 19-year-old Sargent Yaniv Michalovitz was killed in action, during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip. A tank commander and another soldier from the same battalion were seriously wounded in the same incident.
May his memory be blessed.
The families of the hostages are hoping that a hostage release deal can be cemented before the PM travels to Washington next week. The current plan calls for a 60-day ceasefire leading to a complete end of the war, five separate releases with assurances that whatever live hostages remain will not be humiliated with the standard Hamas graduation ceremony. (Ironically, Netanyahu is meant to meet with Trump on 7 July, which would mark far too many months since the October 7 Massacre.)
Kahanist Otzma Yehudit Chair Itamar Ben Gvir claims to have reached out to fellow far-right leader and Failed Finance Minister Bezalel Smutrich to discuss working together as a united bloc, to torpedo any US-backed deal to end the war and secure the release of all hostages. At the moment, Smutrich’s office denied that he agreed to meet on the matter, as the public have called out and shamed Ben Gvir for being “anti-Jewish” and cruel.
In response, other members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition are considering inviting Benny Ganz’s Blue and White party to join the government if Ben Gvir and Smutrich pull out in the wake of Israeli “acquiescence” to an accord that ends the Gaza war. This, despite the fact that Opposition Leader MK Yair Lapid has consistently reached out in public to Netanyahu, assuring him that the Opposition will support any move to return the hostages – giving Bibi a “safety net” from new elections - and will protect the current coalition if this can be achieved.
Why Ganz and not Lapid? Because Ganz has a long history with Netanyahu of rolling over and playing dead every time the PM screws him over and violates a political deal they made and agreed upon. Because Ganz is weak and vanilla, coming out with non-committal pithy statements like “Why can’t we all just get along?” instead of pushing for real change in policy, instead of standing up for the will of the people.
This is a governing coalition that tramples over the weak, and sidelines anyone who stands behind their beliefs.
Finally, in lighter very local news, an observation from our personal life. I have just realized that the application on the phone for my supermarket makes the same sound as the early warning system of the Home Front Command. Every time they send me a notification about a sale on vegetables, I jump and grab our GoBag.
Not funny or cool.