Pro-Palestinian Rallies Await Israeli PM in London
JERUSALEM, Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, left for a two-day state visit to England Wednesday, where British Prime Minister David Cameron awaits them, along with pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
Demonstrations are less than what the 107,000 signatories of a petition to arrest Netanyahu for alleged war crimes wanted, referring to the IDF's military incursion in the Gaza Strip. The operation last summer was in response to Palestinian rocket fire and terror tunnels dug under Israel's border.
Earlier Wednesday, terrorists opened fire on two Israeli women near the Tapuach Junction, not far from Nablus (biblical Shechem). The two nurses, from the Samarian communities of Yitzhar and Elon Moreh, were on their way to work.
Miraculously, neither was hurt, though they were both shaken up by the attack and the bullets that penetrated the car. The IDF dispatched soldiers to search for the shooter.
A few days ago, the European Union announced it was putting the finishing touches on its Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) package, the same week the SodaStream factory in Samaria gets ready to close and move to its new location in the Negev.
SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum said BDS supporters just don't get it.
"It's propaganda. It's politics. It's hate. It's anti-Semitism," Birnbaum said. "It's all the bad stuff we don't want to be part of."
Meanwhile, skies remained hazy Wednesday, following Tuesday's massive sandstorm that blanketed Israel from north to south in a thick yellow, sand-filled haze. Israeli media reported it was the most massive sandstorm in 15 years.
The Environmental Protection Ministry warned people with heart or lung problems to stay indoors. Domestic flights were cancelled and many people held scarves to their faces as they walked the streets.
Sweltering temperatures that accompanied the sandstorm are expected to last through the start of Rosh Hashanah, literally "head of the year," which begins Sunday at sunset.
Meanwhile in Jerusalem, light-rail construction to outlying neighborhoods, along with school and holiday traffic, snarled city streets.
Despite boycotts, sandstorms, terror attacks, traffic jams, and anti-Israel protests, there's a pervasive and undeniable optimism as Israelis prepare to celebrate the New Year. Everywhere people wish one another Shana tova u'metuka, a good and sweet New Year.