ShinBet forbids Netanyahu from Modiin-Jlem 443 Highway

Israel's security forces have forbidden Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from traveling on the Modi'in-Jerusalem "443" Highway, due to the elevated threat levels -- a result of the road's opening to general Palestinian traffic.

Israel's Supreme Court ordered the opening of highway 443 to Israeli and Palestinian traffic, after years of it being closed to Palestinians after dozens of terror attacks that left Israelis dead and wounded.

This morning, Netanyahu surprised his cabinet when he announced that he was no longer allowed to travel on that road due to security precautions imposed upon him by the Shin Bet / Israel's internal security department, in light of the road's opening to all a few weeks ago. (Reported by ynet in Hebrew)

A few of my previous posts on 443's security situation: I, II, III, IV, V, VI

Some good news: The traffic light at the dangerous Atarot intersection on 443 has resumed operation, after a 3rd transformer was installed atop a very high electric pole (the previous 2 were stolen by Palestinians after the IDF abandoned a checkpoint at the intersection in favor of a different one, a few kilometers west of it).

Additional background information: I've been asked what roads are off limits to Jews in the West Bank. Some that come to mind are as follows out of many:

1. Road 574 between road 55 and road 505, which used to be a connection between the 2 primary East-West central Shomron roads. (Connecting the Maaleh Shomron/Karnei Shomron are to Elkana). (link)

2. Wallerstein Road (road 463) between Beit El and Dolev. Used to be primary link from Beit El to the Tel-Aviv region. (link)

3. The Betunya bypass road between Jerusalem and the Dolev/Talmon region. (link)

4. Road 60-45 from Adam to Atarot. Closes traffic to Jews from the Eastern side of Jerusalem to the Western side of Jerusalem/Highway 443 (link)

5. Highway 60 from Shavei Shomron to the Mevo Dotan/Shaked/Wadi Ara Region. (link)

There are many more examples; these are just a few that come to mind. If you have any more, please feel free to leave them in the comment section.

hat-tip: RRW

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Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

How Safe Are You: Airport and Plane Security?

I recently had to fly to the UK for business. Here are some observations:

1. On my return flight to Israel, I did "online check-in", which means I printed out my boarding pass before going to London's Heathrow airport. I found it very amusing that the questions asked by security personnel at Israel's Ben-Gurion airport (did you pack the bags yourself, etc) were all "asked" by the web page I used to perform online checking.

I'm sure that terrorists are intimidated into telling the truth for this on-line check-in, and they will always truthfully answer the check-box questions accurately.

2. What I found slightly more distressing is that when you perform on-line check-in at Heathrow airport, and are not carrying any luggage, you are not asked to show your passport at any time. From the time I entered the airport till I was on the plane...in fact, all the way till I got to Israel, the only identification I had to show to anyone, was my self-printed piece of paper boarding pass.

Of course, I can forgive them. While they may not have verified who I actually was, or bothered to check my passport at any time, they did enforce the very strict rule that no more than 300 milliliters of any liquid be in my hand luggage. Why? Because liquids can be dangerous. So are nail clippers...and plastic knives (also forbidden). Needless to say, there was something far more potentially dangerous in my hand luggage, but that went through without a problem.

3. Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport security is something out of science fiction. They profile people, pre-profile people, and have security anywhere and everywhere. Rumor has it that there are over 300 cameras alone monitoring the check-in/departure area. The security people place stickers on your boarding pass and passport that look like this:


Don't even bother trying to figure out what it means -- as every single time I fly out of Israel, they check different boxes for me on the security stickers, and use different names as well that they sign or write on the stickers (even ifs the SAME SECURITY PERSON).

4. You can always spot an Israeli on a plane by the following:

Within 10 milliseconds of touchdown, the Israeli is already opening up the overhead luggage compartment, turning on their cellphone, and preparing for the mad dash off the plane.

They are already talking on their phones while the plane is taxi-ing to the terminal. This particularly annoys the airline staff.

"Sir, you'll have to turn off your cellphone till the plane's doors are open and the engines are turned off."

Why exactly? Will the cellphone cause a accident after the plane has already landed?

Think about this: if cellphones are SO dangerous as they may interfere with a plane when it's flying, why are people allowed to fly with them?!

Nail clippers are dangerous (as well all know), yet cellphones which could cause the plane to explode or crash while flying (after all, that's why we can't use them during flights) -- so why are we allowed to have them in the cabin at all while flying?

I certainly hope Al-Qaida isn't reading this blog -- because they may use this classified information as a threat -- "Fly this plane to Kabul, or I'll turn on my cellphone!"

That's enough travel and security observations for now...as JoeSettler probably has something insightful to post...

Glad to be back home.


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Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Responding to a Comment: Why endanger your family?

Newtime commenter "nuch a chosid" left me the following comment:

I don't feel comfortable asking you this. But I don't really get the fact that you feel living in such areas, is your mitzva of protecting Eretz yisroel, we wouldn't live in Harlem and we would rather understand you making sure your family is in a safe place where you are not in constant danger, then chosing to live in the frontline I know you think different, but we Americans (or at least I as a yankee) can never understand it.

Dear Nuch a Chosid,

Although you felt uncomfortable asking, I'm glad you posted your comment.

Living in Eretz Yisrael is first and foremost a privilege to fulfill the mitzva of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael. Just as keeping Shabbat and observing the laws of Kashrut are not always simple, living in Israel can quite challenging as well.

Like you, I also grew up in the United States (and while I didn't live in Harlem, my junior high school yeshiva was surrounded by barbed wire at the time) and didn't live in a "war zone." I recall travelling on the NYC subways (and feeling less than secure), and I also experienced antisemitism. As a teenager riding on the subway, I was spat at by someone so frightening, it didn't even cross my mind to fight back or say anything. Riding my bike through suburbia, I had an occasional glass bottle thrown at me with an accompanying nasty epithet. Our shuls and mikva had swastikas spray painted on them as well.

However, the decision for me to move to Israel took place while I was learning in Yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael. Learning the mitzvot Teluyot Baaretz, combined with a new understanding of Jewish history made it obvious to me that one could live life as a Jew outside of Israel as an observer, a spectator of emerging Jewish history, or one could live in Israel and be a player, an active participant in modeling our future (hopefully, as a positive influence as well on Israeli society).

Living in the Shomron wasn't always "front line". Kiryat Shmona had it very bad in the 70's, Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv had a terrible spate of bus bombings and other terror attacks from the mid-90's, Southern Israel is still receiving almost-daily Qassam rocket attacks, and Northern Israel didn't have the easiest of summers.

Yet, when Palestinian terror came to the Shomron, I volunteered to actively participate in our community's defense through the IDF. There are 2 ways to deal with issues; you can sit back, complain, and worry. Or, you can be proactive and take an active role in your own defense.

I think the latter is a much healthier way to deal with problems, and it also has a positive educational effect on our children. They don't walk around scared that any second something can happen (and for the most part, things are quiet), because they know that in the event of an emergency, we have many dedicated people who train to neutralize terror threats quickly and effectively.

It can be "scary" at times, but there are plenty of scary situations all over the globe, all the time -- be it airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center buildings, biological, chemical or nuclear threats against the USA, terrible terrorist attacks in London and the rest of Europe, or just plain old targeting of Jews through antisemitism.

In the bigger scheme of things, I sincerely believe that the more Jews live in Israel, the better the situation will be for our people. Realizing that Israel is the land where Hashem constantly watches (more than any other place on the planet - ארץ אשר עיני ה' אלוקך בה), we have the opportunity to personally and positively influence our history, as individuals and as a community.

While we may have seemingly scary situations from time to time, we don't view ourselves as living in constant danger. My kids can safely stay out late and come home by themselves, my younger kids can walk to gan by themselves if they wish, and that's something you don't often find in Chutz Laaretz.

Bringing an M16 to shul on Shabbat may seem like a big deal, but in the grand scheme of things, my quality of life is probably a lot higher than yours.

And we merit to live in Eretz Yisrael.

Thanks again for dropping by to visit.

Jameel.

PS: For an amazing movie review of the new movie about the life of The Rav, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, please see Chana's blog, The Curious Jew, here.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael