Shimon Riklin
@Riklin10 · Middle East
Shimon Riklin is followed by Storyz World for journalism and current affairs coverage across the Middle East chapter.
Will Iran respond to the destruction of the tunnels on the Ali Taher ridge? Their central consideration, like Hezbollah's and like that of the entire axis surrounding us, is: Will this help or harm Netanyahu's chances of being reelected? Say whatever you want about Netanyahu; you say it anyway. He took a country on 8/10, surrounded by enemies, afflicted by ralbat, afflicted by refusal, afflicted by Wexner, afflicted by officers who do not want to fight (who said Eisenkot), and turned the encirclement of Israel into an encirclement of Iran. After shattering the entire Shiite axis to pieces. While the United States of America spends billions to maintain the encirclement and strike Iran again and again, Iran is afraid to respond against us. Netanyahu promised a new Middle East, and here it is. Whoever does not understand this is blind. As part of this desire of the countries in the Middle East to bring down Netanyahu, you also heard false reports that it is becoming increasingly clear what lies behind them. In other words, yet another attempt to bring down Netanyahu. And why do they want so badly to bring down Netanyahu? Because unlike the weakening media here, which continues to tell everyone how Iran is teaching everyone a lesson and cannot bring itself to praise Trump's patience and brilliant planning in the race against time over who will break first against Iran. And they are breaking and falling apart. In the Arab countries they know the truth and say it too. Israel emerges as a great lion from this war, and even our friends here in the region find it hard to see how we bomb Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Yemen and more, while almost nothing happens to us compared with the disasters they promised us here if there were to be a war with the Shiite axis. (Who said Eisenkot.) Meanwhile, they are falling apart. Israel now sounds in the region like a state that is too strong, too confident, too tied to America, and that is now also fighting its own war. And that is what they want to stop. Give them some weakling Eisenkot who knows only how to surrender and retreat (I am still waiting to hear about one offensive thing the man has ever done), and they are happy with life. I am convinced that most of the people of Israel understand the tremendous achievement in statesmanship and political maneuvering that Netanyahu led. Therefore, the right will win the elections. May a year and its curses end. May a year and its blessings begin
Translated from HebrewNetanyahu’s shield. Haim Katz. Wants to cancel Yehuda Eliyahu’s appointment. Who finally started making a change at the Israel Land Authority in the Negev and Galilee. Because of Katz’s machinations, who has nothing to do with the right. What a disgrace. Where will we take this shame, Mr. Prime Minister? Is this the right wing, Mr. Prime Minister?
Translated from HebrewOkay, it’s not just that there was no conversation. Yishai Friedman revealed that Shlomi Eldar’s publications are part of an election campaign carried out by an association affiliated with the Democrats party. And all the media, in a panic, spewed this nonsense at us without telling the truth. What a pathetic level
Translated from HebrewNow that it has been proven that there was no conversation with the Emirates. The central question returns to the table with even greater force: Why didn't Ronen Bar and the missing chief of staff Herzi Halevi update the prime minister the defense minister the Gaza Division the Nova party and the soldiers who were sleeping on the border? Why did theyyy keep silent?!
Translated from HebrewAnother blood libel by the left has sunk into the sea: Netanyahu's response to the report about the warning call he received from the UAE before 7.10. “The prime minister instructed his lawyers to file a libel suit against the left-wing newspaper Haaretz, Shlomi Eldar and additional parties who fabricated a false libel against the prime minister that never existed, contrary to what was claimed. From the beginning of September until October 7, no conversation whatsoever took place between the prime minister and the president of the United Arab Emirates. The Prime Minister's Office, the National Security Council and the military secretariat carefully checked the prime minister's call log for these days and found no trace of it at all. Diplomatic conversations between the prime minister and the president of the Emirates take place exclusively at the Prime Minister's Office through the Emirati representative, who comes to the office with a special encrypted device. All these conversations are documented.”
Translated from HebrewThe first step was to ask Herzi Halevi, Ronen Bar and Haliva to disappear. Not say a word. That already happened several months ago. The second step was to start making up stories that Netanyahu had been warned and that he was the one who went to sleep and didn't tell anyone.. The third step that is beginning (again) now is that security officials warned Netanyahu but he ignored them. But it's all a lie. On the contrary. An Egyptian state official was in contact with Ronen Bar. Bar also met with him several times. There was abundant intelligence. There were warnings. But those responsible were busy backing Shikma Bressler's refusal „and you will have no army“. Therefore, when the signals lit up and when it became clear that the Nukhba were assembling, Ronen Bar and his fellow rebels did not update anyone. And did nothing. Not only did they fail to update anyone. An order was given to IDF soldiers not to approach the fence in Gaza.. To this day no one knows what Herzi Halevi did on 7/10 and when he emerged from the shock he was in. Did you know that he did not exchange a single word with the commander of the Gaza Division on 7/10? These people played with our lives to advance a delusional political agenda. And we all paid the price. This tweet was supposed to end here. But there is an asterisk. If it had all been negligence, carelessness and complacency. After the terrible blow we suffered, they would have come to their senses and changed their ways. But even after 7.10 they continued the rebellion. They continued the concealment. And they dealt violently with everyone who thought differently from them, and the things will yet be told and investigated. There was no innocence here.
Translated from HebrewAfter “Netanyahu received a warning about the attack,” expect the continuation: “Why did Netanyahu encourage refusal to serve” and, just before the election, I bet we will see a “dramatic exposé” by R. Brgggman claiming that Netanyahu knew at what time on the morning of Simchat Torah the attack would begin and kept the information to himself. The spectacular reversal of reality that the left carries out when it attributes to its political rival everything it did, exactly as it did it, shows how panicked they are and how afraid they are of the reckoning the people will deliver to them for the disgraceful conduct that included: burning Ayalon. Blocking traffic in the country. Dismantling the army. Harassing religious people. Taking the money abroad. The desire to surrender. See you when they land in reality on 27/10.
Translated from HebrewJust before the lists close, one thing is clear: the left offers nothing. No alternative in any area to the government it has so vehemently berated in recent years. Have you heard a new proposal in education? In the economy? In the area of the war? In the diplomatic sphere? One thing??? Nothing at all. It is even more astonishing because they not only offer no different path. They disguise themselves as the government they so strongly opposed. Look at Eisenkot, who at every stage of the war proposed retreating and freezing the situation, and now talks about victory. And suddenly he speaks against a Palestinian state. The man is ready for Purim. Less so for the elections, because the voter will always prefer the original on the right over the disguise. How did we get to this situation in which the left offers nothing? Except, of course, “Not Bibi”? Is it because the court has replaced the role of the opposition in Israel? Is it because the left throughout the world has lost its way because of waves of immigration and very excessive wokeness? Is it because they have become so disconnected from Judaism? Is it because their media exaggerated so much with “the coup government” and all this stupidity that they completely lost their direction? I don’t know. What I do know with a high degree of certainty is that the right is going to win. Even with Winter’s Trojan horse and his associates. Because whoever has no path. Faith. And vision. cannot win
Translated from HebrewAvraham Hasson: “After deliberation, Winter and the Amcha Yisrael party decided to submit their list to the Knesset today. The implication—he is closing off the option of alliances.” A party that opposes alliances is not Amcha Yisrael. It is an anti-Israel party. They are a bunch of delusional, ego-inflated people disconnected from reality
Translated from HebrewThe Yesh Atid party is collapsing. The public has grown fed up with it, its ideas, and its violence. How do they present this collapse? “A generational change.” As if everything is fine and they are merely refreshing the ranks. A generational change in a party that was founded a little more than a decade ago. And now it hopes to cross the electoral threshold with Bennett, who is begging Eisenkot to include them. (Is Ari Shavit’s impassioned call for a combination of Eisenkot and Bennett/Lapid connected to the fact that he wrote a book about Bennett?) We are in the month of Elul, approaching the Tishrei holidays. And the concept of self-examination has still not reached the circles of Yesh Atid and Yair Lapid. And that is just another reason why they are disappearing from our lives. The question of whether they are knowingly lying or truly believe the nonsense they spew will continue to hover over the dust raised by their disappearance.
Translated from HebrewWhat is going on here? Moshe Feiglin: The Knesset does not interest me! I have already been there. I really do not feel like it… If I am not given what I will demand, I will sit in the opposition. I need to be the next defense minister! Members of Winter’s party declared that Ofer Winter is the one who should be defense minister in the next government. (Let us set aside for a moment the question of why the supposedly right-wing Winter decided that his first interview would be specifically on Channel 12 News.) How can it be that two people whom I consider principled and serious reveal such grandiosity? After all, neither of them would pass the electoral threshold on their own. Are they influenced by Bennett? Have they lost touch with humility? Very disappointing
Translated from HebrewThe left is making two strategic mistakes, beyond their moral aspect: 1. Celebrating Segalovich’s alignment with the Muslim Brotherhood and thinking that this will bring peace between Jews and Arabs. One should read how people I was sure were normal justify a Jew’s alliance that reduces him to the status of a protected person of Hassan al-Banna. Complete madness with feigned innocent eye-rolling. But the people of Israel watch the spectacle in shock, disgust, fear and contempt. The left bloc will pay for selling all of its Zionist principles in the coming elections 2. An attempt to blame Netanyahu for the 7/10 massacre. For this purpose, Herzi Halevi, Ronen Bar and Haliva were removed from every public platform. They have not disappeared. They were merely asked to remain silent so that we would all forget what they and their friends from Kaplan did before 7/10. So that the media’s propaganda and mind-engineering machine can bring «new revelations» teaching that Netanyahu was actually sleeping in the Gaza envelope and knew everything.. Anyone who thinks it is possible to distinguish between the left’s total failure in its external strategy and its strategy toward the inside of Israel is greatly mistaken. In both cases, desire and dream prevail over reality. Dear left. Prepare for landing on the night of 27/10
Translated from HebrewEisenkot is a defeatist. There is no dispute about that. But ahead of the elections he wants to play the aggressor, so he made up a story that turned out to be a lie. A person cries out for what he lacks, wrote the poet Meir Ariel. And that is why he called his party Yashar.. But with depth. Why is he ashamed of being a defeatist? Why is he disguising himself? Why doesn't he change his mind? But no. He prefers to lie
Translated from HebrewWho would have believed that after the largest massacre since the Holocaust carried out by Muslims against Jews, a Jew would join the Muslim Brotherhood movement and try to legitimize them in the name of “bringing hearts together.” The boycott of Likud, Mizrahim and religious people continues. But joining the Muslim Brotherhood is “bringing hearts together”.. In the month of forgiveness. Through this madness, two bright spots can also be seen: 1. The masks are falling, and the suicidal post-Zionist trend of parts of the Israeli left is being exposed for all to see. 2. Instead of infiltrating a Ra'am agent into the Israeli security cabinet, the entire left will be defeated in the upcoming elections after voters internalize what is at stake and the magnitude of the danger to the State of Israel and its existence. (Except for a few knitted sycophants on the fringes of the camp who will continue doing everything to curry favor with the left and therefore will continue to say Haredim)
Translated from HebrewThe silence of the left. Which defines itself as Zionist. Over the first Jew joining the party of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is worrying and astonishing
Translated from HebrewAfter Netanyahu accused Winter yesterday of endangering the right, Winter answered him that Netanyahu and the actions he took are the ones endangering the right. I ask again: Where does Winter get the nerve to think he is the Messiah and hand out grades to everyone? What has he done, established, or built that he preaches like this to the prime minister and those below him? People ask me what I have against Winter. The truth is that I have nothing against him personally. More than that. In 2017, Druker sued Segal and me for libel because we accused him on Army Radio of trying, through unethical means, to bring down Winter and prevent his appointment as commander of the Givati Brigade. I also recounted yesterday on my program how Segal and I tried to persuade Prime Minister Netanyahu to appoint Winter as his military secretary because of Eisenkot’s unjust persecution of him. In other words, the fact that Winter was discriminated against in the army and was not promoted in the army says nothing about his political abilities or his right to lecture those who came before him and accomplished far more than he did, such as Netanyahu and Smotrich. Mr. Winter should show a little humility. (And not think he is above everyone) Mr. Winter should show a little honesty. (And perhaps we will finally understand whom he really supports) Mr. Winter should show a little accuracy. (And not string us along with stories). And he should remember what Gideon said to the angel of the Lord who asked him to save Israel: “Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” And then perhaps later he will be worthy
Translated from HebrewGreetings to Bezalel Smotrich. You walked hand in hand with Prime Minister Netanyahu and knew how to restrain yourself and wait in order to achieve fantastic goals that no one believed could be achieved in the settlement enterprise and the Treasury. You changed the map of the country and excelled as finance minister during wartime. Your party colleagues came to work, invest, and change, and together you succeeded in bringing about tremendous achievements. Unlike Winter, whom no one heard during the days of refusal and the days of the struggle for judicial reform. You were there all the way. To this moment I have not understood what Winter proposes and what he has done on the civilian-political level apart from talking. You have a strong and stable political base, which Winter does not; his is a party of moods, but not of people who come to work. Therefore, with all due respect to the responsibility you showed and your speaking about a time for unifications, that is understandable. The one who really needs to show responsibility here is Winter, the new guest and Lieberman's friend. The main pressure to unite should be on him, not on you. The Torah emphasizes humility as the most important virtue in general, and certainly for a leader. Winter lacks it, excessively so. You will continue on your righteous, transformative, creative path, and do not let background noise make you lose your confidence. Be strong and courageous! With this strength of yours, you will save Israel
Translated from HebrewEizenkot says to Danny Zaken that he opposes construction between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim. “Not now. It is a mistake that exacts an international price from us.” We already knew that Eizenkot always gives in and is a defeatist. That he is such a “chweif” and afraid of his own shadow is new.
Translated from HebrewHas the censorship authority already called Uri Misgav in for questioning? Ronen Bergman? Has it ever called in anyone from the left at all? Or does censorship in Israel work only when it concerns the right over trivial matters, while completely ignoring life-threatening offenses when it concerns people from the left over the years? Is there a single institution in Israel that does not apply a double standard? Probably not. We will change this too.
Translated from HebrewDid Winter commit this evening that he would recommend Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing bloc, to form a government after the elections?
Translated from HebrewWhat does the terrible outrage over Tzvi Sukkot, who dared to try to smash a monument to murderous terrorists, teach us? That we are returning to the days before 7/10. What does the silence regarding the chief of staff’s response that the IDF is not prepared for an escalation in Judea and Samaria teach us? That Israel’s military and security elite still sees Hamas terrorists and Abu Mazen in Judea and Samaria as partners for peace. What do I learn from this? That the Left still does not distinguish between what is essential and what is secondary, and does not distinguish between a friend and an enemy.
Translated from HebrewEvery historian, archaeologist, or journalist knows that it is impossible to understand an event without its historical context: what happened before, during, and after that event. Let us apply this rule to the Altalena affair, and perhaps then we will better understand what really happened. And perhaps then the emotional burden that the right has carried since the sinking of the ship will be justified. What happened before: Well, the prominent and tragic historical event in the Yishuv before the Altalena affair was the Saison. At the end of 1944 and during 1945, the Haganah (the left) turned hundreds of Irgun (right-wing) members over to the British; at times the Haganah also tortured Irgun fighters, and there were even murders. The State of Israel and the IDF were established about a month before the ship was sunk. Therefore, the attempt to reduce the cruel sinking and the killing of the Irgun fighters aboard it to a dispute over authority is incorrect, because the sinking of the ship was a direct continuation of the exclusionary, vengeful, and violent treatment by the left, led by Ben-Gurion, of right-wing people, which, in addition to handing them over, included confiscation, preventing them from working, and preventing immigration visas to Eretz Israel. What happened during the Altalena affair: Israeli Air Force pilots refused to bomb the ship. They did not think a ship carrying weapons important to the War of Independence should be bombed because of a dispute over how to divide them. They expected Ben-Gurion to show responsibility rather than hatred toward his political rival. It is astonishing that this was apparently the first refusal by the Air Force, and perhaps in the IDF as a whole. When Ben-Gurion saw that the pilots were refusing, he turned to the foreign pilots who had volunteered to help Israel, perhaps they would agree to bomb the ship. They refused too. Luckily they did not read the Israeli media today. The person who agreed to command the firing on the Altalena from the shore was Yitzhak Rabin, who wrote in his book Service Notebook: “I am informed that it has been decided to shell the ship with a cannon. The first shell landed not far from the ship. The second or third hit…. What an accurate hit… This was shelling intended to hit, and not to frighten the people on the ship, as they tried to explain many years after the act. Without destroying the ship, this affair would not have ended. The ship is burning; sounds of ammunition exploding come from it. People jump from its deck into the sea. The Irgun men on the shore are seized by hysteria, shouting ‘Begin on the ship, Begin on the ship, save Begin!’ The Palmach men believed… An exceptionally intense barrage from every weapon was opened on the ship. The deposits of hatred held by the Palmach and Haganah men toward the organizations and their leader found expression in the intensity of the fire.” Later Rabin testified: “We beat the people who were on deck and we beat the people who jumped into the water and swam to shore.” Note that the ship was already sinking, and nevertheless the left opened intense fire on its helpless people in the name of accumulated hatred toward the right. What was the reason for this hatred of the left toward the right? (Which had never harmed people on the left or done them damage.) What happened afterward: Ben-Gurion understood that he had committed a crime and wanted to conceal it. Therefore, he ordered the navy to move the ship that had sunk near the shore deep into the open sea, in an attempt to make the disgraceful act be forgotten. At the same time, right-wing people asked to erect a monument on the shore near the place where the Altalena was shelled. They were refused. In their distress, they erected a temporary monument near the place where Yitzhak Rabin would be murdered. Israeli history, like every history, is convoluted, with many facts and different contexts. Do not allow anyone to cut a piece out of it to justify their thesis. Always try to see the fullest picture possible. In our case, it is clear that the left was violent toward the right for years before and after the establishment of the state, solely because it wanted to be in power and solely because it wanted to continue serving the British. I will elaborate on all this in my next film, which I have begun working on: Who Murdered Kastner
Translated from HebrewSorry. The right is rightly arguing that senior state officials are in danger after what Israel did throughout the Middle East. He cannot oppose securing Eisenkot. I do not understand what the question is at all. He is a leading candidate in these elections, and therefore he needs to be protected. Let us focus on substantive arguments, not trivialities
Translated from Hebrew
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