What Will Israel Do Next? Military Options In Gaza Explained
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
Like many, I worry about what is going on in Israel and Gaza.
This is a paragraph from the article.
So the more likely scenario is a full-frontal invasion of Gaza, similar to what happened in Lebanon in 1982, when Ariel Sharon, the defence minister at the time, earned worldwide notoriety for the brutality of his tactics but appreciation at home for extirpating the Palestine Liberation Organisation from Israel’s northern neighbour. Yasser Arafat and his men were simply put on boats.
It is probably a solution, that would appeal to many Israelis and expulsion is certainly a policy that has been applied to Jews themselves in the past.
In 1290, Edward I issued the Edict of Expulsion, which is outlined in the first paragraph of its Wikipedia entry.
The Edict of Expulsion was a royal decree issued by Edward I of England on 18 July 1290 expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England. Edward told the sheriffs of all counties he wanted all Jews expelled by no later than All Saints’ Day (1 November) that year. The expulsion edict remained in force for the rest of the Middle Ages. The edict was not an isolated incident, but the culmination of over 200 years of increasing antisemitism in England. The edict was eventually overturned more than 365 years later, during the Protectorate when Oliver Cromwell permitted the resettlement of the Jews in England in 1656.
I am not in any way religious, but my great-great-great-grandfather; Robert, was a Jewish tailor from Konigsberg in East Prussia, which is now Kaliningrad in Russia.
He left Konigsberg, as the law said, that if you were Jewish, male and eighteen, you had to leave. So he embarked on a ship and ended up in London around 1800.
I have one indirect memory of Robert. My father told me, how his grandfather had met him in his later years and he was a small man, who only spoke German and no English. My father’s grandfather was born in 1853 and died at some date after 1911. So as my father was born in 1904, this tale is possible.
And surely, the Nazis’ policies were the ultimate expulsion.
I worry if the Israelis were to repeat the Palestine Liberation Organisation solution for Hamas.
Would some join the queues of migrants trying to get to the UK?
Conclusion
I can see Israel’s actions having repercussions for the UK.
Here We Go Again!
Years ago, I had a very interesting insight into the problems of Israel and the Palestinians.
My next door neighbour; Charles was a retired senior officer in the Royal Engineers, who was in the King David Hotel, when it was blown up by the Irgun.
The hotel was used by the British to administer the Palestinian Mandate. The story of the King David Hotel Bombing has this Wikipedia entry, which is well worth a read.
Charles and his wife had also lived in Palestine before the Second World War and described it as a much more peaceful place, where the only way to tell if anybody was Jew or Arab was from their surname. He felt that they got on well, until it was all stirred up by the right-wing Zionists.
One of my big regrets in life, is that I didn’t interview my neighbour more deeply, as he had fascinating tales to tell.
The EuroAfrica Interconnector
The Wikipedia entry for the EuroAfrica Interconnector, introduces the project like this.
EuroAfrica Interconnector is a HVDC interconnector and submarine power cable between the Greek, Cypriot, and Egypt power grids.
The Wikipedia entry has a section called Technical Data, where this is said.
The EuroAfrica Interconnector will link Egypt with the Cypriot and Greek power grids through the island of Crete, with a high-voltage direct current submarine power cable of length around 1,396-kilometre (867 mi). Egypt will be connected with Cyprus with a 498-kilometre (309 mi) long cable. Cyprus will be connected with Crete with a 898-kilometre (558 mi) long cable providing a connection to the pan-European electricity grid.[1] The laying depth of cable will be up to 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) under sea level in some areas between Crete and Cyprus. It will have a capacity to transmit 2,000 megawatts of electricity in either direction. Annual transmission capacity is 17.5 TWh, much more than the annual production of the Aswan Dam.
In The EuroAsia Interconnector, I noted how Israel will be connected to Cyprus, thus when both interconnectors are complete, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece and Israel will be able to share electricity.
The EuroAsia Interconnector
The Wikipedia entry for the EuroAsia Interconnector, introduces the project like this.
The EuroAsia Interconnector is a proposed HVDC interconnector between the Greek, Cypriot, and Israeli power grids via the world’s longest submarine power cable (310 kilometres (190 mi) from Israel to Cyprus and 898 kilometres (558 mi) from Cyprus to Greece, for a total of 1,208 kilometres (751 mi)). Connecting Kofinou, Cyprus to Hadera, Israel and Korakias, Crete, Greece and stated to finish construction in 2023.
When completed it will have a capacity of 2 GW.
From Wikipedia, it appears that at least initially, Israel will export electricity produced in gas-fired power stations from their own more than adequate supplies of natural gas.
In Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Future Industries Inks Deal With Kingdom of Jordan For Green Hydrogen Study, I published this Google Map of Jordan.
Surely, in the future, the EuroAsia interconnector could be carrying solar generated green electricity from Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to Cyprus and Greece.
As, according to Reuters, Greece covers about 40% of its annual energy needs with Russian gas, this can’t be good for Vlad the Mad and his bloodstained gas.
Tevva Lands $57m For Electric And Hydrogen Trucks
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Engineer.
This is the sub-title.
Tevva has secured $57m for its new London-based production facility to scale up manufacturing of its electric and hydrogen trucks.
It certainly looks like this well-connected company of Israeli origin, could be going places.
UK’s Tevva Uses Submarine Tech To Power Electric Trucks
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times of Israel.
The article is from April 2017 and starts with this paragraph.
Startup founded by Asher Bennett, brother of Israel’s education minister, aims to provide digital, emission-free vehicles.
This paragraph gives details of the man behind the company and their first sales.
Meanwhile, one UK company — Tevva Motors — has already got its first orders for repowering the trucks of delivery giants UPS, DHL and Switzerland’s Kuehne+Nagel with its components, including the batteries and motor, according to Tevva’s 48-year-old Israeli founder Asher Bennett. Bennett is the older brother of former entrepreneur turned right-wing politician Naftali Bennett, who is Israel’s education minister.
Since the article was written, Naftali Bennett has become Israel’s Prime Minister.
This paragraph explains how the trucks work.
The trucks Tevva repowers as well as those the company is planning to build from scratch next year at its new facility in Chelmsford are fully digital. “Every piece of information on our trucks is on the cloud,” Bennett said. The software and algorithms developed by the company automatically calculate the most efficient use of the battery and instruct the range extender when to kick in, without any input from the driver.
We’re already starting to see trains using similar techniques.
But as a time-expired Control Engineer, I would go a similar route.
It is a fascinating article, that deserves a full read.
The Two Problems With Israeli Politics
I liked the comment on the Radio Five Live from an Israeli political commentator.
There are only two problems with Israeli politics; Benjamin and Netanyahu.
Israeli politics is certainly different.
Israel Becomes First Nation To Announce A Second Coronavirus Lockdown
This title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
Israil had done well to control the first lockdown, but now they have over 4,000 new infections per day.
This paragraph gives some details.
About two thirds of the infections are in the Arab-Israeli and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, which together account for almost a third of the 8.8 million-strong population. Experts attribute the levels of infection to both groups’ insistence, despite restrictions, on holding weddings with as many as 1,000 guests, and the resumption of study three weeks ago in the ultra-Orthodox seminaries.
With 4,000 new infections in a population of just under nine million, their rate is much higher than in the UK.
Jews In The UK And COVID-19
This article on the Times of Israel is entitled Coronavirus-Related Death Toll Jumps To 458 Among UK Jews.
- According to Wikipedia in 2011, there were 263,346 Jews in the UK.
- This gives a figure of 0.174% for the percentage of Jews, who have died.
- According to UK government figures, 35,341 have died from COVID-19.
- According to Wikipedia, the UK population in mid-2019, was 66,796,807.
- This gives a figure of 0.053% for the percentage of the UK population, who have died.
From these simple figures Jews are over three times more likely to die of COVID-19, than the general population.
Why are Jews, so much more likely to die of COVID-19, than the general population?
In A Thought On Deaths Of The Elderly From Covid-19, I postulated that there could be large numbers of undiagnosed coeliacs in the over-60s, who because of compromised immune systems, would be more susceptible to the virus.
I also said that the number of undiagnosed coeliacs over sixty-five could be as high as 120,000. These would have all been born before 1960, when it became possible to detect coeliac disease in children.
I am also fairly sure, that my coeliac disease came from my Ashkenazi Jewish genes.
This second article on The Times of Israel is entitled Jewish Charity Warns Of Coeliac ‘Stigma’ As Half-A-Million Said Undiagnosed.
This is the introductory paragraph.
A Jewish charity says there is a “stigma” surrounding coeliac disease in the Jewish community, after a national charity warned that there were still half a million people in the UK who are undiagnosed.
I would assume that the half-a-million figure refers to all the population of the UK, as there are only about half that number of Jews in the UK.
Could coeliac stigma mean that there many older Jews, who are coeliac, have not been diagnosed and their poorer immune systems make them more vulnerable to COVID-19?
A Wider Picture
This article on Times of Israel is entitled How COVID-19 is hitting Jewish communities around the world.
It is well-worth reading.
Conclusion
I should say, that I’m no medic, but just a humble engineer, mathematician and statistician, who has nearly sixty years experience of analysing data.
That experience applied to coeliac disease and COVID-19, says that undiagnosed coeliac disease, is not helping our fight against COVID-19!
Israel Should Be Funding Alternative Energy, Not Another Gas Pipeline
The title of the post, is the same as that of this article from The Jerusalem Post.
This is the introductory sub-title.
A pipeline only serves interests of the gas tycoons and not the taxpayers or the environmentally minded residents of the region.
The pipeline is proposed to run to Eilat in the South of Israel, which is an area, that gets enough sun for most of its electricity needs.
Some points from the article.
- Jordan will be 100 % daytime solar by 2030.
- Israel could be 100 % daytime solar by 2030.
- The Arava region of Israil will achieve this aim, by the end of this year.
The article gives an interesting insight into how you get electricity, when you have plenty of sun.
The Anonymous Widower 