The Kinneret Bot reports:

In the last 2 days the water level of the Kinneret rose 2cm to -212.38m, 62cm above the lower red line.

This rise has been due to the rain that Israel has been having over the past 2 days.

(((CLICK BELOW TO HEAR AUDIO)))

Yishai broadcasts from Jerusalem’s International Convention Center while waiting for Malkah to vote in the Likud primaries.  While waiting on line (or is it in line?) Yishai interviews Daniel Tauber, who is running in the Likud list.  Together, they talk about the core values of the Likud party and how they also discuss some of the candidates that are on the list and which would work best for Israel.  Back in the studio, Yishai and Malkah discuss Malkah’s experience with actually voting in the primaries and how system issues were continually causing delays during the voting process.

Yishai Fleisher on Twitter: @YishaiFleisher
Yishai on Facebook

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

We just received this report from the Tazpit news agency: Today at 9:00 AM Israel time, a resident of Gush Talmonim was traveling with her infant (less than a year old) to the city of Modi’in. Some 300 yards before the security checkpoint of Modi’in Illit she drove straight into a crowd of Arab demonstrators with Palestinian flags, who threw down lengths of cables across the highway to block traffic.

As she was sitting there, in her car, with her baby, stuck in a line of motionless vehicles, IDF troops fired tear gas grenades at the Arabs who had reached to within a few yards from the Israeli vehicles.

Israeli media today announced that the frightening event had taken place in Samaria, meaning “out there” in the territories, where anyone who gets in trouble was, basically, asking for it. But that was a lie. The entire event, from a crowd with flags blocking the road to the crowd getting near the stuck Israeli cars, to the IDF rushing on the scene just in time – the whole thing took place only about three miles from Modi’in, well within the safe and recognized and leftist-sanctified “green line.”

That’s what the media can do to history: if reality doesn’t match our concepts, we can always move reality a few miles over to where it fits.

On Tuesday night, around 100 English speaking Likud members and supporters got to hear MK Tzipi Hotoveli, MK Gila Gamliel and Jerusalem City Council member Yair Gabai address some of the major issues of the day, in English.

The event, which was held at the Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem, and lasted over two hours, was organized and M.C.ed by Fred Moncharsh and Danny Gottlieb.

Part of the purpose of the event was to allow the MKs to present their platforms and positions to English speaking Likud voters ahead of the upcoming Likud primaries, which is when their jobs go on the line.

While more MKs had originally said they planned to show up, only two showed up in the end.

It was clear that Hotoveli, Gamliel and Gabai appreciated the opportunity to speak to an English speaking audience, and Gamliel clearly put in the extra effort to ensure she had coherent and comprehensive answers ready in English, a language she speaks less fluently than the other two.

After the event, JewishPress.com spoke with MK Hotoveli and asked about some of the outstanding issues that the Likud never managed to complete in this term.

Just two months ago, Likud MKs were celebrating what they described as important victories for the party. The first was the approval of upgrading of Ariel College to Ariel University, and the second was the Edmond Levy Report, which invalidated the Talia Sasson report, and declared that Israel has full rights according to international law over all of Judea and Samaria.

But in those two months, neither declared victories managed to make it over the finish line. Some people, in fact, blame Prime Minister Netanyahu for the Edmond Levy Report not moving forward.

JewishPress.com caught up with MK Tzipi Hotovely, one of the more vocal and proud proponents of both issues and asked her where things stand, and if they aren’t being finalized by this government, what chance do they have in the next one, which won’t have as favorable a  coalition configuration?

Hotovely told JewishPress.com that in fact, she believes that the final steps for approval of the upgrade for Ariel University will happen before the elections, as its too important to not happen.

As for the Edmond Levy Report, Hotovely said that it’s also very important, but getting it approved is proving to be very difficult, as it has many obstacles and opponents. She believes it will be passed by the next government. And in response to the question as to Netanyahu’s possible role in holding it back, Hotovely stated that she just spoke with the Prime Minister and he told her he is working hard to get it approved.

Latest rocket launches and alarms [Editor: Sorry, we're having trouble keeping up with all of them.]

Trivia: As of 11:03 PM 858 rockets were launched at Israel from Gaza in 2012.

More than 60 rockets this evening.

4 injuries reported, and 25 Kassams just on Sderot alone between 8:00AM-9:00AM Sunday morning.

8:50 AM Shaar HaNegev

8:29 AM Eshkol

2 medium injuries and 1 light injury from Sderot rocket.

8:08 AM Sderot – At least 10 rockets.

8:00 AM Eshkol

7:57 AM Sderot – Rockets fell in an educational center. Multiple launches.

7:28 AM Sderot

7:12 AM Ashkelom Beach

7:00 AM (Sunday) Ashkelon Beach

3:37 AM Ashkelon Beach

2:28 AM Ashkelon Beach

12:06 AM Eshkol

12:05 AM Eshkol

12:04 AM Sha’ar HaNegev

12:02 AM Eshkol. Part of Eshkol without electricity after rocket hits power line. No reports of any parts of Gaza being without electricity (supplied by Israel).

12:00 AM (Sunday) Sha’ar HaNegev

11:52 PM Eshkol

11:49 PM Ashkelon Beach

11:45 PM Ashkelon Beach

11:40 PM Eshkol

11:33 PM Eshkol

11:27 PM Eshkol

11:12 PM Ashkelon Beach (and the alarm didn’t sound).

11:03 PM Eshkol

11:00 PM Eshkol

10:54 PM Sha’ar Hanegev. Eshkol. 30 Rockets fired so far at Israel.

9:45 PM Sderot and Ashkelon and Ashkelon Beach under fire.

For earlier attacks Saturday evening, please see this article.

In case you were wondering where the Eshkol region is:

The two men in this picture are Chief of Operations for the Southern Front Yitzhak Rabin and Southern Front Commander Yigal Allon, in 1949. It’s a cold day somewhere on the dunes east or south of Gaza. Neither man has slept much, which is evident from Rabin’s messy hair.

Alon, four years older and considered deeper than his lieutenant, is looking at Rabin with a kind of fatherly gaze. The burden of war, the weariness of daily engagements, are evident in their posture. Neither one looks particularly happy or even content.

But it’s a beautiful picture in my eyes, because it depicts a moment so suffused with potential in our history. There’s the thinker, Alon, and Rabin, an anti-intellectual if ever there was one, and at that frozen moment in time you can’t yet tell that all their efforts to lead the Jewish experience in the Land of Israel to a benign, normal, familiar, civilized conclusion would crash, one after the other, against the harsh realities of the Middle East.

Neither one of them was a fool, neither one was kidding himself that our neighbors are bursting with joy at the idea of accepting, much less embracing us into their midst. Both died having done everything humanly possible, including countless times putting their lives on the line, seeking that acceptance.

There is beauty in failure. It is quiet, hidden, humble. The beauty of two young men in the middle of a battle outside Gaza, hair blowing in the wind, eyes red from lack of sleep, daring to hope.

The boys and girls of my generation have grown up with that image emblazoned in our retinas as the best that an Israeli person could be.

I’m glad that phase is over. I’m looking forward to images of new, beautiful Israelis, like the famous young paratrooper at the Kotel in 1967. Or, better yet, a young windsurfer at the Olympic games. I’m totally open to suggestions.

When was the last time you walked across a field of grass?

Wait, a whole bunch of you just looked up at the ceiling and thought…what the heck is she talking about? You probably walk through a field of grass every day, don’t you? Well, if not a field, a lawn, right?

Israel is a land that was, according to the Bible and logic, very fertile. I believe I read somewhere that when the Romans conquered Judea and sent the Jews into exile, they salted the earth to prevent our return. I googled it…yeah, google is now a verb… and there are more than 50,000,000 references to it. I didn’t click on them to see if it was true or not. The bottom line is still the same.

Much of Israel is short on water – we have desert as our southern half and even towards the north, we don’t really have lush, green mountains. Where we have fields of grass, they are usually cultivated and watered. Otherwise, they aren’t really grass, but rather weeds that grow in the winter months and die in the summer.

I went to a Microsoft conference today – they put on a light and dance show that was incredible. I have to write about the amazing technologies I saw there, the wonderful things Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer said about Israel. I want a Surface computer SO badly… I would love a Windows 8 phone. I ache for a convertible laptop and have given up the idea of buying a laptop until I can afford one. Just wow…

And with my head filled with the wonders of what Microsoft is bringing to the world… I began the walk back to my car. And, as I crossed the road, I opted for the shortcut so many others were taking…across the grass.

I grew up in America – where there is so much grass – we all had front lawns and back lawns and had to cut the grass regularly. I can still remember the smell of cut grass, of grass after a rain. I stopped thinking of Microsoft and looked down at the grass – there were people in front of me, people behind me. I couldn’t stop to touch it, though deep down I longed to.

I don’t know if you’ve ever stopped to think about the wonders of grass (the legitimate kind, naturally) – but it’s important to take that time in life – to feel the grass under your feet as you walk. I’ll remember Microsoft’s products from today… but I think part of me will also remember the grass.

Visit A Soldier’s Mother.