Weekend begins

Mounted police on patrol

From 9 degrees this morning, the temp. has risen to 14 degrees now. Warm enough to remove one hoodie. but the pullover remains. I wonder what further surprise nature has in store for us here. One thing's for sure ... the warm weather has encouraged hundreds more muslims to come into the Old City for Friday prayers. That explains the rise of police and soldiers in and around the Old City. Even the mounted police are patrolling outside the City.

This morning I had to rush to the Patriarchate to meet a chinese group and help translate while they had an audience with the bishop.  I find myself more and more in demand for this translator job. It's usually chinese to italian or english and vice versa. But that means working at irregular hours and not getting paid a cent. I do it mainly for the chinese pilgrims who have come such a long way to see the oldest bishopric in the world ... indeed the place where the Church was born .

Today the jewish rightwing newspaper published a study that says 1 in 12 christians are persecuted in the world. hat makes christianity the most persecuted religion in the world. But on one talks about it. And the shameful thing is even christians themselves are not aware or care to be aware about it.   http://www.jpost.com/Christian-News/1-in-12-Christians-worldwide-persecuted-report-shows-533453

Pork supermarket at Rishon le Zion

And the whole circus about the law forbidding food and grocery shops to open on Sabbat has taken a strange twist: the Minister who fought to have it passed, and even threatened to resign if it were not passed, now says he had nothing to do with it nor is he interested in enforcing it ... and worse, that the law is not necessary!!!!!! What a turnabout face!!! It seems he has caught Trump's virus of selective dementia. It's all about appeasing the ultra-orthodox groups. The whole political scene here is a circus. Well I guess selling pork then shouldn't be a problem if we go by the Interior Minister's turnabout memory.   https://www.timesofisrael.com/minister-says-he-wont-enforce-law-to-shut-mini-markets-on-shabbat/