Yom HaShoa - Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today in Israel is Yom HaShoa, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is a day to remember the six million Jews that died during World War Two, to keep their memory alive, and to energize our state towards the future. The remembrance of those who were struck down stands on its own as being a necessary memorial, but we also can combine this solemn day with a reminder of why Jews are sticking with the struggle to keep Israel a viable state. And moreover, this is a day that we can remind everyone how terrible war and despotism and blind hatred can be, how vile and destructive hate is, and strive together for peace and understanding. All of this peace and understand talk doesn't necessitate idealism, either: let's just not kill each other for what we believe in. That's all.

Well, that's what Israelis hope for on this day, at least. Not Hamas!

According to The Jerusalem Post, "Jewish leaders concocted the mass murder of handicapped Jews in order to keep from having to support them, and this murder is what the Jews term "the Holocaust," according to a documentary special that aired on April 18 on Hamas's Al Aqsa television station."

Also, "The film claimed Jewish leaders blamed the Nazis for their own massacre of Jews "so the Jews would seem persecuted and try to benefit from international sympathy.""

I dare anyone to try to tell me that Israel is the side that is not an honest member of the peace process. How do you deal with the Palestinian Hamas government? They control Gaza, and a recent poll showed that if elections were held today in the West Bank, Hamas would win a majority of government seats and positions there as well. The people that put on this film, this demonization of Jews and Israel, are the very people that are supported by a majority of the Palestinians - and they are our "partner in peace." This is a clear institutionalization of the impossibility on the part of the Palestinian government to even think of wanting peace with "the Zionist state."

Come on! Here's some of the video itself. Enjoy...



Check out my friend Benji's post on Yom HaZikaron, the memorial day for fallen soldiers of the IDF. There is a video showing how everything stops with a siren for a minute or so, everyone stands still, everyone stops their cars - nothing happens in Israel for this minute. Same thing happens on Yom HaShoa. Scroll down that linked page to see the video.

If You Build It, We Will Come

For once, every news outlet in the world is saying the same thing: Israel totally kicks ass at spying. Well, besides that Ben-Kadish guy that got busted last week for giving nuclear secrets over to Israel, which doesn't even make sense considering Israel has had nukes for decades. Anyway, if you remember my blog post on the Israeli attack against a Syrian nuclear facility back in September, you'll know that there was an official media blackout on the alleged incident. The government literally didn't even acknowledge that it occurred. Not a peep.

For some reason the U.S. Congress is being briefed on all of it, however. And of course, like our good media and government tend to do, we are going to get the leaks. We already got a little bit: Israel can put a spy ANYWHERE.

"The evidence includes pre-attack images taken inside the reactor building, which closely resembles the one at the Yongbyon nuclear center in North Korea...

It is believed that the video was shot by Israeli intelligence or a mole for the Israelis, the source close to the administration said."

That's according to CNN. How in the hell did we put someone inside that nuclear facility?

Hmm, OK, Israel kicks ass. We've established that now. Let's see what Al-Jazeera had to say about the potential Israeli spy.

"...intelligence chiefs planned showing US legislators a video which, they said, showed the alleged Syrian reactor had a core design similar to the North Korean reactor at Yongbyon...

It is not clear how the video was obtained."

This is one reason that Israel has always defeated the armies of the Middle East, the ones that have attacked us: They are too proud to admit weakness. As the poet Emerson said, "Our strength grows out of our weakness."

Middle East Tango

So, if you read my previous post or even read CNN's headlines yesterday, you would have noticed that Israel had its largest emergency preparation drill in history. The drill was to evaluate our readiness for any attack, be it from neighbors, Heaven, or Hell. Hell not withstanding, we're doing alright. Actually, I don't know how well we did, but in this country if you don't see a slew of vicious op-eds, well, it must have been pretty good!

Our fun-loving Syrian neighbor to the north decided two days after Israel's drill to conduct their own. After weeks of groaning and bemoaning Israel's supposed escalation of war-like tension, Syria chose to cast caution to the wind and jump into the fray. I can only imagine their cabinet meeting where this was decided.

"Eh, maybe you think we need drill too?"
"Yes, yes, we will show them."
President Assad rubs his long chin, a smirk slowly spreads across his boyishly handsome face, and he can't help but exclaim the brilliant maneuver. "Excellent, excellent."

My only response is to smile and laugh at all this foolishness! I mean, come on, we held a drill that basically was to prevent Israel from having unnecessary difficulties in the case of another Lebanon War, a war that was started by a bunch of terrorists out of the blue. We were hanging out, they launched missiles. We were not ready. That's it.

So, we just want to be ready in case someone gets a smart idea, not for some offensive campaign against the innocent civilians of Lebanon, as Al Jazeera would want you to believe! If I was the prime minister, I would send a very public call to Bashar Assad and say, "Brosef, we aren't going to attack you, but I hope your drill goes well. Ours was kickass!"

I swear I would make that call. I swear it.

To Prepare For The Worst

Yes, I agree with the girl in the picture: WTF? Tomorrow, Tuesday the 8th, Israel will be holding what will apparently be the largest war and terror preparation drill that it has ever undertaken. The drill is to alert us to all the various types of attacks that we have to be ready to deal with: chemical, biological, conventional, maybe even nuclear - if you can prepare for such a thing. This drill is going to be held at 10 am, which means that everyone is going to be rushing to the miklatim (bomb shelters) found in the basement of just about every single building here. Walking along the streets, if you read Hebrew, you would see hand painted signs on every corner or stone wall pointing towards the closet shelter. They usually are never more than a step away, if that. So, this drill is just to enable us to evaluate how our safety procedures would work in case of an emergency, any emergency necessitating shelters.

Nevertheless, the plan comes at something of an inconvenient time in terms of politics, and an extremely fitting time in terms of reality.

Politics: Our neighbor to the north, Syria, is pretty convinced that we are getting our ducks in a row for a war. They think we are readying to start a war. Considering that our defense minister recently canceled a planned trip overseas in order to tour the Syrian-Israeli border, considering our military exercises in the north, and even now because of this civilian drill, well, I don't blame them. They don't realize that Israelis wouldn't take on a war right now even for all the Google stock in the world. None other than CNN is reporting on this today, on the seeming Israeli preparations for some offensive.

As you can see from the picture taken during our school-wide discussion with a female soldier whose entire job is to detail emergency preparations, this is just a precaution. We're talking about what we should do in the case of an incoming rocket, just the same as when we had to duck in the hallways in middle school in Virginia to simulate attacks by G-d: hurricanes and tornadoes. If this was Israel's preparation to start a war, I think we'd have a little more heads up than just one 19-year-old girl and a laptop.

This is an inconvenient time because we already have so many enemy states around us saying whenever we so much as sneeze, "Look! See? Israel is bracing for war!" And then we hold this war drill, and our STUPID politicians go and run their fat mouths saying things like Benyamin Ben Eliezer's "We'll destroy Iran if it attacks us." These enemy states, like Iran and Syria, are just waiting for excuses to either bomb us directly, or for justification to continue their massive monetary and military support of terrorist groups like Hizbullah. So, what do we do for people who want justification to hurt us? Guys like Ben Eliezer give our opponents prewrapped packages that they can then take to CNN and say, "Look! See? Israel is threatening us!" I can just see my dad shaking his head right now in disgust. "Israel has the worst PR in the world, and it's their own fault." On days like today, I agree.

Reality: The sad truth is that this is an inconvenient and dangerous time to even hint at military preparations in Israel, but that is a sad political truth. The reality is that we are always, since before Israel was even declared a state, on the ready for war. Or at least we should be. We found that out in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War, on the highest Jewish holiday, that we can be attacked at any moment with no warning. Even if our civilian emergency routines provoke a war, what option do we have? What is better, to not practice life-saving techniques in the vain hope that we will stave off attacks, or to prepare and be prepared when the worst happens -- which we should by now expect?

The reality of the situation is that we have to prepare, even if the bad guys misinterpret our actions.

Ah, but relax, hope is not lost! Though Ben Eliezer has a stupid, fat mouth, he is right! Iran would not attack us, as he says, because it would mean the end of that already failed state. Syria hasn't dared touch us since 1973. I laugh quite heartily at the idea that Hizbullah thinks we would "lose" a second round of war with them. We learned a lot from 2006, which we didn't lose in the first place, and they really aren't willing to jump into it with us at this point. Think about it like this:

1) They have all the rockets and guns and manpower that they had in 2006 before the Second Israel-Lebanon War, which they consider a success.
2) They have Iran and Syria on their side.
3) They have world sympathy on their side.
4) That world support, however, isn't going to win them any concessions from us, which they know.
5) Therefore, they have no reason to not attack us if they think they could "win." They get nothing from us except that which they would take in war.
6) They surely want a victory, as that would really bring them into power in Lebanon.
7) So they realize that they must fight us to get what they want, though they haven't attacked or threatened to...
8) Conclusion: they aren't ready for war.

Aha, the truth comes out!

Honestly, 90% of this meeting with the female soldier was talking about what to do in case of a major earthquake. This region is long overdue for one, as I said in this previous post. One worry at a time, right?

Tzipi Livni: Let's Marry

After a Jerusalem Post report uncovered a secret Israeli government ban of the Qatar-based "news" service Al-Jazeera, the foreign ministry decided to play it straight:

"The official's statement came a day after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni ripped into the Qatar-based network at a meeting with ambassadors posted in Israel, saying that "when depicting Israeli attacks, Al-Jazeera abuses the situation on the ground by telling lies. Unfortunately, during these attacks [in Gaza], civilians were killed. I am not trying to change facts. But, of course, when it comes to Al-Jazeera, everything is exaggerated."

I grabbed that from this Jerusalem Post article.

Tzipi Livni "ripped" the network. She did it in front of a roomful of ambassadors. She most likely wore a snappy business suit. Al-Jazeera is painfully anti-Israel, preposterously biased for a news service that claims to be unbiased, and they deserve to get shut out from having access to the government. We are banning them from entering government offices, and consequently they won't be getting interviews from officials. Tzipi says so!

I'm not sure if this is smart or short-sighted on our part, considering that they twisted our words before when we did grant them access, and so now they will most likely twist them even worse... I don't know about that, but I do know that I like Tzipi Livni. To be honest, I don't know her personal political leanings or anything. She is, however, too close to Olmert, who NO ONE likes. She's his right-hand lady, so she sometimes tows the party line, but she's all business. Who doesn't appreciate a woman that stands up to the leaders of the world and flips her hair and says, "hey, shut up, I'm talking." I don't know if she has ever done that, but I'll just go ahead and say I bet she wants to.

And I have a thing for older ladies, especially the type that could beat up the president of Iran.

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. It's always a nice holiday when you see couples pronounce their love, even if the rest of us are left out in the cold. V-Day is not a holiday here, as it is a Christian celebration of the martyrdom of an undocumented, unknown, and probably arbitrarily fictionalized Saint Valentine. Still, some people like to call the 14th Yom Ahava, or Love Day. Our neighbors to the East, however, aren't so keen on the idea.

I'm sure you probably read or saw this brief on the news, but I figured it was worth a few pot-shots. Apparently, Valentine's Day is banned in Saudi Arabia, and some other Muslim states are pushing for similar laws. Saudi Arabia has a legal and police system that carries out sharia, or Muslim law. This is generally the equivalent of Jewish law, Halacha - only scarier. The force that carries out sharia in Saudi Arabia is called the Muttawa.

The group is called the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, a rather pleasant sounding name. A week ago they started making their rounds, visiting gift shops, jewelers, candy stores, and the most publicized of all, florists, all in a very successful effort to literally ban Valentine's Day. They also ban the color red during this period, at least de facto. So, stores will be fined or even closed down, with staff potentially getting arrested, if they don't clear out red roses, red gift boxes, candies in heart or otherwise identifiably Valentiny packaging, and so on. And, they are very serious about all of this. The country's religious leader declared a Fatwa on Valentine's Day, seven years ago, thus religiously demonizing Valentine's Day.

A member of the Gestapo -- err, the religious police -- had this to say, according to the AFP: "The West exports to us habits and feasts which contradict sharia and wants us to imitate them. We want to make sure that sharia is implemented. We punish anyone who commits or abets a violation." Valentine's Day is sinful, bringing out improper relations between man and woman, creating an atmosphere of shameful sexuality.

I would be lying if I said that Jewish law says otherwise. In fact, where do you think sharia came from? The difference is that Israel is a democracy, and though some want Halacha to be similarly enforced, we continue on with our freedom to sin. After all, I didn't not give anyone a red rose because I wasn't allowed to. I didn't give a red rose to a sweetheart simply because I have no sweetheart.

Chalk this one up to "Our Silly Neighbors!" (Top pic from cbc.ca)

If you think that Americans are sick and tired of George Bush, you should see how disgusted Israelis are with their leader, Ehud Olmert. Olmert took over when Ariel Sharon had his massive stroke, and then he was voted into office last year. Olmert is a former mayor of Jerusalem, a position he handled without serious alarm. His position as the national leader, however, has proven his total incompetence.

He blew the Lebanon war last year, him and his entire political structure, mainly by ignoring and hindering military reports, intelligence, strategy, and expert opinion. He has been prime minister overseeing some of the worst teacher and student strikes in any nation's history. To make matters worse, he is considered the most corrupt politician in Israel today. He is constantly being investigated for insider violations: kickbacks, shady real estate deals, insider manipulation. He's just not who the nation needs right now, or ever. One good thing to say, however, is that whatever he has done to combat domestic terrorism is working...or, at least the wall that Ariel Sharon built is working (besides the fact that the contractor has stopped worked because they are way over budget).

So, on Tuesday, he is going to be attending the Annapolis conference, along with 40 other nations. This summit has been the hot talk among Middle East political strategists in its stupidity. It will create a terrible security problem for Israel, truly, and it is going to be one all-out bash on the Jewish State.

The conference is going to be attended by Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, "Iraq," Syria, maybe Saudi Arabia, and a host of non-Middle East states. The point of the conference is to 'open' talks between the PA and Israel.

You have no idea how angry all this makes me! Let me just go through this political blunder one step at a time.

1) Israel and the PA talk constantly. This is a legitimate truth. Olmert and Abbas have both, respectively, come under great attack from their people for this very reason. Olmert is given flack for being so pro-PA, for having Abbas over to his house for everything from holiday celebrations to a nice cup of coffee. Abbas is continually under threat of assassination by Hamas for his open invitation of Olmert to his office-home in Ramallah. Not to mention the thwarted attempted assassination of Olmert recently while he was in Jericho. These two best friends are constantly talking, trying to figure out just how to save both their terms in office. Olmert has about a 20% or so approval rating. I don't know what Abbas's is, but he was essentially voted out of office over a year ago by his people, in support of a terrorist organization. Olmert needs to move out of the way, and let in a real politician with insight. So, why is the conference meant to "open serious talks on the future of a Palestinian state?" This rhetoric is being brought forward as a way to force Israel's hand into more land-concessions, giving away more land that was legally purchased 75 years ago by Jews, and put Israel into a real corner. By saying that Israel needs to open talks is effectively implying that Israel has ignored the issue. In fact, as you can see, Israel has been more than open in discussions with the Palestinian leadership.

2) Land for peace does not work. Israel learned this the hard way after 2005's "disengagement," whereby Israel completely left the Gaza Strip, and evacuated many settlements in the West Bank. Israel gave away the Gaza, in its entirety, only to see the rise of Hamas in both these areas. With Israel out of the way, the terrorists were able to take over and plague not only the people of Gaza and the West Bank, but then had greater access to attacking Israel domestically. In short, when Israel gives away land, terrorism increases in that very land. Israel shows a permanent gesture of peace, and the Arabs show a permanent gesture of hostility. With this in mind, the base-line of this Annapolis conference is the full return of the "West Bank" to the "Palestinians." All of these terms are so loaded and so futile. First of all, the West Bank is referring to the western bank of the Jordan river, which if you look at a map, is all of Israel. This term was coined decades ago in a game of semantics, as the Arabs fought for the West Bank, effectively meaning they fought for the Jews to be pushed off the western bank, all the way into the sea. Palestine, which was the name of Israel after Jews were forced from the land by the Romans 2,000 years ago, is not some grand united people or place. As you can see from the civil war between Hamas and Fatah currently being fought in Gaza and the West Bank, the only outcome for the "Palestinians" if Israel did give away all this land would be death. The leaders of Israel, and especially international leaders, like to paint the picture black and white. Israel bad, occupier. Palestinian good, victim. In fact, the only certain statement that can be made is that if Israel gives away the land that the Arabs want, it will mean an age of terror for both Israel and the Palestinian people. Honest to goodness, Hamas has essentially said that they will declare war on Fatah if Abbas (Fatah) agrees to anything. That is civil war in Gaza and the West Bank.

3) Israel keeps releasing terrorists in a show of support for Annapolis. Every day Israel is on the lookout at borders and checkpoints for terrorists, people smuggling in suicide belts or suitcase bombs, women with explosives underneath their babies in the carriage, and all other manner of ingenious, insidious tactics. We have huge prisons to hold these captured terrorists, or co-conspirators. They not only bring Israelis pain, they hurt the cause of their own people. When a terrorist strikes Israel has no other choice but to tighten security, which in turn means more checkpoints, less access, longer lines at borders, and a general air of distrust -- all causing everyday Palestinians more and more headaches. So, how does the Palestinian Authority ask for a measure of "goodwill" when going into ANY discussion? They ask for a "prisoner release." That's what they call it! They want more of their terrorists back. Sure, Israel doesn't give back those with "blood on their hands," but they give back those that escorted the bomber, helped smuggle weapons or bombs, hid the terrorists, and so on. Do you see what I mean? Israel is not working with a true partner for peace...we're working with a group of terrorist supporters! And how dumb is Olmert giving back these prisoners? We are going to release another 431 terrorists after the conference! Stupid!

4) Arab reluctance to go to their own birthday party! This whole conference is about Israel giving away land. That's the entirety of it. In exchange for giving back so much land that Israel would become 50 miles wide, we ask for the end of terrorism. We aren't asking for friends, economic partners, or anything else. Nothing more than the end of terrorism, from bombings to shootings. A basic respect of life. The sad part is that Olmert thinks that if he gives away this land, we will actually ever have peace. So, this Annapolis conference is the Arab birthday party! In 1948 seven Arab states attacked a new country, a country that publicly in its very declaration of independence asked for its neighbors' hands in peace and prosperity. This war was promulgated in order to literally wipe the new state off the map. There was no desire to make a vassal state, a weaker state, put the citizens in fear; they wanted a complete massacre of the country. Well, they found out that Israel was a state that fought to the death, because all they had faced before was extermination. Three wars later, the Arabs finally began to realize that Israel was not just going to disappear. They started to figure out that they would have to concentrate their efforts on specific land: the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Still, there was dissatisfaction. In 2000, then prime minister Ehud Barak offered the PA chief Yasser Arafat 97% of the Palestinian claim. He was giving the Gaza and essentially the entirety of the West Bank - 97%. Even the Saudi moderator told Arafat to take the deal. He balked at the Israeli offense, and plunged his people in the Second Intifadah.
The Annapolis parley is shaping up to be another 2000 Camp David, whereby the Jews look to give away all the traditional land of the state. So what is the Arab response to this? "We don't want to come because we don't trust Israel." No Arab state actually cares about their Muslim brothers in Palestine. The best example of this is with Syria, who has been publicly ambivalent on the conference. They aren't flipping back and forth because they don't believe Israel is going to appease the Palestinians, they are flipping because they are trying to force Israel to give back the Golan Heights, an area of land in Israeli control but claimed by Syria. Occupied, if you will. Syria doesn't care if the PA gets the West Bank, they only want to discuss the Golan. And who falls to this pressure? Everyone. Israel is begging Syria to come to the conference, and the US has said, "Well, the conference is for Israel and the PA, but if you want to bring up other issues, go ahead!" Remember what I said? This is the Arab birthday party whereby they want to get everything they can out of Israel. Despite the obvious pro-PA nature of this summit, even the PA was undecided until recently on whether or not to attend. Is there any sense in the Arab world?

5) The result of the conference is a dedicated promise to increase terrorism. I'm sorry to say this to the people still reading, especially my family and friends, but the one guarantee coming out of the conference will be terrorism. Not only will the West Bank face terrorism, but Israel will be plagued by a spike in terrorist activity. Thank G-d, we have been vigilant and have thwarted all terrorist attacks inside Israel for over a year now (excluding the constant barrage of missiles coming from inside the Gaza Strip). That's quite a milestone. But, though the West Bank is about to be handed over, Hamas has publicly declared that the result of the conference will be a "stepping up" of attacks. Hamas is "astonished" at the Arab League's acceptance of the conference, and as a result has promised retribution. They are still living in 1948, where they expect all the Arabs and Muslims the world over to rise up and massacre the Jewish State. Don't they remember that they already tried that? These animals, these savages, are incapable of understanding that Israel is going to give away more land! They expect Israel instead to just roll over and die. The Hamas spokesman had this to say: "We were expecting an Arab consensus to break the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and to save the lives of many Palestinians who are stranded on the borders. We didn't expect to see agreement among the Arabs on meeting with Israel." To be honest, I'm a little surprised they actually said Israel and something like "the Zionists," or another tactic to divert legitimacy away from Israel. These mentally challenged apes still think that they can deny the existence of the very people that want to give them everything they are asking for. How foolish are they?

This is what really pisses me off. That we are dealing with an entire region of monkey-fools, brain challenged ants, to the degree that they can't even figure out when something is good for them! "Hey, we want to give you 97% of our country..." What's the response? "NO! We want 100% or we're going to bomb you!" Very mature.

And the worst part of it all is that we have a prime minister that in the history of Israel has faced the most demonstrations against his term, and yet he feels it is in his capacity to go to our terrorist brothers and start making deals! Everyone in the entire country, minus a few die-hard party loyalists, want this Olmert chap out of office. He can stay in the government if he wants; drive a bus. But do not go overseas against the entire country's wishes and give away the rest of our homeland!

In 2005 Israel was very divided on whether or not to give away the Gaza and the sections of the West Bank we decided on. The result was that we gave it away, and faced even more hatred and terrorist attacks. This time around everyone is pretty well in agreement that land for peace is not working. So why does he think he can just up and betray us like this? Olmert is promising that the Annapolis summit is not going to show Israel giving anything away, but what he is white-washing is that it is the first step in order to give away the entire West Bank.

Now, my final message. Starting Tuesday, look very closely at the news on this Annapolis conference. See who is the bad guy. Who are all the nations present harping on, trying to get to change their ways? Who is the enemy? Who is evil? Israel. Then, see who is told that they need to try to control terrorism, in order to bring peace to all. Abbas will smile and say, "Yes I'll try to control Hamas and their terrorism." Then the world will praise Abbas's commitment to peace...all while Hamas is at home, in true power, and just waiting for the conference to end in order for them to start their campaign of terror.

Long live clear thinking. Please start praying for the beleaguered nation of Israel, America's only real ally, and the true pro-Western state in the Middle East.

Israel Attacked Syria! Maybe

Since last summer’s war with Hezbollah, both Israel and Syria have been building up both offensive and defensive forces in the border area. This is the Golan Heights, a traditional part of Israel that was Syrian territory until the 1967 Six Day War, in which Israel took hold (‘occupied’ is the common misnomer) of the Heights. Syria and Israel never signed peace treaties, and are technically still at war. Tensions tend to ebb and flow, but since 2006 these two countries have privately devoted military attention to their enemy, while publicly reassuring each other that they want no war.

In the past few months there has been an intense tank and anti-aircraft buildup on both sides of the border. War maneuvers have been held, by Israel and Syria, which has led both sides to engage in fairly ferocious threats. “If you dare attack us, you will face the repercussions.”

So to many peoples’ surprise, including my own, Israel either inadvertently or on purpose entered Syrian airspace. The problem is that neither side will truly discuss what happened. A Syrian source claims that Israeli planes entered Syria, were fired on by anti-aircraft bunkers, and in turn the jets dropped munitions and fuel tanks in order to make a hasty retreat. Nothing has come from the Israeli side, considering the government has leveled a media blackout on the issue. American sources have claimed that Israeli jets entered Syria and destroyed nuclear weapons or material from North Korea, and potentially even killing North Koreans in Syria who were working on Syrian nuclear installations. Again, the problem is that no one is talking forthright.

Even an Economist article* claims that “Syria's own muted response and failure to retaliate suggest that whatever happened, it was most embarrassing.” Whatever happened, Israel invaded Syrian territory, which Syria could quite easily have declared an act of war, and retaliated against Israel. Syria could have easily entered the U.N., given even cloudy proof of Israeli violations, and demanded either extreme sanctions in order to reclaim the Golan Heights (in light of Israeli ‘irresponsibility in the region’) or threatened a military retaliation for this violation.

Instead, only until recently were the Syrians able to muster an official response on the entire issue.* Vice President Farouk Shara said on Saturday that Syria doesn’t want war with Israel in “the distant or near future.” Instead, he says all these reports of Israeli air raids striking targets is simply part of a “psychological campaign” against Syria, aimed at rebuilding confidence in the Israeli army. Essentially, he is denying that anything happened at all besides a chance Israeli transgression of airspace.

Foolish! How foolish could he be, and how simple does he think his audience is? Think about this: somehow, the most highly respected fighter pilots in the world took some of the most advanced fighter jets in the world, and invaded deep enough within a grave enemy’s territory to incur anti-aircraft shelling, thus requiring a dumping of fuel in order to speed away. Does that really make sense? With this much on the line, with war only 1 mistake away, could you really think that Israel is stupid enough to accidentally invade Syrian airspace?

I’ll tell you with likelihood what really happened. This is the only good possibility, the only thing that makes sense considering the near silence from both sides on what really happened. The first thing to remember is that countries are much like businesses. They know that the longer they wait until after they make a mistake the more guilty they will look. If McDonald’s sells a poisoned hamburger, you can bet within a day they will release some type of conciliatory statement. Likewise, Israel learned its lesson on public relations in the past few years, and if an accident indeed happened, they would have publicly admonished the mistaken pilots.

Consequently, there really is one situation that I can imagine. Israel had intelligence that some type of weapon was in Syria, which was meant for Israel. This could be the nuclear material from North Korea, which NK promised to get rid of as per American demands. That possibility is bolstered by the one harsh international response to the supposed attack, coming from outside the Middle East – North Korea. Also, it is quite likely the target was missiles destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon, probably coming from Iran, as sold by Russia. No matter whose weapons they were, nuclear or traditional, the point is that Israel either destroyed them or now has solid proof of their existence. Both of these possibilities are shaming enough to keep Syria quiet in order to maintain its domestic and international image of strength. If the weapons were destroyed, declaring this would make Syria seem weak. If Israel only took photographs and pictures of the weapons, then it is damning enough for Syria in international legal terms to take away all bargaining power for regaining the Golan Heights. Just imagine: “Ok, yes, we did funnel weapons to Hezbollah, which would be targeted to kill civilians in northern Israel…but you guys are occupying our territory!”

So why then has Israel kept so quiet, especially if this mission was so successful? That's because, in my opinion, Israel isn't interested in the reprimand by the international community that would follow a report that she invaded a sovereign state in this tumultuous region, and then proceeded to even bomb something! No matter that the target was an illegal missile cache; it is an act of war during a time of international pressure for peace! Israel so far has gotten away scott-free with this ‘mission,’ even if it was just an aerial surveillance raid. She has no need to say anything. Syria is quiet, Hezbollah is quiet, only speculation is flying. Analogous would be a boy standing up to a bully: the boy is bullied every day for years, all for the bully’s self-esteem. One day the boy stands up to the bully, maybe even punches him in the nose, and the bully runs off. However, no one saw anything happen, so in a way both sides win. The bully can remain ‘tough,’ and the boy can avoid the inevitable trouble for striking someone, all while retaining his superiority over the bully. In a way, both sides retain something valuable. In the real world case, Israel retains its general security from Hezbollah missiles, and Syria retains its claims to the Golan Heights (if they were to claim the attack happened, it might get out what they had there, and the international community may have lost faith in the Syrian government and her claims).

This whole situation is one of the best things to have happened in years. The real potential for war has been adverted. The decision now, at least on Israel’s part, has to be one of reserved threat. In essence it must be made clear, in private to Syria, that whenever we see these weapons in Syria we will find a way to destroy them before they get to our enemies. But, this cannot be a general threat against Syria. It must be a threat against Syria funneling weapons, because otherwise Israel has no claims against Syria. Let’s say this: we will hold the Golan in return for not bombing you if you violate this agreement. Not in Syria’s interest…but neither is getting bombed.

Also, it could be one of the worst things to happen in years. Even if there was no attack whatsoever, as the most recent statements from Syria are saying, the whole thing stinks of aggression – truthfully on both sides. One side may be self-defense, namely that of Israel’s, but I wonder what would have happened if they had videos and photos and brought that before the U.N. Probably nothing, but it’s worth a shot.

And now Syria is very seriously claiming nothing happened. Typically what happens with Israel and her neighbors is that Israel sneezes and the Arab states claim Israeli belligerence. So why now are they, in a way, coming so strongly to Israel’s defense? That nothing happened at all. That Israel did nothing. Why not say, “Poor us, unite against Israel!”

It all just reeks of something not normal: something is being covered up.





*The Economist, Sep. 13th, 2007. “Mysterious Happenings”

*The Jerusalem Post, Sep. 29th, 2007. “Syria doesn’t want war with Israel”