IDF-Golani Terrorist!

I met this wonderful Hamas operative while on a patrol in al-Madina al-Muqaddasah. Call him a terrorist if you will, but he was a swell fellow. Hey, if you can't have a sense of humor during an 8 hour recon mission, you're bound to go crazy.

Gilad Shalit Proof of Life

I just want to post this here now as the news breaks. I have a short word or two to say about the matter in a post coming out at the end of the week, but just for now...


Here's the video itself on the Israeli news channel's website

An article:
Link to original Jerusalem Post article

Watch new Schalit video: 'I yearn to see my family again'
Oct. 2, 2009
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
After over three years in which IDF St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit has been held in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, Israel breathed a sigh of relief on Friday afternoon after video footage of the captive soldier was released to the media and aired on Israeli television channels.

Click on the image on the right side to watch the clip. A version with English subtitles will appear shortly.

The two-minute long clip shows Schalit addressing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his parents Noam and Aviva, telling them he is being treated well by the Hamas and is in good health, but yearning for the day on which he will see his family again. Schalit is seen clean shaven with a fresh haircut, wearing black clothes.

The video was received in return for the release of 20 Palestinian female prisoners. Israel released 19 of them on Friday morning, 18 to the West Bank and one to Gaza. The 20th prisoner will be released Sunday, after it turned out that a prisoner released Wednesday was finishing her sentence anyway and would therefore be released regardless of the deal.

Following is the full transcript of Schalit's video message:

"Hello, I am Gilad, son of Noam and Aviva Schalit, brother of Hadas and Yoel, who lives in Mitzpe Hila. My ID number is 300097029.

"As you see I am holding in my hands the Palestine newspaper of September 14, 2009, published in Gaza. I am reading the paper in order to find information regarding myself, hoping to find some information from which I would learn of my release and upcoming return home. I have been hoping and waiting for the day of me release for a long time. I hope the current government under Binyamin Netanyahu will not waste the chance to finalize a deal, and I will therefore be able to finally have my dream come true and be released.

"I wish to send regards to my family and say to them that I love and miss them and yearn for the day in which I would see them again.

"Dad, Yoel and Hadas, do you remember the day when you visited my base on the Golan Heights on December 31st, 2005, that if I am not mistaken was called Revaya B. We walked around the base and you took photos of me on the Merkava tank and on one of the old tanks at the entrance to the base. We then went to a restaurant in one of the Druze villages and on the way we took photos on the side of the road with the snow-covered Mount Hermon in the background.

"I wish to say to you that I feel good, health-wise, and the Mujahadeen of the Izzadien al-Qassam Brigades are treating me very well. Thank you and goodbye."

In the footage, Schalit addresses the camera directly, and at one point walks up to the camera and then returns to his chair. He also appears relaxed, not terrified.

By 12:30, Netanyahu's appointee on the Schalit case, Hagai Hadas, reached the Prime Minister's official residence in Jerusalem with the footage. Hadas and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi had already reviewed the footage and approved the release of the prisoners, indicating that the video fulfilled Israel's demands, namely that the video was at least a minute long, recent and showed Schalit talking.

OC Manpower Division Maj.-Gen. Avi Zamir arrived by helicopter with a copy of the video at the Schalit residence in Mitzpe Hila, where he was scheduled to view the video with the family.

Noam Schalit said before viewing the tape that the family eagerly awaits it.

The Prime Minister's Office issued a statement following the release of the clip.

"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu watched the video of Gilad Schalit in his office and has spoken with Noam Schalit," a statement read by the prime minister's media spokesman said.

"The prime minister believes the importance of the tape is in putting the responsibility for Gilad's health and wellbeing squarely on Hamas's shoulders. The prime minister says that even though the the release of Schalit is still far from us, the video is an encouraging sign," the statement continued.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke with Noam Schalit and Zvi Schalit, Gilad's grandfather, at around 2 p.m., just minutes after the family viewed the video, according to a statement issued by Barak's office.

The defense minister told the Schalits "I want to hug you. Gilad looks healthy, and this fact only further puts into focus my own responsibility and the responsibility of all of us to bring him home."

A statement issued by the Elysee Palace in Paris called for the "immediate, unconditional release of Schalit." Schalit holds dual Israeli-French citizenship and his father Noam has been lobbying with French President Nicholas Sarkozy to help in securing the release of his son.

Gilad Schalit has been held in captivity in the Gaza Strip for 1,195 days.

Classic BBC Bias

Not to belabor a point, but I wanted to give yet another example to refute various commenters to this site who claim that instead of Western media generally being anti-Israeli, that it is anti-Arab/Muslim. Here is a beauty of a BBC article. Besides the obvious underlying problem that BBC gives credence to anti-Israel viewpoints by choosing to publish such slanted articles, the title itself reveals their opinion.

"Jerusalem crash 'not deliberate'; Relatives of a Palestinian who was shot dead after his car ploughed into a group of Israelis at a bus stop have denied it was a deliberate attack."

In case you don't feel like reading the article, let me just say that they validated as indisputable fact one side of a highly volatile disagreement, whether or not East Jerusalem is "occupied" or not - and did so twice. Guess which side they sided with. And that's just the most obvious bias.

I promise this is the last time I'll talk about media bias against Israel for a long time. Oh, before you leave, look at that picture again and just internalize the unbalanced implication of making that the lead picture for the piece: young boy holding a picture of the attacker, presumably a younger brother, with women crying in the background. I'm shaking my head.

Attack Update

The 19-year-old East Jerusalem Arab who rammed his BMW into a crowded cross-walk of soldiers and civilians last night has been identified as Kasem Mugrabi.  An update on the Jerusalem Post website says that the BMW was a present from his parents and "was to be his when he got his driver's license."  So, the guy didn't even have a license but already was living the high life.

But what takes the cake is that he settled on the terrorist attack because he "wanted to marry his cousin, and when she refused his offer, he decided to carry out a terror attack."

Arrested Development, anyone? (They are cousins...)

Another Attack - More Stupidity

In honor of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, an East Jerusalem Arab rammed his BMW (they turn to terror because they're poor, right?) into a group of soldiers today on a tour outside of the Old City.  The soldiers were standing at Kikar Zahal (IDF Square) when the East Jerusalemite veered off the heavy traffic road into the crowd.  I can tell you from my knowledge of that area, which is rather in depth, that the road was probably very busy and that square was populated with many tourists.

Ramadan, the month in which Muslims fast during daylight hours and engage in intense study of the Koran,  is the month that the Koran was revealed to Mohammed.  According to the Muslim Student Association at Colorado State, "a measure of ascendancy is given to one's spiritual nature, which becomes a means of coming closer to God. Ramadan is also a time of intensive worship, reading of the Qur'an, giving charity, purifying one's behavior, and doing good deeds."

What does the Koran say?  "Peace!  Until the appearance of dawn."

Really?  So, a proper Muslim is to practice peace, "purify one's behavior," and do good deeds for his fellow man - until the appearance of dawn?  As in, and correct me if I'm wrong, do not commit violence during the night?  Peace during the day not necessary, peace at night Koranically prescribed.  So, a proper Muslim would not commit attempted murder during the night, but...

"An Arab resident of east Jerusalem rammed his vehicle into a group of soldiers at a central Jerusalem thoroughfare late Monday night..."*

Final word: let's take a look at the various headlines on this attack today here in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem Post (pro-Israel): 15 Wounded In Terror Attack At Busy Jerusalem Intersection
BBC (historically anti-Israel): Jerusalem Terror 'Attack' Hurts 10
CNN (eh..): Jerusalem Driver Plows Into Crowd, Injures At Least 15
MSNBC (uber-liberal): Car Plows Into Soldiers In Jerusalem; 13 Hurt
Reuters (hilariously anti-Israel): Jerusalem Driver Wounds 19 In "Attack": Police

And the always trustworthy Fox "News"...

13 Israeli Soldiers Hurt In Palestinian Vehicle Attack


It's just funny how most of the headlines fail to mention who committed such a terrible crime, and how all of them besides JPost and Fox even go so far as to put qualifying quotations around the word attack! I mean, yes, if you want to put a quotation around "terror," fine, I understand your hesitation. But "attack"? Was this not an attack? Did a man not purposefully drive his vehicle into his enemy? Yes, it was an attack!  And moreover, CNN and MSNBC fail to mention that it was even an attack of any sort at all.

Fox "News" is good for one thing: keeping us pro-Israel people happy.  And oh yeah, I'm OK.  I was at home.  But I planned on going out to that area tomorrow for some food...




*Jerusalem Post

"Schalit is Living in a Paradise"

In case you missed yesterday's Jerusalem Post article about Gilad Schalit, let me give you a little briefing.  In case you don't remember, Schalit is an Israeli Army soldier who was captured in 2006 along the border of Gaza, an act orchestrated and executed by Hamas.  We have been negotiating with Hamas to secure his release, but each time it falls through Hamas blames Israel. Hamas wants thousands of soldiers in return for our one man.

According to Abu Katab Doghmush, an Army of Islam affiliate with ties to al-Qaida, Gilad Schalit is alive and well, and is even having annual birthday parties.  Here's his words quoted by the Jerusalem Post:

"He's not being kept in a closed room all the time - this would not be healthy. He can go out and take fresh air. Every year, a party is held to celebrate his birthday. Yes, there is a cake and candles, music, everything."

How kind of them! According to Doghmush, who has a ridiculous name, Schalit is being treated like a king:

"I can tell you that Schalit is living in a paradise. Our religion of Islam demands that we look after prisoners even more than we do our own people."

You gotta love those terrorists. And finally, the quote that really takes the cake for me:

"We won't let Israel blackmail us, and force us to lower the number of prisoners to be released."

I struggled with that one for a few minutes. I wondered if maybe I didn't know what blackmail actually meant. I decided to really be careful and look up the definition. Here's how Oxford American defines blackmail: "Demand money from (a person) in return for not revealing compromising or injurious information about that person." OK, now, if you switch "money" for "goods, services, or other valuable stuff," and "person" to "terrorist organization threatening the free world," then maybe we are trying to blackmail Hamas into giving us back Schalit.

OK, yeah, I'm still confused how us returning 450 terrorists in exchange for 1 soldier is blackmail. They want 1,000 to 1,500 terrorists instead of the 450 we're offering...

Yes, that must be the definition of blackmail. Moreover, is Doghmush (note his idiot name) saying that Israel has compromising or injurious information about Hamas or his Doghmush clan or the Army of Islam or al-Qaida? Maybe they're afraid we'll inform the people of Gaza how Hamas is ruining their lives by forcing Israel to blockade the Strip?

Fools.

Bulldozers & Construction in Downtown Jerusalem

If you were wondering how those two bulldozer attacks were able to take place so easily, so freely in Jerusalem last month, this post ought to give you a pretty good insight.  How could Palestinians just on a whim take bulldozers and plow through traffic? What is Jerusalem, one big construction zone or something?

In fact, yes it is.  Jerusalem has been planning on, and has finally really begun construction on, utilizing a light-rail system to replace key bus routes. Essentially, it will be an electric railroad through the city. If you follow that previous link and take a look at the pictures, it is shaping up to be an absolutely gorgeous system. It's taking a long time, but if everything goes as planned, it should be a unique modern addition to an ancient, traditional city. I'm excited.

For now I hate life in Jerusalem. I took a bus today that went through the center of the city; normally a 40 minute ride or so. This time with the heavy construction, nearly two hours. That was fun. I think I'll walk from now on.

So, if you looked at the picture I posted at the top there, you'll see the main street of Jerusalem's downtown, Jaffa Street (Rechov Yaffo), totally obliterated and dug up. Just a few weeks ago this street was packed with buses and taxis. Now, and from now on with the light-rail system (whenever that actually happens), this section of the 'road' is strictly pedestrian and rail. I don't know if it's going to ease congestion. I don't know if it's going to work at all. But, right now it's certainly not working, and not just because of the traffic nightmare.

How did those Palestinian men go on rampages through main Jerusalem streets with bulldozers? Easily. It seems to me, as I've walked around the past couple weeks all through Jerusalem, from the German Colony area, to downtown, to the central bus station, that Palestinian men are working with bulldozers, Bobcats, road ripper uppers, all types of weapon-like vehicles with absolutely no supervision. No foreman was in sight as I walked down a heavy pedestrian side-street today and dodged two Palestinian men in Bobcats. No supervision was to be found as some guys with a full-size bulldozer shifted rubble on congested Keren HaYesod street.

I'm not going so far as to claim that Palestinians need to be supervised. I'm especially not saying that Palestinians are evil, and they aren't to be trusted. But, I have to tell you, I've never ever in my time here in Israel felt a wariness of Arabs, who are to be found everywhere in Jerusalem, like I feel walking the streets lately. I have never walked past a group of young Arab men, as I do daily, and felt anything bordering on fear or apprehension. Not until recently, that is.

This is on Jaffa Street.  There is a barrier here because of the pedestrian dominance of the street.  But with my hands I could pull that fence down...

The strangest thing, and I want to italicize this to show you just how sickening I find this, is that I know they feel my suspicion. I have never walked past an Arab, made eye contact, and seen a sheepish look. Until recently. Walking past some of these guys working on the side of the street, no barrier or even rope between us, I have made eye contact and noticed an undeniable expression of uneasiness. I can't even put it in words.

I see them. They see me. They look at me as I walk by. I stare at them as they work, stare at the vehicle as I walk by. A face of suspicion. A face of...

I can't quite understand what I have seen. I swore that once it was shame. Once, I swear, it was like the look of a beaten dog. I feel that two men, two savages, have stolen my innocence in a way. I've lived in Israel during a war, through numerous suicide bombings, and I've even witnessed a homemade explosive being detonated on this very downtown street of Yaffo. I've been through all that. I have no illusions of life here.

Yet, you can't just look at every Arab after a suicide bombing and think 'terrorist.' In my mind and heart, from my first-hand experiences, it just doesn't work that way. But how can you not feel wary of an Arab with free reign over bulldozers in a crowded pedestrian walkway after two unprovoked attacks during a 'ceasefire' like we just saw? Should I feel bad about my instinct of self-preservation? I'm open to suggestions, concurrence, and criticisms.

What I know for a fact is that the men I have walked by who are working on the streets of Jerusalem with dangerous vehicles are not themselves dangerous - not until an incident occurs, of course.  They shouldn't have to work in suspicion.  I feel terrible for them.  But what can I do?

Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas is a Coward

Picture this, if you will: In the still of the night, a Lebanese terrorist unit sneaks into northern Israel. One of these groups enters the home of an Israeli family. The leader of the group captures the father and his four-year-old daughter, at gunpoint, and takes them outside to precipitate a shoot-out. The mother hides in a closet with their toddler - the toddler is accidentally suffocated in order to keep her screams from revealing their hiding spot. Outside, the terrorist shoots his hostage in his back, in front of his crying daughter, and then dashes her head on rocks and finally with the butt of his gun.

This is the definition of a terrorist, a cruel attacker of civilians. This is Samir Kuntar, a Lebanese 'hero,' a righteous warrior of the holiest degree. Despite my current indignation with Israel's neighbors, I don't want to point out his rock-star status across the militant Muslim world. I don't want to discuss the Hizbullah promotion of his cause, their attempts to free him over the years. I don't even want to vent my frustration that Hamas, a group that we supposedly entered a peace-agreement with just recently, holds up Samir Kuntar as an example of a true warrior for the Palestinian people. I could make this post about these groups; groups that the world constantly berates Israel for not wanting to hold discussions with. How could anyone wonder why after seeing how actively they praise a brutal murderer like Samir Kuntar?

No, no, I want to reveal what no one wants to discuss. I want to make my disappointment with a certain 'partner in peace' so clear that no reader of this blog will ever make the mistake of saying that Israel has even one true peace-loving neighbor. Jordan and Egypt aside, states which do have official treaties with Israel, we seem to stand alone in yearning for serenity. You should know that the "Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process" is no process for peace, but rather an exercise in Palestinian backstabbing and deceit. Don't be offended - I'll prove it.

Everyone knows that Hamas is a terrorist organization, and that any agreement with those persecutors of the innocent Gazans is a sham. Will there ever be peace with Hamas? Probably not. But, as opposed to Hamas, most people feel comfortable calling Fatah, the government of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, a 'moderate' group. Most of us feel comfortable claiming that if peace will exist between Israel and the Palestinians, it will only be with Fatah as the head of the people. I myself would have made this claim without hesitation until I found out the official stance of Fatah during this Samir Kuntar business.

Mahmoud Abbas is the political leader of Fatah and president of the Palestinian Authority. He is the successor of Yasser Arafat's short-sighted government, and many were inspired with hope that this new leader would be courageous enough to make a compromise, courageous enough to make peace. Many feel that Abbas is a moderate leader, a man who unlike Arafat realizes that Israel is here to stay, and consequently to end the violence he might just sit down in earnest to end the senseless violence. The world has called on Israel to embrace Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah government. The world sees Abbas and Fatah as sensible, moderate, considerate partners in peace with Israel.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Samir Kuntar brutally murdered a father and his four-year-old daughter, as well as another innocent man who stood in his way, and yet the Arab world calls them "liberated heroes." One would have expected Abbas to have rejected the hero's welcome that Kuntar received in Lebanon today. I would have expected a true partner in peace to have rejected senseless violence against an innocent family, senseless bestial brutality against a young child. And yet, with the sudden decision to release Samir Kuntar to Lebanon, Mahmoud Abbas "praised the prisoner swap and congratulated the Kuntar family."

Congratulated the Kuntar family? As in congratulated them in having their murderous son back, a human who could actually slay a four-year-old girl and call himself a liberator? By congratulating the Kuntar family, Abbas has essentially praised Samir Kuntar's treachery, his violence against Israel. What kind of moderate leader, what kind of partner for peace praises renegade slaughtering of civilizians? Abbas has showed his cowardice in not standing up to the blood-thirsty mentality that groups such as Hamas have perpetuated within the Palestinian people, and consequently he has revealed his true weakness.

For Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah to bring true peace to the West Bank, they must first convince the people that peace with Israel is good for everyone, and secondly that that peace necessitates compromise. Unfortunately, Abbas has taken the short-term solution of appealing to the mob mentality, the desire to spill Zionist blood. Where Yasser Arafat truly wanted blood, Mahmoud Abbas has been forced to play along with this aim. Abbas has failed his duty to bring an end to the Palestinian plight. He has failed to stand-up to the idolization of violence in Palestinian culture. By praising Samir Kuntar's terrorism, Abbas has fully embraced his own impotence. Abbas cannot rebel against the will of the people, even though this will is viciously detrimental to the cause of Palestinian freedom.

And a final word on the faithful mediator, the only real partner in peace, the only group that without exception strives for an impartial and fair road to tranquility in the world. I speak, of course, of the United Nations. I speak, of course, sarcastically. I won't go into a discussion on the U.N.'s blatant anti-Israel history. For that, go ahead and check out the fascinating UN Watch discussion on this topic. So, what was the UN's role in the Hizbullah-Israel prisoner swap? One would think that they would observe the trade, guarantee peace for both sides, and step aside for each sovereign country to handle their citizens as they wish.

One would think. Samir Kuntar, after entering Lebanon, was flown by UN Interim Forces to Beirut to a red carpet where he was greeted by the heads of state. The UN placed him on the red carpet in a ceremony to embrace this national hero, this murderer of children. Should I say more? Honestly, do I need to even say one word more?

Let me review: Hamas and Hizbullah are terrorists. Abbas is a pawn of Yasser Arafat's blood-lust. The UN has failed its role in promoting peace.

I want to leave this conversation with Olmert's powerful words:

"Woe to the nation that celebrates in these hours the release of a bestial person who smashed the head of a 4-year-old child."

Gaza Does Not Want Peace

I've tried to steer away from discussions on the political happenings in the Israeli-Arab conflict, but the past day's events are too good to let pass. I'm not talking about the rogue Israeli-Arab laborer who rampaged through the streets of Jerusalem in a bulldozer. I'm talking about the rockets that have been fired into Israel since this supposed peace between Hamas and Israel has been in effect.

As per the agreement, in short, as long as the rocket attacks from Gaza cease, Israel will keep open the border crossings. No rockets = food & fuel. So, what happens only a few days after the cease-fire goes into effect? You guessed it... rockets fall on Israel.

The past few months we've heard over and over how dire the situation in Gaza has been. Due to Hamas terrorist rule, and the ensuing barrages of rockets landing on Israel, we have been forced to close the borders between Israel and Gaza, and unfortunately for the Gazans, Egypt followed suit on their side of the border. Gaza does have it bad, and it would be a lie to say otherwise.

And this truce would be the greatest thing for the Arabs of Gaza right now. However, it seems that the militant groups living in that region - which is a substantial sector, believe me - either do not agree, don't care, or what I believe to be the truth, they benefit from conflict.

You see, the more Israel looks bad, the more innocent civilians join the ranks of Islamic Jihad, Hamas, or any other terrorist organization. The longer Israel keeps the borders closed, keeps the food, fuel, and even tax money out, the more villified us 'Zionist pigs' become; the richer terrorists become.

So, not more than one day after Israel reopens the crossings into Gaza, which were closed due to an attack soon after the 'truce' was signed, Israel again finds its sovereign land breached by a rocket from Gaza. Again, the Palestinian people find the crossings closed, the border sealed...

but not before Israel spends the day transferring seventy trucks worth of supplies to the innocent civilians betrayed by their own people.

I'd say I'm getting tired of our neighboor's foolishness, but this is what I predicted a week ago.

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?

Israeli-Arab Conflict: Sexy?

It's funny I wrote about Tzipi Livni just a few days ago. This is what she said recently, according to Haaretz:

"I believe there is hope, I believe there is opportunity," said Livni. "I know the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the sexiest conflict in the world and everyone wants to be involved," said Livni, who visited Washington earlier in the week. "I think the world should leave it to us. There is no need to push us. It is about our lives."

Seriously. Can't help but love this woman, even if she is aligned with the worst prime minister ever.

Shout-out to Bethany for the heads up.

Terrorism In My City

NOTE: Check out the new section on the right hand bar over there, under my profile. It's a browse by topics selector. Handy.
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Sorry if this post is upsetting. This is life, and life can be that way.

In case you didn't hear, we had a terrorist attack here in Jerusalem. You may be thinking, "what's new, it's Israel and the Middle East." But actually, we haven't had an attack here in the capital since late 2004, when two police stopped an 18-year-old Arab girl from approaching a crowded bus stop, but weren't able to prevent her from exploding the suicide bomb belt. The police officers were killed. The girl was long dead, considering her intent.

The terrorist attack on Thursday was the worst Israel has had, in any area, since the April 2006 bombing of the old central bus station in Tel Aviv. I was living in Tel Aviv at the time, as well.

I'm going to reproduce here what I wrote in my notepad on Thursday night, so you can get my original first thoughts.

"...An Arab from East Jerusalem entered Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav [a male seminary], one of the biggest yeshivas in Israel, and opened fire with an AK-47 and a handgun on a study hall containing about 80 children. Eight were killed (confirmed as of now), seven wounded. That is bad.

"They are celebrating in Gaza, handing out sweets to children, firing jubilant machine guns towards heaven, and going to the mosques in "thanksgiving," as one of the newstations put it.

"I was working when it happened. I work on my computer at home, but I kept hearing sirens from all types of cars: military, police, ambulance, fire. It was quite obnoxious, and the websites didn't have anything to tell me. No one had reported it by the time I got on a bus to go to the center of the city. I wanted some falafel, having worked for 6 hours without a meal, and there was nothing in the cupboard. I guess I should have known something was wrong when I kept hearing automatic gunfire from the Arab neighborhood across the valley from me. It seems to have been happening a lot lately, so I only made a comment to my flatmate about how irritating it is, without making any connection. Actually, when I walked out of my place there was a thick layer of smoke in the air, and it smelled like any old burn. I assumed there was a fire, and that was that. The smoke, however, was from the Arab neighborhood - fireworks. I saw the display while I was on the bus, thoroughly confused. I had been looking for a fire somewhere on the hills, to no avail.

"Something just did not feel right. The fireworks. The empty bus that should have been packed. The heavy air pressing me into the asphalt with each step. The emergency vehicles, which are common here, but just not in those numbers and not with that frantic driving. I had a clue that it wasn't a fire when the bus pulled up to a stop light, and to the right I saw a mini-market's TV showing ambulances and a crowd of people gathered around some authority figure. Obviously something happened.

"Eventually I got downtown, still not clear that there was a terrorist attack. In fact, I really wasn't sure at all. At all. My heart knew it, my gut knew it, but my mind only knew that "something wasn't right." I honestly did not think "oh, there must have been an attack." Maybe I'm still naive.

"I walked down a side street to my bank's ATM, and I was a little surprised to see two soldiers heavily checking cars at a makeshift street blockade. Again, not a main street, and usually they only give cursory glances at these things. I actually thought, "oh, there must be some kind of an event, or a politician is here." Things cleared up rather quickly.

"A mini-market TV, which are always pointed out to the street to get you to stop by their place, a phone call from my mom...

"Danny?
"Yes?"
"You OK?"
"Yeah..."

"I took a glance at the TV, saw about 30 men huddled around some authority figure, read the Hebrew caption: pigua. Attack.

"Instantly my heart dropped, instantly my soul felt a rare pain, instantly I realized that my city, my people, my way of life has been violated. Times Square was also attacked today (a bomb around the corner, no injuries). Both my countries attacked in one day.

"Danny, where are you?"
"I'm in the city. I just got here from my apartment."
"Do you know what happened?" My natural instinct was to say 'of course,' in the attitude that a young man has when he chooses to do something as wild as move to another country. You just act like you know everything, that you are the most informed, that nothing gets by you. But, in a situation like this, I just wanted information.
"No, Mom, what happened?" I sat down on a brown bench to brace for the news.

"What a strange atmosphere. A normally noisy city, a boisterous and excited, affected people, reduced to sullen faces, eyes that have seen too much, mouths turned downward too often, shoulders drooped from years of disappointment, backs hunched from the burden of terror. I tried to hide the grief I was carrying, but ended up finding comfort in the faces of my fellow street wanderers. The same face of disbelief, shock, the same sense of despair, of abuse, the feeling as if we ourselves were killed tonight.

There is none of the religious-secular divide tonight. Though this terrorist attack happened in a yeshiva, everyone relates to it in the same way. It was directed against the religious nationalist ideology, but it was an attack on all of Israel."
--

That's what I wrote the night of the attack. I didn't want to post that in order to write a play by play, to say "hey, look, I was here!" I just want to relate my experience and observations to whoever reads this. To relate what it is like to live in a city during a terror attack, and more so what it is like to live in Israel in times of distress. I want to relate how Israelis react. I want to show our souls, that we are victims.

That night the city was desolate. The streets were blocked off, the buses were rerouted, security was tripled. The normally bustling Ben Yehuda Pedestrian Mall was reduced to about 100 people - not a tenth of the normal amount for a Thursday night. Normally loud liquor stores were hushed, everyone crowded around a TV. At the Internet cafe, everyone was reading the exact same thing. The face of a typically animated 16 year old goofball was solemn, and some tear streaked. I normally find great fault in myself for not feeling the level of emotional affection that I assume I should be feeling during a terrible time. Something bad happens, and I only pay lip-service to the event. Someone dies, and it sucks, but it doesn't touch me. That night, Thursday night, I was beneath the ground I walked on.



I think we were all just shocked that first night. Now that we've had the weekend to mull it over, and now that we have more details on it all, we are just ANGRY. I really do think we are angry. I think that's the consensus, at least from what I've witnessed first hand.

For example:

1) The terrorist was a young man in his 20s who was engaged to be married.

2) His family is a rich Arab family, one of the richest in East Jerusalem. All that "they do this because they are poor and have no other way to express their outrage with the Israelis" crap is bunk. It always has been. This is a case in point.

3) As I was riding the bus today, three strangers began discussing a newspaper article about the attack. They had all the pictures of the boys lined up side by side. A woman started saying "what a shame, what a shame. Why? What a young kid. A baby! 17? 16, why? 15?! Oh no no no." Then the moderately religious man (a white kippa) said "and in a house of God!" The woman says, "you know, look at me, I'm not that religious. But that doesn't matter! I have no problem with you all studying Torah and Talmud, I don't even care if you don't do the army!" The highly religious man (a black kippa, black suit), whispers "it shouldn't have been in a yeshiva. They found them dead with copies of Torah and Talmud in their hands." The woman retorts, "it doesn't even matter if they were religious or not! It has happened everywhere." She ended it all with a very interesting expression to hear from a non-religious person. As she was standing to get off at her stop, she said, "we are all B'nei Yisrael, anyway. This happened to all of us." She said we are all the Children of Jacob, our Patriarch.

4) When we discussed it in class today, which we did for the first 30 minutes or so, someone said something along the lines of "the terrorist, that man..." Our infinitely kind and sweet teacher cut him off by saying, "man? No, not a man, a ba'al chaim" An animal.

5) Everyone is very upset that Jordan actually had the guts to dismantle the "mourning tent" that this terrorist's uncle in Jordan constructed, a ritual that Muslims perform for the dead, but Israel has decided to actually allow the terrorists family to keep theirs up here in Jerusalem. Apparently we made them take down the Hizbullah and Hamas flags today, after allowing them to fly for the past few days. Doesn't this prove what kind of democracy Israel is, what kind of humane country we are? We get murdered by this fool, and then we allow the family to publicly mourn their fool, praise martyrdom, with anti-Israel signs all around, and cheer on the murderer in the very city that he committed his atrocity! All in the name of giving the "Palestinians" a fair deal and equal standing.

6) The UN Security Council was blocked by Libya from decrying this attack. Now, if I remember correctly, Israel is condemned quite regularly for their targeted assassinations of terrorists, guys that organize these types of crimes... But no condemnation for when a guy opens fire on Israeli 15 year olds?

If our allowance of freedom to mourn in this circumstance isn't democracy and humane treatment, those ideals don't even exist in theory. We are letting them keep up their public display of thanksgiving, joy for killing seven teens, and even one 26 year old immigrant that fled from persecution in Ethiopia when he was eight. I have to admit, when my teacher called the guy an animal, not a human, I looked at my friend and said, "wow, that's pretty harsh." How do I feel, though? Angry. Sick. Disturbed. But, somehow these incidents only strengthen my resolve to serve this land and this nation.

Take a look at the victims, the supposed perpetrators of crimes against innocent Palestinians, and tell me if you think a human being could kill these boys, as they sat in a library studying 2,000 year old texts. 15, 18, 19 years old, and those last two are some of the oldest that were murdered.

10K for Sderot

If you've read my blog recently, you'll notice I've talked about Sderot a few times. In short, it's an Israeli town inside Israel (not in Gaza, not in the West Bank), and it has been the target of about 8,000 rocket attacks in the past couple years. Every day there are rockets falling, either killing or maiming people, and always destroying some house or building. It is a war zone.

Two friends of mine, one of the cutest young couples I've ever met, are doing a 10k run to raise money for Sderot victims of terror and the community in general. David was a Golani officer in the IDF (he's a badass), and Molly is a Bostonian come Jerusalemite. They're good people.

So, if it strikes you to donate to this worthy cause, click on the link below and make a donation. It is Paypal, which is the most trusted Internet payment system. So, no worries. If you donate, make a comment on this post! Anonymous, not anonymous, whatever!

http://runforsderot.connectionsisrael.com/Molly&David.htm

This really warms me up, to read something like this. In case you don't have time to read that link, it's an article about a swarm of people that flocked to Sderot on Friday in order to do their shopping, providing emotional and financial support to their fellow Israelis and Jews.

Sderot is a little town inside Israel proper that rests along the Gaza border. Because of its location, it has been the target of around 8,000 rocket attacks in the past few years, since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip. Nearly every day rockets are launched from Hamas terrorists inside Gaza, landing in the city or the surrounding area, often resulting in destroyed houses, injuries, and occasionally deaths. Just last week, I believe, two brothers were seriously wounded in one of these attacks. One of them had his leg amputated. Every day on the news it isn't a matter of whether or not rockets landed, but rather how many, and what they destroyed.

The residents, and particularly the outspoken mayor, have become vocally exasperated with the government. I read an article a few days ago saying that protecting Sderot is a "low-priority," right now. I'm not really sure what we can do, since all of this is originating inside Gaza, and it's not like our targeted assassinations ever stop these attacks from being carried out. The city wants the government to help fortify buildings, I guess make them more rocket-proof, though I don't know of many buildings that can withstand a rocket attack. I personally want to help in some way, even if it is in a way that will only bring emotional support, as I have no personal recourse in stopping rockets. I feel like there is something I should be able to do, but what can one silly guy accomplish?

I wish I would have heard about this! 10,000 Israelis from all over the country went to Sderot on Friday, just to do some shopping. I guess they bought groceries and other Shabbat items, since it was a "pre-Shabbat" event. This is, as another comment noted, real Zionism at work. The problem is that Zionism, outward acts of Zionism, have generally been abandoned, leaving religious demographics as the only groups that actively pursue these forms of support and activism. Maybe I'm wrong on that, I hope so, but I would venture to guess that the majority of these shoppers were religious.

Anyway, let's not spoil a good story with sad overtones or wild speculation! This is good news for a battered town. Sderot: We haven't forgotten about you, and we'll help, even if the government has better things to do. I hope I hear about it next time around! Or, maybe I should just go sometime? I'm sure my mom would love that...

Mean Israelis! HMPH!

As I was walking down the street the other day, the morning after the first suicide terror attack on Israel in just over a year, I saw something that caught my eye. There was an Arab man standing by a cop car, looking like he wasn't sure what to do with himself as he played on his cellphone, and the female police officer was calling in his paperwork. If you stand at the intersection of Jaffa Street and King Solomon Street, the intersection between the Old City and the New City of Jerusalem, you are almost guaranteed half the time to see cops checking I.D.'s. My picture happens to be from a different area of the city, a rich area, thus a decent amount of construction (needing cheap labor - Arabs).

I'm not 100% sure on how it works, as I've seen dozens checked and generally all let through to the New City, but basically the cop checks the Arab person's ID, smiles, and off they go. Not quite sure what they're looking for, at least in terms of what may or may not be printed on the ID. If anyone knows, inform me.

Anyway, in this particular case the Israeli officer was calling in the man's papers, probably some working papers, as he stood on. I felt like I was breaking the law by just taking a picture from the other side of the street! But seriously, it caught my eye in a few ways.

1) It was pretty innocuous. There wasn't any abuse, the woman didn't call in multiple cars for backup, as undoubtedly they would do in America. Heck, I was pulled over once in Williamsburg for suspected drunk driving - supposedly I pulled out of a turn too quickly, and it was 2 AM - and within 3 minutes there were 3 cop cars, all lights ablaze. Even after I blew a 0.00 BAC, and reiterated that I had nothing to drink, I still felt guilty! So, I was a little proud of the female police officer here for not calling in backup. You go girl! Oh, yeah, the point: She just checked his papers, no abuse like anti-Israel voices would have you believe.

2) Do you blame us? The morning after a suicide bombing, after we have had a year of freedom from bombings (not counting the daily rocket barrages from the Gaza Strip, of course) it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that we're going to check a few ID's. You kill us, we'll check your ID. Not a bad tradeoff.

3) This reminded me of a pretty good, though maybe a little left-wing for me, Israeli movie that I saw last year. It is called Karov L'Bayit, or Close to Home. Essentially, it is the story of two very different girls that find themselves as partners during their army service. As you may know, army service is compulsory in the Holy Land. So, these two 18 year old girls have the terribly difficult duty of checking non-Israelis' IDs, on the street, and writing down their information. Targeted profiling, if you will. We speak of these things in America as potentiality. We live it every single day here. These girls have a very important, though taxing job. The story really reveals what Israelis have to go through, and from the attitude of the soldiers you see that it isn't at all what we want. What 18 year old would want to spend 2 years checking the ID's of generally innocent people - people just trying to work whatever job they can get?

So, what should you take from this? Remember: Israel does what it has to do to try to curb illegal entry into the state, and keep harmful elements from our populace, but we do it with humanity. This picture is proof that Israel is indeed humane towards the Arabs. Some commentators will even say that Israel has the most humane army on earth. I don't want to get into a political discussion, but I will profess to anyone that Israel does go out of its way to guard the "innocent until proven guilty" ideal of Democracy, even towards our non-citizen residents and workers.

This picture is huge, so you can download that and zoom in and all of it. Sorry it's not better. I wasn't trying to get arrested!

I don't know how many of you follow the news, but if you even glanced at it, you'll see that the former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, has been assassinated. Over the past few months there has been a restriction on freedoms and civil rights by Musharraf, the current Prime Minister, and Bhutto was fairly outspoken on the regression of the Pakistani government and society. Pakistan is a Muslim country, torn between extremist groups (they are heavy supporters of Al Qaida) and moderates (such as Bhutto).

Everyone saw Bhutto as a great "bridge" between the Western world and entrenched Muslim societies. She could have served in some type of special position, a position to rectify the differences that often find our two spheres in conflict. She was also a potential peace-broker for Israel and the Middle East, considering her ability to relate to the Muslims, and her slightly more moderate stance (relative to, I dunno, Hamas negotiators).

But, alas, she was gunned down. Assasinated. This situation is just about the same to Pakistan as the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin was to Israel. Or JFK to America. Kinda. Also, she was killed in the same location, after giving a speech, as the first prime minister of the country.

The greatest chance of true democracy and personal freedoms in Pakistan has just died. Another country bound to support terror and Islamic facism? Maybe. Probably. Quite likely.

And the rioting begins...

Today's the big day! Yay! You can almost taste the idiocy in the air, over there at the U.S. Naval base in Annapolis. I particularly like a collage that CNN made, with Bush, Abbas, and Olmert sliced together. It's funny because you are looking at the three most untrustworthy politicians -- and they're about to hold a serious conference on the world's most volatile issue.

I mentioned in my previous post that Hamas is gearing up for war against their fellow Palestinians and Israel. If you don't know about the situation in the West Bank and Gaza, let me say it in a sentence or two. There are two rival factions among the Palestinians: Fatah, the party that has the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, a provisional government; Hamas, an unabashed terrorist party that has the prime minister position. These two groups have been in a civil war for the past year or so, with Fatah trying to talk to Israel and the West, and Hamas seeking the 1948 ideal of wiping Israel off the map. Hamas supporters attack Fatah for being pro-Western, and Fatah supporters attack Hamas in order to quell their aggressiveness. Every day in the news you hear about a clash that kills a handful of people. It's chaos over there. In Hebrew, we'd say it's ballegan, or a crazy mess.

So, as I said in the previous post, the Hamas leadership is vocally denouncing this conference, calling for the Arab world to unite against Abbas, Fatah, and Israel. The meat of the matter is that Hamas believes that Abbas will make concessions. I have no idea what the Palestinians have to offer Israel, but hey, you can't argue with a madman prime minister. Haniyeh, the Prime Minister still living in the '40s, just signed an acerbic statement against the summit. At the signing, a high ranking Palestinian politician said, "Any settlement that does not include the return of the refugees, [Israel's] ceding of the land and the holy sites, and the release of the prisoners is ridiculous. The attempt to force such a solution led to the second Intifada."

Oh boy. He essentially just said that after Annapolis, which is trying to "force such a resolution," Hamas will have no choice but to start the third Intifadah. Camp David 2000, the conference where Israel tried to give away 97% of the West Bank, was the spark for Arafat to start the terror war against Israel. The Annapolis summit will not see such a magnanimous gesture...so what kind of war are we going to see now?

Want to know what Hamas really wants, what they mean by that previous statement? Here you go:

1) Return the refugees: In 1948, seven Arab states attacked a tiny, brand new country, the day after they declared statehood. There was a considerable number of Arabs living in this country, and were offered full, unequivocal citizenship rights by the new country. The attacking Arab states told these Arabs living in the country to leave the main-land so that the armies could rape and pillage the new state, and after the war and massacre of the new citizens, these Arabs could come back and take all of the newly reclaimed, beautiful farmland and cities built by the previous owners. Well, the result of the war was a miracle. The new country absolutely demolished all seven attacking armies, thus creating a sea of displaced people. These Arab states that so benevolently swept into the new country, telling their Arab brethren to flee in order to exterminate the enemy, then decided that none of the people that they displaced were allowed to enter their countries. So, the Arab states created an Arab refugee crisis, rejected their responsibility of absorption, and then dumped the problem on the new country.
A return of refugees means that the new country must evacuate all the land that was once occupied by those Arabs that jubilantly fled in order to make room for their liberating armies. So, the new country is being asked to leave the country. All of it. A "return of the refugees" as Hamas sees it means that Israel must peacefully wipe itself off the map.

2) Israel's ceding of the land and holy sites: Isn't that self-explanatory? 'The Land' means all of Israel, and certainly all of the West Bank and Jerusalem. Jerusalem. They want back the capital city of Israel. A city that was built by Israel, and Jews. They want it all. From Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean, to Jerusalem at the east.

3) Release prisoners: Hamas wants us to release terrorists! I talked about this in my previous post, so I won't go over it again. But let me just say that they probably will get some of their terrorists back, considering we are releasing 431 of them after the summit.

So, now you know what Hamas wants. Let me give you better proof. The head of Hamas, and the prime minister of the PA, Haniyeh, signed the petition, which said:

"It is our prerogative to defend our lands by all possible means. We warn of the deplorable security coordination with the enemy. We call for a unified Arab and Palestinian front. All powers must deploy to combat the aggression against our nation. The Palestinian people hold the exclusive right to decide its fate in any manner it sees fit, and it owns the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea."

Well, well, well. Now we hear it from the horse's mouth. They defend their right to terrorism, a right of resistance by "all possible means." They're calling for another war of 1948, with a dozen Arab states attacking a single, tiny country. And most importantly, the Palestinians deny the right of Israel to exist: We "own the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea." And this is our 'partner in peace.' The world over decries Israel's recalcitrance in dealing with Palestinian leadership...now do you see why?

And here the fools in Annapolis will sit, Olmert surrounded by 10 Arab states wanting him, his country, and his people (including me and everyone I know) to march right into the sea. And Olmert, knowing his foolishness, will probably start the procession.