Real Israel blog back for “Why I Love Israel” blog carnival this Wednesday!

In the past week, the “I LOVE this country” post has received a lot of attention. As part of broader efforts to show the international community a different side of Israel, Real Israel is being revived for the blog carnival stated in the title to gather and highlight new and old blog posts about what you love about Israel in one post. If you have a blog and would like to participate here are more details. 

What: “Why I LOVE Israel” blog carnival

When: This Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

Where: Real Israel blog

Entries should include…

• Your name as you want it to appear in the post
• The name of your blog 
• The blog URL 
• The title of the post
• The post URL

Posts that qualify for entry include…

• Why you love Israel 
• Unique experiences you’ve had in Israel 

Please note that…

• Entries accepted from blogs only. 
• Only English language posts will be accepted. 
• No more than one post per blog. 

You can learn more about what a blog carnival is here and here. 

If you have any questions feel free to include them in the comments below or to send an email to realisrael@gmail.com. 

Israel Helps Sick Gazans

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This isn’t news to me, but since it is most likely news to most, I thought I’d post about this.

I have actually made a few posts in the past about medical procedures performed in Israel on Palestinians, but yesterday the BBC, known to be very anti-Israel, published a nicely balanced article about the issue. Here are some excerpts from the article. I urge you to read it in its entirely if you can.

An Israeli Apartheid – Debunked. Part 2 – History of Israeli Equality Laws

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This is part 2 of my series debunking the myth of an Israeli apartheid.

An Israeli Apartheid – Debunked. Part 1 – Definitions and History

History of Israeli Equality Laws

Long before the State of Israel was established, Jewish leaders, among them David Ben Gurion who would become the first prime minister of Israel, consciously made the decision to try to avoid the situation in South Africa as much as possible. Ben Gurion told Palestinian nationalist Musa Alami in 1934:

We do not want to create a situation like that which exists in South Africa, where whites are the owners and rulers, and the blacks are the workers. If we do not do all kinds of work, easy and hard, skilled and unskilled, if we become merely landlords, then this will not be our homeland. (Shabtai Teveth, Ben Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs: From Peace to War.)

Are Palestinians Shooting Themselves in the Foot – Again?

About a week ago, I posted a commentary about the Palestinians’ inability to make up their minds. On the one hand, they yell and scream humanitarian crisis – even if it’s proven to be untrue – and on the other hand they can be blamed – at least partially – for their own situation, inasmuch as they insist on infiltrating Israel at border crossings that provide humanitarian aid and killing innocent Israelis.

Today they’re at it again. This morning, several terrorists blew up car bombs and began shooting at soldiers who serve at the crossing, in a failed attempt to kidnap more Israeli soldiers. Hamas took responsibility for this attack where 13 soldiers were injured.

Yes, Hamas – the government.

Ethical Question: Let Pregnant Woman Through Border Crossings?

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In itself, the answer is yes. Why wouldn’t you let a pregnant woman go through your borders to a hospital? Imagine the following situation:

You are an 18-year-old soldier commanding a checkpoint in Israel. An ambulance arrives, and inside is a woman who is seemingly pregnant. The woman appears to be in pain and her husband is also highly anxious. But you have been warned about an ambulance bearing a pregnant woman who is not really pregnant.

Palestinians Feign Humanitarian Crisis? Hamas Lies? Impossible!

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I SO saw this coming.

Following last week’s terrorist attack that left 2 Israelis dead at one of the crossings used by Israel to transfer humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, Israel shut down said crossing, at least temporarily. I already covered the ridiculousness of the whole attack – torpedoing your own people’s survival, so I won’t repeat it (feel free to read it though).

Now the Palestinians are yelling humanitarian crisis to whoever will listen. There are two levels to this statement. First – it is untrue. Second – can you honestly blame Israel for shutting down the crossing?

Are Palestinians Against Receiving Aid? They’re Shooting Themselves in the Foot

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Yesterday’s terrorist attack was different than most. Not just because “only” two people were killed (talk to their families – see if they care that it was “only” two). In case you don’t know, 4 Palestinians snuck into Israel yesterday and murdered two Israelis who were working at a fuel terminal close to the border. It is believed that they were looking to kidnap Israelis.

The Palestinian gunmen took advantage of Israel’s eases on roadblocks. As part of an agreement made when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in Israel, Israel eased many restrictions on the Palestinians, including opening up a checkpoint and removing 50 roadblocks.

A Beautiful Murderer

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I received this by email. I Googled it and found out that it has been published several times on different blogs, but I feel the topic is important enough to publish again. Hopefully others will do the same. This letter was written by the family of Malki Roth.

[Several months ago,] the New York Times carried a review of a film called “Hot House” that goes inside Israeli prisons and examines the lives of Palestinian prisoners. We’re not recommending the film or the review. But we do want to share our feelings with you about the beaming female face that adorns the article.

The film is produced by HBO. So it’s presumably HBO’s publicity department that was responsible for creating and distributing a glamor-style photograph of a smiling, contented-looking young woman in her twenties to promote the movie.

That female is our child’s murderer.

Rockets Hit Sderot and Ashkelon; Land by Preschool

Two rockets landed in Ashkelon this morning, one directly hitting an 8-story building and another landing in a playground. 28 people were evacuated to a nearby hospital. The IDF has pulled out of Gaza, so clearly the rocket fire has nothing to do with our actions there (nor did it stop anything).

A short time later, 3 Qassams landed in Sderot and just south of Ashkelon. Another rocket landed by a kindergarten in Ashkelon where the kindergarten teachers claim they did not even hear the Tzeva Adom (Color Red) warning.

According to Ynet,

Sunday saw dozens of Qassam, Grad rockets and mortar shell fired at the western Negev: Two rockets landed in Sderot – one hit a house and caused several people to suffer shock; and the other hit a power transformer, which caught on fire, causing a temporary blackout in the area.

A Grad rocket fired at Ashkelon on Sunday hit a house in the city’s center. One girl suffered mild shrapnel injuries. Three children were in the house at the time of the Color Red alert – all three rushed to their secure room, thus avoiding any serious injury.

Several rockets fired Sunday landed at Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira’s (the Baba Sali) gravesite in Netivot.

Israel Allows Humanitarian Aid into Gaza

Recognizing the impending humanitarian crisis facing Gaza, Israel allowed 62 trucks carrying medical supplies and humanitarian aid into the Gaza strip.

Among other things, the supplies included thousands of blood units, one million gauzes, and basic food.

Israel also allowed 7 trucks carrying oil, 7 trucks carrying sugar, and 9 trucks of dairy products, and four trucks with fish and meat.

Israeli security forces have made it clear that in spite of the fighting going on in the Gaza strip, there is no intention of allowing a humanitarian crisis to unfold, and medical and humanitarian aid will continue to be delivered to Gaza.

I’m happy to read that in the midst of the warfare, Israel has not lost site of the fact that those who are attacking us (close to 30 rockets have been launched today at Sderot, Ashkelon, and other towns in the Negev) are the minority in their community: Just like the innocent people of the Negev, one can assume that the majority of the Palestinians just want to live their lives.

One would hope, at least.

Over 40 Rockets Launched at Israel Yesterday

No, this isn’t a repeat of the post from last week. More rockets landed in Ashkelon, with direct hits in private homes (children hurt).

Today over 20 rockets have been launched towards the Negev, and it’s only 1 pm.

Check out this blog post. It gives a glimpse into 36 hours of constant rocket attacks from the point of view of Laura Bialis, an independent filmmaker whose documentary, Refusnik, will be premiering in the Seattle Jewish Film Festival. Bialis has been living in Sderot. Here is a shortened account of this past weekend. You can read the entire entry here.

Friday, 3:00AM:
Tzeva Adom (Color Red Alert) does not go off, but there is a weird alarm going off– its the thing that goes off after there are several Tzeva Adoms in a row. It wakes us all up, and we don’t know what to do– do we run to the shelter? Maybe it is a mistake. I make a mental note to try and interview someone about the Tzeva Adom system.

1 Killed, Over 40 Rockets Launched at Israel

Over 40 rockets were launched at Israel yesterday from Gaza. One of them hit Sapir College and killed a student, Roni Yechiah, a father of four who underwent kidney transplant surgery several years ago. Several more were treated for wounds.

Earlier yesterday, a rocket hit a poultry factory and later a rocket fell just outside of a Carlsberg beer factory. Several rockets also landed in Ashkelon, one of them landing near a hospital’s helicopter pad.

Hamas – yes, yes, Palestinian government Hamas – claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attacks.

Sderot to Receive Benefits – Maybe…

You’ve gotta love messed up governments. MK Silvan “Steve” Shalom proposed a new bill that would grant small businesses in Sderot and other towns close to Gaza that have been hit by Qassams several benefits. These include various tax benefits, monetary compensation, and permission to receive extra credit (not the school kind) for businesses who have lost much of their income due to the present situation.

Sounds good, right? Not so much, apparently. The official government position was against it – but the Knesset passed the bill in the first round (of three to get a bill approved in Israel). Even some of the MKs who are in the coalition voted for the bill. Many abstained. 34 voted for the legislation, and 22 voted against. Which means that 64 (!!!) MKs either abstained or did not show up to vote on the bill. In case you don’t know, there are 120 Mks.

I guess they were too busy accompanying former MK Omri Sharon to jail, where he will be serving a 7-month sentence for corruption and fraud connected to his father’s election bid (former PM Ariel Sharon, whose 80th birthday was yesterday).

Murdered Arab will be recognized by Israel as terror victim

Taisir Karaki, the Arab cab driver from Jerusalem who was murdered in Tel Aviv Tuesday, will be recognized by the State of Israel as a terror victim, National Insurance Institute officials estimated.

The decision is pending the approval of the defense establishment.

Karaki was allegedly murdered by Julien Soufir, a new immigrant from France, after Karaki drove him to Tel Aviv. According to suspicion, Soufir invited Karaki to come up to his apartment and use his bathroom, and then slit his throat with a knife.

You can read the rest of the article from Ynet here.

I’m waiting for the announcement that the Palestinian Authority will pay the families of all the victims who died in terrorist attacks carried out by their people. Many of whom were commissioned by Hamas. Which their government.

OVer 50 rockets launched at Israel in the past few days

One of the rockets launched this morning landed inside a classroom at a high school where students were taking their finals.

Luckily, the classroom was empty since it was not fortified, which is the only reason a huge disaster was averted. Several students were hurt in a nearby classroom and all exams were suspended.

The only students who arrived at school today were those who had to take their matriculation exams, and they were placed in fortified classrooms.

Eli Moyal, the mayor of Sderot, said that although the country and Gaydamak had buses take residents to nearby towns, it was only to “catch a breath” and not to get everyone out of the town.

That would be giving them what they want.

Extensive retaliation is being planned for Gaza.