Smile When You Hear Death to Israel

What is it about saying Death to Israel that makes so many people feel so good?

Why is it, that so many people find so many ways to say it?

You can literally hear a new one every day. Sometimes twice.This was, in fact, Death to Israel Weekend on the radical Islamist network. On Friday, Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar kicked things off at a rally in Khan Yunis, bringing down the house by declaring that Israel is “an abomination in the Middle East” that will someday “disappear.”“We will never recognize Israel, and in the end the [fate of] Zionists will be like that of the Crusaders, the Persians and the English, who left,” said Zahar, a founding father of Hamas.

“We want all of Palestine, every centimeter, from the river to the sea, from Rosh Hanikra to Rafah. If we can form a state within the 1967 borders we will do so, but this doesn’t mean that we will relinquish our right to every centimeter of Palestine’s land.”

There it is. No room for us Jews. No room for our history, our past presence here. No room for our common ancestry with the Palestinians. No room for Abraham. He was, after all, not from here. He was from Mesopotamia. Let him go back.

Kidnapping is Terrorism

I’m not talking about kidnapping for the sake of kidnapping (not that that’s right either). I mean kidnapping as a means to get money or to settle personal disputes with local authorities authorities.

Today’s kidnapping (and subsequent release) of AP photographer Emilio Morenatti in Gaza today ended well, as (thankfully) have previous kidnappings.

Palestinian militants in Gaza have frequently kidnapped foreign journalists and aid workers in the past two years, usually seeking money or to settle personal disputes with Palestinian authorities.

What I don’t understand here is why. Why kidnap the people who are trying to help you? I can “understand” the kidnapping of an enemy (though in our case it usually results in murder). But why and aid worker or a journalist?

A previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades claimed responsibility. Its demand for the release of Muslim prisoners held by the United States raised fears that foreign extremists, perhaps al-Qaida, had infiltrated Gaza.

Palestinian security officials, however, said the name was a front for local militants.

Either way, this is not the way to gain sympathy. Alienating those who want to help isn’t the way to go. Even the Palestinian government knows that – that’s why they condemn these acts.

It’s time the people face up to the government they have elected and allow them to do their job. Otherwise, anarchy will prevail, and no type of peace will be possible.

CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) Executive Director Joel Simon said today in response, “We’re dismayed that journalists have become pawns of Palestinian groups seeking to exploit them for political purposes. These blatant attacks on journalists will have a chilling effect on their ability to do their work and will ultimately deprive the world of information about this critically important story.” 

If you don’t like what your government is doing, elect a different one. Or run yourself. Just take into consideration that terrorising those who are on your side isn’t quite the way to go.

A Response to Bloggers Seeing Israel in the Wrong

This post is actually a comment I left on someone else’s post. I’ve decide to post it on my blog as well since I feel that it contains a lot of important information and points I would like to make. I have posted several other similar comments on other sites, so I will probably post these in the future. This is the post in almost its entirety (minus a personal commendation to the blogger himself).

Not ALL Israeli soldiers are saints, but hardly any army in the world can claim that. It’s enough just to mention the pictures from Iraq with the
US and British soldiers to prove that point. However for the most part these are 18-year-old kids and 35-year-old men who would like nothing more than to be at home.

As for the wall. If you ask almost any Israeli (and I’m not talking about any extremists or fundamenstalists), you will hear that in an ideal world we wouldn’t need to wall. It’s uglying up our country as well. We don’t want it. but the documented proof is that stince that wall has gone up, the amount of suicide bombers making it into Israel has decreased dramatically.

The Palestinian government is doing a great job (I’m being completely serious here) in stopping terrorists. I know they do a lot to make sure they don’t get through, and they work religiously with Israel on this. (Again, I am being serious.) When you couple that together with the roadblocks and the border points, they are extremely efficient together at stopping ALMOST all the suicide bombers from getting through into
Israel.

Unfortunately, the system is not yet working perfectly. In an ideal world, and the world that Israelis hope is nearby, Israel won’t have to put up roadblocks anymore and we would be able to depend 100% on the Palestinian government to stop any potential terrorism from entering our country.

A Possible Solution from Sydney Students?

I came across this, and while it seems like a cool idea (and temporary solution), I’m not sure it’s feasible and even worth development costs. It’s not like Israel stops everyone at the border crossings just for fun and to torture people. A suicide bomber can easily send the SMS saying that they want to come into Israel to visit their sick cousin, but still try to smuggle a bomb into the country. It’s a great way to tell you what the closest checkpoint is, but I’m sure that they already know (not the bombers, the people in general).

Then again, at least someone has some initiative in trying to make the situation better.

After reading about long queues at Palestinian-Israeli border crossings, and the frustrations and even deaths that can occur as people wait for medical care, a University of Sydney student decided to create mobile phone technology to solve the problem.

After entering your personal details, the reason for your visit and your time of travel into your phone Amal Abdo’s program tells you which checkpoint to go to. It will even give you a unique code to use when you get there.“The phone tracks your GPS location to know which checkpoint is closest to you,” says Abdo, who created the work as part of a final year design project set by new media lecturer Andy Dong.

Her design gives “Israelis the security they want, but at the same time minimises disadvantage to the Palestinians,” she says.

For the rest of the article, click here. 

2 More Rockets Launched into Israel – 3 Total for Today

3 Qassam rockets launched today, which makes a total of 12 rockets fired from Gaza into Israel (not the territories) since Friday. Plus the five mortal shells from the weekend (not including the mortars thrown today at soldiers).

It’s a good thing we’re not at war with anyone right now.

Most US Jews support Palestinian state

I agree. 

Annual survey conducted by American Jewish Committee reveals most American Jews back Israel’s efforts to achieve peace, but worry that conflict may lead again to war. Majority of respondents disapprove of American government’s handling of Iran’s nuclear threat; most believe anti-Semitism set to increase worldwide in coming years

Ynetnews, Published October 23, 2006, 17:04. 

While American Jews are highly supportive of Israel’s efforts to achieve peace, in the wake of the summer war with Hizbullah a majority remains skeptical about the chances for achieving an overall peace and worry that the conflict may lead again to a regional war, according to a new survey by the American Jewish Committee. Fifty-six percent of American Jews think Israel and the Arabs never will be able to settle their differences and live in peace, while 38 percent believe they will. Regarding the war between Israel and Hizbullah, 55 percent approved, and 35 percent disapproved, of the way the Israeli government handled the conflict in Lebanon in July and August. Similarly, 53 percent approved, and 39 percent disapproved, of the way the US government handled the conflict.

American Jews are evenly divided on the outcome of Israel’s summer war with Hizbullah, with 49 percent saying neither Israel nor Hizbullah emerged the winner, 2 percent saying both were victorious, 24 percent to Israel and 15 percent to Hizbullah.

Despite these mixed results, a majority of American Jews, 54 percent, favor the establishment of a Palestinian state, while 38 percent are opposed. These figures are consistent with AJC surveys since 2001.

AJC’s Survey of American Jewish Opinion, conducted annually since 1997, gauges US Jewish views on the Arab-Israeli peace process, terrorism, Iran, the war in Iraq, perceptions of anti-Semitism, social and political issues in the US such as energy and immigration, and Jewish identity concerns.

The complete AJC survey is available at www.ajc.org.

The complete Ynet article is available here.

Weekend Rocket and Mortar Shell Tally

So far this weekend, 7 Qassam rockets and 5 mortar shells have been fired at Israel, mostly hitting the town of Sderot. Sderot gets Qassams fired at it almost on a daily basis, and has been for years. For those of you who are wondering, Sderot is not what anyone would call “the territories” and were Israel to withdraw to the ‘67 lines, Sderot would remain in Israel. That is, of course, other than those who think that Israel has no right to exist in the first place. 

In other “positive” news, Palestinian Foreign Minister al-Zahar stated during a Hamas rally that Israel is “an abcess” on the Middle East, which has no historical, religious, or cultural justification, and Hamas will never recognize the Zionist state. 

How are we supposed to make peace with a government that doesn’t recognize our right to exist? And as if that’s not enough, al-Zahar said yesterday that Hamas has not ruled out the option of kidnapping more Israeli soldiers to attain the release of Palestinian security prisoners held in Israeli jails. For the record, these prisoners they want released – they all have blood on their hands, meaning they either physically carried out a terrorist attack, were caught on their way to carry one out (which happens more often than Israelis would like to consciously recognize), or helped plan one. 

I’m sure that when we release this prisoners to Hamas (AKA a terrorist organization who has claimed thousands of Israeli lives over the years) they will surely place these people in jail. 

Right. 

Better late than later

I was going to start this blog in the summer after I finished my studies for my masters degree, but 5 days before my last exam, the war in Lebanon broke out. Since I worked 15- to 17-hour days during the war, I delayed opening this blog, even though its importance back then outweighs now by far. On the other hand, the situation was so volatile that perhaps it’s better this way, and now I can begin with a “fresh” start. 

A little about myself first. I am originally from Houston, Texas and I moved to Israel in 2001, in the middle of the second Initifada. Since I lived in Israel from the ages of 8-14, it didn’t seem weird to me anyway. I double-majored in advertising/public relations and print journalism, and I just finished my masters degree in political science and public communications. 

I decided to start this blog for several reason, but first and foremost to have an outlet for my frustration regarding the portrayal of Israel in the media and world-wide public opinion. Also, I think that most people with anti-Israel and anti-Semitic remarks are mostly un-educated. By uneducated I do not meet did not complete middle school or college. I mean these are for the most part people who have not received a balanced report of the on-goings in the Middle East, and more specifically Israel. Therefore, in addition to current events news about Israel, I will also be posting good news aboutIsrael. Scientific breakthroughs, venture capital investments, and any other cool things going on. 

Did you know that any time there is a natural disaster Israel is among the first countries to offer search and rescue assistance? Israel always sends its squads – among the best in the world – to assist, though its assistance has been declined by fundamentalist Muslim countries. I will also be having updates in the blog about old current events stories. You know the kind, where Israel is accused of massacring thousands of Palestinians (The “Jenin Massacre” in April, 2002), but later on, when official UN reports come out saying no such massacre occurred, no one hears about it because, at best, it is reported by the obituaries. Or Israel flat-out killing a 13-year-old child only to later find out that it was Palestinian gunfire that did the job.  I will address both these cases later on, especially the “Jenin Massacre” since it is one of my case studies in my thesis. 

DId you know that we have rockets fired at us almost every single day and have for years? Didn’t think so, but I’ll keep you updated about that as well.

I hope you find this blog interesting and informative. I very much welcome any questions and suggestions you may have, and if I have the information and knowledge, I will post a blog about the requested topic. Feel free to email me at realisrael@gmail.com with any comments or questions.