Much of the inspiration for this carnival comes from the I LOVE this country post which appeared here shortly after Israel’s Independence Day last May and which drew some newfound attention last week. 

The carnival begins… now.

In Benji Lovitt’s Independence Day post, What, You Thought We’d Turn 60 and Then Go Back to Our Normal Lives? on What War Zone??, he lists 60 reasons why he loves Israel from the commonplace to the unique. Two reasons on his list are living in a historical place and Israeli Facebook applications, such as IsraPoke.

Robin posted on her Around the Island blog an entry titled Life in Israel, which in honor of Independence Day gives 13 reasons why she loves Israel. Among her reasons are the Mediterranean weather, the beautiful parks with history, and Israelis genuine care for one another.

Reposted in honor of the blog carnival, 13  Things I Love About Israel, Phyllis Sommer of the Ima on (and off) the Bima, listed that she loves watching the faces of first-timers when they really do float in the Dead Sea and watching kids play in parks that are full of ancient artifacts.

In her post, Extraordinary, on Aliyah: It’s as easy as opening a bank account…, Rebecca Zibman discusses that she loves Israel for its everyday occurences that make for the extraordinary stories later on. 

Shelley Shafran on her blog Yifarach K’Shoshannah (Bloom Like A Rose), explains in the post Why I’m here, that she moved to Israel because she loves the passion that people in Israel have and the ability they have to accomplish anything, whether they be filmmakers, entrepreneurs, architects or anyone else. 

Another blogger, Sara Chertoff explains in a post, Rainbows, Rain and Oranges, on her blog Sarah’s Aliyah, that she loves the little things about Israel, like when it rains and how much it is needed and seeing fruits blossom.

Finally, in her Here in HP blog, Leora focuses on her love of art in Israel, in her post, Art in Israel. Her post includes pictures taken of various street art, pictures and drawings. 

Why do you love Israel? Share your reasons in the comments below. 

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. 

Since things aren’t getting better, and I won’t be updating in any foreseeable future, I’ve decided to announce the closing of my blog. It will still be online, but I won’t be posting again for quite a while (if at all). Thanks to all of you who have been emailing and leaving messages, etc.

Talia

I apologize, but I promise I will be back when things settle down a bit. I may still make the occasional post, we’ll see.

Warning: This post could make you vomit due to it’s elevated level of cheesiness.

I am completely in love with Israel and my friends right now. I’m sure it will pass within a few days when some idiot flicks me off on the freeway or calls me a puta (yes, that actually happens here too), but for the next few days, I will remain in an elevated state of elation, due to the amazing long weekend I just had.

Wednesday was Israel’s Memorial Day, and it was immediately followed by Israel’s 60th Independence Day. On Wednesday night, the entire country was out celebrating at numerous events around the country. I stayed in my town because an amazing band, Kaveret, was reuniting for the evening, and a couple of my friends came over (video of them singing Yoya is here). After the show we played TAKI until 330 am (basically the Israeli version of Uno) which you can play online here.

It doesn’t matter what incredible things I did over those 4 days, including almost fainting after donating blood (though I’d like to mention I attended the premiere of Fiddler on the Roof at the Cameri and it was incredible – y’all should go if you’re in Israel!).

Because of this corny state in which I am at the moment, I’d like to share with you why I love Israel so much.

I love that your friends have no problem picking up other friends of yours who they’ve never met, and by the time they reach your apartment, they are having deeper and more personal conversations than you’ve had with half your friends. They’ve probably added each other on Facebook before they even got out of the car.

I love that you can’t possibly go through a holiday without being invited to a million people’s houses for dinner/lunch/parties. Having one dinner/lunch/party is not an excuse to miss another one. You can’t eat too much food.

I love how I studied Spanish for years in Texas, but I only became fluent after moving to Israel and getting addicted to Argentinean telenovelas (soap operas).

I love how Israeli children are fluent in basic Spanish because of kiddie novelas from Argentina and Mexico like Chiquititas, Rebelde Way, Amy La Nina de la Mochila Azul, and Patito Feo.

I love that you don’t worry about not having Friday night plans on Friday afternoon – no one else has made them yet either. Just wait till 9 – you’ll be turning people down.

I love than if you try to plan ahead people yell at you “I don’t know what I’m doing the day after tomorrow – it’s too far away!”

I love that anywhere you go there is history. Even if you don’t know it.

I love that you can visit almost any place written in the Bible. Learn it and go there (props to Jerusalem class from Young Judaea Year Course 1996-1997!)

I love that you can walk through the Old City (during the quieter times) and see people and sites from all religions and forget there is a conflict going on.

I love the fact that sometimes Shuk Hacarmel feels like it’s been invaded by the US (and ditto for Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem).

I love that you can’t possibly meet an Israeli and not have mutual acquaintances. If you don’t figure it out when you meet, add each other on Facebook – you’ll be surprised. Read this hilarious post by my friend Benji about this.

I love how, regardless of how religious or secular you are, traffic literally stops on the freeway on Holocaust Memorial Day and Israeli Memorial Day to remember those who have fallen and perished.

I love seeing garbage men with Tzitziot hanging out.

I love how, when people come from overseas, you suddenly realize how much you know about the history of each little rock in the country.

I love how everyone recognizes the names of almost every terror victim and kidnapped soldier (older ones too).

I love how Israelis are so close to their families, and will do anything for their mom’s cooking.

I love how the way to a man’s heart is through his mother – not your cooking.

I love how I don’t feel the need to look over my shoulder when I’m walking down a dark street alone.

I love how my biggest fear is my car being towed in Tel Aviv.

I love how random acts of crime are barely existent.

I love how you can sit at a wedding at table with 12 people and everyone be from different countries.

I love that I don’t feel the need to be religious in order to feel Jewish.

I love the “Careful – Camels Crossing” signs on the way to the Dead Sea and Eilat.

I love how when people over the world say “Mi casa es su casa” (my home is you home), in Israel they mean it – and feel it, too.

I love how I can call a friend an hour away and tell her I’m coming to visit – when I’m already on the way.

I love how Israel is the size of New Jersey, and is #2 in hi tech in the world (and I’m part of it!) Per capita, Israel has the largest number of start-ups in the world.

I love how Israel has the highest per-capita number of scientific papers than any other country in the world – and by a large margin: 109 per 10,000 people.

I love how, outside of the US and Canada, Israel has the largest number of companies listed on NASDAQ.

I love how Israel, at 24% of the workforce, is only behind the USA and Holland in people who hold university degrees.

I love that Israel goes on humanitarian missions and offers aid to any country that has had a natural disaster (or unnatural…) – even if they refuse the help. Israel’s search and rescue teams are among the best in the world (and my dad was among them!)

I love that Israelis can think of stupid groups on Facebook like “The organization for the mercy killing of those who translate movie titles into Hebrew,” “The movement against those who eat tangerines on buses,” “Call the new 2 sheqel coin Shnekel” (which totally worked) and “I want an entire episode of Survivor Israel of Noam in his underwear.”

I love that Israelis also have important groups on Facebook, immortalizing celebs and non-celebs who have passed (Tair Rada and Poli Poliakov), helping each other find jobs, preserving correct grammar, and Demanding Holocaust victims live in dignity.”

I love that Israelis also have cultural groups on Facebook, such as the Kipi Ben Kipod group, the group for those who are here and want to be there (Sesame Street), the Benny Goren ruined my childhood group (he writes the math books), and chocolate milk in a bag (don’t knock it ’till you’ve tried it!)

I love how, while having the qualifications for a job is an absolute necessity, knowing someone on the inside always helps – and is almost just as important. Israel has a Haver Mevi Haver mentality – a friend brings a friend.

I love that my 2.5 year old nephew says everything in Hebrew AND English just to make sure his point gets across (I want an egg. Beitza. I want cake. Uga.)

I love that people are going to make of me for writing this post, but they know they feel the same way.

I love that I didn’t want to move to Israel and did so because of family pressure – and I can’t imagine my life not being here.

Following last weekend’s deadly cyclone in Myanmar, which has left at least 22,500 dead, the IsrAid organization, which sends help to foreign countries in need, will be sending to Myanmar a highly trained search-and-rescue team and a 10-member team of doctors and nurses. The teams will bring with them crucial supplies, including plastic sheeting, food, household appliances and water filters.

The Foreign Ministry will be sending an initial $100,000 aid package comprising medicine and medical equipment to Myanmar in the next few days. The emergency aid relief is a combined effort with the Jewish Joint Organization. However, Israel is planning to send additional aid to Myanmar soon.

This is not the first time Israel has offered humanitarian aid to foreign countries. Israel always offers its help after natural disasters, even though, at time, its offer is declined. Other times, such as the Tsunami several years ago, earthquakes in Turkey, the Congo, and Vietnam.

Israel also takes medical care both of foreigners, such as Iraqis, and Palestinians.

To those of you who think Israel is taking care of everyone but the Palestinians, Israel has never stopped giving humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, even in light of the terrorist attacks that constantly occur at the crossings whose sole purposes are to pass humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Some background for those of you who don’t know about Israel’s memorial day. It couldn’t be more different than the American memorial day. While in the US, Memorial Day is actually a weekend for sales and movie premieres, in Israel Memorial Day is a very somber day.

Israel’s memorial day commemorates not only those soldiers who were killed in action while defending the State of Israel, but all of those who died in acts of terror. Jewish holidays are lunar, meaning they are sundown to sundown, and all start the evening before (like Christmas Eve).

At 8 pm, a 1-minute country-wide siren goes off to commemorate those who died, and at 11 am the following morning a 2-minute siren is heard. Regardless of where you are, everyone stops and stands up for the entire minute. Complete and utter silence ensues. All activities cease. In the case of those driving, like you can read on last week’s post, cars stop on the side of the road in preparation. And yes, many cars are still driving when the siren goes off. So they stop dead in their tracks, in the middle of a 5-lane freeway. And it’s an amazing site.

I won’t bore you with a repetition of last week’s sentiments of awe, though they apply completely here as well. If you haven’t yet, I urge you to read that post. Just like last week’s siren, I was once again in my car when the siren went off, but this time I had made it as far as my town’s main road, and this time got to see a different angle that I hadn’t seen since childhood.

Instead of a bunch of business people on their way to or from work, this time I saw families. Every last child stood in silence. All of those who were even remotely old enough to understand – even 3 year olds. And it’s still amazing. It just doesn’t get old.

Israeli Memorial Day is a set date on the Jewish calendar every year. It is purposefully placed as the day before Israel’s Independence day, which begins tomorrow at sundown. The reasoning behind this was very important.

While Independence Day is an enormous cause for celebration, and this year’s in particular, we cannot forget those who died to get us here. It also works the other way around. While Memorial Day is an extremely sad and somber day, at the end of the day come Independence Day festivities to show that the enormous price paid wasn’t for naught. This is of extreme significance for Israelis, most of whom have served in the army and lost family members or friends to wars or acts of terrorism. Very few Israelis haven’t been touched by either.

Here is a video from a couple of years ago, showing the Ayalon freeway during the siren. Note that many drivers stop their cars ahead of time, and others once the siren begins. You can see more videos in last week’s post about Holocaust Memorial Day.

So, yes, again I was outside when the siren went off, and again, it got to me. I’m beginning to think that, subconsciously, I “make sure” that I’m outside when the siren goes off because the unity of standing outside with strangers is so much more powerful than standing up in your living room alone.

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.

I would like to point out that I am pasting PARTS of the article here, the parts that aren’t often published, and am aware that I have left out certain sections. This is to ensure the basic points get across in case you don’t click on the article itself.

Crying out in pain, Ahmed lies in a hospital bed in Barzilai Medical Centre, his blood-encrusted lower limbs heavily bandaged. Two weeks earlier, the 17-year-old became another victim of the violence between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants when he lost his left leg, he says, in an Israeli missile strike against militants in Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

At first, he was taken to Gaza’s Shifa hospital, but with the territory’s health system under severe strain after months of Israeli blockade and internal strife, his only hope for life-saving treatment lay in Israel itself.

“We got our permit from the Israeli authorities within 24 hours,” said Ahmed’s father, Muhammad. “An ambulance took my son from Shifa to the Erez crossing, where he was transferred to an Israeli ambulance and brought to Barzilai. I used to work in Israel so I wasn’t afraid, but for him it is his first time,” he said.

Since his arrival at the medical centre in Ashkelon, Ahmed has undergone three operations and he is awaiting a fourth.

While some 1,600 Gazan patients had permit requests denied by Israel in 2007, more than 7,000 were allowed in for medical treatment – a 50% increase on 2006 – according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

MEDICAL PERMITS FROM GAZA
2006: 4932 granted; 538 denied
2007: 7176 granted; 1627 denied

Under the 1994 Israeli-Palestinian peace accords, the Palestinian Authority assumed responsibility for health services in the West Bank and Gaza. However, with tertiary care virtually non-existent in Gaza, Palestinians there are forced to seek such treatment in Israel or beyond.

Barzilai is one of three hospitals in Israel to which most of the cases come, but its proximity to Gaza – just 12km (seven miles) – means it gets those which are most severe.

“We treat hundreds of Gazans here each year,” says Dr Ron Lobel, Barzilai’s deputy director.

He says there are some five to 15 Gazan patients there at any given time.

“Most are extremely ill, a lot have bullet wounds, but we also treat Palestinians with cancer, kidney and liver diseases who can’t get treatment in Gaza.”

He says doctors never ask patients how they got their injuries or if they belong to a militant group.

“Even if they’re terrorists they’re treated like any other person being brought into the emergency room – we make no distinction between treating Israelis or Palestinians.”

Most treatment is funded by the Palestinian Authority’s health department, although many cases are treated by Israel for free.

Ironically, Barzilai’s closeness to Gaza also means the hospital is within range of militants’ rockets.

“It’s absurd,” says Dr Lobel. “We’re treating Gazans while coming under fire from their own back yards.”

In February, a rocket landed near the hospital’s emergency room on the same day that a Palestinian woman from Beit Lahiya in Gaza gave birth there to premature twins.

“WHO believes there is a right for everybody to get health care,” said Mahmoud Dahar, the organisation’s director in Gaza.

“Israel has the most sophisticated security measures at the Erez crossing, so if people are going to carry out attacks, they will be stopped there. No requests should be turned down.”

But Israel says it has to balance Gaza’s humanitarian needs with its own security.

In June 2007, two Palestinian women who had received medical entry permits were arrested at the Erez crossing after it was discovered they planned to blow themselves up in an Israeli hospital, Israeli authorities said.

In 2004, a female suicide bomber who claimed she had surgical plates in her legs blew herself up at the crossing after bypassing the metal detector, killing four Israelis.

“This is why the crossing can’t be the first point of verification, there has to be some sort of clearance process beforehand,” said Maj Lerner.

The crossing itself has been bombarded over 200 times by mortars, rockets and sniper fire since last June, automatically closing every time.

“It’s a dilemma we’re dealing with – the terrorists make life very difficult for genuine medical cases, but at the end of the day the vast majority who need treatment in Israel are actually approved.”

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel, a day commemorating the 6 million Jews (and 6 million others, such as gays, mentally ill, Gypsies, etc.) who were ruthlessly exterminated by the Nazis in WW2.

On the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day (last night), all businesses in the country are closed. EVERYTHING. No restaurants, no movie theaters, nothing. And I think it’s great. Sure, I would’ve liked to have my ballet class last night, but the fact the entire country shuts down in memory of those who were murdered to me is amazing.

During the day itself, which is today, businesses are open. But most places of work don’t play any music (i.e. malls and restaurants) and the radio only has very somber music. At 10 am, the most incredible thing happens.

A 2-minute country-wide siren goes off, and people stop whatever they’re doing for 2 minutes and stand up in memory of those who perished. When I say stop – I mean stop. Everything.

Every year, no matter what, I am always caught driving during these two minutes. It doesn’t matter when I leave the house, how I calculate the time I need to get to work, it never fails. And every year, no matter what, I am amazed by the unity of this country.

At 9:58 this morning, I was listening to the radio, and the DJ mentioned that in 2 minutes a siren would go off (as a reminder). Somewhere between 9:58 and 10, I was able to forget this was going to happen. As I was driving on the freeway, I suddenly saw literally dozens of cars lined up on the sides of the road, and quickly reminded myself to do the same. I parked 2 seconds before the siren went off.

I got out of the car and saw how other cars, that didn’t have the time to pull over, stopped dead in their tracks in the middle of the freeway. I mean, a 4 lane freeway with people in ALL lanes stopping and getting out of the car.

It’s very powerful, and it doesn’t matter how many times you see it.

You can watch a video from last year here, and you can also see some of today’s “action” on Ynet.

Next Wednesday is Memorial Day. A 1 minute siren will sound on Tuesday evening, and another 1 minute siren will sound on Wednesday morning. Without a doubt, I will be caught on the freeway both times. And without a doubt, it will get to me again.

I love this country.

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.)

The Declaration of Independence itself, from 1948, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, or race. Furthermore, later laws also prohibit discrimination based on marital status, sexual orientation, political beliefs, and age. The scroll also promises freedom of religion, speech, education, and culture, and vows to preserve all religious places for all religions:

…it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

Other laws outline other basic rights, such as laws protecting the ill where no caregiver or medical institution can discriminate between one patient and another based on religion, race, gender, nationality, birth country, sexual orientation, or any other reason that is similar to those.

There are equal opportunity laws in the work place (no discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, personal status, pregnancy, undergoing fertility treatments, being parents, age, race, religion, nationality, country of origin, political affiliation, or army service) and service and entertainment laws (whoever provides a product or public service or public venue cannot discriminate based on race, religion, religious affiliation, nationality, country of birth, gender, sexual orientation, political affiliation, status, or being parents).

Freedom of religion as you can see from the aforementioned laws, has always been part of Israel’s ideology. Each religious community has legal authority of its own members in matters of marriage and divorce, and they control their own holy places, both in Jerusalem, and in other parts of the country.

As for legal rights, Israel adopted many of the British laws, among them the use of administrative detention, which is permitted in certain cases for security reasons. This is only used in cases of violent offenders, and the detainee has the right to counsel and can appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court. The prosecution has to justify holding closed proceedings, and many detention orders are reduced or reversed on appeal.

Israel doesn’t have a death penalty; In fact, it has only been used once, with Adolf Eichmann, often referred to as the architect of the Holocaust. No Arab has ever been given the death penalty, even after the most heinous acts of terrorism.

Other than various affirmative action laws that Israel has (though not as prominent in the US), here are more recent laws/milestones that were passed/achieved in Israel:

1983: The freedom to protest; 1993: The right of a Muslim student to wear a head cover in a catholic school (not allowed in France, for example); 1994: The right of a person not to be deported from Israel to a place where his life would be at risk; 1997 – Cancellation of the Ministry of Education’s censorship of a gay/lesbian youth show; 1999 – (Katzir Incident) Prohibition of discrimination towards Arabs who wish to purchase public land in a town in the Galilee; 2001 – Signs in mixed towns (Jews and Arabs) must have signs in Arabic as well; 2006 – Israel must list same-sex marriages that were performed outside of Israel.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of the series.

There were quite a few comments on my recent post (most of which I could not allow to be posted, not because I disagree, but because of the language/ill-wishing in them). I actually posted a couple of replies to some of the comments I did allow, but there was so much to it I decided to write a post about it. Since there is a lot of ground to cover, I will post it in parts.

I am including some of what I wrote in the comments – feel free to read the comments in their entirety here.
I’d like to begin by saying that by NO means am I saying Israel is perfect and without its problems and faults. Neither is the US (Abu Gharib, anyone?)

What I’m going to do here is post definitions of apartheid and then show, point by point, why Israel is NOT an apartheid state (according to these definitions). I will also compare it to the South Africa Apartheid regime to further prove my point.

A Definition of Apartheid and the South African Apartheid

Webster’s defines apartheid as racial segregation: a former policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination.

Apartheid means “separateness” in Afrikaans, and it was a system of legalized segregation in South Africa. It was a system of legitimized racism and white nationalism. Under this system, legislation classified everyone in South Africa into racial groups (Black, White, Colored, and Asian), where Blacks had their citizenship taken away, and legally became citizen of one of ten, theoretically sovereign, homelands, much like the Native American reservations, Canadian First Nation Reserves, and Australian Aboriginal reserves.

Blacks had no rights in White South Africa. Their voting rights were restricted to the 10 territories, called bantustans, even if they weren’t living in them. The government segregated education, health care, and other public services, where the Blacks deliberately had inferior standards. The black educational system essentially prepared them to be a laboring class.

Here’s a summary of the definitions of apartheid:
1) Racial segregation
2) Legalized segregation, institutionalized by law
3) One group does not have citizenship
4) Legalized inferior standards for one group of people
5) Separating a certain group of people into separate territories
6) No voting rights in the country
7) Segregated health care, education, and public services
The South African system came from a notion of White Supremacy and the belief that one group of people is superior to another.

Stay tuned for my next post over the next couple of days.

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

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.

How many of you out there have governments who claim humanitarian crisis, yet instead of accepting the aid that comes their way, purposefully commits terror attacks at the very crossings where aid is supposed to come through?

It seems that the Palestinians government insists on putting their people through humanitarian crises time and again, if only to gain international recognition and support. I don’t really understand how the Palestinian people take it. Would you rather die of hunger or get another 3 people to feel sorry for you?

What happens is this: Israel has pressure to provide more and more humanitarian aid to the Palestinians (I am not saying they don’t need it – they very much do). Israelis open up more crossings to transfer literally hundreds of truckloads of food and medical supplies to ease Palestinian suffering. The Palestinian government and “freedom organizations” infiltrate Israel through those crossings while humanitarian aid is being provided and proceed to kill civilians working to provide the aid or attack the soldiers who are manning those crossings to try to keep the citizens of Israel safe.

After the Palestinian government/terrorists/freedom fighters/whatever kill the Israelis at the crossings, Israel has to shut down those crossings to investigate how the terrorists got through, right? So while Israel is trying to prevent more deaths of its people (which is inevitable since the Palestinian government/organizations/freedom fighters/whatever have attacked more than once at these crossings), less aid is going through. Then the Palestinians, once again, yell humanitarian crisis, the world once again sees the plights of the Palestinians, and Israel is pressured, once again, to open up the crossings and provide aid – so that they Palestinian government/freedom fighters/terrorists/whatever can attack again and the whole things starts over.

Happy Passover, everyone.

By the way, this post directly relates to an ethical dilemma I posted a few days ago (that had a lot of views, but not a lot of comments).

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.

The intelligence said that underneath the stretcher in the ambulance a wanted terrorist is hiding with an explosive belt for a suicide attack. It is a hot day and there is a long line of cars. Your commanders are yelling at you on the two-way radio, “Do not let ambulances go through because there is a terrorist in an ambulance!” To complicate the picture, a news video crew is present.

You have to make an incredible number of decisions in a very short time. You are only 18 years old and have no medical training. You know that if you let the ambulance go through and it contains a terrorist, then innocent people will die and you will have failed in your mission. On the other hand, if there is not a terrorist in this particular ambulance, and you delay a truly pregnant woman from reaching a hospital, the lives of the mother and baby could be endangered.

What would you do?

Before you answer, here’s a bit of undisputed facts (and these are only a few examples):

In January, 2002, Wafa Idris blew herself up on the crowded Jaffa Street in Jerusalem, becoming one of the first female suicide bombers. She was an ambulance driver for the Palestinian Red Crescent, as was Mohammed Hababa, the Tanzim operative who sent her on her mission. She left the West Bank by way of an ambulance.

On May 17, 2002, an explosive belt was found in a Red Crescent ambulance at a checkpoint near Ramallah. The bomb, the same type generally used in suicide bombings, was hidden under a gurney on which a sick child was lying. The driver, Islam Jibril, was already wanted by the IDF, and admitted that this was not the first time that an ambulance had been used to transport explosives or terrorists. According to Jibril, he was given the bomb by Mahmoud Titi, a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which the U.S. State Department has listed as a terrorist organization, and which is affiliated with Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.

The bomb was removed from the ambulance and detonated in the presence of a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross. In a statement issued the same day, the ICRC said that it “understands the security concerns of the Israeli authorities, and has always acknowledged their right to check ambulances, provided it does not unduly delay medical evacuations.” The sick passengers in the ambulance were escorted by soldiers to a nearby hospital.

On April 16, 2003, an Israeli Border Policeman was lightly wounded by a Palestinian terrorist who opened fire at a patrol of Border Police in Jenin. “The terrorist opened fire from within an ambulance as it passed near the patrol and then drove away.”

You can read more examples of Palestinian usage of ambulances for terrorism here.

Leave your responses in the comment section (I always answer any questions) and feel free to email me at realisrael@gmail.com with any question.

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?

Here are some undisputed (though not wildly advertised) facts: Israel is a big provider of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. Hundreds of trucks of fuel, medical supplies, and food are transferred into the Palestinian territories on a regular basis. Israel recently opened up more border crossings to allow more aid, and closed 50 roadblocks (among other concessions) in attempt to both ease the Palestinian suffering and show, as a measure of good faith, that it is looking for peace.

And while Israel passes all of this on, the Palestinian organizations take advantage to kill our people. So Israel has no choice but to close the crossing, at least until it can beef up security even further (beefed up security = harder for Palestinians to get through = lots of yelling and screaming again and accusations of being an apartheid).

An argument can be made about the majority of the Palestinians not advocating these actions – that may very well be true. The problem here is that it isn’t the average Palestinian to just picks up a gun or explosives and decides to kill a bunch of Israelis. They are backed by organizations, some of which are part of the government (Hamas). You can’t yell that these are individuals and the whole mustn’t be punished for actions of one person, because it does not apply here.

Which leads to the worse of the two accusations: The Palestinians are screaming humanitarian crisis and warn that if they do not get more supplies from Israel, within a couple of days they will have no electricity or supplies. This is simply NOT TRUE:

2,200,000 liters of diesel fuel are transferred through the Nahal Oz fuel terminal to the Gaza Strip power plant weekly. This power plant is capable of supplying 30% of the total electricity requirements of the Gaza Strip. The remaining power needs are supplied by Israel and Egypt. In addition, unlimited quantities of cooking gas, 800,000 liters of diesel fuel for transportation and 75,000 liters of gasoline are transferred weekly.

Col. Press stated that it has become apparent in recent weeks that the Palestinians are staging an energy crisis while instigating a strike and protest rallies. The closed filling stations, the long lines of people and vehicles waiting many hours to fill their tanks, are all part of a planned Hamas media campaign being conducted at the expense of the civilian population – a crisis caused by their failure to pump available fuel supplies from the Nahal Oz Palestinian fuel depot.

Col. Press further stated that “In the last two weeks there were no restrictions on freely pumping fuel from the Palestinian depot at Nahal Oz and distributing it to filling stations, but this did not take place. In contrast, cooking gas and diesel fuel for the power station have been supplied on a regular basis. As of today, the Palestinian stock of fuel amounts to 188,000 liters of gasoline and over 800,000 liters of diesel fuel.”

How much of this is advertised in world media, though? Not so much. Even many Jews believe the Palestinian organizations.

Israel’s biggest problem is it’s public image. The Hasbara (public diplomacy) here SUCKS. People are hearing only one side. I know this first hand – when I was living in Israel, the Palestinians and their supporters would have marches and block major intersections in Houston.

The Israelis and their supporters protested in front of the Jewish Community Center.

The funniest part is that Israel won’t even admit that it has a problem. That there is a very negative image of Israel in the world is a given. But even when Internet experts offer their help in getting the word out, the Ministry of Exterior says there is no need – they already have people.

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.

While Israel was transferring 127 truckloads of medical aid, diapers, and basic food supplies to the Palestinians, 4 people, backed by several different terrorist organizations, took advantage of these open crossings to enter Israel and murder 2 workers at the fuel terminal (through which, by the way, Israel has been transferring over 75,000 liters of fuel a week to the strip). At the same time, the Palestinians shot more than 50 rockets and mortal shells at Israel. For the record, the purpose of the terminal is to transfer fuel, food, and medical supplies to the Palestinians.

By the way, this is not the first time that the Palestinians have taken advantage of the humanitarian crossings: This has happened quite a few times before. There have been terrorist attacks at the Karni crossing – in January 2005, 6 people were murdered. The Erez crossing also had quite a few terrorist attacks.

Here’s my question: Why in G-d’s name would you (the terrorists and terrorist organizations) take advantage of the places that help your own people? You yell and scream to the world that you are being mistreated and neglected, and when Israel eases restrictions and transfers literally tons of humanitarian aid to your own people on a daily basis, you do the one thing that could torpedo these acts.

You are shooting yourself in the foot. In Hebrew there is a saying, “You are spitting in the well you drink from.” That is actually quite literal here. So Israel is in a position where it’s damned if it does, and damned if it doesn’t. If Israel stops transferring aid – they are committing a Holocaust and are an apartheid. If they keep it going – they’re idiots. After all, while they are helping the Palestinians, the Palestinians are helping themselves to taking Israeli lives.

If Israel makes border crossings more difficult and opens up roadblocks again – it is, again, being an apartheid, committing a Holocaust, and sins against humanity. If it keeps the status quo (the present status quo), its own citizens are in danger.

Israel has been passing much humanitarian aid to the Palestinians for quite a while. Almost 20,000 truckloads (close to half a million tons) of humanitarian aid and supplies, including food and fuel, have been transferred to the Palestinians since this summer.

Let’s pretend for a moment that terrorist attacks help you achieve your purpose of getting a Palestinian state. Let’s put aside the fact that surveys SHOW that most Israelis are for a Palestinian state. How does forcing Israel to stop providing aid or making it harder for your own people to get around serve your purpose?

Is it really worth not getting the fuel and medical supplies and food from the Israelis just to prove to the world that Israel is the Big Bad Wolf?

You are risking the lives of thousands of people for the murder of a few. I’m not expert aboutIslam – I know very little. But I know that Islam is against suicide and is supposed to be a peace-seeking religion. And surely it must be about protecting its own, right?

This isn’t even close to being the only example of Palestinians torpedoing themselves. Take for example the employment situation. The Palestinian economy is in the rocks. Let’s “ignore” the fact here that, while Arab countries support the Palestinians fight against the Zionists (Israelis don’t exist), their money is only good for terrorism, not to help their “brothers.” You can also ignore the fact that millions of dollars are transferred to the Palestinians from the US government (and Israeli government) but the people don’t get to see it.

Israel allows for a certain number of Palestinians to work inside Israel proper. (Forget the fact that we have our own homeless and unemployment issues). The recent concessions made towards the Palestinians included increasing the number of Palestinians who can work inside Israel. (Remind me how many Mexicans cross the border every day to work inside the US, please?) Just today, the Shabac, one of Israel’s intelligence agencies, publicized that they were able to stop a terrorist attack that was to be carried out by two Palestinian workers at a restaurant in Ramat Gan. (Sorry – it’s in Hebrew – I couldn’t find the English version yet.) This is only today’s example, but it’s not a new one.

Israel can’t make all of the concessions and measures of good faith without receiving something on their end. We’re not asking for anything material – all we want is for the Palestinians to stop murdering innocent people and stop launching dozens of rockets and mortars on a daily basis.

Israel has tried to meet you halfway. It’s time you do the same.