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

del.icio.us Digg it Furl StumbleUpon

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.

I DON’T Know JR, I DON’T Own Spurs, and I DON’T Have an Accent

Being an Israeli Texan has it’s pluses. #1 has to be the misconceptions Israelis have about Texas. When I visited my cousin back in high school, she was teaching at a middle school somewhere in Israel, so she brought me to class with her (not sure why).

She introduced me to her students (thankfully she was a popular teacher so it made me cool by association) and told them I was from Texas. They had never met someone from Texas before, so they had a lot of questions.

I think the coolest question they asked me was if Texans milk their cows into their cereal bowls for breakfast (I couldn’t’ve made that up if I wanted to). The second most popular, which I get to this day, is if Texans ride their horses to school.

I tell them no, Texans aren’t primitive – they have horse-ridden carriages!

The reason I am telling you this is because the best experiences I have had in Israel is meeting new people. It’s not because I like meeting new people – I am actually quite shy in social situations where I know few or no people. It’s just that I LOVE the questions I get from people.

I’d like to share with you a typical conversation I have with people when they find out I am American. For the record, I have an Israeli accent. Most of the time, you can’t tell I’m not a native Israeli. Unless someone introduces me as being American, this conversation usually happens when someone says a word in Hebrew I don’t know or makes a cultural reference I don’t get, at which point I have to explain that I am not an idiot, it’s just that I am not a native. So here we go:

Them: You’re from America*? Where are you from? New York?

Me: Nope!

Them: Los Angeles?

Me: Nope!

Them: Miami?

Me: Nope!

Them: (Long awkward pause with confused look) Chicago?

Me: Nope!

Them: What else is there?

Me: Texas! (Note: I say Texas because is sounds WAY cooler than Houston.)

Them: There are Jews in Texas?! I didn’t know that!

Me: Not many. Only around 131,000.

Them: Are you from Dallas? Do you know J.R. Ewing?

Me: I’m from Houston. J.R was from Dallas, the actor himself, Larry Hagman, while born in Fort Worth, right by Dallas, actually lives in California.

Them: Houston? You’re from Houston? Houston – we have a problem! (Insert cheesy chuckle here.)

* Note to my Mexican friends (they’re actually FROM Mexico so I’m allowed to call them that!): I have been conditioned throughout my years working with you at camp. I personally say the US and not America – I know Central and South America are, in fact, America.

From there, each conversation goes in a different direction, but they usually come back to horses, cowboy hats, and spurs (ownership status update: I wish, yes, and no respectively).

I realize this sounds funny and uneducated, but I am telling you this for a reason: As uneducated as Israelis can be about Texas, non-Israelis can have many misconceptions about Israel as well. Next week I will post a bunch of the misconceptions I’ve heard about Israel in an attempt to educate.

Have any of you had weird questions asked of you when you moved countries? Do you have any questions about Israel that you need answered? Such as why do Israelis like to spread chocolate on their bread? Leave them in the comments!

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.

 

Over 20 rockets lauchned today – dozens injured

And this isn’t a war zone? Watch this video from Channel 10 News in Israel. Someone was video taping one of the rocket attacks and the rocket landed just by him – literally. In their back yard.

Israel is going to plan a retaliation, and I’m normally against it, but seriously – over 40 rockets launched in the past 2 days, and this didn’t just start now. Dozens injured, many “only” shocked, but that’s still not normal.

Again, in case this is the first time you’re reading my blog, these rocket attacks are being carried out by the Palestinian “government” led by Hamas (along with Fatah, but they aren’t the ones trying to annihilate us.)

Over 30 rockets launched into Israel over the past 24 hours

One of the rockets landed in a courtyard shared by several residential apartment buildings, wounding a 70-year-old woman. Emergency medical teams evacuated her to the hospital in Ashkelon with injuries to her limbs and stomach.

Earlier today, rockets landed in and around the city as well as near neighboring kibbutzim where children spent the night in bomb shelters.

Schools remained closed in Sderot on Wednesday, which is a problem since the matriculation exams – the finals – are set to begin in the next few days for the high school students. Officials said these age groups would join their peers in Beer Sheva on Thursday for classes until a better solution could be found.

Residents seeking to flee Sderot wrote to businessman Arcady Gaydamak, asking for his help. Like the last time they asked, the billionaire complied, and he sent buses and arranged for hotel accommodations in Beer Sheva and Ashdod (who had a few rockets yesterday).

Over 20 rockets launched yesterday; 7 already launched today towards Sderot and Ashkelon

Israel said it would NOT go into Gaza, and is not planning retaliation. IDF choppers did fire at open fields in Gaza where the rockets were launched from, but there were no injuries.

You can read more details about it here.

Metal will bring peace to the Middle East

It seems that the first peaceful dialogue to follow the Second Lebanon War comes out of the music scene. Two heavy metal bands, one Israeli and the other Lebanese, met online and joined forces to perform a new song, “Everything We Are”.

“Obviously, the song deals with the last war between Israel and Lebanon, and its implications. It speaks about the silent majority around the world that does nothing while extremists spread their ideals of hatred and violence,” Kfir Gov, leader of the Israeli band, “Seek Irony” told Ynet.

Rab, the Lebanese lead vocalist of “Blood Ink”, and his family reside in northern Lebanon in an area that was mostly outside of the range of the fighting.

“I’ve been listening to this music for as long as I can remember,” Rab, the 23-year-old Christian singer, told Ynet in an email interview.

“The story my family tells is that my sister, who is a metal fan, used to put the headphones on my ears when I was just a month old. She used to put me to sleep listening to ‘The Wall’ by Pink Floyd.

“I somehow grew up in this atmosphere, at age 14, I was already listening to the Scorpions and Aerosmith. Then I discovered the harder styles, and it went on,” Rab said.

Click here to read the rest of this story from Ynet.