Archive for the ‘Life in Israel’ Category
I was hoping to write about a more pleasant subject today - and not only about the maritime blockade to Gaza, but unfortunately that is still at the head of our news.
I mentioned the Irish ship briefly on Sunday, but that has become old news - they gave in peacefully, sailed to Ashdod port where their supplies were examined, found suitable, before being transferred to Gaza by land.
Strangely enough, the equipment taken off the Turkish ships earlier last week, is still in our hands.
The Hamas have refused to allow it to be transferred to Gaza. The equipment includes food products, medicine that has expired, as well as used clothing, wheelchairs,
couches and carpets, is being stored.
Now, why don’t they want this “humanitarian” aid?
Now we hear that Iran will also be sending two ships to break the blockade, and if they do so we hope there will not be further trouble.
The Iranian regime is constantly calling for Israel “to be wiped off the map” and has a proven track record of supplying dangerous weapons to Hamas in Gaza and Hizbullah in Lebanon.
Obviously, any shipment from Iran would be a major concern for Israel.
But as before, the so called free nations of the world are ready to condemn Israel for not allowing “humanitarian” aid into Gaza.
It is time for the world to get their facts straight. There is NO humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Palestinian leadership lives in luxury on the millions of dollars of aid sent to them.
Israel allows ample supplies of food, medical supplies and
all necessary items for normal living into Gaza via the crossing check points.
The only items not allowed into Gaza are those that can be used to manufacture explosives and rockets.
Hundreds of Gaza residents are being treated in Israeli hospitals. Israel supplies Gaza with electricity, fuel and water.
The only demand by Israel of all the the Humanitarian convoys is to dock in an Israeli port from where the supplies can be checked before being sent overland into Gaza.
It is difficult to imagine that Turkey would freely allow “Unchecked Humanitarian Aid” to reach the Kurdish people in their struggle for autonomy, so also the British with regards to the IRA, the Spanish to allow aid to the Basques and other countries facing terror problems.
I am sure that NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan would not freely allow humanitarian aid to reach the Taliban and El Qaida terrorists.
So why are the European countries behaving like an ostrich, hiding their heads in the sand, not seeing
the real truth?
I sure hope I’ll have a nicer subject to write about next time.
Shalom from Irene
Millions of Jews all over the world will re-tell the story this week of the ancient exodus from Egypt of the Jewish people, and will repeat the centuries-old pledge: Next Year in Jerusalem.This is no empty platitude to be sacrificed at the altar of the catchy “Yes We Can” slogan.
Mal & Udi http://www.conceptwizard.com/info.html
YES WE CAN
YES WE CAN – hold on to Cuban territory (Guantanamo Bay), and refuse the demands of the Cuban administration to return the area – yet at the same time demand that Israel transfer Abu Dis (a neighborhood in East Jerusalem) to Palestinian Authority control BEFORE negotiations are even begun
YES WE CAN – incarcerate Iraqi and Afghan POWs in inhuman conditions – stating that because Guantanamo is not on U.S. soil, the prisoners have no rights under the U.S. Constitution, and, at the same time, demand that Israel release Palestinian terrorists as a gesture of goodwill to Abu Mazen.
YES WE CAN – send U.S. military forces to fight against any regime deemed to endanger U.S. interests – Vietnam, Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. – yet, in the same breath, demand that Israel relinquish Judea and Samaria without receiving any security guarantees.
YES WE CAN – treat the Israeli Prime Minister like the chieftain of an Indian reservation who has come to visit the White House.
YES … YOU … CAN – because you are a Great Power, for which everything is permitted and justified.
But let me point out what YOU CAN’T…
NO YOU CAN’T – understand the Middle East mentality. You are unable to understand this different culture; you cannot comprehend that as long as the Palestinian Arabs believe that the State of Israel can be destroyed, there is no reason for them to enter true negotiations on coexistence and a two-state solution.
NO YOU CAN’T – influence the Palestinian Authority to change its Charter, calling for the destruction of the State of Israel.
NO YOU CAN’T – influence the Palestinian Arabs to recognize that the people of Israel have the inalienable right to live within the 1967 borders.
NO YOU CAN’T – influence the Palestinian Arabs to accept the fact that the Jews have a centuries-old attachment to the Land of Israel.
NO YOU CAN’T – prevent the Palestinian education system from teaching hatred and jihad – holy war – against Israel.
Only if – and when – you are able to change the NO YOU CAN’Ts into YES WE CANs, will I believe in the U.S. commitment to the continued existence of the State of Israel.
Udi
8.5.437 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2779 - Release Date: 03/30/10 06:32:00
Again violence in Jerusalem, this time it was Muslim Arabs on the Temple Mount where the El Aqsa mosque stands, in the place of the former destroyed Jewish Holy Temple.
It’s a known fact that in many areas of the world where churches and places of prayer by other religions were destroyed, the Muslims have built mosques on these sites.
This time they took their rioting further than usual, by throwing stones and rocks from the Mount above, at the people below, who were praying by the Western Wall, the only remnant left of the Temple and the holiest place for Jews.
The police were called in and manged to disperse the rioters - many were wounded on both sides. Now, until things quieten down, only people wishing to pray above the age of 40 are allowed to enter the Temple Mount on their way to the mosque. I hope everything will return to normal soon
The massacre of Armenians by Turkey during World War I has come into the news again.
An American diplomatic source said that a resolution classifying the World War I killing of Armenians as genocide passed a House committee in Washington on Thursday.
It is a well-known fact that this genocide happened but for political reasons it has been kept quiet for these many years by most countries in the world, even I must regretfully admit by Israel.
The passage of the resolution in the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has triggered a crisis in Turkish-US ties. The resolution will now go to the House floor for a vote.
A similar resolution passed the House Committee in 2007, but then-President George W. Bush urged Congressional leaders not to table the vote because of concern for US-Turkish relations.
If any of my readers are interested in details of this act of genocide, I suggest they read the book,The Forty Days of Musa Dagh” which is a historical novel depicting the heroic battle of Musa Dagh, which took place in 1915.
For months the ruthless Turks had waged a campaign of terror against the Armenians – massacring ,hanging, looting and raping. This great novel was written in 1933 by the Austrian writer France Werfel.
An Israeli film called “Ajami” was amongst five films nominated for the Oscar prize for foreign films this year.
Ajami depicts the brutal life involving drugs, violence and poverty in the Jewish-Arab neighborhood by this name in Jaffa and the film was directed by Scandar Copti, an Israeli Arab, and Yaron Shani, an Israeli Jew.
The movie used mainly nonprofessional actors, who were taught in special workshops before filming began.
Some of these actors are themselves residents of the Ajami district.
But this film is not typical of all Muslim-Christian-Jewish relationships in Israel, which are usually normally good.
It depicts only one small poor and unhappy area. Anyway, the film didn’t get any prize, an Argentinian film got the Oscar.
With this I close today. Shalom from Irene
Posted in Life in Israel, Observations, Palestinian conflict, State of Israel, anti-semitism | 
Tags: Auschwitz sign stolen, bad, Gilad Shalit, good, Prisoner swap, recent events, the ugly
There is now apparently a European plan to unilaterally declare Jerusalem as the Capital of a Palestinian State.The plan will reportedly be proposed at a monthly meeting of European Union ministers today in Brussels by Sweden, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.
Since when do foreign countries decide the destiny of another State? And it seems that it is always Israel which has its fate decided on - no other country that I can think of.
Knesset members from across the political spectrum condemned this Swedish led plan by the European Union. “Jerusalem must never be divided, because it would only enhance the conflict and not solve it,” said Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, ” Dividing the capital would create a volcanic eruption that would not be easy to stop. Splitting sovereignty would bring about complete chaos,” he said, adding that Israel had proven that adherents of Judaism, Islam and Christianity could live together in Jerusalem.
Last week an explosion took place in a private house in southern Lebanon. At once all thought this was a so-called “work accident ”by the Hizbullah terrorist organization, but as they are not allowed to keep weapons south of the Litani river, they of course denied this at once, claiming that the explosion was caused by IDF (Israel defence Forces) leaving explosives behind during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. But we know this is not so, but that thousands of weapons caches have been placed in homes scattered in 160 villages in southern Lebanon,
The day after this stockpile exploded in the home of a Hizbullah operative in Tayr Filsay, near Tyre , Israeli senior defense officials said that the IDF had a video taken from an Israeli aircraft of the home, which belongs to Abdul Nasser Issa, a low-level Hizbullah operative. The blast took place at around 8 p.m. , and an hour later Hizbullah men were seen on the film carrying weapons out of the home and loading them onto a truck. In the footage, seven men are seen carrying a four-meter-long device, thought to be a Katyusha rocket or launcher. Hizbullah is thought to have more than 30,000 rockets of various ranges and sizes. The men took several hours to clear the home. For the first few hours, the area was sealed off by Hizbullah and the Lebanese army. The Israeli aircraft followed the truck as it drove about 4 km. to another village called Deir Qanoun al-Nahr. There, the truck pulled up at another home and the group of men unloaded the weapons. “Hizbullah uses civilian homes to hide its weaponry,” an IDF officer said. “This is a direct violation of UN [Security Council] Resolution 1701.
Posted in Israeli conflict, Life in Israel, Observations, anti-semitism |
Tags: explosion, Hizbullah, IDF, Lebanon, terrorists, Turkish-Israeli relationship, weapons explosion