Drowning Out the Protest
15 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Background to Israeli current events, Israel Update, Modern Israeli history
Yesterday there was a protest outside of Tel Aviv University, commemorating what the Arabs call Nakba (catastrophe) which we call Yom HaAtzmaut (Israeli Independence Day). The joint left wing and Arab protest was accompanied by a counter protest by pro-Zionist Jews, probably organized by Im Tirzu.
In addition to the fact that the crowd was evenly split between protesters and counter protesters, one thing stands out. The counter protest was incredibly loud. The following video gives you a an idea of what I am talking about. (At the end of the video the speaker calls for the crowd to stand for a minute of silence, which mocks the Israeli minute of silence for both Holocaust Remembrance Day and Israel Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers. The counter protest crowd then reacts with a particularly noisy response).
The strength and “vocality” of the pro-Zionist side is signficant. For years the left wing in Israel has adopted the Arab anti-Zionist narrative, and there was no counter protest. Im Tirzu is fighting this, and it is no longer considered weird to be a young college student who is pro-Zionist (in other words, patriotic). Last year Im Tirzu published a pamphlet in Hebrew called Nakba Charta (Nakba BS). I wrote about this on my blog last year and gave a summary in English of its main points.
Take a look – Israeli patriotism is alive and well.
As the Election Nears….
06 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Background to Israeli current events, Elections in Israel
The Israeli elections are nearing, and campaigning is in the air. I have been following the American presidential campaign for a few months already, and now I get to follow our own local election process too.
Tzipi Hotobeli writes in Israel Hayom (Israel Today) about the danger of the “radical center”. Dan Margalit, also writing for Israel Hayom, is looking forward to the upcoming battles with relish.
Danny Danon (Likud) has started procedures to challenge the right of Arab Member of Knesset Zoabi to run for the next Knesset.
A post about the elections has to have a poll….the latest shows that Bibi Netanyahu enjoys 48% of the vote for who is best fit to be the next Prime Minister. The closest runner up is Shelly Yechimovich with 19%….The next election seems to be about who will be the runner up and not the winner!
The Power of a Song
06 Nov 2011 2 Comments
in Background to Israeli current events, Israeli Life, Jewish music, Modern Israeli history, Oslo War, Uncategorized
The following music video “We are the Children of Oslo – 1993″ is amazing. For those of you who are familiar with Israeli culture I don’t need to explain – go watch and enjoy. For those not familiar you can go here to see the words and English translation of the original song. The original song tries to squeeze the hearts of Israelis who long for peace (as we all do), but it is used to push the “peace now” agenda by many. The “take-off” explains why this sentimentality can lead to tragedy, as we all saw since 1993.
In the News, and Around the Corner
23 Oct 2011 1 Comment
in Background to Israeli current events, Israel Update, Musings
(As an aside, our computer was “in the shop” from before Sukkot until today. It was nice for the holiday to be “unplugged”, but it is also nice to be able to blog again).
Since we had no computer for the past week and a half, I got my news the old fashioned way – from the radio and the weekend newspaper that we subscribe to – Makor Rishon. I listened the whole day on Tuesday when Gilad Shalit was returned, and had a good cry like almost the entire population in Israel. Tuesday afternoon westbankpapa was walking in our yishuv and happened to look down the slope at the intersection of road which is located northeast of us, and noticed quite a few cars and a huge crowd blocking the way. He came home and called the person in charge of security to ask what was happening, and was informed that one of the 450 terrorists released was on his way home and there were local Arabs celebrating.
As we like to say, “how special”. Joy and fear for the future, all rolled into one.
After reading the whole coverage of the release of the terrorists over the weekend, I was a bit reassured though. It seems that the big “symbolic” terrorists were kept in jail (fame doesn’t help in this situation, I guess.) Of the 450 terrorists released on Tuesday , “only” 110 were allowed to go home to Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, and the Shabak (the Israeli version of the CIA) said publicly that they would be able to keep an eye on all of them. 40 were expelled to different Arab countries. The rest were sent to Gaza.
The IDF did not make any promises that they wouldn’t assasinate these terrorists either.
Which means that now when the terrorists inevitably start sending rockets into southern Israel from Gaza the Israel Airforce will have even more targets to go after. In addition there will be no fear that they will inadvertently hit Gilad.
In addition, in as much as we hate to help Hamas, it is always good to keep things even between them and Fatah – so that they will spend their time fighting each other and not us. Fatah has earned some points lately in the international arena, despite the fact that their work to get recognition for a Palestinian state is going nowhere.
All of this is perhaps whistling in the dark, though, as the statistics show that 60% of terrorists released from prison go on to kill again. Which means that we are all doing the same thing – enjoying the happiness of seeing our soldier returnted to his family, and hoping against hope that we won’t have to regret the price we paid.
Looking Back – the Yom Kippur War
05 Oct 2011 1 Comment
in Background to Israeli current events, Modern Israeli history
Israel has unfortunately had to fight many wars. The most traumatic was the Yom Kippur War, in which the Arabs from Egypt and Syria surprised the IDF and attacked on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, October 6, 1973.
The war was considered a failure for Israel because of the misreading of the intelligence beforehand. Israel was duped by the disinformation by Egypt and once they did realize that a war was imminent they did not attack first (some say due to American pressure). Although Israel fought back relatively quickly, the fact that so many Israeli soldiers fell – 2,688 has marked this war as a spectacular failure. The one bright spot was the success of the Israeli Navy, which secured the coast and sank 34 enemy vessels without a loss.
For those of you who can read Hebrew, there is an internet site devoted to the Yom Kippur War and the stories told by individual soldiers.
For a recap see the videos below:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
“The Reason We Are Called Jews is Because We Come From Judea”
25 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Background to Israeli current events, Israel Update, Modern Israeli history
In case you missed it other places, please take some time to listen to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech at the UN this past Friday. There are some wonderful lines, including the title of this post. I am skeptical about its impact on those at the UN, but I am sure it will make an impression in other places.
Prepared for the Worst, Hoping for the Best
23 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Background to Israeli current events, Israel Update, Israeli Life
The IDF and police here in Israel are prepared for the worst, but hoping for the best. Here in our yishuv it is the same story.
There is a group in every yishuv called “tzevet tzachi” – which is an acronym which translates to “community emergency team”. This team is made up of the rabbi of the community, medical professionals, social workers, educators and an official spokesman. In contrast to the security team of the community, which takes care of the immediate security needs, this group is in place to help the family and community cope if G-d forbid there is a tragedy in one of the families of the yishuv (not necessarily a terrorist attack).
This group recently sent out a letter with an introduction to the new members who just moved to our area, which included the names of each person on this team and their phone numbers. The letter also gave a short explanation about their preparations for the coming weeks. Basically they noted that the IDF does not know if the events at the UN will spark a few minor protests, or widespread chaos, but they are prepared for any eventuality.
In the meantime, we are going about our lives as usual, getting ready for the upcoming Rosh HaShana holiday, with a cocked ear at the radio to hear the latest news.
In other words, normal life in Israel.
Israel Seeks Peace
18 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Background to Israeli current events, Media matters, Modern Israeli history
Danny Ayalon did his part by explaining the Israeli situation. Now the younger generation does its part….
Why There Isn’t Peace in the Middle East
15 Sep 2011 2 Comments
in Background to Israeli current events
Another video by Danny Ayalon, the deputy foreign minister. This time he explains why there is no peace in the Middle East. As clear as “yes” and “no”. Another “no” as of today – the PLO claims that a Palestinian state should be free of Jews.
