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Essays about Israel with up-to-date news with my opinion. Written by an Israeli.
Ahmadinejad's Visit to Lebanon
by Nadene Goldfoot
We've had several wars with Lebanon over the years. 1978 saw one war. We moved to Israel in 1980. I hadn't realized that there had been a war with Lebanon when we moved to Safed, which is quite close to the border with Lebanon. I was in Safed during the war in June 1982. "June 15, 1982: We were naturally happy that the PLO have been run out and had been worried about the arms and weapons that were coming in from them right across our border. It's time something was done about it. The U.N. and others were not doing anything about it. We never dreamt they would do as much as they did. Everyone is very upset about the casualties on both sides, but Lebanon seems to be very happy, and Major Hadad, the Christian Lebanese leader in Lebanon is very happy. In fact, all of Christian Lebanon is happy. We are glued to the radio for the short reports we get in English, and I read every word in the Jerusalem Post." Lebanon's minority were Christians, and the Christians and Muslims did not get along. Major Hadad and his militia patrolled our border and helped to protect Israel because the PLO had taken over southern Lebanon in the 70's. This 2nd war lasted 3 months when we actually went into Beiruit. By 1985 we had established a buffer zone between Lebanon and Israel.
In 1996 we had to go in Lebanon again in our Operation Grapes of Wrath, which lasted 16 days in order to end the shelling in Northern Israel by Hezbollah. Kiryat Shemona was constantly underfire, just as it was in 1982. That was one of my favorite towns, as they had the Hamishbeer, a wonderful department store which reminded me of Meier & Franks here in Portland. We had many American Jews living there, and they have been under attack so much, I don't know how they endure. Ceasefire was on 27 April, 1996.
Ahmadinejad has now visited Lebanon, buoying up their hatred for Israel. Iran is hoping to shake off memories of their 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Now they've been helping out Lebanon with water and electricity, so they are standing in the winner's circle. Ahmadinejad's disparaging remarks have been, "The world should understand that the Zionists will go. Palestine will be liberated." The crowd roared in approval.
"Israel's mainly right-wing government voted overwhelmingly on Sunday in favour of controversial legislation requiring non-Jewish citizens to swear allegiance to the country as a Jewish state."
The United States did the same thing to immigrants coming into our country from another state. My grandparents were from "Russia." They had to sign a paper saying that they were not citizens of their former country nor paid it allegiance. They swore to uphold the laws of the USA. There's nothing outlandish in this.
Israel has over 1 million Arab citizens. They have the same privileges as Jewish citizens. This is something the European Union's members Catherine Ashton and Maja Kocijaneik doen't seem to know about, yet they are advocating for equality for all of Israel's citizens. They do have some history to learn about Israel, I see, before they start speaking.
A contraversy has come about because Israel expects to have Palestinians accept their existence by recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. It happens to be the only one in the world. The Palestinians and surrounding Arab countries are having a hard time accepting this fact. There is no sense in talking peace, I see, after 62 years of fighting our neighbors without this. We have to "shake hands" first before talking about points concerning us all.
It's about time that new immigrants to the country swore allegiance to it, just like the USA has done. I would think that it's only contraversial with the EU. Notice the "right wing" government mentioned, as if "right wing" was a bad thing. It only means that they have protection in mind. When I moved to Israel in 1980 I was a Democrat-not a Republican. That is considered left wing around here. When we got to Israel, we quickly found ourselves all for the right wing element. Gee, we did want to stay alive. Europe has found itself with many many Muslim immigrants now. I wonder if they have signed such a paper, or if Europe has ever had such a paper.
Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101012/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestinianpeaceeu