No Let-Up of Rockets Raining in Israel During Putin's Visit

Nadene Goldfoot
Terrorists attacked the farming communities of the Eshkol Regional Council which is made up of 31 communities along the border of the Gaza Strip  with 2 mortar shells last night. When the siren goes off warning of an incoming rocket, the people have 15 seconds to get to cover, hopefully a bomb shelter.  The siren doesn't always go off.  So far, 6 rockets have come and the siren didn't work.

 The rocket explosions  leave  people in shock.  One missile scored a direct hit on a home last week.  a mother and her child just got to a bomb shelter before the rocket exploded.  Dozens of children just got on their bus at a bus stop when a missile hit the area where they were waiting.

Tazpit News Agency's Anat Silverman reported that people are always thinking of where you could take cover at the sound of the next siren.  It's very stressful, and causes a feeling of pressure on your mind and body.  Not all people have bomb shelters.  Parents are lying on top of their children when the siren goes off if they have none.

While news reports that these missiles explode "harmlessly" in open areas, they neglect that the effect causes people to be hospitalized for shock and trauma, and that minor injuries are not even reported.  For instance, Tazpit reported that a kibbutz farmer, Max Yadgar of Kibbutz Nir Oz was plowing his fields a few hundred feet from the security fence (Israel's area is very tiny) when terrorists shot at him, breaking the glass around the cab of the tractor which cut his face.  He had to hide behind of the big wheel of the tractor for protection and wait for the IDF troops to come.  Max felt he needed to take  a few days off to recover from the shock.

During this time, Russia's President Vladimir Putin is visiting Israel.    He is scheduled to attend the unveiling of a Red Army World War II Victory Monument in Netanya Monday.  More than half a million Jewish soldiers fought with the Red Army in WWII against the Nazis.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed the idea of the monument to President Putin two years ago during his visit to Moscow. Putin complied and promised to come to Israel for the inauguration ceremony.Putin in 2005 was the first Russian president to visit Israel, and this time around he will make a high-profile trip to Bethlehem and to Jordan.


Noam Bedein, son of my old friend David Bedein,  is the director of Sderot Media Center and told of Sderot being under rocket fire weekly for decades.  He said that the weapons and rockets come from Iran and Libya and are smuggled into Gaza.  As long as this smuggling goes on, he figures that southern Israel will be under fire from all the rockets, mortars and missiles.  Sderot is less than a mile from the border and are first under attack, usually.  

Resource: news@israelnationalnews.com Sounds of War Everywhere in Western Negev by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu and Putin to Attend Unveiling of Red Army Monument in Israel
http://sderotmedia.org.il/bin/content.cgi?ID=908&q=3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Nz2WZU7x-sY

Hamas Attack on Sderot

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

Sderot, Israel has been attacked by Kassam rockets steadily for the past two weeks. It is not a little border town. Sderot has 24,000 citizens, which means it is a city about the size of Tualatin or West Linn, Oregon. It's larger than the 20,727 people in Roseburg, Oregon. Imagine if of of these Oregon cities were under rocket attack and that half of the population had to flee like Sderot's have had to leave. Many of the citizens here are Jews who are from other Arab lands and had to literally escape to Israel. The newer immigrants are from Russia, a country where practicing their religion was against the law. Many who tried to were put in jail and had lost their jobs.

Sderot was under attack before the 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip but has become worse because of arms smuggling from Sinai into Gaza by Hamas. Thousands of guns, anti-tank rockets and tons of armaments have been brought in over the past year. Most of these are aimed at Israel. The Egyptians are responsible for preventing the smuggling and of course they don't mind seeing Israel hit with Kassam rockets. They are not helping the situation as they should. Half of the population has had to leave the city in the past two weeks. Most all of the children are suffering from post-traumatic stress, just as the children of northern Israel's Kiriat Shimona did in 1980-1985. More than 12 people have been killed by Kassam rockets. The alarm sounds five or more times each day for people to run for the bomb shelters or some kind of cover. Try living there under these circumstances.

Though Prime Minister Sharon and Ehud Bark have promised Israel would respond harshly to continued rockt fire from this area, they are holding back because of the restraining advice from the USA and UN as if they are the aggressors. The fear is that if they retaliate against Hamas, the act will escalate an all out war between Gaza and Israel.

Israel cannot even retaliate by cutting of Palestinian water and electricity or Israel is slandered again. Hamas has not paid for their terrorism against Israel in any way. Though Hamas, a terrorist organization, even terrorizing their brothers who belong to Fatah and live in the same neighborhood, is accepting international aid money that amounts to $400 million dallars more than last year. The Palestinians get $300 per person compared to $44 per person for the poorest people of sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the Palestinians continue to live in poverty. Now we know why.