Latest Terrorist Attacks in Israel

Nadene Goldfoot

Israel has warned the Gazans that it will not stand by and allow Israelis to be shot from Gaza without reprisal.  On Tuesday a civilian, a Bedouin Israeli,  was shot and killed near the Gaza border fence by sniper fire.

The IAF retaliated by hitting a base west of Khan Younis.  As Prime Minister Netanyahu stated, "This is an extremely serious incident and we will not stand idly by.  Our policy up until now has been to thwart and retaliate with force.  That's what they are doing.

The Defense Minister in Israel said, "If there is no peace in Israel, there will be no peace in Gaza.

"The Palestinian Authority continues to instigate against the State of Israel and its citizens and is not encouraging a culture of peace, so Israel feels that they are forced to deal with terror attacks."  mentioned Ya'alon.   It's an intolerable situation for Israel who has had to deal with attacks in southern Israel since 2001.  The people in Gaza, the Hamas terrorists,  have not accepted any thoughts of peace and it's high time they did.

Such action from Gaza encourages other acts of violence in Israel.  On Sunday a bus driver near Tel Aviv was alerted by a passenger that a large black knapsack was sitting in the bus unattended.  The passenger opened it to find  a bomb in it whereupon the driver had the passengers disembark from the bus.  A sapper attempted to defuse the bomb then but it blew up.  A policeman was slightly injured in the blast.  This was a terrorist act.

Another 41 year old police officer on the security force was stabbed literally in the back by a long knife wielding Palestinian as a terrorist attack in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Adam.  The attacker fled to a nearby Palestinian neighborhood.  This happened the day after the bus attack.

And so, the state of Israel on this 24th of December must always be aware, at least in this era, of attacks on its population that can come at any time so long as the Arabs are withholding any measure of peace for all men  and no good will towards any Israeli.

Resource:  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4469142,00.html
UPdate 12/25/13 http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-man-severely-wounded-by-sniper-fire-from-gaza/
UPdate 12/25/13http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4469142,00.html
UPdate 12/25/13http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/12/24/israeli-worker-shot-and-killed-by-gaza-sniper-update/

JAFFA: Fought Over By Egyptians and Canaanites and Origin of the Israelites?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

Jaffa, originated about 1800 BCE,  is a port city in Israel on the Mediterranean that is 60 km ( 37 miles) NW of Jerusalem. Today it is joined with Tel Aviv.   In excavations in 2008 by the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project many items had been found that told more about its history. Biblical texts were used as the primary historical referent.  It had converted from a Canaanite town to an Egyptian stronghold.  

Canaanites are said to be the descendants of Canaan, son of Ham who was one of Noah's 3 sons and occupied land between the Nile and Euphrates Rivers.  The people of Syria also called themselves Canaanites.  They seem to have been a mixture of Horites, Hittites and Hebrews from the Hyksos period of the 17th century BCE.  By the 13th century they were almost entirely obliterated or assimilated by the Israelites, Philistines on the coast in the 12th century and the Arameans in the north in the 11th century.  The remainder were ruled by Kings David and Solomon  of Israel and absorbed into the community.  

 This was found by new archaeological data with the well-known historical texts.  The Egyptians even built on top of the city's earlier remains.  It tells a story of violence and peaceful social interactions over a period of more than 300 years, from 1460 to 1130 BCE.  This includes intermarriage of peoples.  

Jaffa was mentioned in Egyptian documents from the time of the 19th Egyptian dynasty (16th century BCE) and also in Assyrian documents.  It's a natural place for anchorage as it has a slight promontory jutting out from the straight coastline.  

The Hyksos, foreign rulers in Egypt who were Semitic Asiatics, were expulsed from Egypt in the mid-16th century BCE.  Our biblical history of Joseph going into Egypt and becoming an assistant to the Pharaoh could have been one of them, as well as his family and the rest of the Israelites.  It is said that they overran Egypt after the destruction of the Middle Kingdom.  That's when the prevailing pharaoh decided to make Joseph's family slaves for this very reason.  They were too plentiful and might take over.  Excavations in Egypt have revealed royal Hyksos scarabs bearing names similar to Hebrew.  Hyksos remains have also been uncovered in Israel.  They ruled in Egypt from 1720-1580 BCE.  According to other sources, the time the Children of Israel entered the country was at this same time.  Hyksos is said to be an Egyptian name meaning "rulers of the foreign lands."  

After that, the pharaohs of the early 18th dynasty held regular military campaigns against the communities in Canaan.  They succeeded in limiting more Asiatic incursions into Egypt so that the Egyptian New Kingdom could expand.  The Canaanite rulers had to ask for support from their allies to the north to stop Egypt.  This led to the famous Battle of Megiddo in 1456 BCE  where pharaoh Thutmose III fell upon the Asiatic coalition which was led by the king of Kadesh on the Orontes.  Jaffa was one of the towns that was subjugated.  Their troops were in the defeated coalition.  

Rameses II ruled from 1262 to 1196 BCE.  It's thought he may have been the Pharaoh in Moses's history.  It's also the name of an ancient Eygptian city on the Nile Delta where Jacob and his family settled (Gen.47:11,27).  Their descendants were forced to build storehouses for the Egyptian pharaoh.  It was also the site where the Israelites left from to start their exodus (Exod. 12:37)

Moses led the Israelites into Canaan when he was 80 years old and they traveled for 40 years to get there.  He lived from what is accepted as 1391 to 1271 BCE.  In Biblical times Jaffa marked the boundary of the Philistines even though it did lay within the rightful area for the tribe of Judah.  When King Solomon reigned (961-920 BCE)  and even after the Jews returned to their home after their Babylonian captivity, the cedars of Lebanon were floated to the sea of Jaffa on their way to Jerusalem for the Temple.  Johah of Jonah and the whale sailed from Jaffa.  

In the Persian period, Jaffa belonged to the Phoenicians.  During the Hellenistic period it was an independent city.  Judah the Maccabee avenged the massacre of the Jewish community there.  His brothers, Jonathan and Simon, took Jaffa back and replaced the foreign population with Jews.  Then it served as the principal Jewish port until the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.  

In the 19th century CE, Jewish colonies surrounded the city.  During WWI the Turks of the Ottoman Empire expelled Jews from Jaffa and Tel Aviv.  By 1921-1922 there were Arab riots that forced the Jews to go to Tel Aviv that was founded as a suburb of Jaffa.    Haifa's harbor was developed which undermined the economic position of Jaffa, but it did continue with its share of orange exports.  By 1946 the population was 101,000 of which 30% were Jews.   During the War of Independence the Arab sections of Jaffa capitulated on May 14, 1948 and almost all the Arabs left town.  New immigrants moved there.  Then Jaffa and Tel Aviv became one city (Tel-Aviv-Jaffa).  Its port was closed in 1965.  An artist's colony has been created out of a quarter, just like in Safed.  

Today Jaffa is fighting a lot of Arab-Jewish hostility with Arab hip-hoppers and their complaints about Jews, but life is going on with a population of 55,000; 35,000 Jewish and 20,000 Muslims or Christians.  . The 2 cultures have an Arab-Hebrew Theater Group and an Arab-Hebrew Community Center.  Jaffa ihas become  tourist destination because of its beautifully restored old quarter filled with galleries, shops and restaurants.   One of the few religious sites is the house of Simon the Tanner, where, according to the New Testament, Peter first realized the gospel message had to be extended beyond Judaism. You can walk for about 40 minutes to Tel Aviv.  As cultures had to blend in the ancient days between Egyptians and Canaanites, so it is happening in Jaffa between the Muslims and the Jews.  Since it took them 300 years to co-exist, perhaps we should also figure that it might take that long for the Muslims to accept Israel in their midst.

Resource: http://www.jidaily.com/11d51?utm_source=Jewish+Ideas+Daily+Insider&utm_campaign=defb6a369a-Insider&utm_medium=email
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Telaviv.html
https://www.facebook.com/AJCCJaffa
http://www.arab-hebrew-theatre.org.il/eng/index.asp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM1wDeaY6yU  Be sure to watch this.  It's the best community center I've ever seen!  

Why Iran Sneers at the Whole World

Nadene Goldfoot
Iran has made it plain that they are out to get Israel.  The only people drastically worried about their ability are the Israelis who feel that they will soon have the capabilities if not stopped in time. Continued meetings have not shaken Iran at all.

Iran already has enough uranium for 4 bombs with their 3% while the world is only worrying about them reaching the level of 20%.  Iran has plans to go beyond that level as they don't think anyone is really determined to stop them.  This came from a speech by Netanyahu to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today.

Sanctions that started yesterday  are only cramping their style and not severe sanctions.

Iran has stockpiles of weapons in Gaza that can reach Tel Aviv.  The situation in Sinai is deteriorating in that since the elections "it has become an "arms depot and firing range for Hamas missiles."  This is why Israel is working on building a border fence in that region.

Netanyahu feels  that to be concerned about Iran's goals to "wipe Israel off the map" is not being obsessive, but  healthy as it is a great threat to the people of Israel.  His responsibility is to keep everyone there safe.

The picture is even grimmer coming from the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency back in May 25, 2012.  They scientifically predict that Iran will have enough uranium up to speed to make 6 nuclear weapons by the end of the year and already have enough for 4 of them.  Between the Fordow and the Natanz plants, they have enriched uranium up to 3.5% or 5 times what was foreseen in 2009.

This is why Netanyahu has often spoken of a time period of the open window that doesn't stay open for long.

Resource:  http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=276013 by Lahav Harkov, Gil Hoffman
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/31/irans_growing_stockpile

Judea and Samaria, 1982

October 7, 1982, Twenty-Eight Years Ago in Judea and Samaria

Excerpt from my book, "Letters From Israel" page 221-222

We went on the ACI (Americans and Canadians in Israel) trip the day after we spoke to you (my mother and daughter) and picked up two older ladies in Karmiel, drove into Haifa, and met the bus on the Carmel. We went to the West Bank, or Samaria. to be more specific, and it was quite an eye opener for us. Ha, I had to get up at 5:00am and went to bed at midnight because we had such good late TV. I woke up sneezing, which was a surprise, and took an allergy pill, so fought sleep all day and night. It was so terrible. Yes, I do get that way once in a while and can't stop sneezing.

Anyway, what happened was that we drove on the highway from Haifa to Tel Aviv along the coast. It is a lovely drive, and turned left at Kvar Saba, went into that teeny town and out of it, and we found ourselves in Samaria. I was so shocked. It's practically on the other side of the highway. We stood at a plaque where Sharon and his men had fought not too recently and saw our highway and cars. It was unreal! We drove deeper into Samaria and saw Arabs, sheep, a little Arab town outside Kafar Saba, and in the distance Ramalla, which was a larger Arab city. I saw lots of land that looked somewhat like Eastern Oregon, and finally came some twenty-five minutes later to a Jewish settlement where we had lunch in their succa. We brought our own sack lunches with us. This settlement is made up of mainly Israelis and a few Americans who are very dedicated and Zionistic. One of their people is a non-Jew who is a Japanese man recently from Japan who has a paper factory there where he makes paper for computers. He goes to services, and once got all dressed up in his Japanese robes and proceeded to take movies of the Friday night services until he was asked to please stop.

They are building beautiful homes but no apartments there, and are almost ready to move in. The establishment is six years old. You know that house in Ontario on the corner with the red tile roof and wood sides? One house I saw looked like that one. The other houses had the same roof but were made of cement.

Anyway, the point is this. The shape of Israel decided by the United Nations is really weird. They gave us the seacoast from Haifa to Tel Aviv, and that's it. The land adjacent to us is ancient Samaria and Judea. How dumb! We should have that land.

Resource: Letters From Israel by Nadene Goldfoot copyright 2003; found in Ontario, Oregon Library and amazon.com

I'll Do It My Way-Should Be Abbas's Theme Song

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas split from the terrorist group, Hamas. Actually, Hamas won the election and kicked him out of Gaza, but Abbas is fighting Israel in his own way now from Judea and Samaria (West Bank). His PA TV "educational documentary" broadcast has Haifa, Acre, Ashkelon, Jaffa and the whole Sea of Galilee as belonging to Palestinians. These are and will remain in Israel. This act does not show any good will.

Haifa, on the sea and a port, is the city I lived in for 10 months while attending my ulpan, where I lived and attended school to gain my certification to teach in Israel's schools. It reminded me a little of Portland. Ashkelon is Portland's sister-city. Acre is a city I visited as my cousin, Stanley, had been held there by the British in pre-Israel English days. Jaffa is very close to Tel Aviv, Israel's largest city. My goodness but Abbas does have gigantic aspirations. And he's considered a pacifist? There are problems with him already and Palestine has not come into existence yet, nor may it ever at this rate. Mr. Abbas, do you think this is a friendly act to erase Israel's cities and call them your own? Why do you do this? Isn't turning your children against Israel in your textbooks enough evil? One would hope that a future neighbor would be as benign as Canada.

Resource: prnw@palwatch.org PA intensifies campaign to teach denial of Israel's existence.