Golan Heights Hit by Mortar Shell

Nadene Goldfoot                                              

The Druze village of Majdal Shams, lying in the southern foothills of Mt Hermon  in the northern Golan Heights,  was hit by a mortar shell.  It seems to have come from the fighting in Syria and was launched from the Syrian side of Mount Hermon.  It's under Israeli civil law and has been a part of Israel since 1967.  It had been a part of Syria before this and was the place of attacks on Israel.  Druze had settled here in the early 1700's.

The Golan Heights' altitude is 9,232' on Mt. Hermon in the north and goes down to 1,300' along the plateau of the Heights.  The reason it is so important to Israel is that the enemy was above them and could easily pick them off.  Now they have had it since 1967 and are much safer for it.  Mt. Hermon is so high that people ski there in the wintertime.  By comparison to Mt. Hood in Portland , Oregon's area, that mountain is 11,235' high and is a popular ski resort.

No one was injured nor was there any damage from this mortar.

Resource:  http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/syrian-mortar-hits-majdal-shams/2013/12/02/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hood#Elevation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majdal_Shams

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/syrian-mortar-hits-majdal-shams/2013/12/02/

Wounded Syrians Find Treatment Within Israel's Hospitals

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                       

                                                  Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel
Having  lived in Safed (Tzfat) from 1981 to the end of 1985 and having been there during the Lebanon War, I know that the hospital on my corner that was across the street from the public junior high school on David Elezar Street was treating Lebanese Arabs that were injured.   Safed is in the northern Galilee and was a stone's throw away from the borders of Lebanon and Syria.

Injured Lebanese were brought in by helicopter, and my students were afraid that their family members might be among the wounded as well.  Most all of our students were traumatized during the war.  I was there and couldn't teach much English when they were all cowering with fear for their dads in the classroom corners, but my droning voice seemed to steady them, for if I stopped talking, they'd cry out to keep on going.

My 9th grade boys were asked to help the hospital by translating and anything else they could do for the staff.  They told me about it in class the next day.  These boys were pretty shook up by the wounds they would see, but glad they could do something both for the patients and the medical staff.

Today, Israel's medical care continues to help wounded Syrians from the Civil War.  They've been doing this since last February when it was reported and it was  ignored by the major news wires such as BBC.

The number of Syrians treated is higher than previously thought and increasing numbers of patients are children.  "Two minors injured in Syrian fighting were transferred to a hospital in Israel on Wednesday, June 25, 2013.  They were boys, 9 and 15 and were transferred to  Ziv Hospital in Safed for treatment, the same hospital near the junior high which I have also been in.  The 9 year old had moderate injuries from shrapnel wounds across his body and he also lost his right eye.  This was reported in the Maariv newspaper.  The 15 year old was in serious condition.

Today, a wounded Syrian is guarded by either an IDF soldier or by a civilian security guard in order to isolate them  from speaking with unauthorized people who might photograph them or pass on their information to Syria.  This would harm them or their families by exposing them being in an Israeli hospital.  When they would return to Syria they could be killed for being there.  You must remember that there are Israeli Arabs in the hospital as well as Jews.

More than 100 wounded Syrians have crossed the border in recent months.  Some 70 have been taken to Israeli hospitals.  Two have passed away because of critical injuries.

Safed's hospital is not the only one actively treating Syrians.  Patients have also been treated at the Western Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya; Rarmbam Hospital in Haifa  an army hospital, another one I've been treated in; and Poriya Hospital in Tiberias.  All of these medical facilities in the north of Israel have Arabic-speaking social workers, trauma specialists and nurses.

As for finances, in Israel treatment in a hospital is normally paid for by the patient's particular medical insurance company, just like in the USA, but Syrian patients do not have insurance, so Israel's Health Ministry and Defense Ministry agreed to jointly fund the hospital treatment for the Syrians.  No doubt that the UN is not helping out but I think they should.  This is humanitarian care of the finest.

The case seems to me to be that if there's anything good that Israel is doing, it will never make the papers.  Let something be said that is just nasty gossip about Israel, and it makes the world's papers.

In my first year after making aliyah to Israel in September 1980, I wound up in two of these hospitals.  I fell down in Haifa during my ulpan living and was taken to Rambam where 3 doctors operated on my crushed elbow for 3 hours and where I learned the Hebrew words, Koh-ev Lee (there is pain to me, or Ow!  I'm hurting!)  Later when living in Safed, I choked on a chicken bone and finally went to the hospital where I was placed in an astronaut capsule and turned upside down, like in a carnival ride.  Oh, I was there so many times, I can't recall them all.  It was a great hospital.  It's where my doctors were.  Being immigrants, we signed up for the cheapest insurance and never had a moment's worry about paying.  The insurance covered everything.

Resource:  http://bbcwatch.org/2013/07/03/bbc-continues-to-ignore-israeli-medical-care-for-wounded-syrians/
Book:  Letters From Israel by Nadene Goldfoot-on amazon.com

Syrian Encroachment in Golan Heights

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

The Golan Heights, Israel has a border crossing along the Israeli-controlled land.  The Syrian rebels overran the border position near the abandoned town of Quneitra early yesterday and held their positions for several hours before the Syrian government troops retook it.  Its importance is that the peacekeepers receive most of their supplies through this position from Israel.  The fighting is also spilling over into Turkey and Lebanon as well.  It's only 1/2 mile away from Israel.

This actual fight caused the 377 international peacekeepers of Austria's contingent who maintain a 40 year old truce to decide to withdraw.  This has caused Israel to feel that they can soon be dragged into the Syrian civil war.  It is thought that the Russians will replace them.

From Israel one can see the Syrian tanks and armored vehicles right across the border.  They can hear the lage explosions all day and see thick smoke and flames rise.  Like back in the days of the American Civil War, tourists in Israel went to the Golan to look across the frontier and watch the fighting along with the TV stations.  Israeli IDF along the border were on high alert.

Night came and things calmed down.  Danny Danon, deputy defense minister of Israel said that they remained on high alert and are watching what is going on in Syria.  They are ready to protect Israel. "The Israeli military did not confirm the crossing was overrun by Syrian rebels, but said the area had been declared a "closed military zone" and was off-limits to journalists because of fighting nearby." Yahoo News

"Also Thursday, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri tapped into the deepening Sunni-Shiite rift stemming from the conflict, calling on Sunnis everywhere to devote their lives, money and expertise to the overthrow the regime, set up Islamic rule in Syria and prevent a U.S.-allied government from taking over after Assad, whose regime is dominated by the Alawite sect, an offshoot group of Shiite Islam." Yahoo News

The Islamic militants have joined the rebels in trying to oust Bashar Assad.  The fear is that they will turn their guns on Israel if this despotic Assad is toppled.  The Syrian government could not guarantee support of the UN, Defense Minister Gerhard Klug said, explaining why they were withddrawing their troops from the station they were to protect.  They were a major contingent of peacekeepers.

There is more danger on the horizen.  Qaradawi, the terrible Muslim leader wanting to have all Jews killed, is entering the fracas.  Al-Qaradhawi Calls On Sunnis To Join Syrian Jihad: "How Can 100 Million Shi'ites Defeat 1.7 Billion [Sunni Muslims]?"

Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, the head of IUMS, also joined the attack on Hizbullah and called for jihad against it. In his Friday sermon on May 31, 2013, he called on young Muslims from around the world to travel to the Syrian city of Al-Qusayr in order to fight Hizbullah there, and said that it was illogical to abandon the Muslims (i.e., Sunni Muslims) in Syria while thousands were coming there to fight against them, referring to Hizbullah. Al-Qaradhawi added: "Anyone who can fight, should fight. I swear that if I could [fight] I would do so without hesitation." He even called the 'Alawites "bigger infidels than the Jews." Memri

Resource: Oregonian newspaper 6/7/13 Syrian rebel offensive jolts Israel by Sebastian Scheiner and Josef Federman, AP
http://rt.com/news/golan-heights-russia-peacekeepers-368/
http://news.yahoo.com/austria-withdrawing-un-troops-golan-heights-161203350.html
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/7219.htm

Evidence of Nerve Gas Used in Syria

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

                                                  Rebels fighting in Syria

France is the first to confirm that the nerve gas, Sarin, was used many times and in a localized way in Syria.  This finding shows that it was used at least once by the government.  This information was finally confirmed to the media on Tuesday.  The civil war has been going on for 27 months to date.

Britain acknowledged later that their tests on samples from Syria tested positive for Sarin, too.

The problem has been of confirming what was suspicioned from a distance.  President Obama set the red line and it has been crossed, but by which side?   President Bashar Assad has not allowed any UN investigators into the country.  These confirmations come from samples brought out to be tested.  A UN team said it had "reasonable grounds" to suspect small scale use of toxic chemicals in at least 4 attacks in March and April.

Doctors were also interviewed and so were witnesses of these purported attacks.  There were also amateur videos brought out of Syria of the stricken.  Now they say they need direct samples from victims or from the sites of attacks.

Syria is thought to have the world's largest chemical weapons arsenals including mustard and nerve gas like Sarin, making this very serious for Israel, who has had to arm every citizen with gas masks and the directions for providing for themselves a safe room.

Sending weapons to the rebels is scary business because they are made up of Islamic militants as well who would not flinch at obtaining and keeping chemicals  and then later using them on Israel, for Islamic groups have been no friends to Israel at all.  France's Fabius feels that in one case, the regime and its allies were responsible for the attack.  Britain has found other chemicals, as well as Sarin, in their samples tested.

In the meantime, Assad's troops have advanced toward Qusair near the border with Lebanon and chased rebels from another district on the edge of Damascus on Tuesday.  Now the Syrian government is leading in this civil war that has taken over 80,000 lives so far.  The Syrian army is backed by Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon.  They have announced they have "eradicated the remnants of terrorists" of Qusair."

Reference:  http://www.avaaz.org/en/syria_the_last_straw_c/?bTtDAdb&v=25488
Oregonian Newspaper, 6/5/13, page A9, Europe:  Nerve gas used in Syria by Greg Keller and Karin Laub, AP and Assad's troops gain ground by AP.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/syria-levels-warning-at-israel-in-wake-of-qusair-victory/

Shavuot Celebrates With a Rocket Fired from Gaza

Nadene Goldfoot                                                             

The Palestinians seem to know when Jews are having a holiday.  I wonder how they feel about firing a rocket on a holiday that celebrates the 5 Books of Moses being they also recognize him as a prophet.  Shame on them!  Shavuot is the holiday of being given the Torah.  Whatever would the world be like without it, I wonder.  How long would it have taken for people to become civilized?  Moses, (1391-1271 BCE) brought some amazing ways of living and thinking for that time and ours.  Then 10 commandments were just the basics, starters for people to start another way of thinking.  Otherwise, people would have sunk to the depths of Sodom and Gomorah, most likely.  They often revert to that level even today, so imagine if it were the norm?  Imagine, it was about 3,000 years ago that we received the recipe for an excellent way of life, and we're still not to that point.  With all our technology, our behaviors are barely out of the caveman days.
                                                                           

A rocket was fired Wednesday in southern Israel in the Eshkol Council from Gaza but landed in an empty area.  It didn't stop the celebrants for very long.   Previously, Israel had rockets fired at them  on Lag B'Omer.

Two mortars fell into the Mt. Hermon area but turned out to be stray ones from the Syrian Civil War, so someone said.    Now Israel is dodging those as well as ones from Gaza.  Life goes on, though.

Resource: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4380245,00.html

Ancient Foes-Still Adversaries Today: Syria and Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                

Syria is planning to get even with Israel's strikes on Damascus's shipments of advanced Iranian missiles bound for Hezbollah terrorists last Friday and Sunday.  They've said that they are going to give Hezbollah  strategic weapons it never had before that are "game-changing."  On the map above, Israel is in the bottom left hand corner in gray.  We can just see the northern part.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has exchanged threats over the past months with Israel.  They have tens of thousands of rockets.  Most of them are the unguided type but the shipments that Israel hit last week included precision- guided missiles.  Nasrallah said "they can strike anywhere in Israel."  That means they are the long range type.   Hezbollah is one of the groups trying to wipe out Israel and drive her into the sea.

Nasrallah hasn't been out in public since the 2006 war that lasted 34 days.  It left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.  Of course, one must remember that Syria's population was 22,505,000 and Israel's was 6 million. about 4:1. They don't mind wasting their soldiers while Israel has a different morality.   Nasrallah fears he'll be a target so he's laying low.

After this threat from Nasrallah, Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor responded by saying that "We don't respond to words.  We respond to action."  Israel has warned Syria many times that their air force would strike against any shipments of strategic missiles that might be bound for Hezbollah.

As part of Israel's defense, they have asked Russia to cancel a sale of advanced air defense system to Syria. The deal is  providing the S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.  Kerry said it would a destabilizing factor for Israel's security.

Syria has been a part of every war against Israel since 1948.  By hitting the shipment for Hezbollah, Israel actually helped out the rebels.  Hezbollah and Iran are deeply involved in Syria's civil war by supplying troops and military advisers for Assad.  Israel didn't want to get involved but cannot afford to stand by and see a terrorist group created to take down Israel be armed with such dangerous weapons.

Ever since the 20th century BCE, the Assyrians, also a Semitic people, were aggressive and expanded in the 13th and 10th centuries.  Israel's King David and Solomon had to fight against the Aramean states in Mesopotamia and Syria probably helped. In 732 BCE, Jerusalem became a vassal of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.   By 721 BCE, Assyria's  Sargon held a siege of Samaria (capital of Israel) and captured it  He then deported 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media and replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.

Actually Syria of today was called Aram, land of the Arameans in the Bible. According to the Bible, they had a common ancestry with the Israelite patriarchs who were also of Aramaic origin and maintained ties of marriage with the tribes of Aram.   Their kings just couldn't create a homogeneous state.  The coast was settled by the Phoenicians and there was constant friction with Israel and the 2nd state of Judah until the 8th century BCE when Syria was overrun by the Assyrians. The principal Aramean deity in Syria was Hadad, god of the wind, rain, thunder and lightning.

 There has been a Jewish population in Syria at Antioch who suffered from the hostility of the Greeks.  The Arab Muslim Conquest of 634-37 actually made their life better as they were allowed to maintain their faith but had to a pay poll-tax as they were classified as 2nd class citizens or dhimmis.  Aleppo had the biggest Jewish population of 5,000.  There were 3,000 in Damascus and 2,000 in Palmyra.  They increased after 1492 with the Spanish Inquisition.  In 1943 there were 30,000 Jews in Syria.  Anti-Semitism ran rampant.  ever since 1948.  It's extremism was mainly responsible for the Six Day War of 1967.  Israel defeated the Syrian army and took the Golan Heights where they had been bombarding down on Israel settlements.

Today Syria's forces attacked rebel positions in Aleppo and Idlib in the north.  Their warplanes hit rebels near the military air base outside Aleppo, called Mannagh.  Several rockets landed in Lebanon.  Turkey is testing injured Syrian rebels for chemical warfare wounds.  They have about 12 injured and will have the results soon.   Iran, who is the leader of this defense of Assad,  has built a new radar-evading drone which can fly at high altitudes.

Resource:  Oregonian newspaper 5/10/13, page A9, Hezbollah claims Syria will give it "game-changing" arms.
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia 

Weapons Research Building in Syria Taken Out By Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                            

The distance from Jerusalem, Israel  to Damascus, Syria  is only 135 miles.  About 10 miles from the Lebanese border shared with Israel is the city of Jamraya's  weapons research facility. It is a suburb of   the capital, Damascus, situated northwest of it with coordinates of 33°33'43"N   36°13'9"E.  Inside this facility, sophisticated weapons are being made to arm the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.  This group not only is an ally of Syria's President Bashar Assad but is also the "heavily armed foe" of Israel. The weapons would also be used by Hezbollah against Israel. The facility was hit Friday by Israeli missiles in an air strike.

The Syrian state news agency, SANA, was the first to cite the reports of the bombing by Israel.  Israel told Syria before that it will not allow sophisticated weapons to flow from Syria to these terrorists. Syria had a population of 22,505,000 of which 90% are Sunni/Shi'a Muslims with military power of 296,000 before their raging civil war.  The Syrians have managed to kill many of their civilians who are rebelling against the dictator who has now used chemical warfare against them in one location.  The death count is 70,000 or more, rising daily.  4,000 Syrians from Banias are fleeing with hearing reports that pro-government Syrian gunmen might commit a massacre there.  Friday's report alone is that from 62 people to 102, including 14 children were killed in the civil war.

A weapon facility and its trucks were hit in January and again Friday by Israel in Syria. Both targeted weapons shipments were for Hezbollah.  The January hit was to trucks that carried SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles.  On Friday, the weapons shipment was also targeted, striking the warehouse as well.

Israel has the right to defend itself.  USA President Obama reiterated this fact to Costa Ricans on Saturday during his visit there.  He went on to explain that Israel is very close to Syria and Lebanon and that the USA coordinates closely with the Israelis.

The USA is holding out in intervention in Syria's ongoing civil war.  He doesn't see the USA putting "boots on the ground."  Chemical weapons use in Syria is still under investigation.  He wants solid facts and considers what move is in the interest of the American people and national security.  Best evident and consultation with others will determine his decision.  He's not a leap before you look person that overlooks unintended consequences on the ground.

Bashar Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad,  was Syria's previous ruler.  He held the reins for 30 years.  Bashar has been king since 2000, entering the time of the Arab Spring, which his father didn't deal with.  That's 43 years of one family who have held an iron grip on this nation.  Some of the rebels are from the Muslim Brotherhood, so it's hard to tell the motives of each and if they're an improvement over Assad or not.  It's been a police state.  Iraq was in the same position with their dictator, Saddam Hussein.

Hezbollah  or Party of Allah is a Shi'a Muslim militant group based in Lebanon, also supplied by Iran, a Shi'a country.  They are a terrorist organization.  "Hezbollah was conceived by Muslim clerics and funded by Iran following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and was primarily formed to offer resistance to the Israeli occupation. They consider Jews creating Israel as an occupation of the land."  This is why recognition of Israel as the Jewish state is so vital.  It involves security from all the neighboring states.  "Ending Israel's occupation of Southern Lebanon, which lasted for 18 years, was the primary focus of Hezbollah's early activities.   Israel had become militarily involved in Lebanon in combat with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1982 which had been invited into Lebanon after Black September in Jordan."  

Resource:Oregonian newspaper 5/5/13, page A9; Israeli strike hits research center, Syria says
  http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=9065
http://www.prokerala.com/travel/distance/from-damascus-syria/to-jerusalem/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/03/syria-opposition-50-killed-massacre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashar_al-Assad
http://www.biography.com/people/saddam-hussein-9347918
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah
update: 5/5/13 http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/israel-attacks-again-explosions-shake-damascus-video/2013/05/05/

Israel Downs Drone From Lebanon

                                                                 

                           IAF F16 knocks out possible Hizboula drone. They're there for Israelis 24/7.
Nadene Goldfoot
Israel was able to shoot down a drone on Thursday as it came in from the north, Lebanon, which is on the northern border of Israel.

It is thought that the Hezbollah militant groups was behind this attempt to infiltrate.  Of course Hezbollah denies this.  Hezbollah is a Shiite militant group trying to take advantage of the civil war going on in neighboring Syria.

A spokesman from Israel's  IDF  said that an F-16 warplane shot down the drone.  The drone was smashed into the sea about 5 miles from Haifa, Israel's northern port.  Israeli naval forces have been searching for the wreckage.

Lebanon has been made up of a mixed population of which 60% had been Muslims of Sunnis and Shi'a following Hanafi and Jafari fiqhs.  Christians had been the ruling party even though they were a minority until the end of the 20th century, but not today.  It is a small country with only about 4,196,453 population in all.

Major Hadad of Lebanon was a good friend of Israel.  His troops used to patrol the border between Lebanon and Syria in order to prevent terrorism.  He would come into our army hospital in Haifa for his R and R.  His men attacked a PLO group of terrorists in 1982 in retribution and got themselves and Israel in trouble for it, as our general had allowed them to enter the area.  Now the terrorism out of Lebanon isn't even necessarily Lebanese home grown but a neighboring faction and comes from the sky as well. Syria is under the umbrella of Shiite Iran who hates Israel.   Thank goodness for F-16's for defense.

Reference: Oregonian newspaper, 4/26/13, page A6, Israel downs drone, suspects Hezbollah