Israel's Military Versus Netanyahu and Knesset Situation

Nadene Goldfoot                                              

Fareed Zakaria's GPS Sunday morning program opened with a discussion about the Israeli soldier who is in hot water for shooting a Palestinian. Fareed said this has caused Israel's Defense Minister  to be fired and that there is a feud between the Generals (Alufeem)  and Netanyahu.  He was replaced with Avigdor Lieberman causing the lawmakers to be against the appointment.  Moshe Yaalon had resigned, accepted as a good defense minister who had in a year calmed a big uprising.  .Moshe is one who sides with the military.

The decision by Netanyahu comes from dealing with the politics of the moments, the centrists, which brought about choosing a hawk like Lieberman.  The question is, will he continue to uphold their strong moral values?

 What happened was that a 19 year old IDF Sgt Elor Azria, French Moroccan, shot a wounded Palestinian attacker while he was lying down on the ground in Hebron (18 miles south of Jerusalem)  on March 24th of this year.  The soldier has been charged with  violating the rules of engagement without justification.  The terrorist showed no immediate threat for anyone.  He had shot and killed Abdul Sharif, 21.  He was charged with inappropriate military conduct.

 This is where Abraham buried his wife, Sarah.  He bought a plot of ground which included a cave which is where he buried her.  Today a mosque stands over the site.  Hebron was one of the Levitical cities as well as a city of refuge under the Israelites.  The screw-up in finally allowing Jews their Jewish Homeland-20% of the promised land,  made sure that Israel would not get their ancient homeland.  Religious reasons?  Political reasons?

This was just before Passover.  He was allowed to have one night with his family Friday at the start of Passover.

Hebron

Hebron is in Judah, what Westerners call the West Bank,  and is a city with important history to Jews.  It now has become a Palestinian city and has had 7 months of Palestinian violence against Israelis.

 People on the right thought this was unfair to arrest a soldier who shot a terrorist, and thought this was like executing military personnel unfairly.  A video caught the scene.  Minutes earlier, Abdul and another terrorist were stabbing and wounding a soldier.  They were shot by a soldier.  Evidently, while down, the soldier shot Abdul again in the head without good reason as he was down.

The lawyers for the soldier said that he may have thought the terrorist was wearing explosives.  The facts came out that had he already been checked for a suicide belt, but no one in the video shows actions exhibiting any caution towards him.  The far right want the soldier released.

However, who is angry with the soldier?  The Top military brass of Israel.  They have strongly condemned his actions.  This happened during a wave of violence beginning in October which killed 201 Palestinians and 28 Israelis.  Most all of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.  The sentence came on Monday which said it had located and destroyed a tunnel that went from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, first discovered since the Gaza war in 2014.  The military has a strong code of Jewish ethics and keeps to it.  The tunnel  was built by Hamas terrorists.   32 tunnels had been discovered including 14 that extended into Israel.

This gets to my point today.  There are 2 levels of operation for nations in the world; political and religious venues.  What is each platform?  Have they always been in sinc with each other?  Israel was created as a much needed Jewish state after 2,000 years of it's population being beaten up for being Jewish by the world's religions and politics.  It's important to keep to the values.  Being a democratic state in the midst of none, they must allow the whole gamut of political parties, but the Knesset must stand behind the values of Judaism, which is highly moralistic.  They always have maintained their high moral values, especially when involved in the past wars with the terrorists of Gaza.   I can understand a young soldier in the heat of battle being scared enough to keep shooting, something so easy to do with his finger, but it was wrong to shoot a man when down when he could be taken alive.

Resource:  http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/israel-soldier-who-shot-wounded-palestinian-charged-with-manslaughter
Newsweek
The Guardian 

Terrorist Tunnels in Gaza Discovered

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                           

                    Underground  Tunnel discovered dug from Gaza to Israel

In September of this year of 2013, Israel shipped in 1,244 truckloads of construction materials to Gaza so that they could build things they would like to have more of such as  homes, schools, hospitals, roads, and parks.  Instead, they have used the materials to build tunnels.  These tunnels are used to bring in weaponry to use against Israel.  Israel had been wary of allowing such shipments to go in, but from outside pressure, bent their decision and allowed it, and this is how they are repaid.

It was the Egyptian army who discovered the latest tunnel. It is used for smuggling weapons and attacking Israelis.  It went from the Gaza Strip to the Sinai Peninsula.  In another description it extends from the southern Gaza Strip to the Egyptian border.

 Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper reported that they arrested 72 people in Sinai for involvement in a bomb attack tat killed 2 and wounded 5.

Egypt and Israeli delegates are getting together to discuss this problem.  The Egyptian army has been working to destroy Islamist terrorist cells that have formed in the Sinai since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.  Militants from Gaza have been attacking Egyptian civilians and soldiers in the Sinai.

It was on October 10th that a large, very high and deep tunnel was discovered going from Gaza right into Israel.  Hamas claims they are responsible, and of course they are.  They are the leaders of Gaza.  "The Hamas spokesman said the tunnel had been dug in an effort to force Israel to release some of the thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jails. Former Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured and brought into Gaza through such a tunnel in 2006."

We have already started releasing prisoners who are murders from jail as requested to meet the conditions of  the peace table with Abbas.  Finding this and with the way the Palestinians glorify their killers is a huge turn-off in continuing such a practice.  It was to be used to kidnap Jews and also  to allow terrorists into Israel to kill Israelis, for that's what they have done in the past.  

Resource:  http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=12815
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152779163027316&set=a.279044817315.179332.73528002315&type=3&theater
http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/69956/hamas-claims-responsibility-for-large-terror-tunnel/

What Palestinians Died in Gaza?

Nadene Goldfoot
April 16, 2001, the first rocket was fired from Gaza into Israel.  

On November 14, after 12 years of having been shelled by Gazan terrorists, Israel warned, begged help from the UN,  and were ignored by the world.  They were forced to retaliate with Operation Pillar of Defense, and as a result killed 178 Palestinians.

Only 169 of the casualties were ever identified.  It was found out that 101 were terrorists, with 71 of these affiliated with Hamas.  17 were affiliated with Islamic Jihad, 6 were members of the Popular Resistance committees, 3 were Fatah terrorists, 2 belonged to the Army of Islam, 1 was a PFLP terrorist and 1 was a Salafist terrorist, which are the most extreme Muslim faction.

 68 people were  civilians.  This amounts to  the fact that 60% were  terrorists   What these terrorists do is place their launching pads for their rockets, mortars and missiles among civilian population in order to have further ammunition against Israel by saying, "See, they hit our civilians."  Civilized countries do not put their civilians in harm's way, regardless.

Even in this the terrorists are still terrorizing Israel by misconscrewing the numbers.  The terrorist groups published a smaller number of actual terrorists and made the civilian number larger just to defame Israel.  Then they had the chutzpa to add the names of those who died in other circumstances to the death list in order to vilify Israel.

Since 2001, the terrorists have fired 12,800 rockets and mortars into Israel.  44 Israeli civilians were killed since 2006 and 1,687 were injured.  In 2006, 9 were killed and 371 injured; in 2007, 10 were killed and 578 injured; in 2008, 15 were killed and 611 injured.   By December 27, 2008, Israel had enough and followed up with Operation Cast Lead.  63% to 75% of the Palestinian casualties were men of combat age.  Total casualties amounted to 1,400 in the 22 days that Israel had to go into Gaza.  . 308 of them were under age 18.   5,000 were wounded.  The terrorists managed to kill 10 IDF and 3 Israeli civilians.

The Palestinian terrorists were unperturbed.   In 2009, 2 were killed and 11 injured; in 2010, 5 were killed and 35 injured; in 2011, 3 were killed and 81 injured.  Then in 2012, 1,822 rockets, mortars and missiles were fired into Israel.

March 9-14, 2012, Israel held Operation Returning Echo where they pinpointed Zohair al-Qaisi, the Secretary General of the Popular Resistance Committees. Along with him, another terrorist companion was killed as well as a nearby civilian.   This led to the Palestinian retaliation with the terrorists shooting 300 plus Grad missiles, Qassam rockets and mortar shells into Israel.  177 of them hit Ashdod, Ashkelon and Beersheba.  23 civilians were injured.  Israel shot down 56 rockets out of 71 attempts.

Israel takes all the steps possible to protect their citizens while the Palestinians put them in harm's way on purpose.  This is why there is a difference in fatalities.  Israel may have suffered less deaths, but have been under attack since 2001 with indiscriminate shelling coming into civilian populations without anyone stepping up to stop it such as the UN.  It happens to be against international law.  This has been war.

I note that the Palestinians have been accepted into the UN under a nonmember observer state while the Palestinians  refuse to recognize Israel as a state.  Is this their reward for shelling Israel and not making peace for the past 12 years?

In Bethlehem, which is in Judah (West Bank and under Fatah rule), thousands of Christian tourists are celebrating the birth of Jesus, and the Muslims are celebrating the UN's recent recognition of an "independent Palestinian state."  Considering how the Christians are being treated in Egypt under their new Muslim Brotherhood politics, it won't be long before things change for the few Christians in Bethlehem.  I don't know why the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, the Palestinian Archbishop who was born in Jordan, mentioned that the road to actual freedom was still long, but....the birth of the state of Palestine.  I have a feeling he is expecting more attacks on Israel, especially for Jerusalem, as it is a telling statement.  For a religious man, he is not hiding his political feelings.

Reference:  http://www.idfblog.com/facts-figures/rocket-attacks-toward-israel/
http://www.dailyalert.org/ Arutz Sheva: 60% of Palestinian Casualties in Recent Gaza Fighting Were Terrorists;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_2012_Gaza%E2%80%93Israel_clashes
http://www.ict.org.il/ResearchPublications/CastLeadCasualties/tabid/325/Default.aspx
http://imeu.net/news/article0021968.shtml
Oregonian newspaper 12/25/12 Front page, In Bethlehem, two reasons to celebrate by Dalia Nammari, AP
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/29/palestinian-un-recognition-vote-passes_n_2213980.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sezF3GN09jA  IDF going into Gaza  by Ariel Siegelman, an IDF, possibly in Operation Cast Lead, uploaded in 2010.
Added 1/7/13 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Whole-truth-about-the-Israeli-Palestinian-conflict/338446719503483

All Is Not Quiet on the Western Front

Nadene Goldfoot
The month of March saw terrorists from Gaza fire over 200 rockets into Israel over 4 days after terrorists Zuhir Musa Ahmed and Mahmoud Ahmed Mahmoud Hanani were killed.

Fire broke out in the Eshkol region in Southern Israel after it was hit by high trajectory firing into the Israeli territory.  IAF aircraft retaliated by striking 2 direct hits on  weapons storage sites  in northern and southern Gaza on yesterday.

Before, on Sunday the aircraft took out a terrorist tunnel with direct hits.  This came about in retaliation to being hit by a Qassam rocket in the south late Sunday night, exploding in the Eshkol Regional Council.

Friday morning another fight took place between IDF troops and a Gaza terrorist as they were trying to infiltrate the western Negev from Gaza which took the life of a young Golani Brigade soldier.

All this shooting was supposed to have been under a cease fire maintained by Egypt, but for the terrorist groups, only seems to mean that  they just do not fire barrages.  They shoot just as it suits them to remind Israelis that they can do it which disrupts the lives of those in Southern Israel.  How would you like to be the sitting ducks?

April showers brought 10 rockets fired at Israel in 9 separate attacks, two being launched from the Sinai in Egypt this time.  3 were Grad missiles aimed at Eilat on the Red Sea coast.  Some residences suffered from shock.  This happened on the 4th.  On the 8th 2 Qassam were fired into the Sdot Negev in the morning and a rocket was fired at Sderot in the evening.  The Color Red alarm sounded in the city once more.  Sderot has taken upteen hits.  On the 14th Fatah fired a rocket at night with CARE International detecting it coming from east of Jabalia which exploded prematurely.  They did it again the next day with Qassam rockets coming into the Sha'ar Hanegev and Ashkelon areas.  The 22nd, 23rd and 30th also had Qassam rockets fall into the areas.

May is supposed to bring flowers but the Ashkelon area only got another Qassam rocket and Israel decided to retaliate by hitting a tunnel in northern Gaza on the 1st.  Another Qassam rocket shot into Sdot Negev again on the 9th and that brings us to the 15th with a Qassam rocket fired in the morning into Sha'ar Hanegev area.

In this we see that Israel is the target of constant attacks.  Israel retaliates once in a while aiming at the cause, not the people.  Yet we are seen as the bad guys.  Go figure.  What kind of logic is this?  England is being very anti-Israel with many Brits supporting the Palestinian "liberation struggle against Israeli imperialism" as some see it.  This is the same British Empire who conquered and subjugated other countries, controlling over 1/4 of the world at one time where "the sun never set on the British Empire."  Queen Elizabeth II is into her "diamond jubilee" and has never visited Israel yet.

Senator Barack Obama flew into Israel vowing that if he became President he would work towards ending the Israel-Palestine conflict "from the minute he was sworn into office."  He didn't let on that he meant he would work to push Israel back to indefensible lines from 1967 which would mean untold amounts of Israeli lives to be lost. No, it's not popular to be supportive of Israel, but we are anyway.  They're the ones getting attacked and shelled and why?  For existing.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2012
Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com IAF Hits Weapons Storage Sites in Gaza by Elad Benari 

Fences That Save Lives

Nadene Goldfoot                                                               

Like the poet, Robert Frost said, "Good fences make good neighbors."  Israel has been in the doghouse for having built fences, however.  There is an excellent reason for building them that other countries also in the act of building do not have.  It's to save the lives of Israelis from the many radicals that intend to kill them.  Not many countries have this reason for building their fences.  The "Good Neighbor Fence" between Israel and Lebanon has been there doing it's job.  I drove to it several times between 1980 and 1985.  That's when Major Hadad, head of the Christian militia of Lebanon and Israel were good friends and he helped to patrol the border.  His R &R time was spent in our army hospital many a time.
                                                                           

The United States is building fences along the border of Mexico to keep out illegal immigrants who have been taking advantage of the ease in gaining entrance.  There is no other way to prevent incursions into Israel other than shooting to kill.  This is a far better way.  I'm sure other countries would use death, it's so much cheaper.

There are checkpoints in Israel along the fences, some of which are cement.  Many explosive belts from suicide bombers were found.  This has cut down the attacks and the population feels much safer.  Usually schools have been a goal of these attackers.  They've had no hang-ups in who they kill inside Israel.
                                                                               

Jews actually have bad memories of being really fenced in, which the Palestinians are not.  The fences are not locking them in, just keeping the path closest to citizens blocked so it's not so easy to kill them.  Back in  Italy in about 1179 the Vatican issued the edict to keep Jews in ghettos, and they really were locked in at night.  Thus, this turned out to be the beginning of keeping us in one place.  If it wasn't for our strict kosher laws of cleanliness, we would have died out long ago.  Russia had the same idea which resulted to keeping Jews in "the Pale of Settlement."  We weren't allowed inside Russia proper without special conditions accompanied by special passes.  We never on any occasion wanted access to the rest of the world like other people had with the idea of killing anyone.  It was just normal reasons like business, touring, buying, and visiting that Jews would have liked to be able to do that was denied to them.
                                                                             

Israel border that is saving their lives;
up to keep out Palestinian terrorists

So don't lecture us on not treating people fairly!  Our whole religion involves such things.  We don't dwell on what happens to us when we are dead but when we are alive. Judaism is a religion of Life, L'Chaim!   The old adage, we'll treat you fairly and you treat us fairly  still exists.  The one thing we won't do is get down to the level of our adversaries, though.


Resource: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4227342,00.html
http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2000/issue3/jv4n3a2.html

Young Israeli Rabbi Murdered in Drive-By

by Nadene Goldfoot

A drive by shooting occurred in Israel Thursday where a young rabbi was murdered. Rabbi Meir Avshalom Chai of Shavei Shomron, 40 years old, was hit and killed. He was the father of seven children. This happened in what the general public calls the West Bank. It lies in the Northern Samarian hills so is in what Israelis call Samaria. The West Bank Barrier is planned to enclose on the Israeli side all of the Central-Western Shomron settlements except for the three northernmost, Avnei Hefetz, Einav, and Shavei Shomron, and four Northern Shomron towns, (all the remaining ones other than the two southernmost, Hermesh and Mevo Dotan), but not any of the Mountain Communities. About 20,000 Jews live there, and the area makes up about 10% of Israel.

Israeli Special forces surrounded the Nablus homes of the three Alesa martyrs Brigades operatives in order to arrest them for the murderous attack. The men refused to come out after being called to come out. The terrorist hid in his room and sent his wife out to the soldiers.

In such cases where there is a threat to the troops and a wanted militant refuses to surrender, IDF forces are permitted to open fire in order to neutralize the threat. The risk factor was very high in this operation. The IDF knew that the group that these three belonged to were highly skilled, had firearms and posed a threat.

They followed IDF regulations and first fired protest dispersal ammunition, then fired at the walls, and only lastly fired at the militants. The result was that the troops opened fire and killed them. They can't afford to fool around. Knowing this, a fourth wanted militant turned himself into the Palestinian authorities. Notice here that the Palestinian police were not on top of this as they should have been. It was up to the Israeli soldiers to find these murderers.

In one of the homes, the soldiers found two hidden rifles and two guns. They were taken to the police laboratories to check if they were used in Thursday's attack.

The killers were 38 and 39 years old. One's wife was also wounded in the operation, probably the one sent out by her husband who could have been in the line of fire.

What we see is an Israeli Rabbi murdered in cold blood. The terrorists are using this just as bullies do. They are angry that Israel has punished the killers and are condemning Israel and causing "dangerous escalation" in the West Bank. Israel then gets the blame in the news for self protection.

Interestingly at the same time of this terrible event, passengers on an American airplane were fighting a terrorist of their own who was trying to blow up the plane. One wonders if there was any planned synchonization here, or just an abundance of terrorism happening just before Christmas.

Resource: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1137753.html
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Sattelite?cid=1261364507807&pagename=JPost%2FJPArti
Additional information very worthwhile to read: article by Victor Sharpe
http://www.ruthfullyyours.com/2009/12/25/ehud-baracks-dismal-record-victor-sharpe/
BBC News Sat 26 Dec 2009

Peres Behind J. Street

by Nadene Goldfoot

President Shimon Peres is behind J Street claims David Bedein, my old friend from Safed. David is now a journalist who heads the Israel Resource Review. He's in Washington , DC to speak to congressmen. J-Street is a very liberal US Jewish lobby seen by many of us as anti-Israeli. It's trying to replace AIPAC.

J-Street is made up of all the leftist NGO's who are tying to restart the Oslo process. The Peres Center for Peace is behind the scenes. It moderated most of the discussions in their recent convention. Their aim is to get congressmen to support the Oslo process.

J-Street is promoting the idea that Fatah is a reliable partner for peace, and many of us realize it is not. They're for the Oslo way and establishing a Palestinian state even though there is no peace or acceptance of Israel or that Abbas has no say over Hamas in Gaza who would take it over.

Bedein will be explaining the situation with videos and books by the Palestinian Authority that show they are not moderates, but are militant and constantly inciting against Israel. There are congressmen who seek the truth. Bedein is speaking out at his own expense as the Israeli government is gun-shy about doing this. They may not even understand J-Street's damage they are causing Israel.

Some of these J-Streeters also need to see David's presentation and realize that they are on the wrong side of the street. We don't need our own people being bamboozled into looking through rose colored glasses and not seeing the oncoming traffic heading their way.

Resource: Arutz Sheva by Gil Ronen http://www.israelnationalnews.com/SendMail.aspx?print=print&type=0&item=134130

Laughter and Shock Over Katyusha Attack From Lebanon-Or Shock and Awe in the Middle East

by Nadene Goldfoot

The joke is tht Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman is charging Tel Aviv with the Katyusha attack of October 27th on their own Kiriyat Shimona that really came from Lebanon. He says they're attacking themselves just to keep up tensions.

That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Does he really think people will buy that? Perhaps his own kind will, which is so unfortunate.

I thought perhaps the Messiah is getting ready to come, because the UN has really shocked me. The Secretery General of the U.N. is condemning Lebanon for this very rocket attack! The U.N. is finally saying something fair concerning Israel. I am in such shock! It's a first that I am aware of!

I wonder if Suleiman looks as stupid to the U.N. as he does to me.

I would like to tell these terrorists that we really don't want to be attacked and bombed. We're too busy creating and living to be interrupted all the time. We could have discovered the end to all cancers or some such important medical advances by now if allowed to live in peace. Their attacks are interruptive.

Reference: New York, 28 October 2009 - Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on the firing of ...United Nations Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:34 AM PDTThe Secretary-General condemns the firing of a rocket against Israel from southern Lebanon on 27 October. The rocket was launched from the general area of Houla in southern Lebanon and impacted in the vicinity of Kiryat Shemona in northern Israel.

Suleiman: Tel Aviv behind Katyusha attack on IsraelPress TV Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:27 AM PDTLebanese President Michel Suleiman charges Tel Aviv with a Katyusha-type rocket attack on the Israeli eastern town of Kiryat Shmona calling it a Zionist attempt to keep tensions high in Middle East.

BBC's Biased Reporting: Anti-Israel As Always

by Nadene Goldfoot

The BBC obviously hasn't known anyone Jewish either in Britain or Israel. We love life. Our toast is L'Chaim; to Life. We want ourselves to live as well as others. We don't even guess about the conditions when dead. We're too concerned to make a better life for everyone.

Yet the BBC infers and comes right out with their idea that Israel would purposely bomb a primary school in Gaza. That is so far from the truth. The truth is more that the terrorists have placed their arms inside a primary school putting their own children at risk. They've been known to do such things.

The BBC only writes about the suffering of the Gazan children because of Israel, never the suffering of Israelis because of terrorists.

The number of deaths is thrown in Israeli's faces. "When you talk to schoolchildren in Gaza they say, look at us, so many of us are killed in wars with Israel, whereas in Sderot not many children die, not many are injured, not many rockets are actually fired." Israel's citizens do everything humanly possible to keep their death and injured numbers down, hereas the opposite happens in Gaza. The more that die the better their propaganda works.

The fact is that 12,000 rockets and mortars have been fired from the Gaza Strip since 2001 while over 1,000 people have been wounded as a result.

Children and adults are not getting a true picture of the events in Israel and Gaza if they only depend on the BBC and Katya Adler's reporting. They'll just think that Israel is all at fault. I hope the Brits are a little smarter than to depend on one source for their information. If they know what makes Jews really tick, they will seek out information that is not biased.

Reference: Honest Reporting: http://www.honestreporting.com/SSI/printVersionNEW.asp?site=www.honestreporting.c

Haifa's New ER at Rambam Hospital and Chemical Warfare

Providing Protection from Chemical Warfare

Nadene Goldfoot
In 1981 I fell down and broke my elbow after studying Hebrew all day and night for a big three hour long test that would seal my fate as to becoming an English teacher in Israel. I was taken to the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, where I was attending an ulpan. When I left the hospital, I took the test with a huge cast on my arm and even though I was running a fever, passed.

In the summer of 2006 the hospital was one of hundreds of civilian targets that were under fire by the terrorists in the 2nd Lebanon War.

Today they dedicated a new $14 million emergency facility that provides protection from missiles and chemical weapons that may be in Hizbullah's possession. The new emergency room includes a secure underground hospital for 1,730 patients, a children's hospital and facilities for cancer care and for cardiac treatment, and a tower for clinical research. when completed this ER will be more than three times larger than the previous facility. It will cover 3/4 of an acre with the ability to treat 650 patients at the same time. Prof. Rafi Beyar is the Rambam Health Care Campus Director.

The government provided 1/4 of the construction costs. Private donors and organizations provided the rest.

Reference: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/SendMail.aspx?print=print&type-0&item=134086 arutz sheva IsraelNationalNews.com

International Rejection of HRC Decision on Goldstone Report Needed

based on Report from Danny Ayalon in aish.com

by Nadene Goldfoot

The Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel's article about the Goldstone Report calls for an international rejection of HRC's decision on the Goldstone report. Are there many countries brave enough to buck this group? There were about five countries that stood with USA against this decision, and many abstainers. We need them to be vocal and not go along with this travesty.

It's sad to realize that this world is against a very tiny country that has been shelled with missiles for eight long years, mainly into one area of Israel, the southern part right across the Gaza border and into Ashkelon where a very important hospital lies serving both Israelis and Palestinians. When Israel, knowing the mind of a world that discriminates against them because they are Jewish and not Muslims, finally must decide to protect its citizens and broadcasts to the world that if the shelling doesn't stop they will be forced to retaliate, are criticized and face charges in a criminal world court with grave consequences, I throw my hands up in the air. This is not a logical ending to a brave decision of trying to solve a problem when standing alone and being outnumbered. The odds are heavily stacked against us no matter what we decide to do. I've said it before, we are dammed if we do and dammed if we don't.

The only help that could have been suggested by the USA or other European countries probably was to give into demands of giving up more land, like we have already done with Gaza. That turned out to be the biggest fiasco and has led to humungous problems. The world wants to ignore something Israel is very aware of. The goal of the Muslims, Palestinians, or Arabs, whatever they are labeled as, is to drive Israel into the sea. In other words, put an end to Israel and take it over. They haven't even kept this goal a secret but broadcast it well. However, it is an inconvenient truth, a problem to deal with, so I feel our allies just turn a deaf ear and closed mind to it and pretend it isn't so. After all, it doesn't affect their station in life as it does the Israelis.

Resource: http://www.aish.com/print/?contentID=65929817&section=/jw/me

Added 10/27/09 http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/greenberg102709.php3

2009-Critique on Generation Islam from Christiane Amanpour-CNN

Tonight's Christiane Amanpour's Presentation on "Generation Islam"

from a Jewish lady's perspective

by Nadene Goldfoot

Christiane's opening words at 7 pm were blaming the Gazan's plight on Israel's birth 60 years ago and this being the cause of their hating America. Then she went on to say that December 27, 2008 was the date of Israel's offensive but blamed both sides. She explained that it lasted 22 days and that only 13 Israelis were killed while 1,300 Palestinians died. Palestinians see America siding with Israel and this makes them mad.

80% of Palestinians are on the dole. They have been receiving UN aid since 1948. There is now nothing in Gaza except destroyed buildings. The visual showed nothing but destruction. She didn't tell the audience that when Israelis left Gaza for the sake of peace they left intact buildings and businesses which the Palestinians tore down the minute they went into the areas.

Young Palestinians are prey for the militia. They blame Israel for the offensive. She didn't bring out that they aren't taking responsibility for their own destruction, and that the offensive wouldn't have happened if they had not shelled Israel for the past four years with thousands of rockets, nor that they were warned of what would happen if Hamas continued to attack Israel.

She then interviewed a very nice Palestinian doctor who worked in an Israeli hospital because in the offensive, his home was hit and 3 of his children were killed. This of course is a doctor who doesn't hate Israelis and listening to him causes viewers to be very sympathetic.

The next shot was interviewing a lady who didn't hate Israelis to start with but now said she'd kill them all if she had the chance. The offensive is causing her to hate. Never mind at all why the offensive happened. Nobody is talking about that to the viewers.

The subject switched to showing the bad effects of the war on the Palestinian children. Militants have become the symbol of power. One third of the children want to be martyrs. Ten children were in a family that they interviewed. The 90 year old grandmother now goes out of the house and sits in the dust. A little girl named Iah wanted peace but now hates Israelis. Her father was killed when Gaza was closed due to the shelling on Israel. His office was hit by a bomb.

The attitude of the people is disappointing to me. What bothers me is their continued denial of why Israel doesn't want to be a sitting duck in a shooting gallery and they find that this duck knows how to shoot back. It's as if they are pouring gasoline on their own house and lighting a match to it and then blaming Israel for the fact that it goes up in flames. It's like the old joke, a young kid kills his parents and then cries to the judge that he's now an orphan. Christiana doesn't bother to question the attitude of these militant Palestinians, like do they understand why this happened?

Children were interviewed who only spoke Arabic but the interpreter spoke as a sophisticated college professor. I would have loved to know the real words spoken. A boy scout was interviewed at a boy scout camp. They were learning to fight Israelis and were being taught self-defense. They want to grow up to defend their country. They were asked why they were so militant and they said that their dreams were of a free independant state. Then teenagers were shown practicing with real guns. She mentions that there is more extremism in Gaza today than there was last year. Was she blaming Israel and the offensive? I think so.

The Gazan children were shown to be dependant on Western volunteers (or working for an organization) who are speaking English. They are there to amuse and teach them. There are 700,000 children in Gaza and they have programs for a third of them. There is a Koran Camp for other children who wish to do that.

Two Palestinian American men were shown fighting for peace in different ways. I believe they were cousins. They were in the "occupied West Bank" which I call Judea and Samaria and they throw in the term "occupied" for political reasons. They are not teaching violence. They were more in tune to Martin Luther King and Gandi's non-violence approach. However, even they, when they spoke, said that Israel uses the excuse of security and that it is an excuse. They don't even realize why Israel had to build a wall and that security is the job of any state. Their attitude made me cringe.

The next shot was in a pre-school classroom with three year olds. They were being taught how to get what they wanted but not fight for it and it wasn't working very well. At least they videotaped a little girl causing a boy to cry and was questioned about what she was just taught to do. She finally said she was sorry and walked away. Muppets were used to teach lessons and Sesame Street has come to Gaza in Arabic. They were being taught diplomacy by a grant from a peace group.

Children were taken to the wall every Friday and chanted things at Israeli soldiers. I call that heckling. One did mention that he was afraid of the soldiers and that they had power. More than half of the population is under 18.

Finally two 21 year old young men were shown at the University in Gaza. One joined Hamas and the other was interested in starting a business. Both were angry young men but were expressing it in different ways. One said that you're being judged. He wanted to defend the honor of his people against attacks on them. (Israel doesn't go around attacking Gazans for sport. This only happens when they are being attacked first, and then they took attacks for four years trying not to retaliate before they were forced to do so.) This little fact was not brought out by any of the Palestinians; only blaming them.

The student who had already joined Hamas said that terrorists were from all walks of people; from scientists to militants. He wanted to be a journalist but would be a terrorist now. The other was already a CEO of his own company. He walked around showing Christiana the destruction and what had been there before. She told him that most people think the university is a hotbed of terrorism. He said that wasn't true. There they study English and human rights. The university is looking for leaders. They are against violence. He wants to be a part of the global community. They concluded with the statement that Al Kadah looks less attractive.

I was happy to see a few interviewees who wanted to be a part of the world and were getting tired of living like they have been. It was marvelous to see in the first part of the program which did a study on Pakistan and Afghanistan that the children were so eager to learn, even by sitting outside with a teacher without any materials except a stick for writing. They were even studying English and realized that to be a part of the modern world this language would be advantagous to learn and was a tool for success.

The only solution to the Palestian problem shown was possibly the fact that a very few young people were interested in getting on with their lives and were not interested in spending their life killing Israelis. I only wish more would adopt that attitude. They didn't seem to be as impressed with learning anything like the other two country's children. They are more focused on the Israelis and Americans that they hate and this is taking precident.

Reference: CNN 6:00pm program

USA Blackmailing Israel

by Nadene Goldfoot

The USA is telling Israel that unless they accept a belligerent Palestine next door to them, they will not help in the matter of an Iran manned with atomic weapons and might. Our country has thrown out the baby with the bathwater just to get good marks on their report card. What they're doing is beating up the victim of aggression, and this won't be a forgotten act.

Though the surrounding Arab nations, Egypt, for instance, are not happy with an existing Israel, they fear Iran empowered even more and probably wouldn't mind the USA taking a stand against their atomic powers.

Besides all the other demands that the USA is making on Israel to be compliant in their eyes, they are demanding that Israel allow Palestinians freedom of movement. Now Israel is the forerunner on protection of their people from terrorists having been the main country that has had to deal with terrorism.

If they have curtailed movement of a people who are the major players of terrorism to their citizens, they know what they are doing. Asking them to allow Palestinians complete freedom of movement is like someone telling us to let out all the criminals that are in our jails and do away with such protection of citizens.

If Palestinians had never practiced terrorism against Israelis, the need to curtail their movement would never had happened. That's the lowest blow of all from America. That's saying, just do what we tell you, and you'll soon disappear and our Arab friends will again be very happy and we won't have an oil problem. Israel has been sold out with this new regime.

Reference: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0509/phillips050709.php3 Obama prepares to throw Israel under the bus
By Melanie Phillips

A Letter From David to Gazan Neighbors

"My friend, from Zichron Yaacov Israel, sent this to me from her friend. "

A letter to the citizens of Gaza from a concerned neighbor

Dear neighbor,
My name is David and I live in Israel, thirty minutes (or one minute rocket time) from you, in a beautiful house by the woods. I hope someday to have you over for a cup of tea. We have a lovely view from the balcony. On a clear day we can see our jets bombing your neighborhood.

I think it's time we had a heart to heart. It's time you knew the truth. After all, what are neighbors for? You might have wondered why both you and your parents were born in a refugee camp. Why is it that even though we live only 30 minutes apart, I live in prosperity and you live in poverty and filth? Why you live in despair and hatred while we live in hope and love.

Here is the truth, neighbor:
There really was a Holocaust. I realize you've been taught otherwise. I know, that ever since you were a small child you've been told that the Holocaust is something the Jews fabricated to justify taking your land. Well, dear citizen of Gaza, it really happened. Not very long ago. It happened. And guess what? It's NEVER going to happen again. The time in history when Jews were led to slaughter, persecuted, raped and pillaged is over and will never recur. Never. Now we have our own country. Now we have the bombs. We will never forget what was done to our people and you better not either.

We don't hate you. We don't hate anyone. Jews are a peaceful people. We do not want your land. We don't want oil. We don't want to rape your women or murder your children. We never tried to force our religion on anyone. Our eternal capital, Jerusalem, is open to all faiths to love and to worship. We treat your Arab brothers who live among us as equals. Our hand has been extended to peace with our neighbors since day one. We have proven this time and time again through numerous negotiations and extensive compromise.

We ask only for one thing. Leave us in peace. That's right. We have no other demands. Just leave us in peace. It's as simple as that. If you don't, we will fight back ferociously and mercilessly. We will destroy your homes and your cities. We will make your miserable lives even more miserable. If you don't want this to happen any more, leave us in peace.

Our soldiers are not motivated by hate but by determination. We embrace life and will do anything to preserve it. However, we will kill and die to protect our land and our way of life. That's what they should be teaching in your schools instead of useless lies.

A terrorist is a terrorist. Sorry to be the one to break the news, but it's about time somebody told you that a terrorist is nothing more than a coward. Not a hero. Not a Shahid. There is nothing heroic in blowing yourself up amongst a crowd of woman and children. Anybody can do it. Anybody can hide inside a school or a mosque and blindly fire rockets into cities, hoping to kill as many babies as possible. There is nothing courageous or admirable in these acts of cruelty. To take pride in an act of terror is pitiful and pathetic. I know you've been raised to believe the contrary, but it is a lie. I have seen how your children are taught to commit suicide. How your suicide bombers are glorified. This is tragically sad. A real hero faces his enemy and doesn't hide in schools and hospitals. A real hero protects his people and will die for them but not among them.

Israel exists and it belongs to the Jewish People. I've seen your school books. I know that Israel has been omitted from your maps. Contrary to what you've been told, the State of Israel really does exist. Look outside your window. We are here and we are not going anywhere. Dear Palestinian neighbor, it's time to deal with the facts. We love our beautiful little country. We will protect it with our lives. You are not getting it. This was explained to you in 1948. You got your country and we got ours. Your arrogant and stupid leaders promised you that you will get the whole thing. Thousands of lives have been lost for nothing. It's NEVER going to happen! While you have been foolishly drooling over our land instead of nurturing your own, we have built one of the most beautiful and successful countries on Earth. We have done it not to spite our greedy neighbors, but rather in spite of them. We've planted forests and quenched the desert. We've drained wetlands and culivated fields. We built universities, opera houses, superhighways, hospitals, skyscrapers and stadiums. We have millions of refugees, but no refugee camps.

You could do the same. Focus on what you have and not on what you will never have. It takes love, hard work and determination. We can help. We have experts and scientists helping developing nations across the globe. Accept the facts, lay down your weapons and join us in making this great region of the planet even greater.

Remember, we're neighbors.
David -- Sarigim, Israel – Jan. 9th, 2009

Lies From Palestinan Media Sympathizers: White Phosphorus Usage

Nadene Goldfoot

The Palestinian Hamas representatives are so good at relating false facts that are so contrary to reality of their purpose or history. Today a Palestinian professor from Bethlehem University was on KBOO, a Portland radio station, and was debating in some fashion a representative of our Portland Community who is supportive of Israel, Bob Horenstein. I heard such a distortion of history that it was appalling to me from this professor. I might add that Bob was not given any time for rebuttal of facts. Under these conditions, he did a terrific job.

In the same fashion, the Palestinians are bantering about another false claim. They are saying that Israel is using phosphorus in it's fight against Gaza terrorists. In truth, Hamas themselves have been using white phosphorus as a weapon against Israeli civilians during this conflict. On Tuesday, a mortar shell fired from Gaza into Israel contained white phosphorus.

A regional council's security chief said, "the potential danger of using such a rocket is enormous. It is far more dangerous than other Qassam rockets and mortal shells. This is an escalation in the type of explosives the Palestinians use on civilians. We challenge Human Rights Watch to condemn this attack in the same way it has falsely condemned Israel.

I won't wait for the international media such as organizations like Human Rights Watch who is always condemning Israel. Then media such as The Guardian, Times of London, Christian Science Monitor and CNN just repeat HRW's claims without really checking into the claims because they are into their "humanitarian focus" and condemn or even report this development against Israel. They seem to be in cahoots with the Palestinians and report biased information all the time.

Surprisingly, the International Red Cross is corroborating Israel's claims, and has stated that it had no evidence to suggest that white phosphorus is being used improperly or illegally by Israel. Israel does use it to create smoke or illuminate a target. It's not being used in any other way. This is a legitimate use under international law. It is not being used to burn down buildings or consciously put civilians at risk. The spokesman for the Red Cross was Peter Herby and he was telling the Associated Press. Thankfully, one person has the guts to be honest about what Israel is doing.

Reference: Honest Reporting UK Media "War Crimes" Phosphorus Charges Rebuked action@honestreporting.co.uk www.honestreporting.com

Mortar Shell in Bethlehem's Path

Ashkelon's Industrial Park Hit

Bethlehem lies in the West Bank. A group of Palestinian Christians were going through on their way to Bethlehem for Christmas when a mortar shell landed at Israel's passenger crossing with Gaza. They were just missed.

Ashkelon is one of Portland, Oregon's sister cities. Baltimore, Maryland also is their sister city. It has been of great interest to us. One reason is that it has the only hospital in the area in which both Palestinians and Israelis use.

Abt 100 rockets and mortar shells were fired from Gaza at Israel in the past two days. Though no one was killed, there has been property damage. All the Israelis numbering in the tens of thousands have been told to stay indoors. The children are all panic-stricken here. So the civilians are under a terrible ordeal, nevertheless. It is a miracle that there were no deaths at this rate. Ashkelon's Industrial Park, which lies south of the city, was hit by a long-range-rocket, one probably procured from Iran.

Despite all this, Israel's Defense Ministry planned on opening two cargo crossings Friday. They do not want any humanitarian crisis, but intend to keep up the pressure to stop the incessant attacks.

The Palestinian President Abbas, recognized only in the West Bank, made his first visit to Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank. 500 Jews live there in several neighborhoods. Unlike the USA, he finds this intolerable to have someone living there who are is not a Palestinian Arab. He demanded that the settlers get out. "Hebron is ours, and they have to leave if they want peace," he said. I find this shocking as an American and an Israeli where I had many Palestinians living in my building in Safed, Israel. My apartment was on David Eliazar, right across the street from the junior high where all sorts of children attended. I had several Circassians in my English class. Hebron was originally a Jewish city that underwent a slaughter by Arabs in 1929 when 700 Jews lived there. Hebron lies 18 miles south of Jerusalem. It is an ancient Jewish city full of history for the Jews. It now has 170,000 Palestinians living there.

Israel's Ehud Barak has made an appeal to Gazan citizens to pressure their Hamas terrorist leaders to stop the attacks. By nightfall 3 rockets and 15 mortar shells had exploded in Israel. Evidently the citizens couldn't stop the terrorism, as I explained in yesterday's blog.

Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak had a meeting with Tzipi Livni and is pushing restraint but she has had it. She told him that "enough is enough," "When there's shooting, there's a response. " I'm sure that Egypt would never put up with Israel firing barrages like they have been receiving without retaliation.

Israel has been warning the terrorists and the world that they will have to take responsibility to stop the attacks. This is going to be a difficult task since terrorst launchers are always placed in crowded areas for this very reason. In February, Netanyahu will possibly be elected as Prime Minister again. He is advocating tough action against Palestinian militants. Livni says she feels the same. I'm not sure if Israel can wait for Netanyahu to take over and retaliate. It could happen pretty soon.

The Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon has a lot of rockets stored. Last year two were fired into Israel. Now the Lebanese army officers said their troops discovered 7 Katusha rockets set up with timers ready to fire near the border with Israel. Their troops were dismantling them.

Update: GREAT NEWS. PASTOR HAGEE OF CUFI HAS GIVEN BARZILAI HOSPITAL IN ASHKELON A DONATION OF ONE MILLION TO FORTIFY THE HOSPITAL AGAINST ROCKET ATTACKS!!!!!!!!! Giant thanks to this wonderful organization and for all it does for Israel. PASCA (Portland Ashkelon Sister City Association) will send a letter of appreciation to them in Texas.

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081225/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians_47/print

The Standard Jewish Encyclopedia; Dr. Geoffrey Wigoder,D.Phil,Editor-in-Chief

Senator John Kerry's Voting Record on Israel

Senator Kerry’s Voting Record on Israel

by Nadene Goldfoot
Information fromJohn Kerry On Israel: Second To Several (Kerry’s voting record) Jewish Press: June 16, 2004, by Rick Richman, from Fair Opinion

It has been said that Kerry’s voting record of positive voting in favor of Israel was second to none. Here are the facts after being researched by a reporter for the Jewish Press.

There were 60 Senate bills, resolutions and other matters. The reporter disregarded the 17 measures that passed with 90 or more votes out of a possible 100. Everyone voted that way.

He discounted 18 measures that garnered between 82-89 votes. Then he looked at the pro-Israel positions that got 60 votes or less, the most controversial situations, where his vote would have mattered.

There were 10 of those votes in the list, and Kerry’s record was 6 pro-Israel votes out of 10. Kerry was basically, the reporter stated, a "60-40 guy."

On the Foreign aid Conference Report, Kerry was against the pro-Israel position. In 2000 he failed to join 60 co-sponsors of the "Middle East Peace Process Support Act" which called on the president not to recognize a unilaterally declared Palestinian state.

He failed to co-sponsor the pro-Israel "Peace Through Negotiations Act," which had 60 co-sponsors.

Kerry failed to join 55 senators signing the Grassley/Lautenberg letter in 1993. This was to the State Department and demanded that it included Hamas in the report on terrorism. It was inexcusable not to sign this if he was a big supporter of Israel. When Israel assassinated Hamas leader Sheikh Yassin, Kerry would not comment when repeatedly asked. A whole month after the assassination in 2004, he was again asked about his position. He did not directly answer the question. He went around the question saying that he believed Israel had every right to respond to any act of terror against it, and that Hamas was a terrorist organization. He suggested that Hamas only had to say it has given up violence and prepare to negotiate and Israel would pick up where things were left off at Taba. That was not saying that he supported their assassinating him, and this is exactly what the USA is willing to do to Osama bin Ladin.

He has been telling people that he has a 100% record of sustaining the special relationship with Israel. It’s actually been about 60%.