Ramadan 2009 passed for the Arabs in Israel with unfettered access to the Temple Mount and most of all, quiet.  This Sukkot has seen clashes with the police, a border policeman stabbed in the neck, rabble-rousing from the PA itself and of course, help from the Islamic movement.  Now, reports or even emanating that the outbreaks of violence are even more widespread than is being reported in the major news outlets, with a boost given by the Muslim Brotherhood’s call for Oct 9th as ‘Al-Aqsa Day’ .

The restrictions for the Sukkot holiday were put in place by Israel so the Jewish worshipers wouldn’t get bashed in the head by falling rocks from above.

Israel won control of the Temple Mount from Jordan more than 40 years ago.  They magnanimously handed the keys and day to day control back to the Waqf a day later and have for the most part kept only Christians and Jews from visiting and even praying in this area.   The only people who seem to have to worry about defending their right to visit the Mount are anyone not Muslim.  With a 40 year track record of control and no real Israeli plans to change the status quo, what exactly are the Muslims screaming about?  And why now?

I hope the police and the government will be more proactive this time around in quelling the seething unrest and protecting the Israeli Jewish public.  No one wants to see a repeat of anything even remotely resembling what happened 8 years ago.  I can’t imagine it won’t end a lot worse for the Arabs this time around than last if they keep rioting.

Needless to say, I am not looking to repeat that again with the current ‘re-launch’ of this blog/site.  ‘Re-launch’ is probably not the best word as there is no pomp and fanfare this time around.  I had been kicking around getting back to posting again around Rosh Hashana, but when I tried to get back into the site, the individual who graciously hosts Tzomet had taken this and another site he runs offline while he was upgrading his servers.  So much for busting out of the gates.

I hope to again bring you insights into what is happening in the Holyland and the Jewish world in general and as always welcome your comments, insults, or whatever else you hurl this way.

It’s good to be back!

Oh yeah, and happy Sukkot.

Now, imagine that a lunatic happens upon your gathering with a gun and starts shooting into the crowd. Some of the shooting seemed directed at people personally while others were sprayed at random

Everyone is of course frightened shocked and horrified, ducking for cover and doing anything they can to get away. Many people at the party are armed as well, and while this madman walks around, people with the presence of mind reach for their weapons and keep on firing until the gunmen is brought down. People continue to fire at him as he falls, making sure that he wont make any attempts to squeeze another shot off and take any more life. Would you say that these people acted immorally in ending the gunman’s life or did they act properly?

I couldn’t believe this piece I read in Ynet by Micky Levy(well, actually, I could) saying that the policeman who killed the terrorist by putting 3 bullets in his head had acted immorally. Another woman had shot the terrorist initially stopping him for a while when, according to the article, someone threw a rock on the bulldozer which roused to madman and he started down the road again to do G-d knows what else. The policeman in question had the presence of mind to jump on the bulldozer and put an end to whatever else could have happened for once and for all. Why the onus is being put on the heroes of the day instead of the terrorist is beyond me. The guy was shot..he could have simply given up, but no, he pulled himself up after killing 3 people and injuring almost 70. Who knew what else he could do? People like this make me sick. Blaming those that put an end to violence. Ridiculous

It’s a good thing lefty pundits arent running the government. The goverment there is bad enough without garbage like this in print. Put the blame where it belongs. If you hijack a bulldozer and kill and terrorize people, it might end with a bullet in your head. And you’ll deserve it if you don’t give yourself up.

This summer is an especially terrible summer in Israel.  A few years of light rainfall has resulted in the level of water dropping to whats considered the ‘lower red line’ 213 meters below sea level.  Granted there is still water to pump, but this is what has been set as the limit before major damage starts happening.  Water can still be pumped but only for a little longer.  Once the ‘black’ line is hit, the water will fall below the mouths of the pumps designed to carry the water and then nothing can be pumped.  It’s actually expected to hit this line before the end of summer, so there are going to be real problems soon.

In addition to the Kinneret, Israel also uses water from aquafiers under the soil for the purpose of supplying water.   Unfortunately, with the lack of rainfall these too have fallen to extremely low levels.  This is causing the levels of salinity to rise and with much more damage, they may become unusable without crazy amounts of rainfall in the coming winters.

Only 2 things are going to solve this.  Conservation is the first.  That is, relying on the good will of people to do the right thing or for the cost of using water to be raised so people will lower their consumption levels to
save money.   I’m sure money will be more of a motivating factor.  Asking people nicely with no visible consequence results in much slacking.

The second thing is building all those desalination plants they have been talking about.  the only sad part is, they wont start coming online for a few years even if they started digging tomorrow, but its a step in the right direction.  The ocean is, for practical purposes, an inexhaustible water supply, and if Israel can turn that salty water into potable water for their country, they wont need to rely on the Kinneret or the aquafiers nearly as much and they can heal and no one will have to pray for rain…..although it couldn’t hurt

While it will relieve some of the sadness over having lost these 2 soldiers, this is still a lopsided deal by any measure and does Israel more harm than good in the long run. Yes, I apologize for sounding like a broken record, but the short term ‘benefits’ of this deal will be outweighed by the heartache later when soldiers are executed rather than captured; their body parts to be quibbled over for this or that demand.

The real focus should be on vigilence and protecting against these type of attacks in the first place, not encouraging the terrorists by showing them that no demand is too outrageous. In this case, the risk/reward is very high for them because the state of being of the captured matters little. I certainly hope in the future swaps of this nature will be only bodies for bodies and life for life. Unfortunately I don’t know that Israel can un-ring the bell and lower the raised expectations of every 2 bit murderer in the immediate vicinity. The only thing that will do that is make the costs to the enemy too much to bear and deter them from even considering this as an option. I dont put out much hope for that with the current ‘leaders’.

Well, there needs to be some penalty for breaking the truce, so Israel decided to close the borders for a short time, post-rocket launchings into sovereign Israeli territory. Hamas, to their credit, at least seemed to be taking the truce somewhat seriously, posting 1000 militia-men all over Gaza to watch the ‘troublemakers’ in Islamic Jihad and Fatah and make sure no more sunflower seed merchants fired rockets into Israel.

Now of course comes the clincher. Hamas, still tired of actually having to be held responsible as governments usually are, decided they will not be showing up to the Shalit negotiations in Cairo and will pass no more signs of life on unless Israel is ’serious’ and opens up the border. Violations from their side, a measured Israeli response and yet more nonsense from the non-government government of the Gaza Fakestinians. Did the situation even have to reach this point where a human life is being bargained over like a sack of apples?

I was perusing the news as I always do and come across a general article on this particular story. The best parts of these news articles are usually the comments section where people display their knowledge, or lack of it, to everyone. Again, I found the most rational post come from Terry in Eilat (post #9). Hope I’m not stepping on anyones toes reposting it, but its very worth reading. His first comment (#3) was that this truce is BS to save the current government’s ass. A different poster asked what he’d do to obtain Shalit’s release. Here was his reply:

The time to obtain Shalit’s release was immediately after the kidnapping. An immediate harsh response was called for. The border should have been sealed & all traffic stopped. Electricity should have been cut off on the same day. Gaza infrastructure should have been targeted & destroyed. The homes of Hamas leaders should have been bombed.

Our official policy should have been that he must be released unconditionally or we continue the above measures. This was the best chance for his release.

Now, two years have passed. Everything we have done since then has only shown weakness & indecision. The truce without the release of Shalit made our position even weaker. The final straw was the agreement with Hezbollah which only demonstrated to all that our gov’t. will give in to any demand, no matter how unreasonable. Our gov’t. has made it plain that these deals, the truce, etc. is in their interest (even though not in the country’s interest).

All of the media attention, the interviews with the families, etc. has convinced our adversaries that the pressure is on Olmert to deliver – that he has more to lose than they do (which is not necessarily the case in reality).

Of course, today is today & what we should have done no longer matters, except to illustrate the ineptness of our leaders.

What would I do today? This is the part few will like.

I would end the negotiations completely. I would announce that the State of Israel cannot decide national policy based on one captive. No prisoners will be released. Not one.
At the same time, I would announce that no truce is possible without Shalit’s release. Without fanfare or threats or any announcement at all, officially, I would begin moving troops to the Gaza border area.

At the same time, I would begin reducing electricity supplies & fuel by say 5% a week. The border crossings would only be open one day a week for food aid only.

Then, I would wait – with no speeches, no threats, nothing.

If Kassams or morters are fired at us, I would respond by targeting Hamas military installations, offices, & other Hamas assets.

If Kassam fire & other attacks escalate, then our attacks would similarly escalate.
If at the end of say 6 weeks, the Egyptians could not secure the release of Shalit (without our participation), then we should begin targeting every Hamas leader we can locate & begin incursions deep into Gaza to destroy Hamas infrastructure & inflict as many casualties as possible.

Thats my answer.

Terry, Eliat, Israel (07.04.08)

Seriously, we need to get this guy elected Prime Minister of Israel. Or at least Defense Minister. I really wish he would start his own blog, but in the meantime, I will try to spread his wisdom to you here because not everyone reads all the news I do.

Purpose: Unlike some earlier blog attempts, I really hope to keep this one on the straight and narrow. I won’t bore everyone by telling them this will be the BLOG to end all BLOGS. I don’t plan on posting on the most mundane things. I will mainly be posting on things that concern Judaism and Israel and, on occasion, some pictures and something that’s laugh out loud funny. Basically, I intend for this to be informative to those who care about what going on in Israel, what’s going on in Judaism in general, maybe a story or two of things I have seen or that have gone on in my life that somehow relate. I certainly welcome your comments, be it on what I have posted or what I can do to make this a better and more informative site. I’m pretty sure no one is reading this right now (except for me and maybe Michael), but I hope to get the word out soon.