Check out the below video of an amazing medical advancement from Argo Medical Technologies based in Haifa.  They developed an exo-skeleton that attaches to the legs of a parapalegic and give him the ability to walk around and go about his day as would anyone.  The patient in the video had been confined to a wheelchair for 20 years before this invention.  Now he can even walk up and down stairs!!  Amazing.

Now that Israel gave Hezbollah everything it wanted for 2 dead bodies and a box of various body parts of other soldiers, other groups are taking the hint.  Can anyone give me one reason Hamas still has to keep Gilad alive?  Give up?  Then you are on the money. Keeping him alive or not is immaterial from this point on.  Israel will negotiate for the live soldier or his body and it’s all the same to Hamas…in the end, they will get many prisoners with blood on their hands….maybe everyone they are asking for.

Oh, and Hezbollah isn’t done trying to kidnap soliders either.  There’s still the matter of Ghajar and the Sheeba Farms/Mt. Dov, certified by the UN as part of Israel until they figure out a way to hand it back to Syria, who the UN says it belongs to.  And even if Israel gets out of that quagmire, there is still the matter of 7 Shiite villages abandoned in the Israeli War of Independence.   It will never end.  There will always be some other problem or pretext for groups like these to attack Israel, having nothing to do with certified UN boundaries or whatever.  The UN is no help…they already caved on their own certified blue stamp withdrawal line (UN 425) and are trying to get Israel to give back the Sheeba farms to Lebanon.  Ridiculous.

Caving in to demand after demand from these organizations wont help at at all.  a new policy is needed if Israel is going to deter attacks such as these.  Only making the price unbearable for these terror groups will stop the cross-border raids.  Hamas has claimed Shalit is an asset.  Turn him into a liability.   Shut off the water in Gaza and stop shipments for a few days.  The IAF can patrol against the Qassams and sure, some of them will hit Israel, but I bet you it wont be a week before he’s out of there.  Let the Gazans complain to their elected officials to remove Shalit so they can survive.

As for Hezbollah, the mistake that led to this whole resolution last week was a) not making a deal when the asking price as less and b) NOT sending in the army early and often.  Sure Israel destroyed parts of Lebanon, but with the infusion of Iranian capital, everything is being rebuilt, even if the economy there is still recovering.  The ONLY thing that will convince Hezbollah, it seems, is much greater force than Israel used last time.  If they were surprised Israel attacked the last time, if another such raid occurs, they should make Lebanon look like the moon.  Israel will take its punches from the missiles launched from the north, sure, but they must launch a strike that will take Lebanon years to recover from.  Its the only way to ensure the focus in the north remains on rebuilding the tatters of their country and not petty raids southward.

The price for these attacks must be unbearable.  And please Israel, stop making bum deals that encourage these types of things in the first place.

What is Israel getting in return? Well, if you believe the reports from the Lebanese media, at least one body and possibly one live soldier (who can tell? Nasrallah isn’t saying), the bodies or body parts of other Israeli soldiers killed in the war and an incomplete report on the fate of Ron Arad. Can anybody else see how lopsided this deal is?

Firstly, and I know this has been beaten to death, but why would Israel give up live prisoners for just body parts and bodies? I do understand the strong Israeli sentiment for not leaving comrades on the field and this deal hopefully sets the counter to even. Other than Ron Arad, who’s fate is unknown, Israel gets to put to rest all their dead, giving closure to the families and a chance to truly mourn and move on. Still, its hard to stomach sending a vile animal like Kuntar free in order to get this done. Still, the man spent almost 30 years in prison for his crimes, and I take some solace that he might have to live in hiding like Nasrallah because there will still be a target on him. I hope he never knows a day of peace…always looking over his shoulder wondering when death will take him.

Also, since the first part of the swap, the report on Ron Arad, was incomplete I wonder what the rush was get the deal done regardless? Would the whole swap have fallen through if Israel pushed back? I don’t know, and likely we all never will. My thinking is too much momentum had built up to risk having this deal fall through. I do believe though that Nasrallah needed this to happen more than Israel (to bolster his standing, which has fallen in recent months) so I cant see why Israel wouldn’t use that as leverage.

In Lebanon, there will only be celebrations for the return of their imprisoned. Honors and accolades will be heaped on the Hezbollah fighters and there will be much happiness. The only absurdity I hope isn’t lost on the world is that Kuntar will be the most honored. A man so brave he shot a father, execution style, in front of his 4 year old daughter and then crushed her skull with a rifle butt against a rock by the beach. This is who Lebanon chooses to honor as a hero. All who celebrate are as despicable as he is. They all deserve each other.

We all know Nasrallah will use this as a podium to declare victory against Israel again. And in Arab eyes, he will be seen victorious. Never mind he put much of Lebanon in ruin. With the reconfiguration of the government there and now this, Hezbollah is on a roll. Lets hope they don’t get too big for their britches and decide to attack Israel again.

For better or for worse (for worse), what’s done is done, and at 9am tomorrow, Israel time, this swap will take place. I only hope that this is the end of every ass Israel has to kiss to get their boys back. Oh wait!! I forgot about the ass kissing they will need to do to get Gilad Shalit back. And the terrible deal they will need to make as well. The precedent has already been set by this bad deal. My only hope is that at some point, someones will put the brakes on this runaway idiocy and do something to turn the rules of the game back in Israel’s favor.

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.

First, the known problem.  Hezbollah has been rearming via Syria almost since the war ended 2 years ago.  After the war, UNSCR 1701was supposed to not only prevent Hezbollah from deploying south of the Litani River, but also the re-armament of the organization.  They had 13000 missiles with which to fire back in 2006.  The new figure today puts it at 40000+ short and medium range missiles.  Not to mention of course that there is also evidence of about 2500 Hezbollah fighters IN UNIFORM south of the Litani River.  Wasn’t this UN mandate that was rushed to a vote, forced more on Israel than on Lebanon, supposed to prevent all this.  No one expected perfection, but a tripling of the arsenal?  And armed uniformed fighters flouting the resolution?  Forget the UN….they should be called the IN.  INcapable of doing anything properly and INeffective at executing their own madate.  INcompetant.  Feel free to throw in your own.  This is a powderkeg thats going to boil over @ some point.

Then, of course, Iran decided to flex it’s might today by launching 9 medium range missiles in a war games test.  This was of course as a warning both the United States and Israel not to attack as Israel and Western Europe and Iraq are all within range of their arms.  The regime there also stated that their first target is Tel-Aviv before they even start of the American targets.  What a bunch of sweethearts.  This is mostly irrelevant as the US and Iran are in secret talks to create some sort of deal for oil.

I’m not sure what Israel can really do to prevent any of this.  The IDF, and Israel at large, seems to have lost it’s aura of invincibility and it’s foes are becoming more brazen in their desires to really eliminate Israel through rockets and possibly nerve agents along with other terror attacks to sap it’s strength.  I don’t know what can be done to take the battle to the enemy, but I hope someone in Israel figures it out soon because, though the economy there continues to grow at a dizzying pace, it can all come apart quickly without a solution to the next missile war.

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’.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting sick of the pass Hamas seems to be getting in terms of all their transgressions against a cease-fire THEY were pushing for so long. I agree that they can’t be everywhere at all times and no one can stop lone people. I don’t actually think they are letting people fire rockets and shoot…not this time anyway as its not in their interest to have this ‘period of calm’ fall apart. However, they better be able to clamp down on this more, or they are going to have renewed Israeli action on their hands…Shalit threats or not.

And in regards to threatening not to negotiate for Shalit anymore, I actually read a decent opinion piece the other day about other options Israel may have to force the hands of Hamas to be a little more reasonable. If Shalit cant see the light of day, neither should Israel’s prisoners. Right now these guys get press conferences, conjugal visits, etc. All that should end. Put these guys in a black hole and let the families address their complaints to their heroes in Gaza. If Israel cant get them to be more reasonable, maybe their own kind can.

One of these days, perhaps the government there will stop being so ‘practical’, grow a spine and play dirty like their enemies. Israel doesn’t have to sink to their level, but there are levers on their side to pull and screws to be tightened.

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.

1) I understand the terrorist’s family might be in shockfrom what their scum-in-law perpetrated, but do they actually expect anyone to believe it was just an ‘accident‘? Did he accidentally drive the tractor down the street, overturn 2 buses, crush 2 cars including one with a mother who had to throw her baby out the window to save it, screaming ‘Allah Akbahr’ all the way, only stopping after he’d had 4 bullets put into his head. Yeah….whoops!

2) Is there actually a screening process for who these firms hire? This guy had a criminal record (not a small one) and I can’t imagine why they’d be giving him unfettered access to huge equipment. I couldn’t say if anyone is criminally liable, but I would certainly open an investigation into how someone like this was hired.

3) While there is talk that this murderer might have been part of some shadowy terrorist organization from up North, there has been no confirmation of this yet. Of course this should be investigated, but at present, not one should assume he was anything but a ‘lone gunman’. This, unfortunately, is the worst kind of attack. In contrast to people trying to beat checkpoints with bomb belts or trying to get into guarded shopping malls, this was a worker who has access to an area and basically improvised. If he’s supposed to be there and simply used equipment he used daily, how do you prevent against that? Who can know? It’s very scary to consider that this may wind up being a new tactic in terror groups arsenals. Single cells who sit at their jobs to be activated later, killing and injuring many with no apparent warning. Here is a good article asking the same questions.

4) Yesterday my first reaction was to knock down this guy’s house. After some thinking, and since it hasn’t been proven he is part of any organization that sent him to do this, it would make more sense for the families involved to sue his ‘estate’ for wrongful deaths and injury. Basically bankrupt the family, liquidate the assets and send them to the streets. No messy videos and it’s all legal. What could possibly be the defense for what he has done? Plus the Arabs seem to sue in court for everything. Time to sue back.

If you have any additional thought, please share.