Jihad-a Sacred Duty for Hamas Against Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                              

Hamas is not about to ever make peace with Israel, they say.  They were founded in 1987, so they've been warring against Israel for the past 27 years. Since 2001 shelling has come from Gaza upon southern Israel.  Hamas kicked out Fatah in 2007.   Fatah, on the other hand, was the PLO, Arafat's terrorists,  and they've been at it for the past 65 years one way or another.  The one way right now it not to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The PLO started in 1964 and their ideology is that "armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine.  They see the partition in 1947 which wasn't accepted by them as something illegal (not accepting the UN decision of creating 2 states).  They then think creating Israel was an illegal act.   They disbelieve the Jews claims of historical or religious ties with the land.  This comes out of their PLO charter of 1968.  Kerry should have read their charter first, and he would have known the stand they would inevitably take.

 The goals of both, as they've shown by teaming up together on many occasions, is to drive Israel into the sea.  Terrorists  have been shooting at southern Israel since 2001 with rockets, usually Qassams, mortars and missiles.  " Their main effect is their creation of widespread psychological trauma and disruption of daily life among the Israeli populace. Medical studies in Sderot, the Israeli city closest to the Gaza Strip, have documented a post-traumatic stress disorder incidence among young children of almost 50%, as well as high rates of depression and miscarriage." 

Hamas has dug many tunnels in Gaza to bring in weaponry or supplies to make weapons.  The Egyptian war has hurt them since they have destroyed hundred of these smuggling tunnels along the border between Gaza and Egypt.  Egyptian security measures include measures against Hamas.

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas Prime Minister, spoke to a crowd at a mass rally and told his people that the Egyptian war has harmed his movement.  He's hoping that this rally will send a message to Israel and the PA and Egypt.  He wants to tell Egypt that despite the ongoing Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip, Hamas will not weaken.

On the 21st of March, a Friday, Israel found a tunnel that had gone for hundreds of yards into Israel.  They were very glad they had found such a large a tunnel, so Hamas downplayed the discovery and remarked, Oh, this old tunnel?   "“This tunnel was unsuitable for use,” said the spokesman, who was identified only as Abu Obaida. “This is not a new tunnel, and it was uncovered due to the rainstorm last week. The discovery was not an intelligence achievement, as the enemy tries to promote.”  Ha!  

The Egyptians have accused Hamas of terrorist attacks inside Egypt, said Yusef Rizka, a Hamas representative. Rizka went on to say that Jihad in Palestine ( here he is calling Israel "Palestine") is not terrorism."  " Jihad in Palestine is a sacred duty."  
                                                    

Since September 28, 2000 to December 31, 2005

Terrorism Against Israel 

25,770 terrorist attacks

147 suicide bombings causing 47% of all deaths

1,084 killed

7,454 injured

82% of dead and wounded were civilians between 2000 to 2004.  

March 12, 2014

5 rockets hit Israel- most all at once in 2 years

Israel responded.  "The military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, called the Al-Quds Brigade, claimed responsibility for firing dozens of missiles on  what it called "Israeli settlements."

60 rockets hit Israel -huge barrage

Israel caught an Iranian ship on March 5  with missiles headed for Gaza and confiscated them.  Afterwards, 60 missiles rained down on southern Israel from Gaza as punishment.  

They do have different moral and ethical standards than the rest of us.  To attack women and children is terrorism to us.  To them it's their moral duty.  That may have been okay  for people 4,000 years ago, but not today. Some of us  have advanced.   By 1,200 BCE, Moses brought to the 12 tribes of Jacob and other slaves that joined up with them a very moral code to follow; the Mosaic Law.    We follow it to this day.  Judaism equals morality and ethics.  That's what it's all about.  Left to man's imagination, we had the Holocaust.  We had savage brutality on the "Road to Bataan", a death march.     By 630 CE Mohammad gave a code similar to his people who became Muslims, didn't he?   Wasn't he the 3rd and final teacher, he said?   How can the Palestinian Arabs feel that killing helter-skelter other than warring against an army in battle is okay to do and is their moral duty?

What they do is shoot into southern Israel helter-skelter, not knowing what they will hit.  Only they know that what they are aiming at are homes with women and children, schools, etc and that's what they hope to kill. Unlike their own people who put their women and children in harm's way, Israelis have bomb shelters-that is-if they can get to them within the 3 minute warning.  

Since 2001 Hamas and other groups in Gaza have rained down rockets, mortars and missiles on southern Israel.

By holding such a rally shows  us that even if Abbas does a 180 degree turn around and signs an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty, the Palestinians who took over Gaza will not stop plotting to destroying Israel.  It's in their charter.  If they ever rewrite their charter and take up ethical and moral goals, then of course peace would be on the horizon.  Even Abbas knows that he would not live a minute more if he signed such a treaty because Hamas, who is also in Judah and Samaria, would do him in quickly.  You cannot turn a missile into a plow just by looking and it and threatening it.  So it's the same with people on a course of utter hatred and war, Fatah and Hamas..

Since the war will continue from Gaza most likely, some day the terrorists will just fall through their land from digging so many tunnels, I guess.  Their only skill ever learned will be of digging tunnels. Anyone needing some tunnel diggers for a subway system they want to install?

Gaza had been under Egyptian control before it came into Israel's hands in 1949.  In May 1967 U Thant, the UN secretary-general, obeyed the demand by Nasser of Egypt to withdraw the UN force which led to events that started the Six-Day War of 1967.  Israel won and Gaza was again under Israeli control.  In 1967 there were 352,260 people in the Gaza Strip of whom 172,520 were refugees.

Resource:  http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4231/palestinians-dream-destroying-israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/22/world/middleeast/israel-announces-discovery-of-a-tunnel-stretching-from-gaza.html?_r=0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gaza_(2007)
The New Standard Jewish Encyhclopedia
Israel 101, StandWithUs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gaza_(2007)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2014

The Domino Affect: What Kerry Said Caused a Crisis

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

                          The Tower of David in Jerusalem-The City of David

Israel has been facing 100 rockets to be rained down on Southern Israel just days before Purim, a happy festival of being alive after the threat of Haman setting into motion the slaughter of all Jews in the Persian Empire.  Sderot again has taken the brunt of the attack; an attack when homemakers and children were looking forward to this happy celebration. Other southern cities were in the line of fire as well.  The Chief Rabbi of Israel joined them during the attack.
                                                                 

                                         Sderot, the city that has been attacked with 100 rockets, a town founded in the Northern Negev in 1951 which was settled by new immigrants working in development industries.  In 1990 it had the population of 9,480.  It's close to Gaza.  Being Israel is only 8,000 sq miles, every piece of land has to be used.  Most all Israelis live in high rise apartment buildings, not homes such as Oregonians live in.  From 1949 to 1956, Arab terrorists, called fedayeen, trained and equipped by Egypt, repeatedly attacked Israeli civilians from bases in Gaza.  1,300 Israelis were killed or wounded in terrorist attacks throughout Israel.  Nasser was the head of Egypt in those days.
                                                                       

What brought about this sudden impulse to sock it to Israel?  Several things; one of which most likely was the capture of an Iranian ship with missiles that was to be delivered to the terrorists of Gaza.  This must have upset their big plans to hit Israel big-time.  Why did Iran decide to do this?  Why now?  Could it be that there is no strength coming from the USA and Europe over their goal for creating uranium arms when everyone knows they would use them on Israel?  They're calling the shots and the rest of the world is deaf and dumb about it, all except Netanyahu in Israel.   The USA is not the power it used to be.  Syria is not afraid and neither is Iran.  Egypt could not follow Obama's wishes to allow the Muslim Brotherhood to stay in power, even if it meant giving up money coming from the USA.  However Morsi had gotten himself voted in as president, the higher powers realized it could not continue or they would become a Muslim Brotherhood state.  

Other things set the terrorists' mind in motion for destruction, too.  Our state department in the USA is pushing hard to wind up an agreement between the Palestinian Arabs and Israel.  They even want to forgo the one need of Israel-and that is for the Palestinians to accept that Israel is in fact a Jewish state.  Update is that Kerry is telling all that recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is a mistake.  So I'll repeat why this is important again.

Israel  cannot be flooded with Muslims causing the inbalance of the government.  It was created to be a Jewish state.  That's what the League of Nations agreed to in the 20's  and so did the United Nations in 1948.  What has happened to Lebanon, who had the minority Christians in power and now are completely upended with their loss of power cannot happen in any way, shape or form to Israel.  This state of Israel, made up of legal minds both in the rabbinate and in the knesset, know what they need.  Otherwise, Israel doesn't have a chance.
                                                                     

Also, what the state department doesn't think of is that Fatah, the PA of Judea and Samaria are but one group to deal with who are vying for power in the future state of Palestine.  How can they ever forget Hamas, the power in Gaza, terrorists to the death, who swear they will never allow Israel to exist and whose charter is to destroy the tiny state.  Even Fatah will not allow even one Jew to live in their state.  Oh, Kerry condemns the massive rocket attack that just happened, but has worded his previous statements to almost cause it to happen.  Isn't he using the rocket fire to push Israel to concede to all the demands the PA has and negate their need to recognize it as a Jewish state?  Isn't he supposed to be only a negotiator, a mediator, bringing a deal to both  that they can live with?  This isn't happening.  He's gone over to the easiest side to bargain with; the Palestinians.  A mediator is to be in the middle, not offside.  He is to interpose between parties in order to reconcile them, to bring accord out of by action as an intermediary, to act as intermediary agent in bringing, effecting, or communicating.  It should have been an intervention between conflicting parties to promote reconciliation.  Since these parties are dealing with life and death matters where there is so much hatred on the side of the Palestinians, it must include a lot of background knowledge between the 2 parties.  As it stands now, it's impossible.  Here's why.

 Two things have to happen.  The Arabs must recognize Israel as a Jewish state and teach their people to accept this fact; in their homes, from their lips, in their textbooks, and to want peace more than they hate the Jews.  It's too bad Obama and Kerry didn't see this as a pre-requisite to peace.  They've been trying to put the cart before the horse.  It's not working.

Arutz Sheva has brought out the fact that both Fatah and Hamas must be in the picture.  Israel needs Abbas to agree to a demilitarized state which they don't want to do.  Even if he did, Hamas would continue to get rockets and missiles and mortars to use against Israel and guess who would be smuggling them into Gaza somehow?

Negotiations are fine between 2 parties that both want peace.  I don't see this happening here. The Palestinians are not peaceful people yet.   Fatah hooked up with Hamas several times already and only is separated right now because of the struggle for the throne; and Hamas did kick out Fatah and Abbas already from Gaza.  Like the rest of the Middle East, there is always a power struggle even among these like religious groups.  Kerry seems to be bewitched and bewildered by the Palestinian propaganda, but not bothered at all by it.  The Israeli Ministers are bring this to his attention.  They've asked him to condemn terror!!!  Now I ask, is this an unreasonable request?  I figure with some people you have to be very direct.

Update of update:  Kerry's digging a hole for himself telling Congress there's no need to have the Palestinans recognize Israel as a Jewish state because they've ALREADY DONE IT TWICE?    How come Netanayahu and the whole knesset doesn't know about it, then?  Sounds like a familiar story line he's told before about his wartime involvement.

Resource: Arutz Sheva; news@israelnationalnews.com A7 News:  Chief Rabbi Lau Visits Sderot Amid Rockets-Frustration at Peace Talks Grows as Rockets Continue by Tova Dvorin.
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-says-Netanyahu-wrong-to-insist-Palestinians-recognize-Israel-as-Jewish-state-345341
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia-Sderot
Israel 101 from StandwWithUs.
Update:  https://www.facebook.com/gail.hopke/posts/10152015447018807 Ministers tell kerry to have Palestinians stop attacking.  http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178503
http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/12314/kerry-recognition-israel-jewish-state-mistake/?utm_source=Breaking+Israel+News&utm_campaign=a47fa7019d-BIN+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6d3627f72-a47fa7019d-83518689
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/03/14/disturbed-rocker-david-draiman-curses-john-kerry-over-jewish-state-comments/
http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/middle-east/israeli-palestinian-relations/kerry-there-is-no-need-to-keep-bringing-up-the-issue-of-recognition-for-a-jewish-state-4293
*Update:  http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/61761, A whiff of Perfidy, Victor Sharpe on Kerry

From former Governor Mike Huckabee to President of the United State, Barack Obama on his upcoming visit to Israel.  

Well, first let me say thanks for the wonderful frank reminder of Gush Katif. (a group of Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip deliberately destroyed by Arik Sharon while giving all of Gaza to the Arabs in a self-serving gesture of insanity for which Sharon was visited with a devastating stroke and now remains maintained, for some questionable reason, in a permanent vegetative state – jsk)

It has been a delight getting to share a fellowship with you, to share a mutual passion with you, for the protection of the security of Israel. And I was asked earlier, “Why would a Goy, a Christian, be interested in Israel?” Sometimes I feel that my passion for the goodness of Israel, maybe exceeds even my Jewish friends – and I tell people, I say, “you have to understand – It is entirely possible to be Jewish and not have a complete relationship to Christians – but it is impossible to be Christian and not have a complete relationship with Judaism – because it is in fact the foundation upon which every Christian believes and every Christian understands – that Israel is G-d’s Chosen Land! And we recognize that, and respect it and understand that the Nations Who Bless Israel Will Be Blessed And Those Who Curse Israel Will Be Cursed!

My first trip to Israel was exactly forty years ago this year, when in July 1973, just a couple of months before the Yom Kippur war, I made my first trip to Israel when I was just a teenager. I’ve been going back to Israel ever since 1973 for 40 years! You know Moses had the children in the wilderness for 40 years. There has got to be some connection there.

When I visited the Gush Katif Museum just a couple of years ago, it was a brutal reminder of what happens when politicians make decisions that don’t involve their brains! Because in a way, when you ask people – no, when you demand that people abandon their homes, when you do it because you somehow believe you can trust radical Islamic fascists to keep their word and make nice if you make nice, then it shows a level of naiveté that make Chamberlain look like Churchill.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is time we recognize you don’t negotiate with people who do not believe you have a right to exist–much less live next to you! I cannot understand why the Secretary of State visited Egypt and handed over a check of $250,000,000 when we are closing the White House to tours? That makes no sense at all! Why did he give F16’s and Abram tanks to a country whose elected President is associated with a terrorist organization who has openly and publicly called Jews bloodsuckers and the descendants of apes and pigs?

Why would you reward someone with that kind of behavior? And even in his Senate confirmation hearing, Mr. John Kerry said they will be held accountable. I got to wondering, “Is accountability being given F16’s, tanks and $250 million?”

Dear Mr. Secretary please hold me accountable ‘cause I’d like $250,000,000. And if that‘s what it takes, to make radical, ridiculous, offensive and inexcusable statements like this, then we should all share in the spoils.

This is absurd!

And now word is that when the President visits Israel, he will not ask the Israeli gov’t leaders (because it would be seen as bad form to lecture them although, he’s been willing to do it before) – but, he will ask the Israeli people to make sacrifices for peace. If that is the case, I would like to escort him personally to the Gush Katif Museum and say, “Mr. President, the Israelis have made many sacrifices for peace, and show me one sacrifice that the Palestinians have made for peace! I have yet to see it!” I would say, “Mr. President, I believe the Israelis have given and given and given, and so far have received nothing in return!”

And, every trip I make to Israel, I always venture into the Old City. I go into some of the shops where one can purchase a Palestinian map. This past month, in February, I had two hundred people that I took with me, most of whom were Christians, most of them had never been there before. I wanted them to understand what is unique about this situation. And I get one of these maps and I said. “By the way – Open the map up and show me where Israel is.” And they opened it up and they didn’t see it. And I said, “Interesting isn’t it? And somehow, the people of Israel are asked to make peace with a people who even in their published maps refuse to acknowledge even so much as the existence of the Nation of Israel?”

The Gush Katif Museum is a stark reminder that sometimes things happen in our past that we need to commemorate — not because they were pleasant, but because they are sobering reminders of the mistakes that have been made in the past.

And so, I say tonight that I wish that the President — I wish he would be accompanied by as many of the Israeli officials as is possible – would attend the Gush Katif Museum while he’s there and watch those films, and talk to the people like Rivka (Rivka Goldschmidt) who is here tonight, who personally experienced it. I wish that, that could happen. So, that the next time he suggests that the Israelis stop building bedrooms for their children, in the Land that is theirs, that instead, he would spend his time not asking the Israelis to stop building bedrooms, but that he would demand that the Iranians stop building bombs pointing at Israel and the rest of the free world!

We would never tolerate in our own cities what the people of Sderot have been asked to tolerate. And I have been to Sderot, and I have seen the thousands of Katyusha rockets stacked up behind the Police Station. I stood there with Dov Hikind and Joe Frager and Paul Brody and others who are in this room tonight, and I can tell you that it is an absolute sobering experience to understand that people have fear every day that a Katyusha rocket would land on their children’s bedroom, land in the park where they play, in the schools they attend, in the synagogues where they worship. And we would not tolerate that!

And I’ll ask Americans, “How many Katyusha rockets fired from Toronto into Buffalo, NY, do you think it would take before Americans would demand that we do something and absolutely stop it? Five thousand? Four Thousand? Three Thousand? One hundred? NO! One Katyusha rocket.” We would demand it STOP! And the Israeli’s have been asked to let it go after thousands of them? I say NO! One is enough. Thousands are too many, and it’s time for the Israeli’s to quit apologizing to the world and to say “We have a right for the secure and safe homeland – Not just for us, but for those grandchildren and great grandchildren of our descendants and who come after us – a place that is a safe place, a haven.”

And, that’s why I believe with all my heart, that when the President goes to Israel, it is important that the American people give him the message – rather than him give Israelis a message! And the message is Mr. President, Americans stand with Israel because they are a mirror image of our freedom and our democracy in this country. And, we suggest that before you make any demands of the Israeli’s to give anything, you set down and look the Palestinians in the face and ask them ‘What have they given up?’ And tell them, as I would love to do, if I was making that trip as the Chief Executive.

Rather than say to the Israeli’s, “Stop Building in Judea and Samaria,” I would suggest that YOU BUILD AS RAPIDLY AS YOU CAN, AND AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, AND AS MANY HOUSES AS YOU CAN! And tell the Palestinians that if they don’t like that, the way they can fix it is to sit at the peace table and sign an agreement that they recognize Israel’s right to exist, within the borders that G-d gave them and to exist with safety and security!

That my friend will probably never happen!

So I say, “POUR THE CONCRETE, BUILD THE HOUSES AND LET ISRAEL BE STRONG!”

That is the message we need to give to the world!

Mike Huckabee (b:August 24, 1955) was a Republican presidential candidate in 2008, and former 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007.  He's also a southern Baptist minister and has his own TV program.  

Resource: http://israel-commentary.org/?p=6102

Excerpted from a Keynote Address at Gush Katif Museum Dinner
Razag Ballroom, Brooklyn NY
March 9, 2013

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Huckabee
forwarded from Victor Sharpe

Rumbles, Terrorist Activities in Gaza and Samaria

Nadene Goldfoot
Gaza is not "Occupied" by Israel, but is under the authority of Hamas, a terror organization which the people voted for.  Gaza is right next door to Israel, like across the street.  Since Israel pulled out, lock, stock and barrel, they've been the targets of an ongoing raining of missiles, mortars and rockets.  It was done as a good will gesture towards peace but instead got war in return.  This happened in August 2005 causing Jews to be resettled that were ousted from Gaza and 4 towns in northern West Bank (Judea and Samaria).

The IAF struck back at 3 factories who were making weapons in the central part of Gaza on Saturday night and hit 2 terror tunnels as well, one in northern Gaza and one in the south.  This came as a response to the killing of a 21 year old IDF soldier when terrorists tried to infiltrate the western Negev from Gaza early Friday morning in the fog.

The terrorists had been advised some time ago that Israel is no longer just sitting on their haunches while they are being used as target practice.  If their Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers are harmed in these terrorist acts, Israel will respond.  Israel tries to take out the sources of the problems and not the people in the area like the rockets, missiles and mortars can do when they fall everywhere into Israel.

 A separation barrier was built in 1994 by Israel between the two places to protect its citizens,  but it doesn't stop the lobbing of this shelling.  Gaza is only 13 miles away from the large city of Ashkelon, Portland's sister city and cite of  the big hospital, "The Barzilai Medical Center which services all people, Palestinians and Israelis.  Sitting right on the border just about is the town of Sderot  "which has been in the line of all the fire which has been under constant attack, shock and confusion, suffering daily fears and a regular routine of silent threat."

And then we have UNESCO's slant on things.  "At the three days of meetings in Paris, which began Wednesday, speakers charged Israel with “systematic terrorism,” “throttling the people” of Gaza, pursuing “criminal” policies and a “policy of racist violence.”  When will they ever  look into the causes of Israel's "throttlings?"  


Now that Abbas has teemed up with Hamas, there are more attacks on Jews coming from Judea and Samaria, who also are not "Occupied" by Israel.  The PA are the authority in their area, of which Abbas is responsible.  Israel's military looks out for the Jewish villages, towns and cities also located there.

 One such attack just came in Shomron, Samaria in the town of Yitzhar which is south of Nablus.  This is an Orthodox Jewish community of about 895 people.  Yitzhar lies in area C of the West Bank which is under Israel''s civil and security control.  They often have clashes with Israel's security force and the local Palestinians.

Two incidents happened with one attack prevented by the Israeli security team..  The proposed demolition of the Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El is thought to induce more violence. Some homes in this Beit El  have been deemed to be illegal according to Israel's Supreme Court and were ordered to be demolished, but has now been given a 60 day extension.  However, the Supreme Court has ruled that Israeli law does not apply in Judea and Samaria, which has never been annexed and remains under military rule.

 Two weeks ago some young people of Yitzhar fought with nearby PA Arabs.  When the army reached the scene one of the security force members wounded a Palestinian in retaliation to a threat from him.  Arson was one cause from either the residents or the Arabs.  Incitement is also a big cause for arrests.

It is the Palestinian goal of ousting all Jews from Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem and make it their state, which will be Judenrein, free of Jews.  On the other hand, Israel is made up of 1.4 million Arabs and is a democracy.  The fear is that this is only step one in ousting Jews out of Israel period, as they have threatened to do.

Resource: Arutz sheva news@israelnationalneews.com:  IAF Strikes Terror Targets in Gaza by Elad Benari
PA Arabs Attack, Israelis' Weapons confiscated by Maayana Miskin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%27s_unilateral_disengagement_plan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhar
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/155691 Beit El
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=_Q5--mNIZhU&hd=1 Israel's first Cantor of the IDF, a Lt. Col of the Paratroopers sings "Avinu" with Philharmic Orchestra. It's the prayer for the state of Israel.   Not a lot of connection with above essay except to say our soldiers are also abiding by Jewish ethics while doing their job of defending their people from onslaught.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/156500#.T8035rDL5GY

Israel's Dangerous Backyard: IRAN

Nadene Goldfoot
The son of a friend of mine from Safed, Israel is Noam Bedein who is the Director of the Sderot Media Center.  Noam is on his 6th campus tour trying to bring some truth to the students about Israel and the Palestinian War. 

He explains that 97% of the rockets fired by the Palestinians into Israel come from within their civilian population.  Reporters never mention the suffering that goes on in Israel.  Many Israelis are suffering from PTSD, a condition more common with returning American soldiers from Vietnam, etc.  Imagine yourself driving to work and only have 15 seconds to get to a bomb shelter if an alarm goes off.  That's hard to do even if you're in your own house, say, in the bathroom.  These drivers cannot use seatbelts because it would interfere with that 15 second break. 

Just about all the weapons the Palestinians use come from Iran.  Noam calls his talk, " Iran in Israel's Backyard".

Noam's father, David Bedein, was a social worker when we moved to Safed.  My husband was a former actor from Brooklyn and Miami, so he sat down and wrote a laugh-in type skit about us moving to Israel with all our experiences.  David and Danny did the shtick and I did big cards that were part of the show.  We played in hotels in Israel that David managed to line up for us.  He got us the gigs.   Later, I wrote plays and David and his wife were among the actors in some of them.  David always knew what was happening, and later became a newsperson.  He investigated the Corrie Affair. 

You see, Israel is such a small country that if you aren't related to everyone you just about know everyone.  Who moved across the street from us in Safed but a family from Portland.  Then it turned out that Sam's father had worked with my father.   It's a small world.  That's why when there is an army alert call-up because of danger, we all suffer. 

Be sure to read the article below.  It tells a lot more that is very worthwhile reading with pictures. 

Resource:  http://blogs.jpost.com/content/educating-rocket-reality

Update: Portland-Ashkelon Sister City Ass. from Tamar

Subject: Ashkelon under fire. Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 23:08:01 +0000 from Tamar Boussi in Israel

GENERAL
Ashkelon under fireBy Marty Davis January 07, 2009
As the sirens go off and we wait in our shelter to hear the boom of the missiles, we wonder when this will end. For the past eight years there has been constant bombardment of Sderot and the surrounding settlements. This is not about political issues; it is about civilians under extended fire.

In Ashkelon, 122,000 residents have been under fire with little protection. Most homes do not have shelters as they were built in the 1950s and 1960s. The neighborhood shelters are underground and impossible to reach in 30 seconds. Today alone, we have suffered 14 rocket attacks with accompanying physical, psychological and personal damage. The resolve of our people to stand strong against this onslaught is a direct desire to end a situation where we have to live in fear. Our children are climbing the walls as they cannot leave their homes. There is no school, and no shopping centers are open. These children are terrorized to the point where even at the ages of six and seven they are wetting their beds. They demand that the light stay on all night, and even then tell of their nightmares the next morning - all this on a daily basis. Our children will need psychological help to overcome their fears of loud noises and sirens.

"I'm not running anymore." Our elderly are unable to reach their shelters, even if they have one. They suffer from the ongoing missiles and cannot leave their homes to buy food, get their medicine, or see their doctors. A good friend, who survived five death camps during the holocaust, TB resulting in the loss of a lung, a quadruple bypass, and cancer, sits in his chair and waits for the sirens. He is not moving as it is too difficult. His answer is: "I'm not running anymore". The Municipality and the Home Front are doing a great job as far as immediate response to every emergency; however, we are ill prepared in terms of safe rooms and public buildings with secure rooms.

A number of years ago I was involved in building programs and projects on Israel's northern border (known as the confrontation line). I would watch katyusha rockets hitting the road in front and behind my car. I was fulfilling a Zionist ideological imperative by assisting those in need. Who would have thought that today I would be living in the "new" confrontation line in the south? The real desire is that this current war comes to an end that provides a strong beginning.

We pray for a true peace that can allow us to reach our potential as a people that are involved in developing new medicines, new science and technology. A country that can assist our neighbors in developing their potential as true partners. Can this dream ever become a reality? Herzl said: "If you will it, it need not be a dream". I think we can sum it up in one word, "tikva" - hope.


© 2001-2008 ISRAEL21c.org. All rights reserved.
Resource: Tamar Boussi, President Portland-Ashkelon Sister City Ass.

Raining Rockets in Sderot Again

Anav Silverman in Israel informs us that 62 rockets have been falling in Israel in the last 24 hours from Gaza terrorists, mostly hitting the town of Sderot. He recalls Obama visiting Sderot and exclaiming that if he lived there with his wife and two girls, he wouldn't want it to happen to him at all. He said he expected Israel to do everything in their power to stop it. Pinchas Amar, a resident of Sderot remembers that Obama wants the Qassams to stop. The residents were awakened at 4am in the morning at the sound of sirens telling of the impending rocket attack. They only have a minute or two to take cover. It looks like this is going to be a daily occurence again. Amar's kitchen was hit in 2007 by a Qassam rocket. My friend, David Bedein's son Noam, is pictured in the reference below.

Reference: http://sderotmedia.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=177&q=3

Three Obama Advisors Who Promote PLO as Israel's Peace Partners

Nadene Goldfoot
Martin Indyk, Dennis Ross and Daniel Kurtzer are advising Obama to again promote the PLO as peace partners though they haven't done a thing themselves to promote peace. As David Bedein wrote, "This is the threesome that defined the PLO as a peace partner even after the PLO would not ratify the Oslo "declaration of principles" in October 1993.This is the threeesome that attested to the fact that, in 1996, the PLO had cancelled its covenant to destroy Israel, when it had not done so.

By mentioning PLO, I take it that my old friend David means the newly called Fatah, who have taken over the West Bank. Hamas terrorists in Gaza are also part of the old PLO, but have broken off as the extreme right wing terrorist group unwilling to negotiate any type of peace with Israel. In fact, they have been shelling Israel for many years, now.


These three men have outstanding reputations and much experience in the Middle East. Martin Indyk wrote speeches for former Secretary of State James Baker, who pressured Israel to relent in the peace process. Martin is Jewish and a former ambassador to Israel. He is also a lobbyist and worked in the Clinton administration from 1995 to 1997, and from 2000 to 2001 he worked for Bush. Dennis Ross is also Jewish, though non religious. He was the director of policy planning in the state department under George Bush and a Middle East coordinator under Clinton. Some call him a self-hating Jew. Dan Kurtzer is an Orthodox Jew who was also a US Ambassador to Israel. He is a Democrat and an Obama supporter and is called by some as a man that is part of the Israeli lobby. He was an advisor to Obama in the address to AIPAC, Israel's only American lobby group.



They are all thinking inside the box as believing that PLO terrorists can become peace partners with Israel. I feel that's it's fairly easy living in the United States and advising Israel what to do. They're not living under the same circumstances that Israelis are like David Bedein. I suggest that these threesome move to Israel and do their research from there.

I met David when I lived in Safed (TZFAT) after being in Israel for about a year in Haifa. We had moved there and were teaching in the city school system. David was a community organizer and helped us to start a Yiddish Theater in English group. We started by doing a 3 man shtik of humor about being new immigrants in Israel, and we traveled around doing our thing in several hotels. From there we were able to use the Safed city theater and put on plays, several of which I had written. Keeping busy kept us from worrying too much.

Obama visited Sderot, a city in the south, very close to Gaza, Israel a few months ago and told the Israelis there that he would not forget their fears. They were being shelled regularly from Gazan Hamas terrorists and could not enjoy a moment away from fear. Right after that he visited Berlin, and mentioned other country's fears, but neglected to add Israel to the list, or even Sderot.

He and his three advisors seem to think that such killers are adequate peace partners for Israel. Even Bush has stated that you can't make peace with such people. I remember hearing that once.

Reference: David Bedein: Philadelphia Bulletin:http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=20164538&brd=2737&pag=461&dept_id=623508
Martin Indyk: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR2007061401738.html
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20030501faessay11219/martin-indyk/a-trusteeship-for-palestine.html
Dennis Ross: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ross

Alan Dershowitz Visited Sderot

Alan Dershowitz is passionate about Israel. Besides speaking, he has written books defending Israel, like "The Case For Israel."

In March he visited Sderot to "stand in solidarity" with the people there. He said that "they were part of a long line of heroes who have resisited evil and have been on the forefront of the battle against genocidal murderers.."

He said that the terrorists were committing war crimes, and they are trying to commit genocidal crimes against humanity, and Israel is being condemned by the United Nations. Those who condemn Israel are complicitous in evil.

The war on Sderot and all of Israel is a conflict "between good and evil; between those who love life and those who peddle death."

Let's hope our president and future president hears his words.

Resource: from Baltimore Jewish Times
http://www.aish.com/societyWork/society/Alan_Dershowitz_Speaks.asp

John Voight Supports Israel

I watched John Voight today saying that he was just in Sderot and that he supports Israel. He saw the devastation there from the daily rocket shelling and was shocked that no one is saying anything about it. He is not speaking with a group, but from his own heart.

"All sane people should have a passion for Israel.... I'm thinking about the future of our world," he commented. He started serious thinking after the Vietnam War, noting that propaganda was a big influence. He feels that when we pull out of Iraq there is going to be a big slaughter of people and we will lose everything we have gained there.

He said to note history. Those that bless Israel will be blessed. Those that curse Israel will be cursed. Everytime that Israel has won a war since its inception in 1948 has been a miracle. Bless John Voight for speaking out.

Reference: http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/ : to watch click onto the bottom right corner. I had a hard time, but finally got to view it.

Ashkelon, Our Sister City's Barzalai Hospital

"Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center even tends to those wounded in inter-factional fighting in the Gaza Strip. “Everyone receives the same treatment in the same wards, regardless of ethnic origin or nationality,” said Dr. Ron Lobel, the hospital's medical director. “We deliver the service equally, whether [patients] come from Gaza or … Sderot.“ "

I am so proud of Israel. When we have the enemy come to us when injured, we take them into our hospitals. All life is important. That's why it hurts us when innocent civilians are used as shields in attacks. It's not our goal in life to take theirs.

Someday the Palestinian people will recognize that we are neighbors to have and not to have not.

Resource: The Israel Project

Sderot Holding Onto Hope

Last night I attended a reception given for Yafa Arberboy about the plight of Sderot, Israel. She is a spokesperson for Paamonim, an organization that helps Israelis who are in financial trouble, and need loans and help in budgeting. Paamonim loans people money without interest and they learn to help themselves. When she moved into her office in Sderot, she saw that the situation was completely different there, as they have sustained rocket attacks since 2001, and were suffering from more than financial problems. She told us what life was like there.

Yaffa was born in Morocco and moved to a Moshav near Sderot when she was two years old. After marrying, she attended Sapir College which is at Sderot and was hired by Paamonim. She said that 30,000 people live in Sderot, and since 2001 they have lost less lives than the Palestinians, but are suffering in other ways. They have 15 seconds after a warning to get to shelter. Running is what they all have to do at any moment, and this causes injuries. A lot of glass is broken. People have to be taken to Barzelai Hospital, and an ambulance costs about $200. An operation can cost about $1,200. Even though they have socialized medicine, people need these things immediately and cannot wait, and evidently their medical insurance does not cover these things.

When a siren goes off, you run to a shelter, even if you are in the middle of a road in your car. You leave the door open, your purse and purchases on the seat, and run. Afterwards, you come back and nothing is missing.

The area has had cold winters this year. Rockets have hit so many places. One family's hot water tank was hit and they had no hot water. People are terrorized. Some cannot leave their homes out of fear. The exploding rockets are extremely loud and have affected many with hearing problems. They need hearing aids and cannot hear the sirens to know when to go to safety.

The alarms sometimes have had to warn people every 5 minutes. They have experienced 60 rockets a day, and that they rain on the city day and night now, whereas in the earlier years they only came during the day.

She told us the story of Evan, a Moroccan friend of hers. He and his family were at his mother's house, about 5 minutes away from his having dinner one night. He was ready to go home and go to sleep, and his mother said they were to stay with her that night. She said he must, even if she had to lock the door and keep him there. They didn't argue and stayed with her. In the middle of the night they had a phone call from the police. A Kassam rocket had fallen on his bedroom and they wanted to know if he had been home, and were greatly relieved to hear that he was with his mother that night. The family felt they had been through a miracle. Evan usually took their two-year old son to bed with them after visiting, and they all would have been killed, but for his mother's premonition.

One man didn't have a job, and was offered a chance to make some money by climbing up on the roof of a business and was promised the material up there that he could salvage. As he got on the roof, a rocket was shot and he fell off the roof. Yaffa said that the earth also trembles when the rockets land. Some families have had multiple injuries, and have needed help such as this man, whose daughter was also injured.

One fellow told Yaffa that he couldn't give up his cell phone when making out his budget. He needed to contact every family member when a rocket landed just to make sure they were all right. He'd rather give up meat on the table than his cell phone.

Parents take their children to school in a car and tell the child to run to school. That is, when they feel they can go to school. Yaffa said that everytime she sat down at her desk, the alarm would go off. Even if children got to school, they'd probably spend most of their time in a shelter in a fetal position. They're all pretty much in a state of trauma. No one sleeps. Some take turns. Children don't even know what it is to play outside. They are now conditioned to 2 minutes of movement.

One family was able to leave for two weeks and go north in Israel for a mental health break. Their children asked if they could play outside for 3 minutes. When told they could for an hour, they couldn't believe it.

One time Yaffa took her car to a car wash in Sderot. She could not stay in her car. You have to be ready to run to a shelter, and you can't hear the siren in the car in that place. The people are constantly hearing sirens; fire trucks, ambulances and rockets.

She told of a family whose 15 year old was wetting the bed due to trauma. The mother couldn't even wash clothes due to being in the shelter so much. Families get sick and cannot afford medicine. In one household, a father took medicine for one week and then his wife would take hers for the next week and so on. Of course this wasn't helping them at all, but they couldn't afford medicine for the whole family. I was shocked at this since medicine was so cheap when I was there. These people certainly are bad off.

She saw a home without a door, without roofs. One-third of the people have left Sderot, but the rest are remaining. They cannot afford to leave. They cannot sell their homes or apartments, or even find jobs elsewhere.

Yaffa is the person they turn to for help. She signed on as an advisor for financial problems, but has become their mental health counselor as well. So her visit to Portland was as an emergency appeal. I donated through the Jewish Federation and by writing: for Paamonim on my check. All the money will go directly to Sderot. You can also call 1-866-435-2200 to donate.

Hitting Ashkelon Has No Bad Effect on Peace Process, Says Abbas

Wednesday's violence started when Israel finally had an airstrike in Southern Gaza after being bombarded by rockets into Sderot and now hitting Ashkelon. They killed 5 of the Qassam Brigade terrorists. The terrorists were seen carrying out a special operation against Israel. Militants responded by "firing barrages of rockets at Sderot" and killed an Israeli civilian. By Thursday they shot Katyusha-style rockets into Ashkelon which lies 10 miles north of the Gaza Strip. with 120,000 people.

The Ashkelon Marina was hit by a rocket on Saturday afternoon, wounding two residents. Outdoor cafes and bars were empty at lunchtime on Sunday, even though the weather was fine.

A long-range rocket hit outside the apartment house of Meram Levy, mother of two small children. This caused all the windows to shatter. Her husband and she sleep in shifts to listen to their new public address system alert.

Sunday afternoon, terrorists fired two more rockets into Ashkelon. One damaged a house. 16 people were in shock after this happened. One rocket landed near a kindergarten. 12 katusha rockets hit Western Negev.

Two shorter-range Qassam rockets, made in Gaza, fell inside Israel. Also hit was Netivot, a desert town in Israel.

Monday Condoleezza Rice visits Egypt. Abbas, head of Fatah which is located in the "West Bank" , complained that our IDF forces were destroying the peace process. We pulled out of Northern Gaza early Monday after a two-day operation against the squads firing rockets into Israel. Of course, the terrorists firing rockets were perfectly all right, he thinks. That is not destroying the peace.

Now that Israel knows that they can hit Ashkelon, they must strike back to protect their citizens. The IDF was trying to hit places where rockets were stored, and unfortunately, the terrorists store them in or near civilian homes. They also aimed at manufacturing facilities, a command center, and armed men. Israel must defend itself in a situation like this.

When Israel pulled out, Gazans had a victory rally of 20,000 people and fired more rockets into Israel. Among the Hamas terrorists are a wing called the Qassam Brigades, and Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committees. They cheered, but all suffered casualties. Abbas of Fatah said that contacts with Israel had been temporarily suspended. He feels we are the aggressors. Evidently to him, firing rockets into Israel is not being aggressive. Abu Obeida, Qassam Brigade spokesman said they would continue firing rockets. In fact, if the terrorists and Israel have a truce, Zahar, spokesman for Hamas, said they would continue to train and make weapons. This is what Olmert fears. A truce would only give the terrorists time to prepare their fight against Israel.

Hamas may ask for a multinational force to protect the West Bank and the Gaza Strip from Israel. I wonder if it would work the other way, also, and be able to stop the terrorists from shooting rockets into Israel.

Reference: The New York Times
Jerusalem Post Newspaper
Yahoo News reported by Ibrahim Barzak, Ass. Press writer

Portland's Sister City Ashkelon Hit For Third Time Overnight

Ashkelon and Sderot were hit with 21 missiles overnight. The rockets came in two waves for the third day in a row. five people were injured when two crashed into a house. Dozens of shock victims were treated. Eleven Qassam missiles exploded at Sderot early Saturday.

Ashdod, 27 km from Gaza and north of Ashkelon, is preparing its defenses now. They have 12 alert systems ready. Ashkelon had none. Ashdod is a port.

Olmert returned from Japan with his meeting with Condoleeza Rice and was presented with the facts that the IDF was prepared to target the Hamas rulers, and had gone after them with troops backed by tanks. Five Israeli soldiers were injured; two very seriously. Olmert is more of a peacenik than Obama, but realizes that Israeli cities cannot sit back and be attacked. They want to get Hamas and other terrorist groups involved out of northern Gaza where the missiles are coming from. Then Israel can avoid occupying Gaza again.

The terrorists know what their actions are causing, so they in turn have taken steps. They've taken over civilian homes as headquarters and have stocked them with ammo, water and food for three weeks of war. They are not using cell phones. Instead they are using children as runners with messages. Thousands of missiles and rockets are stored in homes and schools and refugee camps. This is the reason there have been casualties on their side. Evidently their leaders think they are dispensible.

Reference: Debka file: geraldrobins.

Nursery With Toddlers Almost Hit by Rockets

Six rockets and a mortar shell fell in Israel Monday that were shot from Gaza and the aim was to hit a nursery school. I have found that these terrorists are always aiming for women and children. Mensch, they are not. Sderot, the town that is only one mile away from these attacks, has a population of 22,000. The parents have endured rocket attacks constantly, but now that school has begun, are taking their children out of school until the attacks cannot hit the schools. Olmert has now vowed that every rocket launcher and those people involved will be destroyed. Hamas is riling up the Gaza population telling them to beware of Israel, now.

This is how it goes. Terrorists constantly flail at Israel without retaliation until something that cannot be endured happens; and then we retaliate. Then we are the bad guys. If the rest of the world were asked to put up with such behaviors, I doubt very much that they would. Even in Portland, when the case happens that we try to defend ourselves, the terrorists are urged by some to keep up the fight against us.

Helping Sderot Schoolchildren

Portland's Hadassah group held a picnic this summer in Portland on August 19th in order to donate money for the children of Sderot, Israel for school supplies. One of the members will travel there this fall and see how the city is faring.

The first day of school was Sunday, September 1st, and 1.5 million children went back to school in Israel. In Sderot, a rocket landed near the school Saturday night, which is in the city. That was followed by two more Qassam rockets. Parents know that the schools are better fortified than their own homes and hope for the best. This past month 300 rockets landed in the area. The people of Sderot have had rockets attacking them for the past four years.

Our newscasters are always remarking that these Qassam rockets are homemade, as if they can cause no damage. They may be homemade, but cause a great deal of problems. I'm sure none of our American citizens would be blase about such attacks near their children's schools, homes or stores. Hamas continues these attacks while peace talks are being negotiated.

I lived in Safed, in the northern Galilee from 1981 to 1985 where I taught in the junior high school. We had practice bomb drills there in a bomb shelter in the school where we had to spend hours. I had hoped that by this year, such a need of bomb shelters would be a thing of the past. The bombing continues.