Why The Need for Hamas to Bomb Israel?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                             

                        Israel's Iron Dome Stopping Incoming Rocket

Hamas Palestinians in Gaza are now unified with Fatah Palestinians, known as the PA of Judea-Samaria . Hamas has been bombing Israel since 2001 and still they haven't stopped. In fact, now that they have unified, it's been stepped up.   Why?  Why was there a war in Gaza in the first place with Israel?  Is Obama watching all this?

Hamas called out the big O word;  OCCUPATION.  Charles Krauthammer asked, "What occupation?  In 2005 Israel pulled out of Gaza.  It dismantled every village, withdrew every soldier, evacuated every Jew and left nothing behind except the greenhouses where Jews had grown fruit and flowers for export.  These were left as they were to help Gaza's economy.  How about that?  That was a Jewish decision.  It was not appreciated, though.  The Arabs trashed them when they took over.    There is no occupation.

Israel said its border with Gaza was an international frontier.  They  had renounced any claim to the territory and considered it an independent entity.  At that moment Israel was actually creating the first Palestinian state.
                                                                         

               Ashkelon, Israel under constant attack along with Sderot

The other Muslims had never been that gracious to Palestinians.  Those held in refugee camps were not considered citizens and have no rights and are not allowed to find work.  No, that's because they're used as pawns to fight the Jews in Israel.  Even the Ottoman Empire and the Egyptians who held Gaza before Israel had not  done such a thing as give the Palestinians such recognition..

Sometimes I think my Israel is too good to people, but they did this because they wanted to live in peace. with these Arabs calling themselves Palestinians.
                                                                     

                                                     Rocket  fired from Gaza

The world had kept demanding that Israel give up land for peace, and they had done it successfully with Egypt.  So they took the chance and it has failed.    The Arabs turned around and voted in Hamas terrorists to rule over them.  They turned Gaza into an armed camp and there has been war ever since.  Any truce from Hamas, a hudna, has only been a tactic for giving themselves a rest to get ready for the next round.
                                                                         

                                      Hamas terrorists

The problem is that Hamas says that all of Israel is occupied.  They say that Israel is illegitimate.  They tell everyone it is a cancer, a crime against humanity.  Did they have to alter any of this in the peace talks?  I doubt it.

The big brother for Hamas is Iran.  They are their arms supplier.  Hamas' objective has been openly declared.  Why hasn't the USA looked at it?  Their goal is to liberate, destroy Tel Aviv and the rest of pre-1967 Israel.  It is, as Charles said, it's raison d'etre.

Jews were first attacked by Hamas with suicide bombings.  That caused Israel to build a fence for protection.  Hamas has come back with rockets that are fired indiscriminately at a civilian population in very populated areas.  This started off with 150 rockets into Israel.  Just 2 years ago Hamas was getting Fajr-5 rockets that were smuggled in from Iran that could reach Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  This puts 50% of the Israeli population in harms way.  They get finances and political support from the other Middle Eastern states like Qatar who gave them $400 million, especially since the Arab Spring and the reversal in Turkey to a more Islamist society.  Previously for the past 60 years, Turkey  had been a friend of Israel.  While Israel works to defend its population, Recep Erdogan called Israel a terrorist state.  Is this eastern thinking compared to western?

The best thing that has happened is that Egypt acted quickly and ousted the head of the Muslim Brotherhood from presidency.  Morsi is out and Sisi is in. How Morsi ever got in in the first place is a mystery to me.  They had been an outlawed group.  Obama had them sit in the front row during his Cairo speech, though, so that recognition must have given them a leg up.   Therefore, Egypt is still honoring it's peace with Israel.  They even have worked together.

There was a cease fire on November 21st in 2012, but we see that didn't last long.  Over 500 rockets have been fired into southern Israel in 2014.  On April 23, Hamas and Fatah united.  The firing of rockets continues.  I count at least 22 mortars and rockets have been fired since their unification.  Why do they keep on pelting Israel?  Their goal is to wipe out Israel.  They don't want a peace.  They want to destroy Israel.

April 23

3 rockets were fired from Gaza at the Hof Ashkelon and Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Councils, after rocket alert sirens sounded. No injuries were reported.

April 24

A mortar shell exploded near the fence in Southern Gaza, endangering Israelian soldiers. Later in the day explosive device explodes near IDF force at the Northern Gaza border. No injuries or damage were reported

May

May 1

A rocket hit an open area in Eshkol. No one war hurt, no damage was reported

May 21

Lots of mortar shells were fired at IDF forces on the Gaza boarder. No injuries, damages in attack. 

May 23

A rocket exploded in open field in Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council. No reports of damages or injuries.

May 31

In the Golan heights' area sirens were heard in several towns followed by explosions. It was assumed, that these rockets were not targeted to Israel but a result of the Syrian battle. 

June

June 2

A Syrian mortar shell hit the Mt. Hermon region, no injuries or damage were reported.

June 4

At least two Syrian mortar shells land at the Israeli Golan. The Iron Dome missile defense system were activated, but were stopped, when calculation said, that the mortars would hit open field. Additionally, Syrians shot machine gun fire. The IDF believes, that the goal was not to hit the Israelian side, but celebratory fire from Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces.

June 11

A rocket sent from Gaza narrowly missed a main artery in southern Israel as it landed in a nearby dirt field without causing any injuries.

June 14

2 of 3 rockets fired from the Gaza fell in the Hof Ashkelon regional council in the afternoon. No injuries or damage were reported.

June 15

In Ashkelon a series of explosions were heard in the evening. 4 rockets were fired from Gaza, 2 of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome. Fragments of the rockets fell across the city. There were no reports of injuries or material damages.

June 16

A rocket from Gaza landed in an open area in the Ashkelon area. No damage or injuries. This year Palestinians fired more than 500 rockets and mortars.
June 30
New - BREAKING: 15 Rockets Fired Last Night and This Morning

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2014
Oregonian article 2012, Why was there war in Gaza?  Charles Krauthammer

Portland's Rabbi Stampfer and his Ancestors Establishing Israel-A Jewish State

Nadene Goldfoot                                        

With all the heart-ache happening in the Pale of Settlement with pogroms against Jews, a return to the land became a movement for Jews with the desire to revive  Jewish national life.  The Jews who never left the land were called the Yishuv and they started the movement. They knew that the Jews in the Pale of Settlement belonged in their ancient land with them.   The Pale was land owned by Russia where Jews were allowed to live.  Jews couldn't come into Russia proper, only live in the Pale.  The Pale consisted of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and  Belarus.

In 1860, Jews built the first neighborhood or quarter outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.  There were 2 Hebrew periodicals regularly published in Jerusalem, both calling for a return to the Land.
 In 1870, the first Jewish agricultural college was established in Mikveh Israel which is today on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

In 1878, Jews from Jerusalem founded the first new village in the land-Petah Tikva  which today is a town of over 85,000 and only 10 miles from Tel Aviv.  Other villages were founded near Jerusalem and in the Galilee.  " It was founded in 1878, mainly by religious orthodox Jews, also known as the Old Yishuv, and became a permanent settlement in 1883 with the financial help of Baron Edmond de Rothschild.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately 5,800 inhabitants per square kilometre (15,000 /sq mi). Petah Tikva's jurisdiction covers 35,868 dunams.  

Portland, Oregon's Rabbi Joshua Stampfer's ancestor started Petah Tikva.  "Born in Jerusalem on Dec. 28,

1921, Rabbi Stampfer is the son and grandson of rabbis and pioneers.  His paternal great-grandfather and namesake, Yehoshua Stampfer, was a founder of Petach Tikva, the first modern Zionist settlement in what is now Israel.  His maternal grandfather, Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank, was for several decades the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem.  Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the Chief Rabbi of Israel and a close friend of Rabbi Frank, served as Stampfer's sandek or holder at his brit milah.  

In 1881 and following years, Jewish immigrants who belonged to the Hibbat Zion (Love of Zion) movement arrived in Israel from Eastern Europe.  This was called the First Aliyah-going up spiritually of living in Israel.  Some joined existing  villages, others founded new ones.  Some of the villages  established during the last 2 decades of the century are large towns today like Hadera and Rishon Le-Zion.  The living for these pioneers was harsh.  The population was small and dispersed.  Communication was poor.  The Land was in a state of neglect with swamps, and malaria was the rule.  The Ottoman Empire administration was hostile and oppressive towards Arabs and Jews.  It can be compared to life of pioneers in the USA at that period.  

Knowing the struggles these people went through to create the state of Israel makes today's population most appreciative.  By the end of WWI in 1917, the Ottoman Empire lost their hold on the land.

One would never think that after having been accepted that Jews were to have a Jewish Homeland from the land of Palestine, land lost by the Ottoman Empire because they sided with Germany in WWI and actually the former empire of Israel and Judah, that there would be no problem.  It was decided by the League of Nations that it was to be and Britain was given the responsibility to bring it about in the form of the mandate.  One would never think there would be any doubts about it after the  the United Nations voted it in as a state on May 14, 1948-a double legal entry that Israel was a legal Jewish state.  Here we are, again defending our right to be called a Jewish state.  Who's having a fit about it?  The Palestinian Arabs who want it for themselves-at least to start with their own state out of land belonging to Israel right smack alongside and inside of Israel in east Jerusalem, which they want as their capital.  David's capital.  Jerusalem.  King David who created it for Israel.  King David who lived from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE, 3,000 years ago.

When Sharon was Prime Minister of Israel, the US. government put enormous pressure on him to "do something," and he did.  He decided to move Israeli citizens out of Gaza for the sake of peace.  He also moved villages and towns out of Samaria.  Now there are two counties if you wish, Judea and Samaria.  Samaria is the northern one.  Jews call them by this established name.  Americans journalists and others call them the West Bank, a name from Jordan grabbing them as they were land west of the Jordan River.  Jordan had grabbed them in 1948 when the fledgling Israel state was busy fighting off all their neighbors who had declared war on them 15 minutes after their declaration of being a state.

Sharon did this in the hopes and half-promises and innuendos of the USA that this might lead to an end of the bloody Arab/Israeli conflict.  Even Sharon's own Likud party overwhelmingly rejected the plan.  This is because Gaza did not belong to its mostly Arab inhabitants.  Gaza had been a province of the Ottoman Empire and became part of the British Mandate of Palestine.  In 1947, the UN proposed to partition Palestine into 2 states,  one Jewish and the other Arab.  The Jews, seeing it amounted to only 20% of the original piece of promised land to them for a Jewish Homeland,   decided it was better than nothing and accepted the offer.   The Arabs rejected the offer.

Fifteen minutes after the announcement of Israel being a state, 5 Arab armies invaded Israel.  Israel wasn't the mighty army based country it is today.  It was a ragtag group of Holocaust survivors, tired groups that had been fighting for survival already, and hopeful people who had waited 2,000 years for such a moment, for they had been praying every day for this return.

It was a huge miracle that they defeated the combined Arab might.  After this war, though, Jordan still had control of Judea and Samaria and east Jerusalem and Egypt stayed in control of the Gaza Strip.  They held it until the 1967 Six Day War when another huge miracle happened; Israel won that one, too, against all odds.  This miracle gave Israel back all they had previously lost, including the Gaza Strip.
                                                                           

                                                            Gaza
Now Israel made every effort to improve life of the Gazans and give them decent housing and infrastructure.  The Arabs only pouted and rebuffed all the efforts of the Jews of improvement.  The Arabs wanted to keep the Gazans in miserable "refugee camps".  They have been there, festering in squalor for over 50 years and dreaming of vengeance against Israel.  They've learned no skills, and have not improved their minds except to learn to built rockets against Israel and to build tunnels to bring in contraband- things used as ammunition against the Jews.

This was the worst plan imaginable-to vacate Gaza. 7,500 Jews left in the name of peace and many still haven't been able to regain their lives that they had.   It set a precedent, that to make the Arabs happy, they had to have land that was Judenrein-free of Jews-something invented by the Nazis.  It rewarded terror and was viewed by the Arabs as a sign of weakness.  They would be free to import arms through their port and airport.    What this did was to exacerbate the problem.  That the Jews abandoned their homes and businesses was seen as a victory for terrorism.  The Israeli military left and this was seen as the chance for terror to increase and violence would explode and drive all Jews out. by raining down rockets, missiles and mortars.  They saw this as causing thousands of Jewish deaths and Israel would be defenseless.

What have the Jews gained in return for their efforts towards peace?  The raining down of rockets, missiles and mortars, air raid sirens and many portable bomb shelters.  Besides that, they now have Kerry saying that it's a mistake to expect the Arabs to accept Israel as a Jewish state.  No-they'd much rather call it an Arab state-no doubt.

One idea that came up in 2004  proposed in the Forward newspaper was that if all Jews were moved out of Gaza, and Judea and Samaria, which the Arabs want to use for their Palestine, evacuate all Arab from Israel and resettle them in Gaza, the West Bank, or wherever they might want to go.  It would be an exchange of populations.  It's happened before on the Indian subcontinent.  Of course it caused a lot of bloodshed, but is a good example of a population exchange.

Well, this population exchange didn't happen.  Of course, Arabs who were working and living already in Israel proper certainly didn't want to move and they were not the problems.  We have Hamas terrorists who have taken over Gaza and have turned everyone into worse terrorists.  Fatah won't recognize a Jewish Israel.  Could we then say we shouldn't have recognized a Muslim Arab state?  Sharon did, though.  Can we say we were just kidding?

There was a province of Palestine, called that in 135 CE by the Romans who had taken Jerusalem in 70 CE.  There was Bar Kokhba who fought against them for 3 years from 132 to 135, but they finally lost against this massive army, but really gave them a headache in doing it, for it was a ragtag Jewish army that fought harder than any other had against the Romans.  That's why the Romans named the land "Palestine" after an enemy group of the Jews.  Arabs lived in Syria as well as all the surrounding countryside.  They called the province Syria, though.    The Arabs of today are descendants of the Arabs who came to the Jews looking for work as their countries didn't have jobs.  Very few Arabs actually owned land in Palestine.  Those who did sold their weed infested dried or swampy mosquito-filled land to the interested Jews who paid their high prices.                                                                  

Now that the Jews have made a modern miracle out of the land, the Palestinians are chomping at the bit to take it over.  One self-important personage, Abbas Zaki, a senior PA official of the Central Committee,  is bragging that now that the Jews are in one place it will be easier to kill them all. "Zaki currently serves as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ commissioner for dialogue with the Arab world and China.  Earlier, "In response to United States president Barack Obama's U.N. Speech on Palestinian Statehood on September 23, 2011, Zaki called Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu "trash", and said "The greater goal cannot be accomplished in one go.... If Israel withdraws from Jerusalem, evacuates the 650,000 settlers, and dismantles the wall – what will become of Israel? It will come to an end."  It sounds like that's what his goal is, to bring Israel to an end now.  We see his idea is including the dismantling of the wall because that is in east Jerusalem.  

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbas_Zaki
 http://www.jewishjournal.com/rosnersdomain/item/basic_law_the_jewish_state_problem_wont_go_away
Forward, July 9, 2005, page 3.  , Abandoning Gaza, would Israel's withdrawal from Gaza lead to peace?
http://pamelageller.com/2014/03/palestinian-official-allah-gathering-jews-israel-can-kill.html/
See more at: http://www.ojlife.com/2013/oct/seniors/portland-celebrates-60-years-rabbi-stampfer#sthash.Rmf6oVoS.dpuf
Facts About Israel from Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem 

Iran's Aim To Be Top Dog in Middle East With Rockets for Gaza

                                                                     

Nadene Goldfoot
Iran is not showing us any signs that the Palestinians are only striving for a just peace with Israel or that it is only a perception of ours  that they only dislike the "expansionist policies of Israel". Some naive persons believe they will all shut up if a just peace is established.  What is a just peace in their eyes is plain destruction of Israel, as they have already stated.  If they want a just peace, why can't they bring themselves to recognize Israel as the Jewish state?  Did someone say this is not about religion?
                                                                     
Sorry, but their expansionist opinion is that of Israel  having established the state of Israel in the first place.  Israel is not a state aiming to expand and become an empire. It only wants what was promised to them through legal channels but since 80% of that had been stolen, expects to keep the rest without having to fight for it every second or give up anymore land.  That's why recognition is necessary.   The so called Palestinians are simply pawns in the game of the many to wipe Israel out.   Such happened in 1967 when every Arab country under the sun attacked Israel but Israel managed to keep them at bay and won!  By doing this, the Arabs cooked their own goose.  Israel was able to legally win back Judea, Samaria  and east Jerusalem by default from their greediness. The state that was cheated in the first place in 1948 was Israel as the Brits with the mandate in their pocket gave away 80% of the promised land of the Jews to the Arabs who created Jordan.  Yes, land east and west of the Jordan River was promised to be part of the Jewish Homeland as defined by the League of Nations.

Frankly, I don't see the King of Jordan as the most greedy one, but he joined the fight in 1967 rather reluctantly, I thought.  It was Egypt who led the fight.  Jordan had peer pressure to engage in this.  Since then he has been a fairly good neighbor.  I don't think he wants war again.  He did sign a peace treaty.

  The sorry state of affairs  is that the Arabs living in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria still will not recognize Israel.  It will not go through the mistake of leaving Gaza, lock stock and barrel only to gain rockets falling into their country again.  The true fact is that they're not out for any sort of "just"  peace and the West and everyone else has blinders on if they can't admit it.  Now the offer is a trade off of land to go back to 67 lines which are indefensible as previously proven- with still no recognition.  No deal, folks.  Israel is not stupid.
                                                                     

To muddy up the waters, Iran has sent Gaza 50,000 missiles and thousands of anti-tank rockets.  On February 8, 2013, Ali Akbar Velayati, advisor to Iran's supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei for International Affairs said that their shipment of simple Fajr missles to Gaza put 3 million Israelis in bomb shelters.  My,  doesn't that make Iran look like the power house. Then 3 days later, Ali Saeedi, Khamenei's representative in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps piped up with the comment that they were Fajr-5 missiles that Iran gave to Gaza as a gift.  Gazans are naming their new born babies after the Fajr-5 missiles.

Only 6 months ago  in November 2012, Javad Karimi  admitted that Iran sent Gaza 50,000 missiles and thousands of anti-tank rockets.  He sounded like he was bragging when he said that "Launching Fajr-5 missiles at the center of Tel Aviv attests to a major victory in the conflict over Palestine in favor of the Iranian nation (you see, it's all about Iran, not Palestine) and allowed Iran to once again prove its strength to the world.  Already he's claiming victory and it was because of the crucial role Iran played in it.

Fajr-5 missiles have a range of up to 80 km. or 50 miles.   The distance from Gaza to Tel Aviv is 71km or 44 miles.   Iran was proud of the damage Israel took from them in November 2012 in the Operation Pillar of Defense.  This transfer has been confirmed.  They struck Tel Aviv against the advice from a revolutionary in North Africa.  Fajr-5's were developed in 1980-1990 when China exported the WS-1 MLRS to Iran.  From there they have copied and manufactured them.  The Fajr-5 missiles were supplied to Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006, when Gaza was shooting rockets into southern Israel in mass numbers.

At a November 2012 Basij conference in Mashhad, Iran,  Javad Karimi said they did it because "if we do not defend Gaza, we will suffer casualties in the streets of Mashhad.    He considered hitting Tel Aviv a major victory  in favor of the Iranian nation and allowed Iran to once again prove its strength to the world.  Lee Smith, author, would call this Iran's bid to be "The Strong Horse" in the Middle East.  Mashhad is 530 miles east of Tehran close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, a main oasis along the ancient silk road to China.

I see.  Empowering Gaza with missiles will keep Gaza from signing any peaceful agreements with Israel which might take away Iran's power among its peer group.

Now we get down to the nitty gritty.  Iran is also showing everyone how there is no conflict between Shi'ites and Sunnis by helping out Gaza because on November 17, 2012, the daily Kayhan, a close person to Khamenei,  claimed that the launch of missiles like the Fajr-5 at Israel by the Islamic resistance in Gaza shows that Iran supports the Islamic resistance front and completely disregards the artificial conflict between Shi'ites and Sunnis."   Boy oh boy, the Gazans are going to have to pay for this through the nose.  They're not going to get off easily.  They now owe their soul to Iran.

Resource:  Daily Alert; www.dailyalert.org.   from MEMRI.
Book:  The Strong Horse; power, politics, and the clash of Arab Civilizations, by Lee Smith  Lee writes and researches to find out why the Arabs hate us.   He has lived in Cairo, Beirut and Jerusalem and discovered the clash within the Arab civilizations themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashhad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fajr-5

Why Hezbollah is a Terrorist Organization

Nadene Goldfoot
Hezbollah is not a part of Lebanon's government.  They are supported by Iran and Syria.  After 1982 when Israel had to go into Lebanon to stop the PLO who were stationed there and had been blasting Northern Israel with rockets, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards stepped in and took these Shi'a Islamic militants that wanted to fight and trained them. Hezbollah has pretty much  taken over Lebanon, however.

In 2006, Hezbollah shot 4,000 rockets into Israel when they had a war that lasted for a month.  They had the range of 45 miles.  More than 24 cities were hit.  900 rockets landed in urban areas.  43 Israeli citizens were killed and 2,015 were injured.  Haifa suffered from 54 rockets that hit causing 16 deaths.  Karmiel, which is settled mainly by American Jews, suffered from 176 rockets. Kiryat Shmona, the city I drove to from Safed because they had a department store that reminded me of Meir & Frank, was hit by over 1,000 rockets.They were close to the border.   My city of Safed (Tzfat), which is on top of a mountain,  was hit by 471 rockets and Nitzan Rubin died from it.   July 13: Nitzan Rubin, 33, died from wounds sustained during the  Hezbollah rocket attack.  Tiberias, which is below the mountain,  was hit with 81 rockets.   The UN brought out a peacekeeping force, but it is thought that Hezbollah had stockpiled more, possibly 28,000 rockets since then.

By 2008 they were shooting Iranian rockets with the range of 185 miles, which would be able to hit Dimona.  This has all been done with the backing of Iran. By "early March, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported Israeli claims that Hezbollah's arsenal includes 10,000 long-range rockets and 20,000 short-range rockets in southern Lebanon."  At the same time, Hamas from Gaza was raining down rockets and by 2008 had killed 13 Israelis that way.  Hamas even then had strong ties with Iran.

The Lebanese army has been working against Hezbollah.  On December 11, 2011 a rocket was shot only 6 miles from the border towards Israel but hit a Lebanese home in Hula and injured the woman inside. The next year on November 20, 2012, "A Lebanese army patrol discovered two ready-to-launch 107mm Grad rockets between the villages of Halta and Mari, about 2 miles from the Israeli border. The forces defused the rockets. IDF official Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai said Palestinian factions in Lebanon were probably behind the plot."  It's figured they were Hezbollahs being they were in Lebanon.  The next day "Two rockets fired from Lebanon at Israel landed within Lebanon, according to Beirut officials." The terrorists didn't give up.  The very next day "The Lebanese army disarmed an additional rocket aimed at Israel, in Marjayoun, again, about 6 miles or 10 kilometers from the border."  

Last July,  5 Israeli tourists were killed in a bus that was bombed in Burgas, Bulgaria, a Black Sea resort.  It was Hezbollah who were the terrorists.  They had a suicide bomber planted on that bus.  The bus driver was also killed in the explosion.

Tel Aviv was threatened by Lebanon's Shiek Hassan Nasrallah in 2012's battle with Gaza after a cease fire was declared.   Hezbollah had fired a Fajr-5 rocket then, and the threat is of thousands of them landing on Tel Aviv.  He was speaking to a crowd of thousands "attending an annual Shiite commemoration of the 7th-century death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson." Lebanon is populated by half Sunni and half Shi'a Muslims..  Hezbollah also threatens to invade Israel's Galilee since they sit on the border. This would be the cities of  Haifa, Acre, Safed, Tiberias and Nazareth  while at other times have threatened cities from Kiryat Shimona to Eilat, which is the whole length of Israel.  The message is that if Israel hits Iran's site where they are making uranium for atomic weaponry, Hezbollah will hit Israel with about 60,000 missiles and rockets and can now reach the whole country.

Israel has repeatedly asked countries to brand Hezbollah a terror organization.  The US and Canada have agreed.  The European Union has not  and they have taken no action to do so.  Evidently it takes more for the Europeans to learn about the true character of Hezbollah.

 Israel is not going to attack Hezbollah for the Bulgarian bus attack of last summer.  "When Israel acts, it is in order to prevent a security threat, to prevent a concrete attack.  It is not in order to punish," said Boaz Ganor, Israel's counter-terrorism expert.

Resource: Oregonian newspaper, 2/6/13,  page A5, report blames Hezbollah for bombing.
 http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-03-27-israel-hezbollah_N.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/israel-seen-unlikely-to-respond-militarily-after-bulgaria-implicates-hezbollah-in-attack/2013/02/05/0d7bce2e-6fd6-11e2-b3f3-b263d708ca37_story.html
http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/c.hsJPK0PIJpH/b.2905175/k.B69E/Background_Israeli_Cities_Affected_by_Rocket_Attacks.htm
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/11/25/thousands-of-rockets-will-fall-on-tel-aviv-hezbollah-issues-chilling-warning-to-israel/
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/10/02/hezbollah-threatens-to-invade-israel%e2%80%99s-galilee-and-offers-interactive-infographic-on-how-it-plans-to-do-it/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah

8th Day in Israel Under Attack

Nadene Goldfoot
Hillary  Clinton just finished a 30 minute meeting with Abbas.  She asked him not to approach the UN on November 28th for statehood, which could be the reason the terrorists of Gaza have hit Israel so hard this past week with rockets, missiles and mortars.

A bomb exploded on a bus in Tel Aviv from Hamas.  It injured 11 riders.  Hamas called it a "heroic attack". This is typical of the horror they inflict on Israel.  This didn't help talks about a cease fire.

Israel was able with an air strike to hit a bridge that cuts Gaza in half.

Not surprising,   Judea/Samaria "West Bank" Palestinian occupants have joined their cousins in Gaza by yelling to attack Tel Aviv.

Hamas wants Israel to end attacks and lift restrictions on trade and movement in and out since they seized Gaza by force in 2007 and kicked Abbas out.  The restrictions are there to prevent them from receiving more lethal  weapons.  Israel at least has made this harder on them as they have had to dig tunnels to get these items which Israel has been  trying to get rid of.  If they would become peaceful and keep shelling Israel they could have had this long ago.  Israel has been rejecting such outlandish demands, knowing what it leads to; their death and destruction.

 Israel has to deal with Gaza on the east and this area on the west as well as the Golan Heights in the northeast section.  Then there's Lebanon and Syria in the North as well.

If Israel hadn't been scrupulous in trying not to hit civilians who are embedded with launch pads, the death count would be much higher than the 100 plus so far for the Palestinians.  I find it sad that several reporters were among the count but were warned not to be hanging around terrorist sites that might be bombed.  I'm surprised they didn't take heed.

Resource: Fox News
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?ID=292917&R=R1
Oregonian newspaper 11/21/12 Gaza cease-fire push gains wings

Getting Ready For Possible Land Incursion

Nadene Goldfoot
As the decision to hit back with force continues, Israel has been hit by 2 rockets in Tel Aviv for the 2nd day. After that strike, Jerusalem's siren also sounded with 2 rockets landing outside of the city.  Indeed, Hamas has rockets with much greater range.

PM Netanyahu spoke yesterday afternoon from Jerusalem telling us that 200 rockets had landed from Gaza in just the past hour.  He hopes that the terrorists will understand  that Israel will not put up with this bombardment anymore.  Israel will do what it has to in order to put a stop to it.

Since 1948 this tiny state has been shelled by over 60,000 rockets.  The Iron Dome has intercepted over 80 of them just in the past few days as over 250 have rained down on Israel.  And yet there are Muslims who say, but where is your humanity, Israel?  You hit a child!  550 rockets have rained down on Israel since it started its Operation to stop the shelling on Wednesday.  The IDF has used air strikes to take out 500 targets where the shooting was coming from

In a move par for the Palestinians, they have appealed to the UN to stop Israel's strikes.  After hitting and hitting Israel, with Israel previously calling on the the UN for assistance and getting no response, they turn around and blame Israel for retaliating against years of abuse from them!  Just amazing!  The UN had no response.

Israel has also been hit and bloodied, Israeli children as well as adults.  That's why they are hitting back in self-defense.  It's a hard concept to get across to some people.  What the general Muslim public have not been told by their websites or TV newscasts or just refuse to believe is that Israel has been trying for a long time to make peace with the Palestinians and it is their leaders who have refused and keep shooting.  The Palestinian people voted them in  and I see many egging them onto doing terroristic things, like screaming "Hit Tel Aviv!"


Resource: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=292171
http://www.OneJerusalem.org.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinians-repeat-call-for-un-action-on-israeli-strikes-1.478284

The Return of Jews to the Homeland: In the Beginning

Nadene Goldfoot
Though many of the most elite Jews had been killed or taken captive at the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, many men and women also remained and continued to live in Eretz Israel, and were known as the Yishuv.  They built the first quarter outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.  As a little girl, we used to put our pennies in the Karin'ah meen Box, also known as Tzedakah or the Pushke box  at Sunday school for the poor Jews living in "Palestine".  A blue and white pushke box was for the Jewish National Fund, which shows that thousands of little Jewish children also helped to pay for land bought through this fund.

 A new movement had started in the 19th century of a revival of Jews returning to the promised land.   In the 1860's, 2 periodicals published in Jerusalem called for the return to the Land.  Mark Twain visited Palestine on a trip he set out on from Brooklyn, February 1, 1867 and wrote in his book, THE INNOCENTS ABROAD, just how desolate the land was. In 1870 the first Jewish agricultural college was established in Mikveh, Israel (today outside of Tel Aviv).  In 1878 Jews from Jerusalem, one of which was Yehoshua Stampfer, Rabbi Stampfer's father of Portland, Oregon,  founded the first new village in the Land--Petah Tikva (1973 had a population of 85,000) ten miles east of Tel Aviv. By 2009 the population had grown to 209,600.  Other villages were founded near Jerusalem and in the Galilee, but Safed had always been there with legends back as far as Noah himself.   

By 1881 on, Jewish immigrants from the Hibbat Zion (Love of Zion) movement arrived from Eastern Europe.  Some of the immigrants joined existing villages and others founded new ones.  Hadera and Rishon started off as villages and are now towns.  This first group of immigrants were called the First Aliyah.  Aliyah means ascent, so moving to Israel means going up, spiritually.  The conditions these pioneers lived under were just as bad if not worse than American pioneers,  as the land was in serious neglect and now contained swamps which held mosquitoes that carried malaria.  The Ottoman Empire was hostile and oppressive towards everyone.  New villages were lucky to survive.

In 1897 Theodor Herzl was in Basle, Switzerland and organized the First Zionist congress and founded the World Zionist Organization.  Zion is a synonym for Jerusalem and the entire land.  This came about to start with in France with the Dryfus Affair, where a Jewish serviceman was accused of being a traitor because he was Jewish but was innocent.  The many pogroms in Eastern Europe was enough to drive out the Jewish population.  Self-determination was a movement taken by other nations such as the Greeks, Italians and Poles.  Jews also realized they should follow this path.  Their goal was to allow a return of Jews to their ancient land and revive the national Jewish life in social, cultural, economic and political ways. Jews had been praying 3 times a day since 70 CE that next year they would be in Jerusalem.  It was time to return.

A 2nd Aliyah was underway from 1904-1914 which strengthened villages and founded new ones.  The Yishuv began to organize politically into socialist groups.  They were all highly idealists and were planning a Utopia for all.  In 1909 the first kibbutz, Degania Aleph was created on the southern shore of Lake Kinneret.  I was there visiting a friend.  Also in the same year Tel Aviv was founded on the sand dunes outside of Jaffa.  Hebrew was becoming the language of the Yishuv and they were creating Hebrew literature.  Life was immensely harsh and many pioneers left, but by 1914 there were 85,000 Jews in Eretz Yisrael.

By 1918 the land was occupied by Britain who governed it for 30 years.  This came about with the ending of World War I in 1917, and on November 2nd the British issued the Balfour Declaration which showed sympathy with the Jewish Zionist aspirations, promising support for the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.  Their allies like the USA were parties to the negotiations and approved of this.  So did some of the principal leaders of the Arab national movement.

  King Hussein of the Hejaz, wrote that they saw these Jews coming in and knew that the country was for them, the original sons, and to them it was a sacred and beloved homeland.  (Al Qibla, Mecca. No. 183, 23 March 1918:  George Antonius, Arab Awakening. p. 269)  However, at the same time, leaders of the Arab national movement were negotiating with Britain for the recognition of Arab national rights in the former territories of the Ottoman Empire throughout the Middle East.

January 3, 1919 was an agreement between King Hussein's son, Emir Feisal, chief Arab delegate at the Paris Peace conference and Dr. Chaim Weizmann of the Zionists.  The Balfour Declaration was endorsed and Palestine recognized as a separate Jewish entity, with which the then imminent Arab State would maintain diplomatic relations, on condition that Britain and France met Arab demands in other territories.  At this time before 1948, both Jews and Arabs were called Palestinians.

Britain was given the mandate on July 24, 1922 which incorporated the wording of the Balfour Declaration regarding establishing in Palestine a national home for the Jewish people.  It recognized the historical connection between Jews and the land and called on Britain to be the facilitators of the Establishment of their national home.  This mandate extended over both sides of the Jordan River.  Britain, however,  turned around and divided the land up in two parts, establishing an Arab emirate in Trans-Jordan and deprived the Jews of rights to the land east of the river.  Not only that but they made the new rule of Jews being forbidden from then on to buy land or live there.  At certain times they allowed Jewish immigration and other times they restricted immigration and even prevented buying land.  They were not following through with the charge they
were expected to uphold but were making up their own rules and favoring who they wished.

 Britain had never been that friendly towards Jews. Here we have a reporter and a chemist trying to  save lives by making some good points with the staid Brits. They wound up with very little of the original promised piece of land which turned out to be the bad sections as well.  They didn't say no, though.  A piece was better than nothing.    The Arabs, who had been offered the biggest and best part, said emphatically and have been since then, NO.

Resource: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qnXQ9_cMjLs
Facts About Israel, Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petah_Tikva
http://www.safed.co.il/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzedakah

Israel: Swamped By Invasion From Africa

Nadene Goldfoot
As dangerous a place as Israel may seem to be to American tourists, people in Sudan and Eritrea, Africa evidently see it as a haven.  Israel has been bombarded with illegal African immigrants who are making up 25% of the population in the southern part of Tel Aviv, a city right on the sea.  In Eilat, a resort town in another part of the sea, they make up 10% of the population.

Israel, however, is not a solution for Africa's poverty, but they have been streaming in over the border with Egypt.  Right now about 70,000 illegals have come into the country.  Israel has given them visas to be in the country.  Unlike other states, they have not stopped them by sending them back or pushing them back over the Egyptian border.  I just wonder if they were helped along with a little push.  For them it must feel like being let loose in Disneyland.

In the past generation, Israel took in tens of thousands of black Jews from Ethiopia when I lived there from 1980-1985. Then Israelis had a chance to get prepared and to know what to do.  First off, most all had to spend months in the hospital and then were finally cleared.  The empty apartments available at that time just happened to be in Safed where I lived.  People set up one apartment as a clothing center, as they came to us dressed in white sheets and barefooted.  They went through a planned education learning Hebrew for at least 3 months.  There was an art show where they showed off their creations.   That involved Jewish ancestors and culture identity.

 Judaism's traditions are to care for the homeless and the stranger and this has the Israelis in great sympathy for the African migrants, but while they can take in small numbers, the rate is up to 1,000 per month and it's out of hand for the tiny country, even being as high as 2,000 in some months.    They cannot care or hire that many people.  This is really just a sudden surprising invasion.

Because these immigrants have no ties or heart for Israel, there have been a large number of rapes and thefts in public areas and on Tel Aviv's beaches which are frightening the permanent residents.

Yet, it wasn't but a few days ago that I read that the USA was coming down on Israel for being racist.  Hardly!  We all know the problems in the United States with illegal immigration coming in from Mexico.  Hasn't Israel enough problems at the moment to not have to hear such outbursts which come from their good hearts of having care for these people?

Note that Israel just hasn't created detention camps for them, camps such as the Palestinians found themselves in created by their own people.   I'm waiting to hear PA leadership  criticized for doing that for the past 64 years. They are used as pawns in a political fight with Israel.   Those who live in Palestinian camps  have been unable to become part of the working population.  .Israel does  have on the agenda some sort of camp for these illegals to live in temporarily.

This is the tiny state where men till they are 55 years of age must spend a month in the army like our National Guard does in the states.  When that happens the wives take over the jobs the husbands had to leave usually, or if unskilled, that job remains vacant till the man returns.  Needless to say, they are not yet equipped to handle this surprise event to meet USA expectations.  Give them a few more days.

This is also a state where every able bodied man and woman has military training and all people are used to watching for suicide bombers and such things, where everyone is everybody's parent and acts quickly.  They are getting riled up as to what has become another problem for them to solve and without outside help as usual, just mouthing off criticisms.  .

Resource: Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com
Oregonian newspaper, 5/29/12 page A10 Report:  Virus steals information by Nicole Perlroth

Terrorists Won't Stop Firing From Sinai; Warned Not to Use Fajr Missiles

Nadene Goldfoot
On Sunday, March 11, Israel  warned the PRC and Islamic Jihad terrorists strongly not to use the Kajr Missiles which could hit Tel Aviv, or Israel would take further steps.    These missiles, which started in China who had exported WS-1 to Iran in 1990, have become the Persian Dawn 5, an artillary rocket Iran has developed.  Aerospace Industries Org developed them.  They are unguided surface to surface artillery rocket system that they gave to Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 who fired them into Israel.  They went deeper than previous rockets with the longest range of all of them.  The range is 110 km or 68+ miles.  That's about the distance from Lincoln City on the coast to Beaverton or Tigard, Oregon. 

Right now they're striking within 25 miles from Tel Aviv.  An 80 year old Israeli woman in Ashdod is the latest injured. Cities have warning systems but may be only able to give 15 second warnings.  It's hard for the old to run fast enough.  I know I couldn't. 

Egypt has acted as mediator and tried very hard to get the Jihad terrorists to move out of the Sinai where they are using the peninsula as a launching pad.  This is why Israel is adamant about trying to stop them.  They are trying to force these Jihadists to give up hitting Israel.  So far over 200 missiles have been dropping on Israel.  It's been going on for too long. 

Resource: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-wETUOJDmc&feature=share  sounds of missile attack
http://www.debka.com/#21816
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fajr-5
http://www.debka.com/article/21816/
http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/03/12/gaza-terrorists-strike-less-than-25-miles-from-tel-aviv-video/
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/200-rockets-hit-israel-23-gazans-killed-in-retaliation/

Palestinian Activists Turned Back From Airports

Nadene Goldfoot
Those Palestinian sympathizers numbering about 600 who didn't succeed in their flotilla plans attempted to swarm Israel via airlines but have been deterred thanks to the cooperation of countries following the advice of the USA and the UN as well as Israel.  Their goal was to express solidarity with the Palestinians in the West Bank and draw attention to life under Israeli occupation, including travel restrictions.  Israel is trying to eliminate confrontations with these media-bent activists and international criticism that ensues from such things. 

Two planes did land in Tel Aviv's airport from Europe and 32 suspected activists  were taken and questioned Friday.    Six were deported which included two Americans wearing "fly-in" T-shirts which identified their intentions. 

Anna De Palma, 44, Portuguese, admitted that she has passed border controls because she didn't say she was an activist, only coming to visit.  She came in on a flight from Zurich. Israel had circulated a blacklist with about 340 names to airports  Most airports complied.  The names of flotilla members has been known.  Israel was able to track them through social networks they used to organize the protest.  Though the group, "Welcome to Palestine" said through Olivia Zemor, French, that they planned only nonviolent activities, these activities seldom stay nonviolent, however well- intentioned they are. 

The Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris turned away several from check-in counters and they gathered together shouting, "Boycott Israel," as the French police watched them shouting.  Cynthia Beatt, British but living in Germany, was barred from their Lufthansa plane and was called to tell her this before she came to the airport.  Geneva turned away about 40 activists from an EasyJet flight to Tel Aviv.  They even tried to pass through without a boarding card but stopped and turned back.  This caused the airport to have to close for about 40 minutes.

The West Bank can be reached through crossings controlled by Israel at the international airport or the land border with Jordan.  Because of security concerns, Israel stops most Palestinians from entering Israel or using its airport.  To fly out they can use Jordan's airport.  Hundreds of foreign activists and aid workers are in the Judea and Samaria (West Bank) all the time.  The Gaza Strip is ruled by Hamas.  Israel allows few people to cross its border to Gaza.  Most Gazans can travel abroad by crossing into Egypt through their shared border. 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4092661,00.html
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-blocks-airborne-protest-questions-dozens-164213376.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5glrdg_c6lwx69-q_kxRP4tTyOq9Q?docId=130fba4a666f4cbab884d27ff122dae6
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5glrdg_c61wx69-q_kxRP4tTyOq9Q by Jeremy Last
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-instructs-foreign-airlines-to-prevent-departure-of-300-pro-palestinian-activists-1.371988