Apparently my arrest is imminent. I appear to have broken the law, but honestly I thought I was doing the right thing. It all started as a dispute with a neighbor some years ago. In fact it was the father of my present neighbor and my late father who had the original argument. That started when our neighbor threw a Molotov cocktail through our window on the night I was born and tried to kill us all. The argument has never ended; my neighbors still want to kill us.
Dad was a tough old guy; he’d fought for the British in the Second World War against the Nazis. Our neighbor was on the other side, but that’s ancient history now, so I shan’t go into those details. Suffice it to say dad and the family got through that bad period and we stayed on in our house. In fact, despite all our neighbors, and their friends trying to attack us every so often we became quite successful at farming, something my family hadn’t been allowed to do wherever they lived for too long to remember, and to everyone’s surprise, not too bad at fighting either.
The years passed by and we developed some more industries in our neighborhood, and we learned how to look after ourselves. Now our family had grown and didn’t need or get much help from anyone else. We even took in our relatives from overseas who had to run away when our neighbor’s friends threw them out just because they were members of our family.
Each time our neighbors tried to take our land they made everyone crazy. It seemed strange to us that the police in New York told us we were in breach of the law when all we did was to fight back every time we were attacked, but we understand that there has to be laws so we do our best to obey them all, even the ones we don’t much like.
What our family finds really difficult to understand was the incidents that happened a couple of years back when our neighbors crept into our home one night and took two of our boys’ hostage. We never found out what happened to one of them, but the other one was returned to us dead. The neighbors didn’t even apologize for our loss but everyone in the entire neighborhood went mad when we tried to rescue our boys.
Over the last few years our neighbors kept telling us over a loudspeaker that they wanted to kill our entire family and they backed this up by firing a gun into our backyard every day.
Some days the neighbors fired the gun 80 to 100 times but when we called the police in New York they told us not to worry because the gun was homemade and not too deadly unless you took a direct hit, although they thought the neighbors might have some proper guns coming in from out of town, and these might be very dangerous.
The proof that our neighbor wasn’t really trying to kill our children when they shot at them in our yard was the fact that they didn’t really aim the gun when they fired it and therefore the number of injuries our family took was just a series of playful accidents.
We went looking for our neighbors to discuss this several times and each time we did the police threatened to arrest us and the local newspaper printed stories calling us monsters and killers and aggressors.
It was very upsetting but we eventually found that the neighbors were actually hiding in tunnels that they’d dug under our property. We went into some of the tunnels and found guns and ammunition and plans to attack us when we were sleeping. We showed all this to the police and they told us not to worry because these were defensive tunnels and the neighbors were only using them to bring in medicines and food from their neighbors on the other side of their property.
We asked the police if that were the case why did they also have guns and ammunition in the tunnel on this side and why did they fire these guns at us and tell everyone they wanted us dead and gone?
The police told us not to worry as this was no real threat but we should understand that our neighbors were simply trying to convince their neighbors that they wanted us out, but in reality the whole thing was a sham, for now, although they do want us dead when they are ready. Just before that occurred the police told us that they would discuss the matter with the neighbor and that they’re sure they can convince them not to kill too many of us.
After waiting for the police to have that conversation with the neighbors for the last 8 years and nothing happening we decided we had better sort this our for ourselves. We picked up some of our own guns and we went looking for our neighbors to stop them shooting at us.
We knew that everyone else in the district would get upset when we did this, because that’s what always happens when we try to stop our neighbors shooting at us. In fact this time we were told that as our guns were built in our garage we clearly had an unfair advantage and when we used our guns this would be disproportionate.
So, to be fair we sent a note to our neighbors telling them what we were going to do, and when and where, and then we telephoned them to make sure that they’d get the message. We wanted to discuss these matters with the men in the family who liked to fire guns at our kids but they pretended not to read our notes, or hear our messages.
In fact their tough boys decided that the best way to fight us was to use their kids as a shield. This isn’t the way we do things, as we try to look after our kids, and in fact, despite our arguments with our neighbor, we want to look after their kids.
Our grandmother, whose name was Golda Meir once said it better than I can, “We can forgive the neighbors for killing our children. We can’t forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the neighbors when they love their children more than they hate us.”
As I said to the police officer who came to arrest me, “maybe, one day.”
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Passion
Passion is a word that we in the UK don’t employ very easily or readily. We have become easier with passion in recent years, so it’s said, since the huge public emotional outpouring which followed the tragically premature demise of Princess Diana.
What does passion mean to us? For me it’s a different thing for each set of circumstances.
The passion between a man and a woman changes over time, it starts as a lush burning fire, too hot to touch, it ignites and flames, and draws us to itself, until, with time, it begins to warm rather than burn, and then it must be appreciated in a new, perhaps less exciting way.
Such passion doesn’t have less value because the fire doesn’t burn so brightly, perhaps because that’s the right life cycle of passion. It simply doesn’t serve us well to always be red hot. For a fire to burn for the longer term it must be fed, banked, preserved and nurtured. It shouldn’t always be savage and brilliant, but does its job best if it warms and is seen in sepia hues. There’s nothing wrong with mature passion even if it is considered less immediately gratifying and exciting.
Passion can be what a person feels for their football team, and it can seem ridiculous and unfathomable to someone who doesn’t share the same passion. I am passionate about the greatest football team on the planet, and that is the wonderful Manchester United, who are literally champions of the world having won that tournament last month in Japan after qualifying by winning both the English and European Championships.
Strangely that passion never seems to lessen in intensity, but then again we’re distant lovers, Manchester United and me. In fact I don’t know if this love and passion is reciprocated but sadly I suspect it isn’t. I wonder if the club knew me better that they wouldn’t tire of me. Perhaps the old adage that familiarity breeds contempt is true.
I used to be a passionate follower of the left wing in politics, and then, as I got older and wiser, and a little more prosperous I became a follower of more middle of the road politics. Again my passion had dissipated with the passing of time.
I am still a passionate Zionist and I think that passion will stay with me for my entire life. The only difference now in my passion for the cause of a Jewish homeland is that I realize that some of the back-story and events surrounding these issues are not precisely as I understood them to be when I was a child. Nothing is all white and black although it can come pretty close. But as a younger man I had an optimistic belief that everything could be rationalized and that common sense and logic would always win in the end. Sadly this is not always the case, and at some times in certain places it is never the case.
I reserve a great deal of passion for my writing, because it gives me so much and the love I give it is unconditional and passionate in its intensity.
My undying love is reserved for my family and friends, because they are wonderful and I guess, in part because they are also passionate about me.
For those of you who lose their passion, and become uncertain and say they’ve changed I have news, you didn’t change, we’re basically unable to change, but your circumstances might have changed and you convince yourselves that a search for some new thrill can replace the flames of an older passion that still burns bright enough to warm yourself by, even if on this lower light it no longer excites to the same extent.
Maybe I have become able to accept second best and no longer search myself for a passion that is so pure and desirable. Perhaps settling for less passion is a failing on my part or is it a sign of logic and maturity. Can we have both, or are we doomed to live with a reality in which it must be one or the other?
What does passion mean to us? For me it’s a different thing for each set of circumstances.
The passion between a man and a woman changes over time, it starts as a lush burning fire, too hot to touch, it ignites and flames, and draws us to itself, until, with time, it begins to warm rather than burn, and then it must be appreciated in a new, perhaps less exciting way.
Such passion doesn’t have less value because the fire doesn’t burn so brightly, perhaps because that’s the right life cycle of passion. It simply doesn’t serve us well to always be red hot. For a fire to burn for the longer term it must be fed, banked, preserved and nurtured. It shouldn’t always be savage and brilliant, but does its job best if it warms and is seen in sepia hues. There’s nothing wrong with mature passion even if it is considered less immediately gratifying and exciting.
Passion can be what a person feels for their football team, and it can seem ridiculous and unfathomable to someone who doesn’t share the same passion. I am passionate about the greatest football team on the planet, and that is the wonderful Manchester United, who are literally champions of the world having won that tournament last month in Japan after qualifying by winning both the English and European Championships.
Strangely that passion never seems to lessen in intensity, but then again we’re distant lovers, Manchester United and me. In fact I don’t know if this love and passion is reciprocated but sadly I suspect it isn’t. I wonder if the club knew me better that they wouldn’t tire of me. Perhaps the old adage that familiarity breeds contempt is true.
I used to be a passionate follower of the left wing in politics, and then, as I got older and wiser, and a little more prosperous I became a follower of more middle of the road politics. Again my passion had dissipated with the passing of time.
I am still a passionate Zionist and I think that passion will stay with me for my entire life. The only difference now in my passion for the cause of a Jewish homeland is that I realize that some of the back-story and events surrounding these issues are not precisely as I understood them to be when I was a child. Nothing is all white and black although it can come pretty close. But as a younger man I had an optimistic belief that everything could be rationalized and that common sense and logic would always win in the end. Sadly this is not always the case, and at some times in certain places it is never the case.
I reserve a great deal of passion for my writing, because it gives me so much and the love I give it is unconditional and passionate in its intensity.
My undying love is reserved for my family and friends, because they are wonderful and I guess, in part because they are also passionate about me.
For those of you who lose their passion, and become uncertain and say they’ve changed I have news, you didn’t change, we’re basically unable to change, but your circumstances might have changed and you convince yourselves that a search for some new thrill can replace the flames of an older passion that still burns bright enough to warm yourself by, even if on this lower light it no longer excites to the same extent.
Maybe I have become able to accept second best and no longer search myself for a passion that is so pure and desirable. Perhaps settling for less passion is a failing on my part or is it a sign of logic and maturity. Can we have both, or are we doomed to live with a reality in which it must be one or the other?
Friday, January 9, 2009
TheWordsWeDareNotUse
It is interesting to note how many people I have spoken with since
arriving back in the UK a couple of days ago who are sickened by the anti Israel reporting on the supposedly fair and equal handed BBC and other news organizations in this country as compared to the US where many non Jewish public figures have come out in support of Israel's position. I won't revisit all the obvious arguments already aired elsewhere including my own articles, suffice it to say that Israel is being demonized and de legitimized by a vicious propaganda campaign that takes no account of the facts.
If any other country had been attacked by thousands of rockets
over a period of years it would have retaliated to stop the
attacks and no one would even have questioned it. This is not the case with Israel, it alone is supposed to accept being repeatedly attacked and provoked without the right of self-defense that is inscribed in the charter of the United Nations.
Israel is defending her citizens from incessant and continuing attacks and the fact that Hamas is discussing a cease-fire is in recognition that they are being seriously hurt by the combat despite their blood curdling threats.
Through the logic of Alice Through The Looking Glass all of the actions for which Hamas and its friends are guilty get reflected in this crazy distorting mirror to become Israel’s crimes and misdemeanors.
Israel hits the targets in which terrorists are hiding, even if they are behind or within civilian centers, they have no alternative. Remember the reason for this is the terrorists belief that hiding amongst civilians is their safest option and, in addition, any concomitant increase in casualties suffered as a direct result of their cynical actions wins them support from the international media organizations.
We have become soft in the head if we allow such anti Jewish and anti Israel slurs to remain unanswered. Israel not only has the duty to defend its citizens but it also has the moral duty to fight the terrorists and to seek their destruction.
Whilst we discuss how people behave during war how many Jews do you know, presently or in history that intentionally killed or maimed children or people at prayer?
Can you name a time or place in which Jews sought to force unwilling people to convert to Judaism or threatened with death anyone who was Jewish who wanted to follow some other faith or no faith at all. In case you don’t understand current events might I remind you that extreme followers of Islam still swear death onto any Muslim who wants to leave that faith.
How many Jews do you know who have bombed places of worship to murder indiscriminately?
How many times have Jews desecrated the graveyards of other religions?
How many Jews strap bombs on themselves to intentionally murder
civilians?
Many are not aware that even during the present battles in Gaza Hamas is murdering any suspected Palestinian collaborators and counting them amongst those considered to be casualties of Israel’s combat units?
How many times in modern history has an air force leafleted a targeted site to warn the inhabitants that it is about to be attacked? That is precisely what the Israeli air force has been doing.
Israel has to fight the fanatics around its border in order to survive. It is only through its strength that it can move forward with anything approaching a normal life for its citizens. If Hamas and the other extremists stopped attacking Israel there would be peace and all the outstanding issues could be addressed.
But Hamas and their fellow travelers claim their strength is that they love death, and the weakness of those they fight for Western democratic values is that we love life.
They are right about what we love, but wrong about one aspect of their despicable calculation, loving life is our strength, not our weakness.
Many false and unedifying accusations listed above have been aimed at Israel and are not true. Israel has had to target their enemy wherever they hide but Hamas and their friends have, as a matter of continuing policy, targeted innocent civilians for many years, but apparently only a few of us noticed!
It is laughable but sinister for the media to draw any moral equivalence between the actions of their beloved terrorist murderers and the reactions of Israel or the West in general. The Western powers make many mistakes but intentional genocide is not one of them in recent times.
The only common denominator that media organizations, the politically hard left, the fascists and the Islamic militants have in common is their knee jerk unreasoning hatred of Israel and the Jewish people's right to a Jewish homeland in its ancestral home? Because in the end that is what this argument is really all about.
Many learned commentators and pundits, Jewish and otherwise have been faced with the question of why Israel is clearly judged by a different set of criteria to any other country and the truth is obvious but mostly remains unsaid in polite society, it is the oldest question sparked by the oldest hatred, the words we dare not use, anti Semitism. It seems as if this is the only permitted racism in the world of today and it sickens me. The difference between now and the last two millennia is that now there is a country called Israel and the lives of these Jews don’t come cheap. If the Jews had to rely on the goodwill of the rest of the world there might soon be no Jews.
arriving back in the UK a couple of days ago who are sickened by the anti Israel reporting on the supposedly fair and equal handed BBC and other news organizations in this country as compared to the US where many non Jewish public figures have come out in support of Israel's position. I won't revisit all the obvious arguments already aired elsewhere including my own articles, suffice it to say that Israel is being demonized and de legitimized by a vicious propaganda campaign that takes no account of the facts.
If any other country had been attacked by thousands of rockets
over a period of years it would have retaliated to stop the
attacks and no one would even have questioned it. This is not the case with Israel, it alone is supposed to accept being repeatedly attacked and provoked without the right of self-defense that is inscribed in the charter of the United Nations.
Israel is defending her citizens from incessant and continuing attacks and the fact that Hamas is discussing a cease-fire is in recognition that they are being seriously hurt by the combat despite their blood curdling threats.
Through the logic of Alice Through The Looking Glass all of the actions for which Hamas and its friends are guilty get reflected in this crazy distorting mirror to become Israel’s crimes and misdemeanors.
Israel hits the targets in which terrorists are hiding, even if they are behind or within civilian centers, they have no alternative. Remember the reason for this is the terrorists belief that hiding amongst civilians is their safest option and, in addition, any concomitant increase in casualties suffered as a direct result of their cynical actions wins them support from the international media organizations.
We have become soft in the head if we allow such anti Jewish and anti Israel slurs to remain unanswered. Israel not only has the duty to defend its citizens but it also has the moral duty to fight the terrorists and to seek their destruction.
Whilst we discuss how people behave during war how many Jews do you know, presently or in history that intentionally killed or maimed children or people at prayer?
Can you name a time or place in which Jews sought to force unwilling people to convert to Judaism or threatened with death anyone who was Jewish who wanted to follow some other faith or no faith at all. In case you don’t understand current events might I remind you that extreme followers of Islam still swear death onto any Muslim who wants to leave that faith.
How many Jews do you know who have bombed places of worship to murder indiscriminately?
How many times have Jews desecrated the graveyards of other religions?
How many Jews strap bombs on themselves to intentionally murder
civilians?
Many are not aware that even during the present battles in Gaza Hamas is murdering any suspected Palestinian collaborators and counting them amongst those considered to be casualties of Israel’s combat units?
How many times in modern history has an air force leafleted a targeted site to warn the inhabitants that it is about to be attacked? That is precisely what the Israeli air force has been doing.
Israel has to fight the fanatics around its border in order to survive. It is only through its strength that it can move forward with anything approaching a normal life for its citizens. If Hamas and the other extremists stopped attacking Israel there would be peace and all the outstanding issues could be addressed.
But Hamas and their fellow travelers claim their strength is that they love death, and the weakness of those they fight for Western democratic values is that we love life.
They are right about what we love, but wrong about one aspect of their despicable calculation, loving life is our strength, not our weakness.
Many false and unedifying accusations listed above have been aimed at Israel and are not true. Israel has had to target their enemy wherever they hide but Hamas and their friends have, as a matter of continuing policy, targeted innocent civilians for many years, but apparently only a few of us noticed!
It is laughable but sinister for the media to draw any moral equivalence between the actions of their beloved terrorist murderers and the reactions of Israel or the West in general. The Western powers make many mistakes but intentional genocide is not one of them in recent times.
The only common denominator that media organizations, the politically hard left, the fascists and the Islamic militants have in common is their knee jerk unreasoning hatred of Israel and the Jewish people's right to a Jewish homeland in its ancestral home? Because in the end that is what this argument is really all about.
Many learned commentators and pundits, Jewish and otherwise have been faced with the question of why Israel is clearly judged by a different set of criteria to any other country and the truth is obvious but mostly remains unsaid in polite society, it is the oldest question sparked by the oldest hatred, the words we dare not use, anti Semitism. It seems as if this is the only permitted racism in the world of today and it sickens me. The difference between now and the last two millennia is that now there is a country called Israel and the lives of these Jews don’t come cheap. If the Jews had to rely on the goodwill of the rest of the world there might soon be no Jews.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
AmericaThenandNow
As I leave for the airport in a few moments we can pause for reflection on what’s the same, and what is changed about America.
We have previously noted that the country is holding its collective breath and hoping for the best from President Barack Obama. With just a few weeks to the inauguration this remains the same, but the sense of urgency is increasing in direct proportion to the ballooning size of the problems facing the country.
As President Clinton used to remark the keys to the problem remain the economy. Without getting that right nothing else can be fixed.
Some things remain the same about this country; the people are amongst the most polite in the world. Even if this common courtesy is plastered on a bit thick at times it is still preferable to the icy indifference of many European citizens and the plain rudeness of many in the UK.
There will be tests of the country in general, and the President in particular, from Russia and Iran, and the leaders of those countries should remember that it is the liberal democratic Presidents who act the most tough when pushed too far. It was J.F.K. who nearly went to nuclear war with the Soviet Union over the Cuba missile crisis not Nixon nor Reagan.
The portions of food served in American restaurants remains gargantuan and I recommend you all travel with a companion so that you can share meals, or buy yourself some jumbo sized clothes!
I recall a time, many years back, when the traffic in LA was easy to navigate, and the surface streets were hardly ever blocked. You can no longer make such a statement; now the supermarket car parks can even be full, which is truly shocking.
The movie theatres are still outstanding but not cheap when they provide stadium style seating. But the managers of the cinema complexes in Europe should be trained in the States so that they could learn how to do the job proficiently.
In fact the quality of service is still better in general than anywhere else. Mind you when you are expected in California to provide a gratuity of 20% I think you’re entitled to great service with a smile.
Another outstanding aspect of American life is the sheer diversity and choice available to you. The other day we woke up in Los Angeles and decided that the grand kids should experience the joys of snow. We jumped into the car and drove for less than two hours to Lake Arrowhead and had a great meal by the beautiful lake and then took the kids onto the wonderful toboggan run. Their laughter was uncontained particularly when I fell like a collapsing tree onto the rock hard ice. Apart from this discomfort our day could not have been better.
Similarly we have been into the desert and out to the coast several times and had a wonderful day on each occasion. There’s probably nowhere else where a family is spoilt with so much choice and I haven’t even mentioned Disneyland, the museums, parks and zoos, all enhanced with some of the best weather in the world.
So, as I speak to friends and family members who tell me that I am going to experience minus10 degrees when I get back to the UK I can only hope that the heating is working OK in my home and that the pipes haven’t frozen and that the politicians are not screwing up too badly. But at least I will have those wonderful friends and relatives to share a laugh, a tear a hug and a memory with. In the end nothing is more important.
We have previously noted that the country is holding its collective breath and hoping for the best from President Barack Obama. With just a few weeks to the inauguration this remains the same, but the sense of urgency is increasing in direct proportion to the ballooning size of the problems facing the country.
As President Clinton used to remark the keys to the problem remain the economy. Without getting that right nothing else can be fixed.
Some things remain the same about this country; the people are amongst the most polite in the world. Even if this common courtesy is plastered on a bit thick at times it is still preferable to the icy indifference of many European citizens and the plain rudeness of many in the UK.
There will be tests of the country in general, and the President in particular, from Russia and Iran, and the leaders of those countries should remember that it is the liberal democratic Presidents who act the most tough when pushed too far. It was J.F.K. who nearly went to nuclear war with the Soviet Union over the Cuba missile crisis not Nixon nor Reagan.
The portions of food served in American restaurants remains gargantuan and I recommend you all travel with a companion so that you can share meals, or buy yourself some jumbo sized clothes!
I recall a time, many years back, when the traffic in LA was easy to navigate, and the surface streets were hardly ever blocked. You can no longer make such a statement; now the supermarket car parks can even be full, which is truly shocking.
The movie theatres are still outstanding but not cheap when they provide stadium style seating. But the managers of the cinema complexes in Europe should be trained in the States so that they could learn how to do the job proficiently.
In fact the quality of service is still better in general than anywhere else. Mind you when you are expected in California to provide a gratuity of 20% I think you’re entitled to great service with a smile.
Another outstanding aspect of American life is the sheer diversity and choice available to you. The other day we woke up in Los Angeles and decided that the grand kids should experience the joys of snow. We jumped into the car and drove for less than two hours to Lake Arrowhead and had a great meal by the beautiful lake and then took the kids onto the wonderful toboggan run. Their laughter was uncontained particularly when I fell like a collapsing tree onto the rock hard ice. Apart from this discomfort our day could not have been better.
Similarly we have been into the desert and out to the coast several times and had a wonderful day on each occasion. There’s probably nowhere else where a family is spoilt with so much choice and I haven’t even mentioned Disneyland, the museums, parks and zoos, all enhanced with some of the best weather in the world.
So, as I speak to friends and family members who tell me that I am going to experience minus10 degrees when I get back to the UK I can only hope that the heating is working OK in my home and that the pipes haven’t frozen and that the politicians are not screwing up too badly. But at least I will have those wonderful friends and relatives to share a laugh, a tear a hug and a memory with. In the end nothing is more important.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
IsraelMarchesIntoGaza
The Israeli Defense Forces launched a ground offensive into Gaza today. This follows Israel’s weeklong air bombardment with the announced aim of stopping the relentless rocket and missile attacks by Hamas onto Israel. These rocket attacks have been more or less continuous for a number of years, and total more than 10,000.
There was a nominal cease-fire for the last six months that Hamas ended unilaterally after announcing there will never be peace with Israel or any extension of the ceasefire. The Hamas organization then launched over 100 more rocket and missile attacks against Israel, which provoked Israel into action. Clearly Hamas wants to fight Israel, particularly on the Public Relations front. They believe they cannot lose as they are perceived as the little guy fighting the big bully so they want to suffer civilian casualties and position their fighters behind and amongst the civilian population intentionally whilst they aim their rockets at Israeli schools and civilian centers.
Hamas combatants will seek to ambush and trap Israel’s soldiers rather than confront their superior firepower and conventional advantages. It’s hard to fight superior forces and it is also difficult to fight an asymmetrical battle. If Israel really wanted to win this battle tactically it would have to reach the strategic decision to demolish Hamas and re-occupy Gaza. Israel doesn’t want to do this and therefore has set much more limited objectives to diminish the missile and rocket launching capability of their deadly foe.
Earlier on Saturday, some 13 people were killed in one Israeli air raid when a missile struck a crowded mosque in Beit Lahiya, Palestinian medics claimed. Israel accused Hamas of using such mosques to hide weapons, ammunition and arms manufacturing.
Despite the inevitable consequences, or perhaps precisely because they were seeking such an Israeli military reaction the Hamas terrorists in Gaza continued to fire rockets into southern Israel on Saturday, one of which hit the port of Ashdod, injuring two people.
Demonstrations were held against Israel's military operations around the world but no one other than Jewish supporters of Israel appeared to notice that Hamas instigated this entire conflagration.
Meanwhile in Israel thousands of reserve soldiers have been mobilized as the offensive in Gaza widens with the launching of a ground invasion that Defense Minister Ehud Barak says "won't be short" or easy.
It is wise to assume that some of these actions by Israel are a warning to Palestinian militants in the West Bank and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon who fought a month long war with Israel in the summer of 2006.
Israeli ground troops began pouring into Gaza earlier Saturday. The incursion expanded an 8-day-old operation that had been conducted almost exclusively from the air.
At least 30 Hamas gunmen were reported killed as IDF troops swept into the northern Gaza Strip where they met fierce initial resistance from Hamas forces entrenched in well-prepared fortifications just over the border.
IDF sources said that the real goal is to conquer territory in northern Gaza, including rocket launch sites, from where most rockets are fired. They are using about four brigades' worth of troops inside the Gaza Strip.
Another main aim of the operation is to deliver a heavy, long-term blow to the Hamas military wing, which the IDF estimates, had not been seriously damaged by the air campaign.
It has been argued that Israel’s response to the rocket and terrorist attacks of Hamas is disproportionate. I don’t understand why this is so. How would the UK or USA or Russia or France, in fact any other country, be expected to react when it had been attacked 10,000 times?
Remember, Israel had pulled out of this territory years ago, and Hamas broke the cease-fire repeatedly and refused to renew it and no one seems to remember that Israel had released convicted terrorists as a gesture of goodwill in the last few weeks. None of this appears to matter or count.
I don’t believe that Israel has any other alternative left open to it and we can only hope that this operation will be as brief, victorious and final as possible. The alternatives are simply not tenable or acceptable.
There was a nominal cease-fire for the last six months that Hamas ended unilaterally after announcing there will never be peace with Israel or any extension of the ceasefire. The Hamas organization then launched over 100 more rocket and missile attacks against Israel, which provoked Israel into action. Clearly Hamas wants to fight Israel, particularly on the Public Relations front. They believe they cannot lose as they are perceived as the little guy fighting the big bully so they want to suffer civilian casualties and position their fighters behind and amongst the civilian population intentionally whilst they aim their rockets at Israeli schools and civilian centers.
Hamas combatants will seek to ambush and trap Israel’s soldiers rather than confront their superior firepower and conventional advantages. It’s hard to fight superior forces and it is also difficult to fight an asymmetrical battle. If Israel really wanted to win this battle tactically it would have to reach the strategic decision to demolish Hamas and re-occupy Gaza. Israel doesn’t want to do this and therefore has set much more limited objectives to diminish the missile and rocket launching capability of their deadly foe.
Earlier on Saturday, some 13 people were killed in one Israeli air raid when a missile struck a crowded mosque in Beit Lahiya, Palestinian medics claimed. Israel accused Hamas of using such mosques to hide weapons, ammunition and arms manufacturing.
Despite the inevitable consequences, or perhaps precisely because they were seeking such an Israeli military reaction the Hamas terrorists in Gaza continued to fire rockets into southern Israel on Saturday, one of which hit the port of Ashdod, injuring two people.
Demonstrations were held against Israel's military operations around the world but no one other than Jewish supporters of Israel appeared to notice that Hamas instigated this entire conflagration.
Meanwhile in Israel thousands of reserve soldiers have been mobilized as the offensive in Gaza widens with the launching of a ground invasion that Defense Minister Ehud Barak says "won't be short" or easy.
It is wise to assume that some of these actions by Israel are a warning to Palestinian militants in the West Bank and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon who fought a month long war with Israel in the summer of 2006.
Israeli ground troops began pouring into Gaza earlier Saturday. The incursion expanded an 8-day-old operation that had been conducted almost exclusively from the air.
At least 30 Hamas gunmen were reported killed as IDF troops swept into the northern Gaza Strip where they met fierce initial resistance from Hamas forces entrenched in well-prepared fortifications just over the border.
IDF sources said that the real goal is to conquer territory in northern Gaza, including rocket launch sites, from where most rockets are fired. They are using about four brigades' worth of troops inside the Gaza Strip.
Another main aim of the operation is to deliver a heavy, long-term blow to the Hamas military wing, which the IDF estimates, had not been seriously damaged by the air campaign.
It has been argued that Israel’s response to the rocket and terrorist attacks of Hamas is disproportionate. I don’t understand why this is so. How would the UK or USA or Russia or France, in fact any other country, be expected to react when it had been attacked 10,000 times?
Remember, Israel had pulled out of this territory years ago, and Hamas broke the cease-fire repeatedly and refused to renew it and no one seems to remember that Israel had released convicted terrorists as a gesture of goodwill in the last few weeks. None of this appears to matter or count.
I don’t believe that Israel has any other alternative left open to it and we can only hope that this operation will be as brief, victorious and final as possible. The alternatives are simply not tenable or acceptable.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
HappyNewYear
First, to everyone who reads this column, happy New Year!
As we journey together into 2009 we all wonder what surprises will unfold during this year, and just how many will be pleasant or otherwise.
We cannot ignore the realities of the global financial tsunami currently rolling over us while we hold on to every bit of firm high ground we can find.
It is equally implausible, in fact unwise to overlook the Wars on Terror and those in Afghanistan and Iraq; and how could we avoid mention of the current Middle East battle raging in Gaza and the dangers posed by a resurgent Russia and the Iranian / Islamic nuclear threat.
Some of my readers have written to me expressing their dismay that I have been too pessimistic featuring such concerns in my recent normally upbeat column. I am, by nature an optimist, but I am also a realist and pragmatist. We have had little news of good cheer to make us feel upbeat recently. However I can report that all is not gloom and doom in this corner of the electronic universe.
We have reasons to be generally optimistic that are not based on logic or improving economic trends or even positive signs in our common horoscope. These hopes are based on what we are, and what our system of life has achieved in the past. Our Anglo American democracies have stood the test of time and triumphed over great adversities and powerful adversaries in the past and I believe we shall do so again.
Of course the journey is sometimes very hard, and can, on occasion, leave many casualties, and awful suffering. But in the end we will overcome these problems because ours are the greatest countries in the world, and that’s why the world envies us, and has every reason to do so.
It is no accident that so many people still desperately seek any possible method to live in our midst, its because however bad things seem for this moment, most people recognize that ours are the countries they want to live in. And, if it isn’t the UK or the USA the economic migrant wants a piece of, its New Zealand, Australia or Canada that magnetizes people. There is no coincidence here; our Anglo Saxon systems of democracy, our long-term stability and our innate sense of common decency are desirable to most people in the world.
In our wish to survive the current problems we must do nothing to damage the very core of our national being in its defense, as long as we cherish and protect these values with all our strength we shall overcome all adversities and every adversary.
As we journey together into 2009 we all wonder what surprises will unfold during this year, and just how many will be pleasant or otherwise.
We cannot ignore the realities of the global financial tsunami currently rolling over us while we hold on to every bit of firm high ground we can find.
It is equally implausible, in fact unwise to overlook the Wars on Terror and those in Afghanistan and Iraq; and how could we avoid mention of the current Middle East battle raging in Gaza and the dangers posed by a resurgent Russia and the Iranian / Islamic nuclear threat.
Some of my readers have written to me expressing their dismay that I have been too pessimistic featuring such concerns in my recent normally upbeat column. I am, by nature an optimist, but I am also a realist and pragmatist. We have had little news of good cheer to make us feel upbeat recently. However I can report that all is not gloom and doom in this corner of the electronic universe.
We have reasons to be generally optimistic that are not based on logic or improving economic trends or even positive signs in our common horoscope. These hopes are based on what we are, and what our system of life has achieved in the past. Our Anglo American democracies have stood the test of time and triumphed over great adversities and powerful adversaries in the past and I believe we shall do so again.
Of course the journey is sometimes very hard, and can, on occasion, leave many casualties, and awful suffering. But in the end we will overcome these problems because ours are the greatest countries in the world, and that’s why the world envies us, and has every reason to do so.
It is no accident that so many people still desperately seek any possible method to live in our midst, its because however bad things seem for this moment, most people recognize that ours are the countries they want to live in. And, if it isn’t the UK or the USA the economic migrant wants a piece of, its New Zealand, Australia or Canada that magnetizes people. There is no coincidence here; our Anglo Saxon systems of democracy, our long-term stability and our innate sense of common decency are desirable to most people in the world.
In our wish to survive the current problems we must do nothing to damage the very core of our national being in its defense, as long as we cherish and protect these values with all our strength we shall overcome all adversities and every adversary.
Monday, December 29, 2008
HopesForTheFuture
Following on from my recent article I have enjoyed further meetings with American friends over the last two days that reinforce my views about what’s happening in this amazing country, and around the world, and what’s likely to happen next.
It strikes most people that it is grossly unfair that banking and finance arrangements freely entered into in good times, have been unilaterally changed by the lenders to the detriment of the borrowers during the current bad financial times.
Yes, there is probably the legal right for the lenders to make these changes; but just because you can do this doesn’t mean you should.
These alterations in terms are without exception, to the benefit of the lender, and damage the borrower. The implicit danger to the lenders is that they will, in the longer term, kill the goose that has laid their many golden eggs.
The result of these short sighted, unfair changes in financial terms by the financial institutions has been the collapse of many small to medium size businesses and an explosion of personal bankruptcies and property repossessions. It is logical to anticipate that this situation will become far worse if allowed to continue on the same trajectory.
Business debt collection agencies are already finding it next to impossible to obtain very large percentages of the money due to the lenders.
Another outcome of the present financial crisis has been the explosive growth in the supply of bail out money to the banks and now other industries from our governments. Such printing of money on a massive but quiet scale is fueling the future fall in value of that money. This will lead to a money bubble to follow the property and financial and stock market bubbles, and this could well lead to another major crash in the value of money itself. There is nothing more damaging to a country during peacetime than this outcome, witness the Great Depression, the Weimar Republic or the current crisis in the wrecked country, Zimbabwe.
Are our leaders able, with the inspiration of President Elect Obama, to do anything whatsoever to keep us safe when we have arrived at this precipice?
With all my heart I want to believe that they can save some prosperity for us, but my head says otherwise. Reality dictates that we might not enjoy the prosperity of the past decades again, and certainly should not plan for such an outcome for the foreseeable future.
Such financial instability will lead to problems in supply and demand for raw materials, and possible battles for that supply at prices our countries can afford to pay. Will we, in such circumstances, be willing to forego our individual transportation on demand, or heating or refrigeration when necessary?
These are fundamental issues we are going to have to wrestle with at the same time as our capacity to fight such battles economically, politically and militarily become progressively more seriously impaired. Do we wait until we are even more seriously weakened or pick our fights cynically at a time and place that suits us?
Even more fundamental, if such a thing is possible, will be the control of food and water production and its distribution around the world. Do we behave in a fair and equitable manner or simply pursue a behavior model to suit our more narrow national interests?
My hope is that we see further than the end of our own nose. Our vital need is to work together for eventual global salvation or fail singly. There are no victories to be gained by individuals or even countries acting alone, now, more than ever, we must find new ways to work together.
It strikes most people that it is grossly unfair that banking and finance arrangements freely entered into in good times, have been unilaterally changed by the lenders to the detriment of the borrowers during the current bad financial times.
Yes, there is probably the legal right for the lenders to make these changes; but just because you can do this doesn’t mean you should.
These alterations in terms are without exception, to the benefit of the lender, and damage the borrower. The implicit danger to the lenders is that they will, in the longer term, kill the goose that has laid their many golden eggs.
The result of these short sighted, unfair changes in financial terms by the financial institutions has been the collapse of many small to medium size businesses and an explosion of personal bankruptcies and property repossessions. It is logical to anticipate that this situation will become far worse if allowed to continue on the same trajectory.
Business debt collection agencies are already finding it next to impossible to obtain very large percentages of the money due to the lenders.
Another outcome of the present financial crisis has been the explosive growth in the supply of bail out money to the banks and now other industries from our governments. Such printing of money on a massive but quiet scale is fueling the future fall in value of that money. This will lead to a money bubble to follow the property and financial and stock market bubbles, and this could well lead to another major crash in the value of money itself. There is nothing more damaging to a country during peacetime than this outcome, witness the Great Depression, the Weimar Republic or the current crisis in the wrecked country, Zimbabwe.
Are our leaders able, with the inspiration of President Elect Obama, to do anything whatsoever to keep us safe when we have arrived at this precipice?
With all my heart I want to believe that they can save some prosperity for us, but my head says otherwise. Reality dictates that we might not enjoy the prosperity of the past decades again, and certainly should not plan for such an outcome for the foreseeable future.
Such financial instability will lead to problems in supply and demand for raw materials, and possible battles for that supply at prices our countries can afford to pay. Will we, in such circumstances, be willing to forego our individual transportation on demand, or heating or refrigeration when necessary?
These are fundamental issues we are going to have to wrestle with at the same time as our capacity to fight such battles economically, politically and militarily become progressively more seriously impaired. Do we wait until we are even more seriously weakened or pick our fights cynically at a time and place that suits us?
Even more fundamental, if such a thing is possible, will be the control of food and water production and its distribution around the world. Do we behave in a fair and equitable manner or simply pursue a behavior model to suit our more narrow national interests?
My hope is that we see further than the end of our own nose. Our vital need is to work together for eventual global salvation or fail singly. There are no victories to be gained by individuals or even countries acting alone, now, more than ever, we must find new ways to work together.
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