Thursday, October 22, 2015

Life In Israel Today

Written by Evan Pokroy, copied from Stephen Green:
Scenes From An Intifada

I just wanted to share my feelings about what’s going on here in Israel right now.

I’ve lived here pretty much all of my adult life. I got married here, all my children have been born here, all of my professional life I’ve been here. I’ve lived through terror waves in the past, most notably the days of bus bombings in the mid 90s after the signing of the Oslo Accords. Back in those days, I actually took the bus to work almost every day in Jerusalem.

I’m not sure if it’s worse now, certainly the casualty count is much lower. It’s almost impossible to stop a bomber without prior knowledge and you certainly can’t do it with a pair of hand made nunchaku or an umbrella. But what we didn’t have back then is the 24/7 minute by minute information overload of Twitter/Facebook etc.

Every argument in the street is assumed to be the start of terror attack. A couple teenagers get in a fist fight by a gas station, the news feeds light up about a possible stabbing. Crazy things are happening here. Some of them are uplifting, how everyday citizens are looking out for each other and coming to each other’s aid. Many of the terror attempts have been stopped by passersby, either with real weapons or with contrived ones. We are a pack, not a herd as Instapundit likes to say. Sometimes this ends up as somewhat humorous. One attack was stopped when someone pulled out a pair of home made nunchaku and prevented a terrorist from stealing the gun of a soldier that had been stabbed. This morning a terrorist was subdued with an umbrella grabbed by an office worker who ran out to assist. A second terrorist was bludgeoned with a selfie-stick until a police officer was able to shoot him.

At the end of the day, though, it takes its toll. People don’t go out to the market, they don’t go to the mall, they avoid public places. Others feel the need for revenge, there have been several attacks on Arabs by Jews who are fed up with the situation.

I’m grateful that I own a handgun and have it on me whenever I walk out the door of my house. My wife owns one and my eldest son, who just finished the army is in the midst of getting his carry permit. We’re lucky that we have the means to defend ourselves. I find my friends are more comfortable sitting near me when we’re out, or are only willing to come to events if they know I will be there with my sidearm.

I have no illusions that most of the world cares about what is happening to the Jews in the Jewish state. When newspaper headlines talk about dead Palestinians without mentioning that they were shot while committing terror attacks only reinforces our feelings for international isolation and the knowledge that, like in years past, that the only people who will look out for the interests of the Jews is the Jews.

I will finish of with gratitude to the Lord for keeping me and mine safe from harm and asking all to, in the words of the Psalmist:

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and may those who love it be safe. (Psalms 122:6)
The existence of a modern western nation in the middle of 6th century nations is intolerable to the Islamists (most everything is intolerable to the Islamists, including other Islamists)

It is an unfortunate twist of historical geography that Israel must be (and it must be) located where it is. Were it not for three factors - oil beneath the sands, Suez, and Jerusalem - the middle east would remain forever in the 6th century, happy to be killing each other as heretics and honor killings, all in the service of Allah and that icon of morality, Muhammad.

8 comments:

ShadowWhoWalks said...

May this article help: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/10/explaining-israeli-palestinians

Whoa, is time travel involved? Where did the cars and algebra come from, I am confused! I am also contemplating the paradox of a western nation in the middle east.

If a democracy is a Jewish Supremacist ethnocracy founded by colonial settlers on stolen land, then I don't want it.
We all saw how "modern" Israel is in their slaughter. Would they refrain from bombing a UN SCHOOL if they were told it was full of displaced CIVILIAN refugees 18 times instead of 17?


Since you claim most everything is intolerable to "islamists" (would be grand if you can define the term), can you cite what is tolerable to that category?

I am confused, are you claiming that Muslims are encouraged to kill other Muslims, and that honour killing is accepted? Can you state which legal school of fiqh support that?

Stan said...

Ethnocracy; colonialism; stolen land; slaughter; You are describing ISIS, the Taliban, the PA, and many other Islamics with such words. Yet your hatred is for Israel alone. And yes, it does appear that most of the massacres today are Muslims of one stripe or another who are killing either other Muslims, or if there are any left, Christians and other religions - purely for religious reasons. Killing dissenters is a tradition going back to Muhammad, as is conquest of territories and genocide of Jews. Muslims seen to feel entitled to those practices as a part of their particular interpretation of Qur'anic and Hadith texts.

Your source, mondoweiss, makes it clear regarding the Palestinians (who you seem to pretend are not Islamic): they will settle for nothing less than total possession of all of Israel. The "oppression of the Palestinian" consists of not allowing Palestinians their hegemonic desire.

Another source, papered in Switzerland and with offices in Palestine, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, focuses entirely on Palestinians killed by Israelis while making claims of innocence for the Palestinians, without actual evidence. Demanding fair investigations would be futile, because the Palestinians would accept nothing short of total exoneration.

Still, there is a case for body cameras on all police and armed enforcement officers, with the recordings released immediately to the public. The defect in that, however, is obvious in the USA, where all recordings are claimed by the perpetrators and their apologists to be "doctored" and "heavily edited" despite expert examination and findings to the contrary.

This "Oppression of the Palestinian" releases into continual excuses for "frustrations" leading to intifadas and slaughter of Israelis, followed by Israeli retribution on Palestinians. The rest of the world is supposed to understand that when the Palestinians create mayhem, it is justified by the "Oppression of the Palestinians". Thus, killing Israelis is the fault of the Israelis, because (1) they exist; (2) they exist as a nation; (3) they exist as a nation on land that Palestinians want, and feel entitled to because some family member once lived there; (4) What else is a poor Palestinian to do?

Should the ruling Palestinians (no, they're not dominated by Israelis, they are self-governed) decide to accept statehood and responsible neighbor-state behaviors, all of this would stop.

That's all it would take.

But it would mean dropping the perpetual Victimhood stance which they value even more.

ShadowWhoWalks said...

Your psychic powers have failed you! My hatred is not only aimed at Israel but at other criminal elements as well. The validity of your argument has forsaken you! What I like or dislike is irrelevant to the topic.

Would love to know who Taliban and the PA colonized by the way.

If I remember correctly, the US is responsible for the highest kill count in recent memory.

I wonder how come there is such a thing as scholarly debate if there is no dissent. How come the Jews welcomed and coexisted with Muslims in Jerusalem and Spain? (unlike the intolerant, fascist, genocidal Christians whom I am going to extrapolate)

A mystery, a riddle, or a puzzle might require a solution, but colonization and occupation require decolonization and liberation. "Israel" simply has no right to exist, and the conflict will end only with the dismantlement of the settler-colonial entity (perhaps returning as a legitimate one), the return of all Palestinian refugees to their land, towns, and villages, and the reintegration of Palestine into its natural, historical, geographic, and cultural environment. Discussion the post-liberation political process is premature and should be left to the Palestinians to determine after the liberation of Palestine and the return of all refugees.


Haha, couldn't have fooled me by implying religious Zionists and their supporters care about innocence. The atrocities of Israel is undeniable.

Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. Psalm 137:9

(I assert that) Religious Zionists and their supporters seen to feel entitled to those practices as a part of their particular interpretation of the Torah and Halakha.


Lets get through the quotation marks; are Palestinians oppressed? Yes or no would do.

Palestinians have the basic right to self-defence and resistance. including armed resistance. Do you curse George Washington too?
There is no moral or legal equivalence between the violence of the occupier/colonizer and the resistance of the occupied/colonized.


Being in an open air prison is being dominated. I am not going to negotiate in place of Palestinians or demand less than their full right. Also, you are under the impression Israeli authorities are interested in returning any of the land it stole; don't make me laugh...

Stan said...

Now, in the name of Islam (whether "real Muslims" or not), they are going for that 600 million round number.

Stan said...

"If I remember correctly, the US is responsible for the highest kill count in recent memory."

This is undoubtedly incorrect, given the Fascist atrocities of both hegemonic, barbaric cultures (NAZI and Japanese) who started WWII.

The USA kill counts were (a) defensive, and (b) small considering the brutality of the attackers in toto.

But yes, there was civilian life taken, considering the atomic bomb attacks on Japan which ended their attack on the USA. Similar attacks on Germany were required, to stop their attacks of the citizens of Britain and other places. Your accusation (a Tu Quoque Fallacy) fails to consider the dissimilarities in the situations.

1. The USA was attacked in an unprovoked mass murder.
2. The Japanese were slaughtering, enslaving and raping up and down the East Asian Coast, from China to Rangoon, and throughout the Pacific Islands, including attacks on Australia. All unprovoked.
3. The USA sought to produce unconditional surrender of the Japanese, with minimal loss of the lives of defensive troops and civilians. Same with the NAZIs.
4. Bombing factories and railroads and military sites did not work.
5. Bombing cities was necessary.

Bombing cities in NAZI Germany also reduced the loss of lives of defenders of free nations, who had been under constant bombardment attack by the Germans.

War is not kind; war is hell. War should not be provoked.

You seem to take small portions of event facts, and to present them as the whole truth, while neglecting the overarching context in which the events occurred.

After WWII, the USA returned nations to their previous citizens, including to Germans in Germany, and Japanese in Japan.

The Grand Mufti of Palestine, on the other hand, joined and fought for the Fascist NAZI forces; waging war on peoples in their own nations.

Now, if you prefer only body counts from this century - the last decade and a half, the USA did intervene in Iraq, and returned the country to popular control via the vote of its peoples. The USA failed to provide continuous support after Obama (very Leftist, quasi-communist) took his 8 year control of the USA. This left Iraq at the mercy of internecine warfare which continues to this day.

The USA did not create such warfare, but did create the conditions for it to occur in this instance. Further, the Iran/Iraq war is just another example of Shia/Sunni internecine war and killing within an Islamic/Muhammaden context.

The allied attack on Libya's Khadaffi, and the country's further neglect is an abhorrent affect of the USA's current quasi-communist administration, which participated.

Now, back to your point. The USA has, indeed, been involved in Afghanistan and Iraq and Libya. The intent, whether either of us agrees with it, has been to remove those who you might consider to be illegitimate (yet claiming Islam as their motivation) from their murderous, totalitarian control of these territories.

Somehow, from all this (incomplete summary), the answer to all middle eastern ills seems always to be to eradicate Jews and give Israel to the Palestinians.

Please explain how that would work to produce peace in the middle east.

Stan said...

Now for colonialism, the current pejorative du jour:

The USA maintains possession of some mid-pacific islands, with military presence there. Midway Atoll and Wake Island come to mind. These were captured from the Japanese at great expense to life.

It would be rationally insane to give up these strategic places.

That rationality goes for the West Bank and for the Golan heights. It would be insane for Israel to give up defensive positions when its surrounding neighbors demand the annihilation of the entire country.

You might argue that the positions are not defensive; that is not up to you or me to decide.

You might argue that holding those areas is colonialism. That is pejorative, a purposefully inflammatory Ad Hominem Abusive which is falsified by the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.

ShadowWhoWalks said...

@Phoenix
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/39361_Fact-Checking_Pamela_Geller-_270_million_victims_of_Islam

Cheers, and sweet Islamic nightmares.


@Stan
Dude, Japan was economically crushed (factory destruction) and seeking surrender; the war would've been over within two weeks. The two nukes on cities was nothing but a demonstration of warfare technology and a testrun on live targets.

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v16/v16n3p-4_Weber.html

Your ethics prove to be despicable once more. Next you'll defend Vietnam.



You do realize that Japan was defeated and seeking surrender and the war would've been officially over within two weeks, right? Dropping nukes on two cities was a demonstration of warfare technology and a testrun on live targets. Absolutely despicable. But hey, can't expect the people who thought Jim Crow was alright to have much of a quarrel against the third Reich beyond strategic interest.
http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v16/v16n3p-4_Weber.html


A conquering army becomes an occupying power once military operations have ceased. The occupying power has the duty to restore public order and safety and protect the local civilian population, it cannot seize or annex any part of the territory occupied or forcibly deport civilians, nor can it permanently transfer its own citizens into the occupied territory. It must also relinquish control of the occupied territory and return it to civilian authority and control as soon as reasonably possible once order is restored.
The US did this w/ Japan and Germany. Israel did not.


No one asked for the Jews to be eradicated. Only that Zionism (like any other race-supremacist ideologies and structures) be eradicated. I am not discussing the path to liberation; that can be discussed once the previous statement is acknowledged.
If someone asked you: "Do you recognize the right for there to be a country on your historic homeland that explicitly excludes you?" what kind of response would you give? The Jewish and Israeli people obviously have a right to exist, but what does "Israel" mean?


You seem to have a fringe and conflicting definition of colonialism. Can you define it?

Stan said...

Dragon Fang,
Congratulations on your new English language word: “despicable”. Your use is incorrect, and your overuse is due to religious bias on your part. Being a moral judgment, it relates merely (and non-factually) to the morality of the person doing the condemnation. Thus your use of it here is entirely without any weight whatsoever.

And the fact that you base your judgment on a document which says the opposite of what you claim, seems to reflect poorly on your rational judgment as well. (The Palestinians do, in fact, hide behind civilians; in schools; apartment buildings; hospitals; mosques.)

However, moving away from your stumbles, I have a comment followed by some questions for you.

Comment:
Your presupposition that I am Christian, arguing from a Christian basis is without merit, and an overstep of any knowledge of me which you could possibly have – since I have never revealed a religious adherence (if any). So your attack on my “Christianity” is without merit, and is somewhat hysterical in nature.

Questions:
I would like for you to explain how a unified, post-Israel Palestine, if there is to be a Palestinian Reconquista, is to be part of the international community. Or perhaps it has no such intention? The United Nations international boundaries are rejected roundly by the Palestinians (by yourself, as well). So the all-new Palestine would of necessity be a rogue state, of course, and would be engaged in the eradication of Jews. This would be pleasing to the prophet, who would expect such behavior from his followers, as it was his own behavior to be modeled. But how does that fit into the modern world, if at all?

Now perhaps you take a different stance? Having condemned many of the Islamic-based movements as being false-Islam, you might also condemn the eugenic behaviors of the Palestinians? But that does not comport with your positions taken here, in the past, where you seem to support all the actions of the terrorist government of Gaza: Hamas. For example, hiding behind civilians is fully supported, and the death of any Gazan civilians during Israeli attempts to stop Palestinian attacks from behind and underneath citizens is “despicable”, at least in your terms.

And a question about “occupation” vs. “annexation”: The West Bank was ceded to the PLO by Hussein of Jordan. But the PLO, like Hamas, is a terrorist organization. Is the capturing of strategic land previously occupied by an aggressive, belligerent, terrorist organization “despicable”? If your answer is yes, then please give the logical deduction which justifies that conclusion.

And don’t bother trying to turn your answer on the Tu Quoque Red Herring fallacy that it is Israel who is the terrorist nation. No rational observer buys that, it is nothing but an excuse for the hegemonic, eugenic belligerence of the known terrorist states and organizations.

In the USA, New York and Chicago were captured from the control of the Mafia; should they be given back to the Mafia? The concept is absurd.

As for Zionism and race-supremacist cultures, Israel is far more racially integrated than most Islamic countries - and when the supremacy turns on the basis of religion, Islam is a far worse fate for humanity than Zionism. The spectre of Zionism is merely anti-Semitism painted over to try to look legitimate. But it cannot be, it is too obvious in its hate mongering.