There are two sides to virtually every story and by describing only half the story, the media shapes public opinions. This is especially true once political opinions and editorial censors cherry-pick what news to show and when media moguls frame an entire conflict, then the news can lead to damages which can never be reconciled. This has been very true about President Trump and especially the presumed guilt of Russian Collusion, but that we will leave for others to rectify which somehow the Mueller Report failed to close that in many eyes and they will continue to dig and claim to have found evidence demanding another Special Council. Where President Trump might lead in the one sided news stories and the framing such that every last accusation must be treated as the impeachable offense, but coming in second and being such a story for far longer has been Israel which has been hounded and scapegoated by the media consistently since even before President Carter, though his Presidency could be termed as the turning on Israel pivot by the media. We will begin our story with the Gaza regions of Israel and their largely untold story. The map below shows the Israeli cities, towns and Kibbutzim in close proximity to Gaza and there is where we begin.
Gaza Communities and Relative Sizes
There is one thing that is universal, children at play. Even in the above-pictured towns, one will find children at play. Like many children in the world, they play soccer and any picture of them playing soccer would appear to be totally normal until a second sharper and more detailed look provides what did not quite feel right upon the first glance. What appears wrong is in fact quite normal in these regions. The kids play soccer placing their goals along the mid-field stripe, one just past one end and the other just past the other end. Then they play running across the field placed sideways using the other lines on the field to designate out-of-bounds. Why would they play their games sideways when they have a complete soccer field for their use? Why would they use those easy to move goals when the field had very good permanent goals? It is not that they actually desire to play on a truncated and shortened field, but it has one extremely important quality, it helps them survive. These communities are not protected by the Iron Dome anti-projectile systems. This is because this may be the one improvement which hopefully can be made soon in the future. The reason the Iron Dome is unable to protect these places and the reason the children play soccer on a truncated-sideways field are the same, time; and its being measured at approximately fifteen seconds give or take three seconds depending on out of where in Gaza a rocket or mortar was fired. That fifteen seconds is how long these children, and all the other children outside playing, have to take shelter in any of the public shelters, the shelters which are basically shrapnel catchers often made from large pipes which are also used for water transport (see below). These shelters, which are places strategically in this region’s common areas, playgrounds, shopping centers and wherever a need is recognized, have to be close with easy access as the people and children all have that fifteen seconds to dash into one of these or other shelters. The schools of the region have been fortified with walls and especially roofs thickened with reinforced concrete such that even a direct hit would not penetrate and potentially kill children. Daycares, preschools, many shopping malls, and other stores are reinforced often at the expense of the owners and sometimes with government funding. Fifteen seconds, think about how far you can run in fifteen seconds, how about your mother or your aunt with a hip replacement, the more you think about it, the shorter fifteen seconds becomes. But running does one no great favor unless they have chosen the object into which they are running, and that fifteen seconds after the siren may be a mere seven or eight seconds as the detection took slightly longer to project potential areas which could be struck. The shelters around soccer fields are on both sides of the field at the mid-field stripe close to the benches and where fans would most likely to be situated. This is why the children bring their own goals and set them near the benches on both sides of the field, from this truncated soccer field they can play and reach the shelters most likely in under ten seconds, thus they are playing as safely as can be expected. But that is when they are even permitted to go out and play, as when the chances for Hamas or Islamic Jihad rockets is high, the children are kept at home where there is a safe room, a bomb-proof room built as a government program to retrofit every house with one such structure, most often the smallest bedroom. We would like to show a video but we are forced to provide a link and hope you view it, you will not be sorry.
Sderot Rocket Shelters Come Plain and Beautified
The next subject we are going to address is a specific form of terrorism which one would not expect to specifically target children. Still, somehow it seems that the only people who suffer injury or worse, death, are inevitably children, by which we mean kids under age thirteen. One of the more recent of these events was editorialized over in this article which is just one of far too many similar events. The place for these terror strikes is almost always a window facing an Arab village in relatively close proximity, and these can be beyond the Green Line or within the Green Line, that boundary makes no difference and this proves that the Palestinian Arab fight is against all of Israel, not just the Green Line. So, it is a sunny Sunday morning and a younger child innocently walks to a window to see the wonderful sights along the valet below. The youth has stood at that window a thousand times and walked away unharmed. Yes, their overly protective mother has yelled and pleaded that they stop standing at that window, but it has the best view and we all know kids will be kids everywhere. This time there is the sound of glass being punched through leaving a hole with three or four cracks spreading a few inches. Almost like a delayed reaction, the child falls to the floor with blood dripping from their soaked shirt and they lie there motionless. The child has been shot by somebody within an Arab village hundreds of meters distant. This is exactly what happened on Sunday March 24, 2019, to a seven year-old boy in Beit El, as in the article. Just imagine that there is a potential for a person to be shot simply because they were visible through a window in the home. What is the answer to this dilemma; homes with fake windows fed either by a camera on the house or any of numerous scenes and themes from the Internet. But, honestly, there has to be a better means of addressing this potentially deadly situation. The youth referenced earlier was severely injured by the bullet but was saved by surgeons at the hospital where he was rushed. In Israel, one of the things we do with great speed and quality is emergency treatment. Most often, the first to arrive are the medics on motorcycles which carry a good-sized compartment with most of what they might require. Next will be the arrival of the ambulance with more EMT’s and these two working closely with hospitals often mean the difference between life and death. These heroes have saved many a life here in Israel and the motorcycle EMT volunteers are one of the reasons, as they can get through traffic far more easily than the ambulance even with sirens as both have sirens to alert other traffic to yield. The first few minutes after an injury are the most vital and often make the difference between life and death which is why the very rapid response in motorcycles EMT’s are such a blessing.
Sample of Fake Windows
There are more threats such as Hezballah which all but rules Lebanon and has reached an agreement, informally, with the Lebanese military, as a fair number of its recruits are also part of Hezballah as this is how they manage to train their people to use modern heavy military equipment. In our little cozy corner in Nahariya, we are informed that when the sirens sound, we have at the most thirty seconds to reach our Apartment safe room. We tested it and when the dog figured out what we were doing, well, you can guess who was the only one who made it in under twenty seconds. Were we to take the precaution of dropping all of the window steel covers before heading into the safe room it would take closer to four or five minutes. There is nowhere in Israel where one had over three minutes from siren to rocket or missile strike. If an Arab state were permitted in the Shomron, then once Hamas has again taken over the region and Iran has sufficiently armed them in the Shomron areas as they have Hezballah in Lebanon, then nowhere in Israel would more than forty-five seconds between siren and strike (see map below). The map does not show the complete range of Hamas and Islamic Jihad who can readily strike Tel Aviv if they desired so, thus one would be required to extrapolate the times reaching to Haifa and Jerusalem and figure which attack would be more imminent, Hamas and Islamic Jihad or Hezballah, but such would complicate the map considerably.
Time From Siren Launch Warning and Expected Strike
Shootings, knifings and rockets can strike anywhere in Israel, but there is another form of lethal terrorism which all Israelis need to keep eyes open seeking a safe wall or other obstacle capable of stopping anything from a car to a ten ton truck to a front loader to any other heavy equipment to sooner or later an APC or Merkava Tank. All of these can be utilized in what we refer to as ramming attacks. Our government reacted fairly rapidly to this threat and put in place at bus stops and light rail stations steel posts cemented into the ground to prevent any vehicle striking any group of people waiting for a ride. This was seen as the best means of protecting the people of Israel, specifically those simply awaiting transportation. There were certain bus stops and light rail stations which appeared to be the favorites of these vehicular terrorists. Perhaps it was ease of access, maybe a long run-up in which to reach speed, or perhaps it allowed numerous escape routs. All too often, these vehicular terrorists will race through an area attempting to ram every bus stop along the way almost inviting an Israeli to shoot if they have a carry license. These terrorists of all stripes appear to have suicidal desires as if their death while committing acts of terror against the general public but more often than not, when the terror becomes an individual attack, inevitably they tend to choose a woman. What some have done to these women is enough to cause one to be sick to their stomach. The fact that they almost always rape their victim, but it is also obvious and included in the death reports that the victim had been brutally tortured and often this brutalization would continue until their victim expired. Coroner reports have, on occasion, been unsure if the rape intercourse came before or after the victim passing from the brutalization.
Often, and here is a crucial point, the terrorist is incapable of understanding that they committed any criminal act. Under Palestinian Authority legal procedures, were one to even face a trial for the murder of a Jew, there would be no possibility for any conviction and by later that afternoon, they would be celebrated in their hometown and across the Palestinian Arab Territories. Yes, there are two regions where the Arabs are ruled over by their own people, Gaza under a Hamas dictatorship and Area A and B under Oslo Accords where they are ruled by the Mahmoud Abbas dictatorship as he is in the fifteenth year of his four-year term as Chairman of the Palestinian Authority. Their oppressions are at the hands of the terror masters ruling them, not Israel. In these regions, Israelis are warned not to enter due to the threat to their lives (see photo below). Should one stray into these regions, their murder would go unpunished and their body also might simply vanish from the face of the earth. Within these regions, terrorism is taught in the schools, broadcast on their televisions where it aggrandized as a courageous way to act, their streets and parks and so much more are named after the terrorists who murdered Jews. Once, a while back, two reservists took a wrong turn ending up in Nablus where they were brutally torn limb from limb by a mob which had surrounded the police building and since the lynch mob was too large for all to take part in the acts, a youth poked out a window and extended his bloodied hands for them to see and gleefully yell with excitement. This photo taken at risk to life and limb by a brave reporter and can be viewed here, warning, violent content. Just to clarify, there are no similar warnings for the Arabs residing in these Arab ruled semi-autonomous regions when they come to enter Israel. There have not been but a few cases of Jewish terrorism against the Arabs, and they have all been imprisoned or died in the commission of their attack. In the Arab media, textbooks, newspapers, radio and virtually every other medium they are fed propaganda, the same tropes, and other traditional anti-Semitic undertones. When it comes to interaction, violent or otherwise, there is only one thing which might cost a Palestinian Arab their life, which is should they sell land or any residence to a Jew. That is against the law while murdering a Jew is considered an impossibility as by murder can only be perpetrated by one human being against another human being and under their laws, a Jew is not a human being and thus cannot be murdered. The closest one can get to the way the Palestinian Arab society views Jews would be to use a term recently used by Louis Farrakhan who stated, “I‘m not an anti-Semite, I’m anti-termite.”
Sign Warning Israelis it is Illegal to Enter Arab Region for Safety Reasons
Children in Israel are generally unbothered by the threats which abound. This is because even with terrorism, they know that it is unlikely to strike them. Many of the teenagers, like teenagers everywhere, they believe that they are invulnerable, invincible and indestructible. Israel remains within the first dozen nations of the world for happiness and our children bring us joy and are the definition of joy. What is a terrible thing is explaining to a child, five, six, seven years old, that they must never stand before the living room windows because they might be shot. We do not always see the scars caused by running to shelters sometimes multiple times each day for weeks on end. It does become evident on some children but others find some means of coping and even reaching a level of understanding. The fact that this is even permitted to pass without a solid effort to protect and serve the people, especially the youth who are our future, is a disgrace. The time has come where the citizens of Israel need to ask themselves what nation and what problems are they willing to pass off to their children. Can anybody claim that we need to pass the present broken system which allows citizens to be bombarded for as much as a week, a month or even longer off to our children where they will one day face this same dilemma? Israelis are electing the next government on Tuesday, April 9, 2019. We all need to think long and hard as to what we expect of our government. Do we want to remain with the kick the can down the road because to do what is necessary might upset much of the world. Well Boo Hoo I could cry you a river.
We need to report here that we belong to Jewish Home and thus are not exactly impartial. With the expected reelection of Bibi Netanyahu, we can expect that can to be kicked further down the road almost as if he prefers to retain the problems which allow him to retain his position AS Prime Minister. But perhaps the Israelis are ready to try a new and fresh approach. This could be a dangerous proposition as who would make a better Prime Minister would become the question. What we would need is somebody who understands the problems and who actually would prefer not to ever become Prime Minister and had to be coaxed to even enter the political ring. We have always thought that those who prefer not to hold power are often the most suited to wielding that same power and doing so with pinpoint accuracy. Currently, General Gantz is considered to be the main rival and he comes with Yair Lapid being Prime Minister after two years. With each man taking two years, it is doubtful much could be accomplished. Of course, that might be a good thing, as their stance on many issues would lead inevitably to a final Arab Israeli war, as the next war will end very abruptly and in a conflagration unseen by the world to our knowledge. This would be a very bad result but it would be an unavoidable result of simply providing a Palestinian State through another disengagement except this time the IDF will still patrol in the region. Their plan is to take the fiasco of the Gaza Disengagement and apply this to the Shomron and pull out the established cities and infrastructure leaving everything beyond the Security Barrier to the Palestinian Authority and top this off by leaving the IDF within lands Israel has discharged all claims of her sovereignty which is exactly the situation in Lebanon which eventually led to a disorderly and disgracing evacuation of the IDF which led to numerous complications. But General Gantz claims he has learned how to do these things correctly and yet that does not fill me with calm acceptance that he would be anything but a disaster. Of the remaining candidates, none of which have anything better than a hope and a prayer, but Israel is the land of hopes and prayers and where they can come together at the strangest times and ways. The main two choices would be Bennett and Peretz which would be a difficult choice. Of the two, General Peretz is the unknown while Bennett, along with Shaked, is known from their years with the Jewish Home Party. Well, they left that party in an absolute disaster of a state which appeared initially would be the end of Jewish Home as a viable party to reach the Knesset. Bennett claims he would be completely different from Bibi Netanyahu and that he left Jewish Home because we had caved to Netanyahu too often. Well, he was the party chairman who decided when we were to cave to Netanyahu and it was he that made those policies which we were to follow. We will allow you to draw your own conclusions from that. Ayelet Shaked did perform well and brought some miracles into the Justice System. The work there is far from done and short of forcing many of the Justices to pick up and leave a vacancy, which is unlikely. Former General Peretz is the wildcard. He was happily retired when he was approached and invited to take the lead of a damaged and injured party limping off to lick its wounds and possibly die if it failed to make the Knesset. Rafi Peretz is a man of moral leadership which he proved in numerous different roles during his time with the IDF. He was initially a combat helicopter pilot while later in his career he was the Chief Rabbi of the IDF. As a Rabbi, you know Rafi Peretz would be a moral leader, not just because he was a Rabbi but because he was selected as the Chief Rabbi of the IDF. Then one has to consider his other service as a combat helicopter pilot. This implies a man with great coordination, able of complex thoughts while engaged in the challenging piloting of the helicopter. He also knows the horrors of warfare but appreciates the greater risk sometimes caused by not acting. He has had to work as part of a team and also been responsible for actions he undertook on his own as a pilot. Where I cannot claim to have great insight into General Rafi Peretz (Ret.), my gut tells me that this is probably just the man Israel has been seeking. We will see his performance as we proceed and should he rebuild Jewish Home and make it into a party capable of challenging Likud, then we will see how much Israel can love him. Rafi Peretz taking the lead of Jewish Home has already had effects upon some friends and acquaintances who served in the IDF when he was Chief Rabbi and they respect the man so much that a fair number of them are switching parties. We are simply fortunate that such a leader has taken charge of rebuilding our party and now we will get the true measure of the man as time proceeds. Maybe the next election he can challenge for the top spot as Likud cannot last into eternity, or can it?
Beyond the Cusp
Beyond the Cusp 
Leave a Reply