Leadership and More Media Lies

 

There was a period in European and World history when Kings led their forces into battle. One such ruler became a legend in his time and on the silver screen, such was El Cid, actually named Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, Prince of Valencia. In legends and screen play and perhaps reality El Cid led his troops nobly even into death. In battle after battle with the invading and conquering Moors he charged at the enemy taking arrows and other blows which would have felled a mere mortal, yet again he would ride to lead the charge day after day. Well, eventually the Moors figure if they would simply once and for all murder El Cid the day would be won. Such was his stature and the fable of his immortality. That day in battle he took sufficient arrow strike to resemble a pin cushion upon a bleeding steed, yet he hobbled back within the city wall and into the castle’s battlements. As he lie dying, in the movie, it was deemed he must lead the troops the next day to give them courage and win the battle, the war was to be lost, but that is mere history. They placed the cleaned and shining armor, likely a new suit as there were no arrow holes in this armor, upon the corpse of El Cid and attached him firmly upon his saddle and he led the troops out one last time onto the field of battle and it did give the Spanish troops high valor and broke the Moors who now too believed El Cid to be an immortal enemy they would never defeat. One would believe that such leadership is simply for Hollywood and legendary fighters but there are still such leaders in modern day recent history.

 

One such leader was Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) of England. Then there was her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Good Prince Philip claimed that merry old England would suffer interminably should their monarch die in the bombing of London and fled to a northern Scottish castle beyond German bomber range for the duration, but we are not interested in this character. Queen Elizabeth II (Queen Elizabeth from here on) did not retreat with her husband believing firmly that the people needed their leadership, their royalty, to be with them, share their threats, stand against the same dangers and live and lead by example and giving them hope and heart. Just an aside mention, it is rumored that indirectly Queen Elizabeth supported Prime Minister Winston Churchill when some believed a more reasonable leader could admit defeat and work a deal, as had France, with Heir Hitler and were planning to replace Churchill Parliamentary style, stabbing him in the back, and the good Queen Elizabeth subtly spoke of her admiration for the job Winston was doing in leading the people and the war effort, just in passing, to one of those insipid media types thirsting for something juicy, and what a juicy tidbit he received. This is all hearsay and this person in question let what he had heard be known and the buzz saved Winston, the war effort and perhaps the world from defeat. But that is not the high point; the high point was a Queen doing lowly things. After some of the worst bombing of London where the south end, the poorer section of town, were left ruined and still burning and the people were sifting through the rubble for good and unbroken bricks with which to rebuild and possible survivors as well as the dead. Then something remarkable, unbelievable was rumored to occur, Queen Elizabeth rode to view the damage and had her carriage stopped and she, the Queen herself, dismounted and joined combing the rubble for useable bricks and all that included right along next to these poorer and considered most common folk. Rumor has it this was far from a one off and that Queen Elizabeth had aided such efforts on a regular basis though not daily as rank has privilege and Royalty takes such privilege up a few rungs. We will have more on this later but now to the lies.

 

You have heard of the wild-fires striking across Israel burning down forests and possibly a few homes, or that is how friends outside Israel have claimed the coverage has been. There has barely been any hint at acts of violence starting these fires; it is as if Israel has suddenly erupted in many dozens of fires all started in places where the winds would carry then into towns and cities. There has only been one thing wild about these fires, and that has been the wildlings who have started them. These entities who would burn down the natural beauty of the forests and destroy people’s homes through forest fire knowing full-well that the world media would pick-up on the story line being fed the media by leftist, post-Zionists and Arab media that these are all natural events and run with the Israel caught fire and the winds have carried the flames to and fro across Israel lighting thus far dozens of ignition points over close to the entirety of the past week. Nobody elsewhere in the grand world ever appeared to give a passing thought to these fires being arson and most certainly not terrorism. The saddest thing is that there are leftists within Israel demanding we not use terminology which might be provocative, instigative, or in any way suggestive that this is what it really is, a new round in the annual “Fire Intifada” which springs up at the beginning of, you’re going to love this, our winter and the rainy season. The reason is because it is every fall and spring when the winds in Israel blow with a ferocity which spreads fires easily and with such directional and steadily strong and gusting wind one can start a fire and be assured of the path it will take. Below is a map and picture which together tell the story despite it does not quite have all of the fires started in the past few weeks. Looking at the map and it becomes rather apparent that these are not just forest fires as each one is started just eastward of a town, city or other community which are considered by pro-Palestinian Arabs to be Jewish areas (see map below). The truth is some of these communities, Haifa as a particular example where fires have been set (see picture which was just taken of an apartment community on the outskirts of Haifa) are communities which have a mix of Arabs and Jews residing as neighbors working, living and thriving together equally. To the terrorists starting these incidents of the Fire Intifada these are not their fellow Arabs because these Arabs are not out to murder Jews, destroy Jewish property and thus are to be considered Jews and if they end up targeted by these fires they deserve it and brought it on themselves. Please, for the sake of accuracy and honesty, when referring to the wave of wildling fire starts across most of Israel and continuing, though the news is unlikely to spend any additional time reporting on this, refer to this as what it is, an assault, attacks, terrorism, simply it is the Fire Intifada.

 

“Fire Intifada” Israeli Forest Fires
Threatening Towns, Cities and Communities

 

Thusfar there have been over a dozen arsonist arrests in conjunction with these fires and more are expected should they continue, which is likely as the winds have yet to abate. Below is a map of all the fires in Israel since this past April through July (see map below) which does not include any of the most recent fires. These were both the natural occurring fires, yes we admit such do occur, as well as the spring version of the Fire Intifada as the winds do blow twice a year strongest during the seasonal change from cool and wet to hot and drier as there is a short rain season during the summers known as the late rain in biblical texts. These attacks using fires have been used to attack Israel for many years and until the most recent years to year and a half these fires had been set to destroy mostly woodlands and crops making the nation less beautiful and destroying livelihoods more-so than attempts to take lives. But as with most other terrorist activities, the scope and lethality increases every season and this has been the most focused attempt to destroy actual cities and communities even including areas where other Arabs reside as residing amongst the Jews apparently makes one a target for the arson terrorists as well as do the stabbing and vehicle rammings at bus and metro stops. Yes, believe it or not the Jews and Arabs who live in Israel and are neighbors use the same rapid transit to get to and from work and ride the same trains and busses together, Arabs and Jews. When these general assaults which includes bombing restaurants, stabbing attacks of the patrons eating at an open air Tel Aviv area eatery targets Arabs as well as Jews with a one in five chance the person attacked is an Arab and not necessarily a Jew as twenty-percent of Israeli population consists of Arabs.

 

 

Further, the Israeli Arabs live under the same rules, face the same threats, and live and work amongst Jews with the exception that there are a number of Arab towns and cities which have had almost if not all Arab populations, Bedouin towns and cities which have had almost if not all Bedouin populations and they do not permit others to reside within these areas; just as certain religious Jewish and other religious sects which buy entire areas of towns or have their own Kibbutz or community which they only allow their own to live such as some Haredi religious groups. In most of Israel where there are no residence restrictions Jews, Arabs, Druze, Bedouin and all other racial groups plus Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Baha’I and others all live in mixed neighborhoods. When walking our dog, cutest little thing, but sorry, no pictures, we often see Arabs wearing traditional garments, Yemeni Jews who wear a different Kippah, Ethiopian Jews and Christians we have met and we all live in the central area of town in relative harmony and all buy fruits and vegetables at the same shuk and shop the same stores, share the same beaches and generally respect our differences and treasure our similarities. While we made Aliyah, we have cousins who are Sabra, native born Israelis. In all candor, these fires threaten all of Israelis lives and especially those living in eastern Haifa as that has appeared to be especially targeted.

 

The message behind these attacks is a simple one. They scream that these are individuals willing to totally destroy every structure, every home, market, shuk, store, hospital, school; everything if that is what is necessary to force the Jews out or murder every last Jew no matter who gets caught in the fires. That is the message and the counter message is we will continue to build, rebuild and live peaceably with those willing to live peaceably besides and with us. There will be no more living in the shadows without a nation of our own which we can call home and know it is a place where we will make it safe and open to other Jews and our friends. Friends are those who wish and desire to build and craft a society which leads the world in medical discoveries, technical innovations, agricultural sciences and any area including living by example. We want a land where there is freedom for all and Torah is respected and kept as the preciousness that it is and where there is freedom of religion, freedom of actions within the laws, fair and decent laws for all to follow and civility which permeates every facet of life.

 

What is strange is that in the Torah it actually stated what we were to offer the people Canaan when we made the exodus to live here from the east and west sides of the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea and from the Litany River to the Sinai Negev border, a border not well defined in those times as it was not the most fertile of lands (see map below). We were to tell the Canaanites that they were to choose from three alternatives; first they could live amongst us and follow the Noahic Code (the Seven Laws of Noah) , they could take all their possessions and depart and we would not make chase after them and would wish them the best wherever they move (and land was not fully settled and there would have been places they could travel and start again) or they could choose to war with us and should they so choose we would wipe all trace of their existence from the Earth killing even their cattle and all else. Simply put, they could live under the basic civil code for establishing just governance, they could leave freely and continue as they saw fit elsewhere, but if they chose war it would be a total war. Three Canaanite tribes chose to stay and follow the Noahic Code which required giving up idolatry, made murder, theft and other criminal acts against person and property punishable. This instituted the most basic legal codes, plus required courts of law where bribery was a serious offense as the justice was to be blind. Three tribes chose to leave and they went off and settled elsewhere and are not followed further other than they left with their wealth intact. The rest, a majority, decided they would war with the Israelites and they did leading to a long series of wars which were finally ended during the reigns of King David and King Solomon.

 

 

Assistance for fighting the flames consuming the land has come from places which make things quite interesting as the Palestinian Authority has assisted and aircraft have been sent on loan from Russia, Cyprus, Turkey, Croatia and Greece while Egypt and Jordan have sent firefighting vehicles. There has also been a Supertanker Fire Suppression aircraft from the United States which had to be hired privately as rumor has it while President Barack Obama has had no comment nor taken any action in a situation which can only be described as an emergency and dire threat. Times like these one sees who their true friends are and we are not discounting the love of the American people, it is the man living his final weeks at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. who we are referencing. The fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu went out of his way to assure that something which could be labeled as help from America was found in this time of need and we thank those in the United States for the lease of this vital piece of equipment. One simple defining factor of these fires has been the destruction to homes and structures where many fires are set just up-wind from Yeshivas, residential communities, Synagogues, Churches, fire stations, schools, hospitals and other high value places. The worst hit has been Haifa where the evacuation of 75,000 citizens from their homes, businesses and lives was necessitated thus far. Reuters’ Bureau Chief in Israel reportedly tweeted a sensationalist Palestinian claim that the fires were set by Jewish settlers trying “to destroy as much as possible of the Palestinian agricultural land.” This report itself remains unsubstantiated. There is good news, thus far, ‘Bless Hashem’ there has been no deaths but one-hundred-twenty-two people were treated for injuries, mainly smoke inhalation at last count.

 

There has been no United Nations special assembly meetings called and none of the United Nations organizations or NGOs appears to have noticed the fires raging across Israel. As noted previously, President Obama has been remarkably silent on the entire issue. The President’s silence sounds deafening as the lengths of condemnation he would have if a Jewish family in Judea or Samaria had the audacity to build a permanent brick bar-b-que outside off their patio or other insignificant structure. But let seven-hundred homes be destroyed and thousands of acres of forests and farmlands be burned, torched by arson and the victims almost universally appear to be Israelis and not a sound, not a lifted pen or spoken in phone to offer assistance or even condemn the criminal acts. There has been an excess of silence from European Union (EU) leadership, particularly EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini. Similarly, the vast majority of European national leadership leading the way in complete silence and that continues on to the Vatican and much of the rest of the world. The news coverage around the world has been equally stressful as they refuse to name the arson behind the fires. The news would have you believe that the thousands who were forced to flee before the flames in Haifa alone went shopping or something, or that it is normal for flames fed by high winds ripped through thousands of acres of farmlands and forests and that everything in Israel is just fine. The one side that is also obvious by the coverage thus far is we can rest assured that there have been no arson threats against Palestinian Arab farms and structures as had that been the case there would have been declarations, denunciations, demands for an inquiry and calls for Prime Minister Netanyahu and various other Israeli leaders heads on pike polls by the end of the day. Still, it must be said that we are very thankful to the aid sent by the nations mentioned above and will remember to pay these voluntary offers and assistance should the time ever arise that such is required. Some we have already proven to be that sort of friend and we will continue as that is part of being Israel, doing what is correct despite what others may choose to do or not do.

 

What might surprise people is that after Katrina struck; Israel, through the government and aid agencies, offered field hospitals and hundreds of doctors, nurses, technicians and other experts in trauma, natural disasters and public health. Further, Magen David Adom (Israeli version of the Red Cross) began “United Brotherhood Operation,” which sent a plane-load of supplies and financial assistance; Israel sent airlift arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas with an eighty-ton shipment of humanitarian aid, including baby food, diapers, water, ready-to-eat meals, clothes, tents, blankets, mattresses, stretchers, first aid kits, wheelchairs, and other medical supplies; IsraAid sent a delegation of medical personnel, psychologists, and experienced search-and-rescue divers. The 18-member team – which included physicians, mental health professionals, trauma specialists, logistics experts and a special unit of Israeli police divers – arrived in St. Bernard Parish and Plaquemines Parish on September 10 and spent a week and a half assisting fire department search-and-rescue squads and sitting in on daily planning meetings that included local leadership and a complement of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), police, military, fire representatives and medical team, five universities in Israel welcomed displaced American students from the affected areas and invited both undergraduate and graduate students to continue their studies in Israel.[32] In particular, medical students unable to attend the Tulane University in New Orleans can attend Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine. Israel was eventually allowed to assist after Sandy struck New York City and surrounding areas. Initially New York Governor Andrew Cuomo rejected a formal offer by Israel to assist in emergency disaster relief, while on the other foot, other authorities in New York State have formally asked Israel for “all aid and or assistance.” Israel, as noted in the above article, delivered. Israeli aid to Haiti earthquake victims, the Philippines after a typhoon struck, relief to cyclone victims in Myanmar, long term aid programs for starving communities in Malawi, rehabilitation and relief in South East Asia following the devastating tsunami, psycho-social programs for Darfur refugees on the Chad-Sudan border, and aid to Somali war refugees in Kenya, Japan after the devastating double-hit of earthquake and tsunami which caused the malfunction and devastating leakage of an entire nuclear power facility, and the list almost appears endless as you go back through tragedies worldwide, Israel is there if permitted by governments. To assist without the government’s permission is called an invasion, just for the record of why approval is so vital. With hope and prayers these fires will pass and we will continue with building a better home and a better nation through simply trying to do what is right even if many nations wish to see us fail and be destroyed. That we cannot allow to happen again as this time we must have returned home for good. May Israel bless Hashem and Hashem in turn bless Israel, we know he has blessed our lives and for this we give our eternal thanks in prayer and effort.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Why the Temple Mount was Denied Connection to Judaism

 

UNESCO recently ruled the Temple Mount was of Islamic origins ignoring all evidence of its age easily reaching back at least one or as many as two and a half thousand years before the birth of Mohammed. The fact it was given to the Muslims was of less importance than the fact that it would be denied the Jews. The Temple Mount could have been presented to the Roman Catholic Church in Rome, the Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Coptic or other Christian sect, or the Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, or Evangelical Christian and even the Anglican Church of England; just as long as it was not recognized as having any relation to the Jews and especially their history. There is too much riding on Jerusalem and ancient Israel being simply part of an old storybook which taught a few basic morals through stories with flawed people and holier than thou seers and magic. Some advanced and currently influential religions, both Christianity and Islam utilized some of these stories in moral tales in their holy works. But as Christianity was long based on their religion being the replacement of Jews as the Chosen People with a new set of Prophets whose writings were of the selected most recognized few used to compose the New Testament. Islam came and was based as the final replacement theology replacing both Judaism and Christianity and making the claim there could be no further alterations or adjudications and this final word was written in the Quran in its pure and final form. There is one thing which must be made about all three holy books, the Old Testament which includes the Five Books of Moses (Torah) and the books of the Prophets, Judges, Kings, plus Psalms and Proverbs written largely by Kings David and Solomon; New Testament; and Quran were all written years if not centuries after the people who originally authored them had lived carried forward by oral repetitions, memory, adaption to political designs and cultural needs thus are not likely to be quite as accurate as often advertised. The one item which becomes obvious is that the Old Testament is the origin for the other two writings and the Quran uses parts and references to both previous works and incorporates many customs though some appear to having been twisted and possibly inverted to fit the idea of a superseding Islam.

 

The foremost need with the descendants of the Israelites, the remaining tribes being Benjamin and Judea with the majority of the priestly casts who became known in Grecian and Roman eras as the Judeans which was eventually shortened to Jews, that their returning and founding the nation of Israel not be recognized as the realization of the Prophetic predictions of the eventual return of not only the Jews, but of all of the Tribes of Israel, all twelve and their priestly Levites and Kohanim. As lost tribes of peoples who claim relations and whose ancestry has been checked and rechecked, passing all requirements, having been restored to join their long separated brothers and sisters, for they are all from one family, the family of Jacob, son of Isaak, son of Avraham; are indeed the fulfillment of prophesy and now the final resistance. The last obstacle is to deny them their ancient heartlands, their beating heart of Jerusalem, and to deny them their most prized Temple Mount so as to belittle their return and mock Hashem and His people. Jewish tribes have returned from across Europe from France and Britain through Poland into Russia entering Asia. Tribes of Jews arrived from Spain south to Morocco across North Africa on through the Middle East through Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. There was the airlifting of Ethiopian Jews facing horrific threats to their very lives. There are the Menashe Tribe in India and a potentially new tribe in southern India. There is a set of Jews from Morocco mostly residing up the Amazon River where a grand Synagogue once was the center of a burgeoning community which has died off over the years and the Synagogue still stands but has lost some of its grandeur. Some wonder if theirs was not a somewhat lesser meaning as the building was not built in any grand European style synagogue. There have been groups of Jews, more often than one might expect but entire groups who can trace their ancestry back all the way to when they were forced from Eretz Yisroel. There have been numerous resident Jews residing in Hevron and Old City Jerusalem in the family house tracing ancestry whose graves they can point to and tell how they are related back to the earliest periods. Jerusalem has long held a Jewish community which has always made up a majority. But the problem was not those Jews who remained throughout some cities in Israel; it was those Jews who were returning home, as they described their making Aliyah, sometimes in droves since the founding of the new Zionist Movement in the 1880s.

 

The Jews returning was fulfilling prophecy completing the Bible providing validation of their place as Hashem’s chosen people. It was this validating of the Old Testament and that by doing such invalidating the claims by Christianity and Islam as having replaced the Israelite people, the Jews, as the chosen by Hashem. This made everything become a problem and the center of the building storm was Jerusalem and more accurately, the Temple Mount where a rebuilt Holy Temple, if constructed, would be the final tile falling into place completing the construction of a mosaic started some 3500 years ago where, with the slight change of two names, the first tile in the hopefully never ending mosaic were lain. It is understood by both the leadership across Islam and Christianity that the Jews must be prevented by any and all means necessary from one, building the Temple specifically on Mount Moriah and the Temple Mount and second, the Jews must be prevented from returning and owning their sacred heartlands and holiest cities which all revolves around Judea and Samaria along with the cities of Jerusalem, Hevron, Shiloh, and/or Shechem (renamed Nablus) as well as a few others beyond the Green Line all of which have holy places relevant to stories in the Old Testament. Further, the Muslims control the Temple Mount Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Bethlehem Church of the Nativity and have a controlling population in Nazareth thus holding the cards for preventing Christians their historic sites as well. All of this has placed the Muslims in control of historically and religiously vital and near essential holy sites and holy cities and is working to cement their presumed control over all the above mentioned areas. It is well understood that Abbas is willing to refuse any deal where the Arab Muslim Palestinians do not control not only all the lands beyond the Green Line but also all of Jerusalem as well as areas within Israel which includes Nazareth. This would cement control of the important Christian sites and cities as well as a long list of Jewish cities filled with Jewish history. This has been the Islamic playbook from their very beginning, to conquer, destroy or Islamize other religion’s holy sites often by simply raising one to four or even beyond minarets as was done to the Hagia Sophia.

 

Istanbul, Turkey pictures of Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque Montage. The Hagia Sofia Mosque was originally a cathedral built when the city was known as Constantinople.

 

Lastly, the Temple Mount being given over to Islam was one of many slights, insults and forced servitude done to prevent the re-establishment of a Biblically intact Jewish State and the first of many steps so that a military crush can be initiated whereby Hashem will prevent such. Under the Sharia all lands ever trodden by a Muslim must be conquered and brought back under their rule at all cost as all of the Middle East had been colonized by the Arabs during their many assaults expanding their colonial empire.

 

Expansion of Islam Across MENA and threaten Europe before Ottoman Rule

 

The above map depicts the conquests of the initial Caliphate and also depicts lands where the Arabs through various means have all but destroyed, decimated the original conditions, peoples, religions and all else. The means are unimportant as long as all surrender to Islam as the presumed end result for all within their areas of control must surrender to Islam. Their desired end aim is world subjugation by any and all means necessary including the slaughter of their noncompliant peoples who refuse to convert. Those are the truths. The world may ignore all they desire but they do so at their own peril.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Future Trip as a European Goes to Jerusalem

 

Somewhere down the road, we will imagine that the Palestinian Authority has acceded to accepting the 1949 Armistice Lines, the Green Line, as their border as the final agreements are ironed out setting the border inch by ever painful inch, or centimeter by ever painful centimeter. The borders will loom important for this Easter trip of a Church group from somewhere in leftist pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel, anti-Zionist but professing to love Jews and declare they should have their nation with safe and secure borders not too far from city center Tel Aviv and are supporting the Peace Process French denizens. The flight of this fifty younger Christians who are members of Christians for Palestine from the river to, well, some of the sea arrived on schedule at Ben Gurion International Airport. Of course their flight on an A 320 Airbus landed in Greece from which their group was broken up between two smaller and agile prop driven aircraft which once crossing from the Mediterranean to land flew just barely over the rooftops avoiding a couple of skyscrapers newly built with modern anti-missile technology built into the structure of the building. The ends of the rail-guns were evident on the east and southern faces of these new buildings. One of the members on the larger plane gave a summary of the technology, speed of the small but deadly projectile used and the radar that guided each shot. The secret to this weapon was the projective speed at close to ten times the speed of sound which meant that almost no calculations for trajectory were necessary as the ‘bullet’ reached its target within millionths of a second.

 

Many on that flight nodded almost in unison as if that would give it more of a feeling that they actually understood the need and all that went into requiring these buildings be so equipped. The truth is that at least two of these towers are being erected across Israel and are called the sentinel towers and each city has building restrictions for height no taller than twenty-five floors east of these towers and each is building a minimum of one tower per half million residents and workforce numbers combined. Their landing was more abrupt than the frequent flyers who did not fly into Ben Gurion are used to, as the aircraft no sooner landed than it sped towards the terminals and the protective wall erected east of the airport and reaching skyward almost a quarter of a mile, blocking any view of the Judean hilltops from the airfield, and the airfield from said hilltops.

 

Our imaginary group breezed through customs as their group had been all but tucked into bed by security before they even boarded their flight back in France. They met at the prearranged hotel where a lavish kosher lunch was served and all rested but were talking about how anxious they were to visit the holy sited in Jerusalem. Their Arab waiter advised them that they should be more careful and never refer to Jerusalem as it had an older and more venerated name of al-Quds. Their leader thanked the waiter for his unsolicited advice and after he had left the table continued discussing Jerusalem as the western part of the city would be the Israeli capital while the easternmost parts the Arab capital. Originally the religious areas such as the Temple Mount were protected for free access by baby-blue helmeted United Nations troops from Brazil and Peru, but they had fled after their first firefight with Palestinian Security forces who now ruled these areas where Israelis were only allowed limited access, usually to escort tourists on tours and even then were restricted to using only the Arab and Islamic names for the sites as listed by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in their list of World Heritage Sites. After lunch the French group boarded their two chartered buses and on each bus at least one person in complete puzzlement being unable to operate the windows yelled out in frustration, “How in the name of all the Saints do these widows open?” to which the bus driver calmly responded, “They don’t open, they’re bullet proof glass.” The French tourist just shook his head mumbling something about overly paranoid Jews. The trip out of Tel Aviv was pleasant and they started to climb the long ride cutting through the passes and canyons towards Jerusalem. The French tourists had settled down, run out of songs to half-heartedly sing along and were watching the trees pass by.

 

That was when their education on the realities of peace in the Middle East started as they heard the patter of objects striking the roof and sides of the bus. A number of the French got nervous and asked the driver, “That isn’t what I think it is, is it?” He queried back asking, “What do you think it is?” Frenchman, “Bullets?” Driver, you got it, now sit down and pray it remains only bullets, we can absorb them.” The French tourist was obviously unsettled about the implications of vulnerability but was unsure from what they need fear and was too horrified to even contemplate asking. That was when they turned a corner and at the side of the road was a bus that looked very much like the ones in which they road except the top was torn open as if by a large hunting knife skinning a large rodent and the insides were burned to ashes. One horrified French tourist asked, “When did, what did, are we safe?” The bus driver’s brow began to show beads of sweat and he went unnervingly quiet ignoring their questions and often surveying the hills and crags which overlooked the highway and rail line adjacent to the roadway.

 

Suddenly the road next to the second bus exploded into shrapnel, flames and chunks of road surface. The bus sped up painfully slowly as a second explosion rocked the first bus but it continued its struggle to speed faster along the road. Over the next mile five or six explosions struck, the closest right between the two buses. The roadway was littered with over a dozen burnt out shells of buses and near countless cars. Once through the stretch of road, the hills dropped away and there was a respite where the land was less stark. There ahead was an area of roadway with a huge cement wall on either side of the road with dirt piled for over a couple hundred yards on the sides of the walls away from the roadway. The road median widened and there was a rest stop where the two buses pulled in and announced there would be a fifteen minute stop and warned that they not go outside the safe areas and to never cross into the red striped areas or beyond as such was unsafe. The frightened almost out of their minds tourists numbly went through the motions of a normal rest stop except nobody talked and each group clung to each other as if safety could be found in sheer numbers.

 

The remainder of the drive to Jerusalem was uneventful and the tourists learned to accept the patter of bullets on the side and roof as being as normal as raindrops in a thunderstorm. One can never know if the experience changed their outlooks and shaped new thoughts though one’s best bet is within a few weeks the entirety of the bus rides to and from Jerusalem will have faded and they will join in the pro-Palestinian anti Jew rallies with their friends and never will the emotional and traumatic trip through the gauntlet between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem be mentioned or given a second thought. After all, was not Israel building a new highway and train track almost five-hundred yards underground linking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem making the trip as normal as possible. It was even planned to us fiber optic cables to project the scene as if one was driving on the surface making the trip more normal and exactly like the trip above without the bullets and RPGs (rocket propelled grenades aka anti-tank weapons). All will seem safe and secure as those Israelis manage to survive and even thrive no matter what danger is imposed by a hateful world, and isn’t survival what it is all about. So what if Israel needs to be on a war setting, they will cope and if they don’t, then the world will be rid of Israel and the Jews dispersed and roaming the world from one exile to the next always living at the kindness of their betters as it has always been and should be.

 

 

Eretz Yisroel from back in the time immediately after Exodus and before the additional conquest by King David and King Solomon with the original division of the lands between the Tribes covering both sides of the Jordan River. The Israelis and Jews in general could attempt to demand that Eretz Yisroel, the Land of Israel be made whole as was First Apportioned by Hashem.

 

 

As a Zionist and a Jew there is an answer to that last sentiment, Never Again! Israel will live, will never come to the situation as depicted aboveno matter how badly the United Nations, European Union or nations of the world desire her destruction and the chopping pieces off every fifty years or so, no, Never Again. Israel has been reborn, Israel lives and Israel will continue to live and face the entire world if necessary to make it so. Hashem gave us this land and Hashem will guard us in this land providing we take on that task first. The waters did not part until one Israelite jumped in and walked straight across allowing the water to reach his nostrils and as he submerged the waters parted. We must walk into the water until it reaches our nostrils and must take back our lands as described in the Torah and let the world do as they please. We are on a mission from Hashem and nobody should stand in the way of Hashem and the children of Israel. Am Yisroel Chai.

 

Beyond the Cusp