No, I'm not Jewish. I suck at money, and there are no doctors or lawyers in my family. But I see in Israel something I've only ever seen in America: a free democratic nation comprised of individuals who believe that their life is what they make of it. Israel is a nation that carved itself out of a land that had long been forsaken by man and God. It was a dirty swamp when European Jews began to go there with a promise of a homeland where they'd be safe from the kind of persecution they'd suffered for more than a thousand years. What's more is that this was their homeland to begin with; this was the land of David, of Moses, and Abraham. The land of their fathers, from which they were cast by the long-dead Roman Empire.
And who promised them this homeland? The British, visa vie the Balfour Declaration. The nascent United Nations, visa vie Resolution 181, and by the Arabs themselves in the McMahon-Husayn letters of 1914. The British failed to protect them. The UN never even tried. And the Arabs have been waging a war fueled by hatred, justified by xenophobia, and fought by bullets and bombs, against the people of Israel.
And who are the people of Israel? It's not just Jews. There are Muslims and Christians, Jews and Gentiles, all who call themselves Israeli. For all we see on the news, even the neighboring States who have waged war on Israel in the past have largely normal relations today. Israel holds treaties with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Jordan. It trades with all of it's neighbors in addition to the entire world.
So why war? It goes back to the Axis of Evil, and terrorists. Their entire existence is predicated on Death to Israel, and if that hatred dies within the Muslim people from whom they draw power, then they die too. They cannot allow tolerance, peace, or acceptance of a a non-islamofascist regime anywhere near Muslim lands. How can those regimes hold onto power when their own people, living in squalor, poverty, and conditions befitting the middle ages see the progressive peace loving democracies like Israel enjoying so much prosperity? They can't. So Iran and Syria fund Hamas and Hezbullah, giving them weapons, money, and training. The Imam's and Mullahs use their Mosques to teach hatred for the Jews, and for anyone who supports them.
Imagine for a moment, that Israel was the US, and both Mexico and Canada wanted us dead. Imagine that every day you had to live in fear of someone who might look like any one of your neighbors blowing you up. Imagine waking up one day to find that a handful of your coworkers, classmates, or friends were killed because they wanted Texas and California "back". Now imagine that we gave it back, but that the attacks still kept coming. Imagine that even after you have given everything you can, they still hate us, and you still have to live in fear of someone kicking in your front door and machine-gunning you and your entire family all in the name of hatred.
That is what happens every week in Israel. We talk about peace as if it were the norm, and what is happening now isn't. But every day in Israel is war with an enemy that doesn't wear uniforms, doesn't respect human life, and doesn't see peace as being anything more than wiping out you and everyone you love. Peace in Israel won't happen by words, or good faith. It'll happen when Israel destroys Hamas and Hezbollah, and when the rest of the world says to the Islamofascist regimes that support the terrorists that they will no longer tolerate their hatred, and their attacks against everyday people who have a right to live.
What has been happening to Israel for the last fifty years is a crime. What Israel has been doing for the last two weeks is justice. A free people have the right to defend themselves, and all free people have to stand up for that right. Hezbullah must disarm; they must return the Israeli citizens they kidnapped when they started this war, and they need to leave Israel and Lebanon alone. Because they won't do this, Israel must destroy them. Then, there will be peace not only for Israel, but for Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, and Egypt.
-HammerAttack
I got this from Jason, reformatted, linked, and put in the pictures. Pass it along.
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Returned to Akko, killed by rockets
Hardest day yet: The Zarivi family, from Akko, spent the past week staying in Hadera. A day after returning home, the father Shimon, 44 and daughter Mazal (Mazi), 15, were killed. They went outside following the first barrage of rockets and were killed by the second barrage. West of Akko, three residents of Ma'alot Tarshiha - Muhammad Faour, 17, Sinati Sinati, 21, and Amir Naeem, 18 tried to flee from a barrage of rockets, and failed.
Shimon and his daughter stood just outside their home when a rocket landed meters from them, causing fatal injuries. Shimon's son, Raz, ran to help the two and sustained light injuries himself. Shimon's brother, Mordechai, told of how he had fought in the Lebanon war and had escaped death several times, including once when his jeep flipped over. "In the end, he was killed by a rocket, a meter from home." In the past few days, several rockets had fallen around the family's house, causing vast damages.
Mordechai said that his niece, Mazi was a beautiful girl, street smart and full of life. Israel Roitenberg, Mazi's high school counselor for the past two years, said that she was a good student and was considered the 'social center' among her classmates - always ready to help and never missing a party.
In the past two years, Mazi's class had adopted the hospital in Nahariya as a class project and would visit patients before holidays. "She was one of the most active members in the project and in other projects. She always helped everyone. She was just a good girl," Roitenberg said.
Shimon leaves behind his parents, three brothers, and two sisters, as well as his wife, Linda, and his 17 year old son, Raz.
Muhammad Faour, 17, from Tarshiha, was killed with two friends from the same town, Sinati Sinati (21) and Amir Naeem (18). "They were afraid he'd be killed on his motorcycle. In the end, he was killed from a rocket," said cousin Azar Faour. The town, known as a bastion of Arab-Jewish coexistence, filled with mourners who visited the bereaved families.
Muhammad was supposed to begin his senior year, with a focus in biology, at the local high school. He leaves behind his parents, Ahmed and Oila, and five siblings. His cousin told Ynet: "Muhammad was the man of the family, the oldest of six children, someone for them to look up to. I'm supposed to get married in a year and he promised that he would drive me to the wedding." His cousin recalled a family argument resulting from Muhammad's desire to get a motorcycle license. In the end, it was a rocket that killed him.
Muhammad took advantage of the summer vacation to spend time with his friends every day. Thursday afternoon, he left his house to spend time with Sinati and Amir. The three drove in Sinati's vehicle and had just left his family's business when they heard the sound of a falling rocket, which landed a few hundreds of meters from them. They left the car and ran towards a nearby field, where, a few seconds later, another rocket hit them directly.
Azar recounts: "I heard the sirens and, afterwards, several hits in Ma'alot and Tarshiha. I went outside and walked towards the smoke, like the others, which was near Ein Yekev. A resident from Tarshiha told me that my neighbor, Shnati, had been killed. A few moments later, he came up to me and told me that my cousin had also been killed."
Sinati Sinati finished his studies at the local high school and went to work in his family's coal business. Only one home separates the Shnati residence from the Faor residence, and the families were close friends. Sinati is remembered as a dominant and confident young man, who liked driving in his car and who helped anyone who needed assistance. He leaves behind parents, Assad and Wataf, four brothers and a sister.
Amir Naeem lived with his parents in a Bedouin neighborhood of Tarshiha. He leaves behind parents, eight brothers and six sisters. A family member described him as "an ambitious boy, with many friends. He took advantage of the summer to have fun, but the recent days had been hard."
"The limited number of shelters in Tarshiha makes it difficult to cope with the situation. Before, we didn't really pay attention to the sirens, but after the barrages of the past couple of days, everyone quickly looks for shelters and checks to make sure that their family members are ok. In the case of Amir and his friends, it didn't help. Their fate to die was sent from above," he added.
Head of the Ma'alot-Tarshiha municipality, Micah Maiki, stated that the three friends will have a joint funeral, the families having agreed to this. The funeral will be coordinated with police and military forces, out of fear of additional rocket fire on the area. "They were good friends in life and they will be together also in death," Maiki said.
Not since the
London Blitz of 1940 has such courage and strength been seen in a people under daily attack. You can now send a
message of support. These messages will be seen all across Israel by a proud people who are on the very front lines of the war on terror.
And... anyone else with the good sense to stand up for Israel: you can now plaster your support for Israel on your web page. Actually, you can plaster it on just about any page. Simply copy and paste the code below:
< img src="http://jacklewis.net/weblog/israel_l.gif" style="position:absolute; float:left; top:0px; left:0px;">
Put that little bit of code into any of the "About Me" fields when you edit your profile, and it will show up across the upper left hand corner of your page. (It may not do so in the preview, but don't worry.) Please, however, do not use it in comments left on the pages of others. That's called vandelism.
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