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An Arab teenager smashes the window of Zahava Weiss' car

I recently wrote about the continuing (for about 100 years) Palestinian Arab pogrom against Jews in the land of Israel. They are still doing it:

A teacher was on her way home to the West Bank settlement of Karmei Tzur on Tuesday when she found herself the target of a rock salvo that smashed her windshield.

Zehava Weiss, the driver, came out unscathed from an incident that has become a daily experience for residents in the region. An AFP photographer who was standing nearby captured the instance when a Palestinian boy hurled a boulder at her car.

To me it looks more like a brick. The item continues,

According to the police, which collaborates with the IDF on the issue, 368 Palestinians were arrested in 2011 for throwing stones, and 38 were arrested for hurling Molotov cocktails. Over 100 suspects in similar cases were arrested in January and February of this year.

And these were the ones that got arrested! How many incidents like this one were there when no one was arrested?

Here, courtesy of Yisrael Medad, is a little bit of Weiss’s testimony about the incident. Pay attention to her comments about the photographers:

When I came close to the gas station at Bet-Omar (a location that usually requires a driver’s attention due to wrongly parked taxis, bypassing and pulling out into the highway in a careless manner), I observed a man running across the road from right to left.  I first thought that this was a soldier with a rifle and I slowed down to grasp what was happening.  I then noticed dozens of people, old, young and teenagers, congregating on my right.  It then became apparent that the “soldier with a rifle” was actually a photographer with a camera.  He was seeking a better picture angle to snap away at what was about to happen.  On my left were at least two other photographers, waiting for the action.  I should emphasize that I was not the first victim and other cars had already been stoned and so these press photographers were well aware what was happening and was about to happen to me.  None of them, it seems, thought to call for assistance from the police or IDF none of whom were present.

Knowing I had no choice but to continue and surely not stop for otherwise, if I had slowed down, I would have been trapped and blocked off, the only thing in my mind was to proceed home and not get caught at that crossing.  It was difficult to pass through as the rocks came from a distance of just a few feet from the car, ‘zero-range’ as we say.  The rioters clearly could see that the car contained two young females, defenseless.  We were struck by many rocks, my view was blocked by the cracked glass and I simply concentrated on getting out of there as quickly as I could.  At the time, as well as at this moment of writing, I did not fully grasp the danger of our situation.

It was only when I arrived home that I realized the entire front of the car was covered with shattered glass particles including me, the infant seat, the back seat, everything.  There was also damage caused to the sides of the car.  At least eight large rocks and blocks had hit my car.  I learned the rock-throwing continued for a good few minutes afterwards with the resulting damage to other vehicles as well as psychological damage to the drivers and passengers.

There is a name for the crime that these ‘children’ perpetrated, and it is ‘attempted murder’. Sometimes it is not just an attempt and the damage is not just psychological.

And there is also a name for the photographers, who participate as accessories in these ambushes, encourage them, and profit from them: scumbags.

Technorati Tags: Israel, terrorism, attempted murder

One country after another has recently pressed Israel not to attack the Iranian nuclear facilities. Russia is the latest:

“Of course any possible military scenario against Iran will be catastrophic for the region and for the whole system of international relations,” Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said at a news conference.

“Therefore I hope Israel understands all these consequences … and they should also consider the consequences of such action for themselves,” Gatilov said.

There must be something in the Russian character that requires statements like this to be delivered in a bullying tone.

Everyone knows that the Iranian threat to Israel is existential. Everyone also knows that Israel’s leaders can predict Iran’s reaction to an Israeli attack, and would not bring this down on their country unless they were convinced that there was no other way to neutralize the more serious nuclear threat.

These warnings, therefore, are remarkably hypocritical and insulting, especially from countries whose immediate danger from Iranian bombs is far less than that of Israel. Telling Israel that it should not defend itself is like saying “just die, but don’t make a mess.”

It’s become a cliché, but I’ll say it anyway: when have Jews heard this before? The difference is that then they had no choice because they had no power to defend themselves. Today there is a Jewish state, which should not be expected to act as though it is as powerless as the European Jews of WWII.

All this is part of the “Israel is expected to…” syndrome.

Israel’s small size means that it cannot absorb too much disruption: a couple of atomic bombs, a few million Arab ‘refugees’, another expulsion of Jews from their homes, even a million economic refugees from Africa might be too much. Poof, there would be no Jewish state.

But Israel is expected to be ‘responsible’ and not strike Iran. Israel is expected to use restraint toward the vicious Hamas and Hizballah terrorists who are trying to murder its citizens day in and day out. Israel is expected to expel its own people and cede territory to its enemies, who have shown by their actions and declared in their words that they want to destroy her.

Israel is expected to be more democratic than any other nation, although it is already too democratic — does the US, for example, have members of Congress who openly support her enemies and call for overthrowing the Constitution? The Israeli Knesset has Haneen Zouabi and others who want to end the Jewish state.

Israel is expected to turn the other cheek in Christian fashion, although few Christian nations would do so in similar circumstances.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Iranian nuclear program

A "p'cock," a daily occurrence in central Israel

Every year I spend a couple of weeks in Israel visiting my children and grandchildren, seeing old friends, and watching my wife buy large quantities of popular music. As the cassettes have been replaced by CDs, my perception of everyday life here has been like a time-lapse film, where the slow changes that the permanent residents barely notice become strikingly visible.

This year as usual I notice a remarkable increase in the number of cars on the road. On major thoroughfares there is always a “p’cock” (cork), a traffic jam, and not just during rush hour. There is construction everywhere, gleaming new neighborhoods rising in places that were formerly empty. The economy is apparently strong. Everyone has a big flat-screen TV although it is still impossible for me to understand how average people afford things like apartments and cars on their wages.

Stuck in a p’cock at 10:30 am I mention to a taxi driver that it looks like things are booming. “Look at all of these cars,” he says. “When do these people go to work? Do they all do business on their cellphones while driving?” “Maybe they start later,” suggests my wife helpfully. The driver, who obviously works long hours, doesn’t believe it. The mall is full of shoppers, though, 99% of whom got there in their cars.

Driving through South Tel Aviv, my son points out the large number of African migrants. He doesn’t need to — it’s impossible not to notice them. Some are waiting for work in pickup zones reminiscent of those in California where illegals from Mexico do the same; others just hang out in the neighborhood, waiting for who knows what. Some are refugees from the fighting in the Sudan, others are simply economic refugees. Israel is a very small country, and surely the next generation of many of these refugees will become Israelis.

People are still nice. Several times when I was looking confused and talking to my wife in English, a passerby came up to me and asked if we needed help. I asked a bus driver how many stops there were before the one that I wanted, and when the bus slowed for my stop, another passenger that had overheard helpfully let me know.

Almost all of my friends wanted to know what I thought the US would do about Iran. The subject almost always came up, although I did not bring it up. They did not understand US policy and where the Obama administration stands. “Doesn’t he see that if Iran gets even one bomb, [the US] will be screwed?” said one. “Everything will change.” I couldn’t explain it to them.

Nobody, but nobody, mentioned the ‘peace process’ that so interests the US and European media. Of course, none of my friends works for the Ha’aretz newspaper.

Everyone seems to be aware that there will be some kind of confrontation between Israel and Iran and its proxies, and this knowledge lies below the surface of their daily life. My son was lucky enough to buy an apartment before the recent astronomical rise in prices and now wants to sell it and get a larger one for his growing family. But “the market is frozen,” he said. No one is buying. When I went on a walk the other day I passed numerous real estate brokerages; the offices were all empty of customers.

Things are on hold. People understand that there will be a war, that reserve soldiers will be activated, and that there will be some damage on the home front. Nobody has any idea of how bad it will be. The center of the country has not been hit since the Iraqi Scuds of the 1990-91 Gulf war, which perhaps miraculously only killed two people.

My son has picked up gas masks for his family. My daughter hasn’t yet. “So why haven’t you? They are running out,” I say, annoyed. “Don’t worry, I know someone,” she responded.

Technorati Tags: Israel

Jerusalem light rail system

Yesterday I complained — yes, I’ve been accused of being negative from time to time — about what seems to be a tendency to ignore the ‘little terrorism’ of Palestinian Arabs, and sometimes even Arab citizens of Israel.

I talked about the stone-throwing that sometimes turns into murder, the use of crime and vandalism as weapons.

There are psychological reasons that Israelis don’t want to deal with these issues, in addition to the practical problems, which I must admit are not simple.

It’s natural to ignore complicated issues that you don’t want to deal with, even if this is irrational and dangerous. Security is expensive, and — perhaps more important — requires focus and attention. It’s easier to just ignore the threats.

There is also a political reason. At the time of the Oslo accords, Israelis were told that peace was just around the corner. They began to relax. Since 2000 it has been obvious to most of them, with the exception of some of the media elite, that this is not the case. But it’s wrenching to go back to the need for constant vigilance.

Here is an example. For obvious reasons I can’t go into detail, but believe me, the details are shocking.

Recently a team of outside security experts inspected the new light rail system in Jerusalem, which runs next to Arab neighborhoods that are known locations of Palestinian nationalist activity. A friend of mine was part of the team. What they found was that the system, bought as a package from a European company, was massively insecure. The design is such that making it secure will be difficult and very expensive. The security people informed the Transportation Ministry and the Prime Minister’s office. Nothing has been done.

The decision to implement a ‘package’ designed for Europe, a package in which the primary consideration was the efficient movement of people and for which security apparently was simply not a consideration, was a serious mistake. The fact that, at least so far, changes to make the system suitable for the Israeli environment have not been made is potentially disastrous.

Ehud Olmert famously said

We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies, we want that we will be able to live in an entirely different environment of relations with our enemies…

To give this the most generous possible interpretation, what it could mean is that it is frustrating to have to devote so much energy to simple survival. Of course, the solution is not to allow oneself, and the nation, to give in to wishful, fantastic, delusional thinking about how our enemies want peace just like we do. That was Olmert’s answer, and it is not an answer.

Israel is not a ‘normal’ country. Peace is not on offer from its neighbors, and will not be for the foreseeable future. Israelis will have to pay attention to security, to send their children to army service, and to do reserve duty themselves.

And they will have to fix the Jerusalem light rail system, or close it.

Technorati Tags: Israel, terrorism, Jerusalem

Vandalism at Jerusalem's Mt. of Olives Cemetery

Recently, a car occupied by two Israeli Jews was attacked by rock-throwing Arabs in a Jerusalem neighborhood. Luckily, they escaped, one with minor injuries. Sometimes the victims are not so lucky, as in the case of Asher and Yonatan Palmer, murdered last year when a huge rock came through the windshield, striking the driver in the face and causing their car to veer off the road. Here is what I wrote then:

Every single day, hundreds of rocks, blocks, stones, etc. are thrown at Jewish vehicles in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and Arab towns or neighborhoods inside the Green Line. Sometime photographers are informed in advance that there will be exciting opportunities to view the heroic resistance to occupation. Throwing ‘stones’ (sometimes as big as a person’s head) is what Palestinian Arab adolescents do for entertainment. Even the great Columbia University ‘scholar’ Edward Said symbolically threw a stone across the Lebanese border at Israeli soldiers.

In the recent case, the driver was also struck in the face, but managed to control the car and get away from a crowd of ‘youths’ who would certainly have torn the two apart if they had been able to. Last October, a woman in labor on her way to Hadassah Hospital and her husband were attacked in a similar fashion; they also managed to escape.

Sometimes the Arabs throw gasoline bombs at cars, and sometimes people are dragged out of them and beaten.

Although the initial stone-throwing is often done by pre-teens or young teenagers, a crowd of older and more dangerous youths quickly gathers. In some cases, the lives of the victims have been saved by older Arabs who have not had the full ‘benefit’ of a Palestinian education.

The fact is that there are places in the Jewish state, in its capital and on both sides of the Green Line, where a Jew may not go for fear of losing his life.

This is not what Herzl intended when he called for a Jewish state as the answer to antisemitism.

Apologists for Arab violence will tell you that they are just reacting to the theft of their land, etc., and that we simply have to give them ‘justice’ and the problems will go away. With all due respect, this is rubbish.

The so-called ‘theft’ did not happen, and the righteous indignation of the Palestinian Arabs at their treatment has been manufactured and carefully nurtured over the years, to create ‘reasons’ to justify and promote the primitive racism that animates the young terrorists to commit murder.

There is no ‘justice’ that can satisfy the Arab leadership short of the removal of the Jews from the Middle East, killing them if need be. Just ask them (in Arabic). It’s not a secret. What is happening increasingly is that every Palestinian Arab is being asked to do his own part in the ethnic cleansing that is their heart’s desire.

Am I exaggerating? If you think so, read this 2005 Palestinian Media Watch report:

…the [Palestinian Authority (PA)] teaches an ideology of virulent hatred of Jews and Israel that mandates the killing of Jews solely because they are Jews. The murder of Jews is presented not only as beneficial to Muslims and Arabs, but as necessary for all humankind. These findings are based on a thorough study and analysis of eight years of official PA television and PA-controlled daily newspapers. This report documents how this hate ideology has been taught for years, well before the war started in September 2000, and continues even after the death of Yasser Arafat…

Incitement has gotten worse since then, not better. Official Israel — the government, the police, even the army — often seems to ignore the violence. But when it is ignored, it is in fact condoned, and Arabs are becoming more and more bold in acting out their racist beliefs.

Unfortunately there is no ‘liberal’ solution. The answer is not to protect the rights of Arabs in the PA areas, or reduce discrimination against Arab citizens of Israel. It is not to withdraw from the territories or provide more aid to the racist and terrorist PA leaders. It is not to provide funds for organizations working to weaken or ‘de-Zionize’ the Jewish state, as the New Israel Fund and the European Union are doing.

The real answer is that the Jews of Israel have to push back, to take over the neighborhoods in Jerusalem where they can’t go, or at least to police them so that they will be safe. Roads must be patrolled, and the response to violence and vandalism must be swift and effective. The police, poorly paid, poorly trained, underfunded and under-equipped, need a total overhaul.

I am in Israel right now and the contrast between the opulence displayed on TV and the lack of public resources devoted to ensuring the security of the Jewish population is shocking. But there also seems to be a lack of will, an attitude that “nothing can be done, so why try?” in so many problem areas. For example, consider the Mt. of Olives Cemetery in Jerusalem:

Mourners are still stoned frequently near the cemetery and headstones are regularly defaced and smashed. This on the mountain slopes where Jews have been interring their dead for over 3,000 years. Its proximity to the Temple Mount, as well as the traditional proscription against burials within Jerusalem’s walls, made the Mount of Olives hallowed as far back as First Temple days…

The preferred target of the vandals, who recurrently raid after sundown, is enigmatically the Gerrer Rebbe’s grave, but Begin’s has also been damaged. Vandals have smeared human feces on tombs and deluged them with household rubbish and construction debris. Markers have been daubed in tar and paint. Hate-graffiti has been scrawled and gravestones have been hammered and shattered.

This is not accidental. It is well-understood by the Arabs that crime and vandalism can be a form of warfare. They are pushing as hard as they can to conquer the land piecemeal. Every Jewish cemetery vandalized, every Jewish driver who is afraid to venture on the roads, every no-go neighborhood or road is a victory for them.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Arabs