Hamas/Gaza War Musings #30, Post Rosh Hashanah, Disturbing...

Here is another of Facebook my pre bedtime musings...

Before I sat down to write this one, I had totally different thoughts concerning what I'd write. But surprisingly different words began to appear on my screen. 

Please read it, and tell me what you think, thanks.

Gnite

Three days offline, no news, no travel, too much food...

Two days of Rosh Hashannah, shofar blasts, prayers...

Then a day of Shabbat...

Time and meals with friends, learning...

Almost half a week, we could almost pretend it was a regular year...

But we were on alert... could there be another massive attack?

What's going on in the rest of the country?

How are our children? Soldiers?

Will we be inundated with bad, tragic news once Shabbat ends?

When will we win this war? Destroy the enemies? See them surrender?

I feel more worried by the minute...

It's preposterous and dangerous to negotiate with someone who wants to destroy you

Get real!

On the Jewish calendar it's a new year. 5785 תשפ"ה

We must pray and fight and work hard to change things for the better. The world wants us destroyed. They are only concerned about the safety and health of Hamas, Hizbolla, Gaza and Lebanon. Do you hear condemnations of those who murdered, raped, captured innocent Israelis? We have no reliable allies. We must stop asking the USA, UN and others for help.

It's time to unify, pray to Gd and fight to win.

Shavua Tov

Gmar Chatimah Tovah

Hamas/Gaza War Musings #29 How Will History Judge Bibi?

Recent weeks, I've found myself writing a short, but not sweet, gnite message on Facebook after taking out my hearing aids, taking off my "dog tag" necklace and eyeglasses before going to bed. It's illustrated with a photo showing whatever I'm reading, plus those accessories. I don't really plan what I'm going to write. It just flows... Letting my thoughts out is a good way to relax before trying to fall asleep.

I used to blog daily, before Facebook, and in my early days on Facebook. Nowadays I spend much more time on Facebook. It's hard to know how many people actually read my blog posts, while it's easier to get reactions on Facebook.

These gnite messages have been well received, so I'll be copying/sharing some here. I welcome your reactions, comments.

Thursday night, September 19, 2024

Gnite

It's hard to believe that in less than 24 hours we'll be celebrating, observing our Holy Shabbat. And totally horrifying is the fact that it'll soon be a full year that we're at war.

Maybe I didn't use the right verb in the previous sentence. That's because the State of Israel isn't actually fighting the war. It has been in a strange dangerous paralysis for most of the past 11 months.

To win, be truly victorious, we must fight. No mercy to the enemy.

I haven't seen that at all.

If Gd forbid there isn't a change soon, some day in the future, military historians will explain that Bibi's adoption of an unprecedented woke "morality" of warning the enemy before bombing, feeding the enemy etc prevented Israel from achieving the victory they could have easily won.

What do you think?

Elul and the Truth About this War, Guest Post by Netivot Girl

It is Elul. For religious Jews this is a time for contemplation and trying to better ourselves. I made Aliya in 1977 and have never regretted that decision. Friends from abroad ask me if I feel safe. Well, given the rampant anti-Semitism against Jews the world over, I can honestly say yes. However, there are so many things that trouble me. I am incredibly disappointed that many of our politicians and IDF heads have refused to take upon themselves responsibility for the massacre of October 7th. It galls me that our Chief of Staff Herzl Ha'Levi not only has refused to do so; he is continuing to promote his buddies to important IDF posts.

It is unforgivable that the UN and many nations have labeled us with words that FB won't allow me to post!! Where were their voices when many hundreds of our women were gang-raped? The 'Me Too Movement' is for every woman who is not Israeli or Jewish? The barbarians who raped our women had their friends photograph them on their phones. The same with the burning of babies in their cribs; where was the outcry? The perpetrators of these barbaric actions used their phones to document their actions. Yes, the war goes on. But it could have ended months ago had Hamas fighters laid down their arms and returned our hostages. I believe that the hypocrisy of the world is sickening. The UN has yet to denounce Hamas' horrific behavior. The Red Cross never went to investigate the conditions of our hostages, very few of whom are still alive IMHO. Has the world lost its moral compass? I believe it has indeed. Colonel Richard Kemp was a commander of British troops in Afghanistan; he has repeatedly commented that our IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is the most moral army in the world. Sadly, we have lost far too many of our IDF personnel because of that. Our troops have dropped leaflets and even phoned Gazans recommending that they leave any area that will be bombed in the near future. Unlike the USA, we do NOT carpet bomb. If Israel is conducting genocide, then how is it that the number of Gazans has greatly risen during the past few years????

Many thousands of my fellow Israelis have been living in hotels for many months as Hezbollah continues to destroy homes, farmland and other buildings up north. Where is the outcry? We are America's most important ally in the Middle East. Many Muslim Arabs are policemen and even sit in our Knesset. We are NOT an apartheid state; you can see women wearing veils in nearby Beer Sheva; I see them all the time. Moreover many Arabs sit as judges in our courts. Samer Haj Yehia was named the chairman of the board of directors of Bank Leumi, one of Israel's largest banks in 2019. Unlike every single Arab country in our area, gays are allowed to be open about their sexual orientation. In fact, the Speaker of our Knesset is gay; married and has a few children. (He is among the very few Likud politicians for whom I still hold respect.) Douglas Murray is an author of many bestselling books. HE has been in Gaza numerous times during the years. A British gay non-Jew, he remains one of Israel's staunchest defenders. He 'gets it;' he knows what's going on. He visited the site where volunteers spent MONTHS using DNA and other information to discover the identity of the thousands of bodies that were left to rot.

So, if you are Jewish, please be a proud Jew. Stand up against the numerous anti-Israel protests. And most importantly, check the facts before you attack us verbally or otherwise. May He above have mercy on us in our tiny country. I write this as a resident of Netivot which has been rocketed by Hamas since Israel pulled out all of its citizens from Gaza in 2005. We left millions of dollars worth of agricultural equipment which could have aided Gaza's Muslim population turn that strip of land into a modern-day Singapore. Instead, those idiots burned all of that equipment down! Gaza WAS a free entity from 2005 until the October 7th massacre of 2023. Do I expect anyone to change their opinions because of this post? No I do not; anti-Zionism is the newest nomenclature for anti-Semitism. You are either with us or against us. To my fellow Israelis I say, "Stand tough and be unified." To other people I say, when we said the words, "Never Again" we sure as he*l meant them!! Stay safe and please feel free to share this post.

Hamas/Gaza War Musings #28 Useful Idiots

Here in Israel useful idiots have taken to the streets demanding that the elected government kowtow to terrorists' demands. 

Here in Israel useful idiots are blaming the government for the acts of the terrorists instead of strengthening the government to fight our enemies. 

FOLLOW THE MONEY #followthemoney 

Who's controlling the useful idiots? 

International Leftists, Progressives the pro Gaza pro Hamas crowd. 

Unfortunately Bibi is too weak and isn't properly defending us. Defending us means Judicial Reform and court-martialing/firing head military honchos who failed totally October 7. It also means that the IDF and its generals shouldn't consider themselves independent of the elected government. Bibi, as the longest serving Prime Minister has always taken the easy way out and let them continue making policy. That's how we got into this mess.

Even worse is that the Likud voters, supporters and most of the MKs are too afraid to force Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu to retire from the Knesset, retire from his position as Prime Minister. We need true leadership, not the fake stuff, the fancy oratory we have now.

The useful idiots are blaming Bibi for holding the hostages, which makes no sense. He's not holding them.

The useful idiots are demanding that Bibi free the hostages. How can he free them when he's not holding them? And when the IDF gets close to rescuing them, Hamas now executes them. And what do the useful idiots then say? That their execution was Bibi's fault. Duh?

Now to tell you the truth, I've been against Bibi Netanyahu for years, well over a decade to be exact. I caught onto his game in 2008. He talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk. His recent talk in Congress followed the same pattern as at the International Jewish Bloggers Convention in 2008. First Bibi hypnotizes his followers with very nationalist Right wing rhetoric, and then when he has almost his entire audience/followers hypnotized he tells the truth. But they somehow don't hear it. Somehow I hear it. In 2008 he said that when he returns to the position as Prime Minister, he'd be a centrist. Think of all the Jewish homes and communities have been destroyed during Netanyahu's time as Prime Minister. In Congress he made three dangerous promises.

1. Israelis won't return to live in Gaza.
2. He "envisions" peaceful Gazans policing themselves.
3. He proudly bragged that Israel is the most moral army protecting innocent sic Gazan civilians-- even though it endangers Israeli soldiers

I find it really strange that I'm the only one who heard that. Listen or read the transcript of the speech, and you'll see that I'm correct. Unfortunately, even loyal Likud activists, politicians and voters are also useful idiots.

Elul-- Join Us for Rosh Chodesh Prayers

 

Especially during this awful war, we need to pray together to Gd, and there are few places holier than Ancient Shiloh. Archeologists and Biblical scholars all agree that Shiloh is the Shiloh of the Bible where the Tabernacle rested for close to four hundred 400 years, where Hannah had prayed for a son...

Hannah prayed to Gd for a son whom she'd educate to serve Gd, and as a result Samuel was born to her.

Ancient Shiloh is a wonderful archeology site with lots of things to see and do. If you want more information contact its office 972 2-578-9111 or visit@telshilo.org.il. You can reach it by car or bus. It's a few minutes' walk from the Shiloh Junction bus stop. By car either off of highway 60 or west of the Alon Road via Shiloh Valley, Shvut Rachel and Shiloh.

The Political Me and Bibi's Congress Speech

 

Some of my favorite "buttons" from the past

I don't like it when people think they can label me or presume they know my opinions. I'm not that easy to label. I don't take orders from anyone. I make my own decisions. And sometimes my opinions are like no one else's. 

Here's something I wrote recently on facebook.

I have never been loyal to a particular political party in any country. I look only at policies, even more than leaders.

Over the decades I've seen too many politicians and political parties desert principles.

I'm a purist. I don't trust anyone. If something stinks, then it goes... that includes politicians and political parties.

Speeches and oratory aren't policies and facts on the ground. Promises are promises...

I know that not everyone understands this. Too many people say that they only, or have always vote for a particular party; they're loyal to it. They make their decisions, decide their opinions according to party leaders. They trust their party and its leaders. I'm not like that. Sorry.

When I started demonstrating for Soviet Jewry, demanding that the leaders of the USSR release Soviet Jews from their prison-like country. One of the signs we held up showed the number of synagogues that had been in various cities that became part of the Soviet Union in 1917. Those numbers were compared with the number of synagogues in the same cities in 1965. Yes, there were far fewer. The message was very clear. Communism doesn't allow people religious freedom in addition to not allowing them to leave the country. 

"Enlightened" sic Americans were still enthralled with the idea of communism and socialism. Not me. I didn't go to the same demonstrations my peers attended "religiously." You could say that I chose a "different religion." My determined observance of Torah Laws certainly separated me from fellow Jewish students. Then I discovered Zionism, the mitzvah, religious requirement, to live in our Holy Land. That's why I live here in the holy city of Shiloh, the same place written about in the Bible, where the Ancient Tabernacle had stood for almost four hundred 400 years. 

I go straight to the source and I abhor double-talk, which is a reason I don't trust Prime Minister Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu. I've been listening to him and observing his policies for many years. He has been conning the Israeli public and people all over the world pretending to be a strong Right patriot, but his policies are something else entirely. So are his speeches. The important thing is to listen to the end. I caught onto that many, many years ago. 

Netanyahu's recent Congress speech was the same pattern/structure as what I heard in August, 2008. He hypnotizes people in the first part of his speeches, and then when most people are no longer listening to the details he tells the truth. By then most people aren't paying attention to the details; he has captured them. When I heard Bibi at the First International Jewish Bloggers Convention he announced that he'd return to office as Prime Minister as a "centrist." I heard him clearly, but it doesn't seem like others had paid attention.

The first three quarters 3/4 or so of Netanyahu's Congress address was wonderful. Yes, of course, Binyamin Netanyahu is certainly one of the world's greatest orators. He's responsible for his speeches, not hired writers. You can see it clearly when it's off the cuff. His knowledge of world and Jewish history qualifies him to teach in universities like his father had. But that doesn't mean that his policies, especially military/security are what the State of Israel needs.

Soon after Netanyahu voiced the slogan #neveragainisNOW which is one even I use on X, Instagram and Facebook, he took a different turn. He pledged that Israelis wouldn't return to live in Gaza, and from there it went downhill. That was a slap in the face to our brave soldiers who had fought so hard to destroy the terrorists and return to Gush Katif. It's so obvious to many of us that there can never be true peace if we're just policing Gaza and not living there.

After that Bibi sounded like 1960's druggy Leftist when he said that he "envisioned" peaceful Gazans ruling themselves. Duh? There's nothing pragmatic, realistic, intelligent about that...

If that wasn't enough, Netanyahu began bragging about Israel having "the most moral army" ever. Honestly, I don't think it's moral to endanger your own soldiers to protect the enemy. Over twenty years ago, local Shiloh soldier Avihu Keinan, HaY"D was killed in such an army action. Instead of destroying a building, which was believed to be in enemy hands, Avihu was sent in the inspect it, and then he was killed. His father organized various marches and demonstrations against the policy, and I attended and wrote about them. I remember Moshe Keinan asking "Why is Ahmad's life more important than my son's?" That's why I get very upset every time the Prime Minister and other government officials claim this policy is so wonderful, worth bragging about. It's so obvious that the Hamas terrorists will never surrender when we feed them and provide medicines. 

I call it suicidal. I'm a realist. And remember that terrorists don't wear uniforms. Photos publicized by the terrorists of October 7th, show clearly that CIVILIANS of ALL AGES were the rapists, murderers and arsonists. So why are we protecting Gazans as if they hadn't been involved? There's that famous recording of a phone call between a young Gazan terrorist and his parents bragging about murdering ten Israelis. His parents praised him.

Why is Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu bragging to the world about protecting, feeding and and sending medical care to terrorists?

Think about it...

Hamas/Gaza War Musings #27: Ultimate War Aim VICTORY!

 Recently this sign has been seen on the roads. I agree with it.

SAY NO TO A DEAL OF MEANING SURRENDER!
WE MUST BE VICTORIOUS!!

It's not easy to get these slogans into comprehensible English, but I've tried to get the message across. 

I've been too depressed about Israel's policies to blog about the war recently. That's because Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has not been governing/fighting to win. This isn't new. He has failed as Prime Minister and not for the reasons the antigovernment Leftists keep shouting. Their opposition to him is what keeps me going... they remind me that things could be even worse. Yes, if they were in charge.

Follow the money...

The money bags funding these "anyone but Bibi," anti-Bibi, anti-judicial reform etc demonstrations are a gazillion times worse than Bibi. He's horrendously weak, trying to be "centrist" as he unabashedly stated/bragged at the First International Jewish Bloggers Conference as I blogged when I heard it.

The same money sources are funding the anti-Israel American flag-burning demonstrations in the USA. World stability is in danger. The USA is a major problem. Not that long ago, anyone burning an American flag would be arrested; now they're ignored by the police. Schools are teaching that Israel must be destroyed. Jews are in danger. Anyone who sees the holes, the inequality, the inconsistencies and dangers in their ideology has a problem...

Just like in Israel, when they lose elections they take to the streets. Do you remember the NOT MY PRESIDENT demonstrations? 

Netanyahu has been Prime Minister more years than any other person, and at that position he's a good example of the "Peter's Principle, A person rises to his level of incompetence." His true talents, expertise is oratory, not defense, meaning he's make a good Foreign Minister. He was also a great Finance Minister, another talent.

Under Netanyahu's "leadership" sic, we've quit about a dozen wars without winning them. He and his cohorts called them "operations" and decided that lowering the intensity of the attacks, plus using defensive Iron Domes, equaled "winning." 

I kept seeing those other attacks as "target practice" expecting, as did happen, that our dangerous enemies would get better and better aim, more effective in hitting us. 

Bibi's so terrified of a war that instead of fighting our enemies he plays "games," surrendering our land by pulling people out of their homes. Yes, that's what he has done. 

I must write my review of Netanyahu's speech in the US Congress. It follows the same structure as his speech at the bloggers convention in 2008. Listen carefully until the end, and tell me what you've heard.  Yes, I must write up my review...

Gd willing a miracle, true leadership which is the only way we can destroy our enemies.

Hamas/Gaza War Musings #26: Indisputable Victory, Gd Willing

 

The other day I took the bus to Shaar Binyamin, a large shopping area just north of Jerusalem, or describe it as on the way to Jerusalem for a large part of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. While wandering around the Rami Levi Discount Supermarket, which has grown since I worked in its Yafiz clothing store, I noticed these classic Israeli blue and white hats. I was excited to see on them a new perfectly timely slogan:

 ניצחון מוחלט nitzachon muchlat Indisputable Victory

Many of us probably think that such a policy would be obvious, no need to shout it out. But unfortunately since Likud's Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu had begun serving as prime minister a couple of decades ago, such a thing hasn't happened. Yes, I know that he talks the talk, but he doesn't walk the walk.

Bibi is our longest serving prime minister, and his multiple terms have seen us suffer through more wars than any other. But he doesn't like the word "war." He has this creative "name team" that makes up other terms/words euphemisms for wars. He loves calling them "operations," trying to give the long suffering Israeli population the idea that we're not at war. You can also use the word "skirmish." Anything but war, because if it's a war, we have to really win it, meaning that the enemy should surrender. 

The routine has been that our cities and towns are bombed by dangerous rockets shot by Gazan terrorists. Miraculously few Israelis are killed. Bibi thanks the Iron Dome, an Israeli invention that we foolishly gave the Americans the rights to produce some necessary parts instead of making sure it's 100% made in Israel. That's why America has us hanging...

Israel's response is to waste our weapons. We faux morally warn the enemy to leave their buildings, so innocents shouldn't be harmed. Now, do you really think that only innocents--as if there are any truly innocent Gazans-- leave the buildings? We bomb empty buildings bragging that we're a "moral army." Our soldiers also carefully enter building to look for "civilians" rather than just destroying them. Many IDF soldiers are killed in the process. The truth is that we're the laughing stocks of the world. Our enemies consider us totally nuts, and they're right.

Instead of fighting until the enemy surrenders, we bomb empty buildings as if bombing empty buildings will make them surrender, Bibi tells us that "we showed them; now they know not to tempt us to fight." That may have been convincing the first time, but we've had too many reruns. 

It's more accurate to call these short wars "target practice for the terrorists."

I don't understand why Netanyahu hasn't been kicked out of office already. Why do people still trust and vote for him? As I keep reminding everyone, I wasn't alone when I heard him say he'd rule as a "centrist." Read Impressive, August, 2008.

This is also from Rami Levi, and I wear it everyday instead of my fashionable necklaces. It says:

OUR HEARTS ARE WITH

IDF SOLDIERS

-------------

AM YISRAEL CHAI

THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL LIVES

We have to fight to win!

We must destroy the enemy-- no warnings!

--no food, water, fuel for the enemy!

War isn't a game. 

We're fighting for our very survival.

An Indisputable Victory, Gd Willing

Guest Post by Netivotgirl

Some of you may remember the wonderful posts my dear friend aka "Netivotgirl" had posted in the past about living in Netivot. Here's something she sent to friends and agreed that I post it here on Shiloh Musings. You can read more of her articles here by searching "Shiloh Musings Netivotgirl."

Facebook will NOT allow me to share this post so I am emailing it to some of my close friends. EVERYTHING mentioned here is fact taken from sites such as Human Rights Watch. Why am I not surprised? I welcome any and all remarks from you my friends. We need not agree but we must keep the lines of communication open between us. It's bad enough that anti-Semitism is currently rampant the world over; as Jews no matter what our political stance we are all loathed at present (if we can be recognized as being Jewish.) I will add here that later this year will be the first American election in which I will NOT cast my vote since making aliyah in 1977. In my opinion, Trump is totally off his rocker and Biden is a doddering incompetent man who is no friend of Israel. He is also (IMHO) a crook along with his son Hunter. These are my opinions and you may differ with me.
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Although I am an avid reader, I'm not a particularly gifted writer unlike some of my friends (Ariella McCauley Kopels, Paula R. Stern, and Batya Medad, that means you three!) Yesterday during Shavuot, I finished reading one thick book and half of a second one after reading all of the book of Psalms. I want to share some thoughts with you all to explain why I have decided to take a break from Facebook. As an Orthodox Jew, I believe that everything is decreed in heaven. Here in Israel we have been living in a surreal nightmare since October 7th of last year. Everyone has somebody they love serving in the IDF and many of us have lost people on that dreadful day. (I lost Judith Weinstein Haggai with whom over the years I participated in numerous in-service courses in Beer Sheva.) At the end of this missive, I will bring the sources for the facts that will be mentioned.
 
"In January and February of 2016, Human Rights Watch interviewed 21 Sunni Muslim Arab women from Iraq and women and girls from the Yezidi minority ethnic group, all of whom had fled ISIS-controlled areas, most in late 2015. Several of the Yezidis, abducted by ISIS in mid-2014, had spent more than a year in captivity. They described being forcibly converted to Islam, kept in sexual slavery, bought and sold in slave markets, and passed among as many as four ISIS members." The world was silent.

In 2022, "Rohingya Muslims are still awaiting justice and protection of their rights five years after the Myanmar military began a sweeping campaign of massacres, rape, and arson ….on August 25, 2017, Human Rights Watch said. More than 730,000 Rohingya fled to precarious, flood-prone camps in Bangladesh, while about 600,000 remain under oppressive rule in Myanmar." How did the world react? A few words of concern were expressed but life went on as usual.

In March 2023, "The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) announced in a report marking the 12th anniversary of the popular uprising for democracy in Syria that it has documented the deaths of 230,224 Syrian civilians, including 15,272 who died due to torture." The world was silent.

Now let's mention the facts: The Palestinians actually had a state. In 2005, Israel put into action a plan called, "The Disengagement from Gaza." IDF installations and forces were removed and over 9000 Israeli citizens living in 25 settlements were evicted. Jews who lived in the settlements in that area left behind millions of dollars' worth of greenhouses that could have helped turn the Gaza Strip into a modern Singapore. However, all of that expensive machinery and agricultural apparatus was put on fire and destroyed! Fast forward to October 7th, 2023. Israel suffered an incursion by barbarians who swept through Moshavim and Kibbutzim in the Gaza Envelope. Entire families were shot and killed. Babies were burned in their cribs and often beheaded. Women were gang-raped and their bodies dismembered. (i.e. breasts were found near the defiled women.) In total, 251 men, women and children were abducted into Gaza. Hostages who were later released told chilling stories of the abuse they suffered. And the world? Suddenly non-Jews the world over began spewing anti-Semitic chants such as, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." (Few if any of those protesters can name to which river and sea are referred.) Neither Egypt nor Jordan (nor any other country for that matter) cares to take in refugees from Gaza. Why is this? Nobody wants them. Why are we Israelis responsible for them? As Douglas Murray, famed British author and reporter has mentioned many times, Israel is the only nation in the world that is not allowed to win a war. We the Jews are the indigenous people in our land, speaking the same language that was used 3000 years ago. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is built upon the remains of our holy Temple. Coins excavated from that area show ancient Hebrew letters and symbols. Biden has been attempting to force upon us a "two state solution" which IMHO would in essence be rewarding the Arabs for the worst genocidal attack we Jews have suffered since the Holocaust in WWII.

It seems like yesterday (actually it was on November 10th, 1975) that the UN General Assembly adopted G.A. Resolution 3379, which declared Zionism to be “a form of racism and racial discrimination.” I feel that I must distance myself from what is posted on Facebook about current events in order to retain my sanity. I run a fund for poverty stricken brides from Netivot and am involved with other communal activities so I will not be bored. So forgive me if I remove myself from the public arena. As mentioned earlier, sources will appear below.

I will also add that I have no idea how long I will take my break. What I can say with certainty is that not listening to the news nor watching videos on my laptop has brought me some small measure of serenity as the world continues to go berserk.
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source for the Yezidis:   https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/04/06/iraq-women-suffer-under-isis
source for the Rohingya Muslims:  https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/24/myanmar-no-justice-no-freedom-rohingya-5-years  
(The above email address belongs to "Human Rights Watch.")
 
The source for the slaughter in Syria by Bashar al-Assad: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/14/more-than-300000-syrian-civilians-died-any-attempt-to-rehabilitate-assad-is-utterly-shameful
Source for the disengagement from Gaza: https://embassies.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Maps/Pages/Israels%20Disengagement%20Plan-%202005.aspx

Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers

Biblical Shiloh is  traditional place for prayers. The story of Chana Hannah praying for a son in Shiloh is well-known. We have retuned.

There's a well developed archeological park, with a wide variety of activities in Ancient Tel Shiloh שילה הקדומה Shiloh Hakeduma Shiloh Hakeduma. It can be reached by car or public transportation. For more information contact the office 02-5789111 or email visit@telshilo.org.il. 

I hope you can join us.

Hamas/Gaza War Musings #25: Bibi Must Fire Gallant, Plus ICC Update

I should have finished this a few days ago. Now the big news is about the ICC wanting to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant for trying to defeat the Hamas Gazan terrorists. There's a double irony in this.

One is something I've been saying for ages that the harder Bibi tries to look "moral" and caring of the Gazan civilians, the guiltier he looks to the world that hates us and the weaker we look to the Arab terrorists. 

Two is that Yoav Gallant has made such an effort to separate himself from Bibi, but to the haters of Israel, he's seen as Israel's Minister of Defense, no less guilty than Prime Minister Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu. This makes him as guilty as Netanyahu in their eyes.

Israel has been fighting a difficult defensive war of survival against internationally supported Arab terrorists for over half a year. Over a thousand Israelis, mostly innocent, davka Leftist --meaning that they had believed that we could make peace with the Arabs-- Israelis were murdered, sexually abused/attacked, decapitated, burnt alive, murdered and worse by Gazan terrorists. You may be wondering what I mean by "and worse." Considering that it has taken months and months to identify the victims by DNA tests, using various bones and body parts, "and worse" is a rather censored way of describing what the Gazans did.

I wrote "Gazans" and not "Hamas," because that attack, as documented in the photos from security cameras and the proud posts on social media by the perpetrators show clearly that Hamas is full of Gazan civilians. Terrorists don't need army uniforms, and Hamas is a terrorist movement.

Honestly I don't think there are many "innocent Gazan civilians," and if there are, they're in hiding. And to think that Fatah of the Palestinian Authority should rule Gaza "after" the war, that's a danger, since they want the destruction of the State of Israel. They are terrorist, too.

Yoav Gallant, Israel's Minister of Defense, has so far failed in defeating Hamas, but he's making demands on what the State of Israel must do after the war is over. Not only that, but he called a press conference to publicly demand that his boss Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu follow his orders, or else. He even gave Bibi a deadline, ironically, almost the exact date of the fifty-seventh 57th anniversary of the miraculous 1967 Six Day War.

Unfortunately, we're far from the victory we need for our very survival. That's not because of our IDF soldiers; it's because our national leadership is so weak.

About 200,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes since October 7, 2023. Their "after" is what an Israeli minister should be concerned about. And considering that Gallant should have been fired long before the war for his antigovernment antics... he has now "progressed" to insurrection, not just insubordination. As Defense Minister, he's responsible for making sure the IDF defeats our enemy, not feeds our enemy.

We need a new IDF Chief of Staff and a new Minister of Defense. The upper echelons of the IDF should be replaced with those who had been kept down. 

Most important, Israel must immediately stop sending our officers to American "war colleges," where they have been brainwashed to follow incompetent military ideologies. Get real. The USA hasn't won a war since the middle of the 20th century, and they have never, ever had to fight a war like the one that Israel has to fight. They are not the experts. 

To be perfectly honest, I'm disgusted. If you read my old posts about Netanyahu, you'll know that I'm not surprised at his weakness.

Enough! We need strong leadership. Bibi must DO and not TALK!