Hamas War

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Kiryat Shmoneh, the Peres example

According to Shimon Peres, who gave guns to the Arabs as part of his Oslo Agreement, Sderot should be like Kiryat Shmoneh when it was constantly "shelled for years.." The truth is that Kiryat Shmoneh didn't take it "in stride."

I visited Kiryat Shmoneh during the Gulf War in 1991, and people spoke to me about how much they hated, resented the rest of the country, "all those in Tel Aviv" who never cared about the damage, injuries and death the north of the country had been suffering because of the Syrian katyushas.

People were happy that Ramat Gan was getting the feel of the bombs, which Kiryat Shmoneh was so familiar with.

Remember that though it was only fifteen years ago when I was there, the toughest time up north was earlier, when there was no easy instant communication. There were no, or it was still rare and expensive, SMS, emails, internet and cellphones. You couldn't send a picture a second after taking it. Also the people in Kiryat Shmoneh were the weaker members of Israeli society. And the general Israeli public was rather oblivious to how others suffered, even more than today.

I'm glad that today there is media coverage about the Arab blitz of Sderot and the south of Israel.

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