What is there to say besides רפואה שלימה Refuah Shleimah, Complete Recovery to the injured and May G-d Comfort the mourners? The United States is a frightening place.
In America, one doesn't quite know who, where and what are dangerous. What was the point, the aim of that Boston Marathon bombing? Has anarchy reached the streets and events of the United States of America? I don't quite see it as the terrorism as I know it living here in Israel when nobody is quite sure who the bombers are and what they want.
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Two explosions tore through the finish line of the world-famous race just before 3 p.m., going off simultaneously as throngs of onlookers watched runners complete the 26.2-mile trek. The timing of the blasts immediately sparked suspicions of a deliberate act.
“When multiple devices go off, that’s an act of terrorism,” a senior administration official told Fox News, just moments after President Obama delivered a statement to the nation and did not use the word “terror.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/15/explosion-reported-near-finish-line-boston-marathon-spokesman-says/#ixzz2QbGcKV4u
I've ranted plenty about winning that American security check lottery aka random checking. Israeli security practices profiling, which judges/analyzes me as what I am, a harmless overweight grandmother. During my last trip to the states a few months ago, I was "patted down" so frequently, most of the time being told, "just random checking." Too bad I hadn't bought a lottery ticket; I could have won a million dollars instead, since my name was coming up so often.
I live in Israel. I'm the survivor of a terror attack. I was even injured in that attack, though very lightly. I've lost friends and neighbors to terror attacks, so please don't consider me blind to the dangers. In all honesty, I think America is a more frightening place. We here in Israel have some idea who our enemies are. In the USA, considering the impossibility to predict attacks, shootings, etc. the attacker may be anyone at all, a disgruntled and/or unstable child, teen, employee, neighbor, family member or stranger. And, yes, there may also be foreign anarchists and terrorists ideologically and culturally related to the same Arab terrorists who want to murder Jews and destroy the State of Israel.
I ask in all sincerity:
How Americans can protect themselves from such dangers?
Honestly, I don't know.
13 comments:
First of all they can stop dreaming that it will go away. I read that TODAY they are checking bags in Boston. It should have been yesterday.
And Israel is safer?? Really?? With thousands of missiles aimed at every inch of Eretz israel, surrounded by 5 million arab terrorists?? The jewish nation is safe only by following the torah: in Israel or outside israel.
Except for one thing, talmid123, and that is that Hashem's eyes never leave Eretz Yisrael, from the beginning of the year until the end. I feel completely safe here because I know that G-d is watching me.
rm, sari, exactly
talmid, Since G-d is in charge, things aren't how you make it out.
my husband likes to quote that pasuk about G-d's eyes watching Israel from the beginning of the year to the end of the year - to protect Israel not only from its enemies but also from the stupidity of its "leaders".
also, please note that the prayers for the State of Israel and its govt, ask G-d to give them wisdom. they certainly need it!
Yes God is in charge. But don't forget Israel is eretz hakodesh, it only accepts holy people, this is why it is more dangerous to live there than in the USA. Sins are judged more severely. USA it is not the "apple" of Gods eye.
"How Americans can protect themselves from such dangers?"
You can't stop all terrorist attacks. In particular, it is absolutely impossible to stop a single individual bent on mass murder. Firearms are too easy to get here, but even a total ban on firearms would not stop such an individual -- remember that the Oklahoma City bombing was done with fertilizer and that a mentally ill homeless man killed a hundred people in a Korean subway with a Molotov Cocktail.
It is also worth remembering that for most of America, the problem isn't terrorism, it is run of the mill homicide. While New York City continues to enjoy declining violent crime rates, rates are increasing in poorer cities that are, incredibly, laying off law enforcement personnel. Most of the US has not been willing to invest in the methods NYC has successfully used to combat crime.
All that said, the United States could learn from Israel. Not all of Israel's anti-terror measures could scale up to a country the size of the United States -- remember, for example, that Ben Gurion International Airport would rank #20 on the list of the largest airports in the United States. But smart profiling rather than procedure does seem to work. And I personally would not mind going through metal detectors at entrances to buildings, even synagogues (I know two synagogues in New York that require that).
All this applies no matter who was responsible for the heinous acts yesterday. (It *is* surprising that nobody is taking "credit".)
America has become a scary place, I agree Batya. I felt it coming for years and now B"H my husband and I are home, here in Yerushalayim. The Jews there just cannot put 2 and 2 together.
It is so coincidental (not) that this = Boston/Tea Party Revolt/Patriots Day/Tax Day all rolled into one. And I'm sure there is more to add to this list. Plus the bombs were constructed inside "pressure cookers". Weird.
And I also am quick to quote that Hashem has His Eyes on His Land and Children from beginning to end of the year, every year!
Leah, so true, you're husband is a wise man.
talmid, I don't quite get what you're saying. Humans have free will and G-d is hoping we'll all repent.
Charlie, interesting, thanks; profiling is a smart method, but it's not easily taught.
Neshama, glad you're home
The United States is so spread out. People have the freedom to come and go(for now)as they please. Our buses and trains, subways, Bart, Rapid Transit, and ferry's, circuses, state fairs are unprotected, the malls, theaters, stadiums, Sam's Clubs and Costco's, the dam's and bridges, the food supply. There is a myriad of ways to harm Americans. I made a list of things after 911. I wanted to think like the enemy. What would they do? We are vulnerable and one of the biggest problems is the denial of the government. They are so overwrought about how they might be perceived if they say "terrorism" or "Islamic extremism" that the people are ignorant and unprepared. The government wants the attention and hostility that should rightfully be directed to the enemy directed to conservative, law abiding citizens. Our free ride is over. So, Neshama, Hashem only has His eyes on the Jews of Eretz Israel? Only you over there are under the watchful eye of Hashem and what? the hell with the rest of us? You don't know the situation of every Jew. Are you like the Gentiles who think every Jew is wealthy?
Hey, Talmid123, what can I say? I grew up on the east coast, afraid to walk the streets after 4PM. Here in Israel, my oldest boys service in the army and we let our kids stay out till they're ready to come home.
OK, I admit: the drivers here in Israel freak me out!
Missiles, shmissiles!
and shy, here we can also rely more on friends and neighbors
Anonymous, I don't think that this is what was meant by that verse. Of course G-d watches over all of us.
I understand this kind of frustration. We may need to be careful about the quotes we use and be prepared for some to misinterpret them.
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