My musings, reflections on life here in Shiloh, Israel. Original, personal, spiritual and political. Peace, security and Israeli sovereignty. While not a "group blog," Shiloh Musings includes the voices of other Jews in The Land of Israel. **Copyright(C)BatyaMedad ** For permission to use these in publications of any sort, please contact me directly. Private accredited distribution encouraged. Thank you.
Monday, September 29, 2025
Hamas/Gaza War Musings #58: A "Deal" Won't Bring Peace-- Just More War
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Hamas/Gaza War Musings #57: Important Pre Rosh Hashannah Message- SOVEREIGNTY & VICTORY
I really should have gone to bed already, but there's something important rattling around my brain. It has me very worried, so I'll just blog the simple message, and then Gd willing I'll feel better.
As my readers, friends and Facebook followers know, I'm very concerned about the lack of victory in Bibi's lexicon. He doesn't mention total victory, and his voiced plans for after the war are awful. We'd basically just police Gaza, which won't give us peace. It'll only cause our soldiers death and give the Gazan terrorists time to prepare for the next war.
Some of the other "plans" is to expect peaceful Gazans to make it a safe place. Duh?!?! Is he going to perform lobotomies on them for a permanent personality change?
There's only one thing that will bring us peace... that's declaring Israeli Sovereignty ריבונות on Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley plus resettle Gaza with Jews and then annex it, too. In the history of the world, that's a very normal action of a victorious nation. We should have done it in 1967.
Who cares what "the world" says? If we had done it immediately after the Six Days War, we wouldn't have suffered through the Yom Kippur War and the subsequent ones and terror attacks. But we've had a series of weak ghetto Jew leaders. They've actually gotten worse since after the Six Days War. We won that easily, because we had no allies to "help" and "advise."
The "world" condemns Israel for "breathing," for fighting our enemies, because we act weak and scared and especially because we try to "please" them so they'll like us. The State of Israel must act as a strong confident independent country. That's the key to survival, not "allies."
Sorry that this ended up wordier and longer than I had planned, but it has been sitting on my heart and mind for too long. Please feel free to comment and of course share.
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Hamas/Gaza War Musings #56: VICTORY Prayer Haiku #3
Here in Israel we're just a few short weeks from two years since the heinous Gazan terror attack on thousands of innocent Israelis, men, women, children, infants and the elderly. The victims were tortured, murdered and kidnapped. They were raped, decapitated, incinerated and in many cases forced to watch their loved one suffer before they all died. The survivors and those who survived trying to rescue them are so emotionally scarred, their lives will never be the same.
This was a cruel immoral pogrom. In many cases the victims were the same people who had aided those very Gazans who attacked and guided terrorists to unarmed, undefended peace-beliving civilian homes.
So many words are being written about it, some based on truth and mercy and others on hatred and lies. I don't have the strength for long wordy arguments, explanations and personal prayers. That's why I like the simple haiku, just seventeen 17 syllables in three lines, 5, 7, 5. Here are a few more of my Morning Coffee Haikus. I hope they speak to you. They're posted most mornings on my Facebook page. I've posted two other haiku posts, 1 and 2; please click and enjoy.
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Hamas/Gaza War Musings #55: Who's Whitewashing Gazan Civilian Attack of October 7, 2023?
What really happened on October 7, 2023?
On October 7, 2023 and for awhile afterwards there were lots of photos, videos/YouTubes and reports of Gazan civilians-- even those considered friends and had been employed by Israelis who unabashedly, enthusiastically guided the Hamas terrorists and joined in attacking, their naïve Israeli friends. These Gazan civilians knew their way around the kibbutzim and knew their victims. These terrorists, who didn't wear uniforms, proudly took pictures and videos of their cruel acts, sending them off to their families and the wider world via the internet. Some stole phones of the victims and got perverse pleasure showing their "victories" to their victims' families and friends.
Strangely the articles I read about this in October, 2023 can't be found online. At least I couldn't find any, nor did anyone I asked on Facebook. One friend said that she had saved the links of the articles, but the links are as dead as the victims...
In my searches I found the report that the Israeli Government has on its site. That's what I screenshot above. Even Bibi's government is masking the true story. They give the impression that Israel was invaded by uniformed soldier terrorists, not a ragtag group of Gazans of all ages, uniformed and not. I guess the government wants to hide the fact that the IDF and civil defense were defeated by amateurs. Volunteers came from all over the country to defend the innocent Israeli citizens, from infants to the elderly, while the army waited for orders and transportation.
The cruelty of the Gazans was worse than what the Nazis had done. Nazis had herded Jews of all ages into buildings, and then gassed them dead. They didn't butcher, decapitate the Jewish victims like the Gazans, read this.
Now I can't find the articles. I asked on Facebook, and even people who had saved links, say that the links no longer function. Why has this happened? Why protect Gazans? Is this a conspiracy to rewrite history and invent the Myth of "Innocent Gazan Civilians?" If you have functioning links, please add them in the comments.
While hostages, Israeli citizens, still rot and starve, some alive and some long dead, as prisoners in Gaza, Bibi keeps sending food to Gaza. The Gazans don't need our food or any other aid. It's an agricultural area; they can grow what they need. They don't need medical supplies, when there are over two dozen hospitals there. It doesn't make us look moral or magnanimous; it makes us look guilty and foolish. The same must be said for Bibi's fokokt woke "moral" fighting. He warns Gazans to leave their homes before we bomb them. Duh!?! These are the terrorists and their supporters who've been cheering the deaths of our precious soldiers and the victims on October 7th. Coddling the enemy won't give us victory, and a "deal" won't give us peace.
Only a TOTAL VICTORY and resettling Gaza with Israelis will give us peace.
Friday, September 5, 2025
Hamas/Gaza War Musings #54: VICTORY NOW! Bibi, Stop Your Games!
This is what I wrote last night. Maybe it's not polished enough, but it's the truth.
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Hamas/Gaza War Musings #53: VICTORY Prayer Haiku in 17 Syllables
I really love the seventeen 17 syllable restriction of classic haikus. It forces me to reduce my words and syllables to the very minimum while writing something important. Click for the first collection of Hamas/Gaza War Haikus; following is the second.

Sunday, August 10, 2025
Hamas/Gaza War Musings #52: VICTORY is Not on Bibi's Menu
screenshot from my computer of the Jerusalem Post |
Here's Bibi's list:
- Hamas Disarmed
- All Hostages Freed
- Gaza Demilitarized
- Israeli overriding security control
- Non-Israeli peaceful civil administration
Friday, August 8, 2025
Twenty Years Since Disengagement- Deja Vu- The Elephant in The Room
From my blog post Opening Old Wounds, Disengagement, Part 1 |
There have been so many articles and youtube videos about Disengagement in the media. They mention all aspects of it, and I didn't notice any claiming that it had been a good policy decision. Thank Gd for that.
I wrote a "letter to the editor" to the Jerusalem Post concerning the articles I had read in the paper and the magazine. This post is based on that letter which, as of today, hadn't been published.
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Hamas/Gaza War Musings #51: "Conflict?" Nope-- They Want to Destroy Us
The woke lexicon has made it to Israel, very unfortunately. How can a war, with such clear differences between aggressors and victims be called a "conflict?" What's a "conflict?" According to the Oxford online dictionary, it's:
a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one."the eternal conflict between the sexes"
- How can we compromise with people who want to destroy us totally?
- How can we compromise with people who bragged about raping, decapitating, murdering innocent Israelis?
- How can we compromise with people who want to burn and destroy our country?
Friday, July 11, 2025
Hamas/Gaza War Musings #50: Deja Vu, Yet Again-- Will Israel Ever Learn?
This post is based on my last night's "Gnite" on Facebook. That's a message I write most nights before going to sleep. Sometimes I haven't a clue what my fingers are going to type out, and sometimes I find myself elaborating on what has been filling my head, generally something to do with the WAR.
I think it's extremely important to remember that Israel's WAR FOR SURVIVAL has a number of fronts. From what I understand, the northern front is now quiet. But what does that mean? Did our enemies surrender?
Just a few weeks ago Israel decided that the time had come to try to destroy Iran's nuclear development, which seemed impossible, since we don't have strong enough bombs to go deeply enough. Also Iran immediately began bombing Israeli cities, and our Iron Dome and other defensive "machinery" only partially prevented destruction and death in Israeli cities. After the USA completed the bombing of Iran's nuclear development center, utilizing the damage that Israel had accomplished. This front also quieted down without anything that could be called a surrender by Iran.
Now Israel has returned to fighting in Gaza, Deja Vu.
Early in the war, I'd read in the newspapers and internet interviews with IDF reservists on the southern front who'd say it's the second, third or fourth time ... or more, they've battled and taken over the same sections of Gaza. After each of the previous wars, Bibi who was usually (or always) Prime Minister at the time, would declare that we "won," and the Gazans/Hamas/or whatever you want to call them had been stopped and "know that we're stronger." Then we'd leave, the terrorists would return and within a year or two or three, they'd attack us yet again.
Friday, June 27, 2025
Hamas/Gaza War Musings #49: Life During War in 17 Syllables, Haikus
I've been writing Haikus for years and have a facebook group I call #morningcoffeehaiku. Pretty much every morning, while drinking my coffee, I describe my feelings in haiku form. That means three rows of text. The first has five syllables, second has seven, and the third five syllables. Writing these haikus has trained my mind to express myself in minimal words.
Here are a few, most recent first:
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Hamas/Gaza War Musings #48: Deja Vu: Amalek = Hamas
Our sages all say that Amalek began attacking when it perceived weakness in the People of Israel and its leadership....
Every generation has its Amalek, but it's quiet because it's afraid of us. It attacks when we fight amongst each other or go around begging foreigners for help. Yup. That's the truth.
That's why in 1967, Egypt, Syria and Jordan conspired to attack on three fronts and destroy the State of Israel. It "checked the water" with threats and demands on us, our supposed allies and the United Nations which had "peacekeeping forces" which were supposed to protect us. The UN quickly removed its forces to facilitate easy attack, our supposed allies waited in safety and our Israeli government ordered the digging of graves. The State of Israel was all alone, but Jews in Israel and all over the world prayed to Gd. Simply put, that's how we won so decisively.
When instead of declaring all of the Land we liberated sovereign Israel, the government refused to settle all but the most agriculturally promising areas, our enemies attacked again six years later. Yes, the Yom Kippur War. This time they didn't threaten, they just attacked with the hidden support of the United States, while Israel was kept in the dark. As the war went on, the USA tried to keep Israel from having a decisive win, yup-- nothing's new. Thank Gd Arik Sharon refused to follow orders and crossed the Suez Canal with his forces, and Egypt surrendered.
Unfortunately, that was the last show of true strength anyone saw from Israel. In the past decade plus, every couple of years, we're attacked, Bibi refuses to call it a war, refuses to defeat the enemy, just offers a ceasefire, claiming that "now we've shown who's stronger," and most of the country falls for it. I haven't.
Israel tries to compromise, act "gracious," do clever high-tech "tricks," make deals, ceasefires etc. And again the internal fighting definitely encourages our enemies.
For me it's so clear, so obvious. That's why with every "deal" offer, comprise, fokokt "moral fighting," "compassionate" "humanitarian" food to the Gazans, the demands of the terrorists get larger and more dangerous for us.
If you study the Tanach/Bible, you should see that it's classic Amalek... Remember what important instructions Gd told the Prophet Samuel to say to King Saul in 1 Samuel Chapter 15:
Now go, attack Amalek, and proscribe all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and asses!”
Did King Saul obey? No! He kept the Amalek king alive, plus some of the animals. which he used for sacrifices contradicting Jewish Law. Yes, just like Bibi has been doing with his "moral fighting" and "humanitarian aid." How was King Saul punished? He and his sons were killed in battle. That was the end of his rule, no dynasty.
Today there are two very strong parallels with the Biblical Amalek.
- Amalek fights us when we appear weak.
- The only way to have a true lasting victory is to destroy our enemy without mercy.
Monday, May 12, 2025
Historical Parallels Between India-Pakastan and Israel
I wrote this letter to the Jerusalem Post which probably won't be published. It should have appeared today, so when I didn't see it, I put my letter on Facebook. Then the Facebook post seems to have disappeared... strange...
So here's what I wrote:
elephant in the roomThe Jerusalem Post, Tzvika Klein, among others keep ignoring the most important, and obvious to me, connection between what's happening between India and Pakistan and the Arab war against Israel. Go back to history, post World War Two, August 14, 1947 when Great Britain divided the Indian subcontinent into two unequal parts, one for the Hindus and the other for the Muslims which became India and Pakistan.Not long before that, Great Britain began dividing up the British Mandate of Palestine, which was supposed to be for the Jewish People, by importing the Hashemites from Saudi Arabia to rule the eastern bank of the territory and called it Jordan. Afterwards, instead of allowing Jews to establish a country on the entire western part of the Mandate, Britain, along with the newly formed United Nations, allocated a small indefensible bit of the land to the Jews and the rest of they assigned to Arabs to invent an additional Moslem country. Member countries of the UN voted its approval November 29, 1949. That second Arab Moslem country in the mandated land didn't come to be, because there was no actual nation/people there, so when Israel's War for Independence ended Jordan occupied all the territory not in Israel's control.The wars we've been suffering from since then and what's going on between India and Pakistan are all connected to Britain's and the UN's playing god in distant parts of the world.It's a shame that Klein and other Jerusalem Post writers keep ignoring this.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Hamas/Gaza War Musings #47: Bibi, The Worst of Menachem Begin
This is related to War Musings #46, so if you haven't read it, I recommend that you do so. Both of these posts show how we're suffering from the mistakes made and never corrected decades ago. Here I concentrate more on one of the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin made. No, I don't get into Begin's Sinai withdrawal and destruction of numerous Israeli communities in the Sinai, aka the Camp David Accords.
What concerns me the most is how Begin's, and more recently, Bibi's avoiding cleaning the bureaucracy of those who obviously want to sabotage their government policies. In Begin's time, the Foreign Ministry, stocked with Leftist Labor supporters, didn't advise him according to his supporters' and voters' policies. People didn't vote him in to withdraw from the Sinai and destroy Jewish communities. It's very probable that Begin's depression towards the end of his rule, wasn't just because of the death of his beloved wife, but because his policies had alienated his closest friends and supporters.
When Begin's party got the most seats in the 1977 elections, it was a surprise for all. As I remember, none of the polls predicted such a political upheaval. Begin didn't have an "army" of followers to take over the bureaucracy. I don't think he had a real plan for an eventual win. For nineteen years, Herut and Liberals felt that they'd be permanent Opposition.
Upon establishing his government, instead of doing what was technically legal, replace government workers involved with policy. Instead he tried to make "friends" with them, called it being "noble," by not firing the Labor followers and Histadrut members. So political appointees became permanent policy makers, and they made sure the "right" people succeeded them, "a friend brings a friend." That's how the Judicial, the IDF, Foreign Ministry and the Shabak etc still follow Leftist Labor policies, even though the Labor party hasn't had a Prime Minister for decades. The only real ideological success/change was that Begin's Liberal-- meaning non-socialist--political partners did what they were elected to do by breaking the power and monopoly of the Histadrut in economics.
Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu continued the path Menachem Begin. That's why Judicial Reform never got done, nor did he put his own people in important security positions, so on October 7, 2023, he wasn't informed about the signs of Hamas Gazan preparation for war against us. Shabak head Ronen Bar has made it clear that he considers himself over the government and refused to recognize that he had been fired. My big question is why did it take so long for Bibi to even try to fire him...
Here we are a year and a half after that murderous invasion, no closer to #TotalVictory #ניצחוןמוחלט than we were on October 8th. Despite Bibi's brave bombastic speeches, his policies are weak and failing. Our soldiers are being killed, maimed, wounded and are exhausted. We don't act like victors. We haven't returned to Gush Katif. Bibi thinks we can just be policemen aka targets. Bibi doesn't have a vision for a greater future. I predicted this when I heard him speak in 2008.