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.

Unpublished Letters to The Jerusalem Post Re: David Bar-Illan Z"L, Yaakov Katz and David Hazony

Sometimes it seems that everything I write gets into the paper, and then... there are times like this. Last week I wrote two letters to the editor, and neither got published. If you're wondering why I don't try for op-eds, the answer is simple. Way back when, I did try, but I was told that I wouldn't get paid, and I couldn't use the articles in any other format, like my blog. Also, it could take a couple of weeks until they'd decide. Once years before that it took them a couple of months until I discovered my op-ed published. Of course, by the time I'd realize that it was buried, it would be irrelevant, out-of-date. That's when I decided that I'm better of just blogging my thoughts and opinions.

I don't think these two are "irrelevant, out-of-date," so here goes...  What do you think? Please say in the comments and share if you like them, thanks.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-759989

What a thrill it was for me to open up the Jerusalem Post Magazine and be greeted by the legendary David Bar-Illan and the familiar and long lamented EYE ON THE MEDIA, although by Gil Hoffman.

I'll never forget hysterically barging into David Bar-Illan's office in the week before Purim, 1996, a time when horrific Arab terror attacks -mostly suicidal bus explosions- were frequently daily, shouting:

"The police are lying!! It wasn't an accident! It was a terror attack!! Either send a reporter to interview me, or give me a computer, and I'll write it up myself."

David quickly ended his phone call, led me to the couch in his office and asked for the story. 

I had been waiting at the bus stop across from Givat Hamivtar, which is now under the lightrail train tracks, to get home to Shiloh, when an Arab terrorist made a sharp right onto the sidewalk, turning left on my foot knocking me down and then mowed down a number of other innocent civilians, murdering one and seriously injuring others. Soldiers suddenly appeared and ordered all who could to run far away, since they suspected that the terrorist's car would be exploding any second.

My foot wasn't yet seriously swollen, so I ran with a neighbor across the street and around the corner to Eshkol Blvd, where I caught a bus towards the Central Bus Station and Terem First Aid. On the bus I heard the radio report in which the police claimed that there had been an "accident" at our bus stop. After being x-rayed at Terem and told that nothing was broken, a friend picked me up and took me to the Jerusalem Post building, where I noticed that David Bar-Illan's office was right by the entrance.

Bar-Illan first made sure I was comfortable with my injured foot properly propped up and then sent a reporter to get my story, which appeared on the next day's front page. Within the next couple of days, I was asked to write it up myself as an op-ed, and he (according to the information Gil Hoffman gives in his article) wrote a full length editorial using the information I had given.

Before ending this reminiscence of David Bar-Illan, I must add that he had another profession and didn't need the stress and aggravation of top Israeli journalism. He was an accomplished concert pianist. That's how I had originally met him, at a salon performance in London.

Batya Medad, Shiloh

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-760063

Yaakov Katz

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-760000

David Hazony

I hope my mixing of two articles from different parts of the Friday newspaper isn't like mixing meat and milk in a kosher kitchen, but there are similarities in both Yaakov Katz's and David Hazony's articles. They both start out very well, bringing up good points, but then unfortunately both come to the wrong conclusions. 

I'll start with Katz who reminds or informs those who may be ignorant of the fact that even Menachem Begin during his three decades as head of the opposition never lambasted the Government of Israel when abroad, no matter how much he protested their policies while in Israel and no matter how badly he was treated, including during the pre-state period. Begin was well-known for his dignified and patriotic behavior. This was even after Begin's supporters had been attacked by the Palmach when the Altalena was approaching port with arms to be used for the defense of the nascent State of Israel. Begin reacted in tears; he didn't call for a reprisal attack. Such a total difference between Menachem Begin and Israel's opposition, which is calling for rebellion, for blood --I trust you've heard what Ehud Barak and others have been saying. There is no excuse for the outrageous anti-Israel/Netanyahu protests and media campaign even abroad. They are playing into the hands of our most dangerous enemies. I don't understand how Katz doesn't totally condemn them.

Now for David Hazony... He really starts off well, very well in describing his participation in anti-Oslo protests. Hazony mentions something which really caught my attention. 

I was active in opposing Oslo. I attended the infamous Zion Square rally in 1995 in which posters I never saw apparently depicted Rabin in an SS uniform. This became a big scandal after the fact, one that didn’t diminish when the posters were retroactively downgraded to leaflets. Nor was the rally a platform of incitement, the way it has been depicted in the official history. Did anyone call Rabin a “traitor”? Yes; a small group of hyperventilating youths shouted it out – and were then immediately told off by the speakers on the balcony, including Netanyahu. But if one should judge a protest by the stupidest words of its fringe, today’s movement is no better.

The notorious "Rabin poster" was neither central to the demonstrations nor noticeable. Just to remind people that Avishai Raviv, the Shabak agent who had been involved with Right wing youth during that time, may very well had been involved.

I relate to and agree with Hazony's article until he starts "If today’s protest movement turns tragic –"

For some inexplicable reason, he coats today's  anti-government protests with Teflon when they have crossed every single red line in a true democracy. The anti-government protests aren't simply anti-Judicial Reform. Don't be naive. Read the slogans. Listen to their leaders. It's not the young powerless "fringe"  calling for blood. It's the adult leaders, those you'd expect to be responsible for reigning in the extremists.

They want to undo/override the legal elections and veto democracy. Democracy is about numbers. If you can't pull together a coalition of more than half, minimally 61 Knesset Members, then you've lost the election. 

The leaders of this protest movement have lots of money to fund their protests, but they don't have the votes. Democracy is about votes. So the truth is that they are anti-democracy, contrary to their slogans. They've attempted to redefine democracy to make it a synonym of "progressive" political ideology.

Yaakov, David, you both disappoint me. Spit out the Kool Aid and look at the facts.

Batya Medad, Shiloh בתי'ה

Improving Safety and Traffic at Shiloh Junction

Just a few years ago, the powers that be in our Binyamin region thought they were improving our lives by building a sort of bus stop/hitchhiking post on Highway 60 going north at the Shiloh Junction. It has a bench, top and backing. For safety there are even a few poles that in theory would stop a terrorist vehicle from ramming into waiting Jews seated there.

Yes, in theory, sitting at some desk, designed and planned by "experts" who own cars and get cars from their employers, that bus stop/hitchhiking post is a gem.

But for us, those who get dropped off there, or those who have to that bus stop/hitchhiking post, it's terrifying.

• The bus stop/hitchhiking post is far north from the Shiloh junction.
• There's no safety barrier, or even sidewalk between the "shelter" and the turnoff to Shiloh.
• Walking to the Shiloh turnoff requires walking directly into traffic, and most of the traffic is Arab. 
• Walking from the Shiloh turnoff requires having your back to the traffic.
• All this brings up my post traumatic stress from the terror attack, first ramming, in which I was injured over twenty years ago.

A couple of months ago, there was an announcement that due to the heavy traffic by the Shiloh Junction, we're being upgraded to a traffic light. 

Thank Gd, more than just a traffic light will be gracing our junction. The entire Shiloh Junction is being upgraded. There will be designated lanes for right turns. The construction of this new Shiloh Junction has been causing traffic delays most nights. It's far from finished, but the terrifying walk along the road is now a thing of the past. Last night I happily hopped, skipped and jumped while making my way through the dirt and rocks until I could cross the road and catch a ride going into Shiloh. The icing on the cake was when someone offered me a ride before I even reached the sidewalk. 

Next big request is that they make that  bus stop/hitchhiking post into an official bus stop, so we'll have more transportation northwards to Eli, Ariel and Tapuach. Gd willing....

9/11? This May Annoy A Lot of People

From my vantage point in Israel...

In the half century I've lived in Israel...

In all honesty, it really hurts, even annoys me that people act like there has only been one terror attack worth commemorating or mourning about.

OK On 9/11, September 11, 2001, Arab terrorists managed to murder and main thousands, not just one, two, a few or a dozen plus at a time.

When I go to our Shiloh Cemetery, I visit friends and neighbors murdered by Arab terrorists in a number of attacks.

When someone saves a person, he/she saves a world. Doesn't that that if a person is murdered, a world is destroyed?

Israel's a small country, and Shiloh is a small town. I feel the loss of those destroyed worlds.

The United States is a humongous country, and New York Cities is larger than life. The size of the 9/11 terror attack suits New York's great size. If here had been "just" an "Israeli sized" terror attack, it would have been forgotten by now. And people all over the world wouldn't be talking and writing about it eighteen 18 years later. Even New York City would have forgotten it.

Unfortunately New Yorkers, Americans and even most Israelis don't connect the dots. The don't see the connections between the terror attacks, between the terrorists. That's one of the reasons, I'm not joining the chorus today. I'm not going to write or talk about where I was when I heard about the attack.

The victims of terror attacks are "civilian soldiers" who die (or get injured) in vain.

If the United States had been willing to connect their terror attack to ours, then they could have joined the State of Israel in fighting terrorism.

But Americans don't like to think that the terrorists trying to destroy the State of Israel are connected to the terrorists who orchestrated the coordinated terror attacks on 9/11/2001.

What a waste of lives...

Strange Sounds in The Night

Friday Night, Lail Shabbat, after we had finished eating, suddenly a piercing wail filled the air. It was an emergency alarm. I locked the doors and then all the easy to access windows. My husband pooh poohed it, insisting that it was just an "electrical problem."

Then the siren wailed again.

The street was quiet. If something was going on, we'd hear noises.

Friday nights have been chosen by Arab terrorists to attack innocent Jews. They've snuck into homes through open doors and windows and murdered, maimed, terrorized and scarred Jews, young and old.

Again the siren wailed.

Should we turn on the phone to check for messages? No, the house felt safe. It was Shabbat.

The siren wailed wailed loudly. This was no "electrical problem."

I didn't want to turn on the phone. If there was bad news, it could wait.

We used to have a beeper that gave security announcements without our having to touch it, but since nowadays everyone has phones, the beeper is passe. I sure missed that beeper. I refused to turn on my phone.

My husband went to sleep. I couldn't imagine sleeping. I was at high alert. It would take more than an "all clear" siren to get my body to fall asleep.

Yet again, the siren pierced Shabbat's silence, like a terrorist in the frenzy of murder.

If the sound of the siren is unbearable in the living room, then there's no way I could attempt to sleep in our bedroom, which is much closer to the siren's loudspeaker.

Our street was silent. No soldiers rushing around, nor ambulances providing first aid to injured.

If something has happened in Shiloh, it didn't happen in my neighborhood.

Siren, stop your screeching. I can't take it anymore.

No doubt my blood pressure is sky high.

Gd willing the sirens are just to tell us to stay indoors, because of a suspected incursion. This happens periodically in Jewish villages. Today's security is high tech, which can detect movement on the borders, even when there aren't any fences. Many times it's no more than a patrolling soldier taking a discrete "leak." But until it's known for sure what triggered the alarm, we must stay put. It's already past bedtime, so I have no plans to leave.

Again a siren...

And now I see lights rotating like at a disco from army vehicles in the street. They must be looking for terrorists, or just missing kids...

Our kids are grown up and don't live at home.

I'm tired. Can I risk falling asleep? What if the sirens resume?

I finally get myself ready for bed, but end up reading on the couch.  And then I dozed off.

Did someone just call me? I'm up again.

I try to sleep in bed. Again I doze off, but I thought I heard knocking. I'm up again. But I'm silent.

Back to the couch, and then back to bed.

Finally asleep...

My husband tries to wake me up to go to synagogue.

"No," I tell him. "I need to finally sleep. You go, and when you find out what had happened at night, come home and tell me."

Later on my husband returned with a report:

"Suspected incursion."

Nobody found. No injuries or damage reported, Baruch Hashem, Thank Gd.

Later I went to the synagogue. A young neighbor said that she had to turn on her phone and call the parents of children who were in her house when the sirens had began. Instructions are that nobody is to go outside during security alerts. She, in turn, got calls from other parents who had her children.

Thank Gd we only lost sleep, not lives.

Shavua Tov

Have a Wonderful Week

Terror has Returned to Israel's South, Courtesy of Gazan Terrorists

life in the shelters Life on the border with Gaza - things people may not know (but should)

a house hit by Gazan rocket Life on the border with Gaza - things people may not know (but should)

These pictures are used with permission from the facebook group,  Life on the border with Gaza - things people may not know (but should).

While we here in Shiloh had a nice quiet, pleasant Shabbat, Israelis living in the south, near Gaza and not so close to Gaza were attacked by Gazan terrorists. At first when I turned on my computer and saw some posts from friends, I hadn't a clue to what they were referring to.

Shavua Tov! Southern gals, are you all ok? We even had a siren in Beit Shemesh!

But then I found out that hundreds and hundreds of rockets had been fired at Israel by the Gazan terrorists. Some actually hit homes and people and did major damage.

At present Israel has a "lame duck" government, since there isn't a new coalition yet. But since there will probably be a similar one to what we had with a lot of the same political parties and ministers, there's no excuse for inaction. We're angry. The country has been through this too many times before.

Gaza was given "independence," and in exchange Israel got just more terror. Arik Sharon and his Disengagement Plan only increased the terror. The foreign backers of the Gazan terrorists have given them more and more weapons/rockets and worse.

In a few days we're celebrating Israeli Independence Day 71, and I pray that we act like a proud independent country and destroy our enemies, Gd willing.

Shabbat Zachor, Remembering 23 Years Since "My" Terror Attack

Davka Shabbat Zachor...

• It's a full year-- innocent Jews in Southern Israel have been suffering from riots and attacks and fires from Gaza...
• Twenty-three 23 years since I was injured in a terror attack.

This Shabbat as I sat in shul reading the special Maftir (Torah portion) and Haftara, ISamuel 15:1-34 (click and read the entire chapter;) the words were so clear and simple.

זָכ֕וֹר אֵ֛ת אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֥ה לְךָ֖ עֲמָלֵ֑ק בַּדֶּ֖רֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶ֥ם מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃
Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt—
אֲשֶׁ֨ר קָֽרְךָ֜ בַּדֶּ֗רֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּ֤ב בְּךָ֙ כָּל־הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִ֣ים אַֽחַרֶ֔יךָ וְאַתָּ֖ה עָיֵ֣ף וְיָגֵ֑עַ וְלֹ֥א יָרֵ֖א אֱלֹהִֽים׃
how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear.
וְהָיָ֡ה בְּהָנִ֣יחַ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֣יךָ ׀ לְ֠ךָ מִכָּל־אֹ֨יְבֶ֜יךָ מִסָּבִ֗יב בָּאָ֙רֶץ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יְהוָֽה־אֱ֠לֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵ֨ן לְךָ֤ נַחֲלָה֙ לְרִשְׁתָּ֔הּ תִּמְחֶה֙ אֶת־זֵ֣כֶר עֲמָלֵ֔ק מִתַּ֖חַת הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם לֹ֖א תִּשְׁכָּֽח׃ (פ)
Therefore, when the LORD your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

2 So said the Lord of Hosts, 'I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid (wait) for him on the way, when he came up out of Egypt.
בכֹּ֚ה אָמַר֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֔וֹת פָּקַ֕דְתִּי אֵ֛ת אֲשֶׁר־עָשָֹ֥ה עֲמָלֵ֖ק לְיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אֲשֶׁר־שָֹ֥ם לוֹ֙ בַּדֶּ֔רֶךְ בַּעֲלֹת֖וֹ מִמִּצְרָֽיִם:
3 Now, go, and you shall smite Amalek, and you shall utterly destroy all that is his, and you shall not have pity on him: and you shall slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.' "
געַתָּה֩ לֵ֨ךְ וְהִכִּֽיתָ֜ה אֶת־עֲמָלֵ֗ק וְהַֽחֲרַמְתֶּם֙ אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־ל֔וֹ וְלֹ֥א תַחְמֹ֖ל עָלָ֑יו וְהֵמַתָּ֞ה מֵאִ֣ישׁ עַד־אִשָּׁ֗ה מֵֽעֹלֵל֙ וְעַד־יוֹנֵ֔ק מִשּׁ֣וֹר וְעַד־שֶֹ֔ה מִגָּמָ֖ל וְעַד־חֲמֽוֹר:

Unfortunately, the message, the mitzvah, is still very relevant. That's because King Saul did not obey Gd's orders, that important mitzvah. Saul didn't immediately execute all of Amalek. Yes, it's a mitzvah to execute/kill Amalek and his descendants, those enemies who aim to destroy us. It isn't cruel to kill them, even the women and the children. We won't have true peace until our enemies are dead and gone.

That's the message or Zachor,Remember. That's the message of Purim. We dress up in costumes to disguise ourselves, and lehavdil, to differentiate, our enemies of today dress in proper suits and come armed with NGOs, diplomats, academics, journalists and smiling surgically enhanced celebrities using doublespeak to demand our destruction in pretty euphemisms.

Today, thousands of years after King Saul failed in his Gd given mission, more innocent Jewish families are in mourning, because more Israelis are being murdered by Arab terrorists. And successive Israeli Governments continue the ways of Saul by warning our enemies, rather than executing them.

• Wasting expensive ammunition on empty buildings will not bring us peace.
• Apologizing for killing or injuring rioters, regardless of their age/sex, will not bring us peace.
• Giving diplomatic immunity to terrorists and their supporters will not bring us peace.
• Negotiating and compromising will not give us peace.

May this year be the year we totally destroy Amalek, Gd willing!

Chag Purim Sameach

Potential Security Deterioration in Mateh Binyamin

For years when there had been reports of terror attacks, drive bys, rammings, shootings, stabbings at various roadside bus stops in Gush Etzion and the Shomron (Samaria), I'd be able to say that in Mateh Binyamin our security experts have tried to protect us by not approving roadside bus stops. This has now changed.

There have always been trempiadas, hitchhiking posts on the main roads, but official bus stops had been restricted to either inside of communities passing guard posts, like in Ofra, Kochav Hashachar and Sha'ar Binyamin or inside junctions, where there are soldiers stationed, like near the gas station on the way to Psagot/Tel Zion. And until two days ago, January 20, 2019, Givat Asaf, the T junction to Beit El and Ramalla.

When the road "planners" of Mateh Binyamin "upgraded" that junction, which has been plagued by traffic jams and terror attacks, they somehow forgot that not only are there buses that go to and from Beit El, but all of the buses on Highway 60 in both directions turn in so that passengers can board and unboard. More frequently than you'd like to imagine, the buses got stuck, because various vehicles blocked their way. In addition, there was no coordination between where the buses turned and the exiting bus stop. The whole setup had become a major nightmare, but at least if I caught a ride going into Beit El, I could wait relatively safely on the inner road for a bus going towards Jerusalem.

For me, ramming terror attacks are something I've experienced, so I fear them more than other terror genres. I was lightly injured in the very first ramming terror attack over twenty years ago. 

I was horrified to discover that from now on the official bus stops are on the main road. There is now a traffic light, including a pedestrian one, but that decreases security. I've passed by a few times already, and travelers are on their own there. Security personnel stand in relative safety inside structures on the inner road leading to Beit El and Ramalla.

Here are some photos I took yesterday going north on my way home to Shiloh:

the new Givat Asaf Junction, showing its traffic lights

bus stop going south towards Jerusalem
buses stopped to pick up and let off passengers will stop traffic

going north to Ofra, Shiloh and Ariel

going north to Ofra, Shiloh and Ariel

Is This Art?

It could be. Maybe it's a glass mosaic aka stained glass? There's something haunting about it, like a Vincent Van Gogh painting when his demons were overpowering him.

Well, the truth is that the "technique" is related to "demons," but not the imaginary kind, not the kind of a schizophrenic, chemically imbalanced mind.

Yesterday, when I got on the bus home from Sha'ar Binyamin burdened with heavy shopping bags, the closest unoccupied seat was by a cracked window. I try not to sit by cracked windows. The buses that ply our routes have bulletproof windows. They are also strong enough to stay whole/unbroken if a rock is thrown at it. To be accurate, that's true until you see cracks like this one had.

bus window cracked by Arab terrorists attack

The recent increase in Arab terror attacks, davka, on the road we travel, has killed, injured and caused damage. Thank Gd yesterday's trip to and from Jerusalem was uneventful, but we can never take an easy and safe trip for granted.

Only in Israel, Terror Victims, Cared for by All

Decades ago, when a horrendous fatal car accident halved a local family, the injured survivors were cared for in the same hospital room, where they sat shiva together. Many times since, I've seen pictures of hospitalized family members, of both sexes and various ages, in the same hospital room. It's a very humane and comforting policy, which doesn't exist in other countries.

The young couple, Shira and Amichai Ish-Ran, who as a result of an Arab terror attack outside of Ofra, not only were injured, but as a result of Shira's injury, their baby didn't survive. They are now together in Shaare Tzedek Hospital in the same room. Obviously, after such physical, medical and emotional trauma, they have a lot to deal with. Separation would have only made it worse.

According to Jewish Law, there's no mourning, shiva-all the usual restrictions, after the death of a tiny baby under a month old, so friends came to sing to them.



Do you see this in other countries? Only in Israel.

Terror ATTACK, Not "Incident"

I'm a rare breed. I love grammar, and I have a very sensitive ear to the nuances of language. I've written many times about how important it is to word bombing, shellings, rocket attacks, etc in "active" rather than "passive." Also, please don't word things giving the impression that a gun spontaneously aimed itself and shot someone.

Please don't write/say:

"Weapon fired at..."
"Missiles were launched at..."

Calling a terror attack an "incident" also makes me furious. The definition of "incident" is:

1. an individual occurrence or event.
2. a distinct piece of action, or an episode, as in a story or play.
3. something that occurs casually in connection with something else

I also go rather ballistic when I read about people/Jews "who perished" in the Holocaust, as if it was a natural disaster, like an avalanche.

By using "parve" gentle words and inaccurate grammatical forms one is actually distorting the truth.

It is not an "incident, something that occurs casually" when Arab terrorists shoot at innocent Jews standing at a junction.
Photo of the "live" via facebook funeral of prematurely born Amiad Yisrael Ish-Ran.

Accurate reporting and writing is extremely crucial in Israel's war for survival against the cruelest of enemies, Arab terrorists and their supporters. Don't be shy about writing clearly and bluntly.

No Words... אין מילים

Many people here in Israel and the Jewish World know exactly what I mean.

A tiny baby died today.

The tiny baby was one of the youngest victims of Arab terrorism.

The tiny baby was even younger than Yehuda Shoham, HaY"aD, a neighbor of mine, who at the age of five months died as the result of a terror attack less than twenty years ago.

There have been so many Arab terror attacks against innocent Jews that it's hard to remember them all, and it's hard to remember all of the victims.

But for the past few days many of us have been praying for this tiny baby, whether we know the family or not. Actually, many of us have discovered that we do know the family. And even if we don't have a personal connection, how could anyone remain disengaged from the story of a young beautiful couple who had been among a handful of people trying to get a ride outside of Ofra and were shot and injured by Arab terrorists?

The most seriously injured was a young woman,  married barely a year ago. She was pregnant with their first child. And now the baby is dead, and the young mother has to recover from life-threatening injuries.

Our thoughts, love and sympathy are with Amichai and Shira Ish-Ran, their family and close friends.

Baruch Dayan Ha'emett
ברוך דיין האמת
Blessed is The True Judge

Section of Shiloh Cemetery
The cemetery was started when Rachella Druk, HaYa"D, was murdered by Arab terrorists over twenty five years ago.

Pray For Victims of Arab Terror

As Chanukah neared an end Arab terrorists attacked a roadside trempiada, hitchhiking post outside of Ofra in the most cowardly of ways. They shot at the innocent people waiting for rides. It's a place I sometimes find myself at, because people going to and towards Shiloh pass by. My practice is to check the bus app efobus to see when a bus to Shiloh should be arriving. And if there isn't a bus within a reasonable amount of time, I wait outside on the sidewalk, behind the barriers.  The barriers can prevent a regular car from hitting people, but it won't stop bullets.

Over half a dozen people were injured including a young pregnant woman. Her baby was delivered prematurely as soon as she got to the hospital. They all need our prayers.

רפואה שלימה:
 התינוק בן שירה יעל, שירה יעל בת ליאורה שרה
Complete recovery to:
Tinok (baby) ben of Shira Yael
Shira Yael bat Leora Sarah

Prayers from the Holy Site of Shiloh

No "peace plan" will stop terror, only physically eradicating the terrorists and their financial backing will be good first steps. It will take generations to change their belief in terror and hatred of Jews and Israelis.

Arab Terror War Against Israel, Bibi, Wake Up!

LIVE UPDATES: GAZA VIOLENCE ESCALATES, OVER 150 ROCKETS LAUNCHED

Jewish homes have been hit, and innocent Jews have been injured by these Arab terrorists. These violent attacks can't continue!

My friend in the South of Israel reported:

Missile siren in the South Sderot, Shaare HaNegev.,8 missiles. 4 rockets fired at Sderot. Iron Dome took out 2

2nd siren for us in 20 minutes

The State of Israel must react strongly and decimate the Arab terrorists!

War, Surreal

Occasionally, we get a series of phone messages to tell us that there's a security drill going on here in Shiloh. Sometimes it's just to warn us not to panic when a siren goes off. They describe the drill siren versus a Gd forbid real one. Other times we have to lock up, turn off inside lights, get off the streets and even call in to a certain number to say we're fine. It's important that our security crew practices, and we all pray that they never have to deal with the real thing, an attack by Arab terrorists, dangerous rockets or finding our pastoral community a war zone.

Israel, even if you ignore that pesky "green line" and consider the June, 1967 ceasefire lines, is a very tiny country. At some point, I think it was post-Nixon, an American general suggested serious security buffer zones between Israel and the Arabs. In theory, maybe, he had a good idea, but his so-called buffer zones to go north-south were wider than  pre-1967 Israel.

TORAH AURA Map of Israel

Even though the State of Israel is very small by international standards, I only hear about the Arab attacks from Gaza on southern Israel from the internet news and Israeli media. They don't directly affect us. We in Shiloh aren't awakened by sirens, alarms, rockets, jets or raging fires the way my friends in the south of Israel are. It's surreal, and the dangers are just too easy to ignore.

Rocket barrage on southern Israel, IDF attacks in Gaza
Series of sirens heard in Gaza Belt region. IDF says 12 rockets fired, three of them intercepted by Iron Dome

I have friends who, like me, live far from the south, but they have signed up to get real time alerts on their phones, as if they lived in Ashkelon or one of the small communities that are constantly suffering from Gaza launched rockets, fire bombs etc. They wake up in a panic just like our friends in Netivot. The only difference is that they don't have to run within seconds to a shelter, and they can stay safely in bed in pajamas.

Israeli news media tries to "comfort" readers/listeners by relating the successes of the Iron Dome in intercepting dangerous rockets which had been launched at Israeli civilians. Instead of using military might to destroy our enemies, we just try to render their attacks harmless. That just encourages to increase the violence against us. The State of Israel must take off the kid gloves and defend us by destroying our enemies, not just deflecting the rockets.

Also, in the long run we here in the center of the country, far from Gaza, are also in danger, since local terrorists are encouraged by those in the south. Gd willing we will get a government that isn't afraid to truly defend us by destroying our enemies!

Hamas, Gazan Terrorists Destroy Land

Click and Watch This!


Farms and agriculture have been destroyed by the Arab Gazan Hamas terror kites.

Various sites and communities in the Eshkol Regional Council and the Sha’ar Hanegev regional council were hit by the kites, including Kissufim, Nirim, Miflasim, Ein Hashlosha and Nir Am.
KKL-JNF staff and national firefighters managed to gain control over the fires.
KKL-JNF said Tuesday that it intends to sue Hamas in international legal court for the severe environmental damages that were caused to KKL-JNF land in the area surrounding the Gaza border from rockets, mortar shells and incendiary kites launched from the enclave into Israel. 

This is the truth, not that the world, international media, NGOs etc care.

Friends who live in the south of Israel have been reporting sleepless nights, as they are frequently awakened by security alerts which order them to get to safe rooms within seconds. There are also the sounds of fighter planes buzzing overhead day and night. They try to guess if the bombing they here is from an attack by the Arab Hamas Gazan terrorists against us  or our defensive acts.

Fields and orchards have been burnt by the Arab kite bombs, clever photogenic weapons celebrated by Israel's enemies.

The Arabs don't love this Land. They just love to destroy it and anything they can associate with Israel and Jews.

Deja Vu, Another Terror Ramming

Every time an Arab terrorist uses a vehicle as a weapon against Israelis/Jews, I feel an ache. Over twenty years ago, I was most probably the very first to be injured by an Arab terrorist who drove his vehicle into a group of Jews waiting at a bus stop. Nobody can remember such a terror attack before "mine." The Israeli police tried to claim that it was an "accident," but we managed to convince them that nobody "accidentally" makes a sharp turn onto a sidewalk and another sharp turn to mow down shocked, unprepared innocent people.

Why am I writing about these terror attacks again? It's because right before Shabbat, there was another terror ramming attack.

Two killed, two injured in car-ramming attack in Samariapic.twitter.com/iRmWCrgpN0

IDF Sergeant Netanel Kahalani, Courtesy of the family (Arutz 7)

An IDF officer and a soldier were killed and two additional soldiers were injured in a car-ramming attack adjacent to Mevo Dotan in Samaria on Friday afternoon.
The injured soldiers were taken to the hospital for medical treatment, said the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
The Arab terrorist initially fled the scene but was later caught. The IDF said he was injured and was taken to the hospital. He is being questioned and IDF troops are searching the area.

Recently this has become much too common, and that is because it really is easy. And there aren't any totally effective ways to prevent these ramming attacks.

All we can do is to stay alert, keep our eyes on the traffic. And when we're waiting, we should "case the joint," look and see where we can find protection. And of course we must always pray to Gd. Gd can protect us, but we must do our part.

Refuah Shleimah, a full and speedy recovery to the injured.

Zachor! Remember!

This upcoming Shabbat is Shabbat Zachor! Remember! It's a mitzvah, Torah commandment to remember that we have enemies who want to destroy us completely and take advantage of our weaknesses, like the Biblical Amaleks.

This Shabbat also marks twenty-two 22 years since I was injured in an Arab terror attack, which was the first ramming attack. A woman was murdered by the Arab terrorist at "my" terror attack, and a couple of dozen were injured more seriously than myself.

Yesterday, when on a bus home, I suddenly noticed that two of the bus windows had obvious signs that they had been hit by rocks. And it's no secret that there are periodic Arab terror attacks, low-tech rock throwing, on the roads. Rocks when thrown by Arab terrorists can kill, too.  Yehuda Shoham, HaYa"D, the baby son of neighbors was killed by Arab terrorists throwing rocks at their car.

I posted the photos on Instagram and facebook. Lots of people asked what had happened, so I replied that the damage was from an old attack. Egged Taavura just hasn't replaced the windows. Then someone wrote that those damaged windows are a reminder, like Shabbat Zachor. That's a very good point.

REMEMBER we have real enemies who want us dead and no allies who will help defend us. We, the Jewish People only have each other and Gd.

Stop the Waze and Read a Map!

Here's the video of Israeli soldiers, who by following Waze, not having a clue where they were ended up in Jenin and were attacked.



This isn't the first time such a thing has happened. Waze and Google Maps, which should be used to supplement map navigating, quickly replaced the trusty map.

One should first learn location, topography etc, map out a couple of possible routes and then you can check Waze to see which of those routes would be best, due to traffic and all. By first learning about the actual location, you'd be perfectly aware that Waze is recommending entering dangerous territory.

Please don't get me wrong. None of this excuses terrorism and violence by Arab terrorists. The situation that the Israeli Government has allowed terrorists to run free just minutes from innocent Jews is immoral and dangerous in all possible ways. The only apartheid here is the fact that Jews are severely restricted, not allowed by the PA Palestinian Authority Arabs in any place they were given to control. And even worse, Israeli Arab neighborhoods and towns are frequently dangerous for Jews to enter, drive through and shop in. But Arabs are allowed to enter and work unharmed, even renting and buying homes in Jewish neighborhoods.

Learn where you're going. Use a real map.

Why Does it Take Murdered Jews for Government to Act?

For decades I've been asking this question. There has been a long-standing custom, even predating the establishment of the State of Israel, to establish and name communities and even cities after Jews murdered by Arab terrorists. The list of such places is very long, and I'm not going to try to list all of the communities/towns/cities that fit that criteria.

Just in the past few days, the community of Chavat Gilad, which is built on private Jewish land, was given approval, because of the sympathy the Israeli government felt for the residents after one was murdered by an Arab terrorist.

Shvut Rachel, which is just a few minutes' walk east from my house, was established on land allocated to Shiloh by a garin, group of people planning on living as a community together, that had plans to establish a new community east of Shiloh before Rachella Druk, HaYa"D, was murdered, but hadn't actually done it. After Rachella was murdered, they quickly moved caravans to the site which is now Shvut Rachel, and a yishuv was born. I've been wondering ever since about the possibility that if only they had established a new community beforehand, would Rachella be alive today?

Why do we only react to horrible tragedies? In recent decades this has become pretty much the only impetus for Jewish settlement. Forty years ago when Shiloh, Tekoa, Beit El, Efrat, Ariel and many other Jewish communities were established, there was a drive to fill the Biblical landscape with modern Jewish life.

We must return to the ideology of settlement in the Land of Israel because it is ours and our right, privilege and obligation to live here, not as a reaction to murder!