Hamas/Gaza War Musings #45: Bottom Line-- Bibi has FAILED

Simply put: If Bibi was a good leader, a good competent Prime Minister, then Hamas wouldn't have attacked Israel October 7, 2023... and if you insist that they still would have attacked... then we should have won within a few weeks. Really. 

I'm a pragmatist, a CPA's daughter. I look at the bottom line. We may win some battles, but we're not winning the war. True Total Victory seems further away now than a year ago. Sorry to sound so depressing, but I'm a realist.

Here's another of my "Gnite" posts:

I feel like a broken record in responding to Bibi's statements, since he hasn't really said anything new...

Promises, platitudes and threats... depending on who's the audience. We never win, just take breaks... duh! No war was ever won like that.

The IDF which was once one of the best armies in the world...

Israel which is such a tiny country...

Civilians and reservists who heard about Hamas's attack on Israel's south made it to defend the country before the army. We've always bragged that we're a civilian army, but that's not quite what was meant.

The slogan אחרי Acharei--AFTER ME traditionally meant that the generals led from heading into battle, not civilians first and generals in the safety of their homes and offices.

Early in the war, the older reservists, sometimes serving along with their sons, reported that it was the third or fourth time fighting for the same land in Gaza. Each time they won, but then were told by the government to give it back to the terrorists.

Something stinks, and it's coming from the our so-called leaders, Bibi and mafia. They show up for photo-ops and then return to safety.

The State of Israel is in serious danger.

Our soldiers are the best, but they can't make policy. The policymakers are from "lala" land. Bibi's policy is destroying the morale of the soldiers, who aren't stupid. They realize that they're being used and lives wasted. Don't Likud voters realize what they've voted for?

Trump's not going to save us. We must save ourselves. As a student of the Bible, especially Navi-Prophets, it's clear deja vu אין חדש ain chadash nothing's new. When we fight without asking for foreign help, then Gd will pitch in with miracles. And we must resettle Gaza. It's ours. We must act as a sovereign nation. That's the only way for #TotalVictory. #ניצחוןמוחלט

Gd willing, tomorrow will be a better day.

Hamas/Gaza War Musings #42: FIGHT TO WIN! Only VICTORY!

This is the message I wrote last night on Facebook. Israelis are now starting to face the fact that there are very few living hostages. Most have been murdered by the Hamas terrorists, and that includes the young Bibas family. 

We're paying for the few survivors plus bodies and difficult to identify remains with live healthy convicted Arab terrorists. We're emptying the jails and filling the hospitals and cemeteries, including future Arab terror victims. This is insane, and the people responsible for our lack of immediate military response, government, security and IDF haven't been fired, charged etc. Almost none have even admitted mistakes to the citizens of Israel. 

Think about it...

PS because of changes in blogger, I can't use any of my newer photos, just those that I've already posted.

Gnite

Most Israelis are trying to wrap their heads around the news that the two cute Bibas kids, their mother and probably most of the remaining hostages, really are dead, murdered by the Hamas terrorists adored by our enemies who claim to be our friends.

In exchange the terrorists get more terrorists for their vicious perverse cruel "army" to murder more Jews.

Yes, as far as I'm concerned, all those who support Hamas and/or chant "From the River to the Sea" etc are our enemies. They support the destruction of the State of Israel. Even if they're so stupid they've never seen a map of Israel, that's no excuse. It just means that they are dangerously useful idiots.

Ditto to all of those who support a "two state solution," which would be the "final solution" for the Gd forbid destruction of the State of Israel.

Yes, I'm blunt. I look at the facts.

Bibi is a record-breaking Prime Minister. There have been more wars under his rule than an other Israeli leader. Actually I don't know if any other country has had as many wars as we've had since Bibi became PM. Of course, he doesn't call them wars, even when our enemies attack us, and we never have a real victory. When they finish their target practice, he proudly declares it's over "and they won't try anything again," but the ceasefire only lasts until the next time...

Somehow Bibi has mesmerized the Likud and its loyal voters... he should have been fired years ago... He's a failure. Hamas is calling the shots and even decides where the released terrorists go.

Under Bibi's rule Israel has surrendered.

When is he going to be sent packing?

AND PLEASE DON'T SAY THAT NOBODY COULD REPLACE HIM!

We won't need elections if the replacement is from the Likud. It just must be someone not afraid to do the right thing. FIGHT TO WIN. None of that "moral" army garbage. No other country has done it, because it's the road to disaster, to losing a war.

I hope I can fall asleep, but at least I wrote what I needed to say.

Gd willing we'll meet again in the morning.

Hamas/Gaza War Musings #39: Bibi Makes Arik Sharon Look Good

 

I wrote a version of this the other night on Facebook before I went to sleep. Many of you already know that I write a "Gnite" post before going to sleep. 

This war is driving me crazy. It seems like we'll be at war forever...

We have a government that's afraid to win. Yes, they're trying "appeasement," which doesn't give security, doesn't give a victory.

Bibi won't do anything without the permission of the USA, and that was even when anti-Israel Democrat Joe Biden was the president. Now he wants Trump's permission/support.

Bibi Netanyahu has given up our sovereignty, Israeli independence.

Deja vu to those of us who study the Tanach/Bible. One of the most repeated messages from the Nevi'im, Prophets is not to depend on foreign countries; then that meant Assyria and Egypt. Now it's the USA. Gd will only help us if we only go to Him and not to foreigners.

That's how we won so quickly and resoundingly in 1967; we had no foreign ally. In 1973 we almost lost, but then Arik Sharon, in his life's greatest action:

Sharon replied, "You don't know? We will cross the Suez Canal and the war will end over there." Sharon arrived at the front, to participate in his fourth war, in a civilian car.[44] His forces did not engage the Egyptian Army immediately, despite his requests. Under cover of darkness, Sharon's forces moved to a point on the Suez Canal that had been prepared before the war. In a move that again thwarted the commands of his superiors, Sharon's division crossed the Suez, effectively winning the war for Israel.[17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Sharon....

Today we don't have an Arik Sharon, who later destroyed his good name by initiating Disengagement, removing the IDF and Israeli citizens, dead and alive from the Gaza Strip. It was his undoing, and we're paying the price decades later.

When he was good, he was very, very good, but when he was bad, he was HORRID!

The Leftist, American trained mafia which has been running the Israeli defense establishment in recent decades promotes yes-men, and a military leader like Arik Sharon would have been retired young and not welcomed as a reservist in recent decades. Remember that the Yom Kippur War was over half a century ago.

In recent years, decades maybe, potential IDF top officers are sent for training and instructions from the USA. Please remember that the USA has never fought a war in the USA, for its survival. Its specialty is fleeing under fire, leaving its soldiers to be captured and die. That's how it has left foreign countries in recent decades. Israel copied it in Lebanon. I wish is was a "joke;" it's the truth.

Yes, very depressing

Very dangerous

Israel is a tiny country with many enemies and no reliable human and diplomatic allies.

Gd won't help when we do what we've been doing... I keep reading this warning in the Bible, Isaiah, Jeremiah and more...

Israel must produce its own weapons, made from Israeli parts. Military industries will bring money into our coffers. The USA has a rule, that if any part of a weapon is from the states, we can't market the weapon without American permission. Over decades they've offered us "parts" to destroy our industries and economy, to make Israel depended on them. They don't give us anything from the goodness of their hearts. It's to tie us up.

I don't see Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu as strong enough to change any of this. Think about it. He's not new to the position as Prime Minister. Actually, he's the longest serving Prime Minister in the history of the State of Israel. You should know what that means...

There's no one to blame for this mess other than Bibi and the Left he has been afraid to act against. Pay attention. Listen carefully. Bibi's oratory is on the Right, but his policies are firmly Left. Arik Sharon in his good days built up the Land of Israel, including the very neighborhood I live in. Bibi can't compete with Arik, doesn't come close.

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 #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!

Israel Attacked by Hamas 2023/5784, War Musings #13 We're All Hostages of Hamas, Dangerous Faux Morality & Pressures

 

Some of you may not like this, but as I read the newspapers over Shabbat and thought about all the ridiculous things I keep hearing on the news and various talk shows, it all became clear. 

The Israeli Government, which is probably to be called the Third Bibi Netanyahu Coalition, isn't conducting itself as a strong, proud independent government. Actually, it never truly has. I'll never forget hearing him at the International Bloggers' Conference in 2008 saying that when he'll return to the position as Prime Minister, he'll do it as a centrist. I've written and spoken about it many times. That honest statement of his has made all of his failed policies clear to me, and I can't understand why other people don't get it. 

A Centrist isn't a leader, and we can't afford more mistakes.

But back to the theme of this War Musing...

The Israeli Government and public are being bombarded with orders, warnings, slogans that "our priority must be returning the hostages." I certainly have nothing against any of the hostages, nor their families, Right, Left and Center, but the entire State of Israel is in danger. This isn't just another hijacked airplane story. 

Honestly what's the point of destroying the momentum of our soldiers, yet again, needed to totally defeat Hamas, or endanger our soldiers in rescue attempts when it could, Gd forbid, cause us to lose the war. So then the few survivors (we're not even sure how many of the remaining hostages are even alive) end up being killed here in Israel as the country is Gd forbid invaded by more Hamas terrorists and their supporters?

There's an even bigger problem, which has nothing to do with the hostages that Hamas has taken to Gaza. It's the fact that Netanyahu's government and the Leftist War Cabinet are forcing our soldiers to endanger themselves to protect the so-called "innocent Gazan civilians." Please read War Musings #7 *Volunteers Needed to Sort Innocents from Terrorists.

All the warnings and inspections before we bomb a building turn our soldiers into hostages of the "loony left" who are ruling the State of Israel. This policy is unprecedented and perverse. Israel has been guilty of it for decades. We endanger our soldiers, our children, grandchildren, family, neighbors to protect those who are terrorists or protect terrorists. Our soldiers protect us, and we must protect them! 

The people funding the Return the hostages NOW at all cost are the same antigovernmental anti-Likud, anti-Judicial Reform international Leftists who've been working with Ehud Barak and other Israelis for years to endanger the State of Israel. 

We must totally defeat and destroy the enemy. No mercy. It's that simple, a strange adjective for a dangerous and difficult war. We must change leadership to those who understand this.

Gd willing בע"ה

About That Golda Movie and American Friendship sic

 

photo taken in Yad Veshem
בכל דור ודור
In every generation

I understand that many viewers think it's like a documentary. 

We had made aliyah three years before the war and were living in Bayit Vegan at the time. 

It didn't take me long to be very suspicious of the Americans, especially Kissinger. Time has only strengthened these feelings. 

Does the movie show Golda asking Kissinger why the Americans told Israel that there was nothing to worry about, when there had been unusual activity on the Egyptian front? She should have asked Kissinger, and she shouldn't have been so naïve as to trust him. 

Nixon sent him, knowing that Kissinger could easily con the Israelis. This is what I've suspected ever since the war was going on. 

Around thirty years ago, an old friend called from the states and told me that a friend of hers had been in the American Army in 1973. That August he was stationed in Germany and they were suddenly confined to base. Later on they were given desert equipment, still confined to base. Only after Israel miraculously and unexpectedly defeated the Arabs, their status changed. That really made me think that something stank.

Bruce Brill's book, Deceit of an Ally, only confirmed my suspicions. I highly recommend that you read Brill's book, his memoirs of the the Yom Kippur War while working for American National Security Agency (NSA.) 

Every time I hear an Israeli Government official or some commentator blithely state that America is Israel's closest ally, friend, etcetera, all I can think is with friends like that we don't need enemies.

I remember the 1967 Six Days War well and have studied Israel's earlier history. It's very clear that our greatest victories were without any human or diplomatic help. It was very obvious and clear to me in 1967 that The USA was happy to stay on the sidelines, dumb--meaning mute--not saying a word against the countries trying to destroy Israel. And in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War, the USA was trying to create a military stalemate and get Israel to beg to become a protectorate. Kissinger was then slated to be the first "caretaker," military governor or whatever they or he had been planning to call the position. 

And about recent decades, please don't tell me that America gives Israel "aid." It gives Israel BUY IN AMERICA shopping coupons. which strengthen (subsidizes) American military industries and cripples/restricts Israel's. There are all sorts of "strings" connected to these gifts. The IDF Israel Defense Forces has become a sort of drug addict, addicted and dependent on these American products instead of producing and marketing our own. Even worse, our brilliant technology is used by the Americans which they use to control us.

Please think about it. Maybe I sound crazy, but as it's said:

Even paranoids can have enemies!

Israel's Memorial Day Isn't Just About Dead Soldiers

My husband and I made aliyah in 1970 to a very different Israel. The State of Israel was just twenty-two 22 years old. It had recovered from the early days of rationed food and finally, post 1967 Six Days War, had defensible borders and a Capital City that wasn't jaggedly ripped and threatened daily by enemy snipers. New neighborhoods, like a regal crown, were under construction in recently liberated Jerusalem, and a new road safely and relatively quickly connected it with the more affluent coastal plain, including Tel Aviv. 

In those days, Israel's Memorial Day only commemorated, remembered soldiers who had been killed during army service. It took almost fifty years, 1997, to broaden it officially and rename it Yom HaZikaron LeHalelei Ma'arkhot Yisrael ul'Nifge'ei Pe'ulot HaEivah יוֹם הזִּכָּרוֹן לְחַלְלֵי מַעַרְכוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל וּלְנִפְגְעֵי פְּעֻלּוֹת הָאֵיבָה‎,  'Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers of the Wars of Israel and Victims of Actions of Terrorism.' That means that victims of terrorism are included, too. Not only are terror victims included in the ceremonies, but the families get more help from the government than previously.

Please don't think that there's always that much difference between the heroism of the dead soldiers and dead civilians. Some of the dead soldiers had spent their army service at very safe desk jobs, or were killed in civilian-type accidents, and some of the civilians died trying to save others in a terror attack. And we must all remember that Arab terrorists don't distinguish between soldiers and civilians. For them there's no difference between a toddler, bus driver and sniper, as long as there's a chance that they are Jewish/Israeli.

Unfortunately, as part of the antigovernment campaign, the opposition has demanded that no minister who hadn't done active army service represent the government in memorial ceremonies. By making such a distinction, the antigovernment activists are going back a quarter of a century and removing victims of terror from Israel's Memorial Day.

Unfortunately, many people who should know better have joined them. I'm rather surprised at Miriam Peretz among others. Peretz has joined the antigovernment campaign to marginalize/boycott the democratically elected government. 

There are all sorts of opposition groups campaigning hard against the government, and one of their "weapons" is that many of the prominent government ministers had never served in the IDF (not that they ever protested about Shimon Peres) and therefore have no right to publicly mourn/speak at Memorial Day ceremonies/events. 

This opposition totally ignores that Memorial Day also mourns victims of Arab terror. Arab terrorists don't distinguish between soldiers and civilians, men and women, adults and children, Jews and non-Jews nor Israelis and tourists. 

Why is the opposition making two or more classes of victims? Where's the unity? According to Jewish Law and custom, the dead are buried wrapped in simple cloth, preferably without even a coffin, because there shouldn't be distinctions between rich and poor, prominent citizens and ordinary people. IDF dead are buried in the simplest wooden coffin to constructed to disintegrate quickly into the earth, because not all the dead bodies can be neatly wrapped up in the traditional shrouds. 

All dead are equally dead; don't distinguish. 

Israelis mourn on Memorial Day, each in their own ways. Some of those we mourn were killed as Israeli soldiers, while others were civilians, random victims of Arab terrorism, and other stories are much more complex. 

There's something else, which is very important to me:

I have been saying for a long time that the present coalition should publicly apologize for their horrendous behavior when they were in the opposition last year. That would be a good step in unifying the citizens of the State of Israel.

When Terrorists are The Enemy, Pussyfooting Doesn't Help

You don't need to understand Hebrew all that well to see what's on the map. The red things represent the missiles fired by the Gazan terrorists. There are basically two targeted areas, Israel's south and up the coast until almost Tel Aviv. 

Tel Aviv is on the coast at almost the top of this map. And if you'd like to know where Shiloh is, just look to the east (right) of Tel Aviv, while your finger is moving north (up) from Jerusalem. That should give a pretty good approximation.

The history of Israel's wars have three highlighted as great miraculous victories. They are the 1948-9 War of Independence, the 1967 Six Days War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The first two wars were fought by Israel totally alone. We just did what we had to do, and Gd helped us to win.

The War for Israeli Independence, the ragtag army of sabras, newly arrived refugees, foreign volunteers and almost no weapons knew that had no choice other than to win. So they just kept on fighting. By the time there was a ceasefire, the State of Israel had begun to function, and the Jewish State was reborn. And without thinking twice, new immigrants were sent to live in the buildings abandoned by the Arabs who had fled. Mansions were renovated into small apartment houses, and villages kibbutz fields and orchards.

Actually, in 1967, when it was clear that the Arabs were going to attack, we surprised them by shooting first. And that's why we won, against all odds in just six days. The importance of taking the initiative was because in order to win we had to destroy the enemy air force and break them psychologically.  We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. Nobody in the government or IDF expected not only such a rapid victictory, but nobody thought or planned for us to liberate all the Land from the Golan to the Suez Canal and eastward to the Jordan River. Once we got started, Gd took over. But instead of encouraging, or at least allowing Jews to settle in the Biblical Heartland liberated in the war, most of the Land was held for Arabs in a mistaken belief that they'd be happy to accept it "back" in exchange for peace with us.

The 1973 Yom Kippur War was a bit more complicated. Israel was taken by surprise and accepted help and advice from the Americans. That "advice" almost caused our defeat and the end of the State of Israel. We finally defeated Syria and Egypt, even liberated more Land but quickly "gave it back" in exchange for nothing.

Now the Israel Government has gone from bad to worse. Gaza has been attacking Israel for well over a decade. Their rockets are getting bigger and go further. Instead of bombing and destroying the Arab Gazan terrorists, successive Israeli Governments just keep pussyfooting around by sending warning letters, bombing empty buildings and then during periodic "ceasefires," we pay the terrorists enough money, so they have oodles to spend on war, weapons to attack us.

It's time for the State of Israel to act like a truly independent proud country. We have to flatten, destroy our enemy completely. And yes, civilians, too. Today's wars aren't like field games where the armies fight far from civilian centers. The Gazan terrorists have their rocket launching pads within residential areas, schools and hospitals. To protect the State of Israel and all its citizens, the IDF must attack without trying to protect the enemy civilians. Protecting Israeli civilians is supposed to be the priority.  It's time to fight like we mean to win, Gd willing. 

Very Cultured IDF Army, Only in Israel

As I blogged on A Jewish Grandmother, the other day I spent a few hours in the Israel Museum. It was full of IDF Israel Defense Force soldiers. No, there wasn't a security emergency. Going to the Israel Museum and many other cultural and historic sites is part of "basic training."

Our soldiers come from all walks of Israeli society, plus many come from abroad and voluntarily serve in the army as lone soldiers. It's very common to see groups of soldiers touring around the country. I consider that one of the very special "only in Israel" aspects of living here.

IDF soldiers aren't just a "fighting force," they are an important part of Israeli society, whether Jewish or not. That's right. Many IDF soldiers aren't Jewish. Some aren't because they are descended from Jewish fathers, and neither their mothers nor they have converted, although they are very Israeli. And less well-known is the fact that Israeli Druze, Bedouin and even regular Israeli Arab Muslims serve in the army.

Life in Israel isn't what the international, very Leftist, media likes to portray. The truth is very different. The only apartheid here is in the areas controlled by Arabs and the PA-Palestinian Authority.

One-Sided War: No Moral Equivalence Between Gaza and Israel

IDF Spokesperson 

Israel is the victim here. The aggressors are the Arab Hamas terrorists in Gaza. It's that simple.

The European Union Ambassador should be ordered back to Europe in retaliation to his anti-Israel statements.

EU ambassador to Israel expresses 'concern' over possibility of 'further escalation.'

Arutz 7

The State of Israel has a responsibility to its citizens to militarily attack all who attack the state.

The kites and balloons that have been launched at Israel aren't carnival toys. They are weapons, and now the Arab Gazan Hamas terrorists, encouraged by NGOs like those coming from the European Union have escalated their attacks by launching rockets at Israel. They have declared war, and we must not ignore or downgrade it.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1018171927054180353

Remembering Friends at Mt Herzl Military Cemetery

As we've been doing since the funerals forty-four years ago, my friends and I met yesterday afternoon at the Mt Herzl Military Cemetery. It's hard to believe that so many decades have passed since our friends from the Betar Zionist Youth Movement, North America, were killed during the 1973 Yom Kippur and its aftermath. Are we really so old? 

Most of us were young parents at the time of the war. Today we're grandparents, some with grandchildren even older than the friends buried here were at the time of their deaths. 

We walked around looking at the ages written on graves, horrified anew. The war may be old on the calendar, but it's fresh in our hearts.

The IDF Israel Defense Forces always assigns a number of young soldiers to attend the Memorials. As we've been doing for many years already, we talk to the soldiers about our friends. The soldiers are always amazed that we meet every single year, and that we are friends, not siblings, cousins etc. Our friendship is stronger than most blood families at this point. We have known each other for so long and been through so much together. Our celebrations and mourning have connected not only us, but our children, too.

This year we went to three graves. Two were of "lone soldiers," but in those days, there weren't any special benefits given to those who came to Israel on their own to serve in the IDF without any family. Friends played an irreplaceable part in the lives of those new immigrants, and the loss of such soldiers hurt friends even more. Also decades ago, when my husband and one of the friends who had been killed in 1973 served in the IDF basic training, the only difference that married men with children got in their service was to have the time reduced. We had no salary for the three months he served, just a small stipend, enough to cover the cost of a chocolate bar, or two, a week, plus soft drinks.

That didn't stop us from living here. We are still here, as are our children and grandchildren, ken yirbu, may there be many, many more Gd willing.

GUEST POST: HOW TO PRAY FOR TZAHAL IDF

בס"ד

HOW TO PRAY FOR TZAHAL
(THE ARMY OF ISRAEL OR IDF)
ANY DAY OF THE WEEK, DAY OR NIGHT©
a guest post by Mr. Cohen
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סוף סדר עמידה:

אֱלֹקי. נְצֹר לְשׁוֹנִי מֵרָע וּשְֹפָתַי מִדַּבֵּר מִרְמָה. וְלִמְקַלְלַי נַפְשִׁי תִדֹּם.

וְנַפְשִׁי כֶּעָפָר לַכֹּל תִּהְיֶה. פְּתַח לִבִּי בְּתוֹרָתֶךָ. וְאַחֲרֵי מִצְוֹתֶיךָ תִּרְדֹּף נַפְשִׁי.

וְכָל הַקָּמִים וְהַחוֹשְׁבִים עָלַי לְרָעָה. מְהֵרָה הָפֵר עֲצָתָם וְקַלְקֵל מַחֲשַׁבְתָּם:

מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקֹב הוּא יְבָרֵךְ אֶת חַיָּלֵי צְבָא הֲגַנָּה לְיִשְֹרָאֵל, הָעוֹמְדִים עַל מִשְׁמַר אַרְצֵנוּ וְעָרֵי אֱלֹקינוּ מִגְּבוּל הַלְּבָנוֹן וְעַד מִדְבַּר מִצְרַיִם וּמִן הַיָּם הַגָּדוֹל עַד לְבוֹא הָעֲרָבָה בַּיַּבָּשָׁה בָּאֲוִיר וּבַיָּם.

יִתֵּן יְדֹוָד אֶת אוֹיְבֵינוּ הַקָּמִים עָלֵינוּ נִגָּפִים לִפְנֵיהֶם. הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא

יִשְׁמֹר וְיַצִּיל אֶת חַיָלֵינוּ מִכָּל צָרָה וְצוּקָה וּמִכָּל נֶגַע וּמַחְלָה,

וְיִשְׁלַח בְּרָכָה וְהַצְלָחָה בְּכָל מַעֲשֵֹה יְדֵיהֶם. יַדְבֵּר שֹוֹנְאֵינוּ תַּחְתֵּיהֶם,

וִיעַטְרֵם בְּכֶתֶר יְשׁוּעָה וּבְעֲטֶרֶת נִצָּחוֹן. וִיקֻיַּם בָּהֶם הַכָּתוּב:

"כִּי יְדֹוָד אֱלֹקיכֶם הַהֹלֵךְ עִמָּכֶם לְהִלָּחֵם לָכֶם עִם אֹיבֵיכֶם לְהוֹשִׁיעַ אֶתְכֶם":

עֲשֵֹה לְמַעַן שְׁמֶךָ. עֲשֵֹה לְמַעַן יְמִינֶךָ. עֲשֵֹה לְמַעַן תּוֹרָתֶךָ.

עֲשֵֹה לְמַעַן קְדֻשָּׁתֶךָ. לְמַעַן יֵחָלְצוּן יְדִידֶיךָ הוֹשִׁיעָה יְמִינְךָ וַעֲנֵנִי:

יִהְיוּ לְרָצוֹן אִמְרֵי פִי וְהֶגְיוֹן לִבִּי לְפָנֶיךָ. יְדֹוָד צוּרִי וְגוֹאֲלִי:

עֹשֶֹה שָׁלוֹם (בעשי"ת הַשָּׁלוֹם) בִּמְרוֹמָיו,

הוּא יַעֲשֶֹה שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשְֹרָאֵל. וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן:

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When I recite Birkat HaMazone, I add these words:

HaRachaman, Hu Yebarech Et Chayaleinu,
Ha’Omdim ‘Al Mishmar Artzeinu.
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Pro-Israel Articles from Aish HaTorah:
www.aish.com/jw/me/Ten-Ways-Israel-Is-Treated-Differently.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/13-Facts-about-Israel--the-Middle-East.html
www.aish.com/jw/s/The_Pro-Palestinians_Real_Agenda.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/Why-Are-There-Still-Palestinian-Refugees.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/The-Arabs-Real-Grievance-against-the-Jews.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/Col-Richard-Kemp-on-Israels-Moral-Army.html
www.aish.com/ho/i/Menachem-Begin-on-the-Lessons-of-the-Holocaust.html

Articles Refuting the BDS Movement from Aish HaTorah:

www.aish.com/jw/me/The-BDS-Smokescreen.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/BDS-The-Attempt-to-Strangle-Israel.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/BDS-and-Anti-Semitism.html
www.aish.com/jw/me/Fighting-BDS-in-the-Name-of-Human-Rights.html
www.aish.com/jw/s/Winning-the-BDS-Battle.html
www.aish.com/jw/s/10-Ways-You-Can-Fight-BDS.html
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OTHER BLOG POSTS BY MR. COHEN:

Quick Bible Quotes from Joshua and Jeremiah:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/11/guest-post-joshua-chapter-23-verse-12.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/12/guest-post-jeremiah-chapter-17.html

Ancient Roman historians connected Jews with the Land of Israel and Jerusalem:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/02/guest-post-josephus-vs-muslim-liars.html
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/05/guest-post-cornelius-tacticus.html

Rambam Rejected Childless Messiah:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/08/rambam-rejected-childless-messiah-by-mr.html

Why Muslims Hate Jews:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/12/guest-post-why-muslims-hate-jews.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/guest-post-moynihan-1982.html

Forgotten Muslim Oppression against Jews:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/guest-post-forgotten-oppression.html

Seven Times Stronger (a quick quote about American anti-Semitism during the Holocaust):
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/guest-post-seven-times-stronger.html

How a Reform Rabbi Become Orthodox (true story):
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/07/how-did-reform-rabbi-become-orthodox-jew.html

Sephardic Jews Reject Reform Judaism:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/07/sephardim-reject-reform.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/08/guest-post-persian-rabbis-decree.html

Greek NYC Jews and Syrian NYC Jews:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/03/greek-jews-syrian-jews.html

How to Convict the New York Times:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/11/guest-post-how-to-convict-new-york-times.html
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/11/guest-post-nyt-erases-israel-from-map.html
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/03/guest-postnyt-vs-israel.html

Why Pray for Tzahal-IDF:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/04/guest-post-why-pray-for-idf.html

How to Pray for Tzahal-IDF:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-to-pray-for-tzahal-idf.html

Why Israel’s 1967 Borders are Undefendable:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/03/guest-post-why-1967-borders-are-suicide.html
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