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.
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| screenshot from my computer of the Jerusalem Post |
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| From my blog post Opening Old Wounds, Disengagement, Part 1 |
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.
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"
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.
Here are a few, most recent first:
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.
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.
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 #谞讬爪讞讜谉诪讜讞诇讟 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.
Why did it take Bibi a year and a half to go after him?
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:
