I've never been much of a blogger, and it's been quite a while since my single previous blog. i feel drawn to write these words as i read comments on misc websites concerning operation Protective Edge.
Frankly, i'm depressed and not sure why i'm bothering to write these words, because in all likelihood they will not be read by any interested parties, and almost certainly no one's opinion will be changed from whatever static image of reality already exists in their head.
also, i talk a lot, and you'll never read all of this.
nevertheless, i guess i just can't keep my mouth shut, and it makes me feel kind of stupid. here, i'll link XKCD to explain why...
before you read this you should know: i'm not right, nor am i left. however you're politically oriented, you will probably get very annoyed with me.
tough.
read at your own peril.
So why am i writing this? what am i trying to say?
i guess the bottom line is this: the Israeli Palestinian conflict is exactly that. a conflict. i read so much nonsense on the internet with people taking sides proclaiming one side or the other to be right and the other to be wrong. a smarter way of looking at it is that everybody's wrong. oh, and also, everybody's right.
see, there's no black and white, there's lots of gray. is that too much for grown people to come to terms with, seriously? is anyone surprised by this sudden revelation that real life situations are not simple and clear cut? a lot of people who have no understanding and are really really ignorant and not aware of almost any facts are taking sides. you should be wiser. you should know better.
maybe if everyone will just shut up and stop supporting any side for say 5 years, we'll manage to get some negotiations done. you won't believe the damage done by well intending Barak Obama. the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
why is there so much nonsense on the web?
the answer to this is quite frankly fascism, but no one looks at it that way.
it's an AMAZING coincidence, but you can pretty much bet that most pro-Israeli comments are written by... (you guessed it!) Israelis! and members of the Jewish community around the world.
a second UNBELIEVABLE coincidence is that most pro-Palestinian comments are written by... (oh my, you are clever) Arabs! and members of the Islamic faith.
how's that for a coincidence, huh?
having said that, consider that there are about 25-30 million Jews around the world, and that there are about half a billion Arabs and a billion+ Muslims and you'll start looking at the pro-con comment ratio differently.
it's also the reason why we Israelis tend to take the UN none-too-seriously. there are 22 official Arabic countries, and 1 Jewish country. are you surprised that it looks like the UN is taking sides? never mind, i digress.
my personal opinion is that opinions are more diverse among the Jewish/Israeli populations, because, quite frankly, that population is better educated.
education = cynicism + nihilism + liberalism.
there's quite a lot of inner criticism among Jews, with the whole Jewish conscience guilt-trip thing going on. Jews who don't live under fire, say in Sderot, but allow themselves to rant single sidedly against Israel really annoy me.
it's a conflict people. you've got 2 sides to blame. no easy way out for anyone...
I allow myself to have an opinion because... well... i live here. so the Palestinians have and opinion, that's fine. Israelis have an opinion, that's fine. someone else has opinion, quite frankly, what the hell do you know about it? have you seen some kind of 10 second video clip on YouTube and now you're an expert on the middle east? whatever.
I'm pro Israel, but that doesn't automatically mean i agree with everything Israel does and am always against the Palestinians. i just think on the whole, that Israel is more in the right than the Palestinians are. That doesn't make any side perfect.
i don't know if i'm racist, or if i'm being racist in this paragraph but the fact of the matter is that most Arabic nations are (or were until quite recently) dictatorships (some in fact but not in name, like...) and that large amounts of the population were purposely kept ignorant and uneducated because it makes it easier to herd them. if you look at videos from Syria you can see almost comical videos of soldiers beating up civilians and shouting at them "do you want the Israelis to come and take over???". give me a break. i wouldn't touch Syria with a rocket.
Israel has always been a scapegoat to the misc Arabic authorities for everything that's wrong in their populaces lives. it's a force of habit. you just need to hear the rubbish Araduan (Turkish prime minister) sprouts on a daily basis to see how even relatively modern Arabic nations such as turkey can be made to turn extreme.
the whole Arabic Spring thing that's been going on the past few years is because it's so much harder to keep people ignorant these days, what with the internet and social media. i wonder at what point in time the Arabs will realize that Israel was never the enemy, and that Israelis never wanted war.
what's up with atheist Turks by the way? are you asleep on your feet guys? if you don't wake up you're going to lose your country, and the world will have yet another Iran. i'm rooting for you. hope you wake up in time. Araduan is pushing hate as if it were opium for the masses. stand up. say something.
which "people" is in the right of it?
that's an easy one: both and neither. also, are you grouping people according to nationality? don't be a fascist.
you want me to elaborate? well, if you insist...
the Israeli Palestinian conflict has been going on for about a century. would it surprise you to know that by this time atrocities have been committed by both sides? that both sides have experienced tragedies? that innocents have suffered?
in the 1970-1980 the Israeli population was split almost down the middle. half said that we should fight the Palestinians, there's no choice. the other half said that we must make peace, make concessions, do what it takes.
it's 30-40 years later. the ratio is leaning much more heavily towards "fight". this is not surprising in the least to anyone who knows anything about the conflict. the bus bombings, the murders, the small scale wars... a new generation was raised under more extreme conditions. and they're more extreme people.
I've no doubt that it's much worse among the Palestinians. i dare say that there are a lot of people in Gaza who are tired of this conflict, and a lot of people who just want revenge. i can relate. i'm tired of this conflict. i also want revenge. i'm human. this war has been around for a century. there's bad blood. is this surprising?
but i still think that Israel is more in the right of it than the Palestinians. and the reason is simple. not i, nor anyone i know (and i was in the army, still am on reserve, and i know a lot of others like me), will just shoot some random Palestinian in the street. i most definitely wouldn't harm a baby or child.
the same cannot be said about the Palestinians as a people, and there are unfortunately more than sufficient examples to prove this point.
oh, children die alright, and it makes me sick to my stomach. but at least i can honestly say that i'm sure no one is aiming at them.
Both groups have extremists who will stop at nothing. but the Palestinians have a lot more such extremists, mostly due to religious fanaticism and brain-washing under the guise of "education" from an early age, that's been going on for decades. There's Hamas camp, and an Arab version of mickey mouse who'se assasinated by Mossad agents and many other methods.
The ongoing conflict is slowly tarnishing the soul of everyone involved. people become livid with rage, hate and fear and it degrades us all, as people, regardless of nationality.
I'm proud to be Israeli because there are still a lot of people i know, who hear about palestinian children dying and call it a tragedy, say how horrible it is and are deeply saddened and disturbed.
they don't say it cynically to cameras to be the good guys.
they just feel, as i do, that children are innocent.
can the same be said about most the Palestinian people? i have my doubts.
a CNN newspaper woman was recently quoted calling some Israelis Scum for celebrating the Gaza bombardment. she has no right to it, i feel, not having gone through what they've gone through. i don't support those Israelis at all. actually, i'm very sad, and even more depressed by them. because i understand how they came to where they are. they were probably just as rational and reasonable as i am, which indicates the same thing could happen to me. maybe even you?
that's why it's a conflict. that's why it's gray.
The city of Sderot and its population have suffered tens of thousands or rocket bombardments in the past decade. i'm sure you mis-read this line, let me repeat.
tens of thousands.
there's an alarm. once you hear the alarm, you have 15 seconds to get to a shelter nearby.
do the following experiment: go to the toilet. comfy? good. relax. it doesn't work if you're stressed you know... ALARM! you have 15 seconds, to... ahem... "become decent" and get to a shelter. didn't make it? you're dead. again. again. again. again. again. again. again. on a daily basis. more than once a day. for more than a decade. how are you holding up? do you sleep well at night? how is your health? can you concentrate at work? how's your marriage holding up? kids alright? getting good grades in school?
and then suddenly, your army... your country... comes into action after all this time. after all this grief! and starts fighting the people who have been launching rockets at you. how do you react? go to the cinema, see independence day. how do the people react when the US army starts attacking the evil alien spaceship? how do the rebels react when the Death Star explodes?
do you get it now?
it's hard for me to say that i would behave differently. actually, it's very easy for me to say it, but it's probably not true. it's also very easy for that reporter. and for you, safe somewhere in England, Germany, Norway, America, Sweden, Ireland or some Arabic nation.
Why not come live in Sderot? you wouldn't believe the apartment prices there. you could live like a king... no?
i would expect journalists to be more professional and keep a neutral state of mind.
they make it seem like it's not... well... a conflict. like things aren't gray. like someone here is Luke Skywalker, and the rest are Darth Vader.
such superficial understanding is... beyond words.
Golda Meir (a previous Israeli prime-minister [and woman BTW. know many female leaders in the Arab world?]) once said that the Israeli-Arab conflict will continue until the Arabs learn to love their children more than they hate us.
She also said that we may one day forgive the Palestinians for killing our children, but we will never be able to forgive them for making us kill theirs.
I've never heard wiser words.
why is operation protective edge taking place?
I'll tell you what i know from press announcements here in Israel.
But first, understand that Israel is a real friggin' democracy. There is, to some major extent "freedom of the press". That means the army and leaders can't do what they want and cover it up, because it will be published by someone. There's significant Arabic population in Israel, and these are represented in the Israeli Knesset and their elected officials pronounce anti-Israeli criticisms almost on a daily basis, with wide press coverage.
Understand what i'm saying: other countries nearby are not as advanced and liberal. I daresay that Israeli press coverage includes a lot truth and a lot of different sides and view points.
Some background: the Palestinians in Israel are concentrated in 2 major geological based groups. there are the Palestinians in the Gaza strip led by Hamas which in Israel is defined as a terrorist organization and the Palestinians in the West Bank led by Fatah which used to be a terrorist organization but which has put down its arms in favor of negotiations and is currently led by Abu-Mazen.
Fatah and Hamas are not friends and have bad blood. they've very recently decided to try and heal the wounds and sort of join forces. there's a lot of political tension as each organization tries to become top-man for all Palestinians.
The west bank is doing OK economically. Gaza is not. Hamas is, quite frankly, bankrupt, and has not paid salaries to anyone in the past 2 months, before the conflict. Fatah still pays money to employees in Gaza. this asymmetry has caused violent outbursts in Gaza, gunfire in the streets and general mayhem. Hamas needed a way out.
At the same time all this is going on, 3 Israeli teenagers were kidnapped in the west bank by Palestinians associated with and influenced by Hamas. it later turned out that they were not kidnapped, but immediately murdered.
Understand that 3 Israeli teenagers is a big deal here. it's my understanding that this never got any press coverage around the world because it's not really important, it's "just" 3 kids, right?
well, remember that we traded 1000 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom deliberately murdered entire families children included for 1 captive soldier, Gilad Shalit.
Hamas knows this, and wants to release more Palestinian prisoners.
This is not surprising to Israelis, we've come to expect this kind of thing. While to most Israelis deliberate murder of children, Palestinian or not would be an atrocity, due to our western way of seeing things, the same cannot be said about the Palestinians, who view things with an Arabic mentality.
I'll put it this way, i once knew a traumatized Israeli soldier. His trauma originated from seeing Palestinians play soccer with the head of a soldier he knew and who died in an explosion from a mine.
I think the entire world saw that video about the Syrian warrior who ate the heart of one of his victims.
Now, Israeli soldiers may kill Palestinian soldiers. but they'll never play soccer with their heads.
do you see the difference?
what really shocked Israelis was that an Arab boy was murdered in retribution by an Israeli gang.
the act was immediately condemned by every official in the country. the father of one of the boys involved in the act was interviewed calling his own son a madman and letting know the extent of his shame and grief. the leader of the gang is a known mental patient who in the past has tried to kill his own children.
Can you compare the mundane Palestinian murder of on Israeli to the unusual Israeli murder of an Arab? do you know how many Israeli terrorists exist, and how many Palestinian? let's put it mildly: the numbers don't compare.
The Arab murder victim by the way, was recognized by Israeli authorities as a terror victim and his family (Arabs all) will receive the usual state help, including finances and support.
Do you know of anything similar with Israeli terror victims by Arab countries?
Israel is a democracy, remember? same law for Jews and Arabs.
The Israeli army went in force into the relatively peaceful area of the west bank in search of the missing teenagers. naturally there were skirmishes. About 4 Palestinian died. All dead were involved with skirmishes. Some were under aged but all were involved in violence. Again, it's a human tragedy and i wish they wouldn't have been so brainwashed by Hamas. The IDF didn't go in there to kill anyone, and you can see that because in an extremely dense urban area, 4 casualties is an incredibly low number. ask the Americans in Iraq.
It's entirely possible that i or some friends would've been called into service to help search for those hostages. You think i'd start shooting at people randomly? think again. i would shoot in self defense though.
On the other hand, maybe if i were a Palestinian teenager and i saw Israeli soldiers breaking down doors for whatever reason, i might have also shown resistance. if i knew how to make a Molotov cocktail, anything could happen. that's the tragedy. that's why it's a conflict. that's where it becomes gray.
you expect different?
A lot of Hamas infrastructure in the west bank was destroyed as retribution for the kidnapping, as it was held responsible for it. remember that Hamas is considered a terrorist organization here.
Hamas seized on this opportunity and increased (because it's always firing rockets, Sderot, remember?) it's firing rate significantly and added more cities into the range of fire. Ashdod, Beer-Sheva, Ashkelon, Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem. that's about 3 million people under rocket fire.
Israel reacted and a cycle of violence ensued.
This initially suited Hamas (who miscalculated). Firing at Israel increases Hamas's prestige in the average Palestinian's eye, and distracts from the empty bank account. Hamas also knows that it gets contributions from Arab nations and the UN after each Israeli skirmish, so it was probably hoping to alleviate some of its financial problems.
At the time no one yet realized the extent of operation, and it wasn't even considered an operation. it was just one of those days, both to the people in Gaza and the people in Sderot.
Since then there have been a number of attempted infiltration attempts into Israeli territory by Hamas forces. these infantry forces did not come to attack military targets, or for some legitimate operation. Their purpose was to kill as many people as they saw, regardless of any criteria.
if, for example, they would have found themselves in an Arabic village, they probably would have caused many casualties before realizing their mistake.
All such infiltration attempts were wiped out by Israeli forces before any damage was done.
These infiltration attempts usually use tunnels, designed specifically for the purpose of killing and kidnapping normal everyday civilians like you and me.
Since then it has become apparent that there are many more tunnels and that these are much more dangerous that initially considered.
All of this time, Hamas has continued to launch rockets at Israel. almost all of the rockets launched at Israel were neutralized in flight, or missed Israeli settlements entirely.
I myself have gone (with my wife and baby) into shelter 7-8 time.
understand me: i have nothing against any Palestinians. i'm just trying to live my life and do my job. Hamas won't let me.
There was an attempted cease fire. Israel stopped firing at 9. Hamas continued firing again and again and actually increased firing rate because it's operatives realized that Israel isn't shooting back. Israel held fire until 15:00 and decided to retaliate.
violence ensued for a while.
There was a humanitarian cease fire. Hamas fired during that timeout as well, though "only" twice. Israel didn't react to the provocation.
There's a lot of criticism against Israel because Israeli casualty rate is so low, and Palestinian casualty rate is so high. this equation is made out of 2 components:
low Israeli casualty rate - good. is there a problem? Israel has a strong army, is well practiced in emergency situation, is in many ways a technological super power. it's good that we can minimize our losses. only our enemies have a problem with that, and i don't. complaining on this clause is tantamount to "I wish more Israelis died". whatever.
high Palestinian casualty rate - i hurt for every Palestinian child or innocent. i'm deeply sorry for that. i'm a father, i have kids. trust me, when i hear that a baby or a child is hit, it makes my want to heave and i feel physically ill. i can understand why a Palestinian would hate Israel after these things. that's why if's a conflict. that's why it's all gray.
I'm not at all sorry for combatant casualties though. that's fine by me.
though as a thinking individualist i realize that if i were born in Gaza i'd be a Palestinian soldier and not an Israeli one and vice-versa.
The same reasoning probably can't be expected from Hamas troops.
Education and brainwashing, remember?
In Israel we often say that something is "so sad, it's funny" the current IDF/Hamas confrontation can only be compared to the following Monty Python sketch. Arthur (IDF) is not interested in a fight. Hamas, just won't let up, no matter the beating, and the tragedy is that when striking at Hamas (the black knight) the Palestinian population (the limbs) suffer. in order to survive politically against Fatah, for this redundant confrontation, Hamas has to be able to "call it a draw" in the end.
We could talk about ratios against other armies in similar situations such as Americans in Iraq, about IDF (Israeli defensive forces) attempts to warn Gaza populations to evacuate, to giving warning shots, to cancelling strikes when innocents are seen, but frankly, even though Israel turns out very well in these regards - no one cares.
There's something that any adult must come to terms with. when bombs start flying, no one is safe.
No Israeli soldier has ever aimed at a child.
Any who have and are known have been imprisoned, i'm sure.
Children have died, however. it's a tragedy. i mean it.
I know that when such catastrophes occur, the IDF investigates. if they're done on purpose by some crazy soldier, that single madman will spend their life in jail. if it was an operation accident, sometimes legitimate and sometimes a discharge is in order. this is war. it's not pretty.
This is one of the reasons i'm proud to be an Israeli. because when something goes wrong and a tragedy happens, we do what we can to decrease it's chances from happening again. it doesn't please us. we didn't choose this fight and we don't enjoy it, even when we win.
Hamas is using civilian population as cover. When the IDF urged citizens to clear their homes because soon an infantry invasion will begin and no guarantees can be made once bullets start flying, it was Hamas who told the same population not to leave, and threatened its own population that anyone leaving will be "taken care of" after the fight. so who's really "occupying" the Gaza strip? Israeli forces were not involved until a few days ago. Israeli forces are trying to minimize Palestinian casualties, while Hamas is trying to prevent this and in fact is maximizing them.
is this getting through to you?
the Israeli ground forces invasion is due to the tunnel threat. we must find and destroy all the tunnels leading into Israeli territories, or suffer major terrorist activity in the following months.
what is the Israeli alternative?
what can we do otherwise?
what do you expect Israel to do?
what would you do?
to sit and do nothing?
Surprisingly enough we actually tried that!
We actually stood by and let Hamas fire rockets on Sderot for 8-9 years without reacting.
To us, that was strength in restraint, due to our western standards of respecting life.
Thousands of rockets landed, thousands were wounded, dozens dead. whole populations traumatized.
Has the fighting stopped? did it help? no.
Did Hamas say, these people don't want war, let's negotiate? what do you think? there's a reason why we call it a terrorist organization.
Have you seen images from Gaza on the day of 9/11? it looks like a really really big party...
Have you seen images from Gaza on the day that Osama Ben Laden died? not quite as happy then.
in 2012 IDF forces reacted by surprise and in strength.
this managed to significantly reduce firing rate (but not stop it), to "just a few" rockets a week. sounds reasonable, right? do the bathroom experiment again. did you make it this time?
this lasted until the current predicament, in 2014...
to conclude:
consider what Israel has to do to protect its citizens:
* alarms in all cities
* give instructions
* prepare shelters
* develop new technologies to stop rockets in flight
* supply warning services such as applications and websites
consider what Hamas has to do to protect Palestinian population:
* stop launching rockets at Israel
and to prove my point...
* there are very few casualties in the west bank, on a day to day basis. Israel isn't murdering and slaughtering the Palestinians who've put down their guns.
* when rockets from Syria don't land in Israeli territory, and Syria doesn't supply weapons to Hezbollah or develop nuclear weapons - Israel doesn't attack in Syria.
* when Hezbollah isn't firing rockets from Lebanese territory - Israel doesn't attack in Lebanon
* Jordan and Egyptian border is quite, and Israel has not attacked these countries.
it looks like Israel is good for its word. peace for peace. that's even the current Israeli motto for our prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu.
why can't Hamas accept, and allow the Palestinian population to live in peace?
i'm going to sleep now.
i'm tired, and sad, and depressed.
And i'm winning the war. feel better?
Still a conflict. still gray.
And still, if you shoot at me, i'll shoot right back at you.
That's life, and yours is less precious to me than my own.
may we all know peaceful times.
Frankly, i'm depressed and not sure why i'm bothering to write these words, because in all likelihood they will not be read by any interested parties, and almost certainly no one's opinion will be changed from whatever static image of reality already exists in their head.
also, i talk a lot, and you'll never read all of this.
nevertheless, i guess i just can't keep my mouth shut, and it makes me feel kind of stupid. here, i'll link XKCD to explain why...
before you read this you should know: i'm not right, nor am i left. however you're politically oriented, you will probably get very annoyed with me.
tough.
read at your own peril.
i guess the bottom line is this: the Israeli Palestinian conflict is exactly that. a conflict. i read so much nonsense on the internet with people taking sides proclaiming one side or the other to be right and the other to be wrong. a smarter way of looking at it is that everybody's wrong. oh, and also, everybody's right.
see, there's no black and white, there's lots of gray. is that too much for grown people to come to terms with, seriously? is anyone surprised by this sudden revelation that real life situations are not simple and clear cut? a lot of people who have no understanding and are really really ignorant and not aware of almost any facts are taking sides. you should be wiser. you should know better.
maybe if everyone will just shut up and stop supporting any side for say 5 years, we'll manage to get some negotiations done. you won't believe the damage done by well intending Barak Obama. the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
why is there so much nonsense on the web?
the answer to this is quite frankly fascism, but no one looks at it that way.
it's an AMAZING coincidence, but you can pretty much bet that most pro-Israeli comments are written by... (you guessed it!) Israelis! and members of the Jewish community around the world.
a second UNBELIEVABLE coincidence is that most pro-Palestinian comments are written by... (oh my, you are clever) Arabs! and members of the Islamic faith.
how's that for a coincidence, huh?
having said that, consider that there are about 25-30 million Jews around the world, and that there are about half a billion Arabs and a billion+ Muslims and you'll start looking at the pro-con comment ratio differently.
it's also the reason why we Israelis tend to take the UN none-too-seriously. there are 22 official Arabic countries, and 1 Jewish country. are you surprised that it looks like the UN is taking sides? never mind, i digress.
my personal opinion is that opinions are more diverse among the Jewish/Israeli populations, because, quite frankly, that population is better educated.
education = cynicism + nihilism + liberalism.
there's quite a lot of inner criticism among Jews, with the whole Jewish conscience guilt-trip thing going on. Jews who don't live under fire, say in Sderot, but allow themselves to rant single sidedly against Israel really annoy me.
it's a conflict people. you've got 2 sides to blame. no easy way out for anyone...
I allow myself to have an opinion because... well... i live here. so the Palestinians have and opinion, that's fine. Israelis have an opinion, that's fine. someone else has opinion, quite frankly, what the hell do you know about it? have you seen some kind of 10 second video clip on YouTube and now you're an expert on the middle east? whatever.
I'm pro Israel, but that doesn't automatically mean i agree with everything Israel does and am always against the Palestinians. i just think on the whole, that Israel is more in the right than the Palestinians are. That doesn't make any side perfect.
i don't know if i'm racist, or if i'm being racist in this paragraph but the fact of the matter is that most Arabic nations are (or were until quite recently) dictatorships (some in fact but not in name, like...) and that large amounts of the population were purposely kept ignorant and uneducated because it makes it easier to herd them. if you look at videos from Syria you can see almost comical videos of soldiers beating up civilians and shouting at them "do you want the Israelis to come and take over???". give me a break. i wouldn't touch Syria with a rocket.
Israel has always been a scapegoat to the misc Arabic authorities for everything that's wrong in their populaces lives. it's a force of habit. you just need to hear the rubbish Araduan (Turkish prime minister) sprouts on a daily basis to see how even relatively modern Arabic nations such as turkey can be made to turn extreme.
the whole Arabic Spring thing that's been going on the past few years is because it's so much harder to keep people ignorant these days, what with the internet and social media. i wonder at what point in time the Arabs will realize that Israel was never the enemy, and that Israelis never wanted war.
what's up with atheist Turks by the way? are you asleep on your feet guys? if you don't wake up you're going to lose your country, and the world will have yet another Iran. i'm rooting for you. hope you wake up in time. Araduan is pushing hate as if it were opium for the masses. stand up. say something.
which "people" is in the right of it?
that's an easy one: both and neither. also, are you grouping people according to nationality? don't be a fascist.
you want me to elaborate? well, if you insist...
the Israeli Palestinian conflict has been going on for about a century. would it surprise you to know that by this time atrocities have been committed by both sides? that both sides have experienced tragedies? that innocents have suffered?
in the 1970-1980 the Israeli population was split almost down the middle. half said that we should fight the Palestinians, there's no choice. the other half said that we must make peace, make concessions, do what it takes.
it's 30-40 years later. the ratio is leaning much more heavily towards "fight". this is not surprising in the least to anyone who knows anything about the conflict. the bus bombings, the murders, the small scale wars... a new generation was raised under more extreme conditions. and they're more extreme people.
I've no doubt that it's much worse among the Palestinians. i dare say that there are a lot of people in Gaza who are tired of this conflict, and a lot of people who just want revenge. i can relate. i'm tired of this conflict. i also want revenge. i'm human. this war has been around for a century. there's bad blood. is this surprising?
but i still think that Israel is more in the right of it than the Palestinians. and the reason is simple. not i, nor anyone i know (and i was in the army, still am on reserve, and i know a lot of others like me), will just shoot some random Palestinian in the street. i most definitely wouldn't harm a baby or child.
the same cannot be said about the Palestinians as a people, and there are unfortunately more than sufficient examples to prove this point.
oh, children die alright, and it makes me sick to my stomach. but at least i can honestly say that i'm sure no one is aiming at them.
Both groups have extremists who will stop at nothing. but the Palestinians have a lot more such extremists, mostly due to religious fanaticism and brain-washing under the guise of "education" from an early age, that's been going on for decades. There's Hamas camp, and an Arab version of mickey mouse who'se assasinated by Mossad agents and many other methods.
The ongoing conflict is slowly tarnishing the soul of everyone involved. people become livid with rage, hate and fear and it degrades us all, as people, regardless of nationality.
I'm proud to be Israeli because there are still a lot of people i know, who hear about palestinian children dying and call it a tragedy, say how horrible it is and are deeply saddened and disturbed.
they don't say it cynically to cameras to be the good guys.
they just feel, as i do, that children are innocent.
can the same be said about most the Palestinian people? i have my doubts.
a CNN newspaper woman was recently quoted calling some Israelis Scum for celebrating the Gaza bombardment. she has no right to it, i feel, not having gone through what they've gone through. i don't support those Israelis at all. actually, i'm very sad, and even more depressed by them. because i understand how they came to where they are. they were probably just as rational and reasonable as i am, which indicates the same thing could happen to me. maybe even you?
that's why it's a conflict. that's why it's gray.
The city of Sderot and its population have suffered tens of thousands or rocket bombardments in the past decade. i'm sure you mis-read this line, let me repeat.
tens of thousands.
there's an alarm. once you hear the alarm, you have 15 seconds to get to a shelter nearby.
do the following experiment: go to the toilet. comfy? good. relax. it doesn't work if you're stressed you know... ALARM! you have 15 seconds, to... ahem... "become decent" and get to a shelter. didn't make it? you're dead. again. again. again. again. again. again. again. on a daily basis. more than once a day. for more than a decade. how are you holding up? do you sleep well at night? how is your health? can you concentrate at work? how's your marriage holding up? kids alright? getting good grades in school?
and then suddenly, your army... your country... comes into action after all this time. after all this grief! and starts fighting the people who have been launching rockets at you. how do you react? go to the cinema, see independence day. how do the people react when the US army starts attacking the evil alien spaceship? how do the rebels react when the Death Star explodes?
do you get it now?
it's hard for me to say that i would behave differently. actually, it's very easy for me to say it, but it's probably not true. it's also very easy for that reporter. and for you, safe somewhere in England, Germany, Norway, America, Sweden, Ireland or some Arabic nation.
Why not come live in Sderot? you wouldn't believe the apartment prices there. you could live like a king... no?
i would expect journalists to be more professional and keep a neutral state of mind.
they make it seem like it's not... well... a conflict. like things aren't gray. like someone here is Luke Skywalker, and the rest are Darth Vader.
such superficial understanding is... beyond words.
Golda Meir (a previous Israeli prime-minister [and woman BTW. know many female leaders in the Arab world?]) once said that the Israeli-Arab conflict will continue until the Arabs learn to love their children more than they hate us.
She also said that we may one day forgive the Palestinians for killing our children, but we will never be able to forgive them for making us kill theirs.
I've never heard wiser words.
There are still Israelis who believe in those words. I do. I know many others who do. That's why i'm proud to be Israeli. That's why i want "us" (as opposed to "them") to win.
why is operation protective edge taking place?
I'll tell you what i know from press announcements here in Israel.
But first, understand that Israel is a real friggin' democracy. There is, to some major extent "freedom of the press". That means the army and leaders can't do what they want and cover it up, because it will be published by someone. There's significant Arabic population in Israel, and these are represented in the Israeli Knesset and their elected officials pronounce anti-Israeli criticisms almost on a daily basis, with wide press coverage.
Understand what i'm saying: other countries nearby are not as advanced and liberal. I daresay that Israeli press coverage includes a lot truth and a lot of different sides and view points.
Some background: the Palestinians in Israel are concentrated in 2 major geological based groups. there are the Palestinians in the Gaza strip led by Hamas which in Israel is defined as a terrorist organization and the Palestinians in the West Bank led by Fatah which used to be a terrorist organization but which has put down its arms in favor of negotiations and is currently led by Abu-Mazen.
Fatah and Hamas are not friends and have bad blood. they've very recently decided to try and heal the wounds and sort of join forces. there's a lot of political tension as each organization tries to become top-man for all Palestinians.
The west bank is doing OK economically. Gaza is not. Hamas is, quite frankly, bankrupt, and has not paid salaries to anyone in the past 2 months, before the conflict. Fatah still pays money to employees in Gaza. this asymmetry has caused violent outbursts in Gaza, gunfire in the streets and general mayhem. Hamas needed a way out.
At the same time all this is going on, 3 Israeli teenagers were kidnapped in the west bank by Palestinians associated with and influenced by Hamas. it later turned out that they were not kidnapped, but immediately murdered.
Understand that 3 Israeli teenagers is a big deal here. it's my understanding that this never got any press coverage around the world because it's not really important, it's "just" 3 kids, right?
well, remember that we traded 1000 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom deliberately murdered entire families children included for 1 captive soldier, Gilad Shalit.
Hamas knows this, and wants to release more Palestinian prisoners.
This is not surprising to Israelis, we've come to expect this kind of thing. While to most Israelis deliberate murder of children, Palestinian or not would be an atrocity, due to our western way of seeing things, the same cannot be said about the Palestinians, who view things with an Arabic mentality.
I'll put it this way, i once knew a traumatized Israeli soldier. His trauma originated from seeing Palestinians play soccer with the head of a soldier he knew and who died in an explosion from a mine.
I think the entire world saw that video about the Syrian warrior who ate the heart of one of his victims.
Now, Israeli soldiers may kill Palestinian soldiers. but they'll never play soccer with their heads.
do you see the difference?
what really shocked Israelis was that an Arab boy was murdered in retribution by an Israeli gang.
the act was immediately condemned by every official in the country. the father of one of the boys involved in the act was interviewed calling his own son a madman and letting know the extent of his shame and grief. the leader of the gang is a known mental patient who in the past has tried to kill his own children.
Can you compare the mundane Palestinian murder of on Israeli to the unusual Israeli murder of an Arab? do you know how many Israeli terrorists exist, and how many Palestinian? let's put it mildly: the numbers don't compare.
The Arab murder victim by the way, was recognized by Israeli authorities as a terror victim and his family (Arabs all) will receive the usual state help, including finances and support.
Do you know of anything similar with Israeli terror victims by Arab countries?
Israel is a democracy, remember? same law for Jews and Arabs.
The Israeli army went in force into the relatively peaceful area of the west bank in search of the missing teenagers. naturally there were skirmishes. About 4 Palestinian died. All dead were involved with skirmishes. Some were under aged but all were involved in violence. Again, it's a human tragedy and i wish they wouldn't have been so brainwashed by Hamas. The IDF didn't go in there to kill anyone, and you can see that because in an extremely dense urban area, 4 casualties is an incredibly low number. ask the Americans in Iraq.
It's entirely possible that i or some friends would've been called into service to help search for those hostages. You think i'd start shooting at people randomly? think again. i would shoot in self defense though.
On the other hand, maybe if i were a Palestinian teenager and i saw Israeli soldiers breaking down doors for whatever reason, i might have also shown resistance. if i knew how to make a Molotov cocktail, anything could happen. that's the tragedy. that's why it's a conflict. that's where it becomes gray.
you expect different?
A lot of Hamas infrastructure in the west bank was destroyed as retribution for the kidnapping, as it was held responsible for it. remember that Hamas is considered a terrorist organization here.
Hamas seized on this opportunity and increased (because it's always firing rockets, Sderot, remember?) it's firing rate significantly and added more cities into the range of fire. Ashdod, Beer-Sheva, Ashkelon, Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem. that's about 3 million people under rocket fire.
Israel reacted and a cycle of violence ensued.
This initially suited Hamas (who miscalculated). Firing at Israel increases Hamas's prestige in the average Palestinian's eye, and distracts from the empty bank account. Hamas also knows that it gets contributions from Arab nations and the UN after each Israeli skirmish, so it was probably hoping to alleviate some of its financial problems.
At the time no one yet realized the extent of operation, and it wasn't even considered an operation. it was just one of those days, both to the people in Gaza and the people in Sderot.
Since then there have been a number of attempted infiltration attempts into Israeli territory by Hamas forces. these infantry forces did not come to attack military targets, or for some legitimate operation. Their purpose was to kill as many people as they saw, regardless of any criteria.
if, for example, they would have found themselves in an Arabic village, they probably would have caused many casualties before realizing their mistake.
All such infiltration attempts were wiped out by Israeli forces before any damage was done.
These infiltration attempts usually use tunnels, designed specifically for the purpose of killing and kidnapping normal everyday civilians like you and me.
Since then it has become apparent that there are many more tunnels and that these are much more dangerous that initially considered.
All of this time, Hamas has continued to launch rockets at Israel. almost all of the rockets launched at Israel were neutralized in flight, or missed Israeli settlements entirely.
I myself have gone (with my wife and baby) into shelter 7-8 time.
understand me: i have nothing against any Palestinians. i'm just trying to live my life and do my job. Hamas won't let me.
There was an attempted cease fire. Israel stopped firing at 9. Hamas continued firing again and again and actually increased firing rate because it's operatives realized that Israel isn't shooting back. Israel held fire until 15:00 and decided to retaliate.
violence ensued for a while.
There was a humanitarian cease fire. Hamas fired during that timeout as well, though "only" twice. Israel didn't react to the provocation.
There's a lot of criticism against Israel because Israeli casualty rate is so low, and Palestinian casualty rate is so high. this equation is made out of 2 components:
low Israeli casualty rate - good. is there a problem? Israel has a strong army, is well practiced in emergency situation, is in many ways a technological super power. it's good that we can minimize our losses. only our enemies have a problem with that, and i don't. complaining on this clause is tantamount to "I wish more Israelis died". whatever.
high Palestinian casualty rate - i hurt for every Palestinian child or innocent. i'm deeply sorry for that. i'm a father, i have kids. trust me, when i hear that a baby or a child is hit, it makes my want to heave and i feel physically ill. i can understand why a Palestinian would hate Israel after these things. that's why if's a conflict. that's why it's all gray.
I'm not at all sorry for combatant casualties though. that's fine by me.
though as a thinking individualist i realize that if i were born in Gaza i'd be a Palestinian soldier and not an Israeli one and vice-versa.
The same reasoning probably can't be expected from Hamas troops.
Education and brainwashing, remember?
In Israel we often say that something is "so sad, it's funny" the current IDF/Hamas confrontation can only be compared to the following Monty Python sketch. Arthur (IDF) is not interested in a fight. Hamas, just won't let up, no matter the beating, and the tragedy is that when striking at Hamas (the black knight) the Palestinian population (the limbs) suffer. in order to survive politically against Fatah, for this redundant confrontation, Hamas has to be able to "call it a draw" in the end.
We could talk about ratios against other armies in similar situations such as Americans in Iraq, about IDF (Israeli defensive forces) attempts to warn Gaza populations to evacuate, to giving warning shots, to cancelling strikes when innocents are seen, but frankly, even though Israel turns out very well in these regards - no one cares.
There's something that any adult must come to terms with. when bombs start flying, no one is safe.
No Israeli soldier has ever aimed at a child.
Any who have and are known have been imprisoned, i'm sure.
Children have died, however. it's a tragedy. i mean it.
I know that when such catastrophes occur, the IDF investigates. if they're done on purpose by some crazy soldier, that single madman will spend their life in jail. if it was an operation accident, sometimes legitimate and sometimes a discharge is in order. this is war. it's not pretty.
This is one of the reasons i'm proud to be an Israeli. because when something goes wrong and a tragedy happens, we do what we can to decrease it's chances from happening again. it doesn't please us. we didn't choose this fight and we don't enjoy it, even when we win.
Hamas is using civilian population as cover. When the IDF urged citizens to clear their homes because soon an infantry invasion will begin and no guarantees can be made once bullets start flying, it was Hamas who told the same population not to leave, and threatened its own population that anyone leaving will be "taken care of" after the fight. so who's really "occupying" the Gaza strip? Israeli forces were not involved until a few days ago. Israeli forces are trying to minimize Palestinian casualties, while Hamas is trying to prevent this and in fact is maximizing them.
is this getting through to you?
the Israeli ground forces invasion is due to the tunnel threat. we must find and destroy all the tunnels leading into Israeli territories, or suffer major terrorist activity in the following months.
what is the Israeli alternative?
what can we do otherwise?
what do you expect Israel to do?
what would you do?
to sit and do nothing?
Surprisingly enough we actually tried that!
We actually stood by and let Hamas fire rockets on Sderot for 8-9 years without reacting.
To us, that was strength in restraint, due to our western standards of respecting life.
Thousands of rockets landed, thousands were wounded, dozens dead. whole populations traumatized.
Has the fighting stopped? did it help? no.
Did Hamas say, these people don't want war, let's negotiate? what do you think? there's a reason why we call it a terrorist organization.
Have you seen images from Gaza on the day of 9/11? it looks like a really really big party...
Have you seen images from Gaza on the day that Osama Ben Laden died? not quite as happy then.
in 2012 IDF forces reacted by surprise and in strength.
this managed to significantly reduce firing rate (but not stop it), to "just a few" rockets a week. sounds reasonable, right? do the bathroom experiment again. did you make it this time?
this lasted until the current predicament, in 2014...
to conclude:
consider what Israel has to do to protect its citizens:
* alarms in all cities
* give instructions
* prepare shelters
* develop new technologies to stop rockets in flight
* supply warning services such as applications and websites
consider what Hamas has to do to protect Palestinian population:
* stop launching rockets at Israel
and to prove my point...
* there are very few casualties in the west bank, on a day to day basis. Israel isn't murdering and slaughtering the Palestinians who've put down their guns.
* when rockets from Syria don't land in Israeli territory, and Syria doesn't supply weapons to Hezbollah or develop nuclear weapons - Israel doesn't attack in Syria.
* when Hezbollah isn't firing rockets from Lebanese territory - Israel doesn't attack in Lebanon
* Jordan and Egyptian border is quite, and Israel has not attacked these countries.
it looks like Israel is good for its word. peace for peace. that's even the current Israeli motto for our prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu.
why can't Hamas accept, and allow the Palestinian population to live in peace?
i'm going to sleep now.
i'm tired, and sad, and depressed.
And i'm winning the war. feel better?
Still a conflict. still gray.
And still, if you shoot at me, i'll shoot right back at you.
That's life, and yours is less precious to me than my own.
may we all know peaceful times.
