I mean would it make any difference what other labels this group decided to add to its name? Perhaps it was the Committee for Peace,  Justice, Motherhood, Puppies, and Apple Pie in the Middle East (The good, old CPJMPAPME!) All I know is that the nicer the name of the organization, the more I know that they probably take a rather dim view of people like me.

Don’t get me wrong. I love peace. Every Israeli I know — including us crazy settlers — is in favor of peace. Yet since when did peace in the Middle East become solely defined by Jews giving their homes to Arabs? Did the transfer of thousands of Jewish homes in Gaza to the Palestinians create peace? I’m not trying to be difficult — but I just fail to understand why peace means that Jews have to leave their homes. I guess that makes me “anti-peace.” (Which makes us much sense as saying I am anti-cycling because I don’t let others ride my bike.)

But really, I do believe in peace. I mean wouldn’t it be great if I could ride my bike over to Bet Lechem and get some hummus? Wouldn’t it be nice if Palestinians were allowed to work wherever they wanted without fear of reprisal from their own people. Wouldn’t it be absolutely fantastic if our kids didn’t have to risk their lives in the Army defending us from Abbas and his army of “peace advocates?”

Yet sadly, peace is today defined as turning over the keys to your home to someone who has never lived there and apologizing for taking so long to do so.

And let’s not forget about “Justice.” I thought I knew what the term meant. Think about it. For many years Jews lived in places like the Gush, Hevron, and the Old City of Jerusalem (and many others.) They were thrown out of their homes by invading Arab armies. Now they have returned and have rebuilt the areas. One woman I know today lives a block away from her old home in the Old City that she was tossed out of in 1948. If “justice” refers to righting a historical wrong, then we are the most “Just” people around.

But alas, I fear we have lost the battle already since we all know that when anyone talks about “Justice” in the Middle East, I won’t be invited to the party.

I asked the kid on the plane about the program. With a big, excited smile he told me that they were going “all over.” When I asked for specifics, he mentioned Ramallah, Bet Lechem, and Hevron (no, not the Jewish part.) When I asked whom they were meeting with, I heard a jam-packed schedule of Palestinians and Israeli leftists.

He explained that they were trying to hear ALL the views about the conflict, especially the ones the biased media refuse to report on. (Yeah, that’s right. This brain-washed kid actually believes that the media are biased in favor of Israel! Of course, I doubt he ever read any media reports for himself. Here’s a good place for a shameless HonestReporting plug.)

I asked if he would be hearing the opinion of any Jews who lived in the disputed territories. He seemed a little embarrassed to admit that they would not, in fact, get to hear the opinions of Israeli settlers. That’s when I told him he was wrong. That he would in fact get to hear the opinions of a bona-fide settler. And that he would be hearing said opinions over the course of the next twelve hours right from the comfort of his airplane seat. (Lucky him!)

But alas, unless we stake out all incoming flights to Israel and look for excited teens talking about how they were about to become “Peace” and “Justice” advocates while eating humus and playing guitar, we are going to lose some otherwise well-intentioned kids.

Oddly enough, I am quite proud that so many young people are so ideal. I just wish that they were a bit more skeptical and tried to find out the truth on their own.

Because Israel could really use more people interested in true peace and real justice.

Yarden Frankl,

Peace and Justice Advocate

While anyone who has really looked into the history of the region will know that this conception is a big fat lie, that’s just the point. We live in an age where people want their information in tiny, bite size, entertaining bits. When even a five minute video on YouTube is too long for the average person’s attention span — it is no wonder that the simple lie is winning more adherents than the more complicated truth.

Consider references that appear every day in the media:

“Arab East Jerusalem, which Israel conquered in 1967 but the Palestinians view as their future capital….”

“The West Bank, occupied by Israel as a result of the Six Day War….”

“Settlements are illegal under international law, but Israel disputes this….”

Appearing again and again in almost every major media publication, these phrases are now accepted as fact. So much so that a U.S. President sees nothing wrong with calling for a peace agreement based on the 1967 lines. Why not, if Israel stole this land from Palestine, we need to give it back, right?

But wait the pro-Israel side cries out. Gives us a chance to trot out our historians and international law experts. Let them discuss how the Geneva Convention was never intended to apply to territory taken in a defensive war. Let them explain how in 1948, everyone involved agreed that the “green line” would never be an international border. Let them dissect the Oslo Accords and the Road Map and explain how Israel is in compliance and the Palestinians are not.

Sorry, but while the Hasbara experts are  doing all that, the world moves on. We live in the Facebook era. If you can’t reduce your message to a Facebook status update or a Twitter post no one’s listening anymore. Having the facts on your side is no longer enough (was it ever?)

Facebook recently changed the way you post comments. You now no longer have to click on the post button. Just press return and your comment goes up. Why did they make this change? Because the extra half second it took people to click on “post” took too long. Do you really think we can keep answering Israel’s critics with a response that can’t be read from an iPhone while grocery shopping?

So what should be the short to the point message? How can we change the debate so that Israel is not always on the defensive?

By talking like this…

“Jerusalem — which Israel reunited in 1967…”

“Eastern Jerusalem, where the Jordanian Legion expelled Jewish residents in 1948…”

“What is now called the West Bank, which is home to many of the most historically significant Jewish areas”

“…parts of the West Bank that were liberated by the Israeli Army in 1967.

“The West Bank, that was occupied by the Jordanian Legion for nineteen years…”

“Jerusalem, which was only divided for nineteen years out of its 3,000 plus year history….

I could go on but I think you get the point.

Our message is simple:

The history of Israel did not begin in 1967.

Until we can make this clear in every possible forum, we will keep hearing of “peace plans” that are based on the assumption that the Israeli presence in the disputed territory is illegitimate and must be ended.

Put Your Foot Down

Adidas, the global sportswear company whose running shoes I have bought for the last time, has decided to join Brazil, Uruguay, and other under-achieving South American countries in a denial of history. Apparently, they demanded that the Jerusalem marathon not pass through any areas of “occupied” Jerusalem. So now, the organizers will make sure that none of us run that close to those “illegal” neighborhoods of the city. (Thanks Israel Matzav.)

It seems like every day, someone else wants to “revise” history to promote the myth that there is a Palestinian city of “East Jerusalem” that was conquered by an invading Israeli army in 1967. According to this myth, any Jewish presence in the city of “East Jerusalem” is at best suspect and at worst illegal. The fact that the city of “East” Jerusalem is home to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall does not really change anything since Jewish claims to these holy sites are  based on ideology rather than fact. In fact, these areas may actually be Islamic sites rather than Jewish ones. Or so the claim goes.

Once you accept the myth of “East Jerusalem”, then you can understand why all Jewish housing there is ‘illegal’ and should be torn down while Arab homes must be allowed to flourish, unhindered by such petty details as permits or building codes. You understand why other countries do not want to locate their embassies in Jerusalem and maintain the fiction that the seat of the Israeli government is in the trendy cafes of Tel Aviv.

You can also understand why it would be inappropriate for the Jerusalem Marathon to actually pass by the most historical areas of the city. The runners might actually see that there is no such thing as “East Jerusalem” and that there are both Jewish and Arab neighborhoods located throughout the Holy City. They might notice that people are actually praying in churches, synagogues, and mosques as they run by and that under Israeli sovereignty, the city is open to peoples of all religions.

Are you one of the few people who actually knows history as it occurred? If you are then you know that from 1948 to 1967, what is now referred to as “East Jerusalem” was under Jordanian military occupation. The Old City of Jerusalem, where Jews had lived for thousands of years, became “Jew free.” All the historical synogogues were destroyed and a garbage dump was placed next to the Western Wall in a concerted effort to eradicate all evidence of Jewish habitation.

If you read this blog then I am sure you are aware of all this, so I have an even more important question: Do your kids know? Do your friends know? Do your co-workers know? Does the guy you buy your sneakers from know?

Propaganda can only be fought with facts. Only if we talk about how Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish people and the ancient and modern capital of Israel until our voices are hoarse can we expect the rest of the world to take notice.

Adidas, a major sponsor of the marathon, has no foreign policy beliefs. They believe in selling shoes and making money. They bought into the myth because some people (including a few far left members of the Jerusalem City Council) sold them on it. They were afraid that if they went along with the “occupation” marathon, people would stop buying their shoes.

Now it’s our turn. You can write to Adidas at consumer.relations@adidas.com. Tell them that you are disappointed with their decision to bring politics and propaganda into the Jerusalem Marathon. Let them know that our voices are stronger than those who claim to speak for “human rights” and that we’re ready to let our wallets and purses do the talking as well.

And if anyone who reads this still wants to debate about whether Jewish claims to Jersualem are legitimate, they can take me on any time.

But you’ll have to catch up to me first.

His call to arms is that the U.S. ”stop being their crack dealers.”

Of course people who write like to use colorful language to draw attention to their work. However, referring to the leader of the U.S. only democratic ally in the Middle East as a “crack addict” is not only a bit over the top — it also makes no sense according to Friedman’s own reasoning.

Friedman claims that Israel is so addicted to U.S. aid and affection that it is failing to follow policies that will bring about peace. But in the same article he writes that Netanyahu actually turned down an offer of aid and affection to avoid freezing settlements. Wait. If we are really addicts wouldn’t we have simply agreed to anything in exchange for another hit of more aid?

Doesn’t the fact that Bibi — according to Friedman — said “No” to the White House prove that we are not so dependent on presents from the U.S. that we will agree to anything? Come on Tom, addicts need to feed their addiction all the time, regardless of the long -term consequences. What were you smoking when you came up with your attention-grabbing, completely flawed analogy?

But let’s look even closer at your main accusation, Tom: Israel spurned a sweet deal from the U.S. in order to continue building settlements. As the Times documented for the last few weeks, Netanyahu accepted the U.S. offer and even had the votes in his “right-wing cabinet” lined up to approve the freeze. Where were you when your colleague Mark Landler wrote:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has agreed to push his cabinet to freeze most construction on settlements in the West Bank for 90 days to break an impasse in peace negotiations with the Palestinians

All Netanyahu asked for was that the offer be put in writing so he could have something to show his detractors.

Why are you the only one who knows exactly what was in the offer if it was never documented?

Friedman seems to think that recipients of government funding should agree to anything in exchange for money. He says:

I guarantee you, if someone came to these cities and said, “We have $3 billion we’d like to give to your schools and fire departments if you’ll just do what is manifestly in your own interest,” their only answer would be: “Where do we sign?”

If the President of the United States said to the NYC Fire Department, “we will give you more funding as long as you let armed gang members hang out in the firehouses and drive the trucks around on weekends,” I think the answer would be a polite, “No, thanks.” Don’t laugh; the last time we gave up settlements to the Palestinians that’s exactly what happened. An armed gang called Hamas moved in and used the remains of abandoned Jewish houses to fire rockets at us.

The demand for a ‘Give us money, where do we sign?’ policy is a demand that we act like the mindless crack addicts he accuses us of being. Sorry to disappoint you, Tom, we Israelis will not endanger our security for some vague promises of additional aid and affection.

We are not crack addicts and with millions of readers, you should not write when you are not thinking straight Tom.

Send some love to Tom Friedman. Find his e-mail address by clicking here.

Instead of demanding that her friend Abbas remove the anti-Semitic slurs from the Palestinian Authority website, she repeated the intellectually sophomoric line articulated by President Obama in one of the first of several Islamic countries he has honored with a State visit.

“We do not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity.”

With those simple ten words, Hillary Clinton and her boss have bastardized all Jews living, working, and protecting towns and cities that happen to lay on one side of the arbitrary non-border referred to as the “green line.”

If you want to make an argument that Israeli settlements make a peace agreement harder, I will respect your view. Then I will demolish it by pointing out that the existence of the State of Israel has been the main cause of friction between Israelis and Palestinians, not simply where Jewish towns are located. I might also point out that perhaps official Palestinian anti-Semitism and dehumanizing of Jews that runs throughout their culture might be a retardant to peace-making. But go ahead and make your case, I look forward to the debate.

Removing settlements did not improve this Israeli's security

You might also try the charge, as many have done, that Israeli settlements actually undermine Israeli security and should be removed even outside of a peace agreement. I would thank you for the opportunity to have a discussion and film my response from a bomb shelter built in Sderot the last time Israeli settlements were removed to strengthen Israeli security.

To make sure you wave the white flag in our debate, I might even bring a 6-year old child who has never known life without rockets and sirens to the debate. I will politely accept your surrender and invite you over for some tea because your position is an understandable although provably incorrect one.

But I would give no more credibility to one who charges that Jewish “activity” in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem is “illegitimate” that I would one who claims that the Holocaust was a myth. You see today, denying Jewish legitimacy in Israel is the latest “fad” for those whose visceral hatred of Israel makes it acceptable to ignore any record of historical facts.

Bastards

Think of it this way: the Western Wall, that symbol of the Jewish religion recognized around the world is officially on the wrong side of the “green” line. That’s right, Jews praying at the Kotel would fit the definition of “settlement activity” that the United States finds “illegitimate.”

Is it really such a great leap between the official study of Abbas’ Palestinian Authority that the Western Wall was “never a Jewish site” to the United Nations declaration that the Tomb of Rachel and the Machpala Cave in Hevron are actually Islamic holy sites?

How many millions of people around the world saw 60 Minutes reject the findings of archaeologists who have been excavating King David’s palace with Leslie Stahl’s condescending “But there’s no evidence David lived here.” They have found a palace built in the time of Kind David, in the exact place where David lived and ruled, filled with artifacts linked to the reign of King David — but they have not yet found his full name on the mailbox. Hence the 60 Minutes conclusion that there is no evidence of David’s residency.

I wonder, when David built his palace in what would become three thousand years later the Arab slum of Silwan, was that activity illegitimate? If not, at one point in time did Jewish activity in what is currently referred to as the “occupied territory” become so?

More Bastards

On a recent trip to the U.S., I met an Irish woman, and we started talking about Israel. She told me that she had a real problem with Israel because of her philosophy that taking over land by military conquest was simply not acceptable.

I told her I agreed and invited her to visit Gush Etzion where she could be thankful that the Arab military conquest of 1948 had been reversed. I said she could also visit Jerusalem and walk the streets that Jews were expelled from by Arab soldiers until the liberation of 1967. Somehow, I don’t think she will visit. But I wonder, when did liberation of historical Jewish lands become “illegitimate?”

While Obama’s unearned Nobel Peace Prize sits gathering dust, he might put away all the public policy books he studies and pick up a book or two on the history of the Middle East. Instead of consulting with his hand-picked Middle East policy “experts,” he might try calling an archeologist and asking about Jewish roots in this disputed land.

2,000 year old illegitimate activity

Walk outside my West Bank home about 5 minutes down a trail and you will come across an ancient Jewish mikva from a few thousand years ago. The way it was constructed leaves no doubt. This is evidence of Jewish activity that predates the Obama Presidency, the Six Day War, the founding of the U.S.,  and even the discovery of America by Europeans by a handful of centuries.

Long before any other current member of the United Nations was established as a nation, there was “Jewish settlement activity” in the West Bank.

Are we really such bastards?

Who I thought I was getting

President Obama has offered Prime Minister Netanyahu a real sweetheart deal. Apparently, we get all sorts of great stuff if we just agree to stop building homes out here for another three months.

I haven’t felt this excited since I signed up for the Columbia House “Music for a Penny” deal when I was a long haired, spiked wristband wearing, dressed-all-in-black teenager.

I remember getting this incredible offer that if I signed up right away, I could get ten cassette  tapes (an ancient way people used to store music) for just a penny each! Each tape would be delivered straight to my door. What a great deal! I signed up and couldn’t wait to bolster my already impressive collection of AC/DC, Led Zepplin, and other hard rock greats.

Who I got

Instead, I ended up with the complete works of Helen Reddy and the Captain and Tennille. These tapes didn’t cost me just a penny either.

See my problem was I just read the words that were printed on the mailer in big red letters. I forgot to read the small letters written in black on the bottom of the letter. I wouldn’t really get “Back in Black” for a penny until I had paid full price for a whole library of music not fit for an elevator. (My apologies to any Reddy fans. No, on second thought there is no excuse for that.)

So while everyone is writing about all the shiny new stealth planes that Obama is going to give us for a penny’s worth of a settlement freeze, it appears likely that all we are going to get is a full price edition of Reddy’s Greatest Hits (“and more!”) It would be worth it to read the fine print on this deal closely.

But that’s just the point. The fine print isn’t even written.

However, we do know (based on the State Department) a few things about “the deal”:

Just a penny each!

1) The 3 billion dollars of stealth planes would not be delivered until we have signed a comprehensive peace agreement. Anyone marking that date down in your weekly planners?

2) We would not be asked for additional freezes. Unless President Obama thinks that doing so would promote peace. Better hold off on that February building contract.

3) The U.S. would veto any anti-Israel United Nations Security Council resolutions. But they won’t put that in writing because it leaves the Palestinians with no real leverage.

Think about this: Hasn’t the U.S. traditionally vetoed anti-Israel resolutions because supporting its closest ally in the Middle East was always a foundation of U.S. foreign policy? In other words, do we now have to pay for the music we already own?

When I signed the Columbia House deal, my parents tried to warn me. “There is always a catch,” they told me. “Slow down and know what you are getting into.”

But of course, how can you tell an excited teenager to slow down when he believes he has just discovered the best deal on the planet. I was rewarded by my haste to send the envelope back with enough “easy listening” to last several lifetimes.

Instead of “Hells Bells,” I sat sadly with “I am Woman, Hear Me Roar,” while my head banging friends couldn’t stop laughing at what a sucker I was.

I hope that if the Israeli cabinet is getting all excited about this sweet deal, they should first read the fine print before sending that envelope back to Obama with the future of Israel inside.

Yes, at 43 I can finally tell my parents that back then, they were indeed right. Unfortunately, right now we are dealing with the security of Israel, which is a tad more important than the bank account and reputation of a heavy metal teen.

It’s time for him [Bibi] to stop playing games, reinstate the moratorium, get back to negotiations and engage seriously in a peace deal.

What do they think Bibi has been doing since the last freeze ended? Was he playing basketball? At the beach? Thumbing his nose at all the serious peace proposals that the Palestinians have been offering?

Which one of these reasonable proposals should he have accepted? Maybe the one that would have Israel hand over all the land with an option to rent out the Kotel for a few years? (Sadly, I am not making this garbage up, read the article.)

No. Netanyahu has been repeating over and over and over again that Israel wishes to continue peace negotiations that would lead to a Palestinian State. He has been sitting at the peace table, ready to talk with no preconditions. He looks across the table and sees…. nobody.

Abbas is the one playing games. He scorn’s Israel’s demand that he recognize that Israel is  a Jewish State, not a second future Palestinian State. He rejects Israel concerns about security. He demands that millions of Palestinians be given homes in Tel Aviv and Haifa. He accuses Israel of assassinating Arafat. His government continues to flood the airwaves with the message that Jews are subhuman creatures.

The schools of the Palestinian Authority still commemorate those who murdered men, women, and children by strapping on explosive belts and blowing up buses. There has been no pressure from the U.S. for a freeze in murderous incitement. Here is an example from last week, but click around on the Palestinian Media Watch website for more examples that would have made the Third Reich proud.

Is this all top secret information that I have somehow been able to discover? While I would like people to think that I am an extraordinary investigative journalist, you really could just read one of Abbas’ latest speeches to find out who is playing games. Try doing a Google search if you have any trouble finding more Palestinian nonsense.

Yet for some strange reason, this is all news to the “experts” at the New York Times.

Perhaps they are the ones out on vacation and have allowed the Palestinian Authority to write the editorials?

I have news for the Times editors. When Bibi stresses the importance of security, he is not playing a game. Protecting the lives of my children is not a game. Preventing the murders that we have grown accustomed to is not a game.

Really, this level of journalism is unworthy of Al Jazeera let alone one of the most widely read news publications in the world. Do me a favor, click over to the article here and leave a comment.

Maybe if enough of us complain they will think twice before publishing such trash.

And maybe the Giants will win the World Series.

Thirty-eight years later, an Israeli weightlifter makes the news again. This time, the Israeli is not a victim, he is the champion. The story of Sergio Britva, an immigrant to Israel from Brazil who won the weightlifting world championships last month, is not to be missed.

If you have not yet seen the video of the awards ceremony, it is a must see. Watch it here. The world championships for this category of weightlifting were held a few weeks ago in Poland. Sergio lifted a combined total of over 300 kilograms. That’s like lifting a bus load of Sumo wrestlers above your head.

He won the gold medal over the second place finisher from Iran and the third place finisher from Germany. Does it get any better than that? An Israeli beats an Iranian and German in Poland! Just to make sure that everyone knew where he was from, Sergio draped an Israeli flag over his shoulder as he took his spot on top of the winner’s podium. Good thing he brought the flag since the announcer forgot to mention which nation he represented. I guess the flag and the team shirt with the word “ISRAEL“ in huge letters wasn’t a big enough hint.

With a huge champion’s smile on his face, Sergio shakes hands with the third place finisher from Germany and then extends his hand to the runner up from Iran. Showing true class, the Iranian refuses to shake the hand of the athlete who beat him kicked his ass. That’s ok, Hadad, they don’t give medals for acting like a human being. Whether you shook his hand or not, you can still think about how you disgraced your poor excuse of a country every night and day by letting the Zionist enemy take you to school.

I could watch what comes next a hundred times and not get bored. To the strains of “Hatikva,” the Israeli flag is hoisted high over that of Iran and Germany. The announcer tells everyone to “Please stand up for the Israeli National Anthem. ” Could you imagine the emotions going through Sergio’s mind as he watched his nation’s flag and listened to our country’s anthem — aptly called “The Hope.” That’s right all you anti-Semitic losers, stand up and watch the Israeli flag hung in victory.

I just read an article about how the Iranian athlete is now under fire for even standing next to the Israeli. He only did so because otherwise the Iranian delegation would be barred from future competitions. I am glad that they won’t be. I can’t wait for the next time.

I’m kinda fond of that song.

Real people, not statistics

This morning, one of our friends here in Neve Daniel sent me this e-mail:

Hi – I am sitting here crying because one of the women murdered tonight was my son’s gannenet. Yehuda is six and is mentally retarded – his teachers are our world because they bring him such joy when the world is such an overwhelming and confusing place. Cochava was an angel, and we were with her an hour before she died – she was on her way home from the gan welcome back orientation when she was murdered.

Here is how Israeli National News reported the terrorist attack:

Yitzhak and Talya Imes were the parents of six children, the eldest one being 24 years old and the youngest one being a year and a half old. Talya Imes was nine months pregnant when she was killed by the terrorists.

Kochava Even Chaim was a teacher in Efrat. She left behind her husband and an 8 year-old daughter. Her husband,one of the first Zaka first aid volunteers to arrive at the scene, discovered suddenly that his wife was among the victims.

Avishai Shindler had only recently moved to Beit Haggai with his wife.

Meanwhile, the New York Times and most of the Western media reported that four “settlers” had been killed and discussed if this might disrupt the “peace” process.

Just the other day, Palestinian Authority President Mauhoud Abbas said that “Israeli security does not justify continued occupation.”  While I may take issue with the term “occupation,” I would say that the life of a kindergarten teacher justifies a hell of a lot.

How ironic that for days leading up to this heinous murder (I should say heinous murders — four people were killed, including a pregnant woman) the media was filled with stories about how wonderful a job the Palestinians were doing in terms of security. Yeah, great job. I feel much safer.

The mosques in Gaza  let us know how Palestinian really feel. “Praise be to G-D over this heroic act” was blared out all night over the mosque loudspeakers. “Mosque?” Isn’t that supposed to be a term for a religious establishment?

Here is the Palestinian’s definition of “heroism.” A car with four people was fired upon by a passing vehicle. To make sure that these men and women — returning from school orientation for their children — were dead, the “heroes” stopped their car, aimed their rifles at point blank range and fired repeatedly into the bodies. The “heroes” then fled the scene satisfied that their “heroic” action was a success.

Meanwhile, the PR firm working for the PA gave the following statement to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to read:

The attack, and its timing are meant to harm the PLO’s efforts to garner international support for the success of the peace process and its demands, in order to bring about an end to the occupation.

Sounds like he’s all shook up, right?

You know something Salam? Not really interested that you feel this attack has hurt the PLO’s interests. Because at the end of the day, we are people — not talking points or statistics.

Our lives are not concessions.  When you complain that the murder of a kindergarten teacher should be regretted because it hurts your interests, it simply shows how little you understand about the concept of peace. (Ironic considering your name, Salam.)

When you can look at this act with same gut wrenching horror as a six year old who just lost his teacher, you will be ready to make a real peace.

But until then, spare us the rhetoric while we bury our dead.

The e-mail I received concluded like this:

I wish I could scream out to the world how unfair this is, how senseless to waste such a beautiful giving life, but I have no outlet to tell everyone. Then I realized maybe you will be writing about what happened, and so perhaps you can include this part of the story, to put a person behind the story.

So please, if you also feel like screaming any crying, forward this article and tell the world that kindergarten teachers, pregnant women, fathers, mothers, husbands, and wives are real people, not just statistics.

Well look at the price paid by the Palestinians for all these accomplishments-they live in a prison and all efforts to create that 2 state solution seem to go nowhere. The Palestianians [sic] have lost and continue to lose their land, crops and homes to settlements. The Palestianians [sic] are abused , attacked and terorized by settlers with no protection from the Isreali [sic] police and the IDF.

Germany achieved many scientific and engineering marvels and look at the price paid by the peoples of the world during WWI and WWII by the German war machine and aggession [sic].

I don’t know who wrote the comment, but I appreciate the opportunity to set the record straight.

Strawberry fields forever.. in Israel!

First, I had referred to Israeli advances in all sorts of scientific endeavors. The idea that the Palestinians have paid a price because farmers in the Jordan River Valley developed a new way to grow pesticide free strawberries –  and are sharing it with the world – makes no sense.

Advances in medicine, telecommunications, and high speed computing have nothing to do with the dispute with the Palestinians. If anything, they like the rest of the world have benefited from Israeli advances. Ask any Palestinian seeking treatment in an Israeli hospital what he thinks of Israeli medical science.

At Alyn, I have seen kids from Gaza who are only alive due to Israeli technology. So I hope the author of the comment will at least agree that Palestinian suffering is not due to Israeli accomplishments.

The next comment was that Palestinians live “in a prison.” I will not deny that Israeli border restrictions make life difficult for people in Gaza. But the rulers of Gaza are engaged in a war with Israel. The war could easily be ended any second if they accepted and recognized Israel and disavowed the use of violence. But they choose not to. Can you name any country that keeps an open border with a country with which it is at war?

One wall of the "prison" is an Arab country

Besides, I always wonder why it is just Israel blamed for the “siege” of Gaza. Last time I checked on a map, Gaza borders on Egypt. Where are all the attacks against the Egyptians for keeping Gazans in a “prison?”

“all efforts to create that 2 state solution seem to go nowhere”

Well Prime Minister Netanyahu has invited Abbas over and over again to sit down and negotiate a 2 state solution. Abbas has answered that before negotiations begin, Israel must agree to give up everything. Well what would be the point of negotiations then?

We (Israel) have legitimate claims to the land in dispute as do the Palestinians. The only way to reach compromises is through serious negotiation. Yes, I share your dismay that the “peace process is going nowhere.” Why don’t you send an e-mail to Abbas about that?

“The Palestinians have lost and continue to lose their land, crops and homes to settlements.”

Some of the 250 Jews massacred in pre-State Gush Etzion

Sorry, but its just too simple a way to look at this dispute. Jews have also lost land, crops, and homes to Palestinians. The Jewish community in Hevron is a fraction of what it once was. Why? Because the Jews were murdered and the survivors driven out. Now when Jews try to reclaim historical Jewish property there, they are accused of stealing someone else’s land.

I live in Gush Etzion. There were thriving Jewish communities here before 1948. In 1948, the Jews were massacred and the towns were burnt down. In 1967, the rebuilding began and goes on to this day. What’s wrong with that?

Today, we have a court system where those who claim that someone is taking their land can seek redress. And it may surprise you, but the courts have been quite vocal in defending land that is proven to be owned by Palestinians. But you have to understand that you cannot simply label the entire “West Bank” Palestinian land. Doing so is simply inaccurate.

“The Palestinians are abused, attacked and terorized by settlers with no protection from the Isreali police and the IDF.”

There may be isolated incidents where this happens. But there are far more incidents where the police and IDF protect Palestinians from the tiny minority of Jewish extremists. Personally, as a settler, I vehemently reject any type of attacks on Palestinians or their property.

From today’s Ha’aretz:

A special border police battalion was assigned to protect the farmers from settlers’ attacks during the harvest, which began this week.

The forces – at least twice as large as in previous years, IDF officers say – were deployed around the illegal Havat Gilad outpost at the beginning of the week. On Tuesday they protected harvesters near the Yitzhar settlement and intend to safeguard other West Bank areas including around Hebron.

The Palestinians are our neighbors. They built my house and almost every other house, synagogue, and shop in Neve Daniel and every other settlement. The majority of settlers like myself believe in peaceful coexistence. Stop believing everything you read in the media. We do not terrorize them. Last time I checked we were the ones who had to guard our communities.

Is the World that dumb?

So finally you close with the old Jew baiting reference to the Nazis. Lots of people who dislike Israel try and use this, but it just doesn’t fit. We don’t murder or enslave Palestinians. We employ them, work with them, and treat them in our hospitals. While our enemies like to use propaganda to convince the world that we are monsters, these are just Big Lies.

Still, I appreciate that you wrote in and hope that you will consider my response.

I’m not a Nazi. Just a guy who runs and loves his country.

We can wait

I acknowledge ahead of time that many of my neighbors will disagree with me. But the fact is, public opinion among “settlers” is not and has never been represented by one or two shrill voices. So while many are gearing up to fight the settlement freeze temporary lull in initiating certain residential construction, I think the energy could be put to better use.

I don’t feel this way because I think that a slight delay in building Jewish homes is either just or will bring about peace. No, it is clear to everyone (except maybe the White House) that the lack of peace in the Middle East has nothing to do with settlements and everything to do with Arab intransigence. And that’s the point.

Bibi skillfully turned a demand to freeze all Jewish construction in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria into a ten month lull that only applies to residential units in which work has not started.

Not only did he manage to gain U.S. acceptance of a plan whose overall impact will have little practical significance, but he received international praise for the move. He has shifted all the pressure off of  Israel and squarely onto the shoulders of the Palestinians. I am sure they will not disappoint us by giving every reason to start massive construction within a year.

Why will it have little tangible impact? Because it effects a small handful of people.

Right now construction can continue on synagogues, commercial buildings, and schools. Parks and playgrounds may be built. Homes already under construction may be built. Planning for homes not yet started may continue. And Jerusalem — as defined by Israel — will continue to grow by thousands of Jewish homes.

No homes are being destroyed. There is no “expulsion.” Even outposts which the Supreme Court have ordered to be dismantled are spared.

True, there are some people who have will have their new homes delayed for a few months. Every Yishuv probably has two or three families that were ready to start construction but now must wait.

But there are always delays when you build, this one is just a few months longer than most. But it’s only a delay. We have no refugees living in tents desperately waiting for a shelter to be built. No one will starve because they have to wait a few months to build a home.

In the end, after ten months nothing will have changed. If we are smart, we will use this period to make sure that come October 1, 2010 we are ready to renew construction at 12:01. Architectural plans will have been completed, contractors hired, and materials delivered.

In return for abiding by the lull, Israel will gain enormously. Once more, it will be clear to the world that we are a law-abiding nation interested in true peace.

The only ones that will really suffer due to the construction lull are all the Palestinians who work on the building projects. They are the ones being asked to go ten months without work. I have no idea how they will support their families. But that’s not my primary concern.

All ready for 10/01/10

The popular image of settlers within Israel is that we are out of control extremists who accept government benefits but ignore policies with which we disagree. This is not a great public profile to have if we need the support of the majority of regular Israelis.

So I am proud to be a Judean Hills resident who supports the Prime Minister and will not fight the construction lull. Instead I look forward to hearing the sounds of construction next Fall.

Shabbat Shalom from our Blessed Nation.

Take a "shot" at us, please

What do you do when someone who wants you dead gets sick? What would most reasonable people do?

Let me rephrase. Let’s say that the United States faced a serious terrorist threat on its Southern border. Let’s also say that the Mexican government was not taking any action to stop the terrorists from launching missiles at Austin, Texas.

Now, pretend that the President of Mexico dismissed U.S. complaints and basically said that it was Americans own fault that they were being shot. If the U.S. just turned over a major chunk of its territory to Mexico, then the terrorists would be happy and stop shooting people.

Still with me in the dream? O.K., next President Obama declares that he is willing to sit down and negotiate with Mexico anytime and any place. The Mexican President’s answer is that there can be no negotiations until the U.S. in advance stops all construction in every city that Mexico claims for itself.

Now, in a major city in Mexico, amidst streets and schools named after terrorists, a few people get the swine flu. In return for flu vaccinations, does the United States:

• Demand that Mexico put an end to the rockets being shot at the U.S.?
• Request that Mexico please sit down and negotiate a peace agreement?
• Nicely ask Mexico to stop rallying the World against the U.S. on false charges?

I don’t think so.

The only reason I ask is that I see that Israel has just shipped twenty thousand Swine Flue vaccinations to the Palestinians. These are the same vaccinations that I am told are not yet available in Neve Daniel. Yes, if I get Swine Flu, I may be sick as a dog for a few days but at least I will be comforted by the knowledge that 20,000 Palestinians are feeling fine and immune from the bug.

Great. I like to see a well thought out use of my tax dollars.

Please stop shooting while we try and FEED you

Skeptics might tell me that at the very least Israel will get some good PR out of this whole episode. Like when we sent trucks loaded with food and medicine into Gaza during the war. Right, that story made it onto page one of the Goldstone Report, didn’t it? Anyone remember praise for Israel from the UN Human Rights Council for that humanitarian gesture?

Didn’t think so.

Speaking of Goldstone, if you have not seen the little video we did at HonestReporting and signed the petition, please take 2 minutes now. Click here to watch.

So stay warm and if you can somehow obtain a vaccination without having to shoot at Israel, go for it.

Sometimes this country is so nuts the only thing you can do is jump on a bike and ride through the mud for a few days. More sensible than half the stuff our government keeps cooking up.

Shabbat Shalom from our really nuts but always blessed nation.

So the question is: Should I feel guilty that I use more water than an average Palestinian? While Amnesty International just published a report claiming that I should, they left out a few inconvenient facts from their manifesto:

First: In the famous war-ending Oslo Accords, Israel and the Palestinian Authority negotiated how much water would be provided to each side. Israel routinely violates this agreement by providing the Palestinians with more water than agreed to.

Second:Israel continues to invest my tax dollars into increasing the water supply. More wells are being dug, desalination plants are being built, and sewage treatment plants are converting waste water to agricultural uses. On the other hand, the Palestinians are using some of the billions of dollars in aid they receive from American and European tax payers each year to build water purification plants pay bloated salaries to bureaucrats.

Third: Israel has launched a huge public information campaign to reduce water consumption. The Frankls are now limited to 5 minute showers even after 30 kilometer runs. The Palestinians meanwhile  have launched a public campaign to save water blame Israel for water shortages.

Fourth: Israel is trying to stop water theft from pipelines and aqueducts so that there is enough water to go around. The Palestinians also try and stop are the ones stealing it.

Fifth: while Israel continues to build sewage treatment plants and has offered to help the Palestinians build their own, this would involve recognizing the legitimacy of Israel. So instead the Palestinians continue to dump sewage into streams and rivers which:

• Wastes water
• Creates a public health danger
• Makes a really obnoxious odor when I ride through certain areas.

According to the stats provided by Government spokesman Mark Regev:

Israeli fresh water use per capita had gone down since 1967 due to efficiency and new technologies, while the Palestinians’ use had increased and more than a third of their water was wasted.

For some strange reason, none of the above made it into the Amnesty International report. Instead, the media are eating up the report (because human rights groups must always be right, right?) with headlines such as:

No, couldn't be a set-up BBC photo of a thirsty kid.

Report: Palestinians denied water (BBC)

Israel is denying Palestinians access to even the basic minimum of clean, safe water, Amnesty International says.

Palestinians’ Water Cut ‘To A Trickle’ (SKY NEWS)

Amnesty International has launched a scathing attack on Israel, accusing it of rationing Palestinians to a “trickle of water”.

And my personal favorite from the Times of London (Thanks Backspin)

Palestinians suffer under Israeli water torture

There’s a lot more from all those journalists whose mission in life is to get to the facts show how miserable Israel is. But you get the picture.

So can I possibly risk being labeled a human rights abuser by going to the pool tonight? In the words of the linguistically concise Sarah Palin:

“You Betcha!”

If she can't join why would I want to?

My mother used to tell me of a country club in Cardiff, Wales where she grew up that had a sign at the entrance “No Dogs or Jews.”

Sounds shocking when you think that: 1) As part of the UK, Wales was on our side in the war, and 2) How can people feel so free to express such racist beliefs in public. I’m sure glad that was so many years ago. No civilized people would dare express such notions in today’s enlightened world, right?

Wrong. While we have all been fixated on the bizarre news story of President Obama being named Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Pope, and Time Magazine’s “Man of the Universe,” another incredible news story has been happening, not nearly as amusing.

Rocks collected in advance for "spontaneous" riots

Over the last two weeks, the Palestinians have thrown stones and pleaded with the International Community to stop the Jews on the Temple Mount.

What exactly are they terrified that the Jews will do on the Mount? Are they worried that the Jews will attack the Muslim worshipers there? Did the Jews bring bulldozers with them to demolish the places the Muslims claim as sacred on the Mount?

No, the Jews have done none of those things. The crimes of the Jews are astonishing. First, Jews want to visit their holiest site and this by itself is an outrage. Even worse, Palestinians claimed that some Jews were planning to… get this… PRAY… on the sacred spot.

Yes, there was great fear that devout Jews might actually look to heaven and silently move their lips while standing by Judaism’s holiest spot.  Could you imagine such a provocation? It’s no wonder that all sorts of world leaders urgently requested that Israel calm the situation down. Please Israel — stop those Jews from praying already. Jews praying? What could that lead to?

Quick, stop him before he prays again

For those who are a bit confused, let me give a brief explanation. The Temple Mount is the location where the ancient Jewish temples once stood. For 2,000 years, Jews are supposed to face this area when they pray — wherever in the world they may be at the time. It is the spot where the ancient teachings of Judaism say that Abraham was to sacrifice his son Yitzhak only to be stopped by the hand of G-d.

The Muslims also revere the site and it is considered the most holy, second most holy, third holiest place in Islam. Thousands of Muslims go up to the Temple Mount and pray five times a day. They reverently turn their backs on their sacred “Dome of the Rock” so that they will be able to face Mecca in Saudi Arabia as they offer modest prayers for Islamic rule over the entire world peace.

For much of history, Jews were barred from going to the site. Then, in 1967, the Mount was liberated by the Israeli Defense Forces. Despite having military control, it was decided that the Islamic authorities should administer the spot. At different times Jews have either been prohibited or severely limited from visiting the Mount.  Israeli law now backs the prohibitions of Jewish prayer or the carrying of any Jewish religious items like tefillin. All done in the name of not upsetting the Muslims.

Jews face the holy place in prayer, Muslims moon it

So today, we have the bizarre situation in which tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers can scream their prayers out loud and knock their heads against the ground five times a day, but a single Jew moving his lips will be promptly escorted out of the area.

The Palestinians claim that the mere presence of religious Jews on the Mount is a provocation. Seems to me it as much of a provocation as when a woman named Rosa Parks sat in a “whites only” seat on the bus in Alabama a few decades ago. (Yes BA, if you are reading that was for you.)

In their own words:

“No one has rights to the Al-Aqsa Mosque other than the Muslims. The mosque compound is Muslim, Palestinian and Arab, and Israel has no rights to the mosque or East Jerusalem.” – Islamic Movement Head Sheikh Ra’ad Salah.

Meanwhile the ultra-right wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu is doing whatever it can to allow the Muslim racists worshipers to continue to throw stones at Jews pray on the Mount while trying to keep the situation Jew free calm.

In the interests of peace, why can't Jews pray too?

All those who believe in justice, equality, and religious freedom must speak up against the restrictions on Jews and Jewish prayer in the heart of Jerusalem. It would only be fitting if the first leader to raise his voice would be the recently honored Nobel Peace Prize winner.

If you don’t speak up against racism, you are as guilty as the racists.

Won it without even trying!

By now of course, you have heard the news that I have been awarded the Olympic Gold medal in cycling. For a long time I was worried that I would never win it, especially considering that I am not actually a world class bike racer. Apparently, we now live in an age where actual accomplishments are no longer a determining factor in receiving even the highest public honors.

The committee that awarded me the gold medal said that while I did not really win any bike races, there was an unanimous feeling that I have done a “great deal to create conditions for the winning of bike races.”

At first I thought I had won because of my participation in the national bike race of North Korea. Then I remembered: I didn’t enter. In fact, I don’t believe the race directors there took my request to ride very seriously. The committee must have determined that just the idea of me riding among the starving, militaristic Korean masses was inspiring enough to grant me the medal.

Come to think of it, I haven’t ridden my bike in Central or South America, Russia, China, or anywhere outside of Israel for that matter. Still, a number of people who comment on this blog live somewhere on Earth and say they like my writing riding. Perhaps that moved the committee to make their decision?

No, it must have been my efforts here in Israel and in the famous “territories” that tipped the scale in my favor. Although I haven’t won any bike races here either, I have called out loudly for peace (usually when riding past Palestinians holding stones).

Did you get yours yet? Why not?

For whatever the reason the Committee chose to give me this medal, I will accept it and believe myself worthy. So I thank the committee for all their hard work at recognizing (and overlooking) my lack of world class accomplishment.

So now all those who stand equally undeserving of the highest honors the planet has to give should feel inspired. Just recite the slogan:

Even without accomplishment, Yes We Can win the adoration of a few Norwegian senior citizens.

Now, I need to go polish my medal.

Dear readers, please take a moment to sponsor me in the Alyn ride. We’re still short of our goal by $1,000. Please click here to help the children treated at Alyn Hospital. Thanks, Yarden