Now before you stop reading and assume this is some right-wing polemic, please hear me out. According to the folks at Palestinian Media Watch, (I know — two hat tips in a row, but they really are good,) the Palestinian Authority continues to award cash prizes for the families of terrorists.

In the period prior to the murders of Ruth and Udi Fogel and their three children in the Israeli town Itamar, the Palestinian Authority continued to encourage terror by glorifying terrorists as heroes and role models and through calls for violence. In addition, in an act that sent a clear message of support for terror, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas awarded $2000 to the family of a terrorist who attacked and tried to kill Israeli soldiers – just 2 months ago. 

Now it’s bad enough that Abbas and his thugs are sending checks to reward terrorism, but just think for a moment about where that $2,000 check came from. The Palestinian Authority has almost no revenue. They are completely dependent on hundreds of millions of dollars delivered by the U.S. and other foreign countries. So a portion of your tax dollars is funding the same people who are handing out checks to terrorists and their families.

So as we RIGHT NOW cry rivers of tears for the murdered family from Itamar, I can only imagine how long will it take before we hear that the terrorists have deposited YOUR money as an expression of appreciation from the PA. Yes, the same PA that condemns terrorism in front of the news cameras turns around and pays for it when the cameras are turned off.

And while we are on that note, why are the cameras turned off? Can it be that no one in the media is aware of what’s going on? I mean I hardly did a comprehensive investigation right now. I merely got an e-mail from PMW that lays out the facts. Where does PMW get their information from?

From the Palestinian Authority’s own newspapers and television shows.

Are the same journalists who report on every brick used to build every house out here in the “territories” unfamiliar with how to find this same information? Is reading the official PA daily newspaper really outside the skill set of the highly paid correspondents from the Western Media? Do they know how to do a Google search?

Or do they just not care?

What do you think?

And more importantly, what are you going to do about it?

Here’s a start: Demand that your representatives in Congress vote to stop sending your money to the PA while the PA uses it to thank terrorists.

And while you’re at it, ask the media you read why they have not reported that the US funded PA is giving out checks to terrorists.

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.

The region I live in has both Jewish and Arab towns. From the news, you would get the idea that we are constantly at war with one another. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some terrible acts in the five years we have lived here. People have been killed in gruesome terrorist acts including a young man from Neve Daniel. We are aware that many Palestinian children are indoctrinated to hate Jews from very young ages.

We recently replaced the glass windows on our car after an Arab threw a rock through one of them. Yet terror does not characterize our lives. In fact, if you think about how close Arabs and Jews live to each other out here, the acts of terror have been few and far between. So when something happens, I do not demonize the entire Arab race. I demonize the demon who performed the demonic act. Meanwhile, we live at peace with the vast majority of our Arab neighbors.

Of course a lack of open warfare does not really indicate peace. Arabs and Jews eye each other warily. We use Arab labor to build our homes because Arabs work for a fraction of the price as Jews. Yet it is a relationship based on need. They need jobs and we need cheap (for us) labor. We never see each other as equal human beings. We see them as either bomb throwing terrorists or guys carrying buckets of cement all day. They see us as evil land-stealing thieves or guys who can afford to pay them more than what they would get working for their brethren.

So while I can denounce those who slap the label “Apartheid” on Israel because it paints a picture that does not exist, there is no question that we lead separate lives than the folks in the village just over the hill.

So I was pleasantly surprised by my first visit to the new supermarket in the region. It sits at a crossroads and is equidistant to Jewish and Arab towns. While I expected to see a lot of Arabs working there, I was surprised by how many Arabs were shopping there. For some reason, seeing an Arab woman with kids in her shopping cart trying to find the banana yogurt made me feel really good.

It wasn’t just her. The place is teeming with a mixture of Arabs and Jews, religious and secular. While it does not look so weird to see people working behind the counters together, it does look different to see all these different types of people shopping together. And then it is no longer Arabs and Jews shopping together, just different people looking for the best deals on favorite foods.

Am I being naive for believing that just because we like the same yogurt we can all get along and find peace? Yeah, I know I am. But if you have read any of my earlier posts, you know that I am an optimist. I don’t accept when people say “that’s not possible” because I know there would be no State of Israel if everyone had thought that way.

Peace will never come through long winded documents that have no connection to realities on ground. It will not be established by the UN, the EU, the U.S., or the likes of Bibi Netanyahu or Mahmoud Abbas.

No, peace will always have to be based on people seeing each other as human beings with the same hopes and desires. It will take a very long time, decades perhaps, but it has to start somewhere. And in the yogurt aisle is as good a place as any.

I am Gilad, son of Aviva and Noam Shalit

I am Gilad, son of Aviva and Noam Shalit, brother of Hadas and Yoel, who lives in Mitzpe Hila. My identification number is 300097029.

I want to send my regards to my family and to tell them that I love them and miss them very much, and pray for the day that I will see them again.

It has been three and a half years since Gilad Shalit was taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists. For three and a half years, Hamas has toyed with Gilad’s family, toyed with Gilad’s friends, and toyed with Gilad’s nation.

More civilized than Hamas

Hamas stages parades where Palestinians dress up as Gilad and crawl about on their hands and knees begging for freedom. The crowds roar with laughter at this quality “entertainment.” I would call Hamas “Neanderthals” but to do so would be an insult to all prehistoric, semi-upright walking creatures.

Enough already. Bring Gilad home now.

Of course, I would love a daring commando raid that would bring him out without having to make any disgusting deal with the beasts who rule the Gaza Strip. I would also prefer taking Hamas hostages and executing them one by one until Gilad is set free.

But you know what? It wouldn’t work. These are people whose leaders hide behind baby carriages. They really don’t care about whether their own people live or die.

There are many who point out that releasing terrorists will only reward kidnapping. Others correctly observe that many of these terrorists will return to terrorism within hours of their release. It’s not as though they will put down the bombs and become gardeners. We know that.

But I also don’t believe that the Palestinians have a current shortage of terrorists. It doesn’t matter if there are ten thousand potential bombers or eleven thousand. Every Israeli citizen knows that within a few kilometers of where he lives is someone who would like to kill him. That has been the situation throughout Israel’s history, and that will be the situation in the future. It’s a sad price of living here.

And while one could assume that releasing terrorists will cause them to try and kidnap more Israeli soldiers, I was not aware that they had stopped trying. We always read about the IDF arresting or shooting terrorists who are trying to grab soldiers.  They do not seem to lack motivation right now.

So what would an exchange of Gilad for terrorists look like? For one, we would have to sit through the nauseating images of happy terrorists dancing in the streets. As long as the Shabak cameras are recording the images, that’s fine. My gut tells me that every couple of weeks on the back page of the paper we will read about some “work accident” where several of these “freedom fighters” finally get to meet Allah.

But could you imagine how it would feel to see Gilad reunited with his family? Gilad is not just one young soldier. Gilad represents all of Israel’s children. Israeli parents allow their children to serve in the IDF because we know this is the only way our country can survive.

But I know of no parent who walks away from an IDF induction ceremony the way he or she could walk away from a graduation. Every day that an Israeli has a son or daughter in the army is a day with some anxiety lurking deep inside.

All of us want to know that if G-d forbid our child is captured by the enemy, the government will do everything possible (and try to do everything impossible) to get him or her back alive.

Let’s not wait a few years and then have another spectacle where our enemy hands over a coffin to us. We don’t know if any released terrorist will succeed in killing again, but we do know that Gilad is alive. For now.

So last stop this pointless debate and bring Gilad home now.

I want to send my regards to my family and to tell them that I love them and miss them very much, and pray for the day that I will see them again.

Gilad, we are all praying for that day too.

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.

Walking into shul, I saw a friend with a heavy face. “You heard?” he asked. “One of the boys was from Neve Daniel.” When tragic news hits close to home, somehow the pain is ten times worse. The murdered boy’s family lives just down the street from me. Suddenly, it was painful to get through Rosh Chodesh Adar davening. I know it was the wrong thing to do, but I walked away at Hallel. I know our tradition tells us to praise Hashem in good times and in bad. But I hope he will excuse me, I’m just not at that level.

A bus came to the Yishuv, and we were on the way to Markaz HaRav, the school where the murders took place. Soon we were standing in the street, with thousands of people crowded round under the hot sun. No one had any words, there was no need.

Eight ambulances carrying eight bodies of teenagers who yesterday afternoon were looking forward to a wonderful Israeli spring weekend. Each ambulance stopped and the broken body of a young man was taken out and into the Bet Midrash.

Rabbis who had taught these kids now tried to eulogize them through the tears. Thousands of men and women joined in the crying. Just when I though the grief could not get worse, eight families were called up to tear Kria together. There was nothing to do but put your head down and let the tears slide down your face onto the pavement. I will never forget the looks of anguish on the faces of the parents of these young men. Frozen screams without much sound.

One boy was from our Yishuv and another from Efrat next door. They had siblings in my kids’ classes. How do you explain to your child that someone just murdered their friend’s brother and now crowds in Gaza are boasting about this heinous act? If you know, tell me. I haven’t a clue.

Sadness does not describe what we feel here. The feeling is closer to pain. We grieve over any tragedies, but now someone from our little Yishuv has become a statistic in Israel’s never ending war on terror – and that’s different.

I look around at all the children out playing in the sun, and I plead to G-D that we never experience another such tragedy. It hurts so much because we as a culture are in love with life. Our enemies prefer death.

I don’t know if it was the dancing crowds in Gaza or the meaningless drivel of a “condemnation” that the leader of the death eaters gave to the press, but I have come to the conclusion that nothing but an all out war will bring about peace.

Please Mr. Olmert, please, no more children growing up in bomb shelters in Sderot. No more high-schoolers murdered learning Jewish holy books, and no more tears in beautiful Neve Daniel or anywhere else in the land of Israel.

May all today’s mourners find comfort among those who mourn for Jerusalem.

Yarden Frankl, Neve Daniel

A few hours ago, terrorists opened fire inside Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, killing and wounded many students. One fired 600 bullets into a crowd of students. Another entered the Bet Midrash and started killing every kid he could see.* No, not firing randomly. Firing purposely. According to the Associated Press, as I sit here writing this, the party is kicking off in Gaza. Great news fellas. You must be so proud.

Tonight, parents are being informed that their children are dead. Tomorrow will be funerals for young students. Twenty-four hours from now, mothers and fathers will start saying Kaddish. Kaddish for their children.

Others are being operated on as you read this. Their families are waiting by anxiously, wondering what life will be like tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Who will walk again, who will see.

Work of an isolated madman? No such luck. The achievement of a society and culture so saturated in anti-Semitism that Hitler would be proud. The children in Gaza are being woken up right now to hear that “courageous fighters” have just struck a blow for Palestinian Freedom.

I’m not ideological. If the Palestinians behaved like Canadians, I would give them their own state in an instant. I know that’s not really the Zionist idea, but if there were any chance there would be fewer dead children, I would ask “Where do I sign?”

But that is just a philosophical discussion. We are not dealing with Canadians, we are dealing with people who are not even worthy to carry the term “human.” Celebrating massacres of students? Yossi Beilin, M.J. Rosenberg what have you to say? You think you and your kids will really be safe once we give in to the people who relish seeing our kid’s blood?

The United Nation’s Human Rights Commission demanded a moment of silence for those in Gaza who were killed by the IDF a few days ago. You guys going to pay tribute to tonight’s victims? Yeah, right.

WAKE UP WORLD. The people who dance at our kids’ death will one day dance at yours. This conflict has nothing to do with land. It’s about good and evil. If you don’t see it, your eyes are shut. Believe me, there are many times I want to shut my eyes and believe that there can be “peace” with these people.

But there is a reality staring us in the face with cruel, cold eyes. No matter how hard we Jews try to convince the world that we want peace, the Palestinians try to convince the world that they don’t.

Let’s hope for better news next week.

Shabbat Shalom from our blessed nation. Pray for tonight’s victims and those on the operating tables right now. Pray that our soldiers will finally be given permission to do what needs to be done. Once and for all.

Yarden Frankl lives in Neve Daniel. He used to be a liberal.