I'm confused.

I'm confused.

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Gaza (AP) – Senior officials in the Islamic group Hamas are indicating a willingness to negotiate a deal for a long-term truce with Israel as long as the borders of Gaza are opened to the rest of the world.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_gaza_hamas_in_flux

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Why would I open my border to a people I know - based on continuing experience - that will come though that open border to kill my children, my spouse, or me.

Do people really think I'm that stupid?

Do people - including Israel's political "leaders" and bleeding heart liberals - really believe open borders will satisfy the terrorists?

What about the border with Egypt?

Is anyone pressing Egypt to open its borders to fellow Muslim Arabs (or Arab Muslims - which ever is politically correct) to enter from Aza?

Why Israel?

Why can't Aza's citizens come and go via the sea? No sea port? Not a problem. Other places have ships "anchor out" and use shuttle boats to ferry passengers - and goods - between ship and shore or shore and ship.

(Note I did not ask why there is no port in Aza given all the money that was poured into the region by the world.)

OK, open the borders for humanitarian aid to go into Aza.

But the only - repeat only - things to allow out of Aza and into Israel are the vehicles and drivers that went into Aza.

No patients - Hamas uses the sick and injured to carry bombs into Israel. Let the sick go into Egypt; it has hospitals.

Why don't they use the tunnels to smuggle people OUT of Aza and into Egypt . . . after all, people have to go into Egypt to collect the weapons to use against Israel?

In truth, I feel sorry for the average Aza captive. I can't believe these people actually WANT Hamas and all the agony it brings on the area.

Times are changing, and not for the better.

As Hamas indoctrinates - brain washes - small children to see Jews as their enemy (a self-fulfilling event), those who actually realize that Hamas is the cause of their woe will slowly dwindle in number.

Just a reminder. When the border WAS open, Hamas brought bombs to the gate to murder people on both sides.

As I wrote in the beginning, I'm confused.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail dot com

Pizza Deliverance

Went to a pizza party-and-movie Sunday night.

The party was jointly sponsored by BBYO and Chabad in my area.

For $12 I got a couple of slices of pizza, some veggies, a bag of chips, a can of 10-2-4 Dr. Pepper, and a seat to watch the movie, "Deliverance."

With The Spouse out of town and being at a loss of what to do on a Sunday evening ... what a deal.

BBYO - formerly known as B'nai Brith Youth Organization - and Chabad rented one good sized theater in a mall multiplex (where did THAT word come from?) - pretty much filled the space. There were Jews of all approaches, from "Orthodox" to "Reform" (or vice versa).

It was an enjoyable evening.

It was a movie I will recommend.

The film is, as the senior Chabad rabbi pointed out, "R" rated. There is some violence - the movie is about Jews defending themselves from the Germans and fellow Russians after all - and there are some four-letter words, sometimes seemingly gratuitously.

But all-in-all, well worth the $15 or so I'd normally spend to see a movie.

Like the audience, the collection of Jews portrayed in the film ran the gamut from religious to communist, which I suppose is a religion in its own way.

Interestingly, from my perspective, the Jews only did one - just one - thing "un-Jewish"; one thing that could not be accommodated by a Torah injunction.

You, my favorite reader, are invited to offer your opinion as to what that "thing" might be. You may add a comment (but you must identify yourself) or send an email to Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail com.

There was one point in the movie when I thought of a flood story.

One of the partisan - that's Jewish partisan, if you please - leaders is appealing to the leaders of a ghetto about to be exterminated to join the partisans in the forest.

The mayor of the ghetto, even knowing what would ensue, said he wouldn't let the people go. The Jews' only defense, he felt, was time.

To be honest, the movie pointed out that for every one person who escaped from the ghetto, 10 or 20 of those who remained were murdered by the Germans or their Russian helpers.

(And to be equally honest, the movie showed some Russians who actually helped the Jews.)

Anyway, back to the flood.

This fellow who all his life has been a good (pick a religion).

The water starts rising and the National Guard comes by with a truck to evacuate people. *

Our fellow replies: I'm not going, G-d will provide.

The water rises and our fellow is forced to the second floor of this home.

The local rescue squad comes by in a boat and offers to take him away.

Our fellow replies: I'm not going, G-d will provide.

Water rises even higher and the fellow if takes refuge on the roof.

A National Guard helicopter hovers overhead and a crew member shouts down that this is the fellow's last chance to save himself.

You know the reply: I'm not going, G-d will provide.

Finally the water rises and the man drowns.

He is incensed. Really angry with G-d.

G-d decides to hear him out, to find out (as if G-d didn't already know, but for the sake of the story ...) what was causing such umbrage.

So our fellow gets it off his chest:

G-d, I always believed in you.

You said you always would provide.

Yet here I am; you failed me.

To which G-d replies: Didn't I send the National Guard truck and the rescue squad boat, and the National Guard helicopter?

The Jews in the forest, unlike leaders of the ghetto, recognized that G-d was providing a means to survive and acted upon it.

The film is based on fact and it one of the few documents that show, that prove, that not all Jews went willingly to their death.

Interestingly, I know - personally - a fellow in Florida who fought with Russian partisans. He escaped from the Germans and was found by the Russians who, he said, offered him the choice of joining them or becoming food for worms.

Even without the pizza package and good company, I will recommend the movie to everyone, but particularly all Jews of any point-of-view.

And again, I invite you to tell me what you think I found to be the one "un-Jewish" scene.

* Yes, I know it couldn't happen that way; all the National Guard troops and equipment are in Iraq and Afghanistan.

yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail com

Absolutely amazing

IDF forces largely control Aza - there is no going in or coming out except through Israeli lines.

Yet, from Damascus - not Aza, but Damascus - a Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal, insisted its conditions for a cease-fire remained the same — including a demand for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and opening of the crossings.

"These are our demands and we don't accept any political movement that does not accept them," Mashaal said in a televised address from his headquarters Damascus.

"Now we are at the critical moments. There must be a cease-fire but it must meet our conditions," he said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_diplomacy

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IDF fires on UN building

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is in the region to end the devastating offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers, demanded a "full explanation" and said the Israeli defense minister told him there had been a "grave mistake."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who met with Ban later Thursday, said the military fired artillery shells at the U.N. compound after Hamas militants opened fire from the location. Three people were wounded.

"It is absolutely true that we were attacked from that place, but the consequences are very sad and we apologize for it," he said. "I don't think it should have happened and I'm very sorry." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

Can someone explain how the "neutral" UN can host "militants" and allow them to use the UN facility to fire on the IDF?

Can someone tell me how using the UN as a shield is any different than when the "militants" (PLO or Hamas) used a Catholic church as a shield?

This is not to suggest that the IDF artillery should target hospitals and schools - G-d forbid that the IDF should take a leaf from the PLO/Hamas book - but think back to World War II. The US dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities - one apparently with no military value - in order (the government claimed) to prevent loss of Allied lives.

In return for the Nazi's attacks on English cities, the US Army Air Force fire bombed Dresden.

The IDF has, in the past, been pretty careful with its fire (and still was criticized). Funny how the world was silent when Hamas repeatedly fired rockets at Israeli villages and now cities.

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Meanwhile, in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the fighting in Gaza has been "a great lesson for all," saying it shows "the absolute defeat and desperation of this (Israeli) regime."

He says that "even for the supporters of the occupying regime and its leaders, it has become clear that the continuation of the Zionist regime's life in the region is not feasible." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_diplomacy

It seems that this "gentleman" enjoys rattling his nuclear sword, but knows that if he uses it, the Middle East will become an atomic wasteland. Would he mind murdering his Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese, and Jordanian cousins? Probably not - and that makes him all the more dangerous.

Perhaps part of his bravery comes in knowing Israel almost has its hands full with Hamas in the south and the rocketeers in the north.

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Can Israel afford to let any Hamas remnant remain in Aza?

Unless it is totally wiped out - no easy task - Hamas will claim victory and return to making rockets to fire at Israeli villages and towns. The loss of lives - on both sides - will have been in vain. Will the residents of Aza tolerate that? Did they tolerate Hamas before Israel retaliated?

If Hamas is weakened, will the residents of Aza seize power from Hamas? My hope is "Yes," but my suspicion is "No."

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Editorial cartoons in US papers seem generally aware of Hamas' use of human shields. For a sampling, go to http://www.mideasttruth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8870

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail dot com

Conditions for cease fire

From Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,475664,00.html

Conditions for cease fire:

Israel: Israel has three main demands: an end to Palestinian attacks, international supervision of any truce and a halt to Hamas rearming.

Hamas: Hamas demands a cessation of Israeli attacks and the opening of vital Gaza-Israel cargo crossings, Gaza's main lifeline.

So, the (Israel) military said Monday that 80 truckloads of humanitarian aid and critical fuel supplies would be let in.

Meanwhile, Hamas leaders went into hiding before the Israeli military strike began and only on rare occasions have addressed the Gaza residents in broadcasts from their hideouts. On Monday, the mastermind of Hamas' takeover of Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar, exhorted Palestinians to "crush" Israeli forces and to target Israeli civilians.

"The Zionists have legitimized the killing of their children by killing our children. They have legitimized the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people," Zahar said in a grainy video broadcast on Hamas TV.

"Crush your enemy," he urged.

Hamas, and its predecessor PLO, have been trying to crush Israel for years.

From 2001 through May 2008, Hamas launched more than 3,000 Qassam rockets and 2,500 mortar attacks against Israeli targets.

From 2000 to 2004, Hamas was responsible for killing nearly 400 Israelis and wounding more than 2,000 in 425 attacks, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The French mentality apparently is that indiscriminate bombs are better for Azans than ground forces that are highly selective in targeting only militants. While blaming Hamas for causing Palestinian suffering with rocket fire that led to the Israeli offensive, Sarkozy has condemned Israel's use of ground troops, reflecting general world opinion.

There is a growing awareness, at least on this scrivener's part, that the leadership of Aza and that of World War II Japan is similar. Neither cared how many of its people died for their glory. Remember it took two atomic bombs - one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki - to convince Japan's rulers to surrender.

Like the Aza population, the Japanese of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were warned in advance; the attacks - if not the power of the weapons - came as no surprise to the Japanese rulers, just as the ferocity of Israel's attack on Hamas targets should be no surprise to either Hamas or the people it rules.

Hamas' leaders, if Zahar is to be believed - and I suggest he IS believable - has declared war on Zionists (read "Jews") "all over the world."

Would Hamas strike at synagogues? Why not; it uses mosques as arsenals and ammunition dumps.

Medical facilities? It used an ambulance to try to smuggle an explosive-laden suicide murderer into Israel (so much for appreciating Israel's effort at humanitarian aid).

Meanwhile, some of the world is aghast that Israel is using white phosphorus shells to screen its assault on the heavily populated Gaza Strip.

Burning blobs of phosphorus would cause severe injuries to anyone caught beneath them and force would-be snipers or operators of remote-controlled booby traps to take cover.

To protect Aza civilians, Israeli troops took over buildings on the outskirts of Gaza City, taking up rooftop positions after locking residents in rooms and taking away their cell phones, a neighbor said, quoting a relative in one of the buildings before his phone was taken away. If the residents stay inside, they won't be targeted by Israeli troops, not will they be accidently burned by falling phosphorus; unfortunately for the civilians of Aza, the Heroes of Hamas - its leadership - remain hidden from the retribution they deserve both for the attacks on Israel civilians and for the death and destruction rained on Aza as Israel retaliates for the attacks.

The best thing the civilian citizens of Aza could do for themselves is to point out - a cell phone call to the Israeli military's advertised phone numbers is all it would take - where Hamas' leadership is hiding, if they know.

Yohanon Glenn
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail dot com

Where else but Israel ?

Thousands rally in Tel Aviv for and against Israel's Gaza operation (Ha'Aretz newspaper)

By Noa Kosharek and Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondents

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Excerpts from the article.

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Thousands of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv for and against Israel's eight-day-old military campaign in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, with police forces struggling to separate the opposing camps.

No clashes have been reported.

"Barak, Barak, Defense Minister, how many children have you murdered today?" yelled out protesters while waving Palestinians flags. "Stop the bombing, stop the killing," others called out at Tel Aviv's Rabin Square.

On the other side of the square, the supporters of the Gaza raids called out "Let the IDF win and bring back Shalit," referring to Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped by Gaza militants in 2006.

Meanwhile Saturday, thousands of demonstrators held a rally in the Israeli Arab Galilee village of Sakhnin, protesting against Israel's military operations.

The protest was organized by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee and was one of the largest held by the Israeli Arab community since October 2000.

The Chairman of the Balad Party, MK Jamal Zahalka, said at the rally that there is a need to "try Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi in an international war crimes tribunal for their role in the killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip."

Hadash Chair Mohammed Barakeh said the demonstration was "another important step that we are proud of, which represents an advanced stage in the fight waged by the Arab population and the forces of peace against the massacre of the people of Gaza. This demonstration is the answer to all those who have been gambling on the motivation of Israel's Arab population to voice a strong stance against the mentality of occupation and racism."

"We are here, and we will always be here," he continued. "Until this kind of mentality and those who implement it are erased from history."

Compare the above with the following:

In 1982 the Syrian government killed 30,000 – 40,000 of its own citizens. Assad leveled an entire city with an air bombardment followed by artillery and tank fire. Why? They were anti Baath party, and apparently in 1982 in Syria that was a death sentence. (More at http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread156515/pg1).

The Hama massacre (Arabic: مجزرة حماة‎) occurred on February 2, 1982 when the Syrian army bombarded the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood. An estimated 7000 to 25,000 people were killed, including about 1000 soldiers. More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_massacre

I have to wonder when "The World" will realize that most of the Islamic world cares nothing for its people.

Barry Rubin in 2008 compared Nazis and Hamas in their approach to the people they govern.

Rubin cites the following as a Hamas statement on Hamas' philosophy:

Palestinian Media Watch has reprinted a speech made by Fathi Hamad, one of the top Hamas leaders, on the movement's own Al-Aqsa television station from February 29, 2008. He stated:

"For the Palestinian people death became an industry, at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel. Accordingly [Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: "We desire death as you desire life.'"

The Nazis, in comparison,

How can one explain that the Nazis never behaved in such a way?

As nationalists, though, they had to love their country, at least in their own interpretation of it and excluding all the Jewish citizens of course. They wanted prosperity, happiness, and empowerment for the German people. Consequently, the German army and government viewed it as their duty to protect the people. And if they were the master race, all the more need to protect them.

And that is why--if they had ever thought of it--the Nazis would not have deliberately exposed their people to even more suffering by using them as human shields or stockpiling bombs and bullets in their residential buildings. However chauvinistic and inhumane extreme nationalism can be to others, by definition it has to believe itself to be serving those who it identifies as its followers, constituency, and even subjects.

But radical Islamism is different. Its goal is not to exalt its people--Palestinians or Muslims, as such--but to implement God's will. God is above the people. And the deity must be served no matter how many of the people, even Muslims, die or suffer. Thus we see the massive bloodshed in the Algerian civil war and the terrorist attacks against other Muslims in places like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Even an anti-Israel demonstration in Iraq was hit by a suicide bomber recently.

Thus, there is this tireless emphasis on martyrdom, and people can be martyred even if they don't choose that for themselves. What is startling--and like so many significant facts gone unnoticed in much of the world--is that Hamas never had any program for social development, quality education, improved health, or anything else but warfare for the Gaza Strip. Its only concern was to wage a war of extermination on Israel, no matter how much time and how many lives it cost.

I suppose we - "The World" should feel sorry for the Azans - they are being martyred by their own leadership. But bear in mind that, like the Germans before them, they tolerate the people who are willing to sacrifice them.

Read the reports - the Hamas leadership is in hiding. Instead of leading their masked "militants," they are hiding out - if they even remain in Aza. Let the civilians be a shield to protect them so they can, when they finally show their faces, point at the people who died in the war Hamas' instigated with repeated rocket attacks on Israel.

Hamas is making the Azans cannon fodder and "The World" points the finger at Israel.

Think about it.

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Truth in writing. I am a dual national with most of my family in Israel. I have been shelled by our neighbors and watched as the (Israel) government did nothing in return, thereby inviting more shelling.

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Yohanon

Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail dot com

Watch this - 15 seconds

I encourage all visitors to this blog to spend 15 seconds - that's all, just 15 seconds - to watch an Aish video.

See what 15 seconds means to some children in Israel.

http://www.aish.com/movies/15seconds.asp

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail dot com