It would be interesting to see who lives in Ashdod and Ashkelon; who are in the majority.
I'd wager that the majority of the residents are from - or descended from Jews who once lived in - Moslem-dominated countries; e.g., North Africa, Syria, Iraq and Iran, Egypt.
Most of the people I know here in the States who claim Ashdod or Ashkelon as their home are Sefardi.
At the same time, most of the people who bewail the efforts of the mayors of these two Israeli towns to protect their citizens are Ashkenazi. Those criticizing the mayors include the Ashkenazi prime minister, the Ashkenazi mayor of Jerusalem - one must wonder about his position given the terrorists attacks in his city - the president, and others none of which are Sefardi.
Why is this?
Perhaps because the Sefardim understand the Moslems, and because they know the reality of Israel's "talk the talk but don't walk the walk" government that, if you would poll the pols, is mostly Ashkenazi.
I'm not going to suggest that all Ashkenazim are fools or appeasers; Begin was neither and he was Ashkenazi.
And I am not going to suggest that all Moslems - Israeli Moslems or otherwise - are planning terror attacks against Israeli Jews and non-Jews.
I AM suggesting that the Sefardim are better equipped to deal with Moslems.
My Father-in-Law (ע''ה) grew up in Morocco. He worked with Moroccan Moslems; he competed with Moroccan Moslems; he co-existed with Moroccan Moslems. He showed them respect and it was returned.
My Father-In-Law was a big man, physically. He would not be pushed around.
When the family made aliyah in the 1960s, he was settled in Bet Shean, a town in the Jordan Valley that was too hot for the Ashkenazim - besides, Bet Shean is on the Jordan border so if attacks came from that direction, the Sefardim could buffer the Ashkenazim farther from the border.
If you think that is a "sepur Savta," I suggest you look at all of the places the Ashkenazi governments settled immigrants from Moslem countries.
Moslems have an Eastern mentality, akin to the Chinese and Japanese. Sefardim, having lived with Moslems for centuries, understand that mentality. Understanding it means being able to deal with it.
The Ashkenazi, with his European mentality cannot comprehend the Moslem mind and lacks the ability to deal with the Moslem mentality. The Ashkenazi simply wants to do what is "politically correct "and damn the consequences" - the murders on the streets and in the synagogues, the rockets raining down on civilians.
At one time several Moslems invaded Bet Shean and killed several residents.
The residents and the Army killed the terrorists. The residents, 90% of whom were from North Africa, doused the Moslems' bodies with gasoline and set them afire. Moslems believe they won't get their promised 70 virgins if the body is burned. It was decades before another Moslem tried to attack anyone in Bet Shean - and he was caught as he rode an Egged bus toward the town.
Burning bodies is not "politically correct" and I am certain the Ashkenazim in government "tisked-tisked" and rung their hands over what the cruel Sefardim did to those poor Moslem terrorists - but it sent a message that kept Bet Shean "terrorist free" for decades.
My personal, American, attitude is similar to my Father-In-Law's: if you push me, I'll push you back - harder. I won't start something, but I intend to finish it.
It's time the Ashkenazi leadership realized that its threats to act against terrorists and its promises to protect Israel's citizens are just words with no value; the Moslems know that between the Ashkenazis' desire for "political correctness" and Europe's (and, unfortunately North America's) bleeding hearts will protect them from justified retribution.
It's time the Ashkenazi leadership learned a lesson from the Sefardim and became more concerned with Israel's citizens and less concerned with "political correctness."
